an admirable opportunity of setting all right and doing an infinite
deal of good with little trouble. I know how little you have of time
and attention to devote to such things, and conclude that Mr.
Devereux cannot have much more, and you may feel assured that I shall
do all in my power to assist you. We are here attempting to give the
education of gentlemen to beggar-boys, who must always depend upon
their daily work for their daily bread. The senior boys are in
despair, for they find that they have learnt hardly anything to fit
them for the only employments open to them, and this tends to
discourage the younger ones. The Roorkee Civil Engineering School
seems to have been eminently successful, and a fine field is open to
all who are taught in it. We shall no doubt have a similar field open
in Oude when Government interposes in behalf of the suffering people,
and we might prepare for it by converting the Martinière into a
similar school or college. The committee has just expressed to you a
hope that Mr. Crank, the officiating principal, may be able to pass
an examination in the native languages. This hope can never be
realised; and if he does I shall have to record my opinion that he is
otherwise unfitted. The power of nominating a principal rests
entirely with the trustees; and if you concur in my views you might
at once prepare for the change by getting a man from England or
elsewhere, such as Mr. Maclagan, the late superintendent of the
Roorkee school, fitted to teach civil engineering in all its
branches. You have the command of funds to provide him with
assistants of all kinds; and we have accommodations and funds to
raise more, and provide machinery, books, &c. The thing might be set
going at once, after you send a competent man to superintend it; and
the work will be honourable to our Government and ourselves, and of
vast benefit to the boys brought up at this Martinière, and to their
parents and families. If you think favourably of the proposed change,
and will direct the committee to take it into consideration, I will
do my best to make it respond cordially to your call; or if you
direct the measure to be adopted at once, I will see that it is
worked out as it should be. Mr. Crank has a good knowledge of
mathematics and mechanics, and will make a good second under a good
first; but he would be quite unfit for a first. Mr. Maclagan intended
going home, via Bombay, as soon as relieved by Captain Oldfield, and
has embarked by this time. He might be written to, to send out a
competent person and the required machinery. Constantia is admirably
adapted for such an establishment; the river Goomtee flows close
under it; the grounds are ample, open, and level, and the climate
fine. It would interest the whole of the Oude aristocracy, and induce
them to send their sons there for instruction. It would be gratifying
to the Judges of the Supreme Court to know that the funds available
were devoted to a purpose so highly useful; and you would carry home
with you the agreeable recollection of having engrafted so useful a
branch upon the almost useless old trunk of the Martinière.
Yours very truly,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To F. J. Halliday, Esq.
Secretary to Government,
Calcutta.
Mr. Maclagan is a Lieutenant of Engineers, and lives in Edinburgh.
__________________________
Lucknow. 10th April, 1852.
My Lord,
In September 1848, I took the liberty to mention to your Lordship my
fears that the system of annexing and absorbing native States--so
popular with our Indian service, and so much advocated by a certain
class of writers in public journals--might some day render us too
visibly dependent upon our native army; that they might see it, and
that accidents might occur to unite them, or too great a portion of
them, in some desperate act. My only anxiety about Burmah arises from
the same fears. Our native army has been too much _petted_ of late;
and they are liable to get into their heads the notion that we want
them more than they want us. Had the 38th been at first ordered to
march to Aracan, they would, in all probability, have begged their
European officers to pray Government to permit them to go by water.
We committed a great mistake in not long ago making all new levies
general service corps; and we have committed one not less grave in
restricting the admissions into our corps to high-caste men: and
encouraging the promotion of high-caste men to the prejudice of men
equally deserving but of lower caste. The Brahmins in regiments have
too much influence, and they are at the bottom of all the mischief
that occurs. The Rajpoots are too numerous, because they are under
the influence of the Brahmins, and feel too strong from their
numbers.
We require stronger and braver men than the Madras Presidency can
afford, with all their readiness for general service. The time may
not be distant when England will have to call upon India for troops
to serve in Egypt; and the troops from Madras, or even from Bombay,
will not do against Europeans. Men from Northern or Western India
will be required, and, in order to be prepared, it would be well to
have all new corps--should new corps be required--composed of men
from the Punjaub or the Himmalayah chain, and ready for any service.
Into such corps none but Seiks, Juts, Goojurs, Gwalas, Mussulmans,
and Hillmen should be enlisted. Too much importance is attached to
height, merely that corps may look well on parade. Much more work can
be got out of moderate sized than tall men in India. The tall men in
regiments always fail first in actual service--they are fit only for
display at reviews and on parades: always supposing that the
moderate-sized men are taken from Western and Northern India, where
alone they have the strength and courage required.
No recruit should henceforward be taken except on condition of
general service; and by-and-by the option may be given to all
sipahees, of a certain standing or period of service, to put their
names down for general service, or retire. This could not, of course,
be done at present. No commanding officer can say, at present, what
his regiment will do if called upon to aid the Government in any way
not _specified in their bond_. They have too commonly favourites, who
persuade them, for their own selfish purposes, that their regiments
will do anything to meet their wishes, at the very time that these
regiments are watching for an occasion to disgrace these favourites
by refusal. I have known many occasions of this. None but general
service corps or volunteers should be sent to Burmah from Bengal
during this campaign, or we shall hazard a disaster. There are, I
believe, several that your Lordship has not yet called upon. They
should be at hand as soon as possible, and their present places
supplied by others. In the mean time, corps of Punjaubies and Hillmen
should be raised for general service. Not only can no commanding
officer say what his corps will do under circumstances in which their
religion or prejudices may afford a pretext for disobedience, but no
officers can say how far their regiments sympathise with the
recusant: or discontented, corps, and are prepared to join them.
In case it should ever be proposed to make all corps general service
corps, in the way I mention, a donation would, of course, be offered
to all who declined of a month's pay for every year of past service,
or of something of that kind. A maximum might be fixed of four, five,
or six months. It would not cost much, for but few would go. I must
pray your Lordship to excuse the liberty I take in obtruding my
notions on this subject, but it really is one of vital importance in
the present state of affairs in India, as well as in Europe.
With great respect, I remain, &c.,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To the Moat Noble
The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.
Governor-General of India,
Calcutta.
__________________________
_Memorandum_.
In the year 1832 or 1833 the want of bamboos of large size, for yokes
for artillery bullocks, was much felt at Saugor and the stations of
that division; and the commissariat officer was authorised to form a
bamboo grove, to be watered by the commissariat cattle, in order to
supply the deficiency for the future. Forty beegas, or about twenty
acres of land, were assigned for the purpose, and Government went to
the expense of forming twelve pucka-wells, as the bamboos were
planted upon the black cotton-soil of Central India, in which kutcha-
wells do not stand. The first outlay was, therefore, greater than
usual, being three thousand rupees. The establishment kept up
consisted of one gardener, at five rupees a month, and two assistants
at three rupees each. The bamboos were watered by the artillery
bullocks and commissariat servants.
In a few years the bamboos became independent of irrigation, and no
outlay has since been incurred upon them. The bamboos are now between
forty and fifty feet high, and between four and five inches in
diameter. They are used by the commissariat and ordnance departments
at Saugor, but are not, I believe, required for yokes for the
artillery bullocks.
There is a grove of sesum trees near the Lucknow cantonments formed
in the same way, but with little or no outlay in irrigation. The
trees were planted, and all the cost incurred has been in the people
employed to protect them from trespass. In a dryer climate they might
require irrigation for a few years. Groves of saul, _alias_ sukhoo
trees, might be formed in the same manner in the vicinity of all
stations where there are artillery bullocks; and the bullocks
themselves would benefit by being employed in the irrigation. The
establishments kept up for the bullocks would be able to do all the
work required.
The complement of bullocks for a battery of 6 guns, 6 waggons, and 2
store carts, is 106. The number yoked to each gun and waggon is 61,
[transcriber's note, should be 6], and to each cart 4, leaving a
surplus of 26 for accidents. There would, therefore, be always a
sufficient number of bullocks available for the irrigation of such
groves where such a battery is kept up. These bullocks are taken care
of by 4 sirdars and 59 drivers; and an European sergeant of artillery
is appointed as bullock-sergeant to each battery, to superintend the
feeding, cleaning, &c. &c. The officer on duty sees the bullocks
occasionally, and the commanding officer sometimes. Such groves might
be left to the care of the commandant of artillery at small stations,
and to the commissariat officer at large ones.
At every large station there might be a grove of sesum, one of
sakhoo, and one of bamboos, each covering a hundred acres; and at all
stations with a battery, three groves of the same kind, covering each
twenty acres or more. For the convenience of carriage by water, such
groves might be formed chiefly in the vicinity of rivers, or in that
of the places where the timber is most likely to be required; but no
battery should be without such groves. The men and bullocks would
both benefit by the employment such groves would give them. The men,
to interest them, might each have a small garden within the grove
which he assists in watering.
Such groves would tend to improve the salubrity of the stations where
they are formed, and become agreeable and healthful promenades for
officers and soldiers. In most stations, kutcha-wells, formed at a
cost of from 20 to 50 rupees, would suffice for watering such groves.
They might be lined, like those of the peasantry, by twisted cables
of straw and twigs; and the men who attend the bullocks might be
usefully employed in weaving them, as all should learn to make
fascines and gabions. Willows should be planted near all the wells,
to supply twigs for making the cables for lining the wells, and the
manure of the artillery draft-bullocks should be appropriated to the
groves.
[Submitted to the Governor-General through the Private Secretary, in
March, 1852, with reference to a conversation which I had with his
Lordship in his camp.]
__________________________
Lucknow, 23rd August, 1852.
My Lord,
Permit me to offer my congratulations, not only on the success which
has hitherto attended your Lordship's arrangements in Burmah, but on
the very favourable impression which that success has made upon the
Sovereign and people of England. It has enabled you to show that the
war is not with the people of Burmah, but with a haughty, insolent,
and incompetent Government, with whom that people has no longer any
sympathy; and that, should circumstances render the annexation of any
portion of its territory necessary, the people of that portion would
consider the measure a blessing, and be well pleased to live in
harmony under the efficient protection of the new rule.
They are not in any way opposed to us from either religions or
political feelings, for they seem to consider Christianity as a
branch only of their own great system of Buddhism, which includes
almost half of the human race; and they are evidently weary of the
political institutions under which they now live, and which have
ceased to afford them protection of any kind. In the annexation of
Pegu--should it be forced upon your Lordship--there would be nothing
revolting to the feelings of its people or to those of the people of
England; on the contrary, both would be satisfied, after the
disposition the people of Pegu have manifested towards us, that the
measure was alike necessary to their security and to the honour and
interest of our Government.
