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Leader (1850-1860), 25th August 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 818, Untitled Article

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      faction or office . He is only a patriot , only oaae of the moat efficient servants that the people had in Parliament ; the people having very few efficient servants in these days . Jfow " the people" is a vague expression , but a Member of Parliament looks to his constituency ; this constituency expects him to obey its general wish to maintain the high credit which it may have acquired in Parliament ; and , in short , to gratify at once its conscience and its pride . Roebuck has done

      both for Sheffield . Has Sheffield no return ? Evidently the public , meeting under the Presidency of the Mayor , with Mr . Wiiiiam 3 ? isheb taking the lead , admits that Sheffield has a duty , and that some of them , at all events , know what they ought to do . We say , however , that if this proposition should prove a failure , Sheffield would be absolutely dishonoured . We might say more ; we might ask whether any really independent constituencies would not gain — ay , in positive worldly profit—by completing the tenure of

      their Members , and giving their Members a genuine Parliamentary salary . That it would make Members more independent we are perfectly certain ; that it would bring out a new class of professional men , not necessarily connected with the patronage-made aristocracy , is also obvious ; but ifc would not require much space to show that ultimately constituencies would gain in pounds , shillings , and pence . A few such Members , working together , would soon take away from Parliament that mass of local business which at

      present impedes the imperial business , overworks Members sitting in . London , and is badly conducted , because conducted at a distance from the spot where the real merits are understood . Now we say that simply to recover that local business , so that affairs of the county shall be conducted by the

      county , and parish affairs by the parish , would very soon pay the constituencies for any sums which they might advance to their Members in bringing about that grand restoration of self-government . And that is only one result by which independent Members for the people could promote the material welfare of all classes .

      At present , however , we are not considering the payment of Members , but only a debt due from Sheffield to its Member ; and from the public of this country to that Member of Parliament who , instead of limiting his services to his constituency , or placing them at the disposal of party , has on all occasions been foremost to vindicate the rights and welfare of the whole country .

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      THE INDEPENDENT STATES OF INDIA . ( conclusion . ) It is not many years since the fashionable world of London derived considerable amusement from the eccentricities of his Excellency Jung Bahadoor , ambassador extraordinary from his Nepaulese Majesty to the sovereign of the British Isles . It is possible that many persons then heard for the first time of the existence of such a kingdom , but it is hardly probable that the illustrious stranger , the admired of all beholders , was known to any as a blood-stained villain who had obtained his first advancement by the murder of his own uncle , his beat and kindest friend .

      This atrocious act gained him the favour of the Ranee , and the post of Commander-in-Chief . In the following year , 1846 , the Government was conducted by a triumvirate of Ministers , one of whom was murdered in his own house . Jung Bahadoor ' s suspicions falling upon Abinam Singh , one of the deceased man ' s colleagues , he urged the other survivor , Futteh Singh , to put him to death , and become sole premier . As the latter hesitated to act upon his truculent advice , Jung determined to consult his own safety by deposing both the Ministers . A fracas consequently ensued in the presence of the Ranee , when a ball from Jung ' s unerring rifle laid Futteh Singh dead at the Queen ' s feet ; and as Futteh ' s son rushed

      forward to avenge his father , one of Junjs brothers cut him down with his sword . At the further end of the hall there stood fourteen noblemen , friends of the murdered Minister , and fourteen times did Jung receive a loaded rifle from his guards until his enemies were all laid low in death . Abinam Singh , in attempting to force his way out , was also cut down . A terrible massacre then ensued , and no fewer than 150 sirdars were slain in the very palace . On the next day the troops unanimously elected their Commander-inchief to the post of Prime Minister , the virtual ruler of the country . Other plots soon afterwards .

      followed , and were only repressed by more bloodshed , tmtil at length the Ranee was exiled to Benares , and during the absence of the Rajah , who accompanied her to her destination , their youthful son was placed on the throne . The old Rajah , having subsequently made an attempt to recover his lost power , was defeated and taken prisoner . From that time Jung ^ Buhadoor has field possession of his bad pre-eminence through the universal dread of his desperate resolution and the known fidelity of his bodyguard . But that he is fully sensible of the hollowness of his position

      may be inferred from the fact that he expended 2000 Z . in London on the purchase of rifles for his guards , whose arms are ever loaded , and whose skill and valour are approved . Indeed , soon after his return to ! Nepaul he incurred considerable danger from a conspiracy organised by his own brother . For , as Mr . OHphant remarks , it does not signify "in the least in Nepaul whether a man is a fratricide or prefers making away with more distant relatives . If you do not associate with assassins , you must give up the pleasures of Nepaul society . Among the natives assassination is not but matter of

      looked upon as a crime , as a course . " The same writer mentions a prevalent rumour that the young king was in the habit of amusing himself by witnessing wholesale executions of slaves in the palace-yard , for nearly all the domestic servants are the property of their masters , being sold into slavery by their wretched parents . Whenever danger has seemed to impend over the British sway , the Nepaulese have shown themselves eager to add to our difficulties . And this is one very strong argument in favour of the absorption of all the independent states of India . In times of peace they are troublesome and expensive allies ; but in times of war they are covert foesever on the watch for an opportunity to

