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 IN 
 
 1890 AND 1891. 
 
 COMPRISINa ALL THE LETTERS 
 
 ox 
 HYDERABAD AFFAIRS WRITTEN TO THE MADRAS 
 
 BY ITS HYDERABAD CORRESPONDENT 
 
 DURING 
 
 1890 J^1<T1D 1891. 
 
 a ii s n ( o r c : 
 
 PRINTED AT THE CAXTON PRESS, 
 17, SOUTH PARADE. 
 
 1 8 9 -J . 
 

 .bi; 
 
 \ -^ lie/ 
 
 HENRY MORSE STEPHENS 
 
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 DEDICATED 
 
 TO 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF HYDERABAD 
 
 IN WHOSE INTERESTS 
 
 THE LETTERS GOMPRISIKG THIS VOLUME WERB 
 
 WRITTEN. 
 
 T7ie HycLevcLbaci Con^esjpondeTit, 
 
 511597 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The appearance of this book is due to tLe sugges- 
 tion of some friends "U'lio were kind enough to think, 
 and had influence enough to make me believe, that the 
 letters I had written to the ]\radias Hindum my capacity 
 of its Hyderabad Correspondent during 1890 and 1S9L 
 deserved to be rescued from the oblivion that is the fate 
 of newspaper contributions generally. AVhen this fact 
 has been stated, there is little, I think, that remains to 
 be added by way of bespeaking the indulgence of the 
 reader for any blemishes in the manner in which facts 
 are put forth, popular feeling is portrayed and honest 
 comments are fearlessly made in the following pages. 
 
 I have omitted a few paragraphs that could be of 
 momentary interest and importance only, and corrected 
 a few insignificant errors here and. there. In all other 
 respects the letters appear in this volume exactly as 
 thev did in the columns of the ]\ladras Hindu' 
 
 The Hi/derahad Corresjwndent- 
 
 1st November 1892. 
 
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE NAWAB MUSHTAK 
 HUSAIN INTESAR JUNG BAHADUR. 
 
 I was recently in Hyderabad. I found that the impopularity 
 of the men in power had not, during my absence of about three 
 mouths from the phice, lessened a whit — but on the other hand 
 it had considerably increased. Almost every man of intelligence 
 that I came across, had something or other to say against the 
 policy of the Government — condemned, in no measured terms, 
 the influences at work, the manner in which this Rajah's claims 
 had been shelved and that Jagheerdhar sent * to rack and ruin, 
 this honest Hindu official had been brought into trouble and that 
 Moslem immigrant had been pitchforked into a high position and 
 so on, and so on. And I was naturally curious to know what 
 the powers-that-be had to say in their own behalves. So, according 
 to an appointment previously arranged for, I repaired on Sunday 
 last at 11 A. M,, to the residence of the Nawab Mushtak Husain 
 lutesar Jung Bahadur — Revenue Secretary to the Nizam's 
 Government and chief of the party in the ascendant, or the 
 Minister de facto as he is known among most people in 
 Hyderabad^ — and presented my card. Ushered into a hall fur- 
 nished in perfect Moglai style, a relative of the Nawab's informed 
 me that the " Maulvie Shaib " had been suddenly summoned by 
 the " Nawah Sahib " [i. e. the Minister) and ho had sent a 
 telephonic message a few minutes previously to the effect that 
 he would be back " presently " to see me. I took a seat and 
 waited. About 1 minutes afterwards a carriage drove in — and 
 almost immediately I found myself in the presence of a man of 
 medium height and middle age, bearded rather luxuriantly, in 
 the typical Hyderabadee costume; and he was no other than the 
 Nawab lutesar Jung Bahadur. He advanced and shook hands 
 with me, and taking a seat closeby, launched into apologies for 
 
being uupunctual. Acknowledging his great consideration for 
 me iu the usual oriental terms, I proceeded to business- What 
 transpired, I shall note down below pro bono publico. 
 
 " I have heard a good deal " I began, " about men in power 
 here aud their measures, and I am here to find out, if possible, 
 from you how far what I have beard is true." 
 
 " I am thankful to you " he replied, " fur taking the trouble 
 of coming all the way here to find out the truth. I shall be 
 glad to answer, as well as I could, any questions you may wish 
 to put me." 
 
 " There is an impression abroad that the Administration is 
 iudividually, as well as in a body, opposed to the Hindu interests. 
 Has this impression any foundation in tact?" 
 
 '•' No. As for myself, I have always favoured the Hijidus. 
 (And poiuting out to me a paragraph iu the report submitted by 
 him, to the late Nawab Muneer-ul-Mulk Bahadur, as Subedhar of 
 the Easteru Division, in which reference is made to the placing 
 of the tempb of Jeedkul on a footing of equality with Mahomedan 
 shrines iu respect of Government grant, he continued.) This 
 paragraph will show you whether 1 am opposed to the Hindu 
 interests or not,'"' 
 
 " This pragraph" 1 putiu, "jihows you favoured the Hindus 
 about 3 years ago, that is, when you had no power ; and it does 
 not give one an idea as to whether now that you are in power, 
 you continue to be what you were then." 
 
 " Since coming into power 1 have been instrumental in the 
 Government granting iiavn lands to many Hindus in the District. 
 And the charge of antagonism to Hindus a.-, applied to the 
 Government is groundless, inasmuch as only recently a Hindu 
 has been made a Judge of the Small Causes Court aud another 
 Hindu promoted to be Assistant Jtidicial Commissioner of a 
 whole District." 
 
" You have mentioned onl}^ two instances " I said, "in 
 which Hindus have come into prominence. Bui I eonld mention 
 several instances of noble and time-hononred Hindu families 
 reduced to a pitiable state under the present regime. The Chandu 
 Lai family is nowhere in the State now — the living representa- 
 tive of it, Rajah Kishen Pershad, has not even the wherewithal 
 to live up to his social position. The Rnjah of Anagondj is 
 only a Rajah in name. Rajah Kai Rayau is a beggar now com- 
 pared with what he was." 
 
 "Raja Kishen Pershad" the Nawab Intesar Jung replied, 
 " could have no reasonable complaints to prefer against those in 
 power. The Peishkarship has been a sinecure for the last 35 
 years — ever since Secretaryships were created by the first Salar 
 Jung. And if Sir Asmanjah tries to reduce the emoluments of 
 the sinecure, is lie to be blamed ? Is it not the object, nay the 
 bounden duty, of all enlightened Governments to reduce useless 
 expenditure as hir as possible ? Had the reins of Government 
 been in the hands of a modern o-raduate or a man like Sir T. 
 Madhava Rao instead of in the hands of a noblemen of Sir 
 Asmanjah's stamp, the Peishkarship would have gone clean out 
 of existence long since. Sir Asmanjah is blamed for doing 
 what anybody else in his position would consider an act of 
 extreme kindness or consideration." 
 
 " What has the Minister to do with the Peishkar ? The 
 Peishkar has ever been independent of, and not inferior to, the 
 minister — is it not ?" 
 
 ''No" replied the Nawab; " the office of Peishkar has always 
 been subordinate to that of minister." 
 
 '' I have read somewhere that the way in which Nasir-ud- 
 Dowlah, the grandfather of the present Nizam, installed Rnjah 
 Narender Pershad and Sir Salar Jung I in the offices of Peish- 
 kar and Minister, at the Durbar held on the 31st May 1853, 
 attests to the equality of the two positions. Nasir-ud-Dowlah, 
 it is said, took the turban aud jewels pertaining to either of the 
 
'4 
 
 offices in each hand and decorated therewith Raja Narendar and 
 Salar Jung respectively at one and the same time." 
 
 " This is not true" replied the Xawnb. "The very fact 
 of the Feishkar having always given nuzur to the Minister 
 clearly shows that the Peishkar has ever been under tlie Minister 
 and not equal to or independent of him. Now about the Rajah 
 of Anagondy: He owes all that he has to Sir Asmaujah. A little 
 before Sir Asmanjah became Prime Minister, Mr. Dunlop, at 
 the head of a Committee appointed to in(|uire into the Raja's 
 affairs, had decided that his estate should be confiscated. This 
 decision would have been carried into effect if only Sir Asmanjah 
 had taken charofe of the administration a month later than he 
 did. Sir Asmanjah showed respect to what the Rajah of 
 Anagondy at one time was, when he used his influence and 
 prevented the above decision from being carried out. So then, 
 j^ou see the Rajah is under obligations to the Minister and has 
 no grounds for any legitimate complaint against him. 
 
 '' So then, you think" Tasked, "that if these people have 
 suffered they have suffered but rightly ?" 
 
 " All that I can say is that the Govemiment's action with 
 regard to these, has been suggested not hy any ill-will but by 
 considerations of expediency." 
 
 " While holding office in the Aurangabad District, some 
 years ago" I said, "you wi'ote to the Government to say that 
 these were among the few families in the State which represented 
 oases in a vast waste, and as such they must be " kept up " at 
 any cost. Now that you are in power, you look on uuconcerned 
 while they are drifting downwards to obscurity if not to ruin. 
 How is this ?" 
 
 After some hesitation the Nawab said, " 77/^n I could ex- 
 press my personal views freely. Now that I am crmfidemial 
 Secretary to the Government, I coifid not do >o. People would 
 do well to recognise where power is centered. It is no use 
 allowing false notions o<f dignity liind thoaghts of a power and a 
 
alory that were, to come in the way of our abiding by its pru- 
 dential decisions ; we should only be the losers for so doiug." 
 
 " It is said and believd " I said, '' that Sir Asmanjah does 
 nothing by himself, that he is solely led by you in^^every 
 ^natter— that you are the minister de facto. Is this true? ' 
 
 " It must be admitted that Sir Asmanjah is not a graduate 
 of a University. And it is fortunate that he is not a graduate- 
 otherwise there would have been a sweeping off of all traditions 
 and old associations and families. Sir Asmanjah is where he 
 is, not so much by right of his intelligence and education as by 
 that of being one of the leading noblemen in the State. As 
 such, one cannot expect him to understand, judge and decide 
 everything by himself— and he must needs trust somebody 
 under him. " 
 
 " Is it true," I asked then, " that a committee has been 
 appointed to find out whether, from a religious point of view, 
 it is advisable for the Government to send Hindu students to 
 England for being educated there ? " 
 
 "■ Yes. In accordance with a resolution of the Govern- 
 ment published in the Jareeda (Government Gazette) a 
 committee has been appointed of Raja Shivaraj Bahadur, Bansi 
 Raja, Motilal, Desikachari and others— to find out whether the 
 rules and codes that guide the Hindu Society, allow of Hindus 
 going to England." 
 
 " The Government, " I said, " has been unfortunate in the 
 men it has selected to be its advisers on this important subject. 
 In the first place, the men you have just now named, are not by 
 education, or association fit to undertake the consideration of 
 the subject of Sea-voyage. In the second place, they are men 
 known to entertain views adverse to Hindus going to England. 
 So then, does not the appointment of these men on the Committee 
 amount to taking away with the one hand what has been given 
 with the other— nullifying the promises held out by the notifi- 
 cation in the Jareeda ? " 
 
^'The Nawab [mad-ud-Dowlali, Mr. Hod sou and myself 
 where on the Committee appointed to select members for the 
 Hindu Committee. After a deal of discussion we chose Rajah 
 Shiva llaj and others as being men in whom the Hindu commu- 
 nity has confidence." 
 
 " Yon have not made a happy selection " said I. " These 
 are men whose opinioris or decisions on social and relig'ious 
 matters few Hindus would caro to accept or be guided by. I say 
 this — after having' sounded many intellioent and educated 
 Hindus on the point. " 
 
 " If you will give me the names of some of those, who, 
 you think, are worthy of being- on the Committee, I shall feel 
 very much obliged to yon," said the Nawab. 
 
 ^' I shall send you a list of the names of the men whom the 
 Government might profitably consult with regard to the 
 matter." 
 
 The Nawab then assured me: " The decisions of the Com- 
 mittee are not final. It has simply to receive the applications 
 for scholarships and transmit them to the Government with such 
 remarks as it mio-ht deem fit to offer. The Government reserves 
 to itself the right to act up to or set aside the conclusions of the 
 Committee." 
 
 Then our talk turned upon several other matters which 
 I have not the time to refer to now. 
 
 I bade the Nawab Intesar Jung good-bye at about half-past 
 one in the afternoon, He was very kind and civil throughout 
 the interview, and his manner impressed me as being that of 
 one who is as ready and willing to be advised as to advise. 
 
 GuLBURG\, 3rd September, 1S90. 
 
GuLBAEGA, 11th September 1890. 
 
 Speculation is rife with regard to the question of the four 
 Government Scholarships founded ostensibly for the benefit of 
 Hyderabadee students desirous of prosecuting their studies in 
 England. I have heard that the Scholarships are meant for 
 four Mahoniedan youths, all related to one or the other of the 
 leading officials and that the Hindu Committee and the notice 
 of a competitive test in the Jareeda are all make-believes ihavin"" 
 for their object the providing against the hue and cry of the 
 newspaper wallalis, and the hoodwinking of the people. And 
 I have even been furnished with the names of these fortUDate 
 youths, by some kind people. I shall wait to see how far this 
 hearsay is true. In the meanwhile, it might interest your 
 readers to know, that writing to the Nawab Intesar Jung Baha- 
 door, — subsequent to my sending you the account of the 
 interview — a/ient this affair"^ I said, " The Government might 
 profitably consult on the matter Hindus of light and leading 
 like Dewan Bahadoor Raghunath Rao of Madras, Messrs Telaug 
 and Ranade of Bombay, and Dr. Rajaudra Lai Mitra of Calcutta. 
 Nothing less than a consultation of this sort will, I can assure you 
 satisfy the public, and divest the question of tho^character of a 
 " hole and corner affair " that many are inclined to give it." 
 
 In a letter on '' Hyderabad affairs " from a correspondent 
 which appeared in your issue of the 3rd instant, it was stated: 
 " A curious order, I hear, was jpromulgated by the Government 
 just before the commencement of the Moharrum. It is that 
 during the Moharrum no music should be plaj'ed in Hindu 
 houses, not even bells should be rung.'' I was in Hyderabad 
 during the Moharrum and i did not hear of any such order, 
 or notice any thing in proof of such an order having been 
 "promulgated by the Goverumeni."^ HoAvever, to make things 
 
 * The examination iu connection with the scholarships did come oil'. And 
 the names of the successful candidates -were duly anounced. But none of 
 these has been to England, though each one of them has since been getting a 
 scholarship for studying in India -why, I cannot say. But the popular impression 
 is that not being the favourite students for whom the scholarsbips had been 
 
 meaut, tk«se successful cauditates were not given them and sent to England. 
 
-8 
 
 doubly sure, I wrote to the Nawab Musbtak Hussain for infor- 
 mation about it; and he has written to me to say: ''There is no 
 truth whatever in the statement made by " a Correspondent/' 
 about " a curious order " — alluded to by you. It may be 
 classed with the false " facts " which mischievous people 
 manufacture to poison the minds of the public against the 
 present administration." 
 
 The rumour that has been going the rounds in Hyderabad for 
 sometime past, that the Nawab Intesar Jung has resigned his 
 appointment or is about to resign it — is not without foundation. 
 I say so on the authority of the Nawab himself. The Nawab, it 
 would seem, bound himself to serve the Nizam's Government lor a 
 period of 30 years when he took service under it during the 
 days of the first Sal ir Jung. His term of office expires on the 
 22ud instant and he has put in an application to the Govern- 
 ment for permission to retire on pension on that date. " This need 
 be no matter for surprise" writes the Nawab. "I told the 
 late Sir Salar Jung I, when I entered the service that I had 
 no intention of staying here after the completion of my terra ; 
 and I have all along been telHng my friends of my intention 
 to resign my appointment at the close of the term." 
 
 Mr. Seymore Keay's visit is looked forward to anxiously by 
 many in Hyderabad. What might come out of his visit, no 
 body could say, or rather I, who do not happen to be in the 
 confidence of the busy bodies who lay much store by it, could not 
 say. But this may be said, that Mr. Keay, such as he has 
 proved himself to be, now that he can be meddlesome with 
 impunity is not likely to keep his hands clean of Hyderabad 
 affairs. I mean to interview him here on his way to Hyderabad, 
 and I may be able to acquaint myself at least with the ostensible 
 object of this, his second visit to the capital of the Nizam after 
 his entrance into the House of Commons. 
 
THE HINDUS AKD THE NIZAM'S GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Hyderabad, 13th October 1S90. 
 
 It is marvellous how public opinion is beinoj educated, shaped 
 and formed into a factor for the good of the country — bj the 
 influence of the Madrasi and the Bengali. Those here "who, in 
 season and out of season, thunder their anathemas against these 
 for their " meddlesomeness" and '' intellectual dishonesty" have 
 little honesty to perceive the real good that they are doing to 
 Hyderabad. And those in power find it little convenient or to 
 their advantage to confess it. But the fact remains that but 
 for the advanced Madrasi and the Bengali the wishes and feelings 
 of the people might have been to-day as much a sealed-book to 
 those at the helm of affairs as they were a few years ago. This 
 is but by the way. 
 
 The " gross injustice" of the appointment of a committee 
 of orthodox and ill-informed men to decide, from a religious point 
 of view, whether Hindu students could cross the " kala pani/' 
 and of the condition imposed by the Government which requires 
 of a student a good knowledge of Persian and Urdu to offer 
 himself as a candidate for the Government scholarship and 
 which prevents many a promising Hyderaba dee youth from taking 
 advantage of the opportunity afforded of proceeding to England 
 for purposes of education — is felt strongly and widely here. 
 And the public are bestirring themselves to meinorialise the 
 Government with regard to the matter. A meetincj- of the 
 Chadarghat Social Club was held last night to consider the 
 proposition brought forward by one of its members, Mr. 
 Krishnamaclmri, b.a., b l., viz., that the Government be mem- 
 orialized in the matter of sending Hindu students to England for 
 purposes of education. It was a large gathering fully represen- 
 tative of the cult and intelligence of the Hindu portion of the 
 population of the place. In the absence of Kajah Murli 
 Mauohur Bahadur, the President, Mr. B. Krishna Iyengar, 
 Vice-President of the " Club," occupied the chair. 
 
 2 
 
iO 
 
 The Chairman by way of explaining the object of the meet- 
 ing said: He was sure that all present missed the presence 
 amidst them of the Rajah Murli Manohur Bahadur, the 
 President. He was sorry that the Rajah was not where he was 
 to advise them with regard to the proposition that had brouolit 
 them together, and by his words throw the weight of his 
 influence as a mem-iher of one (>f oldest and noblest Hindu 
 families in the State info the scale against any possible oppo- 
 sition in high places. But this consoled him, that the Rajah 
 had been in the Clnb'.s rooms a few hours previously, and called 
 away by urgent business els«,'where, left assurance of his sympa- 
 thy with tlie object (f the meeting and as snch would no doubt 
 subscribe his name to the memorial that might be voted to be 
 submitted to the Government bv the meeting. Then i-eading 
 out Mr. Krishnamachari's proposition, he continued : He knew 
 every one would admit that the advantages accruing from a 
 sojourn, however short, in the land of the most enlightened 
 people on the face of the eartli, the English — in the land of 
 those whom Providence had put in charge of the destinies of 
 India — were very great. If a short sojourn by reason of giving 
 an insight into the thoughts and feeliugs of the ^V'est was so 
 advantageous, how much more must it be when made with the 
 object ( f [ill e lucaii ,nal t;ainiug t'erc ? Whether the Shastras 
 allowed of Hindus crossing the seas or not, he could not say. 
 Opinions were divided upon the point — the same passages in 
 the Shastras were differently construed. But this he could 
 say, the times in which we were living were not the same as 
 those in wliich our ancestors had lived, that we could not, with 
 impunity, remain stationary while all the rest of the w^orld was 
 moving, that the wave of enlightenment, of advanced thought 
 was growing bigger and bigger day by day, that the tide was 
 increasing in volume and to stem it back would be attended 
 with grave ccmsequences. As to antagonism to Hindus going 
 to England, it was not as strong as it had been — as time advan- 
 ced it grew weaker. The caste people, even Brahmins, were now, 
 in a way of cotu'se, willing to admit their Engiand-retuiiied 
 
n 
 
 brethern back into cai5te— as pvir!f»nce(l in the case of a Brahmin 
 Barrister in Bano-alore. This itself showed that belief and 
 prejudice however stronc^ly gronndod must give way to the in- 
 fluences of timo and circunistatices. The major portion of the 
 population in the Nizam's Dominions was Hindu — and Govern- 
 ment should be memorialised to show consideration to the 
 claims of this portion, to encourage them educationally and in 
 otiier ways, to give them opportunities of being serviceable 
 to the State, such opportunities as those of proceeding to 
 England in view to education. With these words, he called 
 upon Mr. Krishuamachari to " move" his proposition. 
 
 Mr. V. Krishuamachari, b. a., b. l., said : The chairman had 
 said all that he might have said on the important question of 
 Hindus making Sea-voyage. And he would not weary the 
 meeting with any repetition. The Nizam's Government had 
 sanctioned a number of scholavshij^s for the benefit of Hydera- 
 badee youths desirous of prosecuting their studies in England. 
 And they had entrusted the decision of the question of Hindus 
 going to England to a number of men very orthodox and as 
 such adverse to Hindus going to Englani]. This was a mistake 
 and it needed to be corrected. Then he moved that the Nizam's 
 Government be memoralized in the matter of sending Hindu 
 students to England for purposes of education. 
 
 Mr. P. Ramachandram Pillay, a member of the local bar, 
 rising to second the proposition, said : He had been for many 
 years resident in Secunderabad, in His Highness the Nizam's 
 Dominions, and had alwavs taken interest in things affecting 
 the welfare ot the people. Not being a high functionary in the 
 State, he had not done much. But whatever it had been possible 
 for him to <lo he had not left undone. Recently he had advised 
 a Hindu lad of his acquaintance to put in his application for 
 being permitted to compete for oue of the scholarships esta- 
 blished by the Government for enabling deserving Hyderabadees 
 to prosecute their studies in England. The advise had been 
 carried out — but the application had been rejected on the soore 
 
13 
 
 of the applicant's not knowing Persian and Urdu. Now, he conld 
 not for the Kfe of him understand how a knowledge of Persian 
 and Urdu could be of any help to students in their studies in 
 England. No doubt a knowledge of Persian and Urdu was 
 necessary for those who were to serve the Nizam's Government; 
 but then, the knowledge could be acquired by students on their 
 return from England. The selected candidates for the British 
 Indian Civil Service were made to study the Vernaculars of the 
 Districts to which they wished to be appointed during their 
 probationary term of Office. Why should not His Highness's 
 Government do a similar thing ? The bringing into existence 
 a committee to decide whether Hindus could, religiously speaking, 
 cross the "black waters" was not called for. And the appointment 
 of purely orthodox men on it, gave room for the suspicion that 
 the Government had prejudged the case — had made up its mind 
 not to allow the Hindus to profit by the opportunities, atfurded 
 by the scholarships, of going to England. An impression had 
 had been gaining ground that those in power were opposed 
 to the interests of the Hindus. And this but tended to strengthen 
 this impression. In the memorial to be submitted to the 
 Government it should be stated in clear unmistakable terms 
 that it would do well that it would be to its interest to act 
 so as to remove this impression. In this connection, he might 
 say a word or two about the statement made b}' the Nawab 
 Intesar Jung with reference to the account of the interview 
 that a friend had had the courage to have with the Nawab on 
 behalf of the " Hindu" viz., that there was apathy on the part of 
 the Hindus to avail themselves of the opportunities given them 
 of educatino- themselves to a high standard. The Nawab had 
 referred, in exemplification of tlie statement, to the fact that 
 there were few Hindus in the hioher grades of the Pleader's 
 service. He (the speaker) had moved freely with all classes of 
 Hindus in the State, and could state, without the least fear of 
 contradiction, that there was many a Hindu who could hold his 
 own against the Moslem in the higher grades of Pleader's 
 g^l|,ing. But how Hindus in no way inferior to their Mahome- 
 
vs 
 
 dan competitors failed to secure a pass in the examinations 
 admitting them to these grades — was a mystery to him as to 
 every one else. The mystery could not mean any apathy on the 
 part of the Hindus to avail themselves of the opportunities 
 given them of educating themselves to a higher standard. 
 
 Mr. Sadagopa Chari, m. a., in supporting the proposition 
 said that the Government should be asked to throw the scholar- 
 ships open to the Hindus as well as to the Mahomedans. 
 
 Then Mr. P. Veeraraghavalu Naidu, a non-member, being 
 permitted by the Chairman to speak on the occasion, said : There 
 was no necessity for asking the Government in the memorial 
 to throw the scholarships open to the Hindus. The Government, 
 notification published in the Jareeda a few months previously 
 threw Ihem open to all bona fide Hyderabadees, irrespective of 
 caste or creed. And it was the thought that Hindu lads mio-ht 
 compete for the scholarships as well as other religionists 
 which led those in power to bring into existence a cora_ 
 mittee to decide whether, from a religious point of view, Hindus 
 could cross the seas — ostensibly to provide against the impression 
 that the Government was doing anything arbitrarily without 
 consulting the people concerned. So then, onr object, in memoria- 
 lizing the Government, should be to prevent them from being 
 solely guided by the opinions of the orthodox men on the 
 committee. 
 
 Then the proposition being put to the vote, was carried nem. 
 con. And a committee was formed of Messrs Krishna Iyengar 
 Ramachendra Filial, Krishnamachari and Ramachuudru Laksli- 
 man, to draw up a memorial to the Government making mention 
 ol the points dwelt upon by the different speakers. 
 
14 
 
 Hyderibad, 2ht October 1890. 
 
 The seusation caused by the Nawab Intesar Jung's applica- 
 tiou for retirement is a matter of ancient history. Some gene- 
 rally well-informed mcu seem to know all about the secret — and 
 to have prognosticated the result of it. The Nawab has had 
 several hundreds added to his salary. Whether this is due to 
 his application or not — or whether this was one of the objects 
 of the application — I mu-t leave it to tliose behind the scenes to 
 say. But this much I could say that inquiring about the ap- 
 plication the other day the Nawab was kind enough to inform 
 me that "nothing more" had "as yet" been made known to him 
 regarding it. " . 
 
 The inquiry that is being made into the defalcations in the 
 Nizam's Accounfant General's office, reveals how corruption 
 flourishes here. A lowly paid mutsaddlii — clerk — obtaining the 
 Assistant Accountant General's signature among others, by some 
 fraudulent means, gets a requisition passed and a cheque issued 
 for a certain sum of mouey. The cheque is duly presented at 
 the Treasury — and cashed. The clerk sees how easily His 
 Highness's trusted and responsible servants could be hoodwink- 
 ed and repeat ■ his "trick" at intervals and in seven years or 
 more makes away from the Treasury over Rs. 30,000. The 
 authorities wake up at last — and how they seek to trace the 
 culprit and his accomplies and make an example of them, it 
 would be very amusing to know. Think of letting the man who 
 as the head of the office ought to have taken cognisance of the 
 evil and arrested it long before this, scotfree ! Think of trying 
 to punish the assistant who signed on the strength of other signa- 
 tui'es in the requisitions while leaving the authors of the other 
 signatures in peace ! lUiink of admitting the man whose duty 
 it was to scrutinise so to say every requisition, as a witness 
 and thus placing him beyond the reach of any suspicion ! And 
 you have an idea of the influences at work for the elucidation 
 of PACTS. I may have something very important — and startling 
 too — to say about this affair soon. In the meanwhile, I may 
 
1^ 
 
 tell you that Jaya Rao, a quonclam Accountant General's office 
 man for a long time out of service, was takan into custody some 
 clays back and bad to bail himself out. And yesterday, 
 Mr. Gya Persad, m. a., was cited as a witness for him. 
 
 Men in high places are never idle here. They have the 
 pluck to fight their adversaries, if not in open daylight at least 
 iu the gloaming. And when they have not work in the enemy's 
 camp they find work iu their own. And thus we are destined 
 ever to be "tickled" by the effects of " powder and shot" — 
 covert and overt. In a case — to come — which promises to be 
 not a bit less sensational than the sensational " cases" all the 
 world has heard of, Sir Kurshedjah and Sir Asmanjah figure 
 as complainant and defendant respectively. With advancing 
 age the craving for notoriety, or the desire to do things which 
 one would not do in youth or manhood seems to grow more 
 and more morbid. Years ago, I remember full well, the almost 
 universal impression here was that Sir Kurshedjah was above 
 the position of Prime ]\Iinist3r to the Nizam in every way and 
 he could never bring himself to think of coming down to it. 
 But now it is an open secret in all circles that he is moving 
 heaven and earth to become Minister. And a person in a 
 position to knov/ much about Sir Kurshedjiih said in the 
 course of a talk, the other day : - He seems to be madly iu 
 earnest about becoming minister. One day 1 told him, 'ISIawab 
 Sab, I hear you are to be appointed minister.' ' Am I 
 really going to become minister' ? said he, with a^ longing 
 expression on his face. ' I am afraid 1 am destined 
 onb^ to hear of my becoming minister.' Whether Sir Kursh- 
 edjah's inimical attitude towards Sir Asmanjah has anything 
 to do with this desire to rule Hyderabad or not — the fact 
 remains he will soon file certain claims against Sir Asmanjah 
 and has engaged the services of Messrs. Inverarity and Rudra. 
 But Sir Asmanjah seems determined not to be behindhand. 
 We have it on the authority of the Deccan Standard, that Sir 
 Asmanjah means to press his claims, before His Highness the 
 
15 
 
 Nizam hiraselfj to succeed to the Paigah of the late Mohtashim- 
 ud-Dow'lah, his brother, — the revenues of which are, iu part, 
 eujoyed by Sir Kurshedjah according to the first Salar Jung's 
 decision. 
 
 Rumour has it that there is to be a vacancy created in the 
 High Court shortly by the retirement of one of the Judges. 
 If this is true, I hope the Nizam's Government will see its way 
 to nominating a Hindu to the place. Roughly speaking, 
 Hindus form nine-tenths of the population in these Dominions. 
 That their claims to be represented on the High Court bench 
 should be overlooked is, to say the least, great injustice. 
 
 In acknowledging the memorial sent on the 2nd instant, 
 by the local Hindu Social Club to the Governor-General 
 in Council, praying for the ^'age of consent " being raised to 
 14, Colonel J. C. Ardagh, Private Secretary to the Viceroy, 
 writes : — I am desired by the Viceroy to say that the representa- 
 tions therein contained will receive due consideration by the 
 Gvernor-General in Council. 
 
 " The Malwala Sabha " which owes its existence to the 
 Rajah Murli Manohur Bahadur is doing a lot of good work in 
 the City. One of its essential objects seems to be to preach 
 to the people on the advantages of education and thus to clear 
 the path of all prejudices. To judge by the large number of 
 meu present at a meeting of the " Sabha " I had the pleasure 
 of attending sometime ago, the loud applause that the lecturer 
 of the evening, the Rajah Murli Manohur Bahadur, was every 
 now and then greeted with by them — the weekly lectures of 
 the Sabha are vei*y much appreciated in the city. Mrs. Shaventi- 
 bai Trimbak Canaran, one of the lady delegates to the Bombay 
 Congress — on a short visit here — addressed one of the 
 meetings of this Association recently on " Female Education.'^ 
 I wish the " Sabha " all success. 
 
 I have to acknowledge with thanks, the receipt of a copy 
 of a pamplet on " The proposed Poorhouse and Orphanage for 
 the City " by the Rajah Murli Manohur Bahadur. 
 
17 
 
 " The proposed Poorhouse and Orphanage for the City," 
 is a pathetic appeal made to His Highues5 tlie Nizam's Govern- 
 nient iu belialf of tlie poor and orphan pai-t of the popuh'xtion 
 of the land. The Kajah Murii Manohur begins hy pointing out 
 what constitutes good govern .neiit — how niucli the strength of 
 a Government is dependent on the peace and prosperity of the 
 governed — and liow the low no less than the high classes of 
 the people serve to give^ifc a lasting character. Then dwelling 
 upon the miseries of the poor, the beggars, and the orphans, he 
 suggests the establishment of " a Poorhouse and Orphanage" iu 
 the city. The cost of constructing a building to house 500 people 
 lie lays at the modest sum of Rs. 15,000; and thinks that the 
 monthl}- expenses due to giving food &,c., will not exceed 
 Rs. 3,000. He appeals to the Government to undertake to meet 
 but a portion of the expenses to he incurred, and submits 
 the follown'ng proposals for raising therest of the sum ueces sary 
 for the purpose : — 
 
 (1) The Govevnmeut slionld be pleased to pay half the cost of the 
 coustructiou of the building from the Public Treasury, and to accord 
 
 its sanction to the holding of a lottery for raising the other half. 
 
 (2) To meet current expenses, a small income-tax should be leried 
 as follows : a tax of half a pie per Eupee on those whose income is 
 Re. 40 or upwards ; and of 3 pies per Rupee on Mansabdars, who practi- 
 cally get paid for doing no work. 
 
 (3) Out of the amount alloted to Urus ceremonies (offerings to 
 Baintsl, in which a lot of unnecessary expenditure is incurred, five per 
 cent should be paid towards this beueticient purpose. It is certain that 
 the souls of the holy dead will all the more feel pleased and satisfied 
 at this diversion of a portion of the funds set apart for their own propi- 
 tiation, t'j the beneficient purpose of protecting helpless orphans. 
 
 (i) A sum of Rs. 300 per mensem should be paid from the Govern- 
 ment Treasury, 150 for the Orphanage and 150 for the Poorhouse. It 
 is hoped, that by this means, the funds of the institution will always be 
 in a prosperous condition. 
 
 (5) A bos should be kept in every Urvs Jathra in the name of the 
 Orphan and Poor Fund and one dub each from persons attending such 
 
 3 
 
m 
 
 gathering ehould be collected. Any collections thus made shall be eipen- 
 ded exclusively foi' supplying food. 
 
 If the sums thus realised are not sufficient to meet current expenses 
 for the maintenance of orphans and the poor, subscriptions should be 
 collected from Amirs and Sahuhars. 
 
 So "stands " tlie appeal made by the public spirited Rajah 
 on behalf of the neglected portion of liumanity in these parts. 
 And it is impossible not to recognise the disinterestedness and 
 kindheartedness that every line of it speaks volumes of I am 
 told that some bigwigs are not kindly disposed and -will 
 come in the way of the Government showing practical sympathy 
 with the Rajah's nol)le and laudable object. I fervently hope 
 that this is not true — that influential men will not prove to be so 
 heartless as to stay the hand raised to mitigate the miseries of 
 Buffering humanity— and that His Highness's Government will 
 ere long do the needful to bring the Rajah I^Iurli Manohur 
 Bahadur's proposal within measuralde distance of success 
 I need hardly say that I wish the Rajah all success in his efforts. 
 
19 
 
 HIS HIGHNESS THE NIZAM'S TREASURY FRAUDS. 
 
 Hyderabad, November 7. 
 
 As promised in my last, I shall m ake a beginning to-day in 
 the matter of saying what 1 have to say — or rather what one 
 unwarped by party influences and acquainted with the facts o 
 the ease, has to say — on the subject of the frauds which has 
 been stirring the public mind for some time past. The inquiry 
 set on foot into the frauds reveals a new pliase of activity in the 
 history of factions here. Hitherto men in power were content 
 with sw3eping off into the obscurity of nominal positions all 
 their antagonists. Jkit now, nothing short of the utter disgrace 
 and ruin of all in their path of self-aggrandisement, seems to 
 satisfy them. We have known for a long^ long time that the 
 administration of justice in the Hyderabad Courts is a farce — 
 and the Nawab Imad Nawaz Jung has had the courage to fling 
 this truth in the teeth of the Minister in his application (published 
 jn the Deccan Times) ; but we never knew before this that a 
 Judge of the High Court was capable of misinterpreting evidence 
 and indulging in gratuitous reflections with respect to witnesses. 
 But wo live and learn, you know. 
 
 In connection with the Treasury frauds, I have to notice two 
 cases. One was disposed of some time ago by Mr. Afsul Husain 
 the Senior puisne Judge of the Hj'derabad Adarolat-aitaliya — it 
 cannot be called the High Court in this particular instance — 
 and the second case is at present pending before the same learned 
 Judge. The first case attracted little or no attention, probably 
 because Jaya Rao, the chief of the accused therein, was compa- 
 ratively an insignificant man in Hyderabad politics. While the 
 second case in which such well-known names as the Nawab 
 Hussan Bin Abdulla, Imad Nawaz Jung Bahadur and the Rajah 
 Srinivas Rao figure among the accused, is creating a great deal 
 of sensation iu all circles here. The proceedings, so far as they 
 
have been gone through, have been so flagrantly irregular in 
 character as to call forth a leader — even at the risk of social 
 ostracism — from the Editor of the Deccan Times, severely ani- 
 madvertino; on the conduct of tho Judge, as well as to be stij^ma- 
 tised by the Government itself as "a grave error." ( Vide resolution 
 of Government^ published in the Beccan Times of the 1st Instant 
 over the signature of the Nawab Fateh Nawaz Jung Bahadur 
 wherein it is stated that the Minister is of opinion tlnit the court 
 has committed a grave error iu the matter, etc). Before 
 saying anything about the first case, I should like to supplement 
 briefly the remarks in the Deccan Time's leader in re tho second 
 one. Being asked to enlarge Sriram Pandit, one of the accused 
 in this case, on bail, by his counsel, Mr. Nelson, the Judge is 
 reported to have said : "1 am not iucliuud to granb your appli- 
 cation, as considering the evidence before me which 1 am not at 
 present prepared to disclose, I deeni it right to refuse the 
 application." Wlierefrom did the Judge receive "the evidence 
 before mo which I am not at present prepared to disclose" ? 
 Was he justified in receiving sab rosa evidence against accused ? 
 And these lead us to the question : Is it after all true that these 
 are all trumped-up cases, the decisions whej-eof had been written 
 out, or at all events thought out before any proceedings actnally 
 began ? Those that are learned in the law ought to bo able 
 to say whether after such an admission as that made in open 
 Court with reference to Mr. Nelson's nppHcation for bailing 
 Si-iram Pandit out, the Judge can be held competent to try tlie 
 case. But to us, laymen, it seems masquerading with justice to 
 allow to sit in judgment over any one, a man, a Jndge though 
 he be of the High Conrt, who is liable not only to receive im- 
 pressions outside the pale of the Court but to hold a sort of a 
 consultation with the prosecution. This conduct of tho Jndge 
 lends colour to the ugly rnmouis afloat in the City to the efl^ect 
 that his judgment in the first case — a special translation of which 
 appears in the Deccan Standard, the mouthpiece of the Govern- 
 ment, not' so much it would seem, to throw any light on the 
 subject as to propagate wautou libels and fictions for the de- > 
 
21 
 
 lectfition of a special public — was written within closed doors. 
 This brings us to the first case. No information either about the 
 working of the Accountant-General's Office or about the period 
 **duriug which Jaya Eao was engaged in submitting the 
 accounts of the li.'iliilities of the late Mukhtar-ul-mulk" — came 
 out in evidence in ( 'ourt. Yet an account of the working of 
 the ottice is given and reference is made to the period in the 
 jiulguieut above referred to. Where and how did Mr. Afsul 
 Husaiii get information regarding these ? This question certainly 
 does not furnish any contradiction to the ugly rumours I have 
 alhuled to— it does not weaken the impression produced on the 
 public mind by tlie rumours ; on the other hand, it strengthens 
 it. Jus' as ^Ir. Gya Persad was taking charge of the office of 
 the Deputy Accuuntant-Geueral, a memo was submitted to him 
 from the Pre-audit Department. He attached thereto a memo 
 expressing his opinions thereon and passed it on to the Accoun- 
 tant-General for final orders. And the Accountant-Genei*al 
 did issue an order holding the Assistant Accountant-General 
 of the Pre-Audit Department wholly responsible for the cor- 
 rectness of cheques. There is no doubt that the latter part of 
 this order by itself is rather ambiguous. But taken as a wliole 
 the order leaves not the slightest room for doubting that the 
 Accountant General confirmed Mv. Gya Persad's memo. The 
 Judue bftd it in his power to convince himself of this by refer- 
 ring to the order-book in which this order, which had been 
 circuhited in the Accountant General's office, finds jjlace. 
 Although Mr. Gya Persad's Memo on the subject of the respon- 
 sibility of issuing cheques is given in extenso in the judgment 
 piablished in the Deccan Standard, all but a referrence to the 
 Accountant General's order is studiously avoided — studiouBly, 
 I saw advisedly, for the first two lines alone of this order ex- 
 pose the falsity of the statement in the judgment, '^that the 
 memo was not confirmed by the Nawab Mokaraub Jung Bahadur, 
 the Accountant General when laid before him." So large was 
 the amount and so varied the nature of the work that Mr. Gya 
 Persad was expected to do, that shortly after he had take n 
 
2S 
 
 charge of the office of Depnty Accountant General, lie had to 
 give up eren signing cheques "bliud-t'olded." In the light of 
 all these factSj the portion of Afsul Husain'a judgment I have 
 been concerned Tvith, furnishes the clearest possible case not 
 only of suppressio veri but of sxiggestio falsi. No respectable 
 member of the Bar bound to defend his client -would stoop to 
 Buch subterfuges — Lut the senior puisne judge of ihe Adaiclut-ai- 
 atiya is a privileged person ! It is stated in the judgment : "He 
 (Mr. Gya Persad) farther admitted that such an innovation 
 (as is suggested in his memo.) could not have been brought into 
 force without the sanction of Government, and that such sanction 
 was not obtained." "What .Mr. Gya Persad actually admitted 
 was that if the Accountant Generals Office were a well-regulat- 
 ed office no innovation in the "practices" oMt could be introduc- 
 ed without the sanction of the Govermnent. I leave you to see 
 how far this accords with the admission ascribed to Mr. G3'a 
 Persad by the Judge. I may remark in passing that the Ac- 
 countant General's office is one oE the worst managed offices in 
 the State — not one man therein has his duties defined but de- 
 pends for work solely on the discretion of the Accountant 
 General. The judgment has it that '"'when Jaya Rao had to 
 sign cheques he, either through misconception, or wilfully, also 
 made it (the Accountant General's order on Mr. Gya Persad's 
 memo.) a safeguard for himself, and leaning on it signed ficti- 
 tious cheques. This is the very period during which Jaya Rao 
 was enoraged in submittinor the account of the liabilities of the 
 late Mukhtar-nl-mulk. ... At this time on account of 
 intrigues in which both of them were engaged, Jaya Rao had 
 become exceedingly bold. The link of these intrigues is in 
 existence still." A tissue of statements more characterised by 
 untruth and rancour, I have not come across. The first ficti- 
 tious cheque, as shown in the statement given in the judgment 
 became complete order for payment on the 21st Farwardi 1297 
 F, while the Salar Jung liability accounts had been settled long 
 before that time, about Amerdad or Sharawar 1296 F. Yet the 
 period of the issue of the fictitious cheques is said by Mr. Afsul 
 
23 
 
 Hnsain to be syncronons with that of the settlement of the 
 Salar Jung- liability-accounts, l^or Afsul ! Some one seems 
 to have "^pilled" him to his heart's content. As for the latter 
 part of the above quotation, where is the relevancy, I ask, of 
 the remarks contained therein ? Further on in the judgment 
 it is said : "Gaya Persad's evidence fully shows that he had 
 gone to assist the Pleader in behalf of the accused. Under 
 inch circumstances, the evidence given by him is of no use to 
 the accused." How the evidence given by one who went to 
 assist the accused's Pleader could bo of no use — the "learned'' 
 Judge best knows himielf. 
 
