Salone district–Rajah Lal Hunmunt Sing of Dharoopoor–Soil of Oude– Relative fertility of the mutteear and doomutteea–Either may become oosur, or barren, from neglect, and is reclaimed, when it does so, with difficulty–Shah Puna Ata, a holy man in charge of an eleemosynary endowment at Salone–Effects of his curses–Invasion of British Boundary–Military Force with the Nazim–State and character of this Force–Rae Bareilly in the Byswara district–Bandha, or Misletoe–Rana Benee Madhoo, of Shunkerpoor–Law of Primogeniture– Title of Rana contested between Benee Madhoo and Rogonath Sing– Bridge and avenue at Rae Bareilly–Eligible place for cantonment and civil establishments–State of the Artillery–Sobha Sing’s regiment– Foraging System–Peasantry follow the fortunes of their refractory Landlords–No provision for the king’s soldiers, disabled in action, or for the families of those who are killed–Our sipahees, a privileged class, very troublesome in the Byswara and Banoda districts–Goorbukshgunge–Man destroyed by an Elephant–Danger to which keepers of such animals are exposed–Bys Rajpoots composed of two great families, Sybunsies and Nyhassas–Their continual contests for landed possessions–Futteh Bahader–Rogonath Sing–Mahibollah the robber and estate of Balla–Notion that Tillockchundee Bys Rajpoots never suffer from the bite of a snake–Infanticide–Paucity of comfortable dwelling-houses–The cause–Agricultural capitalists– Ornaments and apparel of the females of the Bys clan–Late Nazim Hamid Allee–His father-in-law Fuzl Allee–First loan from Oude to our Government–Native gentlemen with independent incomes cannot reside in the country–Crowd the city, and tend to alienate the Court from the people.
December 29, 1849.–Ten miles to Rampoor. Midway we passed over the border of the Sultanpoor district into that of Salone, whose Amil, Hoseyn Buksh, there met us with his cortège. Rampoor is the Residence of Rajah Hunmunt Sing, the tallookdar of the two estates of Dharoopoor and Kalakunkur, which extend down to and for some miles along the left bank of the river Ganges. There is a fort in each of these estates, and he formerly resided in that of Dharoopoor, four miles from our present encampment. That of Kalakunkur is on the bank of the Ganges. The lands along, on both sides the road, over which we are come, are scantily cultivated, but well studded with good trees, where the soil is good for them. A good deal of it is, however, the poor oosur soil, the rest muteear, of various degrees of fertility. The territory of Oude, as I have said above, must once have formed part of the bed of a lake,* which contained a vast fund of soluble salts. Through this bed, as the waters flowed off, the rivers from the northern range of hills, which had before fed the lake, cut their way to join the larger stream of the Ganges; and the smaller streams, which have their sources in the dense forest of the Tarae, which now extends along the southern border of that range, have since cut their way through this bed in the same manner to the larger rivers. The waters from these rivers percolate through the bed; and, as they rise to the surface, by the laws of capillary attraction, they carry with them these salts in solution. As they reach the surface in dry weather, they give off by evaporation pure water; and the salts, which they held in solution, remain behind in the upper surface. The capillary action goes on; and as the pure water is taken off in the atmosphere in vapour, other water impregnated with more salts comes up to supply its place; and the salts near the surface either accumulate or are supplied to the roots of the plants, shrubs, or trees, which require them.
[* Caused, possibly, by the Vendeya range once extending E. N. E. up to the Himmalaya chain, which runs E. S. E. It now extends up only to the right bank of the Ganges, at Chunar and Mirzapoor.]
Rain-water,* which contains no such salts, falls after the dry season is over, and washes out of the upper surface a portion of the salts, which have thus been brought up from below and accumulated, and either takes them off in floods or carries them down again to the beds below. Some of these salts, or their bases, may become superabundant, and render the lands oosur or unfit for ordinary tillage. There may be a superabundance of those which are not required, or cannot be taken up by the plants, actually on the surface, or there may be a superabundance of the whole, from the plants and rain-water being insufficient to take away such as require to be removed. These salts are here, as elsewhere, of great variety; nitrates of ammonia, which, combining with the inorganic substances– magnesia, lime, soda, potash, alumina, and oxide of iron–form double salts, and become soluble in water, and fit food for plants. Or there may be a deficiency of vegetable mould (humus) or manure to supply, with the aid of carbonic acid, air, water, and ammonia, the organic acids required to adapt the inorganic substances to the use of plants.
[* Rain-water contains small quantities of carbonic acid, ammonia, atmospheric air, and vegetable or animal matter.]
All are, in due proportion, more or less conducive to the growth and perfection of the plants, which men and animals require from the soil: some plants require more of the one, and some more of another; and some find a superabundance of what they need, where others find a deficiency, or none at all. The muteear seems to differ from the doomuteea soil, in containing a greater portion of those elements which constitute what are called good clay soils. The inorganic portions of these elements–silicates, carbonates, sulphates, phosphates, and chlorides of lime, potash, magnesia, alumina, soda, oxides of iron and manganese–it derives from the detritus of the granite, gneiss, mica, and chlorite slate, limestone and sandstone rocks, in which the Himmalaya chain of mountains so much abounds; and the organic elements–humates, almates, geates, apoerenates, and crenates–it derives from the mould, formed from the decay of animal and vegetable matter. It is more hydroscopic, or capable of absorbing and retaining moisture, and fixing ammonia than the doomuteea. It is of a darker colour, and forms more into clods to retain moisture. I may here mention that the Himmalaya chain does not abound in volcanic rocks, like the chains of Central and Southern India; and that the soils, which are formed from its detritus, contain, in consequence, less phosphoric acid, and is less adapted to the growth of that numerous class of plants which cannot live without phosphates. The volcanic rocks form a plateaux upon the sandstone, of almost all the hills of Central and Southern India; and the soil, which is formed from their detritus, is exceedingly fertile, when well combined, as it commonly is, with the salts and double salts formed by the union of the organic acids with the inorganic bases of alkalies, earths, and oxides which have become soluble, and been brought to the surface from below by capillary attraction. I may also mention, that the basaltic plateaux upon the sandstone rocks of Central and Southern India are often surmounted with a deposit, more or less deep, of laterite, or indurated iron clay, the detritus of which tends to promote fertility in the soil. I have never myself seen any other deposit than this iron clay or laterite above the basaltic plateaux. I believe that this laterite is never found, in any part of the Himmalaya chain. I have never seen it there, nor have I ever heard of any one having seen it there. In Bundelkund and other parts of Central and Southern India, the basaltic plateaux are sometimes found deposing immediately upon beds of granite.
The doomuteea is of a light-brown colour, soon powders into fine dust, and requires much more outlay in manure and labour than the muteear. The oosur soil appears to be formed out of both, by a superabundance of one or other of the salts or their bases, which are brought to the surface from the beds below, and not carried off or taken back into these beds. It is known that salts of ammonia are injurious to plants, unless combined with organic acids, supplied to the soil by decayed vegetable or animal matter. This matter is necessary to combine with, and fix the ammonia in the soil, and give it out to plants as they require it.
It is possible that nitrates may superabound in the soil from the oxydizement of the nitrogen of a superfluity of ammonia. The people say that all land may become oosur from neglect; and when oosur can never be made to bear crops, after it has been left long fallow, till it has been flooded with rain-water for two or three seasons, by means of artificial embankments, and then well watered, manured, and ploughed. When well tilled in this way, all but the very worst kinds of oosur are said to bear tolerable crops. In the midst of a plain of barren oosur land, which has hardly a tree, shrub, or blade of grass, we find small oases, or patches of low land, in which accumulated rain-water lies for several months every year, covered with stout grasses of different kinds, a sure indication of ability to bear good crops, under good tillage. From very bad oosur lands, common salt or saltpetre, or both, are taken by digging out and washing the earth, and then removing the water by evaporation. The clods in the muteear soil not only retain moisture, and give it out slowly as required by the crops, but they give shelter and coolness to the young and tender shoots of grain and pulse. Of course trees, shrubs, and plants, of all kind in Oude, as elsewhere, derive carbonic acid gas and ammonia from the atmosphere, and decompose them, for their own use, in the same manner.
In treating of the advantages of greater facilities for irrigation in India, I do not recollect ever having seen any mention made of that of penetrating by wells into the deep deposits below of the soluble salts, or their bases, and bringing them to the surface in the water, for the supply of the plants, shrubs, and trees we require. People talk of digging for valuable metals, and thereby “developing resources;” but never talk of digging for the more valuable solutions of soluble salts, to be combined with the organic acids already existing in the soil, or provided by man in manures–and with the carbonic acid, ammonia, and water from the atmosphere–to supply him with a never-ending succession of harvests. The practical agriculturists of Oude, however, say, that brackish water in irrigation is only useful to tobacco and shama; and where the salts which produce it superabound, rain-water tanks and fresh-water rivers and canals would, no doubt, be much better than wells for irrigation. All these waters contain carbonic acid gas, atmospheric air, and solutions of salts, which form food for plants, or become so when combined with the organic acids, supplied by the decayed animal and vegetable matter in the soil.
