Nuseer-od Deen Hyder's death--His repudiation of his son, Moonna Jan,
leads to the succession of his uncle, Nuseer-od Dowlah--Contest for
the succession between these two persons--The Resident supports the
uncle; and the Padshah Begum supports the son--The ministers supposed
to have poisoned the King--Made to disgorge their ill-gotten wealth
by his successor--Obligations of the treaty of 1801, by which Oude
was divided into two equal shares--One transferred to the British
Government, one reserved by Oude--Estimated value of each at the time
of treaty--Present value of each--The sovereign often warned that
unless he governs as he ought, the British Government cannot support
him, but must interpose and take the administration upon itself--All
such warnings have been utterly disregarded--No security to life or
property in any part of Oude--Fifty years of experience has proved,
that we cannot make the government of Oude fulfil its duties to its
people--The alternative left appears to be to take the management
upon ourselves, and give the surplus revenue to the sovereign and
royal family of Oude--Probable effects of such a change on the
feelings and interests of the people of Oude.
When in February, 1832, the King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, assured the
Resident that Moonna Jan was not his son. Lord William Bentinck was
Governor-General of India. A more thoroughly honest man never, I
believe, presided over the government of any country. The question of
right to succession was long maturely and most anxiously considered,
after these repeated and formal repudiations on the part of the King,
Nuseer-od Deen Hyder; and Government would willingly have deferred a
final decision on so important a question longer, but it was deemed
unsafe any longer from the debauched habits of the King, the chance
of his sudden death, and the risk of a tumult in such a city, to
leave the representative of the paramount power unprepared to
proclaim its will in favour of the rightful heir, the moment that a
demise took place. Under these considerations, instructions were sent
to the Resident, on the 15th of December, 1833, in case of the King's
death without a son, or pregnant consort, to declare the eldest
surviving brother of the late King, Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, heir to the
throne, and have him placed upon it. According to the law already
noticed (which applies as well to sovereignty as to property) the
sons of Shums-od Dowlah, the second son of Saadut Allee Khan, who had
died shortly before his eldest and reigning brother, Ghazee-od Deen,
were excluded from all claims to the succession, and the right
devolved upon the third son of Saadut Allee, Nuseer-od Dowlah.
Ghazee-od Deen had only one son, the reigning sovereign, Nuseer-od
Deen Hyder.
This prince had impaired his constitution by drinking and other
vicious indulgences, in which he had been encouraged in early life by
his designing or inconsiderate adoptive mother, the Padshah Begum;
but for some time before his death, he used frequently to declare to
his most intimate companions that he felt sure he should die of
poison, and that at no distant period. He for some time before his
death had a small well in the palace, over which he kept his own lock
and key; and he kept the same over the jar, in which he drew the
water from it for his own drinking. The keys were suspended by a gold
chain around his neck. The persons who gave him his drink, except
when taking it out of English sealed bottles, were two sisters,
Dhuneea and Dulwee. The latter and youngest is now the wife of Wasee
Allee Khan. The eldest, Dhuneea, still resides at Lucknow. The
general impression at Lucknow and over all Oude was, that the British
Government would, take upon itself the management of the country on
the death, without issue, of Nuseer-od Deen Hyder; and the King
himself latterly seemed rather pleased than otherwise at the thought
that he should be the last of the Oude kings. He had repudiated his
own son, and was unwilling that any other member of the family should
fill his place. The minister and the other public officers and Court
favourites, who had made large fortunes, wished it, as it was
understood by some, that by such a measure they would be secured from
all scrutiny into their accounts, and enabled to keep securely all
that they had accumulated.
About half-past eleven, on the night of the 7th July, 1837, the
Durbar Wakeel, Gholam Yaheea,* came to the Resident and reported that
the King had been taken suddenly ill, and appeared to be either dead
or in a dying state, from the symptoms described to him by his
Majesty's attendants. The Resident, Colonel Low, ordered his two
Assistants, Captains Paton and Shakespear, the Head Moonshee and Head
Clerk, to be in attendance, and wrote to request the Brigadier,
commanding the troops in Oude, to hold one thousand men in readiness
to march to the Residency at a moment's notice. The Residency is
situated in the city near the Furra Buksh Palace, in which the King
resided. The Resident intended that five companies of this force
should be sent in advance of the main body and guns, for the purpose
of placing, sentries over the palace gates, treasuries, and other
places containing valuables within the walls. But this intention was
not unfortunately made known to the Brigadier. Captain Magness, who
commanded a corps of infantry with six guns, and a squadron of horse,
had been ordered by the minister at half-past eight o'clock, to
proceed with them to a place near the southern entrance of the
palace, and there to wait for further instructions, and he did so.
This was three hours before the minister made any report to the
Resident of the King's illness, and Captain Magness was told by the
people in attendance that the King was either dead or dying.
[* Gholam Yaheea Khan was the maternal uncle of Shurf-od Dowlah, who
was, afterwards, some time minister under Mahommed Allee Shah.]
Having given these orders, the Resident proceeded to the palace,
attended by Captain Paton, the first Assistant, and Dr. Stevenson,
the Residency Surgeon. They found the King lying dead upon his bed,
but his body was still warm, and Dr. Stevenson opened a vein in one
arm. Blood flowed freely from it, but no other sign of life could be
discovered. His features were placid and betrayed no sign of his
having suffered any pain; and the servants in attendance declared
that the only sign of suffering they had heard or seen was a slight
shriek, to which the King gave utterance before he expired; that
after that shriek he neither moved, spoke, nor showed any sign
whatever of life. His Majesty had been unwell for three weeks, but no
one had any apprehension of danger from his symptoms. He had called
for some sherbet a short time before his death, and it was given to
him by Dhuneea, the eldest of the two sisters.
The Resident took with him a guard of sipahees from his escort, and
Captain Paton distributed them as double sentries at the inner doors
of the palace, and outside the chief buildings and store-rooms, with
orders to allow no one but the ministers and treasurers to pass.
Captain Madness had placed one sentry before at each of these places,
and he now added a second, making a party of four sipahees at each
post. Captain Paton at the same time, in conjunction with the
officers of the Court, placed seals on all the jewels and other
valuables belonging to the King and his establishments; and as the
night was very dark, placed torch-bearers at all places where they
appeared to be required.
Having made these arrangements the Resident returned with Dr.
Stevenson to the Residency, leaving Captain Paton at the palace; and
wrote to the Brigadier to request that he would send off the five
companies in advance to the palace direct, and bring down all his
disposable troops, including artillery, to the city. The distance
from the palace to the cantonments, round by the old stone bridge,
was about four miles and half. The iron bridge, which shortens the
distance by a mile and half, had not then been thrown over the
Goomtee river, which flows between them. The Resident then had drawn
up, for the consent of the new king, a Persian paper, declaring that
he was prepared to sign any new treaty for the better government of
the country that the British Government might think proper to propose
to him.
It was now one o'clock in the morning of the 8th of July, and Captain
Shakespear, attended by the Meer Moonshee, Iltufat Hoseyn, and the
Durbar Wakeel, proceeded to the house of the new sovereign, Nuseer-od
Dowlah, who then resided where the present King now resides, a
distance of about a mile from the Residency. The visit was altogether
unexpected; and, as the new sovereign had been for some time ill,
some delay took place in arranging for the reception of the mission.
After explaining the object of his visit. Captain Shakespear
presented the paper, which the King perused with great attention, and
then signed without hesitation. Captain Shakespear returned with it
to the Resident, who repaired again to the palace, and sent Captain
Paton, the first Assistant, to the Residency, to proceed thence with
Captain Shakespear and the Durbar Wakeel, to the house of the new
sovereign, and escort him to the palace, where he would be in
readiness to receive him. He arrived about three o'clock in the
morning, and being infirm from age, and exceedingly reduced from
recent illness, he was, after a short conversation with the Resident,
left in a small adjoining room, to repose for a few hours preparatory
to his being placed on the throne and crowned in due form. His eldest
surviving son, afterwards Amjud Allee Shah, his sons, the present
King, Wajid Allee Shah, and Mirza Jawad Khan, the King's foster
brother, Hummeed-od Dowlah, and his confidential servant, Rufeek-od
Dowla, were left in the room with him; and the Resident and his
Assistants sat in the verandah facing the river Goomtee, which flows
under the walls, conversing on the ceremonies to be observed at the
approaching coronation, and the persons to be invited to assist at
it, when they were suddenly interrupted by the intelligence that the
Padshah Begum, the adoptive mother of the late King, with a large
armed force, and the young pretender, Moonna Jan, were coming on to
seize upon the throne, and might soon be expected at the principal
entrance to the palace to the north-west.
When the Resident was about to proceed to the palace, the first time
about midnight, he was assured by the minister, Roshun-od Dowla, that
every possible precaution had been taken by him to prevent the
Padshah Begum from attempting any such enterprise, or from leaving
her residence with the young pretender; that he had placed strong
bodies of troops in every street or road by which she could come.
But, to make more sure, and prevent her leaving her residence at the
Almas gardens, five miles from the palace, the Resident sent off one
of his chobdars, Khoda Buksh, with two troopers and a verbal message,
enjoining her to remain quietly at her palace. These men found her
with her equipage in the midst of a large mass of armed followers,
ready to set out for the palace. They delivered their message from
the Resident, but were sent back with her Wakeel, Mirza Allee, to
request that she might be permitted to look upon the dead body of the
late King, since she had not been permitted to see him for so long a
period before his death. But they reached the Resident with this
message, only ten minutes before the Begum's troops were thundering
for admittance at the gate. The Resident gave the chobdar a note for
the officer in command of the five companies, supposed to be in
advance on their way down from cantonments; but before he could get
with this note five hundred yards from the palace, he met the Begum
and her disorderly band filling the road and pressing on as fast as
they could. Unable to proceed, he returned to the palace with all
haste, and gave the Resident the first notice of their near approach.
Captain Magness had placed two of his six guns at each of the three
entrances to the south and west, but was now ordered to collect all,
and proceed to the north-western entrance, towards which the Begum
was advancing. Before he could get to that entrance she had passed
in, and he returned to the south-western entrance for further orders.
On passing the mausoleum of Asuf-od Dowlah, where the Kotwal or head
police officer of the city resided, she summoned him, with all his
available police, to attend his sovereign to the throne of his
ancestors. He promised obedience, but, with all his police, stood
aloof, thinking that her side might not be the safe one to take in
such an emergency. A little further on she passed Hussun Bagh, the
residence of the chief consort of the late King and niece of the
emperor of Delhi, and summoned and brought her on, to give some
countenance to her audacious enterprise. The Resident admonished the
minister for his negligence and falsehood in the assurance he had
given him; and directed Rajah Bukhtawur Sing, with his squadron of
one hundred and fifty horse, and Mozuffer-od Dowlah, the father of
Ajum-od Dowlah, and Khadim Hoseyn, the son-in-law of Sobhan Allee
Khan, the deputy minister, with all the armed men they could muster,
to arrest the progress of the pretender; but nothing whatever was
done, and the excited mass came on, and augmented as it came in noise
and numbers. All whom the Resident sent to check them, out of fear or
favour, avoided collision, and sought safety either in their homes or
among the pretender's bands.
