This picture is not at all overdrawn. In passing through the estate, and communing with the few wretched people who remain, I find all that Captain Orr stated in his report to be strictly correct.
In the Hurhurpoor district similar atrocities were committed by Rughbur Sing and his agents. He confided the management to his agent, Goureeshunker. In 1846 he made his settlement of the land revenue, at an exorbitant rate, with the tallookdar, Chinghy Sing; and, in the following year, he extorted from him an increase to this rate of twenty-five thousand rupees. He was, in consequence, obliged to fly; but he was soon invited back on the usual solemn assurances for his personal security, and induced to take on himself the management of the estate. But he was no sooner settled in his house than he was again attacked at night and plundered. One of his attendants was killed, and another wounded; and all the respectable tenants and servants who had ventured to assemble around him on his return were seized and tortured till they paid ransoms. No less than two thousand and five hundred bullocks from this estate were seized and sold, or starved to death. A great many women were seized and tortured till they paid ransoms like the men; and many of them have never since been seen or heard of. Some perished in confinement of hunger and cold, having been stripped of their clothes, and exposed at night to the open air on the damp ground, while others threw themselves into wells and destroyed themselves after their release, rather than return to their families after the exposure and dishonour they had suffered.
In the Bahraetch district, the same atrocities were practised by Rughbur Sing and his agents. Here also Goureeshunker was the chief agent employed, but the few people who remained were so terrified, that Captain Orr could get but little detailed information of particular cases. The present Nazim had been one of Rughbur Sing's agents in all these atrocities, and the people apprehended that he was in office merely as his "locum tenens;" and that Rughbur Sing would soon purchase his restoration to power, as he boasted that he should. The estate of the Rajah of Bumunee Paer was plundered in the same manner; and Rughbur Sing's agents seized, drove off, and sold two thousand bullocks, and cut down and sold or destroyed five hundred and five mhowa-trees, which had, for generations, formed the strongest local ties of the cultivators, and their best dependence in seasons of drought.
In the Churda estate, in the Tarae forest, the same sufferings were inflicted on the people by the same agents, Goureeshunker and Beharee Lal. They seized Mudar Buksh, the manager, and made him over to Moonshee Kurum Hoseyn, who had him beaten to death. The estate of the Rajah of Bhinga was treated in the same way. Beharee Lal attacked the town with a large force, plundered all the houses in it, and all the people of their clothes and ornaments. They seized all the plough-bullocks and other cattle, and had them driven off and sold. The women were all seized and driven off in crowds to the camp of Rughbur Sing at Parbatee-tolah. Many of them who were far gone in pregnancy perished on the road, from fatigue and harsh treatment The estate of the Rajah of Ruhooa was treated in the same manner; and the Rajah, to avoid torture and disgrace, fled with his family to the jungles. In July 1846, being in great distress, he was induced to come back on the most solemn assurances from Rughbur Sing of personal security for himself, family, and attendants. He left the Rajah hisnankarlands for his subsistence, pledging himself to exact no rents or revenues from them; but put the estate under the management of his own agents, Lala Omed Rae and others. He at the same time pledged himself not to exact from any of the poor Rajah's tenants higher rates than those stipulated for in the engagements then made. But he immediately after saddled the Rajah with the payment of five hundred armed men, on the pretence that they were necessary to protect him, and aid him in the management of thesenankarlands. In May 1847, when the harvests had been gathered, and he had exacted from the tenants and cultivators the rates stipulated, Goureeshunker was put into the management. He seized all the tenants and cultivators by a sudden and simultaneous attack upon their several villages, and extorted from them a payment of fifty thousand rupees more. Not satisfied with this, Goureeshunker seized the Rajah's chief manager, Mungul Pershad, tied him up to a tree, and had him beaten to death. Many of the Rajah's tenants and servants were beaten to death in the same manner; and no less than forty villages were attacked and plundered. A good many respectable females were seized and compelled to make up the ransoms of their husbands and fathers who were under torture. Many of the females who had been seized perished from the cruel treatment and from want of food. Two thousand head of cattle, chiefly plough-bullocks, were seized and sold from this estate.
