Part 11 (2/2)
_September_ 24, 1847.--Report from the same place states, that Rughbur Sing had seized no less than eighteen thousand bullocks, from the villages of the Bondee estate, collected them at Neemapoor, and ordered his agents to get them all sold off as fast as possible; and that the cultivators could till none of the lands in consequence.
Order by the Durbar, that the minister put a stop to all this oppression. Nothing whatever was done!
_September_ 24, 1847.--Report from the same place states, that Kurum Hoseyn had seized Ahlad Sing, the malgoozar of Hurkapoor in Bondee, and had red-hot ramrods thrust into his flesh, on account of a balance due, and then had him put upon an a.s.s and paraded through the streets. Order by the Durbar, that the minister see to this. Nothing whatever was done!
_August_ 2, 1847.--Report from Gonda states, that the troops under Beharee Lal were robbing all the females of the country of their ornaments; and that Beharee Lal neither did nor said anything to prevent them. Order by the Durbar, that Rughbur Sing be directed to restrain his soldiers and restore the ornaments. Nothing whatever was done!
_September_ 6, 1847--Report from the same place states, that Luchman Naraen, malgoozar of Bhurduree in Gonda, had paid all the rents due, according to his engagements; that Beharee Lal had, nevertheless, sent a force of three hundred men, who attacked his house, plundered it of all that it contained, and took off five thousand seven hundred and thirty-one maunds of stored grain. Order by the Durbar, that the minister punish and restrain the oppressors, and cause all the property to be restored. Nothing whatever was done in the matter!
_October_ 2, 1847.--Report from Gonda states, that Jafir Allee and Hemraj Sing, Rughbur Sing's agents, had, with a body of sixteen hundred troops, attacked the town of Khurgapoor in Gonda, plundered it, and attacked and plundered five villages in the vicinity, and seized Sudasook and thirty other merchants and shopkeepers of Khurgapoor, Chungul Sing, the farmer of that place, Kaleechurn, a writer, and Benee, the agent of the Gonda Rajah, and no less than one hundred landholders and cultivators. Order by the Durbar: Let the minister seize all the offenders, and release and satisfy all the sufferers. Nothing whatever was done in the matter.
_October_ 5, 1847.--Report from Gonda states, that Rughbur Sing's troops had seized and brought off from Gonda to Nawabgunge, two hundred men and women, and shut up the road where they were confined, that no one might pa.s.s near them--that three or four of the women were pregnant, and near their confinement, and suffered much from harsh treatment and want of food. Order by the Durbar: Let the minister grant redress, and send a suzawal to see that the sufferers are released. A suzawal was sent, it appears, but he remained a quiet spectator of the atrocities, having received something for doing so.
_September_ 1, 1847.--Report from Hissampoor states, that Byjonauth Sing, agent of Rughbur Sing, in Hissampoor, had seized all the plough-bullocks and cows he could find, sent the best to his own home, and made the rest over to Wazeer Allee, Canongoe, to be sold.
Order by the Durbar, that Rughbur Sing be directed to restore all that has been taken, and collect the revenue with more moderation.
Nothing whatever was done.
_September_ 11, 1847.--Report from Bahraetch states, that the estate of Aleenugger in Hissampoor, which yielded eighteen thousand rupees a-year, had become so deserted from the oppressions of Rughbur Sing, that it could no longer yield anything. Order by the Durbar, that Rughbar Sing be directed to restore the tillage, or hold himself responsible for the King's revenue!
_July_ 28, 1847.--Report from Gonda states, that Goureeshunker, the collector of Gungwal and Pyagpoor, had, by order of Beharee Lal, attacked the village of Ruhooa, and seized and carried off sixty-four cultivators, and confined them in his camp. No order whatever was pa.s.sed by the Durbar.
_September_ 7, 1847.--From Nawabgunge in Gonda reports, that Beharee Lal's soldiers were then engaged in sacking that town, and carrying off the property. Order by the Durbar. Let the minister see that the property be restored and wrongs redressed. Nothing whatever was done.
_September_ 18, 1847.--Report from Bahraetch states, that Cheyn Sing, the tallookdar of Bahmanee Paer, had fled into the British territory, but returned to his fort; that Beharee Lal heard of his return and sent two thousand men to seize him; that the tallookdar had only sixty men, but held out for three hours, killed ten of the King's soldiers, and then evacuated the fort and fled; that Beharee Lal's soldiers had collected two thousand bullocks from the estate, and brought them all off to his camp. Order by the Durbar, that the minister give stringent orders in this case. Nothing whatever was done.
