A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude Part 6

5. The abuses they would have to remedy are all perfectly well understood, and the measures required to remedy them are all simple and obvious: a settlement would be made with the landholders, based upon past avowed collections; they would be delighted to bind themselves to pay such an a.s.sessment, as they would escape from the more than one-third more, which they have now to pay, in one form or another, to contractors and Court favourites; the large landholders, who are for the most part now in open resistance to the Government, would rejoice at the prospect of securing their estates to their posterity, without the necessity of continually fighting for them.

6. The army would soon become efficient: at present every man purchases his place in it from the minister and the singers and eunuchs, and he loses it as soon as he becomes disabled from wounds or sickness. The only exceptions are the four regiments under Captain Burlow, Captain Bunbury, Captain Magness, and Soba Sing, lately Captain Buckley's; in these, all that are disabled from wounds or sickness are kept on the strength of the corps, and each corps has with it a large invalid establishment of this kind unrecognized by the Government. They could not get their men to fight, without it.

These regiments are put up at auction every season, and often several times during one season; the contractor who bids highest gets the services of the best for the season or the occasion; the purchase- money is divided between the minister and the Court favourites, singers, &c. These are really efficient corps, and the others might soon be made the same. The men are as fine-looking and brave as those of our, regular infantry, for Oude teems with such men, who have from their boyhood been fighting against contractors under the heads of their clan or families.

7. The rest are for the most part commanded by boys, or Court favourites, who seldom see them, keep about two-thirds of what are borne on the rolls and paid for, and take about one-third of the pay of what remain for themselves. The singer, Rajee-od Dowla, the prime favourite above named, has two regiments thus treated, and of course altogether inefficient, ragged, hungry, and discontented. It will be easy to remedy all this, get excellent men, and inspire them with excellent spirit by inst.i.tuting a modified pension establishment for men disabled in the discharge of their duties, and providing for their regular pay and efficient command.

8. This would prevent the necessity of employing British troops, except on rare and great occasions; the settlement of the land- revenue, and knowledge that they would be employed if required, would keep the great landholders in obedience. It would be well to have back the corps of infantry and two guns that were taken away from Pertanghurh, in Oude, in 1835. This is all the addition that would be required to secure an efficient Government; and the scale to which our troops in Oude had been reduced up to that time (1835) was generally considered the lowest compatible with our engagements. A regiment of cavalry had been borrowed from Pertanghurh for the Nepaul and Mahratta wars in 1814 and 1817; it was finally withdrawn in 1823.

9. The judicial Courts would be well conducted while the presiding officers felt secure in their tenure of office, which they would do when their dismissal depended upon proof of guilt or incompetency sufficient to satisfy a Board guaranteed by our Government.

10. The police would soon become efficient under the supervision and control of respectable revenue-officers, having the same feeling of security in their tenure of office. All the revenue-officers would, of course, be servants of Government instead of contractors. There would be grades answering to our commissioners of divisions, say four; 2nd, to our collectors of revenue, say twenty-eight; 3rd, deputy-collectors, say twenty-eight; all under the Board, and guided by the member intrusted with that branch of the administration: all would be responsible for the police over their respective jurisdictions.

11. Oude ought to be, and would soon be, under such a system, a garden; the soil is the finest in India, so are the men; and there is no want of an educated cla.s.s for civil office: on the contrary, they abound almost as much as the cla.s.s of soldiers. From the numerous rivers which flow through the country the water is everywhere near the surface, and the peasantry would manure and irrigate every field, if they could do so in peace and security, with a fair prospect of being permitted to reap the fruits. The terrible corruption of the Court is the great impediment to all this good: the savings would more than pay all the increased outlay required for rendering establishments efficient in all branches, while the treasury would receive at least one-third more than the expenditure; that is, 1,50,00,000 Rs., or one crore and a half.

