The minister, on hearing this, came to the Resident, and implored him to adopt some measures to save the lives of the children. The Resident had been for three weeks confined to his couch from illness, but he sent his Assistant, Captain Lockett, with full powers to make any arrangement, and pledge himself to any engagements, which might appear to him to be necessary, to save the lives of the boys. He went, and being unarmed, was permitted to enter the room. He asked for Eesa Meean, whom he had never before seen, when one of the party that knelt over the boys rose, and saluting him, said, "I am Eesa Meean." Captain Lockett told him that he wanted to speak to him in private, when Eesa Meean pointed to a door leading into a side room, into which they retired. Eesa Meean offered Captain Lockett a chair, and at his request sat down by his side. He then entered into a long story of grievances, which Captain Lockett considered to be frivolous, and said, "that the minister had injured his prospects in many ways, and at last disgraced him in the eyes of all people at Lucknow, by conniving at the elopement of the dancing-girl that he was a soldier and regardless of life under such disgrace, and prepared to abide by the result of his present attempt to secure redress, whatever it might be; that his terms were the payment down of five lacs of rupees, the restoration of his dancing-girl, and the security of his own person and property, with permission to go where he pleased, unmolested." Captain Lockett reminded him quietly of what he had just said: "that he was a soldier, and anxious only for the recovery of his lost honour; that now, to demand, money, was to show to the world that wounded honour was urged as a mere pretext, and the seizure of the boys a means adopted for the sole purpose of extorting money; that he could not condescend to hold further converse with him if he persisted in such preposterous demands; that he might murder the children as they seemed to be in his power, but if he did so, he and his party would be all instantly put to death, as the house was surrounded by thousands of the King's soldiers, ready to fall upon them at the slightest signal." He then recommended him to release the boys forthwith before the excitement without became more strong, and accompany him to the Residency, where his real Wrongs would be inquired into and redressed.

Eesa Meean then rose and said: "Money is not my object. I despise it. I regard nothing but the preservation of my honour, and agree to what you propose; but I have several companions here who require to be consulted: let me speak to them." He then went into the large room. His companions all made objections of one kind or another, and what they all agreed to one moment was rejected the next. They vociferated loudly, and disputed violently with each other, and with all around them, and at times appeared desperate and determined to sacrifice the boys, and sell their own lives as dearly as possible. Eesa Meean himself seemed to be the most violent and boisterous of all, and had his hand frequently on the hilt of his sword when he disputed with the King's officers, whom he abused in the grossest possible terms. They did more harm than good by their want of temper and patience, but above all by their utter want of character, since no one could place the slightest reliance on the word of any one of them in such a trying moment. They seemed to have no control over their feelings, and to think that they could do all that was required by harsh language and loud bawling.

Captain Lockett at last persuaded them to leave the whole affair in his hands; and had they done so at first, he would have settled the matter, he thought, in half the time. They had been discussing matters in this angry manner for four hours and a half, without making the slightest impression on the ruffians; but when all became silent, Captain Lockett prevailed on them to release the boys on the conditions agreed to between him and Eesa Meean, and recorded on paper. In this paper it was declared—"That Syud Mahomed Eesa Khan, together with the woman, Beeba Jan, shall be allowed to go where he liked, with security to his life and honour, and with all the property and effects he might have, whether he got it from the King of Oude or from his minister; and that no one, either in the Honourable Company's or in the King of Oude's dominions, shall offer him any molestation; that no obstruction shall be thrown in his way by the officers of the British Government in the countries of any of the Rajahs at whose courts there may be a British Resident; and further, that no molestation shall be offered to him in the British territories in consequence of the disturbance which took place at Bareilly in 1816.

"(Signed) A. LOCKETT, Assistant Resident."

After this paper had been signed by Captain Lockett, the two boys were set at liberty, and sent off in palanqeens to their mother under a guard. The minister had, in the morning, promised to give the assailants twenty thousand rupees, and they arrived before the discussions closed, and were placed on the floor of the school-room.
The girl, Beeba Jan, was now brought into the room, and made over to Eesa Meean. When first brought before him, she thought she was to be sacrificed to save the lives of the boys, and was in a state of great agitation. She implored Captain Lockett to save her life; but, to the great surprise of all present, Eesa Meean took up one of the bags of money, containing one thousand rupees, and, with a smile, put it into her arms, and told her that she was now at liberty to return to her home or go where she pleased. The joy expressed by the girl and by all who witnessed this scene was very great; for they had all considered him to be a mere ruffian, incapable of anything like a generous action.

