le, or apprehended by the ministers. The instant they heard this
decision, they dreaded the scrutiny of the sagacious and parsimonious
old man, and the enmity of the favourites by whom he had been
surrounded in private life. These men, whom they had, in their pride
and power, despised and insulted, would now have their revenge; and
they wished for the success of the old woman and the boy, from whom
they might have a better chance of escape, till they could get their
wealth and their families out of the country.

I may here mention a similar repudiation of a supposed eldest son by
the late King. Mostafa Allee was brought up in the palace as his
eldest son, and on all occasions treated as such. Mahommed Allee
Shah, the late King's father, was always very fond of him, but
shortly before his death he became angry with him for some outrages
committed in the palace, and put him under restraint. The young man
requested the late King, his supposed father, to mediate with his
grandfather for his release. He refused to do so, and the young man
drew his sword, and threatened to kill him. He was kept under more
strict restraint till the grandfather died, and his father ascended
the throne, on the 16th of May, 1842. The King then requested the
Resident to assure the Governor-General that Mostafa Allee was not
his son--that he was a year and a-half old when his mother entered
the palace. The Resident reported accordingly on the 26th of that
month. The Governor-General required the statement to be made under
the King's own sign and seal, and it was transmitted on the 6th of
June, 1842. The present King was then declared heir-apparent to the
throne, and Mostafa Allee has ever since been in strict confinement
under him. The general impression, however, is that he was the eldest
son of the late King, and repudiated solely on account of his violent
temper and turbulent conduct. That he was treated as such during the
life of Mahommed Allee Shah, and that the late King dared not
repudiate him while his father lived, is certain.

By the treaty of 1801 we bound ourselves to defend the territories of
the sovereign of Oude from all foreign and domestic enemies; and to
defray the cost of maintaining the troops required for this purpose,
and paying some pensions at Furruckabad and Benares, the sovereign of
Oude ceded to our Government the under-mentioned districts, then
yielding the revenues specified opposite their respective names.*

* Dis