The Press. — London, England, 1855-06-30 00:00:00

JJNP 30, 1855. without a Leadenhall-street license) assumed by Ghazi u-deen, the then reigning Nawab ; who thereupon neglected not at once to avail himself of the right to coin money in his own name. Singularly enough the East India Company, in spite of their tie facto supremacy, long hesi tated to assert it in the manner most familiar to the Asiatic mind. William IV. was the first English sovereign whose head was ever stamped on a rupee. Previously to this change, which took place A.D. 1835, all Com pany's coin was struck in the name of Timour's descendants, the pensioned shadows of the past, whose idle state and farcical pretensions may attract the curiosity, without greatly moving the sympathies, of some chance visitor to Delhi. To return to Oude, the writer, it would seem, made his first appearance at Lucknow about the year 1833, and resided there for upwards of three years in the service of King Nussir-u deco, son and successor to Ghazi-u-deen above mentioned. The pre sent publication is anonymous ; but our author has indicated his social position on the titlepage, and elsewhere affects at least to give the reader a further chance of guessing at his exact status. For, at page 16, we are informed that the King's European friends and asso ciates were five in number—via., his English tutor, his librarian, his portrait-painter, his captain of the guard, and—last, but by no means least—his barber. And, "of these five," says the writer, " I was me." Now, it is manifest that he was not the barber, an indi• vidual who throughout the volume is held up to reprobation as his master's evil genius and abettor in every species of excess. Neither, according to his own account, can we identify him with the tutor, who was at Lucknow on his arrival, or the man of war. As for the office of portrait-painter, that post was for some years previous to 1833, and for many years afterwards, filled by the late Mr. George Beechy, who held it until his death, which occurred in 1852. The author, consequently, could have been no other than the librarian. The much-abused barber was by far the greatest man of the suite, his influence over the King being unbounded. This lucky youth had been a London hairdresser's apprentice, but, running off to sea, voyaged to Calcutta as cabin-boy. Here he resumed his former occu pation, made some money, and set up in business as one of those river-merchants who drive a. profitable trade by disposing of Euro pean goods, wholesale or retail, at the different stations situated on the banks of any great navigable stream. In such capacity he brought his pinnace to anchor at Lucknow. The then British Resident at the Court of Oude, and present M.P. for Rochester, it is stated, had an unmanageable head of hair, and desired to have it " cursed like the Governor- General's." But there must be some anachron ism here. Lord William Bentinck ruled over British India at the date to which refer ence is professedly made, and he was not the sort of man to have set himself up as the glass of fashion. Be this as it may, the quondam barber was not too proud to resume his cuvl ing-irons, and soon worked a wonderful change in the appearance of the Resident's head. The Majesty of Oude saw, admired, and envied. The barber was sent for, the King was delighted, and the road to wealth and honours was opened to this hero of the tongs, who ere long became to the Oude poten tate all that the renowned Oliver le Dain was to Louis the Eleventh of France, and something more. The King, in short, be came a complete tool of the favorite, by whom he was entirely ruled whilst affecting to govern for himself. The result was such as might be expected, and is thus summed up in Wilson's continuation of " Mill's History," vol. ix., p. 372 :—" Ignorant of affairs, and " addicted to dissolute habits, the effect of this " determination—(i.e., to become his own " Minister)—was to throw the power into the " hands of disreputable and incompetent per " sons, the associates of his dissipation, or " ministers of his vices, and as venal asineffi " cient." Consigned to such hands, his Ma jest) , soon lost all sense of decency and pro priety ; and the Resident (Colonel Low, had by this time succeeded to that importaut post) THE PRESS. was eventually instructed to decline communi• eating with the Court through the medium of such confidants as those above designated. Colonel Low's energetic remonstrances at last led to the barber's banishment. He finally quitted Lucknow, carrying with him the regrets of royalty, and his little savings, to the tune of 240,0001. Be it observed, how ever, that our author most distinctly, for him self and friends, repudiates all connection with the barber-minister, and his pleasant or unpleasant vices. He tells us, indeed, that himself and his one intimate friend among the five already mentioned (the tutor?) had taken leave of the King, and