The Express.
London, England, 1858-03-08 00:00:00

#te 47fprt451

LITERA TURE.

Journey thrh the Kingdoms? Ord* 1849-60,
by dip-id oug
iom of the Right How. the Bart of Dal-
housie, aseernor-Gesseral of India. By Major-
Gener•l Sir W. H. Stals.aw, Resident at the
Court of Lucknow. 2 vols. Bentley.
These volumes have appeared at an opportune
moment to illustrate the real nature of the conflict
which is now raging in the province of Oink. They
will dispel some not unnatural delusions which have
taken possession of the public mind ; they will de-
monstrate that we are not, as some sup , crushing
the liberties of • brave people outraged by our usur-
pation of the country and fighting for the recovery of
their independence, but that we are warring against
a confederacy of petty despots, who lived in •
chronic state of resistance to constituted authority
ander their own Mahoniedan rulers, and who are
now merely playing on a larger scale, and with
variations suggested by the great occasion of the
tip
ozlo mutiny, the old game of" take what you can
what you can, which, under their old
satin government, inflicted a succession of such
!eighth] calamities upon the weaker inhabitants of
the country.
Open Colonel Sleenian's volumes where you may,
sad you are sure to alight upon some strong illus-
tration of the rapacity and cruelty of tbe landholders,
VI I some somments relating to the reimayfom.
asset by the iniquities of these people. Their power
to defy the government was great, for they dwelt in
fortified places ; they mounted guns on the parapets
et their strongholds; they entertained large bodies
el armed followers; and, if it happened that they
were driven out of their dens, they devastated the
surrounding country, or ousted some smaller pro-
prietors, and perpetrated such wide-spread mischief
that government were fain, in a short time, to suffer
them to return to their old homes, and to cultivate
their old lands, often upon a reduced assessment. At
the very commencement of the first volume (page 2),
we come upon the following account of the ' poor
Zetnindars," whom some well•meaning people now
commiserate :

We proesedsd to Namibians, the minister riding ant
wish us, far sew miles, to take Isar, as I eat in my ton-
jobs. At smells I retard, lag the first time sins I broke
my left righ-bese es the 4th April, to mount an elephant,
the better te see the sourry. The land, on both sidie of the
rad, wed eslitried, sad studded with groves of mango and
err her, mid wry fertlk.
The two purposes of Nawaligunge and Mhos aro under
the eharge of Alp Mem& the Atoll, who he. wham Ida
two sable ee deputise, °bookies Abbas ad Makommed
Mom. All three en WirdM ceseive at the hiplines
of
Irmilbekke, Obesha Murat, who resides on his mall
eerier Thereespeers, whisk he to frapneuting, in a manner
emu's Y Osie, by wars es the estates of his weaker
nalgliberan. H. roar is Maur the sober of hi. hi-
lower, mid es the 10th di Nowombos, NA be it sew
era ell the phones la_ thereat gaol et Lerner to break
est. Phe of rem inn Med Is the ataumpt,, elves were
wounded, it were reeks% bat forty -Ire
serepel, and mew these nut Ades, one of the bur smear
At=ln April, 11147, cut dews the ler mintiger,
Dribs, Is the rails of his followers, in one of
the Were of Lucknow, through which the rood,
from the city to Cawnpore, now pares. One of the
her, Honeys was killed in attempting to crepe
SS the flth Angelo, 1849, and one, Also Marred, was killed
Is this last attempt. The third. Foal Aliso, with sore of
the moot atrocious and desperate of his companion', I. sew
with this Ohoolern Burr, disturbing the pesos of the
sentry. The leader in thia attempt was Ohoolani Ryder
Khan, who is Sill in pal at Luckuow.
Ow my rentable! to the King's wakes! that these 'Moos
bed all high-sounding names, he said " They as redly all
ass of high lineage; end roes of that class, who bessie
roars, an always sure to be of the worst dreriptlon." "As
horse of the beet blood, whin they do hewer vicious, are
the most incorrigible, I supper " Nothing or be mere
true, sir," rejoined the wakes!. An account of the attack
ends by the above-named rah= on the sinker, ey be
lure sirs sa both interests( awl instructir, or at her
r illustrstive of the state of sorry and grommet is
Ode-

