DELHI, RAJPUTANA
“_22nd Jan._ (_continued_).
“At Delhi we were met by Ikhram Ullah with three of the chief
noblemen of the town, Nawab Ala-ed-din, Ahmed Khan, chief of
Loharo, a prince Mirza Suliman Jah, of the Mogul family, and
Ala-ed-din’s son, Emir-ed-din Feruk Mirza. The Nawab accompanied us
to the hotel, where he had taken rooms for us, and, as he speaks
English, we had a long conversation, principally about Egypt. But I
found him very ignorant as to the state of affairs there. He asked
very particularly about the Sultan, and I answered, as I always do,
that I believed him to be a good man in private character, and with
the wish to improve his Empire, but quite ignorant of the world,
and surrounded by a set of avaricious Pashas. I cannot discover any
enthusiasm in India about the Turkish Empire, and very little about
the Sultan.
“In the afternoon I went out alone to return the visits of
the Nawab and princes. The Nawab explained to me that he was
a pure Turk (Turcoman) by descent, his family having come
only three generations back from Samarcand, and having always
married with women of their own blood. He was, till last year,
a semi-independent sovereign, and he abdicated in favour of his
son, and is now living on a small income at Delhi. He also told
me that his uncle, an illegitimate son of his grandfather, had
been hanged here in Delhi for the murder of Mr. William Fraser, he
says, unjustly, though he evidently thinks it served him right for
having usurped the greater part of the family property. He says
that he got the property by bribing this Mr. Fraser, and that he
was accused of the murder by the Government in order to confiscate
the estates, which were very large. He showed me a picture of this
uncle as a young man riding out with his attendants, and another
of the Mogul Court, in which his father and this very Mr. Fraser
figure. The old gentleman is a curious old-world type, with a fair
knowledge of English, and the reputation of being a good Arabic and
Persian scholar, as well as a sportsman and good rider. He has only
one wife, ‘thank God.’
“With the Prince we talked Arabic, which he speaks better than most
of the Indians, and he was helped in it by an Alem, his cousin
by marriage, who spoke it colloquially. We discussed the Mahdi,
whom they were delighted to hear me speak well of, and Arabi, for
whom they expressed great respect, and Tewfik’s character, and the
Sultan’s. All these things interest them extremely. The Prince is
a cousin of our friend at Benares, and enjoys a pension of five
hundred rupees a month. He lives in a little old house in the old
town, and keeps a little old Court of old servants like his cousin.
But he is a much more intelligent man, younger and better educated.
He was immensely pleased with my visit, and has promised to take us
to see the Kottub on Thursday, which is eleven miles off.
“This hotel stands on the ramparts, and is a really nice place, its
proprietor a negro of Algerian extraction, but born in France and
a Christian. He knows a few words of Arabic and no more, dresses
in ultra English dress, has served as naval engineer on board Her
Majesty’s fleet, and is more of a John Bull than anybody I know
except Zohrab. His helmet is monumental.
“I may here note that I heard from Akbar Huseyn of a case in which
liberties had been taken by an English official with a Hindu woman,
whose husband’s relations, finding her ‘no longer of any use to
them,’ killed her and laid her outside his tent. The case was taken
up, and though there was no kind of doubt as to the facts, those
who brought it forward were proceeded against by the Government
as having brought a malicious charge, and were sentenced to a
fine of one thousand rupees each, and three months imprisonment.
My informant added: ‘They will never allow a charge to be
substantiated against an official for fear of injuring the British
character.’
“_23rd Jan._--Ikhram Ullah brought us four Mohammedan gentlemen,
with whom we conversed about the political position to be taken up
by Mohammedans in India, and their opinion seemed to be that there
should be more common action with the Hindus. But one of them was
of opinion that the Hindus were impracticable, because they would
not permit the killing of cows. He and Kadi Huseyn, a Shiah, talked
English, but the Sunnis talked none.
“Later we went with Robinson, our black host, to see the fort and
the great mosque, among the few wonders of the world. The mosque
is far and away the finest mosque, the palace far and away the
finest palace; and, except Madura, they stand together first in the
universe. The palace is full of intense interest, for it was here
that the great events of the last three hundred years happened, and
in modern times that the last Emperor of Delhi, after the retaking
of the city by the English, was tried ignominiously for murder.
