The letter addressed by Lord Dalhousie to Sir William Sleeman expresses the desire of the Governor-General that he should endeavour to inform himself of the actual state of Oude, and render his Narrative a guide to the Honourable Company in its Report to the Court of Directors.  The details furnish but too faithful a picture of the miserable condition of the people, equally oppressed by the exactions of the King’s army and collectors, and by the gangs of robbers and lawless chieftains who infest the whole territory, rendering tenure so doubtful that no good dwellings could be erected, and land only partially cultivated; whilst the numberless cruelties and atrocious murders surpass belief.  Shut up in his harem, the voice of justice seldom reached the ear of the monarch, and when it did, was scarcely heeded.  The Resident, it will be seen, was beset during his journey with petitions for redress so numerous, that, anxious as he was to do everything in his power to mitigate the horrors he witnessed, he frequently gives vent to the pain he experienced at finding relief impracticable.

The Narrative contains an unvarnished but unexaggerated picture of the actual state of Oude, with many remedial suggestions; but direct annexation formed no part of the policy which Sir William Sleeman recommended.  To this measure he was strenuously opposed, as is distinctly proved by his letters appended to the Journal.  At the same time, he repeatedly affirms the total unfitness of the King to govern.  These opinions are still further corroborated by the following letter from his private correspondence, 1854-5, written when Resident at Lucknow, and published in the Times in November last:—­

“The system of annexation, pursued by a party in this country, and favoured by Lord Dalhousie and his Council, has, in my opinion, and in that of a large number of the ablest men in India, a downward tendency—­a tendency to crush all the higher and middle classes connected with the land.  These classes it should be our object to create and foster, that we might in the end inspire them with a feeling of interest in the stability of our rule. We shall find a few years hence the tables turned against us.  In fact, the aggressive and absorbing policy, which has done so much mischief of late in India, is beginning to create feelings of alarm in the native mind; and it is when the popular mind becomes agitated by such alarms that fanatics will always be found ready to step into Paradise over the bodies of the most prominent of those from whom injury is apprehended.  I shall have nothing new to do at Lucknow.  Lord Dalhousie and I have different views, I fear.  If he wishes anything done that I do not think right and honest, I resign, and leave it to be done by others.  I desire a strict adherence to solemn engagements, whether made with white faces or black.  We have no right to annex or confiscate Oude; but we have a right, under the treaty of 1837, to take the management