Soils which contain salts, which readily give off their water of crystallization and effloresce, sooner become barren than those which contain salts that attract moisture from the air, and deliquesce, as chlorides of calcium and magnesia, carbonates and acetates of potassa, alumina, &c. Canals flowing over these deep dry beds, through which little water from the springs below ever percolates to the surface, are not only of great advantage for irrigating the crops on the surface, but for supplying water as they flow along, to penetrate through these deep dry beds; and, as they rise to the surface by capillary attraction, carrying along with them the soluble salts which they pick up on their way. In Oude, as in all the districts that extend along to the north of the Ganges, and south of the Himmalaya chain, easterly winds prevail, and bring up moisture from the sea of the Bay of Bengal. All these districts are, at the same time, abundantly studded with groves of fine trees and jungle, that attract this moisture to the earth in rain and dew. Through Goozerat, Malwa, Berar, and Bundelkund, and all the districts bordering the Nerbudda river, from its mouth to its sources, westerly winds prevail, and bring up moisture from the Gulf of Cambay; and these districts are all well studded with groves, &c., and single trees, which act in the same manner, in attracting the moisture from the atmosphere to the earth, in rain and dew. In Rajpootana and Sinde no prevailing wind, I believe, comes from any sea nearer than the Atlantic ocean; and there are but few trees to attract to the earth the little moisture that the atmosphere contains. The rain that falls over these countries is not, I believe, equal to more than one-third of what falls over the districts, supplied from the Bay of Bengal, or to one-fourth of what falls in those supplied from the Gulf of Cambay. Our own districts of the N. W. Provinces, which intervene between those north of the Ganges and Rajpootana, have the advantage of rivers and canals; but their atmosphere is not so well supplied with moisture from the sea, nor are they so well studded as they ought to be with trees. The Punjab has still greater advantages from numerous rivers, flowing from the Himmalaya chain, and is, like Egypt, in some measure independent of moisture from the atmosphere as far as tillage is concerned; but both would, no doubt, be benefited by a greater abundance of trees. They not only tend to convey to and retain moisture in the soil, and to purify the air for man, by giving out oxygen and absorbing carbonic acid gas, but they are fertilizing media, through which the atmosphere conveys to the soil most of the carbon, and much of the ammonia, without which no soil can be fertile. It is, I believe, generally admitted that trees derive most of their carbon from the air through their leaves, and most of their ammonia from the soil through their roots; and that when the trees, shrubs, and plants, which form our coal-measures, adorned the surface of the globe, the atmosphere must have contained a greater portion of carbonic acid gas than at present. They decompose the gases, use the carbon, and give back the oxygen to the atmosphere.
December 30, 1849.–Ten miles to Salone, over a pretty country, well studded with fine trees and well tilled, except in large patches of oosur land, which occur on both sides of the road. The soil, doomuteea, with a few short intervals of muteear. The Rajah of Pertabghur, and other great landholders of the Sultanpoor division, who had been for some days travelling with me, and the Nazim and his officers, took leave yesterday. The Nazim, Aga Allee, is a man of great experience in the convenances of court and city life, and of some in revenue management, having long had charge of the estates comprised in the “Hozoor Tehseel,” while he resided at Lucknow. He has good sense and an excellent temper, and his manners and deportment are courteous and gentlemanly. The Rajah of Pertabghur is a very stout and fat man, of average understanding. The rightful heir to the principality was Seorutun Sing, whom I have mentioned in my Rambles and Recollections, as a gallant young landholder, fighting for his right to the succession, while I was cantoned at Pertabghur in 1818. He continued to fight, but in vain, as the revenue contractors were too strong for him. Gholam Hoseyn, the then Nazim, kept him down while he lived, and Dursun Sing got him into his power by fraud, and confined him for three years in gaol.
He died soon after his release, leaving one son. Rajah Dheer Sing,* who still lives upon the portion of land which his father inherited. He has taken up the contest for the right bequeathed to him by his father; and his uncle, Golab Sing, the younger brother of Seorutun, a brave, shrewd, and energetic man, has been for some days importuning me for assistance. The nearest relations of the family told me yesterday, that they were coerced by the Government authorities into recognising the adoption of the present Rajah, though it was contrary to all Hindoo law and usage. Hindoos, they said, never marry into the same gote or family, and they never ought to adopt one of the relations of their wives, or a son of a sister, or any descendant in the female line, while there is one of the male line existing. Seoruttun Sing was the next heir in the male line; but the Rajah, having married a young girl in his old age, adopted as his heir to the principality her nearest relative, the present Rajah, who is of a different gote. The desire to keep the land in the same family has given rise to singular laws and usages in all nations in the early stages of civilization, when industry is confined almost exclusively to agriculture, and land is almost the only property valued. Among the people of the Himmalaya hills, as in all Sogdiana, it gave rise to polyandry; and, among the Israelites and Mahommedans, to the marriage of many brothers in succession to the same woman.
[* Rajah Deer Sing died in April 1851, leaving a very young son under the guardianship of his uncle, Golab Sing.]
The Rajah of Dharoopoor, who resides at Rampoor, our last halting- place, holds, as above stated, a tract of land along the left bank of the Ganges, called the Kalakunkur, in which he has lately built a mud-fort of reputed strength. He is a very sensible and active man of pleasing manners. He has two grown-up sons, who were introduced to me by him yesterday. The Government authorities complain of his want of punctuality in the payment of his revenue; and he complains, with much more justice, of the uncertainty in the rate of the demand on the part of Government and its officers or Court favourites, and in the character of the viceroys sent to rule over them; but, above all, of the impossibility of getting a hearing at Court when they are wronged and oppressed by bad viceroys. He went twice himself to Lucknow, to complain of grievous wrongs suffered by him and his tenants from an oppressive viceroy; but, though he had some good friends at Court, and among them Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, he was obliged to return without finding access to the sovereign or his minister, or any one in authority over the viceroy. He told me that all large landholders, who had any regard for their character, or desire to retain their estates, and protect their tenants, were obliged to arm and take to their strongholds or jungles as their only resource, when bad viceroys were sent–that if they could be assured that fair demands only would be made, and that they would have access to authority, when they required to defend themselves from false charges, and to complain of the wrong doings of viceroys and their agents, none of them would be found in resistance against the Government, since all were anxious to bequeath to their children a good name, as well as a good estate. He promised punctual payment of his revenues to Government, and strict obedience in all things, provided that the contractor did not enhance his demand upon him, as he now seemed disposed to do, in the shape of gratuities to himself and Court favourites. “To be safe in Oude” he said, “it is necessary to be strong, and prepared always to use your strength in resisting outrage and oppression, on the part of the King’s officers.”
At Salone resides a holy Mahommedan, Shah Puna Ata, who is looked up to with great reverence by both Mahommedans and Hindoos, for the sanctity of his character, and that of his ancestors, who sat upon the same religions throne, for throne his simple mattress is considered to be. From the time that the heir is called to the throne, he never leaves his house, but stays at home to receive homage, and distribute blessings and food to needy travellers of all religions. He gets from the King of Oude twelve villages, rent free, in perpetuity; and they are said to yield him twenty-five thousand rupees a-year, with which he provides for his family, and for needy travellers and pilgrims. This eleemosynary endowment was granted, about sixty years ago, by the then sovereign, Asuf-od Dowlah. The lands had belonged to a family of Kumpureea Rajpoots, who were ousted for contumacy or rebellion, I believe. He was plundered of all he had, to the amount of some twenty thousand rupees, in 1834, during the reign of Nuseer-on Deen Hyder, by Ehsan Hoseyn, the Nazim of Byswara and Salone, one of the sons of Sobhan Allee Khan, the then virtual minister; but some fifteen days after, he attacked the tallookdar of Bhuderee, and lost his place in consequence. The popular belief is, that he became insane in consequence of the holy man’s curses, and that his whole family became ruined from the same cause.
Bhuderee, which lies a few miles to the south of Salone, was then held by two gallant Rajpoot brothers, Jugmohun Sing and Bishonath Sing, the sons of Zalim Sing. In the month of October, A.D. 1832, Dhokul Sing got the contract of the district, and demanded from Bhuderee an increase of ten thousand rupees in its revenue. They refused to pay this increase. At the established rate they had always paid the Government demand punctually, and been good subjects and excellent landlords. Dhokul Sing was superseded by Ehsan Hoseyn, in March 1833; and he insisted upon having the increase of ten thousand. They refused to pay, and Ehsan Hoseyn besieged and attacked their fort in September. After defending themselves resolutely for five days, Bishonath Sing consented to visit Ehsan Hoseyn, in his camp, on a solemn assurance of personal security; but he no sooner came to his tent than he was seized and taken to Rae Bareilly, the headquarters, a prisoner, in the suite of the Nazim. He there remained confined, in irons, under charge of a wing of a regiment, commanded by Mozim Khan, till February 1834, when he effected his escape, and went back to Bhuderee. In March, a large force was collected, with an immense train of artillery, to aid the Nazim, and he again laid siege to the fort. Having sent off their families before the siege began, and seeing, in the course of a few days, that they could not long hold out against so large a force, the two brothers buried eight out of their ten guns, left the fort at midnight with the other two, cut their way through the besiegers, and passed over a plain six miles to Ramchora, on the left bank of the Ganges, and within the British territory, followed by the whole of the Nazim’s force.
A brisk cannonade was kept up, on both sides, the whole way, and a great many lives were lost The two brothers thought they should be safe at Ramchora, under the protection of the British Government; but the Nazim’s force surrounded the place, and kept up a fire upon it. The brothers contrived, however, to send over the Ganges the greater part of their followers, under the protection of their two guns, and the few men retained to defend and serve them. Jugmohun Sing at last consented to accept the pledge of personal security tendered by Rajah Seodeen Sing, the commander-in-chief of the attacking forces; but while he and his brother were on their way to the camp, with a few armed attendants, the soldiers of the Nazim, by whom they were escorted, attempted to seize and disarm them. They resisted and defended themselves. Others came to their rescue, and the firing recommenced. Jugmohun Sing, and his brother, Bishonath Sing and all their remaining followers were killed. The two brothers lost about one hundred and fifty men, and the Nazim about sixty, in killed. The heads of the two brothers were taken off, forthwith, and sent to the King. Three villages in the British territory were plundered by the Oude troops on this occasion. This violation of our territory the King of Oude was called upon to punish; and Ehsan Hoseyn was deprived of his charge, and heavily fined, to pay compensation to our injured subjects.
