I think your conclusion regarding the source of the signs you saw of beneficial interference in the north-west provinces a fair one.  A Lieutenant-Governor is able to see all parts of the country under his charge every year, or nearly all; and while he is sufficiently “monarch of all he surveys” to feel an interest in, and to provide for the general good, he has a sufficient knowledge of the internal management of particular districts to control the proceedings of the local officers.  He is also well seconded in a very efficient Board of Revenue.  But I must not indulge in these matters any further, till I have the pleasure of meeting you where we can talk freely about them.

I trust that all at Lucknow will be conducted to your satisfaction and that of Mrs. Erskine.  I have this morning received a note from Mr. Erskine, who left you, it appears, before the little heir-apparent returned your visit.  I expect to complete my tour and return to Lucknow on the 20th, when I shall have seen all that I required to see, to understand the working of the existing system, and the probable effects of any suggested changes.

With kind regards to Mrs. Erskine,

Believe me,
Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.

To Sir Erskine Perry.

P.S.—­I must not omit to thank you for the expression of your

favourable opinion of the “Rambles.”  There is one thing of which I can assure you, that the conversations mentioned in it are genuine, and give the real thoughts and opinions of the people on the subjects they embrace. 
                                                    W. H. S.

__________________________

Lucknow, 26th April, 1850. 
My Dear Elliot,

I did not send Weston’s letters with the other papers, because they were not written in an official form.  He was the senior officer with the force, and had authority from the Durbar to call upon all local, civil, and military authorities to co-operate in the work; but he did not take upon himself the command, or write in official form.  He inspired all with harmony and energy, and brought the whole strength of the little force to bear upon the right points at the right time.

The head of Prethee Put of Paska was cut off by Captain Magness’s sipahees after his death, to be sent to the King as a trophy, but Captain Weston would not let it come in.  The body was offered to his family and friends for interment, but none of the family or tribe (Kolhun’s Rajpoots) would have anything to do with the funeral ceremonies of a man who had murdered his eldest brother and the head of his tribe.  The body was, with the head, put into a sheet, taken to the river Ghagra, and committed to the stream, to flow to the Ganges, as the best interment for a Hindoo.  These sipahees knew nothing of the man’s history; but the people who saw the affair from the Dhundee Fort mentioned that the body was thrown into the river at the precise place where he had thrown in that of his eldest brother, after murdering him in the boat with his own hands, as stated in the extract from my Diary; and all believe that this retribution arises from an interposition from above.  The eldest son of the murdered brother will, I hope, be put into possession of the estate.