CHAPTER IV.

Nuseer-od Deen Hyder’s death—­His repudiation of his son, Moonna Jan, leads to the succession of his uncle, Nuseer-od Dowlah—­Contest for the succession between these two persons—­The Resident supports the uncle; and the Padshah Begum supports the son—­The ministers supposed to have poisoned the King—­Made to disgorge their ill-gotten wealth by his successor—­Obligations of the treaty of 1801, by which Oude was divided into two equal shares—­One transferred to the British Government, one reserved by Oude—­Estimated value of each at the time of treaty—­Present value of each—­The sovereign often warned that unless he governs as he ought, the British Government cannot support him, but must interpose and take the administration upon itself—­All such warnings have been utterly disregarded—­No security to life or property in any part of Oude—­Fifty years of experience has proved, that we cannot make the government of Oude fulfil its duties to its people—­The alternative left appears to be to take the management upon ourselves, and give the surplus revenue to the sovereign and royal family of Oude—­Probable effects of such a change on the feelings and interests of the people of Oude.

When in February, 1832, the King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, assured the Resident that Moonna Jan was not his son.  Lord William Bentinck was Governor-General of India.  A more thoroughly honest man never, I believe, presided over the government of any country.  The question of right to succession was long maturely and most anxiously considered, after these repeated and formal repudiations on the part of the King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder; and Government would willingly have deferred a final decision on so important a question longer, but it was deemed unsafe any longer from the debauched habits of the King, the chance of his sudden death, and the risk of a tumult in such a city, to leave the representative of the paramount power unprepared to proclaim its will in favour of the rightful heir, the moment that a demise took place.  Under these considerations, instructions were sent to the Resident, on the 15th of December, 1833, in case of the King’s death without a son, or pregnant consort, to declare the eldest surviving brother of the late King, Ghazee-od Deen Hyder, heir to the throne, and have him placed upon it.  According to the law already noticed (which applies as well to sovereignty as to property) the sons of Shums-od Dowlah, the second son of Saadut Allee Khan, who had died shortly before his eldest and reigning brother, Ghazee-od Deen, were excluded from all claims to the succession, and the right devolved upon the third son of Saadut Allee, Nuseer-od Dowlah.  Ghazee-od Deen had only one son, the reigning sovereign, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder.