Should they be so, pray let me know, and
they shall be sent. I thought at first that it would be thought bad
taste in me to refer to the domestic troubles of the King, but it is
necessary to show the state to which his Majesty is reduced in his
palace. The facts mentioned are known and talked of all over Lucknow
and Oude generally, and tend more than greater things to bring his
conduct and character into contempt.
The time was certainly never so favourable to propose an arrangement
that shall secure a lasting and substantial reform, and render Oude
what it ought to be--a garden. The King is in constant dread of
poison, and would do anything to get relieved from that dread, and
all further importunity on the state of the country. His chief wife
would poison him to bring on the throne her son, and restore to her
her paramour, who is now at Cawnpoor, waiting for such a change. Her
uncle, the minister, would, the King thinks, be glad to see him
poisoned, in the hope of having to conduct affairs during the
minority. He is afraid to admonish his other wife for her
infidelities with the chief favourite and singer, lest she should
poison him to go off with her paramour to Rampoor, whither he has
sent the immense wealth that the King has lavished upon him.
The whole family are most anxious that the King should resign the
reins into abler hands, and would, I feel assured, hail the
arrangement I have proposed as a blessing to them and the country.
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