Part 40 (1/2)

But I must no longer indulge in speculations of this sort, in which you can now feel little interest amidst the important changes which are now taking place in the inst.i.tutions and relations of European nations. With grateful recollections of kindness received, and great respect, I remain, Your Lords.h.i.+p's obedient servant, (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.

To the Right Hon.

the Earl of Ellenborough.

P.S.--Since writing the above, I have received your Lords.h.i.+p's letter of the 18th of January, and have been much gratified with the favourable opinion you entertain of the commandant and officers. It is the best a.s.surance I could have of my boy being safe. Nothing could be more auspicious than the opening of the lad's career, and I trust he will profit by the advantage.

Lucknow, 18th March, 1851.

My Dear Sir Erskine,

I have read over with much interest the two small works you have done me the favour to send me, the one on Buddhism, and the other on Law Reform; but I have not ventured upon the Seventh Report of the Board of Education yet, because I have had a good deal to do and think about; and a good deal of it is in small print, very trying for my eyes, which are none of the strongest. I shall, however, soon read it.

I concur in all your views about the necessity of throwing overboard the whole system of special pleading, and have been amused with Sir J. P. Grant's horror of your proposed innovations. It is not less than that which he expressed at the little Macaulay Code, intended to blow up the whole pyramid raised by ”the wisdom of our ancestors,” in which so many ill.u.s.trious characters he entombed. He was, indeed, as you say, ”a great _laudator temporis acti_;” but the number of those like him at all times in England and its distant possessions is fearful. One likes to look to America in this as in all things tending to advancement; but there the ”d.a.m.ned spot” stares us in the face, blights our hopes, and crushes our sympathies--hideous slavery --hideous alike in the recollection of the past, the contemplation of the present, and the antic.i.p.ation of the future. I wish two things-- 1. That you would write a work on the subject less ”sketchy and perfunctory,” as you call it, so that any one not versed in English law and procedure might be able to understand it and appreciate it thoroughly. 2nd. That you would, when relieved from your present office, come out as our law member of council, to press your views on our Government with effect. With these law reforms, as with railroads, there were less impediments in India than in England; but there is one thing that I would observe. In our own Indian Courts our judges would--for a time at least--want the aid of honest _masters_ to condense and report upon cases under trial. Such men would be made in time; and in considering such things, we must recollect that almost the only persons in India who can send agents into all parts of it, with a perfect a.s.surance of honest dealing, are the native merchants and bankers. But I won't dwell on this subject. I can't find amongst the numerous Buddhists here, one who knows anything about ”Kapila vasta,” which you place near to Lucknow. I should like to visit the birth-place of a man who did so much for mankind as Sakeen Gantama.

He would hardly have done as I have, placed my only son in the 16th Lancers. However, I may console myself, for he may be in it a long time without doing much mischief, for I do hope that the people of the nations of modern Europe are too strong and too wise to let their sovereigns and ministers play such fantastic tricks as they were ”wont to play,” when George the 3rd, and Edward the 3rd, and Henry the 5th were kings. Property, good sense, and good business have greatly increased and spread, and are every day producing good fruits.

Believe me, Yours very trusting, (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.

To Sir Erskine Perry, &c. &c.

Lucknow, 31st March, 1851.

My Dear Sir,

I grieve to say that I can do nothing whatever for the son of my late friend Colonel Ouseley, and have been obliged to write to him to that effect, as to many other sons of old and valued friends whom I should be glad to aid if I could.

Tens of thousands of the most happy families I have seen in India owe all they have to the able and judicious management of the late Colonel Ouseley when in the civil charge of the districts of Houshengabad and Baitool, in the Saugor territories; and no man's memory is more dear to the people of those districts than his now is.

The family of a man who had done so much to make his government beloved and respected over so large a field should never want if I could prevent it; but I have no situations whatever in my gift, nor have I any influence over any persons who have such situations to bestow.

Believe me, Yours truly, (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.

To Captain Harrington.

Lucknow, 24th November 1851.

My Lord,

Lucknow affairs are now in a state to require the a.s.sumption of the entire management of the country; and the princ.i.p.al question for your Lords.h.i.+p's consideration is, whether this shall be done by a new treaty or by simple proclamation. Treaties not only justify but enjoin the measure; our pledges to the people demand it; and all India are, I believe, satisfied of its justice, provided we leave the revenues for the maintenance of the royal family in suitable dignity, and for the benefit of the people.

We may disenc.u.mber our Government of the pay of two regiments of Oude Local Infantry, and incorporate them with the Oude force to be raised, and of that of the officers of the residency, altogether about two lacs and a-half of rupees; and when things are settled down a little, the brigade now here--of three infantry regiments and a company of artillery, costing some four lacs more--may be dispensed with, perhaps.

If I may be permitted to give an opinion as to the best mode of the two, I should say proclamation, as the more dignified.