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Tomahawk (1867-1870), 16th April 1870, Edition 1 of 1, Page unpag, No. 154.] LONDON, APRIL 16, 1870. [Price...

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    • A GRIM VANCE FROM THE EAST.
  • Text (4)
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      The Tomahawk. A Saturday Journal Of Sati...

      THE TOMAHAWK . A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . Cbitefc bp & xtt ) UT & l ® eckett . "INVITAT CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRjETERIT . "

      No. 154.] London, April 16, 1870. [Price...

      No . 154 . ] LONDON , APRIL 16 , 1870 . [ Price Twopence .

      A Grim Vance From The East.

      A GRIM VANCE FROM THE EAST .

      At A Time When The Budget Is Looming 1 I...

      At a time when the Budget is looming in the future , when Admiralty clerks are being turned from their rooms to save shillings , and dockyard labourers from their work to save pence , it would be manifestly absurd to ask for justice for anyonewhen said justice would cost more than half-a-crown—or to be very liberal—say a couple of florins . And , this being the case , of course it is utterly ridiculous to ask for justice on behalf of His Highness the Nawab of Bengal—once Prince of Indianow suppliant at the foot of our throne , and always , through good repute and ill repute , the firmest of our friends , the most powerful of our allies—because to do him justice and keep our faith with him would cost the nation millions . Thus , also , is it that we bring England into disgrace , and save our pockets at the expense of our honour ! Before going further it may be as well to enlighten our readers as to the position and claims of Synd Munsoor Ullee Nawab Nazim of Bengal , Behar , and Orissa , for whom we decline so positively to ask for the justice due to him .

      The present Nawab of Bengal is , by descent , ninth Nawab Nazim and Soobahdar of the fair provinces of Bengal , Behar and Orissa , and is a lineal descendant in the sixth degree of the famous Meer Jaffier , the friend and ally of Lord Clive , through whose valuable assistance the battle of Plassy was won , and the foundation of British Rule in India firmly laid . It is a well-known boast of the English , as a nation , that their word is their bond , and that nothing will induce a deviation from the former or an infraction of the latter . We must admit that we have been more than convinced of the justness of our national pride on this all-important and-noble point , and our attempts to wade through the history of our early and even recent transactions in India have satisfied us that our bitterest enemies could not possibly cavil with the equity and justice of our proceedings with reference to the peoples and princes of that vast Dependency . We have executed treaties under solemn invocation to the Almighty to be " For Ever" observed with the Princes of India , which , by unforeseen accidents and oversights on our part , have been violated by us because we were anxious to secure larger profits and dividends to ourselves . Can any objection , possible or otherwise , be offered to so fair ajid open a course of dealing ? We needed money , and we took it ; we made treaties because it was just and expedient that they should be made ; and if our power to do the latter be recognisedthere can be no ,

      question as to our right to take that which our position enabled us , as Trustees and Guardians of Indian Princes in their minority , to lay our hands upon . A maudlin sentiment lias been growing up for some years among us to the effect that Indian Princes ought not to be despoiled . We cannot believe that our noble Government would for a moment endorse such balderdash and absurdity . They have a high and sacred duty to perform ; and in their collective wisdom it appearing to them inconvenient to perpetuate titular Princes , having- already obtained from them the cession of their respective territories and , most important , possessing the might to proclaim with authority that such a course of policy is right , we must express our unmitigated surprise at the temerity of Synd Munsoor Ullee in having presumed to dispute the treatment with which the benign and patriarchal Government of India have favoured him . The Royal Visitor who has left his country and his home to ask for justice at our gates evidently knows nothing of our customs . He has forgotten that there is such a word as "humbug" in the English language . Perhaps he has forgotten it because we studiously avoid printing it in ouf dictionaries . For all that , such a word as " humbug " exists , and is the very foundation of

      the National character . " To seem rather than to be has been our motto from time immemorial . There is not a known nation on this earth that we have not at some time or other tricked and over-reached . It is in our blood . By choice we are Pharisees , by habit we become hypocrites , by birth we ai e " humbugs . " We are full of " cant phrases " about our " English " love of fair play , our National sympathy for the oppressed . That these are cant phrases we can easily prove . Does a man have " fair play " in the church , in the law , in medicine ? Not a bit of it . A young curate is snubbed and passed ovci a score of times to make way for his bishop ' s low-forcheadecl relatives . A young barrister has no chance at the bar without interest—he is quietly overlooked , while fops and lordlings rise to the highest places in the profession . Medicine again ! Let a young doctor think for himself , and he is a marked man for life . Let him propound a theory , and he is regaidecl as a dangerous maniac—let him prove a fact , and he is branded as a quack ! In every other walk of life the practice is the same . Talent goes for nothing . Whatever men may think they allow only expediency to guide their hands and hearts . The John Bull of the Nation would sooner dine with the Devil in blue satin than lunch with a saint in sackcloth and ashes . We boast of our virtue , and yet , as a nation , we are the most vicious of mankind . We prate of our courage , and no cravens can match us in cowardice . We herald forth our justice , and yet our policy is

  • Citation
    • Tomahawk (1867-1870), April 16, 1870, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_16041870/page/3/