[* My escort consisted, of two companies of sipahees, from the 10th Regiment Native Infantry, and my party of Captain Hardwick, lieutenant Weston, and Lieutenant and Mrs. Willows and my wife and children, with occasional visitors from Lucknow and elsewhere.]
The Minister, Dewan and Deputy Minister, Ghoolam Ruza, came out the first stage with me, and our friend Moonuwur-od Dowla, drove out to see us in the evening.
_December_ 2, 1849.--We proceeded to Nawabgunge, the minister riding out with me, for some miles, to take leave, as I sat in my tonjohn.
At sunrise I ventured, for the first time since I broke my left thigh-bone on the 4th April, to mount an elephant, the better to see the country. The land, on both sides of the road, well cultivated, and studded with groves of mango and other trees, and very fertile.
The two purgunnas of Nawabgunge and Sidh.o.r.e are under the charge of Aga Ahmud, the Amil, who has under him two naibs or deputies, Ghoolam Abbas and Mahummud Ameer. All three are obliged to connive at the iniquities of a Landholder, Ghoolam Huzrut, who resides on his small estate of Jhareeapoora, which he is augmenting, in a manner too common in Oude, by seizing on the estates of his weaker neighbours.
He wanted to increase the number of his followers, and on the 10th of November 1849, he sent some men to aid the prisoners in the great jail at Lucknow to break out. Five of them were killed in the attempt, seven were wounded, and twenty-five were retaken, but forty- five escaped, and among them Fuzl Allee, one of the four a.s.sa.s.sins, who, in April 1847, cut down the late minister, Ameen-od Dowla, in the midst of his followers, in one of the princ.i.p.al streets of Lucknow, through which the road, leading from the city to Cawnpore, now pa.s.ses. One of the four, Tuffuzzul Hoseyn, was killed in attempting to escape on the 8th August 1849, and one, Alee Mahomed, was killed in this last attempt. The third, Fuzl Allee, with some of the most atrocious and desperate of his companions, is now with this Ghoolam Huzrut, disturbing the peace of the country. The leader in this attempt was Ghoolam Hyder Khan, who is still in jail at Lucknow.
On my remarking to the King"s wakeel that these ruffians had all high-sounding names, he said, "They are really all men of high lineage; and men of that cla.s.s, who become ruffians, are always sure to be of the worst description." "As horses of the best blood, when they do become vicious, are the most incorrigible, I suppose?"
"Nothing can be more true, sir," rejoined the wakeel. An account of the attack made by the above-named ruffians on the minister, may be here given as both interesting and instructive, or at least as ill.u.s.trative of the state of society and government in Oude.
At five in the morning of the 8th of April 1847, the minister, Ameen- od Dowlah, left his house in a buggy to visit the King. Of his armed attendants he had only three or four with him. He had not gone far when four armed a.s.sa.s.sins placed themselves in front of his buggy and ordered him to stop. One of them, Tuffuzzul Hoseyn, seized the horse; by the bridle, and told the minister, that he must give him the arrears of pay due before he could go on. The other three, Fuzl Allee, Allee Mahomed, and Hyder Khan, came up and stood on the right side of the buggy. One of the minister"s servants, named Hollas, tried to prevent their coming near, but was fired upon by Allee Mahomed. He missed him, but Fuzl Allee discharged his blunderbuss at him, and he fell; but in falling, he wounded Hyder Khan slightly with his sword. Hyder Khan then threw away his fire-arms and sprang into the buggy with his naked dagger in his right hand and the minister in his left. The minister seized him round the waist, forced him back out of the buggy on the left, and fell upon him. Tuffuzzul Hoseyn then quitted his hold of the horse and rushed to his comrade"s a.s.sistance, but the minister still holding Hyder Khan in his right hand, seized Tuffuzzul Hoseyn with his left. Syud Aman Allee, another personal servant of the minister, was cut down by Fuzl Allee, in attempting to aid his master, and a third personal servant, Shah Meer, was severely wounded by Allee Mahomed, and stood at a distance of twenty paces, calling for help. Fuzl Allee now made two cuts with his sword on the right shoulder and arm of the minister, below the elbow, and he quitted his hold on the two a.s.sa.s.sins and fell. The four a.s.sa.s.sins now grasped their victim, and told him that they would do him no farther harm if no rescue were attempted. As they saw the rest of the minister"s armed attendants and a crowd approach, Fuzl Allee and Hyder Khan, with their blunderbusses loaded and c.o.c.ked, stood one at each end of an open s.p.a.ce of about sixty yards, and threatened to shoot the first man who should venture to approach nearer. The crowd and attendants of the minister were kept back, and no one ventured to enter this s.p.a.ce, in the centre of which the minister lay, grasped by Tuffuzzul Hoseyn and Allee Mahomed, who held their naked daggers at his breast. The minister called out to his attendants and the crowd to keep back. He was then allowed to rise and walk to a small raised terrace on the side of the street, where he lay down on his back, being unable any longer to sit or stand from the loss of blood. Tuffuzzul Hoseyn and Allee Mahomed knelt over him, holding the points of their daggers at his breast, and swearing that they would plunge them to his heart if he attempted to move, or any one presumed to enter the open s.p.a.ce to rescue him. Hollas and Syud Aman Allee lay bleeding at the spot where they fell. Hollas died that day, and Syud Aman Allee a few days after, of lock-jaw.