Roshun-od Dowlah, the minister, was entirely in the hands of Sobhan Allee Khan; and, as long as he retained office, the family suffered no other punishment. When he, Roshun-od Dowlah, was afterwards deprived of office, he went to Cawnpore to reside, and Sobhan Allee and all his family were obliged to follow his fortunes. On his dismissal from office, Roshun-od Dowlah was put into gaol, and not released till he paid twenty-two lacs of rupees into the Treasury. He had given eight lacs, in our Government promissory notes, to his wife, and three to his son, and he took some lacs with him to Cawnpore, all made during the five years he held office. Sobhan Allee Khan, his deputy, was made to pay into the Treasury seven lacs, and five in gratuities–all made during the same five years. Sobhan Allee died last year on a pilgrimage to Mecca, with the character of one of the ablest and least scrupulous of men; and his sons continue to reside at Cawnpore and Allahabad, with the character of having all the bad, without any of the good, qualities of their father. The widow of Jugmohun manages the estate; but she has adopted the nearest heir to her husband, the present Rajah of Bhuderee, a fine, handsome, and amiable youth, of sixteen years of age, who is now learning Persian. He was one of the many chiefs who took leave of me yesterday, and the most prepossessing of all. His adoptive mother, however, absorbs the estates of her weaker neighbours, by fraud, violence, and collusion, like other landholders, and the dispossessed become leaders of gang robbers as in other parts.
The Shah receives something from the local authorities, and contributions from Mahommedan Princes, in remote parts of India, such as Bhopal, Seronge, &c. Altogether his income is said to amount to about fifty thousand rupees a-year. He has letters from Governors- General of India, Lieutenant-Governors of the North-Western Provinces and their Secretaries; and from Residents at the Court of Lucknow, all of a complimentary character. He has lately declared his eldest son to be his heir to the throne, and is said to have already put him upon it. I received from him the usual letter of compliments and welcome, with a present of a tame antelope, and some fruit and sugar; and I wrote him a reply in the usual terms. His name is Shah Puna Ata, and his character is held in high esteem by all classes of the people, of whatever creed, caste, or grade.
The Bhuderee family give their daughters in marriage to the Bugheela Rajahs of Rewa and the Powar Rajahs of Ocheyra, who are considered to be a shade higher in caste than they are among the Rajpoots. Not long ago they gave one hundred thousand rupees, with one daughter, to the only son of the Rewa Rajah, as the only condition on which he would take her. Golab Sing, the brother of Seoruttun Sing, of Pertabghur, by caste a Sombunsee, is said to have given lately fifty thousand rupees, with another daughter, to the same person. Rajah Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor, who is by caste a Beseyn Rajpoot, the year before last went to Rewa, accompanied by some fifty Brahmins, to propose an union between his daughter and the same son of the Rewa Rajah. A large sum was demanded, but he pleaded poverty, and at last got the Rajah to consent to take fifty thousand rupees down, and seventy-five thousand at the last ceremony of the barat, or fetching home of the bride. When all had been prepared for this last ceremony, the Rajah of Rewa pleaded the heat of the weather, and his son would not come to complete it, and take away his bride. Hunmunt Sing collected one hundred resolute Brahmins, and proceeded with them to Rewa, where they sat dhurna at the Rajah’s door, without tasting food, and declared that they would all die there unless the marriage were completed.
The Rajah did all he could, or could make his people do, to get rid of them; but at last, afraid that some of the Brahmins would really die, he consented that his son should go and fetch his bride, if Hunmunt Sing would pay down twenty-five thousand rupees more, to defray the cost of the procession, in addition to the seventy-five thousand. He did so, and his daughter was taken off in due form. He has another daughter to dispose of in the same way. The Rewa Rajah has thus taken five or six wives for his son, from families a shade lower in caste; but the whole that he has got with them will not be enough to pay one of the Rajpoot families, a shade higher in caste than he is, in Rajpootana, to take one daughter from him. It costs him ten or twelve lacs of rupees to induce the Rajah of Oudeepoor, Joudhpoor, or Jypoor, to take away, as his bride, a daughter of Rewa. All is a matter of bargain and sale. Those who have money must pay, in proportion to their means, to marry their daughters into families a shade higher in caste or dignity, or to get daughters from them when such families are reduced to the necessity of selling their daughters to families of a lower grade.
Among Brahmins it is the same. Take, for example, the Kunojee Brahmins, among whom there are several shades of caste. The member of a family a shade higher will not give his son in marriage to a daughter of a family a shade lower, without receiving a sum in proportion to its means; nor will he give a daughter in marriage to such a family till he is so exalted as to be able to disregard the feelings of his clan, or reduced to such a degree of poverty as shall seem to his clan sufficient to justify it. This bargain and sale of sons and daughters prevails, more or less, throughout all Hindoo society, and is not, even now, altogether unknown among Christian nations. In Oude, this has led to the stealing of young girls from our own districts. Some men and women from our districts make a trade of it. They pretend to be of Rajpoot caste, and inveigle away girls from their parents, to be united in marriage to Rajpoots in Oude. They pretend to have brought them with the consent of their parents, of the same or higher caste, in our territories, and make large sums by the trade.
December 31, 1849.–Eight miles to Sotee, over a country well studded with trees, and generally well cultivated. The soil is, all the way, doomuteea. The road, the greater part of the way, lies in the purgunnah of Nyn, held by Jugunnath Sing, a Kumpureea Rajpoot, and his nephew, and the collateral branches of their family. They have a belt of jungle, extending for some twelve miles along the right bank of the Saee river, and on the right side of the road, and within from two to six miles from it–in some parts nearer, and in others more remote. Wild hogs, deer, neelgae, and wild cattle abound in this jungle, and do great injury to the crops in its vicinity. The peasantry can kill and eat the hogs and deer, but dare not kill or wound the wild cattle or neelgae. The wild cattle are said to be from a stock which strayed or were let loose in this jungle some centuries ago. They are described as fat, while the crops are on the ground, and well formed–some black, some red, some white, and some mixed– and to be as wild and active as the deer of the same jungle. They are sometimes caught by being driven into the Saee river; but the young ones are said to refuse all food, and die soon, if not released. Hindoos soon release them, from the religious dread that they may die in confinement. The old ones sometimes live, and are considered valuable. They are said to be finer in form than the tame cattle of the country; and from July to March, when grass abounds, and the country around is covered successively with autumn and spring crops, more fat and sleek.
The soil is good and strong, and the jungle which covers it very thick. It is preserved by a family of Kumpureea Rajpoots, whose whole possessions, in 1814, consisted of nine villages. By degrees they have driven out or murdered all the other proprietors, and they now hold no less than one hundred and fifty, for which they pay little or no revenue to Government. The rents are employed in keeping up large bands of armed followers and building strongholds, from which they infest the surrounding country. The family has become divided into five branches, each branch having a fort or stronghold in the Nyn jungle, and becoming by degrees subdivided into smaller branches, who will thrive and become formidable in proportion as the Government becomes weak. Each branch acts independently in its depredations and usurpations from weaker neighbours but all unite when attacked or threatened by the Government.
Rajah Dursun Sing held the district of Salone from 1827 to 1836, and during this time he made several successful attacks upon the Kumpureea Rajpoots of the Nyn jungle; and during his occasional temporary residence he had a great deal of the jungle around his force cut down, but he made no permanent arrangement for subduing them. In 1837, the government of this district was transferred to Kondon Lal Partak, who established a garrison in the centre of the jungle, had much of it cut down, and kept the Kumpureea barons effectually in check. He died in 1838, and Rajahs Dursun Sing and Buktawar Sing again got the government, and continued the partaks system for the next five years, up to 1843. They lost the government for 1844 and 1845, but their successors followed the same system, to keep the Kumpureeas in order. Bukhtawar Sing got the government again for 1846 and 1847, and persevered in this system; but in 1848 the government was made over to Hamid Allee, a weak and inexperienced man. His deputy, Nourouz Allee, withdrew the garrison, and left the jungle to the Kumpureeas, who, in return, assigned to him three or four of their villages, rent free, in perpetuity, which in Oude means as long as the grantee may have the power or influence to be useful to the granters, or to retain the grants. Since that time the Kumpureeas have recovered all the lands they had lost, restored all the jungle that had been cut down, and they are now more powerful than ever. They have strengthened their old forts and built some new, and added greatly to the number of their armed followers, so that the governor of the district dares not do anything to coerce them into the payment of the just demands of Government, or to check their usurpations and outrages.*
[* This Nourouz Allee was, 1851, the agent of the Kumpureea barons of this jungle, at the Durbar, where he has made, in the usual way, many influential friends, in collusion with whom he has seized upon many estates in the vicinity of the jungle, and had them made over to these formidable barons.]
The present Nazim has with him two Nujeeb Regiments, one of nine hundred and fifty-five, and the other of eight hundred and thirty men; a squadron of horse and fourteen guns. The two corps are virtually commanded by fiddlers and eunuchs at Court. Of the men borne on the muster rolls and paid, not one-half are present; of the number present, not one-half are fit for the duties of soldiers; and of those fit for such duties, not one-half would perform them. They get nominally four rupees a-month, liable to numerous deductions, and they are obliged to provide their own clothing, arms, accoutrements, and ammunition, except on occasions of actual fighting, when they are entitled to powder and ball from the Government officer under whom they are employed. He purchases powder in the bazaars, or has it sent to him from Lucknow; and, in either case, it is not more than one- third of the strength used by our troops. It is made in villages and supplied to contractors, whose only object is to get the article at the cheapest possible rate; and that supplied to the most petted corps is altogether unfit for service.
The arms with which they are expected to provide themselves are a matchlock and sword. They are often ten or twelve months in arrears, and obliged to borrow money for their own subsistence and that of their families, at twenty-four per cent. interest. If they are disabled, they have little chance of ever recovering the arrears of pay due to them; and if they are killed, their families have still less. Even the arms and accoutrements which they have purchased with their own money are commonly seized by the officers of Government, and sold for the benefit of the State. Under all these disadvantages, the Nazim tells me that he thinks it very doubtful whether any of the men of the two corps would fight at all on emergency. The cavalry are still worse off, for they have to subsist their horses, and if any man’s horse should be disabled or killed, he would be at once dismissed with just as little chance of recovering the arrears of pay due to him. Of the fourteen guns, two only are in a state fit for service. Bullocks are provided for six out of fourteen, but they are hardly able to stand from want of food, much less to draw heavy guns. I looked at them, and found that they had had no grain for many years, and very little grass or chaff, since none is allowed by Government for their use, and little can be got by forage, or plunder, which is the same thing. One seer and half of grain, or three pounds a-day for each bullock, is allowed and paid for by Government, but the bullocks never get any of it. Of the six best guns, for which he has draft bullocks, the carriage of one went to pieces on the road yesterday, and that of another went to pieces this-morning in my camp, in firing the salute, and both guns now lie useless on the ground. He has one mortar, but only two shells for it; and he has neither powder nor ball for any of the guns. He was obliged to purchase in the bazaar the powder required for the salute for the Resident.
