A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & IISleeman, W. H. (William Henry), Sir
History
A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II
Sleeman, W. H. (William Henry), Sir
Oudh (India) -- Description and travel
My Official Report went off on the 25th instant, and will have been
submitted, for your Lordship's consideration. It contains, I believe,
a faithful description of the abuses that exist and require remedy,
and of the obstacles which will be opposed to their removal. But it
does not tell all that might be told of the King himself, who has
become an object of odium and contempt to all but those few
despicable persons with whom he associates exclusively. He eats,
drinks, sleeps, and converses with the singers and eunuchs and
females alone, and the only female who has any influence over him is
the sister of the chief singer, Rusee-od Dowlah, whom he calls his
own sister. No member of the royal family or aristocracy of Oude is
ever admitted to speak to or see his Majesty, and these contemptible
singers are admitted to more equality and familiarity than his own
brothers or sons ever were; they go out, too, with greater pomp than
they or any of the royal family can; and are ordered to be received
with more honours as they pass through the different palaces. The
profligacy that exists within the palace passes all belief, and these
things excite more disgust among the aristocracy of the capital than
all the misrule and malversation that arise from the King's apathy
and incapacity.
Should your Lordship resolve upon interposing effectually to remedy
these disorders, I think it will be necessary to have at Lucknow, for
at least the first few months, a corps of irregular cavalry. We have
no cavalry in Oude, and none of the King's can be depended upon. The
first thing necessary will be the disbanding of the African, or
Hubshee corps, of three hundred men. They are commanded by one of the
eunuchs, and a fellow fit for any dark purpose. They were formed into
a corps, I believe, because no man's life was safe in Lucknow while
they were loose upon society.
I think the King will consent without much difficulty or reluctance
to delegate his powers to a Regency, but I am somewhat afraid that he
will object to its being composed of members of his own family. The
Sovereign has always been opposed to employing any of his own
relatives in office. I shall, I dare say, be able to get over this
difficulty, and it will be desirable to employ the best members of
the family in order to show the people of Oude, and of India
generally, that the object of our Government is an honest and
benevolent one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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