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Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official by William Sleeman

W >> William Sleeman >> Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official




In February, 1839, he assumed charge of the office of Commissioner
for the Suppression of Thuggee and Dacoity. Up to that date the
office of Commissioner for the Suppression of Dacoity had been
separate from that of General Superintendent of the measures for the
Suppression of Thuggee, and had been filled by another officer, Mr.
Hugh Eraser, of the Civil Service. During the next two years Sleeman
passed much of his time in the North-Western Provinces, now the Agra
Province in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, making Muradabad
his head-quarters, and thoroughly investigating the secret criminal
organizations of Upper India.

In 1841 he was offered the coveted and lucrative post of Resident at
Lucknow, vacant by the resignation of Colonel Low; but that officer,
immediately after his resignation, lost all his savings through the
failure of his bankers, and Sleeman, moved by a generous impulse,
wrote to Colonel Low, begging him to retain the appointment.

Sleeman was then deputed on special duty to Bundelkhand to
investigate the grave disorders in that province. While at Jhansi in
December, 1842, he narrowly escaped assassination by a dismissed
Afghan sepoy, who poured the contents of a blunderbuss into a native
officer in attendance.[3]

During the troubles with Sindhia which culminated in the battle of
Maharajpur, fought on the 29th December, 1843, Sleeman, who had
become a Lieut.-Colonel, was Resident at Gwalior, and was actually in
Sindhia's camp when the battle unexpectedly began. In 1848 the
Residency at Lucknow again fell vacant, and Lord Dalhousie, by a
letter dated 16th September, offered Sleeman the appointment in the
following terms:

The high reputation you have earned, your experience of civil
administration, your knowledge of the people, and the qualifications
you possess as a public man, have led me to submit your name to the
Council of India as an officer to whom I could commit this important
charge with entire confidence that its duties would be well
performed. I do myself, therefore, the honour of proposing to you to
accept the office of Resident at Lucknow, with especial reference to
the great changes which, in all probability, will take place.
Retaining your superintendency of Thuggee affairs, it will be
manifestly necessary that you should be relieved from the duty of the
trials of Thugs usually condemned at Lucknow.
In the hope that you will not withhold from the Government your
services in the capacity I have named, and in the further hope of
finding an opportunity of personally making your acquaintance,
I have the honour to be,
Dear Colonel Sleeman,
Very faithfully yours,
DALHOUSIE.[4]

The remainder of Sleeman's official life, from January, 1849, was
spent in Oudh, and was chiefly devoted to ceaseless and hopeless
endeavours to reform the King's administration and relieve the
sufferings of his grievously oppressed subjects. On the 1st of
December, 1849, the Resident began his memorable three months' tour
through Oudh, so vividly described in the special work devoted to the
purpose. The awful revelations of the _Journey through the Kingdom of
Oude_ largely influenced the Court of Directors and the Imperial
Government in forming their decision to annex the kingdom, although
that decision was directly opposed to the advice of Sleeman, who
consistently advocated reform of the administration, while
deprecating annexation. His views are stated with absolute precision
in a letter written in 1854 or 1855, and published in _The Times_ in
November, 1857:

We have no right to annex or confiscate Oude; but we have a right,
under the treaty of 1837, to take the management of it, but not to
appropriate its revenues to ourselves. We can do this with honour to
our Government and benefit to the people. To confiscate would be
dishonest and dishonourable. To annex would be to give the people a
government almost as bad as their own, if we put our screw upon them
(_Journey_, ed. 1858, vol. i, Intro., p. xxi).

The earnest efforts of the Resident to suppress crime and improve the
administration of Oudh aroused the bitter resentment of a corrupt
court and exposed his life to constant danger. Three deliberate
attempts to assassinate him at Lucknow are recorded.

The first, in December, 1851, is described in detail in a letter of
Sleeman's dated the 16th of that month, and less fully by General
Hervey, in _Some Records of Crime_, vol. ii, p. 479. The Resident's
life was saved by a gallant orderly named Tikaram, who was badly
wounded. Inquiry proved that the crime was instigated by the King's
moonshee.