 So much about the sins of commission. Now I shall say 
 a few words about those of omission. Here too Afsul Husain 
 does not come off with flying colours. You will see from the 
 foregoing that I have studiously avoided saying anything anient 
 the merits of the case itself. But now it becomes absolutely 
 necessary to refer to a point which in the trial of Jaya Rao and 
 others was — intentionally or not I cannot say — altogether lost 
 sight of. And the point is the question — whether the Treasury 
 (as distinguished from the Accouutant-Generals Office )was quite 
 guiltless (in a criminal sense) or nncnlpable (in a departmental 
 sense). There is no doubt that the cheques were fictitioua. 
 But in favour of whom were they cashed and why ? The 
 cheques of the Accountant-Generals Office are payable to 
 the person named therein or to his order, — and not to 
 bearer. Now, it is an established fact that in few cases 
 a first class Bank would undertake to receive cheques payable 
 - to a particular person or "to order." But when once the res- 
 ponsibility is undertaken, it becomes the duty of the Bank to 
 satisfy itself of the genuineness of the endorsements on the 
 cheques before they are cashed. What then were the steps, 
 I ask, taken by the Treasury to assure itself that the endow- 
 ments on the reverse of the fictitious cheques were genuine 
 and bore the signatures of the persons in whose favour they 
 were " drawn "? The failure to ascertain the genuineness or 
 
otherwise of the cheques means connivance, collusion or culpable 
 neglect of duty. Has any attempt been made to make the 
 Treasury Officer or his office people account for the failure ? 
 No ; and wlij not ? Because as a favourite of the ^Minister, 
 Muuaverkhan, then TreasuryiOflScer and now Officiatin<5 Accoun- 
 laut-General, stands next only to the Nawab Tntesar Junj^. 
 A potent reason to be sure ; and this is labelled Justice in Hy- 
 derabad. 
 
 I believe I have noticed the judgment enough for to-day to 
 give you an idea of the prejudice and influences that Afsul 
 Husain has allowed to be brought to bear upon his judgment 
 This is the man vrho, secure from his positiou on the Bench 
 against the penalties prescribed for defamation characterises the 
 evidence of a witness as untrustworthy, without a shred of a 
 reason for doing so, and indulges in gratuitous insinnations with 
 respect to him. And this is the man too who sat in judg- 
 ment over Java Rao, once Deputy Accountant-Geueral and 
 sentenced him to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine 
 of Rs. 5,000 and who sits in judgment over such men as the 
 Nawab Imad Nawaz Jung and the Rajah Srinivas Rao, to award 
 —God knows ! — what punishment. 
 
2B 
 
 Htdeeabad, 27th November 1890. 
 
 The gnasbiug of teeth and searching of hearts caused in 
 certain official circles by uiy letter on the Hyderabad Treasury 
 frauds published in your issue of the 14th Instaut— the' running 
 man might have seen. Speculation has been rife in some 
 quarters as to the authorship of the letter — and I am credibly- 
 informed that tlie house of a poor innocent suspect who has the 
 misfortune to live in the Moglai Jurisdiction was searched. 
 But no one has ventured to gainsayi,the facts mentioned therein 
 or question the inferences drawn therefrom. The Government 
 oro-an, as expected, attempted a reply to my letter, but the 
 reply only tended to expose the extreme weakness of the cause 
 it essayed to advocate. Evidently on the principle, "Call a dog 
 by a bad name and then hang it," the "Deccan Standard" termed 
 my experience "'unfledged"' and slurred over my remarks anent 
 the administration of Justice m Hyderabad. Though it is not 
 pleasant or convenient for interested men here to remember, it 
 may interest your readers to know, that what I said in my letter 
 about the way in which things are managed in the Hyderabad 
 Courts had been stated before that in stronger terms by a well- 
 known Barrister who has had a great deal to do with these 
 courts in connection with Gribble vs. Gallagher thus: "It is 
 a well-knoAvn fact that Justice in Hjalerabad is a toss-up, and 
 the Judges are all more or less i)artizans of the Government." 
 The '"Hyderabad Record" reproduced my letter on the Treasury 
 frauds iu its issue of the 24lh Instant. But for its having 
 changed hands, the letter wonld 1 am sure, have been allowed 
 to pass unnoticed by the "Hecord.'' Ivither its present proprie- 
 tors are strong enough to do without the favour of the men in 
 power or they are not aware of the threat — to withhold all 
 Government patronage, in the s-hape of Job-work, &c., — held 
 out to its former" proprietors in a confidential letter from the 
 Home Secretary, on the occasion of the publication, in its 
 columns, of a paragraph to the effect that Mushtak Hussain was 
 more auixous to add a few ciphers to his own salary than to dg 
 
 4 
 
S6 
 
 justice by the living representative of an old illustrious Hindu 
 family. The "Record" while reproducing the letter, gave its 
 readers to understand that it reserved its remarks on the case 
 the letter dealt with for a future occasion as it 'was still suh- 
 judiec' Mark ! The case according to the decision passed by 
 Afzul Hussain in which old Jaya Rao with several others is in 
 chains is sub-judice in the opinion of the Editor of the "Hyder- 
 bad Record". This, as well as the fact that the ''Hindu," pub- 
 lished hundreds of miles away from Hyderabad, evinces greater 
 interest in its affairs and the welfare of the Hyderabadees than 
 the papers in the place, furnishes a curious commentary upon 
 the way in which the local Journalists dischai'ge their ' solemn 
 trust.' I have one more local Journal to notice. The "Safeeri — 
 Deklian " published a translation, a nnitilated one though it 
 was, of my letter. And for this, I am informed, the Editor was 
 severly rated by one of the smaller fry of the present Govern- 
 ment at the race stand, the other day. 
 
 I have to say a few words about the second case in connec- 
 tion with the Treasury frauds. The Government has so far been 
 influenced by public opinion that instead of committing the 
 Nawab I mad Nawaz Jung and the Rajah Srinivasa Rao and 
 others to the " tender mercies " of the despotic legal instincts 
 of Afzul Hussain, it has appointed a commission to try them 
 though, on what principle the 'self-same Afzul Hussain has been 
 nominated President of the commission, God only knows. In 
 this case Uilwar Nawaz Jung, the principal offender, has been 
 granted pardon by tlie Government. But what the object or 
 nature of ''the pardon" is, it is not possible to say. Up to now, 
 Dilwar Nawaz Jung has not been examined on oath as " Queen's 
 evidence". And whether the pardon secures to him immunity 
 from punishment only, or immunity from punishment as well as 
 the right to keep unto himself the 4,50,000 Uali Sicca rupees 
 due from him to Government, those who were instrumental in 
 the granting of the pardon alone could say. If the pardon has 
 for its object the providing against Dilwar Nawaz Jung's being 
 
27 
 
 punished as well as parting with the money, then it would mean 
 that that man who profitted by the frauds has been bribed to 
 incriminate others. Besides this, I have to mention another fact 
 which goes far to show that the proceedings of the Government 
 are not dictated by the best of motives. I mean the ommission 
 of the then Treasurer's name or the names of his office men from 
 the list of the accused in the second case — which has caused 
 not a little surprise in knowing- circles here. The cheque for 
 Rs. 47,000 was payable to Chaturbuja Dass, and yet the money 
 was paid to Saligram. And the statement that it was done so 
 on the strength of a verbal order from Jaya Rao, the Deputy 
 Accountant General, does not count for much in the face of the 
 fact that Jaya Rao denies having issued such an order. The 
 systematic omission of the then treasurer's name from the list 
 of the accused in this as well as the first case in connection with 
 the frauds, is significant. You will see from the above that 
 I have said nothing to prejudice the case now pending. 
 
 A case has recently come to my knowledge, which repre- 
 sents Mushtak Hussain's Government in no favourable lio-bt — 
 or rather which throws a flood of light on the mysterious ways 
 of it. One Tirumal Rao, once a clerk in the Accountant Gene- 
 ral's Ofiice, inherited on the demise of his two elder brothers, 
 all i\\e'n'lMuhtas and Rasoons. He had been in the enjoyment of 
 the revenues of these Mtiktas and Rasoojis for sometime, when 
 he was asked, I am told to do sometliiug which he refused to do, 
 either because he was honest or because he dreaded consequ- 
 ences. And in consequence, official persecution was initiated 
 against him. The question of Tirmal Rao's right to inherit his 
 brother's estate was raked up. And a precis of the case was 
 made up by the most trusted of Mushtak Hussain's assistants 
 in the Revenue Secretariat, so as to warrant the confiscation of 
 the MuJctas and Uasoons. Mushtak Hussain, the minister de 
 facto, signed the 'precis ; the Nawab Basheerud Daulah, the 
 puppet minister, approved of the confiscation ; and Tirimal's 
 Muhtas and Hatoons were duly confiscated, I may state here 
 
that the Simnadhs authorizing po'=!SGi3f3ion of the MuJdas etc., 
 that Tirumal Rao held, had l)een granted to him under the 
 anthority and seal of the late Sir Salar Juno- If; and that a long 
 Roohhar issued by the Political and Financial Secretary's office 
 during the time of the Second Salar Jung on which the whole 
 case hinged was not so much as referred to in the precis al- 
 though it Iwd been addressed to the Revenue Secretary ai.d 
 formed the most important paper of the file of the case in the 
 Revenue Secretariat. Tirumal Hao, though a very insignificant 
 man, somehow managed to get a hearing from His Highness 
 the Nizam. And at the instance of His Highness, than whom 
 it would be difficult to find a ruler more clear headed and in- 
 terested in tlie welfare of his subjects, ' the case was gone into 
 by two of the most prominent officers of His Higlmess' staff. 
 The Assistant in the Revenue Secretariat who had drawn up 
 the precis, was Summoned before them, the proceedings which 
 had resulted in the confiscation of the Muldas etc, were quash- 
 ed, and the Muktas and Rasoons were restored to Tirumal Rao. 
 It is rumoured in the city that orders were about to be passed 
 for the suspension of the Assistant in the Revenue Secretariat 
 when the all-powerfal Mushtak Hussain interceded and saved 
 his protege. Now, I ask, should not the Government have 
 enquired as to the reason for ignoring in the precis the existance 
 of the Roohkar from the Political and Financial Secretary's 
 Office ! And should not Mushtal.': Hussain whose signature the 
 precis bears be held responsible for it ? 
 
 Sir A smanjah has recently issued to the City Kotwal an 
 order to the effect that he should not arrest any of his own or 
 the Nawab Vicar-ul-Umra's retainers under any cii'cumstances— 
 thus making an invidious distinction of his and Vicar-ul-Umri's 
 retainers and those of Sir Kurshedjah and other noblemen. 
 The inadvisability, if not the unreasonableness, of the order is 
 apparent, and I refrain from making any comments upon it. 
 
 I have been placed in possession of some facts giving an 
 iagigUt iuto the meau^ employed to bring about the uon-accep- 
 
tanoe of Mnshtalc Hiissain's application for retirement on 
 pension. I hold these over for another letter and hope in the 
 meantime to be able to assure myself of the correctness of them. 
 
 The Nawab Abdul Latif Khan Bahadur C. I- E. of Calcutta 
 is sti'l here. He do; s not seem to be a 'persona grata to some of 
 those in power ; but^ all the same, he is receiving a hearty 
 reception at the hands of the noblemen and the leaders of people 
 here. And he is sure to carry away pleasant recollections of 
 liis visit to this city. Last night the members of the Chaddar- 
 gliMut "Hindu Social Club," of which the Rajah Murli Manohur 
 Bahadur is President, assembled in the club rooms to meet 
 the Nawab. He came in at about G-15 p. m. and in his chat 
 wiili the members, wliioh lasted for 'about two hours, proved 
 hiinsolE a genial large-hearted oldnian who carried his 62 years 
 lightly. He said he noticed with regret the absence of sym- 
 pathy between those at the helm of affairs and their Hindu 
 fellow subjects, and felt surprised that the Hindus who formed 
 a vast majority in the State were not represented in the admi- 
 nistration. He spoke of the Indian National Congress move- 
 ment and said that though he sympathised with it, he had to 
 keep aloof from it because he did not waut to lose touch with 
 his Moslem follovrers who wore not advanced enough to ap- 
 ]n-eciate the congress and thus lose all chance of doing good to 
 them. Then he spoke of the necessity there was for Hindus 
 a.nd Mahomadans to unite and "fight" constitutionally for 
 previleges, the low state into which indigenous industries had 
 fallen and so on and so on. He bade the members ''goodbye" 
 at about 8-30 p. m. 
 
Hyderabad, 6th Decemher, 1S90 ^ 
 
 The past week lias beeu eventful otherwise tlim politically 
 for the execatiou of the sentence of death by hanging passed on 
 a Madrasee lad, named Dorasawmi, for murdering a child, and 
 the preferring of a charge of child-murder against Mr. W. D. 
 Edwards, of the now defunct " Telegraph'' and of the " Hydera- 
 bad Prize Union Lottery" notoriety by his wife. Dorasawmi 
 suffered the extreme penalty of the law last Monday morning. 
 And Mr. Edward's murdering his son, a boy of about 10 years 
 of ao-e, turned out to be the reverse of truth — the creation, 
 evidently, of the imagination of an anxious, sorrowing mother. 
 He was acquitted last Thursday morning, by Mr. Bosanquet, c.s., 
 on the strength of the evidence of Drs. Hehir and Lawrie — who 
 had held medical examinations on the body of the deceased 
 child — which went to show that the child had died from exhaus- 
 tion caused by chronic dysentery. 
 
 An item of social news that comes to me from a trustworthy 
 quarter is worth telling, as giving one an idea as to what an 
 exaggeiated sense of their own importance and influence some 
 j)eople entertain in Hyderabad, and how much they calculate 
 upon it. A gentleman on the staff of His Excellency Sir Asman- 
 jah Bahadur introduced, I am told, into the company assembled 
 at Basheer-Bagh on the occasion of the last dance therein, a 
 young lady not generally received in what is called high class 
 society. The society ladies could not put up with this, and they 
 in a body went into the cloak-room and ordered out their 
 carriages — with the result that the ' offender ' chaperoned his 
 young lady away from the scene though much against his will. 
 
 In my last letter I referred to Sir Asmanjah as " the puppet 
 minister." Your readers might like to know why I did so. It 
 is an open secret that Sir Asmanjah could not — at any rate, 
 does not — dispose of any single ' paper,' although hundreds of 
 such papers are submitted to him daily. In the first instance 
 each paper goes to Mushtak Husain who reads it and pins to it a 
 
31 
 
 scrap of paper containing an endorsement or opinion for the 
 Minister to copy out thereon. This fact could be testified to by 
 most of the heads of offices here, fur at one time or another some 
 of these scraps with a tale to tell have found their way, through 
 carelessness surely, into them and caused no little amusement 
 therein. This conveys truth but not the full truth about the 
 way the minister administers the State. Mehdi Hassan as being 
 next in rank to Mushtak Husain is accorded the privilege of 
 submitting papers from his ofiice direct to the Minister. And 
 even he can get no orders passed without the knowledge of the 
 Minister de fado. Whenever Mehdi Hussan is announced at the 
 Minister's place, the Minister inquires if Mushtak Husain is 
 there; and if the wise Mushtak is non est Mehdi Hussan, however 
 important and urgent in character his papers may be, is made to 
 await his arrival. And then both are ushered into the Minister's 
 presence. Sir Asmanjah hears the papers read by Mehdi Hassan, 
 keeping a close watch all the while on his factotum's face, and 
 guided by the expression of it — this by the way, puts me in mind 
 of Rajah Rampal Sing's description of the ways of some members 
 of Lesrislative councils — he eiiher afiixes his signature to the 
 papers or refuses to do so and asks fur the papers to be left with 
 him. This is a fact — and represents a funny, though very much 
 to-be-regretted state of alfaii-s. If the Minister is so helpless 
 why should not, it might be asked^ Mushtak IIu<sain be appointed 
 as Minister ? 
 
 I told you in my last how persecution is initiated against 
 those that have in any way proved themselves obnoxious 
 to those in power. I shall in this give you an instance or two to 
 show how they allow themselves to be moved in favour of the 
 "favourites." 1 have to refer to a case disposed of some months 
 ago by the city High Court, viz., the case of Balakishan Doss. 
 Balakishan "was alleged to have committed forgery on a certain 
 document said to be in the Political and Financial Secretary's 
 office. The Political and Financial Secretary's ofiice was 
 written to for the docum=ent and it was duly despatched from 
 the office. Reaching the Court atler it Lad closed, the 
 
document was, according to the instructions of a Judge who 
 happened to be there, entrusted to the Registrar of the Court, 
 and he had it safely locked up in a room. The night passed ; 
 but the next morninff the Judoes were informed that the docu- 
 ment had been stolen away the previous night. The Nawab 
 Akbar Jung, the city kotwal, was ordered to inquire into the 
 abstraction. The Nawab inquired and submitted a report to 
 Government but to find that his inquiry had been all a wild 
 goose chase. The report never saw the light of da}-. 'I'his is 
 instance No. 1. About two weeks ago a set of double cheques or 
 fictitious cheques to the value of about Hs. 1 1,000 was discover- 
 ed to have been issued by the Pre-audit Department of the Ac- 
 couutant General's office. But no notice has as yet been taken 
 of this. The Pre-audit as well as the Military Branches being 
 officered by the lucky favourites nothing will probably come 
 out of the discovery. And this is instance No. 2. 
 
 Now about how the Nawab Mushtak Husain's resignation 
 came to be not accepted by His Highness the Nizam : Mushtak 
 Husain, as every well-informed per:>ou here is aware, put in his 
 resignation expecting to be asked by His Highness to withdraw 
 it because of the Ministers':^ influence with him. And when it 
 transpired that His Highness was willing to accept his resigna- 
 tion, he felt like one caught in the meshes of his own net and 
 summoned two of his henchmen to help him oat of the diffi- 
 culty. He and two other high officials in the State met in a 
 solemn conclave and deliberated and deliberated nntil at last 
 they hit upon the most effective remedy — that of raising a cry 
 of public calamity. Then the partisans went about one by one 
 at regular intervals making iMushtak Hussain's resignation out 
 to be a "public calamity." And this cry of ''public calamity" 
 saved Mushtak Husain. 
 
 We have a fair, every year, held on the occasion of a festi- 
 val in Sri Ramaswami's Temple at Jeedkal — in the Eastern 
 Division — the part of His Highuess's Dominions said to have 
 most benefitted by the Nawab lute&ar Jung's symuthy towards 
 
^3 
 
 the ryots ? The fair for this year came off on Sunday, the 30th 
 of November. Several high officials of the State went to wit- 
 ness it. AuJ one of them, the Nawa'o Medhi Hassan Fateh 
 Nawaz Jim.^' proposed the health oi "one whose name was 
 inseparably connected witli the a.lvance, the prosperity and 
 well-being of the Eastei'u Division," — that, is, the Nawab 
 iutesar Jung- — in terms that could not be applied to any one 
 person living He spoke of the lucky Nawab as perfection all 
 roinul. 1 am not going to qnairel with him for this, foi" I know 
 as well us any one el-e, that every one ha:^ hi.s own way of 
 lookint; at things, has neither the sanit; eves tj look with or tlje 
 same medium to look thiough. But only 1 wish to look at his 
 '•perfection" for a little while as a servant of the Government — 
 as the Kevenue Secretary. According to a Government order 
 a sub tenant could be ousted out of a land, by the owner, within 
 12 years of his possession of it by means of a complaint to a 
 Revenue Court. And yet those at the liead of affairs in one of 
 the Divisions disposed of thousands of cases on the assumption 
 that a sub-tenant in possession for o years coidd not be ousted 
 except bj a complaint to the Civil Court — the more costly of 
 the reventte and civil courts^ The Nawab Mushtak Husain who 
 must have, as the Revenue Secretary, heard some of these cases 
 in appeal; failed to take any notice of this injustice — this con- 
 travention of Government orders. Then again, Mushtak 
 Hussain, thotigh placed in possession of the most notorious facts 
 about the administration of the Parbani District has not stirred 
 so much as a. finger of hi.'^ with i-egard to the matter. Such 
 instances Could Ije nmltiplied. So much for Mu.>htak Ilussain 
 as the iievenue Secretary — for 'his sympathy towards the ryots.' 
 
 I should like to tell you liow the Hmdu Rajas in Hi.? 
 Highue-ss's Dominions fare at the hands of the clique in power — 
 what a hard time of it they ha\e un'ier the present regime. You 
 will remember that some weeks ago I referred in your columns 
 to the litigation threatening between the Raja Sahib of Anagondi 
 aud Bausi Kajub because the latter, the Raja Sahib's creditgr, 
 
 
 
had been allowed, by the Revenue Secretary, to take forcible 
 
 possession of two villages, Koorgiil and Sangameswar, compris- 
 ing- the private estates of the Raja Sahib. The most remarkable 
 thing ill this connection was, as you will remember, that when 
 the IJaja Sahib oi Anagondi appealed tu Mnshtak Husain as 
 Revenue Secretary against the arbitrary proceedings which had 
 culminated in Bansi IJaja's taking forcildo possession of the 
 viilao-es, he was referred — li}' Muslitak liussan — to a civil couit. 
 Now, I shall put licfore you a short account of the way in which 
 the l>aja Sahib has been reduced by the powers-that-be to the 
 position of a Raja only in name. You know that Anagondi is 
 what has descended to the present Raja of the once powerful 
 kingdom of A'ijayanagar. The First M3'S0re war reduced its 
 limits considerably, and the second ^Mysore Avar reduced them 
 further still — and in consetpience the revenue fell from 00,000 
 star pagodas to 8,710 star pagodas. This brings us to the time 
 of Sri Kri.shna Deva Rajulu who, dying childless, was succeeded 
 by his Avidow Kani Kuppamma. The Kani adopted Sri Sriranga- 
 dava Rajulu, the present Haja in Farwardi 129 7 Fasli. Recog- 
 nizing this adoption the Nizam's GoA"ernment, curiously enough, 
 directed that Anagondi should pay an annual peishcush of H. S. 
 Rs. 10,0U0. The state not having paid jyeishcush oi any kind 
 before this, the Nizam's Government was appealed to against 
 this new ruling — and consequently the Anagondi state Avas put 
 under al tachnicnt and the Snbadar of tlie Southern Division 
 was sent to Anagondi to report on the State of the place. The 
 Snbadar after due enquiry, reported the inability of the Raja 
 to pay any feishcusli ; and this, you would be surprised to learn, 
 resulted in a Roohkar from the Revenue Secretary, dated the 
 24th Aban, 1298 Fasli, Avhich rais^ed the prushciish from 10,000 
 to 18,800 H. S. Rs. payable with retrospective etfect from Faslj 
 1297. The iiaja Sahib appealed again; and Mi". A. J. Duulop, 
 Jnspector-Gieneral of Revenue Avas deputed by the Government 
 to visit, Anagondi to report thereon. Mr. Dunlop, after seeing 
 things fur himself there, rtcommended the imposition of a 
 nominal /^riVia^tf/i t)f il. S, Rs. 1,000 per uniiuLu. XluRi recom- 
 
3& 
 
 mendation foil flit upon tlie anthoritie?? concernef!, The Raja 
 Sahib thoreon snbinitted a mennrial to His Ilioliiiess the Nizara 
 throiioli his Private Secretary. And liis inernovial and repeated 
 reminders having elicited no reply, tlie Raja Sahib's counsel, 
 Mr. S. B. R. Aiengar, Barrister-nt-uaw, called upon the Private 
 Secretary, I am told, and at his suorc^estion has made a represen- 
 tation of the whole case to the Resident. The Resident's deci- 
 sion is awaited eaoerly by all Hindus. The tale that this tells 
 of the procedure of the present administration, I have no time 
 to comment upon in this letter. 
 
 I am inf )i'med that the (,'ity High Court, has called upon 
 Mr. Rudra to show cause why lie should not be debarred from 
 appearing before it for his remarks about the administration 
 of justice iu Hyderabad in connection w^th Gribble versus 
 Gallagher. 
 
5(^ 
 
 Hyderabad, loth Vpoernhpr 1890. 
 
 The local papers are full of a horrible murder committed 
 in the city. A native Christian woman (a Mahomedan convert) 
 ■was in the nl)?enoe of her hnsljan'i, decoyed into an ont-oF-the- 
 way part of the city on Satui'day evenino-, last, and tliere, 
 stripped of the valuahles about lier person, wa.s inhnmnnly 
 tortured to death. The mano-led heap was carefully packd up 
 in a box and sent the next day to the Hydeiabad Goods Shed 
 to be booked to Lahore as a consij^nraent of wearing' aDpaivl. 
 The booking office beinof closed — it beino- a Snndav — the box 
 was taken back to the (itv, but it was brouylit to the Goods 
 Shed on Monday, the 8th instant, and was dnlv booked ; and 
 a receipt being granted thcicfor. ilio cons^igenee, by name 
 Abool Hoossain, walked away withont in the least betraying 
 himself. Hours passed and the murderous deed remained 
 unsuspected until the stench sent forth by the dead body in an 
 advanced state of decomposition attracted attention. Then the 
 city Kotwal and others were sent for, and in their ])ersence the 
 box was opened and the mutilated corpse was pulled out of a 
 gunny bag in which it had been tied up to unfold its frightful 
 tale. Those concerned in the murder including the man who 
 presented the package at the Goods shed to be booked to 
 Lahore, have — thanks to the energy o£ our citv Kotwal — since 
 been apprehended. The chief actor of this blood — curdling 
 tragedy is said to be a pleader related to the person who acted 
 as crown-prosecutor in the tirst of the Treasury frauds cases. 
 
 You know that roughly speaking seven-ninths of the po- 
 pulation of His Highness the Nizam's Dominions, are Hindus. 
 And common sense would allow to the interests and comforts 
 of this vast majorit}' a larger share of the attention of the Ruler 
 than that devoted to any other section of the people. But what 
 is it that we see here ? The paucity — if not the utter absence 
 — of Hindus in the higher grades of the services, is striking and 
 takes every new co:ner by surprise. And as if the systematic 
 withholding of official favour were not enough, the Hindus 
 
are nof; even permitted to eelebrato tlieir feptiValf? nnrlistnrlied. 
 Wlirnover Da.*ra/'a falls within the ten days of I\Ioh©rrum, the 
 Hiiidns are forbidden to ob.scrve the ceremonies of the season 
 until IMolK^-i'uin is over. And the annoyance and discomfort 
 this cause.-;, a ITi liu alone can understand. Happy are the 
 Hindus of Barhaiupore who narrowly escaped being- put on a level 
 with the Hindus f these iJominion ! They really need to be 
 couirratulated on their rare s'ood fortune. Yon will remember 
 that sometime ajj^o the Bombay Government deputed Mr. Silcox, 
 R. c. s., and tlie Nizam's Government Rai Murlidhar to settle 
 the boundary limits of their respective territories. This settle- 
 ment necessitated the Hyderabad Government's givin*^ away 
 a number of villages in return for others ; but it was secretly 
 liinted to Ptai Murlidhar by some of the party in power that he 
 should try and get from the Bombay Government the town of 
 Barhampore, in Central India — containing the tombs of Sir 
 Asmanja's ancestors — instead of these villages. Rai Murlidhar 
 for some reason or other did not take the hint. And for this 
 
 I am informed, it was proposed to deprive him of his office of 
 First Talu(|dar at Aurnngabad and to appoint him to an inferior 
 
 post. Rai Murlidhar heard of the intention of the Government 
 
 and sent in his resignation. But— somehow — the resignation 
 
 was not accepted and l^ai Murlidhar's degradation was never 
 
 more thought of. Your readers can understand now wliat a fate 
 
 threatened Barhampore not long ago. 
 
 1 might be permitted to put the Nawab Intesar Jung Ba- 
 hadur — I begins pardon, I mean the Nawab Vicar-ul-Donlah 
 Vicar-nl-mulk that he was exalted into at His Highness's birth- 
 day Durbar on Tuesday last — a question. When the news of 
 the Nnwab Fateh Nawaz Jung's having been called to the Bar 
 (without his putting in the full number of terms) reached Hy- 
 derabad many were glad and one in patticular^ viz., Mushtak 
 Hussain, then the Nawab Intesar Jung and now the Nawab 
 Vicar-ul-Dowlah Vicar-ul-mulk. And he gave expression to 
 his gladness in a remarkable manner. He issued a circular 
 that every one of those that wislied to congratulate the Nawab 
 
38 
 
 on Ill's success by wire miorlit send him money enongli to cover 
 the cost of a telef^rara to l^ni^lanrl. And lots of money poured 
 in from the revenue officials in the Districts. Was Mnshtak 
 Hnssain justified in issuino- this circular — j>rivate though it was 
 ■ — knowing that coming from him, the Revenue Secretary, it 
 would be regarded as a command by all his subordinates ? How 
 might a Tahiqdhar have been dealt with for doing a similar 
 thing ? 
 
 His Highness's Birthday Durbar came off on the evening 
 of Tuesday last. Forty one people were decorated with titles — 
 but few of these, it might be remarked without the least fear of 
 contrrdiction, 'waded' through meritorious services to honors. 
 Probably, just as man does not live by hread alone, man does 
 not attain to honors by service alone ! The titles, under the 
 inspiration or at the request of some are so indiscrimiuately 
 bestowed that it may well be feared that the day is not far off 
 when respectable men will refuse to be " decorated " and regard 
 these titles, like those in the reign of the last king of Lucknow 
 as anything but badges of honor. 
 
 I learn that Mr. Norton, of the Madras bar, has made a 
 strong representation to the Government pointing out the neces- 
 sity for removing Afzul Husain from the Commission appointed 
 to try the Nawab Hassan-Bin- A bdulla and others. The repre- 
 sentation is not likely to have any effect. I have been put in 
 possession of some facts giving an insight into the wii-c-pulling 
 of the "authors'' of the treasury frauds cases ; but I shall not 
 communicate them to you until I have got them verified. 
 
Hyderabad, 20th December 1S90. 
 
 Of all the letters, paragraphs and articles that have appeared 
 recently in the local papers about the Hj'derabad Letters in the 
 " Hindu" there is one letter that deserves notice, and it is from 
 the pen of Mr. P.St. L. Connor, who "was Ageut, Manager 
 and Editor of the " Hyderabad Record " since the death of the 
 late huneuted Mr. Job b'olomon, and manager since the establish- 
 ment of the " Eecord " press and paper." Mr. Connor has 
 written to the papers to contradict a statement I made in my 
 letter of the 29th ultimo about a threat having been held out to 
 the "Record's" former proprietors to withhold all Government 
 patronage in the shape of job-work, etc — in the interests of 
 truth and justice fursooth. " Never was any such threat held 
 out '' writes he " nor was even any kind of hint which the most 
 extravagant imagination could have construed into a threat ever 
 received." If so, Mr. Connor ought to be able to tell us how 
 it was that most of the Government offices here stopped giving 
 the "Record" Press any job-work just before Mr. Solomon's 
 death — how it was that while the Government budget for 1299 
 F. was printed at the " Record " Press, that for 1300 F. was 
 printed elsewhere. Is it not a fact that but for its having 
 changed hands, the " Record " Press would still have been 
 outside the pale of Government patronage ? 
 
 'ihe murder that I gave a short account of in my last letter 
 is creating a good deal of sensation iu some circles here. The 
 Chadderghat Christians seem to be almost unanimous iu think- 
 ing that the deceased fell a prey to Moslem bigotry ; while 
 some people ascribe the murder to jealousy ou the part of the 
 dead woman's lovers. Be the motive for the crime what it may, 
 the criminals need to be made examples of. The Rev. Mr. 
 Gilder, of the Chaddarghat Methodist Episcopal Church, Avhose 
 viu7h-<Jti the murdered woman's husband has been for some time, 
 is moving Heaven and Earth to get the murderers tried by the 
 Residency authorities. That Mr. Gilder's effort will bear no 
 fruit, that the Resiaency people will refusu to have any thing to 
 
40 
 
 do with a murder whicli was committed within the Moglai jurisdic 
 tion — one does not need to be told. But then^ if the Reverend 
 genilemau's anxiety to get the ca-e out of the hands of the 
 Mo-dai JudL^e serves to show what little confidence the public 
 have iu justice as it is admiuistered by the Moglai Courts, it 
 will be regrettable indeed. 
 
 Information reaches me that an order has been recently 
 passed by the Government to the effect tluit those that are in 
 custody in connection with the Treasury frauds cases shall have 
 to pay the rents of the houses they are lodged in as well as the 
 salaries of the peons that keep guard over them. Have you 
 heard of any thing, Mr. Editor, better indicative of the utter 
 disrecrard of the rigrhts of under-trial men than this curious 
 order ? 
 
 Census work has been taken in hand here in right earnest. 
 Mr. Bains, C. S.., Census Commissioner fur India, who paid a 
 visit to thi.s place lately with a view to inspect Census operations 
 here, commended the management of the Assistant Engineer of 
 the Chadarghut Municipality, Mr. Samuel Cornelius, to the 
 notice of the authorities concerned, and is reported to have made 
 some suggestions as to the numbering of houses in the city. In 
 this connection I might mention a circular issued to the District 
 Officials by His Excellency Sir Asmanjah some time since. This 
 order commands Subhas or Taluqdhars to confiscate the Jagheers 
 of such of the Jagheerdars in His Highness's dominions as 
 fail to make arrangements for taking census in their respective 
 territories, and not to restore them until further orders from the 
 Government. Can zoohou go further? 
 
 The " Deccan Punch'' — a local Urdu weekly — of the ord 
 Instant, has a most libellous attack on the Raja Murli Manohur 
 Bahadur. The ' Punch " falls fuul of the Piaja because he is 
 President of the Chadarghat "Hindu Social Club"— and the 
 "Asocial Club," as you know, memorialised the Nizam's Goverij- 
 meut thy other day about the scholarship quettiou. " It 
 
41 
 
 must be observed," says tlie sago of the " Punch '' 
 " that is Raja Murli Miinohur's, tliat, the present Gov- 
 ernment wants that there shonhl be good management in 
 the Mahvala Da/tar, nnd that IJaja MurU Manohnr is a 
 member of tlie Malirala DuftarJ' A more malicious and mis- 
 ciiievous paragraph than this I hnve not qowm^ across. Every 
 mau with a modicum of commonsense must admit that the 
 "Hindu Social Chib'' is no more Eaja Murli Manohnr's than it 
 is the Vice-President's or the Secretary's or any member's. As 
 President of the Club, the Kaja can only advise the members on 
 the matters that come np occasionally before him — he can 
 neither do anything Jigaiust the wislies of the majority, nor can 
 he turn and twist them about as he likes. With regard to the 
 scholarship question itself : I know it for a fact that when one 
 or two of the members ypoke to the Rnja about memorializing 
 the Government, he told them that he was sure the Government 
 would throw the scholarship open to Hindus as well as to other 
 sections of the community. The members memorialized in spito 
 of his telling so. And if he "purposely absented himself" from 
 the meeting convened to draw np a memorial, as we are given 
 to understand by Fundi, did he not thereb}'- make it clear 
 that he did not wish to join in tbe cry of ^'injustice done to 
 Hindus V As for the Raja Murli Manohnr's wishing that there 
 should not be good management in the Malwala Daftar of which 
 he is a member ; he is admitted on all hands to be one of the 
 most intelligenl and energetic men we have in Hj^derabad. It 
 can be no more said of him that he does not want the manage- 
 ment to be 'good' than it can be said of a strong robust man 
 that he is afraid to have a tussel with a weakling. And to 
 state that from interested motives the Raja Avanfs to discredit 
 the })resent (government — is to invent an untruth with a view to 
 make him obnoxious to the party in power. 
 
