Aish Bágh, the Chár Bágh, and the Residency. The Martinière College, also, was built during his reign by General Claude Martin, a French officer in his service. But, whatever his potential good qualities, Asaf-ud-daulah had, by the time of Lord Cornwallis' Governor-Generalship, become utterly debauched and demoralised, and totally heedless of his affairs, which, being left to themselves, naturally grew worse and worse. The revenue farmers, as they grew powerful by draining the country of its wealth, shook off their allegiance to the Nawáb and defied his authority. Asaf-ud-daulah's own excuse for his reckless abandonment of business was that he had been rendered desperate by the insatiable demands of the Calcutta Council, who, however divided on other points, could always unite in any scheme for the plunder of Oudh, and only differed occasionally as to the choice of agents-a Middleton or a Bristow-for its execution.

Haidar Beg Khán died in 1795, and with him expired such little vitality as still lingered in the administration of the province. The finances were in a desperate condition when Sir John Shore, who succeeded Lord Cornwallis as GovernorGeneral, visited Lucknow in 1797, and-by way of relieving them-established a fresh drain of five lákhs and a half, yearly, for the support of two additional regiments. In return for this concession, he bestowed "a sight of good advice" on Asaf-ud-daulah, which the latter was incapable of appreciating. It was not even stated that these extra troops were to be kept in Oudh at all, and the demand was made "in compliance with the Company's orders," owing to "the late very great increase in their military establishment." Poor Oudh!

The only other result of Sir John Shore's visit was the appointment, as minister, of Tafazzul Hosen, who had been the Nawab's representative at Calcutta. He appears to have been an intelligent and respectable man; but the Nawab would have preferred Almás Ali Khán, and for once it is probable that the Nawab was right. Sleeman writes of him thus:

"Miyán Almás was the greatest and best man of any note that Oudh has produced. He held for about forty years

districts yielding to the Oudh Government an annual revenue of about eighty lákhs of rupees (£800,000). During all this time he kept the people secure in life and property, and as happy as people in such a state of society can be; and the whole country under his charge was, during his lifetime, a garden." He died a poor man, "for his immense income he had expended in useful works, liberal hospitality, and charity. He systematically kept in check the Taluqdárs or great landholders; fostered the smaller; and encouraged and protected the best classes of cultivators, such as Lodhs, Kurmis, and Káchhis, whom he called and considered his children. His reign over the large extent of country under his jurisdiction is considered to have been its golden age."

Such was the man who was set aside in favour of the worthy, but comparatively insignificant Tafazzul Hosen. Sir John Shore had given his consent to the appointment of Almás Ali, but revoked it on discovering an old order by Lord Cornwallis against his being employed. Had this order not been passed, or not been discovered when it was, the subsequent course of Oudh history might have been materially different. For Asaf-ud-daulah died very shortly after Sir John Shore left Lucknow, and it was mainly owing to the representations of Tafazzul Hosen that his putative son and successor, Wazír Ali, was set aside after a few weeks in favour of S'ádat Ali, second son of Shúja'-ud-daulah, and brother of the late Nawáb.

The news of Asaf-ud-daulah's death reached Sir John Shore at Calcutta, and he ratified the succession of Wazír Ali, reputed son of the late Nawáb. But reports soon came in apace of his illegitimacy, profligacy, and hostility to English interests, and the Governor-General again set out for Lucknow to dispose of the matter on the spot. He was met on the way by Tafazzul Hosen, who was full of Wazír Ali's transgressions and enormities, and whose zeal for his deposition was, perhaps, partly due to the fact that he had formerly been tutor to S'ádat Ali, in whose sight he hoped to find more favour than in that of the violent and intractable young Nawáb.

Sir Henry Lawrence felt "bound to record his opinion that

Wazír Ali was unjustly treated," and that his "spurious birth would not by Muhammadan law have interfered with his succession, and never would have weighed with the English authorities, had he not rendered himself obnoxious to them by desiring to degrade Tafazzul Hosen, who was considered as 'the representative of English influence."" Mr. Eastwick

follows suit, and writes that Wazír Ali was deprived of a kingdom upon evidence on which "a court of English law would not have decided against him a question of a few pounds."

