The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-16 00:00:00

THE MILITIA.

On Thursday Lord Burleigh and the officers of
the Northampton Militia were presented by the
town and county of Northampton with a valuab:e
piece of plate, as a testimonial of their services
during the late war with Russia.
The Worcestershire Militia assembled for per-
manent duty on Thursday, under the command of
Lieut.-Colonel Webb. Out of 1,080 registered on
the books between 800 and 900 answered muster,
ar.d the men are generally in good trim.
The Royal Elthorne Light Infantry, under the
command of Lieut.-Colonel M. Prior, leave Ux-
bridge to-day for Portsmouth, and embark on board
the Abioma steamer for Cork.

A DAY WITH NANA SAHIB.

(From Household Words. )

Here sat the maharajah on a Turkey carpet, and
reclining slightly on a hugla bolster. In front of him
were his hookah, a sword, and several nosegays.
His highness rose, came forward, took my hand,
led me to the carpet, and begged of me to be seated
on a cane-bottomed arm-chair, which had evidently
been placed ready for my especial ease and occupa-
tion. A hookah is called for by the rajah ; and
then at least a dozen voices repeat the order :
" Hookah lao Sahib kewaste" (bring a hookah for
the Sahib). Presently the hookah is brought in. It
is rather a grand affair, but old, and has evidently
belongel to come European of extravagant habits.
While I am pulling away at the hookah, the
mushailas, or favourites of the rajah, flatter me in
very audible whispers. "How well he smokes !"
"What a fine forehead he has !" " And his eyes I'
how they sparkle I" " No wonder he is so clever !"
" He will be governor-general some day," " khuda-
kurin 1" (God will have it so). Native Rajah (in
a loud voice), "Moonshee Moonshee (who is
close at hand). " Maharaj, Protector of the
Poor."
.Native Rajah. " Bring the petition that
I have laid before the Governor-General." The
Moonshee produces the petition, and at the in-
stance of the Rajah, reads, or rather sings it aloud.
The Rajah listens with pleasure to its recital
of his own wrongs, and I affect to be astounded
that so much injustice can possibly exist. During
my rambles in India, I have been the guest of come
scores of rajahs, great and small ; and I never
knew one who had not a grievance. He had
either been wronged by the Government, or by
some judge whose decision had been against him.
In the matter of the Government it was a sheer
lave of oppression that led to the evil of which he
complained ; in the matter of the judge, that func
tionary had been bribed by the other party. It
was with great difficulty that I kept my eyes open
while the petition—a very long one—was read
aloud. Shortly after it was finished, I craved per-
mission to retire, and was conducted by a bearer to
the sleeping-room. The Maharajah invited me to
accompany him to Cawnpore. I acquiesced, and
the carriage was ordered. The carriage was Eng-
lish built—a very handsome landau and horses—
but the harness ! It was country made, of the
very commonest kind, and worn out ; for one of
the traces was a piece of rope. The coachman was
filthy in his dress, and the whip that he carried in his
hand was an old broken buggy-whip, which some
European gentleman must have thrown away. On
the box, on each side of the coachman, sat a war-
like retainer, armed with a sword and a dagger.
In the rumble were two other retainers, armed in
the same manner. Besides the Rajah and myself
there were three others (natives and relatives
of the Rajah) in the vehicle. On the road
the Rajah talked incessantly, and amongst other
things he told me was this—in reference
to the praises that I bestowed on his equipage :
" Not long ago I had a carriage and horses very
superior to these. They cost me twenty-five thou-
sand rupees; but I hai to burn the carriage and
kill the horses." " Why so I" "The child of
a certain sahib in Cawnpore was very sick, and
the sahib and the memsahib were bringing the child
to Bhitoor for a change of air. I sent my big car-
riage for them. On the road the child died; and,
of course, as a dead body had been in the carriage,
and as the horses had drawn that dead body in that
carriage, I could never use them again." The
reader must understand that a native of any rank
considers it a disgrace to sell property. " But
could you not have given the horses to some friend
—a Christian or a Mussulman " No ; had I
done so, it might have been hurt at having occa-
sioned me such a loss." Such was the Maharajah
commonly known as Nana Sahib. He appeared to
bo not a man of ability, nor a fool. He was selfish,
but what native is not ? He seems to be far from
a bigot in matters of religion ; and, although he was
compelled to be so very particular about the de-
struction of his carriage and horses, I am quite
satisfied that he drank brandy, and that he smoked
hemp in the chillum of his hookah.

THE AFRICAN St,avE TILADE.—By the Teviot we
learn that her Majesty's ship Scourge left Lisbon for
England onthe9th. She comes froto tik: coast of Atrieato
report to the Bri',,ish gwvern men t tha,taaveral ves,els are on
that coast, th.'t d out as slavers, with Spanish crews,
sail under the United States flag. The question that is
about to be raised is whether under the present treaty
between Great Britain and the United States English
cruisers have a right to search and se'ze ouch vessels.