Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official Part 52

13. This abstract of the history of the Deccan, or Southern India, is not quite accurate. The Emperor, or Sultan, Muhammad bin Tughlak, after A.D. 1325, reduced the Deccan to a certain extent to submission, but the country revolted in A.D. 1347, when Hasan Gango founded the Bahmani dynasty of Gulbarga, afterwards known as that of Bidar. At the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century, the kingdom so founded broke up into five, not four, separate states, namely, Bij.a.pur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda, Berar, and Bidar. The Berar state had a separate existence for about eighty-five years, and then became merged in the kingdom of Ahmadnagar.

CHAPTER 64

Murder of Mr. Fraser, and Execution of the Nawab Shams-ud-din.

At Palwal Mr. Wilmot and Mr. Wright, who had come on business, and Mr. Gubbins, breakfasted and dined with us. They complained sadly of the solitude to which they were condemned, but admitted that they should not be able to get through half so much business were they placed at a large station, and exposed to all the temptations and distractions of a gay and extensive circle, nor feel the same interest in their duties, or sympathy with the people, as they do when thrown among them in this manner. To give young men good feelings towards the natives, the only good way is to throw them among them at those out-stations in the early part of their career, when all their feelings are fresh about them. This holds good as well with the military as the civil officer, but more especially with the latter. A young officer at an outpost with his corps, or part of it, for the first season or two, commonly lays in a store of good feeling towards his men that lasts him for life; and a young gentleman of the Civil Service lays in, in the same manner, a good store of sympathy and fellow feeling with the natives in general.[1]

Mr. Gubbins is the Magistrate and Collector of one of the three districts into which the Delhi territories are divided, and he has charge of Firozpur, the resumed estate of the late Nawab Shams-ud- din, which yields a net revenue of about two hundred thousand rupees a year.[2] I have already stated that this Nawab took good care that his Mewati plunderers should not rob within his own estate; but he not only gave them free permission to rob over the surrounding districts of our territory, but encouraged them to do so, that he might share in their booty.[3] He was a handsome young man, and an extremely agreeable companion; but a most unprincipled and licentious character. No man who was reputed to have a handsome wife or daughter was for a moment safe within his territories. The following account of Mr. William Fraser's a.s.sa.s.sination by this Nawab may, I think, be relied upon.[4]

The Firozpur Jagir was one of the princ.i.p.alities created under the principle of Lord Cornwallis's second administration, which was to make the security of the British dominions dependent upon the divisions among the independent native chiefs upon their frontiers.

The person receiving the grant or confirmation of such princ.i.p.ality from the British Government 'pledged himself to relinquish all claims to aid, and to maintain the peace in his own possessions.'[5]

Firozpur was conferred by Lord Lake, in 1805, upon Ahmad Baksh, for his diplomatic services, out of the territories acquired by us west of the Jumna during the Maratha wars. He had been the agent on the part of the Hindoo chiefs of Alwar in attendance upon Lord Lake during the whole of that war. He was a great favourite, and his lords.h.i.+p's personal regard for him was thought by those chiefs to have been so favourable to their cause that they conferred upon him the 'pargana' of Loharu in hereditary rent-free tenure.

In 1822, Ahmad Baksh declared Shams-ud-din, his eldest son, his heir, with the sanction of the British Government and the Rajas of Alwar.

In February, 1825, Shams-ud-din, at the request of his father, by a formal deed a.s.signed over the pargana of Loharu as a provision for his younger brothers by another mother, Amin-ud-din and Zia-ud- din;[6] and in October 1826 he was finally invested by his father with the management; and the circ.u.mstance was notified to the British Government, through the Resident at Delhi, Sir Charles Metcalfe.

Ahmad Baksh died in October, 1827. Disputes soon after arose between the brothers, and they expressed a desire to submit their claims to the arbitration of Sir Edward Colebrooke,[7] who had succeeded Sir Charles Metcalfe in the Residency of Delhi.[8] He referred the matter to the Supreme Government; and by their instructions, under date 11th of April, 1828, he was authorized to adjust the matter. He decided that Shams-ud-din should make a complete and unenc.u.mbered cession to his younger brothers of the pargana of Loharu, without the reservation of any right of interference in the management, or of any condition of obedience to himself whatever; and that Amin-ud-din should, till his younger brother came of age, pay into the Delhi treasury for him the annual sum of five thousand two hundred and ten rupees, as his half share of the net proceeds, to be there held in deposit for him; and that the estate should, from the time he came of age, be divided between them in equal shares. This award was confirmed by Government; but Sir Edward was recommended to alter it for an annual money payment to the two younger brothers, if he could do so with the consent of the parties.

