ternal disorders; and
remaining in this state for many generations, the intervening
sovereigns either knew nothing or cared nothing about the grants.
Under our rule they became by degrees again cultivated and peopled,
and in consequence valuable, not by the exertions of the rent-free
holders, for they were seldom known to do anything but collect the
rents, but by those of the farmers and cultivators who pay them.

When Saadat Ali Khan, the sovereign of Oudh, ceded Rohilkhand and
other districts to the Honourable Company in lieu of tribute in 1801,
he resumed every inch of land held in rent-free tenure within the
territories that remained with him, without condescending to assign
any other reason than state necessity. The measure created a good
deal of distress, particularly among the educated classes; but not so
much as a similar measure would have created within our territories,
because all his revenues are expended in the maintenance of
establishments formed exclusively out of the members of Oudh
families, and retained within the country, while ours are sent to pay
establishments formed and maintained at a distance; and those whose
lands are resumed always find it exceedingly difficult to get
employment suitable to their condition.

The face of the country between Delhi and Meerut is sadly denuded of
its groves; not a grove or an avenue is to be seen anywhere, and but
few fine solitary trees.[9] I asked the people of the cause, and was
told by the old men of the village that they remembered well when the
Sikh chiefs who now bask under the sunshine of our protection used to
come over at the head of 'dalas' (bodies) of ten or twelve horse
each, and plunder and lay waste with fire and sword, at every
returning harvest, the fine country which I now saw covered with rich
sheets of cultivation, and which they had rendered a desolate waste,
'without a man to make, or a man to grant, a petition', when Lord
Lake came among them.[10] They were, they say, looking on at a
distance when he fought the battle of Delhi, and drove the Marathas,
who were almost as bad as the Sikhs, into the Jumna river, where ten
thousand of them were drowned. The people of all classes in Upper
India feel the same reverence as our native soldiery for the name of
this admirable soldier and most worthy man, who did so much to
promote our interests and sustain our reputation in this country.[11]

The most beautiful trees in India are the 'bar' (banyan)