Captain Paton, as soon as he heard the pretender's' men approach,
rushed to the gate to the north-west, towards which the throng was
approaching rapidly. He had only four belted attendants with him, and
the gate was guarded only by a small party of useless sipahees, under
the control of three or four black slaves. By the time he had roused
the sleepy guard and closed the gates, the pretender's armed mass
came up, and with foul abuse, imprecations, and with threats of
instant death to all who opposed them, demanded admittance. Captain
Paton told them, that the Resident had been directed by the British
Government to place Nuseer-od Dowlah, the uncle of the late King, on
the throne as the rightful heir; that he was now in the palace, and
all who opposed him would be treated as rebels; that the gates were
all closed by order of the Resident, and all who attempted to force
them would be put to death. All was in vain. They told him with fury
that the Padshah Begum, and the son of the late King, and rightful
heir to the throne, were among them, and must be instantly admitted.
Captain Paton despatched a messenger to the Resident to say, that he
could hold the gate no longer without troops: but before he could get
a reply, the insurgents brought up an elephant to force in the gate
with his head. The first failed in the attempt, and drew back with a
frightful roar. A second, urged on by a furious driver, broke in the
gate, one-half fell with a crash to the ground, and the elephant
plunged in after it. Captain Paton was standing with his back against
this half, and must have been killed; but Mukun, one of his
chuprassies, seeing the gate giving way, caught him by the arm and
dragged him behind the other half. The other three chuprassies ran
off in a fright and hid themselves. Two of them were Surubdawun Sing
and Juggurnath, two brothers, who will be mentioned elsewhere in this
diary.*
[* See Juggurnath chuprassie in Chapter V., Vol. II.]
The furious and confused mass rushed in through the half-opened gate,
and beat Captain Paton to the ground with their bludgeons, the hilts
of their swords, and the butt-ends of their muskets. Mukun,
chuprassie, his only remaining attendant, was beaten down at the same
time and severely bruised, but he soon got up, covered with blood,
made his way out through the crowd, and ran to meet the five
companies of the 35th Regiment, then not far distant, under Colonel
Monteath. As soon as he heard from Mukun the state in which he had
left his master, he sent on a party of thirty sipahees under Captain
Cowley, with orders to make all possible haste to the rescue. They
arrived in time to save his life from the fury of the assailants, but
found him insensible from his wounds.
In a few minutes every court-yard within the palace walls was filled
with the armed and disorderly mass. The Resident, Captain Shakespear,
and their few attendants, tried to stop them by every impediment they
could throw in their way, but in vain. The assailants rushed past or
over them, brandishing their swords and firelocks, with loud
shoutings and flaming torches, and soon filled all the apartments of
the palace, save those occupied by the ladies and their female
attendants, and the dead body of the late King. The Resident and his
Assistant, and the Meer Moonshee, were soon separated from the new
sovereign and his small party, who lay for some time concealed in the
small room in which he had been left to repose, while they were
confined to the northern verandah overlooking the river, and the long
room leading into it. The armed and furious throng filled all the
other rooms of the palace, the court-yard, eighty yards long, leading
to the baraduree (or summer-house) and all the four great halls of
that building, in one of which the throne stood.
The Resident felt that he was helpless in his present position, and
unable to do anything whatever to prevent the temporary triumph of
the insurgents, and the consequent tumult, pillage, and loss of life
that must follow; and that it would be better to try any change than
to remain in that helpless state. He thought that he might, if he
could once reach the Begum, be able to persuade her of the
impossibility of her ultimately succeeding in her attempt to keep the
pretender on the throne; and if not, that it would be of advantage to
get so much nearer to the place where the British troops most soon
arrive, and be drawn up in a garden to the south of the baraduree,
and to gain time for their arrival by a personal and open conference
with the Begum, during which he thought her followers would not be
likely to proceed to violence against his person, and those of his
attendants. He therefore persuaded one of the rebel sentries placed
over him to apprize the Begum that he wished to speak to her. She
sent to him Mirza Allee, one of her Wakeels; and with him Captain
Shakespear, and the Meer Moonshee, he forced his way through the
dense crowd, and got safely into the baraduree.
They found all the four halls, small apartments, and verandahs,
leading into them, filled with armed men in a state of great
excitement, and in the act of placing the pretender, Moonna Jan, on
the throne. The Begum sat in a covered palankeen at the foot of the
throne; and as the Resident entered, the band struck up "_God save
the King_," answered by a salute of blunderbusses within, and a
double royal salute from the guns in the "_jullooknana_," or northern
court-yard of the palace through which the Begun had passed in. Other
guns, which had been collected in the confusion to salute somebody
(though those who commanded and served them knew not whom), continued
the salute through the streets without. A party of dancing-girls,
belonging to the late King, or brought up by the Begum, began to
dance and sing as loud as they could at the end of the long hall in
front of the throne, at the same time that the crowd within and
without shouted their congratulations at the top of their voices, and
every man who had a sword, spear, musket, or matchlock, flourished it
in the air amidst a thousand torches. A scene more strange and wild
it would be difficult to conceive.
In the midst of all this the Resident and his Assistants remained
cool under all kinds of foul abuse and threats from a multitude so
excited, that they seemed more like demons than human beings, and
resolved to force them to commit some act or make use of some
expression that might seem to justify their murder. They fired
muskets close to their ears, pointed others loaded and cocked close
to their breasts and faces, flourished swords close to their noses,
called them all kinds of opprobrious names, but all in vain. The
Resident, in the midst of all this confusion, pointed out to the
Begum the impossibility of her ultimately succeeding in her attempt
to secure the throne for the pretender, since he was acting under the
orders of his Government, who had declared the right to be another's;
and if he and all his Assistants were killed, his Government would
soon send others to carry out their orders. "I am," she said, "in my
right place, and so is the young King, my grandson, and so are you.
Why do you talk to me or to anybody else of leaving the throne and
the baraduree?" But some of her furious followers, afraid that she
might yield, seized him by his neckcloth, dragged him towards the
throne, on which the boy sat, and commanded him to present his
offerings of congratulation on the threat of instant death. They had,
they said, placed him on the throne of his ancestors by order of the
Begum, and would maintain him there. Had he or either of his
Assistants lost their temper or presence of mind, and attempted to
resent any of the affronts offered to them, they must have been all
instantly put to death, and a general massacre of all their supposed
adherents, and the pillage of the palace and city, would have
followed.
The Begum's Wakeel, Mirza Allee, seeing the life of the Resident and
those of his Assistants and attendants in such imminent peril, since
he so resolutely refused to give any sign whatever of recognition to
the pretender, and aware of the consequences that would inevitably
follow their murder, seized him by the arm, and in a loud voice
shouted out that it was the Begum's order that he should conduct him
out into the garden to the south. He pushed on with him through the
crowd, followed by all his small party, and with great difficulty and
danger they at last reached the garden, where Colonel Monteath had
just brought in and drawn up his five companies in a line facing the
baraduree. Finding the entrance to the north-west occupied by the
Begum's party. Colonel Monteath marched along the street to the west
of the palace, and entered the baraduree garden by the south-west
gate. As the Resident went out. Colonel Roberts, who commanded a
brigade in the Oude service, went in, and presented to the pretender
his offering of gold mohurs, and then went off and hid himself, to
wait the result of the contest. Captain Magness drew up his men and
guns on the left of Colonel Monteath's, and was told to prepare for
action. He told the Resident that he did not feel quite sure of his
men in such a crisis, and the line of British sipahees was made to
cover his rear, to secure them. The King and minister had commanded
him to act precisely as directed by the Resident, and he himself knew
this to be his only safe course, but the hearts of his men were with
Moonna Jan and the Begum.
The Begum, as soon as the Resident left her, deeming all safe, went
over to the female apartments, where her adopted son, the late king,
lay dead; and after gazing for a minute upon his corpse, returned to
the foot of the throne, on which the pretender had now been seated
for more than three hours. It was manifest that nothing but force
could now remove the boy and his supporters, but the Begum tried to
gain more time in the hope of support from a popular insurrection
from without, which might take off the British troops from the
garden; and she sent evasive messages to the Resident by her wakeels,
urging him to come once more to her, since it was impossible for her
to make her way to him without danger of collision between the troops
of the two States. He refused to put himself again in her power, and
commanded her to come down with the boy to him and surrender; and
promised that if she did so, and directed all her armed followers to
quit the palace and city of Lucknow, all that had passed should be
forgiven, and the large pension of fifteen thousand rupees a-month,
promised by the late King, secured to her for life. All was in vain,
and the Begum was gaining her object. Robberies of State property in
the eastern and more retired parts of the palace-buildings had
commenced. Gold, jewels, shawls, &c., to a large amount were being
carried off. Much of such property lay about in places not guarded by
Captain Paton in the morning, or known to the minister, or other
respectable servants of the State, all holding out temptation to
pillage. Acts of plunder and ill-treatment to unoffending and
respectable persons in the city were every moment reported, and six
or eight houses had been already pillaged, and attempts had been made
on others by small parties, who were every moment increasing in
numbers and ferocity.
Several parties of the King's troops had openly deserted their posts
and joined the pretender's followers in the baraduree, and dense
masses of armed men were crowding in upon the British troops, whose
officer became anxious, and urged the Resident to action, lest they
should no longer have room to use their arms. At one time these armed
crowds got within two yards of the British front; and on Colonel
Monteath's telling them to retire a few paces and leave him a clear
front, they did so in a sullen and insolent manner, and one of them
actually attempted to seize one of the sipahees by his whiskers, and
an affray was with difficulty prevented.
Mostufa Khan, Kundaharee, who had command of a regiment of a thousand
horse in the late King's service, was with many others commanded by
the Begum to attend the young King on the throne; and he did so some
time after Brigadier Johnstone reached the garden, in front of the
baraduree, though he knew that Nuseer-od Dowlah had been declared the
rightful heir to the throne, and was actually in the palace. He said
that "he was the servant of the throne; that the young King was
actually seated upon it, and that he would support him there, happen
what might." He presented his offerings of gold to the young King,
and was forthwith appointed to supersede all the other wakeels in the
Begum's negotiations with the Resident. He merely repeated what the
other wakeels had said, urging the Resident to go up to the Begum,
since she could not come down to him. The Resident repeated to him
what he had told the Begum herself, and taking out his watch, told
him that unless his orders were obeyed in less than one-quarter of an
hour, the guns should open upon the throne-room; that when once they
opened, neither she nor her followers could expect favour, or even
mercy; and unless he, Mostapha Khan, separated himself from her
party, he should be hung as a traitor if taken alive.
Owing to the height of some houses and walls about the left part of
the position of the British troops, the guns could not be
conveniently brought to bear upon the south-western corner of the
baraduree and throne-room, and two of the guns had to be taken round
by a road one-third of a mile, to be placed in a better position. On
seeing this the crowd shouted out, "The cravens are already running
away!" and became more insolent and furious than ever.
The minister and Durbar Wakeel had been swept away by the crowd, who
rushed into the palace, and separated from the Resident and his
party, and as they passed through the balcony overlooking the river,
the wakeel threw off his turban, and leaped over from a height of
about twenty feet. The ground was soft, but he sprained both his
ankles. He was taken up by some boatmen, who had put-to near the
bank, and concealed in their boat till the affair was over. The new
sovereign remained still unnoticed, and apparently unknown, having
long led a secluded life; but his son, grandsons, and the rest of his
attendants were at last discovered, very roughly treated by the
insurgents, and would, it is said, have been put to death, had not
Rajah Bukhtawur Sing and some others, who thought it safe to be on
friendly terms with the ruffians, persuaded them that they would be
useful hostages in case of a reverse. The minister had had all his
clothes, save his trousers, torn from him, and his arms and legs
pinioned preparatory to execution, and the princes had been treated
with little more ceremony. All had given themselves up for lost.
