The system of government under which Oude suffers during the reign of
the best king is a fearful one; and what must it be under a
sovereign, so indifferent as the present is, to the sufferings of his
people, to his own permanent interests, and to the duties and
responsibilities of his high station? Seeing that our Government
attached much importance to the change, from the _contract_ to the
_trust_ system of management, the present minister is putting a large
portion of the country under that system in the hope of blinding us.
But there is virtually little or no change in the administration of
such districts; the person who has the charge of a district under it
is obliged to pay the same gratuities to public officers and court
favourites, and he exacts the same, or nearly the same from the
landholders; he is under no more check than the contractor, and the
officers and troops under him, abuse their authority in the same
manner, and commit the same outrages upon the suffering people.
Security to life and property is disregarded in the same manner; he
confines himself as exclusively to the duties of collecting revenue,
and is as regardless of security to life and property, and of
fidelity to his engagements, as the landholders in his jurisdiction.
The trust management of a district differs from that of the
contractors, only as the _wusoolee kubaz_ differs from the
_lakulamee_; though he does not enter into a formal contract to pay a
certain sum, he is always expected to pay such a sum, and if he does
not, he is obliged to wipe off the balance in the same way, and is
kept in gaol till he does so, in the same way. Indeed, I believe, the
people would commonly rather be under a contractor, than a trust
manager under the Oude Government; and this was the opinion of
Colonel Low, who, of all my predecessors, certainly knew most about
the real state of Oude.