Among the many sketches of a similar character,
in which these volumes abound, are some illustrative
of the careers of men who have made themselves
notorious during the recent struggles in Oade. A
pleasant story of that redoubtable hero, Mann
Singh, is told in the first volume of Colonel Slee-
man's Tour. It forcibly illustrates the manner in
which these " poor Zemindars" were in the habit of
treating one another. Mean Singh, for certain pur-
poses of his own, desired to get rid of one Hurpanl
Singh. So we are told :
Masa Stag that conlidential pintas to him to say that
be hod both ordered by the court of Lacknow to =the upon
him a ism of hews= or condoler:in out the death °lbis two
lemeded bonbon sal amid Is so to =ma Um as= day.
Beeps= Obi wee asaisied as of tie Layout Me LO
Owls, hat be was them dot on hie bed, sad ;wage to move.
Ha rethieed the omega without suspicion, befog enziose
tor ems small Wind al repose, and willing to bale= that
comma Weed mod yam= bad united him and Mee Nag
▪ esesiblog Ike loads of friendship.
Mama Log sr me Is the milentoon, sad net= wader •
buoy= toss, whisk deed opposite the gateway of the to=
• epoimplopt he a= eatembe the fort, on the ground that
k might hod I, rose salsa between their follows's, or
that ide Me= might see wish say of the King's servants
whir shaded with the bees of honour, to eater his fortran
Harm! Sing left all his follows* hide the gate, sad was
brought out to Ilium Sing Is a totter, smebie to sit up with-
out support. The two Meads esabraind red oraversed toge-
ther with months' cordiality till long shrrenseet, whoa Kim
Sing, after inrestag his friend with the duets of homer,
took Have end mounted his horse. Ibis woe the esserboil
dip= for his followers to deep s& his sia kIN, Haripaul.
As le watered off, at the thud of Ms leekothm= mod the
maw iamosemente of loam= wed by the Nodes el Amok=
Itim amid hAorrers, who bed by gthitseed real the
without wallahs my sag see= the sick son,
Vtild co depend, a distance of shoat thirty pews,
pet Ma is do& He was ind shot through the
end ON stabbed with spoors, eat to pions with
emi Wla as woad. They were trod upon from
the „ with rimad this foul murder, but afl escaped
' =ha= Mesa h sworn by the holy Ganges, and
I gill meth hely et Hahadeo, that his Mend should
=Mr asperse= hart la this interview ; sad the credulous
sad sr lam end sad rapacious 0 urgbunsies were lulled into
seestry. The three persons who murdered Hurpaul, were
If ejeth Hies, who has loft Yam Sing'asm•o., Banes Sing,
who still serves him, and Jeekttrun Sing, who lass since
died. Sedik Hoseyn and many others aided them in drag-
ging their victim to the place where he was murdered, but
the wounds which killed him were indicted by the shore-
named

This, however, is a small affair in comparison with
some of the wholesale butcheries described in other
parts of these volumes. Well may Colonel Bleeman
exclaim, " What can show the sufferings of the
people and the feelings of hatred and abhorrence of
the Government and its officers, to which they gave
rise ! not one of the agents employed in
the atrocities above described was ever punished.
The people see that all the members of the govern-
swot are accessaries, either before or after the fact,
is all these dreadful enmities and outrages; and that
the more of them a public officer commits, the more
secure is he of protection mid favour at court. Their
hatred and abhorrence of the individual extend and
embrace the whole of the government, and would
extend also to the British government, by whom that
of Oude is supported, did they not see how earnestly
the British resident strives to alleviate their suffer-
ings, and make the Oude sovereign and minister do
their duty towards them." Of course the licentious-
ors and rapacity of the landholders were nourished
sad su.tained by the corruption of the Court. A
little well-bestowed bribery at Lucknow turned the

victims into offenders, and gave the reel sliedasle
free scope for the exercise of their lawismirem. So
new families were ruined ; new lauds wae.ssuitzed ;
and the larger the estate became, the lees was the
revenue paid to Government, because the greater
was the power to resist the exaction of the govern-
ment dues.

It may be a source of wonder to some that any
country could survive beneath such a curse of evil
landlorde—that the territory, thus continually the
scene of strife, has not becomes desert. But this is
explained by a reference to the extraordinary ferti-
lity of the soil, and to the fact that not only does the
land benefit by lying faUow for a time, bat that pas-
ture is much needed in many parts of the country,
and the shepherds and cowherds profit by the tem-
porary suspension of cultivation. The following
pregnant psiwage explains this natural compen-
sation : _ .

Tao sans of sambas minim sad robberies which ems
Id= no tawy day, sad en eelmewietleed by the kaki sa.