The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-01-18
KING OF NO KINGDOM
THE ROMANTIC LIFE OF MAHARAJAH
DHULEEP SINGH.

His People Conquered by tho British, He
Removed to England With an Allowance.
Tried to Stir Up tho Sil<hs Again, but
Was Nipped and Forgiven by the Queen.
A decade ago Maharajah Dhuleep
Singh, who died i'll Paris recently,
was we'll known figure in London,
whose photograph was on sale in tho
shop windows. He was born in 1888,
the son of Runjcet Singh, tho lion of
the Punjab, > that doughty East Indian
sovereign who was the founder of the
ST XII kingdom and the cause of so much
trouble to England. There have been
two Sikh wars in the last half century
in which tho relatives of Dhulcop
Singh figured. The first was in 1913,
when a Sikh army of GO, 900 men i'll
yaded the queens Indian empire and
fought four pitched battles, the final
result being the retreat of the invaders
across tho Sutlej and the surrender of
Lahore to the British. BY the terms
of the peace Dhuleep Singh, the infant
son of Runjeet, was recognized as rajah.
The second Sikh war broke out in
1913, but it proved to be short lived,
the British forces under Lord Cough
succeeding i'll destroying the Sikh army
and i'll annexing Punjab to the queens
possessions. AS a result of this way
young Dhuleep Singh received an allow
ance of $50, 600 from his conquerors.
He, with his mother, moved to Eng
land, became Christian, and on his
oSt otn IN, SnGN1ly boh T..
of an English gentlemen. He was an
intimate friend of the Prince of Wales.
who used annually to spend part of the
shooting season at Dhuleep's country
home.
The maharajah's first wife was a lit
tie Syrian maid whom he met in Cairo
in 1864, when on his way back from
Bonn bay, where he had gone to take
back to its native soil the body of his
mother that it might be there cremated.
The maharanee died in 1887, and n cou-
pie of years later-in 1SS9-he married
in Paris Miss Ada Douglas Wetherill.
Dhuleep watched closely the advance
of Russia into Asia, and when he
thought the proper time had come he
renowned Christianity and issued
manifesto to the Sikh nation claiming
the throne of his father. But his re-
nunciation of the creed of Bahia Nanuk
and his suspected illcgitimatc birth-it
was asserted by the Sikhs themselves
that he was the son of his mother
through an intrigue with one of the ra-
jah water carriers-had long since es-
tranged the feelings of the people, and
If it had been possible to create Sikh
rebellion in the Land of the Five Rivers
there were other princes better able than
this maharajah to lead such an enter
prise.
The British made short work of his
pretcnsions He was travelling with
leisurely dignity on his great mission
Ill 7. Il O. steamer, when at Alden he
was Informed that Il return passage had
been secured for him, and that he
would not be permitted to land in In
dla. n Sikh rebellion would have been
serious matter for England. for never
were the British forces moro evenly
fought than on the battefields of Mool-
tan. Chillianwallah and Ghuznee.
There were at that time about 10
regiments of Silks in the Indian army,
acknowledged by British officers to be
the finest in the service. and III most of
the Punjab regiments there was Il very
large proportion of Sikh soldiers.
After his abortive attempt to stir ND
the Silhs into rebellion against British
rule, Dhuleep went to Russia, thinking
to enlist the sympathy of the car in
his behalf. but his greeting was not
ovcrwarm. So the king without Il coun-
Try established himself i'll cosmopoi-
tan Paris, where he lived up TO the
time of his death. Life on the CONT
nent seemed to unscttlc somewhat the
domestic morals of this oriental Chris
nan and an hereditary predisposition to
polvSany asserted itself The maha-
laJah recently expressed deep regret for
tho course OF hostility which he had
pursued toward England, and her MAJ
esty, by the advice of her ministers
was graciously pleased to accord her
pardon to him.
General Dick Taylor of Louisiana
used TO tell II story of an encounter with
Dhnlccp. While he was staying in
1871 ut Sandringham with the Prince
OF Wales, the maharaiah was of the
party. One morning Taylor arose early
and strollcd out into tho grounds to a
small summer house i'll which there
was Hindoo idol brought back from
India by the prince. AS he came near
he saw some one, who proved to be
Dhulcep, standing in front of the idol
executing certain movements, evidently
OF worship. The truth probably is
that Singh never had abandoned the
true falth Of his fathers.
The religion of the Sikhs was found
eel by Nanuk, who died a. D. 1888,
and who left for the guidance of his