The second attempt, on October 9, 1853, is fully narrated in an
official letter to the Government of India (Bibliography, No. 15).
Its failure may be reasonably ascribed to a special interposition of
Providence. The Resident during all the years he had lived at Lucknow
had been in the habit of sleeping in an upper chamber approached by a
separate private staircase guarded by two sentries. On the night
mentioned the sentries were drugged and two men stole up the stairs.
They slashed at the bed with their swords, but found it empty,
because on that one occasion General Sleeman had slept in another
room.

The third attempt was not carried as far, and the exact date is not
ascertainable, but the incident is well remembered by the family and
occurred between 1853 and 1856. One day the Resident was crossing his
study when, for some reason or another, he looked behind a curtain
screening a recess. He then saw a man standing there with a large
knife in his hand. General Sleeman, who was unarmed, challenged the
man as being a Thug. He at once admitted that he was such, and under
the spell of a master-spirit allowed himself to be disarmed without
resistance. He had been employed at the Residency for some time,
unsuspected.

Such personal risks produced no effect on the stout heart of Sleeman,
who continued, unshaken and undismayed, his unselfish labours.

In 1854 the long strain of forty-five years' service broke down
Sleeman's strong constitution. He tried to regain health by a visit
to the hills, but this expedient proved ineffectual, and he was
ordered home. On the 10th of February, 1856, while on his way home on
board the Monarch, he died off Ceylon, at the age of sixty-seven, and
was buried at sea, just six days after he had been granted the
dignity of K.C.B.

Lord Dalhousie's desire to meet his trusted officer was never
gratified. The following correspondence between the Governor-General
and Sleeman, now published for the first time, is equally creditable
to both parties:

BARRACKPORE PARK,
January 9th, 1856.
MY DEAR GENERAL SLEEMAN,
I have heard to-day of your arrival in Calcutta, and have heard at
the same time with sincere concern that you are still suffering in
health. A desire to disturb you as little as possible induces me to
have recourse to my pen, in order to convey to you a communication
which I had hoped to be able to make in person.
Some time since, when adjusting the details connected with my
retirement from the Government of India, I solicited permission to
recommend to Her Majesty's gracious consideration the names of some
who seemed to me to be worthy of Her Majesty's favour. My request was
moderate. I asked only to be allowed to submit the name of one
officer from each Presidency. The name which is selected from the
Bengal army was your own, and I ventured to express my hope that Her
Majesty would be pleased to mark her sense of the long course of
able, and honourable, and distinguished service through which you had
passed, by conferring upon you the civil cross of a Knight Commander
of the Bath.
As yet no reply has been received to my letter. But as you have now
arrived at the Presidency, I lose no time in making known to you what
has been done; in the hope that you will receive it as a proof of the
high estimation in which your services and character arc held, as
well by myself as by the entire community of India.
I beg to remain,
My dear General,
Very truly yours,
DALHOUSIE.

Major-General Sleeman.

Reply to above. Dated 11th January, 1856.

MY LORD,
I was yesterday evening favoured with your Lordship's most kind and
flattering letter of the 9th instant from Barrackpore.
I cannot adequately express how highly honoured I feel by the
mention that you have been pleased to make of my services to Her
Majesty the Queen, and how much gratified I am by this crowning act
of kindness from your Lordship in addition to the many favours I have
received at your hands during the last eight years; and whether it
may, or may not, be my fate to live long enough to see the honourable
rank actually conferred upon me, which you have been so considerate
and generous as to ask for me, the letter now received from your
Lordship will of itself be deemed by my family as a substantial
honour, and it will so preserved, I trust, by my son, with feelings
of honest pride, at the thought that his father had merited such a
mark of distinction from so eminent a statesman as the Marquis of
Dalhousie.
My right hand is so crippled by rheumatism that I am obliged to make
use of an amanuensis to write this letter, and my bodily strength is
so much reduced, that I cannot hope before embarking for England to
pay my personal respects to your Lordship.
Under these unfortunate circumstances, I now beg to take my leave of
your Lordship; to offer my unfeigned and anxious wishes for your
Lordship's health and happiness, and with every sentiment of respect
and gratitude, to subscribe myself,

Your Lordship's most faithful and
Obedient servant,
W. H. SLEEMAN,
Major-General.