The Begum remained firm to her purpose, her hopes from without
increasing with the increasing noise, tumult, and reports of pillage
in the city. The quarter of an hour had passed, and the Resident,
turning to the Brigadier, told him, that the work was now in his
hands, just an hour and twenty minutes after he had brought his
troops into the garden. The guns from the British, and Captain
Magness' parks opened at the same instant upon the throne-room and
the other halls of the baraduree with grape; and after six or seven
rounds, a party of the 35th Regiment, under Major Marshall, was
ordered to storm the halls. With muskets loaded and bayonets fixed
they rushed first through a narrow covered passage; then up a steep
flight of steps, and then into the throne-room, firing upon the
affrighted crowd as they advanced, and following them up with the
bayonet as they rushed out over the two flights of steps on the north
side, and through the courtyard which separates the baraduree from
the palace. Other parties of sipahees ascended at the same time over
ladders collected at the suggestion of Doctor Stevenson, and placed
on the southern front of the baraduree; and the halls were soon
cleared of the insurgents, who left from forty to fifty men killed
and wounded on the floors of the four halls.* In this assault Mostufa
Khan, Kundaharee, was killed. Moonna Jan was found concealed in a
small recess under the throne, and the Begum in a small adjoining
room, to which she had been carried as soon as the guns opened. They
were taken into custody, and sent to the Residency, with Imam Buksh,
a bihishtee, or water-carrier, a notorious villain, who had been her
chief instigator in all this affair, and appointed Commander-in-Chief
to the young King. Many who had been wounded got out of the halls,
and some even reached their homes, but the killed and wounded are
supposed to have amounted altogether to about one hundred and twenty.
The Begum and the boy were accommodated in the Residency, and their
_Commander-in-Chief_ was made over to the King's Courts for trial. He
is still in prison at Lucknow. No one was killed on our side, but
three or four of our sipahees were wounded in the assault.
[* As they entered the hall at the end opposite the throne, they saw
their own figures reflected in the large mirror, which stands behind
the throne; and, taking them to be their enemy preparing to charge,
they poured their first volley into the mirror, by which many lives
were saved at the expense of the glass.]
The Delhi princess, the chief consort of the deceased King, a modest,
beautiful, and amiable young woman, who had been forced to join the
Begum, in order to give some countenance to the daring enterprise,
was, as soon as the guns opened, carried by her two female attendants
in her litter to a small side-room, facing the palace at the east end
of the throne-room. One of these females had her arm shattered by
grape shot, but the other tied some clothes together, and let the
princess and her wounded attendant down from a height of about
twenty-four feet into a court-yard, whence they were conveyed to her
palace by some of her attendants, and all three escaped. The sipahees
occupied both of the flights of steps in the northern face of the
baraduree. She was afraid, to trust herself to them, and saw no other
way of escape than that described.
It was nine o'clock before the palace could be cleared of the
insurgents; and the Resident was very anxious that the new Sovereign
should be crowned, as soon and as publicly as possible, in order to
restore tranquillity to the city, which had become greatly disturbed
from the number of loose and desperate characters that always abound
in it, and are at all times ready to make the most of any tumult that
may arise from whatever cause. The new Sovereign had become greatly
agitated and alarmed at the danger to which he and his family had
been so long exposed, and at the fearful scene which they witnessed
at the close; and the Resident exerted himself to soothe and prepare
him for the long and tedious ceremonies of the coronation, while the
killed and wounded were being removed and the throne-room and the
other halls of the baraduree cleaned out and properly arranged and
furnished. When all was ready the Resident conducted him from the
palace through the court-yard to the baraduree, accompanied by the
brigadier and all the principal officers of the British force and the
Court, seated him on the throne, placed the crown on his head, under
a royal salute, repeated from every battery in the city, and
proclaimed him King of Oude, in presence of all the aristocracy and
principal persons of Lucknow, who had flocked to the place on hearing
that the danger had passed away.
From the time that the Resident discovered that the King was dead,
till the arrival of the five companies under Colonel Monteath, the
whole of the British force in this vast city, containing a population
of nearly a million persons, amounted to only two companies and a
half of sipahees under native officers. One of the companies guarded
the Resident's Treasury, one constituted the honorary guard of the
Resident, and the half company guarded the gaol. A part of the
honorary guard, with as many sipahees as could be safely spared from
the Treasury and gaol, were taken by Captain Paton to the palace, and
distributed as already mentioned. They all stood nobly to their posts
during the long and trying scene, and no attempt was made to
concentrate them for the purpose of arresting the tumultuous advance
of the Begum's forces. Collectively they would have been too few for
the purpose, and it was deemed unsafe to remove them from their
respective charges at such a time. The Resident relied upon the
minister's repeated assurances that he had taken all necessary
precautions to prevent her approach; upon the two companies, called
the Khas companies, under the command of Mujd-od Dowlah; and the
squadron of one hundred and fifty horse, under Rajah Bukhtawur Sing,
whom he had himself ordered to guard the passage by which they
entered. Of all these men not one was employed for the purpose. They
and their Commanders all stood aloof, and left the British soldiers
to their fate.
The minister was a fool, under the tutelage of his deputy, Sobhan
Allee Khan, a great knave, who disappeared as soon as he heard that
the Begum was approaching with his son-in-law, Khadim Hoseyn.
Mozuffer Allee Khan, a person in high office and confidence under the
late King, did the same. The minister and the Durbar Wakeel were the
only officers of the State of Oude who stood by the new King and the
British Resident. The minister afterwards declared that a strong
detachment of troops had been placed outside the gate through which
the Begum ultimately forced her way, as well as at the other passages
leading to the palace and baraduree; and Captain Shakespear, on his
way to the new Sovereign, ascertained that guards had actually been
posted outside all the other gates leading to the palace and
baraduree. From this, the supineness and seeming apathy of many of
the palace guards and servants, and the perversion of the orders sent
by him before and during the tumult, the minister concluded that
there must have been many about him interested in promoting the
enterprise of the Begum; and that the approach to the gate through
which she forced her way must have been purposely left unguarded.
There is now little doubt, that from the time that it became known,
that the contest was between Moonna Jan and Nuseer-od Dowlah, a
person but little known except as a prudent and parsimonious old man,
a large portion not only of the civil and military establishments,
but of the population of the city, felt anxious for the success of
the Begum's enterprise; for both had, under the harsh treatment of
the last two sovereigns, become objects of sympathy.
A good many of the members of the royal family, who were brought up
from childhood with the deceased King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, and near
his person to the last, declare that Moonna Jan was his son; but that
the King was ashamed and afraid to acknowledge him after he had so
frequently and so formally declared to the British Government that he
was not his son, and that he had ceased to cohabit with the boy's
mother for two years before his birth. But all such persons admit
that Moonna Jan was a boy of ungovernable temper, and the worst
possible dispositions; and that he must soon have forfeited the crown
by his cruelty, bigotry, and injustice, had he been placed upon it by
the British Government. I saw him in January 1838, at Chunar, and a
more unpromising boy I have rarely seen.
The ministry dreaded being called to account for their malversations
as much from the Begum, on account of their successful efforts to
keep the King alienated from her and his son, as from Nuseer-od
Dowlah, on account of his parsimony, prudence, and great experience
in business during the reign of his able father, Saadut Allee Khan.
But they would have a better chance of escape from the Begum and the
boy than from the vigilant old man, who afterwards made them all
disgorge their ill-gotten wealth; and, in consequence, they made no
effort to obstruct her enterprise. The military and civil
establishments were all in favour of the boy, who would probably be
as regardless of their number and discipline as his father had been,
while the old man would assuredly reduce the one, and endeavour, by
rigorous measures, to improve the other. Hardly any one at Lucknow at
present doubts that the minister and his associates caused the King
to be poisoned, and employed Duljeet and the two sisters; Dhunneea
and Dulwee, for the purpose, in expectation that the British
Government would take upon itself the Oude administration, as the
only possible means of improving it.
The respectable and peaceable portion of the city, though their
sympathies were with the boy, had too much in property, and the
honour of their families, at stake to aid in any movement in his
favour, since it would involve a tumult, and for a time, at least,
insure the supremacy of the mob. Their security and that of their
families depended upon the success of the British troops; and they
were all prepared to acquiesce in any cause which the British
Government might adopt for the sake of order. They would rather that
it should adopt that of the Begum and the boy than that of Nuseer-od
Dowlah; but in either case were resolved to remain neuter, and let
the representative of the British Government take his own course.
It is a fact not unworthy of remark, that more than three millions
sterling, or three crores of rupees, in our Government securities,
are held by persons who reside and spend the interest arising from
them in the city of Lucknow; and that the fall in their value in
exchange during the times that we have been engaged in our most
serious wars has been less in Lucknow than in Calcutta, the capital
of British India; so much greater assurance do the people feel of our
resources being always equal to our exigencies. At such times the
merchants of Lucknow commission their agents in Calcutta to purchase
up Government securities at the rate to which they fall in Calcutta,
for sale at Lucknow, where they seldom fall at all. About three
crores and half of rupees, or three millions and half sterling, have
been at different times contributed to our loans by the sovereigns of
Oude as a provision for the different members of their respective
families and dependents; and the interest is now paid to them and
their descendants, at the rates which prevailed at the time of the
several loans (four, five, and six per cent.) to the amount of
fourteen lacs thirty-five thousand and four hundred and ten rupees a-
year.
The Begum's haughty and violent temper, and inveterate disposition to
meddle in public affairs, were the real cause of her continual
disquietude and ultimate disgrace and ruin. The minister of the day
dreaded the ascendancy of so imperious and furious a character,
should she ever become reconciled to the King. During the whole reign
of Ghazee-od Deen, her husband, from the 12th of July 1814, to the
20th of October 1827, her own frequent ebullitions, which often
disfigured the King's robes and vests, and left even the hair on his
head and chin unsafe, and Aga Meer's sagacious suggestions, satisfied
him that his own personal safety and peace of mind, and the welfare
of the State, depended upon his keeping as much as possible aloof
from her. He was fond of his son, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, but during
his minority he always took the part of his adoptive mother, the
Padshah Begum; and, in consequence, remained almost as much as she
was alienated from the King, his father. His natural mother died soon
after his birth; and people suspected that the Padshah Begum had her
put to death that she might have no rival in his affections; and she
had an entire ascendancy over him, acquired by every species of
enervating indulgences; and he remained all his life utterly without
character, ignorant of the rudiments of public affairs, and
altogether incapable of taking any useful part in them.
She retained this ascendancy over him for some time after he became
King, first from habit and affection, and latterly from the fears
with which she continued to inspire him, that she could, by her
disclosures, whenever she pleased, prevail upon the British
Government to set him aside in favour of some other member of the
royal family, as the Buhoo Begum of Fyzabad had set aside Wuzeer
Allee. She made him dismiss his father's minister, Aga Meer, with
disgrace, and confer the seals on Fuzl Allee, the nephew of her
favourite waiting-woman, Fyzon Nissa; but when the shrewd and
sagacious Hakeem Mehndee became minister three years after, he soon
persuaded the young King, that all fears of his adoptive mother's
disclosures or wishes were idle, and that nothing which she could do
or say would induce the British Government to disturb his possession
of the sovereignty of Oude. He is said to have been the first person
who ventured to hint to him the murder of his natural mother by the
Padshah Begum; and he was, or pretended to be, violently shocked and
grieved. He then built a splendid tomb or cenotaph for her; and
endowed it with the means for maintaining pious men to read the Koran
in it, and attendants of all kinds to keep it in a condition suitable
for the mother of a King. He shuddered, or pretended to shudder, at
the mention of the name of the Padshah Begum, as the most atrocious
of murderesses. The minister of the day always made it a point to
bring the reigning favourite of the seraglio over to his views, by
giving her a due share of the profits and patronage of his office;
and it was for this reason, that the high-born chief consort, whose
influence over the King could not be so purchased, was soon made to
retire from the palace, and, ever after, to live separated from her
husband.