I have passed through all the districts here named, save two, Churda and Bhinga, and I can say, that everything I saw and heard tended to confirm the truth of what has here been told. Rughbur Sing and the agents employed by him were, by all I saw, considered more as terrible demons who delighted in blood and murder than as men endowed with any feelings of sympathy for their fellow-creatures; and the government, which employed such men in the management of districts with uncontrolled power, seemed to be utterly detested and abhorred.
It will naturally be asked, whether the circumstances described were ever reported to the Oude Government or to the British Resident; and whether they did anything to punish the guilty and afford redress and relief to the sufferers. The following are the reports which were made to the Oude Durbar by the news-writers, employed in the several districts, and communicated to the Resident and his Assistant, by the Residency news-writer, in his daily reports, which are read out to them every morning.
July10, 1847.—Report from Bondee states, that Rajaram, Rughbur Sing's collector of Mirzapoor and other villages in that estate, had attacked and plundered Mirzapoor, and carried off sixty head of cattle.
August12, 1847.—Report from Bondee states, that the estates of Bondee and Tiperha, which yielded one hundred and fifty thousand rupees a-year, had become so desolated by the oppression of Beharee Lal and Kurum Hoseyn, the agents of Rughbur Sing, that they could not possibly yield anything for the ensuing year; that Kurum Hoseyn had seized all the cattle and other property of the peasantry, sold them and appropriated the money to his own use, and had so beaten the landholders and cultivators, that many of them had died. Order by the Durbar, that these two agents be deterred from such acts of oppression, fined five thousand rupees, and made to release the remaining prisoners, and restore the property taken. Nothing whatever was done!
August14, 1847.—Report from Bondee states, that although the landholders and cultivators of this estate had paid all that was due, according to engagements, Beharee Lal and Kurum Hoseyn were having them flogged and tortured every day to extort more; selling off all their stock and other property, and selecting all the good bullocks and cows and sending them to their own houses. Order by the Durbar, that the minister punish the oppressors, and cause their property to be given back to the oppressed. The minister ordered his deputy, Ramchurn, to see this done. He did nothing whatever!
September6, 1847.—Report from Gonda states, that all the lands from Bondee and Pyagpoor had been left waste from the oppression of Rughbur Sing. Order by the Durbar, that the minister hasten to get the lands tilled, as the season was passing away. Nothing whatever was done!
September24, 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!
September24, 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 ass and paraded through the streets. Order by the Durbar, that the minister see to this. Nothing whatever was done!
August2, 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!
September6, 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!
October2, 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.
October5, 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 pass 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.
September1, 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.
September11, 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!
July28, 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 passed by the Durbar.
September7, 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.
September18, 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.
October2, 1847.—Report from Seerora states, that Mahommed Hussan (the present Nazim), 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 Bahoreegunge. 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.
September20, 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!
August20, 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 assurance 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 accumulated, 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.]
[* 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 3For 1846, under Rughbur Sing . 14,01,623 7 6For 1847, under ditto . 10,27,898 4 6For 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 pass 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.]
[* 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.
Captain Hardwick, while out shooting on the 10th, saw a dead man hanging by the heels in a mango-tree, close to the road. He was one of a gang of notorious robbers who had attacked a neighbouring village belonging to some Brahmins. They killed two, and caught a third member of the gang, and hung him up by the heels to die. He was the brother-in-law of the leader of the gang, Nunda Pandee. There he still hangs, and the greater part of my camp took a look at him in passing.