To the Most Noble
The Marquis of Dalhousie, K.T.,
Governor-General, &c., &c.,
Calcutta.

Sir William Sleeman was an accomplished Oriental linguist, well
versed in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, and also in possession of a good
working knowledge of Latin, Greek, and French. His writings afford
many proofs of his keen interest in the sciences of geology,
agricultural chemistry, and political economy, and of his intelligent
appreciation of the lessons taught by history. Nor was he insensible
to the charms of art, especially those of poetry. His favourite
authors among the poets seem to have been Shakespeare, Milton, Scott,
Wordsworth, and Cowper. His knowledge of the customs and modes of
thought of the natives of India, rarely equalled and never surpassed,
was more than half the secret of his notable success as an
administrator. The greatest achievement of his busy and unselfish
life was the suppression of the system of organized murder known as
Thuggee, and in the execution of that prolonged and onerous task he
displayed the most delicate tact, the keenest sagacity, and the
highest power of organization.

His own words are his best epitaph: 'I have gone on quietly,' he
writes, '"through evil and through good report", doing, to the best
of my ability, the duties which it has pleased the Government of
India, from time to time, to confide to me in the manner which
appeared to me most conformable to its wishes and its honour,
satisfied and grateful for the trust and confidence which enabled me
to do so much good for the people, and to secure so much of their
attachment and gratitude to their rulers.' [5]

His grandson. Captain J. L. Sleeman, who, when stationed in India
from 1903 to 1908, visited the scenes of his grandfather's labours,
states that everywhere he found the memory of his respected ancestor
revered, and was given the assurance that no Englishman had ever
understood the native of India so well, or removed so many oppressive
evils as General Sir W. H. Sleeman, and that his memory would endure
for ever in the Empire to which he devoted his life's work.

This necessarily meagre account of a life which deserves more ample
commemoration may be fitly closed by a few words concerning the
relatives and descendants of Sir William Sleeman.

His sister and regular correspondent, to whom he dedicated the
_Rambles and Recollections_, was married to Captain Furse, R.N.

His brother's son James came out to India in 1827, joined the 73rd
Regiment of the Bengal Army, was selected for employment in the
Political Department, and was thus enabled to give valuable aid in
the campaign against Thuggee. In due course he was appointed to the
office of General Superintendent of the Operations against Thuggee,
which had been held by his uncle. He rose to the rank of Colonel, and
after a long period of excellent service, lived to enjoy nearly
thirty years of honourable retirement. He died at his residence near
Ross in 1899 at the age of eighty-one.

In 1831 Sir William's only son, Henry Arthur, was gazetted to the
16th (Queen's) Lancers, and having retired early from the army, with
the rank of Captain, died in 1905.

His elder son William Henry died while serving with the Mounted
Infantry during the South African War. His younger son, James Lewis,
a Captain in the Royal Sussex Regiment, who also saw active service
during the war, and was mentioned in dispatches, has a distinguished
African and Indian record, and recently received the honorary degree
of M.A. from the Belfast University for good work done in
establishing the first Officers' Training Corps in Ireland. The
family of Captain James Lewis Sleeman consists of two sons and a
daughter, namely, John Cuthbert, Richard Brian, and Ursula Mary.
Captain Sleeman, as the head of his family, possesses the MSS. &c. of
his distinguished grandfather. The two daughters of Sir William who
survived their father married respectively Colonel Dunbar and Colonel
Brooke.


Notes:

1. _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, vol. ii, p. 105.