The Nazim tells me, that he has entertained at his own cost two thousand Nujeebs or Seobundies, on the same conditions as those on which the others serve in the two Regiments, on duty under him–that is, they are to get four rupees a-month each, and furnish themselves with food, clothing, a matchlock, sword, accoutrements, and ammunition, except on occasions of actual fighting, when he is to provide them with powder and ball from the bazaar. The minister, he tells me, promised to send him another Nujeeb corps–the Futteh Jung– from Khyrabad; but he has heard so bad an account of its discipline, that he might as well be without it. All the great landholders see the helpless state of the Nazim, and not only withhold from him the just dues of Government, but seize upon and appropriate with impunity the estates of the small proprietors in their neighbourhood.
January 1, 1850.–Fourteen miles to Rae Bareilly, over a plain with more than usual undulation, and the same doomuteea light soil, tolerably cultivated, and well studded with trees of the finest kind. The festoons of the bandha hang gracefully from the branches, with their light green and yellow leaves, and scarlet flowers, in the dark green foliage of the mango and mhowa trees in great abundance. I saw them in no other, but they are sometimes said to be found in the banyan, peepul, and other trees, with large leaves, though not in the tamarind, babul, and other trees, with small leaves. I examined those on the mango and mhowa trees, and they are the same in leaf and flower, and are said to be the same in whatever tree found. Rae Bareilly is in the estate of Shunkurpoor, belonging to Rana Benee Madho, a large landholder. He resides at Shunkurpoor, ten miles from this, and is strong, and not very scrupulous in the acquisition, by fraud, violence, and collusion, of the lands of the small proprietors in the neighbourhood. I asked Rajah Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor, as he was riding by my side, this morning, whether he was not a man of bad character. He said, “No, by no means; he is a man of great possessions, credit, and influence, and of good repute.” “But does he not rob smaller proprietors of their hereditary lands?” “If,” replied the Rajah, “you estimate men’s character in Oude on this principle, you will find hardly any landholder of any rank with a good one, for they have all been long doing the same thing–all have been augmenting their own estates by absorbing those of smaller proprietors, by what you will call fraud, violence, and collusion, but they are not thought the worse of for this by the Government or its officers.” Nothing could be more true. Men who augment their estates in this way, purchase the acquiescence of temporary local officers, either by gratuities, or promises of aid, in putting down other powerful and refractory landholders; or they purchase the patronage of Court favourites, who get their estates transferred to the “Hozoor Tehseel,” and their transgressions overlooked. Those who augment their resources in this way, employ them in maintaining armed bands, building forts, and purchasing cannon, to secure themselves in the possession, and to resist the Government and its officers, who might otherwise make them pay in some proportion to their usurpations.
Benee Madho called upon me after breakfast, and gave me the little of his history that I desired to hear. He is of the Byans Rajpoot clan, and his ancestors have been settled in Oude for about twenty-five generations, as landholders of different grades. The tallook or estate now belongs to him, and is considered to be a principality, to descend entire by the law of primogeniture, to the nearest male heir, unless the lands become divided during his life-time among his sons. Such a division has already taken place, as will be seen by the annexed note :*
[* Abdool-Sing, the tallookdar of Shunkurpoor, had three sons; first, Doorga Buksh, to whom he gave three shares; second, Chundha Buksh, to whom he gave two shares; third, Bhowanee Buksh, to whom he gave one and half share. The three shares of Doorga Buksh descended to his son, Sheopersaud, who died without issue. Chunda Buksh left two sons, Ramnaraen and Gor Buksh, Ramnaraen inherited the three shares of Sheopersaud, as well as the two shares of his father. He had three sons, Rana Benee Madho, Nirput Sing, and Jogray Sing; Benee Madho inherited the three shares, and one of the other two was given to Nirput Sing, and the other to Jogray Sing. Gorbuksh Sing left one son, Sheopersaud, who gets the one and half share of Bhowanee Buksh, whose son, Joorawun, died without issue. Benee Madho is now the head of the family; and he has more than quadrupled his three shares by absorptions, made in the way above mentioned.]
The three and half shares held by his brothers and cousins are liable to subdivision by the Hindoo law of inheritance, or the custom of his family and clan; but his own share must descend undivided, unless he divides it during his lifetime, or his heirs divide it during theirs, and consent to descend in the scale of landholders. He says that, during the five years that Fakeer Mahommed Khan was Nazim, a quarrel subsisted between him and the tallookdar of Khujoor Gow, Rugonath Sing, his neighbour; that Sahib Rae, the deputy of Fakeer Mahommed, who was himself no man of business, adopted the cause of his enemy, and persuaded his master to attack and rob him of all he had, turn him out of his estate, and make it over to Rugonath Sing. He went to Lucknow for redress, and remained there urging his claims for fourteen months, when he got an order from the minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, for the estate being restored to him and transferred to the Hozoor Tehseel. He recovered his possessions, and the transfer was made; and he has ever since lived in peace. He might have added that he has been, at the same time, diligently employed in usurping the possessions of his weaker neighbours.*
[* Benee Madho and Rugonath Sing have since quarrelled about the title of Rana. Benee Madho assumed the title, and Rugonath wished to do the same, but Benee Madho thought this would derogate from his dignity. They had some fighting, but Rugonath at last gave in, and Benee Madho purchased, from the Court a recognition of his exclusive right to the title, which is a new one in Oude. They had each a force of five thousand brave men, besides numerous auxiliaries.]
On our road, two miles from Rae Bareilly, we passed over a bridge on the Saee river, built by Reotee Ram, the deputy of the celebrated eunuch, Almas Allee Khan, some sixty or seventy years ago. He at the same time planted an avenue of fine trees from Salone to Rae Bareilly, twenty miles; and from Rae Bareilly to Dalamow, on the Ganges, south, a distance of fourteen miles more. Many of the trees are still standing and very fine; but the greater part have been cut down during the contests that have taken place between the Government officers and the landholders, or between the landholders themselves. The troops in attendance upon local government authorities have, perhaps, been the greatest enemies to this avenue, for they spare nothing of value, either in exchange or esteem, that they have the power to take. The Government and its officers feel no interest in such things, and the family of the planter has no longer the means to protect the trees or repair the works.
Rae Bareilly is the head-quarters of the local authorities in the Byswara district, and is considered to be one of the most healthy places in Oude. It is near the bank of the small river Saee, in a fine, open plain of light soil, and must be dry at all seasons, as the drainage is good; and there are no jheels or jungles near. It would be an excellent cantonment for a large force, and position for large civil establishments. The town is a melancholy ruin, and the people tell me that whatever landholder in the district quarrels with the local authorities is sure, as his first enterprise, to sack Rae Bareilly, as there is no danger in doing it. The inhabitants live so far from each other, and are separated by such heaps of ruins and deep water-courses, that they can make no resistance. The high walls and buildings, all of burnt brick, erected in the time of Shahjehan, are all gone to ruin. The plain, around the town, is open, level, well cultivated, and beautifully studded with trees. There is a fine tank of puckah masonry to the north-west of the town, built by the same Reotee Ram, and repaired by some member of his family, who holds and keeps in good order the pretty garden around it. The best place for a cantonment, courts, &c., is the plain which separates the town from the river Saee to the south-east: they should extend along from the town to the bridge over the Saee river. The water of this river is said to be excellent, though not quite equal to that of the Ganges. There is good water in most of the wells, but in some it is said to be brackish. The bridge requires repair.
January 2, 1850.–We halted at Rae Bareilly, and I inspected the bullocks belonging to the guns of Sobha Sing’s regiment and some guns belonging to the Nazim. The bullocks have been starved, are hardly able to walk, and quite unfit for any work. Some of the carriages of the guns are broken down, and those that are still entire are so rotten that they could not bear a march. This regiment of Sobha Sing’s was as good as any of those commanded by Captains Magness, Bunbury, and Barlow, while commanded by the late Captain Buckley;* and the native officers and sipahees trained under him are all still excellent, but they are not well provided. Like the others, this regiment was to have had guns permanently attached to it, but the want of Court influence has prevented this. They now have them only when sent on service from one or other of the batteries at Lucknow, and the consequence is that they are good for nothing. Sobha Sing is at Court, in attendance on the minister; and his adjutant, Bhopaul Sing, a near relative of the Rajah of Mynpooree, commands: he seems to be a good soldier, and an honest and respectable man.
[* Captain Buckley was the son of Colonel Buckley, of the Honourable Company’s service, a good soldier and faithful servant of the Oude Government. His mother, widow, and son, were left destitute; but on my earnest recommendation, the King granted the lad a pension of fifty rupees a-month.]