Nor do I think that there would be any ground to apprehend that the
resources of the territory taken would not, after a time, be
sufficient to defray the costs of the establishments required to
retain and govern it. Among the people of Pegu we should find men
able and willing to serve us faithfully and efficiently in both our
civil and military establishments, and the drain for the maintenance
of foreigners would not be large. I have heard the mental and
physical powers of the men of Pegu spoken of in the highest terms by
persons who have spent the greater part of their lives among them;
and a country which produces such men cannot be generally
insalubrious. This early demonstration has enabled your Lordship to
ascertain and expose the determination of the Government of Ava not
to grant the redress justly demanded for wrongs suffered, so as to
enlist on our side the sympathy of all civilized nations, and at the
same time to discover the real weakness of the enemy and the
facilities offered to us, in their fine rivers, for the use of our
strong arm--the steam navy. Not a single "untoward event" has yet
occurred to dispirit our troops, or give confidence to the enemy, or
to prejudice the people of Burmah against us: and there certainly is
nothing in this war to make us apprehend "that our political
difficulties will begin when our military successes are complete." It
is not displeasing to perceive the strong tendency to an early onward
move, while your Lordship has so prudent a leader in General Godwin
to restrain it within due bounds.
I remain, &c.,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To the Most Noble
The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.
Governor-General of India.
Calcutta.
__________________________
Lucknow, September, 1852.
My Lord,
The longer the present King reigns, the more unfit he becomes to
reign, and the more the administration and the country deteriorate.
The State must have become bankrupt long ere this, but the King, and
the knaves by whom he is governed, have discontinued paying the
stipends of all the members of the royal family, save those of his
own father's family, for the last three years; and many of them are
reduced to extreme distress, and without the hope of ever getting
their stipends again unless our Government interferes. The females of
the palaces of former sovereigns ventured to clamour for their
subsistence, and they were, without shame or mercy, driven into the
streets to starve, beg, or earn their bread by their labour. This
deters all from complaining, and they are in a state of utter dismay.
No part of the people of Oude are more anxious for the interposition
of our Government than the members of the royal family; for there is
really no portion more helpless and oppressed: none of them can ever
approach the King, who is surrounded exclusively by eunuchs,
fiddlers, and poetasters worse than either; and the minister and his
creatures, who are worse than all. They appropriate at least one-half
of the revenues of the country to themselves, and employ nothing but
knaves of the very worst kind in all the branches of the
administration. The King is a crazy imbecile, who is led about by
these people like a child, and made to do whatever they wish him to
do, and to give whatever orders may best suit their private
interests. At present, the most powerful of the favourites are
Decanut od Doula and Husseen od Doula, two eunuchs; Anees od Doula
and Mosahib od Doula, two fiddlers; two poetasters, and the minister
and his creatures. The minister could not stand a moment without the
eunuchs, fiddlers, and poets, and he is obliged to acquiesce in all
the orders given by the King for their benefit. The fiddlers have
control over the administration of civil justice; the eunuchs over
that of criminal justice, public buildings, &c. The minister has the
land revenue; and all are making enormous fortunes. The present King
ought not certainly to reign: he has wilfully forfeited all right to
do so; but to set him aside in favour of his eldest, or indeed any
other son, would give no security whatever for any permanent good
government A well-selected regency would, no doubt, be a vast
improvement upon the present system; but no people would invest their
capital in useful works, manufactures, and trades, with the prospect
of being handed over a few years hence to a prince brought up
precisely in the same manner the present King was, and as all his
sons will be. What the people want, and most earnestly pray for is,
that our Government should take upon itself the responsibility of
governing them well and permanently. All classes, save the knaves,
who now surround and govern the King, earnestly pray for this--the
educated classes, because they would then have a chance of
respectable employment, which none of them now have; the middle
classes, because they find no protection or encouragement, and no
hope that their children will be permitted to inherit the property
they may leave, not invested in our Government securities; and the
humbler classes, because they are now abandoned to the merciless
rapacity of the starving troops, and other public establishments, and
of the landholders, driven or invited into rebellion by the present
state of misrule. There is not, I believe, another Government in
India so entirely opposed to the best interest's and most earnest
wishes of the people as that of Oude now is; at least I have never
seen or read of one. People of all classes have become utterly weary
of it. The people have the finest feelings towards our Government and
character. I know no part of India, save the valley of the Nurbuddah,
where the feeling towards us is better. All, from the highest to the
lowest, would, at this time, hail the advent of our administration
with joy; and the rest of India, to whom Oude misrule is well known,
would acquiesce in the conviction, that it had become imperative for
the protection of the people. With steamers to Fyzabad, and a
railroad from that place to Cawnpore, through Lucknow, the Nepaul
people would be for ever quieted, with half of the force we now keep
up to look after them; and the N. W. Provinces become more closely
united to Bengal, to the vast advantage of both. I mentioned that we
should require a considerable loan to begin with; but I think that an
issue of paper money, receivable in Oude in revenue, and payable to
public establishments in Oude, might safely be made to cover all the
outlay required to pay off odd establishments and commence the new
work. Little money goes out of Oude, and the increased circulating
medium, required for the new public works and new establishments,
would soon absorb all the paper issued. It might be issued at little
or no cost by the financial department of the new administration.
Though everybody knows that the King has become crazy and imbecile,
it would be difficult to get judicial proof that he is so, where the
life and property of every one are at his mercy and that of the
knaves who now govern him. His every-day doings sufficiently manifest
it. There is not the slightest ground for hope that he will ever be
any other than what he now is, or that his children will be better.
There are too many interested in depriving them of all capacity for a
part in public affairs that they may retain the reins in their own
hands when the children come of age to admit of their ever becoming
better than their father is. I have not lately made the reports which
Lord Hardinge directed the Resident to make periodically, but shall
be prepared to resume them whenever your Lordship may direct. I
suspended them on account of hostilities with Burmah. I have printed
eighteen copies of the establishments, as they are and were last
year, and as I proposed for the new system. I shall not let any one
have a copy till your Lordship permits it, and they are all at your
disposal if required. This, and the "Substantive Code," are the only
papers connected with Oude, except the Diary that I have had printed,
or shall have printed, unless ordered by you.
I remain, with great respect,
Your Lordship's obedient servant,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
P.S.--I believe that it is your Lordship's wish that the whole of the
revenues of Oude should be expended for the benefit of the royal
family and people of Oude, and that the British Government should
disclaim any wish to derive any pecuniary advantages from assuming to
itself the administration.
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To the Most Noble
The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.
Governor-General,
&c. &c. &c.
__________________________
Lucknow, 21st September, 1852.
My Dear Sir,
I will reply to the queries contained in your letter of the 16th
instant to the best of my recollection. I was in Calcutta in January,
1838, when the late Dyce Sombre was there, and about to embark for
England. I had seen a good deal of him at Sirdhanah, in March 1836,
soon after the Begum Sumroo's death, and he afterwards spent a short
time with me at Mussoorie, and consulted me a good deal on the
subject of a dispute with his father.
Colonel James Skinner and Dr. Drener were, I believe, executors to
his will. Colonel Skinner was at Delhi, and Dr. Drener had either
gone home or was going, I forget which, and Dyce Sombre asked me to
consent to become one of his trustees, for the conduct of his affairs
in this country. I consented, and I think the circumstance was
inserted in a codicil or memorandum added to his will or deed; but my
recollection on this point is not distinct.
I had, however, nothing to do with the conduct of his affairs in this
country until the death of Colonel James Skinner, which took place in
December, 1841, when Mr. Reghilini, the overseer or agent at
Sirdhanah, got my sanction to the outlay for establishments, &c. At
this time I corresponded with Dyce Sombre, and continued to do so
until his affairs were thrown into Chancery. I then sought a lawyer's
opinion as to my proper course, and refused to give Mr. Reghilini any
further orders. The opinion was, "that my only safe course was to do
nothing whatever in the conduct of his affairs;" and I never
afterwards did anything. I never heard of any Colonel Sheerman, and
his name may have been inserted by mistake for mine; but I was then
(1838) only a major, and was not promoted until 1843. I never heard
of any desire on the part of Dyce Sombre, or the Begum Sumroo, to
found a college other than as an appendage to the Sirdhanah church,
nor of his having given the residue of his property for the purpose;
at least, I have no recollection of having heard of such desire. I
always hoped, and expected, until I heard of his marriage, that he
would return and reside at Sirdhanah.
Dyce Sombre always spoke to me of Mrs. Troup and Mrs. Soloroli as his
sisters: he regarded them alike as such, and so did the Begum Sumroo.
I always understood them to be the children of the same mother; but
the question was never mooted before me, and I have always heard that
Mrs. Troup was very like Dyce Sombre in appearance, and that Mrs.
Soloroli was not so.
Mr. Reghilini, who is, I believe, still at Sirdhanah, may know
whether a Colonel Sheerman was appointed executor or not. Dr. Drener
must know. The notes which passed between me and Dyce Sombre, after
he left India, were on the ordinary topics of the day, and were
destroyed as soon as read. I have none of them to refer to, nor would
they furnish any confirmation on the matter in question if I had.
Believe me, yours, very truly,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
Charles Prinsep, Esq.,
Barrister-at-Law,
Calcutta.
__________________________
_To Messrs. Molloy, Mackintosh, and Poe, Calcutta_.
Dear Sirs,
In reply to your letter of the 16th instant, I enclose the copy of a
letter addressed by me on the 21st ultimo to Mr. Charles Prinsep, in
reply to similar queries. To what I stated in that letter I can add
but little.
Dyce Sombre always spoke to me of Mrs. Soloroli and Mrs. Troup as his
sisters, and of the former as the eldest of the two; and Mrs. Troup
spoke of Mrs. Soloroli as her eldest sister. They were always treated
by the Begum Sumroo as his sisters; and when Dyce Sombre went to
England I think he left the same provision for both in addition to
what they had received from the Begum.
I was introduced to Mrs. Troup by her husband as an old friend on my
way back from Mussoorie in November, 1837, but I did not see Mrs.
Soloroli, though she and her husband were at the same place,
Sirdhanah, at that time. They both lived under the curtain, secluded
from the sight of men, after the Hindoostanee fashion, as long as
they remained in India, I think; and I was introduced to Mrs. Troup
as a friend of the family, whom all might require to consult. Her
husband only was present during the interview. Dyce Sombre had left
the place for Calcutta. I never heard a doubt expressed of their
being sisters by the same mother and father till the new will came
under discussion at the end of last year.
I may refer you to pages 378 and 396 of the second volume of a work
by me, entitled "Rambles and Recollections," in which you will find
it mentioned that the grandmother of Dyce Sombre died insane at
Sirdhanah in 1838. She must have been insane for more than forty
years up to her death. Her son Zuffer Yab Khan was a man of weak
intellect, and he was the father of Dyce Sombre's mother, of whom I
know nothing whatever.
Dyce Sombre, showed no symptoms of derangement of mind while I knew
him; but he inherited from his grandmother a predisposition to
insanity, which I apprehended might become developed by any very
strong feelings of excitement; and I urged him to return and settle
at Sirdhanah, when he had seen all he wished to see in Europe.
He saw a good deal of English society in India, and understood well
the freedom which English wives enjoy in general society; but I
doubted whether he could ever thoroughly shake off his early
predilections for keeping them secluded. It would, I thought, be
always to him a source of deep humiliation to see his wife mix with
other men in the manner in which English married ladies are
accustomed to do. Since his affairs were put into Chancery I have
always felt persuaded that this must have been the principal
"exciting cause" acting upon the predisposition derived from his
grandmother, which led to it. I have never had the slightest doubt
that he suffered under an aberration of mind upon this point, though
he never mentioned the subject in any of his short letters to me from
England, nor did he in any of them show signs of such aberration.