Tallookdars of Bahraetch-Government Land Revenue accordingto the Estimate of this Year.___________________________________________________________________Names of Villages Government Present ConditionDemand___________________________________________________________________Bandee . . . . . 65,000 Almost wasteRuhooa . . . . . 20,000 DittoNanpara . . . . . 1,50,000 Falling offGungwal . . . . . 26,000 Much out of tillagePyagpoor . . . . . 59,000 DittoEkona . . . . . . 1,80,000 DittoBulrampoor . . . . 1,50,000 Well tilledToolseepoor . . . . 1,05,000 DittoAtrola . . . . . 80,000 Much out of tillageMunkapoor . . . . 35,000 DittoBahmanee Paer . . . 12,000 Ditto___________________________________________________________________Gowras alias ChehdwaraParuspoor. . . . . 14,000 Well tilledAruta . . . . . . 18,000 DittoShahpoor . . . . . 30,000 DittoDhunawa . . . . . 42,000 DittoPaska . . . . . . 20,000 DittoKumeear . . . . . 48,000 Ditto___________________________________________________________________Churda . . . . . 62,000 Falling off___________________________________________________________________Gonda Pergunnah.___________________________________________________________________Desumberpoor. . . . 95,000 Rajah Davey Buksh, ingood order.Bhinga. . . . . . 64,000 Recovering.Akkerpoor. . . . . 46,015 In good order underRamdut Pandee.Sagha Chunda. . . . 1,20,729 Ramdut Pandee, in goodorder.Birwa . . . . . . 24,000 A little out of tillage.___________________________________________________________________
December12, 1849.—Gungwal, thirteen miles. The road lay through the estate of Pyagpoor to within a mile of Gungwal. Little cultivation was to be seen the whole way, and what we could see was bad. Little variety of crops, and the tillage slovenly, and without manure or irrigation. The tallookdar was ruined by Rughbur Sing, and is not on terms with the present Nazim, and he did not appear. The estate of Gungwal is not better cultivated than that of Pyagpoor; nor better peopled—both may be considered as mere wastes, and their assessments as merely nominal. The tallookdar did not appear. Both were ruined by the rapacious Nazim and his atrocious agents, Goureeshunker, Beharee Lal, Kurum Hoseyn, and others.
The Rajah of Toolseepoor, Dirgraj Sing, has an only son, Sahibjee, now 17 years of age. The Rajah's old servants, thinking they could make more out of the boy than out of the prudent father, first incited him to go off, with all the property he could collect, to Goruckpoor, where he spent it in ten months of revelry. The father invited him back two mouths ago, on condition that he should come alone. When he got within six miles of Toolseepoor, however, the father found, that three thousand armed followers had there been assembled by his agents, to aid him in seizing upon him and the estate. Fearing that his estate might be desolated, and he himself confined, and perhaps put to death, the Rajah ran off to his friend, the Rajah of Bulrampore, for protection.
December13, 1849.—Purenda, eleven miles. The first half of the way, through the lands of Gungwal, showed few signs of tillage or population; the latter half through, those of Purenda and other villages of Gonda, held by Ramdut Pandee, showed more of both. Some nice villages on each side, at a small distance, and some fine groves of mango-trees. On the road this morning, Omrow Pooree, a non-commissioned officer of the Gwalior Contingent, whose family resided in a neighbouring village, came up to me as I passed along, and prayed me to have the murderer of his father seized and punished. He described the circumstances of the case, and on reaching camp, I requested Captain Weston to take the depositions of the witnesses, and adopt measures for the arrest of the offenders. Syampooree was the name of the father of the complainant. He resided in a small hamlet, near the road, called after himself, as the founder, "Syampooree ka Poorwa," or Syampooree's Hamlet. He had four sons, all fine, stout men. The eldest, Omrow Pooree, a corporal in the Gwalior Contingent, Bhurut Pooree, a private in Captain Barlow's regiment, Ramchurun and Ramadeen, the two youngest, still at home, assisting their father in the management of their little estate, which the family had held for many generations. One day in the beginning of December 1848, a short, thick-set man passed through the hamlet, accosted Syampooree and his two sons, as they sat at the door, and asked for some tobacco, and entered into conversation with them. He pretended that his cart had been seized by the Nazim's soldiers; and, after chatting with them for a short time, departed.
