proper to propose to him.' In accordance with this pledge he signed in September, with manifest reluctance, a treaty which partially set aside Lord Wellesley's treaty of 1801, and under a show of removing past abuses, imposed new burdens upon the revenues of Oudh. It provided for one thing that two regiments of horse, five of foot, with two batteries, organized and disciplined by British officers, should be maintained in Oudh at a yearly charge to that kingdom of sixteen lakhs, or £160,000. This force was never to be employed in 'the ordinary collection of revenue.' It was also stipulated that the management of any district in which gross anarchy, misrule, and oppression might still prevail, should be transferred to British officers for an indefinite period; the surplus receipts, if any, to be regularly paid into the King's Treasury.
This treaty, of which Lord Auckland and his Council were the real framers, proved hardly less distasteful to the Resident than to the King. Some of its main features ran counter to Colonel Low's ideas. The old treaty had serious flaws in it, and the attempt to check misgovernment and to reduce the overgrown armies of the kingdom might seem worthy of all praise. But the Resident saw that matters could not be mended by saddling Oudh with a costly contingent of Sepoys organized on the British model, and commanded by British officers. As a check to misrule, moreover, the new arrangement did not go far enough.
