merchants who have property are
often compelled by the contractors and other local officers to give
such security for bad or doubtful paymasters with whom they may
happen to have had dealings or intercourse, and by this means robbed
of all they have. All manner of means are resorted to to compel them:
they and their families are seized and confined, and harshly or
disgracefully treated, till they consent to sign the security bonds.
The plea that the bonds had been forced from them would not avail in
any tribunal to which they might appeal: it would be urged against
them that the money was for the State; and this would be considered
as quite sufficient to justify the Government officer who had robbed
them. The brief history which I propose to give of Buksh Allee, the
late contractor for the Russoolabad district, is as follows:--

Mokuddera Ouleea, one of the consorts of the King, Nuseer-od Deen
Hyder, was the daughter of Mr. George Hopkins Walters, a half-pay
officer of one of the regiments of British Dragoons, who came to
Lucknow as an adventurer. He there united himself (though not in
marriage) to the widow of Mr. Whearty, an English merchant or
shopkeeper of that city, who had recently died, leaving this widow,
who was the daughter of Mr. Culloden, an English merchant of Lucknow,
and one son, now called Ameer Mirza, and one daughter, now called
Shurf-on Nissa. By Mr. Walters this widow had one daughter, who
afterwards became united to the King in marriage (in 1827), under the
title of "Mokuddera Ouleea." Mr. Walters died at Lucknow, and the
widow and two daughters went to reside at Cawnpoor. The daughters
were good-looking, and the mother was disposed to make the most of
their charms, without regard to creed or colour.

Buksh Allee, a dome by caste, who had been by profession a drummer to
a party of dancing-girls, served them as a coachman and table
attendant. At Cawnpoor he cohabited with Mrs. Walters, and prevailed
upon her to take her children back to Lucknow as the best possible
market for them, as he had friends at Court who would be able to
bring them to the notice of the sovereign. They were shown to the
King as soon as he succeeded his father on the throne in 1827. He was
captivated with the charms of Miss Walters, though they were not
great, demanded her hand from the mother, and was soon after united
to her in marriage according to the Mahommedan law. A suitable
establishment was provided by the King for h