The Padshah Begum had only one child, a daughter, who was united in
marriage to Mehndee Allee Khan, by whom she had three children,
Mohsen-od Dowlah, who was married to the daughter of Nuseer-od
Dowlah, the new King; and two daughters who were married to Mirza
Abool Kasim, and Mirza Aboo Torab. They lost their mother while yet
children, and the Padshah Begum brought them up and became much
attached to them. They had all from childhood been brought up with
Nuseer-od Deen, and were all much attached to him and to each other.
The ministers, fearing that this attachment might possibly lead to a
reconciliation between the King and his adoptive mother, and to their
ruin, left him and her no peace till, to save them, she forbade them
her house, and sent the girls to their husbands, and the boy to his
father-in-law, Nuseer-od Dowlah, whose succession to the throne of
Oude has been here described. All objects of mutual interest and
affection were in this manner carefully excluded from attendance on
either, till they showed themselves to be entirely subservient to the
minister of the day.*
[* The mother always declared, and her two daughters and son all
declare, Moonna Jan to have been the son of Nuseer-od Deen, and
exactly like him in person, voice, and temper. But he was indulged by
the Padshah Begum in each habits of atrocious cruelties to other
children, that he soon became detested by all around him but herself
and the boy's natural mother, Afzul-mahal.]
Thus alienated from her son, all her affections were transferred to
her grandson, Moonna Jan, and there is too much reason to believe,
that in both cases she purposely did her best to prevent their ever
becoming men of business, in order that she might have the guidance
of public affairs in her own hands when they should be called to the
throne.
The Resident accommodated the Begum, the boy, and her two female
attendants in apartments at the Residency, and had a guard placed
over them. The new King told him, "that the Begum was the most wicked
and unscrupulous woman he had ever known, and that he could expect no
peace at Lucknow while she remained." He promised to consult his
Government as to her disposal, and on returning to the Residency he
increased that guard to two companies of Native Infantry, and all
remained quiet when he made his report to Government on the 9th. But
towards the close of that day, the city became again agitated.
Reports prevailed, that Government was to be consulted as to whether
they preferred the rights of Moonna Jan to the throne or those of
Nuseer-od Dowlah; that the Begum's adherents were ready at her call
to fall upon the Resident and his party, and put them all to death,
or to attack the apartments in which she was confined, rescue her and
the boy from prison, and place him again on the throne. The Court
favourites of the late King, and all the public military and civil
establishments in the city, dreaded the rigid economy and strict
supervision of the new King, who had conducted the duties of the
ministry for some time, under his able and vigilant father, Saadut
Allee Khan; and all that numerous class who benefit by the lavish
expenditure of a thoughtless and profligate Court were equally
anxious to have the Government in the hands of an extravagant woman
and thoughtless boy, and ready to join and incur some risk in
supporting their cause.
Under all these circumstances the Resident determined to send the
Begum and her boy out of Oude as soon as possible. At midnight on the
11th, a detachment of three companies of Infantry, under Major Lane
of the 2nd Regiment, marched from Cawnpore and arrived at Newulgunge,
midway to Lucknow, a distance of twenty-two miles, in the morning of
the 12th, with one troop of cavalry. Another troop proceeded to Onow,
the first stage from Cawnpore, and a third to Rahmutgunge, the second
stage, to relieve the first on their return. At each of these stages,
relays of sixty palankeen-bearers and six torch-bearers were placed
by the Post-Master at Cawnpore. As the bridge over the Ganges at
Cawnpore had been washed away by the flood, a company of Native
Infantry was placed on the Oude side of that river, to hold boats in
readiness, and assist in escorting over the party when they came.
About the same time, at midnight, the Begum, her boy, and two of her
female attendants were placed in palankeens and sent off from the
Residency under the escort of a regiment of Infantry, and a detail of
artillery, attended by the Second Assistant, Captain Shakespear.
They marched without resting through one of the hottest days of the
year, and the party reached Cawnpore in safety about half-past nine
o'clock in the evening of the 12th, and were securely lodged in
apartments prepared for them at the custom-house. So well had things
been arranged between the Resident and Brigadier commanding the
troops in Oude, and the Major-General commanding the Division at
Cawnpore, that very few persons at Lucknow knew that the Begum and
her party had left the Residency when she passed the Ganges at
Cawnpore. The three companies under Major Lane, who had marched
twenty-two miles in the morning, kept pace with the palankeens all
the way back, making a march of forty-four miles, between midnight of
the 11th, and half-past nine in the evening of the 12th, in so hot a
day.
The Begum and Moonna Jan were sent off with their attendants to the
fort of Chunar, where they were lodged as state prisoners. As it
became safe, the restrictions to which they were at first subjected
became by degrees relaxed, and they were permitted to enjoy all the
freedom and comforts compatible with their safe keeping. Both died at
Chunar, Moonna Jan some time before the Begum. He left three sons by
two slave-girls at Chunar, and they still reside there, supported by
a small stipend of three hundred rupees a-month from the Oude
Government, under the protection of the commandant of the garrison,
and the guardianship of Afzul mahal, the mother of the late Moonna
Jan.
All these circumstances, as they occurred, were reported by the
Resident to the Government of India, who took time to deliberate, and
did not reply till the 19th of July 1837, when they signified their
approval of all that the Resident had done, with the exception of the
written declaration to which he had obtained the consent and
signature of the new King. They did not think that it would be
considered dignified or becoming the paramount power, to exact such a
declaration, binding himself to absolute submission, from the
sovereign of a country so much under their control, on ascending a
throne to which he was called as of right; and were of opinion that
his character as a prudent man of business, well trained to public
affairs, during the time he acted as minister under his father,
rendered such a declaration unnecessary. It was therefore annulled;
and the Governor-General, Lord Auckland, addressed a letter to his
Majesty expressing, in kind terms, his congratulations on his
accession to the throne, and his hopes of a better administration of
the Government of Oude under his auspicious guidance. This letter,
despatched by express, the Resident received on the 25th of July.
The Resident concluded, on good grounds, that the Government deemed a
new and more stringent treaty indispensable for the better government
of the country, and that advantage should be taken of the occasion to
prepare the new King for it. Government desired, that the
negotiations for a new treaty should be based "upon reason and right,
and not upon demand and submission." Had the declaration been allowed
to stand good, there would have been _right_ as well as _reason_ in
the treaty of 1837, which was soon after concluded.
The Resident intimated the receipt of these letters to the King, and
on the 28th, he waited on his Majesty, to present the Governor-
General's letter. He found him sitting up in his bed in a small
apartment in the baraduree, in his dishabille, having spent a
restless night from rheumatic pains; but he was cheerful and in good
spirits, and requested the Resident to present his respectful
compliments to the Governor-General, and grateful thanks for his
consideration and congratulations. All his relations, the chief
officers of the Government, and other persons of distinction about
the Court, were assembled to hear the letters read, and make their
offerings on this recognition of his authority by the paramount
power. "The King assured the Resident, that the arrival of this
recognition, and its public announcement, would greatly strengthen
his hands in the exercise of public duties, for during the last few
days bad reports had been industriously circulated by evil-disposed
persons to the effect, that the delay in the recognition of his
succession to the throne by the paramount power in India, had arisen
from discussions between the members of the Government in Calcutta,
as to the amount of money to be taken on the occasion from the new
King, as the price of his sudden elevation; and that no letter was to
be presented by the Resident until the money was paid, or security
given for its punctual payment; that the Governor-General himself
wanted _two crores_ of rupees, but some members of the Government
would be satisfied with _a crore and half_ each, and others even with
_one crore_ each, provided that these sums were paid forthwith." In
relating this story, which the Resident had heard from many others
within the last few days, the King observed, "that he was too well
acquainted with the character for honour and justice of the
Honourable Company's Government, to give the slightest credit to such
scandal, the more especially since no demand of the kind had been
made on the accession of either of the last two Kings, who were known
to be rich, while he was equally well known to be poor; but that
nothing but the arrival of this despatch confirming him on the
throne, could convince many, even well-disposed persons, of the utter
groundlessness of such wicked rumours; that many poor but respectable
persons, who had been weak enough to believe such rumours, would feel
much relieved when they heard the salutes which were now being fired,
for they had apprehended, that they might be severe sufferers by
being compelled to contribute their own property, in order to enable
him to make up the _peshkush_, or tribute, required by the British
Government, since the late King had squandered the ten crores, which
he found in the treasury on the death of his father."
It is certain, that a great portion of the population of Lucknow
expected that some such demand would be made by the British
Government from the new sovereign, since his right to the throne
could be disputed, not only by Moonna Jan, the supposed son of the
late King, but by the undoubted sons of Shums-od Dowlah, the elder
brother of the present King, whose rights were barred only by that
peculiar feature of the Mahommedan law elsewhere adverted to in this
Diary. Every day of delay, in promulgating the final orders of the
Supreme Government, tended to add to this number; and by the time
that these final orders came, by far the greater portion of the city
were of the same opinion. The fears of the people tended to add to
their numbers, and give strength to the opinion, for all knew, that
there was but little left in the reserved treasury, that the expenses
greatly exceeded the annual revenue, and that the troops and
establishments were all greatly in arrear; and all believed that a
general contribution would have to be levied to meet the demand when
it came.*
[* Nuseer-od Dowlah reigned under the title of Mahommed Allee Shah,
from the 8th of July, 1837, to the 16th of May, 1842. Nuseer-od Deen
Hyder, his predecessor, had reigned from the 20th of October, 1827,
to the 7th of July, 1837. He, Nuseer-od Deen, found in the treasury,
when he ascended the throne, ten crores of rupees, or ten millions
sterling. He left in the treasury, when he died, only seventy lacs of
rupees, including the fifty-three lacs left by the Koduseea Begum.
Mahommed Allee Shah left in the treasury thirty-five lacs of rupees,
one hundred and twenty-four thousand gold mohurs, and twenty-four
lacs in our Government securities. Amjud Allee Shah reigned from the
16th of May, 1842, to the 13th of February, 1847; and left in the
treasury ninety-two lacs of rupees, one hundred and twenty-four
thousand gold mohurs, and the twenty-four lacs in our Government
securities. His son, Wajid Allee Shah, has reigned from the 13th of
February, 1847.]
