Page:John Russell Colvin.djvu/44

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JOHN RUSSELL COLVIN

in 1894, because it has been made the rule of practice since 1833, was in hot dispute in 1830. That the young Assistant at Haidarábád, who was still in his twenty-third year, should have obtained a firm grasp of it, is proof to what account he had turned his opportunities among his cronies, the cultivating ryots. Before he left Haidarábád an incident occurred which must have given him no little annoyance. He had received from his chief, the Resident, Mr. Byam Martin, nothing but kindness; he was indirectly to prove the means of causing Mr. Martin's transfer from his charge. Students of Indian history know well the dismal pages devoted to discussion of the claims of Sir William Rumbold and the house of Palmer and Co. It is no part, happily, of this Memoir to recall them. They belong to a class of incident which is only too familiar to those conversant with life in the East. The adventurer who sets himself up in an Oriental state under powerful protection, who hopes to reap a rich harvest from financial dealings with it, and who finds that one needs a long spoon if one is to sup with an Eastern potentate, is as well known in Cairo and in Tunis as in Haidarábád. Some make, some mar their fortunes. Now it is the European who is ejected; now, the Oriental despot. There is Sir William Rumbold, and there is Ismáil Pásha. In the present instance, the Nizám prevailed, and the house of Palmer & Co. was discomfited. It fell, in 1830, with a great crash, bringing with it to the ground many leading firms in Calcutta. From the