A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude | Page 6

screw upon them. My position
here has been and is disagreeable and unsatisfactory: we have a fool of
a king, a knave of a minister, and both are under the influence of one of
the cleverest, most intriguing, and most unscrupulous villains in India."
Major Bird, in his pamphlet "Dacoitee in Excelsis," while endeavouring
to establish a case for the King of Oude, has assumed that Sir William
Sleeman was an instrument in the hands of Lord Dalhousie, to carry out
his purpose of annexing Oude to British India. The letters, now first
printed, entirely refute this hasty and erroneous statement. Major Bird
has, in fact, withdrawn it himself in a lecture delivered by him at
Southampton on Tuesday, the 16th of February, 1858.
It will be seen that Sir W. Sleeman's "Diary" commences on December
1, 1849. To preserve chronological order, the letters written before that
date are prefixed; those which refer to a later period are added at the
end of the narrative.
__________________________
PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE PRECEDING THE JOURNEY
THROUGH THE KINGDOM OF OUDE.

Camp, 20th February, 1848.
My Dear Sir,
I thank you for your letter of the 10th instant, and am of opinion that
you may be able to make good use of Bhurut Sing under judicious
management, and strict surveillance; but you do not mention who and
what he is--whether he is a prisoner under sentence, or a free agent, or
of what caste and profession. Some men make these offers in order to
have opportunities of escape, while engaged in the pretended search
after associates in crime; others to extort money from those whom they
may denounce, or have the authority and means to arrest. He should be
made to state distinctly the evidence he has against persons, and the
way he got it; and all should be recorded against the names of the
persons in a Register. Major Riddell is well acquainted with our mode
of proceedings in all such cases, and I recommend you to put yourself
in communication, as soon as possible, with him, and Mr. Dampier, the
Superintendent of Police, who fortunately takes the greatest possible
interest in all such matters. I have no supervision whatever over the
officers of the department employed in Bengal; all rests entirely with
Mr. Dampier. You might write to him at once, and tell him that you are
preparing such a Register as I suggest; and if he is satisfied with the
evidence, he will authorise the arrest of all or part, and well reward
Bhurut Sing for his services.
Believe me, My Dear Sir, With best wishes for your success, Yours
sincerely, (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.
To Capt. J. Innes, Barrackpoor.
_________________________
Camp, 20th February, 1848. My Dear Colonel Sutherland,
There are at Jubulpore a good many of the Bagree decoits, who have
been sentenced as approvers, by the Courts of Punchaet, in Rajpootana,
to imprisonment for very short periods. Unless they are ordered to be
retained when these periods expire, on a requisition of security for their

future good behaviour, they will make off, and assuredly return to their
hereditary trade. The ordinary pay of the grades open to them in our
police and other establishments, will not satisfy them when they find
that we have no hold upon them, and they become more and more
troublesome as the time for their enlargement approaches.
I send you copies of the letters from Government of the 27th June,
1839, from which you will see that it was intended that all professional
decoits who gave us their services on a promise of conditional pardon,
should have a sentence of imprisonment for life recorded against them,
the execution of which was to be suspended during their good
behaviour, and eventually altogether remitted in cases where they
might be deemed to have merited, by a course of true and faithful
services, such an indulgence. In all other parts, as well as in our own
provinces as in native states, such sentences, have been recorded
against these men, and they have cheerfully submitted to them, under
the assurance that they and their children would be provided with the
means of earning an honest livelihood; but in Rajpootana it has been
otherwise.
By Act 24, of 1843, all such professional gang-robbers are declared
liable to a sentence, on conviction, of imprisonment for life; and
everywhere else a sentence of imprisonment for life has been passed
upon all persons convicted of being gang-robbers by profession. This is
indispensably necessary for the entire suppression of the system which
Government has in view. Do you not think that in your Courts the final
sentence might be left to the European functionaries, and the verdict
only left to the Punchaets? The greater part of those already convicted
in these Courts will have to be