 The Birth-day Durbar has come and gone, and the Raja 
 Kishen Persad finds himself none the better for it. The Raja 
 who is the living representative of a family bat for which Hy" 
 
 6 
 
4?, 
 
 derabad would loug since have gone out of the hands of the 
 Nizam, is as far away as ever from getting the Khilet of the 
 office of Peishkar. We are every now and then told in "high 
 falutin" that the Peishkarship has long been a sinecure, li Peish- 
 karship has been a sinecure, so have many offices in the State 
 been. But thei'e is a good reason keeping it up -while the keep- 
 ing up of other offices has or can have no justification. And 
 that is_, that the claimant to it is the lineal descendant of one. — 
 the late Raja Chandu Lai — to Avhom the Nizam ought to feel 
 ever thankful. Those that are bent upon or are responsible for 
 "reducing" the Peishkar family may be said to have plied the 
 pruning shears desirably by a handful of interested men. But 
 they will ever be looked upon by a vast majority of the popula- 
 tion of these Dominions as the aliens who ruined the ancient 
 families of the land with a view to enrich themselves, to fatten 
 their own "calves.^* 
 
 Sometime ago a notice was published in the Jareeda — the 
 Government Gazette — that such of the Government officials as 
 were desirous of going to England for purposes of education 
 would be paid by the Government an amount enough to cover 
 their expenses in England. Securing the stipend promised in 
 this notice Mr. Syed Mahmud, a Deputy Inam Commissioner, 
 proceeded to England some months ago. The next applicant for 
 the privilege was a Hindu servant of the Government ; but the 
 powers-that-be have written to him to say that the Government 
 had made up its mind to send no more officials to England fur 
 purposes of education. The reply is characteristic and proclaims 
 the impartialiti/ of the present Government, to be sure. 
 
 We are once more threatened with a "deluo-e" of libel 
 suits. Judgment having been delivered in Gribble vs. Galla- 
 gher, on Wednesday last, Mr. Gallagher's counter-char^ie against 
 Mr. Gribble comes on for hearing about the middle of January 
 next. After that perhaps, Mr. Eudra will carry out his threat 
 to take up Mr. Gallagher for "libel." Mr. Rudi-a threatens in a 
 recent letter to the "Pioneer" "to have him'"' for all the caustic 
 
43 
 
 paragraphs Mr. Gallagher has put in the "Standard." Not a 
 whit daunted by this Mr. G. repeats that the statement, the 
 contradiction to which made Mr. R so irate, ''is perfectly untrue" 
 — and says that Mr. R libels him in the letter as much as he 
 (Mr. G) might be considered to have libelled Mr. Rudra in his 
 paragraphs. 
 
 People at a distance can little understand how very 
 indifferent the Government is as to show and where the money 
 got out of the raipjat goes. A gentleman, a John Bull mind, 
 came here about two years ago, ai'med with introductions no 
 doubt, to raise subscript'ons in aid of a school he meant to start 
 somewhere in Switzerland for the benefit of the uncared-for 
 Indian youths. He went about duly hat in hand. The Mizam's 
 Government with its usual liberality and magnanimity paid him 
 out of the Treasury 2,000 Halli Sicca Rupees to enable him to 
 accomplish his object, and some noblemen helped him, I am 
 told, to some extent. The ''projector" was not satisfied with 
 the money he got from tlie Government, so he applied for 
 more, and got ^'iu reply," I am informed, two first class railway 
 fares to Bombay. That was no doubt a polite way of asking 
 him to take himself off. But he took no notice of it, went about 
 casting for an employment, and getting it, has been here since. 
 What has become of the two thousand rupees paid out of the 
 treasur}'', there is none so poor as to ask. It does not matter 
 how the subscriptions, if any, got from the nobility have been 
 spent, for it is a well-known fact that the Hyderabad noblemen 
 have more money than they know what to do with, and they 
 might as well pay towards meeting the daily necessaries of a 
 Sahib. 
 
 The ^'Hyderabad Record" is bothered about knowing ''what 
 the local correspondent to the Hindu gains by spreading such 
 rumours which (5/c) are not only false but pure inventions and 
 positively mischievous." The ''Record's" solicitude in behalf 
 of the present Government is increasing in volume day by day 
 most amazingly. Under the circumstances it is not difficult to 
 
44 
 
 understand the complacency with which he announces, what 
 must be news to all except himself, "that every statement in his 
 (the "Hindu"' conespontleut's) sensational letter has beeu 
 publicly contradicted," As far as I know — and I have been a 
 regular and careful I'cader of the local papers — only 3 or 4 of 
 my statements and these the least important ones have beeu 
 contradicted in the most shaky way. But what have "they" to 
 say about my statement anent the AnagonJi case, the puppet 
 minister and the minister de facto, the Nawab Mushtak Hiisain's 
 application for retirement, the significant omissions in connec- 
 tion with the Treasury frauds cases, the Revenue Secretary's 
 'sympathy' with the vayayatet Itor gemis omne ? Echo ansAvers, 
 "What have they ?" 
 
45 
 
 Hyderabad, ^Ith December 1890. 
 
 The law that renc'ers murder a bailable as well as compound- 
 able '' uffeuoe/' aud thus provides for a murderer's escape or 
 places society at his mere}' though for a while — is worthy only 
 of the rulers of the Darkest Africa. Yet that is the law in vo^ue 
 here where Mulks aud DowlaJts lay claim to the susceptibilities 
 and sentiments of the enlightened European, and big officials 
 talk' glibly and write in grandiloquent strains of the glories of 
 enlightenment aud civilization. And administered as it is by 
 Judges who do do not even cure to veueer over their partizan 
 spirit, it becomes tantamount to an enactment to secure the 
 safety of the jierson of a murderer. Where have you ever heard 
 of a Judge, a Judge in his senses, enlarging a man accused of 
 forgery on bail for one lakh of rupees and one accused of murder on 
 h^il iov five thoitdand rupees? Yet that is what has been done 
 within the last few months by a Daniel oE our City High Court 
 The Judge who released Abdul Wahid, chief of the accused in the 
 murder case I referred to in former letters, on bail for a some- 
 one twentieth of that demanded in the case of Balakrishen Doss 
 charged with forger}' — would seem to hold it justice still. This 
 is only by the way. The murder case came up for hearing 
 before Mr. Hafiz Ahmed Raza Khan, Puisne Jadge of the City 
 High Court, last Tuesday. After taking all the evidence for the 
 prosecution and hearing the confession of Abdul Rahman, Abdul 
 Wahid's servant, read out, the Judge vuriahJe dictii ordered for 
 Wahid's being let out on bail for five thousand rupees. And 
 when asked by the public i)rosecutor to reconsider his order, 
 when it was pointed out to him that the bail demanded was out 
 of all proportion to the gravity of the crime Wahid stood charged 
 Avith, he indignantly replied, " he was not going to be taught 
 his duty by the prosecutor." And it was as Judge doing his 
 duty surely that he, on Tuesday la-st questioned a representative 
 of the Press in 'Court as to his " authority " and looked non- 
 plussed when asked whether he expected him — the representative 
 — to carr}' his authority about his person wherever.he went. 
 Verily, verily, we living in this " God-governed country," are 
 
fast coming to the days when justice will have fled to brutish 
 beasts and Judges will have lost their reason. 
 
 The '' Hyderabad Record " has an unusually trenchant 
 article on this subject in his issue of the 2J:th Instant. The note 
 of alarm he strikes in behalf of His Highness' subjects, ''any 
 one of whom may at some time or other have occasion to become 
 a suitor for justice " in a case like the present one — has no 
 uncertain ring about it And it is to be fervently hoped that it 
 will "catch" the ears 'of His Highness the Nizam and the 
 Resident who represents Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen 
 Empress, the very impersonation of j[ustice, at his Court. The 
 " Record " expresses a hope that the blood-stained garments and 
 letters found in the accused's house will '•' not share the fate of 
 the bond in tlie " Forgery crse " which so mysteriously disap- 
 peared from the strong room, of the Coui-t Registrar, a circum- 
 stance into which the police were prevented from making any 
 investigation" — and is of opinion that "as matters stand at 
 present, given a plastic Judge and an influential or wealthy 
 criminal the administration of justice is not only a "toss up " as 
 was lately stated in open Court by a well-known Barrister, for 
 in every " toss-up " there is at least an element of chance, but a 
 foreo-one conclusion. " 
 
 ft^ 
 
 I have been put in possession of a copy of the proceedings 
 of the first of the Treasury frauds cases. A perusal of this must 
 bring home to every one's mind the truth of every one of the 
 statements made in my letter on the Hyderabad Treasury 
 frauds. The order passed by the then Accouutant-General, the 
 Nawab Mukharrub Jung Bahadur, on the memo, submitted by 
 Mr. Gya Pershad, runs thus: — "The auditing of the cheques, 
 and the sole responsibility thereof relates to the audit (Branch) 
 of the City, and the signature of the Pepufcy Accountant Genera] 
 should be made, after the Auditor has made his, for the sake 
 of passing the cheques." 
 
 And the oSice order-book confirms it in these terms : — 
 
41 
 
 "All cheques shall be prepared after auditing, on the sole 
 responsibility of the City Branch, and they sh-iU be passed after 
 the signature of the Deputy Accountant-General.^' 
 
 In the face of this fact, Mr. Afzul Husain said in his judg- 
 ment that tlie memo, had not been conllrined by the Nawab 
 Mukhurrub Jung. In the latter part of the same judgment, 
 Afzul Husain remarked : ''He (Syed Ahmed one of the accused 
 in the case) is not notorious like Jaya Rao for his misdemeanour" 
 There was not a tittle of evidence before the Court to show 
 that Jaya Eao was ''notorious." When the pleader for the 
 defence put Mr. Gya Persad, one of the witnesses, a question 
 about Java Rao's behaviour as a subordinate, Mr. Afzul Husain 
 himself disallowed it on the ground that the Government had 
 no evidence to adduce against Jaya Rao's ^'general conduct." 
 Yet we have this condemnation in the judgment. Then again, 
 Syed Ahmed was let off because he had proved he had not par- 
 ticipated in the money got by means of the fictitious cheques 
 bearing his signature, and Jaya Rao was conyicted because he 
 had failed to show he had not received any portion of the money 
 obtained by fraudulent means. The burden of proof, according 
 to Afzul Husain, does not lie on the prosecution. Who has 
 ever heard of the prosecution being allowed to restrict itself to 
 formulating charges and the accused being compelled to prove 
 the charges brought against them to be unfounded ? But who 
 is to judge of our Moglai Judges ? They are privileged persons 
 and their ways are not dreamt of in any philosophy in "the 
 heavens above, the earth below, or the waters underneath." 
 
 I 
 
 ^ You have, I believe, formed a clear idea of Afzul Husain's 
 
 and Hafiz Ahmed Razakhan's "justice." I shall now illustrate 
 
 briefly the method of administering justice which finds favour 
 
 with two more Judges of the High Court, viz., Ali Raza Khan 
 
 and Ekbal Ali. A police Ameen and a police Jamadar were 
 
 once convicted of corruption by the then First Taluqdhar of the 
 
 Parbhani District and committed to the sessions. The sessions 
 
 Judge let off one by reason of his rtspectability, and punished 
 
48 
 
 the other. This was Ekbal AH. Once about a dozen people 
 stood charged with murder before a Judge of the same District. 
 The .Judge sentenced one of them to ten years' rigorous impri- 
 sonment on the strength of the evidence of two men who could 
 depose to nothing beyond seeing him inside the house where 
 murder had been committed at the time of murder. And this 
 was Ali Raza Khau. You can well understand now, Mr. Editor, 
 what a mockery justice often becomes^ administered as it is by 
 such men. 
 
 You will remember that in two of my letters I spoke of how 
 the Nawab Mushtak Husain, Vicar- ul-Mulk, the Revenue Secre- 
 tary, had ignored the luost notorious facts furnished him re- 
 garding the administration of the Parbhani District. Now I 
 learn from the columns of the Government organ — the "Deccan 
 Standard" — 'that the First Taluqdhar of the Parbhani District 
 the official responsible for the administration of it, has been 
 suspended '"recently^' on account of charges of corruption 
 brought against him. It would be intei'esting to know to what 
 recent date the word recent! t/ refers. Besides this, there are 
 some cjuestious which need to be answered and could be answer- 
 ed only by those behind the scenes. The first official report of 
 the Taluqdhar's crooked ways reached the Revenue Secretary, 
 I am informed, about four years ago. "What has the Revenue 
 Secretary been doing these four years ? Has it taken him four 
 years to find out the desirability of suspending the offending 
 official ? Or has he been mum until he could no loncer bo so ? 
 Why did the Nawab Mushtak Husain oppose the appointment 
 of the man, now under suspension, to the first Talukdharship of 
 Nalgonda in the Eastern division while Subhadar thereof ? And 
 was it not through the Nawab's instrumentality that he received 
 an order of transfer to Parbhani, an out-of-the-way place, even 
 before he could join his appointment at Nalgonda? Will any 
 one come forward to answer these questions? 
 
49 
 
 IItdbrabad, SrcJ Januarij, 1891. 
 
 The procedure adopted by ^Mr. Hatiz Ahmed Raza Khau 
 in the trial of the murder case may well make the civilized 
 wox'ld " f^asp and stare," and set the peace-loving Hydrabadee 
 thiukiug as to whether his life and property are safe within the 
 Moirlai limits even in this centurv and within sij^ht of the British 
 fla^. A man may lay himself open to the charge of having 
 committed any mortal offence, may even commit murder, secure 
 from the terrors of justice — provided he be influential. Or rather, 
 as a gentleman put it the other day: — "'Of what use is a man's 
 respectability in Hyderabad if he cannot set law at defiance with 
 impunity?" This is perhaps hard judging, but it is warranted 
 by the information that comes to me from a trustworthy quarter 
 about the City murder case. Hafiz Ahmed Raza Khau has 
 " made out'" an order for the release of two of the accused, viz., 
 Ab.lul Wahid the pleader, and Wazeeran, the decoy; and the 
 order will be enforced Avhen the case comes up for hearing uext, 
 i. e., on Saturday, the 10th instant. And his reasons are many 
 forsooth. The y'atfra in which the murdered woman was taken 
 into the city having stopped some way from the scene of murder 
 it could not be presumed from the driver's evidence that Abdul 
 Wahid accompanied the deceased thereto. One of the two 
 letters found in Abdoul Husain's house goes to show that for 
 sometime before the murder Abdul Waliid and Abdool Husaiu 
 were not on good terms; and so Abdool Husain's statements 
 could not with reason be made to iucriniinate Abdul Wahid. 
 Abdul Rahman, Abdul Wahid's servant, being an accomplice 
 could not be expected to sj)eak the truth about his master. And 
 the evidence of the murdered woman's daughter is worth nothing 
 as she njight have been " tutored " into giving it by the Police. 
 So our City Judge disposes of such evidence as he cared to take 
 notice of against Abdul Wahid, and orders his release. Besides, 
 he is of opinion that the Police trumped up this case against the 
 brother of the Crown Prosecutor in the Treasury Frauds Cases 
 to please some friends, and recommends the dismissal of the 
 
 ? 
 
50 
 
 Police Prosecutor. All this is no do doubt demanded by 
 prudential considerations. But then whether it is reason or 
 justice the people are free to ask. In one- of the two letters before 
 the Court, there is a threat, I am credibly informed, on the part 
 of Abdul Wahid to lay a trap, for Abdool Husain and the 
 murdered woman. Why was this slurred over ? Why was it 
 that the clothes said to be blood-stained were not submitted to 
 a chemical examination ? Why was not the Police Vakeel 
 permitted to put in 'more evidence' ? Why was the Police 
 Commissioner hurried on to bring up the case before the court ? 
 Why was it that within three days two Eoohkars were issued to 
 him to bring up the case "at once"? And how is this hurry to be 
 reconciled to the delay caused by the granting of long adjourn- , 
 ments ? These are some of the many questions that suggest 
 themselves to all unprejudiced men who cannot bring themselves 
 to believe in the innocence of the man who had the barefacedness 
 to tell the Nawab Akbar Jung Bahadur in the presence of Messrs, 
 Aiengar, Gilder and Fox; "write [to the Judge a Roohkar 
 and secure from him my pardon, and I shall make a clean breast 
 of the whole affair." The Police and their, Vaheel have, it is 
 admitted on all hands, done all that they ought to have. For 
 this the Police head is in for an unwarranted and damaging 
 imputation and the Police Vakeel has deserved dismissal. This 
 is how the ends of justice are accomplished here. 
 
 I hear that Bishop Thoburn has written to the Rev. Mr. 
 Gilder, of the Chadarghat Methodist Episcopal Church, to ask 
 him not to identify himself in any way with the prosecution in 
 the murder case. 1 hope^ this is not true. If true, there is 
 little chance of all the murderers getting their due. Being left 
 without funds Sadullah, the husband of the murdered woman, 
 will not be able to appeal against Ahmed Raza Khan's decision 
 or do anything by way ^of getting justice meted out to the 
 criminals. And the impression that justice is a costly commodity 
 and the poor cannot get it, will find another confi.rmatiou 
 
51 
 
 I have so often referred in these columns to the way in 
 which tlioso obnoxious to the party in power are sent to jail 
 or degraded or dismissed or otherwise pimished^ that I feel I 
 should not ask you, for some time to come at least, for space for 
 further information on the head. Yet I cannot see my way out 
 of mentioning a fact that was pointed out to me the other day 
 in re the Treasury Frauds Cases. Jaya Rao is in prison -now for 
 countersigning 14 fictitious cheques, while the man whose duty 
 it was to sign cheques, after looking into them carefully and who 
 signed these 14 cheques in the first instance is to he promoted. 
 How would you characterise such justice Mr. Editor ? 
 
 The local ''Hindu Social Club" seem to be a Httle bit put 
 out by a paragraph in one of my letters, with regard to the 
 '•Deccan Punch's" attack on the Raja Murli Manohur Bahadur. 
 They think, I am told, that I have "compromised" the "Club" 
 by my remarks in this connection. I mentioned what 1 knew 
 for a fact, and what I said but tended to show that personally 
 the Raja had no grievance to air forth against the Goverument 
 and no reason to join the cry of "injustice to the Hindus." 
 How this could be compromising, I am at a loss to nndei'stand. 
 ^Ve do not guage the condition of a people from the condition 
 of one individual; nor can we judge of the treatment accorded 
 to a class from that given to one of its members. This being so, 
 how can any man think that because the Raja Murli Manohur 
 has personally no grievances against the Government, therefore 
 the whole Hindu community has no grievances against it ? 
 
 A recent issue of the ''Deccan Punch" has a significant 
 cartoon on the subject of the murder case. It represents Hafiz 
 Ahmed Raza Khan as putting in one pan of the scale of justice 
 a weight too small to balance the other pan with "the box oE 
 crime" in it, and Mr. Punch addressing the Judge thus: "Put in 
 more weight, Sir." 
 
 You will be glad to hear that in the Rev. Mr. Gilder of the 
 Chadarghat Methodist Episcopal Church we have got a well- 
 
52 
 
 wisher of the Indian National Congress movement. Alluding 
 to the " Pioneer's " article on " Missionaries and Politics " he 
 writes thus to me : — 
 
 "With reference to "Missionaries and Politics" 1 believe 
 every Christian Missionary iu India ought to be in the vanguard 
 in all things relating to the social or politico-social as well a8 
 moral advancement of the people. There are politics and 
 politics ; and inasmuch as in many of the political reforms 
 called for to-day, there are bound up many, and weighty social 
 problems which demand a satisfactory solution in the interests 
 of. the people of India and which when solved will expedite poli- 
 tical reforms, I am of opinion that Missionaries are not guilty 
 of meddling in matters beyond their concern when they extend 
 practical sympathy to the National Congress. My own sympa- 
 thies are very largely with the Congress. 
 
 . , " 
 
 The statement that is going the rounds of the Indian 
 Press that the Nawab Framuz Jnng Bahadur is the first Parsi 
 Nawab is not correct. Hyderabad has had two Parsi Nawabs, 
 viz., Nadir Jung and Rustam Jung before Framjee's time. As 
 for the third Nawab himself, though it is whispered in certain 
 circles that he got his title throngh some back-door influence 
 yet it is admitted that he had better claims to it than any other 
 Parsi in the State. 
 
 The ''interesting information" furnished by the "Stafford- 
 shire Chronicle'^ about "the Mahomedan rule of Hyderabad- 
 Deccan/^ to which reference is made by your London corres-- 
 pendent in his letter of the 12th ultimo, is news to us one and 
 all. Would that our yonng ruler were put in the way of 
 evincing so much interest in the welfare of his subjects as to 
 confer "the franchise on certain classes ! " Then, knee- 
 crooking would not do duty for efficiency and criininality would 
 not be allowed to go unpunished because of inlluence acquired 
 by hook or crook. 
 
53 
 
 Hyderabad^ 10th January/, 1891. 
 
 Mr. Syed Ahmed Eaza Khan has proved himself a good 
 hand at special jdeadiug. His order for the . discharge of two 
 of the accused in the City murder case has been published in the 
 local papers since my last writing to you. And those incredul- 
 ous people who might not have believed the information I 
 placed bef -re your readers about the murder case^ could see for 
 themselves now that I did not invent thinefs to cause "mischief." 
 As for the order itself, any one with a modicum of common 
 sense could read between the lines of it a desperate attempt to 
 exculpate Abdul Wahid fully. When the man who had driven 
 tlie murdered woman to the scene of murder — or rathei* to with- 
 in a short distance of it. confessed in court to beinsf able to 
 identify the man that had accompanied the ^uf/t-aj Ahmed Eaza 
 Khan bade the Nazir of the Court and two chaprasees to take 
 him through the streets of the City and ask him to point out 
 every one of those lie had ever driven in his jntha. This decla- 
 res the spirit in which the trial, so far as Abdul Wahid was 
 concerned, was conducted — and this is the spirit which charac- 
 terises the order. If there were little evidence to incriminate 
 Abdul Wahid, there was less against Wazeeran the decov. Yet 
 Abdul Wnliidhfis been at large on bail for several days now, 
 while Wazeeran is still in police custody. How is this to be 
 accounted for ? No application was ever made in Court for 
 Abdul Wahid's being admitted to bail^ and unless we believe 
 a statement made by a local paper that Abdul Kader, Wahid's 
 brother, had had a private interview with the Judge just before 
 the procet^Hings of the case began and had not only applied but 
 arranojed for his being released on bail^ no application was 
 ever ma<le even out of Court. If Wahid could be let off on 
 bail in the absence of an application put iu for it, why was 
 not Wazeeran dealt with similarly? Referring to the evidence 
 •iivea bv the murdered woman's daughter, Ahmed Raza Khan 
 says that those (meaning the police,) who are adepts at tutoring 
 grown-up people could easily get a little girl say what they 
 
54 
 
 want. This suggestion, so to say, in the face of the well-known 
 fact that it is not so easy to tutoi' little cliildreu as to instruct 
 grown-up people so that they may not contradict themselves in 
 their evidence — proclaims the determination to .see a loophole 
 even where there is none for the accused to escape b}'. It is 
 said that the stains on the clothes held to be blood-stained by 
 the pi'osecution might have been duo to mosquito and bug blood 
 and that there are hundreds of such clothes to be found in Hy- 
 derabad! Why were not some of these "hundreds'' obtained 
 and compared with the clothes said to be blood-stanied ? Seeing 
 that the stains on one of the sherwani sleeves resembled the 
 converse of the Arabic figure 7000, the Judge concluded that 
 they were due to red ink. Was it ascertained in Court whether 
 Wahid knew Arabic figures and whether he had been in the 
 habit of using them ? And was it asked what tlie occasion for 
 the writing of 7000 had been ? No — and why not ? A Judge 
 who could go out of his way to cross-question in behalf of the 
 accused might have very well enlightened himself on those 
 points. This coupled with the fact that the clothes were uot 
 submitted to a chemical examination, tells its own tale. ■ Then 
 we are told in the order that one of the letters found by the 
 Police in Abool Husain's house speaks of MumtJiiaz and not of 
 Imthiaz, the name of the murdered woman, and consequently 
 there is nothing to show that Wahid and Abool Hussain had 
 fallen out on account of the deceased. If Wahid Ali in whose 
 name the box holding the corpse of the murdered woman was 
 consigned at the Hyderabad Hallway station proved to be Abdul 
 Wahid, is it difficult to believe, I ask, taking all the circumstan- 
 ces into consideration, that luithia: and Mumthiaz were one 
 and the same ? 
 
 Ahmed Raza Khan in a long preamble to the order, above 
 referred to, holds up the procedure in vogue here, which admits 
 an accused person to bail pending the confirmation by a Division- 
 al Bench of the High Court of the order for discharge made 
 out by the Judge in the first instance — for the information of the 
 
55 
 
 Supreme Government. It is bad enough to have eyes and yet 
 not to see. But it is woi'se to be blind or to blind oneself and 
 expect every one else to be in the same miserable plight. If 
 the accused is innocent as made out to be by the Judge in the 
 first instance, then be need not fear the de cision of the Divi- 
 sional Bench and abscond. But if he is guilty and hns reasons 
 to fear that what was slurred over by the Judge might be taken 
 notice of by the Divisional Bench and used against him, what 
 guarantee is there that he will not abscond and thus cheat justice 
 with a sop to Cerberus ? 
 
 The collapse of the second of the Treasury Frauds cases 
 has been announced. Mr. Badrudeen Tyabji is reported to have 
 written to the Government to say there was no case against the 
 accused in the case, and coi^sequently those in custody in con- 
 nection with it have been released. Patent as it has been to 
 many men here, Afzul Husaiu could not or did not choose to 
 see ''there was no case" when he committed *'the grave error' 
 of summoning the Nawab Imad Nawaz Jung and the Kaja 
 Srinivas Kao as being among the accused. Will the Govern- 
 ment or rather the party in power notice this ? If it be true 
 that they are "innocent" of all connection with the prosecution 
 in the case, they ought to take notice of this, and teach a lesson 
 to the man who could wantonly heap indignities on high officials 
 in the State. Just think of a man being hauled up before a 
 Crurt or taken into custody on the strength of mere suspicion 
 of his official conduct ! Think of the first Treasury Frauds 
 case in which people were sent to jail on tlie flimsiest grounds, 
 and a man figured as an accused by reason of his having had a 
 seat in the Accountant General's Office within sight of that of 
 the man who forged signatures and you have an idea of the 
 pass we have come to in Hyderabad, in the premier Native 
 State in India! 
 
 Information comes to me of the issue of two incorrect 
 cheques by the Officiating Accountant General within the last 
 few days. Ali Abdullah, in charge of His Highnesses Studs' 
 
66 
 
 Department, goes every year to Malagam fair with a view to 
 buy horses for His Highness's stables. As usual he wanted 
 Rs, 1 5,000 for the purpose this year. The Nawab Vicar-ul- 
 mnlk, the Revenue Secretary — who evidently holds a carte 
 blanche from H. E. the Minister to arrogate to himself the 
 functions of any office in the State — issued, in defiance of till 
 rules andlregulations, instruction to the Talnqdhar of the District 
 in which Malag;im lies to supply Mr. All Abdullah with funds 
 to the extent of Hs. 15,000 aud forwarded a copy of the same to 
 the Accountant General to apprise him of it. The Accountant 
 General, the clever official and loyal henchman that he is, cared 
 not to read through the copy and understand it, but issued two 
 cheques to the value of Rs. 15,000 to the Revenue Secretariat. 
 This gives you, Mr. Editor, an idea of the quality of the work 
 turned out by many if not most hig'hly paid servants of His 
 Highness.' 
 
 Subscriptions in aid of the movement to spread Mahome- 
 danism in Eiog-land are coming in apace. The Nawab Vicar-ul- 
 Umrahhas given Rs. 5,000, the Nawab Vicar-ul-Mulk Hs. 1,000 
 —and the amount already collected is likely to amount to a 
 big sum very soon. A portion of the sum raised will be spent, 
 1 am informed, in sending some Mahomedaus to England to 
 preach the Koran — and Moulvie Hassin Ali of whom you have 
 all heard so much will not be the least of them. An attempt to 
 convert the followers of the meek Christ to the 'Religion af the 
 sword' at the fag end of the Nineteenth Century savours rather 
 of the ridiculous. 
 
 We shall soom have a Uuani Dispensary under the manage- 
 ment of Hakeem Syed Ahmed who '^chopped logic" not long 
 since witJi Dr. Laurie on the subject of Chloroform. The 
 Nizam's Government has, it is stated, sanctioned a monthly 
 grant of Rs. 2,000 for the establishment in connection with it. 
 
57 
 
 Hyderabad, 17t]L Jamiary, 1S91. 
 
 The beginning of the end of the case against the Nawab 
 Imad Nawaz Jung and the Raja fSrinivas l\ao lias been heralded 
 by the announcement that the Government will inquire into 
 it departmentally. And now it may not bo ami.'^s to place before 
 )'our readers the denouement of the " plot '' of the case. The 
 character who is the first to appear on the stage, is a gentleman 
 by name Munover Khan. His swagger bespeaks his influence; 
 and his being officiating Accountaut-Geueral without knowing 
 any more of accounts than I or you know of navigation, shows 
 he is in luck's way. He advances to the individual yclept Gov- 
 ernment^ and states with low boAv that he has discovered some ' 
 frauds in his office in which such men as Hassan Bin Abdulla 
 and Sriuivas Rao are concerned. The Government is all joy. 
 It summons all its "faithfuls'' to a scjlemn conclave and assured 
 of the political enemies' guilt,, settles to appoint Kkbal Ali in 
 place of Hassan Bin Abdulla and Mahomed Ali to fill the vacancy 
 created by the dismissal of Srinivasa Kao — and (if a rumour is 
 to Ije believed) does not forget to send word to Mr. Fred. 
 Gordon to keep three rooms ready for the reception of the 
 enemies in Chenchulgooda jail. This closes the first act. Then 
 Justice Afzul Husain appears dressed in authority and issues 
 summons calling upon the .Nawab Imad Nawaz Jung (as well as 
 others) to appear before him within IS hours of its being served 
 to answer such a serious charge as abetment of forgery and 
 erfminal misappropriation. The Nawab applies to the Minister 
 for the postponement of tlie trial. And the Minister accedes to 
 the Nawab's request and appoints a Commission of two of the 
 Judges of the High Court, presided over by Afzul Husain, to try 
 him and others concerned in the case. Shoitl}' after this he is 
 asked by the Government to submit an explanation depart- 
 mentally. The explanation furnished being considered unsatis- 
 factorv, the Commission is asked to ln^gin busine.ss. Then 
 comes the appointment of Mr. Budrudin Tyabjee of the Bombay 
 Bar as Goverumeut Prosecutor. Whether it is true or not that 
 
58 
 
 Mr. Badrudin after a careful study of tlie evidence placed before 
 him, wrote to the Government to say there was no case against 
 Hasain Bin Abdulla and others, this is a fact that a number of 
 gentlemen headed by the mighty ones met at the house of one 
 of the legal luminaries here with a view to find out if any case 
 could be bolstered up against them. At this meeting a number 
 of the witnesses for the prosecution were called. And the 
 " unconquerable" will one of these who is a Jamedar of the 
 Irregular Troops interposed, I am credibly informed, insur- 
 mountable obstacles are in the way of the accomplishment of the 
 object with which the politicals met. The noble resolve on the 
 part of this witness to speak the truth and nothing but the truth 
 elicited a threat from the legal himiuary. And when told he 
 was an officer of the Government and as such he was bound to 
 carry out its instructions, he is said to have stood on his knees 
 his hand resting on his sword and told the men assemblod that 
 his life as being that of a soldier's was the Government's but 
 his honor was his own — and to have left the meeting. This 
 failure to trump up a case resulted in a Roobkar from the Home 
 Secretariat, closing proceedings in a mann«r calculated not to 
 evoke much hostile criticism. In the Roohkar issued shortly 
 after Hasain Bin Abdulla's submitting an explanation depart- 
 mentally it was stated tbat the explanation being of an unsatis- 
 factoiy character the Commission appointed to inquire into the 
 case would set to work. And although not even a tittle of additi- 
 on has been made to the explanation above referrad to, yet we are 
 told in another RoohJictr that the explanation is still under the 
 consideration of the Minister and the commission will postpone 
 its sittings until further orders. 
 
 I have been put in possession of the real facts of this case. 
 What decision the Government mav come to, the inscrutability 
 of its ways makes it impossible for any one to say. But this 
 much can be said that no sane man can see any guilt in the 
 Nawab Imad Nawaz Jung with the facts before him. Two 
 things are clear from the evidence before me. The one is that 
 
59 
 
 no frraid was committed, and the other is that no motive for a 
 fraud does exist. i\him AH Khan is paid for the maintenance 
 of Ills troops stationed in five districts, from the District and 
 Central Treasuries. A certain sura paid to him from the Dist- 
 rict Treasuries and not (IcLliuted from that owing to him in the 
 District Accounts, was overdeducted by the Central Accounts 
 Branch. Thus though mistakes were committed yet the result 
 turned out to be Avhat it ought to be. This the gentleman who 
 congratulated himself on having discovered frauds and hastened 
 to turn his discovery to account was too blind to see. Now as 
 to the so-called motive for a fraud : it is inferred by the Govern- 
 ment from the fact of the Nawab Imad Nawaz Juno-'s havino- 
 sold his house "which was ultimately sold for Rs. 26,000 and 
 which is really of that value to Alum Ali Khan for Rs. 45,000. 
 The house according to the valuation of four professional men, 
 is worth over Rs. 02,000 and that it was not "ultimately sold 
 for Rs. 26,000" as stated by the Government plaint but for 
 Rs. 45,000 is proved by a letter addressed to the Nawab Imad 
 Nawaz Jung by Alum Ali Khan. And no portion of the pur- 
 chase money was allowed to be appropriated by any one by the 
 Nawab. These facts speak for themselves. 
 
 Jaya Hao has been acquitted. The Judges of the High 
 Court who heard his appeal against the decision of Afzul Husain 
 have reversed the sentence of the Lower Court, And to Mr. 
 Norton, of the Madras Bar, is due the credit of having secured 
 this. I commend Mr. Norton's able defence to the notice of 
 those here who looked unutterable thoughtfulness when my 
 letters commenting upon Afzul Husain's judgment appeared. 
 They will now see that I was not fighting with shadows, tliat I 
 evolved nothing out of my inner consciousness, that I but 
 noticed what must be palpable to every one who is not born 
 blind. 
 
 My attention has just been drawn to "A Member's" letter 
 about "the Hindu Social Club" here. The letter is at best a 
 sorry attempt to prove that I have '^compromised the position 
 
60 
 
 of tlie Club.'' "1 had not supplied myself with tlie full informa- 
 tion before I wrota about tlie mainorial, and what I stated was 
 against actual facts/' I nin told, and am expected to believe 
 this in spite of myself. I had spoken to the Uaja Muidi Rlono- 
 liur Bahadur on the su'^ject of the scholarship question some- 
 time before the "Club" members thought of di'awing up a 
 memorial about it, in the presence of one or two members of tJie 
 Club. The Raja told us there was no need for memorializino- 
 and tried his best to convince us that the Govei-nment wotdd 
 throw the scholarships open to all irrespective of caste or creed. 
 And the list of those allowed to sit for the competitive examina- 
 tion held long before tlio Oluh's memorial was ready showed what 
 strong reasons the I'aja had liad for telling us that the Govern- 
 ment would throw tlie scholai'ships open to all. I could not for 
 the life of me understand 'Svliat more coiisist(>nt way of defence" 
 I could have found than stating the plain truth. 
 
61 
 
 Hydebabat), 24th Janvary, 1:891 . 
 
 As promised in a recent letter of mine I shall let you tnow 
 how a gentleman who has the misfortune to he independent- 
 spirited and to have the courage ci" his convictions, has been 
 and is being persecuted here. The gentleman I refer to is no 
 other than Mr. A. C. Rudia, Bai'rister-at-law. He set foot on 
 this soil about two years ago — and he has been a marked man 
 since. The success that greeted him on all sides at the ontset 
 and the petty persecution and social "boycotting" that followed 
 it close on its heels, tho treatment he has received from the 
 Moglai officialdom ranging from utmost warmth to utmost 
 frigidity, from petting to persecution : these show how very 
 difficult it is for a self-respecting man to pull on well where 
 factions reign sapreme, that sycophancy and time-serving alone 
 can constitute the secret of success in a place where men in 
 power are such as are bent upon self-aggrandisement. Mr. 
 Rudra was received with open arms by every one here at the 
 beginning. How he was shaken by the hand by the ofEcial 
 "silk gloves," how Mehdi Hassan ''chaperoned" him into the 
 favour of the officialdom, how he in his enthusiastic admiration 
 proposed Mr. Rudra to a membership of the Nizam Club and 
 how the Joint-Secretary of the Club seconded the proposal — all 
 Hyderabad knows And how all this favour and friendship 
 turned intu antagonistic factors — is equally well known. About 
 the same time that he got into the Nizam Club, Mr. Rudra 
 accepted the correspondentship of the '' Pioneer" — and then 
 began his troubles. As the local representative of the "Pioneer" 
 he was not going to act the apologist of the vagaries and the 
 wrong-doing of the officials or their hangers on. In his tele- 
 grams to the "Pioneer'^ which appeared in its issues of Novem- 
 ber and December 1889, he evinced a spirit of independence and 
 a determination to echo the people's voice at any cost which 
 well-nigh took away the beath of his official friends and admi- 
 rer&. Tliey saw what stuif he was made of, but thought that 
 time would change him and convert hira into a blower of their 
 trumpets. They thought wrong— Mr. Rudra's independence 
 
62 
 
 did not flnsf. He persisted in his cause with the result that his 
 ''friends" dropped off one after another. And by accepting a 
 brief from the British officers concerned in the famous Sowar 
 Case, he made himself "thorouf^hly" obnoxious to all in any 
 way connected with the Government. Then came the declaration 
 of ''war." It was held, by the powers-that-be, a crime deserving 
 of exemplary punishment for any official to be on any good 
 understandino- with Mr. Rudra. And it was in accordance with 
 this unwritten order that such of the officials as responded to 
 the invitations issued by Messrs. Rudra. Gribble and Syed All 
 for a pic-nic at Golconda — one of the social events of last year — 
 got what is officially known as the khanji wink and Messrs. 
 Syed Ali and Gribble who were associated with " the offender " 
 fared worse at the hands of the " Government." The "sinners" 
 repented and were restored to iavour, but Mr. liudra stood 
 recalcitrant — to suffer. Many methods have since been employed 
 to cow him down and crush him. First in order came his 
 "boycotting," from the Nizam's Club. The incidents connected 
 with this are among the most remarkable in the annals of social 
 life here. A challenge regarding his eligibility to membership 
 of the Club made by a member on the 7th December 1889, and 
 deemed "unfit for notice" at the time — was "entertained 
 against Mr. Rudra on the lltli October, 1890, by the Secretary of 
 the Club — the Nawab Fateli Nawaz Jung. A rule which ''refers 
 to certain nationalities and not to the individual religious beliefs 
 of those falling under the nationalities" was misinterpreted so as 
 to operate against him. And he was turned out of the Club. This 
 was followed by attempts to make this place too hot for him. 
 Finding it difficult to get a hfiuse to live in, because of the 
 hhanji wink, he took shelter under the roof of a friend. Even 
 here he was not left in peace. A distinguished official of the 
 State had sworn to see him out of the friend's house. And the 
 following conversation between the official and the friend reveals 
 what unscrupulous men we have holding sway here now and 
 to what depths they can descend to infuse terror into those who 
 dare to be independent. 
 
63 
 
 Official. — '' I say, my friend the Nawab — spoke to me about 
 Eudra last night. He said he was stopping with you. Is it 
 true ? " 
 
 Friend, — ^' Yes. The poor fellow could not get a house. So 
 I put him up with me, uud meau to do so until lie gets a house." 
 
 Official. — " You had bettor o;et rid of him as soon as you 
 can. The cirkar is very angry with you. The Nawab told me 
 that either you must drop Kudra or I must drop you. If you 
 keep him long with you, it will be a sad look-out for you." 
 
 Friend. — '-But how can I ask him to leave before he gets 
 a house ? '"' 
 
 Official. — '• How 1 can't say. But the Nawab told me that 
 Rudra is a rebel [Bagi] and anybody that associates with him 
 will be regarded as a rebel. That is tho Sirkars opiniouj and 
 we shall do well to lespect it." 
 