The pargana was transferred, as the money payment could not be agreed upon; and in September Mr. Martin, who had succeeded Sir E.

Colebrooke, proposed to Government that the pargana of Loharu should be restored to Shams-ud-din in lieu of a fixed sum of twenty-six thousand rupees a year to be paid by him annually to his two younger brothers. This proposal was made on the ground that Amin-ud-din could not collect the revenues from the refractory landholders (instigated, no doubt, by the emissaries of Shams-ud-din), and consequently could not pay his younger brother's revenue into the treasury. In calculating the annual net revenue of 10,420 rupees, 15,000 of the _gross_ revenue had been estimated as the annual expenses of the mutual [_sic_] establishments of the two brothers. To the arrangement proposed by Mr. Martin the younger brothers strongly objected; and proposed in preference to make over the pargana to the British Government, on condition of receiving the net revenue, whatever might be the amount. Mr. Martin was desired by the Governor-General to effect this arrangement, should Amin-ud-din appear still to wish it; but he preferred retaining the management of it in his own hands, in the hope that circ.u.mstances would improve.

Shams-ud-din, however, pressed his claim to the restoration of the pargana so often that it was at last, in September, 1833, insisted upon by Government, on the ground that Amin-ud-din had failed to fulfil that article of the agreement which bound him to pay annually into the Delhi treasury 5,210 rupees for his younger brother, though that brother had never complained; on the contrary, lived with him on the best possible terms, and was as averse as himself to the retransfer of the pargana, on condition that they gave up their claims to a large share of the movable property of their late father, which had been already decided in their favour in the court of first instance. Mr. W. Fraser, who had succeeded to the office of Governor- General's representative in the Delhi Territories, remonstrated strongly against this measure; and wished to bring it again under the consideration of Government; on the grounds that Zia-ud-din had never made any complaint against his brother Amin-ud-din for want of punctuality in the payment of his share of the net revenue after the payment of their mutual establishments; that the two brothers would be deprived by this measure of an hereditary estate to the value of sixty thousand rupees a year in perpetuity, burthened with the condition that they relinquished a suit already gained in the court of first instance, and likely to be gained in appeal, involving a sum that would of itself yield them that annual sum at the moderate interest of 6 per cent. The grounds alleged by him were not considered valid, and the pargana was made over to Shams-ud-din. The pargana now yields 40,000 rupees a year, and under good management may yield 70,000.

At Mr. Fraser's recommendation, Amin-ud-din went himself to Calcutta, and is said to have prevailed upon the Government to take his case again into their consideration. Shams-ud-din had become a debauched and licentious character; and having criminal jurisdiction within his own estate, no one's wife or daughter was considered safe; for, when other means failed him, he did not scruple to employ a.s.sa.s.sins to effect his hated purposes, by removing the husband or father.[9] Mr.

Fraser became so disgusted with his conduct that he would not admit him into his house when he came to Delhi, though he had, it may be said, brought him up as a child of his own; indeed he had been as fond of him as he could be of a child of his own; and the boy used to spend the greater part of his time with him. One day after Mr. Fraser had refused to admit the Nawab to his house. Colonel Skinner, having some apprehensions that by such slights he might be driven to seek revenge by a.s.sa.s.sination, is said to have remonstrated with Mr.

