Conyers turned eagerly to read what decision had been come to by the
Committee, but the proceedings had come abruptly to an end by George
Barrington's death. A few lines at the close of the pamphlet mentioned
that, being summoned to appear before the Governor-General in Council
at Calcutta, Barrington refused. An armed force was despatched to occupy
Luckerabad, on the approach of which Barrington rode forth to meet them,
attended by a brilliant staff,--with what precise object none knew; but
the sight of a considerable force, drawn up at a distance in what seemed
order of battle, implied at least an intention to resist. Coming on
towards the advanced pickets at a fast gallop, and not slackening
speed when challenged, the men, who were Bengal infantry, fired, and
Barrington fell, pierced by four bullets. He never uttered a word
after, though he lingered on till evening. The force was commanded by
Lieutenant-General Conyers.
There was little more to tell. The Rajah, implicated in the charges
brought against Barrington, and totally unable to defend himself,
despatched a confidential minister, Meer Mozarjah, to Europe to do what
he might by bribery. This unhappy blunder filled the measure of his
ruin, and after a very brief inquiry the Rajah was declared to have
forfeited his throne and all his rights of succession. The Company took
possession of Luckerabad, as a portion of British India, but from a
generous compassion towards the deposed chief, graciously accorded him a
pension of ten thousand rupees a month during his life.
My reader will bear in mind that I have given him this recital, not
as it came before Conyers, distorted by falsehood and disfigured by
misstatements, but have presented the facts as nearly as they might be
derived from a candid examination of all the testimony adduced. Ere I
return to my own tale, I ought to add that Edwardes, discredited and
despised by some, upheld and maintained by others, left Calcutta with
the proceeds of a handsome subscription raised in his behalf. Whether he
went to reside in Europe, or retired to some other part of India, is not
known. He was heard of no more.
As for the Rajah, his efforts still continued to obtain a revision of
the sentence pronounced upon him, and his case was one of those which
newspapers slur over and privy councils try to escape from, leaving to
Time to solve what Justice has no taste for.
But every now and then a Blue-book would appear, headed “East India (the
deposed Rajah of Luckerabad),” while a line in an evening paper would
intimate that the Envoy of Meer Nagheer Assahr had arrived at a certain
West-end hotel to prosecute the suit of his Highness before the Judicial
Committee of the Lords. How pleasantly does a paragraph dispose of a
whole life-load of sorrows and of wrongs that, perhaps, are breaking the
hearts that carry them!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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