The assertion, on the part of the late King, that he had ceased to
cohabit with Afzul mahal, the mother of Moonna Jan, for two years, or
even for six months before his birth, is now known to have been
utterly false, and known at the time to be so by his mother, the
Padshah Begum; with whom they both lived. Afzul-mahal, though of
humble birth and pretensions, maintained a fair reputation among
those who knew her best in a profligate palace, and has continued to
maintain the same up to the present day in adversity. In prison and
up to the hour of her death, which took place some time after that of
Moonna Jan himself, the old Begum declared that she had seen the boy
born, and had never lost sight of him; and that the story of his not
being the son of Nuseer-od Deen, was got up to prevent her ever
becoming reconciled to the King through the means of his son; and her
extraordinary affection for him never diminished while he lived. When
she retired from the palace of Nuseer-od Deen to her new residence of
Almas Bagh, she kept fast hold of the boy, and would never let him
out of her sight till they entered the prison at Chunar, when they
were obliged to occupy separate apartments. Up to his death she
watched over him with the tenderest care; and always declared to the
European officers placed over her, that the boy's father and mother
always resided with her up to the time of his birth. The boy was
remarkably like Nuseer-od Deen in form and features, as well as in
temper and disposition.
Afzul-mahal was a person of great good sense and prudence, and in all
things trusted by the old Begum, who before her death executed a
formal will, leaving to her the charge of Moonna Jan's three
children, and all the establishments; and since the death of the old
lady she has executed the trust conscientiously, and with great
economy; and with much difficulty managed to maintain all in
respectability upon the small stipend of three hundred rupees a-
month, allowed for their support by the King of Oude. In this, she
has been very much impeded and annoyed by the two slave-girls, the
mothers of Moonna Jan's children, who have been always striving to
get this stipend into their own hands, that they may share it with
their paramours. At the death of the old lady most of her female
companions and attendants refused to return to Lucknow, and remained
at Chunar with Afzul-mahal and the children; and all have to be
subsisted out of this small stipend. The slave-girls urge, that they
might have had separate pensions, had they obeyed the orders to
return to Lucknow on the death of the Begum, and that they ought not
now to share in the stipend of the children. Five or six of the
females were ladies of rank, and one of them, who died lately, was a
widow of Saadut Allee Khan.
This pension may be discontinued when the boys become of age, or
appropriated by them and their mothers for their own exclusive use,
and the Government of Oude should be required to assign pensions for
life to Afzul mahal, and the other females who are now supported from
it.
The salary of the prime minister, during the five years that Roshun-
od Dowlah held the office, was twenty-five thousand rupees a-month,
or three lacs a-year, and over and above this, he had five per cent.
upon the actual revenue, which made above six lacs a-year. His son,
as Commander-in-Chief, drew five thousand rupees a-month, though he
did no duty--his first wife drew five thousand rupees a-month, and
his second wife drew three thousand rupees a-month, total eighty-
eight thousand rupees a-month, or ten lacs and fifty-six thousand
rupees a-year. These were the avowed allowances which the family
received from the public treasury. The perquisites of office gave
them some five lacs of rupees a-year more, making full fifteen lacs
a-year.
Roshun-od Dowlah held office for only three months, under the new
sovereign, Mahommed Allee Shah. He was then superseded by Hakeem
Mahndee, thrown into prison, and made to pay twenty lacs to the
treasury, and two lacs in gratuities to Court favourites. After
paying these sums, he was permitted to go and reside at Cawnpore; but
his houses in the city, valued at three lacs, were afterwards
confiscated by the present King, on the ground of unpaid balances. He
took into keeping Dulwee, the younger of the two sisters; but she was
afterwards seduced away from him by one of his creatures, a
consummate knave, Wasee Allee, whose wife she now is. Dhunneea, the
eldest sister, is still residing at Lucknow. Roshun-od Dowlah's first
wife took off with her more than three lacs of rupees in our
Government securities, and his son, the Commander-in-Chief, took off
eight lacs of rupees in the same securities. Roshun-od Dowlah carried
off a large sum himself. She and his son afterwards left him, and now
reside in comfort upon the interest of these securities at Futtehgur,
while he lives at Cawnpore in poor circumstances.
Sobhan Allee, his deputy, was made to pay to the treasury seven lacs
of rupees, and in gratuities to court favourites five lacs more.
Roshun-od Dowlah was one of the principal members of the old
aristocracy of Lucknow, and connected remotely with the royal family;
and he got off more easily in consequence, compared with his means,
than his deputy, who had no such advantages, and was known to have
been the minister's guide in all things, though he would never
consent to hold any ostensible and responsible office.
Duljeet, a creature of Roshun-od Dowlah's, and prime favourite of the
late King, carried off, while the King lay dead, money and jewels to
the value of one lac of rupees, and concealed them in a vault at
Constantia. His associates, not satisfied with what he gave them,
betrayed him. The money and jewels were discovered and brought back,
and he was made to pay another lac of rupees to the treasury as a
fine. Dhunneea, the eldest of the two sisters, was made to disgorge
two lacs of rupees. Many other favourites of the late King were fined
in the same way.
The King had, in the case of Ghalib Jung, already described in this
Diary, declared his resolution of looking more closely into his
accounts in future, and punishing all transgressors in the same way;
and Roshun-od Dowlah often expressed to the Resident his
apprehensions that his turn to suffer must soon come. Sobhan Allee
Khan had much stronger grounds to fear, since he had made himself
utterly detested by the people generally, and had neither friends nor
connexions in the royal family or aristocracy of Lucknow. Under the
strong and general impression that the British Government was
determined to interpose, and take upon itself the administration of
the country, and that the King himself wished the independent
sovereignty of Oude to terminate with his reign, they most earnestly
desired his early death as their only chance of escape. The British
Government would not, they knew, make them refund any of their ill-
gotten wealth without full judicial proof of their peculations, and
this proof they knew could never be obtained. Indeed they were
satisfied that our Government, aware of the difficulty of finding
such proof, and occupied in forming and working a new system, would
not trouble themselves to seek for it; and that they should all be
left to reside where they chose, and enjoy freely the fruits of their
malversation.
The Resident had kept the instructions of the 15th of December, 1832,
from the supreme Government, a profound secret, lest they might lead
to intrigue and disturbance, and, above all, to the poisoning of many
innocent persons who might be considered to have a claim of right to
the throne; and all were surprised and confounded when it was
announced that the paramount power had already decided in favour of
Nuseer-od Dowlah, whose claims had never been thought of by the
people, or apprehended by the ministers. The instant they heard this
decision, they dreaded the scrutiny of the sagacious and parsimonious
old man, and the enmity of the favourites by whom he had been
surrounded in private life. These men, whom they had, in their pride
and power, despised and insulted, would now have their revenge; and
they wished for the success of the old woman and the boy, from whom
they might have a better chance of escape, till they could get their
wealth and their families out of the country.
I may here mention a similar repudiation of a supposed eldest son by
the late King. Mostafa Allee was brought up in the palace as his
eldest son, and on all occasions treated as such. Mahommed Allee
Shah, the late King's father, was always very fond of him, but
shortly before his death he became angry with him for some outrages
committed in the palace, and put him under restraint. The young man
requested the late King, his supposed father, to mediate with his
grandfather for his release. He refused to do so, and the young man
drew his sword, and threatened to kill him. He was kept under more
strict restraint till the grandfather died, and his father ascended
the throne, on the 16th of May, 1842. The King then requested the
Resident to assure the Governor-General that Mostafa Allee was not
his son--that he was a year and a-half old when his mother entered
the palace. The Resident reported accordingly on the 26th of that
month. The Governor-General required the statement to be made under
the King's own sign and seal, and it was transmitted on the 6th of
June, 1842. The present King was then declared heir-apparent to the
throne, and Mostafa Allee has ever since been in strict confinement
under him. The general impression, however, is that he was the eldest
son of the late King, and repudiated solely on account of his violent
temper and turbulent conduct. That he was treated as such during the
life of Mahommed Allee Shah, and that the late King dared not
repudiate him while his father lived, is certain.
By the treaty of 1801 we bound ourselves to defend the territories of
the sovereign of Oude from all foreign and domestic enemies; and to
defray the cost of maintaining the troops required for this purpose,
and paying some pensions at Furruckabad and Benares, the sovereign of
Oude ceded to our Government the under-mentioned districts, then
yielding the revenues specified opposite their respective names.*
* Districts ceded by Oude to the British Government by the treaty of
1801.
Etawa, Korah, Kurra - - - - - 55,48,577 11 9
Rehur and others - - - - - 5,33,374 0 6
Furruckabad - - - - - - 4,50,001 0 6
Khyreegurh, and Kunchunpore - - - 2,10,001 0 0
Azimgurh, Mounal, and Benjun - - - 6,95,624 7 6
Goruckpore - - - 5,09,853 8 0
Botwul - - - - 40,001 0 0 5,49,854 8 0
Allahabad and others- - - - - 9,34,963 1 3
Bareilly, Moradabad, Bijnore, Budown,
Pilibheet, and Shahjehanpore - - 43,13,457 11 3
Nawabgunge, Rehlee, &c. - - - - 1,19,242 12 0
Mohowl and others, with exception of
Jaulluk Arwu - - - - - 1,68,378 4 0
__________________
Total - - 1,35,23,474 8 3
Deduct
Nawabgunge - - - 1,19,242 12 0
Khyreegurh - - - 2,10,001 0 0 3,29,243 12 0
__________________
Total - - 1,31,94,230 12 3
Add
Handeea or Kewae - - - - - 1,52,905 0 0
__________________
Total - - 1,33,47,135 12 3
Present Revenues of the Territories we hold from Oude under the
treaty of 1801, according to the Revised Statistical Return of the
Districts of the North-West Provinces for 1846-47, prepared in 1848,
A.D.
_____________________________________________________________________
|Land Revenue | Abkaree |Stamp for | Total for
______ | 1846-47. | for | 1846-47. | 1846-47.
| | 1846-47. | |
__________________ _|_____________|__________|__________|____________
| | | |
Rohilcund .. .. .. | 64,44,341 | 2,47,854 | 2,04,576 | 68,96,771
Allahabad, including| | | |
Handeea _alias_ | 21,29,551 | 1,41,409 | 61,802 | 23,32,762
Kewae | | | |
Furruckabad .. .. | 13,57,544 | 88,061 | 49,698 | 14,95,303
Mynpooree .. .. .. | 12,33,901 | 24,822 | 20,484 | 12,79,207
Etawa .. .. .. .. | 12,80,596 | 19,647 | 10,355 | 13,10,598
Goruckpore.. .. .. | 20,80,296 | 2,10,045 | 96,549 | 23,86,890
Azimgurh, including | | | |
Mahoul .. .. .. | 14,89,887 | 81,257 | 53,925 | 16,25,069
Cawnpore .. .. .. | 21,51,155 | 1,26,155 | 57,406 | 23,34,700
Futtehpore.. .. .. | 14,25,431 | 60,370 | 21,063 | 15,06,864
|_____________|__________|__________|____________
Total .. .. |1,95,92,686 | 9,99,620 | 5,75,858 | 2,11,68,164
____________________|_____________|__________|__________|____________
** The lands are the same with the exception of Khyreegurh,
Nawabgunge ceded since, and Handeea received; but the names are
altered.
Khyreegurh and Kunchunpore were re-ceded to the Oude sovereign in the
treaty of the 11th of May, 1816, with the Turae lands, taken from
Nepaul, between Khyreegurh and Goruckpore, in liquidation of the loan
of one crore of rupees. In the same treaty, Handeea (_alias_ Kewae)
was ceded by Oude to the British Government, in lieu of Nawabgunge,
which was made over to the Oude sovereign by the British Government.
Handeea, or Kewae, now in the Allahabad district, yielded land
revenue, for 1846-47, rupees one lac, fifty-two thousand, and nine
hundred and five.