_October_ 2, 1847.--Report from Seerora states, that Mahommed Hussan (the present n.a.z.im), one of Rughbur Sing's collectors, with one thousand horse and foot and one gun, had come to the hamlet of Sondun Lal, and the village of Seerora, attacked and plundered these places, and seized and taken off one hundred men and women, and two hundred bullocks, killed two hundred Rajpoots in a fight, and then gone back to his camp at Bah.o.r.eegunge. Order by the Durbar, that the minister seize and send the oppressors to Lucknow, and restore the property to its proper owners. The minister did nothing of the kind; and soon after made this oppressor the governor of these districts.
_September_ 20, 1847.--Report from Radowlee states, that armed men belonging to Kurum Hoseyn, escorting one thousand selected bullocks, sent by Rughbar Sing, had come to Radowlee, on their way to his fort of Shahgunge. Order by the Durbar: Let the minister see to this affair. Nothing was done.
On the 28th September 1847 an order was addressed by the Durbar to Rughbur Sing, that his agent, Kurum Hoseyn, appeared to have attacked the house of Seodeen, though he had paid all that was due by him to the State, according to his engagements, and plundered it of property to the value of eighteen thousand rupees, and seized and confined all his relations--that he must cause all the property to be restored, and obtain acquittances from the sufferers. Rughbur Sing took no notice whatever of this order.
On the 2nd of October 1847, the Resident, Colonel Richmond, wrote to the King, acquainting him, that he had heard, that Rughbur Sing had seized and sold all the ploughs and bullocks in the Bahraetch district, and, seized and sold also five hundred men, women, and children of the landholders and cultivators; that he regrets all this and prays that his Majesty will cause inquiries to be made; and, should the charges prove true, cause the articles taken, or their value, to be restored, and the men, women, and children to be released. On the 25th of October 1847, the Resident again addressed the King, stating, that he had heard, that, on the 2nd of October, Jafir Allee and Maharaj Sing, agents of Rughbur Sing, with eleven hundred soldiers, had attacked and plundered the town of Khurgapoor and five villages in its neighbourhood, and seized and taken off Ramdeen Sudasook, and thirty merchants, shopkeepers and other respectable persons, also Junglee, the farmer of that town, Kaleechurn Mutsudee, Dabey Pershad, the Rajah's manager, and one hundred landholders and cultivators; and praying that orders be given for inquiry and redress. Nothing whatever was done; but on the 30th of October, the King replied to these letters, and to one written to him by the Resident on the 31st of August 1847, transmitting a list of unanswered letters. His Majesty stated, that he had sent orders to Rughbur Sing and to his brother Maun Sing, in all the cases referred to by the Resident; but that they were contumacious servants, as he had before described them to the Resident to be; and had taken no notice whatever of his orders!
_August_ 20, 1846.--Report from Bahraetch states, that Goureeshunkur, the agent of Rughbur Sing, in Bahraetch, had taken four persons from among the many whom he had in confinement on account of balances, had them suspended to trees, and cruelly flogged, and then had their hands wrapped up in thick cloth, steeped in oil, and set fire to till they burned like torches; and that he sat listening to their screams and cries for mercy with indifference. Order by the King: Let the minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, be furnished with a copy of this report, and let him send out three troopers, as suzawuls, to bring in Goureeshunkur and the four men whose hands had been burnt, and let him employ Mekhlis Hoseyn, to inquire into the affair, and report the result. Nothing was done.
On the 29th of August, the Resident, Mr. Davidson, addressed a letter to the King stating, that he had before represented the cruelties which Rughbur Sing was inflicting upon the people of his district, but had heard of no redress having been afforded in any case; that he had received another report on the same subject, and now forwards it to show what atrocities his agent, Goureeshunkur, was committing in Bahraetch; that in no other country could the servants of the sovereign commit such cruel outrages upon his subjects; that he had been wrapping up the bodies of the King's subjects in oilcloths, and setting, fire to them as to torches; that he could not do all this without the knowledge and sanction of his master, Rughbur Sing; and the Resident prays, that he may be punished, and that his punishment may be intimated to him, the Resident. Nothing was ever done, nor was any answer given to this letter, till it was, on the 30th of August 1847, acknowledged with the many others contained in the list sent to the King, in his letter of the 31st August 1847, by the then Resident, Colonel Richmond.