It had been arranged that Eesa Meean, with all his party, should go with Captain Lockett to the Residency; but when the time came, and the excitement had passed away in the apartment, he began to be alarmed, and told Captain Lockett that he felt sure he should be murdered on the road. He wanted to go with Captain Lockett on the same elephant, but to this Captain Lockett would not consent, as it would compromise his dignity, to sit on the same elephant with so atrocious a character. There was no palanqeen available for him, and he would not allow Captain Lockett to enter his, declaring that if he did so, he, Eesa Meean, would be instantly cut down by the King's people. Captain Lockett was, therefore, obliged to walk with him from the minister's house at Dowlut Poora to the Residency, a distance of a mile, in the heat of the day, and the hottest month in the year, followed by the King's troops, and an immense multitude from the city. About four o'clock Captain Lockett reached the Residency, and made over Eesa Meean and his sixteen followers to the Resident, who ratified the written engagement, and sent the party to the cantonments, three miles distant from the city, to Brigadier-General Price, who commanded the troops in Oude, to be taken care of for a few days till arrangements could be made for their safe conduct to Cawnpore, within the British territory. Their arms were taken from them, to be sent to the magistrate at Cawnpore, for delivery to them when they might be released. On the morning of the 3rd the King came to the Resident to thank him for what he had done, and express the sense he entertained of the judicious conduct of his Assistant during the whole of this trying scene; and to request that he might be permitted to go to the palace to receive some mark of distinction which his Majesty wished to confer upon him. Captain Lockett went with the minister, and was received with marked distinction; and thirteen trays of shawls and other articles were presented to him. Captain Lockett selected one pair, which he accepted, and placed, as usual, in the Resident's Toshuk-khana.

When he signed the paper he remarked the omission of all mention of Eesa Meean's associates in that document, but did not consider it to be his duty to point out the oversight, lest it might increase the excitement, and prolong the angry discussions. In his report of the circumstances to the Resident, however, he mentioned it to him, and told him that the omission clearly arose from an oversight, and unless his associates received the same indulgence as the principal, Eesa Meean himself, their exclusion from the benefits of the engagement might be attributed to decoit or artifice on his part. The Resident concurred in this opinion, and in his report of the following day to Government, he recommended that they should all be considered as included in the engagement.

Government, in its reply of the 25th of June 1824, consents to this construction of the written engagement, but notices a no less important oversight on the part of the Resident and his Assistant, in the free pardon given to Eesa Meean, for the share he had taken in the Bareilly insurrection, which had caused the loss of so many lives in April 1816. Government infers, that they could, neither of them have been aware, that this ruffian was the original instigator and most active leader in that formidable insurrection; that it was chiefly, if not entirely, owing to his endeavours to inflame the popular phrenzy, and to collect partizans from the neighbouring towns, that the efforts of the local authorities, to quell or avert the rising storm, failed wholly of success; that he stood charged as a principal in the murder of Mr. Leycester's son, and that, on these grounds, he was expressly excluded from the general amnesty, declared after the successful suppression of the rebellion, and a reward of two thousand rupees offered for his arrest; that this written pledge had involved Government in the dilemma of either cancelling a public act of the British Resident, or pardoning and setting at large, within its territory, a proclaimed outlaw, and notorious rebel and most dangerous incendiary; and that it felt bound in duty to guard the public peace from the hazard of further interruption, through the violence or intrigue of so desperate and atrocious an offender; and to annul that part of the engagement which absolves Eesa Meean from his guilt in the Bareilly insurrection, since the Resident and his Assistant went beyond their powers in pledging their Government to such a condition. Government directed, that he and his associates should be safely escorted over the border into the British territory, and that he should not be brought to trial before a Judicial Court, with a view to his being capitally punished for his crimes at Bareilly, but be confined, as a state prisoner, in the fortress of Allahabad. The Government, in strong but dignified terms, expresses its surprise and displeasure at his having been placed in so confidential a position, and permitted to bask in the sunshine of ministerial favour, when active search was being made for him all over India; for the King and his minister must have been both aware of the part he had taken in the Bareilly insurrection, since the King himself alludes to it in a letter submitted by the Resident to Government on the 8th of June 1824.

The Resident and his Assistant, in letters dated 15th of July, declare that they were altogether unacquainted with the part which Eesa Meean had taken in the Bareilly rebellion in 1816, the Resident being at that time at the Cape of Good Hope, and his Assistant in England. Eesa Meean was confined, as directed, in the fort of Allahabad; but soon afterwards released on the occasion of the Governor-General's visit to that place. He returned again to Lucknow in the year 1828, soon after Aga Meer had been removed from his office of minister. As soon as it was discovered that he was in the city, he was seized and sent across the Ganges; and is said to have been killed in Malwa or Goozerat, in a similar attempt upon some native chief or his minister.

The two boys are still living, the eldest, Aga Allee, or Ameen-od Dowla, at Lucknow, and Nizam-od Dowla, the youngest, at Cawnpore; both drawing large hereditary pensions, under the guarantee of the British Government. This is not the Ameen-od Dowla who was attacked in the streets, as above described, in the year 1847.