apathy
and incapacity.

Should your Lordship resolve upon interposing effectually to remedy
these disorders, I think it will be necessary to have at Lucknow, for
at least the first few months, a corps of irregular cavalry. We have
no cavalry in Oude, and none of the King's can be depended upon. The
first thing necessary will be the disbanding of the African, or
Hubshee corps, of three hundred men. They are commanded by one of the
eunuchs, and a fellow fit for any dark purpose. They were formed into
a corps, I believe, because no man's life was safe in Lucknow while
they were loose upon society.

I think the King will consent without much difficulty or reluctance
to delegate his powers to a Regency, but I am somewhat afraid that he
will object to its being composed of members of his own family. The
Sovereign has always been opposed to employing any of his own
relatives in office. I shall, I dare say, be able to get over this
difficulty, and it will be desirable to employ the best members of
the family in order to show the people of Oude, and of India
generally, that the object of our Government is an honest and
benevolent one.

A corps of irregular cavalry might be sent to Lucknow from
Goruckpoor, and its place there supplied for a season by a wing from
the corps at Legolee. There is little occasion for the services of
cavalry at either of these places at present. Without any cavalry of
our own here, and with this corps of African assassins at Lucknow at
the beck of the singers, eunuchs, and their creature, the minister,
neither the Resident nor any of the Regency would be safe. The
treasury and crown jewels would be open to any one who would make
away with them. If, therefore, your Lordship should determine upon
offering the king the alternative proposed, no time should be lost in
ordering the irregular corps from Goruckpoor to Lucknow, to be held
at the Resident's disposal. Its presence will be required only for a
few months.

I have mentioned, in my private letter to Sir H. M. Elliot, three
persons of high character for the Regency. Two of them are brothers
of the King's father. The third, and best, may be considered as in
all respects the first man in Oude. Mohsin-od Dowlah is the grandson
of the King, Ghasee-od Deen; his wife, and the mother of his only
son, is the sister of the King's father, and his only son has been
lately united in marriage to the present King's daughter. He and his
wife have large hered