The Press. — London, England, 1857-08-22 00:00:00

THE PRESS, AUGUST 22, 1857. 826 man of great talent and ability, endowed " with an excellent gay humour and mirthful temper," and then under Lieut. Hart, whose treatment was " brotherly," but who falling ill of fever became "very peevish," and so Lut fullab, feeling " disgusted with the world," parted from his patron " not in a friendly way," and once more started with nothing but a few rupees and his wits to seek his fortune. He soon found another patron, and finally settled at the camp at Khaira. One day he visits the sea for the first time, and with the simple superstition of his race thus relates his ad ventures : On beholding the immense body of water and ita regular ebb and flow I was struck with astonishment at the un• limited power of the one Supreme Being, before whom the whole of the universe is no more than an atom. Deeply engaged in such meditations, as I stood one evening at the seaside looking at the waves on which the large ships moved up and down, I began to think of the Jain tenets, according to which matter is eternal and self-existent; but before arriving at the conclusion of the blasphemous syllogism, I was startled by a severe bite from a dog in the calf of my leg, who came slily behind me, and,after punish. lug me for my crime. ran away like a shot.. I followed him with my stick for a little distance to revenge the Injury, but in vain ; the animal vanished from my sight, and I returned home with very great. pain in my leg. Six years passed in taking pupils and in learningl English placed him in comparative affluence, and of course h-3 married. His re flections at this period of his life would lead us to believe that Lutfullah had been hasty in his choice and lived to repent at leisure : Man is naturally deluded by temptations, and in many cases he is not undeceived until he finds himielf completely entangled in the net of trouble. In overrating small evils we generally bring upon ourselves heavier ones. The dream of my happiness in the married state was but a short one, and I soon found myself more involved in domestic anxieties than before. When a bachelor, I thought for myself only, but now I had to think fur another person too, whose fate had joined mine. The repletion of my purse likewise began to be changed for depletion; and to crown all these difficulties, to my great sorrow, I discovered my new companion to be of very pettish and hypochondriacal tem- per, to which I had to submit in future. But Lutfullah was a fatalist, and submitting decently to the decree of his destiny, learned, when his wife died some years afterwards, to mourn her loss sincerely, and—to marry again as soon as possible. During his stay at Sattara he witnessed a suttee, and describes it with great p aver. His English companions reasoned with the widow, a young girl of fifteen, and one of them (Lieut. Earle) observed to her: " My good lady, pray consider over the act once more act not against your reason; you must be sure that we are your friends and not your enemies, that we would save you from the horrid death b} all means at a slight signal of your consent, and would make an hononrable provision for you during your life." And he added, "You should try the experiment of burning your little finger before committing your whole precious body to the flames." But, alas ! her fanactism had advanced too far beyond the reach of this and such wholesome advice; and with a scornful smile she told Mr. Earle that she was highly obliged to him for his kindness, of which she did not stand in need; that her word was one and unalterable. She then, boldly tearing up a slip of her handkerchief, dipped it into the oil of the burning lamp (usually placed before satis whether day or night), and Ming it round her little finger, she lighted it trp .Wth eagerness, and it burnt on like a candle for a little while, and then diffused the smell of burning flesh, during w:iich the young beauty talked on to the audience, without a sigh or sob to indicate the pain ; yet the marks of the blood's rush to the face, attended with a profuse perspire. tion on her brow, betrayed her feeling to our unbiassed and sorrowful mind. The fit of this enthusiastic frenzy is added and maintained, I believe, by the effect of some min optics, particularly of camphor, a large quantity of which i 4 administered by the hardhearted Brahman* to the poor victims, which is swallowed up by them immediately after they have uttered their intention of selfdestruction, in the sudden impulse of grief at their bereavement. The effect soon spreads over the nervous system. stupefacation ensues, and the whole body is benumbed before it goes to the fire to be consumed. The pile now being ready, the corpse was washed and laid inside, and about half a pound of camphor in a bundle tied round the neck of the damsel ; she got up with her usual alacrity, invoking her gods, and rushed to the fatal spot in the same way as a moth to the flame. She then walked round the pile seven times, and having