A dentist whom we met to-day tells us he happened to go into the
hall of audience during the trial, and saw this last of the Mogul
kings crouched before the Military Commission, dressed in a piece
of sacking and a coarse turban ‘like a coolie.’ Here, too, the
English soldiers slew and destroyed some thousands of innocent men
in revenge for the death of about one hundred. The old Loharo chief
assures us 26,000 persons were killed by the soldiers or hanged or
shot or ‘blown up’ during the eight months following the capture
of the city. The city was deserted, and whole quarters and suburbs
razed to the ground. Such are the resources of civilization. The
dentist says he saw nineteen men hanging together in one spot,
and put the number executed at several thousands. I suppose no
Englishman will ever dare write the real history of that year.
“We dined with the Nawab, his son, Prince Suliman Jah, and Ikhram
Ullah, and had some instructive conversation. The son, Emir-ed-din
Feruk Mirza, who is now reigning chief of Loharo, gave me an
amusing account of how young princes were brought up by the British
Government when it happened to become their guardian. They are
taught to ride and play lawn tennis, and the Resident writes that
they are enlightened and loyal princes. Then they are placed on
the throne, but find it dull, and go to Calcutta where they spend
their money. Then they come back and grind their subjects with
taxation, and the Resident writes that they are barbarous and unfit
to govern. Lastly, the Government intervenes and administers the
country for them. He is a very intelligent young man himself, and
his father complains of him because he is too old-fashioned. But
I expect he knows better than the old man the ins and outs of our
modern diplomacy. The old man is a curious type. During the Mutiny,
he tells me, he remained in the city because he could not leave
it. But he kept up communication with the English, and for this
reason he was not hanged, as most people were, or his property
entirely confiscated. It is quite evident to me, however, that,
while expressing loudly his loyalty, all his sympathies are with
the old _régime_. What he did not like about the mutineers was that
most of them were Hindus. But Heaven forgive me if he loves the
English. Things, too, have changed mostly since then, and it is my
firm conviction that in the case of a new mutiny every man, woman,
and child, Mohammedan and Hindu, will join it. The Nawab is a bit
of a humbug, but I like him all the same. He belongs to a school
which is rapidly passing away, the school which allied itself with
the English Government from motives of interest, or sometimes out
of a sincere admiration for some individual Englishman. All this
is gone. The old men’s loyalty has become lip service, and the
young men hardly conceal their thoughts. Nothing is more striking
in India than the absolute want, at the present day, of native
enthusiasm for any particular man. Lord Ripon had this till lately,
but he is the last who will have had it.
“_24th Jan._--We were to have gone on an expedition with Prince
Suliman to the tombs of his ancestors, and the Kottub; but it
has been put off, luckily as it turns out, for Colonel Moore
came in to-day to see us from Meerut. I would not have missed
him for much, as he is the only Englishman I have met who quite
understands the natives, and sympathizes with our ideas. He is
acting as bear-leader to the Duke of Connaught, where he lives in
an uncongenial atmosphere, for he describes the Duke and Duchess
as being of high Tory ideas about English rule in India, quite
unsympathetic with the people. Even if they wished to see anything
of them it would be impossible, for there is great jealousy on the
part of the Indian Government.
“We talked over the whole situation in India, and agreed that it
was impossible so absolutely unsympathetic a Government should not
come into collision, some day, with the people. The Indians were
the gentlest people in the world, and the easiest to govern, or
we could not maintain our rule for an hour. As it was, they had
only to combine against us passively to make the whole machine
stop working. About Egypt, where he acted as Chief Interpreter, he
gave us some valuable information. He knew the whole of the Palmer
history, and had read the report whose existence the Government
denied. In it Palmer stated that he had spent £25,000 on his first
journey between Gaza and Suez on bribing the Bedouins. This money
was secret service money, immense sums of which had been expended.
He had seen and talked to Sultan Pasha, and described him as a
‘miserable fellow.’ On the day of the Khedive’s entry he had been
in the streets and heard the mob cursing the Khedive and all his
family, and cursing the English. He had refused to stay in Egypt,
as, knowing Arabic, he did not like being perpetually insulted. On
the other hand he was no Arabist. He had not seen Arabi, and did
not believe in his patriotism.