The Nazim has with him this one Komukee, or auxiliary regiment, and half of three regiments of Nujeebs, amounting, according to the pay abstracts and muster-rolls, to fifteen hundred men. He has one hundred cavalry and seven guns, of which one only is fit for use, and for that one he has neither stores nor ammunition. He was obliged to purchase in the bazaar the powder and cloth required to make up the cartridges for a salute for the Resident. Of the fifteen hundred Nujeebs not two-thirds are present, and of these hardly one-half are efficient: they are paid, armed, clothed, and provided like the corps of Nujeebs placed under the other local officers. The tallookdars of the districts have not as yet presented themselves to the Nazim, but they have sent their agents, and, with few exceptions, shown a disposition to pay their revenues. The chief landholder in the district is Rambuksh, of Dondeea Kherah, a town, with a fort, on the bank of the river Ganges. He holds five of the purgunnahs as hereditary possessions:–1, Bhugwuntnuggur; 2, Dondeea Kherah; 3, Mugraen; 4, Punheen; 5, Ghutumpoor. The present Nazim has put all five under the management of Government officers, as the only safe way to get the revenues, as Rambuksh is a bad paymaster. Had he not been so, as well to his own retainer as to the King’s officers, the Nazim would not have been able to do this. It is remarked as a singular fact among Rajpoot landholders that Rambuksh wants courage himself, and is too niggardly to induce others to fight for him with spirit. The last Nazim, Hamid Allee, a weak and inexperienced man, dared not venture upon such a measure to enforce payment of balances.*
[* Rambuksh recovered the management of his estate, and had it transferred to the Hozoor Tehseel: but he failed in the payment of the expected gratuities; and in April, 1851, he was attacked by a large force, and driven across the Ganges, into British territory. He had gone off on the pretence of a visit to some shrine, and his followers would not fight. The fort was destroyed, and estate confiscated. He is still, January, 1851, negotiating for the purchase of both, and will succeed, as he has plenty of money at command. The King’s troops employed committed all manner of atrocities upon the poor peasantry: many men were murdered, many women threw themselves down in wells, after they had been dishonoured; and all were indiscriminately plundered.]
He married the daughter of Fuzl Allee, the prime minister for fifteen months, during which time he made a fortune of some thirty or thirty- five lacs of rupees, twelve of which Hamid Allee’s wife got. He was persuaded by Gholam Allee, his deputy, and others, that he might aspire to be prime minister at Lucknow if he took a few districts in farm, to establish his character and influence. In the farm of these districts he has sunk his own fortune and that of his wife, and is still held to be a defaulter to the amount of some eighteen lacs, and is now in gaol. This balance he will wipe off in time in the usual manner: he will beg and borrow to pay a small sum to the Treasury, and four times the amount in gratuities to the minister, and other persons, male and female, of influence at Court. The rest will be struck off as irrecoverable, and he will be released. He was a man respected at Delhi, as well on account of his good character as on that of his wealth; but he is here only pitied as an ambitious fool.
The wakeel, on the part of the King, with the Resident, has been uniting his efforts to those of Hoseyn Buksh,* the present Nazim of Salone, to prevail upon Rajah Hunmunt Sing, the tallookdar of Dharoopoor, to consent to pay an addition of ten or fifteen thousand rupees to the present demand of one hundred and sixteen thousand rupees a-year for his estate. He sturdily refused, under the assurance of the good offices of Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, who has hitherto supported him. Among other things urged by him to account for his inability to pay is the obligation he is under to liquidate, by annual instalments, a balance due to Bukhtawar Sing; himself, when he held the contract of the district many years ago. Bukhtawar Sing acknowledges the receipt of the instalments, and declares that they are justly due; but these payments are, in reality, nothing more than gratuities, paid for his continued good offices with the minister and Dewan.
[* Hoseyn Buksh was killed in March following, by the followers of a female landholder, whom he was trying to coerce into payment. He was killed by a cannon shot through the chest, while engaged in the siege of Shahmow, held by Golab Kour, the widow of Rajah Dirguj Sing, who had succeeded to the estate, and would not or could not pay her revenue.
A few days before, Hoseyn Buksh attached the crops of another tallookdar, Seodut Sing, of Dhunawan, who would pay no revenue. A body of the King’s cavalry was sent to guard the crops, but the tallookdar drove them off, and killed one and wounded another. Hoseyn Buksh then sent a regiment, the Futtehaesh, a corps of his own Seobundies, and six guns, to coerce the tallookdar. Two guns were mounted on one battery, under the Futtehaesh regiment, and four on another, under the Seobundies. A crowd of armed peasants attacked the battery with the two guns, drove back the regiment, captured the guns, and fired upon the soldiers as they fled. They then attacked the battery with the four guns, and the Seobundies fled, taking their guns with them for four miles. In their flight they had three men killed, and twelve wounded. Hoseyn Buksh, on hearing this, sent his whole force, under his brother, Allee Buksh, to avenge the insult. Seodut, thinking he could not prudently hold out any longer, evacuated his fort during the night, and retired, and Hoseyn Buksh took possession of the fort, and recovered his two guns. His successor restored both Seodut and the widow, Golab Kour, to their estates, on their own terms, after trying in vain to arrest them.]
While Dursun Sing, and his brother, Bukhtawar, held the contract of Salone, the estate was put under management, and yielded one hundred and seventy-four thousand rupees a-year, out of which they allowed a deduction, on account of nankar, or subsistence, of some twenty thousand. The Rajah and Bukhtawar Sing urge that this was, for the most part, paid out of the property left by Byree Saul, to whom Himmut Sing succeeded; and that the estate can now be made to yield only one hundred and sixteen thousand, from which is to be deducted a nankar of forty thousand. They offer him a deduction of this forty thousand, out of a rent-roll rated at one hundred and thirty thousand; and threaten him with the vengeance of his Majesty if he refuses. He looks at their military force and smiles. The agents of all the tallookdars, who are in attendance on the Nazim, do the same. They know that they are strong, and see that the Government is weak, and they cease to respect its rights and orders. They see at the same time that the Government and its officers regard less the rights than the strength of the landholders; and, from fear, favour the strong while they oppress and crush the weak.*
[* Rajah Hunmunt Sing afterwards brought the contractor to consent to take the same rate as had been paid to his predecessor; but he was obliged to pay above six thousand rupees in gratuities.]
January 3, 1850.–Gorbuksh Gunge, alias Onae, fourteen miles. The soil of the country over which we came is chiefly a light doomuteea; but there is a good deal of what they call bhoor, or soil in which sand superabounds. The greater part belongs to the estate of Benee Madho, and is admirably cultivated, and covered with a great variety of crops. The country is better peopled than any other part that we have seen since we recrossed the Goomtee. We passed through several villages, the people of which seemed very happy. But their habitations had the same wretched appearance–naked mud walls, with invisible mud coverings. The people told me that they could not venture to use thatched or tiled roofs, for the King’s troops, on duty with the local authorities, always took them away, when they had any. They were, they said, well secured from all other enemies by their landlord. Bhopaul Sing, acting commandant of Sobha Sing’s Regiment, riding with me, said,-“Nothing can be more true than what the people tell you, sir; but the Koomukee Regiments, of which mine is one, have tents provided for them, which none of the Nujeeb and other corps have, and in consequence, these corps never take the choppers of the peasantry for their accommodations. The peasantry, however, always suffer more or less even from the Koomukee corps, sir, for they have to forage for straw, wood, fuel, bhoosa, &c., like the rest, and to take it wherever they can find it. When we have occasion to attack, or lay siege to a stronghold, all the roofs, doors, and windows of the people are, of course, taken to form scaling-ladders, batteries, &c.; and it is lamentable, sir, to see the desolation created around, after even a very short siege.”
Rajah Hunmunt Sing and Benee Madho were riding with me, and when we had passed through a large crowd of seemingly happy peasantry in one village, I asked Benee Madho (whose tenants they were), whether they would all have to follow his fortunes if he happened to take up arms against the Government.
“Assuredly,” said he, “they would all be bound in honour to follow me, or to desert their lands at least.”
“And if they did not, I suppose you would deem it a point of honour to plunder them?”
“That he assuredly would,” said Rajah Hunmunt Sing; “and make them the first victims.”
“And if any of them fell fighting on his side, would he think it a point of honour to-provide for their families?”
“That we all do,” said he; “they are always provided for, and taken the greatest possible care of.”
“And if any one is killed in fighting for the King?”
They did not reply to this question, but the adjutant, Bhopaul Sing, said,–“his family would be left to shift for themselves,–no one asks a question about them.”
“This,” observed Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, “is one of the great sources of the evil that exists in Oude. How can men be expected to expose their lives when they know that no care will be taken of their families if they are killed or disabled?”
It is the rule to give a disabled man one month’s pay and dismiss him; and to give the family of any one killed in the service two months’ pay. But, though the King is charged for this, it is seldom that the wounded man, or the family of the killed, get any portion of it. On the contrary, the arrears of pay due-which are at all times great–are never paid to the disabled sipahee, or the family of the sipahee killed. If issued from the Treasury, they are appropriated by the commandants and their friends at Court; and the arms and accoutrements, which the deceased has purchased with his own money, are commonly sold for the benefit of the State or its officers.
They mentioned, that the family of the person who planted a mango- tree, or grove, continued to hold it as their exclusive property in perpetuity; but, that the person who held the mhowa trees, was commonly expected to pay to the landlord, where there was one, and to the Government officers, where there was not, a duty amounting to from four annas to two rupees a-year for each tree, according to its fruitfulness–that the proprietor often sold the fruit of one tree for twenty rupees the season. The fruit of one mango-tree has, indeed, often been sold for a hundred rupees the season, where the mangoes are of a quality much esteemed, and numerous. The groves and fine solitary trees, on the lands we have to-day passed through, are more numerous than usual; and the country being undulating and well cultivated, the scenery is beautiful; but, as everywhere else, it is devoid of all architectural beauty in works of ornament or utility– not even a comfortable habitation is anywhere to be seen. The great landholders live at a distance from the road, and in forts or strongholds. These are generally surrounded by fences of living bamboos, which are carefully kept up as the best possible defence against attacks. The forts are all of mud, and when the walls are exposed to view they look ugly. The houses of the peasants in the villages are, for the most part, covered with mud, from which the water is carried off, by tubes of wood or baked clay, about two feet long. There are parapets around the roof a foot or two high, so that it cannot be seen, and a village appears to be a mass of dead mud walls, which have been robbed of their thatched or tiled roofs. Most of the tubes used for carrying off the water from the roofs, are the simple branches of the palm-tree, without their leaves.
