ns admit
that Moonna Jan was a boy of ungovernable temper, and the worst
possible dispositions; and that he must soon have forfeited the crown
by his cruelty, bigotry, and injustice, had he been placed upon it by
the British Government. I saw him in January 1838, at Chunar, and a
more unpromising boy I have rarely seen.

The ministry dreaded being called to account for their malversations
as much from the Begum, on account of their successful efforts to
keep the King alienated from her and his son, as from Nuseer-od
Dowlah, on account of his parsimony, prudence, and great experience
in business during the reign of his able father, Saadut Allee Khan.
But they would have a better chance of escape from the Begum and the
boy than from the vigilant old man, who afterwards made them all
disgorge their ill-gotten wealth; and, in consequence, they made no
effort to obstruct her enterprise. The military and civil
establishments were all in favour of the boy, who would probably be
as regardless of their number and discipline as his father had been,
while the old man would assuredly reduce the one, and endeavour, by
rigorous measures, to improve the other. Hardly any one at Lucknow at
present doubts that the minister and his associates caused the King
to be poisoned, and employed Duljeet and the two sisters; Dhunneea
and Dulwee, for the purpose, in expectation that the British
Government would take upon itself the Oude administration, as the
only possible means of improving it.

The respectable and peaceable portion of the city, though their
sympathies were with the boy, had too much in property, and the
honour of their families, at stake to aid in any movement in his
favour, since it would involve a tumult, and for a time, at least,
insure the supremacy of the mob. Their security and that of their
families depended upon the success of the British troops; and they
were all prepared to acquiesce in any cause which the British
Government might adopt for the sake of order. They would rather that
it should adopt that of the Begum and the boy than that of Nuseer-od
Dowlah; but in either case were resolved to remain neuter, and let
the representative of the British Government take his own course.

It is a fact not unworthy of remark, that more than three millions
sterling, or three crores of rupees, in our Government securities,
are held by persons who reside and spend the interest arising from
them in the city of Lucknow; and that