      , work us some grievous injury . After our terrible disasters in Affghanistan , and also during the Sikh invasions , very many states only wanted a leader to combine and organise their forces . Had any great chief arisen we should have found enemies in the very heart of our dominions , and the fidelity of our native troops would have been sorely tested- And the inconvenience caused by the interruption to the uniformity and consolidation of our territories will be readily appreciated when it is remembered that there are interspersed upwards of 180 protected , or independent , states , varying in superficial area from one to ninety-five thousand square miles . Were it not for this circumstance , a much smaller army would suffice for

      the defence of our dominions , and one common system of law and police might be established from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin , from the frontiers of Affghanistan to the Bay of Bengal . Unquestionably , we cannot at once stretch forth our hand and appropriate these vast tracts of country ; but our common humanity imperatively demands the extinction of the cruel oppression exercised upon so many millions of our fellowcreatures . Many persons in this country entertain the idea that the whole peninsula of Hindostan is already subject to our control ; but so far

      is this from being the case that , while the British territories consist only of 670 , 177 square miles , with a population of nearly 108 millions , the area of the unprotected and independent Btates ia equal to 690 , 261 square miles , though their population does not exceed 53 millions , a very significant fact in itself . The revenues of these states amount to nearly thirteen millions of money , even under their present aystem of misgovernment , and this addition to tbe means now at the disposal of the British Government would facilitate to an inconceivable extent the introduction of vast material

      and social improvements . The welfare of our fellow-subjects in India requires that thcro should bo no dens of robbers maintained at their very doors . Unsettled and disorderly habits are thus fostered , and the progress of civilisation retarded . Were a regular

      police organised throughout the country , it would be possible to disarm the inhabitants and to prohibit the use of deadly weapons . At present , peaceful men are compelled in self-defence to assume the garb of warriors or marauders , and there is no sufficient security for the solitary trader or traveller . The very safety of our empire is emperilled by containing within , its bosom the germs of faction and war , and in the event of an invasion by a European power , these petty states mi-rht occasion most serious alarm and in-. «__ _ ^ a ^ _

      c . But admitting that the entire absorption of all native principalities into the British Empire must be the work of time and opportunity , there is one extensive kingdom about which there need be no delay , and for the annexation of which there is ample justification . It was in tbe first half of the eighteenth century that the Oudc dynasty was founded , in the person of Mahonimed Ameen , a successful soldier of fortune , who obtained the investiture of the vice-royalty of Oude , with the title of Sadut Khan . Until the year 1819 ,

      however , the Nawabs , his successors , always professed outward homage to their suzerain the Mogul . But at that period Lord Hastings absurdly enough encouraged the Nawab Ghazee-ood-deen Hyder to assume the title of king . His lordship ho doubt flattered himself that by thus raising up a rival to the Delhi family he had achieved a masterstroke of policy—forgetful that both potentates had long since ceased to be formidable save only to their own subjects . The son and successor of this new-made monarch " more than perpetuated the worst practices of his predecessors . Engaged in every species of debauchery , and surrounded

      by wretches , English , Eurasian , and Native , of the lowest description , his whole reign was one con - tinued satire upon the subsidiary and protected system . Bred m a palace , nurtured by women and eunuchs , he added the natural fruits of a vicious education to those resulting from his protected position . His Majesty might one hour be seen in a state of drunken nudity with his boon companions ; at another lie would parade the streets of Lucknow driving one of his own elephants . In his time all decency , all propriety , was banished from the court . Such more than once was his conduct , that Colonel Lowe , the Resident , refused to sec him , or to transact business with his minions . "

      So terrible was the miagovernment of the country , and so much difficulty was experienced in obtaining the payment of the annual subsidy , that at length , in virtue of existing treaties , the Home Government instructed Lord William Bentinck to take possession of the kingdom . But that nobleman was ever more ready to carry out his own crotchets thnn to execute the instructions he received from his superiors . He , therefore , postponed the measure , and so perpetuated the sufferings of the Oude people , in the hope that under a new reign some amelioration would take p lace .

      How far these expectations have been iulnllcd may be shown in . . the following statement made by a European gentleman in a position to speak with authority : — " I have travelled several times into the districts of Oude , and passed over tracts of uncultivated , though rich , lands without meeting a single individual , and through villages whollydcserted , and with nothing but bare walls for houses , from which the roofs had been taken away by the wretched fugitives , who , on the approach of troops , seek refuge in the jungles with their families , cattle , and the little property that may have escaped the rapacity of the Zemindar , who , instead of being the protector , is but too frequently the robber of the helpless ryots . "

      The kingdom ia at present divided into twentythree chucklas , or districts , the revenues of which are farmed out to Chucklidars , sometimes through interest and bribery , at other times to the highest bidder . As the royal troons arc not liable to be called upon for foreign service , they act merely as a police for the benefit of the tax-gathercra . And there is no regular or equitable assessment . Every Zemindar , or landholder , is fined— rather than taxed—according to his means of resistance . When several zemindarees are held by one man , ho is called a Talooqdar , and ia then generally able to present a stout opposition to the forces of the Ainil who comes to exact payment . If peivlian ' ce tin armed rencounter ensue between the liiMt r und the Tttlooqdav ' fl adherents , and the Ainil hhould happen to be sluin , the defaulter taken to the bush until his friends arrange with the court the amount of blood-money he is to pity *

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 25, 1855, page 818, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2103/page/14/