Fraser as his oldest and most valued friend.[10] Mr. Fraser told him that he considered the Nawab to be still but a boy, and the only way to improve him was to treat him as such. It was, however, more by these slights than by any supposed injuries that Shams-ud-din was exasperated; and from that day he determined to have Mr. Fraser a.s.sa.s.sinated.[11]

Having prevailed upon a man, Karim Khan, who was at once his servant and boon companion, he sent him to Delhi with one of his carriages, which he was to have sold through Mr. McPherson, a European merchant of the city. He was ordered to stay there ostensibly for the purpose of learning the process of extracting copper from the fossil containing the ore, and purchasing dogs for the Nawab. He was to watch his opportunity and shoot Mr. Fraser whenever he might find him out at night, attended by only one or two orderlies; to be in no haste, but to wait till he found a favourable opportunity, though it should be for several months. He had with him a groom named Rupla, and a Mewati attendant named Ania, and they lodged in apartments of the Nawab's at Daryaoganj. He rode out morning and evening, attended by Ania on foot, for three months, during which he often met Mr.

Fraser, but never under circ.u.mstances favourable to his purpose; and at last, in despair, returned to Firozpur. Ania, had importuned him for leave to go home to see his children, who had been ill, and Karim Khan did not like to remain without him. The Nawab was displeased with him for returning without leave, and ordered him to return to his post, and effect the object of his mission. Ania declined to return, and the Nawab recommended Karim to take somebody else, but he had, he said, explained all his designs to this man, and it would be dangerous to entrust the secret to another; and he could, moreover, rely entirely upon the courage of Ania on any trying occasion.

Twenty rupees were due to the treasury by Ania on account of the rent of the little tenement he held under the Nawab; and the treasurer consented, at the request of Karim Khan, to receive this by small instalments, to be deducted out of the monthly wages he was to receive from him. He was, moreover, a.s.sured that he should have nothing to do but to cook and eat; and should share liberally with Karim in the one hundred rupees he was taking with him in money, and the letter of credit upon the Nawab's bankers at Delhi for one thousand rupees more. The Nawab himself came with them as far as the village of Nagina, where he used to hunt; and there Karim requested permission to change his groom, as he thought Rupla too shrewd a man for such a purpose. He wanted, he said, a stupid, sleepy man, who would neither ask nor understand anything; but the Nawab told him that Rupla was an old and quiet servant, upon whose fidelity he could entirely rely; and Karim consented to take him. Ania's little tenement, upon which his wife and children resided, was only two miles distant, and he went to give instructions about gathering in the harvest, and to take leave of them. He told his wife that he was going to the capital on a difficult and dangerous duty, but that his companion Karim would do it all, no doubt. Ania asked Karim before they left Nagina what was to be his reward; and he told him that the Nawab had promised them five villages in rent-free tenure. Ania wished to learn from the Nawab himself what he might expect; and being taken to him by Karim, was a.s.sured that he and his family should be provided for handsomely for the rest of their lives, if he did his duty well on this occasion.

On reaching Delhi they took up their quarters near Colonel Skinner's house, in the Bulvemar's Ward,[12] where they resided for two months.

The Nawab had told Karim to get a gun made for his purpose at Delhi, or purchase one, stating that his guns had all been purchased through Colonel Skinner, and would lead to suspicion if seen in his possession. On reaching Delhi, Karim purchased an old gun, and desired Ania to go to a certain man in the Chandni Chauk, and get it made in the form of a short blunderbuss, with a peculiar stock, that would admit of its being concealed under a cloak; and to say that he was going to Gwalior to seek service, if any one questioned him. The barrel was cut, and the instrument made exactly as Karim wished it to be by the man whom he pointed out. They met Mr. Fraser every day, but never at night; and Karim expressed regret that the Nawab should have so strictly enjoined him not to shoot him in the daytime, which he thought he might do without much risk. Ania got an attack of fever, and urged Karim to give up the attempt and return home, or at least permit him to do so. Karim himself became weary, and said he would do so very soon if he could not succeed; but that he should certainly shoot _some European gentleman_ before he set out, and tell his master that he had taken him for Mr. Fraser--to save appearances.

Ania told him that this was a question between him and his master, and no concern of his.

At the expiration of two months, a peon came to learn what they were doing. Karim wrote a letter by him to the Nawab, saying that '_the dog_ he wished was never to be seen without ten or twelve people about him; and that he saw no chance whatever of finding him, except in the midst of them; but that if he wished, he would purchase this _dog_ in the midst of the crowd'. The Nawab wrote a reply, which was sent by a trooper, with orders that it should be opened in presence of no one but Ania. The contents were: 'I command you not to purchase _the dog_ in presence of many persons, as its price will be greatly raised. You may purchase him before one person, or even two, but not before more; I am in no hurry, the longer the time you take the better; but do not return without purchasing _the dog_.'[13] That is, without killing Mr. Fraser.

