We passed Runjeet-ka Poorwa half-way--once a large and populous town,
but now a small one. The fog was, however, too thick to admit of my
seeing it. From this place to Lucknow, thirty miles, Seetlah Buksh, a
deputy of Almas Allee Khan's, planted an avenue of the finest kind of
trees. We had to pass through a mile of it, and the trees are in the
highest perfection, and complete on both sides. I am told that there
are, however, many considerable intervals in which they have been
destroyed. The trees must have been planted about sixty years ago.
I may here remark that no native gentleman from Lucknow, save such as
hold office in districts, and are surrounded by troops, can with
safety reside in the country. He would be either suspected and
destroyed by the great landholders around him, or suspected and
ruined by the Court. Under a better system of government, a great
many of these native gentlemen, who enjoy hereditary incomes, under
the guarantee of the British Government, would build houses in
distant districts, take lands, and reside on them with their
families, wholly or occasionally, and Oude [would] soon be covered
with handsome gentlemen's seats, at once ornamental and useful. They
would tend to give useful employment to the people, and become bonds
of union between the governing and the governed. Under such an
improved system, our guarantees would be of immense advantage to the
whole country of Oude, in diffusing wealth, protection, education,
intelligence, good feeling, and useful and ornamental, works.
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