THE DURBAR OF 1903.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1166, 29 June 1911, Page 11

THE DURBAR OF 1903.

Some interesting details of the Coronation Durbar of 1303, when Edward VII was proclaimed, Emperor of India, are gnen in a book which has just been published in England by the Cruising Company, Ltd., who, by the way, have just j been appointed contractors to a joint , committee of the two Houses of Parliamcnt to arrange for a visit of the mem•lJ ?« n^ x ia tho East in connection with the Durbar. The contractors have chartered the s.s. Ophir, of the Orient Jjine, and are also sending the Dunottar Castle, of the Union-Castle Line. They are preparing a large camp close to tho Delhi Club and the "Ridge," the site wluch they have secured comprising a fine bungalow and twenty-nine acres of ground. The site chosen for the Durbar camp this year is tho same as on the last occasion, tho plain north-west of Delhi, commanded by tho historic "Ridge" on which in the dark days of the mutiny a tiny handful of British troop 3 held out against the revolted city on one hand and a mutinous army on the other. The most striking feature of tho State entry in 15103 was tho procession of elephants. Two huge beasts, like towers, with silver howdahs and jewelled trappings, Carried the Viceroy and the King's brotuer. Tho Viceroy's elephant was tho -property of the Maharajah of Benares, and 'had been','employed by the Maharajah's courtesy for Lord Lytton to rido on at the Proclamation Durbar in 1879, when Queen Victoria assumed the title of Empress of India. The procession was a dream of splendour, much of it strange and barbaric to Western eyes. Tho scene was an impressive prelude to the great event of the Durbar, the Proclamation of tho King-Emperor. The morning was clear and almost cloudless, a real Indian winter morning, all gold and blue- The amphitheatre, shaped like a horseshoe, was planned to hold 15,000 people. Round it ran arcaded galleries of Sarascenic design, in white touched with gold. ■ The sumptuous Vice-Regal dais, with the two silver thrones for the King's representative and tho King's brother, faced the grand entrance, and bohind was a latticed gallery, for the Indian princesses. In the arena a guard of honour of the Gordon Highlanders surroundo.d the Royal Standard, with tho massed bauds of the British and Indian troops, and outside the amphitheatre 40,000 troops were assembled under the command of Lord Kitchener.

At 12.15, with Royal punctuality, appeared the Duke of Connaught, escorted by a squadron of tho 9th Lancers. Then came the Viceroy's procession,, the 4th Dragoon Guards, the Indian cavalry in scarlet uniforms and blue and gold turbans, and the blue, white, and gold of the Guard of Princes, heirs of the .reigning houses of India. As soon a's the Viceroy and the Duke of Connaught wero seated the herald, in his gay and quaint mediaeval garb, read tho Proclamation, and the massed bands crashed out tho first notes of the. National Anthem. The artillery carried on the message with an Imperial salute of 101 guns, and when tho tumult and the shouting had at last died down, the King's representative delivered tho King's message to his Indian people. Then came the homage of the Indian princcs. First, il.o Nizam of Hyderabad, the premier Mohammedan power of India; then the ruler of the large and prosperous Mahratta State of Baroda; the Maharajah of Mysore, who governs tho vast territory in the centre of the peninsula; the Maharajah of Kashmir, who claims as his own that earthly paradise among tho foot-hills of the Himalayas; the Lord of Jaipur, and the strange loveliness of Adaipur, and the great Hindu rulers of Trayancore, Benares, Cochin, and Padiahoa. Tho long array reminded the spectators that moro than one-third of India is still directly mled by its native sovereigns under tho Protectorate of Britain.