It is well known that Lord Dalhousie, on his relinquishing the Indian
Government, recommended General Sleeman and two other distinguished
officers in civil employment for some mark of the royal favour, and
he was accordingly nominated K.C.B., 4th February, 1856; of which
honour his Lordship apprised him in a highly gratifying letter.

But, however high the reputation of an officer placed in such
circumstances--and none stood higher than Sir William Sleeman, not
only in the estimation of the Governor-General and the Honourable
Company, but also in the opinion of the inhabitants of India, where
he had served with great ability for forty years, and won the respect
and love particularly of the natives, who always regarded him as
their friend, and by whom his equity was profoundly appreciated--it
was to be anticipated, as a matter of course, that his words and
actions would be distorted and misrepresented by a Court so
atrociously infamous. This, no doubt, he was prepared to expect, The
King, or rather the creatures who surrounded him, would at all cost
endeavour to prevent any investigation into their gross malpractices,
and seek to slander the man they were unable to remove.

The annexation of Oude to the British dominions followed, but not as
a consequence of Sir W. Sleeman's report. No greater injustice can be
done than to assert that he advised such a course. His letters prove
exactly the reverse. He distinctly states, in his correspondence with
the Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie, that the annexation of Oude
would cost the British power more than the value of ten such
kingdoms, and would inevitably lead to a mutiny of the Sepoys. He
constantly maintains the advisability of frontier kingdoms under
native sovereigns, that the people themselves might observe the