2. The general reader may consult with advantage Meadows Taylor, _The
Confessions of a Thug_, the first edition of which appeared in 1839;
and the vivid account by Mark Twain in _More Tramps Abroad_, chapters
49,50.

3. The incident is described in detail in a letter dated December 18,
1842, from Sleeman to his sister Mrs. Furse. Captain J. L. Sleeman
has kindly furnished me with a copy of the letter, which is too long
for reproduction in this place.

4. This letter is printed in full in the _Journey through the Kingdom
of Oude_, pp. xvii-xix.

5. Letter to Lord Hardinge, dated Jhansee, 4th March, 1848, printed
in _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, vol. i, p. xxvii.




BIBLIOGRAPHY
OF THE
WRITINGS OF
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B.

_I.--PRINTED_

(1.) 1819 Pamphlet.
Letter addressed to Dr. Tytler, of Allahabad, by Lieut. W. H.
Sleeman, August 20th, 1819.
Copied from the _Asiatic Mirror_ of September the 1st, 1819.
[This letter describes a great pestilence at Lucknow in 1818, and
discusses the theory that cholera may be caused by 'eating a certain
kind of rice'.]


(2.) Calcutta, 1836, 1 vol. 8vo.
_Ramaseeana_, or a Vocabulary of the Peculiar Language used by the
Thugs, with an Introduction and Appendix descriptive of the Calcutta
system pursued by that fraternity, and of the measures which have
been adopted by the Supreme Government of India for its suppression.

Calcutta, G. H. Huttmann, Military Orphan Press, 1836.
[No author's name on title-page, but most of the articles are signed
by W. H. Sleeman.]
Appendices A to Z, and A.2, contain correspondence and copious
details of particular crimes, pp. 1-515. Total pages (v,+270+515)
790.
A very roughly compiled and coarsely printed collection of valuable
documents. [A copy in the Bodleian Library and two copies in the
British Museum. One copy in India Office Library.]


(2a.) Philadelphia 1839, 1 vol. 8vo.
The work described as follows in the printed Catalogue of Printed
Books in the British Museum appears to be a pirated edition of
_Ramaseeana_:

_The Thugs or Phansigars of India: comprising a history of the rise
and progress of that extraordinary fraternity of assassins; and a
description of the system which it pursues, &c._
Carey and Hart. Philadelphia, 1839. 8vo.

A Hindustani MS. in the India Office Library seems to be the
original of the vocabulary and is valuable as a guide to the spelling
of the words.


(3.) (?)1836 or 1837, Pamphlet.
On the Admission of Documentary Evidence.
_Extract._
[This reprint is an extract from _Ramaseeana_. The rules relating to
the admission of evidence in criminal trials are discussed. 24
pages.]


(4.) 1837, Pamphlet.
Copy of a Letter
which appeared in the _Calcutta Courier_ of the 29th March, 1837,
under the signature of 'Hirtius', relative to the Intrigues of Jotha
Ram.
[This letter deals with the intrigues and disturbances in the Jaipur
(Jyepoor) State in 1835, and the murder of Mr. Blake, the Assistant
to the Resident. (See post, chap, 67, end.) The reprint is a pamphlet
of sixteen pages. At the beginning reference is made to a previous
letter by the author on the same subject, which had been inserted in
the _Calcutta Courier_ in November, 1836.]


(5.) Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. vi. (1837), p. 621.
_History of the Gurha Mundala Rajas, by Captain W. H. Sleeman._
[An elaborate history of the Gond dynasty of Garha Mandla, 'which is
believed to be founded principally on the chronicles of the Bajpai
family, who were the hereditary prime ministers of the Gond princes.'
(_Central Provinces Gazetteer,_ 1870, p. 282, note.) The history is,
therefore, subject to the doubts which necessarily attach to all
Indian family traditions.]


(6.) W. H. Sleeman. _Analysis and Review of the Peculiar Doctrines of
the Ricardo or New School of Political Economy._
8vo, Serampore, 1837.
[A copy is entered in the printed catalogue of the library of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal.]