The British Government retained the power to station the British
troops in such parts of the Oude territories as might appear to it
most expedient; and the Oude sovereign bound himself to dismiss all
his troops, save four battalions of infantry, one battalion of
Nujeebs and Mewaties, two thousand horsemen, and three hundred
golundages, or artillerymen, with such numbers of armed peons as
might be deemed necessary for the purpose of collecting the revenue,
and a few horsemen and nujeebs to attend the persons of the amils. It
is declared that the territories ceded, being in lieu of all former
subsidies and of all expenses on account of the Honourable Company's
defensive establishments with his Excellency the sovereign of Oude,
no demand whatever shall be made upon his territory on account of
expenses which the Honourable Company may incur by assembling forces
to repel the attack, or menaced attack, of a foreign enemy; on
account of the detachment attached to his person; on account of
troops which may be occasionally furnished for suppressing rebellions
or disorders in his territories; on account of any future charge of
military stations; or on account of failures in the resources of the
ceded districts, arising from unfavourable seasons, the calamities of
war, or any other cause whatever.
The Honourable Company guarantees to him and to his heirs and
successors, the possession of the territories which remain to him
after the above cessions, together with the exercise of his and their
authority within the said dominions; and the sovereign of Oude
engages to establish, in his reserved dominions, such a system of
administration, to be carried into effect by his own officers, as
shall be conducive to the prosperity of his subjects, and calculated
to secure the lives and property of the inhabitants; and to advise
with, and act in conformity to the counsel of, the officers of the
British Government.
In the time of Asuf-od Dowlah, who died on the 21st September, 1797,
the military force of Oude amounted to eighty thousand men of all
arms, and in the direct pay of Government. Saadut Allee Khan, his
brother and successor, on the conclusion of the above treaty, and the
transfer of half his territory, reduced the number to thirty
thousand.
Relying entirely upon the efficiency of British troops to defend him
against external and internal enemies, and to suppress rebellion and
disorder, he laboured assiduously to reduce his expenditure within
the income arising from the reserved half of his dominions. He
resumed almost all the rent-free lands which had been granted with a
lavish hand by his predecessor, and paid off and discharged all
superfluous civil and military establishments, and, by his prudence
and economy, he so reduced his expenditure within the income, that on
his death on the 12th of July, 1814, he left fourteen millions
sterling, or fourteen crores of rupees, in a treasury which he found
empty when he entered upon the government in 1797. In this sum were
included the confiscations of the estates of some favourites of his
predecessors, Asuf-od Dowlah and Wuzeer Allee, who had grown rich
upon bribery and frauds of all kinds. He never confiscated the
estates of any good and faithful servants, who left lawful heirs to
their property.
He had been freely aided by British troops, according to the
stipulations of the treaty of 1801; but the British Government had
been made sensible, on several occasions, of the difficulty of
fulfilling its engagements with the sovereign with a due regard to
the rights and interests of his subjects. Saadnt Allee Khan was a man
of great general ability, had mixed much in the society of British
officers in different parts of India, had been well trained to habits
of business, understood thoroughly the character, institutions, and
requirements of his people, and, above all, was a sound judge of the
relative merits and capacities of the men from whom he had to select
his officers, and a vigilant supervisor of their actions. This
discernment and discrimination of character, and vigilant
supervision, served him through life; and the men who served him ably
and honestly always felt confident in his protection and support. He
had a thorough knowledge of the rights and duties of his officers and
subjects, and a strong will to secure the one and enforce the other.
To do so he knew that he must, with a strong hand, keep down the
large landed aristocracy, who were then, as they are now, very prone
to grasp at the possessions of their weaker neighbours, either by
force or in collusion with local authorities. In attempting this with
the aid of British troops, some acts of oppression were, no doubt,
committed; and, as the sympathies of British officers were more with
the landed aristocracy, while his were more with the humbler classes
of landholders and cultivators who required to be protected from
them, frequent misunderstandings arose, acts of just severity were
made to appear to be acts of wanton oppression, and such as were
really oppressive were exaggerated into unheard-of atrocities.
Our relations with the state of Oude, from the treaty of 1801 to the
death of Saadut Allee, were conducted by able men; but they had a
very difficult task to perform in conducting them to the satisfaction
of both parties to that treaty; and when the Government devolved upon
less able and well-disposed sovereigns, ministers, and public
officers, our Government and its representative became less and less
willing to comply with their requisitions for the aid of British
troops in the collection of the revenue, and the suppression of
rebellion and disorder. Our Government demanded, that the British
Resident should be fully informed of the cause which led to the
resistance complained of to legitimate authority; and be fully
satisfied of the justice and necessity of such aid before he afforded
it; and the sovereigns of Oude admitted the justice of this demand on
the part of the paramount power. But the Resident could never hear
fully and fairly both sides of the question, and the officers
commanding the troops were seldom disposed to do so; and neither was
competent to pass a sound judgment upon the justice and necessity of
complying with the requisitions made for the aid of the British
troops.
But when, under an imbecile and debauched sovereign, like Ghazee-od
Deen, and an unscrupulous minister, creatures and favourites began to
share so largely in the revenues of the country, this sort of
scrutiny on the part of the Resident and officers commanding troops,
employed in aid of the King's officers, became exceedingly
distasteful; and the minister gradually increased the military force
of Oude at his disposal, that he might do without it. During the last
few years of Ghazee-od Deen's reign, the Oude forces of all arms
amounted to about sixty thousand men. During the first few years of
his successor's, Nuseer-od Deen's, reign, these forces were augmented
by the ministers for the sake of the profit and patronage they gave
them; and in the year 1837, the forces of all arms, paid from the
treasury, amounted to more than sixty thousand men. A memorandum
given to the British Resident by the minister on the 8th of April
1837, showed the men of all descriptions, belonging to the Oude army,
to amount to sixty-seven thousand nine hundred and fifty-six. The
artillery, cavalry, and infantry, composing what they call the
regular army, amounted to twenty thousand, all badly paid, clothed,
armed, accoutred, and disciplined; and for the most part placed under
idle, incompetent, and corrupt commanders. The rest were nujeebs
employed in the provinces under local officers of the revenue and
police, and obliged to provide their own clothes, arms,
accoutrements, and ammunition. They were altogether without
discipline.
Government, on the 26th November, 1824, informs the Resident, "that
our troops are to be actively and energetically employed in the Oude
territory in cases of real internal commotion and disorder." And
again on the 22nd of July, 1825; Government condemns the Resident for
his disregard of the orders of the 26th of November, 1824, regarding
the employment of British troops in Oude, and states, "that it is
sincerely disposed to maintain the rights of the King of Oude to the
fullest extent, as guaranteed to him by the treaty with his father,
on the 20th of November, 1801; but observes, that upon the maturest
consideration of articles 3rd, 5th, and 6th of that treaty, and of
Lord Wellesley's memorandum in 1802, of the final results of
discussions between him and Saadut Allee, whilst Government admits
that, according to article the 3rd of the treaty, we were bound to
defend his Majesty's present territories 'against all foreign and
domestic enemies,' and that, in pursuance of the 4th article, the
Company's troops are to be employed, without expense to his Majesty,
not only 'to repel the attack, or menaced attack, of a foreign
enemy,' but also for suppressing rebellion and disorder in his
Majesty's territories; and that, in a strict adherence to the 6th
article, the King of Oude is entitled to exercise complete sovereign
authority within his own dominions, by a system of administration
conducive to the prosperity of his subjects, to be carried into
effect by his own officers, with the advice and counsel of the
officers of the British Government (in conformity to which his
Majesty is expressly engaged to act); yet the Governor-General in
council considered it to be indispensable and inherent in the nature
of our obligations, under the treaty referred to, that whenever the
King of Oude requires the aid of British troops, to quell any
disturbance, or to enforce any demand for revenue or otherwise, the
British Government is clearly entitled, as well as morally obliged,
to satisfy itself by whatever means it may deem necessary, that the
aid of its troops is required in support of right and justice, and
not to effectuate injustice and extortion.
"This principle, which has often been declared and acted upon daring
successive Governments, must still be firmly asserted, and resolutely
adhered to; and the Resident must consider it to be a positive and
indispensable obligation of his public duty, to refuse the aid of
British troops until he shall have satisfied himself, on good and
sufficient grounds (to be reported in each case as soon as
practicable, and when the exigency of the case may admit of it,
before the troops are actually employed), that they are not to be
employed but in support of just and legitimate demands."
On the 13th of July, 1827, Government, in reply to the Resident's
letter of the 30th May idem, expresses "its surprise that, under the
circumstances therein stated, he should have suffered so long a
period to elapse without adopting the most active and decided
measures against a subject of Oude, whose conduct is that of a public
robber and rebel against the authority of his Government; and whom
the King has plainly stated that he is unable to reduce to subjection
without the aid of British troops."
On the 20th of January, 1831, the Governor-General, Lord William
Bentinck, held a conference with the King of Oude, and told his
Majesty, in presence of his minister, that the state of things in
Oude, and maladministration in all departments, were such as to
warrant and require the authoritative interference of the British
Government for their correction; that he declined to make himself a
party to the nomination of the minister, or to have it understood
that the measure was a joint resolution of the two governments, so
that both should be responsible for its success in effecting
reformation; that the act was his Majesty's own, and the
responsibility must be his; that his Lordship hoped that a better
system would be established by his minister's agency, but if he
failed, and the same abuses and misrule continued, the King must be
prepared to abide the consequences; that the Governor-General
intended to make a strong representation to the authorities in
England on the state of misrule prevailing, and to solicit their
sanction to the adoption of specific measures, even to the length of
assuming the direct administration of the country, if the evils were
not corrected in the interim.
In the letter from Government dated the 25th of August, 1831,
referring to this advice, the Resident is told that by treaty we are
bound to give the aid of troops to quell internal resistance, as well
as to keep off external enemies, but by the same treaty the Oude
Government is bound to establish a good system of administration, and
to conform to our advice in this respect; that, finding it impossible
to procure the establishment of such an improved system, and seeing
that our troops were liable to be made the instruments of violence,
and vindictive and party proceedings, it was determined to withhold
the aid of troops except after investigation into the cause which
might lead to the application for them; that, by recent orders from
the Court of Directors, the Government would be authorised in
withholding them altogether, in the hope that the necessities of the
Oude Government might compel a reform such as we might deem
satisfactory; that matters had not, however, been brought to such an
issue, for the Oude Government having been deprived of the services
of British troops to execute its purposes, has entertained a body
stated at sixty thousand men, cavalry, infantry, and artillery,
whereof forty-five thousand are stationed in the interior for the
special purpose of reducing refractory zumeendars without British
aid. Government urges the necessity of reducing this number, and
states that if British troops be employed to enforce submission, it
seems impossible to avoid becoming parties to the terms of
submission, and guarantees of their observance afterwards on both
sides, in which case we should become mixed up in every detail of the
administration; it is therefore required that each case shall be
investigated and submitted for the specific orders of the Governor-
General.
On the 15th of August, 1832, the Governor-General addressed a letter
to his Majesty, the King of Oude, in the last sentence of which he
says, "I do not use this strong language of remonstrance without
manifest necessity. On former occasions the language of expostulation
has been frequently used towards you with reference to the abuses of
your Government, and as yet nothing serious has befallen you. I
beseech you, however, not to suffer yourself to be deceived into a
false security. I might adduce sufficient proof that such security
would be fallacious, but I am unwilling to wound your Majesty's
feelings, while the sincere friendship which I entertain for you
prevents my withholding from you that advice which I deem essential
to the preservation of your own dignity, and the prosperity of your
kingdom."