As soon as the attack on the minister was made, information of it was sent off to the Resident, Colonel Richmond, who wrote to request the Brigadier Commanding the Troops in Oude, to send him, as soon as possible, a regiment of infantry with two guns, from the Cantonments, which are three miles and a-half distant from the Residency, on the opposite side from the scene of the attack, to prevent any tumult that the loose characters of the city might attempt to raise on the occasion, and repaired himself to the spot attended by the a.s.sistant, Captain Bird, and a small guard of sipahees. They reached the open spot, in the centre of which the minister lay, about a quarter of an hour after he fell. He found the street, in which the attack took place, crowded with people up to the place where the two sentries, Fuzl Allee and Hyder Khan, stood at each end of the open s.p.a.ce, in the centre of which the minister lay, with the daggers of the two other a.s.sa.s.sins pressing upon his breast. On reaching one end of the open s.p.a.ce, the Resident directed Captain Bird to advance to the spot where the minister lay. The a.s.sa.s.sin who guarded that end at first threatened to shoot him, but no sooner recognized him than he let him pa.s.s on unattended. He asked the two men, who knelt over the minister, what they meant by this a.s.sault. They told him, that good men were no longer employed in the King"s service, and that they were, in consequence, without the means of subsistence; and had been compelled to resort to this mode of obtaining them; that they required fifty thousand rupees from the minister, with a written a.s.surance from the British Resident, that they should be escorted in safety across the Ganges into the British territory with this sum.
The Resident peremptorily refused to enter into any written agreement with them, and told them, through the a.s.sistant, that if they presumed to put the minister to death, or to offer him any further violence, they should be all four immediately shot down and cut to pieces; but, if they did him no further harm, their lives should, be spared; and, to prevent their being killed as soon as they quitted their hold, that he would take them all with him to the Residency, and neither imprison them himself, nor have them made over as prisoners to the Oude Government; but that he declined being a party to any arrangement that the minister might wish to make of paying money for his life.
They continued resolutely to threaten instant death to the minister should any one but the Resident or his a.s.sistant presume to enter the open s.p.a.ce in which he lay. Many thousands of reckless and desperate characters filled the street, ready to commence a tumult, for the plunder of the city, the moment that the minister or the a.s.sa.s.sins should be killed, while the relations and dependents of the minister, with loud cries, offered lacs of rupees to the a.s.sa.s.sins if they spared his life, so as to encourage them to hold out. They at last collected and brought to the spot, on three or four elephants, the fifty thousand rupees demanded by the a.s.sa.s.sins, and offered them to his a.s.sailants apparently with his concurrence; and the four ruffians, having a.s.sented to the terms offered by the Resident, permitted Doctor Login, the Residency Surgeon, to approach the prostrate minister and dress his wounds. One of the a.s.sa.s.sins, however, continued to kneel by his side with his naked dagger resting on his breast till he saw the other three seated upon the elephants, on which the money was placed, with the understanding, that the guard of sipahees, which the Resident had brought with him, should escort them to the Residency, and that Captain Bird, the a.s.sistant, should accompany them. The fourth man then quitted his hold on the minister, who had become very faint, and climbed upon Captain Bird"s elephant and took seat behind him. Captain Bird, however, made him get off, and mount another elephant with his companions. The crowd shouted _shah bash, shah bash!_--well done, well done! and they attempted to scatter some of the money from the elephants among them, but were prevented by Captain Bird, who dreaded the consequences in such a tumult. They were all four taken to the Residency under the guard of sipahees, and accommodated in one of the lower rooms of the office; and a guard was placed over the money with orders to keep back the crowd of spectators, which was very great. Three of the four ruffians had been wounded by the minister"s attendants before they could secure his person, and their wounds were now dressed by Doctor Login.