(7.) Calcutta (Serampore), 1839, 8vo.
A REPORT on THE SYSTEM OF MEGPUNNAISM,
or
The Murder of Indigent Parents for their Young Children (who are sold
as Slaves) as it prevails in the Delhi Territories, and the Native
States of Rajpootana, Ulwar, and Bhurtpore.
By Major W. H. Sleeman.
----
From the Serampore Press.
1839.
[Thin 8vo, pp. iv and 121.
A very curious and valuable account of a little-known variety of
Thuggee, which possibly may still be practised. Copies exist in the
British Museum and India Office Libraries, but the Bodleian has not a
copy.]


(8.) Calcutta, 1840, 8vo.
REPORT ON THE DEPREDATIONS COMMITTED BY THE THUG GANGS of UPPER AND
CENTRAL INDIA,
From the Cold Season of 1836-7, down to their Gradual Suppression,
under the operation of the measures adopted against them by the
Supreme Government in the year 1839.

By Major Sleeman
_Commissioner for the Suppression of Thuggee and Dacoitee._

Calcutta:
G. H. Huttmann, Bengal Military Orphan Press.
1840.
[Thick 8vo, pp. lviii, 549 and xxvi.
The information recorded is similar to that given in the earlier
_Ramaseeana_ volume. Pages xxv-lviii, by Captain N. Lowis, describe
River Thuggee. Copies in the British Museum and India Office, but
none in the Bodleian. This is the only work by Sleeman which has an
alphabetical index.]

(9.) Calcutta 1841, 8vo.
On the SPIRIT OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE
in our
NATIVE INDIAN ARMY.

By Major N.[_sic_] H. Sleeman, Bengal Native Infantry.
'Europaeque saccubuit Asia.'
'The misfortune of all history is, that while the motives of a few
princes and leaders in their various projects of ambition are
detailed with accuracy, the motives which crowd their standards with
military followers are totally overlooked.'--_Malthus._
Calcutta:
Bishop's College Press.
M.DCCC.XLI.
[Thin 8vo. Introduction, pp. i-xiii; On the Spirit of Military
Discipline in the Native Army of India, pp. 1-59; page 60 blank;
Invalid Establishment, pp. 61-84. The text of these two essays is
reprinted as chapters 28 and 29 of vol. ii of _Rambles and
Recollections_ in the original edition, corresponding to Chapters 21
and 22 of the edition of 1893 and Chapters 76, 77 of this (1915)
edition. Most of the observations in the Introduction are utilized in
various places in that work. The author's remark in the Introduction
to these essays--'They may never be published, but I cannot deny
myself the gratification of printing them'--indicates that, though
printed, they were never published in their separate form. The copy
of the separately printed tract which I have seen is that in the
India Office Library. Another is in the British Museum. The pamphlet
is not in the Bodleian.]


(10.) 1841 Pamphlet.
MAJOR SLEEMAN
on the
PUBLIC SPIRIT of THE HINDOOS.
_From the Transactions of the Agricultural and Horticultural
Society,_ vol. 8.
Art. XXII, _Public Spirit among the Hindoo Race as indicated in
the flourishing condition of the Jubbulpore District in former times,
with a sketch of its present state: also on the great importance of
attending to Tree Cultivation and suggestions for extending it. By
Major Sleeman, late in charge of the Jubbulpore District._

[Read at the Meeting of the Society on the 8th September, 1841.]

[This reprint is a pamphlet of eight pages. The text was again
reprinted verbatim as Chapter 14 of vol. 2 of the _Rambles and
Recollections_ in the original edition, corresponding to Chapter 7 of
the edition of 1893, and Chapter 62 of this (1915) edition. No
contributions by the author of later date than the above to any
periodical have been traced. In a letter dated Lucknow, 12th January,
1853 (_Journey,_ vol. 2, p. 390) the author says-'I was asked by Dr.
Duff, the editor of the _Calcutta Review,_ before he went home, to
write some articles for that journal to expose the fallacies, and to
counteract the influences of this [_scil_. annexationist] school; but
I have for many years ceased to contribute to the periodical papers,
and have felt bound by my position not to write for them.']