 As the result of this conversation, Mr. Kudra found himself 
 within twenty-four hours of its tukiug place, occupying a house, 
 the possession of which was soon to be claimed by u certain 
 "would-be" tenant. While "knocking about" in this manner, 
 Mr. Rudra was hauled over the coals for his remarks about the 
 administration of justice in the Hyderabad Court in connection 
 with Gribble versus Gallagher. I have seen the correspondence 
 that has passed between the High Court and Mr. Rudra on this 
 matter, and I fiud reason to believe that Mr. Hudra's position is 
 unassailable and so I hope the High Court will be prudent 
 enough to accept the explanation tendered by Mr. Paidra and be 
 done with the ugly affair. ?ou have not heard as yet Mr. 
 Editor — the last of the persecution. A high official of the State 
 piiid a visit recently to the head office of the " Indian Thunderer." 
 AVhat passed between him and the Editor-in-chief, no one 
 knows, but there is good reason for believing that the official's 
 ivisithasnot been altogether unsuccessful. It is reported that 
 Mr. Rudra and his Editor differed in opinion ou a matter of 
 
, 64 
 
 considerable importance to tlie State, and tliis 'difference has 
 resulted iu the non-appearance of Hyderabad telegrams in the 
 columns of the paper. Here ends for the present the history of 
 the persecution. 
 
 The above is not the only instance in which a man has 
 suft'ered for his independence in Hyderabad, Dozens of such 
 instances have come to my knowledge — and I may have occasiop 
 to refer to some at least of them in future letters. 
 
 T was in Court last Thursday to hear the City murder case 
 and was glad to notice that the High Court had perceived the 
 desirability of providing representatives of the Press with seats. 
 Very little of evidence taking was done because of the absence 
 of several witnesses. And the case was adjourned to 12 o'clock 
 to-da}'. Now that Mr. Hafiz Ahmed Raza Khan has brought 
 himself to consent to admit further evidence against all the 
 accused, I hope that evidence will be put in to proA^e that the 
 murdered woman was known as Mumthiaz as well as Imthlaz, 
 and the Judge will be pressed to send for Abdul Wahid's answer 
 papers in the Pleadership examination iu order that the prosecu- 
 tion might prove the letters found in Aboo Hasan's house to be 
 in Wahid's handwriting. 
 
 1 have a few nuts for the apologists of the present Govern- 
 ment to crack. Why and by whose authority was Syed Ahmed's 
 pay stopped by the Accountant-General for a peric^d of about 
 two months after the decision of Jaya Rao's case ? At whose 
 intercession and according to whose orders was it paid to him ? 
 On Avhat ground was it again stopped to be again paid in a 
 lumpsum? And why has it been notified to a poor clerk, by 
 name Kareetnuddeen, in the Accountant-Generars Office, that 
 in case he does not try and get himself transferred to some other 
 Department he will be dismissed from the service ? 
 
 The Ilyderahad Record reports a curious case of miscarriage 
 of justice iu one of the City courts. A maa stands accused of 
 
65 
 
 havins? thrashed another to such an extent as to loosen two of 
 his teeth, before a Mag-istrate. Tlie Magistrate goes through 
 the evidence put bct'ore him, convicts the accused and sentences 
 him to a certain punishment. The accused appeals. The 
 Appellate Court sends one of the teeth which has fallen off since 
 the decision of the Tjower Court to a IJalim for examination. 
 The Hakim deposes to its not being a human tooth — with the 
 result that the Court not only reverses the judgment of the 
 lower Court but sentences the complainant to a year's imprison- 
 ment foi' perjury. This is Htjderabad Justice. 
 
66 
 
 IIydbkabad, 31st January, 1891. 
 
 The City murder case has come to a close. Mr. Hafiz 
 Ahmed Raza Khan delivered judgment last Thursday, acquitting 
 Abdul Wahid, Abdul Rahman aud Ameeran on all the charges 
 and sentencing Abool Husain to seven years' rigorous imprison- 
 ment not for murder or abetment of murder, but for doing away 
 with the evidence of the commission of the crime. After all that 
 I have stated in former letters as to the mauuer in which the 
 trial has been conducted, I need hardly tell you that the judg- 
 ment, bearing as it does a clear impress of miscarriage of justice, 
 has caused no surprise here. 
 
 The last issue of a local paper makes mention of a rumour 
 that has been going the round for sometime past, in connection 
 Avith the murder case. Some one connected with the defence 
 seems to have made up his mind to teach a lesson to people 
 disposed to be as meddlesome as the Rev. Mr. Gilder, of the 
 Chadarghat Methodist Episcopal Church, but for whom the 
 murder might have gone the way of many cases of equal impor- 
 tance — and offered a Rohilla in the City a sum of Rs. 500 with 
 a view to induce him to assassinate the Reverend gentleman. 
 The Rohilla proved the wrong person to be trusted with an offer 
 of this sort. Being a recipient of many kindnesses at the hands 
 af some l^mjab missionaries, he did not feel up to spilling the 
 blood of a missionary — aud so he straightway carried the news 
 to Mr. Gilder. Mr. Gilder communicated with the Residency 
 authorities aud got a few policemen to keep guard round his 
 house. This precaution withal, some ruffians, who are said to 
 have closed Avith the olFer, that the Rohilla had declined so 
 gracefully, approached the house on a night and had to beat a 
 hasty retreat because of the alarm raised by the police on guard. 
 So runs the rumour. And it is, I am in a position to say, not 
 without a foundation. 
 
 The dismissal of Chella Rama Row in connection with the 
 second of the Treasury Frauds Cases is worth noticing as giving 
 
67 
 
 one fin idea as to the arbitrary way in whicli things are done here 
 under the present regime. The Raja Srinivas Row had^ while 
 siibmittino- the statement of claims of the Nawab Alam Ali Khan 
 for Rs. l,45jO0O wrote to ask the Accouutant-General if the 
 statement was correct. And a reply was sent to this from the 
 Accountant-General's Office. At the time that the discovery (!) 
 was made of frauds by Mr. Manover Khan, it was found that 
 one of the lines of this reply had been erased out and a new one 
 substituted instead. An inquiry was set on foot as regards the 
 "authorship" of this erasure and substitution. And one Bala- 
 Idsheu came forward and said that he tliought that the line 
 substituted was in Chella Earaa Rao's handwriting. This was 
 enough to include Chella Rama Rao's name in the list of the 
 accused in the second case. Justice Afzul Husain examined 
 Rama Rao and finding no evidence to confirm Mr. Balakishen's 
 *Hhought" acquitted him. The acquittal notwithstanding, Rama 
 Rao has " deserved " dismissal from the service. 
 
 What has become of the case of the Taluqdhar of Parbhani ? 
 When political opponents are concerned, justice is busy trumping 
 up charges, cooking up evidence and ' punishing ' offences in 
 anticipation of conviction. At other times it '^ sleepeth." Here 
 is a man — I mean the Tahiqdar of Parbhani — who stands charged 
 with many crimes (committed during the last four years) by 
 men who are in a position to bring home to him all their charges. 
 Yet the Government looks away from him until its attention is 
 forced towards hhn, then suspends him and troubles itself about 
 him no more. Why ? Is it that, being a creature of the Nawab 
 Busheerud-Dowlah's, he deserves ;to be spared all the disgrace 
 and annoyance of a trial that innocent men, that men known to 
 be innocent, have been subjected to ? Is it that the mighty 
 Nawab who opposed the '' Taluqdhar's" appointment to the first 
 Taluqdharship of Nalganda about four years ago, on unassailable 
 grounds to be sure, has since come to think differently or finds 
 reason to safeguard the interest of the man ? We have heard of 
 no charges being framed against him. No commission lias been 
 
68 
 
 appointed, no Jud^e nominated to try him. Why? Why have 
 they not instituted even a sliaui judicial inquiry as they liave 
 done iu several cases ? 
 
 Jaya Rao is a most unforrunate man. Iu sootli tho Gods 
 are against him. He was clapt into jail without any reason . 
 He abode for a while in the prison house for a crime that existed 
 only in the fertile imagination of his political enemies. He 
 appealed — and the AppeHate Oourt acquitted him. But in spite 
 of the acquittal he found himself detained iu prison for two days. 
 Who is responsible for this illegal confinement, many have 
 asked, and have been furnishod with ^in auswer by the kindness 
 of Mr. J. D. B. Gribble. The day after Jaya Rao's acqnittal 
 Mr. Gribble went over to the Chenchulgooda jail aud demanded 
 of the ^Superintendent his client's release. Being informed that 
 no order of acquittal had been I'eceived he went over to the High 
 Court and saw an order made out for Jaya J:?ao's release — and 
 then paid a visit to the Secretary of the Commission with a view 
 to find out if any order had been passed for Jaya Rao's detention 
 in jail. Finding that no such order had been passed, Mr. Gribble 
 told the Secretary: "In that case as soon as the order of acquittal 
 reaches the jail, Jaya l»ao can beset at liberty.'' "No," said 
 tho Secretary, " because at the same time I shall send a new 
 order directing his further confinement." " If yon do so" said 
 Mr. Gribble, "without the exj)rt'ss authority of the Commission 
 3'ou will do so on your own resj)onsibility, and I warn you tlia^ 
 I will advise Jaya Rao, to bring an action for illegal confinement 
 against you." "Oh ! I shall be protected" was the answer. 
 
 I find that "A tuember" of "the Hindu Social Club" is 
 again to the front with "a defence." Verily he ^'protests too 
 much." Though this might make wicked people look suspicious, 
 yet his saying "a word or two" ''now that his short and concise 
 letter has been leaned upon as a tower (what is the height of it, 
 I wonder) of strength " by me, is creditable. But my facts are 
 facts—though I am profoundly sorry for '^ A member's" sake 
 
69 
 
 that they are so. While I am o^lad to be reminded "that is not 
 a bad infei'euce to make '' (tbough I am at a loss to know 
 wheref lom) '" that other ;people besides myself possess truth- 
 discerning faculties," — I must ask '' A member" to let me know 
 whether questioning the truth of one statement without rhyme 
 or reason and insinuatinn; motive in terms such as '^ the truth is, 
 havino- chosen a war, he wants to maintain it" — is or is not 
 callinu: •'•' I'.iui or his aro-umeut names." I should like to know 
 if '• A member" liolds a brief from tlie Club to defend the 
 '^position" thereof. If so, T, as a member in common with 
 other members, should ask him to produce his credentials for 
 p-)sing as the aggrieved or rather '' the compromised " in behalf 
 of tho Chib. 
 
 [ hail an intei'view with Mr. Badrudiu T3'abji of the Bombay 
 Bar, now here, sometime ago. Being taken up with other 
 matters, I could not refer to it before this. Mr. Badrudin had 
 little to say about Hyderabad and its affairs not being able to 
 devote, as lie said, any attention to such ' studies.' But he was 
 anxious to express himself freely and clearly as regards the 
 Congress question. He said that though he did not look with 
 faviinr upon such extravagant demands as those embodied in the 
 "Madras scheme" vet lie was as great a sympathiser of the 
 national movement to-day as he had been when presiding at the 
 Madras meeting of the Congress. If he did not take part in the 
 pmceediugs for some years, it was because the " Anjumani 
 Islam" of Bombay, of which he was President, was against his 
 doing so. And as he knew that he could do a lot of good to the 
 Bombay Moslem community by being in touch with it and that 
 the Congress could get on without him while " the Islam" could 
 not, he kept aloof though he was at heart a great sympathiser. 
 
70 
 
 
 
 Hyderabad, 7th Fehrnary, 1891., 
 
 Mr. Hafiz Ahmed Raza Khau, lias, I am informed, recom- 
 mended the children of the murdered woman in the City murder 
 case for munsabs to the Government. And the recommendation 
 is likely to receive favourable consideration at the hands of the 
 powers-that-be. I may here remark that an appeal to mercy 
 stands a greater chance of being heard by them than an appeal 
 to justice. 'How is this?' you m;vy ask. The former tickles their 
 vanity, makes them look noble and magnanimous; while the 
 latter almost always contemplates the defeat of their cherished 
 objects. The recommendation is no doubt meant to compensate 
 the deceased's husband for the loss of his wife^.— for the mis- 
 carriage of justice which has left him powerless to avenge the 
 brutal murder. For this the luan ought certainly to feel 
 thinkful — for if poeple elsewhere are thankful for small mercies^ 
 we in Hyderabad have to feel thankful for still smaller ones. 
 
 Ekbal Ali, one of the Judges of the City High Court has 
 resigned and will shortly proceed to take up a Sub-judgeship 
 in the Nor th-Wes tern Provinces. Poeple have been speculating 
 as to who will succeed him on the bench — and some have gone 
 even the length of pointing out the desirability of appointing a 
 Hindu to the vacancy, Mr. Hukuin Chand, for instance. But 
 I have reasons to believe the vacancy will not be filled with a 
 Hindu, nor will it be filled at all until " a favourite" turns up 
 on the scene. 
 
 And still they come — instances of favouritims extraordinary. 
 A man in the Accontant-General's OfRce fails 'to object' to a 
 payment falling short of the amount claimed by about two annas. 
 And for this he is fined. Compare this with the action taken or 
 rather the inaction shown in the case of a favourite who was 
 connected with the issue of a cheque for Rs. 50 by way of pension 
 to the daughter of a late relative of his. A person in charge of 
 the mint for a long time, died leaving three sons and two 
 daughters. And the " paternal " Government ordered, in con- 
 
n 
 
 sideration of the deceased's services, that each of the sons should 
 be given a mxinsah of Rs. 50 until he is 21 years old — for purposes 
 of education. The eldest of these three brothers having since 
 entitled himself by competitive examination to a Government 
 scholarship, the favourite above referred to thought he could of 
 his 'own accord trausFer one of the munsahs to one of the 
 daughters — and accordingly issued the cheque of Rs. 50. Somehow 
 or other the Political and Fiuancial SecretaT-y's Office came to 
 know of this and immediately apprised the man of his mistake 
 and thus prevented the cheque being cashed. Why was not the 
 man brought to book for illegally issuing the cheque ? 
 
 They — I mean the rulers de facto — refused to furnish the 
 Nawab Imad Nawaz Jung with copies of papers relating to the 
 two inquiries held in connection with the so-called second 
 Treasury Frauds Case — one by the Revenue Secretary, and the 
 other by the Accountant-General's Office. The Nawab insisted 
 on copies being supplied to him, and a lengthy correspondence 
 passed between him and his ' inquirers' with the result that the 
 Minister ruled that as both these inquiries were of a confidential 
 nature copies of papers relating to them could not be given. 
 What do you think of this ruling, Mr. Editor r Have you ever 
 heard of anything so extraordinary as this ? A highly-placed 
 individual finds himself all of a sudden charged with having 
 committed " frauds." Two inquiries are held in connection with 
 this. And when the accused applies for copies of papers 
 concerning them he is told he cannot have them as the inquiries 
 were confidential. Were these inquiries ''confidential'^ in the 
 sense that they but revealed the utter baselessness of the charges 
 brought against the Nawab Imad Nawaz Jung, the Rajah 
 Srinivas Rao and others ? Or were they '•' confidential " because 
 they were meant only to find out how far the position of the 
 accused was tenable ? 
 
 The commission brought into existence to inquire into the 
 second Treasury Frauds Case, was empowered only to report on 
 
72 
 
 the case— and had no judicial status whatsoever. How came it 
 then I ask that it ordered into jail many of the accused in the 
 case ? 
 
 According- to an order of the Government a general parade 
 of His Highness the Nizam^s troops was to have beou held at 
 Golconda yesterday. Almost all the commanding otticers with 
 their respective regiments had assembled at the appointed place 
 and had been in harness for several hours when a Government 
 order reached them couutermandiug the original one. 
 
7S 
 
 Hyderabad, 14th Fehruary 1891. 
 
 Those that thhik that public ojiiuion will carry any -weight 
 ■with the party in power on the matter of the appoiotment of a 
 Hindu in place of Mr. Ekbal AH on the High Court Bench, are 
 very much mistaken. " The vacancy will not be filled with a 
 Hindu, nor will it be filled at all until a favorite turns up on the 
 scene," I said in my last letter. And we have a confirmation 
 of it in the following terms in the Deccan Standard: " H. E. the 
 I\Jiuister is, we are confident, fully alive to the advantages of 
 securing a Hindu Judge for the High Court. But as far as we 
 have been able to gather, it is possible that no one will be 
 appointed to succeed Mr. Justice Ekbal AH, as it is thought that 
 the High Court is already strong enough." Of what earthly use 
 is His Excellency's being " fuHy alive to the advantages of 
 securing a Hindu Judge " if he is fully determined upon not 
 securing the advantages — is more than any one can understand. 
 Perhaps in the case of a person of His Excellency's exalted 
 position — guarded too as it js by recent creations of Mulks 
 Doiclas and Jungs — we have to take good intentions for good 
 deeds and be thankful. In that case the intentions need only to 
 be advertised by the Government organ. How and when the 
 discovery was made that "the High Court Bench is already strong 
 enough" and what w^ould become of the discovery when a 
 favourite turns up — I wish to be informed. 
 
 " We have no naturalisation law in Hvderabad " we are 
 told by an apologist of the present administration. In what 
 sense then is it that sons and nephews of many of the aliens in 
 the service who were not born here, are Hyderabadees ? 
 
 I have more than once told in these columns the " tale '^ of 
 the degradation and misery that the Kaja Sahib of Anagondi 
 has been subjected to by those in power now. That the Raja 
 Sahib came to be all of a sudden burdened with a peishkush of 
 about Ks. 10,000, that he appealed against the unjust and 
 unprecedented imposition; that a TaUicj^dhar and au Inspector- 
 
 10 
 
74 
 
 General individually testified to the utter inability of the 
 tamasthan to pay a much less sum than that demanded, that this, 
 strangely enough, resulted in the peishkush being raised to 
 Es. 18,000 H. S., that the Raja Sahib appealed against this to 
 His Highness the Nizara repeatedly without avail — all this your 
 readers know from my letters. In this letter I shall put before 
 them a case which, though not as '^bad "' as that of the Raja of 
 Anagondi, serves to show equally well what policy the present 
 Government is guided by with respect to its dealings with the 
 Hindus. Gurgnnta is a small principality in Bis Highness the 
 Nizam's Dominions vielding an annual income of about Ks. 
 40,000; and it has been in the possession of the Hindu family 
 that now stands dispossessed of it, for a longer period thau 
 Hyderabad itself has been iu the hands of the Nizams. The last 
 Raja died in January 1890, and the samasthan passed as inheri- 
 tance to his two widows and dauerhter. These latter had been 
 
 CD 
 
 in the enjoyment of the revenues of the State hardly for a month, 
 when a Taluqdhar appeared ou the scene with a baud of sepoys 
 and policemen and took forcible possession of not only the 
 samasthan but their private estates. The why and wherefore of 
 this arbitrary proceeding it is hardly necessary we should 
 speculate upon — they ai'e transparent to all. The Ranis having 
 failed to get justice from the Minister has, 1 am iuformed, placed 
 her case iu the hands of Mr. Nelson, Burrister-at-law, and 
 instructed him to carry it up to His Highness the Nizam himself.] 
 Whut action His Highness will take iu the matter — remains to 
 be seen. 
 
 An item of interesting news comes to me from a trustworthy 
 quarter. A young Hiudu gentleman — one of the most intelligent 
 men in His Highness's Educational Department — whose services 
 had )-eceived a recognition in the shape of a valuable gold wat("h 
 presented to hiin in the name of the Government by the Nawab 
 Vicar-ul-Umrah Bahadur, went to see the Nawab off at a certnin 
 railway station. The Nawab wished to know where the Hindu 
 had been born ; and ou being told he was a yacca Hydrabadee 
 
he turned to tlie Nawah Mii?htalv Hussn.in Vicar-nl-Mulk who 
 was b}' his side ami tokl liiiii with a sig'iificant look: Look, he 
 is a Hydrabadeee." The suub conveyed by the Nawab Vicar- 
 uh--Umra's remark cau be appreciated only by those who have 
 any knowledgo of the Minister de factors stock-in trade — " There 
 is no good in llydrabadees/' — and who know how aliens from 
 the North have been pitchforked by him into some of the highest 
 positions in the laud. 
 
 A local journalist has been going about, I am credibly 
 informed, notifying "to all whom it may concern" that the 
 Hyderabad letters in the Hindu will in future be shut out of his 
 columns. Failing to perceive any additional importance that 
 their reproduction in his columns has invested my letterrs with, 
 I cannot thank the journalist for having hitherto republished 
 the Hyderabad letters; nor am I inclined to regret the notifica- 
 tion. 
 
 The results of the ^Matriculation examination of the 
 University of ^ladras held in December last, received here at 
 the close of last week, show how intelligent girls are as a rule. 
 Out of the six or seven girls that appeared for the examination 
 from the St. George's Grammar School, three are declared to 
 have passed in the first class and one in the second ; while out 
 of 100 or more boys only 23 have come onfc successful — all 
 except two being placed in the second class. In congratulating 
 the father of one of these three young ladies. Captain Tom 
 Baylej of His Highness the Nizam's Artillery, the Government 
 organ suggests: '^ Three Nizam's scholarsnips have already 
 been established, but this generositv in the cause of education, 
 may well be augmented by appointing an additional one 
 exclusively for girls." While welcoming the suggestion and 
 glad too to be told, that the ''Deccan Standard" is "satisfied that 
 Miss Bayley's case will receive kindly consideration," I may 
 be permitted to meution the case of a young lady who has as 
 good claims on the Nizam's Goverment as Miss Bayley and as 
 such des.erved " kiuily cousideration" bat failed to get it. Ths 
 
7« 
 
 younsf lady I refei' to, i?; the first lady matriculate lipre. She 
 was born iu His Hiohness's territorry and how successfully her 
 father, who has been connected with the Educational Depart- 
 ment for over 17 years, has worlced in the cause of education, 
 and how much of the spread of it is due to liiin all Hyderabad 
 knows. Yet when the faiher applied to the Government for a 
 scholarship to enable his daughter to study for a Medical Degree 
 at one of the Medical Colleges iu the Presidency towns, very 
 little of "kindly consideration" was shown. Compare this 
 Mr. Editor with the case of a young lady from tlie North. She 
 came here, had the " consideratian" for the asking with little or 
 no trouble, went to Madras, read in the Medical College for 
 about 2 years at the expense of the Nizam's Government—and 
 then took service under the Mysore Government. Inscrutable 
 really are the ways of officials here ! If favoritism plays as 
 prominent a part as consideration of merit elsewhere, it like 
 Arou's rod, swallows up all other considerations heie. 
 
 A fancy fair will be held shortly in tha Chadarghat Public 
 Gardens. It has been organized by Mrs. Tytler, a lady well- 
 known in all circles here, with a view to provide a bed in the 
 Ripen Hospital at Simla for European patients from the plains 
 during the six hot months. This is not the first time that Mrs. 
 Tytler devotes herself to a philanthrophic object like this ; she 
 held a similar fair with the same oDJect more than a year ago on 
 the Residency grounds. The fact of a lady at her age coming 
 forward to contribute to the comfoi't of suffering humanity ought 
 to induce all who can look beyond self to "support" it not 
 merely in words but practically . 
 
11 
 
 Hydekabad, 2ht Felruary, 1^91. 
 
 I MOST begiu tbis letter with a paraorapb about tlie parade 
 at Gok'oiiJa 1 referred to in my last but cue letter— for thereby 
 haujis a tale. The latest accession to the file of favourites and 
 henchmen of the party in power seems to be the Nawab Major 
 Afsur Juno-. The Nawab is admitted on all hands to have a 
 great deal of influence with His Highness the Nizam. Whether 
 this influence is to be used in the interests of his newly-found 
 masters, we shall not have to wait long, I am sure, to know. 
 In the meanwhile it will be iuteres ing to study the masters' 
 ways to pleasure the Nawab Major. To make him feel elevated 
 — as well, no doubt, as to spite Colonel Nevill who, since the 
 evil (lay he saw reason not to return a visit paid him by a lady 
 and a gentleman moving in the highest circles here has been 
 anything but a persona grata — orders were issued sometime ago 
 for a general parade of the Regular Troops and Golcouda 
 brioade at Golconda under his command. Two or three days 
 before the day fixed for the parade Colonel Nevill who had been 
 on a tour of inspection happened to come into the head-quarters, 
 and learning of the orders wrote to the Government apprising it 
 of his arrival and pointing out to it that being a superior officer 
 he should have the chief connnand at the parade. This official 
 communication elicited from the Private Secretary to H. E. the 
 Minister a confidential letter, directing Colonel Nevill to keep at 
 home on the parade day, to fall in the Minister's staff, to finish 
 his tourinsr, or to fro to Hanumkonda with two other officers and 
 choose a site for jail. The Colouers feelings could easily be 
 imagined. He reported the matter to the Resident, but failing 
 to <^et him to interfere he had the whole case laid, I am informed, 
 before His Highness with the result that His Highness — as 
 usual with him whenever a case of injustice is brought to his 
 notice — issued an order countermanding the orders for a parade 
 and administered the Minister a " wigging'^ richly deserved. 
 
 As far as Colonel Nevill is concerned, this is not the first 
 time that he suffers an indignity at the hands of the politicals. 
 
The well-know Kxdsamhi case wliich proved the ruin of the 
 "Telegraph" revealed a despeiate attempt to bring him to 
 disgrace. 
 
 The Nawab Mushtak Hiisi?ain Vicar-nl-mulk is after all, 
 not the mighty man I took him to he. He is not above the fate 
 of meaner mortals — for he, too has his disappointments. The 
 other day he wished to become a member of the Hyderabad 
 Club — and soon found out that wishiuo- was not havinof even 
 with hiui in every case. His name was put up for election. 
 Some of the highest European oiRciuls in the State went about 
 canvassing votes for him. And all liis friends, admirers and 
 proteges especially of the Golconda Brigade mustered strong on 
 the election day. Yet as the Fates would have ib the ballot box 
 was found to contain nine black balls. A wonder of wonders. 
 That the most powerful official should thus he declared unworthy 
 of a membership of the Club, that the most successful political 
 should thus be black-balled 1 The very eveninor that the result 
 was known the Nawab had a relapse, I hear, into a serious 
 illness. If the black balling had anything to do with the illness, 
 the cynicism he wears is really a mask and he must have a soft 
 spot hidden away somewhere. And one of the European officials 
 would seem %o have gone into hysterics over the affair and 
 suggested among other things the breaking up of the Club. 
 
 Two of the local papers are evidently vicing with eacn other 
 to attain the excellence (I) of the prints immortalished by Dickens 
 in his Pickwick papers. One cannot be mentioned by thera but 
 one must be abused in the vilest terms or praised in the most 
 ludicrously flattering language In noticing the effasious .of 
 the local representative of the " Indian Daily News," one of 
 these nnenviably brilliant writers remarks that Indian Daily 
 News' own correspondent "unlike the Hindu correspondent, 
 seems to be a lover of truth and free from malice." The injustice 
 and spite of the remark are so apprent to every impartial 
 newspaper reader in Hyderabad, that I need not quote chapter 
 aud verse to refute it or work myself into a rage and call het 
 
79 
 
 writer names ns the " Deccan Standard" Las done. But in 
 the interests of fair journalism I would ask the writer or rather 
 challenge him to point out to me one instance in which 1 have 
 shown myself untruthful or malicious. 
 
 The judgment passed by Mr. Ahmed Raza Khan in the 
 City Murder case was, according to the procedure in vogue, 
 sent up to a divisionul heneh of the High Court composed ol the 
 Nawab Tmad Jung, and Mr. Ali Uaza Khan, 31. a., for confirma- 
 tiuu. And thev have enhanced ihu sentence with reference to 
 Abool Husaiu in the first instance to imprisonnumt for life. 
 
 The Fancy Bazaar organized by Mrs. Tytler came off in the 
 Chadarghat Public Gardens on Thursday last. In spite of the 
 charms that presided over the several stalls, I am told the 
 bazaar has been fiuancicilly a failure. The Hydrabadee bigwigs 
 were conspicuous by their absence — ihey evidently love wasting 
 their mouev over nautches, sycophants and tale-bearers better 
 than spending any portion of it towards accompli-^hing the very 
 noble object with which the bazaar was ht^ld. Among the very 
 kind ladies that helped Mrs. Tytler in forming the bazaar, those 
 that did the best business, as far as 1 could see, were the two 
 Misses GrifHn who waylaid people most grac efully and button- 
 holed them in spite of themselves at a rupee a head. I hear 
 these vounsi ladies realized something like lis. 100. If others 
 had been equally successful in the way of disposing of their 
 " saleables " the bazaar would not have turned out a failure 
 financially to be sure. 
 
 The Hindus of Secunderabad would seem to have taken a 
 leaf from the book of their brethren here. The ''Albert Reading 
 l^oom^' people convened one or two meetings to discuss the 
 advisability of having a Hindu Judge in place of Mr. Ekbal Ali 
 retired, and have finally resolved to memorialize the Government 
 praying that it may take advantage of the vacancy created on the 
 High Court Bench and appoint a competent Hindu Judge to 
 interpret law in the light of the customs and manners of a vast 
 
;.<" 
 
 60 
 
 majority of His Highness's subjects. The resolution thou<?li 
 destiued to fall flat on the po\vers-that-be, is to be welcomed as 
 in<licative of the growth of public opinion which will have one 
 day attained such strength as to force justice even fi-om worse 
 rulers than those in the ascendant to-day. 
 
 We are soon to have a fifth school inspectorate. ' Why ? ' 
 it may well be asked seeing that we have already four Inspectors 
 liaving, as compared with the work of the same officers in the 
 British Provinces, little or no work to do. Why ? Can there be 
 better reason than that the Home Secretary does not think it 
 safe to have Mr. Sturge, m. a , any longer in the Milling Depart- 
 ment? It may not be out of place here to notice how His 
 Highness's educational executive came to be officered by four 
 men of such diiferent qualifications as Messss. Croleyj Veuugopal 
 Pillai, Schaffter and Lakshmau. All the executive work wag 
 doue by four Mohtameens with salaries ranging from 125 to 175 
 H. S. Rupees until Mr. Croley sought, by force of fate, an 
 entrance into the portals of the Nizam's servif;e. No sooner 
 Mr. Croley was sent out of the Chadarghat St. George's Gram- 
 mar School than his worth become perceptible to the educational 
 authorities, aad a necessity for such a man as Inspector flashed 
 across their minds — and he was appointed Inspector-General. 
 He had been in the service for a short while when he discovered 
 that the educational work of four divisions was more than he 
 could do. So Mr. Venugopal, who had done some work in the 
 cause of education in Secunderabad, was appointed an Inspector 
 in charge of two divisions. Time jogged on thus until Mr. 
 Schatfter being sent adrift by the Nawab Mehdi Ali had to be 
 provided for. The third Inspectorship came thus into existence. 
 Some time afterwards the senior Inspector found himself over- 
 worked and got the fourth Inspector appointed in the person of 
 Mr. Lakshman, b. a. Tl)e history of these appointments is 
 rather interesting — is it not Mr. Editor ? 
 
81 
 
 IIydirabad, 28tli February 1891. 
 
 It is extfcmel}' aniusiug to note how suddenly '' disease" 
 makes its appearance in official circles and disappears from tliem. 
 Only the other day we were most seriously given to understand 
 that H. E. ISir Asmanjah Bahadur had suffered so much in 
 health on account of his multifarious aud onerous duties, that 
 in accordance Avith the best medical advice availabe here, he had 
 made up his mind to go and rest in Ajmere aud other places for 
 a short time. And now I hear His Excellency has changed his 
 mind. Why, all these who wish to see the nobleman live long 
 are naturally anxious to know. Is it because of some political 
 necessity ? If so in one premii r nobleman at least we have one 
 who has couapletely broken off from the lethargy of the past, a 
 male " edition'^ of the adventurous Miss Valerie Van Tassel who 
 would " soar" even at the risk of her life. 
 
 I should like to know which of those in power is responsible 
 for the following promotions : — 
 
 (1.) Bashirudden, a relative of the Nawab Fateh Nawaz 
 Juug's has been promoted from Police Superintendentship of the 
 last grade with a salary of Ks. 200 to Police Superintendentship 
 first grade on Rs. 800, in supercessiun of many old and deserving 
 Superintendent of higher grades. 
 
 (2.) Mahbul Ali, Ekbal All's brother, entered the Police 
 Department as a Court Nazir or Inspector on Rs. 125 a mouth. 
 And althougli hardly a twelve month has elapsed since then, 
 he finds himself acting as Police Superintendent, first grade. 
 
 ■ (3.) Mahomed Raza while Nazir of Kuldabad on Rs. 30 
 
 conducted himself very suspiciously. A charge of embezzlement 
 of Government money was brought against him, and he ab- 
 sconded. Though the charge is siill pending, and he has 
 not abandoned his secret haunt, he has had a " kick-up." 
 
 It is strongly rumoured that some officials are trying their 
 best to get back Moulvi Ekal Ali ou a higher pay. 
 
 11 
 
82 
 
 Hydekabad, 1th March 1891. 
 I regret to have to begin this week's letter with the 
 announcement of a death in high circles Miss [da Fitzpatrick, the 
 youngest daughter of Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick^ succumbed to an 
 attack of typhoid fever last Tuesday morning. She had been 
 ailing for over a fortnight, and all that medical skill and 
 parental watchfulness coald do had availed her nothing. Her 
 death has cast a gloom over Hyderabad society, and her father 
 who has lost two daughters since coming over here needs all the 
 strength that religion and sympathy can impart to bear up 
 against his bereavement. 
 
 How the vacancy created on the High Court Bench by the 
 retirement of Mr, Ekbal iWi, came to be not filled up, or rather 
 considered to be a supernumerary office, it is interesting to 
 know. Soon after Ekbal All's retirement the rulers de facto 
 held a consultation in camera with the Nawab Imad Jung Baha- 
 dur, Chief Justice, as to the appointment of a successor on the 
 Bench. The Xawab Imad Jung suggested two names for the 
 vacancy. One was a Mahomedan who is a District Judge, and 
 the other a Hindu in the Small Causes Court. Being outside 
 the pale of favourites, the Mahomedan could not be nominated 
 to the post; and the Hindu, being a Hindu, could not receive 
 favourable consideration at the hands of the rulers. So they 
 hummed and hawed for a while, and then they separated and 
 resolved to see what they could do for themselves. But the 
 Nawab Imad Jung was not going to allow himself to be reduced 
 to a nonentity even where matters regarding his department 
 were concerned. He evidently took stock of the chances there 
 were of a worthless man being forced on him, and preferring 
 over-working himself and his colleagues to having the whole 
 judicial work thrown into a mess by the introduction of a good- 
 for-nothing " hand," met his colleagues in the High Court rooms 
 and with their knowledge and consent reported to the Govern- 
 ment that the High Court was already sufficiently strong and 
 there was no necessity for another Judge. And the report had, 
 tnirahile dictu the desired effect. 
 
83 
 
 The nimonr, I referred to in my last letter, about Ekbal 
 Ali is confirmed by n local contemporary who says, " Mr. Justice 
 Ekbal Ali has after all withdrawn his resignation and will return 
 here in a few da vs." He has "withdrawn his resignation" no 
 doubt in the hope of getting higher pay than that he was in 
 receipt of as a Judge of the High Court. And we find for tlie 
 second time within the last few months that resignation in the 
 vocabulai'Y of the rulers is not indicative of one's desire to retire 
 from the service, but an application for increase of pay, I do 
 not at all grudge Mr. Ekbal Ali the addition he expects to his 
 former salary, — for what is it when compared with the large 
 sums thit regularly tjo to secui-e unscrnpulous support and petty 
 flattery ? But I should like to know why it is that powerful 
 men have been at such great pains to get him back ? It is that 
 tlie Government — that is they — cannot get on without him ? 
 
 "SVhat has become of the Saliu* Jung Debt Commission? a 
 friend asked me the other day. As I c luld not answer the 
 question myself, I must request the powers-that-be to answer ifc 
 pi'o bono publico. Tlie last I heard of the commission was from 
 the Nawab Vicar-ul-mulk himself. He told me more than seven 
 months ago that the report of the Commission had been nearly 
 ready and it would be published soon. If the report was nearly 
 ready so long ago, it could certainly not be said that it is not 
 readv now. What has become of the report then? What 
 conclusions has the Commission come to as to the deliqtients who 
 have been under suspension for many months now ? No answer 
 is forthcoming. It is whispered that the object of those who 
 called the Commission into existence was merely to annoy and 
 humble some men who could not be got to play into their hands. 
 And the extraordinary long delay there has been in the 
 publishing of the results of the Commission's inquiry lends 
 significance to this whisper. 
 
 Now and then a paragraph goes the roiinds which has 
 a history worth telling. The imagination, called into play by 
 sheer necessity, of those active and ingenious benefactors 
 
84 
 
 of society—newspaper reporters — furnishes materials for such 
 history to be sure. Recently a clever reporter on the staiT of 
 one of the local papers heard that the Rev. Mr, Gilder of the 
 Chaddarg-haut Methodist P]piscopal Church was to leave for 
 Bansralore to attend a inissioiiarv conference: and he saw a little 
 afterwards the Rev. Mr. Stone, a former parson of the Church 
 at Mr. Gilder's house. The heariuo' and seeing' were sugroestive 
 of many truths in Mr. Reporter's e^-es. He who could put two 
 and two together very cleverly, put these two things together 
 and drew from them the conclusion that Mr. Stone would act 
 for Mr. Gilder duringr his absence And it is needless to say 
 that the reporter soon found out he had overreached himself. 
 The person who manufactured the paragrapli about the " Mrs. 
 liittledale who accompanied her husband on his passage through 
 the Pamir steppe being a high class Mahrata lady, a daughter 
 of Dr. Atmaram Pandurang of Bombay," would seem to belonor 
 to the same genus of imaginative newspapermen as this 
 reporter. The Mrs. Littledale who is a high.class Mahrata lady 
 being a daughter of Dr. Atmaram Panduradg of Bombay, was 
 here doing work as Superintendent or Principal of the Zenana 
 School at the time that Mr. Littledale is said to have passed 
 through the Pamir plateau. How she could have been in 
 Hyderabad and Pamir plateau ah one and the same time is a 
 mystery which the writer of the paragraph alone can unravel. 
 
85 
 
 TTtdeRABAd, I6th March, 1891., 
 
 Ekbal x\li has come back to the scene of his activities. 
 Unlike the typical Mahoinedan he is not a lover of idleness or 
 delay. No sooner he knew that Hyderabad coiihl not get on 
 without hiin, that he bade goodbye to the British Service and 
 started and slept not a M-iuk nntil he was admidst his friends 
 and well-wishers. He was in receipt of a monthly salary of 
 1500 H. >S. I'S. when lie threw up his judgeship; now he gets 
 2000 lis. a month. As long as he was in the High Court, his 
 patrons could not increase his pay without making him super- 
 sede Ali Raza Khan and others and thus making enemies of 
 thorn. But now that he is free, they could create a law com- 
 mission and put him at the head of it on 2000 "Its. a month — and 
 plead State necessity. How political these men really are ! 
 lUit then tliey might profitably remember that that which at 
 one moment succeeds, ends not only in failure but in ruin at 
 another. 
 
 Sometime ago a corr(!spondent drew public attention in the 
 columns of a local paper to the way in which a distinguished 
 Navvab amuses himself on festive occasions. The 'way' will 
 amuse your readers immensely and at the same time give them 
 an idea of the stamp of the men who are entrusted with the 
 destinies of ten millions of people here. The Nawab referred 
 to who has evidently a talent for the dramatique — the character 
 of it I leave it to you to determine — acts a part on occasions 
 of parties to his friend at his residence. He dresses himself 
 like a woman — if the mau-woman is an edyfying sight how 
 much more so must the Nawab-woman be ! — and sits on a 
 wooden platform beform a pot of toddy and sells toddy at a 
 gold mohur — and not two pies as stated by the correspondent 
 in the local paper — a measure to friends and admirers. In this 
 character the nobleman is perfection itself. 
 
 The Nawab Iraad Nawaz Jung has filed his explanation in 
 counectiou with the so-called Second Treasury Frauds case. 
 