It was now ten o"clock, and at twelve the Resident had an interview with the King, who had become much alarmed, not only for the safety of the minister, but for that of the city, threatened by the thousands of bad characters, anxious for an occasion of pillage; and he expressed an anxious wish that the a.s.sa.s.sins should be made over to him for trial. But the Resident pleaded the solemn promise which he had made, and his Majesty admitted the necessity of the promise under the circ.u.mstances, and that of keeping it; but said that he would have the whole affair carefully investigated. As soon as the Resident left him, he sent a company of sipahees with fetters to the Residency to receive charge of the prisoners, but the Resident would not give them up. The King then wrote a letter to the Resident with his own hand, requesting that the prisoners might be surrendered to him. The Resident, in his reply to His Majesty"s, letter, told him, that he could not so far violate the promise he had given, but that he would send them to answer any other charges that might be brought against them, in any open and impartial Court that might be appointed to try them; and if they should be found guilty of other crimes, His Majesty might order any sentence pa.s.sed upon them, short of death, to be carried into execution.
Charges of many successful attempts of the same kind, and many atrocious murders perpetrated by the ruffians, in distant districts of Oude, were preferred against them; and they were prevailed upon to give up their arms, and to submit to a fair and open trial, on the other charges preferred against them, on condition that they should neither be put to death nor in any way maimed, or put in fetters, or subjected to ill-treatment before trial and conviction. The Resident offered them the alternative of doing this or leaving the Residency, after he had read to them the King"s letter, and told them, that his promise extended only to saving their lives and escorting them to the Residency; and, that he would not be answerable for their lives beyond the court-yard of the Residency, if they refused the conditions now offered. They knew that their lives would not be safe for a moment after they got beyond the court-yard, and submitted.
Their arms and the fifty thousand rupees were sent to the King. At four in the afternoon, the four prisoners were made over to the King"s wakeel, on a solemn promise given under the express sanction of his Majesty, of safe conduct through the streets, of freedom from fetters, or any kind of ill-treatment before conviction, and of fair and open trial.
But they had not gone two paces from the Residency court-yard, when they were set upon by the very people sent by the King to take care of them on the way; the King"s wakeel having got into his palkee and gone on before them towards the palace. They were beaten with whips, sticks, and the hilts of swords, till one of the four fell down insensible, and the other three were reduced to a pitiable condition.
The Resident took measures to protect them from further violence, recalled the wakeel; and, after admonishing him for his dishonourable conduct, had the prisoners taken unfettered to a convenient house near the prison. The wounded minister wrote to the King, earnestly praying that the prisoners might not suffer any kind of ill-treatment before conviction, after a fair and impartial trial. The Resident reported to Government all that had occurred, and stated, that he should see that the promises made to the prisoners were fulfilled, that, should they be convicted before the Court appointed to conduct the trial, of other crimes perpetrated before this a.s.sault on the minister, they would be subject to such punishment as the Mahommedan law prescribed for such crimes. Three of them, Tuffuzzul Hoseyn, Hyder Khan, and Fuzl Allee, were convicted, on their own confessions, and the testimony of their own relations, of many cold blooded murders, and successful attempts to extort money from respectable and wealthy persons in different parts of Oude, similar to this on the minister, and all four were sentenced to imprisonment for life. The Government of India had insisted on their not being executed or mutilated. Fuzl Allee, as above stated, broke jail, and is still at large at his old trade, and Hyder Khan is still in prison at Lucknow.