Believe me, yours, faithfully,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
26th October, 1852.
__________________________
Lucknow, 28th October, 1852.
My Dear Sir James,
Your letter of the 6th ultimo reached me by the last mail, and I
trust we shall see your hopes of an early renewal of the Charter with
few alterations realised. I entirely concur with you in opinion that
the power of recall is indispensable to the due authority of the
Court; and was much surprised to find Maddock opposed to it. Many
thinking men at home have been of opinion that the Ministers would
secure for the Queen the nomination of a certain number to the
Direction, on the ground that many of the best men from India are
deterred from becoming candidates by the time and pledges required in
the canvass. The late elections, however, seem to have come in time
to increase the Jealousy of ministerial influence, and prevent such a
measure.
Hostilities with Burmah have prevented my making public periodical
reports to Government about Oude affairs since I submitted my Diary.
I took the liberty to send, through my London agents copy to yourself
and the Deputy Chairman. Things have not improved since it was
written. The King is as regardless of his high duties and
responsibilities as ever: he is, indeed, an imbecile in the hands of
a few fiddlers, eunuchs, and poetasters, and the minister, who is no
better than they are, and obliged to provide for all these men out of
the revenues and patronage of the country, and sundry women about the
Court, also, to secure their influence in his favour.
The King contrives to get the stipends of those immediately about
him, and of his mother, brothers, and sisters, paid out of the
revenues; but is indifferent about those of his more distant
relatives, and hardly any of them have had any stipends for the last
two and even three years. Those who happen not to have a little
Company's paper given to them by former Sovereigns, or pensions
guaranteed by our Government and paid out of our Treasury, are
starving, and pray for the day when our Government may interpose in
the administration. The expenditure is much above the income, and the
reserved treasury is exhausted; but the King has his jewels and some
personal property in Government notes, derived from his father and
grandmothers. He thinks himself the best of kings and the best of
poets, and nothing will induce him willingly to alter his course or
make room for a better ruler or better system.
If our Government interpose, it must not be by negotiation and
treaty, but authoritatively on the ground of existing treaties and
obligations to the people of Oude. The treaty of 1837 gives our
Government ample authority to take the whole administration on
ourselves, in order to secure what we have often pledged ourselves to
secure to the people; but if we do this we must, in order to stand
well with the rest of India, honestly and distinctly disclaim all
interested motives, and appropriate the whole of the revenues for the
benefit of the people and royal family of Oude. If we do this, all
India will think us right, for the sufferings of the people of Oude,
under the present system, have been long notorious throughout India;
and so have our repeated pledges to relieve the people from these
sufferings, unless the system should be altered. Fifty years of sad
experience have shown to us and to all India, that this system is
incapable of improvement under the present dynasty; and that the only
alternative is for the paramount power to take the administration
upon itself.
Under the treaty of 1801, we took one-half of the territory of Oude,
and that half yields to us above two crores of rupees; though, when
taken, it was estimated at one hundred and thirty-three lacs. The
half retained by the Oude Sovereign was estimated at the same; but it
now yields to the Sovereign only one crore. The rest is absorbed by
the knaves employed in the administration and their patrons at Court.
All that is now so absorbed would come to the Treasury under us, and
be employed in the maintenance of efficient establishments, and the
construction of useful public works; and we should have ample means
for providing for all the members of the royal family of Oude.
We should derive substantial benefit from the measure, without in any
degree violating our declaration of disinterestedness. We now
maintain five regiments of Infantry, and a company of Artillery, at a
cost of from five to six lacs a-year. We maintain the Residency and
all its establishments at a cost of more than one lac of rupees a-
year. All these would become fairly chargeable to the Oude revenues
under the new administration; and we might dispense with half the
military forces now kept up at Cawnpore and Dinapore on the Ganges,
as the military force in Oude would relieve us from all apprehension
as to Nepaul.
Oude would be covered with a network of fine macadamised roads, over
which the produce of Oude and our own districts would pass freely to
the benefit of the people of both; and we should soon have the river
Ghagra, from near Patna on the Ganges, to Fyzabad in Oude, navigable
for steamers: with a railroad from Fyzabad, through Lucknow to
Cawnpore, to the great benefit of the North-West Provinces and those
of Bengal.
Were we to take advantage of the occasion to _annex_ or _confiscate_
Oude, or any part of it, our good name in India would inevitably
suffer; and that good name is more valuable to us than a dozen of
Oudes. We are now looked up to throughout India as the only impartial
arbitrators that the people generally have ever had, or can ever hope
to have without us; and from the time we cease to be so looked up to,
we must begin to sink. We suffered from our conduct in Scinde; but
that was a country distant and little known, and linked to the rest
of India by few ties of sympathy. Our Conduct towards it was preceded
by wars and convulsions around, and in its annexation there was
nothing manifestly deliberate. It will be otherwise with Oude. Here
the giant's strength is manifest, and we cannot "use it like a giant"
without suffering in the estimation of all India. Annexation or
confiscation are not compatible with our relations with this little
dependent state. We must show ourselves to be high-minded, and above
taking advantage of its prostrate weakness, by appropriating its
revenues exclusively to the benefit of the people and royal family of
Oude. We should soon make it the finest garden in India, with the
people happy, prosperous, and attached to our rule and character.
We have at least forty thousand men from Oude in the armies of the
three Residencies, all now, rightly or wrongly, cursing the
oppressive Government under which their families live at their homes.
These families would come under our rule and spread our good name as
widely as they now spread the bad one of their present ruler.
Soldiers with a higher sense of military honour, and duty to _their
salt_, do not exist, I believe, in any country. To have them bound to
us by closer ties than they are at present, would of itself be an
important benefit.
I can add little to what I have said in the latter end of the fourth
chapter of my Diary (from p. 187*, vol. ii.), on the subject of our
relations with the Government of Oude; and of our rights and duties
arising out of those relations. The diaries political, which I send
every week or fortnight to the Government of India, are formed out of
the reports made every day to the Durbar, by their local or
departmental authorities. The Residency News-writer has the privilege
of hearing these reports read as they come in; and though the reports
of many important events are concealed from him, they may generally
be relied upon as far as they go. The picture they give of affairs is
bad enough, though not so bad as they deserve.
[* Transcriber's note. From the text "By the treaty of 1801 we bound
ourselves......."--to the end of the chapter IV in vol. ii]
There are so many worthless and profligate people about the Court,
interested in smothering any signs of common sense and good feeling
on the part of the heir apparent to the throne, in order to maintain
their ascendancy over him as he grows up, that he has not the
slightest chance of becoming fit to take any part in the conduct of
public affairs when he comes of age. The present King has three or
four sons, all very young, but it is utterly impossible for any one
of them to become a man of business; and it would be folly to expect
any one of them to make a better Sovereign than their father. He is
now only twenty-eight or twenty-nine years of age; but his
understanding has become quite emasculated by over-indulgencies of
all kinds. He may live long, but his habits have become too
inveterate to admit of his ever becoming better than he now is or fit
to be intrusted with the government of a country.
I shall recommend that all establishments, military, civil, and
fiscal, be kept entirely separate from those of our own Government,
that there may be no mistake as to the disinterestedness of our
intentions towards Oude. The military establishments being like
Scindiah's contingent, in the Gwalior state, or the Hydrabad
contingent in the Nizam's. I estimate the present expenditure at,
civil and fiscal establishments, and stipendiaries, 38 lacs. Military
and police, 55. King's household, 30. Total, 123 lacs. Establishments
required for an efficient administration--civil and fiscal--at 22
lacs. Military, 26 lacs. Families and dependents of former Sovereigns,
12 lacs. Household of the Sovereign, his sons, brothers, and sisters,
15 lacs. Total, 75 lacs.
This would leave an abundant store for public works, military stores,
contingent charges, pension establishments for the civil and military
officers employed under us, &c. To pay off all the present heavy
arrears of stipends, salaries, to provide arms, ammunition, and
stores, and to commence upon all the public works, our Government
would have either to give or guarantee a loan; or to sanction the
issue of a certain amount of paper money, to circulate exclusively in
Oude, by making it receivable in the Oude Treasuries in taxes.
The revenues would be at once greatly increased, by our taking for
the treasury all that is now intercepted and appropriated by public
officers and Court favourites for their own private purposes, by our
making the great landholders pay a due portion of their assets to the
state, and by our securing the safe transit of raw produce and
manufactured goods to their proper markets.
By adopting a simple system of administration, to meet the wishes of
a simple people, we should secure the goodwill of all classes of
society in Oude; and no class would be more pleased with the change
than the members of the royal family themselves, who depend upon
their stipends for their subsistence, and despair of ever again
receiving them under the present Sovereign and system.
I hope a happy termination of the present war with Burmah will soon
leave Lord Dalhousie free to devote his attention to Oude affairs. As
far as I am consulted, I shall advocate, as strongly as may be
compatible with my position, the measures above described, because I
think they will be found best calculated to benefit the people of
Oude, to meet the wishes of the home Government, and to sustain his
Lordship's own reputation, and that of the nation which he represents
throughout our Eastern empire.
You are aware of some of the difficulties that I have had to contend
with, in carrying out important measures beneficial to the people,
and honourable to the Government of India; but in no situation in
life have I ever had to struggle with so many as here, in pursuing an
honest and steady course of policy, calculated to secure the respect
of all classes for the Government which I represent. Such a scene of
intrigue, corruption, depravity, neglect of duty, and abuse of
authority, I have never before been placed in, and hope never again
to undergo; and I have had to contend with bitter hostility where I
had the best right to expect support. I have never yet failed in the
performance of any duty that Government has intrusted to me, and,
under Providence, I hope that I shall ultimately succeed in the
performance of that which I have committed to me here.
Lucknow is an overgrown city, surrounding an overgrown Court, which
has, for the last half century, exhausted all the resources of this
fine country; and so alienated the feelings of the great body of the
people that they, and the Sovereign, and his officers, look upon each
other as irreconcileable enemies. Between the city, the pampered
Court and its functionaries, and the people of the country beyond,
there is not the slightest feeling of sympathy; and if our troops
were withdrawn from the vicinity of Lucknow, the landholders and
sturdy peasantry of the country would, in a few days, rush in and
plunder and destroy it as a source of nothing but intolerable evil to
them.
Though I have written a long letter, I may have omitted many things
which you wished me to notice. In that case I must rely upon your
letting me know; and in the mean time, I shall continue to write
whenever I have anything to communicate that is likely to interest
you.
Believe me, dear Sir James,
Yours very faithfully,
W. H. SLEEMAN.
To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart.
&c. &c. &c.
P.S. By treaty, we are bound to keep up a certain force near the
capital for the protection of the Sovereign; and we should be
obliged, till things were quite settled under the new system, to
retain the brigade we now have of our regular troops in the
cantonments, which are three miles from the city.
W. H. SLEEMAN.
__________________________
Lucknow, 20th November, 1852.
My Dear Sir James,
To be prepared for accidents, I deem it right to send a duplicate of
the letter which I sent to you by the last mail, addressed to the
care of my London agents, Messrs. Denny and Clark, Austin Friars. I
have nothing new or interesting to communicate from Oude. The Burmese
war seems likely to divert the Governor-General's attention from Oude
and Hydrabad affairs for some time to come; and the death of the Duke
of Wellington, and probable changes in the ministry at home, may
prevent him from venturing upon any important change in the Oude
administration when that war closes.
