William Sleeman - Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official

(1.) 1819 Pamphlet.

Letter addressed to Dr. Tytler, of Allahabad, by Lieut. W. H. Sleeman, August 20th, 1819.

Copied from the Asiatic Mirror of September the 1st, 1819.

[This letter describes a great pestilence at Lucknow in 1818, and discusses the theory that cholera may be caused by 'eating a certain kind of rice'.]

(2.) Calcutta, 1836, 1 vol. 8vo.

Ramaseeana , or a Vocabulary of the Peculiar Language used by the Thugs, with an Introduction and Appendix descriptive of the Calcutta system pursued by that fraternity, and of the measures which have been adopted by the Supreme Government of India for its suppression.

Calcutta, G. H. Huttmann, Military Orphan Press, 1836.

[No author's name on title-page, but most of the articles are signed by W. H. Sleeman.]

Appendices A to Z, and A.2, contain correspondence and copious details of particular crimes, pp. 1-515. Total pages (v,+270+515) 790.

A very roughly compiled and coarsely printed collection of valuable documents. [A copy in the Bodleian Library and two copies in the British Museum. One copy in India Office Library.]

(2a.) Philadelphia 1839, 1 vol. 8vo.

The work described as follows in the printed Catalogue of Printed Books in the British Museum appears to be a pirated edition of Ramaseeana :

The Thugs or Phansīgars of India: comprising a history of the rise and progress of that extraordinary fraternity of assassins; and a description of the system which it pursues, &c.

Carey and Hart. Philadelphia, 1839. 8vo.

A Hindustani MS. in the India Office Library seems to be the original of the vocabulary and is valuable as a guide to the spelling of the words.

(3.) (?)1836 or 1837, Pamphlet.

On the Admission of Documentary Evidence.

Extract.

[This reprint is an extract from Ramaseeana . The rules relating to the admission of evidence in criminal trials are discussed. 24 pages.]

(4.) 1837, Pamphlet.

Copy of a Letter

which appeared in the Calcutta Courier of the 29th March, 1837, under the signature of 'Hirtius', relative to the Intrigues of Jotha Ram.

[This letter deals with the intrigues and disturbances in the Jaipur (Jyepoor) State in 1835, and the murder of Mr. Blake, the Assistant to the Resident. (See post, chap, 67, end.) The reprint is a pamphlet of sixteen pages. At the beginning reference is made to a previous letter by the author on the same subject, which had been inserted in the Calcutta Courier in November, 1836.]

(5.) Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. vi. (1837), p. 621.

History of the Gurha Mundala Rajas, by Captain W. H. Sleeman.

[An elaborate history of the Gond dynasty of Garhā Mandlā, 'which is believed to be founded principally on the chronicles of the Bājpai family, who were the hereditary prime ministers of the Gond princes.' ( Central Provinces Gazetteer, 1870, p. 282, note.) The history is, therefore, subject to the doubts which necessarily attach to all Indian family traditions.]

(6.) W. H. Sleeman. Analysis and Review of the Peculiar Doctrines of the Ricardo or New School of Political Economy.

8vo, Serampore, 1837.

[A copy is entered in the printed catalogue of the library of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.]

(7.) Calcutta (Serampore), 1839, 8vo.

A REPORT on THE SYSTEM OF MEGPUNNAISM,

or

The Murder of Indigent Parents for their Young Children (who are sold as Slaves) as it prevails in the Delhi Territories, and the Native States of Rajpootana, Ulwar, and Bhurtpore.

By Major W. H. Sleeman.

–—

From the Serampore Press.

1839.

[Thin 8vo, pp. iv and 121.

A very curious and valuable account of a little-known variety of Thuggee, which possibly may still be practised. Copies exist in the British Museum and India Office Libraries, but the Bodleian has not a copy.]

(8.) Calcutta, 1840, 8vo.

REPORT ON THE DEPREDATIONS COMMITTED BY THE THUG GANGS of UPPER AND CENTRAL INDIA,

From the Cold Season of 1836-7, down to their Gradual Suppression, under the operation of the measures adopted against them by the Supreme Government in the year 1839.

By Major Sleeman

Commissioner for the Suppression of Thuggee and Dacoitee.

Calcutta:

G. H. Huttmann, Bengal Military Orphan Press.

1840.

[Thick 8vo, pp. lviii, 549 and xxvi.

The information recorded is similar to that given in the earlier Ramaseeana volume. Pages xxv-lviii, by Captain N. Lowis, describe River Thuggee. Copies in the British Museum and India Office, but none in the Bodleian. This is the only work by Sleeman which has an alphabetical index.]

(9.) Calcutta 1841, 8vo.

On the SPIRIT OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE

in our

NATIVE INDIAN ARMY.

By Major N.[ sic ] H. Sleeman, Bengal Native Infantry.

'Europaeque saccubuit Asia.'

'The misfortune of all history is, that while the motives of a few princes and leaders in their various projects of ambition are detailed with accuracy, the motives which crowd their standards with military followers are totally overlooked.'— Malthus.

Calcutta:

Bishop's College Press.

M.DCCC.XLI.

[Thin 8vo. Introduction, pp. i-xiii; On the Spirit of Military Discipline in the Native Army of India, pp. 1-59; page 60 blank; Invalid Establishment, pp. 61-84. The text of these two essays is reprinted as chapters 28 and 29 of vol. ii of Rambles and Recollections in the original edition, corresponding to Chapters 21 and 22 of the edition of 1893 and Chapters 76, 77 of this (1915) edition. Most of the observations in the Introduction are utilized in various places in that work. The author's remark in the Introduction to these essays—'They may never be published, but I cannot deny myself the gratification of printing them'—indicates that, though printed, they were never published in their separate form. The copy of the separately printed tract which I have seen is that in the India Office Library. Another is in the British Museum. The pamphlet is not in the Bodleian.]

(10.) 1841 Pamphlet.

MAJOR SLEEMAN

on the

PUBLIC SPIRIT of THE HINDOOS.

From the Transactions of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society, vol. 8.

Art. XXII, Public Spirit among the Hindoo Race as indicated in

the flourishing condition of the Jubbulpore District in former times, with a sketch of its present state: also on the great importance of attending to Tree Cultivation and suggestions for extending it. By Major Sleeman, late in charge of the Jubbulpore District.

[Read at the Meeting of the Society on the 8th September, 1841.]

[This reprint is a pamphlet of eight pages. The text was again reprinted verbatim as Chapter 14 of vol. 2 of the Rambles and Recollections in the original edition, corresponding to Chapter 7 of the edition of 1893, and Chapter 62 of this (1915) edition. No contributions by the author of later date than the above to any periodical have been traced. In a letter dated Lucknow, 12th January, 1853 ( Journey, vol. 2, p. 390) the author says-'I was asked by Dr. Duff, the editor of the Calcutta Review, before he went home, to write some articles for that journal to expose the fallacies, and to counteract the influences of this [ scil . annexationist] school; but I have for many years ceased to contribute to the periodical papers, and have felt bound by my position not to write for them.']

(11.) London, 1844, 2 vols. large 8vo.

RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS OF AN INDIAN OFFICIAL