No report appears to have reached either the Durbar or the Resident, of the atrocious proceedings of Rughbur Sing's agents at Busuntpoor, where so many persons perished from torture, starvation, and exposure; nor was any notice taken of them till I took charge of my office in January 1849. Incha Sing had offered for the contract of the two districts four lacs less than Rughbur Sing had pledged himself to pay, and obtained it, and quietly superseded his nephew, with whom he was on cordial good terms. Rughbur Sing went into the British territory, to evade all demands for balances, and reside for an interval, with the full a.s.surance that he would be able to purchase a restoration to favour and power in Oude, unless the Resident should think it worth while to oppose him, which my predecessor did not.* I had his agents arrested, and charges sent in against them, with all the proofs acc.u.mulated, by Captain Orr; but they all soon purchased their way out, and no one was punished. At my suggestion the King proclaimed Rughbur Sing as an outlaw, and offered three thousand rupees for his arrest, if he did not appear within three months. He never appeared, but continued to carry on his negociations for restoration to power at Lucknow, through the very agents whom he had employed in the scenes above described, Beharee Lal, Goureeshunker, Kurum Hoseyn, Maharaj Sing, &c.
[* Incha Sing absconded before the end of the season, and has never returned to Oude. Mahommed Hussan got the contract on a reduction of two hundred and thirty-one thousand rupees, below the rates which Incha Sing bound himself to pay. But in 1850, he consented to an increase of three hundred and ninety-nine thousand, with, I believe, the deliberate intention to raise the funds for the payment by the murder of Ramdut Pandee, and the confiscation of his estate.]
Amjud Allee Shah, who was something of a man of business, died 13th February 1847, and was succeeded by his eldest son, the present King, who knows nothing of, and cares nothing whatever about, business. His minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, who had some character of his own, was removed some three or four months after, and succeeded by the present minister, Allee Nakee Khan, who has none.
The following table of the actual payments into the treasury, from these two districts of Gonda-Bahraetch, for four years from 1845, will serve to show the fiscal effects of such atrocities as were permitted to be perpetrated in them for a brief period of two years:--
For 1845, under Wajid Allee . 11,65,132 5 3 For 1846, under Rughbur Sing . 14,01,623 7 6 For 1847, under ditto . 10,27,898 4 6 For 1848, under Incha Sing . . 6,05,492 0 3
But what table can show the sufferings of the people, and the feelings of hatred and abhorrence of the Government and its officers, to which they gave rise! Not one of the agents, employed in the atrocities above described, was ever punished. The people see that all the members of the Government are accessaries, either before or after the fact, in all these dreadful cruelties and outrages, and, that the more of them a public officer commits, the more secure is he of protection and favour at Court. Their hatred and abhorrence of the individual, in consequence, extend to and embrace the whole of the Government, and would extend also to the British Government, by whom that of Oude is supported, did they not see how earnestly the British Resident strives to alleviate their sufferings, and make the Oude sovereign and minister do their duty towards them; and how much all British officers sympathise with their sufferings as they pa.s.s through the country.*
[* Beharee Lal is now (June 1851) employed in a confidential situation, in the office of the deputy minister. Goureeshunker is a Tusseeldar, or native collector, in the same district of Bahraetch, under the new contractor, Mann Sing. Moonshee Kurum Hoseyn holds a similar office in some other district. Maharaj Sing, and the rest, all hold, I believe, situations of equal emolument and respectability.]
Almost all the khalsa lands of the Hissampoor purgunnah belonged to the different branches of a very ancient and respectable family of Syuds. Their lands have, as already stated, been almost all transferred to powerful tallookdars, and absorbed by them in their estates, by the usual process. It is said, and I believe truly, that Hadee Allee Khan tried to induce the head of the Syud family to take his daughter in marriage for his eldest son, as he was also a Syud, (lineal descendant of the prophet.) The old Syud was too proud to consent to this; and he and all his relations and connection were ruined in consequence. The son, to whom Hadee Allee wished to unite his daughter, still lives on his lands, but in poverty and fear. The people say that family pride is more inveterate among the aristocracy of the country than that of the city; and had the old man lived at Lucknow, he would probably have given his son, and saved his family and estate.
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