IT must be remembered that, at the time of the death of the late Nawáb, Shujá’ud Daulah, there were three sons of his of full age, who enjoyed a recognized position in the public eye. The eldest of these was Mirza Amáni Asafu’d Daulah, born of the Nawáb Begam, who had been declared heir apparent during his father’s lifetime, and had held a separate sarkár like his father. The management of that sarkár and the correspondence between father and son had been entrusted to Saiyad Murtaza Khán, Tabá Tabái, who eventually became Mukhtáru’d Daulah. This Mukh­táru’d Daulah was one of the old retainers of the Nawáb Wazír’s family, and a nephew of Nawáb Mus­tafa Khan, one of the nobles of Wiláyat, who emigrated to Hindustan and obtained high appointments in the imperial service, some from Muhammad Sháh, and some from Safdar Jang, his náib.

Another son of the late Nawáb Wazír was Mirza Sa’ádat Ali, who, at the time of his father’s death, was employed with about 20,000 horse and foot in the province of Bareli, which had been wrested a few months previously from the hands of the Ruhelas. The control of political and military affairs in that quarter was vested in Muhammad Bashír Khán, an Abyssinian slave, and the training and education of the prince was entrusted to Tafazzul Husen Khán. It may be briefly noted regarding the latter, that Lahaur was his birth­place and that of his father, and his grandfather, Karm­ullah Khán, was for some time agent at the Delhi Court for Mu’ínu’l Mulk, the Subahdár of Lahaur. After the reverses at Lahaur, Tafazzul Husen Khán came at the close of the days of the late Nawáb Wazír to the Súbah of Oudh, and attached himself to the fortunes of the Nawáb’s family.

A third son was Mirza Jangali, who was honorable, brave, patient, and dignified. He was at this period with his eldest brother.

Under the late Nawáb Wazír, the appointment of Náib was nominally held by Muhammad Iraj Khán, a man of the meanest extraction. He had no real power. His first elevation was to the appointment of dárogha of the cantonment bázár, and from this he rose to the position of Náib. It should here be noted that from the time of Safdar Jang up to the present, the agents of the Nawáb Wazír’s family have always been men of low origin, with the sole exception of Mukhtáru’d Daulah, who was of noble extraction.

Súrat Sing and his son-in-law, Rája Jagannáth, were superintendents of the accounts of revenue collectors. This Súrat Sing was an experienced and trustworthy man, one of the old servants of this family. He had been Rája Mahánaráyan’s itláq-navís, and was of his caste. The last-named Rája was the Díwán of the late Nawáb Wazír and eventually Náib-i-Mulk; and the famous Beni Bahádur was suráhi-bardár of this Mahá­naráyan, and Mahanaráyan was son of Rámnaráyan, and he and his brother Partáb Sing were dewans of Safdar Jang. They were the sons of Atma Rám Khatri, the Díwán of Burhánu’l-Mulk. In those days no offi­cials except these could be credited for trustworthiness and honesty. The Nawáb’s military regulations and the ordering of the escort on occasions of public appearance were in the hands of Muhammad Bashír Khán, who was a kind of second Náib like Muhammad Iraj Khán, for some servants were entertained by him and some by Muhammad Iraj Khán, and some by neither of them. Since the late Nawáb used to discharge all business personally, these Náibs were men of no influence.

The charge of the treasury and the passing of the military accounts and the muster-rolls, and the offices connected therewith, were under Tapar Chand, who was the nephew of the famous Zauqi Mal; and Shaikh Abu’l Barakát Khán Bakhshi was employed in this depart­meut under his superintendence. This Shaikh Abu’l Barakát Khán was one of the Shaikhzádás of Kakori, a man of family, perfect and without flaw. Among his relatives is Ma’zu’ddin Khán, one of the notables of Lucknow, a man who by proved loyalty has established claims on this family; and a few other men still remain distinguished for knowledge snd courtesy, for adminis­trative experience and military skill.

Among the officers commanding firelock infantry, Basant Ali Khán Khwája, and among those command­ing the matchlock infantry, Latáfat Ali Khán and Mahbub Ali Khán Khwája bore the rank of General. Bahár Ali Khán and Jawábír Ali Khán Khwája were employed on the guard of the haram-sará, and private treasury. Ambar Ali Khán Khwája, who was endowed with many excellent qualities, was employed as dárogha of the toshak-khána and travelling báwarchi-khána, and Maulavi Fazl ’Azím, with Hasan Raza Khán as his deputy, was dárogha of the permanent báwarchi-khána. Various relatives of Mirza Ali Khán and Sálár Jang, although they were unemployed, held splendid jágírs and kept up the style of nobles, and had a voice in councils on important matters. It must here be stated that these two brothers are sons of Muhammad Isháq Khán Shustari, who had made a position for himself in the time of Muhammad Shah as a hired buffoon who studied the Emperor’s humours. There is neither chastity nor self-respect in this family. “This house is all sunshine.” The family of Safdar Jang and the people of Lucknow have been corrupted by them. Another of the intimates of the late Nawáb is Hasan Raza Khan, who used to render certain personal services to the late Nawáb and enjoyed such complete intimacy with him as to be his very mouthpiece, for most orders were delivered through him. This Hasan Raza Khán is sister’s son of Kalb Ali Khán, one of the notables of Sháhjahánabád, and an imperial officer. Burhánu’l-Mulk married a daugh­ter of this family after he settled in Hindustan, and acquired name and influence through the alliance; and the daughter of Sa’ádat Khán, mother of the late Nawáb, was born of a slave girl owned by this family, who was presented to him in his marriage dower, and Bur­hánu’l-Mulk strove during his life to serve this family and show his gratitude to them; but Safdar Jang held himself aloof from them, because they looked down upon his wife.

