Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official | Page 8

has been received to my letter. But as you have now arrived at the
Presidency, I lose no time in making known to you what has been done;
in the hope that you will receive it as a proof of the high estimation in
which your services and character arc held, as well by myself as by the
entire community of India. I beg to remain, My dear General, Very
truly yours, DALHOUSIE.
Major-General Sleeman.
Reply to above. Dated 11th January, 1856.
MY LORD, I was yesterday evening favoured with your Lordship's

most kind and flattering letter of the 9th instant from Barrackpore. I
cannot adequately express how highly honoured I feel by the mention
that you have been pleased to make of my services to Her Majesty the
Queen, and how much gratified I am by this crowning act of kindness
from your Lordship in addition to the many favours I have received at
your hands during the last eight years; and whether it may, or may not,
be my fate to live long enough to see the honourable rank actually
conferred upon me, which you have been so considerate and generous
as to ask for me, the letter now received from your Lordship will of
itself be deemed by my family as a substantial honour, and it will so
preserved, I trust, by my son, with feelings of honest pride, at the
thought that his father had merited such a mark of distinction from so
eminent a statesman as the Marquis of Dalhousie. My right hand is so
crippled by rheumatism that I am obliged to make use of an amanuensis
to write this letter, and my bodily strength is so much reduced, that I
cannot hope before embarking for England to pay my personal respects
to your Lordship. Under these unfortunate circumstances, I now beg to
take my leave of your Lordship; to offer my unfeigned and anxious
wishes for your Lordship's health and happiness, and with every
sentiment of respect and gratitude, to subscribe myself,
Your Lordship's most faithful and Obedient servant, W. H. SLEEMAN,
Major-General.
To the Most Noble The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T., Governor-General,
&c., &c., Calcutta.
Sir William Sleeman was an accomplished Oriental linguist, well
versed in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, and also in possession of a good
working knowledge of Latin, Greek, and French. His writings afford
many proofs of his keen interest in the sciences of geology, agricultural
chemistry, and political economy, and of his intelligent appreciation of
the lessons taught by history. Nor was he insensible to the charms of art,
especially those of poetry. His favourite authors among the poets seem
to have been Shakespeare, Milton, Scott, Wordsworth, and Cowper.
His knowledge of the customs and modes of thought of the natives of
India, rarely equalled and never surpassed, was more than half the

secret of his notable success as an administrator. The greatest
achievement of his busy and unselfish life was the suppression of the
system of organized murder known as Thuggee, and in the execution of
that prolonged and onerous task he displayed the most delicate tact, the
keenest sagacity, and the highest power of organization.
His own words are his best epitaph: 'I have gone on quietly,' he writes,
'"through evil and through good report", doing, to the best of my ability,
the duties which it has pleased the Government of India, from time to
time, to confide to me in the manner which appeared to me most
conformable to its wishes and its honour, satisfied and grateful for the
trust and confidence which enabled me to do so much good for the
people, and to secure so much of their attachment and gratitude to their
rulers.' [5]
His grandson. Captain J. L. Sleeman, who, when stationed in India
from 1903 to 1908, visited the scenes of his grandfather's labours,
states that everywhere he found the memory of his respected ancestor
revered, and was given the assurance that no Englishman had ever
understood the native of India so well, or removed so many oppressive
evils as General Sir W. H. Sleeman, and that his memory would endure
for ever in the Empire to which he devoted his life's work.
This necessarily meagre account of a life which deserves more ample
commemoration may be fitly closed by a few words concerning the
relatives and descendants of Sir William Sleeman.
His sister and regular correspondent, to whom he dedicated the
Rambles and Recollections, was married to Captain Furse, R.N.
His brother's son James came out to India in 1827, joined the 73rd
Regiment of the Bengal Army, was selected for employment in the
Political Department, and was thus enabled to give valuable aid in the
campaign against Thuggee. In due course he was appointed to the
office of General Superintendent