those whom such proceedings drive into rebellion.  Against such persons he is too weak to protect them; and as soon as the rebels show that they can reduce his income by plundering and murdering the peasantry, and all who have property in the towns and villages, he re-establishes them on their lands on their own terms.  He had lately, however, by great good luck, seized two very atrocious characters of this description, who had plundered and burnt down several villages, and murdered some of their inhabitants; and as he knew that they would be released on the first occasion of thanksgiving at Lucknow, having the means to bribe Court favourites, he begged my permission to make them over to Lieutenant Weston, superintendent of the Frontier Police, as robbers by profession.  “If they come back, sir, they will murder all who have aided in their capture, or given evidence against them, and no village or road will be safe.”

Some shopkeepers in the town complained that the contractor was in the habit of forcing them to stand sureties for the fulfilment, on the part of landholders, of any engagements they might make, to pay him certain sums, or to make over to him certain land produce at the harvest.  This, they said, often involved them in heavy losses, as the landholders frequently could not, or would not, do either when the time came, and they were made to pay.  This is a frequent practice throughout Oude.  Shopkeepers and merchants who have property are often compelled by the contractors and other local officers to give such security for bad or doubtful paymasters with whom they may happen to have had dealings or intercourse, and by this means robbed of all they have.  All manner of means are resorted to to compel them:  they and their families are seized and confined, and harshly or disgracefully treated, till they consent to sign the security bonds.  The plea that the bonds had been forced from them would not avail in any tribunal to which they might appeal:  it would be urged against them that the money was for the State; and this would be considered as quite sufficient to justify the Government officer who had robbed them.  The brief history which I propose to give of Buksh Allee, the late contractor for the Russoolabad district, is as follows:—­

Mokuddera Ouleea, one of the consorts of the King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, was the daughter of Mr. George Hopkins Walters, a half-pay officer of one of the regiments of British Dragoons, who came to Lucknow as an adventurer.  He there united himself (though not in marriage) to the widow of Mr. Whearty, an English merchant or shopkeeper of that city, who had recently died, leaving this widow, who was the daughter of Mr. Culloden, an English merchant of Lucknow, and one son, now called Ameer Mirza, and one daughter, now called Shurf-on Nissa.  By Mr. Walters this widow had one daughter, who afterwards became united to the King in marriage (in 1827), under the title of “Mokuddera Ouleea.”  Mr. Walters died at Lucknow, and the widow and two daughters went to reside at Cawnpoor.  The daughters were good-looking, and the mother was disposed to make the most of their charms, without regard to creed or colour.