“Colonel Moore took us round the city, along the ridge which the
English held during the siege, and explained the strategical
position clearly; and he showed the spot in the Chunda Chowk where
the bodies of the King’s two sons were thrown by Hodson after he
had shot them. He had taken them prisoners at Humayum’s tomb, and
had promised them their lives, but explained that a crowd had
gathered round on his way back to the city with them, and so he
had taken a rifle from the troopers, and shot them both where they
sat in their carriage. The King he had spared, and he had been sent
to die a prisoner at Rangoon. It is a hideous story one side and
the other; but what is certain is, that for every hundred English
killed, the English exacted a thousand native lives, mostly of
innocent men. So, too, the Bedouins seized by Warren in revenge of
the Palmer murder were not those who did the deed. This admission
from Moore, who, better than any man, knew the details of this
business, is of importance. He said the official lies told about
Egypt passed all bounds of belief.
“While we were sitting talking after our drive, a letter came,
about which Primrose had telegraphed me some days ago. It was from
Baring, delivering to me officially a message from Sherif Pasha to
the effect that I should not be permitted to land in Egypt. Moore
was much amused to learn how matters stood. I expect Baring is
personally annoyed at all I told him having come true. On the other
hand, Primrose telegraphs that Lord Ripon says I am at full liberty
to accept Cordery’s invitation to the Residency at Hyderabad, a
much more important matter to me just now than visiting Egypt. I
look upon the university scheme as certain of success.
“_25th Jan._--I have written out a ‘draft scheme of the Deccan
University,’[12] and posted it to Salar Jung with a letter for
the Nizam. I am satisfied with it. Also I have written a letter
to Gordon about his mission to the Soudan, which was announced
in the telegrams two days ago. I consider that he will certainly
come to grief if he holds to the opinion he expressed to me last
year about the necessity for Egypt of retaining Khartoum. I have
a letter of Eddy Hamilton’s in my possession now, saying that he,
Gordon, was considered in Downing Street to be out of his mind. But
time works strange revenges. All this, with about a dozen other
letters, I wrote yesterday.
“My letter to Gordon is as follows:
“Delhi, _24th January, 1884_.
“MY DEAR GENERAL,
“I feel obliged to write to you about your mission to the Soudan.
I see it announced to-day by telegraph, without explanation of
its object, but I cannot wait till more definite news arrives,
and I desire to warn you. It may be you are going there to make
peace between the Mahdi and our troops in Egypt, to acknowledge
his sovereignty in the Soudan, and arrange terms for the
evacuation of Khartoum. If so, I can only wish you God speed. It
is a good work, and you will accomplish it. But if, as I fear
it may be, from the tradition of some of those in power, the
object of your mission is to divide the tribes with a view to
retaining any part of the country for the Khedive, to raise men
for him, and scatter money, it is bad work, and you will fail.
It must be so. Neither your courage nor your honest purpose, nor
the inspiration which has hitherto guided you, will bring you
success. I know enough to be able to assure you that every honest
Mohammedan in Egypt and North Africa and Arabia sympathizes with
the Mahdi’s cause, not necessarily believing him to have a divine
mission, but as representing ideas of liberty and justice and
religious government, which they acknowledge to be divine. For
this reason you will only have the men of Belial on your side,
and these will betray you.
“I beg you be cautious. Do not trust to the old sympathy which
united Englishmen with the Arabs. I fear it is a thing of the
past, and that even your great name will not protect you with
them. Also consider what your death will mean: the certainty of
a cry for vengeance in England, and an excuse with those who ask
no better than a war of conquest. I wish I could be sure that all
those who are sending you on your mission do not forsee this end.
Forgive me if I am wrong in my fears; and believe me yours, very
gratefully, in memory of last year,
“WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT.”
