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gfc ' the earnest opportunity . The treaty was ¦ written in the blank leaves of a Koran , and duly attested by the seals of Eoostum Khan , Nusseeb Khan , and Axi Akbab . Copies of it were sent to Captain Bbown and Major Cxibbokne , who forwarded his own copy to the former . The worsted army impatiently abided their time , and looked out afar for revenge . Their busy intrigues , and the fact that they were stealthily collecting armed men and warlike material , soon reached the ears of Sir Chabxes I ^ afieb . That
impetuous old man instantly decided that they must be plotting against the British Government ; or , rather , he wished that it should so be deemed . Indeed , immediately after his arrival at Sukhur , he wrote to I > ord Exxenboeough that " only a fair pretext was wanted to coerce the Ameers . " He even presumed to insult the ehivalrous Outbim with the remark that " the intrigues of these people are very silly , and Kke a tangled skein of thread ; we can cut the Grordian knot as
Axexandeb did ; we are too strong to take the trouble to untie it . '' In pursuance of these imperial views , he issued a proclamation on the 1 st of December , confiscating a large tract of land on the left bank of the Indus , yielding an annual revenue of upwards of 60 , 000 / ., because the Ameers had proved somewhat restive under the harsh conditions occasionally imposed upon them of late . The forfeited lands belonged to Meeb Eoostitm and the sons of Moobaeuck Khan : Axi Mobab basked in the smiles of the British
commander , and was especially exempted . Soon afterwards , the favoured chief wrote to the latter to claim the pergunnab , or district , of Mahfcela , which , he now said , had been ceded to him on the battle-field of Nownahar . Sir Chabxes , however , was too wily to be thus overreached , and delayed returning a decisive answer . It being known , also , that Captain Pope was instructed to examine the
Koran , as a rumour of a forgery having been committed had gone forth , it became necessary to take preventive measures against detection . In the attempt to alter the Persian words signifying " village of Mahtela" into "• district of Mahtela , " Ac , &c , the first leaf of the document was spoiled , and the tampering with the original became too plain not to attract attention . Axi-Mobad therefore
instructed Peer Ali Gtohub , in whose handwriting the treaty stood , to extract the injured leaf , and insert another in which the proposed interpolations should be fairly introduced . For a time the Peer declined to do ao , and complained to Sheik Axi Hus-•» ei ? t , the Meer ' s Minister , of the insult that had been offered to him . The latter , however , reminded him that he was only a servant , and advised him to execute Axi Mobad ' s orders on obtaining an indemnity for himself . The Meor at once took all the
responsibility of the deed upon himself , and sealed and ratified a paper to that effect , drawn up by the Sheikh . Peeb Axi G-oicttb then committed his share of the fraud , and Captain Pope failed to discover the deception that was practised upon him . But it was not sufficient that the document in the Koran sanctioned Axi Mobad ' a usurpation . It was also necessary that tho copies of tho original treaty should bo destroyed which
were deposited in tho records of the Scinde Office . A bribe of 1000 ? . was therefore offered to one Moideen , Captain Bbown ' s Moonsheo , for'tho abstraction of tho papers . In tho hope of earning the rownrd without incurring tho clangor , Moideen , after a time , assured tho Moor that the box containing tho copies had boon destroyed in tho attack on tho Keaidoncy at Hyderabad . Axi Mobad , however , was not to be so easily outwitted , and refused to pny tho money
until the papers were actually in his possession . The box was then purloined , and the stipulated reward handed over to the dishonest Moonshee . Suspicion indeed fell upon him , and he was for a time placed in confinement , but as the fact could not positively be brought home to him he was again set at liberty , and soon afterwards dismissed . Eventually all these fraudulent transactions came to light through the confessions of Axi Mobad ' s chief instruments , whose expectations of reward had been worthily
disappointed . A commission of inquiry having been appointed , it was clearly proved that his Highness Ali Mobad had gained possession of a district belonging to the British Government by means of a fabricated document . That this shameless imposition has been punished—albeit all too gently , —that Axi Mokad has been compelled to disgorge his ill-gotten plunder—is now made the subject of a grievance , and needy orators declaim with Hibernian assurance , and more than Hibernian inaccuracy and exaggeration , against the tyrannical conduct of the East India Company .