The Resident is told that the allusion in the concluding sentence of
his Lordship's letter refers to Mysore; that the King had probably
heard of our actual assumption of the government of that country, and
the Resident must avail himself of this topic to impress upon-his
mind the consequences which a similar state of things may entail upon
himself.
On the 11th of September, 1837, a subsidiary-treaty was concluded
with the new sovereign, Mahommed Allee Shah, on the ground that
though a larger force was kept up by the King of Oude than was
authorised by the treaty of 1801, still it was found inadequate to
the duties that devolved upon it, and it was therefore expedient to
relax the restrictions as to the amount of military force to be
maintained by the King of Oude, on condition that an adequate portion
of the increased forces should be placed under British discipline and
control. It was stipulated accordingly that the King might employ
such a military establishment as he might deem necessary for the
government of his dominion: that it should consist of not less than
two regiments of cavalry, five of infantry, and two companies of
artillery; that the Government of Oude should fix the sum of sixteen
lacs of rupees a-year for the expenses of the force, including their
pay, arms, equipments, public buildings, &c.; that the expenditure on
account of this force of all descriptions should never exceed sixteen
lacs; that the organization of this force should not commence till
eighteen months after the 1st of September, 1837; that the King
should take into his service an efficient number of British officers
for the due discipline and efficiency of this force; that this force
should be fixed at such stations in Oude as might seem to both
Governments, from time to time, to be best, and employed on all
occasions on which its services might be deemed necessary by the King
of Oude, with the concurrence of the Resident, but not in the
ordinary collections of the revenue; that the King should exert
himself, in concert with the Resident, to remedy the existing defects
in his administration; and should he neglect to attend to the advice
and counsel of the British Government, or its representative, and
should gross and systematic oppression, anarchy, and misrule, at any
time hereafter prevail within the Oude territories, such as seriously
to endanger the public tranquillity, the British Government would
have the right to appoint its own officers to the management of all
portions of the Oude territory in which such misrule might have
occurred for so long a period as it might deem necessary, the surplus
receipts in such case, after defraying all charges, to be paid into
the King's treasury, and a true and faithful account rendered to his
Majesty of the receipts and expenditure of the territories so
assumed; that should the Governor-General of India in Council be
compelled to resort to the exercise of this authority, he would
endeavour, as far as possible, to maintain (with such improvements as
they might admit of) the native institutions and forms of
administration within the assumed territories, so as to facilitate
the restoration of those territories to the sovereign of Oude when
the proper period of such restoration should arrive.
This treaty was ratified by the Governor-General in Council on the
18th of September, 1837, but the Honourable the Court of Directors,
with that anxious regard for strict justice which, after long and
varied experience, I have always found to characterise their views
and orders, disapproved of that part of the above treaty which
imposed on the Oude state the expense of the auxiliary force; and on
the 8th of July, 1839, the King was informed, amidst great
rejoicings, that he was relieved from this burthen of sixteen lacs of
rupees a-year, which the British Government took upon itself. Only
part of this auxiliary force had been raised when these orders came,
and only two regiments of infantry out of that part were retained,
one stationed at Soltanpore, and the other at Seetapore.
Up to 1835, the British forces in Oude amounted to two companies of
artillery, with fourteen guns, and six regiments of infantry. Early
in that year (1835), four guns, with a proportion of artillerymen,
and one regiment of Native Infantry, were withdrawn, leaving the
British force in Oude one company and a-half of artillery, with ten
guns, and five regiments of Native Infantry. In 1837, when two
infantry regiments of the auxiliary force had been raised, four guns
more, with a detail of artillery, and two regiments more of Native
Infantry were withdrawn from the two stations of Soltanpore and
Seetapore, leaving the force paid by the British Government one
company of artillery, with six guns, stationed at Lucknow, three
regiments of Native Infantry at Lucknow, one regiment of the Oude
auxiliary force stationed at Soltanpore, and the other at Seetapore.
There had been artillery and guns at Pertabgur, Soltanpore, Secrora
and Seetapore, and a regiment of regular cavalry at Pertabgur. In
1815 this regiment of cavalry was withdrawn for the Nepaul war, and
subsequently it was retained for the Mahratta war. It was sent back
to Pertabgur in 1820, but finally withdrawn in 1821. The British
Government now maintains no cavalry in any part of the King of Oude's
dominions, and no artillery or guns at any place but Lucknow.*
[* There is a small detachment of thirty sowars from an irregular
corps attached to the Resident.]
In fairness there should be guns at Seetapore and Soltanpore, and a
corps of regular or irregular cavalry at Lucknow, or some other more
convenient station. The stations of Secrora and Pertabgur were done
away with by general orders 28th January, 1835, when one regiment of
Native Infantry was withdrawn altogether from Oude, and one added to
the two theretofore stationed at Lucknow. In consequence of these
arrangements, the British force in Oude is much less than it was when
the treaty of the 11th of September, 1837, was made, and assuredly
less than it should be with a due regard to our engagements and the
Oude requirements. Our Government instead of taking upon itself the
additional burthen of sixteen lacs of rupees a-year to render the
Oude Government more efficient, has relieved itself of a good deal of
that which it bore before the new treaty was entered into, and this
is certainly not what the Court of Directors contemplated, or the
Oude Government expected.
Our exigencies became great with the Affghan war, and have continued
to be so from those wars which grew out of it with Gwalior, Scinde,
and the Punjab; but they have all now passed away, and those of our
humble ally should be no longer forgotten or disregarded. Though we
seldom give him the use of troops in support of the authority of his
local officers, still the prestige of having them at hand, in support
of a just cause, is unquestionably of great advantage to him and to
his people, and this advantage we cannot withhold from him with a due
regard to the obligations of solemn treaties.
But in considering the rights which the sovereign of Oude has
acquired by solemn treaties to our support, we must not forget those
which the five millions of people subject to his rule have acquired
by the same treaties to the protection of our Government, and it is a
grave question, that must soon be solved, whether we can any longer
support the present sovereign and system of government in Oude,
without subjecting ourselves to the reproach of shamefully neglecting
the duties we owe to these millions.
The present King ascended the throne on the death of his father, on
the 13th of February, 1847. In a letter dated the 24th of July of
that year, the Resident is told "that it will be his Majesty's duty
to establish such an administration, to be carried out by his own
officers, as shall insure the prosperity of the people; that any
neglect of this essential principle will be an infringement of
treaty; and that the Governor-General must, in the performance of his
duty, require the King to fulfil his obligations to his subjects--
that his Majesty must understand that, as a sovereign, he has duties
to perform to, as well as claims to exact from, the people committed
to his care."
In the month of November in that year, the Governor-General. Lord
Hardinge, visited Lucknow; and in a conference held with the King, he
caused a memorandum which he had drawn up for the occasion to be read
and carefully explained to his Majesty. It stated, "that in all our
engagements the utmost care had always been taken, not only to uphold
the authority of native rulers, but also to secure the just rights of
the people subject to their rule; that the same principle is
maintained in the treaty of 1801 with Oude, in the sixth paragraph of
which the engagement is entered into 'for the establishment of such a
system of government as shall be conducive to the prosperity of the
King's subjects, and calculated to secure to them their lives and
properties;' that in the memorandum of 1802, signed by the Governor-
General, the King engages to establish judicial tribunals for the
free and pure administration of justice to all his subjects; and that
it is recorded in the sovereign's own hand in that document, 'let the
Company's officers assist in enforcing obedience to these tribunals;'
that it is, therefore, evident that in all these stipulations the
same principle prevailed--namely, that while we engage to maintain
the prince in the full exercise of his powers, we also provide for
the protection of his people.
"That, in the more recent treaty of 1837, it is stated that the
solemn and paramount obligation provided by treaty for the prosperity
of his Majesty's subjects, and the security of the lives and property
of the inhabitants, has been notoriously neglected by several
successive rulers in Oude, thereby exposing the British Government to
the reproach of having imperfectly fulfilled its obligations towards
the Oude people; that his Lordship alludes to the treaty of 1837, as
confirming the original treaty of 1801, and not only giving the
British Government the right to interfere, but declaring it to be the
intention of the Government to interfere, if necessary, for the
purpose of securing good government in Oude; that the King can,
therefore, have no doubt that the Governor-General is not only
justified, but bound by his duty, to take care that the stipulations
provided by treaty shall be fairly and substantially carried into
effect; that if the Governor-General permits the continuation of any
flagrant system of mismanagement which by treaty he is empowered to
correct, he becomes the participator in abuses which it is his duty
to redress; and in this case no ruler of Oude can expect the
Governor-General to incur a responsibility so repugnant to the
principles of the British Government, and so odious to the feelings
of the British people.
"That, in the discussion of this important subject, advice and
remonstrance have been frequently tried, and have failed; that the
Governor-General hopes that the King will exercise a sounder judgment
than those who have preceded him, and that he will not be compelled
to exchange friendly advice for imperative and absolute interference;
that when the Governor-General, Lord William Bentinck, had a
conference with the former King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, on this
subject, on the 20th of January, 1831, he deemed it right frankly to
inform him that if the warning which he then gave was disregarded by
his Majesty, it was his intention to submit to the home authorities
his advice that the British Government should assume the direct
management of the Oude dominions; that the Honourable the Court of
Directors coincided in his Lordship's views and, in order that no
doubt may remain on the King's mind as to the sentiments of the home
authorities on this point, he, Lord Hardinge, here inserts an extract
from the despatch of that Court, for his information; that it is as
follows:-- 'We have, after the most serious consideration, come to
the determination of granting to you the discretionary power which
you have requested, from us for placing the Oude territories under
the direct management of officers of the British Government; and you
are hereby empowered, if no real and satisfactory improvement shall
have taken place in the administration of that country, and if your
Government shall still adhere to the opinion expressed in the minute
of the Governor-General, to carry the proposed measure into effect,
at such period and in such manner as shall appear to you most
desirable;' that this resolution was communicated to the Resident and
to the King, and advantage was taken of it to press upon his Majesty
the necessity of an immediate reform of his administration; that the
above extract will enable the King to form a clear judgment of the
position in which the sovereigns of Oude are placed by treaty; that
the Governor-General is required, when gross and systematic abuses
prevail, to apply such a remedy as the exigency of the case may
appear to require--that he has no option in the performance of that
duty.
"That by wisely taking timely measures for the reformation of abuses,
as one of the first acts of his reign, his Majesty will, with honour
to his own character, rescue his people from their present miserable
condition; but if he procrastinates he will incur the risk of forcing
the British Government to interfere, by assuming the government of
Oude; that the former course would redound to his Majesty's credit
and dignity, while the latter would give the British Government
concern in the case of a prince whom, as our ally, we sincerely
desire to honour and uphold; that for these reasons, and on account
of the King's inexperience, the Governor-General is not disposed to
act immediately on the power vested in him by the Honourable Court's
despatch above quoted, still less is he disposed to hold him
responsible for the misrule of his predecessors, nor does he expect
that so inveterate a system of misgovernment can suddenly be
eradicated; that the resolution, and the preliminary measures 'to
effect this purpose,' can and ought at once to be adopted by the
King; that if his Majesty cordially enters into the plan suggested by
the Governor-General for the improvement of his administration, he
may have the satisfaction, within the period specified of two years,
of checking and eradicating the worst abuses, and, at the same time,
of maintaining his own sovereignty and the native institutions of his
kingdom unimpaired; but if he does not, if he takes a vacillating
course, and fail by refusing to act on the Governor-General's advice,
he is aware of the other alternative and of the consequences. It
must, then, be manifest to the whole world that, whatever may happen,
the King has received a friendly and timely warning."
