The Begum of Bhopal.

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3058, 3 December 1878, Page 1

The Begum of Bhopal.

I ; Her Highness the Begum Shah Jehan of Bhppal has offered erery asssistance in her power to the English in case' of w ( ar breaking out, and her whole forces havi volunteered for ,'serrioe and, expressed* their willingness to proceed anywhere, which, means a great deal when nseet by a native soldier, as most of them, however williig to volunteer for service in their own neighborhood, have.a great dislike to going on foreign service, anf thus standing the chance of leaving their bodies on a far-off soil. -The independent principality of Bhopal is in Central India, on the north btpk of ;river Nerbudda; its area is about 7000 square miles, and it contains a population of 650,000 inhabit tants. This principality was first founded by an Afghan prince, Post Mahomed Khan, about the, year \ ITQD, and his descendant's have held it «ve*iinee.~ The late celebrated Sekiindur Begum wjaii left daughter; her^hosband was a weak oat dissipated ruler, buf.on his death, in , 18^; shfj f>ebame .sole monarch; she abolished the use of the purdah (or stteQn; behind. which, unseen by her subjects, it was the custom of the qaeens ,©f the; country to hear the garbled statements of their, ministers); she appeared always in open durbar, investigated all petitions, and complaints personally, never signed a paper without first perusing its contents, abolished the systenf of farming the revenue, in six years she paid off the public debt, she put a stop to all monopolies of trade, and reorganised her army and forces. Captain Eden, the ■ British resident' at her court, gave her much assistants, but throughout her reign she showed energy, decision, and force of character, cbiribined 1 with.' administrative ability of the highest {po weft" She married her daughter to' the' ctfmmarider*inchief of her,army, an 1 Afghan noble, and during the mutiny, when the principalities >afouad'-JMrvhaa~<«ll mesv-afainst the English, she never broke her faith with them; she punished those who sympathised with the rebelHbn'with the greatest severity, and gave every assistance and help in her power to .English refpgees from Neemuch, Indore.and other places, and she-largely rewarded such of her subjects as helped these unfortunate in the hour of ,thejr peril, andj aided them with supplies of every sort with a liberal liapd.,.,,She wasjnyested with the Order of the S.^ar of India of the highest class, and on her ' death, iii 1868, was aocaaida&Jbg^Jier daughter, the Bigum Shah Jeban, wla is following in her mother's footstaps, and shows all her strength of ibarasiar.- fUm, too, has -an only daughte%K)gaa| she married in 1875, to MeeiJafcmed Ali Khab 1, ttf Afghan Prince. Thi# daughter has received an English education; and will eventually, if she lives, succeed to the musrUd. of. Bhopal, the extent of which the English, after the mutiny, increased by the confiscated, territory of Bairsa, part of the Dhar dominiMsi—Sydney Town and Country Journal..y