Part 8 (2/2)

Captain Lockett at last persuaded them to leave the whole affair in his hands; and had they done so at first, he would have settled the matter, he thought, in half the time. They had been discussing matters in this angry manner for four hours and a half, without making the slightest impression on the ruffians; but when all became silent, Captain Lockett prevailed on them to release the boys on the conditions agreed to between him and Eesa Meean, and recorded on paper. In this paper it was declared--”That Syud Mahomed Eesa Khan, together with the woman, Beeba Jan, shall be allowed to go where he liked, with security to his life and honour, and with all the property and effects he might have, whether he got it from the King of Oude or from his minister; and that no one, either in the Honourable Company's or in the King of Oude's dominions, shall offer him any molestation; that no obstruction shall be thrown in his way by the officers of the British Government in the countries of any of the Rajahs at whose courts there may be a British Resident; and further, that no molestation shall be offered to him in the British territories in consequence of the disturbance which took place at Bareilly in 1816.

”(Signed) A. LOCKETT, _a.s.sistant Resident_.”

After this paper had been signed by Captain Lockett, the two boys were set at liberty, and sent off in palanqeens to their mother under a guard. The minister had, in the morning, promised to give the a.s.sailants twenty thousand rupees, and they arrived before the discussions closed, and were placed on the floor of the school-room.

The girl, Beeba Jan, was now brought into the room, and made over to Eesa Meean. When first brought before him, she thought she was to be sacrificed to save the lives of the boys, and was in a state of great agitation. She implored Captain Lockett to save her life; but, to the great surprise of all present, Eesa Meean took up one of the bags of money, containing one thousand rupees, and, with a smile, put it into her arms, and told her that she was now at liberty to return to her home or go where she pleased. The joy expressed by the girl and by all who witnessed this scene was very great; for they had all considered him to be a mere ruffian, incapable of anything like a generous action.

It had been arranged that Eesa Meean, with all his party, should go with Captain Lockett to the Residency; but when the time came, and the excitement had pa.s.sed away in the apartment, he began to be alarmed, and told Captain Lockett that he felt sure he should be murdered on the road. He wanted to go with Captain Lockett on the same elephant, but to this Captain Lockett would not consent, as it would compromise his dignity, to sit on the same elephant with so atrocious a character. There was no palanqeen available for him, and he would not allow Captain Lockett to enter his, declaring that if he did so, he, Eesa Meean, would be instantly cut down by the King's people. Captain Lockett was, therefore, obliged to walk with him from the minister's house at Dowlut Poora to the Residency, a distance of a mile, in the heat of the day, and the hottest month in the year, followed by the King's troops, and an immense mult.i.tude from the city. About four o'clock Captain Lockett reached the Residency, and made over Eesa Meean and his sixteen followers to the Resident, who ratified the written engagement, and sent the party to the cantonments, three miles distant from the city, to Brigadier-General Price, who commanded the troops in Oude, to be taken care of for a few days till arrangements could be made for their safe conduct to Cawnpore, within the British territory. Their arms were taken from them, to be sent to the magistrate at Cawnpore, for delivery to them when they might be released. On the morning of the 3rd the King came to the Resident to thank him for what he had done, and express the sense he entertained of the judicious conduct of his a.s.sistant during the whole of this trying scene; and to request that he might be permitted to go to the palace to receive some mark of distinction which his Majesty wished to confer upon him. Captain Lockett went with the minister, and was received with marked distinction; and thirteen trays of shawls and other articles were presented to him.

Captain Lockett selected one pair, which he accepted, and placed, as usual, in the Resident's Toshuk-khana.

When he signed the paper he remarked the omission of all mention of Eesa Meean's a.s.sociates in that doc.u.ment, but did not consider it to be his duty to point out the oversight, lest it might increase the excitement, and prolong the angry discussions. In his report of the circ.u.mstances to the Resident, however, he mentioned it to him, and told him that the omission clearly arose from an oversight, and unless his a.s.sociates received the same indulgence as the princ.i.p.al, Eesa Meean himself, their exclusion from the benefits of the engagement might be attributed to decoit or artifice on his part. The Resident concurred in this opinion, and in his report of the following day to Government, he recommended that they should all be considered as included in the engagement.

