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Leader (1850-1860), 16th August 1856, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15

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      His Highness Meer Ali Mobad. When The Br...

      at the earliest opportunity . The treaty was written in the blank leaves of a Koran , and duly attested by the seals of Roostum Kh-ot , Nusseeb Khan , and Ali Akbae . Copies of it were sent to Captain Bbowjt and Major Clibbobitb , who forwarded his own copy to the former . The worsted army impatiently abided their time , and looked out afar for revenge . Their busy intrigues , and the fact that they were stealthily collecting armed men and warlike material , soon reached

      the ears of Sir Chaeles Napieb . That impetuous old man instantly decided that they must be plotting against the British G-overnment ; or , rather , he wished that it should so be deemed . Indeed , immediately after his arrival at Sukhur , he wrote to Lord Ellenbobottgh that " only a fair pretext was wanted to coerce the Ameers . " He even presumed to insult the chivalrous Otttbam with the remark that " the intrigues of these

      people are very silly , and like a tangled skein of thread ; we can cut the Gordian knot as Alexandeb did ; we are too strong to take the trouble to untie it . " In pursuance of these imperial views , he issued a proclamation on the 1 st of December , confiscating a large tract of land on the left bank of the Indus , yielding an annual revenue of upwards of 60 , 000 / ., because the Ameers had proved somewhat restive under the harsh conditions

      occasionally imposed upon them of late . The forfeited lands belonged to Meeb Roostum and the sons of Moo bah tick Khan : An Mobad basked in the smiles of the British commander , and was especially exempted . Soon afterwards , the favoured chief wrote to the latter to claim the pergunnah , or district , of Mahtela , which , he now said , had been ceded to him on the battle-field of Nownahar .

      Sir Ciiari / es , however , was too wily to be thus overreached , and delayed returning a decisive answer . It being known , also , that Captain Pope was instructed to examine the Koran , as a rumour of a forgery having been committed had gone forth , it became necessary to take preventive measures against detection . In the attempt to alter the Persian words signifying " village of JVfahtela" into

      " district of Mahtela , " & c , & c , the first leaf of the document was spoiled , and the tampering with the original became too plain not to attract attention . Au Mo bad therefore instructed Peer Ali Gohuh , in whose handwriting the treaty stood , to extract the injured loaf , and insert another iu which the proposed interpolations should be fairly introduced . For a time the Peer declined to

      do so , and complained to Sheik Ajli Hus-BEtN " , the Meer ' s Minister , of the insult that had been offered to him . The latter , however , reminded him that he was only a servant , and advised him to execute Ali Mokad ' s orders on obtaining an indemnity for himself . The Meer at once took all the responsibility of the doed upon himself , and sealed and ratified a paper to that effect , drawn up by tho ( Sheikh . Pjkeii Am Gonra then committed his share of the fraud , and Captain Pope failed to discover tho deception that was . practised upon him . But it was not sufficient that the document in the

      Koran sanctioned Alt Morad ' s usurpation . It was also necessary that tho copies of the -original treaty should bo destroyed which were deposited in the records of the Seinclo Office . A bribo of 1000 / . was there-fore offered to one Mojdeen , Captain Brown ' s Moonshee , for tho abstraction of the papers . In tho hope of onrning tho reward without incurring tho danger , M ' orwERN , after n time , assured the Meer that tho box containing tho oojxioH had boon destroyed in tho attack on tho Kcsiden ' cy at Hyderabad . Am Morai ) , however , was not to be ho outnly outwitted , and refused to pay tho money

      until the papers were actually in his possession . The box . was then purloined , and the stipulated reward handed over to the dishonest Moonshee . Suspicion indeed fell upon him , and he was for a time placed in confinement , but as the fact could not positively be brought home to him he was again set at liberty , and soon afterwards dismissed . Eventually all these fraudulent transactions came to light through the confessions of Ali Mobad ' s chief instruments , whose expectations of reward had been worthily disappointed . A commission of inquiry having _

      been appointed , it was clearly proved that his Highness Ali Mobad had gained possession of a district belonging to the British G-overnment by means of a fabricated document . That this shameless imposition has been punished—albeit all too gently , —that Ali Morad has been compelled to disgorge his ill-gotten plunder : —is now made the subject of a grievance , and needy orators declaim with Hibernian assurance , and more than Hibernian inaccuracy and exaggeration , against the tyrannical conduct of the East India Company .

      Nor was this Ali Mobad ' s sole offence . Finding himself unable to keep in check the fierce chieftains who yielded nominal allegiance to him as their Eais , Meeb Roostfm Khan had arrived at the conclusion that his wisest course was to proceed to the British camp and place himself at the absolute disposal of the British commander . Sir Chablus Napier admitted that he was aware of a

      rumour to this effect , and that in order to escape the embarrassment likely to arise from the Ameer ' s presence in his camp , he had advised him to place himself under the protection , and be guided by the advice , of his younger brother , Ali Morad . Sir Chables added that Roostttm Khan actually sent him a message deploring his want of power to control the members of his own family , but the venerable chief positively denied that he had ever forwarded anv such communication .