entered it, she placed the head of her dead husband in her lap, and herself holding a burning wick between the big and second toes of her left foot, she set fire to the com bustibles interwoven with the logs of firewood. Mixing now so much among the English, Lutfullah rapidly acquired our language. It is amusing to read his personal experiences of the different Englishmen with whom he was thrown in contact. Lieut. Webb, of the Artillery, was " a very nice entleman and an " over-zealous Christian "; Ensign Eastwick was “a promising youth, with an extraordi " nary memory." What he once acquired was always found " indelible on the tablet of his " pure mind." " His invaluable society," adds Lutfullah with charming simplicity, " became " so precious to me that I remained in his " service almost all the time of his stay in " India, excepting some intervals, during " which higher emoluments tempted me to "leave him for some time." With the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone he was much struck, and " greatly admired his amiable, cogent, and " comprehensive conversation." Sir Henry Pot tinger he declares was " a real man, wise as Solo " mon, and enterprising as Alexander ;" but of Sir H. Fanc he had not a favourable opinion ; he admits that he was tall, well-made, awl intelli gent, but ho seemed to have had " no lessons " of politeness," and that in an Oriental's eyes is a fatal objection. Lutfullah attended Captain Eastwick, who accompanied Sir Henry, then Colonel, Pottin. ger into Scinde at the time of the Cabul campaign, under Lord Keane. It was the object of the British Government to obtain a passage through Scinde for a division of the army, and Lutfullah gives us some instructive details as to the feeling of the Sindhis when we first appeared in their country. The " omnivorous English" were feared. Here is a conversation carried on outside his tent by some Sindhis, and which he overhears : The general theme of their discourse was Government affairs. One party remarked that the country was lost— the English would take it very soon. "The Titli.iirs them selves, especially Mir Sidbiliir," said they, " are to blame for being too friendly with the omnivorous English: they have taken all India; in the same way they will soon take this country." Another responded, " You are mistaken, my friends. Let the Tidpiirs of Hydrabad make themselves Christians; but fear not, as long as we have Shir Mohamed of Nfirptir on our side. His late Highness Mir Karam Ali's widow has furnished, and will always furnish him with funds sufficient to carry on a perpetual war with all the Farangis in the world; and if God pleases, we can be masters of all the gold and implements of war that they are labouring to bring into our country. Know you not the verse of our Holy Hook, ' One true believer is suffi cient to defeat ten infidels ?' " A third white•bearded Sindhi, with a profound sigh, observed, "Ah my friends, your dream is somewhat too extravagant; you have never seen the tricoloured, viz., the white, brown, and dark devils, fighting jointly on a field of battle. Whilst in the service of H. H. the Peshwa, I was an eye-witness of their hard fights in the I)akhan. Here is an unquestion able proof : " saying this, he tucked np his sleeve and showed a scar, which demonstrated a clear transit of a bullet through his left arm. He concluded by saying, " A man may overmatch another, or perhaps two or three, if the contest is to be decided by the sword, but these cowardly Satans have no sword, and if they have any it is as blunt as your walking stick. They will kill you with their rascally shots whilst you are a mile or so offfrom them, and then what is the remedy ? " Such discussions by the side of my tent walls often amused me much ; and some times, rising front my seat, I intruded upon them, and preached to them in my broken Sindhi, that the English would not take their miserable country, producing only fish and rice, even if it were forced upon them ; that they had sufficient golden territories to govern and manage, and that they were stanch friends of the Amirs ; that their forces were now passing through the country fur the purpose of protecting their possessions in India, as well as the Amirs' territory, from foreign aggression. To this they would reply with a chorus of laughter," What you say, sir, may be true, but we are rude people; we cannot comprehend high policies of government. Ha! ha! ha!" We can see from this how much super• stition and fear have contributed hitherto to maintain our supremacy in India. It is fear that has bound the native to us, and a species of general acquiescence in the notion that fur the time our power was irresistible. The Biltichis did not care to understand /a haute politique, but the) comprehended artillery. Having occasion to impose upon the Amirs a new treaty, which by demanding a large tribute literally at the point of the bayonet, for a powerful army was collected within a few miles of Hydrabad, secured their neutrality during the Cabal