Government, in its reply of the 25th of June 1824, consents to this construction of the written engagement, but notices a no less important oversight on the part of the Resident and his a.s.sistant, in the free pardon given to Eesa Meean, for the share he had taken in the Bareilly insurrection, which had caused the loss of so many lives in April 1816. Government infers, that they could, neither of them have been aware, that this ruffian was the original instigator and most active leader in that formidable insurrection; that it was chiefly, if not entirely, owing to his endeavours to inflame the popular phrenzy, and to collect partizans from the neighbouring towns, that the efforts of the local authorities, to quell or avert the rising storm, failed wholly of success; that he stood charged as a princ.i.p.al in the murder of Mr. Leycester's son, and that, on these grounds, he was expressly excluded from the general amnesty, declared after the successful suppression of the rebellion, and a reward of two thousand rupees offered for his arrest; that this written pledge had involved Government in the dilemma of either cancelling a public act of the British Resident, or pardoning and setting at large, within its territory, a proclaimed outlaw, and notorious rebel and most dangerous incendiary; and that it felt bound in duty to guard the public peace from the hazard of further interruption, through the violence or intrigue of so desperate and atrocious an offender; and to annul that part of the engagement which absolves Eesa Meean from his guilt in the Bareilly insurrection, since the Resident and his a.s.sistant went beyond their powers in pledging their Government to such a condition. Government directed, that he and his a.s.sociates should be safely escorted over the border into the British territory, and that he should not be brought to trial before a Judicial Court, with a view to his being capitally punished for his crimes at Bareilly, but be confined, as a state prisoner, in the fortress of Allahabad. The Government, in strong but dignified terms, expresses its surprise and displeasure at his having been placed in so confidential a position, and permitted to bask in the suns.h.i.+ne of ministerial favour, when active search was being made for him all over India; for the King and his minister must have been both aware of the part he had taken in the Bareilly insurrection, since the King himself alludes to it in a letter submitted by the Resident to Government on the 8th of June 1824.

The Resident and his a.s.sistant, in letters dated 15th of July, declare that they were altogether unacquainted with the part which Eesa Meean had taken in the Bareilly rebellion in 1816, the Resident being at that time at the Cape of Good Hope, and his a.s.sistant in England. Eesa Meean was confined, as directed, in the fort of Allahabad; but soon afterwards released on the occasion of the Governor-General's visit to that place. He returned again to Lucknow in the year 1828, soon after Aga Meer had been removed from his office of minister. As soon as it was discovered that he was in the city, he was seized and sent across the Ganges; and is said to have been killed in Malwa or Goozerat, in a similar attempt upon some native chief or his minister.

The two boys are still living, the eldest, Aga Allee, or Ameen-od Dowla, at Lucknow, and Nizam-od Dowla, the youngest, at Cawnpore; both drawing large hereditary pensions, under the guarantee of the British Government. This is not the Ameen-od Dowla who was attacked in the streets, as above described, in the year 1847.

About two years ago this Ghoolam Huzrut took by violence possession of the small estate of Golha, now in the Sibh.o.r.e purgunnah; and turned out the proprietor, Bhowannee Sing, a Rath.o.r.e Rajpoot, whose ancestors had held it for several centuries. The poor man was re- established in it by the succeeding contractor, Girdhara Sing; but on his losing his contract, Ghoolam Huzret, on the 23rd of September last, again attacked Bhowanne Sing at midnight, at the head of a gang of ruffians; and after killing five of his relatives and servants, and burning down his houses, turned him and his family out, and secured possession of the village, which he still holds. The King's officers were too weak to protect the poor man, and have hitherto acquiesced in the usurpation of the village. Ghoolam Huzrut has removed all the autumn crops to his own village; and cut down and taken away sixty mango-trees planted by Bhowannee Sing's ancestors.

Miherban Sing, the son of the sufferer, is a sipahee in the 63rd Regiment Native Infantry, and he presented a pet.i.tion through the Resident in behalf of his father. Other pet.i.tions have been since presented, and the Court has been strongly urged to afford redress.

Ghoolam Huzrut has two forts, to which he retires when pursued, one at _Para_, and one at _Sarai_, and a good many powerful landholders always ready to support him against the government, on condition of being supported by him when necessary.

