RULER WHO KEPT HIS WORD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22819, 28 August 1937, Page 9 (Supplement)

RULER WHO KEPT HIS WORD

fA REMARKABLE story has been told by the Duke of Portland in the memoirs he has been writing for the Daily Telegraph, London. It is of the Indian state of Nepal, which, lying on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, includes Everest among its proud possessions. Nepal, has waged war with China and with the British Empire. Beaten by our armies, she entered into a treaty which she has faithfully kept for more than a century. Among the bravest of the native troops in the Indian Army are her gallant Ghurkas; among the territory she ceded to us is Simla, but' for whose cool heights British statesmen and administrators would hardly be able to endure the torrid Indian summer. The duke's story concerns the ten-., rible days of the Indian Mutiny, the time of our greatest peril there. The ruler of Nepal was Sir Jung Bahadur, whose own life story might have come straight from the Arabian Nights. During a visit to England he met among many friends there a beautiful lady named Laura Bell, who was afterwards a leader'of religious life in London, with Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone of the company of her helpers. When he,/ returned home Jung Bahadur sent her a magnificent ring, and a letter saying that if ever he could do her a service he would do it if she would send him the ring. The Mutiny /( broke out and a friend of the duke, knowing the story, took the ring and the letter to the India

Office, which sent both to the ruler of Nepal, accompanied by a letter from Laura Bell, reminding him of his pledge and asking him either to take arms for Great Britain or to remain neutral. Resisting all overtures from the rebels, he sent one column of his troops to Britain's aid, and followed with a second of 8000 men, with which he helped our troops at the siege of Lucknow. Apart from the vah.a of his service, his example was decisive. He kept his pledge, and so helped to save the British Empire in India.