d make as little changes possible, till
the final orders arrive from the Court of Directors, that you may
have nothing to undo of what you have done. I would leave the
management to Ellis, under your supervision, and interfere only on
references in special cases, except, of course, on emergency. I know
not what the system is to be, or what system the Governor-General has
recommended, except that there is to be one head, as in Rajpootana;
and that all correspondence with Government is to go through that
head, In this state of the matter I know not what to suggest or say.

Yours sincerely,
(Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.

To Major Malcolm,
&c. &c.

__________________________

Lucknow, 11th November, 1853.
My Lord,

I feel grateful for your Lordship's letter of the 27th ult., but
cannot say that I have any hope of discovering the instruments
employed, or the employer, in the late affair. The whole power of the
Government is in the hands of men who are deeply interested in
concealing the truth, and making it appear that no attempt was really
made. The minister has, by his intrigues, put himself so much in the
power of the knave whom I suspect, that he dares not do anything to
offend him. The man could at once ruin him by his exposures if he
chose, and he would do so if he found it necessary for his own
security. The man is biding his time, as he has often done with
former ministers; and the time would have come ere this had not the
King, to save himself, married one of the minister's pretty
daughters.

The King's chief consort; was the niece of the minister, and her son
is the heir-apparent; so that it was her interest, and that of her
uncle, the minister, to get rid of the King as soon as possible. She
is a profligate woman, and the King's mother is supposed to have
given him a hint of his danger. He took a liking to one of the
daughters, and married her, in order to make it the minister's
interest to keep him alive as long as possible. He now contrives to
make the King believe that neither his life nor reign can be in any
danger as long as he is in his present position.

The night after this affair took place, a sipahee of the 35th Native
Infantry, standing sentry at one end of the house, fell asleep while
he was leaning with his right wrist on the muzzle of his musket. The
musket went off; the ball passe