They went on every day to watch Mr. Fraser's movements. Leaving the horse with the groom, sometimes in one old ruin of the city, and sometimes in another, ready saddled for flight, with orders that he should not be exposed to the view of pa.s.sers-by, Karim and Ania used to pace the streets, and on several occasions fell in with him, but always found him attended by too many followers of one kind or another for their purpose. At last, on Sunday, the 13th of March, 1835, Karim heard that Mr. Fraser was to attend a 'nach' (dance), given by Hindoo Rao, the brother of the Baiza Bai,[14] who then resided at Delhi; and determining to try whether he could not shoot him from horseback, he sent away his groom as soon as he had ascertained that Mr. Fraser was actually at the dance. Ania went in and mixed among the a.s.sembly; and as soon as he saw Mr. Fraser rise to depart, he gave intimation to Karim, who ordered him to keep behind, and make off as fast as he could, as soon as he should hear the report of his gun.

A little way from Hindoo Rao's house the road branches off; that to the left is straight, while that to the right is circuitous. Mr.

Fraser was known always to take the straight road, and upon that Karim posted himself, as the road up to the place where it branched off was too public for his purpose. As it happened, Mr. Fraser, for the first time, took the circuitous road to the right, and reached his home without meeting Karim. Ania placed himself at the cross way, and waited there till Karim came up to him. On hearing that he had taken the right road, Karim said that 'a man in Mr. Fraser's situation must be a strange ('kafir') unbeliever not to have such a thing as a torch with him in a dark night. Had he had what he ought', he said, 'I should not have lost him this time'.

They pa.s.sed him on the road somewhere or other almost every afternoon after this for seven days, but could never fall in with him after dark. On the eighth day, Sunday, the 22nd of March, Karim went, as usual, in the forenoon to the great mosque to say his prayers; and on his way back in the afternoon he purchased some plums which he was eating when he came up to Ania, whom he found cooking his dinner. He ordered his horse to be saddled immediately, and told Ania to make haste and eat his dinner, as he had seen Mr. Fraser at a party given by the Raja of Kishangarh. '_When his time is come_,' said Karim, 'we shall no doubt find an opportunity to kill him, if we watch him carefully.' They left the groom at home that evening, and proceeded to the 'dargah' (church) near the ca.n.a.l. Seeing Ania with merely a Stick in his hand, Karim bid him go back and change it for a sword, while he went in and said his evening prayers.

On being rejoined by Ania, they took the road to cantonments, which pa.s.sed by Mr. Fraser's house; and Ania observed that the risk was hardly equal in this undertaking, he being on foot, while Karim was on horseback; that he should be sure to be taken, while the other might have a fair chance of escape. It was now quite dark, and Karim bid him stand by sword in hand; and if anybody attempted to seize his horse when he fired, cut him down, and be a.s.sured that while he had life he would never suffer him, Ania, to be taken. Karim continued to patrol up and down on the high-road, that n.o.body might notice him, while Ania stood by the road-side. At last, about eleven o'clock, they heard Mr. Fraser approach, attended by one trooper, and two 'peons' on foot; and Karim walked his horse slowly, as if he had been going from the city to the cantonments, till Mr. Fraser came up within a few paces of him, near the gate leading into his house.

Karim Khan, on leaving his house, had put one large ball into his short blunderbuss; and when confident that he should now have an opportunity of shooting Mr. Fraser, he put in two more small ones. As Mr. Fraser's horse was coming up on the left side, Karim Khan tumed round his, and, as he pa.s.sed, presented his blunderbuss, fired, and all three b.a.l.l.s pa.s.sed into Mr. Fraser's breast. All three horses reared at the report and flash, and Mr. Fraser fell dead on the ground. Karim galloped off, followed at a short distance by the trooper, and the two peons went off and gave information to Major Pew and Cornet Robinson, who resided near the place. They came in all haste to the spot, and had the body taken to the deceased's own house; but no signs of life remained. They reported the murder to the magistrate, and the city gates were closed, as the a.s.sa.s.sin had been seen to enter the city by the trooper.