voluntarily retired from Lucknow in disgust at the royal and Ministe rial proceedings, some time before the barber was compelled to beat his retreat. Whatever might be the faults of the favorite, it is certain that he acted as a most efficient life-preserver to his royal master. Nussir•u deen did not long survive the barber's dis grace. Members of the royal family hitherto excluded from power obtained influence within the palace walls ; and King Nussir -u -deen died of poison on the 7th of July, 1837 a very natural end for him under the circum stances. The " Private Life of an Eastern King" gives a minute account of the Court during the time when the barber was in the height of his power. The King had cast off all the decorous restraints of Eastern life, and un fortunately his taste for European habits led him only into extravagance and vicious ex cesses. Yet hia temper was Asiatic, and there were moments when he could assert his state. The bottle and the barber were his evil genii. The royal dinner usually ended in a drinking bout, the barber being always seated at his right hand, eager to pledge the King in bumpers of champagne, and to get up some indecent revel for his amusement. The very caprice, however, which elevated him to the post of Prime Minister is in the spirit of those whims of arbitrary power which delight 'us in Arabian fiction , and chapters of this volume, detailing scenery, manners, modes of life, incidents, journeys, processions, and costumes, read like pages from the stories which once delighted the Commander of the Faithful. Such are the visit paid by the King in disguise to the bazaar to ascertain the causes of the public discontent, and the cir cumstances which attended it ; the rise of the poor nautch-girl to the King's favour, and her sudden and painful degradation ; the sporting journey to the lakes, and the ceremonies of the Mohurrim. The following passage, omit ting " the buggy " and other Western allu sions, would be a fitting prelude to one of Scheherazade's tales : I was driving in a buggy one morning through one of the finest streets of Lucknow. A friend accompanied me, and we were proceeding from the vicinity of the Goomty to one of the king's palaces. The deserted condition of the streets as we advanced surprised us. There was no inhabitant to he seen for a considerable distance; and where one was visible, he or she was hurriedly departing from the broad line of road on which I drove. So many strange things occur in a city exposed to the capricious tyranny of a man without any restraining principle, that we felt by no means that astonishment which any one fresh from England would ,have felt under the circum stances. Some execution, we whispered to each other, some fresh example, nothing more. At length, in the middle of the road, we came upon a trait pled, bloody mass, bearing still some resemblance to a human figure. We stopped the buggy to inspect it. It was the corpse of a poor native female, but terribly disfi gured. The body was bruised and lacerated in all direc tions, the scanty drapery torn from the form; the face bad been crushed as if by teeth into a shapeless mass; the long matted hair, which fell in bundles over the road, was all clotted with blood. It was altogether as disgusting a sight as one could well see anywhere. Apparently she was quite, dead, and we did not delay. A courtier must not interfere with the vengeance of a king ; an that, even had we seen signs of life. I candidly confess I do not think we should have descended from the vehicle to succour her, impressed as we were with the conviction that the execu tion was by the king's orders. On we went ; still no sign of inhabitants—the houses everywhere closed—breathless terror reigning on all sides. it was not long before we came upon the figure of a youth similarly mangled and destroyed, lying also in the road, more towards the aide however. On the top of an adjoin ing house we saw one of the king's troopers standing, looking intently up the mad along which we were advancing. " What is the matter?" 1 asked. " The man-eater is loose," was the reply; " wallah, but be has turned again. Look out for your safety, sahebs, he is wild to-day." I had heard of a savage horse belonging to one of the king's troopers that went by this name--adme4-kanawailah, 621 the man-eater, because he had been the destruction of many men. "He is coming, sahebs," shouted the trooper from the housetop ; " take care, take care I" Far along the road in front of us we could see the wild brute—a large bay entire horse he was, as we afterwards found—shaking a child whom he had seized as he held it in his mouth, shaking it savagely, but evidently coming towards us. In another moment he had seen the vehicle, threw the child upon the road, dead no doubt, and rushed forward with savage fury to attack us. The most exciting passages in the book are those descriptive of wild beast fights, scenes in the