Nor was this Axi Mobad ' s sole offence . ^ Finding himself unable to keep in check the fierce chieftains who yielded nominal allegiance to him as their Rais , Meee Roosttjm Khan had arrived at the conclusion that his wisest course was to proceed to the British camp and place himself at the absolute disposal of the British commander . Sir Chabxes Napier , admitted that he was aware of a
rumour to this effect , and that in order to escape the embarrassment likely to arise from the Ameer ' s presence in his camp , he had advised him to place himself under the protection , and be guided by the advice , of his younger brother , Axi Mobad . Sir Chables added that Roostttm : Khan actually sent him a message deploring his want of power to control the members of his own family , but
the venerable chief positively denied that he had ever forwarded any such communication . However , acting upon the disingenuous suggestion of the English general , Meeb Roostum repaired to Deejee-ke-kote , the baronial residence of Axi Mobad . The consequence was precisely what Sir Ohabxes might have anticipated . The old man was coerced into the surrender of the Turban and the lands
assigned for its maintenance , together with the whole of his private estates . It was alleged , indeed , that the act was purely voluntary , but at a subsequent period Axi Mobad himself acknowledged to Captain Pope that such was not the case : coolly remarking at the same time , " Everything is allowable in political matters . " And his Minister answered one query by another" Who gives lands and sovereignty away voluntarily ? Even Sir Ciiabxes Napieb
deemed it inexpedient on the part of Axi Mobad to act upon this cession of the Turban , and endeavoured to dissuade him from its immediate assumption—adding , however , "but do as you please . " Ho also then sent to Roostum Khan , requesting an interview . This message never reached the unfortunate Ameer . On the contrary , Axi Mobad assiduously agitated his mind with vague terrors with regard to " the Brother of Satan , " and
warned him against placing himself m tho power of the British , who intended to throw him into prison . Is it matter for Burpriso that the dispirited and harassed old man fled into tlic desert in order to escapo tho indignity of a gaol ? Soon afterwards he joined the Aiiieora assemblod at Hyderabad to discuss the draft of tho new treaty proposed by Sir CirAitxics Natieb . Tho Ainoors agreed to accept tho terms they had no power to refuse , but demanded periniHsion to roplaco tho turban on Meek Koobtum's head , otherwise
it would be impossible for them to restrain their wild BeeloosSiee followers . Major OimtAM , though convinced of 'the truth of their statement , and equally so of AxrMobad * s duplicity , had no authority to ^ interfere in . the matter . . It then fell out as the Ameers had predicted . Their fierce followers attacked the Residency , -which Otttbam nobly defended until the prompt arrival of * Sir Chabxes Napieb and his little army of heroes . The victories of Meeanee and Dubha
followed in rapid succession . Scmde was subdued , and Axi Mobad confirmed in fche possession of the Turban . It would be tedious to relate all his other frauds and misdeeds-r-how he maligned his kinsmen to the British Commander , and misrepresented that Commander to his countrymen—how he appropriated to his own use the lands he held in trust for his nephews— - or how for many years he withheld from his starving relatives the pension he was bound to pay unto them . Sir Celabxes Napiek refused to listen to the complaints of the
sufferers , though fully aware of their reasonableness . For a time matters of greater public importance diverted the attention of the Government from the minor oppressions perpetrated in Scinde by the Greneral appointed by the British Crown . Eventually , some sort of redress has been offered for longendured wrongs , and some sort of punishment has beeli awarded to hitherto triumphant crime . This it is of which Axi Mobad complains . This is the grievance which Mr . Butt desired to bring before the British Parliament .
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DOVE AS A CONVERT . Hdbemus confitentenx reum—Dove has confessed , and we have before us the full exposure of a brute after he has been subjected to the process called " religious aid . " Not long since he was the selfish fool and . brute that we see in his evidence . We have his portrait painted by himself , as he lay on the rughalf wishing that the "Wizard could work some spell upon his wife , so as to render her more available , and to make him " happy ;" half wishing that she might be out of the way , and that a more desirable woman would be in
her place ; the strychnine has been put into her medioine—the potion a fair emblem of his own wishes—r-but put in with a vague , bemuzzed confusion of ideas , in which stupidity shielded the murderer from a distinct sense of his own crime ; he has added the stupor of drink to that of nature ; and he lies waiting the event . He was incapable of his own crime . The Bobqia would be libelled by the comparison . He shuts out from his
mindand from that dark , narrow mind all thoughts not centring in self were easily shut outall the disagreeable part of the crime—his intent to kill , or even the agonizing death , of which he had distinctly read . He only wants her to be cured , or killed ; he wants it to happen that she shall die ; but instead of wishing any harm to her why , did not ho marry nor "for love ? " When she does dio ho is astonished .
But then hia grand anxiety is lest thoro should be an inquest . SJie did not wish it , and shall he not consult her wishes ? There is an inquest , and ho is found out . But ho is mad ; his wife made him " ualmppy ; " besides , it ia all the fault of "that bad man Hakkison , " who was always hint
ing so irresistibly about strychnine . He is condemned , ana expects to bo hanged ; and then he writes , a note to " that man" to release him ; failing which , ho writes a second to " Dear Devil , " in hopes , if thoro is a Devil , that that party may fetch him out of gaol , and give him a more jovial remnant of life than ho has had with tho sickly Sabah .
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< ATr « t « T < l ' 6 , S 8560 *«* XEA ^ D ^ B . * m
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 16, 1856, page 783, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2154/page/15/
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