The war is an "untoward event," arising from a very small cause; and
it should prevent our ever guaranteeing British subjects in countries
where we have no accredited agents to conduct our relations with the
Government. All such subjects, and all the subjects of our European
and American allies, should in future be made to understand that they
enter such countries entirely upon their own responsibility. Without
some such precaution we must always be liable to be involved in war
with bordering countries by adventurers of one land or another; and
as war is almost always followed by annexation or confiscation, our
Indian empire, like that of the Romans, must soon sink from its own
weight. The people will think that we are perpetually seeking
pretexts for war in order to get new territories, and the general or
universal impression will be dangerous.
When the public press of England abuse those who have to conduct the
present war for delay, they do not sufficiently consider our
ignorance of the state of the rivers and of the military resources of
the country in which it was to be carried on when we entered upon it.
We did not know that the rivers were navigable, nor did we know how
they were defended; nor did we know what forces Burmah could muster,
nor how they were distributed. It was not intended to commence the
war till after the rains, when it would be safe to move troops over
the country; for it was not reasonable to suppose that the Government
of the country could be so haughty and insolent without military
force to support its pretensions, and we have often had sad
experience of the danger of underrating the power of an enemy. The
object of the earlier movement was merely to secure some points of
support, at which to concentrate our forces as they came up, and not
to advance at once on the capital or into the country at a season
when no troops could move by land.
Our strong arm was, no doubt, the steam flotilla; but it would have
been madness in us, with our ignorance of the rivers and resources of
the country, to have calculated upon conquering Ava by steamers
alone. With what we now know, people may safely say that General
Godwin has failed to make all the use he might of the flotilla, as
Lord Gough failed to make all the use he might of his "strong arm,"
the artillery, in the battles of the Punjaub; but Lord Gough was not
ignorant of the country in which he had to operate, nor of the
resources of the country he had to contend with. According to
previous calculations, the war ought not to have begun till this
month. The earlier movement has, however, been of great advantage--it
has taught us what the rivers and resources of the country are; and,
what is of still more importance, what the people and their feelings
towards their Government and ours are. It is manifest that they fully
appreciate the value of the protection which the people, under our
rule, enjoy; and that they have neither religious nor political
feelings of hostility towards us; and that the people of Pegu, at
least, would hail the establishment of our rule as a blessing.
You were so kind as to express a wish to see my son. He is now with
his regiment, the 16th Lancers, in Ireland, and has lately obtained
his Lieutenancy. He will be twenty years of age in January. I will
make known to him your kind wish, and doubt not that he will pay his
respects when he visits London.
Believe me, My Dear Sir James,
Yours very faithfully,
W. H. SLEEMAN.
To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart,
&c. &c. &c.
P.S.--In page 217, line 4, vol. i., of my Diary, the printer has put
"months" for weeks. Pray do me the favour to have this corrected.--W.
H. S.
__________________________
My Lord,
Your Lordship's wishes in regard to the papers on Oude affairs shall
be strictly attended to. They are locked up in my box, and no one
shall see them. I had no wish to print any but those I mentioned in
my last letter, and they are locked up with the others, which I have
not looked at since I left your Lordship's camp; the Diary, excepted.
Things in Oude are just as they were; and the King's ambition seems
to be limited to the reputation of being the best drum-beater,
dancer, and poet of the day. He is utterly unfit to reign; but he is
himself persuaded that no man can be more fit than he is for
anything, and he will never willingly consent to make over the reins
of Government to any one. It would be impossible to _persuade_ him to
abdicate even in favour of his own son, much less to resign his
sovereignty in perpetuity. If our Government interpose, it must be by
the exercise of a right derived from the existing relations between
the two Governments, or from our position as the paramount power in
India.
Of this your Lordship will have to consider and decide when your mind
is relieved from Burmese affairs, which appear to be drawing very
_quietly_ to a close. I shall not write publicly about Oude affairs
generally till I have your Lordship's commands to do so. The Diary
will continue to be transmitted regularly; but the Periodical General
Report will be suspended.
Mr. Bushe remained a few days at Lucknow. He has since seen Agra,
Bhurtpoor, and other places, and is now on his way back to Calcutta,
well pleased with his tour.
With great respect,
Your Lordship's obedient Servant,
W. H. SLEEMAN.
To the Most Noble
The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.,
Governor-General of India.
__________________________
Lucknow, 2nd January, 1853.
My Dear Sir James,
I enclose two sets of Tables of Errata for the Diary, and must pray
you to do me the favour to have one set put into the two volumes of
the copy you have, and the other sent to the Deputy-Chairman for
insertion in his copy. I did not take the liberty to send a copy to
the President of the Board of Control, but if you think I should do
so, I will.
The King of Oude is becoming more and more imbecile and crazy, and
his servants continue more and more to abuse their power and neglect
their duty. The King, every day manifests his utter unfitness to
reign, in some new shape. He, on several occasions during the
Mohurrum ceremonies which took place lately, went along the streets
beating a drum tied round his neck, to the great scandal of his
family and the amusement of his people. The members of his family
have not been paid their stipends for from two to three years, and
many of them have been reduced to the necessity of selling their
clothes to purchase food. All classes, save the knaves who surround
him, and profit by his folly, are become disgusted with and tired of
him.
I do not interfere, except to protect our pledges and guarantees; and
to conduct the current duties of the Residency in such a manner as to
secure the respect of all classes for the Government which I
represent. While the present King reigns, or has anything whatever to
do with the Government, no interference could produce any substantial
and permanent reform. The minister is a weak man and a great knave;
but he has an influence over his master, obtained by being entirely
subservient to his vices and follies, to the sacrifice of his own
honour; and by praising all that he does, however degrading to him as
a man and a sovereign.
Though the King pays no attention whatever to public affairs or to
business of any kind, and aims at nothing but the reputation of being
the best dancer, best versifier, and best drummer in his dominions,
it would be impossible to persuade him that any man was ever more fit
to reign than he is. Nothing would ever induce him willingly to
abdicate even in favour of his own son, much less to make him
willingly abdicate in perpetuity in favour of our Government, or make
over the conduct of the administration to our Government. If,
therefore, our Government does interfere, it must be in the exercise
of a right arising out of the existing relations between the two
States, or out of our position as the paramount power in India. These
relations, under the Treaty of 1837, give our Government the _right_
to take upon itself the administration, under present circumstances;
and, indeed, imposes, upon our Government the _duty_ of taking it:
but, as I have already stated, neither these relations nor our
position, as the paramount power, gives us any right to _annex_ or to
_confiscate_ the territory of Oude. We may have a right to take
territory from the Nizam of Hyderabad in payment for the money he
owes us; but Oude owes us no money, and we have no right to take
territory from her. We have only the right to interpose to secure for
the suffering people that better Government which their Sovereign
pledged himself to secure for them, but has failed to secure.
The Burmese war still prevents the Governor-General from devoting his
attention to Oude and Hyderabad. In the last war we did not march our
armies to the capital because we were not prepared to supply a new
Government for the one which we should thereby destroy; and
insurrection and civil war must have followed. Our conduct in that
was wise and benevolent. When we moved our armies to Rangoon this
time, we upset one Government without providing the people with
another. The Governor-General could not provide for the Civil
Government, because he could not know that the Government of Ava
would force us to keep possession of any portion of its dominions;
and taking upon ourselves the civil administration would compromise
the people, should he have to give them up again to their old rulers.
The consequence has been great suffering to a people who hailed us as
deliverers. The folly of supposing that any country can be taken by
steamers on their rivers alone has now become sufficiently manifest.
The Governor-General has however, adopted the best possible measures
for securing ultimate good government to Pegu. It would have been
more easily effected had they been taken earlier, but this
circumstance prevented.
There is a school in India, happily not yet much patronised by the
Home Government nor by the Governor-General, but always struggling
with more or less success for ascendancy. It is characterised by
impatience at the existence of any native State, and its strong and
often insane advocacy of their absorption--by honest means, if
possible--but still, their absorption. There is no pretext, however
weak, that is not sufficient, in their estimation, for the purpose;
and no war, however cruel, that is not justifiable, if it has only
this object in view. If you know George Clerk or Mr. Robertson, both
formerly Governors of our North-West Provinces, they will describe to
you the school I mean. They, I believe, with me, strongly deprecate
the doctrines of this school as more injurious to India and to our
interest in it, than those of any other school that has ever existed
in India. Mr. George Campbell is one of the disciples of this
school.--See the 4th chapter of his "Modern India." The "Friend of
India" is another, and all those whom that paper lauds most are also
disciples of the same school. The Court of Directors will have to
watch these doctrines carefully; and I wish you would speak to George
Clerk and Mr. Robertson about them. They are both men of large views
and sound judgment.
Believe me, My Dear Sir James,
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To Sir James Weir Hogg,
&c. &c. &c.
__________________________
Lucknow, 12th January, 1853.
My Dear Sir James,
I wrote to you on the 23rd October, 20th November, and the 2nd of
this month; I mention this lest any of my letters miscarry; of the
first letter I sent a duplicate on the 2nd, but I shall not send
duplicates of the last two, or of this. I now write chiefly to call
your attention to a rabid article in the "Friend of India," of the
6th of this month, written by Mr. Marshman, when about to proceed to
England, to become, it is said, one of the writers in the London
"Times." Of coarse, he will be engaged to write the Indian articles;
and you will find him advocating the doctrines of the school
mentioned in my last letter of the 2nd of this month. I consider
their doctrines to be prejudicial to the stability of our rule in
India, and to the welfare of the people, which depends on it. The
Court of Directors is our only safeguard against these Machiavellian
doctrines; and it may be rendered too powerless to stem them by the
new arrangements for the Government of India. The objects which they
propose for attainment--religion, commerce, &c.--are plausible; and
the false logic by which they attempt to justify the means required
to attain them, however base, unjust, and cruel, is no less so. I was
asked by Dr. Duff, the editor of the "Calcutta Review," before he
went home to write some articles for that journal, to expose the
fallacies, and to counteract the influences of the doctrines of this
school; but I have for many years ceased to contribute to the
periodical papers, and have felt bound by my position not to write
for them. Few old officers of experience, with my feelings and
opinions on this subject, now remain in India; and the influence of
this school is too great over the rising generation, whose hopes and
aspirations they tend so much to encourage. Mr. Elphinstone, Mr.
Robertson, and George Clerk will be able to explain their danger to
you. India must look to the Court of Directors alone for safety
against them, and they will require the exertion of all its wisdom
and strength.
