conviction, after a fair and impartial trial. The Resident
reported to Government all that had occurred, and stated, that he
should see that the promises made to the prisoners were fulfilled,
that, should they be convicted before the Court appointed to conduct
the trial, of other crimes perpetrated before this assault on the
minister, they would be subject to such punishment as the Mahommedan
law prescribed for such crimes. Three of them, Tuffuzzul Hoseyn,
Hyder Khan, and Fuzl Allee, were convicted, on their own confessions,
and the testimony of their own relations, of many cold blooded
murders, and successful attempts to extort money from respectable and
wealthy persons in different parts of Oude, similar to this on the
minister, and all four were sentenced to imprisonment for life. The
Government of India had insisted on their not being executed or
mutilated. Fuzl Allee, as above stated, broke jail, and is still at
large at his old trade, and Hyder Khan is still in prison at Lucknow.

These ruffians appear to have been encouraged, in this assault upon
the minister, for the purpose of extorting money, by a similar but
more successful attempt made in the year 1824, by a party headed by a
person named Syud Mahomed Eesa Meean, _alias_ Eesa Meean.

This person came to Lucknow with a letter of recommendation from
Captain Gough. He delivered it in person to the Resident, but was
never after seen or heard of by him till this affair occurred. He
became a kind of saint, or _apostle_, at Lucknow; and Fakeer Mahomed
Khan Rusaldar, who commanded a corps of Cavalry, and had much
influence over the minister, Aga Meer, became one of his _disciples_,
and prevailed upon the minister to entertain him as a mosahib, or
aide-de-camp. He soon became a favourite with Aga Meer, and formed a
liaison with a dancing-girl, named Beeba Jan. His conduct towards her
soon became too violent and overbearing, and she sought shelter with
the Khasmahal, or chief consort, of the minister, who promised her
protection, and detained her in her apartments. Eesa Meean appealed
to the minister, and demanded her surrender. The minister told him
that she was mistress of her own actions, as she had never gone
through the ceremonies of permanent marriage, or _nikkah_, nor even
those of a temporary one, _motah_; and most be considered as
altogether free to choose her own lovers or mode of life.

He then appealed to Moulavee Karamut Allee, the tutor of Aga Meer's