On crossing the river Ghagra, I directed Captain Bunbury, (who commands a regiment in the King of Oude's service with six guns, and was to have accompanied me, and left the main body of his regiment with his guns under his second in command, Captain Hea.r.s.ey, at Nawabgunge,) to surprise and capture Ghoolam Huzrut, if possible, by a sudden march. He had left his fort of Para, on my pa.s.sing within a few miles of it, knowing that the minister had been with me, and thinking that he might have requested my aid for the purpose. Captain Bunbury joined his main body unperceived, made a forced march during the night, and reached the fort of Para at daybreak in the morning, without giving alarm to any one on the road. In this surprise he was aided by Khoda Buksh, of Dadra, a very respectable and excellent landholder, who had suffered from Ghoolam Huzrut's depredations.

He had returned to his fort with all his family on my pa.s.sing, and it contained but few soldiers, with a vast number of women and children.

He saw that it would be of no use to resist, and surrendered his fort and person to Captain Bunbury, who sent him a prisoner to Lucknow, under charge of two Companies, commanded by Captain Hea.r.s.ey. He is under trial, but he has so many influential friends about the Court, with whom he has shared his plunder, that his ultimate punishment is doubtful. Captain Bunbury was praised for his skill and gallantry, and was honoured with a t.i.tle by the king.

_December_ 3, 1849.--Kinalee, ten miles over a plain, highly cultivated and well studded with groves, but we could see neither town, village, nor hamlet on the road. A poor Brahmin, Gunga Sing, came along the road with me, to seek redress for injuries sustained.

His grandfather was in the service of our Government, and killed under Lord Lake, at the first siege of Bhurtpore in 1804. With the little he left, the family had set up as agricultural capitalists in the village of Poorwa Pundit, on the estate of Kulunder Buksh, of Bhitwal. Here they prospered. The estate was, as a matter of favour to Kulunder Buksh, transferred from the jurisdiction of the contractor to that of the Hozoor Tehseel.* Kulunder Buksh either could not, or would not, pay the Government demand; and he employed two of his relatives, G.o.dree and Hoseyn Buksh, to plunder in the estate and the neighbourhood, to reduce Government to his own terms.

These two persons, with two hundred armed men, attacked the village in the night; and, after plundering the house of this Brahmin, Gunga Sing, they seized his wife, who was then pregnant, and made her point out a hidden treasure of one hundred and seven gold mohurs, and two hundred and seventy-seven rupees. She had been wounded in several places before she did this, and when she could point out no more, one of the two brothers cut her down with his sword, and killed her. In all the Brahmin lost two thousand seven hundred and fifty-five rupees' worth of property; and, on the ground of his grandfather having been killed in the Honourable Company's service, has been ever since urging the Resident to interpose with the Oude government in his behalf.

[* The term ”Hozoor Tehseel” signifies the collections of the revenue made by the governor himself whether of a district or a kingdom. The estates of all landholders who pay their land-revenues direct to the governor, or to the deputy employed under him to receive such revenues and manage such estates, are said to be in the ”Hozoor Tehseel.” The local authorities of the districts on which such estates are situated have nothing whatever to do with them.]

The estate of Bhitwal has been retransferred to the jurisdiction of the Amil of Byswara, who has restored it to Kulunder Buksh; and his two relatives, G.o.dree and Hoseyn Buksh, are thriving on the booty acquired, and are in high favour with the local authorities. I have requested that measures may be adopted to punish them for the robbery and the cruel murder of the poor woman; but have little hope that they will be so. _No government in India is now more weak for purposes of good than that of Oude_.