Mr. Robertson will be able to tell you that, when I was sent to
Bundelcund, in 1842, the feelings of the people of that province were
so strongly against us, under the operation of the doctrines of this
school, that no European officer could venture, with safety, beyond
the boundary of a cantonment of British troops; and their servants
were obliged to disguise themselves in order to pass from one
cantonment to another. In a brief period, I created a feeling
entirely different, and made the character of British officers
respected and beloved. In the Gwalior territories the same result was
obtained by the same means. However impulsive on other occasions,
Lord Ellenborough behaved magnanimously after his victories over the
Gwalior troops; but in sparing the State, he acted, I believe,
against the feelings of his Council, amongst whom the doctrines of
the absorbing, annexing, and confiscating schools prevailed; and the
"Friend of India" condemned him, though the invasion was never
justified, except on the ground of expediency. Had I, on these
occasions, adopted the doctrines of the absorbing school, I might
have become one of the most popular and influential men in India; but
I should, at the same time, have rendered our rule and character
odious to the people of India, and so far have injured our permanent
interest in the country. I mention all this merely to show that my
opposition to the doctrines of this school is not new, nor in theory
only, but of long standing and practice, as far as my influence has
extended. I deem them to be dangerous to our rule in India, and
prejudicial to the best interests of the country. The people see that
these annexations and confiscations go on, and that rewards and
honorary distinctions are given for them, and for the victories which
lead to them, and for little else; and they are too apt to infer that
they are systematic, and encouraged, and prescribed from home. The
native States I consider to be breakwaters, and when they are all
swept away, we shall be left to the mercy of our native army, which
may not always be sufficiently under our control. Such a feeling as
that which pervaded Bundelcund and Gwalior in 1842 and 1843, must,
sooner or later, pervade all India, if these doctrines are carried
out to their full extent; and our rule could not, probably, exist
under it. With regard to Oude, I can only say that the King pursues
the same course, and every day shows that he is unfit to reign. He
has not the slightest regard for the duties or responsibilities of
his high position; and the people, and even the members of his own
family, feel humiliated at his misconduct, and grow weary of his
reign. The greater part of these members have not received their
stipends for from two to three years, and they despair of ever
receiving them as long as he reigns. He is neither tyrannical nor
cruel, but altogether incapable of devoting any of his time or
attention to business of any kind, but spends the whole of his time
with women, eunuchs, fiddlers, and other parasites. Should he be set
aside, as he deserves to be, three courses are open: 1. To appoint a
regency during the minority of the heir-apparent, who is now about
eleven years of age, to govern with the advice of the Resident; 2. To
manage the country by European agency during the regency, or in
perpetuity, leaving the surplus revenue to the royal family; 3. To
confiscate and annex the country, and pension the royal family. The
first plan was prescribed by Lord Hardinge, in case of accident to
the King; the second is what was done at Nagpore, with so much
advantage, by Sir Richard Jenkins in 1817; the third is what the
absorbing school would advocate, but I should most deprecate. It
would be most profitable for us, in a pecuniary point of view, but
most injurious, I think, in a political one. It would tend to
accelerate the crisis which the doctrines of that school must, sooner
or later, bring upon us. Which course the Governor-General may prefer
I know not.
Believe me,
My Dear Sir James,
Yours very faithfully
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN
To Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart.,
&c. &c. &c.
__________________________
Lucknow, 12th January, 1853.
My Dear Sir,
I shall send you by this mail a copy of my Diary under cover,
addressed, as you suggest, to Mr. Secretary Melvill. It is coarsely
bound, as I could find no good binder here. I printed eighteen
copies, and have sent one to Government, in Calcutta, for itself, and
one for the Court of Directors; one to the Governor-General, and one
each to the Chairman and Deputy-Chairman. I have also sent one to a
brother, and one to each of my five children. All to whom I have sent
it of my family have been enjoined to consider it as private and
confidential, and they will do so. Government may publish any portion
of it they please. A memorandum of errata has been added to the copy
to be sent to you.
Over and above what you justly observe as to the cultivation and
population not being much diminished, and the State not having
incurred any public debt, I may mention the fact noticed, I believe,
somewhere in the Diary, that the landed aristocracy of the half of
Oude, reserved in 1801, has been better preserved than that of the
half made over to us. Had they not combined generally against the
Government, they would all have been crushed ere this, as ours have
been. This makes me mention a school of too much influence in India,
of whose doctrines I have a great abhorrence. They are best expounded
by the so-called "Friend of India," in the last number of which (6th
January, 1851) there is a rabid article on the subject worthy of your
perusal, and that of all men interested in the welfare of India and
the stability of our rule over it. It is in the true Machiavellian
spirit, which justifies, or would persuade the world to justify,
every means, however base, dishonest, and cruel, required to attain
any object which they have persuaded themselves to be desirable for
ourselves. This school is impatient at the existence of any native
principality in India, however related to or dependent upon us. Mr.
George Campbell is a disciple of this school, almost as rabid as the
"Friend of India," as you will see in the fourth chapter of his book
on "Modern India." If Mr. Marshman is to write the Indian articles
for the "Times," as reports give out, you will see these doctrines
advocated in that influential journal. The Court of Directors is the
only safeguard of India, and of our stability in it, against those
doctrine which, in my opinion, tend strongly to the injury of both;
and its power may be rendered too powerless to shun them.
Believe me,
My Dear Sir,
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To Colonel Sykes,
Director Hon. East India Company,
London.
P.S.--I have felt much interested in the geology of Central and
Southern India; and if you have seen any satisfactory account of the
origin of the stratum which caps the basaltic plateau, shall feel
obliged if you will point it out to me.
__________________________
Lucknow, 24th April, 1853.
My Dear Sir,
By the last mail I received from a friend in London two articles,
whose merits had been much canvassed at the clubs, one from the
London "Times," of the 9th February, and the other from the "Daily
News," a Manchester paper. The "Times" article must have been written
by Mr. J. Marshman, or one of the most rabid members of the school of
which he is the great organ, and whose chief characteristic is
impatience at the existence of any native territorial chief or great
landholder in India. The other article is a reply to it, and
generally supposed to have been written by Sir George Clerk. I feel
quite sure that it was written either by him or by Mr. T. C.
Robertson, who preceded him in the government of our North-West
Provinces. The article from the "Times" has been noticed in most of
the Indian papers--the "Friend of India," April 7th, 1853, and the
"Englishman," 15th April. But I have not seen that in the "Daily
News" noticed in any Indian papers, though admirably written. I
intended to send it to you, but have mislaid it. I think you can
advocate the cause it adopts more consistently, more powerfully, and
more wisely than any other editor now in India. I hope you will do
so; for I consider the doctrines of the "Times" disgraceful to our
morality, and dangerous to the stability of our rule. As I consider
the welfare of the people of India to depend upon the stability of
our rule, I am very anxious to see the fallacies of the atrocious
doctrines which endanger it ably exposed. In no publication are these
fallacies more obvious or more numerous than in Mr. George Campbell's
"Modern India," chapter fourth, with, perhaps, the exception of the
"Friend of India." With the "Friend," the theory of confiscation and
annexation has become a disease, and he cannot praise or even
tolerate any public officer or statesman who is not known to be a
convert to the doctrines of this school.
I forget the date of the "Daily News" in which Sir George Clerk's
article appeared, but it was immediately after the article appeared
in the London "Times" of the 9th February. I hope you will give the
article a prominent place in your paper, for it really deserves to be
printed in letters of gold. Though I feel that the character of our
nation, and our safety in India, are compromised by the open avowal
of such atrocious doctrines in our leading journals, still the orders
against officers in political employ writing in the papers are so
strict, that I dare not attempt to expose the fallacies on which they
are based, or express the indignation which they excite in me, in any
public paper. To my superiors, and in the discharge of my public
duties, I shall never cease to express my abhorrence of such
doctrines, for I look upon them as worse than any that Machiavelli
ever wrote.
Believe me,
Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To G. Buist, Esq.
P.S.--Of course, this note will be considered as confidential.
(Signed) W. H. S.
__________________________
Lucknow, 24th April, 1853.
Dear Sir,
An article in your paper of the 15th instant, on the subject of the
international law of India, has interested and pleased me much. It
has reference to an article in the London "Times" of the 9th February
last; and I write to invite your attention to an article which
appeared in the "Daily News," a Manchester paper, in reply to it,
written by Sir G. Clerk, lately Governor of Bombay. Both these
articles have been much discussed at the London clubs, and the
morality of the "Daily News" article has been very favourably
contrasted with that of the article in the "Times." The article in
the "Times" is supposed to have been penned by Mr. J. Marshman
himself, or by one of the most rabid members of the school whose
Machiavellian doctrine he advocates.
These doctrines are considered by some of our wisest statesmen to be
as dangerous to the stability of our rule in India as they are
disgraceful to our morality; and as these statesmen consider the
well-being of the people of India to depend upon that stability, they
are always glad to see their fallacies exposed and their iniquities
indignantly denounced by the moat able and steady of our public
journalists. I hope you will be able to find the able article in the
"Daily News" to which I refer, and consent to give it a prominent
place in the "Englishman." It was sent to me by a friend in London,
but I have, unfortunately, mislaid it. This note will, of course, be
considered as confidential.
Yours sincerely,
W. H. SLEEMAN.
To W. C. Harry, Esq.
__________________________
Lucknow, 5th June, 1853.
My Lord,
I have read with great interest in the English journals your
Lordship's able Minute on the Burmese war, and am glad that it has
been published, as it cannot fail to disabuse the public mind at
home, and bring about a reaction in the feeling of the people excited
by some very unfair articles in the London "Times." I attributed
these articles to the Napiers, who, however talented, are almost
always wrong-headed.
I am persuaded that the new Sovereign will acquiesce in your
possession of Pegu, and that he would not have ceded it by treaty
under any circumstances. The old Sovereign might have done it, though
at great risk, but the new Sovereign could not dare to do it.
Our own history affords us instances enough of powerful ministers
anxious, for the public good, to get rid of conquered, but expensive
and useless possessions, but deterred from proposing the measure by
the dread of popular odium, which ambitious and factious rivals are
always ready to excite.
There is one argument against the advance which I do not think that
your Lordship has urged with the force of the rest. While the new
Sovereign remains undisturbed in the rest of his dominions he will
maintain his authority over them, and do his best to prevent our new
frontier from being disturbed, knowing that we can advance to his
capital and punish him if he does not. But, were he to be driven from
his capital, all the rest of his dominions would soon fall into a
state of anarchy, and our frontiers would soon be disturbed by
leaders of disorderly bands, anxious to carve out principalities for
themselves, and having no other means than plunder to maintain their
followers. For the acts of such men we could hold no one responsible,
after we had driven their Sovereign from his capital to the hills and
jungles; and half a century might elapse before order could be
restored. In the mean time, wealth would be growing up within our
border to invite their aggression, while they would become poorer and
poorer from disorders, and more and more anxious to seize upon it.
With regard to an advance upon Amarapoora, it will not be difficult
after the rains, if circumstances render it necessary. The Madras
cattle are much better for hard work and all climates than those of
Bengal, and sufficient could be collected for the occasion by sea.
Your Lordship's reasons for not trusting to steamers alone are
unanswerable, and it seems impossible for a land and river force to
act jointly. In this, we almost realize the contest between the winds
and the moschettoes before the court of the genii in the Arabian
tale: when the winds appeared, the moschettoes could not, and when
they appeared, the winds could not. For the prestige of our own name
in the rest of India, to advance to the capital and then give the
rest of the country to the Sovereign might, perhaps, be the best; but
for the security of our new acquisition, and that of the people of
the rest of Burmah, it would certainly be better to stay where we
are. The benefits of our rule might, by degrees, be imparted to that
of the rest of Burmah. The Government would be obliged to treat their
people better than they have done in order to keep them.