arena which the King delighted in wit nessing. He decides that the man eater shall fight a favorite tiger, 13urrhea, who was accord ingly kept a day or two without food to render him more ferocious. After due preparation, when the animals were brought face to face, Burrhea began to go stealthily round the courtyard, like a cat stealing a march on a rat. He made no noise what ever. The large paws were placed one after the other upon the ground, the soft ball of the foot preventing any sound. Slowly were they raised and depressed, whilst the long back as slowly made its way forwards—now raised at the shoulders, now at the hindquarters, as the legs were moved —the skin glancing backwards and forwards as if hardly belonging to the bones and muscles beneath it. It was not a scene to be forgotten ; the king and his attendant females gazing intently above, the European courtiers straining with eyes and ears to catch every movement and every sound—the man-eater in the centre of the courtyard, slowly turning as the tiger turned, his head, and ears, and eyes, and neck ever the same ; the tiger stealing along, so catlike in aspect, and yet so gigantic in strength. Not a sound was audible but the grating of the man-eater's feet as they were raised and lowered again, not a sound other; but all was mute expectation and anxious gazing. At length the tiger bounded with the rapidity of light ning upon his enemy ; the horse was fully prepared. It had evidently been Burrhea's intention to seize the head and fore-quarters, but the man-eater was too adroit for that ; and, by a quick diving motion of his head and shoulders, had received his antagonist upon his muscular haunches behind. The claws Rank deeply into the flesh, whilst the hiud-feet of the tiger made a grasp or two at the forelegs of the horse, but there was no time to secure his position. The man-eater lashed up with his iron heels into the air with tremendous vigour, and in a moment lturrhea was sprawling on the ground, not at all the better fur his attack. We could hardly perceive, however, that lie had been thrown upon his buck, partly against the bamboo-railing, partly on the ground, when he was on his legs again, gyrating as before, moving stealthily round as if nothing bad happened. With an indignant snort the min-eatet resumed his former position, and awaited another spring, hie muscular haunches bearing evidence in their lacerated skin, and in the gouts of blood which disfigured them, of the sharpness and strength of the tiger's claws. " Burrhea will kill hits yet !" exclaimed the king, turning to the nearest European. " Undoubtedly, your majesty," said the courtier. The man-eater was, however victorious ; the King, delighted with his ferocity and prowess, had an iron cage made for him ; and when the author left Lucknow the man-eater was still one of the sights of the city. Of such fights many graphic descriptions are given, from the obstinate combats of partridges set on the King's table after dinner, to the encounter of elephants animated to the utmost fury against each other by their mahouts. One of these battles was fatal to the poor driver, who happened to fall from the neck of the elephant he was enraging : He fell right before the infuriated beast whom he had been rendering more and more wild and ungovernable • We were not left in doubt SR to his fate for a moment. We had just time to see that the man had fallen, and was lying on his back, with his limbs disordered, one leg under him and the other stretched helplessly out, whilst both arms were raised aloft, when we saw the huge foot of the elephant placed upon his chest, and heard the bones crackling, as the whole body of the man was crushed into a shapeless mass ! There was hardly time for a cry ; the swaying of his form on the elephant's neck—his fall—the Round cringed by his striking the elastic turf—the foot placed upon him, and the horrid crushing which followed—all was the work of an instant or two. lint this did not sate the enraged animal. Still keeping his foot on the man's chest, he seized one arm with his trunk and tore it from the body. In anotht r moment it was hurling high up in the air, the blood spirting from it as it whirled. It was a horrible sight. The other arm was then seized, and was similarly dealt with. The wife of the unfortunate man, witnessing his fate, rushed forwards with her infant in her arms, addressing the elephant by name : " 0 Malleer, Malleer! cruel, savage beast! see what you have done," she cried ; "here finish our house at once. You have taken off the roof, now break down the walls ; you have killed my husband, whom you loved so well, now kill me and his son." To those unaccustomed to India, this language may appear unnatural or ridiculous. It is precisely the sense of what she said ; every word of it almost was long im pressed upon my mind. The mahouts and their families lire with the elephants they attend, and talk to them as