The second morning after this, before daylight, Ramadeen, the youngest son, was warming himself at a fire on a small terrace in front of the door, when he saw a party of armed men approaching. He called out, and asked who they were and what they wanted. They told him that they were Government servants, had traced a thief to the village, and come to seize him. Four of the party, who carried torches, now approached the fire and lighted them. Syampooree and his other son, Ramchurun, hearing the noise, came out, and placed themselves by the side of Ramadeen. By the light of the torches they now recognised the short, thick-set man with whom they had been talking two days before, at the head of a gang of fifteen men, carrying fire-arms with matches lighted, and five more armed with swords and shields. The short, thick-set man was Nunda Pandee, the most notorious robber in the district. He ordered his gang to search the house: on the father and sons remonstrating, he drew his sword and cut down Ramchurun. The father and Ramadeen having left their swords in the house, rushed back to secure them; but Nunda Pandee, calling out to one of his followers, Bhowaneedeen, to despatch the son, overtook the father, and at one cut severed his right arm from his body. He inflicted several other cuts upon him before the old man could secure his sword with his left arm. Having got it, he placed the scabbard under his foot, drew forth the blade, and cut Nunda Pandee across his sword-arm which placed himhors-de-combat; and rushing out among the assailants, he cut down two more, when he was shot dead by a third and noted robber, Goberae. Bhowaneedeen and others of the gang had cut down Ramadeen, and inflicted several wounds upon him as he lay on the ground. The gang then plundered the house, and made off with property to the value of one thousand and fifty rupees, leaving the father and both sons on the ground. The brave old father died soon after daybreak; but before he expired he named his assailants.
The two youngest sons were too severely wounded to admit of their pursuing the murderers of their father, but their brother, Bhurut Pooree, obtaining leave of absence, returned home, and traced the leader of the gang, Nunda Pandee, to the house of one of his relatives in the village of Kurroura, in Pyagpoor, where he had had his wound sewn up and dressed, and lay concealed. The family then tried, in vain, to get redress from all the local authorities, none of whom considered it to be their duty to look after murderers and robbers of this kind. Captain Weston succeeded in arresting this atrocious gang-leader, Nunda Pandee, who described to him minutely many of the numerous enterprises of this kind in which he had been engaged, and seemed to glory in his profession. He mentioned that the man whom he had seen suspended in the tree was his brother-in-law; that he had had two other members of his gang killed by the villagers on that occasion, but had succeeded in carrying off their bodies; that Goberae, Bhowaneedeen, and the rest of his followers were still at large and prosecuting their trade. Nunda Pandee was by the Resident made over for trial and punishment to the Durbar; and Goberae and Bhowaneedeen have since been arrested and made over also. They both acknowledged that they murdered the Gosaen in the manner above described, May 1851. The Mahommedan law-officer before whom the case was tried declared, that he could not, according to law, admit as valid the evidence of the wife and two sons of the murdered Gosaen, because they were relatives and prosecutors; and, as the robbers denied before him that they were the murderers, he could not, or pretended he could not, legally sentence them to punishment The King was, in consequence, obliged to take them from his Court, and get them sentenced to perpetual imprisonment by another Court, not trammelled by the same law of evidence. This difficulty arises frombloodhaving itspricein money in the country where the law was made, or theDeeut; any person who had a right to share in thisDeeut, or price of blood, was therefore held to be an invalid or incompetent witness to the fact.
On the road from Bahraetch to Gungwal we saw very few groves or fine single trees on either side. The water is close to the surface, and the soil good, but for the most part flooded during the rains, and fit only for rice-cultivation. To fit it for the culture of other autumn crops would require a great outlay in drainage; and this no one will incur without better security for the returns than the present government can afford. Ramdut Pandee is the greatest agricultural capitalist in these parts.