 K 
 
His last application to the Government for another week's delay 
 in putting- in liis explanation, drew down on him the wrath of 
 the mighly Vicariil mulk, who in acquiescing in the request 
 wrote to say that if by a certain date the explanation be not 
 forthcoming he would be asked to give over charge. I hope 
 to he able to go through the explanation shortly, and to say 
 something about it in my next letter. 
 
 An order published in a recent issue of the '' Jareeda " noti- 
 fies that in accordance with the decision of the learned Judges of 
 the Hioh Court, Mr. Rndra has been disbarred for his oifensive 
 remarks on Justice in the Moglai Courts in connection with 
 Gribble versus Gallagher. It is noteworthy that the order should 
 appear about the same time that Mr. Hudra by his cross-exami- 
 nation of Mr. Gallagher put the public in possession of many 
 important State secrets, not the least of them being that which 
 charges the officials with briljiug unscrupulous newspapermen 
 for being lauded up. A strange concidence to be sure ! 
 
 I shall show how the underlings of the powers that be 
 use the power they are trusted with. On the 5th of Rabinss- 
 anee B. 88 F.^ a Deputy Inam Commissioner issued an order 
 to his office clerks to tlie effect that '•' most of them " would 
 have to undergo an examination in their respective work, and 
 that for the purpose they should present themselves at his 
 office on the following Saturday at 10 a. m. The day came and 
 the Dupty ^' singled " out only four of the clerks — and these 
 men obnoxious to him — for examination. These naturally 
 enough, respectfully protested against the injustice. And for 
 this " impertinence " — as it appears from an application signed 
 by these four — the officer suspended them and remarked they 
 were rebels {bagi) and so they should be turned out by force 
 by the police. The upshot of the whole affair was that a number 
 of charges, baseless so far as any written evidence went, was 
 preferred against one of the clerks and he was dismissed. The 
 injured man appealed to the Subadar, and the latter has adminis- 
 
tered the Deputy Commissioner a richly-deserved wigging and 
 sent him back all tlie papers connected with the case in order 
 that he may conduct the proceedings in a regular manner, and 
 the clerk may have an opportunity uf filing an explanation for 
 his conduct. 
 
Hydbkabad, 21st March 1891. 
 
 This monuDf^'s "Deccan Times" has a very sensible leader 
 commenting upon the order recently passed by His Excellency 
 the Minister revoking the licence granted to Mr. A. C. Rudra, 
 Barrister-at-law, to practise in the Courts of His Highness the 
 Nizam for'' offensive remarks " made by him regarding the 
 Judges of the High Court in connection with Gallagher versus 
 Giibble. " The case of Mr. Rudra " is very clearly set forth, 
 and the great injustice or rather the unheard-of severity of the 
 order is dealt with in no spiteful or captions spirit. The remarks 
 which have cost Mr. Eudra his sunnudh allude to the Govern- 
 ment of Hyderabad being a personal one, to Judges being more 
 or less all partizans of the Government, and to justice being a 
 toss-up in Hyderabad. That the Hyderabad Government is a 
 personal one, even the most unscrupulous of ofhcial proteges and 
 apologists cannot and dare not deny ; and the partizanship, i. e. 
 the thoroughly subservient character of the Judges, is put be- 
 yond a possibility of doubt by the fact that the High Court did 
 not take any notice of the so-called offensive remarks until called 
 upon more than once by the Government to do so. Who can 
 gainsay then that justice is a toss-up here ? A statement of 
 these facts made when un-called for would certaialy constitute 
 an un-pardouable offence. But in the circumstances in which 
 it was made by Mr. Rudra, it was privileged. His client, 3Ir. 
 Gribble, stood charged with unprofessional and dishouoi*able 
 conduct ; and to have refrained from meutioninrj well-known 
 facts calculated to disprove the charge would have been derelic- 
 tion of duty. That the Judges should have failed to tako all 
 this into account and "unanimously resolved" to strike Mr. 
 Rudra's name off the rolls of the advocates of the Hioh Court 
 is passing strange — if it does not point to partizanship. 
 
 1 have not done with Mr. Ekbal Ali vet. Some more lifrht 
 has been thrown upon his so-called recall from the North- Western 
 Provinces — and I shall not like to hide it under a bushel. If 
 ■what 1 hear is true-^-aud there is no earthly reason for doubting 
 
89 
 
 it — -His Excellency Sii- Asmanja Baliadur lias been most in- 
 famously victimised by the wire-pullers, his philosophers and 
 fi-iend.s, in the interests of Ekbal AH. Soon after likbal Ali's 
 departuie, his friends went to liis Excellency, I am informed, 
 and asked him to write to Ekbal Ali a letter bearing- testimony 
 to the many valuable services he had rendered to the State — 
 a letter which might be of use to him in the North-West. The 
 Minister paid little attention to the request in the first instance 
 but on its being made to hitn often lie asked his Private Secretary 
 to wire to Ekbal Ali expressing liis great satisfaction with the 
 work done by him while here. The telegram being drafted by 
 one of Mr, All's faithful friends and allies took the form of an 
 expression of deep regret on the part of His Excellency at Mr. 
 All's determination to sever his conuectien with the service of 
 tills State. And no sooner this message reached Ekbal Ali 
 than he very graciously wired back to say that if His Excellency 
 was so sorry he did not want to get away from the Hyderabad 
 service — and immediately started for Hyderabad, 
 
 I have seen the explanation recently filed by the Nawab 
 Imad Nawaz Jung iu connection with the second Treasury 
 Frauds case. It is an elaborate and plainly- worded document; 
 and the calm, dignified tone of it and the contempt it evinces 
 for all the mean minds that concocted the case against liim 
 — points the Nawab out to be a man with w^ioin the 
 party in power cannot trifle witU impunity. At the outset it 
 was declared from the house-tops by Messrs Muuover 
 Khan and Co., that frauds had been committed to tlie ex- 
 tent of 7 lakhs and a halt of H. S. Rupees. The fiofure 
 subsequently went down to four lakhs; and it has since vanished, 
 for the Government itself has admitted that no overpayment was 
 made to Dilawar Nawaz Jung. ' If the fraud has proved to be 
 a mare's nest, why are the Nawab Imad Nawaz Jung and the 
 Rajah Sriniwas Rao still bothered with departmental enquiries 
 and harassed and threatened in all manner of ways ?' It may be 
 asked. The why is a mystery — and it can be unravelled only by 
 
90 
 
 those that enjoy the confidence of the powers-that-be. But I 
 may mention that Mr. Munover Khan soon after his " discovery" 
 of the frauds on the Treasury, wrote to the Political and Finan- 
 cial Secretary in letter, dated the 28t.h Azoor 1299 F. to the 
 eifect ; '• I submit these particuLars to the Government so that 
 I may be remunerated for this unexpected victory" — victory over 
 political opponents to l)e sure ! 
 
 That portion of the Xawab Hassan Bin Abdulla's explanation 
 which deals with the letter from Mnnover Khan to the Political 
 and Financial Secretary above referred to is noteworthy. The 
 Nawab justly complains of the unheard-of proceedings initiated 
 against him by one who was a tSheristadhar in the Treasury when 
 he was Accountant-Geueral — /, c, Munover Khan. Referring 
 to the motives brought home to Munover Khan by the letter No. 
 461, the Nawab says, ' with such motives he literally flooded the 
 offices with Roohkars in every one of which the sum supposed to 
 have been overpaid to Dilawar Nawaz Jung was magnified' {vide 
 Mimover Khan's Roobkar"s Nos. 46, 47, 640, 1297). Then he 
 points out how Munover Khan without even the vestige of any 
 evidence charged him with offences of a grave character, how if 
 men are allowed to heap indignities on officials in this fashion 
 Government service will soon come to be looked upon as being 
 a source of great danger and dishonor, and adds that whatever 
 the result of the inquiry may be Munover Khan has had his 
 " remuneration" since he has been allowed to sit in the chair 
 before which only a few months previously he had to stand. 
 How long the lucky man will grace the chair, remains to be seen. 
 
 Thanks to the zealous faith and proselyting influence of a 
 high official, Hyderabad has recently had an interesting addition 
 to the number of its Moslem inhabitants. A Shastri on the 
 other side of sixty, all of a sudden, lost belief in Hindu- 
 ism, in the verses he had flung at the head of Mohamedaus and 
 Christians for several decades and embraced the faith " of the 
 faithful" and became Gulam Mohamed some time ago. Happy 
 Hyderabad ! It is fast approaching its millenium. The days 
 
9i" 
 
 are nof, far off when political men can say with their hands on 
 their heai-ts ; " We serve not only ourselves but our God."' 
 
 Sadulla, the husband ot the murdered woman in the City 
 Murder Case, filed a suit before Mr. Bosanquet, J. P., sometime 
 ago against Mr. Gallaghar, Kditor of the " Deccau Standard" 
 for publishing' a paragraph easting aspersions on his wife's 
 character. Mr. Gallaghar has since made a sort of a polo oy 
 through his columns; and as his remarks regarding the deceased 
 woman do not seem to have been dictated by malice and as he is 
 prepared to make all honoi'able amends it is hoped that Sadulla 
 will withdraw his plaint. 
 
92 
 
 Htderabad, 4th April 1891. 
 
 The " Hyderabinl locord " gave his readers to understaud 
 a few days ago that the Niziun's Goverument had, at the request 
 of several officials, handed over to their solicitors all the issues 
 of the "flindu" contaiiiiiio; Hyderabad letter and that 29 
 passages therein had been taken exception to. 'What the "Re- 
 cord's " sources of inform itiou were, I cannot say. But I hope, 
 in the interests of the ]»eopie which I hav^ at heart, that the 
 information is reliable, that the Government will let tlie officials 
 who consider themselves grossly libelled by me in my weekly 
 letters take me up for libel. I am as anxi')us as an}'' bona fide 
 Hyderabadee that the truth should be known about the by-no- 
 means creditable ways cf those in power, and that the British 
 Resident should justify his 'existence' here by efforts to save 
 the land from utter ruination. 
 
 A most important judgment was passed by Mr. 0. V. 
 Bosanquet, on the oOdi of March last. It was in Gallagher versus 
 Gribble and Shapurjee which has attracted considerable atten- 
 tion, and has done the people an invaluable service by showing 
 how a portion at least of public funds is spent by the men in 
 power. The judgment quite sustains Dr. Bosanquet's reputa- 
 tion for honesty, straight-forwardness, and keen-sigh todness, 
 and speaks in no faltering tone of the doings of the unscrupulous 
 officialdom — of doings of which anv man with a modicum of 
 regard for himself ought to be thoroughly ashamed. Referring 
 to the passage in a certain issue of the " Deccan Times " that 
 Mr. Gallagher took objection to as charging him with dishonesty 
 indirectly, Mr. Bosanquet saj^s : 
 
 " It has therefoi'e to be considered whether, in view of 
 certain transactions of the complainant, which have been made 
 known t > the public by the medium of the Law Courts and the 
 newspapers, such an imjiutation can be said to have lowered his 
 chai'acter. The first of these transactions relates to the lis. 2, 400 
 alluded to above which, according to the complainant's own 
 
9S 
 
 statemenf-., was paid to him pei'sonallj bf thf^ Nizira's Govern- 
 ment. This money, the complainant by his counsel Mr. Batten- 
 burgh, has once adinittel, in open Court, to have been paid to 
 him as bribe. In the present case however he has attemped to 
 prove that he received it for work done. Interrogated as to the 
 nature of the work, he stated that it was translation, but was 
 only able to give one instance of such work, namely the trans- 
 lation for pubhcation in his paper of the speech made by the 
 present Minister on assuming office It is clear therefore that 
 there must have been some other reason for this payment to 
 which, it may be noted, the complainant told the Court that he 
 had only a moral claim. The reason does not seem far to seek. 
 For, looking to the concealment in the way the money was paid, 
 the Manager of the " Deccan Times" being made the ostensible 
 proprietor, and subscription for copies of the paper (never 
 supplied) the ostensible reason, and looking to the tone of Mr. 
 (Gallagher's letter to the Secretary to Government, dated the 
 11th June 1888, there can be little doubt that the payment was, 
 as Mr. Battenburg said, nothing but a bribe to secure to the 
 Government the support of the outwardly impartial Editor of 
 the " Deccan Times." Again Mr, Gallagher has admitted that 
 he also receives a monthly payment from the Nizam's Govern- 
 ment. He h\s indeed attempted to make out that the Government 
 employed him in the capacity of legal adviser, hut, having 
 regard to his claims to be considered a member of the leofal 
 profession, such a supposition must, I think, he dismissed as 
 impossible. The true explanation is rather that it is only a 
 continuation of the policy inaugurated by the payment of the 
 Rs.2,400." 
 
 Then the Judge notices the two letters written by Mr. Gal- 
 lagher to Mr. Shapurjee while in charge of the '"' Deccan Times" 
 about Abdul Hak's offer of ten thousand Rupees and his (Mr. G's) 
 willingmess to '^play the candid friend"^ *^when he would find 
 sufficient cause for oflfence" asrainst Hak — for comments on 
 which in the •' Hindu." I was threatened, you will reinomber 
 
94 
 
 by Mr. Gallagher with proseciiMon not in tho Marlraf? Conrti? but 
 in tlie Hyderabad Courts" — and winds up thus. 
 
 " So clear is the meaning' of these lettei's, and so absolutely 
 must they have proved to the public tbe utter absence of pro- 
 bity in the complainant, that I am unable to find that the impu- 
 tation of dishonest}^, conveyed in tlie second passage complained 
 of, can have lowered his character in this respect either directly 
 or indirectly. I therefore discharge the accused nnder Section 
 253." 
 
 Now I should like to know if it is not the duty of the genu- 
 ine nobility of Hyderabad to press his Excellency Sir Asmauja 
 Bahadur for an explanatioii of the discreditable conduct of his 
 henchmen, to '' proceed against" him before His Highness the 
 Nizam for allowing his men to spend the money got out of the 
 hard-worked r^jat in the manner so well described by Mr. Bosanquet 
 in his able judgment ? Is not the Hritish Resident. I ask, bound 
 to take notice of the facts vouched for by one of the Judges of 
 the Residency Courts, and stay the alien hands busy spoliating 
 the reis and the rayet alike ? 
 
 I am glad to inform you that very laudable efforts are 
 being made to bring those concerned in the City Murder Case 
 to justice. Sadulla, you will remember, filed a suit some time 
 ao-o ao-ainst Mr. Gallagher, Editor of ths " Deccan Standard" for 
 publishing a paragi\aph defaming his wife. On Mr. G.'s tender- 
 ing him an apology for inserting the paragraph, he withdrew the 
 charge against him and through his counsel Mr. Nelson sought 
 permission of Mr. Bosanquet to bring a charge of murder against 
 Abdul Wahid and others who had been discharged by Mr. 
 Ahmed Raza Khan. Mr. Bosanquet heard the Counsel's argu- 
 ment for re-opening the case and wished to know if he had 
 'jurisdiction' in the matter. And consequently Mr. Nelson 
 appeared before the Judge on the 31st ultimo and made an able 
 speech with a view to prove that being British-born subject 
 Abdul Wahid and his servants were amenable to British law3 
 only and that according to the Criminal Procedure Code and 
 
96 
 
 Foreign Jurisdiction Act he liad power to try "the Criminals" 
 though they had been tried and discharged by a Moglai Court. 
 The speech seems to have had the desired efl'ectj for Mr Bosau- 
 quet has applied to the Resident fi r permission to try tlie case. 
 
 "Whatever might be said against the Nawab-Yicar-ul-Mulk, 
 this mucli must be admitted that he is a very hard-working and 
 energetic official. In spite of the illness that took him to Bom- 
 bay, he did not let slip the opportunity that preseuted itself of 
 interviewing Sir Mortimer Durand who is spoken of as Sir 
 Dennis Fiizpatrick's sticcessor here. What the nature of the 
 interview was, it is not possible to say. But 1 hear that accord- 
 in <>• to a telegram from Bumbay the interview was '' satisfactory.'' 
 
 Moulvie Ekbal Ali is again a judge of the High Court. 
 What has become then of the decision come to by the Chief 
 Justice and his colleagues soon after Mr. All's departure to the 
 North- Western Provinces that the Court could get on very well 
 without one more Judge ? 
 
 One of the many that have got their grievances here, is 
 Mrs. Tytler, well-known here and elsewhere for her phil- 
 anthropy. She sent, I am told, some paintings and articles 
 worth about 4,000 H. S. Rs. to His Highness the Nizam for 
 his inspection some time ago. His Highness inspected them and 
 kindly ordered that they should be kept in the palace and Mrs. 
 Tytler paid for them. But the order received little attention 
 from those about him. Mrs, Tytler waited for a good long time 
 for the money due ; and finding it to have been in vain she called 
 at the Sarjikass office some days ago and was told that a certain 
 person about the person of His Highness would nut let " them" 
 pay her. What the person has to du with the money due to Airs. 
 Tytler by His Highness — (jod only knows. Tired of waiting 
 here for her dues, Mrs. Tytler left for Bombay this morning and 
 it is I believe her intention, to lay her case before the Foreign 
 Uffice iu Calcutta. 
 
96 
 
 Hyderabad, llth April 1891. 
 
 It would be difficult to find in the whole of India a family 
 more illustrious than the Salar Jung family or one which has 
 suffered so much as the Salar Jung family has at the Lands of 
 men who know not or rather will not know "Joseph." The fates 
 as well the powers-that-be seem to have decided against it. The 
 two sons of the great satesmau who had for over a quarter of a 
 century occupied a unique position in the Indian political world, 
 died while hopes were yet being formed of them, within a few 
 months of each other — and the name itself of the family might 
 have been buried with them but for a babe that lives in dejira- 
 datiou and discomfort to tell of former greatness and raise in tlie 
 few Salar Jungites that are left faint hopes of future prosperity. 
 The calamity is not calamitous enough in the eyes of some — and 
 they must needs see that the friends of the family are powerless 
 to do any good. The Nawab Imad Nawaz Juug Bahadur 
 Hussan Bin Abdulla who has followed the fortunes of the 
 family for well-nigh twenty-five years, and whose faithfulness to 
 it and zeal in its behalf are facts that every one here can vouch 
 for, can no longer lift so much as a finger of his to ward off any 
 evil desicned or intended against it. Under a very great pres- 
 sure from the ruling authorities^ the Nawab has had to resi<'U 
 his membership of the Salar Jung's estates management Com- 
 mittee. The want of foresight which allowed Busherud Dow- 
 lah's administration to have anything to do with the Salar Juno- 
 estates management Committee — is being made more and more 
 clear day b}' day to be sure, 
 
 I get such few opportunities of singing the praises of those 
 in power that when I get them I never like to let them slip 
 through. Sometime ago a strong rumour was current in the 
 city that a high official had taken a bribe of Rs. 60^000 from the 
 Begums of the Salar Jung family. Being addressed on the 
 subject by the official, the Begums have written to contradict the 
 rumour. '1 his is an immesely gratifying fact — and I wish to 
 place it on record. 
 
97 
 
 Wonders never cease in Hj-dorabad. About two months 
 and a half after the passing of Judg-nient by Mr. Ahmed Raza 
 Khan in the City murder case, and a mouth and 25 days after 
 the decision of a Divisional Bench of the Higli Court on it, His 
 Excellency Sir Asmanjah Bahadur has issued a resolution about 
 it. The resolution is a lengthy one, and it pitches into Ahmed 
 Raza Khan and the police and protests too much in the same 
 breath — and betraySj fortunate!}' or unfortunately, its forced 
 tone. It winds up with the following orders : — 
 
 (1.) The order of the Divisional Bench sentencing Abdool 
 Husaiu to imprisonment for life, is confirmed. 
 
 (2.) His Excellency desires to record his grave displeasure 
 at the procedure adopted both by tlie city and suburban police 
 and by Hafiz Syed Ahmed Raza Khan Sahib, which prevented 
 all the facts of the case being brought to light and led to circum- 
 stances much to be regretted. 
 
 (3.) With regard to Abdul Rahman, H. E. the Minister 
 in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 13 of the High 
 Court Rules, directs that the Full Bench of the Hioh Court 
 should consider the points above raised and direct the Govern- 
 ment Pleader to re-open ti'e case against him. 
 
 (4.) The Kotwal should be directed to do his utmost to 
 collect such further information as will complete the links 
 in the chain of evidence. The High Court should then be 
 moved to re-open the case against Abdul Wahid, admit the 
 farther evidence that may be forthcoming and decide on the 
 merits of the case so as to give a clear decision as to his inno- 
 cence or guilt. In the meanwhile Abdul Wahid should be re- 
 arrested unless he can furnish bail to the extent of l?s. 10,000. 
 
 There is no doubt that this resolution is due to the wide- 
 felt sympathy — secured for Sadnlla by the circumstances amidst 
 which and the manner in which ''Mumtiaz" met her death — 
 which found expression recently in a laudable attempt to get 
 the case retried by a British Magistrate. 
 
 X3 
 
9$ 
 
 It is always painful to have to write an obituary — and much 
 more so when it relates to one who has done some service in his 
 time. Yet it is desirable that it ouoht to be "writ" — for it often 
 poiuts a moral. Tlie ^'Hyderabad Eecord" after struggling for 
 life for a little over five years, breathed its last on Friday last. 
 Its was a chequered existence — and its reverses, successes and 
 the unhappy circumstances which led to its sudden demise are 
 full of valuable counsel to all those who are already engaged in 
 journalistic work or who may be engaged in it, hereafter here. 
 Under the late Mr. Job Solomon it was a power in the land — 
 how before it was many months old it came to be stopped by 
 British officials, how persistently and courageously Mr. Solomon 
 fought against tremendous odds and secured the right to publish 
 the paper again, how the "iiecoi'd", until the moment of his 
 death, was a tenor to corrupt officials, how they winced under 
 its attacks and kept their hands off partiality or injustice to a 
 certain extent at least in sheer fright of its criticism, all llyder- 
 iibad knows. Mr. Solomon died, and with him died the inde- 
 pendence and courage of the "Record." Under a good guide 
 it might have had a long and very useful career. 
 
 The management of the "Deccan Times'' has again changed 
 hands. Mr. Gribble's connection with the paper as Managing 
 Proprietor ceased this morning. Under Mr. Gribble the "Deccan 
 Times" improved considerably in matter as well as manner, and 
 its tone was uniformly courteous, and generally impartial 
 and independent — though not much to the benefit, it must be 
 confessed, of Hyderabadees. But what it may be under his 
 successor or successors the future alone can reveal to us. 
 
! 
 
 59 
 
 Hyderabad, 19th April, 1S91. 
 
 The resolutioD recently issued by H. E. the Miuistor about 
 the City Murder Case, teaches many lessons. It shows what a 
 persistent ao-itation in the cause of truth and justice could do 
 even in Hyderabad as " well as how " much the weak-kneed 
 officials are to be pitied who lend themselves to the perpetration 
 of a wrong or perversion of justice. Mr. Syed Ahmed Raza 
 Khan who interpreted law as he pleased and refused to admit 
 important evidence in a remarkably authoritative manner, who 
 was determined not to be taught his duty either by pleaders or 
 newspaperwallahs and who was both lauded up and defended for 
 his judgment by the '' mouth piece of the Government" — what a 
 Bad plight he is in now I Sir Asmanja Bahadur says that 'if 
 his judgment had been confirmed, it could, with truth, have 
 been affirmed that justice itself had been slain;' and the Govern- 
 ment organ, with a consistency (I) unheard-of in the anualq of 
 Indian journalism, finds it impossible to see how, with any 
 credit to himself or usefulness to the State, Mr. Justice Hafiz 
 Ahmed Raza Khan can continue to dispense justice from the 
 High Court bench any longer. Mr. Raza Khan might well exclaim 
 Et tu Brute — but then the man who trusts to politicals and 
 liirelinf,^s for support and deflects from the path of rio-ht and 
 duty has little reason to blame any one but himself. 
 
100 
 
 Hydfeabad, 25f 7i April, 1891. 
 
 " Those that have eyes to see with and brains to understand, 
 are fully convinced that the policy of the present administration, 
 which is based on tlie wise and far-seeing principles of jusHce, 
 economy and impartiality is bound to prevail in the end." So 
 writes a correspondent from Hyderabad to one of your Calcutta 
 contemporaries. And I hope jou will allow me to say a few 
 words about the " principle? of justice, economy and impartia- 
 lity" that, the above-quoted writer thinks, underlie Sir Asman- 
 ja's administration. If by principles I understand consistent 
 rules of conduct, I find little evidence of Justice, economy and 
 impartiality guiding the present administratinn. Wherever 
 convenient, whenever the interests of tho'^e in power did not 
 suffer or there was little chance of their beino- thwarted in their 
 plans for self-a^grftudisement, justice wa? done, I admit, eco- 
 nomy was enfoiced and impartiality shown. But when 
 opponents were concerned, where wore "justice, economy and 
 impartiality" ? The records of the recent doings of the present 
 Government do not point to one single instance in which an 
 official or an individual obnoxious to the powers-that-be had 
 justice for the askiua;. Was it justice that prevailed with Sir 
 Asmanja's " tried and trusted adviser, Vicar-ul-Mulk." when 
 lie got the peislicush on the principality of Anagondi raised from 
 Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 18,000 in the face of the testimony of two of 
 the Government deputes to the effect that the samastan was not 
 in a condition to pay any peishcxtsJi ? Was it justice which in- 
 duced the unhappy state of things in Gurgunta ? Was it justice 
 that enabled an overpaid creditor to take forcible pessession (>f a 
 Raja's villages and direct the Rjija to go to a Civil Court to 
 establish his right to the villages and get them restored to him ? 
 Was it impartiality that demanded a bail of 2 lakhs of Rupees 
 from the city Sowcar charged with forgery, and a bail of 
 Rs. 10,000 from Abdul Wahi 1 charged with murdor^that tried 
 Jaya Rao and others by a Magistrate and appointsd a commission 
 to inquire into the charges against the Nawab Hussan Bin 
 AbduUa and the Raja Srinivas Rao, that enabled the Nawab 
 
101 
 
 and the Raja to be at large while others concerned in the case 
 with them \vere luider-tiial prisoners ? And is it ecouomy, I 
 wish to know, that recalls a Judge who is of no use, retains a 
 Private Secretary who does no work, a Director of Puhlic 
 Instruction who lias little time to attend to his duties, that 
 creates Assistant Secretaryships, Inspectorships and Commis- 
 sions for the benefit of favourites as well as to keep some officials 
 at amis' length, that allows a large portion of budget allotments 
 for thw Public Works Department to be spent year after year on 
 repairs, that maintains schools without boys, and teachers with- 
 out pupil:^, that rouses itself by fits and starts to prosecute Abdul 
 link, au'l spends thousands over some lucky men to perfect the 
 case against him, that pays journalists to laud the officials up 
 anil spies to gather information about political adversaries ? 
 Such questions can be multiplied ad infinitum ami I would advise 
 all who would sing the praises of the Moglai officials to make a 
 list of all the questions that can be put to the Government under 
 the head of ' justice,' ' economy,' ' impartiality' and peruse it 
 whenever they feel inclined to rush into print to abuse honest 
 men and ascribe motives to impartial writers. 
 
 A letter on Hyderabad affairs in another Calcutta paper 
 has attracted a great deal of attention here. There are a few 
 inaccuracies liere and there in this letter. But these excepted, it 
 portrays popular feeling and opinion on many important matters^ 
 it leads one to the conclusion that most of the departments in 
 the State are most frightfully mismanaged, and that this is a 
 fact few can deny. I met one of the highest officials, of the 
 State— one of the pillars of the present Gevernment— at a 
 railway station recently. Sliding into a talk about Hyderabad 
 affairs, the official asked me what the public thought of the 
 character of the work done by a certain department of the 
 State, I told him what they thought— and took advantage of 
 the opportunity to point ont to him as plainly as I could what a 
 waste of mo'iey there was in the public works, judicial, educa- 
 tional and other departments, and how far from efficient wag 
 the little work turned out by these. He listened to mo 
 
102 
 
 patiently — and all that he conld say was that it was a thousand 
 pities that such a state of things shouli be allowed to continue. 
 
 The resolution issued, under date the 8th April 1891, by 
 the Government of His Highness the Nizam in the Home 
 Department (Court of Wards) about the administration of the 
 Sir Salar Juno- estate for 1299 fasli — shows how even His 
 Hiohness's order can sometimes be disregarded by his servants 
 with impunity. Soon after the demise of the Nawab Muueer- 
 ul-mulk, second son of the late Sir Salar Jung 1., His 
 Hghness, in consideration of the invaluable services rendered by 
 the first Salar, i-esolved to take a personal interest in the man- 
 agement of the estates of the family, appointed a committee 
 composed of the Rajah Sheo Raj Bahadur, the Nawab Imad 
 Nawaz Jung Bahadur, and Captain Beau clerk, to manage the 
 estates and issued a number of instructions for its guidance. 
 The instructions pointed out clearly how the estates should be 
 administered, how the members of the family should be treated, 
 that the object of the Committee should be to curtail expendi- 
 ture and liquidate debts, and that Captain Beauclerk should be 
 the guardian and care-taker of the late Sir Salar Jung TI's 
 infant son. And how these instructions have been carried out 
 it is rather painful to inquire. Nothing was done during the 
 year by way of liquidating long standing debts. Though, the 
 Committee was strongly of opinion that it was absolutely 
 necessary to raise a fresh loan of Rs. 5,75,000 for the purpose 
 of the meeting the ordinary salaries of establishments up to the 
 end of the year,^ yet the first thing the Committee did after its 
 appointment was to increase the cost of the establishments by 
 about 1,500 a month, or Rs. 18,000 a year. The appointments 
 were made without any budget estimate being prepared and in 
 defiance of the Government orders on the subject of the employ- 
 ment of Europeans in public or private service; and when the 
 budjet estimate was made according to His Highness's order it 
 was found to be full of errors and worse than useless. And as for 
 the 'minor,' as I told you iu my last letter but one, little atten- 
 tion was paid to his comforts and bringing up. Now the 
 
103 
 
 question arises 'uLether Captain Beanclerk who, as Secretary to 
 the Commitee, drawing- a monthly salary of Rs. 1,200 from the 
 revenues of the estases, is more responsible than these associated 
 with him lor the manafjement of the estates, ou"-ht to continue 
 to hold the position he has held for over a year with much proiit 
 to liimself but little nsefuluess to the family. ,iud I press this 
 question most respectfully on the consideration of His Highuess 
 the Nizam. 
 
 A charge of theft of jewellery of the value of Rs, 7,50,000 
 brought by a Hyderabadee Nawab, against three of his relatives, 
 before Mr. Hamilton, the second Presidency Magistrate in 
 Bombay — forms the subject of talk here iu many circles. The 
 theft is said to have beeu committed 7 years ago ; and it remain- 
 ed little less than a mystery until Friday, the 17th Instant, on 
 account of the phenomenal inactivity or iiicompetency of the 
 City Police. On this date a pair of gold and silver armluts 
 called hajoohandli together with a pair of gold ornameu ts called 
 tlieva offered to the complainant for sale by one Muunav Khan 
 led to a number of revelations. The complainant immediately 
 gave information to the Residency Police and had one Kassim 
 arrested. Then with the aid of Kassim he 'traced' the theft to 
 the accused living iu Bombay. This is the story of the case 
 and the trial of it will be watched with interest here. 
 
HYDERABAD; 30th McOJ 1891. 
 
 His Higlmess the Nizam has not returned from the Districts 
 as yet. No doubt he is pleased with eyerything that he sees, 
 or rather is made to see there aud entertains a high opinion of 
 the administrative capacities of tliose who are busy 'pleasuring' 
 him in all manner of ways, liut he little knows — and none but 
 those on the spot can say — what misery and woe underlie the 
 pleasant aspect that everything is made to put on by the magic 
 of power. Not to speak of the oppression that grinds the people 
 from year's end to year's end, the miseries brought upon them 
 by the presence of Royalty are many and heart-rending. Fancy 
 the only tank in a village being guarded by sepoys for the bene- 
 fit of His Highness and his entourage and the villagers being 
 compelled to go long distances to fetch water for their own use 
 or die of thirst, Fancy [busy husbandman being taken away by 
 force out of homes to slave in the royal camp almost for notliiug 
 or their being dispossessed of their cattle or their scanty provision 
 in the name of the Nizam. And you have an idea as to what a royal 
 visit means to the hungry ryot. His highness the Nizam'si last 
 excursion into the districts — about 2 years ago — resulted in the 
 depopulation of 3 villages about Hanumkonda. And how many 
 villages have suffered and are suffering now in a similar manner 
 it is not possible to say just now. I do not wish to be misun- 
 derstood. My object in writing thus is not to raise a disloyal 
 hue and cry against His Highness' going into any part of his 
 wide Dominions, but to condemn the ways in which officials seek 
 to secure his comfort*. 
 
 The " Deccan Times" has recently had two very sensible 
 articles — one ©n the City Robbery Case, now pending before a 
 Bombay Magistrate, ond the other on the subject of pensions to 
 the Nizam's officials. The resolution issued by the Home Secre- 
 tary for the appointment of a commission to inquire into the 
 Robbery Case — a case which but for a chance might never have 
 seen the light of day and which is not likely to be transferred to 
 the Nizam's Goverumeut, seeing that the complaiuaut has little 
 
105 
 
 faith in the justice ef the Moglai Courts and insists on the case 
 being tried by the British ]\Iagistrate — is an interesting produc- 
 tion, interesting as giving one an idea of the manipulation and 
 tergiversation that some of His Highness' ofhcials are adepts 
 at. It blames all but the right persons for the ' offenders' not 
 beiug ' spotted' through the instrumentality of the Kizam's 
 servants, exculpates all the responsible men in a very ingenious 
 manner and winds up with an order — c| uite unnecessary — for 
 the appointment of a comission. The robbery, committed as it 
 was in Salar Jung IPs time, is put down to the credit of the 
 days af the late Feishkar-— the Raja Naraindar Peishkar Baha- 
 dur — and to the Peishkar is allotted the failure to take immediate 
 steps to enquire into the matter. The derliction of duty the 
 then Judicial Secretary, the Nawab Fateh Nawaz Jung, was 
 guilty of in not bringing the robbery to the notice of Sir Asman 
 Jah on his assumption of office as Prime Minister, is passed over, 
 and Sir Asman Jah's ignorance of the affair is made to explain 
 his not doino- anvtnino- to have the robbery traced to the culprits. 
 All this is in unmistakable terms pointed out bythe"Deccau 
 Times." As regards pensions, the Nizam's Government's deci- 
 sion to abolish pensions to Military officers in its service fur- 
 nishes the occasion for the " Deccan Times" article thereon. 
 How the decision will affect the services, how it will induce 
 men to be in harness in spite of the disabilities and impedi- 
 ments of age, how this will lead to young and sound men being 
 out of all useful work, and how it will tend to make the work 
 turned out inefficient; all this is clarly explaiaed by the article. 
 And it is to be hoped that the responsible men of the Govern- 
 ment will read it ' to some purpose.' 
 
 14 
 
106 
 
 Hydeeabid, 6th June 1891. 
 
 The Hyderabad Law Commission and its doings have been 
 attracting much attention here; and one name has figured most 
 prominently in the cohimns of the local papers in connection 
 with these ; and that is Mahomed Ali. Whence he came^ how he 
 came^ and where he has gone to — these questions have been 
 repeatedly asked by the public ever since it was known that he 
 had been offered the Secretaryship of the Commission by the 
 Nizam's Government; and they are pertinent questions to be 
 sure. Mahomed Ali has not always been known to the world as 
 Mahomed Ali. Years ago when his reputation was not under a 
 cloud and he had no reason to be afraid of hearing the name his 
 parents had given him at his birth, he was a pleader practising 
 in the Courts of Allyghur and was known as Zafar Yab Khan. 
 In an unfortunate moment Mr. Zafar Yab Khan sinned against 
 the laAvs of the land, and the guardians of the laws found it 
 necessary to issue a warrant for his apprehen sion. With a 
 view to elude this warrant Mr. Yab Khan ca me to Hyderabad^ 
 put off his name and put on Mahomed Ali, and sought the favour 
 of several high officials who were his friends, and did not seek it 
 in vain. The officials held out the right hand of fellowship to 
 their fallen brother, pushed him on as "the Dekkhan Jurist" — 
 and it would be difficult indeed to number and label the pretexts 
 under which they made inroads into the Government treasury 
 to enrich him. Thus befriended AJahomed Ali alias Zafar Yab 
 Khan had a happy time of it for several years here until a few 
 weeks since when by the kindness of a friend he came to know 
 that he had been 'traced' and that an Inspector of Police had 
 left Allyghur to apprehend him and had to make up his mind 
 immediately to bid good-bye to the scene of his activities here. 
 Such in brief is the history of Mahomed Ali, who is very closely 
 related to satellite of the party in powder — and one needs to be 
 more than humanly credulous to believe that his official patrons 
 knew not before this the nature of the unfortunate '^mistake" 
 which had made Allyghur too hot for him and sent him a candi- 
 date for favours at their hands. 
 
107 
 
 The Diccan Times has in its issue of the 4th instant a very 
 sensational leader under the heading "The Salar Jnng family." 
 The passage your contemporary quotes from a lettter addressed 
 by Lady Salar Jung II in Saban 1308 to the mother of 
 Sir Salar g'ung I and to the special Committee, appointed 
 (to use the Deccan Times' words) "by His Highness to inquire 
 into the disgraceful and pitiable state of things resulting from 
 the appointment" of the Nawab Basheerud Bowlawa as medium of 
 communication between His Highness and the committe of man- 
 agement of the Salar Juug estates — more than confirms all that 
 
 I have hitherto stated about the way in which the family affairs 
 are managed. The quotation runs thus: — "I was compelled to 
 send my uncle Syed Abu Torab Sahib to Sidi Ambar Khausama 
 to tell him that the Sahib Zada (meaning the infant son) wanted 
 clothes very badly, and to ask him either to get new clothes for 
 the child or to let me have some of the shertoanees of Salar Jung 
 
 II that I might convert them into a few suits for the Saibh Zada: 
 The Khansama paid not the slightest heed to my wishes. Not a 
 single pair of shoes or socks has even been supplied for the use 
 of my child. And whenever a demand for the supply of 
 arrowroot and sugar was made the Khansama refused to 
 comply with my request, and sent word to say that the Com- 
 mittee had not sanctioned such items of expenditure. If such 
 is the way in which provision is made for the clothing and the 
 nourishment of the infant son, you can imagine the amount of 
 attention that is being paid to other matters connected with the 
 palace. Everybody in the palace knows all about these things 
 and the Minister and the Home Secretary have been informed of 
 them." These words of Lady Salar Jung II pescribe more 
 vividly than any words of mine can the miserable pass that the 
 affairs of the Salar Jung family have come to, and point out 
 with a force and an eloquence that cannot be lost on any one 
 who has not grown altogether deaf to the whispers of his consci- 
 ence the necessity for interference on the part of His Highness 
 the Nizam who graciously undertook the guardianship of the 
 
108 
 
 infant representative of the family on the death of the Naw^ab 
 Mauierul mullv Bahadur. 
 
 The rutnour charoiuq; one of the hiy;h officials in His Hioh- 
 ness' service with receiviuo- a bribe of from 50 to 60 thovisand 
 rupees from the Begums of the Salar Juno- fauiily which I re- 
 ferred to iu one of my letters some time ago — has been revived. 
 The "Deccan Times" iu its issue of the 2nd instant writes of this 
 in the strain of one assured of tlie truth of it — and says that it 
 refrains from passing any comments upon it as the matter is 
 suh-judice. A more serious charge than this has never been 
 made agaiust one of the highest officials in tlie State — and it is 
 incumbent upon the oflicial concerned to disprove tlie charge 
 in an open manner no less than upon -those that have brought 
 it forward to prove it. The stability, if not the usi^fulness of 
 an administration, depen^ls much upon the reputation, for purity 
 that it has. And when the purity cones to be questioned 
 and charges of corruption are brought against individual mem- 
 bers of if} openly and no attempt is made to disprove those 
 charges it needs no lynx-eye to see that it is in a fair way to 
 extinction. 
 
