August 20, 1846.—Report from Bahraetch states, that Goureeshunkur, the agent of Rughbur Sing, in Bahraetch, had taken four persons from among the many whom he had in confinement on account of balances, had them suspended to trees, and cruelly flogged, and then had their hands wrapped up in thick cloth, steeped in oil, and set fire to till they burned like torches; and that he sat listening to their screams and cries for mercy with indifference. Order by the King: Let the minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, be furnished with a copy of this report, and let him send out three troopers, as suzawuls, to bring in Goureeshunkur and the four men whose hands had been burnt, and let him employ Mekhlis Hoseyn, to inquire into the affair, and report the result. Nothing was done.
On the 29th of August, the Resident, Mr. Davidson, addressed a letter to the King stating, that he had before represented the cruelties which Rughbur Sing was inflicting upon the people of his district, but had heard of no redress having been afforded in any case; that he had received another report on the same subject, and now forwards it to show what atrocities his agent, Goureeshunkur, was committing in Bahraetch; that in no other country could the servants of the sovereign commit such cruel outrages upon his subjects; that he had been wrapping up the bodies of the King's subjects in oilcloths, and setting, fire to them as to torches; that he could not do all this without the knowledge and sanction of his master, Rughbur Sing; and the Resident prays, that he may be punished, and that his punishment may be intimated to him, the Resident. Nothing was ever done, nor was any answer given to this letter, till it was, on the 30th of August 1847, acknowledged with the many others contained in the list sent to the King, in his letter of the 31st August 1847, by the then Resident, Colonel Richmond.
No report appears to have reached either the Durbar or the Resident, of the atrocious proceedings of Rughbur Sing's agents at Busuntpoor, where so many persons perished from torture, starvation, and exposure; nor was any notice taken of them till I took charge of my office in January 1849. Incha Sing had offered for the contract of the two districts four lacs less than Rughbur Sing had pledged himself to pay, and obtained it, and quietly superseded his nephew, with whom he was on cordial good terms. Rughbur Sing went into the British territory, to evade all demands for balances, and reside for an interval, with the full assurance that he would be able to purchase a restoration to favour and power in Oude, unless the Resident should think it worth while to oppose him, which my predecessor did not.* I had his agents arrested, and charges sent in against them, with all the proofs accumulated, by Captain Orr; but they all soon purchased their way out, and no one was punished. At my suggestion the King proclaimed Rughbur Sing as an outlaw, and offered three thousand rupees for his arrest, if he did not appear within three months. He never appeared, but continued to carry on his negociations for restoration to power at Lucknow, through the very agents whom he had employed in the scenes above described, Beharee Lal, Goureeshunker, Kurum Hoseyn, Maharaj Sing, &c.
[* Incha Sing absconded before the end of the season, and has never returned to Oude. Mahommed Hussan got the contract on a reduction of two hundred and thirty-one thousand rupees, below the rates which Incha Sing bound himself to pay. But in 1850, he consented to an increase of three hundred and ninety-nine thousand, with, I believe, the deliberate intention to raise the funds for the payment by the murder of Ramdut Pandee, and the confiscation of his estate.]
Amjud Allee Shah, who was something of a man of business, died 13th February 1847, and was succeeded by his eldest son, the present King, who knows nothing of, and cares nothing whatever about, business. His minister, Ameen-od Dowlah, who had some character of his own, was removed some three or four months after, and succeeded by the present minister, Allee Nakee Khan, who has none.
The following table of the actual payments into the treasury, from these two districts of Gonda-Bahraetch, for four years from 1845, will serve to show the fiscal effects of such atrocities as were permitted to be perpetrated in them for a brief period of two years:—
For 1845, under Wajid Allee . 11,65,132 5 3
For 1846, under Rughbur Sing . 14,01,623 7 6
For 1847, under ditto . 10,27,898 4 6
For 1848, under Incha Sing . . 6,05,492 0 3
But what table 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 Government are accessaries, either before or after the fact, in all these dreadful cruelties and outrages, and, that the more of them a public officer commits, the more secure is he of protection and favour at Court. Their hatred and abhorrence of the individual, in consequence, extend to 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 sufferings, and make the Oude sovereign and minister do their duty towards them; and how much all British officers sympathise with their sufferings as they pass through the country.*
[* Beharee Lal is now (June 1851) employed in a confidential situation, in the office of the deputy minister. Goureeshunker is a Tusseeldar, or native collector, in the same district of Bahraetch, under the new contractor, Mann Sing. Moonshee Kurum Hoseyn holds a similar office in some other district. Maharaj Sing, and the rest, all hold, I believe, situations of equal emolument and respectability.]
Almost all the khalsa lands of the Hissampoor purgunnah belonged to the different branches of a very ancient and respectable family of Syuds. Their lands have, as already stated, been almost all transferred to powerful tallookdars, and absorbed by them in their estates, by the usual process. It is said, and I believe truly, that Hadee Allee Khan tried to induce the head of the Syud family to take his daughter in marriage for his eldest son, as he was also a Syud, (lineal descendant of the prophet.) The old Syud was too proud to consent to this; and he and all his relations and connection were ruined in consequence. The son, to whom Hadee Allee wished to unite his daughter, still lives on his lands, but in poverty and fear. The people say that family pride is more inveterate among the aristocracy of the country than that of the city; and had the old man lived at Lucknow, he would probably have given his son, and saved his family and estate.