war, Capt. Eastwick was deputed to be the bearer of this disagreeable intelligence. It was a service of some danger. Lutfullah accompanied him, and he sketches for us the Sindhi Darbar with great felicity. The passage is too long for extract, and will not bear abbre viation. The Darbir broke up badly, and the situa tion of Captain Eastwick was precarious, but the Amirs at last agreed to the terms—and the end of it all is that the "omnivorous" English now enjoy possession of Sindh. We must hurry through the narrative from this period to that wherein Lutfullah accepts a permanent appointment under the Nawab of Surat. noticing en passant the curious objec tion made, he tells us, by Kamal Khan, a wily old %litchi chieftain, to an alliance with the English. He objected because the ultimate object of the English, he said, was generally believed to be the conversion of the people to Christianity ; and ho expressly stipulated that, if he served the English, it should be only on condition of non-interference with his religion ! This is a singular fact, as clearly showing the religious element in the present contest to be no sudden impulse, but rather a deep-rooted fear, which the arbitrary acts of the British Government during recent years have revived and invigorated. The case of the Nawab of Surat is fresh in our readers' minds, and we need only say that Lutfullah, having accepted an appointment as secretary to his Highness Mir Jafir Ali, ac companied that prince to England so soon as the Government of India " had sent out its " dreadful order " abolishing the title of the Nuwitb. A " lucky hour " having been fixed by the astrologers, they left Bombay on the 12th March, 1844, en route to England, and this is an extremely interesting portion of Lutfullah's career. His adventures are told with genuine truthfulness, and with a minuteness of detail showing no ordi nary power of observation. At first start ing they get into a gale of wind, which dis tresses every one on board, and Lutfullah being very seasick, exhibits a tendency to scandal, for he declares that the captain " walked up and down with a cigar " iu his mouth and the effect of the for " bidden liquor in his head." They reach Ceylon, and, landing at Galle for a few days, take up their quarters at the English hot; 1, where in the morning, " to their great " astonishment and disgust," they behold " " heard of unclean animals running. grunting, " snorting, and roaring about our rooms." The " abominable sight " drove them from the Christian roof to the house of a true Muslim in the town, with whom they have " pleasant " and instructive talk." On the sth day the P. and 0. steamer Bentinck, "like a roaring " Satan forcing its way through the sea, with " its four tremendous wheels at work, making " a dreadful noise,. and. sending up its smoke " to the sky," heaves in sight, and on the next morning the Prince and his suite embark and arrive at Suez in due time without mishap. At Alexandria Lutfullah is charmed with the kindness and hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Larking, the latter " a lady consummate in " beauty and noble in mind," who talked Arabic freely, and with good accent. Lut fullah chronicles this as the first time that he " saw and heard a fair mouth scattering pearls " of eloquent phrases in that scientific lan " guage; and he confesses that in conversing with her he considers himself as " having the " felicity of confabulating with one of the " gazelle-eyed nymphs of Paradise !" They spend six days in Alexandria, see all the lions, and, enchanted with the hospitality shown them, and with such courtesy and kind. ness as " can never be met with from the Christians in India," leave for England. " The " fact is," says Lutfullah, " that the more you " proceed towards England the more you find " the English people endowed with politeness " and civility." This is a curious remark, and significant of the tendency of our rulers in India From Alexandria to England Lutfullah chroni cles every event of importance. He is " ac " tually struck with amazement, awe, and " admiration " to see " the incomparable for " tress of Gibraltar ;" and as it n'y a qu'un " pas du sublime au ridicule, when he arrives off Southampton he is enraptured with the bumboat women who come alongside, " fresh and fair damsels," he calls them, "of dazzling beauty." Upon landing of course they are mobbed, and the medical gentleman in the suite, as the mob shout " Hurrah!" becomes very angry, and calls them " over-curious white devils," who have "no respect to caste or age "; but all these little difficulties are overcome, and the " city " of enchantments," London, is at last reached by means of the " fairy vans." The Nawab was wise enough to prefer private lodgings to Mivart's, and here soliloquises Lutfullah We settled after our long voyage from the middle of the globe to the end of the world, where the sun appears, far to the south, as weak as the moon, and the polar star nearly vertical; where the country all over is fertile, and ~.