Here everything still is what I have described it to be so often;
that is, as bad as it can be. The King is the same, and the officers
and favourites whom he employs are the same. I shall not write public
reports on the state of affairs till I learn that your Lordship
wishes it, which will be, I conclude, when you have carried out your
arrangements in Burmah.
The terrible war of races in China, to which I have been looking
forward for some years, seems to be coming slowly on. I wrote to Sir
H. M. Elliot about it some two or three years ago, and recommended
him to write a better life than we have of Jungez Khan, in order to
show what the Tartars now really are. When he led his swarms of them
over China, Central Asia, and a great part of Europe, they worshipped
the god of war; they now worship the god of peace: but there are
millions of Lamas in Tartary who would change their crosiers for the
sword at the call of a kindred genius, and are now impatient to do
so, and prophesying his advent, just at the time that the rebels
threaten the capital of China and the extinction of the Tartar
dynasty. That dynasty will throw itself upon Tartary, and a new one
will be raised by the successful leader.
Your Lordship's faithful and obedient servant,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To the Most Noble
The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.,
Governor-General.
__________________________
Lucknow, 24th June, 1853.
Dear Sir,
Your letter of the 20th instant perplexes me a good deal. I have no
place in my own office to offer you, and I never recommended any one
for employment to the King. You cannot, according to rules laid down
for our guidance, act as an advocate in any case before the Resident
or his assistants. All landholders in Oude, except the few whose
estates are included in what is called the Hozoor Tuhseel, transact
their business through the Amils, Chuckladars, and Nazims of
districts, and have nothing to do directly with the Durbar at
Lucknow. Having nothing to do with their affairs, I cannot have
anything to say with the employment by them of wakeels, or advocates.
They, the landholders, generally employ native wakeels, who are
willing to bear a good deal of ill-treatment on the part of Durbar
officials for the sake of very small salaries. Your situation as a
wakeel on their part would be ill remunerated and exceedingly
humiliating.
If the son of Ghalib Jung has offered to introduce you to the
minister, and to assist in getting employment for you at Lucknow, he
must, I think, do so in the hope of being able to make use of you in
some intrigue; for those only who can aid in such intrigues are
fostered and paid at Lucknow. Honest men can get nothing, and find no
employment about the Court. If you secure employment about the Court,
I cannot hold any communication with you. I should compromise myself
by doing so. In your situation, I would rather be a section writer in
Calcutta, or at Agra, than hold any employment in the Oude Durbar
that you can get by honest means. One of the tasks imposed on you
would be, I conclude, to praise bad persons and things, and abuse
good, in the newspapers. This, of course, you would not do, and you
would be punished accordingly. I strongly advise you to have nothing
to do with Oude at present.
Yours very truly,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To G. Norton, Esq.,
Azimgurh.
__________________________
Lucknow, 11th August, 1853.
My Dear Sir,
Your brother, the late Lieut.-Colonel Ouseley, was a valued friend of
mine. Before his appointment as Governor-General's Agent of the
south-eastern frontier districts, he had for many years held the
civil charge of different districts in the Sangor and Nerbudda
territories. I had for many years the civil charge of districts
bordering on those under his charge, and abundant opportunity of
seeing how much he had made himself beloved, and the character of his
Government respected, by the manner in which he conducted the duties
confided to him.
When I became Commissioner over those territories in 1844, I passed
through the districts which had so long been under his charge, and I
can honestly say that I have never known a man who had made himself
more beloved and revered by the people. Thousands of happy families
were proud to acknowledge that they owed all their happiness to the
careful and liberal revision of the settlement of the land-revenue
made by him, in which he had provided for the interests of the higher
and middle classes connected with the land, while he secured the
rights of the humblest.
I visited at the same time the districts of those territories which
bordered upon his then charge of the south-east frontier, and
communed with many people from that quarter. They all spoke of him as
beloved and respected by all classes as much in his then charge as he
had been in his old one. In a country where it is the duty of every
Englishman to make the character of his Government and his nation
respected and beloved, one cannot but feel proud to hear a countryman
and fellow-labourer spoken of by tens of thousands of respectable,
contented, and happy people as your brother was and still is. I know
no part of India where the people of all classes and all grades are
so attached to our character and our Government as that of the Saugor
and Nerbudda territories, and I believe that no man did more to
establish that fine feeling than your brother.
Your brother's temper was warm, and he was not always happy in
putting his thoughts and feelings to paper. Hence arose occasional
misunderstandings with his official superiors. But while those
superiors were men who could understand and appreciate his noble
nature, such occasional misunderstandings never led to serious
consequences. In the bitterness of his anguish, after his removal
from the south-east frontier, he wrote to me; and it was most painful
to me to feel that I was not in a position, or in circumstances, to
advocate his cause, and describe the value of such a man as the
representative of the Government and the national character among a
wild and half-civilized people like those over whom he had been
placed. I think it was on the representation of the late Mr.
Launcelot Wilkinson, one of the most able and estimable members of
the India Civil Service, that he was sent to the south-east frontier.
He had seen his value in the Saugor and Nerbudda districts while he
was political agent at Bhopaul, which bordered on the districts under
your brother's charge.
It has been to me a source of much regret that I have not had it in
my power to aid his son in getting employment in India.
Believe me,
Yours very truly,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To Major Ouseley,
&c. &c.
__________________________
Lucknow, 14th September, 1853.
Dear Sir,
The King of Oude will certainly not assist you to get up a newspaper
at Lucknow; and you will certainly be disappointed if you come in
expectation of such assistance from him. If you can get into his
service in any other capacity, I am not aware of any objections to
it, but as I have already told you and many others, I cannot
recommend any one for employment under him. The humiliations to which
honest and respectable Christians have to submit in his service, from
the jealousies of influential persons about the Durbar, are such as
few can or ought to submit to; and I certainly would not advise any
one to enter such a service. Under whatever pledge or whatever
influence they might enter it, their tenure of office and their pay
would be altogether precarious, and the Resident would be unable to
assist them in retaining the one or recovering the other.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To G. Norton, Esq.
P.S.--The King of Oude and his family are in no danger from the
British Government, on whose good faith they repose. I only wish that
his honest and industrious subjects were as safe from the officers
whom he employs in all branches of the administration, and from whom
they are nowhere safe I fear.
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
__________________________
Lucknow, 27th September, 1853.
My Dear James,
Under the circumstances you mention, I see but one course open to
you; and that is, to recommend to the Government of Bombay to do as
Lord William Bentinck did in the Bengal Presidency under similar
circumstances, appoint a special Commissioner for the trial of
offenders under Acts XX.[_sic_] of 1836, and XXIV. of 1843; or for
the revision of trials under these Acts, conducted by Sessions'
Judges.
The first would be the best if feasible; but the second would do,
since the Sessions' Judges seem now to be disposed to give their aid
to Government in putting down the evil, and the Sudder Judges do not.
Formerly, I believe, the Sudder Judges were so disposed, and the
Sessions Judges not. In my reply to the Government of Bombay, you
will see reference made to Lord William's appointment of Mr.
Stockwell as special Commissioner. He was at the time Commissioner of
the Allahabad division, and the work was imposed upon him in addition
to his other duties.
If the Bombay Government does not think it has authority to appoint
such a special Commission, they may apply to the Legislative Council
to pass an Act authorising the Government of every Presidency to
appoint such a Commission when circumstances may render it necessary.
This will be better and safer than to frame and enforce new rules of
evidence for the guidance of existing Judicial Courts. The one would
be for a special emergency, and temporary; and Government would not
be very averse to it; but the other they certainly would not venture
upon, particularly at this time. A great fuss would be made about it
here and at home; and lawyers are too influential in both places.
You can show that there is no alternative--that this system of crime
must be left to prosper in the Bombay Presidency, where alone it now
prevails, or such a Commission must be appointed; and as the Acts and
the machinery for giving effect to them have succeeded in putting it
down in all the rest, it would be hard to leave the people of Bombay
exposed to all the evils arising from the want of such a special
Commission. Such Commissions have been adopted to relieve the people
from the hardships of the resumption laws, which affected but a small
portion of the community; and you hope it would not be considered
unreasonable in you to propose one for the relief of the whole
community; for the life and property of no family will be safe an
hour, if these classes of offenders by hereditary profession are
assured that they may carry on their trade with impunity, as they
must be if your agency be withdrawn, and all the prisoners be
released.
If you make a forcible representation to the Bombay Government in
this strong case, they will adopt the measure if they have the power,
or ask the power from the supreme Government; and I think the supreme
Government will give it. I would say a special Commission for the
trial of commitments under XXX. of 1836, and XXIV. of 1843, or a
special Commission for the revision of trials under these Acts, as
may seem best to Government; but you can say that you think the first
would answer the purpose best in the Bombay Presidency. You may offer
to run down to Bombay and submit your views to the Government in
Council if required. They would not think it necessary, but would be
pleased with the offer. Where men are committed on the general
charge, it has always been thought necessary to show that the gang
committed a murder or a robbery, though it is not so to show what
part the prisoners took in them. If your assistant has not done this,
he has failed in a material point. He should be very cautious in
dealing with whole classes. The fault of our Bombay assistants has
always been a disposition to make offenders of whole classes, when
only some of the members are so.
You must make your best of the present case--show the necessity of
the remedy clearly, and urge it respectfully without pretending to
find fault with the Judges; merely say that their interpretation of
the laws of evidence laid down for their guidance, however
conscientious, forms an insurmountable obstacle to the conviction of
offenders by hereditary profession, whose system has been founded
upon the experience of their ancestors in the most successful modes
of defeating these laws, and the technicalities of ordinary Judicial
Courts. This is, I think, all that I can say on the subject at
present. The Moncktons leave us this evening, and Amelie intends to
set out for the hills on the 6th proximo.
Yours affectionately,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To Captain J. Sleeman.
__________________________
Lucknow, 28th September, 1853.
My Dear James,
On further consideration, I think that you should say nothing about
the second proposal of a special Commissioner to revise the trials of
offenders tried by Sessions Judges. You should suggest the first
proposal of a special Commissioner to try all prisoners committed for
trial under Acts XXX. of 1836, and XXIV. of 1843, and perhaps also
XI. of 1841. See my Printed Report, page 357.
You may mention that such Commissioner should be required to submit
his sentences for the consideration and final orders of Government,
as all political officers did till March, 1835; or merely for the
information of Government, as political officers did after that time.
On the 23rd of March, 1835, the Secretary to the Government of India
forwarded to the Resident of Lucknow, for his guidance, the copy of a
letter addressed on that date to the Agent of the Governor-General in
the Saugor and Nerbudda territories, requesting that he would carry
into execution his sentences on Thugs, and not make any reference to
Government for confirmation, but merely submit to Government abstract
statements of sentences; but desiring that the sanction of the King
of Oude should be required before any capital sentence was carried
into effect. No capital sentence was from that time passed. As all
prisoners will be tried on the general charge, no capital sentence
will ever be passed by the special Commissioner, and the Bombay
Government may be disposed to give him the same orders. But the
Governor in Council at Bombay will be the best judge of that.