Ania ran home through the Kabul gate of the city, unperceived, while Karim entered by the Ajmer gate, and pa.s.sed first through the encampment of Hindoo Rao, to efface the traces of his horse's feet.

When he reached their lodgings, he found Ania there before him; and Rupla, the groom, seeing his horse in a sweat, told him that he had had a narrow escape--that Mr. Fraser had been killed, and orders given for the arrest of any horseman that might be found in or near the city. He told him to hold his tongue, and take care of the horse; and calling for a light, he and Ania tore up every letter he had received from Firozpur, and dipped the fragments in water, to efface the ink from them. Ania asked him what he had done with the blunderbuss, and was told that it had been thrown into a well. Ania now concealed three flints that he kept about him in some sand in the upper story they occupied, and threw an iron ramrod and two spare bullets into a well near the mosque.

The next morning, when he heard that the city gates had been all shut to prevent any one from going out till strict search should be made, Karim became a good deal alarmed, and went to seek counsel from Moghal Beg, the friend of his master; but when in the evening he heard that they had been again opened, he recovered his spirits; and the next day he wrote a letter to the Nawab, saying that he had purchased the dogs that he wanted, and would soon return with them.

He then went to Mr. McPherson, and actually purchased from him for the Nawab some dogs and pictures, and the following day sent Rupla, the groom, with them to Firozpur, accompanied by two bearers. A pilgrim lodged in the same place with these men, and was present when Karim came home from the murder, and gave his horse to Rupla. In the evening, after the departure of Rupla with the dogs, four men of the Gujar caste came to the place, and Karim sat down and smoked a pipe with one of them,[15] who said that he had lost his bread by Mr.

Fraser's death, and should be glad to see the murderer punished--that he was known to have worn a green vest, and he hoped he would soon be discovered. The pilgrim came up to Karim shortly after these four men went away, and said that he had heard from some one that he, Karim, was himself suspected of the murder. He went again to Moghal Beg, who told him not to be alarmed, that, happily, the Regulations were now in force in the Delhi Territory, and that he had only to stick steadily to one story to be safe.

He now desired Ania to return to Firozpur with a letter to the Nawab, and to a.s.sure him that he would be stanch and stick to one story, though they should seize him and confine him in prison for twelve years. He had, he said, already sent off part of his clothes, and Ania should now take away the rest, so that nothing suspicious should be left near him.

The next morning Ania set out on foot, accompanied by Islamullah, a servant of Moghal Beg's, who was also the bearer of a letter to the Nawab. They hired two ponies when they became tired, but both flagged before they reached Nagina, whence Ania proceeded to Firozpur, on a mare belonging to the native collector, leaving Islamullah behind. He gave his letter to the Nawab, who desired him to describe the affair of the murder. He did so. The Nawab seemed very much pleased, and asked him whether Karim appeared to be in any alarm. Ania told him that he did not, and had resolved to stick to one story, though he should be imprisoned for twelve years. 'Karim Khan,' said the Nawab, turning to the brother-in-law of the former, Wasil Khan, and Hasan Ali, who stood near him--'Karim Khan is a very brave man, whose courage may be always relied on.' He gave Ania eighteen rupees, and told him to change his name, and keep close to Wasil Khan. They retired together; but, while Wasil Khan went to his house, Ania stood on the road unperceived, but near enough to hear Hasan Ali urge the Nawab to have him put to death immediately, as the only chance of keeping the fatal secret. He went off immediately to Wasil Khan, and prevailed upon him to give him leave to go home for that night to see his family, promising to be back the next morning early.

He set out forthwith, but had not been long at home when he learned that Hasan Ali, and another confidential servant of the Nawab, were come in search of him with some troopers. He concealed himself in the roof of his house, and heard them ask his wife and children where he was, saying they wanted his aid in getting out some hyaenas they had traced into their dens in the neighbourhood. They were told that he had gone back to Firozpur, and returned; but were sent back by the Nawab to make a more careful search for him. Before they came, however, he had gone off to his friends Kamruddin and Johari, two brothers who resided in the Rao Raja's territory. To this place he was followed by some Mewatis, whom the Nawab had induced, under the promise of a large reward, to undertake to kill him. One night he went to two acquaintances, Makram and Shahamat, in a neighbouring village, and begged them to send to some English gentleman in Delhi, and solicit for him a pardon, on condition of his disclosing all the circ.u.mstances of Mr. Fraser's murder. They promised to get everything done for him through a friend in the police at Delhi, and set out for that purpose, while Ania returned and concealed himself in the hills.

