whom cast a longing eye towards the
premiership; a man's chance of filling this office not depending upon his
power "to form a ministry," so much as upon his accuracy in taking aim
and his skill in seizing any opportunity offered by his rival of showing
his dexterity in a manner more personal than pleasant. Jung Bahadoor may
well exclaim, "Save me from my brothers!" Already has one of them
attempted his life; but the Minister has learned mercy in England, and,
to the astonishment of every one, Budreenath Sing and his fellow
conspirators are only banished for life. It is said that the minister
resisted all the representations of his friends as to the propriety of
executing the conspirators, by the argument of "What would the 'Times'
say?"--which must have appeared to the majority of the members of the
Nepaul Durbar to be a very extraordinary reason for leniency.

Bum Bahadoor had acted as prime minister during the absence of his
brother in England, and had just learnt to value the possession of power
when the return of the minister put an end to his short-lived greatness,
and he would have sunk at once into comparative insignificance, had not
Jung, who knew enough of human nature to guess the sentiments of a man in
such a position, judiciously gilded the pill by making him Commander-in-
Chief of the Forces.

Grasping the friendly hand of my conductor, in happy ignorance of his
fratricidal intentions, I followed immediately behind the Minister, whose
return to Nepaul, after he had encountered the perils of land and sea,
and paid a visit to the Queen of the greatest country in the world, not
even excepting China, was a matter of so much importance, that the Rajah
himself came from his palace to the spot where we were now assembled, to
meet one who had been favoured with an interview with so mighty a
monarch, and who had in his possession the letter from her majesty of
England to his majesty of Nepaul. We were, therefore, prepared to see
the king seated on a divan, and arrayed in gorgeous attire; but who the
old gentleman was who was sitting with most perfect sang froid next him
on his elevated seat, I was at a loss to conceive. Whoever he was, he
seemed most perfectly at home, and I found on inquiry it was natural he
should be so, for the old man was sitting on his own throne, which had
been usurped by his son, he having been dethroned on the score of
imbecility. Such being the case, why he was allowed to occupy the