(11.) London, 1844, 2 vols. large 8vo.
RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS OF AN INDIAN OFFICIAL
by
Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Sleeman, of the Bengal Army.
'The proper study of mankind is man.'--POPE.
In Two Volumes.
London:
J. Hatchard and Son, 187, Piccadilly.
1844.
[Vol. I, pp. v and 478. Frontispiece, in colours, a portrait of 'The
late Emperor of Delhi', namely, Akbar II. At end of volume, six full-
page coloured plates, numbered 25-30, viz. No. 25, 'Plant'; No. 26,
'Plant'; No. 27, 'Plant'; No. 28, 'Ornament'; No. 29, 'Ornament'; No.
30, 'Ornaments'.

Vol. 2, pp. vii and 459. Frontispiece, in colours, comprising five
miniatures; and Plates numbered 1-24, irregularly inserted, and with
several misprints in the titles.

The three notes printed at the close of the second volume were
brought up to their proper places in the edition of 1893, and are
there retained in this (1915) edition. The following paragraph is
prefixed to these notes in the original edition: 'In consequence of
this work not having had the advantage of the author's
superintendence while passing through the press, and of the
manuscript having reached England in insulated portions, some errors
and omissions have unavoidably taken place, a few of which the
following notes are intended to rectify or supply.' The edition of
1844 has been scarce for many years,]


(11a.) Lahore 1888, 2 vols. in one 8vo.
RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS, &o.
(Title as in edition of 1844.)
Republished by A. C, Majumdar.
Lahore:
Printed at the Mufid-i-am Press.
1888.
[Vol. 1, pp. xi and 351. Vol. 2, pp. v and 339. A very roughly
executed reprint, containing many misprints. No illustrations. This
reprint is seldom met with.]


(11b.) Westminster, 1893, 2 vols. in 8vo.
RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS, &c.
A New Edition, edited by Vincent Arthur Smith, I.C.S.; being vol. 5
of Constable's Oriental Miscellany. The book is now scarce.


(12.) Calcutta, 1849.
REPORT
On
BUDHUK
Alias
BAGREE DECOITS
and other
GANG ROBBERS BY HEREDITARY PROFESSION,
and on
The Measures adopted by the Government of India
for their Suppression.
By Lieut.-Col. W. H. Sleeman, Bengal Army.
Calcutta:
J. C. Sherriff, Bengal Military Orphan Press.
1849.
[Folio, pp. iv and 433. Map. Printed on blue paper. A valuable work.
In their Dispatch No. 27, dated 18th September, 1850, the Honourable
Court of Directors observe that 'This Report is as important and
interesting as that of the same able officer on the Thugs'. Copies
exist in the British Museum and India Office Libraries, but there is
none in the Bodleian. The work was first prepared for press in 1842
(Journey, vol. 1, p, xxvi).]


(13.) 1852, Plymouth, Pamphlet.
AN ACCOUNT of WOLVES NURTURING CHILDREN IN THEIR DENS.
By an Indian Official.
Plymouth:
Jenkin Thomas, Printer,
9, Cornwall Street.
1852.
[Octavo pamphlet. 15 pages. The cases cited are also described in the
_Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, and are discussed in V. Ball,
_Jungle Life in India_ (De la Rue, 1880), pp. 454-66. The only copy
known to me is that in possession of the author's grandson.]


(14.)Lucknow, 1852.
Sir William Sleeman printed his _Diary of a Journey through Oude_
privately at a press in the Residency. He had purchased a small
press and type for the purpose of printing it at his own house, so
that no one but himself and the compositor might see it. He intended,
if he could find time, to give the history of the reigning family in
a third volume, which was written, but has never been published. The
title is: Diary of a Tour through Oude in December, 1849, and January
and February, 1850.

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