Among the peasantry we saw a great many sipahees, from our Native Infantry Regiments, who have come home on furlough to their families. From the estate of Rajah Hunmunt Sing, in the Banoda district, there are one thousand sipahees in our service. From that of Benee Madho, in the Byswara district, there are still more. They told us that they and their families were very happy, and they seemed to be so; but Hunmunt Sing said, they were a privileged class, who gave much trouble and annoyance, and were often the terror of their non- privileged neighbours and co-sharers in the land. Benee Madho, as I have stated above, sometimes makes use of his wealth, power, and influence, to rob his weaker neighbours of their estates. The lands on which we are encamped he got two years ago from their proprietor, Futteh Bahader, by foreclosing a mortgage, in which he and others had involved him. The gunge or bazaar, close to our tents, was established by Gorbuksh, the uncle of Futteh Bahader, and became a thriving emporium under his fostering care; but it has gone to utter ruin under his nephew, and heir, and the mortgagee. The lands around, however, could never have been better cultivated than they are; nor the cultivators better protected or encouraged. It rained slightly before sunset yesterday, and heavily between three and four this morning; but not so as to prevent our marching.
This morning, a male elephant belonging to Benee Madho killed one of his attendants near to our camp. He had three attendants, the driver and two subordinates. The driver remained in camp, while the two attendants took the elephant to a field of sugar-cane, to bring home a supply of the cane for his fodder for the day. A third subordinate had gone on to cut the cane and bind it into bundles. One of the two was on the neck of the elephant, and another walking by the side, holding one of the elephant’s teeth in his left hand all the way to the field, and he seemed very quiet. The third attendant brought the bundles, and the second handed them up to the first on the back to be stowed away. When they had got up about a dozen, the elephant made a rush at the third attendant, who was bringing the bundles, threw him to the ground with his foot, knelt down upon him, and crushed him to death with his front. The second attendant ran off as soon as he saw the elephant make a rush at the third; and the first fell off under the bundles of sugar-cane, as soon as the elephant knelt down to crush the third to death. When the elephant rose from the poor man, he did not molest, or manifest any wish to molest either of the other two, but stood still, watching the dead body. The first, seeing this, ventured to walk up to him, to take him by the ear and ask him what he meant. At first he seemed surly, and shoved the man off, and he became alarmed, and retired a few paces; but seeing the elephant show no further signs of anger, he again walked up, and took him by the ear familiarly. Had he ran or shown any signs of fear, the elephant would, he thought, have killed him also, for he had killed three men in the service of his former proprietor, and was now in his annual fit of madness, or must. Holding the elephant by the ear, he led him to the first tree, and placed himself on the opposite side to see whether the animal had become quite sober. Seeing that he had, he again approached, and put upon his two forelegs the chain fetters, which they always have with them, suspended to some part of the body of elephants in this state. He could not venture to command the elephant to kneel down in the usual way, that he might get upon his neck; and, ascending the tree, he let himself down from one of the branches upon his back, where he sat. He then made the animal walk on in fetters, towards camp, and on the way, met the mahout, or driver, to whom the second attendant had reported the accident. The driver came up, and, after the usual volume of abuse on the elephant, his mother, father, and sundry female relations, he ordered the attendant to make him sit down that he might get on his neck. He did so in fear and trembling, and the driver got on his neck, while the attendant sat on his back, and the elephant took them to Benee Madho’s village, close to my camp, where he was fastened in chains to a tree, to remain for some months on reduced allowances, till he should get over his madness. The body of the poor man was burnt with the usual ceremonies, and the first attendant told me, that his family would be provided for by Benee Madho, as a matter of course.
I asked him how he or any other person could be found to attend a beast of that kind? Pointing to his stomach, he said–“We poor people are obliged to risk our lives for this, in all manner of ways; to attend elephants has been always my profession, and there is no other open to me; and we make up our minds to do whatever our duties require from us, and trust to Providence.” He told me that when the elephant shoved him off, he thought that in his anger he might have forgotten him, and called out as loud as he could,–“What, have you forgotten a service of six years, and do you intend to kill the man who has fed you so long?” That the beast seemed to recollect his voice and services, and became, at once, quiet and docile–“that had he not so called out, and reminded the animal of his long services, he thought he should have been killed; that the driver came, armed with a spear, and showed himself more angry than afraid, as the safest plan in such cases.”
Dangerous as the calling of the elephant-driver is, that of the snake-keepers, in the King’s service, seems still greater. He has two or three very expert men of this kind, whose duty it is to bring him the snakes, when disposed to look at them, and see the effects of their poison on animals. They handle the most venomous, with apparently as much carelessness as other men handle fighting-cocks or quail. When bitten, as they sometimes are, they instantly cut into the part, and suck out the poison, or get their companions to suck it out when they can’t reach the part with their own mouths. But they depend chiefly upon their wonderful dexterity in warding off the stoops or blows of the snakes, as they twist them round their necks and limbs with seeming carelessness. While they are doing so, the eye of the spectator can hardily detect the stoops of the one and the guards of the other. After playing in this way with the most venomous snakes, they apply them to the animals. Elephants have died from their bites in a few hours–smaller animals sooner. I have never, myself, seen the experiments, but any one may see them at the palace. Elephants and the larger animals are too expensive to be often experimented on.
January 4, 1850.–Halted at the village of Onae, alias Gorbuksh Gunge. It lost the name of Onae, after the proprietor, Gorbuksh, who had built the Gunge, and made it a great emporium of trade in corn, cotton cloth, &c.; but is recovering it again, now that the Gunge has become a ruin, and the family of the builder has been dispossessed of the lands. I rode out in the morning to look at the neighbouring village of Doolarae-ka Gurhee, or the fort of Doolarae, and have some talk with the peasantry, who are Bys Rajpoots, of one of the most ancient Rajpoot families in Oude. They told me,–“That their tribe was composed of two great families, Nyhussas and Synbunsies–that the acknowledged head of the Synbunsies was, at present, Rugonath Sing, of Kojurgow, and that Hindpaul, tallookdar of Korree Sudowlee, was the head of the Nyhussas; that Baboo Rambuksh, tallookdar of Dhondeea Kheera, had the title of Row, and Dirg Bijee Sing, tallookdar of Morarmow, that of Rajah–that is, he was the acknowledged Rajah of the clan, and Baboo Rambuksh, the Row, an inferior grade–that these families had been always fighting with each other, for the possession of each others lands, from the time their ancestors came into Oude, a thousand years ago, except when they were united in resistance against the common enemy, the governor or ruler of the country–that one family got weak by the subdivision of the lands, among many sons or brothers, or by extravagance, or misfortune, while another became powerful, by keeping the lands undivided, and by parsimony and prudence; and the strong increased their possessions by seizing upon the lands of the weak, by violence, fraud or collusion with the local authorities–that the same thing had been going on among them for a thousand years, with some brief intervals, during which the rulers of Oude managed, by oppression, to unite them all against themselves, or by prudence, to keep them all to their respective rights and duties– that Doolarae, who gave his name to the village, by building the fort, was of the Nyhussa family, and left two sons, and only two villages, Gurhee and Agoree, out of a very large estate, the rest having been lost in the contests with the other families of the tribe–that these two had become minutely subdivided among their descendants: and Bhugwan Das, Synbunsee of Simree, four years ago, seized upon the Gurhee, in collusion with the local authorities; that Thakoor Buksh Nyhussa, talookdar of Rahwa seized upon Agoree in the same way that the local authorities designedly assessed these villages at a higher rate than they could be made to pay, and then, for a bribe, transferred them to the powerful tallookdars, on account of default.”
Gorbuksh Sing, Synbunsee, died some twenty years ago, leaving an estate, reduced from a greater number to ninety-three villages. His nephew, Futteh Bahader, a child, was adopted by his widow, who continued to manage the whole till she died, four years after. The heir was still a boy; and Rugonath Sing, of Kojurgow, the head of the Synbunsee family, took advantage of his youth, seized upon the whole ninety-three villages, and turned him out to beg subsistence among his relatives. In this he, Rugonath Sing, was, as usual, acting in collusion with the local authorities of the Government. He continued to possess the estate for ten years, but to reside in his fort of Hajeepoor. Koelee Sing, a Guhlote, by caste, and a zumeendar of Bheeturgow, and its eight dependent villages, which formed part of the estate of Futteh Bahader, went to Court at Lucknow, and represented, that Rugonath Sing had no right whatever to the lands he held, and the Court had better make them over to him and the other zumeendars, if they did not like to restore them to their rightful heir. Bheeturgow and its dependent eight villages, were made over to him; and ten sipahees, from Captain Hyder Hearsey’s Regiment, were sent to establish and support him in possession. Rugonath attacked them, killed two of the sipahees, and drove out Koelee Sing. He repaired to Court; and Mahomed Khan was sent out, as Special Commissioner, with orders to punish Rugonath Sing. He and Captain Hearsey attacked him in his fort of Hajeepoor, drove him out, and restored Futteh Bahader, to twenty-four villages; and re-established Koelee Sing, in Bheeturgow, and the eight villages dependent upon it. Futteh Bahader was poor, and was obliged to tender the security of Benee Madho, the wealthy tallookdar of this place, for the punctual payment of the revenue. The year before last, when a balance of revenue became due, he, the deputy, in collusion with Gholam Allee, seized upon all the twenty-four villages.