109 
 
 Hyderabad^ 20th Jura?, 1891. 
 
 Siuce writing to you last, two events have occurred hero — 
 each important in its own way. The birth of a son and heir to 
 the Nawab Sii' Asman J ah Bahadur has cousideraljly altered 
 the prospects conjured up by the fertile imagination of near 
 relatives who have long cast longing looks on the large estates 
 he owns. And the death of Mr. Sherieful Hassam, one of 
 Judges of the City High Court, at Hudgi, has re-opened the 
 question of the appointment of a Hindu to the High Court 
 Bench. It seems to me extremely unlikely that this matter will 
 receive due consideration at the hands of the authorities, that 
 it stands a better chance of a happy solution now than it did 
 when Mr. Ekbal All went away with the " determination" of 
 never rejoining His Highuess's service. Then, the powers-that- 
 oe did not, deny that it was anything but bare justice that the 
 vast majority of the Hindus in these Dominions should be 
 represented in the High Court, or that a capable representative 
 could be found in the service. Yet not only were they unwilling 
 to do justice to the Hindus, but they set up the plea that a sixth 
 Judge WIS one too many for the High Court and ordered that 
 the vacancy should not be filled up but to get back Ekbal Ali as 
 the sixth Judge soon afterwards — and they do not seem to have 
 given themselves time to think how foolish they looked when 
 they stultified themselves in this fashion. AVhat is there, I ask, 
 to prevent them from acting similarly now — from abolishing the 
 office for the time being on the score of its being a superfluity 
 and reviving it when a favourite — and I am sure he will not be 
 long in coming — turns up ? Were I sure that they would act 
 differently, that they would listen to reason and justice I should 
 mention the names of Mr. Raghunath Pershad, b. a., Rai Murli- 
 dhar, Rai Hukumchand, m. a., as being those eligible for the 
 office and ask the Government to appoint one of these thereto. 
 
 The circular issued by the Home Secretary to the Native 
 papers in Hyderabad, which you copied from the Deccan Times 
 some days back, defines very clearly the character of the 
 
no 
 
 despotism that guides the destmies of over ten millions of 
 His Highness's subjects. To expect any Editor to discharge 
 the duty he owes to himself no less than to the public after 
 binding himself not to publisli anything that may "threaten 
 an injury to a Government servant '' or " tend to prejudice the 
 mind of the people against His Highness the Nizam's Govern- 
 ment or any of its officers" is to expect him to accomplish what 
 is impossible; and to think that any man with a modicum of 
 self-respect will subscribe to such a ridiculous " agreement" is to 
 count too much upon the hectoring or teri'orising policy the 
 Home Secretary has hitherto pursued. If this circular has been 
 called for — I mean if the officials cannot afford to stand a 
 moment without the " thick coating'' that merceuai*y writers 
 can invest them with for a consideration, if their doings are such 
 as cannot bear the light of day — what becomes of the tall talk 
 that all that the people in power do is fair, that there are data 
 for each document issued, and good reasons for each step taken. 
 The Nawab Medhi Hassan evidently mistook his vocation and 
 the master he would have to serve when he entered the service 
 of His Highness the Nizam — a prince who has " so much" to do 
 with an enlightened people like the English and a liberal 
 Government like theirs. What an acquisition he might have 
 been as a censor of the Press under the Czar of all the Russia. 
 But then I forget that in Russia people do not rise by flattery 
 and wield power without intelligence. 
 
 Here is a case of zooluni, or rather snobbishness resulting 
 in zoolum, that recently came to my knowledge. A Police 
 Ameen was some time ago sent by a superior officer from one 
 Taluq to another to inspect some office work. Being a perfect 
 stranger to the place the Ameen had to put up while there in a 
 shed. One day while seated in this shed, which served the 
 purpose of a dining-room, a bed room and an office room, looking 
 over some papers, he " received" from a gentleman holding the 
 rank of a Major what might be termed a surprise visit. Either 
 because his back was tuxmed towards him and he could not see 
 him or because he had never been introduced to him who, for 
 
Ill 
 
 ought he knew, might have been the Governor General of India 
 or a European servant of a Sahib or a Nawab — the Ameen did 
 not go down on his knees to the Major. And what do you 
 think, Mr. Editor, the poor fellow has deserved for this ? The 
 Major could not brook this insolence and reported it to superior 
 authorities with the result that the Auieen has been suspended 
 for tJiree months. Can snobbishness and authoritative stolidity- 
 go further ? 
 
 Under instructions from the great Home Secretary con- 
 tained in his letter No. 183, dated tlie 25th Shaval, the City 
 Cotwal has issued an urgent circular (No. 4956) to the Editors o£ 
 some of the vernacular papers characterising their failure to 
 send their papers to the Home Secretary in spite of his being a 
 subscriber thereto and calling upon them to send their papers 
 regularly or to " show cause" for unwillingness to do so. This 
 circular is noteworthy as being issued by the City Cotwal under 
 instructions from the Home Secretary. What has the Cotwal to 
 do with newspapers ? And why, should he, of all, be made the 
 medium of communication between Editors of Newspapers and 
 the Home Secretary ? These are questions that need to be 
 answered by the authorities or those who have the " honor of 
 being in their confidence. 
 
 I wrote to you some time ago how a prominent nobleman 
 in the city amused himself at times — how he in the guise of a 
 woman sold toddy at a gold mohur a lothi to his friends and 
 admirers on festive occasions. I have since learnt that there is 
 another amusement in which he indulges as much as in this. 
 He is fond, I am informed, of a game called Chcmsar which is 
 played by means of three dice and eight wooden pieces repre- 
 senting an equal number of men and women. There is nothing 
 extraordinary or amusing in this I admit — but then his way of 
 playing the game is so original. He hates having to deal with 
 inanimate men and women — and so he moves about on his 
 Chausar board eight women picked from the dancing girl class 
 and eight men from among his companions-— all in flesh and 
 
112 
 
 blood. I can mention the names of the companions who 
 move on the Chausar board with as much ease and grace as in 
 public places — but I must not wound susceptibilities unnecessarily. 
 
 Betrothals in the highest circles of the Hyderabad nobility 
 are very much talked of — and the tulk finds expression in a 
 paragraph in a recent issue of the Mahboob-al-kuloof, a local 
 Urdu paper. And these promise to be very interesting as in the 
 first place the '^ parties'' are of very tender ages the most im- 
 portant of them being not over 2 years of age, and in the second 
 place the means employed to bring about them are not common 
 place. An influential man seems to have been engaged to act 
 the part of the ordinary female miisliata (go-between) to nego- 
 tiate terms between the families concerned — and he is to be 
 paid a big fee a portion of wliich^ 1 am told, has already changed 
 hands. 
 
 I wrote to you in my last about the rumour charging a high 
 official with haying received bribes to the extent of about lis. 
 65,000 from the Begums of the Salar Jung family. This affair 
 since assumed serious proportions — and a Commission has been 
 appointed to inquire into the charge. 
 
113 
 
 Hyderabad, 27th June, 1891.. 
 
 The Home Secretary's Gagging C'ireiilnr lias borne fruit 
 already. The Sliauhat-nl- Islam, an Urdu paper published ^vithin 
 the Moglai limits, has been suppressed for refusing to sign tho 
 agreement sent round and comuienting thereon in strong, but 
 by no means undeserved terms. This action on the jiart of the 
 Musldak-MeJuU IIussuil Government, their organ attempts to 
 justify in its issue of yesterday's date. And this is its "justifi- 
 catiou." To "our" notions the circuhu' miglit be "bad law" — 
 that does not matter — but the punishment inflicted on the Editor 
 who refused to obey it is quite 'legal' for in the absence of any 
 Press Act the sovereign authority which grants a license to start 
 a paper can revoke it if it likes^ and the refusal to obey au 
 order must needs be punished. I wonder how the punishment is 
 "lef^al/^ Did the circular — I mean "the bad Inw"— declare 
 that refusal to sign the agreement which seeks to enslave the 
 Press or rather public opinion, on the part of any Editor, would 
 be followed by the suppression of his paper? is every means 
 resorted to by an administration to provide against any ugly 
 exposure, "legal"? The present Government has iii season and 
 out of season claimed to be the best Government Hyderabad has 
 had, has ever professed to be actuated by nothing but considera- 
 tions for the well-being of the people and has always declared 
 itself to be ready to turn itself ''inside out' if neeessory to pi^ovG 
 its honesty of pnr[)0se. How the measure promulgated by the 
 circular which no previous Government found it necessary to 
 adopt-, and the punishment inflicted on the independent man 
 who refused to be "muzzled" thereby — are consistent with this 
 claim, this profession and this d<>clarati(m, I wish to kuoAV, IE 
 it is true that every line that appears in the local papers or in 
 the iiiofussil ones on Hyderabad affairs is tianslated into Urdu 
 by an establishment kept up for the purpose for the benefit of 
 His Excellency the Minister, I wish he Avould see an explanation 
 for this glaring inconsistency furnished to the public. 
 
 I hitherto gave the Nawab Alehdi Hussan credit for keeu- 
 sighteduess, but 1 see now that I was mistiiken. He seems to 
 
 15 
 
114 
 
 be qnite at a loss to understand the circumstances amidst which 
 he is placed, to read the signs of the times in which he finds 
 himself possessed of enormous j)ower. Does he know that 
 Hyderabad has not been at a stand-still fer a quarter of a century, 
 that days when any wickedjiess and injustice could be perpetra- 
 ted safe from the eyes of the people or authority belong to 
 ancient history, now that public opinion — it does not matter by 
 whom guided — is gaining in volume and strength day by day, 
 that agitation for justice which was an unknown factor formerly 
 has given his Government endless trouble ? If he does, it is 
 impossible to comprehend how he could commit the blunder of 
 issuing a circular with a view to gag the Moglai Press, and 
 aggravate it by suppressing the paper. the Editor of which had 
 the honesty and moral courage to protest against it. 
 
 Again the claims of the vast majority of the Hindus of these 
 Dominions to be represented on the City High Court Bench, 
 have been disregarded. A Mahomedaii, Mr. Yaseenkhan of the 
 Berar Commission, has been, subject to the sanction of the 
 Supreme Government, appointed to the vacancy caused by the 
 death of Mr, Sharief-ul-Hussan. In noticing this, the Deccan 
 Standard complacently remarks that there "can be no feeling of 
 favouritism" after the nomination of a stranger to the post. 
 Considering tlie exceeding hurry in which the appointment has 
 been made it is hard to see how tlu re "can be no feeling of 
 favouriti^^m" abroad — to believe the appointment to be anything 
 else than a joh. 
 
 Though the men in power take pretty good that none but 
 the favored few are admitted to their confidence, yet their 
 secrets get out — some how — nov.- and then, mostly in the shape 
 of rumours, and reveal to us how they seek to strengthen them- 
 selves. And this is really fortunate. Some time ago the Safiri 
 Dekhan, an Urdu daily published wuthin the Kesidency limits, 
 wrote a leader severely commenting on the action of the Govern- 
 ment in the city ^'murder case. This annoyed the Minister" so 
 jnucb; a rumour says, that he wrote to the Resident requesting 
 
115 
 
 him to suppresf? the Sajin. What effect this letter had upon 
 the Resident, the rumoar does not say ; but it is not likely that 
 he would go out of his way to oblige even the Minister, for he 
 must know how one of his predecessors suppressed an English 
 Journal published within the Residency limits and how he was 
 pitched into for this by the Supreme Government. AViiether 
 there is any truth in this rumour or not, this much is certain, 
 that the articles above referred to caused much knasbing of 
 teeth in the official circles. Soon after the publication of it 
 Moulvi Sad-ud-deen, the proprietor of the Safiri DeTi/ian, was sum- 
 moned before a high official aud tsked to tender an. apology for 
 the statements made in the leader and publish a contradiction 
 thereto. The Moulvi refused to do anything of the sort and 
 wished that the high official would put in writing what he 
 wanted him (the Moulvi) to do. Perhaps the upshot of this was 
 the communication which rumour speaks of as having been 
 addressed to the Kesident by the Minister. Another and a still 
 higher official also played a part. From the heights of Olympus 
 — 1 mean Mahableshwar — the "Jehova, Jove or Lord" of Hy- 
 derabad thundered against the poor Moulvi-Sad-ud-deen. He 
 wrote to him to say that he had forfeited his favour by publish- 
 ing the article on the City Murder case, that after seeing it in 
 his paper he could not but withdraw his patronage from him. 
 Even if he were a private gentleman and not an official, the 
 mighty official continued, he would have felt called ui^on to take 
 the step he took — and wound np by saying "Yeh umda our 
 pakizah zaban Abki Abkan mobarik rahai'' that is "May such 
 elegant and choice language (as that used in the leader) ever 
 stand you iu good stead. ^' I may state en passant that 1 have had 
 the leader iu question translated to me, and I find the language 
 though strong quite called for by the occasion. 
 
116 
 
 GuLEUEQA, 5th July, 1891. 
 
 It is said that in a mulfitnde of councillors there is wisdom. 
 It is ratlier difficult to believe this, seeino; that such an intelli;'ent 
 body of men as the Government of India find it easier to do a 
 wrong thing than to do a rinht one, do^s at ti iies exactly what 
 it ought not to do — at all events what it is inadvisable to do. 
 What we have heard of " Political Agents" does not reveal 
 them to be the largest minded of rulers or the most forbearing 
 of men, Mr. Chatterjee's journalistic experiences at Mhow, and 
 the exposure of Sir Lepel Griffin in the columns of the '• Amirta 
 Bazaar Patrika" have shown what autocrats these are in their 
 respective 'spheres' and how desirable it is that their power 
 should be curtailed and they should be restrained from presum- 
 ing too much. Yet the Government of India would make them 
 custodians of public oj)inio i ' in places administered by the 
 Governor-General^ but not forming part (if British India' — 
 would invest them with the powc'r to withhold or withdraw 
 permission to edit^ print or publish a newspaper just as they like 
 it, an I to ' expel forcibly' any one who edits, prints or publishes 
 a newspaper without their permission ! Verily the fates favour 
 the wront; men. 
 
 o 
 
 I called upon a British authority in one of the ' places 
 administered by the Governor-General, but not forming part of 
 British India' recently in connection with the permission applied 
 for previously to start a newspaper therein; and it might interest 
 your readers to know what transpired at the interview. Being 
 ushered into the authority's presence, I was asked what I wanted. 
 1 explained to him the object of my visit ; and he said : 
 
 " I don't think you will get the permission." 
 
 " Vt hv?'' I asked. " can von assign i-easons for thinking 
 
 so ?" 
 
 " Yes" said he. " We don't want to have a paper of the 
 sort here." 
 
117 
 
 " Is it so ? " I asked. 
 
 " Yes— it is so" said be, " We don't want snch a paper, 
 and that is the reason why j^ou will not get permission to start 
 it. la not the reason clear enonf^li ? " 
 
 And I liad to admit that " the reason was clear enono-h " 
 and hid him good morning and got out. "What a wowerful instru- 
 ment for smothering the public voice, the recent order of the 
 Government of India will furnish politicals such as this with, it 
 is easy to understand. 
 
 Next Tuesday full tWo years will have elapsed since the 
 dentil of Sir Salar Jung II. And this puts me in mind of all 
 that the Salnr Jung family has suffered since the death of the 
 XaAvab Munier-ul-mulk Bahadur and the pitiable condition it is 
 in now. Of what avail was it that the highest personage in 
 these Dominions constituted himself the guardian of the infant 
 son of Sir Salar Jung II ? Of what avail was it that he appoin- 
 ted a committee to manage the estates of the family and laid 
 down rules for the g-nidance thereof? Sir Asman Jah, a noble- 
 man not particularly well disposed towards the family, became 
 the medium of communication between His Highness the Nizam 
 and the ronimittee of management of the estates. An oflftcial 
 not overlnirdened with a sense of gra'itude to the family for 
 favours done by it in the past, turned up to be the master of the 
 situation. And the lesult has proved to be disastrous to the 
 interests of the family. Its right to the Meeralum Tank, one of 
 its coveted possessions came to be questioned on the flimsiest 
 oTOunds. A creature of the Government's, came to be 
 appointei! at the head of the committee of management. 
 The oiilv man on the Committee who could work on behalf of 
 the family was ' worried' till he resigned his membership. Lady 
 Salar Jung II was reduced to a nonentity within the palace 
 i walls — and her infant son, the ' rightful' owner of all the 
 estates was left to take care of himself. Jealousy began to 
 work mischief amongst the lady memhors of the family— •aui 
 
118 
 
 split them into two parties. One of the parties headed by the 
 ekler dantrhter of Sir Salar Jung I — if a rumour that has been 
 current here for several months and led to the appointment 
 of the bribery commission is to be believed — subscribed about 
 Rs.40,000 and called upon lady Salar Jung, to contribute 
 Rs. 15,000 towards the sum to be paid to a high official, with a 
 view to secure some privileges; and Lady Salar Jung II not 
 having the cash delivered over jeweilery to the value of the 
 amount asked of her. Thus is it that the Salar Jung family 
 has come to its present pass, — in spite of the Nizam — and it 
 remains to be seen what steps will bo taken by His Highness to 
 set matters right. 
 
 We have it on the authority of the Government organ that 
 Mr. Mahotned Yaseenkhan appointed to the High Court Judg- 
 ship created vacant by the death of Mr. Sherieful Hassain, is a 
 brother of Mr. Mahomed Amjad Ali, Taluqdar of customs, 
 Hyderabad. 
 
 The Nawab Yicar-ul-Mulk Bahadur passes this station on 
 his way to Hyderabad this afternoon. Whatever may be the 
 character of the welcome he expects from those who belong to 
 his party — and one at least of them has been very much wishing 
 his speedy return — he cannot be unaware of the fact that his 
 return to resume duties will be unwelcome news to many in 
 Hyderabad. And what this is due, the clever Nawab knows— 
 at any rate ought to know — as well as any one else in these 
 Dominions. He has been looked upon as an alien who monopo- 
 lizing all real power in the land, has studiously ignored or dis- 
 regarded the claims of the sons of the soil, and benefitted himself 
 and his creatures in every possible way. Now that he is in 
 sound health again, if he does not adopt a new line of conduct 
 and act so as to remove this wide-spread impression regarding 
 himself and thus strengthen his position in the service it will 
 be his own fault. 
 
119 
 
 GULBUEGA, JullJ, 13. ■^'< 
 
 The Nawab Vicarul-mulk Bahadur broke his journey here 
 for a few hours, on tSuuday, the 6th intant. He was accompa- 
 nied by the Hon'ble Syed Ameer Husaiii of Calcatta — who is 
 now in Hyderabad as the very hospitable ^Jawab Bashier-ud- 
 Dowlah's guest eujoying a round of festivities — and was received 
 by most of the big officials in the phice. 1 was also on the plat- 
 form. The mighty Nawab looked poorly in health far from 
 being in a condition to attend to his many onerons duties. You 
 need not be told that, though in name he is only the Revenue 
 Secretary, he has control over all the departments in the State 
 — and I wondered that he should have changed the cool heights 
 of Mahableshwar or the invigorating climate of Bombay for the 
 unhealthy atmosphere of Hyderabad. But then, I had not 
 tasted the sweets of power like him and could not understand 
 that power might be dearer to a person than health itself. 
 To speak of the state of things in Hyderabad: some of his 
 officials, his right-hand men, stand charged with serious offences; 
 and the Nawab has need to be more than usually cautious and 
 show himself to be impartial, if he values his position under the 
 Government. It is too late in the day to say " if the critics were 
 in my position they could not have acted differently from me — 
 having accepted service in the State I must not mind the praises 
 or the abuses of people" and expect people to put up with every 
 kind of injustice and insult. The British Lion is watching — 
 and he avenges wrongs sooner or later. 
 
 Some have been curious to know who the British authority 
 is that could think of disposing of an application fur permission 
 to start a newspaper witli a curt " we don't want a paper of the 
 sort, so you Avill not get the permission to start it." The 
 authority is Mr, Crawford, the first Assistant Kesident. 1 wrote 
 to him on a certain day asking him for an appointment to see 
 him in connection with the permission applied for to start a 
 newsprper. The appointment was duly made — and what trans- 
 pired at the interview 1 had with him on the appointed day, at 
 
120 
 
 the appointed honr, I have already told your readers. Well 
 returning from the interview, I put down on paper the particu- 
 lars of the interview and sent it to Mr Crawford with a letter to 
 the effect ; " I have noted down on another paper the particulars 
 of the interview I had with you this morning. Please look 
 through and let me know if I have omitted anything that you 
 may like to be mentioned and oblige. If by Friday next 1 do 
 not receive a reply I shall consider myself at liberty to send to 
 the papers my account of the interview as being strictly faith- 
 ful."' And this elicited, mirahilc dictu, an official document from 
 the Extra Assistant Resident's Office informing me, in i-eph/ to my 
 letter regarding the permission, that the application for permission 
 would be placed before the Resident for orders. I could not for 
 the life of me understand what the document meant, for 1 had 
 never written to Mr. Crawford about the permission, the only 
 letter written to him being the one asking for appointment in 
 connection with it to which I had received a reply making an 
 appointment. All this about the British authority's proceedings 
 sounds so funny that, I am sure, your readers will enjoy the 
 reading of it. 
 
 1 told you in ray last that the right of the Salar Jung family 
 to the Meer Alum Tank, one of its coveted pos sessions,, had been 
 questioned by the present Minister on the flimsiest of grounds. The 
 'grounds' are worth noticing. The tank was constructed long 
 ago by the Nawab Meer Alum, whose name it bears, — not by 
 public subscriptions but at his own cost. And if it came to be 
 used by the public, it was thus. The Nawab Meer Alum, out 
 of loyalty to his sovereign and consideration for bis friends, 
 allowed water to be drawn from the tank for the use of the 
 Nizam aud certain noblemen in the city. And later on when 
 the people applied to him for permission to draw water from it 
 for irrigating the fields underlying it, he was public-spirited and 
 generous enough to grant the permission. In consideration of 
 the good derived by the people from the tank, the Government 
 of His Highness the Nizam ordered that its repair, whenever 
 
121 
 
 it should need it, should, be executed and paid tor out of the 
 
 puldic funds — andj if I am c.nTt'ct.ly infuniied, llio ui'lIci' is up 
 to date being acted up to. These tacts had evideutly no si*2;ui- 
 ticauce iu the eyes of Sir Asmaujali. As soon as he became the 
 medium of cummuuication between His IJighness and the ccm- 
 luittee of )uaiia<i'omeut of the Salar Juug estates — and I may 
 tell you that he has never been known to let gia^s grow under 
 his feet — he brought it to the notice of the Cummiteee that the 
 tank did not belong to the Salur Jung tnnuly but was [)ublio proper- 
 ty, tor, ho said, it had been used by the people and its lepairs had 
 been carried out by the CTuvernuieut for a long liuie. How could 
 such thiuii's have been had the tank belonged to tlie Salar Juno- 
 family? And this but showed that it had been constructed by 
 
 public subscriptions. Sir Asmanjah's line of reasoning is 
 "woudrous" to be sure. Hat it is doubtful whether he would 
 appreciate it liimselt' in all circuinst:inces. Basheer JJagh has 
 been, almost since its construction, used for hou.sing the guests 
 of the State, and its repairs have been nu/re than once attended 
 to by the Government in its Public Works Department. Now 
 what would Sir Asmaujali say if the people said, "Ba.sheer Bagli 
 is not your [u-operty, but ours. It luis been used as a Goveru- 
 nient-house every now and theu and its repairs have been carried 
 out more than ouce by the Government — -and how could these 
 thiiij^s have been if it belonged to you '''' Would the just and 
 impartial Nawab relish this argument ? 
 
 At no time have we been wanting in slaves who could put 
 their necks to the yoke readily and without a murmur and even 
 cou-.nieud the galling effects thereof. Ftdlowiug close upon the 
 spectacle presented by the iu iependent «-Sliaukat Islam" refus- 
 ino- to dance to the tune of an unscrupulous Government and 
 suiferino- thereof, we have the sight of the Malibooh-nl-kuloof 
 cheerfully putting on slavery of praising the strength of the 
 chain binding him and testifying to the salutary results thereof. 
 The Kuloof iuis ^Yithiu the last few days posed as a champion of 
 the Gao'giug Circular — and a smart critic of the liozgar who is 
 
 la 
 
122 
 
 too stupid to uuderstaiid what is good and the ''Isliim" who is 
 too conceited to obey what will do him good. Too prudent 
 Kuloofl Truly if fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind — a 
 servile spirit reuders us wondrous blind ! 
 
123 
 
 GULBUROA, -lOth Jltllf, 1891. 
 
 I very much regret to have to record the death, at Edin- 
 burgh, on the 2iid Instant, of Mrs. Littledale, for some time 
 the Head-miritress of the Hyderabad Zenana rfchool. She was 
 an extraordinaiy lady in many respects, and under favourable 
 circumstances she might have been of immense service to the 
 Indian society and might have left a name and example not 
 easily to be forgotten. Blessed with an extremely liberal 
 minded father she passed her early years away from the mis- 
 chievous influences of the Hindu nursery, amidst very enlightened 
 surroundings and up t> the close of her shorb life she remained a 
 vivid expression thereof. Her letters written to her brother, 
 studying in England, while only ,13 or 14 years of age, and one 
 on the Hindu society published over her signature by the 
 " London Spectator" sometime after that reveal her to be, if not 
 a genius, at least one who, had her lot been cast in England, 
 could have influenced the minds of ' her oeneratiou' consider- 
 ably. And if her marriage with an Englishman was possible at 
 a time when Hindu conservatism was much more powerful than 
 now, it was because of the rare moral courage she showed as 
 much as of the liberal-miudedness wich enabled her father 
 Dr. Atmaram Pandurang, to withstand the onslaughts of custom 
 and bigotry. But unfortunately this marriage proved unhappy, 
 and left Mrs. Littledale very little of the will to do any useful 
 work. She came to Hyderabad when the Zenana School was 
 started in connection with the Hyderabad branch of the 
 National Indian Association, — and if with the Nawab Imadul- 
 Mulk Bahadur, the Director of Public Instruction, originated 
 the idea of this unique institution, to her wholly belongs the 
 credit of working it out. Her way of making lessons interesting 
 as well as her manner attracted pupils; and she was loved by 
 her " girls" as she used to call the pupils of her school, as much 
 as she was respected and admired for her " cleverness" by all 
 that knew her. She was compelled by continued ill-health to 
 resign her appointment and leave for Bombay and therefrom to 
 England; but we little thought when she left us that in a few 
 
 I 
 
124 
 
 inontlis she would be no more. She wrote the ^renter part of 
 the concorclance published by liei" liusband several years ago of 
 the two plays he had discovered t(j be Sliakespeaie's aud not 
 Beauiiiont aud Flotchur's as ireueiallv believed. Aud she was a 
 frequeut contributor to the loeal papers vvliile here; ber lia[)py 
 translatious from (Jeruiau poets — I uriy tell you .she kuew 
 Germau, aud Italiau besides Ku<4lisb— aud letters ou various 
 subjects over the sig-nature of '' Lotus Flower'^ were ever looked 
 forward to by her readers. The one thing she used to be 
 euthusiastic about ju.-t before slie bade us good-bye was travel- 
 liug together with Pandiui Itauiahai iu disguise to disLaat places 
 visitiug scenes ol historical iuiporlauce all over India and 
 writiu"' a book thereon. What good .results niiiiht have been 
 accomplished thus we cuuld nut say. But she who conceived the 
 plan sleeps ou a distant slua'e far off frcui home and country 
 amidst the roar of waters that never slee[>. Ma,y she rest iu 
 peace ! 
 
 If it is true that geuerallv l*hinlishuieu leave behind at 
 home their liberalism and sense of justice when they start for 
 India to serve the Indian Government, it is equally true that 
 they unlearn most of what they have learnt, the efiiciency with 
 which th -y h tve worked elsewhere or cease to care to be 
 useful and be worthy of their ' hire' when they enter the siu'vice 
 of this unfortunate state. Many Englishmen have come and gone, 
 have been iu service .-lud have retired from it ou liberal pensions; 
 but such of thom as have done justice to their duties, or dis- 
 charged them as well as t'lev could or would under the iiritish 
 Government — have been very few indeed. But to come to the 
 point I have in view: His Highness the Nizam's Public Works 
 Department is the most advantageously-placed Department in 
 the .State. It is all under English management. Yet it is 
 worse than most of the other departments of the State in respect 
 of the quality and (piantity of work it turns out. Wo are not 
 lacking iu highly-paid officers and assistants, nor are the 
 budget allotments made by tbe Government wirh a niggvrdly 
 hand. But how all tho "talent" in the departiueut is engaged, 
 
125 
 
 and what become?; of the laro-e budo-et grants, iiobodv seems to 
 know oi- care to know. Woi-k, that can be and is done, and 
 done safcisfactorilv, by a supervisor and four or five overseers in 
 the Bi-it.ish Tiovinces — :s here in the hands of a divisional 
 Engineer on about Us. 900, a District Engineer on about Hs. 500 
 and an Irritrational Eno-ineer on -iOO, with an endless number of 
 subordinates anJ assistants. But how this small amount of work 
 is carried out bj- this large staff it is interesting to note. Except 
 in some Divisional and District head-quarters, of roads worthy 
 of the name there are none in the districts. Many o£ them are 
 in such a wrecked coadition that it is a wonder that man walks 
 on. tii^m and beasts draw loaded carts over them, I am not 
 indulging ill exaggeration — I have stated simply facts, facts that 
 I challenge anybod}' in the department to gainsay. And yet the 
 District Plngineer is hard at work all during the year, the Divi- 
 sional Engineer, who all through the year is occupied with re- 
 cidviu^ i-eports from the District ofHce and sorting them to the 
 Head Office, superintends once a year, and the Superintending 
 Engineer tlie Secretary to the Government in the department, 
 makes an annual tour. How each of these officers is satisfied 
 with the work he has inspected, it is impossible to understand. 
 If there be too little work to keep engaged all the hands in the 
 department, and 1 know at least one Divisional Engineer who 
 has tlip frankness to confess that he gets pay for no work done — 
 why not r .duce their number ? And if there be enough of work 
 for all what is there that prevents the Head of the department 
 from seeing that this woik is satisfactorily done, that the money 
 devoted thereto is not wasted ? I shall have more to say about 
 this department in future letters. 
 
 Of late nuich has been written in the Madras papers about 
 police zoolum in the Mofussils of your Presidency. But the 
 state of things which attracted so much attention there cannot 
 be as bad as that here. Of police zoolum as it prevails in the 
 Districts of these Domiuioiis, those that have the "misfortune" 
 to live in the Mofussil there cannot have an idea. It a man is 
 Wise or values his time he will not gD to "the custodiaus of 
 
126 
 
 peace" with a complaint. But if ho is "tired*' of peace and 
 wisbes to make life itself a "burden/' he may publisb bis losses 
 and cry for justice. One has only to report a case of tbeft or 
 violence to turn the kuigbts of tbo baton a<^ainsb bini. Tboy 
 constitute themselves bis accusers and annoy liim aud oppress 
 him to sucb an extent as to niake him retire a 'wiser and sadder' 
 man. To iltnstrate what T bave said above, I may mention two 
 incidents of recent occurrence here. A thief broke into a 
 house one night, and when be bad possessed himself of the gold 
 bangles of a voung bov an alarm was raised: be ("ot on the roof 
 of the bouse, jumped therefrom in hot baste aad escaped as best 
 as be could. Bvt uo i-eport of this was made to the police — and 
 that in spite of the big blood marks discovered in front of the 
 house the next morning and the foot-prints ^Yhicll clearly 
 pointed to ilm thief having wounded himself and been dragged 
 away by his acccmplices — for tear o^zoolum. The secoud instance 
 is furnished by a number of shop-keepers who, being robbed of 
 about Rs. 20,000 in a fair, preferred to hold their peace about it 
 to breathing a word of it to the police. 
 
 The following amusing scene was enacted in an office here 
 sometime ago. An East-Indian Surveyor sent to the office 
 accouutant, wlio, by the bye, is a Ufitive, a draft with the words 
 written thereon — " Accountant, copy this and send it to me for 
 signature.'' The accountant who bad evidently taken the proper 
 measure of the surveyor's impertinence, scored thi'ough the 
 words with red ink, wrote underneath to say — " Surveyor, you 
 had better copy ic yourself" — and sent it back to the person con- 
 cerned. The Surveyor could not brook the insult offered by the 
 native, and so lie reported the matter to the accuntant's superior, 
 who was also his superior, with the result that the accountant 
 
 was sent for and addressed : " How could you offend Mr. 
 
 like that ? He belongs to the executive and may rise to be a 
 District hJngineer." On this the accountant cooly replieJ : I 
 might also rise to be Accountant-General." The moral of this 
 scarcely needs pointing out. 
 
127 
 
 GULBURGA, Jv.lij 27th. 
 
 Tho Government oroan wives its readers to understand that 
 "tbe Deccan Times " lias notified to its staff that tbe paper will 
 stop publication on the 31.st instant.*' This is very bad news. 
 Thongh not persistent and consistent in its advocacy of popular 
 interests, the " Deccan Times" has been in a way a check on the 
 rashness or inclination to do wrong of individual officials or 
 cliques in the State. That this check is about to be removed, 
 will no doubt cause jubilation in the midst of those who are in 
 the least degree sensitive of public criticism. They will no longer 
 have a local critic ; the people will have to seek the aid of dis- 
 tant journals to publish their tfrievances, and the journalists not 
 being on the spot can be ])eckled for their ignorance for giving 
 publicity to the misrepresentations of interested parties ; and the 
 time that must elapse between the commission of an offence and 
 its exposure by them can be expected to weaken their advo- 
 cacy. "What a satisfaction this must be to wrong-doers — and to 
 the " Deccan Standard" who can say, at least localli/, " I am 
 Sir Oracle, and when I open my lips let no dogs bark ?" What 
 the official mouth-piece choose to call the •' ostensible reason'' — 
 " The unwillingness or inability of the proprietor to carry on the 
 paper under the new order" of the Government of India — must 
 surely, be regarded as the real reason for the '' Times" notifica- 
 to its staff. For how can one with any feeling of safety work a 
 paper claiming to be independent under the new, uncalled-for 
 and arbitrary rules ? 
 
 I In connection with His Highness the Nizam's Public 
 
 Works Department, the following questions put by " X" in a 
 local paper may interest your readers : — 
 
 '* How is it that the Engineers in H. H. the Nizam's service 
 I cannot ride and they require palkis, toug;is and carts to go on 
 inspecting works ? 
 
 How is it that the Engineers in H. H. the Nizam's V. W. D. 
 seldom attend to their executive work and never go out for 
 mouths and years together ? 
 
128 
 
 How is it that some Eiioiiieer.s in H. H. the Nizam's service 
 ill-treat their subordinates b}' sitting in the office with them ;ind 
 teasing them like school boys ? 
 
 How is it that some District Euoiueers in thn Nizam's service 
 deal with money transactions unknown to the Accouutauts ? 
 Who are the respousibJe parties for any error iu the accounts, 
 &C.J and can an Engineer deal with such transactions during the 
 holidays and the absence of accounts I" 
 
 I paid a visit to all the schools in the station yesterday — 
 and I am clad that I did so. I was able to see what one sino-le 
 individual has done in about three years, and form an idea as 
 to what even one man could do backed- up by perseverance and 
 energy in the face of prejudice and ignorance. About three 
 years and a half ago there was only one school iu the 
 place with a population of about60,000; and this school 
 Lad in its rolls IbO boys receiviug instruction iu three 
 departments of -A Pmglish classes, 3 Urdu classes, and 
 2 Maharati classes respectively. How this (|ueer system worked 
 it is needless to enquire. It is enough to know that Mr. T. 
 greenivasa Charria, Headmaster of the High School, on b(u*n<'- 
 appointed at the head of this school of three distinct 
 departments with 2, 4 and 3 teachers respectively, saw 
 the defects, if not the evil, of the systeu) and with 
 the permission of the Director of Public Instruction 
 submitted an elaborate scheme suggesting the establish- 
 ment of one Ehglish school and several vernacular primary and 
 secondary schools in the different centres of population of this 
 scattered town as its feeders. The scheme though very sensible, 
 came somehow to be condemned by the authorities concerned iu 
 the first instance. About a year afterwards, that is about three- 
 years ago, it was again submitted; and this time good counsels 
 prevailed and sanction was granted. And to the working of this 
 system is due what I saw yerterday, an English High School 
 about 130 strong, and Primary and Secondary Vernacular 
 Schools all over the town coutaiuing over 750 boys, where there 
 
129 
 
 were only 180 boys receiving an apolog}'' for education three 
 years and ten months before. This is not all tlie educational 
 work that Mr. Sreenivasu Charriar has done. He has also 
 established 7 girls' schools, with nearly 800 girls on the rolls. 
 For all this, Mr. Acharyar lias been paid roiuarkably well by 
 his department — -and it is thus. The ropoit on public instruction 
 issued a few months a.go not onh- dix's nut mention his name 
 witli the names of those who have done their duty satisfaetoriiv, 
 but ignores In's remarknldy good work in female education in 
 these words: '- No female schools have as yet been opened in 
 the southern (Gulburi^a) . . . Division," while recordinar the 
 yearly grant of lis. 1,12^ accorded by the Government therefor. 
 Verily ''kissing" goes b}' favour; 
 
 17 
 
130 
 
 HydekabaDj 3i'd August, 1891. 
 
 A oomraunicatioii whicb appears in the last issue of the 
 " Deccau Standard " under the heading of " A word about 
 politics/' is worth noticing. In it the writer, who is, we are 
 told by the editor, "a European and away in the Districts and 
 not in the Nizam's service or employ" reads a very important 
 lesson to his brethren in iiis Highness the Nizam's Dominions, 
 which, it is to be hoped, will not be lost on them. Now, a 
 European considers himself to be a superior being in this State 
 as in other Native States in India. He serves a Native Prince for 
 a big salary, he lives within the jurisdiction of his Government 
 on account of the advantages that he cannot dream of obtaining 
 at the hands of a Emopean Government, but to the laws of the 
 Prince he is not amenable. He is a servant and subject; and yet 
 his master and sovereign cannot sit in judgment over him. This is 
 a singular anomaly, but it exists in the Native States because of 
 the supreme power of the British Government, and is allowed 
 to exist by the backbonelessness, if I may use the term, of the 
 native rulers. And to this the writer of the article above 
 referred to directs his -attention. '' If Europeans do not like the 
 Nizam's .laws" says he, ''they are not compelled to submit to 
 them. They may stay where more benign law holds sway." 
 Quite so. To claim ecpial ])rivilege3 or i-ather to enjoy equal 
 advantages with the suljjects of Native Princes and yet refuse 
 to be bound by the laws that bind them is as reasonable as it is 
 just on the part of the Supreme Government to support and 
 sanction it. And the reasonableness, as well as the justice, 
 passeth all understanding. The writer then proceeds to point 
 out the necessity for the Nizam's Government to recognise 
 ordained Missionaries as Registrars of marriages. Recorders of 
 deaths, births, &c — for, to use his own words, "Sve also doubt if 
 Missionaries holding licenses from the British Government to 
 perform marriage ceremonies between British subjects, Euro- 
 pean or native, have any light whatever thereunder to go into 
 the districts, and, as is now being done, perform the operation 
 upon purely Nizam's subjects under purely British licenses"— 
 
131 
 
 and tlie def?irability of passing an Act similar to the British 
 Relig'ioiis I^ropertj Act by which Missionary Societiei can hold 
 property in these Dominions. He winds up with the following 
 lines which I make no apology for quoting: — 
 
 " We think some adjustments should be made which would 
 definitely recognize the loyalty of the European, whoever he be; 
 and that he should on his part, in perfect good faith, recognize 
 the justice of the Government, as wo do with alacrity all its 
 openings for 0!ii])Ioyment and emolument. As long as Euro- 
 peans continue to repudiate the application of the Nizam's laws 
 to themselves, this want of confidence will be construed into au 
 affront, (we think justl}') by the Nizam's Government. We are 
 inclined to think the frankest recognition of the Nizam's learal 
 Institutions and laws on the part of all Europeans in the Domi- 
 nions, will be reciprocated by the extension of all the advantages 
 the Government can extend to anybody, to all Europeans also 
 severally and collectively. 
 
