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he was ordered to remit to Lucknow, and ask them to combine to raise it among themselves, with a percentage to cover his risk and costs of collection. Two years after his death the great Rdja Darshan Singh made

which

his first appearance on this side- of the Gogra, but he only held office for one year, and was succeeded by the singular phenomenon of a lady commissioner. The widow of Nawab Saif-ud-daula undertook her husband's

but though she showed great energy, and led her troops in person against the refractory lord of Bhinga, she found herself unequal to the task, and at the end of the year resigned. In 1842-43 A.D. Rdja Darshan Singh again farmed the revenue of the division, and raised it to a pitch which it had never attained before. Utterly unmerciful and relentless when brought into contact with the local chiefs or zamindars who would intercept for their own use a portion of the rents, he was considerate and not unkind to the cultivators, who probably found him quite as good a landlord as those whom he had ousted. He made a five years' assessment, and seems to have anticipated a prolonged tenure of power, but was recalled in his second year, in consequence of the raid he made into the friendly His brother, Incha territory of Naipdl in pursuit of the raja of Balrampur. Ram, and sons, Man Singh and Raghubardayal, held the same position for short periods between that and annexation and the latter is unfavourably known by the intolerable cruelties and oppression which marked his brief tenure of office. charge





Sleeman, in the account of his tour in Oudh, gives a graphic account of the desolation which this monster left behind him. The nazim from

was Muhammad Hasan Khan, commonly known as the colDuring the earlier part of his niz^mat he was on very friendly terms with Ram Datt Rdm, then the head of the Pande family, and it was through his wealth and influence that he contrived to realise Eventually, however, he grew jealous, and the revenue with punctuality. 1849 to 1851 lector sahib

suspected his ally of intriguing in order to supplant him in

office.

was just before the autumn bathings, on the eleventh day of Kartik, Murder of Earn that Ram Datt Ram went with his great friend Raja Datt Ham. Digbijai Singh of Balrampur to take leave of the nazim previous to his departure from Ajodhya. The common encampment was in a large grove about a mile to the south of Gonda, and the two^ nobles went to pay the usual ceremonies to the Government official. As; soon as they were seated in his tent, a letter from one of his most trusted servants, Harparshad Khattri, was put into the Pande's hand, warning him to be on his guard, as unusual excitement was seen among the ndzim'sHe handed it to Muhammad Hasan, saying that he did not doubt troops. his honour, but that as the raja of Balrampur was suffering from a bad: headache he might be allowed to retire to rest for himself he would remaina short time longer. As soon as he heard that the raja was safe in his tent he rose to take leave; but as his only attendant, Mahablr, was putting on his shoes outside the reception room, one of the nazim's soldiers who was standing by fired a matchlock into his breast. He fled back into the darbar tent and fell on the cushions which he had just left, where he was nearly cut to pieces by the soldiers of his treacherous friend. A gun from the nazim's forces was at the same time fired into his encamping-ground,, It



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