A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude | Page 2

does
so, with difficulty--Shah Puna Ata, a holy man in charge of an
eleemosynary endowment at Salone--Effects of his curses--Invasion of
British Boundary--Military Force with the Nazim--State and character
of this Force--Rae Bareilly in the Byswara district--Bandha, or
Misletoe--Rana Benee Madhoo, of Shunkerpoor--Law of
Primogeniture-- Title of Rana contested between Benee Madhoo and
Rogonath Sing-- Bridge and avenue at Rae Bareilly--Eligible place for
cantonment and civil establishments--State of the Artillery--Sobha
Sing's regiment-- Foraging System--Peasantry follow the fortunes of
their refractory Landlords--No provision for the king's soldiers,
disabled in action, or for the families of those who are killed--Our
sipahees, a privileged class, very troublesome in the Byswara and
Banoda districts--Goorbukshgunge--Man destroyed by an
Elephant--Danger to which keepers of such animals are exposed--Bys
Rajpoots composed of two great families, Sybunsies and
Nyhassas--Their continual contests for landed possessions--Futteh
Bahader--Rogonath Sing--Mahibollah the robber and estate of
Balla--Notion that Tillockchundee Bys Rajpoots never suffer from the
bite of a snake--Infanticide--Paucity of comfortable
dwelling-houses--The cause--Agricultural capitalists-- Ornaments and
apparel of the females of the Bys clan--Late Nazim Hamid Allee--His
father-in-law Fuzl Allee--First loan from Oude to our
Government--Native gentlemen with independent incomes cannot
reside in the country--Crowd the city, and tend to alienate the Court
from the people.

CHAPTER VI.
Nawabgunge, midway between Cawnpoor and Lucknow--Oosur soils
how produced--Visit from the prime minister--Rambuksh, of
Dhodeeakhera-- Hunmunt Sing, of Dharoopoor--Agricultural
capitalists--Sipahees and native offices of our army--Their furlough,
and petitions-- Requirements of Oude to secure good government. The
King's reserved treasury--Charity distributed through the Mojtahid, or
chief justice--Infanticide--Loan of elephants, horses, and draft bullocks
by Oude to Lord Lake in 1804--Clothing for the troops--The Akbery
regiment--Its clothing, &c.,--Trespasses of a great man's camp in
Oude--Russoolabad and Sufeepoor districts--Buksh Allee, the dome--
Budreenath, the contractor for Sufeepoor--Meeangunge--Division of
the Oude Territory in 1801, in equal shares between Oude and the
British Governments--Almas Allee Khan--His good government--The
passes of Oude--Thieves by hereditary profession, and village
watchmen-- Rapacity of the King's troops--Total absence of all
sympathy between the governing and governed--Measures necessary to
render the Oude troops efficient and less mischievous to the
people--Sheikh Hushmut Allee, of Sundeela.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH of MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H.
SLEEMAN. K.C.B.
_______________________
This distinguished officer, whose career in India extended over a period
of forty years, and whose services were highly appreciated by three
Governors-General--Viscount Hardinge, the Earl of Ellenborough, and
the Marquess of Dalhousie--evinced by their appointing him to the
most difficult and delicate duties--was the son of Philip and Mary
Sleeman, and was born at Stratton, Cornwall, 8th August, 1788. In
early years he evinced a predilection for the military profession; and at
the age of twenty-one (October, 1809), through the good offices of the
late Lord De Dunstanville, he was appointed an Infantry Cadet in the
Bengal army. Thither he proceeded as soon as possible, and was

promoted successively to the rank of Ensign, 23rd September, 1810;
Lieutenant, 16th December, 1814; Brevet-Captain, 24th April, 1824;
Captain, 23rd September, 1826; Major, 1st February, 1837;
Lieutenant-Colonel, 26th May, 1843; Colonel, 24th November, 1853;
and obtained the rank of Major-General 28th November, 1854.
Early in his career he served in the Nepaulese war. The value of his
talents soon became known, and in 1816, when it was considered
necessary to investigate a claim to property as prize-money arising out
of that war, Lieutenant Sleeman was selected to inquire into it. The
report was accordingly made by him in February 1817, which was
designated by the Government as "able, impartial, and satisfactory."
In 1820 he was appointed junior Assistant to the Agent of the
Governor-General at Saugur, and remained in the Civil Department in
the Saugur and Nerbudda territories, with the exception of absence on
sick certificate, for nearly a quarter of a century. Here he manifested
that, if he had been efficient in an inferior position, he was also an able
administrator in a superior post. He distinguished himself so much by
his activity in the suppression of the horrible practice of Thuggism,
then so prevalent, that, in 1835, he was employed exclusively in the
Thuggee Department; his appointment in the Saugur and Nerbudda
districts being kept open, and his promotion going on. The very
valuable Papers upon Thuggism submitted to the Governor-General
were chiefly drawn up by Sir William Sleeman, and the department
specially commissioned for this important purpose was not only
organised but worked by him. In consequence of ill-health, however, at
the end of 1836, he was compelled to resign this appointment; but on
his return to duty in February 1839, he was nominated to the combined
offices of Commissioner for the Suppression of Thuggee and Dacoity.
In 1842 he was employed on a special mission in Bundelcund, to
inquire into the causes of the recent disturbances there, and he
remained in that district, with additional duties, as Resident at Gwalior,