On the 24th of December in that year, 1847, Government, in reply to
the Resident's letter of the 30th November, states that it does not
consider the King's reply in any respect satisfactory; that the
Resident is to remind his Majesty that under paragraph the 23rd of
the memorandum read out to him by the Governor-General's direction,
the Resident has been required to submit periodical reports of the
state of his dominions, and that his Majesty must be fully aware of
the responsibility he incurs if he neglects, during the interval
allowed him, to introduce the requisite reforms in his
administration.
More than two years have elapsed since this caution was given, and
the King has done nothing to improve his administration, abstained
from no personal indulgence, given no attention whatever to public
affairs. He had before that time tried to imitate his father, attend
a little to public affairs, and see occasionally the members of the
royal family and aristocracy, at least of the city, and heads of
departments; but the effort was painful, and soon ceased altogether
to be made. He had from boyhood mixed in no other society than that
in which he now mixes exclusively, and he will never submit to the
restraints of any other. The King has utterly disregarded alike the
Governor-General's advice and admonitions, the duties and
responsibilities of his high office, and the sufferings of the many
millions subject to his rule. His time and attention are devoted
entirely to the pursuit of personal gratifications; he associates
with none but such as those who contribute to such gratifications--
women, singers, and eunuchs; and he never, I believe, reads or hears
read any petition from his suffering subjects, any report from his
local officers civil or military, or presidents of his fiscal and
judicial courts, or functionaries of any hind. He seems to take no
interest whatever in public affairs, and to care nothing whatever
about them.
The King had natural capacity equal to that of any of those who have
preceded him in the sovereignty of Oude since the death of Saadut
Allee in 1814, but he is the only one who has systematically declined
to devote any of that capacity, or any of his time, to the conduct of
public affairs; to see and occasionally commune with the heads of
departments, the members of the royal family, and native gentlemen of
the capital; to read or have read to him the reports of his local
functionaries, and petitions or redress of wrongs from his suffering
subjects.*
[*This systematic disregard of his high duties and responsibilities
still continues to be manifested by the King of Oude; and is
observed, with feelings of indignation and abhorrence, by his well-
disposed subjects of all classes and grades, who are thereby left to
the mercy of men without any feeling of security in their tenure of
office, any scruples of conscience, or feelings of humanity, or of
honour. So inveterate is the system of misgovernment--so deeply are
all those, now employed in the administration, interested in
maintaining its worst abuses--and so fruitless is it to expect the
King to remove them, or employ better men, or to be ever able to
inspire any men, whom he may appoint, with a disposition to serve him
more honestly, and to respect the rights of others, or consider the
reputation and permanent interests of their own master, that the
impression has become strong and general, that our Government can no
longer support the present Government of Oude, without seriously
neglecting its duty towards the people.--1851, W. H. S.]
In the reports of the Resident on the state of affairs in Oude, and
the replies of Government, much importance has been always attached
to the change from the contract, or _ijara_ system, to that of the
_amanee_, or trust management system; and since the time of Lord
Hardinge's visit many more districts have been put under the latter
system; but this has not tended, in the smallest degree, to the
benefit of the people of these districts. The same abuses prevail
under the one system as under the other. The troops employed in the
districts under the one are the same as those employed in the
districts under the other, and they prey just as much upon the
people. There is the same system of rack-rent in the one as in the
other, and the same uncertainty in the rate of the Government demand.
The manager under the _amanut_ system demands the same secret
gratuities and _nuzuranas_ for himself and his patrons at Court from
the landholders, as the contractor; and if they refuse to pay them
they are besieged, attacked, and cut up, and their estates desolated
in the same manner. The _amanut_ manager knows that his tenure of
office depends as much upon the amount which he pays to his
sovereign, and to his patrons at Court, as that of the contractor,
and he exacts and extorts as much as he can in the same manner.
Unless he pays his patrons the same he knows that he shall soon be
removed, or driven to resign by the want of means to enforce the
payment of the revenues justly due.
The objections which are urged against the employment of British
troops in support of the authority of revenue contractors, are
equally applicable to their employment in support of that of amanee
managers. Their employment is just as liable to abuse under the one
as under the other. It is not a whit easier to ascertain whether a
demand for balance of revenue from, or a charge of contumacy against,
a landholder is just or unjust in the one than in the other. In
neither is the demand set forth in public documents understood by
either party to be the real demand. Both parties are equally
interested in preventing a portion of the _real_ demand from
appearing in the public accounts; and the quarrel is almost always
about the rate of this concealed portion--the collector trying to
augment, and the landlord trying to reduce it.
In a letter to the Resident, dated the 29th of March, 1823,
Government observes: "As some palliation of the mischief of our
forces being constantly employed in what might be too often termed
the cause of injustice and extortion, the Government in 1811
distinctly declared our right of previously investigating, and of
arbitrating the demands which its troops might be called upon to
support as also its resolution to exercise that right on all future
occasions. The execution of the important duty in question seems to
be almost invariably delegated by the Resident to the officers
commanding at the different stations, who, after receiving general
powers to attend to the requisitions of the amils, become the sole
judges of the individual cases, in which aid is to be afforded or
withheld; and the discretion again unavoidably descends from them, in
many instances, to the officers commanding parties detached from the
main body. It is obvious that an inquiry of this description can
afford but a partial check to, and a feeble security against,
injustice and oppression where specific engagements rarely exist, and
where the point at issue is frequently the demand for augmenting
rates of revenue, founded on alleged assets sufficient to meet that
increase.
"Neither is the aid thus afforded at all effectual for the purposes
of the Government of Oude, whether present or future, as is clear
from the annual repetition of the same scenes of resistance and
compulsion. As fast as disorders are suppressed in one quarter they
spring up in another. Forts that are this year dismantled are
restored again the next; the compulsion exercised upon particular
individuals in one season has no effect in producing more regularity
on their parts, or on that of others in the ensuing season, until the
same process has been again gone through; whilst the contempt and
odium attaching to a system of collecting the revenues, by the
habitual intervention of the troops of another State, infallibly tend
to aggravate the evil, by destroying all remains of confidence in his
Majesty, or respect for his authority."
The aid of British troops in the collection of the revenues of Oude
has long ceased to be afforded; but when they have been afforded for
the suppression of leaders of atrocious bands of robbers, who preyed
upon the people, and seized upon the lands of their weaker
neighbours, and they have been driven from their forts and
strongholds, the privilege of building them up again, or re-occupying
and garrisoning them with the same bands of robbers, to be employed
in the same way, is purchased from the local authorities, or the
patrons of these leaders at Court, during the same or the succeeding
season. The same things continue to be done every season where no
British troops are employed. Such privileges are purchased with as
much facility as those for the supply of essence or spices in the
palace; unless the Resident should interpose authoritatively to
prevent it, which he very rarely does. Indeed it is seldom that a
Resident knows or cares anything about the matter.
I may say generally, that in Oude the larger landholders do not pay
more than one-third of their net rents to the Government, while some
of them do not pay one-fifth or one-tenth. In the half of the
territory made over to us in 1801, the great landholders who still
retain their estates pay to our Government at least two-thirds of
their net rents. In Oude these great landholders have, at present,
about two hundred and fifty mud forts, mounting about five hundred
guns, and containing on an average four hundred armed men, or a total
of one hundred thousand, trained and maintained to fight against
other, or against the Government authorities; and to pillage the
peaceful and industrious around whenever so employed. In the half of
the territory ceded to us in 1801, this class of armed retainers has
disappeared altogether. Hence from the Oude half we have some fifty
thousand native officers and sipahees in our native army, while from
our half we have not perhaps five thousand.
One thing is clear, that we cannot restore to the Oude Government the
territory we acquired from it by the treaty of 1801, and the people
who occupy it; and that we cannot withdraw our support from that
Government altogether without doing so. It is no less clear that all
our efforts to make the Government of Oude, under the support which
we are bound by that treaty to give it, fulfil the duties to its
people to which it was pledged by that treaty, have failed during the
fifty years that have elapsed since it was made.
The only alternative left, appears to be for the paramount power to
take upon itself the administration, and give to the sovereign, the
royal family, and its stipendiary dependents, all the surplus
revenues in pensions, opening as much as possible all employments in
the civil administration to the educated classes of Oude. The
military and police establishments would consist almost exclusively
of Oude men. Under such a system more of these classes would be
employed than at present, for few of the officers employed in the
administration are of these classes--the greater part of them are
adventurers from all parts of India, without character or education.
The number of such officers would be multiplied fourfold, and the
means of paying them would be taken from the favourites and parasites
of the Court who now do nothing but mischief.
Such a change would be popular among the members of the royal family
itself, who now get their pensions after long intervals--often after
two and even three years, and with shameful reductions in behalf of
those favourites and parasites whom they detest and despise, but whom
the minister, for his own personal purposes, is obliged to conciliate
by such perquisites. It would be popular among the educated classes,
as opening to them offices now filled by knaves and vagabonds from
all parts of India, It would be no less so to the well-disposed
portion of the agricultural classes, who would be sure of protection
to life, property, and character, without the expensive trains of
armed followers which they now keep up. But to secure this, we should
require to provide them with a more simple system of civil judicature
than that which we have at work in our old territories.
The change would be popular, with few exceptions, among all the
mercantile and manufacturing classes. It would give vast employment
to all the labouring classes throughout the country, in the
construction of good roads, bridges, wells, tanks, temples, suraes,
military and civil buildings, and other public works; but above all,
in that of private dwellings, and other edifices for use and
ornament, in which all men would be proud to lay out their wealth to
perpetuate their names, when secured in the possession by an honest
and efficient Government; but more especially those who would be no
longer able to employ their means in maintaining armed bands, to
resist the local authorities and disturb the peace of the country. On
the whole, I think that at least nine-tenths of the people of Oude
would hail the change as a great blessing; always providing, that our
system of administration should be rendered as simple as possible to
meet the wants and wishes of a simple people.
Though the Resident has never been able to secure any substantial and
permanent improvement in the administration, he often interposes
successfully in individual cases, to relieve suffering, and secure
redress for wrongs; and the people see that he interferes in no
others. Their only regret is, that he does not interpose more often,
and that his efforts, when he does, should be so often thwarted or
disregarded. The British character is, in consequence, respected in
the remotest village and jungle in Oude; and there is, I believe, no
part of India where an European officer is received, among the people
of all classes, with more kindness and courtesy than in Oude. There
is, certainly, no city or town in any other native State in India
where he is treated in the crowded streets with more respect. This
must of course be accounted for in great measure from the greater
part of the members of the royal family, and the relatives and
dependents of the several persons who have held the highest offices
of the State since 1814, either receiving their incomes from the
British Government in treaty pensions, or in interest on our
Government securities, or being guaranteed in those which they
receive from the Oude Government by ours. A great many of the
families of the middle classes depend entirely upon the interest
which they receive from us on our Government securities. There is,
indeed, hardly a respectable family in Lucknow that is not more or
less dependent upon our Government for protection, and proud to have
it considered that they are so. The works and institutions which
would soon be created out of revenues, now absorbed by worthless
Court favourites, would soon embellish the face of the country,
improve the character, condition, and habits of the people, stimulate
their industry in agriculture, manufactures, and commerce; and render
our connection with the Oude Government honourable to our name in the
estimation of all India.