      However , acting upon the disingenuous suggestion of the English general , Meeb Roostum repaired to Deejee-ke-kote , the baronial residence of An Morad . The consequence was precisely what iSir Charles might have anticipated . The old man was coerced into the surrender of the Turban and the lands assigned for its maintenance , together with the whole of his private estates . It was alleged , indeed , that the act was purely voluntary , but at a subsequent period An

      Mobad himself acknowledged to Captain Pope that such was not the case : coolly remarking at the same time , " Everything is allowable in political matters . " And his Minister answered one query by another" Who gives lands and sovereignty away voluntarily ? Even Sjr Chables Napieb deemed it inexpedient on the part of Ali Morad to act upon this cession of the Turban , and endeavoured to dissuade him from its immediate assumption—adding , however , " but do as you please . " He also then sent to Eoostum Khan , requesting an interview . This message never reached the unfortunato

      Ameer . On the contrary , Ali Morad assiduously agitated his mind with vague terrors with regard to " the Brother of Satan , " warned him against placing himself in the power of the British , who intended to throw him into prison . Jh it matter for surprise that the dispirited and harassed old man fled into tho desert in order to escape- the indignity of a gaol ? Soon afterwards ho joined the Ameers assembled at Hyderabad to diweiias tho draft of tho new treaty proponed by ( Sir CiiAitLua Naimer . The Ameei \ s agreed to accept the terms they had no power to 10-fiino , but demanded permission to replace tho turban on M icior Koobtu . m ' b head , otherwise

      it would -be impossible for them to restrain their wild Beeloochee followers . Major Otttbam , though convinced of the truth of their statement , and equally so of Ali Mobad ' s duplicity , had no authority to iaterfere in the matter . It then fell out as the Ameers had predicted . Their fierce followers attacked the Residency , which Otttbam noblydefended until the prompt arrival of Sir Chables Napieb and his little army of heroes . The victories of Meeanee and Dubha followed in rapid succession . Scinde was subdued , and Ali Mobad confirmed in the possession of the Turban . It would be tedious to relate all his other ¦> < v ^« •« « * m - m . _

      frauds and misdeeds—how he maligned his kinsmen to the British Commander , and misrepresented that Commander to his countrymen—how he appropriated to his own use the lands he held in trust for his nephewsor how for many years he withheld from his starving relatives the pension he was bound to pay unto them . Sir Charles Napies refused to listen to the complaints of the sufferers , though fully aware of their reasonableness . For a time matters of greater

      public importance diverted the attention of the Government from the minor oppressions perpetrated in Scinde by the General appointed by the British Crown . Eventually , some sort of redress has been offered for longendured wrongs , and some sort of punishment has been awarded to hitherto triumphant crime . This it is of which Ali Mobad complains . This is the grievance which Mr . Butt desired to bring before the British , Parliament .

      A*R<?Rergt *6 ,1856] T H ^ Il E A D Ie &...

      A * r

      Dove As A Conveet. Habemus Conjitentem R...

      DOVE AS A CONVEET . Habemus conjitentem reum—Dove has confessed , and we have before us the full exposure of a brute after he has been subjected to the process called " religious aid . " Not long since he was the selfish fool and brute that we see in his evidence . We have his portrait painted by himself , as he lay on the rughalf wishing that the Wizard could work some spell upon his wife , so as to render her more available , and to make him " happy ;" half wishing that she might be out of the way , and that a more desirable woman would be in her place ; the strychnine has been put into her medicine—the potion a fair emblem of his own wishes—but put in with a vague , bemuzzed confusion of ideas , in which stupidity shielded the murderer from a distinct sense of his own crime ; he has added the stupor of drink to that of nature ; and he lies waiting the event . He was incapable of his own crime . The Borgia would be libelled by tho comparison . He shuts out from his mindand from , that dark , narrow mind ali thoughts not centring in self were easily shut outall tho disagreeable part of the crime—his intent to kill , or even the agonizing death , of which he had distinctly read . IIo only wants her to be cured , or killed ; he wants it to happen that she shall die ; but instead of wishing any harm to her why , did not ho marry hor " for love ? " When she does dieho is astonished .

      But then hia grand anxiety is lest there should bo an inquest . She did not wish it , and shall he not consult her wishes P There is an inquest , and ho is found out . But he is mad ; his wife made him " unhappy ; " besides , it ia all the fault of " that bad man Harbison , " who was always hint ing ho irresistibly'about strychnine . Ho is condemned , and expects to bo hanged ; and then ho writes a note to " that man" I / O release him ; failing which , ho writes a second * to " JDoai * Devil , " in . hopes , if there ia a Devil , that that party may fetch him out ; of gaol , and give him a more jovial rommmt of life than ho has had with tho » iekly Sajkah .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 16, 1856, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16081856/page/15/