In six days they came with a paper, purporting to be a promise of pardon from the court of Delhi, and desired Kamr-ud-din to introduce them to Ania. He told them to return to him in three days, and he would do so; but he went off to Ania in the hills, and told him that he did not think these men had really got the papers from the English gentlemen--that they appeared to him to be in the service of the Nawab himself. Ania was, however, introduced to them when they came back, and requested that the paper might be read to him. Seeing through their designs, he again made off to the hills, while they went out in search, they pretended, of a man to read it, but in reality to get some people who were waiting in the neighbourhood to a.s.sist in securing him, and taking him off to the Nawab.

Finding on their return that Ania had escaped, they offered high rewards to the two brothers if they would a.s.sist in tracing him out; and Johari was taken to the Nawab, who offered him a very high reward if he would bring Ania to him, or, at least, take measures to prevent his going to the English gentlemen. This was communicated to Ania, who went through Bharatpur to Bareilly, and from Bareilly to Secunderabad, where he heard, in the beginning of July, that both Karim and the Nawab were to be tried for the murder, and that the judge, Mr. Colvin, had already arrived at Delhi to conduct the trial.

He now determined to go to Delhi and give himself up. On his way he was met by Mr. Simon Fraser's man, who took him to Delhi, when he confessed his share in the crime, became king's evidence at the trial, and gave an interesting narrative of the whole affair.

Two water-carriers, in attempting to draw up the bra.s.s jug of a carpenter, which had fallen into the well the morning after the murder, pulled up the blunderbuss which Karim Khan had thrown into the same well. This was afterwards recognized by Ania, and the man whom he pointed out as having made it for him. Two of the four Gujars, who were mentioned as having visited Karim immediately after the murder, went to Brigadier Fast, who commanded the troops at Delhi, fearing that the native officers of the European civil functionaries might be in the interest of the Nawab, and get them made away with. They told him that Karim Khan seemed to answer the description of the man named in the proclamation as the murderer of Mr. Fraser; and he sent them with a note to the Commissioner, Mr.

Metcalfe, who sent them to the Magistrate, Mr. Fraser, who accompanied them to the place, and secured Karim, with some fragments of important papers. The two Mewatis, who had been sent to a.s.sa.s.sinate Ania, were found, and they confessed the fact: the brother of Ania, Rahmat, was found and he described the difficulty Ania had to escape from the Nawab's people sent to murder him. Rupla, the groom, deposed to all that he had seen during the time he was employed as Karim's groom at Delhi. Several men deposed to having met Karim, and heard him asking after Mr. Fraser a few days before the murder. The two peons, who were with Mr. Fraser when he was shot, deposed to the horse which he rode at the time, and which was found with him.

Karim Khan and the Nawab were both convicted of the crime, sentenced to death, and executed at Delhi, I should mention that suspicion had immediately attached to Karim Khan; he was known for some time to have been lurking about Delhi, on the pretence of purchasing dogs; and it was said that, had the Nawab really wanted dogs, he would not have sent to purchase them by a man whom he admitted to his table, and treated on terms of equality. He was suspected of having been employed on such occasions before--known to be a good shot, and a good rider, who could fire and reload very quickly while his horse was in full gallop, and called in consequence the 'Bharmaru.'[16] His horse, which was found in the stable by the Gujar spies, who had before been in Mr. Fraser's service, answered the description given of the murderer's horse by Mr. Fraser's attendants; and the Nawab was known to cherish feelings of bitter hatred against Mr. Fraser.

The Nawab was executed some time after Karim, on Thursday morning, the 3rd of October, 1835, close outside the north, or Kashmir Gate, leading to the cantonments. He prepared himself for the execution in an extremely rich and beautiful dress of light green, the colour which martyrs wear; but he was made to exchange this, and he then chose one of simple white, and was too conscious of his guilt to urge strongly his claim to wear what dress he liked on such an occasion.