12. From the time the treaty of 1801 was made, up to within the last few years, the term "internal enemies" was interpreted to mean the great landholders who might be in resistance to the Government, and this interpretation was always acted upon; the only difficulty was in ascertaining whether the resistance was or was not, under the circ.u.mstances, justifiable. While employed in Oude with my regiment, and on the staff in 1818 and 1819, I saw much of the correspondence between the Resident and Commandant; many letters from the Resident, Colonel Baillie, mentioning how bitterly Saadulullee, with whom that treaty was made, had complained, that after the sacrifice of half his kingdom for the aid of British troops in keeping down these powerful and refractory landholders, he could not obtain their a.s.sistance without being subject to such humiliating remonstrances as he got from officers commanding stations whenever he asked for it. Aid was often given, and forts innumerable were reduced from time to time, but the privilege of building them up again was purchased from the same or another contractor next season.

13. At this time I have calls for at least two battalions and a train of artillery, from about six quarters, to enforce orders on these landholders. Captain Hea.r.s.ey has had men of his Frontier Police killed and wounded by them on the western border, and declares that nothing can be done to secure offenders, refugees from our districts, with a less force. Captain Orr has had several men wounded, and prisoners taken from him, by the same cla.s.s on the eastern border, and declares to the same effect. Sixteen sepoys of our army, 59th N.

I., on their way home on furlough were attacked and two of them killed, three weeks ago, by a third Zumeendar, at Peernugger, his own estate, within ten miles of the Setapore Cantonments, where we have a regiment. Captain Barlow's regiment and artillery, and another, with all Captain Hea.r.s.ey's Frontier Police, are in pursuit of him. Four others have committed similar outrages on our officers and sepoys and their families, and the Government declares its utter inability to enforce obedience or grant any redress, without a larger force than they have to send. Great numbers of the same cla.s.s are plundering and burning villages, and robbing and murdering on the highway, and laughing at the impotency of the sovereign. It was certainly for aid in coercing these "internal enemies" that the Sovereign of Oude ceded his territories to us, and for no other, and that aid may be afforded at little cost, and to the great benefit of all under the system I have submitted for your Lordship's consideration. It will be very rarely required, and when called for, a mere demonstration will, in three cases out of four, be sufficient to effect the object.

14, After a time, or when the heir-apparent comes of age, the duties of the guaranteed members of the Board may safely be united to a supervision over the settlement made with the princ.i.p.al landholders, whose obedience our Government may consider itself bound to aid in enforcing; all the rest may be left to a competent sovereign; and there will be nothing in the system opposed to native usages, feelings, and inst.i.tutions, to prevent its being adhered to. I should mention, that many of these landholders have each armed and disciplined bodies of two thousand foot and five hundred horse; and, what is worse, the command of as many as they like of "Pa.s.sies,"

armed with bows and arrows. These Pa.s.sies are reckless thieves and robbers of the lowest cla.s.s, whose only professions are thieving and acting as Chowkedars, or village police. They are at the service of every refractory Zumeendar, for what they can get in booty in his depredations. The disorders in Oude have greatly increased this cla.s.s, and they are now roughly estimated at a hundred thousand families; these are the men from whom travellers on the road suffer most.

15. A second a.s.sistant would be required for a time to enable the Resident to shift off the daily detail of the treasury, which has become the largest in India,--I believe, beyond those at the three Presidencies.

A good English copyist, capable of mapping, will be required in the Resident's office at 150, and two Persian writers 100; total 250.

These are the only additions which appear to me to be required.

16. I annex a list of the regiments now in the King's service, Telungas, or regulars, and Nujeebs, or irregulars; and with my next official report I will submit a list of all the establishments, civil and military.

17. The King's habits will not alter; he was allowed by his father to a.s.sociate, as at present, with these singers from his boyhood, and he cannot endure the society of other persons. His determination to live exclusively in their society, and to hear and see nothing of what his officers do or his people suffer, he no longer makes any attempt to conceal. It would be idle to hope for anything from him but a resignation of power into more competent hands; whatever he retains he will a.s.suredly give to his singers and eunuchs, or allow them to take. No man can take charge of any office without antic.i.p.ating the income by large gratuities to them, and the average gratuity which a contractor for a year, of a district yielding three lacs of rupees a- year, is made to pay, before he leaves the capital to enter upon his charge, is estimated to be fifty thousand rupees: this he exacts from the landholders as the first payment, for which they receive no credit in the public account. All other offices are paid for in the same way.