On the 8th of December it had become known all over the city of Lucknow, that the King had promised Captain Bird that he would banish Gholam Ruza and his sister, and Kotub Allee, across the Ganges; and it was entered in the news-writer's report, though Captain Bird had spoken of it to no one. He was asked by the minister whether he would excuse the King for not keeping his word so far, and said he could not. He demanded an audience of the King, who tried to avoid a meeting by pleading indisposition; but the first Assistant, being very urgent, he was admitted. He found the King in a small inner room lying on a cot covered with a ruzae or quilt.
There were closed doors on the side of the room where the cot stood, and Captain Bird perceived that persons were behind listening to the conversation. On the minister advancing to meet him at the door. Captain Bird declined taking his proffered hand, and in a loud voice declared—"that he believed that he was mixed up with the fiddlers, and was afraid of their being removed, or he would have carried his Majesty's order for their dismissal into effect." He then advanced to the King, shook him by the hand, apologized for intruding upon him after his excuse of illness, and stated—"that his own character was at stake, and he had been obliged to take this step to save it, and requested that the minister might be told to retire during the conversation, as he had already shown his partiality for the characters whom his Majesty had stigmatized as low, intriguing, and untrustworthy—as ruiners of his good name and his kingdom, and the cause of ill-feeling between the British Government and himself. The King expressed a wish that the minister might remain, that he might have an opportunity to listen to what Captain Bird had to state, as it appeared to be against him. Captain Bird replied, that he had no complaint to make against the minister; that his object in coming was, to claim the fulfilment of the promise which his Majesty had so solemnly made to him, to dismiss Gholam Ruza and his sister, and Kotub Allee, and send them across the Ganges; that he was induced to demand this audience by the minister's visit of the preceding evening, to ask him to excuse his Majesty's fulfilling the promise which he had made; and by the written report given to him that morning by the news-writer, stating, that his Majesty had changed his mind, and pardoned the parties."
The King declared that he had never given Captain Bird any such promise. Captain Bird then repeated to his Majesty the conversation which had taken place on that occasion. The King seemed to be staggered; but the minister came to his aid, and said—"that his Majesty had ascertained from Sadik Allee himself, that Gholam Ruza was not an accomplice in that affair." Captain Bird replied—"that the King had told him, that the deception had been so fully proved, that they were speechless; and that his Majesty had spit in their faces." The King said "not in Gholam Ruza's. His sister and Kotub Allee are alone guilty." Captain Bird urged, that all were alike guilty, and he besought the King to fulfil his promise, saying,—"that his, Captain Bird's, name was at stake; that if the parties were not removed, the whole city would say, that the King had bribed him, and bought off his promise." The King replied, "This is all nonsense; do you wish me to swear that Gholam Ruza is innocent, and that I never gave the promise you mention?" and, calling the minister, he placed his right hand on his head, and said,—"I swear, as if this was my son's head, and by God, that I believe Gholam Ruza to be entirely innocent; and that I never promised to turn him out, or to send him across the Ganges." Captain Bird then heard a movement of feet in the next room behind the closed doors. He was horrified; but returning to the charge, said, "Your Majesty has, at any rate, acknowledged the guilt of Gholam Ruza's sister, and that of Khotub Allee; pray fulfil your promise on the guilty." The King said—"When absent from my sight, they are as far off as across one hundred rivers. I know they are intriguers, and shall keep my eyes upon them." Captain Bird said—"I have reported the circumstances of the case thus far to the Resident. Your Majesty has made me a participator in the breaking of your word. I have told Colonel Sleeman you would turn these men out." The King said—"This case has reference only to my house—it has no connection with the Government; but if you wish to use force, take me also by the beard, and pull me from my throne!" Captain Bird said—"I pray your Majesty to recollect how often, when force might have been used, under your own sign-manual and seal, on these fiddlers interfering in State affairs, the Resident has hesitated to put your written permission for their removal into force; and now who can be your friend, or save you from any danger, which may hereafter threaten your life or your well-being? I must, of course, report all to the Resident." The minister now said—"Yes, report to the Resident that the King has changed his mind, broken his word, and will not fulfil his promise; and ask for permission to employ direct force for the removal of these men: see if he will give permission." Captain Bird replied, "that any orders he received from the Resident would certainly be carried, into effect; but if his Majesty's own acknowledgment of the deceitfulness of these men, and their intriguing rascality were not sufficient to induce him to remove them—if the King set so little value on his promise—a promise now known to the whole city, and which he must in self-defence now speak openly of, he foresaw the speedy downfall of the kingdom. Who, he asked, will subject themselves to be deceived in an endeavour to prop it up by the removal of those who were living on its heart's blood, or be made liars by reporting promises never to be fulfilled?" Thus ended this interview.
