A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude Part 47

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in Council, should they deem the state of affairs in Burmah at present to be such as to admit of his being withdrawn from his regiment I have said, in my public letter, that should any exigency arise he could, of course, quickly join his regiment on service again.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 a.s.sistance 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 _loc.u.m 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 circ.u.mstantial about Weston's _loc.u.m 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 a.s.sist 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 a.s.sistants 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 n.o.ble The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.

Governor-General.

THE END.