18. The King would change his minister to-morrow if the singers were to propose it; and they would propose it if they could get better terms or perquisites under any other. No minister could hold office a week without their acquiescence. Under such circ.u.mstances a change of ministers would be of little advantage to the country.

19. The King will yield to the measure proposed only under the a.s.surance, that if he did not, the Governor-General would be reduced to the necessity of having recourse to that which Lord Hardinge threatened in the 10th, 11th, and 12th paragraphs of his letter of October, 1847, and the Court of Directors, on the representation of Lord William Bentinck, sanctioned in 1831. The Court was at that time so strongly impressed with the conviction that the threat would be carried into execution, that they prevailed upon the President to undertake a mission to the Home Government, with a view to enlarge the President's powers of interference, in order to save them from the alternative. This led to Mr. Maddock's removal from the Presidency; all subsequent correspondence has tended to keep up the apprehension that the threatened measure would be had recourse to, and to stimulate sovereigns and ministers to exertion till the present reign. The present King has, from the time he ascended the throne, manifested a determination to take no share whatever in the conduct of affairs; to spend the whole of his time among singers and eunuchs, and the women whom they provide for his amus.e.m.e.nt; and carefully to exclude from access, all who suffer from the maladministration of his servants, or who could and would tell him what was done by the one and suffered by the other.

20. But it is not his minister and favourites alone who take advantage of this state of things to enrich themselves; corruption runs through all the public offices, and Maharaja Balkishen, the Dewan, or _Chancellor of the Exchequer_, is notoriously among the most corrupt of all, taking a large portion of the heavy balances due by contractors to get the rest remitted or misrepresented. There is no Court in the capital, criminal, civil, or fiscal, in which the cases are not tampered with by Court favourites, and divided according to their wishes, unless the President has occasion to interfere in behalf of guaranteed pensioners, or officers and sepoys of our army. On his appearance they commonly skulk away, like jackals from a dead carcase when the tiger appears; but the cases in which he can interfere are comparatively very few, and it is with the greatest delay and difficulty that he can get such cases decided at all. A more lamentable state of affairs it is difficult to conceive.

With great respect, I remain, Your Lordship's obedient humble servant, (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.

To the Most n.o.ble the Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T., &c. &c. &c.

P.S.--I find that the King's brother is altogether incompetent for anything like business or responsibility. The minister has not one single quality that a minister ought to have; and the King cannot be considered to be in a sound state of mind.

(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.

_Annexures_.

1. Extracts, pars. 9 to 14 of Lord Hardinge's Memorial.

2. Statement of British troops in Oude in Jan. 1835 and 1849.

3. Table of the King of Oude's troops of all kinds.

Lucknow, 6th September, 1849.

My Lord,

I take the liberty to enclose, for your Lordship's perusal, a more full and correct Table of the troops and police in Oude than that which I submitted with my last letter, as also a Table of all the other branches of expenditure--save those of buildings, charities, presents, &c., which are ever varying.

It may be estimated that two-thirds of the numbers in the corps of Telungas and Nujeebs paid for are kept up; and that one-half of what are kept up are efficient, all having to purchase their places, and those most unfit being disposed to pay highest.

Further: one-half of what are kept up are supposed to be always absent; and when they are so, they receive one-half of their pay, and the other half is divided between the commandant and the paymaster.

These two are supposed to take, on one pretence or other, one third of the pay of those who are actually present. The corps of Telungas commanded by Captains Barlow, Bunbury, and Magness are exceptions; but the pay department is not under their control, and they are obliged to acquiesce in abuses that impair the efficiency their corps.

After reducing one-third-of these corps, and rendering the remaining two-thirds efficient, the force would be sufficient for all purposes, and we may well dispense with the corps of regular infantry which in my last letter I proposed to restore to Oude. It will, however, be desirable to have a good and experienced infantry officer as inspector, to see that the measures adopted for reform are effectually carried out. An artillery officer as inspector will also be desirable, as it will be necessary to have that branch of the force in the best possible order, when Oude has to depend chiefly on its own resources. A few European officers, too, for commandants of corps and seconds in command will be desirable--such as have been employed with native corps as sergeant-majors or quartermaster- sergeants, and have obtained distinctions for good conduct.