These ruffians appear to have been encouraged, in this a.s.sault upon the minister, for the purpose of extorting money, by a similar but more successful attempt made in the year 1824, by a party headed by a person named Syud Mahomed Eesa Meean, _alias_ Eesa Meean.
This person came to Lucknow with a letter of recommendation from Captain Gough. He delivered it in person to the Resident, but was never after seen or heard of by him till this affair occurred. He became a kind of saint, or _apostle_, at Lucknow; and Fakeer Mahomed Khan Rusaldar, who commanded a corps of Cavalry, and had much influence over the minister, Aga Meer, became one of his _disciples_, and prevailed upon the minister to entertain him as a mosahib, or aide-de-camp. He soon became a favourite with Aga Meer, and formed a liaison with a dancing-girl, named Beeba Jan. His conduct towards her soon became too violent and overbearing, and she sought shelter with the Khasmahal, or chief consort, of the minister, who promised her protection, and detained her in her apartments. Eesa Meean appealed to the minister, and demanded her surrender. The minister told him that she was mistress of her own actions, as she had never gone through the ceremonies of permanent marriage, or _nikkah_, nor even those of a temporary one, _motah_; and most be considered as altogether free to choose her own lovers or mode of life.
He then appealed to Moulavee Karamut Allee, the tutor of Aga Meer"s children, but was told, that he could not interfere, as the female was a mere acquaintance of his, and bound to him by no legal ties whatever; and must, therefore, be considered as free to reside where and with whom she chose. Eesa Meean then took his resolution, and prevailed upon some fifteen of the loose and desperate characters who always swarm at Lucknow, to aid him in carrying it out. On the 2nd of June 1824, Karamut Allee, the tutor, was bathing, and Aga Meer"s two eldest sons, Aga Allee, aged eleven, and Nizam-od Dowlah, aged six years were reading their lessons in the school-room, under the deputy-tutor, Moulavee Ameen Allee. It was early in the morning, but the minister had gone out to wait upon the King. Eesa Meean entered the school-room, and approached the children with the usual courtesy and compliments, followed by six armed men, and one table attendant, or khidmutgar.
The two boys were sitting beside each other, the eldest, Aga Allee, on the left, and the youngest, Nizam-od Dowla, on the right. Eesa Meean sat down on the left side of the eldest, and congratulated both on the rapid progress they were making in their studies. Three of his followers, while he was doing this, placed themselves on the left of the eldest, and the other three on the right of the youngest. On a concerted signal all drew forth and c.o.c.ked their pistols, and placed themselves at the only three doors that opened from the school-room, two at each, while at a signal made by the khidmutgar, eight more men came in armed in the same manner. Two of them with naked daggers in their right hands seized the two boys with their left, and threatened them with instant death if they attempted to more or call for help.
The other six threatened to kill any one who should attempt to force his way into the apartment. The khidmutgar, in the mean time, seized and brought into the room two large gharahs or pitchers of drinking water, that stood outside, as the weather was very hot, and the party would require it They were afraid that poison might be put into the water if left outside after they had commenced the a.s.sault. Eesa Meean then declared, that he had been driven to this violent act by the detention of his girl by the Khasmahal, and must have her instantly surrendered, or they would put the boys to death. Hearing the noise from his bathing-room, their tutor, Karamut Allee, rushed into the room with nothing on his person but his waist-band, and began to admonish the ruffians. Seeing him unarmed, and respecting his peaceful character, they let him pa.s.s in and vociferate, but paid no regard to what he said.
The alarm had spread through the house and town, and many of the chief officers of the Court were permitted to enter the room unarmed.
Roshun-od Dowlah, Sobhan Allee Khan, Fakeer Mahomed Khan, Nuzee Allee Khan, (the Khasmahul"s son-in-law,) and others of equal rank, all in loud terms admonished the a.s.sailants, and demanded the surrender of the children, but all were alike unheeded. The chief merchant of Lucknow, Sa Gobind Lal, came in; and thinking that all affairs could and ought to be settled in a business-like way, told the chief officers to fix the sum to be given, and he would at once pledge himself to the payment. All agreed to this, and Sobhan Allee Khan, the Chief Secretary of the minister, set to work and drew up a long and eloquent paper of conditions. On his beginning to read it, one of the ruffians, who had one eye, rushed in, s.n.a.t.c.hed it from his hand, tore it to pieces, and threw the fragments into his chief"s, Eesa Meean"s, face, saying, "that this fellow would write them all out of their lives, as he was writing the people of Oude every day out of their properties; that if they must die, it should not be by pen and paper, but by swords and daggers in a fair fight; that all their lives had been staked, and all should die or live together." He was overpowered by the others, and other papers were drawn up by the ready writer and consummate knave Sobhan Allee, but the one-eyed man contrived to get hold of all, one after the other, and tear them up.
