the Earl of Dalhousie,
&c. &c. &c.

__________________________

Lucknow, 30th January, 1849.

My Dear Elliot,

A salute of twenty-one guns had been fired here by the King for the
sadly dear victory over Shere Sing, and another has been fired to-day
for the fall of Mooltan. The King continues very ill, but no danger
seems to be apprehended. The disease is accompanied by very untoward
secondary symptoms, which are likely ultimately to destroy him, and
render his life miserable while it lasts. How much of these symptoms
he derives from his birth, and how much from his own excesses, is
uncertain.

The impression regarding the minister, mentioned in my last note, was
from a talk with him while he was, it seems, under the influence of
fever. In later conversations he has been more lucid; but he is a
third-rate man, and quite unequal to the burthen that the favour of
the King has placed upon him. That favour will, however, be but of
short duration, for the King is said to have expressed great distrust
in his capacity to do any of the things he promised, more especially
to collect the immense arrears of revenue now due.

I am preparing tables of the revenue and expenditure, and of the
machinery in all branches, and hope soon to submit a clearer view of
the state of things than Government is in the habit of getting on
such occasions; but I have to wade through vast volumes of
correspondence to ascertain what has been said and done in the
questions that will come under consideration, to conduct current
duties, and to become acquainted with the people in my new field,
European and native.

I want to ask you whether I could, with any prospect of success just
now, propose a plan which I have much at heart in the Thuggee and
Dacoity Department. The Lieutenant-Governor, I feel assured, will
advocate it. Major Graham is about to obtain his regimental majority,
with a certain prospect of soon obtaining the command of his
regiment, which will give him twelve hundred a-month. I am anxious to
retain him; for his services have been, and would continue to be, of
vast importance to the North-West Provinces. I should like to propose
that he be made superintendent of Thuggee and Dacoity in those
provinces upon a salary of, say eleven hundred rupees a-month. I
would at the same time propose that the Shahjehanpoor office, lately
under Major Ludlow, be done up, and the duties confided