 We are suffering from the "Jap re-action" at the present 
 time. It remains for Europeans to cordially shew their faith 
 and friendship, and find in the Nizam of Hyderabad, the ''faith- 
 ful Ally" of all civilized nations. 
 
 A case, reminding one of the "tamous" Sowar case, has 
 been f>r some weeks past befoi'e Major-General Campbell, Judge 
 of the Suburban Court here. It cropped up, according to the 
 complainants, thus: On the 20th of May last Lieutenants Sexton 
 and Brewster, who had gone into the districts for Shikareeying 
 were encamped at Palikonda in the Indore District. At near 
 dusk, two Arabs in the service of the Nawab Torwar Jung 
 Ashrafud-Dowla Bahadur — one of whom is au aged man proved 
 to be of very good character and to have acted as Tahsildar for 
 near 30 years — went to the officers, seated a few yards from their 
 tents, and asked them if they wanted bulls (for the purpose of 
 carrying their luggage evidently). The Lieutenants said ' Yse ' 
 and asked them to fetch the bulls immediately, on which the 
 
132 
 
 Arabs in an insolent tone told them that they had not paid for 
 some articles got from the villa«^ers. This exasperated the 
 officers, but the}- did not give outward expression to it in any 
 way, and like the s^ood and reasonable men that they were they 
 explained away the unfounded charij^e, when one of the Aiabs 
 drew a sword and the other produced a pistol and assaulted them 
 and would have caused them more grievous bodily injury than 
 they did sustain, but for their strength and the help rendered 
 by their servants, one of them had the remarkable courage to 
 flee away at the siglit of the svvord. So runs the complainants 
 version — a version which one cannot help accepting with a big 
 grain of salt considering that some men, Arabs though they be, 
 do not draw swords and level pistols at one without the least 
 provocation. Out of these '•incidents" arose the case, the Arab 
 assault case, in which judgment has recently' been delivered. 
 General Campbell found the accused guilty of causing grievous 
 hurt to Lieutenants Sexton and Brewster and sentenced them 
 each to five years' ligorous imprisonment on Saturday last. 
 
 The ceremony of betrothal or the nimjanl as iti is called here, 
 between the eldest sister of the Nizam and the Nawab Imaura 
 Jung Bahadtir, the elder son of the Nawab Sir Kurshedjah 
 Bahadur, began the day befm-e yesterday and comes to a close 
 this evening. On the 1st instant, Sir Kurshedjah Bahadur ac- 
 companied by the Nawabs Zaffer Jung and Vicar-ul Umra went 
 on foot with all his retinue to the Chau Mahala Palace and pre- 
 sented the Nizam the usual nazur of about 120 gold mohurs, if 
 I am rightly informed, and it was accepted — the acceptance sig- 
 nifying His Highness's willingness to give his sister in iiiarriage 
 to the person for whom her hand had been solicited. Yesterday 
 the bridegroom's party paid a visit to the Palace ; this evening 
 the bride's party return the visit; and this closes the ceremony. 
 The marriage itself is expected to come off in November, and 
 that it will be characterised by great pomp and magnificence, 
 goes without saying. 
 
133 
 
 The mavriao-e of one of His Higliness's daughters with the 
 Nawab Zii,fer Jmig Bahadiii-, tho younger son of Sir Karshedjah 
 Bahadur, is also talked of. 
 
 His Excelleucy the Minister has accorded his sanction to 
 niisi tiff the Aurunoabad Hio-h School to the status of a second 
 f^raile Colle<«e. The widom of this step is not apparent. When 
 the only College in His Higaness's Dominions and that in the 
 capital, gets hut lialf rations' with several well-managed High 
 Schools about the place to feed it, it is not difficult to conceive 
 what sort of an existence the College in Aurungabad will have 
 without even a single High School in the District — of coui'se 
 excepting its own High School Department — to do so. But the 
 Hyderabad Educational Department is divine — and it can create 
 something- oven out of nothing. Sometime ago I saw a circular 
 sent round by the iNawab Imad-ul-Uowlah Bahadur, our Direc- 
 tor of Public Instruction, to the effect that six scholarships had 
 been founded by the Government and that they would be offered 
 annually to the first six matriculates, from a Government or an 
 aided school, in these Dominions. And I was wishing to con- 
 gratulate those tliat had hud a hand in this— one could easily 
 see what an impetus this would give to the spread of higher 
 education here — when I heard of the sanction above referred 
 to. Tlu' step is a most ill-advised one, and if it tends to any- 
 thing at all it will be to hamper the hands of the heads of the 
 only 1^'ii'st grade College here, namely, the Nizam College. 
 
134 
 
 Hydrrabad, llth Avgnst, 1891. 
 
 Yon will remember the case of the Rajasahib of the ancient 
 Hamasthan of Anagondi, of which I gave a short account in 
 these columns several weeks ago. It would seem impossible to 
 reach the Nizam's cars on the mattei*. The Hajusahib wired, oa 
 the 2ud and 3rd June last, to His Highuess, then encamped at 
 Warangnl, stating liow he had been reduced to bis present 
 pitiable condition bj the powers-that-bo and ' imploring His 
 Highness to come to his relief.' No notice has as yet been 
 taken of these telegrams; and as it is incredible thnt His High- 
 ness has all of a sudden lost interest in the welfare of his Rajas 
 and subject<5, the question naturally arises whetlier he saw or 
 rather was allowed to see them at all. We have, before this 
 heard of papers meant for His Highness disappearing on their 
 way to their destination in a most mysterious fashion. Is it that 
 even the two telegrams have gone the way of these ? 
 
 The telegrams run thus: — 
 
 " Your Highness's Government has ordered the withdrawal 
 of my judical powers. My repeated representations both to 
 Government and to your Highness have remained unnoticed. 
 My samast/ian has been attached for arrears of peislimsh newly 
 levied against long established cust-m; and now the greatest 
 insult is offered to me by withdrawing my powers. The Govern- 
 ment do not allow a single pie from the revenue of the samasthan 
 towards the maintenance of my personal comforts and dignity. 
 I and my people have only your Highness to protect onr honour 
 and life. I beg your Highness to personally investigate mj 
 case and grant me the justice that I have sought for in vain 
 from your officers. All indignities offered to me, a prince of 
 your Highness's realm, are so many affronts to your Highness's 
 own person. Again I implore yonr Highness to come to ray 
 relief." 
 
 '* In continuation of my telegram of yesterday, I beg to 
 place the following particulars before your Highness : In 1297 
 
135 
 
 Fasli the question of the succession to the Anagondi gadi came 
 before your Highness's Government. Although some of the 
 officials of your Highness's vxoverninent were opposed to the 
 measure, your Highness was graciously pleased <o save the old 
 gadi from extinction hy recognisino- me as the head of the 
 samasthan. In carrying out your Hig'huess's orders the Minister 
 saddled i\\Q samastlian with an annual peishcush of Rs. 10,000. 
 I represented that this pcishruxh was ngainst precedent as the 
 samasthan was never in the habit of paying any since its trans- 
 fer to your Highness in 1801. The samasthan was however 
 placed under attachment and the Subedhar of the Southern 
 Division directed to visit Anagondi and report on its finances. 
 The Subedhar after due inquiry reported thut the samasthan was 
 not in a position to ])ay a.ny peishcysh. Upon this the Minister 
 increased the peishc^lsh iVom 10,000 to Rs. 18,800 annually with 
 retrospective effect and demanded immediate payment of three 
 years' ijclshcush, I requested the Subedhar by telegram to allow 
 me to manage the samasthan till the end of that year 1299 Fasli, 
 pending a representation to your Highness. This the Subedhar 
 declined to do. Mr. Dunlop next visited Anagondi and reported 
 to the Minister the utter ' inability' of the samasthan to pay any 
 peishcush. This report had no effect, in April 1290, I 
 submitted a representation to your Highness through the 
 Private Secretary, Nawab Imalu-ul-^lulk. The Nawab although 
 repeatedly requested to obtain 3'our Highness's orders, does 
 not seem to have placed my representation before your 
 Hi'dmess. On the last occasion the Na,wab told my counsel that 
 he might go to the Re.-ident for redress. In 129o Fasli and 
 subsequently my motlier liani Kuppamma borrowed from Bansi 
 Raja certain monies, th'j repayment of which was secured to him 
 by means of annual payments from the revenue of Korgat and 
 Sangameshwar, two of my private Inam villages. Bansi Raja 
 ha vino- disregarded my frequent demands for a statement of ac- 
 counts, the further payment of instalments wis stopped. Upon 
 this Bansi Raja, with the assistance of [ntosar Jung, took for- 
 cible possessiou of the villages. All my letters to the Jloveuuo 
 
136 
 
 Secretary remain unanswered. The difficulties my ryots are put 
 to on accouDt of the tyrannical coaduct of Bansi Raja and his 
 naih are vei-y gr- at. When the samasthan was under the man- 
 agement of your Highuess's Government, pervious to 1297 Fasli 
 a picket of Police peous had been stationed at Auagoudi. Ou 
 the restoration of the samasthan the Police arrangements were 
 orgauizedby me ; and I requested the withdrawal of tlie Gov- 
 ernment picket. Although there has been a lot of correspou- 
 dence, the Police picket remains stationary. 'lUie samast]La)i is 
 forced to pay them, anl their idle presence is productive of great 
 mischeif. The h\st blow has been struck by oi-deriug the with- 
 drawal of my powers. The Minister, advised by Intesar Jung, 
 has all along been tryiug to annihilate this aucient Hindu 
 samasthan which owes its existence to your Highuess. I seek 
 your Highness's protection for the restoratian of my rights and, 
 privileges." 
 
 Tha Deccan Punch, a local Urdu weekly, had in a recent 
 issue of his a leader which tries to show what a greedy, money- 
 loving, unconscionable lot we have in power here. In this article the 
 Editor takes His Highness the Nizam severely to task for purch- 
 asing some diamonds direct from tiie merchants and not through 
 his Government. It is remarkable that the directness^ so to say, 
 of the purchase should be taken objection to by this wise and 
 honest Editor and not the wasting of muney over such purchases. 
 The Fiuich is, I am credibly informed, a Government organ 
 edited by an official in receipt of a monthly salary of about lis. 
 700, who gets Ks. 8 for each issue of the peper. 
 
 Man, it is said, is a helpless being. Even Sir Asmanjah 
 with all his tried and trusted advisers about him, does not seem 
 to be an exception to this rule. He seems to be liable to what 
 are termed *' sharp practices' as much as any other mortal. I am 
 told that the Minister was until recently in blissful iguorance of 
 the history of Mahomed Ali alias Zafer Yabkhan and when my 
 paragraph about this individual in one of my previous letters 
 told him the truth, he was in a tearing rage and did not scruple 
 
137 
 
 to rate his ' faithful* adviscrf? soundly for tlficeiving him by 
 keepins: liini in the dark about Mahomed All's antecedents. 
 ' If this is true, why does not the Nawab Sii- Asmanjah rid 
 himself of these advisers ?'. it may he asked. Evidently the 
 Nawab cannot get on without them — they are necessary evils 
 that the State has to groan beneath, because it has got for its 
 Minister a man who cannot help himself 
 
 The Bribery Commissi( n has been sitting for some weeks 
 past now, and it mny sit for sometime longer — but that its enqui- 
 ries will lead to any satisfactory results seems to be more tl^an 
 ever a hoping against hope. Tlie Nawab Akber Jung Bahadur, 
 our City Kotwal, would have been an extremely useful person 
 on the Commission. He knows aud can know all that is going 
 on in the City; and as one in touch with the City people, 1 may 
 state without meaning any disparagement to Col. Ludlow, he 
 is more competent to conduct an inquiry like the one in question 
 than the Colonel who knows very little of the people and their 
 language. Yet, he has been removed from the Commission. 
 
 " They say' said a friend in high position the other day 
 "that Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick is a very clever man, a very intel- 
 ligent man an astute politician. He may he all that ; but that 
 he can cope with the ditficulties of the situation in a country like 
 Hyderabad, is what I cannot belie ve. You will remember how 
 the non-acceptance of Mushtak Hussain's resignation was 
 brought about. Two ot the friends went, one after the 
 other, to Sir Dennis and made Mushtak's resignation out to be 
 a public calamity. Sir Dennis believed them and at an inter- 
 view with the Nizam he put it to him point-blank if it was true 
 that he meant to send Mushtak Hussaiu out o£ service. The 
 Nizam said "No"' aud accoi'ding to that ^uo' did not accept tho 
 resignation. Now, if Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick knew any thin f 
 about oriental countries, oriental manners and customs, he would 
 not have sought information on the subject of the resignation 
 at an interview. He would have known that the exaggerated 
 notions that orientals entertain of courtesy to a highly-respected 
 
 18 
 
1S8 
 
 guest prerents the expression of simple truth that may lead to 
 auj sort of discussion at a personal interview and would have 
 written to His Ilighoess about the matter and <fut a reply very 
 different to that which he got at his interview." Much truth 
 there may be in this. 
 
 To-day is the great Lunghurday of Mohorrum. All His 
 Highness's regiments pass througli certain streets in the city in 
 consideration of the family and rank of particular individuals 
 to-day and give an outsider an opportunity of admiring the 
 regular and the ii regular military pagentry — 3'ou mui^t remem- 
 ber we have 'irregulars' cousi.«ting of sepoys, good, bad and 
 inditferent, tail, short and dwarfish, shoeless and turbandless, 
 sliertvanied and uuder-vested, as wt'll as" 'regulars' — in this God- 
 governed country. 
 
139 
 
 Hyderabad, 17^7/ Aur/ust 1891. 
 
 The messages wired to His Hio-lmess tlie Nizam on the 2nd 
 and 3rd Jnne last, hy the llajasaliib of Anagondi, ahout tlie 
 affairs of his principality, which I quoted at lengtli in my last 
 letter — call for a few comments. 'J'hev draw His Hiohness' 
 attention to the followiug facts : — 
 
 (1) That a peislicush of Rs. 10,000 was imposed on the 
 samasthan in utter defiance of precedent on the occasion of 
 recognition of the present Raja as its head ; 
 
 (2) that the Minister increased the peishcnsh to Rs. 18,000 
 with retrospective effect and demanded the immediate payment 
 of 3 year's peishcush, although the Subadar of the Southern 
 Division deputed by the Government to look into the condition 
 of the samasthan, had, after careful inquiry, reported its inability 
 to pay ant/ peishcush ; 
 
 (3) that Mr. Dnnlop, Inspector General of Revenue, made 
 a similar report to that of the Subadar to the Government with 
 no effect ; 
 
 (4) that several representations niade by the Rajahsahib 
 to His Highness, through his Private Secretary, the Nawab 
 Imad-ul-mulk Bahadur, were never placed before His Highness, 
 and that on the last occasion when the Rajahsahib's counsel 
 called upon him, the Nawab plainly told him to go to the 
 Resident for redress ; 
 
 (5) that when further instalments towards the liquidation 
 of the debt contracted by the Rajasahib's mother in 1293 Fasli, 
 were stopped because of the creditor Bansi Raja's failure to 
 furnish a statement of accounts, Bansi Raja, with the assistance 
 of the Nawab Vicar-ul-mulk, the Ke venue Secretary, took forci- 
 ble possession of the two villages out of the revenues of which 
 his money had been arranged to be paid by auuual instalments ; 
 
(6) that the Nawab Vicar-ul-mulk has maintained a 
 studious silence in regard to several letters addressed to him on 
 the matter ; 
 
 (7) that a police picket productive of great annoyance nnd 
 mischief has been levied on the Samtisthan ; 
 
 (8) and that the Minister has taken away all the powers 
 that the Rajas of Anagondi exercised for many decades. 
 
 A stronger array of facts has not been^ nor can be^ produced 
 to prove the arbitrariness of the Minister, and the nature of the 
 advice tendered to him by his arch-adviser the Nawab Vicar- 
 ul-mulk — and yet the facts have had little weight here. They 
 reveal a powerful combination against this poor Hindu pi'ince — 
 a combination composed of the Minister, the Revenue Secretary 
 and the Private Secretary to His Highness the Nizam. There 
 is the Revenue Secretary to advise, the Minister to issue orders, 
 the Private Secretary to keep His Highness in the dark about 
 any representations that may be made to him through him ; and 
 thus everything necessary is secured to accomplish ' the annihil- 
 ation' of this ancient Hindu saynasthan which owes its existence 
 to His Highness. What has the poor prince done to deserve 
 all this at the hands of these mighty men ? God knows what 
 It is true that he, with a due sense of the dignity of the Rajas 
 of Anagondi, did not go down on his knees at the interview he 
 had with His Excellency Sir Asman Jah Bahadur. But snrely 
 this cannot be a justification for the extraordinary treatment 
 that the Rajassihib has been subjected to. If it is — in the eyes 
 of the powers-fchat-be — " what chance has an obnoxious official or 
 individual of faring better than the Raja," it may well be asked. 
 The Raja Sahib of Anagondi is also a British subject, his mother, 
 Ranee Kuppamma, having been in receipt of a pension from the 
 Government of Madras. And if this pathetic appe il to His 
 Highness the Nizam fail to secure any redress — and I am sure 
 it will not so fail — he will have to seek it, no doubt, at the hands 
 of the British Government from which the veriest beorsrar can 
 claim justice or the undoing of injustice. 
 
141 
 
 The one thing thab ia being universally talked about at th e 
 present moment, is wliat is known as the " Dianiond case . 
 Sometimes ago an English firm offered, through a merchant, by- 
 name Mr. Jacob, to sell to His Highness the Nizam a diamond 
 for the modest sum of 4G lakhs of rupees. And the diamond 
 itself was sent through the merchant to the Nizam for inspec- 
 tion, His Highness lodging in some bank or other, 23 lakhs of 
 rupees in the name of Mr. Jacob as security for its safe delivery 
 back to owners in case it should not m^^et with His Hio-liness's 
 approval. It was duly inspected; but though approved of, it 
 was not purch:ised, by the Nizam owing to the good counsel, if 
 I am correctly informed, of our Resident, Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick. 
 The diamond had consequently to be returned^ and the refund 
 of the 23 lakhs of rupees demanded of Mr. Jacob, But Mr. 
 Jacob, the successful speculator that he is, does not mean to 
 returu the 28 lakhs entire in accordance with the demand. He 
 says that the bringing down of the diamond from England cost 
 him 5 lakhs, and so deducting the sum from that placed in his 
 name, he will let His Highness have 18 lakhs of rupees. His 
 Hiohness does not seem to aoree with the merchant — and so 
 there is a likelihood of a case cropping up at no distant jdate. 
 Several officials of His Highness's Government are said to be 
 involved in the affair; and it is to be hoped that we shall be 
 given an opportunity of knowing what part each of them has had 
 assigned to him in it. 
 
142 
 Hyderabad, ^Zrd AngiLot, 1891 . 
 
 I said about three weeks ago in tliese culumns, that it would 
 be difficult to find a worse-managed department, iu the Nizam's 
 State, than the Public Works Department — though under the 
 guidance and supervision of Englishmen. I shall now lay before 
 you the details of a case, a case still pending so to say, which 
 makes what I stated then as clear as day-light; and which 
 shows that things are as bad as they could be in this Depart- 
 ment and ihe sooner it is subjected to an overhauling by the 
 Government, the better it will be. Mr. Maucherjee Bazonje, 
 District Engineer, was transferred from Gulburga to Auranga- 
 bad about the middle of March last. And no sooner did he set 
 foot in the Division where Mr. Marret was Divisional Engineer 
 than his troubles began. Mr. Marret had a reputation for being 
 the most zealous divisional officer in the Niz im's service ; he 
 would have the District Engineer work under his very nose, he 
 would have him obtain his advice and act according to it in the 
 most trivial matters, iu fact he would have him renounce the 
 dignitv of his office and sink to the level of a subordinate out 
 and out; and, because of this zeal, ha had iu a comparatively 
 short period brought about the " turning out of the Uivisiou'' of 
 five District Engineers, successively before Mr. Maucherjee — 
 Messrs. Neilson, Allen, Fitzgerald Plunkett, and Walter. Such 
 as Mr. Marret was, it was not h)ng before he found serious 
 reasons for being seriously displeased with Mr. Maucherjee — 
 especially as the latter was somewhat independent and plain- 
 spoken. In fact Mr. Mancherjee was under suspension conse- 
 quent upon charges brought agaiust him by the Divisional 
 Ensriueer in less than three months. Mr. Marret had written 
 to him about overtopping of moram which he, Mr. Marret, had 
 discovered on a certain road ; and Mr. Mancherjee, being in- 
 formed of the non-existence of any overtopping on the road by 
 the Supervisor directly in charge of it, had written to request 
 him to let him know at what mile on the road he had noticed it. 
 This turned out to be an act of insubordination. Mr. Mancherjee 
 had issued instructions to a certain contractor named Sorabji 
 
143 
 
 to carry out some works entrusted to him according to the 
 agreement he had entered into witli the Department — according 
 to niamool, and Mr. Marett's own orders on eue occasion. 'I'his 
 became conduct unprofessional — so unprofessional indeed as to 
 prove Mr. Mancherjee's unfitness for discharging the duties of 
 a District Engineer. Then again, Mr. Mancherjee had circulat- 
 ed the rumour that he had been sent directly by His Excellency 
 Sir Asmaniah h5ahadnr at the sugsestion of Khan Bahadur 
 Mahomed Sidik, Divisional Engineer, Eastern Division, to put 
 Public Works matters right in Aumngabad. And this, which 
 by the way, rests wholly on the authority of Mr. Marrett, was 
 tantamount to an attempt to bully the Divisional Engineer. 
 Such and similar were the charges that secured the District 
 Engineer's suspension. A few days after the order of suspension had 
 been sent to Mr. Mancherjee, Mr. Guantlet,Superintending Engineer 
 went over to Auraugobad to inquire into the charges brought 
 against him. He put up with the hospitable Mr. Mar ret, and 
 after cogitating under his roof for a few days, sent olf a report 
 on the affair to the head-quarters-without, (will you believe it ?) so 
 much as hearing a word of what the defendant had to say for 
 himself, or what the Nawab Mukhtidar Jung Bahadur who as 
 Subedhar of the Division is in a way, the head of the Public. 
 Works executive on the spot had to say in the matter. What the 
 nature of the communication made by Mr. Gauntlet to Mr. 
 Palmer, Chief Engineer and Secretary to Government in the 
 Public works Department, is, it is not difficult to guess ; but all 
 the same, we should wait to see what the result of it will be. 
 
 The above is a plain, unvarnished statement of the treat- 
 ment that Mr. Mancherjee has received ; and if it does not show 
 that the Department sadly needs a careful looking-into, and 
 better heads than it, at present, can boast of, one might well 
 ask : what else can '? 
 
 The Prize Distribution of " the Nizam's College and 
 Madrasu-i-Aliya" came off on Friday, the 21st iustaut. This 
 eveiit to which a great deal of importauce is attached here, it 
 
144 
 
 being the only function at which His Highness the Nizam 
 presides, was robbed of much of its interest this year by the 
 absence of His Highness, the chief nobles of the city and the 
 elite of Secunderabad and Bolarum. Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick 
 took the chair; and by the side of liiui on the dais I saw Sir 
 Asmanjah, the Nawab Ekbal-ul-Dowlah, and the Nawab Imaum 
 Jung to whom the Nizam's elder sister had only a short time ago 
 been betrothed. The report of the Principal, Mr. H. P. 
 Hodson, M. A., was as usual an interesting document, satisfac- 
 tory, hopeful and full of important observations and well-thougnt- 
 out suggestions. "^ We are beginning to get, at any rate in the 
 lower departments, the children of those who have had educa- 
 tion, and it is interesting to observe how anxious the parents 
 are that their sons should avoid that carelessness in early life 
 
 which they themselves now regret Not only do 
 
 some of our old pupils look keenly after their sons, but they 
 deligently beat up recruits among those less alive to the benefits 
 of education ; notable examples of the helj) thus given are found 
 in Raja IVIurli Manohur (whose son has just matriculated at the 
 age of 15) and Mir Hafiz Aii (Nawab Intekal Jung Bahadur), 
 The awaking zeal has in some cases resulted in our having 
 father and son both at school together — . ..." After 
 recording this pleasing fact, Mr. Hodson proceeded to submit 
 *' to the Board that the time has now come for provision to be 
 made for ' after education,' for there is evidently a desire for it ; 
 I mean some system of lecttires, conversaziones, and evening 
 classes by which grown-up pupils could continue to improve 
 themselves, unbound by the hard and fast rules of a University 
 course, for which they have not the leisure nor the inclination." 
 He repeated the complaint he had made last 3'ear, " how early 
 marriage or succession to family posts and duties took away pro- 
 mising pupils as soon as they were qualified by good grounding 
 to begin to really learn ; and suggested by way of " encourag- 
 ing lads to persevere in the regular course'^ that the Govern- 
 ment should consult the Board as to their character " while 
 young nobles are still in statu pupiilari,'' aad refa^e " houor and 
 
145 , 
 
 promotion to undeserving pupils." The suggestions above 
 roproduced, I need hardly say, are wordiy oi: a carci'iil consider- 
 ation at the hands of tlie authorities concerned. The Nawab 
 Iniadul-mulk Bahadur \v;is tlie next to speak. Tlien came, the 
 hist but not the least item oa the programme for the evening — 
 Sir Dennis' speech. After entertaining us with a most edifying 
 contrast hctweeu (_"olle«>e hfe in India and tlnit in l*hi<;:huid in 
 his happy way, he addressed the yourig men around him some- 
 what in tliese woriLs : Yuungmen in Hyderabad are not availing 
 ihemselves siiffieieutly uf the edmational advHutiiges held out 
 to them. What is to become of Hyderabad if the noblemen, 
 and gentlemen of the place do not insist upon their 
 sons obtaining a good, sound education ? It" you young- 
 men do not educate yourselves so as to make your State 
 if entrusted to you, keep pace with the advance made by other 
 State.s, you must not complain if the chief ofiices are given away 
 to men from the North-West." 
 
 Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick's words to the Hydrabadees call for 
 a few remarks. The Resident seems to be labouring under the 
 impression that every possible inducement is offered to youths 
 to make them educate themselves to a high standard. In spite 
 of his residence here for some years he seems to be in blissful 
 io-norance of the fact that little has been done by Avay of appre- 
 ciating the work of those who have already gone in for higher 
 education. Mr. Hodson reported ; " iMr Cornelius took his 
 B. A. Degree in Science, and 2 out of 3 candidates passed the 
 B. A. at their first trial." How, 1 ask, hns Mr. Cornelius's degree 
 been appreciated ? How hnve the services of the first graduate 
 of the Nizam College, the only Hydrabadee graduate we have 
 had in the last 5 or 6 years, one of the only three graduates this 
 State has produced— been utilized ? In no way. His chances 
 of getting into His Highness's service seem to be as few as those 
 of Hydrabadees who have not gone beyond their alphabets in 
 their education. And what hkelihood is there, so long as tho 
 present circumstances continue, that the 2 out of the o candidates 
 who have passed the B. A. in the first Branch will fare better 
 
14G 
 
 when tliey become full-blown graduates ? The Resident's 
 allusion to the men from the North-West is not quite intelligible, 
 if he referred to the grumble heard all over the Dominion 
 agaiust the monopolising of all important offices by the Hindus- 
 tanees, if he meant that all the Hindustanees in service are 
 educationally superior men to the Hyderabadees clamouring for 
 positions, I must say that he blundered unwittingly or that he 
 but echoed the opinious of interested parties constantly dinned 
 into his ears. For, with the exception of the Belgiamis and one 
 or two others, the Hindustanees are ignorant of English and 
 cannot claim to be educationally superior to their co-religiouista 
 here. 
 
 Since writing last about the ' Diamond case' I have heard 
 that His Highness is determined to get back the Avhole of his 
 23 lalihs, and that he has engaged the services of Mr. Jardine, 
 of tho Bombay Bar, for the purpose. 
 
''AT 
 147 
 
 Hyderarad, 29th August 1891. 
 
 The deliberations of the Salar Juuo- Debt Commission have 
 come to a closs at last. '1 he object of its existence has been accom- 
 plished; Mv. Gya Persad, m. a., at one time our Deputy Account- 
 ant-General has been sent out of service. And the Commission 
 breathes its last in triumph. 
 
 I am told that the Departmental inquiry into the famous 
 second Treasury Fraud case will terminate soon; and that it is 
 not likely that the result of it will he any more favourable to the 
 Nawab Imad Nawaz Jung and Raja Srinivasa Rao than the 
 report of the Commission above alluded to has been to M r. Gya 
 Persad. There is an impression abi'oad that the men in power 
 are anxious to do away with as many as possible of those 
 inimical in any way to their interests in the service, before the 
 present Resident leaves, as thoy are afraid that Mr. Plowden 
 may not be as non-iuterfering as Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick. I shall 
 not stop to ask what reason there is for this. Sir Dennis o- oes 
 away in October; and we shall not have to wait lono- to know the 
 reasonableness or otherwise of the impression. 
 
 Two of the local papers have followed the " Deccan Times '' 
 into oblivion — the " Saferi Deccan " published within the Resi- 
 dency limits and the Mahboob-nl-Icaloof in the Moglai jurisdiction 
 It is remarkable that in spite of his warm advocacy of our Home 
 Secretary's oaggjng circular, Kaloofs career on earth has closed 
 in about ten months. 
 
148 
 
 Shankerpalte, 4th September, 
 
 According to a recent ovtler of the Government^ the Nawab 
 Vicar-ul- Mulk Bahadur, better-known as rnlesar Jnno- will 
 hereafter carry on tlie duties of Personal Assistant lo His Excel- 
 lency tlie Minister in addiiioji to those of lievenue Secretary. 
 
 Tilkbal AM vacates his place on the Hii^-h Court Bench and 
 acts as Joint Hevenne Secretary "nntil further orders." 
 
 The criniinal suit a<rninst Jai \lno, Mukund Kao and somo 
 others in connection with the second TrPasnry Frauds case, has 
 ])eon withdrawn by the Gov.nMiment. Hut the departmental 
 inquiry into the charges brought against the Nawnl) Iniad Nawaz 
 Jung Baliadnr. and Knj^ Srinivas Rao, stands. 
 
 I have received a copy of the Resolution on the Report of 
 the Salar Jung DeiDt (!!om mission from tlie Home Secretary's 
 Office. When it has been said that it is as loud in praise of 
 "the labour, ability, intelligence and impartiality" of the Nawab 
 Vicar-ul- Umra Bahadur, Mr. A. J. Dunlop, the Nawab Fateh 
 Nawaz Jung Bahadur and Moulvi Ali Ra7,a Khan — President 
 and members of the Commission — as it is bitter in runnino- down 
 the Nawab Mokarrub Jung, Babu Gaya I'ersad, Jai Rao and 
 Mukhund Rao, all that it is possible to sav about the salient 
 featui'es of the Resolution, has been said. 
 
 The case iu which His Highness the Ni/aui claims 2] lakhs 
 of Rupees from Mr. Jacob, the Simla Jeweller, comes on for 
 hearing iu the Calcutta High Court in September; and that in' 
 which the Government claims GO lakhs from the ''well-known' 
 Hak will be heard by the Bombay High Court in November 
 next. 
 
149 
 
 Hyderabad, 15iA Ootoher, 1891. 
 
 'Vho Diaraond case is the subjeet of talk everywhere. Every 
 mail of intelligeuce thinks it but right that His Higliness the 
 Nizaui shonhl have consented to give evidence before a Comrais- 
 sion, though no one could bring himself to approve of the way 
 in which, and the flourish of trumpets with whicli, it was made 
 known that he had consented to do so. There is little doubt in 
 the minds of the people here as to where the raainfesto which 
 has come in for much severe, but richly -deserved criticism in the 
 Calcutta pressj originated. When the real writer of it goes out 
 of his wav to eulogize Judges aud other efficials who have made 
 sorry exhibitions of themselves before all the world, lie betrays 
 the clo en foot. 
 
 How successful Sir Syed AIiukhI of Aliighur has been in 
 his mission to Hyderabad all India knows. But the seci'et of 
 the success few can know outside Hyderabad. It needs to bo 
 tohl It is all nonsense to say that the object of the old man's 
 visit prevailed with Elis Highness and a portion of his subjects, 
 so far as to make them loosen their purse strings readily, for 
 grander an 1 more useful "objects" to be realized nearer homo 
 receive little real sympathy from them. The Nawab Vicarul- 
 mulk is a friend and admirer of Sir Syed Ahmed's; this accounts 
 for the raising of the monthly giant to the Allyghur College 
 from !?s. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000 a month. The Nawab Framroze 
 Jung is a creature of Vicarul-mulk's; but for this Syed Ahmed 
 Avould not have got 26 thousand rupees from the " people" of 
 Warangal. These are unquestionable facts, I assure you. Sir 
 Syed Ahmed accompanied by the Nawab Vicar ul-mulk, Fetch 
 Nawaz Jung, Iraadul-mulk and others reached Warangal, by 
 special ti'ain, on an evening. And within 2 4 hours of his arrival 
 24 bags of mouey, each containing Rs. 1,000 were offered to him 
 in due 'style' by the Warangalites. How this came about it is 
 interesting to enquire. Four Tahsildars had been told off, four 
 days previously, to go about the town and prepare people for the 
 giving of big donations; several officials in the sarroanding 
 
15b 
 
 Talaqs had been ordered to collect the money from the people ; 
 employes in almost all the offices in the station had been made to 
 part with a fourth part of their salaries; and all the Jaghirdars 
 etc., in the District had to subscribe a fourth of their annual 
 incomes; and so on, and so on. Is it then a wonder that Syed 
 Ahmed got lis. 24,000 within 24 hours of his arrival in Waran- 
 gal and about Rs. 2,000 more from the same place afterwards ? 
 My wonder is that only lis. 26,000 were got and not more. I 
 am informed that the sum actually I'aised was larger, but in 
 passing through many ' busy' hands it dwindled down to 26 
 thousands. How far this is true it is difficult to say until and 
 unless those houorable gentlemen engaged in raising subscrip- 
 tions for the laudable purpose, publish a list of donors and 
 subscribers pro hono publico. Similar measures were resorted to 
 in some offices in Hyderabad also, notably in the Accountant- 
 Gener.d's office, for the benefit of the Allyghur College. In the 
 Accountant-General's office five per cent, was charged on the 
 salaries of all employes, and when a poor devil of a clerk coin- 
 panied he was mulcted in ten per cent, on his paj". 
 
 This was, dear Mr. Editor, how the old man of Allyghur 
 * got on' so famously here. 
 
 'J'hose that live in the British Provinces cannot know how 
 precarious a position an official occupies in the Nizam's service 
 — and that under the present re<iime — and how easily one, liow- 
 ever high his rung in the official ladder, may bo subjected to 
 the greatest indignities, may be suspended or dismissed or 
 otherwise disgraced. I told in these columns some weeks agO) 
 how Mr. Mancherji, a District Engineer in the service, had been 
 treated by his superiors — how, simply because a Divisional 
 Engineer, who had had his way for a number of years in every 
 thing had found hitu to be too honest and straight forward to 
 sink down to the level of a second fiddle, Mr. Mancherji had 
 been suspended and censured by the Superintending Engineer. 
 Mr. Mancherji has since been re-instated though not a word has 
 been put on resord to the discredit of Mr. Marret, the Divisional 
 
Engineer conGerned. The re-inssatemcnt, I need hardly tell 
 you, is dne not to a conviction on the part of the authorities of 
 Mr. Maucherji's innocence — though there is not the slightest 
 douht that he is innocent — hut to the fact that he is a man of 
 influence. 
 
 Since writing this I have seen a leader on the Diamond case 
 in this morning's issue of the "Deccan Standard" in which the 
 Nawab Vicar-ul-mulk is extolled for the way in which he ac- 
 quitted himself of the very difficult task of writing a manifesto 
 for the Niza.n. It is difficult to understand wherein lies the 
 excellence of the manifesto — whether in the laudatory phrases 
 showered upon his Judges, or in the silly condemnation of 
 Jacob's past conduct and tlie consequent proclamation of the 
 gullibility of His Highness and those about him nr in the tone 
 of warm approval in wliich the Prince of Wales' condescension 
 to appear before a Court of Justice is spoken of — for effect to 
 be sure. I should like to ask the Nawab Vicar-ul-mulk to compare 
 his fulsome praise of Judges in the manifesto with the lashing 
 administered by His Excellency the Minister in the resolution 
 issued on the City Murder Case, as well as how tar the approval 
 of the Prince of Wales' conduct was time-serving and how far 
 sincere, seeing that His Highness the Nizam thought it con- 
 sistent with his dignity onli/ to appear before a commission in 
 Hyderabad and thinks iti derrogatory to go to the Calcutta 
 High Court. It would be also interesting to know whether the 
 far-sighted Vicar calculated on the 'counter-blast' in which 
 Jacob trumpets forth to the world. "The Nizam purchased the 
 diamond outright. He may say anything he likes now. I h-ive 
 , no fear of the result of the case." 
 
152 '^ 
 
 Hyderabad, 23rd October, 1891. 
 
 All India must have by this time heard of His Highness the 
 Nizam's having presented a house to the Nawab Vicar-ul-llulk 
 Bahadur. It is not easy to understand what actuated the Nizam 
 in favouring the Nawib tlms, what it was niea nt that the recog- 
 nition should signify to the public. Is Vicar-ul-mulk the 
 lowest uaid of the Secretaries ? No. If he is the "hardest- 
 worked" it is his own fault, he has to thank himself, his mastery 
 over Sir Asman Jah for it. Who is to blame, 1 ask if the 
 Nawab meddles in the affairs of Departments other than his oAvn, 
 if he acts the JMinister's confidant and sets himselt up as his 
 philosopher and guide — and thus increases his work ? It is 
 indicative of the influences at work in the political world here 
 that a local scribe should think it but rigfht that the Nawab 
 should be paid for his all-round interference which comes often 
 in the way of justice and ef^uity. Has V icar-ul-Mulk 
 rendered any remarkably good services to the State ? None that 
 I know of. Or is the Nawab a popular oflScial ? Again I must 
 say, ' No '. A more unpopular olhcial Hyderabad has yet to know. 
 In the light of these considerations it is incomprehensible what 
 led to the present above alluded to. 
 
 Mukauda Rao, one of those condemned by His Excellency 
 the Minister in his resolution on the report of the Salar Jung 
 Debt Commission — applied for a copy of the report recently. 
 And he has been informed by the authorities concerned, 1 am 
 told, that the only 'fair copy' of the original, bearing the signa- 
 tures, of the .Commisiouers was missing, that the original itself 
 did not bear the signatures, and that consequently no copy of 
 the report could be supplied to him. What do you think of this 
 Mr. Editor ? To condemn a man, and to tell him when he 
 applies tor copies of paper connected with his case that the set 
 of papers containing the signatures of the authorities was 
 missing and so on, and so no copies could be furnished him — is 
 possible only in Hyderabad and that under the Mushtak 
 Hussain regime. 
 
153 
 
 Referring to the paragraph about Sir Syed Ahmad Khan of 
 Allyghur, in my last letter, a friend told me: ''This is not the 
 first instance in which such means have been employed by the 
 Nizam"s oificiuls. I know a Subadhar, still in the sei vice, who 
 indemnified himself for the money he had to give His Highness's 
 Chouh/ars by way o{ hahsheesli , by charging one per cent, and-a- 
 'half on the salaries of his subordinates. And this is on official 
 record." 
 
