Milford chronicle., 1885-07-17
TAMERnANE.
A Ruler who swayed the Dostiniea
OF Indln VIII an Iron HIND.

A Ruler who Ssvayed the Dostinlca
OF India with an Iron Hand.
There is probably no chapter OF the
worlds history 80 crammed with fighting
as that which chronicles the doings in
India from the tenth century to the four
teenth, and to endeavor to condense any
account of the numerous seiges suffered
by Delhi and by many another city OF
Northern India during that period
would be to produce picture Of unceas-
ing bloodshed and Of wearisome same
ness. The character of Timur Beg, or
Tamerlane, however, is so extraordinary
as to merit description. From him dates
the famous lIoghul empire, finally extin-
guished in the present century by abb
sorption into the East India company.
"His successors" says Gibbon, ex-
tended their sway from the mountains OF
Kashmir to Cape Comorin, and from
Kandahar to the Gulf of Bengal. Since
the reign of Aurungzobe their empire has
been dissolved, their treasures of Delhi
have been rifled by a Persian robber
(Nadir SHAH and the richest of their
Kingdoms is now possessed by a COM
pany of Christian Merchants of remote
island in the Northern Ocean.
It is said that Timur Beg was grave
man, of quiet manners, halt Of one hand
and one foot, and delighting in the
game of chess, which he greatly com
plicated by doubling the number of
pieces from thirty-two to sixty-four He
is described as ruling his household with
calm equity, by no means sparing his
sons from the Observances of the law;
temperate and regular in his life, and
aiming ever at the establishment OF an
ideal kingdom where child might
carry purse of gold from east to west
of the Asian continent. How man OF
such character could at the same time be
so emphatically the arch-destroyer Of
mankind is not clear. AS for the au-
thority he exercised over his children, it
is at least certain that when he invaded
India, his grandson, Pr Mohammed,
had made a little war for himself
at Multan, and would have persisted
miserabIy had his grandfather not come
to his rescue. How young Pr went out
to conquer India on his own account is
not told, but it is certain that Tmur was
not provoked to any act of sharp justice.
| Thurs sons seemed to have only waited
/ for his death to tear each other to pieces
ut their leisure.
Timur, the wild chess player, signal
lied his successes in India by a series of
barbarous massacres. At one time on
one day alone he murdered one hundred
thousand prisoners in cold blood, lest
they should turn against him. Having
/ conquered the weak MahmOud III. be-
/ fore Delhi, he entered the city, and had
himself proclaimed emperor in all the
mosques on Friday (the Muslin Sunday,
and Immediately left the city to the
mercy of his MOghul soldiers, who
burned, plundered and slew till they
were weary. He afterward returned,
and gave evidence of his taste for the
beautiful by ordering the famous mosque
of Ferose, which had escaped the flames,
to be copied in Samarkand.
These doings of Timur appear the
more barbarous when we remember that
he was himself a mussulm0n sacking q
mussulman kings city, and Staying by
the hundred thousand his mussulmau
subjects. He had not the excuse which
he subsequently alleged in support of his
expedition against China, that he was
carrying the faith of the prophet into 6
heather country. The kingdom found
ed by Mohammad of Ghor was essen
TALLY Muslin, and its invasion by Tanner
lane was as purely arbitrary an act Of
plumber as was the conquest of his OWL
Successors by Nadir Shah, the Persian
freebooter of the eighteenth century.
Timur died of drinking too much iced
water, on the march to China in 1905
AS was to be expected, his kingdom, Oh
empire, fell to pieces, and for hundred
and twenty years series of parvenu en-
perors of all sorts reigned at Delhi, be
sieging it, taking it, and holding it al
they were able.-F, Marion CrasVOrd
IN Harper.