The minister was with the King when he first heard of the affair, and he went off forthwith to the Resident, Mr. Ricketts, to say, that his Majesty had in vain endeavoured to rescue the boys through his princ.i.p.al civil officers, and had sent all his available troops, but in vain; and now earnestly entreated the British Resident to interpose and save their lives. The Resident consented to do so, on condition that any arrangement he might find it necessary to make should be binding on his Majesty and the minister. Aga Meer returned to the King with this message, and his Majesty agreed to this condition. The Resident then sent his head moonshie, Gholam Hossein, to promise Eesa Meean, that the woman should be restored to him, and any grievance he might have to complain of should be redressed, and his party all saved, if he gave up the children. But he and his followers now demanded a large sum of money, and declared, that they would murder the boys unless it was given and secured to them, with a pledge for personal security to the whole party.
The minister, on hearing this, came to the Resident, and implored him to adopt some measures to save the lives of the children. The Resident had been for three weeks confined to his couch from illness, but he sent his a.s.sistant, Captain Lockett, with full powers to make any arrangement, and pledge himself to any engagements, which might appear to him to be necessary, to save the lives of the boys. He went, and being unarmed, was permitted to enter the room. He asked for Eesa Meean, whom he had never before seen, when one of the party that knelt over the boys rose, and saluting him, said, "I am Eesa Meean." Captain Lockett told him that he wanted to speak to him in private, when Eesa Meean pointed to a door leading into a side room, into which they retired. Eesa Meean offered Captain Lockett a chair, and at his request sat down by his side. He then entered into a long story of grievances, which Captain Lockett considered to be frivolous, and said, "that the minister had injured his prospects in many ways, and at last disgraced him in the eyes of all people at Lucknow, by conniving at the elopement of the dancing-girl that he was a soldier and regardless of life under such disgrace, and prepared to abide by the result of his present attempt to secure redress, whatever it might be; that his terms were the payment down of five lacs of rupees, the restoration of his dancing-girl, and the security of his own person and property, with permission to go where he pleased, unmolested." Captain Lockett reminded him quietly of what he had just said: "that he was a soldier, and anxious only for the recovery of his lost honour; that now, to demand, money, was to show to the world that wounded honour was urged as a mere pretext, and the seizure of the boys a means adopted for the sole purpose of extorting money; that he could not condescend to hold further converse with him if he persisted in such preposterous demands; that he might murder the children as they seemed to be in his power, but if he did so, he and his party would be all instantly put to death, as the house was surrounded by thousands of the King"s soldiers, ready to fall upon them at the slightest signal." He then recommended him to release the boys forthwith before the excitement without became more strong, and accompany him to the Residency, where his real Wrongs would be inquired into and redressed.
Eesa Meean then rose and said: "Money is not my object. I despise it.
I regard nothing but the preservation of my honour, and agree to what you propose; but I have several companions here who require to be consulted: let me speak to them." He then went into the large room.
His companions all made objections of one kind or another, and what they all agreed to one moment was rejected the next. They vociferated loudly, and disputed violently with each other, and with all around them, and at times appeared desperate and determined to sacrifice the boys, and sell their own lives as dearly as possible. Eesa Meean himself seemed to be the most violent and boisterous of all, and had his hand frequently on the hilt of his sword when he disputed with the King"s officers, whom he abused in the grossest possible terms.
They did more harm than good by their want of temper and patience, but above all by their utter want of character, since no one could place the slightest reliance on the word of any one of them in such a trying moment. They seemed to have no control over their feelings, and to think that they could do all that was required by harsh language and loud bawling.
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 sunshine 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.*