The next day Sadik Allee had a dress of honour conferred upon him, and an increase of one hundred rupees a-month made to his salary; and Gholam Ruza, and his relative the fiddler, Anees-od Dowla, were seated behind his Majesty in his carriage-and-four, and paraded through the city, as in full possession of his favour. After the King had alighted from the carriage at the palace, the coachman drove the two singers to their apartments in the Mukbura, seated as before in the khuwas, or hind seat. [On the 25th of May 1850, the King caused the chief singer, Gholam Ruza, his father, Nathoo, his sister, and her husband, Dummun Khan, Gholam Hyder Khan, Kotub Allee, his brother, Sahib Allee, and the females of his family, in all fourteen persons, to be seized and confined in prison. On the 2nd of June, all but Gholam Ruza and Dummun Khan were transported across the Ganges into British territory; and, on the 23rd of July, these two men were transported in the same manner. The immediate cause of the King's anger was the discovery that his divorced and banished wife, Surafrazmahal, had actually come back, and remained concealed for seven days and seven nights in the palace, in the apartments of the chief singer, Gholam Ruza. They were all made to disgorge the Company's notes and jewels found upon them, but the King visited Gholam Ruza the day before his departure, and treated him with great kindness, and seemed very sorry to part with him.]
On the 10th, I had written to Captain Bird to mention the distinction which he appeared to have overlooked in his zeal to get the fiddlers removed. The offence with which these persons stood charged in this case was a personal affront to the King, or an affront to his understanding, and not any interference with the administration of the Government; and the first Assistant was requested by the Resident to wait upon his Majesty, merely with a view to encourage him in his laudable resolution to banish them, and to offer his aid in doing so should his Majesty manifest any wish to have it; and not to demand their punishment on the part of the British Government. In the one case, if the King promised to punish the offenders and relented and forgave them, we could only regret his weakness; but in the other, if he promised to punish them and failed to do so, we should consider it due to the character of our Government to insist upon the fulfilment of his promise. On the evening of the 11th I got the above report of his interview with the King from Captain Bird; and, on the 12th, I wrote to tell him, that I considered him to have acted very indiscreetly; that he had brought this vexation and mortification upon himself by his overweening confidence in his personal influence over the King; that he ought to have waited for instructions from me, or at least for a reply from me to his letter, regarding the former interview at Court; that I could not now give him the support he required, as I could neither demand that his requisitions should be complied with, nor tell the King that I approved of them that he had been authorized by me to act on his own discretion in any case of great emergency, but this could not be considered of such a character, for no evil or inconvenience was to be apprehended from a day or two's delay, since the question really was, whether his Majesty should have a dozen fiddlers or only ten.
