The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-28 00:00:00

the aid of missionaries the sect was constantly re
cruited, and though it ceased to take a prominent
place, its chief continued to be regarded as a great
and dangerous noble, to whom Shahs gave their
daughters in marriage. About the year 1460 Plat
SURDORDIN was sent as a missionary to Scinde by
the fourteenth Imaun, where he converted some
thousands of Hindao families. The sect, keeping
up its habit of secresy, multiplied, grew rich, and
on the establishment of British power emigrated
in great numbers to Bombay. Exclusive of
the Persian and Arab Ishmailees, there are
now 1,400 Assassin families in Bombay, 2,000 in
Scinde, 5;000 in Catch, 400 in Zanzibar, smaller
communities throughout Western India, and as far
east as Dacca, who for ages have paid and do pay
tribute to the hereditary Imaun, reverence his
orders as divine, and hold that he is the incarnation
of the ALMIGHTY. They are accused, the Spectator
says, with probable justice, of disbelieving in any
morality whatever superior to the will of the Imaun, •
in any law save their own interest and that of the
Order of Assassins. It is difficult for Europeans to
understand the influences that move the Asiatic
mind. AGA KIIAN was well known in India as a
native gentleman fond of horse-racing. Ho was
to be seen at all the great meetings, and took an
active part in the sport. Nobody thought of in-
quiring who he was. Little credit would have been
given to the statement, had it been made, that he
was the chief of the sect of the Assassins, and the
lineal descendant of the " Old Man of the Mona-
" taro," who is believed to have ordered the assas-
sination of RICIIARD C(EUR DE LION. In 1838
AGA KIIAN was residing in the Persian province of
Kerman, the acknowledged Imaun of the Ishmailees.
The Shah, having failed in the siege of Herat, the
opportunity was given to the Khan of seizing Ker-
man and openly proclaiming his tenets and autho-
rity. After two years' war he was defeated and fled
into Scinde. He there found 3,000 families ready to
receive him, and by their contributions and aid he
organised a body of Light Horse, joined General
NOTT in the Affghan war, and received for his ser-
vices a pension from the British Government. From
1845 he resided in Bombay, carrying on the intrigues
which the native mind delights in. He administered
the entire property of the sect, and in 1861 he again
considered himself strong enough to order his people
—at least throughout India—to abandon their prac-
tice of secrecy, and profess openly the faith of Ish-
mail. All obeyed except 400 families in Bombay,
who mutinied, and demanded that the property of
the order should be managed by a lay committee.
These British notions in a British province could
not summarily be disposed of as might have suited
the inclination of the King of Assassins—so the
Imaun appealed to the Supreme Court, and hence
this extraordinary trial. After crowds of witnesses
had been heard, many of whom professed blind obe-
dience," and documents studied, many of which
reached back into the Middle Ages, it was solemnly
determined that the Khojahs were part of the
Ishmailee sect—that the first tenet of that sect is
obedience to the Hereditary Grand Master of the
Order of Assassins—that:AGA KHAN was that Grand
Master; i.e., was the lineal representative of ALI,
who died before ROLLO conquered Normandy, and
that as such he was entitled to absolute control over
the whole property of the order.

We tell this story from facts given by the Spectator,
as it furnishes a curious illustration of the difficul-
ties of the British Government in India. We can-
not understand the charm which secret societies
have for the Asiatic mind. Few people had an idea
that the Chief and a large part of the Order of
Assassins were established in the British dominions•
The Government did know, kr it was compelled to
exercise some control over AGA KHAN'S intrigues in
Persia. A revolt, led by the descendant of the
" Old Man of the Mountain," would have takes
the British public by surprise. AGA KHAN, how-
ever, has been wise in his generation. He has ob-
tained a legal decision, by which he has been recog-
nised and established by British law.—Anglo-Anle
rican limes.