.

It is painful to me to walk out of my tent of an evening, for I have
every day large crowds seeking redress for grievous wrongs, for which
I see no hope of redress: men and women, who have had their dearest
relatives murdered, their houses burnt down, their whole property
taken away, their lands seized upon, their crops destroyed by
ruffians residing in the same or neighbouring villages, and actually
in the camp of the Amil, without the slightest fear of being punished
or made to surrender any portion of what they have taken. The
Government authorities are too weak, even to enforce the payment of
the Government demand, and have not the means to seize or punish
offenders of any kind, if they have the inclination. In some
districts they not only acquiesce in the depredations of these gangs
of robbers, but act in collusion with their leaders, in order to get
their aid in punishing defaulters or pretended defaulters, among the
landholders. They murder the landholders, and as many as possible of
their families, and as a reward for their services the local
authorities make over their lands to them at reduced rates.

The Nazim of Sandee Palee told me on taking leave, that he had only
two wings of Nujeeb Regiments with him, one of which was fit for some
service, and in consequence, spread over the district on detached
duties. The other was with him, but out of the five hundred, for
which he had to issue monthly pay, he should not be able to get ten
men to follow him on any emergency. They are obliged to court and
conciliate the strong and reckless who prey upon the weak and
industrious; and in consequence become despised and detested by the
people. I feel like one moving among a people afflicted with
incurable diseases, who crowd around him in hope, and are sent away
in despair. I try to make the local authorities exert themselves in
behalf of the sufferers; but am told that they have already done
their utmost in vain; that if they seize robbers and murderers and
send them to Lucknow, they are sure to purchase their enlargement and
return to wreak their vengeance on them and on all who have aided
them in their arrest and conviction; that if they attempt to seize
one of the larger landholders, who refuses to pay the Government
demand, seizes upon the lands of his weaker neighbours, and murders
and robs them indiscriminately, he removes across the Ganges, into
one of the Honourable Company's districts, and thence sends his