the parade lest he might not be
able to restrain them in such a scene. Even this mutiny of the two
regiments could not tempt their commandants to leave Court, where
they are still enjoying the favour of their patrons, the minister and
the singers, and a large share of the pay and perquisites of their
officers and sipahees, though the regiments have been sent off to the
two disturbed districts of Sundela and Salone.

They dare not face the most contemptible enemy, but they spare not
the weak and inoffensive of any class, age, or sex. A respectable
landholder, in presenting a petition, complaining of the outrages
committed upon his village and peasantry, said a few days ago--"The
oppression of these revenue collectors, and their disorderly troops,
is intolerable, sir--they plunder all who cannot resist them, but
cannot lift their arms, or draw their breath freely in the presence
of armed robbers and rebels--it is a proverb, sir, that _insects_
prey upon soft _wood_; and these men prey only upon the peaceful and
industrious, who are unable to defend themselves." The Nazim tells
me, that the lamentations of the poor people, plundered and
maltreated, were incessant and distressing during the whole time
these two corps were with him; and that he could exercise no control
whatever over them, protected as they were, in all their iniquities,
by the Court favour their two commandants enjoyed at Lucknow.*

[* Kootab Allee was one of the singers who were soon after banished
from Oude in disgrace. But all the influence they exercised over the
King has been concentrated in the hands of the two singers who
remained, Mosahib Allee and Anees-od Dowla. All are despicable
_domes_; but the two, who now govern the King, are much worse
characters than any of those who were banished.]

I asked Bukhtawur Sing, before the Nazim overtook us this morning,
why it was, that these governors always took so many troops with them
when they moved from place to place, merely to settle accounts and
inspect the crops. "Some of them," said he, "take all the troops they
can muster, to show that they are great men; but, for the most part,
they are afraid to move without them. They, and the greater part of
the landholders, consider each other as natural and irreconcilable
enemies; and a good many of those, who hold the largest estates, are
at all times in open resistance against the Government. They have
their Vakeels with the contractors when they are not