“To-day we spent in visiting the great monuments south of Delhi, in
company with the Loharos and Prince Suliman Jah, who organized the
expedition. We breakfasted at Humayum’s tomb, over whom our friends
the Loharos said prayers, he being their ancestor, not Prince
Suliman’s. It was touching to see this, and to notice a little
offering of withered flowers on the tomb of a man so long dead. We
went to the top of the monument. Prince Suliman, who is well read,
or rather well learned, in history, gave us the story of Humayum
and his dynasty, and pointed out to us on the Hindu fort the tower
from which his great ancestor fell while looking at the stars. They
brought him here and buried him, and his widow raised this pile,
under which the rest of the members of his family lie. Thirty-five
emperors and kings of Delhi lie buried, he told us, within sight
of where we stood. Parrots were building in the chinks of stone;
but there are guardians still of the tomb. It was here that later
the last King of Delhi fled, and was taken by Hodson, with his
two sons, while they were praying, and on the way back from here
that he shot the young princes, our friends’ uncles. We asked him
whether they had been brought back here to be buried, and he smiled
sarcastically. They were thrown like the corpses of dogs into
the street in Delhi, and none knows where they now lie. The King
himself lies buried in Rangoon. From this we went across to the
beautiful mosque and more beautiful tombs of other ancestors, and
of a dead Persian poet, which we found decked with fresh flowers.
Our friends talked all the while of these dead heroes as still
living, and, when the young Loharo exclaimed ‘This country is full
of poets and kings and learned men,’ I, for a moment, thought he
meant at the present day. But it was of those under ground he was
talking. The living people of the place are only poor guardians of
the tombs who live on alms.
“With the Kottub I was less interested--though we climbed to the
top--and mourned with our friends the decay around us. It is
here that the bloodiest of all the battles between Hindus and
Moslems was fought, 200,000 being slain. We talked of Tamerlane,
and I denied he was a Moslem, but my friends warmly supported
his character in this respect, and said he was a friend of the
Seyyids, though they knew of his cruelty and savage conquests and
his pyramids of skulls. But he, too, was their ancestor. With the
Prince we talked in Arabic. He is a Shahzadeh through his mother,
the daughter of the King of Delhi, and he is great grandson of the
Emperor Akbar.
“Coming home, while we were changing horses, I talked to them of
the university, about which they enthusiastically promised to
busy themselves. It appears that Ikhram Ullah, being Seyd Ahmed’s
nephew, had told them nothing of this scheme. They spoke strongly
against Seyd Ahmed as a ‘nature worshipper,’ not a Moslem, and the
young Loharo will get up the Committee here at Delhi. This visit
took the whole day, and we only got back to our hotel at sunset.
“_26th Jan._--We left Delhi for Ulwar. In the gray of the morning
the old man, the elder brother of the Prince but by another mother,
called with messages of farewell and a little box containing the
Prince’s photograph, and some small ornaments, a present from his
wife, which being of no value we gladly accepted.
“At Ulwar we were met at the station by the Diwan and the
Mohammedans in the Maharajah’s employ, and were driven to the
house of His Highness’s doctor, Dr. Mullen, an Irishman, and an
excellent fellow, with a real knowledge of the country, and much
sympathy with the people. According to him, Ulwar and Rajputana,
generally, are very lightly taxed. The assessment made by Colonel
Paulett is only one-sixth of the net produce, and the Maharajah
constantly remits arrears. Of him he spoke very highly as a young
man who did his duty well as a ruler, and as being an excellent
judge of character. He also praised the Diwan. We discussed most of
the political and social problems of India, and he takes rather an
optimistic view of things from his experience being almost entirely
of Rajputana. But he admitted that in other parts there was a
very dangerous ill-feeling between the English and the natives,
though he said they would never rebel again after the lesson of
the Mutiny. I disagree with him here. On the whole an honest good
fellow who does his duty and seems to be liked by all.
“In the evening we called on the Maharajah in his country palace,
and found him with his Court, looking on at lawn tennis. He is
very fond of horses and of sport, but it is difficult to have
conversation of an intimate nature with a man in his position.
Mullen tells me he, the Maharajah, was not highly struck with Laik
Ali when they met at Calcutta, but that the Diwan thought well of
his abilities.