To us it seems that the question of Wazír Ali's legitimacy or illegitimacy was one of very secondary importance, and that Sir John Shore was perfectly justified in taking into consideration his anti-English leanings as a part of the larger question of his general fitness or unfitness to rule the province. That he should have bitterly disliked all things English is not surprising, considering what he had seen of English influence in Oudh, and was certainly not to be imputed to him as a moral failing. Still, the fact remained that Oudh was under English influence, and was obviously destined so to continue, and Wazír Ali's hostility to that influence was, so far, a disqualification for the task of presiding over the affairs of a province that was subject to it. In other respects, moreover, there was no room for doubt that he was totally unfit to govern, and, indeed, as his subsequent conduct showed, hardly fit to live. However English influence over Oudh had been acquired, it was an existing fact, and Sir John Shore, being in possession of it, was bound to use it for the best interests of the province. That he did so use it in setting aside Wazír Ali and substituting S'ádat Ali, the subsequent career of the latter leaves as little doubt as the terms of the treaty which Sir John Shore exacted from him, as a condition precedent of his elevation, leave that his motives in making the selection were not unmixed.

Since he had fled from Oudh, as already mentioned, in fear of the consequences of Khwajah Basant's unsuccessful conspiracy, S'ádat Ali had been living in British territory, and was at this time at Banáras. It was there that the in

tention of raising him to the masnad was announced to him by the Resident, Mr. Cherry, and a draft treaty presented to him for his acceptance, the substance of which may be summarised as follows:

(1.) The subsidy to the Company was to be raised from fifty-six to seventy-six lákhs per annum, payable by monthly instalments of Rs. 6,33,333 5. 4., commencing from the date of his accession (which took place on the 21st of January 1798); the arrears of the subsidy were to be at once discharged; a yearly allowance of a lákh and a half was to be paid to Wazír Ali through the Resident; and twelve lákhs were to be paid at once as nazarána, or douceur, to the Company, who had "incurred a considerable expense in their exertions in establishing his right."

(2.) In the event of the instalments falling into arrears, such security was to be given as should be deemed satisfactory, and "since by this treaty the amount of the subsidy is considerably increased, and many other permanent charges upon His Excellency are incurred . . . it becomes necessary, on a comparison of his disbursements with the assets of his country," to make reductions in expenditure; and S'ádat Ali agreed to act to that end in consultation with the Company.

(3.) No correspondence with foreign powers was to be carried on by the Nawab without the knowledge and concurrence of the English Government; and he was to entertain no Europeans without its sanction.

(4.) The commercial treaty of the 25th of July 1788, which had been hitherto neglected, was to be duly enforced for the future.

(5.) The reputed children of Asaf-ud-daulah were to be maintained by S'ádat Ali.

(6.) The fort of Allahabad was to be made over to the Company, with the sum of eight lakhs to be spent on its fortifications-the Company, be it observed, paying ghatfees-and three lákhs were to be made over to them for strengthening the fortifications of Fattihgarh.

(7.) In return, the Company agreed to maintain not less than ten thousand troops in Oudh. If at at any time the

force amounted to more than thirteen thousand, or less than eight thousand, an increased subsidy was to be paid, or a decrease allowed accordingly.

The treaty contained no provision for the good government of the province, and, except for the look of the thing, the omission was not, perhaps, under all the circumstances, of much consequence.

Such as it was, it was accepted by S'ádat Ali, who was in no position to haggle about terms, and on the 21st of January 1798 he was proclaimed as Nawáb Wazír at Lucknow, whither he had been escorted by British troops. The treaty was formally signed on the 21st of February. Wazír Ali had maintained a threatening attitude during the course of these negotiations, but no outbreak took place, owing, it is only fair to say, in great measure to Sir John Shore's perfect coolness and tact, for which he was publicly thanked by the Court of Directors. One can only wish that the success of the cause in which these fine qualities were displayed had been signalised by the conclusion of a somewhat less onesided treaty. A great darbár of all the Lucknow Court was held at the Bibiapur palace, at which Wazír Ali was informed of the order for his deposition, and sent off to Banáras under escort. With his subsequent adventures, culminating in the assassination of the Banáras Resident, Mr. Cherry, Oudh history has little further concern.

S'ádat Ali inherited from his father Shúja'-ud-daulah both his taste for pleasure and his business capacity, but in him the latter was far more marked and developed, and the former less so. His character seems to have been very generally misunderstood, and it was a character worth understanding rightly, for there was a great deal of it. He was about forty years of age when raised to the masnad, and had previously been known as a jovial spirit, fond of wine and hunting, but at the same time, prudent and economical. From that time forward, however, he was a changed man. He deeply felt his responsibilities, and struggled gallantly against the difficulties of his position to fulfil his duty to the province. His conduct was often misconstrued by those who imperfectly comprehended his situation and the