Part 22 (1/2)
A JOURNEY
THROUGH THE
KINGDOM OF OUDE
IN 1849--1850;
BY DIRECTION OF THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DALHOUSIE, GOVERNOR-GENERAL.
WITH PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE ANNEXATION OF OUDE TO BRITISH INDIA, &c.
BY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B.
Resident at the Court of Lucknow
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
1858.
CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAPTER 1.
Sundeela--The large landholders of the district--Forces with the Amil--Tallookdars, of the district--Ground suited for cantonments and civil offices--Places consecrated to wors.h.i.+p--Kutteea Huron--Neem Sarang, traditions regarding--Landholders and peasantry of Sundeela-- Banger and Sandee Palee, strong against the Government authorities from their union--_Nankar_ and _Seer_. Nature and character of-- Jungle--Leaves of the peepul, bur, &c., used as fodder--Want of good houses and all kinds of public edifices--Infanticide--Sandee district--Security of tenure in groves--River Gurra--Hafiz Abdulla, the governor--Runjeet Sing, of Kutteearee--Thieves in the Banger district--Infanticide--How to put down the crime--Palee--Richness of the foliage, and carpeting of spring-crops--Kunojee Brahmins--Success of the robber's trade in Oude--Shahabad--Timber taken down the little river Gurra to the Ganges, from the Tarae forest--Fanaticism of the Moosulman population of Shahabad; and insolence and impunity with which they oppress the Hindoos of the town.
CHAPTER II.
Infanticide--Nekomee Rajpoots--Fallows in Oude created by disorders-- Their cause and effect--Tillage goes on in the midst of sanguinary conflicts--Runjeet Sing, of Kutteearee--Mahomdee district--White Ants--Traditional decrease in the fertility of the Oude soil--Risks to which cultivators are exposed--Obligations which these risks impose upon them--Infanticide--The Amil of Mahomdee's narrow escape-- An infant disinterred and preserved by the father after having been buried alive--Insecurity of life and property--Beauty of the surface of the country, and richness of its foliage--Mahomdee district--State and recent history of--Relative fertility of British and Oude soil-- Native notions of our laws and their administration--Of the value of evidence in our Courts--Infanticide--Boys only saved--Girls destroyed in Oude--The priests who give absolution for the crime abhorred by the people of all other cla.s.ses--Lands in our districts becoming more and more exhausted from over-cropping--Probable consequences to the Government and people of India--Political and social error of considering land private property--Hakeem Mehndee and subsequent managers of Mahomdee--Frauds on the King in charges for the keep of animals--Kunojee Brahmins--Unsuccessful attempt to appropriate the lands of weaker neighbours--Gokurnath, on the border of the Tarae-- The sakhoo or saul trees of the forest.
CHAPTER III.
Lonee Sing, of the Ahbun Rajpoot tribe--Dispute between Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, and a servant of one of his relatives--Cultivation along the border of the Tarae forest--Subdivision of land among the Ahbun families--Rapacity of the king's troops, and establishments of all kinds--Climate near the Tarae--Goitres--Not one-tenth of the cultivable lands cultivated, nor one-tenth of the villages peopled-- Criterion of good tillage--Ratoon crops--Manure available--Khyrabad district better peopled and cultivated than that of Mahomdee, but the soil over-cropped--Blight--Rajah Ajeet Sing and his estate of Khymara--Ousted by collusion and bribery--Anrod Sing of Oel, and Lonee Sing--State of Oude forty years ago compared with its present state--The n.a.z.im of the Khyrabad district--Trespa.s.ses of his followers--Oel Dhukooa--_Khalsa_ lands absorbed by the Rajpoot barons--Salarpoor--Sheobuksh Sing of Kuteysura--_Bhulmunsee_, or property-tax--Beautiful groves of Lahurpoor--Residence of the n.a.z.im-- Wretched state of the force with the n.a.z.im--Gratuities paid by officers in charge of districts, whether in contract or trust--Rajah Arjun Sing's estate of Dh.o.r.ehra--Hereditary gang-robbers of the Oude Tarae suppressed--Mutiny of two of the King's regiments at Bhitolee-- Their rapacity and oppression--Singers and fiddlers who govern the King--Why the Amils take all their troops with them when they move-- Seetapoor, the cantonment of one of the two regiments of Oude Local Infantry--Sipahees not equal to those in Magness's, Barlow's, and Bunbury's, or in our native regiments of the line--Why--The prince Momtaz-od Dowlah--Evil effects of shooting monkeys--Doolaree, _alias_ Mulika Zumanee--Her history, and that of her son and daughter.
CHAPTER IV.
Nuseer-od Deen Hyder's death--His repudiation of his son, Moona Jan, leads to the succession of his uncle, Nuseer-od Dowlah--Contest for the succession between these two persons--The Resident supports the uncle, and the Padshah Begum supports the son--The ministers supposed to have poisoned the King--Made to disgorge their ill-gotten wealth by his successor--Obligations of the treaty of 1801, by which Oude was divided into two equal shares--One transferred to the British Government, one reserved by Oude--Estimated value of each at the time of treaty--Present value of each--The sovereign often warned that unless he governs as he ought, the British Government cannot support him, but must interpose and take the administration upon itself--All such warnings have been utterly disregarded--No security to life or property in any part of Oude--Fifty years of experience has proved, that we cannot make the government of Oude fulfil its duties to its people--The alternative left appears to be to take the management upon ourselves, and give the surplus revenue to the sovereign and royal family of Oude--Probable effects of such a change on the feelings and interests of the people of Oude.