of it, but not to appropriate its revenues to ourselves.  We can do this with honour to our Government and benefit to the people.  To confiscate would be dishonest and dishonourable.  To annex would be to give the people a government almost as bad as their own, if we put our screw upon them.  My position here has been and is disagreeable and unsatisfactory:  we have a fool of a king, a knave of a minister, and both are under the influence of one of the cleverest, most intriguing, and most unscrupulous villains in India.”

Major Bird, in his pamphlet “Dacoitee in Excelsis,” while endeavouring to establish a case for the King of Oude, has assumed that Sir William Sleeman was an instrument in the hands of Lord Dalhousie, to carry out his purpose of annexing Oude to British India.  The letters, now first printed, entirely refute this hasty and erroneous statement.  Major Bird has, in fact, withdrawn it himself in a lecture delivered by him at Southampton on Tuesday, the 16th of February, 1858.

It will be seen that Sir W. Sleeman’s “Diary” commences on December 1, 1849.  To preserve chronological order, the letters written before that date are prefixed; those which refer to a later period are added at the end of the narrative.

__________________________

PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE PRECEDING THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE KINGDOM OF OUDE.

Camp, 20th February, 1848.

My Dear Sir,

I thank you for your letter of the 10th instant, and am of opinion that you may be able to make good use of Bhurut Sing under judicious management, and strict surveillance; but you do not mention who and what he is—­whether he is a prisoner under sentence, or a free agent, or of what caste and profession.  Some men make these offers in order to have opportunities of escape, while engaged in the pretended search after associates in crime; others to extort money from those whom they may denounce, or have the authority and means to arrest.  He should be made to state distinctly the evidence he has against persons, and the way he got it; and all should be recorded against the names of the persons in a Register.  Major Riddell is well acquainted with our mode of proceedings in all such cases, and I recommend you to put yourself in communication, as soon as possible, with him, and Mr. Dampier, the Superintendent of Police, who fortunately takes the greatest possible interest in all such matters.  I have no supervision whatever over the officers of the department employed in Bengal; all rests entirely with Mr. Dampier.  You might write to him at once, and tell him that you are preparing such a Register as I suggest; and if he is satisfied with the evidence, he will authorise the arrest of all or part, and well reward Bhurut Sing for his services.

Believe me, My Dear Sir,
With best wishes for your success,
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.