Lord Falkland may possibly be deterred by apprehensions that late
events may have altered the tone of feeling at home towards him; but
I am persuaded that he would be glad to carry this measure into
effect. I will send you a copy of the Government letter to the
Resident here; and you may get from the agent's office a copy of that
sent on the same date to him, though you may not readily find that
office under the new arrangements. You will, I think, have a strong
case, and I wish you success in it.
Yours affectionately,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To Captain Jas. Sleeman.
__________________________
Lucknow, 4th November, 1853.
My Dear Malcolm,
I should recommend for the Baee a money stipend for life of five
thousand rupees a-month, with the understanding that if she adopted a
child she would have to provide for him out of her savings from this
stipend, and out of her private property. All the Rajah's private
property, save what he may will away to others, will of course be
left to her, to be disposed of as she may think fit. But this stipend
should be independent of those to be continued to the stipendiaries
of the Rajah. There are several who have nothing else to depend on
but the stipends which they now receive from the Rajah; and it must
be borne in mind that they have no longer Bajee Rao, Benaek Rao, the
Jhansi and Saugor chief, to go to. This will be the last of the
Brahmin dynasties founded in that part of the world by the Peshwas.
Our Government should therefore be liberal in taking possession of
the estate as an escheat.
The Mahratta language in accounts should at once be done away with;
but out of the revenues of the estate, Government should found a good
school for English and Hindoo, and Persian; and, above all, for a
very good hospital and dispensary, under well educated and tried
surgeons, native and European, capable of throwing out branches.
All the public officers of the Rajah should have stipends or
employment, or both, in proportion to their period of service and
respectability. If they take employment the stipends should be
deducted from their salaries while in office, as in our own service.
In the case of the Baee Regent at Saugor, we continued a small part
of her pension to her adopted son,--one thousand rupees a-month,--to
enable him to provide for her non-pensioned dependents. We took the
management long before her death, and left her only a private lady,
with a large pension of, I think, eight thousand rupees a-month;
besides pensions--too large--to the family of her manager, Benaek
Rao: this will be unnecessary at Jhansi. All the large hereditary
landholders of the Jhansi estate should have liberal settlements at
fixed rates. They are all from the landed aristocracy of Bundelcund,
and should be treated with consideration. The first settlement of the
land revenue should be very moderate. The lands will lose the most
valuable market for their produce in the breaking up of the Court and
establishment of the Rajah at the capital, and yield less money, &c.,
than before. This must be borne in mind.
You may freely use these my views as you think best on the Jhansi
question.
As to the management, I should make as little changes possible, till
the final orders arrive from the Court of Directors, that you may
have nothing to undo of what you have done. I would leave the
management to Ellis, under your supervision, and interfere only on
references in special cases, except, of course, on emergency. I know
not what the system is to be, or what system the Governor-General has
recommended, except that there is to be one head, as in Rajpootana;
and that all correspondence with Government is to go through that
head, In this state of the matter I know not what to suggest or say.
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To Major Malcolm,
&c. &c.
__________________________
Lucknow, 11th November, 1853.
My Lord,
I feel grateful for your Lordship's letter of the 27th ult., but
cannot say that I have any hope of discovering the instruments
employed, or the employer, in the late affair. The whole power of the
Government is in the hands of men who are deeply interested in
concealing the truth, and making it appear that no attempt was really
made. The minister has, by his intrigues, put himself so much in the
power of the knave whom I suspect, that he dares not do anything to
offend him. The man could at once ruin him by his exposures if he
chose, and he would do so if he found it necessary for his own
security. The man is biding his time, as he has often done with
former ministers; and the time would have come ere this had not the
King, to save himself, married one of the minister's pretty
daughters.
The King's chief consort; was the niece of the minister, and her son
is the heir-apparent; so that it was her interest, and that of her
uncle, the minister, to get rid of the King as soon as possible. She
is a profligate woman, and the King's mother is supposed to have
given him a hint of his danger. He took a liking to one of the
daughters, and married her, in order to make it the minister's
interest to keep him alive as long as possible. He now contrives to
make the King believe that neither his life nor reign can be in any
danger as long as he is in his present position.
The night after this affair took place, a sipahee of the 35th Native
Infantry, standing sentry at one end of the house, fell asleep while
he was leaning with his right wrist on the muzzle of his musket. The
musket went off; the ball passed through his wrist, grazed a large
beam above him, struck against a stone in the roof of the portico,
and fell down flattened by the side of the sentry, as he lay
insensible and bleeding on the ground below. The wrist was
sahttered,[_sic_] and several of the arteries cut through. He bled
profusely, and when taken up he talked incoherently, declaring that
some man had fired at him from behind the railing, twenty paces off.
I have seen similar cases of incoherency, arising from a similar
cause. As soon as day appeared the ball was found, and its marks on
the beam and stone above showed the real state of the case. His right
knee was probably leaning on the lock of the musket when he fell
asleep. I have made no public or official report of this circumstance
to Government.
I have now before me a curious instance of the difficulty of getting
at the truth when it is the interest of the minister and others about
this Court to prevent it. A wanton attack was made in April last by
about one hundred armed men, led by one of the King's collectors, on
a native British subject coming from Cawnpore to visit a brother in
Oude. The man himself received a wound, from which he some days
afterwards died at Cawnpore; two of his attendants were killed, and
twenty thousand rupees were taken from him. I have investigated the
case myself, with the aid of my assistant, Captain Hayes, and with
the attendance of an assessor on the part of the King. The case is a
very clear one, but they have produced about thirty witnesses to
swear that no man of the poor merchant's party was hurt; and that,
instead of being attacked, he invaded the Oude territory with more
than one hundred armed followers, and wantonly attacked the King's
party of only fifteen unoffending men, while engaged in the discharge
of their duty in collecting the revenue. I have translated the
depositions with the prospect of having ultimately to submit the case
to Government, unless the King consents to punish the offenders and
afford redress. The assessor, an old man, bewildered by the
conflicting testimony, and anxious to escape from all responsibility,
slept soundly through the greater part of the inquiry, which has been
a very tedious one.
I remain, your Lordship's
Most obedient and humble servant,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To the Most Noble
the Governor-General of India.
__________________________
Lucknow, 28th December, 1853.
My Dear Mr. Colvin,
I was glad to see your handwriting again, and to find that time had
made so little alteration in it. Oude affairs are, as you suppose,
much as they used to be, save that the King is now persuaded by his
minister and favourite that, had his predecessors had men and women
about them so wise as they are, they never would have acted as if
they believed that the Government of India ever really intended to
carry into effect the penalty of misgovernment, so often threatened.
Our Government has cried "wolf" so often that no one now listens to
it. The King is an utter imbecile, from over-indulgences of all
kinds; and the knaves whom he employs in his administration contrive
to persuade him that the preservation of his life and throne depends
entirely upon their vigilance and his doing nothing. Had I come here
when the treasury was full, and Naseer-od Doon Hyder was anxious to
spend his money in the manner best calculated to do good and please
our Government, I might have covered Oude with useful public works,
and much do I regret that I came here to throw away some of the best
years of my life among such a set of knaves and fools as I have to
deal with.
I think you will do much good in your present charge in the subject
to which you refer. In the matter of discourtesy to the native
gentry, I can only say that Robert Martin Bird insulted them whenever
he had the opportunity of doing so; and that Mr. Thomason was too apt
to imitate him in this as in other things. Of course their example
was followed by too many of their followers and admirers; but, like
you, I have been delighted to see a great many of the elder members
of the civil service, in spite of these bad examples, treat the
native gentry with all possible courtesy, and show them that they had
their sympathy as long as they deserved it by their conduct.
It has always struck me that Mr. Thomason, in his system, did all he
could to discourage the growth of a middle and upper class upon the
land--the only kind of property on which a good upper and middle
class could be sustained in the present state of society in India.
His village republics and the Ryutwar system of Sir Thomas Munro had
precisely the same tendency to subdivide minutely property in land,
and reduce all landholders to the common level of impoverishment. The
only difference was that the impoverished tenants in the North-
Western Provinces were supposed to manage their own affairs, while
those at Madras had them managed by a very mischievous class of
native public officers. He (Mr. Thomason) would have forced his
village republics upon any new country or jungle that came under his
charge, and thereby rendered improvement impossible. I would have
introduced into all such new countries a system of paternal
government in imitation of our Government of India itself, which
would have rendered improvement certain, and the growth of a middle
and higher class no less so. He would have put the whole under our
judicial courts, and thereby have created a middle class of
pettifogging attorneys to swallow up all the surplus produce of the
land. I would have kept the whole of the land in the hands of our
fiscal courts, by making it all leasehold property, and maintaining
the law of primogeniture in all estates of villages. Mr. Thomason, I
am told, systematically set aside all the landed aristocracy of the
country as a set of middlemen, superfluous and mischievous.
The only part of our India in which I have seen a middle and higher
class maintained upon the land is the moderately-settled districts of
the Saugor and Nerbudda territories; and there is no part of India
where our Government and character are so much beloved and respected.
You have sent Mr. Read to that part; and if he be bigoted to Mr.
Thomason's system, he will upset all this, and, in my opinion, lay
the foundation of much evil. We found a system of paternal government
in every village, and maintained and improved it. They were all
little principalities; and by the printed rules of the Sudder Board
of Revenue, which are very good, all the sub-tenants were effectually
secured in their rights.
In making a tour through Oude in the end of 1849 and beginning of
1850 I had a good deal of talk with the people. Many of them had
sojourned in our territories in seasons of disturbance. The general
impression was that they would be glad to see the country taken under
British management, provided we could dispense with our tedious
procedure in civil cases. They all had a very unfavourable impression
of our civil courts, and of the cost and delay of the procedure.
Mills and Harrington, to whom the duty, which was to have devolved on
you, has been confided, may do much good, and I hope will, for there
really is nothing in our system which calls so much for remedy. I am
persuaded that, if it were to be put to the vote among the people of
Oude, ninety-nine in a hundred would rather remain as they are,
without any feeling of security in life or property, than have our
system introduced in its present complicated state; but that ninety-
nine in a hundred would rather have our Government than live as they
do, if a more simple system, which they could understand, were
promised at the same time.
In 1801, when the Oude territory was divided, and half taken by us
and half left to Oude, the landed aristocracy of each were about
equal. Now hardly a family of this class remains in our half, while
in Oude it remains unimpaired. Everybody in Oude believes those
families to have been systematically crushed. If by-and-by we can get
the people to take an interest in our railroads, and outlays upon
other great public works, it will tend to create the middle class
upon which I set so much value, and to give that feeling of interest
in the stability of our rule which we so much require. We shall then
have objects of common interest to talk and think about, and become
more united with them in feeling.
Maddock is in Ceylon, but intends to return by the steamer which is
to leave Calcutta on the 5th proximo. His speculations there have
been failures. Had he looked after his estates there instead of
joining the effete party of the Derbyites he might have done well. He
has made great mistakes, and he now suffers for them. His support of
Lord Torrington was his first.
Believe me,
Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To Mr. Colvin.
__________________________
Lucknow, 5th March, 1854.
My Dear Low,
I have to-day written to Government a letter, which you will of
course see, on the subject of a proposal made to me by Mr. B.
