A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude | Page 5

mal-administration,
cruelty, and oppression almost unparalleled; but Sir William Sleeman
was too well acquainted with the character of the people of the East to
be moved either by cajolery or menaces from the important duty which
had devolved upon him.
Sir William Sleeman's position as Resident enabled him to ascertain
thoroughly the real state of Oude; and the great respect with which he
was universally received manifests the high opinion entertained of him
personally by all ranks. The details he has given of the prevailing
anarchy and lawlessness throughout the kingdom, would scarcely be
believed were they not vouched for by an officer of established
reputation and integrity. Firmness united to amenity of manner were
indeed the characteristics of Sir William in his important and delicate
office at such a Court--a Court where the King, deputing the conduct of
business to Ministers influenced by the basest motives, and who
constantly sacrificed justice to bribery and low intrigues, gave himself
up to the effeminate indulgence of his harem, and the society of
eunuchs and fiddlers. His Majesty appears to have been governed by
favourites of the hour selected through utter caprice, and to have
permitted, if he did not order, such atrocious cruelties and oppression
as rendered the kingdom of Oude a disgrace to the British rule in India,
and called for strong interference, on the score of humanity alone, as

well as with the hope of compelling amendment.
The letter addressed by Lord Dalhousie to Sir William Sleeman
expresses the desire of the Governor-General that he should endeavour
to inform himself of the actual state of Oude, and render his Narrative a
guide to the Honourable Company in its Report to the Court of
Directors. The details furnish but too faithful a picture of the miserable
condition of the people, equally oppressed by the exactions of the
King's army and collectors, and by the gangs of robbers and lawless
chieftains who infest the whole territory, rendering tenure so doubtful
that no good dwellings could be erected, and land only partially
cultivated; whilst the numberless cruelties and atrocious murders
surpass belief. Shut up in his harem, the voice of justice seldom
reached the ear of the monarch, and when it did, was scarcely heeded.
The Resident, it will be seen, was beset during his journey with
petitions for redress so numerous, that, anxious as he was to do
everything in his power to mitigate the horrors he witnessed, he
frequently gives vent to the pain he experienced at finding relief
impracticable.
The Narrative contains an unvarnished but unexaggerated picture of the
actual state of Oude, with many remedial suggestions; but direct
annexation formed no part of the policy which Sir William Sleeman
recommended. To this measure he was strenuously opposed, as is
distinctly proved by his letters appended to the Journal. At the same
time, he repeatedly affirms the total unfitness of the King to govern.
These opinions are still further corroborated by the following letter
from his private correspondence, 1854-5, written when Resident at
Lucknow, and published in the Times in November last:--
"The system of annexation, pursued by a party in this country, and
favoured by Lord Dalhousie and his Council, has, in my opinion, and in
that of a large number of the ablest men in India, a downward
tendency--a tendency to crush all the higher and middle classes
connected with the land. These classes it should be our object to create
and foster, that we might in the end inspire them with a feeling of
interest in the stability of our rule. We shall find a few years hence the

tables turned against us. In fact, the aggressive and absorbing policy,
which has done so much mischief of late in India, is beginning to create
feelings of alarm in the native mind; and it is when the popular mind
becomes agitated by such alarms that fanatics will always be found
ready to step into Paradise over the bodies of the most prominent of
those from whom injury is apprehended. I shall have nothing new to do
at Lucknow. Lord Dalhousie and I have different views, I fear. If he
wishes anything done that I do not think right and honest, I resign, and
leave it to be done by others. I desire a strict adherence to solemn
engagements, whether made with white faces or black. We have no
right to annex or confiscate Oude; but we have a right, under the treaty
of 1837, to take the management of it, but not to appropriate its
revenues to ourselves. We can do this with honour to our Government
and benefit to the people. To confiscate would be dishonest and
dishonourable. To annex would be to give the people a government
almost as bad as their own, if we put our