 People in Hyderabad are known to be men of large promises. 
 But few know outside Hyderabad, what miserable things these 
 large promises dwindle into when it comes to keeping them, and 
 how often the}^ remain mereh' promises ''for all time." Within 
 the last few ye;irs we have heard of several funds started by 
 titled "gents" for public purposes. But no one seems to knoAV 
 what efforts have been made to make these funds successes, and 
 how far they have been successful. AVIiat has become of the 
 iSalar Jung ^femorial Fund whit-h many big men in the official 
 and non official circles stood god-fathers to ? "What has become 
 of the Fund started by no less a personage than the Nawab 
 Imad-ul-Mulk Bahadur, in nid of Pundita Rambhai's Sarada 
 Sad/ian ? AVhat has become of Babikrishna Memorial Fund 
 with which the names of such men as Messrs. Heenan and Crolly 
 were associat- d ? And when are we to have our ( hadarghaut 
 .Jubilee gardens ? ^Vho can answer these questions. 
 
 20 
 
154 
 
 OUR RETIRING RESIDENT 
 
 Hyderabad, 1st November 1891. 
 
 Now that it is known for certain that Sir Dennis Fitz- 
 patrick vacates the office of -Resident here and leaves Hydera- 
 bad for Bombay, en route to England on the 12th instant, it 
 seems ad visible that I should lay before the readers of this 
 journal a brief retrospect of the period of his " stewardship," 
 indicating the policy he has pursued, the results it has produced, 
 in what it differs from that of his predecessor, what changes his 
 influence has wrought in the state of affairs of the Nizam's 
 Kingdom, and what sort of a legacy he leaves to his successors. 
 
 There cannot be two opinions about Sir Dennis's character 
 as an official. Ho is upright, conscientious, even-handed in his 
 dealings with the meanest as well as the highest, and in short 
 he is as good a specimen of a British Indian official as it is pos- 
 sible to have. Yet he has not only been of no use to Hyderabad, 
 but a source, though innocent, of harm to the many millions of 
 its inhabitants. Strange as this may sound, it is nevertheless a 
 fact, a fact that any one who has noted with accuracy the events 
 of the last three years can testify to ; and I am inclined to think 
 it is due to the preponderance in Sir Dennis of the very qualities 
 we would deem virtues in a man. I shall make myself clear. 
 
 Tt is a well-known fact that Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick's imme- 
 diate predecessors did not leave behind them any happy records 
 of work done or attempted. Devoid of self-restraint and far- 
 sightedness which alone could have provided against their strand, 
 ing themselves and made it all fair sailing for them, Messrs. 
 Cordery and Howell, both very clever men, identified themselves 
 with some one or other of the factions that this unfortunate 
 State is always full of, were swayed by party passions, became 
 amenable to the mean tactics of party v/arfare, and suffered, as 
 they richly deserved to suffer, discomfiture; and disappeared 
 
155 
 
 amidst the crash of the bright reputations that their previoug 
 services had built up. Verily Hyderabad proved, in their cases 
 a grave of political reputations. Such was the record that was 
 left of the work of Sir Dennis's predecessors and that started 
 him in the face when he took charge of the office of Resident 
 here. He saw that ' interference' was eminently characteristic 
 of it. And in his supreme anxiousuess to fare better than his 
 predecessors had done, to secui-e to his reputation a fate different 
 from that which overtook theirs, he failed to note that it was 
 party-spirited interference, interference at the instance of 
 intriguing heads, that had proved their ruin — and set his heart 
 upon pursuing a policy of perfect non-interference. This was a 
 mistake surely. But it is not to this alone that the Hydra- 
 badees owe the worst system of Government that they have had 
 for a long time, the consolidation of the power of a set of aliens, 
 the mcst self-seeking and the least interested in their well-being 
 that they have known. For, we know that rigid non-interfer- 
 ence acts oftentimes as a check upon erring men by the 
 dread, born of uncertainty, it inspires — and Sir Dennis Fitz- 
 patrick could have furnished this check with his policy but for 
 his possessing qualities which we are accustomed to look upon 
 as estimable in a man. Sir Dennis is social and affable, and as 
 such he could not keep aloof from the influence of the Hydera- 
 bad officials. And it was an unlucky day for Hyderabrd, when 
 he set aside the very salutary rule of not permitting the officials 
 of His Highness the Nizam's Government to come in frequent 
 contact with him, and announced his intention to be " at home'* 
 once in a week. Hyderabad officials were not the men to be 
 slow to avail themselves of a privilege. They put in their 
 appearance at the Residency regularly, and gave their versions 
 of the " story" and represented measures in their light so often 
 and so persistently that it would have been a wonder if he did not 
 come to believe in them as he has believed in them, and become, 
 apartizan — unconsciously to be sui'e — oftheir'sas he has become 
 And the results have been most unfortunate. The most glaring in- 
 stances of oppression, wrong-doing, injustice, and mischief caused 
 
"by til 6 p0C7ers-tliat-be have failed to convince him of their 
 un worthiness. The Treasury frauds Cases, the Cir.y Murder 
 Case, the infamous way iu which men like the Hajah^ahib, 
 of AuagouJi have buen treated, tlie alliance with liireliuof 
 journalists and men like the " law giver/' of the Deccan, 
 Mahomed All alias Zafar Yab Khan — whose history I told in 
 these columns months ago — each one of these is enoujrh to 
 set a m;irk on a party in power, and yet none of them 
 seems to have counted for any thin o- in Sir Dennis's eves. 
 A spirit of blind confidence has characterised his attitude 
 towards the officials. And this was remarkably illusti-ated by 
 a Residency official when he stated at an interview which a native 
 gentleman had with him not lon^ since in connection with the 
 l^ermission applied to start a paper here — '' yon will not got the 
 permission for we don't want a paper of the sort." This mis- 
 chief did not stop here, Mr. Editor. Having made up his mind 
 not to interfere as Resident, Sir Dennis allowed himself to 
 interfere in his private capacity, as a friend to His Highness the 
 Nizam. Whenever it was necessary he advised the Nizam in 
 behalf of the party in power — under wi^ong impression and 
 with the best of intentions, as I have all along said. Just think 
 of how the Nawab Vicar-ul-mnlk came to be retained in office in 
 spite of his resignation. The Nawab's friends and admirers 
 made his retirement out to be such a public calamity, that the 
 Resident forthwith sought an interview with the Nizam and as 
 a friend asked him whether it was true he was going to get rid 
 of such a " useful" official. And His Highness more polite than 
 strong minded said, " no" — and had to keep the Nawab to show 
 that he was 'a man of his word, and punctiously so.' 
 
 Sir Dennis knew all along that Mushtak Husain held raore 
 power in his hands than it was good for the State he should 
 hold — for though only Itevenue Sectetar}' in name he used to 
 see the Resident frequently as "confidential agent" to Sir As- 
 manjah. A word of disapproval of his, of course as a friend 
 could have at any time established '^ balance of power" in the 
 
157 
 
 State. But that word was not forthcoming. Probably he 
 thonoht it would tantamount to interfering in bis official capacity 
 in this case. 
 
 What has been the consequence of all this blundering on 
 the part of" the Uesident ? A few Hindustanees have obtained ' 
 power for evil ; most of the Departments in the State have 
 become i-eserve fields for favourites to thrive in ; the Hydraba- 
 dee-» are in a worse plight than ever they were. 
 
 I hope 1 have made myself clear to my readers. 
 
 The path of duty is clear before Sir Dennis Fiizpatrick's 
 successor. And it. is to be hoped tliab be will not allow his 
 admirHtioii for Sir Dennis — and, I am told, he is a very great 
 admirer of his — to blind him to the mistakes his very goodness 
 led him into and will act for the benefit of this suffering State. 
 
 Pointing out mistakes does not seem, at first sight, to furnisU 
 a fitting faresvell to a man like Sir Deunis Fitzpatrick, who has 
 many claims to respect and admiration. But it must be re- 
 membered that in this world no character, whethei' public or 
 private can be perfection. And if we mark away the blemishes 
 we can better appreciate the "good points." 
 
 Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick goes away with an unbeclouded 
 reputation leaving behind him many friends and admirers— 
 thou^h few. who can say that his services have been as good here 
 as elsewhere. 
 
158 
 
 IIydbrabad^ Sth November 1S91. 
 
 The "Pioneer's" estimate of Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick's ser- 
 vices here is amusing, thoug-h clever, reading. Indicating both 
 sides of the question he msikes his meaning clear enouoh — and 
 that IS, that Sir Dennis has not been a "success." If he defined 
 correctly the duty of a Resident before the Imperial Diamond 
 Commission, I can almost fancy the Allahabad Oracle saying, 
 Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick must be considered one of the best Ee- 
 sidents Hyderabad has had; but if public opinion is any crite- 
 rion of his work he is a big failure. This is dealing out even- 
 handed justice in sooth — and we are left to choose between 
 what Sir Dennis thinks of his oflBcial conduct here, and what 
 the public think of it. Hitherto there' was an impression that 
 Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick's policy — and that is difficult to under- 
 stand — was sh^iped by orders from higher quarters — that is that 
 he was giving the "culprit" a long rope to hang himself by 
 acceding to the wishes of the Supreme Government. Hut that 
 impression has been removed by the "Pioneer's" article. 
 
 The statement that Sir Dennis read at the 'Imperial' Dia- 
 mond inquiry is one of the most egotistical documents that have 
 ever been penned by British Indian officials. It makes one 
 smile to see how calmly and coolly he makes his definition of a 
 Resident's duties chime in with what he has himself done here 
 as Resident; and one cannot help starting when he blows his 
 own trumpet in the the rather comic style in which he does it 
 in his paper. Good has invariably resulted from my advice 
 whenever I chose to give it, the Resident composedly tells us 
 and the Nizam's officials themselves will admit this. He, the 
 astute lawyer that he is does not mention who profited by the 
 good that invariably resulted from his advice, unless he meant 
 it to be understood that the witnesses he cites and those that 
 benefited by the results of his advice were the same — the offi- 
 cials . There is not the slightest doubt that the officials will 
 admit all that he has said iu praise of himself or they will lay 
 themselves open to a charge of ingratitude of a very bad type—- 
 
159 
 
 a crime which they have not as 'yet felt called upon to commit. 
 But, did Sir Dennis give himself time to find out whether the 
 testimony of such interested parties as the Nizam's officials could 
 count for anything in the eyes of a sane man ? 
 
 His Excellency Sir Asmanjah has issued in the Home 
 Department a resolution on Col. Ludlow's report on the inquiry 
 into the Salar Jung Bribery Case, I alluded to in these columns 
 more than four mouths ago. It keeps up the mark of its 
 "predecessors" some of which I have the pleasure of noticing in 
 my letters. The valuable services of the gentleman who con- 
 ducted the inquiry are duly recognised ; the official charged with 
 accepting bribes from one of the Begums of the iSalar Jung 
 family is honorably acquitted; and those who gave evidence 
 against the official are coudignly puniiihed. irieeincr that rumo- 
 urs that had been afloat in the city for some time about two of 
 the Begums of the Salar Juug family offering bribes to a certain 
 
 official and that found expression in a paragrapii in a June 
 issue of the "Deccau Times" affected the reputation of no less 
 a personage than the JNawab Fateh Nawaz Juug, a very careful 
 enquiry into the matter was ordered: that is what the Kesolution 
 gives us to understand to begin with. Then the document goes 
 on to give us an idea of the manner in which Colonel Ludlow 
 
 set to work to find out the truth — never making su much as a 
 passing allusion to the fact that the Nawab Akber Jung was 
 associated with Colonel Ludlow in the earlier stages of the 
 enquiry, and he had subsequently, for some unknown reason, 
 to sever his connection and leave the inquiry solely in the hands 
 of the Colonel Avho could never be so useful as himself — and tells 
 what tremendous succsess crowned his efforts, where he located 
 malice and intrigue, what satisfaction the results of the inquiry 
 have given His Highness the Nizam and how those who deserved 
 punishment have been punished. The Resolution is, on the 
 whole, a remarkable document — the ring of jubiliation it has 
 about it is as remarkable as the punishments awarded to Maulvi 
 ^yed Abu Torab for interfering in the interests of his niece , 
 
1^0 
 
 Lady Salar Jung IIj and Mrs. Barrillan, governess to the daugh- 
 ter of the late Nawab Muneerul Mulk, for doing what she 
 thought was her duty. The one is dismissed from the service ; 
 and the other is forbidden to enter the Salar Jung palace, or hold 
 any sort of communication with the members of the family for 
 six months. Verily troubles are the portion of the "dutiful." 
 
 The original of the report of the Salar Jung Debt Commis- 
 sion which was said to be missing when Mukund Rao as well as 
 Jay a Kao applied for a copy of it — seems to have since been 
 found, 1 am told that Mr. Gaya Prasad has been furnished 
 with a copy of the report by the Home Secretary. If this is 
 true, what objection could there be to .furuishing Messis. Jaya 
 Kao and Mukund llao with copies of the same. 
 
 About six months ago a lady named Mrs. Giaccino appealed 
 to Sir Asmanjah for permission to float a lottery. In reply she 
 was informed by His Excelleuy's Private Secretary Mr. Furdou- 
 ji, that no permission was necessary for the purpose. As there 
 was nothing in this to prevent her from carrying out her wishes, 
 Mrs. Giaccino set the lottery afloat — and has since sold, 
 I am informed, about 1,500 tickets. In doing this, Mrs. 
 Giaccino does not seem to have done anything wrong. But our 
 Home Secretary, the Nawab Fateh Nawaz Jung, is not of the 
 same opinion. He has issued an order to the lady to stop the 
 lotter3\ The reasons, of course, are not forthcoming. The 
 
 suddenness of this order is most astonishing. If Mr, Purdonji 
 was wrong in saying that no permission was necessary, the 
 Nawab Mehdi Hussain could have written to say so and stopped 
 the lottery long before this, and thus provided against the loss 
 Mrs. Giaccino would sustain now. Surely the fact of the lottery 
 having been floated was not kept a secret. It was advertised fo^ 
 a month nearly in the columns of the " Deccan Standard,'^ the 
 Government organ ; and, if I am rightly informed Mrs. Medhi 
 Hussain Avas among the first to buy some tickets. Why this 
 sleeping- over the fact for about six months and waking to it 
 
161 
 
 siK^denly ? It ffe enough to alarm any citizen — and to make on e 
 think that safety of pfoperty is not assured by the Mustak 
 Ilussain Government. Mrs. Gi tccino has spent a lot of money 
 L!ver advertising anil otiier things in c )nnection with the lottery; 
 and I hear, that she has engaged Mr. Batteidmrgh to sue the 
 Jsizam's Government for damages to the ex'ent of Us. 4,000. 
 
 21 
 
162 
 
 HYDEEiBADj lith November 1891. 
 
 After experiencing the hospitalities of His Highness the 
 Nizam and Sir Asuiaujah at the entertainments given by them 
 in his honor, Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick left Hyderabad the day 
 before yesterday morniniy. He, no doubt, carried away with 
 him many lively recollections of couvival gatherings at which he 
 had been treated to an exuberance of orieutal civility, and en- 
 thusiastic display of high regard by the sleek officialdom ; but 
 how few were the occasions on which he tried to do his duty by 
 the people of the land, to secure good Government here which 
 means the well-beino of the State? The more one thinks of 
 the many opportunities Sir Dennis had oE helping to put the 
 administration on a sctisfactory footing, to provide against the 
 oppression and the nepotism Of upstarts, alien officials, — of the 
 means he possessed in his abilities and keensightedness born of 
 arduous service in the past, whei-eby he could have cleansed the 
 ' Augean stable' here, one is inclined to believe either tliat there 
 is an irony of fate under which even the best-intentioned become 
 not only useless bnt positively harmful to the suffeiiu"- masses, 
 or that the Hyderabad political atmospheie is such that even the 
 best hearts and powerful minds are perverted by its influence. 
 What is worse than anything done by his predecessors. Sir 
 Dennis Fitzpatrick's policy has brought the least capable men 
 into jirominence and invested the most unscrupulous with almost 
 unlimited power. This is an unquestionable fact — a fact which 
 anybody with an open mind can see at a glance or testify to. 
 Ask honest, independent men like the Nawab zVbdul Lateef 
 Khan of Bengal and Mr. Nelson, the retired civilian of Madras, 
 what they think of the present administration ; and they will 
 tell you what I liave all along told in those columns, in my own 
 leeble way, that it is the greatest curse that Hyderabad has 
 known for a very long time. Yet this was the administration 
 that the wise Sir Dennis gave his support to, cordially and 
 unstintingly. 
 
 It is a far cry from Bombay to Allahabad that the dissappro- 
 Ibation of the Kesident's official conduct is restricted to the 
 
163 
 
 opposition here. If the opposition includes the chilclren of 
 the soil, there is reason for this cry. But if by it is me.ant 
 the party out of power, " the outs " as the ," Bombay 
 Gazette" styles it, nothiiio- could bo a greater travesty 
 of truth than it is. "How lono- are we to pnt up with this 
 injustice and zoolum'?'' r;\1\ a Muhaniedan jrentleman the 
 other day. And when I told him that the authors of so 
 much mischief nuist sooner or later sink weighted down by their 
 sins, he said, "It seems as if that day will never come." The 
 feeling herein portrayed is the feeling of almost every ITydera- 
 Ijadee and of most of those interested in his welfare. 
 
 The "Bombay Gazette" in a long leader devoted to the 
 review of Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick's work in his issue of the 11th 
 Instant, says that as Besident his duty lay in supporting Sir 
 Asmanjah and that duty he discharged remarkably well. 
 This definition of the Resident's duty "beats" Sir Dennis's — ■ 
 anil it smacks of the counsel for the defendant and not the fair 
 critic. Did the Editor of the "Gazette" o-ive himself time to 
 think what supporting Sir Asmanjah really meant ? Did he 
 remember that the Minister was but a puppet that danced at 
 the pulling of the wires by a set of aliens with an eye to their 
 profit ? 
 
 Last Monday was His Highness the Nizam's birthday; and 
 it dilferred from its predecessors, in that attempts were made 
 thereon by some to show that the people fully approved 
 of the trust reposed in the present Ministry by His High- 
 ness. What a miserable success these attempts proved to be, any 
 one who cared to take "a stroll through the streets of the city 
 last Monday night, could tell. The enthusiasm that expressed 
 itself in the lighting of houses did not extend beyond a few 
 officials, some Hindu noblemen who are more timid than straight 
 forward, and a few of the inhabitants living in dread of the 
 influence of some of the Municipal authorities. And instead of a 
 blaze of light all round, a few well-lit houses met one's view 
 occasionally — and this but tended to bring into bold relief the 
 
164 
 
 massive darliness, dae in sooth to the extreme disfavour with 
 which the people h:)ok u\)on t.lie administration, that hung over 
 the city. The most lemaikiible thin_<j; in connection witli this 
 forced demonstration of popular approval, was that Sir A.snian- 
 jah's pal;iee did not show more than the usual number of lijjfhts. 
 This is to be ascribed to oversight and not to want o£ feeling, to 
 be sure I 
 
 There is a wide spread rumour that Abdul Hak who lias 
 been here for some time has " made up*', has got round the 
 officials, and consequently, the (jovernment will not press tlieir 
 claims against liim. And the stiitement in the Government 
 organ that the Government is likely to agree to a couipromise, 
 lends colour to it. This means, after spending a lot of money 
 wrung from the poor ryots, overdrawing up the ])laint and tiling 
 the suit, the Government mens to abandon the case acainst Hak, 
 because the "offender'* has mudo himself agreeable to the power- 
 fnls — that prosecutions .-ire set on foot not so much in the 
 interests of the State as to humble " Shareer lok" or to satisfy 
 the official whims. When are we to hear the last of this sad 
 state of things ? 
 
 When is the departmental case agaiiit the Nawab I mad 
 NhWaz Jung, JRajah Sreenevas Rao, Sriram Pundit and others 
 to be decided ? Is it not hard, not to say unjust, that while the 
 Nawab and the Raja, the really responsible men, are in leceipt 
 of their salaries, poor subordinates like Sriram Pundit and others 
 should be under suspension and made to hang on ' starving' for 
 an indefinite period ? 
 
165 
 
 Hyderabad. 22nr7 Novemler, 1891. 
 
 Iriforniation reaches us from Calcutta that Mr. Gurth, 
 Hurrrister-at-Law, appeared in behalf of Jncob, before Mr. 
 Justice Wils.m, on the 18th instant and applied for summonses 
 being served on Mr. A bid, His Highness the Nizam's Chamber- 
 linn, and Sir Asmanjah, requiring the former to produce certain 
 papers and the latter to attend as a witness fou the defence when 
 the Diamond case comes on for hearing on the 30th instant, and 
 that his Lordship granted the issue of summons to A bid as he 
 liad placed himself under the court's jurisdiction, and refused it 
 in the case of Sir Asmanjah on the score of his being a subject 
 of, and resident in a Native State. The refusal of permission 
 f r the serving of summons on Sir Asmanjah, on the part of Mr. 
 Justice Wilson, is very unfortunate for Hyderabad, for the 
 Prime-Minister's evidence might — incidentally — throw a flood of 
 light on the secret forces working behind that clumsy blind — the 
 Hyderabad Government. But as His Highness the Nizam has 
 declared, in his now famous manifesto, his willingness to give the 
 defendant the " fullest opportunities" of " defending himself ," 
 it is to be hoped that he will prevail upon his Minister to place 
 himself unhn- the jurisdiction of the Calcutta Court, as Abid has 
 done, only to see how far what he knows about the affair can be 
 in Jacob's favour. 
 
 I have heard in connection witli the " Diamond Case" some- 
 thing which shows how raucli one in the position of the Nizam, 
 surrounded as he is by the solid phalanx of a clique bent on 
 self-agoi-andiseraent, may be imposed upon. As this comes to 
 me from a very reliable quarter, a quarter from which T have 
 hitherto heard nothing that turned out unfounded, 1 should like 
 to mention it for the edification of the readers of the " Hindu." 
 Though it is an open secret that but for the influence of the 
 party in power we should never have heard of the prosecution 
 against Jacob, it is not known beyond a very limited circle that 
 the object the party had in bringing about the prosecution was 
 
166 
 
 the " smashing up" of Jacoh, as a political character in Hydera- 
 bad, and Abid. Jacob had easy access to the Nizam^ and was 
 g^.tting; to be more and inoi-e influential with him. and it Avas 
 thought, with good reason no doubt, that ho would in course of 
 time rise to be powerful enough to endanger those in autiiority; 
 and Abid was a political eel and could not bo relied upon. In 
 these circumstances it was but natural that the powerful party 
 should seek to nullify .Jacob's influence as well as Abid's. The 
 first step by way of accomplishing the object, was easy enough 
 to take, sin.ce tliere was only His Highness to deal with. But 
 as the actual accomplishment of the object depends upon a trial 
 in a British Courf, the powers-that-be are luw-spirited, but 
 would seem to be prepared to meet any contingency. Even if 
 the object be not realized — and there is many a slip between the 
 cup add the lifi, you know — -and in spite of the blow that will 
 cause to the i-eputation and dignity of His Highness the Nizam, 
 it seems to he ahnost ccMtain that they will hold their " position" 
 secure — as the following conversation between one of the most 
 influential of those in power and a friend shows ; — 
 
 " What will you do if the case go against His Highness ? 
 Asked the friend. 
 
 "We have a plan cut and dried, which will provide against 
 any harm to us in that case," answered the official. 
 
 " What is it ?" 
 
 " It is this. We shall toll His Highness that the prosecu- 
 tion was set on Foot not so much to get Jacob puuished as to 
 put it beyond a shadow oF doubt, that His Highness has nothing 
 whatever to do v>ith the Russians. And His Highness, with 
 the confidence he has in us, will sui-ely believe us." 
 
 " Whoever thought that His Highness had anything to do 
 wit the Russians ? And bow could this prosecution establish he 
 had nothing to do r* 
 
167 
 
 "Abid, who is a trusted servant of His Higbness's, went to 
 Persia, jou kuow. And it might have been thouo-ht by the 
 Government of India, that he wont there to confer with the 
 llussians in behalf of His Hic^hness, and the 40 hiklis, the price 
 of the Diamond, was only an instahnent of tbe sum promised 
 them." 
 
 This conversation tells the absurd story that is to vindicate 
 the action of men in autliority and keep them secure from harm. 
 And it needs no comment at my hands. 
 
 I am told that His Excellency Sir Asmanjah wrote to Sir 
 Dennis Fitzpatrick, on the eve of his departure, begging him to 
 recommend Vicarul-mulk and Imadnl-mnlk to the Government 
 of India so that their titles might be recognised by it, and that 
 Sir Dennis replied that it was "too late" for him to think of 
 doing anything for them. A high Residency official writing on 
 this matter, to the Nizam's Minister is said to have remarked — 
 and in the remarks one hears the cutting tone of the blunt, 
 independent First Assistant — that the fact of Mehdi Ali's title 
 being recognized by the British Government was no reason why 
 the titles of the Assistant to the Minister and the Dirertor of 
 Public Instruction should also be recognized. Quite so. 
 
 The Hyderabad Haces which attract here sporting charac- 
 ters from all parts of India once a year, commenced on Tuesday 
 the 17th instant, and come to a close on Tuesday, the 2.tth. I shall 
 not trouble you with the event of the race days that have already 
 come and gone for they will have appeared in the "telegram" colu- 
 mns of the Presidency English papers some days before this com- 
 munication is in print and, besides, I am not sure that the majo- 
 rity of your readers who are Indians have developed their love 
 for 'spores' to such an extent as to feel interested in them. But 
 I must refer to the exhibition of feeling, because of a remark in 
 one of my letters, by one of the nobleman whom I had before 
 my mind's eye when I wrote the paragraph about the Nizam's 
 birth-day — on the second of the race days, Thursday last, at the 
 
168 
 
 lace stand. Meeting' me the nobleman deigned t<5 ask what was 
 the hint — he meant 'hit' no doubt — in my remark about 's^me 
 Hindu nobleman more timid than straight-forward " And on 
 ra}- exph\ining to him, as politely as [ could, what was meant, he 
 showed by his manner and words that he was very much annoyed 
 and would "cut" me hereafter. This did not prevent me from 
 enjoying myself on the day, nor does it c:iuse me a regret now. 
 But i wi^h to tell the nobleman what I had no time to tell ou 
 Thursday, that if he thouo;ht that because I showed up 
 the men in power, I was a partisan, and could not notice any- 
 thing objectionable in, or done by those whose cause I feel 
 called upon to advocate, he was very much mistaken, T liave ever 
 looked at men and measures from the point of view of the people; 
 and if any one thinks that simply because I happea to agree 
 with him, I am for him and must flatter him, he errs. I cannot 
 say anything more. 
 
 The passage that your London correspondent quotes from 
 the narrative relating the experiences of an English traveller in 
 the columns of the San Francisco Chronicle, in his last letter, 
 has surprised us and amused us here not a title. It is one tissue 
 of inventions from beginning to end. The description of the 
 Nizam's person and the splendour and costliness of his dress and 
 surroundings is all a la Madame Potter — and you know tha,t she 
 drew the long bow as much when she spoke of the Nizam as 
 when she talked about how her "pathetic recital" had brought 
 tears to the eyes of iguorant "priucessess." A Nizam in a "rohe 
 of snow white silk" with buttons of "immense pearls set in dia- 
 monds," glistening Avith '"'huadreds of jewels" with ''ropes of 
 pearls" about his neck and arms &c, — belongs to a period in the 
 history of Hyderabad long gone by. And to speak of such "a 
 presence" is surely to take one back to semi-savage times in 
 Hyderabad or '"the fabulous times of the Arabian Night," and not 
 to speak of one who moves and has his being in the Hyderabad 
 of to-day. I do not think it can be said that "he lives for plea- 
 sure alone." Though his giving up so much time to the "Iron man" 
 
160 
 
 at tlie Chadargbat Public G.ardens last Friday evcniuir , on tLe occa_ 
 sion of ]Mis.s Jeanette Van Tassel's b.illo )ii ascent, inig lit lead one 
 totbink tbattbero is iimcli nf the E[)iciireau in hinij it is said to be 
 novertbeloss tfue that he lia< his share of tlie administralive 
 burden to bear. An I to talk of ''the decree" vi I he conntry 
 forbi<hiin<^- him a wife an I his findiiij^ '''a satisfac orj su' stituto" 
 in five hundred concubines who fill his haieui i^ to 'wrong' the 
 Nizam as well as to write oneself down an iij-noramus. 
 
 22 
 
170 
 
 Hyderabad, 2Sth Novemher 1891. 
 
 The party in power is, as a friend remarked tlie other day, 
 "very wise," and the Nawab Vicarul-ul-niulk ])re-eminently so 
 atnong- its members. His Highness the Nizam was willing, with 
 his wonted liberality, to give away up to Us. 30,000 H. S. for 
 the furnishino- of the house "presented" to the Nawab, But the 
 Nawab would not consent to having, for the purpose, more than 
 the small sum of Hs. 6,000. If he could not alibrd to build for 
 himself a palatial house, he could much less think of spending 
 over furnishing the would-be domicile of his son more than Ks. 
 6,000 out of His Highness' money. To one at first, this would 
 seem a piece of self-denial on the part of Nawab Vicarul-nnilk — 
 worth recording for tho benefit of sucli as do not think any- 
 thing of wasting money so long as it comes out of other's 
 pockets. But it is a profitable piece of self-denial — and therein 
 is shown wisdom that calculates upon something more valuable 
 than what the self-denial has cost him now. It will make upon 
 the Nawab's Sovereign au impression of loyal concern — and 
 that, you know, is certainly worth much more than the Rs. 
 24,000 foregone. 
 
 One cannot help smiling at the ingenuous way your contem- 
 porary of Mail "butters the bread" for " A fortunate ofhcial" — 
 onr Assistant to the Mmii-ter. He conjures uj) "the green-eyed 
 ]\linister — -lealousy" to account for all that is said as well as 
 thought against the official. Jealousy is the failing of dis-ap- 
 pointed aspirants to favour, atul can only pervade a very narrow 
 circle. But since the I'eelin"' at^-ainst the Nawab Vicarul-mulk 
 is widespread, more [)opular than clicpiish, wo must look for the 
 cause of his unpopularity elsewhere The Nawab has doue very 
 excellent service as iievenue Secretary, we are told. Yes, I say 
 but only where the interests of his party were not at stake, and 
 the interests of the obnoxious Hindus were not coucerned. And 
 that is not sayino; much. The degradation of some of the oldest 
 Hindu families in the State, the disgrace of some of the best 
 men ill the service, the pitch-forking of gooU-for-uo thing favour- 
 
171 
 
 ites into high positions, the agojr,incli?pment of self — these are 
 amoncr the essential features oE the work he has done as the 
 Revenue Secretary and the Minister's "confidential adviser." 
 The "Teliuo-ana Settlement" has been ascribed wholly to him by 
 those who do not know of Hyderabad before his time. A settle- 
 ment on a laro-er scale, for the whole of the Dominions, sn<TGre.st- 
 ed itself to Sir Salar Jung T. Ami the Telingana Settlement 
 was chalked out, and even in part worked out during the second 
 Salar's time. What V^icarul-mulk did was to carry out what had 
 been begun before his time and could not be carried out because 
 of the untimely and unfortunate close of Sal-ar Jung IPs public 
 career. And that does not mean that he did it all himself — - 
 does it ? Again the writer in the Mall tells us that the ^'pre- 
 seut" of the house to the "fortunate officiaT' was a recognition 
 of his services to the State. Few know outside Hyderabad how 
 the house came to be presented. The Nawab applied to the 
 Minister for a Cxovernment house for his sou and his English 
 daughter-in-law to live in and the Minister referred him to His 
 Highness. Andhenee the presentation. One needs to be biass- 
 ed in sooth to regard this as a recognition on the part of the 
 Nizam, of the services of the Nawab Vicarul-mulk. This the 
 Mail had no opportunity of knowing. Rut it was easy for him 
 to see that one in the position of the Nizam could not be expect- 
 ed to study the comforts of his servants to such an extent as to 
 present to Vicarul-mulk every tiling he wanted, at the very nick 
 of time. 
 
 A friend^ returned from the Districts about three daj^s ago, 
 confirms the statement I made in these columns several weeks 
 ago about the state of the roads therein, "ft is all upsand down, 
 stones and ruts all the way from Patencheiu to Bedar" he said ; 
 and this description applies to most roads in the Districts. 
 Somebody must be hanged for this state of things to be sure ' 
 But ' who is that somebody ?' is the question that needs to be 
 answered by the authorities concerned. 
 
 The Mahomedans seem to have entered upon the work of 
 preaching and proselytising in right earnest. A Moslenij who 
 
172 
 
 T am toH U a R(?(idi convf^rt, readin^f passages from the Koran 
 und lioUlin;^ forth en the gi-eatuess of ilie Prophet to a number 
 of people in the market placj?, is qnite the usual, every-ihty sight 
 in Cha(hiri?hat now. And <^enerally lie attraots more respectable 
 a,nd a lar<j^er number of ])eople than the Christian padree 
 preachinn- in the vicinity. Frobably ' novelty' is bis recommen- 
 dation. Whatever may be tbe reason, [ wish the Mahomedans 
 who are enthusiastic in the matter of s(»readin<^ the relit,non of 
 their (?»/•;/, would sho.v the <^ lodues-; of their faith in their 
 'conduct,' for some of the Muhaniechxns who read their Nimaz 
 as often as half a dozen times a day, are amongst tlie cruellest I 
 have known. 
 
173 
 
 HydrrabAd, 5lh T)ecemher, 1891. 
 
 The ethics of His Hio-lmess the Nizam's Public Works 
 Dep i.rtment \v(^ald se.'in to be worth stalying. Within a com- 
 paratively short time wo have had Walter-Cornelius' case, 
 Nalgonda defalca.tions, and Work-shops' embezzlement case. 
 These are not all. There are several more of such cases that the 
 public liave not lieard of, and cf which they might have heard 
 but for secret nnderhand influences br -nght into play to hnsh 
 them np. The following is a typical one. Many months ago 
 an accountant was, temper. irily, put at the head of the cash 
 department of the P. W. Examinor's Office. Short though the 
 time he was in charge of it, it was sufficiently long for him to 
 make away with a pretty goo 1 sum of money. So the account 
 showed a deficit when he handed over charge to the permanent 
 man; and he could not satisfactorily account for it. Being 
 pressed to explain, the accountant, to get out of the difficulty for 
 the time beino-, pave the Examiner to understand that the sum 
 was in the Distsict office cash chest. The District Engineer's 
 cash chest was examined and the accountant was questioned — 
 but in vain. In the meantime the accountant made himself 
 scarce at tin; office. The Examiner was at his wits' end, and he 
 brought the matter to the notice of his superior, who wrote to 
 the Police, jukI was abcnit to get him apprehened. The account- 
 ant got scent of this and, very wisely, wrote to the Examiner 
 that as his' wife was very ill he could not attend office, but that 
 he would do so the next day and settle the matter of the deficit. 
 He tui-ned up at the office accordingly and paid down the 
 amount of the deficit to the Examiner. Curiously enough the 
 Examiner and his superior were satisfied, and they let the man 
 remain in service. The ethics of this proceeding it is extremely 
 difficult to understand. Any one else, in the circumstances, 
 would have thought it right to inquire into the case minutely 
 and decide it on its merits. 
 
 The official feeling against Mr. George Palmer, Secretary to 
 the Government, in the Public Works Department, which 
 
174 
 
 seemed to threaten to sweep Mm off the service at one time, has 
 evidentlj blown over. Ho lias had an increase of Rs. 300 ti his 
 salary recently. And the fietof his building a house for himself 
 shows that ho, at least, does not apprehend any " disaster" in the 
 near^future. 
 
 I hear that the n.ppointraent of Mr. Gallao;lier of the 
 *' Deccan Standard" as the Snporiiiiondent of the Nizam's 
 Government Central Press, has been approved by the Govern- 
 ment of India. 
 
 A o-entleman oonnectel wirh the Simla Metereolocfical 
 Observatory was recently hero to open some observatories in the 
 Districts, lie was to have gone to Mysore from here, for the 
 same purpose; but being informed that the Mysore Government 
 proposed to send the Principal of the Bangabre Central Callege 
 to Calcutta or Simla to learn taking nietereological observations 
 that he mioht, on his return, start and work observatories in 
 Mysore, he had to give up going there. This proposal on the 
 part of the Mysore Government speaks volumes for it, and 
 shows the difference between a i-eally beneficient (•overu- 
 ment and such as does duty in flyderabad. A lot of money is 
 no doubt S})ent year after year over young men sent all the way 
 to England for receiving some sorb of educational training. But 
 to what purpose ? Most of them cannot be of use to the State. 
 And even if any of them can be absorbed into the service advan- 
 tageously, and are taken into the service, they are generally made 
 to put their hands to something that they are not trained for, 
 and can do Imt indifferently ; and instances might be men.tioued 
 in illustration of this. One of the two o^entlemen who received 
 a training in the Royal Sch(Jol of Mines, at the expense of the 
 Nizam's Government is our Census Commissioner now. And 
 the other, Mr. Syed Ali Belgrami, after being Director of Public 
 Instruction and Home iiecretary successively is now Inspector- 
 General of Mines only because he has not influence enough to 
 be any thing better in the service. 
 
175 
 
 Hydepabai)^ 18Ui December, 1891. 
 
 In a few days more the one English paper that Hyderabad can 
 boast of" — if it can be said to boast of such paper at all — will 
 cease to exist; and the party in power will cons-ratuhite itself on 
 being left there "without the necessiry to de'end itself" at the 
 bar of pnl)iic opinion. This does not cause regret to the people; 
 on the other hand it is matter for congratulation to them that 
 tlie journal which has been their woist enemy will before long 
 go to the d — 1, though according to the sweet will and pleasure 
 of the men in power and only to enable them to say "we have 
 established our honesty of purpose, so we condescend to argue 
 no longer over the cnotives or results of our conduct." In truth 
 the "Deccau Standard" has been a curse to Hyderabad since its 
 "resurrection." It has not only had no word to say at any time 
 in behalf of the interests of the millions, but it has always 
 written against them and lavished sickening praises on their ene- 
 mies who, mostly, form the present Ministry. It is therefore no 
 wonder that the news of its approaching end has been received 
 with such unalloyed delight by all classes of people here. 
 
 With the "Deccau Standard" disappears the local medium 
 for the expression of the oSensive, aggressive Hyderabad offi- 
 cialism and Huukyism. I have written "Local Medium" advisedly 
 for now and theu come floating down to me whispers of hush- 
 moneys and "retainers" sent to journals outside Hyderabad, and 
 the large number of copies subscribed for by the Government o^ 
 this or that English daily. Bat this is not all the mischief 
 that the people have suffered from, since they were left 
 without an independent paper to espouse their cause. The 
 people with grievances — and their number is a legion,— 
 have had to keep still tongues in their heads; oppression and in- 
 justice have gone on without fear of exposure or criticism; and 
 the unhappy results of all this the running man may read 
 here. As the representative of the " Hindu" I have come in 
 contact wita all sorts and conditions of. people in these Domi- 
 nio ns ; and the truest evidence 1 have had of the arbitrary 
 
176 
 
 character of the present GoYerament, the most grateful reward 
 for the little I am doing by ^vay of bringing light into the dtirk 
 places of this administration, has been, the mo.^t illiterate and 
 irrnorant people's coming to me now and then and asking me to 
 read and explain my letters in the " Hindu/' and their express- 
 ino- their orvatehilness to me in their own simple way, for daring 
 to show up " the mighty." And I know how much the want of 
 un honest, independent journal here is felt by the peoi.le. Who 
 will or rather who can make up his mind to supply this want in 
 IJyderabad with Xlehdi Hassan's Tress memorandum in force m 
 the Moglai limits and the Government of India's Gagging Kegu- 
 lations in the British ? 
 

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