The following corps were drawn up around the gallows, forming three sides of a square: the 1st Regiment of Cavalry, the 20th, 39th, and 69th Regiments of Native Infantry, Major Pew's Light Field Battery, and a strong party of police. On ascending the scaffold, the Nawab manifested symptoms of disgust at the approach to his person of the sweeper, who was to put the rope round his neck;[17] but he soon mastered his feelings, and submitted with a good grace to his fate.

Just as he expired his body made a last turn, and left his face towards the _west_, or the _tomb of his Prophet_, which the Muhammadans of Delhi considered a miracle, indicating that he was a martyr--not as being innocent of the murder, but as being executed for the murder of an unbeliever. Pilgrimages were for some time made to the Nawab's tomb,[18] but I believe they have long since ceased with the short gleam of sympathy that his fate excited. The only people that still recollect him with feelings of kindness are the prost.i.tutes and dancing women of the city of Delhi, among whom most of his revenues were squandered[19] In the same manner was Wazir Ali recollected for many years by the prost.i.tutes and dancing women of Benares, after the ma.s.sacre of Mr. Cherry and all the European gentlemen of that station, save one, Mr. Davis, who bravely defended himself, wife, and children against a host with a hog spear on the top of his house. No European could pa.s.s Benares for twenty years after Wazir Ali's arrest and confinement in the garrison of Fort William, without hearing from the Windows songs in his praise, and in praise of the ma.s.sacre.[20]

It is supposed that the Nawab Faiz Muhammad Khan of Jhajjar was deeply implicated in this murder, though no proof of it could be found. He died soon after the execution of Shams-ud-din, and was succeeded in his fief by his eldest son, Faiz Ali Khan.[21] This fief was bestowed on the father of the deceased, whose name was Najabat Ali Khan, by Lord Lake, on the termination of the war in 1805, for the aid he had given to the retreating army under Colonel Monson.[22]

One circ.u.mstance attending the execution of the Nawab Shams-ud-din seems worthy of remark. The magistrate, Mr. Frascott, desired his crier to go through the city the evening before the execution, and proclaim to the people that those who might wish to be present at the execution were not to encroach upon the line of sentries that would be formed to keep clear an allotted s.p.a.ce round the gallows, nor to carry with them any kind of arms; but the crier, seemingly retaining in his recollection only the words _arms_ and _sentries_, gave out after his 'Oyes, Oyes,'[23] that the sentries had orders to use their arms, and shoot any man, woman, or child that should presume to go outside the wall to look at the execution of the Nawab. No person, in consequence, ventured out till the execution was over, when they went to see the Nawab himself converted into smoke; as the general impression was that as life should leave it, the body was to be blown off into the air by a general discharge of musketry and artillery.

Moghal Beg was acquitted for want of judicial proof of his guilty partic.i.p.ation in the crime.

Notes:

1. The author's remarks concerning military officers refer to officers serving with native regiments, now known as the Indian Army.

Before the inst.i.tution of the reformed police in 1861 the native troops used to be much scattered in detachments, guarding treasuries, and performing other duties since entrusted to the police.

Detachments are now rarely sent out, except on frontier service.

2. Firozpur, the Firozpur-Jhirka of the _I.G._, is now the head- quarters of a sub-collectorate in the Gurgaon district. The three Districts of the Delhi Territories in Sleeman's time seem to have been Delhi, Panipat (= Karnal), and Rohtak, which were under the jurisdiction of the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces. In 1858, after the Mutiny, they were transferred to the Panjab. Since then, many administrative changes have occurred. The latest took place on October 1, 1912, on the occasion of Delhi becoming the official capital of India, instead of Calcutta. The city of Delhi with a small surrounding area, 557 square miles in all, now forms a tiny distinct province, ruled by a Chief Commissioner under the direct orders of the Government of India. The Delhi Division has ceased to exist, and six Districts, namely, Hissar, Rohtak, Karnal, Ambala (Umballa), Gurgaon, and Simla, now const.i.tute the Commissioner's Division of Ambala in the Panjab.