DHULEEP SINGH.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1859, 28 February 1889, Page 4

DHULEEP SINGH.

Dhuleep Singh, who is stated in a cablegram to be trying to set on foot another Indian Mutiny, is a disaffected ex-Maharajah of Punjanb. When his father died (1838 or ’39) the principality was in such a demoralised condition that the British Government determined to annex it, one of the conditions being that the young Maharajah should receive £40,000 a year. He afterwards became a Christian, and took up his abode in England and became naturalised. In ’64 he married a Protestant lady, a British subject, at Alexandria. He purchased a handsome estate in England, and lived on it many years, quite in the style of “the fine old English gentleman.” In 1885 he presented a claim on the Government for increase of pension and payment of personal debts—(from which we must infer that this specimen of Lord Salisbury’s “black man” was extremely extravagant)—and to other things to which he considered himself entitled. The claim being disallowed, he': left England in a huff, and was by no means pacified by being refused permission to land in India. Since then he has wandered about the continent, spending much of his time in Russia, talking of “ the wrongs of India,” and trying to interest the Russians ini the subject. The Sikhs mentioned,;; in the cablegram are, substantially, the people of the Punjaub. Thfef are splendid soldiers, as the British found to their cost in a couple of wars, in ’45-’46 and ’4B-’49. Eerozesbad, Aliwal, Sobraon, Chillianwalla, and Gujerat may be remembered by readers of history or historical fiction as the names of places where the British arms were severely tried. The “ Princes ” Dhuleep refers to are independent ; native princes under British protection, who still rule over a large proportion of the great peninsula. There is a good deal of grumbling at the British rule among some sections of the natives of India, but on the other hand other sections see that they are better off than ever they were before.—Exchange.