“The Mohammedans of Ulwar are much in decay. Sheykh Wajidah told me
that most of them are hardly Mohammedan except in name, dress like
Hindus, and have no education. He himself is from Lucknow, and his
friend Enait Ullah, the Commissioner-in-Chief, is also from the
North-West. The Maharajah is very liberal to Mohammedans, but the
community is not flourishing. They said they had heard of me as a
friend of Islam, and were delighted at the university idea. They
did not like Seyd Ahmed.
“_27th Jan._--Visited the city palace, which is one of the most
beautiful in the world. We were shown the library, where there was
a splendid Koran, and portraits of the Emperors Baber, Humayum, and
Akbar. The first two pure Mongols in face, with little slant eyes,
the other a regular Brahmin in appearance, as he was in character.
Also the armoury.
“In the afternoon we came on to Jeypore.
“_28th Jan._--Jeypore is a less interesting place than Ulwar, and
we saw it in a less interesting manner. The only Mohammedan I met
was the hotel guide, an Agra man, who had been educated in the
Agra College. He told me there were a good many rich Mohammedans
at Jeypore, both Zemindars and in the Army, besides shop-keepers,
forming one-third of the population. The chief Mulvi’s name is
Sadr-ed-Din.
“We called at the Residency, dull people; and waited at home for
a couple of hours before the train started, expecting the visit
of Mir Kurban Ali, a member of Council, to whom I had written
announcing our arrival. But he did not come, which shows how
difficult it would be to establish relations, except through
introductions.
“We went on through the night towards Bombay.
“_29th Jan._--All day travelling through an interesting country not
unlike Nejd, only far better wooded. The only incident, an English
lawyer at the buffet asking me whether I knew that ‘Mr. Blunt of
Egyptian memories’ was in the train. He told us a good deal about
Hyderabad, where he has practised; was there when Salar Jung
died, and had had an appointment to see him on business that very
morning; was of opinion he had not died a natural death, though the
Residency doctors had certified it was cholera, but no post mortem
was made. Some had put it down to tinned oysters, and several
persons present at the picnic had been unwell but recovered. Salar
Jung’s collapse was sudden and so complete he hardly spoke, and
left no orders or directions about anything. There was a great deal
of talk at Hyderabad about the probability of faction fights, but
he himself did not think it would come exactly to that.
“_30th Jan._--Arrived at Bombay for breakfast. A pile of letters
and newspapers. Gordon already half way to Khartoum, taking with
him the ex-King of Darfour. He is sure to come to grief, and I hope
my letter will catch him in time.
“Called on Malabari, who, I think, is a little ashamed now of the
line he took about the Ilbert compromise. He seems to think they
will never get anything now without something like a revolution,
which is wholly my own opinion. Also called on Mr. Mandlik, the
Hindu Government pleader, who holds the highest position of any
native’s at the Bombay bar. I told him the Patna story. He told me
he had often been insulted himself; on one occasion turned out of
a railway carriage neck and crop between Benares and Allahabad.
Every native in Bombay had been subjected to such incidents, and he
mentioned the instance of the Chief Translator to the Government,
promising to furnish me with proofs.
“_1st Feb._--Finished letters, and then started by midday train for
Hyderabad. At dinner, in the refreshment room, saw, for the first
time, a native in his own dress. He looked rather shy and nervous,
like a _femme honnête_ at Mabille, and I asked him if he did not
expect to be rudely treated. He said ‘Oh, they look at me, but I
am not afraid.’ He was a Mohammedan tradesman, and before going he
gave me his card. When I told him my name, he said he had heard of
me through the newspapers.
“_2nd Feb._--All day in the train, which was several hours
behind time owing to the crowds of people flocking to the
installation--everything at the refreshment room at Wady eaten up
by the Viceroy, who is just ahead of us--flags, greens, and flowers
at all the stations--finally arriving at 9 p.m., to find that
Cordery and all his guests are at Bolarum, so that we have had an
eleven mile drive on the top of the railway journey. Solomon and
the luggage only turned up this morning, 3rd February, having slept
out somewhere on the road.”
FOOTNOTES:
[10] Sir Alfred Lyall, K.C.B., G.C.I.E., then Lord Governor of the
North-West Provinces.
[11] Mr. Beck certainly succeeded and acquired a notable influence
with the young generation of Mohammedans. His death, some years
ago, caused universal regret.
[12] See Appendix.