turned out, and the estate made over to Jhoda Sing, from
whom he would soon get it on pretence of accumulated balances, and
make it over, in perpetuity, to his brother, Dirj Bijee Sing. In this
attempt, the old man said, a good many lives must be lost and crops
destroyed, for his friends would not let him fall without a
struggle.*

[* The old man has been attacked and turned out with the loss of some
lives, in spite of the Resident's remonstrance, and the estate has
been made over to Jodha Sing, on the security for the payment of the
revenue of Anrod Sing. Jodha Sing is, naturally, of weak intellect;
and Anrod Sing will soon have him turned out as an incompetent
defaulter, and get the estate for himself, or for his younger
brother. Luckily _Anrod Sing_ and _Lonee Sing_, of Mitholee, are at
daggers-drawn about some villages, which Anrod Sing has seized, and
to which Lonee Sing thinks he has a better right. Their dread of each
other will be useful to the Government and the people.]

As soon as we left the poor old man, Bukhtawur Sing said, "This, sir,
is the way in which Government officers manage to control and subdue
these sturdy Rajpoot landholders. While they remain united, as in the
Bangur district, they can do nothing with them, and let them keep
their estates on their own terms; but the moment a quarrel takes
place between them they take advantage of it: they adopt the cause of
the strongest, and support him in his aggressions upon the other
members of his family or clan till all become weak by division and
disorder, and submit. Forty or fifty years ago, sir, when I used to
move about the country on circuit with Saadut Allee Khan, the then
sovereign, as I now move with you, there were many Rajpoot
landholders in Oude stronger than any that defy the Government now;
but they dared not then hold their heads so high as they do now. The
local officers employed by him were men of ability, experience, and
character, totally unlike those now employed. Each had a wing of one
of the Honourable Company's regiments and some good guns with him,
and was ready and able to enforce his master's orders and the payment
of his just demands; but, since his death, the local officers have
been falling off in character and strength, while the Rajpoot
landholders have risen in pride and power. The aid of the British
troops has, by degrees, been altogether withdrawn, and the
landholders of this class despise the Oude Government, and many