In the beginning of September 1850, the King became enamoured of one of his mother's waiting-maids, and demanded her in marriage. See was his mother's favourite bedfellow, and she would not part with her. The King became angry, and to soothe him his mother told him that it was purely out of regard for him and his children that she refused to part with this young woman; that she had a "sampun," or the coiled figure of a snake in the hair on the back of her neck. No man, will purchase a horse with such a mark, or believe that any family can be safe in which a horse or mare with such a mark is kept. His mother told him, that if he cohabited with a woman having such a mark, he and all his children must perish. The King said that he might probably have, among his many wives, some with marks of this kind; and that this might account for his frequent attacks of palpitation of the heart. "No doubt," said the old Queen Dowager; "we have long thought so; but your Majesty gets into such a towering passion when we venture to speak of your wives, that we have been afraid to give expression to our thoughts and fears." "Perhaps," said the King, "I may owe to this the death, lately, of my poor son, the heir-apparent." "We have long thought so," replied his mother. The chief eunuch, Busheer, was forthwith ordered to inspect the back of the necks of all save that of the chief consort, the mother of the late and present heir-apparent. He reported that he had found thefatal markupon the necks of no less than eight of the King's wives, Nishat-mahal, Koorshed-mahal, Sooleeman-mahal, Huzrut-mahal, Dara Begum, Buree Begum, Chotee Begum, and Huzrut Begum. The chief priest was summoned, and the divorce, from the whole eight, pronounced forthwith; and the ladies were ordered to depart with all that they had saved while in the palace. Some of their friends suggested to his Majesty, that Mahommedans were but unskilful judges in such matters, and that a Court of Brahmins should be assembled, as they had whole volumes devoted exclusively to this science. The most learned were accordingly collected, and they declared that though there were marks resembling in some degree thesampun, it was of no importance; and the evil it threatened might be averted by singeing the head of the snake with a hot iron. The ladies were very indignant, and six of them insisted upon leaving the palace, in virtue of the divorce. Two only consented to remain, the Buree Begum and Chota Begum.
December14, 1849.—Came on twelve miles to Gonda. The country well studded with groves and fine single trees; the soil naturally fertile, and water near the surface. Cultivation good about Gonda, and about some of the villages along the road it is not bad; but there is nowhere any sugar-cane to be seen beyond a small garden patch. The country is so wretchedly stocked with cattle that little manure is available for tillage.
The Bulrampore Rajah, a lively, sensible, and active young man, joined me this morning, and rode along by the side of my elephant, with the capitalist, Ramdut Pandee, the Nazim, Mahommed Hussan, and old Bukhtawar Sing, the brother of the late Dursun Sing, whom I have often mentioned in this Diary. Rajah Bukhtawar Sing is the King's Mohtamin, or Quartermaster-General of the Resident's' camp. The Rajah of Toolseepore also, who has been ousted by his son from his estate, joined me last night; but he was not well enough to ride with me. Dogs, hawks, and panthers attend for sport, but they afford little or no amusement. Hawking is a very dull and very cruel sport. A person must become insensible to the sufferings of the most beautiful and most inoffensive of the brute creation before he can feel any enjoyment in it. The cruelty lies chiefly in the mode of feeding the hawks. I have ordered all these hunting animals to return to Lucknow.
Although the personal character of the Toolseepoor Rajah is not respected, that of his son is much worse; and the Bulrampoor Rajah and other large landholders in the neighbourhood would unite and restore him to the possession of his estate, but the Nazim is held responsible for their not moving in the matter, in order that the influential persons about the Court may have the plucking of it at their leisure. The better to insure this, two companies of one of the King's regiments have been lately sent out with two guns, to see that the son is not molested in the possession. The father was restored to his estate in 1850, and the son fled again to the Goruckpoor district. He became reconciled to his father some months after, through the mediation of the magistrate, Mr. Chester, and returned to Toolseepoor. The father and son, however, distrusted each other too much to live long together on amicable terms, and the son has gone off again to Goruckpoor.