Government will, I have no doubt, consider the reason assigned by me
for refusing to permit him to send an European agent to Lucknow,
ostensibly to collect debts, sufficient; but whether it will consent
to adopt my suggestion, and empower the Resident to assure the King
that it will not again consent to permit Mr. B. to return and reside
at Lucknow, after he has been twice expelled for his misdeeds, I know
not. One thing is certain, that his residence at Cawnpore, under the
assurance from the minister that he shall come back and be made
wealthy if he can aid in getting rid of the Resident, is very
mischievous.
B., Wasee Allee, and the Minister, succeeded in persuading the King
that Shurfod Dowla, and all the most respectable members of the
Lucknow aristocracy, had signed a memorial to the Government of
India, praying that it would set aside the present King as an
incompetent fool, and put Mostafa Alee on the throne in his place.
All this was reported by me to Government on the 2nd of March, 1853.
The seals were all forged or filched here at Lucknow, but the papers
were written in Calcutta, under the agency, I believe, of Synd Jan,
Sir H. E.'s moonshee, from Bilgram, where his family have long
enjoyed an estate rent-free, for the aid he has given to the minister
in his intrigues. I have never been able to remove this delusion from
the mind of the imbecile King; and it is the "_raw_" on which these
knaves have been ever since acting; for it enables the minister to
persuade him that his vigilance-alone preserves his life and crown.
The minister is aware that I know all this, and may some day be able
to show the King how he has been deluded and befooled by him; and he
would give all he is worth to get rid of me in any way. He would give
any sums to B. and his other agents to bribe editors to write against
me; but the only editors who have yielded have been those of the
"Mofussilite," before Mr. C. took the management. Mr. B. complains at
Cawnpore, that he gave Mr. L. a large sum to do his dirty work at
home; but that he did nothing for it. This is not unlikely. That the
minister and Wasee Alee got up the attempt at the Residency, either
to make away with me, or to alarm me into going away, I am persuaded;
but to get judicial proof of it I shall not attempt. It would be vain
here, where the minister has all the revenues of the State to work
with.
All the native gentlemen whose seals were forged to this document,
look to me for protection; and they have been ever since in a state
of great alarm. It was to keep up this alarm that they tried to turn
Shurfod Dowla out of Oude. I had rarely seen him before that time;
and I have only seen him once since he went to the cantonments; and
then only for five minutes during my walk in the garden, to talk
about Mulki Jahan's affairs. They punish any one who ventures to
approach the King; and they would ruin any one who ventured to
approach the Resident if they could, lest he might open the eyes of
the King to the iniquities they commit. The troops are starved, and
almost all the old members of the royal family, who had no Government
paper or guarantees, have been already starved or driven out. Oude
has never before been afflicted by a Sovereign so utterly imbecile
and regardless of his duties and the sufferings of his people; nor
has there ever been a minister so utterly regardless of his own
reputation and that of his master. He bribes with money, power, and
patronage, every one who has access to the King, to sound his praise
in prose or verse; and the King is persuaded that his life and throne
depend upon his abstaining altogether, from interfering in the
conduct of affairs.
When I was in the Governor-Generals camp at Futtehgur, M. H., the son
of S. A. K., came there armed, I knew, with four lacs of rupees. He
was an old acquaintance of E.'s, and he (E.) told me that he had
asked for an interview, and asked me whether he ought to consent to
see him. I told him that, if he did see him, he must make up his mind
to the man's persuading the King that he had given him the greater
part of the money, though the man himself kept all that he did not
give to his moonshee. He refused to see the man; but he has ever
since been with Mr. L. at Allahabad, intriguing with his people to
chouse men out of their ancient possessions; or with the Oude people,
to keep up the _raw_ they have established on the King's mind. The
King, by over-indulgence, has reduced his intellect below the
standard of that of a boy of five years of age. It is painful to talk
to a man with a mind so utterly emasculated.
Our Government would be fully authorized at any time to enforce the
penalty prescribed in your treaty of 1837, and it incurs great odium
and obloquy for not enforcing it. But Lord D. has, no doubt, solid
reasons for not taking such responsibility upon himself at this time.
I do all I can to save the people, and the people are sensible of
what I do, and grateful for it; for the Resident is the only person
they can look up to with any hope. If Government can comply with my
wish to have the King assured that it will not permit Mr. B. to
return and reside at Lucknow again, it will be of great use to me and
to the people, for the hopes held out to him are like a premium
offered for my head, or for my ruin; and one never feels very
comfortable under such offers, at any time or in any country. The
reckless lies which this man gets adventurers at Cawnpore to write
for him, and careless or corrupt editors to publish, are apt to
stagger those who do not know the vile character of the individual,
or the true nature of the facts referred to.
I am glad you saw W. He is a man of high character and first-rate
ability, and has abundance of sagacity and energy. I miss him very
much. He will be a credit to his regiment if engaged on active
service.
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To Colonel Low, C.B.
P.S.--I shall say nothing in this of your domestic bereavement,
though I have felt much for you.
W. H. S.
In my public letter, I have referred to that of the Marquess of W. to
L., when he was Resident. Do refer to it Page 388, Vol. 1.,
"Despatches."
__________________________
Lucknow, 1st June, 1854.
My Dear Low,
In my letter of the 10th of November, 1853, I solicited permission to
retain Weston with me for reasons stated therein. In reply, I was
told, in Mr. Dalrymple's letter of the 2nd of December, "that the
Governor-General in Council had every wish to consult my views, but,
for the present at least, his Lordship in Council thinks that
Lieutenant Weston must in fairness be required to join his regiment,
like other officers."
I am so very anxious to have his services again in the office he
filled, that I have to-day ventured, in a public letter to the
Foreign Secretary, to request that he will submit my wishes to the
Governor-General in Council, should they deem the state of affairs in
Burmah at present to be such as to admit of his being withdrawn from
his regiment I have said, in my public letter, that should any
exigency arise he could, of course, quickly join his regiment on
service again.
If you can give me any assistance in obtaining his services, I shall
feel very much indebted to you, for I have that confidence in his
abilities and high-mindedness which I cannot feel in those of his
_locum tenens_; and I am very anxious to keep things in good train
here till the end of the cold weather, when I must go on leave to
recruit. I am really in a very difficult position here, not with
regard to the King, for he has, I believe, entire confidence in me;
but he has become so entangled with his minister, that he is afraid
of him; and the minister would give all he has (and he has all the
revenues of the country) to get me out of the way.
I carried the Government orders regarding Shurfod Dowla into effect,
and he is now, with his family, quiet and safe. The King behaved very
well, and resisted all the attempts of the minister to persuade him
to remonstrate. I am to-day to submit Shurfod Dowla's letter of
grateful thanks to Government. I hope Government will not write to
him in reply, as this might mortify and vex the King, since he is not
written to by the Governor-General.
I think I told you of the _raw_ the minister, Wasee Alee and Co., had
established on the King's mind--the belief that a party of the
members of the royal family and native gentlemen at Lucknow had been
trying to persuade Government to set him aside, and put his reputed
brother, Mostafa Alee, on the throne. Whenever they want to make the
King angry with any one, they tell him that he is a leader in this
cabal. But the King is, by degrees, growing out of this folly. There
never was on the throne, I believe, a man more inoffensive at heart
than he is; and he is quite sensible of my anxious desire to advise
him rightly, and see justice done in all cases. But I am a sad
stumbling-block to the minister and the other bad and incompetent
officers employed in the administration.
If you wish it, I will be more circumstantial about Weston's _locum
tenens_, Lieut. B., of the 1st Cavalry. For his own repute, and that
of the Government, I think the less he has to do with the political
department the better. He would be better in a military staff
appointment than a political one.
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To the Hon. Colonel Low, C.B.
__________________________
Lucknow, 11th September, 1854.
My Lord,
The post which this morning brought me your Lordship's letter of the
6th instant brought me also one from Bombay, which I enclose for your
Lordship's perusal. Should you think it worth while, Colonel Outram
will be able to sift the matter to which it refers. I have long been
aware of the intrigue, and have taken care to let the King know that
I am so; but as I knew, at the same time, that the object was merely
to get money out of him, and to strengthen his confidence in his
minister, which had begun to give way, I did not think it necessary
to trouble your Lordship with any reference on the subject. I knew
that letters had been forged as from the King of Persia to the King
of Oude, proposing to divide Hindoostan between them, and I thought
it to be my duty to tell him so, in order to warn him; but, as he
denied ever having received such letters, I told him that I should
take the word of a King, and say no more about it. He is certainly
not of sound mind, and things must, ere long, come to a crisis. His
mind may have been of an average kind when he was young, but it has
long become emasculated by over-indulgence; and the minister and his
minions can make him believe or do what they please. They know that
it cannot last long, and they have agents in Bombay and Calcutta to
assist them in fleecing the King of money on all manner of false
pretences.
The minister, a consummate knave, and one of the most incompetent men
of business that I have ever known, has all the revenues and
patronage of the country to distribute among those who have access to
the King exclusively--they are poets, fiddlers, eunuchs, and
profligate women; and every one of them holds, directly or
indirectly, some court or other, fiscal, criminal, or civil, through
which to fleece the people. Anything so detestable as the Government
I have nowhere witnessed, and a man less competent to govern them
than the King I have never known.
Had your Lordship left the choice of a successor to me, I should have
pointed out Colonel Outram; and I feel very much rejoiced that he has
been selected for the office, and I hope he will come as soon as
possible. There are many honest men at Lucknow, and a finer peasantry
no country can boast. But no honest man can obtain or retain office
under Government with the present minister and heads of departments.
But where the whole revenues of a fine country are available to
suborn witnesses to prove the King to be a _Solomon_, no Resident
would be able to find judicial proof of his being a fool; but that he
is so I have had abundance of, to me, satisfactory evidence ever
since I have been here. It must soon, however, become clear, without
the Resident's efforts to make it so. Where the Government of India
is so solemnly pledged to see justice done to the people of a
country, it cannot fairly permit them to be reigned over much longer
by so incompetent a Sovereign. Proofs enough of bad government and
neglected duties were given in my Diary; and a picture more true was,
I believe, never drawn of any country. The duty of remedying the
evils, and carrying out your Lordship's views in Oude, whatever they
may be, must now devolve on another.
No one of my present assistants knows anything whatever about Oude,
its Government, or its people; and Colonel Outram will, therefore,
labour under great disadvantages. I hope, therefore, that your
Lordship will pardon the liberty I take in suggesting that he be
allowed the aid of Captain Weston. He went over the whole of Oude
with me, and knows almost all who have made themselves prominent for
good or for evil within the last five years. I know that, as soon as
I go, some of the most atrocious villains whom I have kept out of
office will try to purchase their way back; and there is no man too
bad for the minister, provided he pays for his restoration.--The
murderer of the banker, mentioned in my Diary, vol. i., p. 131, and
the murderer of thousands mentioned in the same volume. Captain
Weston is high minded, sagacious, energetic, hard-working,
conciliatory and, to Colonel Outram, his services in the new charge
would be invaluable.
I have the honour to remain,
Your Lordship's faithful and obedient servant,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To the Most Noble
The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.
Governor-General.
THE END.
LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET.