96
Hyderabad, 11th April 1891.
It would be difficult to find in the whole of India a family more illustrious than the Salar Jung family or one which has suffered so much as the Salar Jung family has at the hands of men who know not or rather will not know "Joseph." The fates as well the powers-that-be seem to have decided against it. The two sons of the great satesman who had for over a quarter of a century occupied a unique position in the Indian political world, died while hopes were yet being formed of them, within a few months of each other—and the name itself of the family might have been buried with them but for a babe that lives in degradation and discomfort to tell of former greatness and raise in the few Salar Jungites that are left faint hopes of future prosperity. The calamity is not calamitous enough in the eyes of some-and they must needs see that the friends of the family are powerless to do any good. The Nawab Imad Nawaz Jung Bahadur Hussan Bin Abdulla who has followed the fortunes of the family for well-high twenty-five years, and whose faithfulness to it and zeal in its behalf are facts that every one here can vouch for, can no longer lift so much as a finger of his to ward off any evil designed or intended against it. Under a very great pressure from the ruling authorities, the Nawab has had to resign his membership of the Salar Jung's estates management Committee. The want of foresight which allowed Busherad Dowlah's administration to have anything to do with the Salar Jung estates management Committee-is being made more and more clear day by day to be sure.
I get such few opportunities of singing the praises of those in power that when I get them I never like to let them slip through. Sometine ago a strong rumour was current in the city that a high official had taken a bribe of Rs. 60,000 from the Begums of the Salar Jung family. Being addressed on the subject by the official, the Begums have written to contradict the rumour. This is an immesely gratifying fact-and I wish to place it on record.