I should propose six primary stations as seats for the princ.i.p.al Revenue and Judicial Courts, and the headquarters of the best corps with cavalry and artillery; thirty second and third rate stations for the subordinate Courts and detachments of troops and police. All to be chosen, with reference to position in districts under jurisdiction, and to salubrity of climate. At all these Stations suitable buildings would be provided; and as all would be commenced upon simultaneously, all would soon be ready.

Your Lordship will observe the small item put down for the judicial establishments all over Oude. Such as are really kept up are worthless, and are altogether without the confidence of the people.

The savings in the other branches of the expenditure will more than cover all the outlay required for good ones.

The King continues to show the same aversion to hear anything about public affairs, or to converse with any but the singers, eunuchs, and females. At the great festival of the Eed, on the first appearance of the present moon, he went out in procession, but deputed his heir- apparent to receive the compliments in Durbar. He does not suffer bodily pain, but is said to have long fits of moping and melancholy, and he is manifestly hypochondriac. He squanders the state jewels among the singers and eunuchs, who send them out of the country as fast as they can. The members of his family who have its interests most at heart, are becoming anxious for some change; and by the time the two years expire, it will not, perhaps, be difficult to induce him to put his affairs into other hands. He would change his minister on the slightest hint from me; but it would be of no use: the successor, pretending to carry on the Government under the King's orders, would be little better than the present minister is, and things would continue to be just as bad as they now are: they certainly could not be worse.

The Board, composed of the first members of the Lucknow aristocracy, would be, I think, both popular and efficient; and with the aid of a few of the ablest of the native judicial and revenue officers of our own districts, invited to Oude by the prospect of higher pay and security in the tenure of office, would soon have at work a machinery capable of securing to all their rights, and enforcing from all their duties in every part of this, at present, distracted country. We should soon have good roads throughout the kingdom; and both they and the rivers would soon be as secure as in our own provinces. I think, too, that I might venture to promise that all would be effected without violence or disturbance; all would see that everything was done for the benefit of an oppressed people, and in good faith towards the reigning family.

With great respect, I remain your Lordship's obedient, humble servant.

(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.

To the Most n.o.ble the Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T., &c. &c. &c.

P.S.--I may mention that the King is now engaged in turning into verse a long prose history called Hydree. About ten days ago all the poets in Lucknow were a.s.sembled at the palace to hear his Majesty read his poem. They sat with him, listening to his poem and reading their own from nine at night till three in the morning. One of the poets, the eldest son of a late minister, Mohamid-od Dowla, Aga Meer, told me that the versification was exceedingly good for a King. These are, I think, the only men, save the minister, the eunuchs, and the singers who have had the honour of conversing with his Majesty since I came here in January last.

W. H. S.

____

Lucknow, 23rd September, 1849.

My Dear Elliot,

I conclude that no further Tables will be required from me on Oude statistics for the present. Should they be so, pray let me know, and they shall be sent. I thought at first that it would be thought bad taste in me to refer to the domestic troubles of the King, but it is necessary to show the state to which his Majesty is reduced in his palace. The facts mentioned are known and talked of all over Lucknow and Oude generally, and tend more than greater things to bring his conduct and character into contempt.

The time was certainly never so favourable to propose an arrangement that shall secure a lasting and substantial reform, and render Oude what it ought to be--a garden. The King is in constant dread of poison, and would do anything to get relieved from that dread, and all further importunity on the state of the country. His chief wife would poison him to bring on the throne her son, and restore to her her paramour, who is now at Cawnpoor, waiting for such a change. Her uncle, the minister, would, the King thinks, be glad to see him poisoned, in the hope of having to conduct affairs during the minority. He is afraid to admonish his other wife for her infidelities with the chief favourite and singer, lest she should poison him to go off with her paramour to Rampoor, whither he has sent the immense wealth that the King has lavished upon him.