This village of Kinalee is now in the estate of Ramnuggur Dhumeereea, held by Gorbuksh, a large landholder, who has a strong fort, Bhitolee, at the point of the Delta, formed by the Chouka and Ghagra rivers, which here unite. He has taken refuge with some four thousand armed followers in this fort, under the apprehension of being made to pay the full amount of the Government demand, and called to account for the rescue of some atrocious offenders from Captain Hea.r.s.ey, of the Frontier Police, by whom they had been secured. Gorbuksh used to pay two hundred thousand rupees a-year for many years for this estate, without murmur or difficulty; but for the last three years he has not paid the rate, to which he has got it reduced, of one hundred and fifty thousand. Out of his rents and the revenues due to Government he keeps up a large body of armed followers, to intimidate the Government, and seize upon the estates of his weaker neighbours, many of which he has lately appropriated by fraud, violence, and collusion. An attempt was this year made to put the estate under the management of Government officers; but he was too strong for the Government, which was obliged to temporise, and at last to yield. He is said to exact from the landholders the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand rupees a-year. He holds also the estate of Bhitolee, at the apex of the delta of the Ghagra and Chouka rivers, in which the fort of Bhitolee is situated. The Government demand on this estate is fifty thousand (50,000) rupees a-year. His son, Surubjeet Sing, is engaged in plunder, and, it is said, with his father's connivance and encouragement, though he pretends to be acting in disobedience of his orders. The object is, to augment their estate, and intimidate the Government and its officers by gangs of ruffians, whom they can maintain only by plunder and malversation. The greater part of the lands, comprised in this estate of Ramnuggur Dhumeereea, of which Rajah Gorbuksh is now the local governor, are hereditary possessions which have been held by his family for many generations.

A part has been recently seized from weaker neighbours, and added to them. The rest are merely under him as the governor or public officer, intrusted with the collection of the revenue and the management of the police.

_December_ 4, 1849.--Gunesh Gunge, _alias_ Byram-ghat, on the right bank of the river Ghagra, distance about twelve miles. The country well cultivated, and studded with good groves of mango and other trees. We pa.s.sed through and close to several villages, whose houses are nothing but mud walls, without a thatched or tiled roof to one in twenty. The people say there is no security in them from the King's troops and the pa.s.sies, a large cla.s.s of men in Oude, who are village watchmen but inveterate thieves and robbers, when not employed as such. All refractory landholders hire a body of pa.s.sies to fight for them, as they pay themselves out of the plunder, and cost little to their employers. They are all armed with bows and arrows, and are very formidable at night. They and their refractory employers keep the country in a perpetual state of disorder; and, though they do not prevent the cultivation of the land, they prevent the village and hamlets from being occupied by anybody who has anything to lose, and no strong local ties to restrain him.

The town of Ramnuggur, in which Gorbuksh resides occasionally, is on the road some five miles from the river. It has a good many houses, but all are of the same wretched description; mud walls, with invisible coverings or no coverings at all; no signs of domestic peace or happiness; but nothing can exceed the richness and variety of the crops in and around Ramnuggur. It is a fine garden, and would soon be beautiful, were life and property better secured, and some signs of domestic comfort created. The ruined state of the houses in this town and in the villages along the road, is, in part, owing to the system which requires all the King's troops to forage for themselves on the march, and the contractors, and other collectors of revenue, to be continually on the move, and to take all their troops with them. The troops required in the provinces should be cantoned in five or six places most convenient, with regard, to the districts to be controlled, and most healthy for the people; and provided with what they require, as ours are, and sent out to a.s.sist the revenue collectors and magistrates only when their services are indispensably necessary. Some Chundele Rajpoot landholders came to me yesterday to say, that Ghoolam Huzrut, with his bands of armed ruffians, seemed determined to seize upon all the estates of his weaker Hindoo neighbours, and they would soon lose theirs, unless the British Government interposed to protect them. Gorbuksh has not ventured to come, as he was ordered, to pay his respects to the Resident; but has shut himself up in his fort at Bhitolee, about six miles up the river from our camp. The Chouka is a small river which there flows into the Ghagra. He is said to have four or five thousand men with him; and several guns mounted in his fort. The ferry over the Ghagra is close to our tents, and called Byram-ghat.

_December_ 5, 1849.--Crossed the river Ghagra, in boats, and encamped at Nawabgunge, on the left bank, where we were met by one of the collectors of the Gonda Bahraetch district. He complained of the difficulties experienced in realizing the just demands of the exchequer, from the number and power of the tallookdars of the district, who had forts and bands of armed followers, too strong for the King's officers. There were, he said, in the small purgunnah of Gouras--

1.--Pretheeput Sing, of Paska, who has a strong fort called Dhunolee, on the right bank of the Ghagra, opposite to Paska and b.u.mh.o.r.ee, two strongholds, which he has on the left bank of that river, and he is always ready to resist the Government.

2.--Murtonjee Buksh, of Shahpoor, who is always ready to do the same; and a great ruffian.

3.--Shere Bahader Sing, of Kuneear.*

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