Futteh Bahader went to seek redress at Lucknow, but had no money to pay his way at Court, while Benee Madho had abundance, and used it freely, to secure the possession of so fine an addition to his estate. Futteh Bahader, as his last resource, got his uncle, Bustee Sing, of the 3rd Cavalry, whom he called his father,* to present a petition for redress to the Resident, in April 1849. Gholam Allee was ordered to release Futteh Bahader, whom Benee Madho had confined, and send him to Lucknow. The order was not obeyed, and it was repeated in December without effect; but his uncle’s agent, Gorbuksh, was diligent at the Residency, and the case was made over for investigation and decision to the Ameen, Mahomed Hyat. Finding Futteh Bahader still in confinement, with sundry members of his family, when I came here yesterday, I ordered him to be made over to the King’s wakeel, in attendance upon me, to be sent to the Court, to prosecute his claim, and produce proofs of his right. Of his right there can be no question, and the property of which he was robbed, in taking possession, and the rents since received, if duly accounted for, would more than cover any balance due by Futteh Bahader. When he gave the security of Benee Madho, for the payment of the revenue, he gave, at the same time, what is called the Jumog of his villages to him; that is, bound his tenants to pay to him their rents at the rate they were pledged to pay to him; and the question pending is, simply, what is fairly due to Benee Madho, over and above what he may have collected from them. Benee Madho had before, by the usual process of violence, fraud, and collusion, taken eighteen of the ninety-three villages, and got one for a servant; and all the rest had, by the same process, got into the possession of others; and Futteh Bahader had not an acre left when his uncle interposed his good offices with the Resident.** The dogs of the village of Doolarae-kee Gurhee followed us towards camp, and were troublesome to the horses and my elephant. I asked the principal zumeendar why they were kept. He said they amused the children of the village, who took them out after the hares, and by their aid and that of the sticks with which they armed themselves, they got a good many; that all they got for food was the last mouthful of every man’s dinner, which no man was sordid enough to grudge them–that when they wished to describe a very sordid man, they said–“he would not even throw his last mouthful (koura) to a dog!”
[* He called Bustee Sing his father, as sipahees can seek redress through the Resident, for wrongs suffered by no others than their mothers, fathers, their children, and themselves.]
[** A punchaet was assembled at Lucknow, to decide the suit between Benee Madho and Futteh Bahader, at the instance of the Resident: and they awarded to Benee Madho a balance due on account of thirty thousand rupees, which Futteh Bahader has to pay before he can recover possession of his estate.]
January 5, 1851.–Halted at Onae, in consequence of continued rain, which incommodes us, but delights the landholders and cultivators, whose crops will greatly benefit by it. The halting of so large a camp inconveniences them, however, much more than us; for they are called upon to supply us with wood, grass, and straw, for which they receive little or no payment; for the Kings people will not let us pay for these things, and pay too little themselves. Those who attend us do not plunder along the road; but the followers of the local authorities, who attend us, through their respective jurisdictions, do so; and sundry fields of fine carrots and other vegetables disappear, as under a flight of locusts along the road. The camp- followers assist them, and as our train extends from the ground we leave to that to which we are going, for twelve or fourteen miles, it is impossible, altogether, to prevent such injuries from so undisciplined a band. The people, however, say, they suffer much less than they would from one-fourth of the number under a contractor marching without an European superior, and I give compensation in flagrant cases. Captain Weston acts as our Provost Marshal. He leaves the ground an hour or two after I do, and seizes and severely punishes any one found trespassing.
In my ride this morning I found that Nyhussa and Synbunsee are two villages distant about ten miles from our camp, to the south-east– that all the Byses, who give the name of Byswara to this large district, are called Tilokchundees, from Tilokchund, the founder of the family in Oude. He had two sons, Hurhur Deo and Prethee Chund. Hurhur Deo had two sons, one of whom, Kurun Rae, established himself in Nyhussa, and the other, Khem Kurun, in Synbunsee. Their descendants have taken their titles from their respective villages. Prethee Chund’s descendants established themselves in other parts, and the descendants of both bear the appellation of Tilokchundee Byses. The Rajahs and Rows are of the same family, and are so called from their ancestors having, at some time, had the title of Rajah and Row conferred upon them.
Rajah Seodursun Sing, of Simrotee, who resides in the village of Chundapoor upon his estate, four miles east of Bulla, has been with me for the last five days. He is a strong man, and has been refractory occasionally; but at present he pays his revenue punctually, and keeps his estate in good order. He rendered good service yesterday in the way in which all of his class might, by good management, be made to aid the government of Oude. A ruffian, by name Mohiboollah, who had been a trooper in the King of Oude’s service, contrived to get the lease of the estate of Bulla, which is about twenty miles north-east from our camp; and turning out all the old landholders and cultivators, he there raised a gang of robbers, to plunder his neighbours and travellers. He had been only two months in possession, when he attacked the house of an old invalid subadar- major of the Honourable Company’s service, (fifty-seventh Native Infantry,) on the 21st of December, 1849, robbed him of all he had, and confined him and all his family, till he promised, under good security, to pay, within twenty days, a ransom of one thousand two hundred rupees more. He had demanded a good deal more, but hearing that the Resident’s camp was approaching, he consented to take this sum four days ago, and released all his prisoners. The subadar presented a petition to me, and, after taking the depositions of the old zumeendars and other witnesses, I requested the king’s wakeel, to send off a company of Soubha Sing’s Regiment, to arrest him and his gang.
They went off from Rae Bareilly on the night of the 1st instant; but, finding that the subadar-major and his family had been released the day before, and that the village was full of armed men, ready to resist, they returned on the evening of the 2nd. On the 3rd, the whole regiment, with its artillery, and three hundred auxiliaries, under Rajah Seodursun Sing, left my camp, at Onae, at midnight, and before daylight surrounded the village. There were about one hundred and fifty armed men in it; and, after a little bravado, they all surrendered, and were brought to me. Mohiboollah had, however, gone off, on the pretence of collecting his rents, two days before; but his father and brother were among the prisoners. All who were recognised as having been engaged in the robbery, were sent off prisoners to Lucknow, and the rest were disarmed and released.
Among those detained were some notorious robbers, and the gang would soon have become very formidable but for the accident of my passing near. He had got the lease of the estate through the influence of Akber-od Dowlah, one of the Court favourites, for the sole purpose of converting it into a den of robbers; and, the better to secure this object, he had got it transferred from the jurisdiction of the Nazim to the Hozoor Tehseel, over the manager of which the Court favourite had paramount influence. He was to share with his client the fruits of his depredations, and, in return, to secure him impunity for his crimes. Many of his retainers were among the prisoners brought in to me, having been present at the distribution of the large booty acquired from the old subadar, some thirty or forty thousand rupees. The subadar had resided upon the estate of Seodursun Sing; but having, seven years ago complained through the Resident of over- exactions for the small patch of land he held, and got back the grain which had been attacked for the rent, he was obliged to give it up and reside in the hamlet he afterwards occupied near Bulla, whose zumeendars assured him of protection.* He had a large family, and a great deal of property in money and other valuables concealed under ground. Mohiboollah first seized and sent off the subadar, and then had ramrods made red-hot and applied to the bodies of the children till the females gave him all their ornaments, and pointed out to him all the hidden treasures: they were then all taken to Bulla and confined till the subadar had pledged himself to pay the ransom demanded.
[* The greater part of this property is understood to have been confided, in trust, to the old subadar, by some other minion of the Court, and the chief object of the gang was to get hold of it; as their patron, Akber-od Dowlah, had become aware that his fellow- minion had intrusted his wealth to the old subadar, after he had taken up his residence near Bulla. The estate was made over, in farm, to Benee Madho, as the best man to cope with Mohiboollah, should he return and form a new gang.]
I requested the King to take the estate from this ruffian and restore it to its old proprietors, whose family had held it for several centuries, or bestow it in lease to some other strong and deserving person.
The Tilokchundee Byses take the daughters of other Rajpoots, who are a shade lower in caste, in marriage for their sons, but do not give their daughters in marriage to them in return. They have a singular notion that no snake ever has destroyed or ever can destroy one of the family, and seem to take no precautions against its bite. If bitten by a snake they do not attempt any remedy, nor could Benee Madho recollect any instance of a Tilokchundee Bysee having died from a bite. He tells me that some families in every Rajpoot tribe in Oude destroy their female infants to avoid the cost of marrying them, though the King prohibited infanticide and suttee in the year 1833. That infanticide does still prevail among almost all the Rajpoot tribes in Oude is unquestionable.
January 6, 1850.–Yesterday evening we moved to Omrowa West, [Transcriber’s note: this appears to be a misspelling for Morowa West] a distance of twelve miles, over a plain of bad oosur soil, scantily cultivated near the road. To the left and right of the road, at a little distance, there are some fine villages, thickly peopled, and situated in fine and well-cultivated soil. The country is well wooded, except in the worst parts of the soil, where trees do not thrive. We saw a great deal of sugar-cane in the distance and a few pawn-gardens. The population of the villages came to the high road to see us pass; and among them were a great many native officers and sipahees of our Regiments, who are at their homes on furlough, Government having given a very large portion of the native army the indulgence of furlough during the present cold season. They all seemed happy; but, to my discomfort, a vast number take advantage of this furlough and my movements to urge their claims against the Government, its officers, and subjects. Nothing can be more wretched than the appearance of the buildings in which the people of all grades live in these villages–mud walls without any appearance of coverings, and doors and windows worse than I have seen in any other part of India. Better would not be safe against the King’s troops, and these would certainly not be safe against a slight storm; a good shower and a smart breeze would level the whole of the villages with the ground in a few hours. “But,” said the people, “the mud would remain, and we could soon raise up the houses again without the aid of masons, carpenters, or blacksmiths.” It is enough that they are used to them.
Morowa is a large town, well situated and surrounded with groves of the finest trees in great variety; and, to the surprise of the officers with me, they saw a respectable house of burnt brick. It belongs to the most substantial banker and agricultural capitalist in these parts, Chundun Lal. These capitalists and their families are, generally, more safe than others, as their aid is necessary to the Government and its officers, and no less so to the landholders, cultivators, and people of all classes. Their wealth consists in their credit in different parts of India; and he who has most of it may have little at his house to tempt the robber, while the Government officers stand generally too much in daily need of his services and mediation to molest him. A pledge made by these officers to landholders and cultivators, or to these officers by such persons, is seldom considered safe or binding till the respectable banker or capitalist has ratified it by his mediation, to which all refer with confidence.