Bandah Ali Khán, Ibrahím Ali Khán and Ashraf Ali Khán, sons of that slave girl, who are now in Luck­now, are sons of the paternal uncles of Kalb Ali Khán, and besides these there are two or three hundred per­sons of small note in Lucknow, descendants and rela­tives of Kalb Ali Khán. Muhammad Ibrahím Khán, an officer of the empire and a friend of Burhánu’l-Mulk’s from the beginning of his career, a man of very high station and of good reputation in Lucknow, was a paternal uncle of Hasan Raza Khán, and was raised to the position of Kotwál of Lucknow and custodian of the haram-sará and private treasury of Burhánu’l-Mulk and Safdar Jang. But Hasan Raza Khán did not presume on this close connection with the late Nawáb Wazír, but preferred to serve like an inferior, and thus secured a place in his affections. Intelligent he is and respected, skilled in many military arts and in the dis­cipline of soldiers, endowed with resolution, endurance and dignity; but he is notoriously simple, easy-going, and parsimonious. Who is there who is not inclined to be lazy unless there be a whip to drive him? But parsimony springs from confirmed habits of economy.

Among the revenue officials the two Goshains, and Nauroz Ali Khán and Muhammad Násir Khán, an Abyssinian slave, were the most prominent. The two Goshains maintained about 20,000 horse and foot, nágahs and others, and administered the Dúáb from Korah to Anúpshahr. Nauroz Ali Khán, with 7,000 or 8,000 well-kept horse and foot, was employed in repressing the refractory in Sultánpur, Partábgarh, Akbarpúr and Allahábád. Muhammad Násir Khán Hab­shi, with 5,000 or 6,000 good horsemen and infantry, was stationed for the punishment of the rebellious Rájas of Sarwár, as the country between the Ghágrá and the hills was called. Of these, Nauroz Ali Khán was a protége of this family and of Mughal extraction, and the two Goshains are chelás of Indargir Goshain, who had exerted himself in the service of Safdar Jang in the war with Ahmad Khán Bangash and ’Imád’ul Mulk, and had thereby established claims on his patronage.

Almás Ali Khán and Haidar Beg Khán also held insignificant appointments in the Revenue Department, but it would take too long to mention all the officers of the revenue branch in the Subah, for there were thou­sands of this class employed in the Government ser­vice.

The late Nawáb was an exceedingly skilful and wide-awake governor. For instance, take the case of the ámil of Khairábád, who, on account of the strength of his residence and the power of the zamíndárs, made some improper request which annoyed the Nawáb. The latter ordered seven Kayaths, who lived by letter-writing, to be brought from the bazár. He gave each of them one mahál of Khairábád, and dismissed them. He appointed Parshád Sing Kumedán with three regi­ments to support them, and punish any one who might not submit to them, and forwarding them instructions by letters, he kept them employed for some years in the administration of that district, and by their means the result was prosperity, economy in expenditure, a surplus of revenue, and all other tokens of a good administration.

One of the military commandants was Saiyad Jamálu’d Dín Khán Turáni, a man endowed with all qualities of a commander, who had 2,000 Mughal cavalry, good soldiers, well mounted. Another was Mur­taza Khán Baríj, the son of the well-known Mustafa Khán, who was employed at the head of a similar con­tingent of well-mounted cavalry. Qásim Khán Mandal and other Afghán officers, to the number of four or six thousand, looked up to him as their leader and formed, as it were, one brigade. Jamshed Beg and Khwája Ni’matullah commanded 2,000 Turk sawárs with good horses and appointments, trained after the English style. This Jamshed Beg was of the stock of the Ját zamíndárs, and in his boyhood fell into my father’s hands and was brought up carefully among his slaves, but being discontented with my father’s service, he went to Áqá Táhir, a friend of my father’s in the ser­vice of the East India Company, and remained with him for some months and learned the drill of the Turk sawárs. After Áqá Táhir’s and my father’s death and the disbanding of the Turk sawárs by order of Council, he entered the service of the late Nawáb, and at his request trained these 2,000 Turk sawárs. He was a worthy commander. There were three other divisions (kampú) of firelockmen. The command of most of these lay with Basant, and the rest had commanders of repute and respectability. There was also Mír Ahmad, commander of the Najíb battalions, which numbered about six or seven thousand horse. They were com­posed of reliable men with substantial means and well armed, because Mír Ahmad, who was their trainer and drew up for them regulations of military discipline and exercises, had brought together only men of good family, and arming them with matchlocks, drilled them and trained them in various manœuvres and practices, according to the duties imposed on English regiments in those days, and they could handle cannon and mus­kets rapidly and effectively. Other officers, such as Shaikh Ihsán and Bálá Rao Marhata, and others like them, there were many, whom there is no special reason to mention. The officials of the late Nawáb were not wanting in skill, despatch, and efficiency in the discharge of their duties, as will hereafter be seen. In a short time this whole circle of officials was broken up, and owing to the intrigues of self-seekers, men fit to fill their places were as impossible to find as though there had been a famine of men in the Subah.