The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-09-17 00:00:00

AN INDIAN ROMANCE

A romantic story of an adventure in the East has come
to our knowledge, and its interest will be enhanced to
our readers, from the fact that a B3lfast gentleman is the
principal actor in this strange Life Drama. The chances
and changes of Oriental life are proverbially extraor-
dinary, and the history of the gentleman we refer to
seems like a stray leaf from the Arabian Nights. Early
in the present century, a gentleman, named Orr, left
this part of the country, less with the vicw to "seek his
fortune," as the story-books have it, than actuated with
a desire of adventure, and a love of travel. Mr. Orr was
remarkable for many qualities ; athletic, tall, and
talented, he was fitted to excel in deeds of daring in the
field, or shine in the council. His were literally the

" Fleet foot on the corrte,
Sage counsel in cumber;"

and on occasion, nn; doubt, his also would be the

" Red hand in the Foray."
His wanderings brought him to India, and caring little,
or perhaps desirous of daring the dangers that surround
the court of an absolute monarch in the East, he visited
the Court of the King of Oude. Here he was an
acceptable visitor ; his abilities were those of which, at
that time, the tottering throne stood sadly in need, and
he found favour to a high extent. His progress was
rapid, and he ultimately espoused an Indian Princess,
and became himself a principal personage at the Court
at Luck now. He was blessed with a numerous family,
nearly all of whom were daughters; and, respecting his
children, a strange incident of Oriental custom is nar-
rated. On the birth of one of his daughters, the seventh
or ninth, we know not which, the native priest, accord-
ing to a custom to the observance of which the highest
importance is attached, required the infant to be devoted
as a religious sacrifice. She was to be thrown into the
sacred stream and drowned ; but the feelings of the
father prevailed over the bigotry of his adopted
country, and he saved his offspring by substituting
another infant in her stead. The little innocent
was murdered with the due solemnities ; the Pagan deity
was appeased ; and the child of our countryman, after
having attained childhood's estate, was sent to
Europe for education, provision having been secretly
made for her future maintenance in this country. Of
the events which brought about and accompanied the
deposition of the late King of Oude we have already
informed our readers ; but before that crowning or
rather uncrowning occcrrence took place, one of the
sisters of the child who so narrowly escaped immolation
had become the chief vi ife of the heir to the throne, and
should the appeal which the Queen Dowager of Oude is
now prosecuting, for the restoration of the crown to her
family, turn out successful, we shall have the satisfaction
of hailing the daughter of a Belfastman as Queen Reg-
nant of one of the richest and most extensive kingdoms
of the East. The father is now, we believe, dead, at
least we are not aware of his existence ; and while one
of his daughters is wife of the heir expectant to the
Throne of Oude, the other—the child he preserved with
so much difficulty—lives in retirement and untitled in
the vicinity of her all but Royal father's birth-place.
" Truth is stranger than fiction" is an old saw, but we
have rarely seen the force of the adage exemplified more
fully than in the narrative which we have just laid before
our readers, and of the truth of which we have been
assured by the most reliable authorities.— Belfast Paper.