He understands the characters and means of all, and will not venture to ratify any pledge till he is assured of both the disposition and ability of the party to fulfil it. Chundun Lal is one of the most respectable of this class in Oude. He resides at this place, Morowa, but has a good landed estate in our territories, and banking establishments at Cawnpoor and many other of our large stations. He is a very sensible, well-informed man, but not altogether free from the ailing of his class–a disposition to abuse the confidence of the Government officers; and, in collusion with them, to augment his possessions in land at the cost of his weaker neighbours.
I am told here that the Tilokchund Byses, when bitten by a snake, do sometimes condescend to apply a remedy. They have a vessel full of water suspended above the head of the sufferer, with a small tube at the bottom, from which water is poured gently on the head as long as he can bear it. The vent is then stopped till the patient is equal to bear more; and this is repeated four or five times till the sufferer recovers. I have not yet heard of any one dying under the operation, or from the bite of a snake. I find no one that has ever heard of a member of this family dying of the bite of a snake. One of the Rajahs of this family, who called on me to-day, declared that no member of his family had ever been known to die of such a bite, and he could account for it only “from their being descended from Salbahun, the rival and conqueror of Bickermajeet, of Ojein.”
This Salbahun* is said to have been a lineal descendant of the sake- god! He told me that the females of this family could never wear cotton cloth of any colour but plain white; that when they could not afford to wear silk or satin they never wore anything but the piece of white cotton cloth which formed, in one, the waistband, petticoat, and mantle, or robe (the dhootee and loongree), without hemming or needlework of any kind whatever. Those who can afford to wear silk or satin wear the petticoat and robe, or mantle of that material, and of any colour. On their ankles they can wear nothing but silver, and above the ankles, nothing but gold; and if not, nothing, not even silver, except on the feet and ankles. No Hindoo of respectability, however high or wealthy, can wear anything more valuable than silver below the waist. The Tilokchundee Byses can never condescend to hold the plough; and if obliged to serve, they enlist in the army or other public establishments of the Oude or other States.
[* Salbahun must have been one of the leaders of the Scythian armies, who conquered India in the reign of Vickramadittea.]
The late governor of this district, Hamid Allee Khan, is now, as I have already stated, in prison, as a great defaulter, at Lucknow. He was a weak and inexperienced man, and guided entirely by his deputies, Nourooz Allee and Gholam Allee. Calamities of season and other causes prevented his collecting one-quarter of the revenue which he had engaged in his contract to pay. Gholam Allee persuaded the officers commanding regiments under him to pledge themselves for the personal security of some of the tallookdars whom he invited in to discuss the claims of Government, and their ability to meet them. Four of them came–Hindooput, of Sudowlee, who called on me this morning; Rugonath Sing, of Khojurgow; Rajah Dirg Bijee Sing, of Morarmow; and Bhoop Sing, of Pahor. They were all seized and put into confinement as soon as they appeared, by the officers who had pledged themselves for their personal safety; and Gholam Allee went off to Lucknow to boast of his prowess in seizing them. There he was called upon to pay the balance due, and seeing no disposition to listen to any excuse on the ground of calamity of season, he determined to escape across the Ganges. He wrote to Hamid Allee to suggest that he should do the same, and meet him at Horha, on the bank of the Ganges, on a certain night.
Hamid Allee sent his family across the Ganges, and prepared to meet Gholam Allee at the appointed place; but the commandants of corps, who suspected his intentions, and had not received from him any pay for their regiments for many months, seized him, and sent him a prisoner to Lucknow. Gholam Allee, however, effected his escape across the Ganges, and is now at Delhi. The story of his having run away with three lacs of Hamid Allee’s money is represented here as a fiction, as the escape had been concerted between them, and they had sent across the Ganges all that they could send with that view. This may or may not be the real state of the case. Hamid Allee, as I have above stated, married a daughter of Fuzl Allee. Fuzl Allee’s aunt, Fyz-on Nissa, had been a great favourite with the Padshad Begum, the wife of the King, Ghazee-od Deen, and adoptive mother of his successor, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, who ascended the throne in 1827. She had been banished from Oude by Ghazee-od Deen, but on his death she returned secretly to Lucknow; and, in December of that year, her nephew, Fuzl Allee, who had been banished with her, returned also, and on the 31st of that month he was appointed prime minister, in succession to Aga Meer. Hakeem Mehndee had been invited from Futtehghur to fill the office, and had come so far as Cawnpoor, when Fyz-on Nissa carried the day with the Queen Dowager, and he was ordered back. In November, 1828, the King, at his mother’s request, gave him the sum of 21,85,722 1 11, the residue of the principal of the pension of Shums-od Dowlah, the King’s uncle, who had died. The whole principal amounted to 33,33,333 5 4, but part had been appropriated as a fund to provide for some members of the King’s family.
In February, 1829, Fuzl Allee resigned the office of prime minister, and was protected by the Government of India, on the recommendation of the Resident, and saved, from the necessity of refunding to the State any of the wealth (some thirty-five lacs of rupees) which he had acquired during his brief period of office. This was all left to his three daughters and their husbands on his death, which took place soon after. He was succeeded in office by Hakeem Mehndee. Shums-od Dowlah’s pension of 16,666 10 6 a-month, was paid out of the interest, at 6 per cent., of the loan of one crore, eight lacs, and fifty thousand rupees, obtained from the sovereign of Oude (Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, who succeeded his father on the 11th of July, 1814,) by Lord Hastings, in October, 1814, for the Nepaul war. All the interest (six lacs and fifty-one thousand) was, in the same manner, distributed in stipends to different members of the family, and the principal has been paid back as the incumbents have died off. Some few still survive.*
[* The ground, on the north-west side of Morowa, would be good for a cantonment, as the soil is sandy, and the plain well drained. Water must lie during the rains on all the other sides, and the soil has more clay in it.]
January 7, 1850.–To Mirree, twelve miles, over a plain of light doomuteea soil, sufficiently cultivated, and well studded with trees. We passed Runjeet-ka Poorwa half-way–once a large and populous town, but now a small one. The fog was, however, too thick to admit of my seeing it. From this place to Lucknow, thirty miles, Seetlah Buksh, a deputy of Almas Allee Khan’s, planted an avenue of the finest kind of trees. We had to pass through a mile of it, and the trees are in the highest perfection, and complete on both sides. I am told that there are, however, many considerable intervals in which they have been destroyed. The trees must have been planted about sixty years ago.
I may here remark that no native gentleman from Lucknow, save such as hold office in districts, and are surrounded by troops, can with safety reside in the country. He would be either suspected and destroyed by the great landholders around him, or suspected and ruined by the Court. Under a better system of government, a great many of these native gentlemen, who enjoy hereditary incomes, under the guarantee of the British Government, would build houses in distant districts, take lands, and reside on them with their families, wholly or occasionally, and Oude [would] soon be covered with handsome gentlemen’s seats, at once ornamental and useful. They would tend to give useful employment to the people, and become bonds of union between the governing and the governed. Under such an improved system, our guarantees would be of immense advantage to the whole country of Oude, in diffusing wealth, protection, education, intelligence, good feeling, and useful and ornamental, works. At present, these guarantees are not so. They have concentrated at the capital all who subsist upon them, and surrounded the Sovereign and his Court with an overgrown aristocracy, which tends to alienate him more and more from his people. The people derive no benefit from, and have no feeling or interest in common with, this city aristocracy, which tends more and more to hide their Sovereign from their view, and to render him less and less sensible of his duties and high responsibilities; and what would be a blessing under a good, becomes an evil under a bad system, such as that which has prevailed since those guarantees began.
In this overgrown city there is a perpetual turmoil of processions, illuminations, and festivities. The Sovereign spends all that he can get in them, and has not the slightest wish to perpetuate his name by the construction of any useful or ornamental work beyond its suburbs. All the members of his family and of the city aristocracy follow his example, and spend their means in the same way. Indifferent to the feelings and opinions of the landed aristocracy and people of the country, with whom they have no sympathy, they spend all that they can spare for the public in gratifying the vitiated tastes of the overgrown metropolis. Hardly any work calculated to benefit or gratify the people of the country is formed or thought of by the members of the royal family or aristocracy of Lucknow; and the only one formed by the Sovereign for many years is, I believe, the metalled road leading from Lucknow to Cawnpoor, on the Ganges.
One good these guarantees certainly have effected–they have tended greatly to inspire the people of the city with respect for the British Government, by whom the incomes of so large and influential a portion of the community and their dependents are secured. That respect extends to its public officers and to Europeans generally; and in the most crowded streets of Lucknow they are received with deference, courtesy, and kindness, while in those of Hydrabad, their lives, I believe, are never safe without an escort from the Resident.
The people of the country respect the British Government, its officers, and Europeans generally, from other causes. Though the Resident has not been able to secure any very substantial or permanent reform in the administration, still he has often interposed with effect, in individual cases, to relieve suffering and secure redress for grievous wrongs. The people of the country see that he never interposes, except for such purposes, and their only regret is that he interposes so seldom, and that his efforts, when he does so, should be so often frustrated or disregarded. In the remotest village or jungle in Oude, as in the most crowded streets of the capital, an European gentleman is sure to be treated with affectionate respect; and the humblest European is as sure to receive protection and kindness, unless be forfeits all claim to it by his misconduct.
The more sober-minded Mahommedans of Lucknow and elsewhere are much scandalized at the habit which has grown up among them, in the cities of India, of commemorating every event, whether of sadness or of joy, by brilliant illuminations and splendid processions, to amuse the idle populations of such cities. It is, they say, a reprehensible departure from the spirit of their creed, and from the simple tastes of the early Mahommedans, who laid out their superfluities in the construction of great and durable works of ornament and utility. Certainly no event can be more sorrowful among Mahommedans than that which is commemorated in the mohurrum by illuminations and processions with the Tazeeas; and yet no illuminations are more brilliant, and no processions more noisy, costly, and splendid. It is worthy of remark, that Hindoo princes in Central and Southern India, even of the Brahmin caste, commemorate this event in the same way; and in no part of India are these illuminations and processions more brilliant and costly. Their object is solely to amuse the population of their capitals, and to gratify the Mahommedan women whom they have under their protection, and their children, who must all be Mahommedans.
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