The Toolseepoor estate extends along from east to west for about one hundred miles, in a belt of from nine to twelve miles wide, upon the southern border of that part of the Oude Tarae forest which we took from Nepaul in 1815, and made over to the Oude Government by the treaty of the 11th May 1816, in lieu of the one crore of rupees which our Government borrowed from Oude for the conduct of that war. The rent-roll of Toolseepoor is now from two to three lacs of rupees a-year; but it pays to the Oude Government a revenue of only one lac and five thousand, over and above gratuities to influential officers. The estate comprises that of Bankee, which was held by a Rajah Kunsa. Dan Bahader, the father of the present Rajah of Toolseepoor, attacked him one night in 1832, put him and some two hundred and fifty of his followers and family to death, and absorbed the estate. Mahngoo, the brother of Kunsa, escaped and sought redress from the Oude Durbar; but he had no money and could get no redress; and, in despair, he went off to seek employment in Nepaul, and died soon after. Dan Bahader, enriched by the pillage of Bankee, came to Lucknow, and purchased permission to incorporate Bankee with his old estate of Toolseepoor.
Khyreeghur and Kunchunpoor, on the western border of that forest, were made over by us to Oude at the same time, as part of the cession. They had been ceded to our Government by the treaty of 1801, at an estimated value of two hundred and ten thousand, but, up to 1816, they had never yielded to us fifty thousand rupees a-year. They had, however, formerly yielded from two to three lacs of rupees a-year to the Oude Government, and under good management may do so again; but, at present, Oude draws from them a revenue of only sixteen thousand, and that with difficulty. The rent-roll, however, exceeds two hundred thousand, and may, in a few years, amount to double that sum, as population and tillage are rapidly extending.
The holders of Khyreegur and Kunchunpoor are always in a state of resistance against the Oude Government, and cannot be coerced into the payment of more than their sixteen thousand rupees a-year; and hundreds of lives have been sacrificed in the collection of this sum. The climate is so bad that no people from the open country can venture into it for more than four months in the year—from the beginning of December to the end of March. The Oude Government occasionally sends in a body of troops to enforce the payment of an increased demand during these four months. The landholders and cultivators retire before them, and they are sure to be driven out by the pestilence, with great loss of life, in a few months; and the landholders refuse to pay anything for some years after, on the ground that all their harvests were destroyed by the troops. The rest of the Tarae lands ceded had little of tillage or population at that time, and no government could be less calculated than that of Oude to make the most of its capabilities. It had, therefore, in a fiscal point of view, but a poor equivalent for its crore of rupees; but it gained a great political advantage in confining the Nepaulese to the hills on its border. Before this arrangement took place there used to be frequent disputes, and occasionally serious collisions between the local authorities about boundaries, which were apt to excite the angry feelings of the sovereigns of both States, and to render the interposition of the paramount power indispensable.
It was at Bhinga, on the left bank of the Rabtee River, in the Gonda district, and eight miles north-east from Bulrampoor, that Mr. George Ravenscroft, of the Bengal Civil Service, was murdered on the night of the 6th May, 1823. He had been the collector of the land revenue of the Cawnpore district for many years; but, having taken from the treasury a very large sum of money, and spent it in lavish hospitality and unsuccessful speculations, he absconded with his wife and child, and found an asylum with the Rajah of Bhinga, on the border of the Oude Tarae, where he intended to establish himself as an indigo planter. Strict search was being made for him throughout India by the British Government, and his residence at Bhinga was concealed from the Oude Government by the local authorities. The Rajah made over to him a portion of land for tillage, and a suitable place in a mango grove, about a mile from his fort, to build a house upon. He built one after the Hindoostanee fashion, with bamboos and grass from the adjoining jungle. It consisted of a sitting-room, bed-room, and bathing-room, all in a line, and forming one side of a quadrangle, and facing inside, with only one small door on the outside, opening into the bathing-room. The other three sides of the quadrangle consisted of stables, servants' houses, and out-offices, all facing inside, and without any entrances on the outside, save on the front side, facing the dwelling-house, where there was a large entrance.