UR visit to Lucknow was made pleasant by meeting our friend W. C. Capper, Esq., who had been a fellow-passenger on the "Venetia," and whose guests we were during our stay in the ancient and memorable . Capper is the chief judicial officer of this district, in a large and pleasant house in the English quarter. is the capital of the old kingdom of Oude, which was 1856 by the East India Company, under Lord DalThis peer is called by his admirers the great proconhis administration was celebrated for its "firm" and s" policy. The principles upon which his lordship re recorded in a minute of the East India Council 1 1841, under the administration of Lord Auckland, worth quoting as one of the frankest annals of statee the days of Rob Roy: "Our policy should be to perthe one clear and direct course of abandoning no just

or honorable accession of territory or revenue, while all existing claims of right are scrupulously respected." Under this policy, during Lord Dalhousie's rule, the Sikhs were defeated and their army disabled, the Punjab was annexed, Pega was taken from Burmah, the principality of Ihousi was taken from the princes who ruled it, and who sought a terrible revenge in the mutiny, the kingdom of Oude was sequestrated, and its king pensioned at six hundred thousand dollars a year. Among the reasons for the annexation were the personal character of the kings, who passed their lifetimes within their palace walls caring for nothing but the gratification of some individual passion, "avarice, as in one; intemperance, as in another; or, as in the present, effeminate sensuality, indulged among singers, musicians, and eunuchs, the sole companions of his confidence and the sole agents of his power." You will observe that whenever the company wanted territory or revenue there were always moral reasons at hand. It seems to an outside observer that the reasons for annexing the Oude dominions would have justified Napoleon in taking the dominions of George IV.

There are few sights in India more interesting than the ruins of the residency in Lucknow, where, during the mutiny, a handful of English residents defended themselves against the overwhelming forces of the Sepoys until relieved by Havelock and Sir Colin Campbell. The story of that defense is one of the most brilliant in the annals of heroism, and will always redound to the honor of the British name. After the relief the garrison evacuated, and the Sepoys, unable to destroy the garrison, destroyed the residences. The ruins are as they were left by Nana Sahib. Living hands have planted flowers and built monuments to mark the events of the siege, and the grounds are as carefully kept as a garden park. Mr. Capper, who was one of the garrison during the siege, took General Grant to every point of interest-to the house of the commissioners; to the cellars, where women and children hid during those fearful summer months; to the ruins of Sir Joseph Fayrer's house and the spot where Sir Henry Lawrence died; to

DRIVE THROUGH LUCKNOW.

67

the

grave

of Havelock and Lawrence. We saw the lines of Sir Colin Campbell's attack when he captured Lucknow, put the garrison to the sword, and ended the mutiny. We drove

around the town and saw the various palaces that remind you of the magnificence of the Oude dynasty, but whose grandeur disturbs the government, as they are too expensive to keep and too grand to fall into ruins. The Chutter Munzil, which was

built by the king who reigned in 1827 as a seraglio, is now a club-house. Here the residents gave the General and party a ball, which was a brilliant and agreeable affair.

The main palace is called the Kaiser Bagh-a great square of buildings surrounding an immense courtyard. These buildings are pleasant, with a blending of Italian and Saracenic schools, giving them an effeminate appearance, glaring with yellow paint. This palace cost, at Indian prices of labor, $4,000,000. A monument shows you where the British captives were butchered in 1857, for which deed Sir Colin Campbell took so terrible a revenge. We visited the Secunder Bagh, a palace built by the last king and given to one of his wives, Secunder, whence it derives its name. This was carried by the British, who killed the two thousand Sepoys defending it. We visited other public buildings, all going back to the Oude dynasty, showing that the kings did not hesitate to beautify their capital. We saw the curious building called the Martinière, a most fantastic contrivance, built by a French adventurer who lived at the court of the Oude kings, and built this as a tomb for himself and as a college. We also visited the great Imambara, or Home of the Prophets, which in its time was the most noted building in Lucknow, and even now surprises you with the simplicity and grandeur of its style. It was used as a mausoleum for one of the nobles of Oude, and in other days the tomb was strewed with flowers "and covered with rich barley bread from Mecca, officiating priests being in attendance day and night chanting verses from the Koran." It is now an ordnance depot, and when General Grant visited it he was shown the guns and cannon-balls by a sergeant of the army.

We drove through the old town, the streets narrow and dirty, and as we passed we noted that the people were of a different temper from those we had seen in other parts of India. Generally speaking a ride through a native town means a constant returning of salutes, natives leaving their work to come and stare and make you the Eastern salam-constant evidences of courtesy and welcome, of respect at least for the livery of your coachman, which is the livery of the supreme au