m conspiring against him while absent--of
his being at least a Prince, if not the Rajah himself in disguise--were
as far from correct, and as improbable, as were the numerous stories
related of him in the newspapers, many of which had no foundation
whatever, and in no way redounded to his credit.

The subject, however, of so much speculation was generally too much
pleased with his notoriety to care for the means which in some measure
obtained it for him; and I have heard him repeat with great glee some
imaginary anecdote of himself, or laughingly enumerate the various
appellations by which he had been known. Amongst the few words of
English which he could pronounce were those by which he was most
frequently addressed--such as, the Prince, the Ambassador, your Highness,
your Excellency, the Minister, Jung Bahadoor, Jung, or more often "the
Jung." Whilst the appearance of the Coomaranagee Polkas showed an
unusual amount of correct information on the part of the publisher.

Such ignorance might have been expected from the utter indifference
manifested in England towards Indian affairs. The ideas of John Bull
upon the subject are often ludicrous in the extreme, as he finds it
impossible to divest himself of the preconceived notions which he surely
must have been born with when he pertinaciously imagines that all dark-
coloured people have woolly heads and thick lips, and speak the broken
English of the negro; nor has he the slightest conception of the relative
position of great towns in India, or which States are independent; or who
the Nizam is, or if his contingent is not some part of his dress; or
whether the Taj is not the husband of the Begum mentioned in Pendennis.
He has a vague notion that nabobs come from India, and has heard perhaps
of cabobs, but what the difference is, or whether they are not articles
of Indian export usually packed in casks, he has not the most remote
conception. For all the light, therefore, that John Bull could throw
upon the subject of who or what Jung Bahadoor was, besides being the
Nepaulese ambassador, or where the country was that he came to represent,
it might remain a mystery to the present day.

But even supposing the public were better informed on Indian affairs, it
would not be a matter of surprise that they should be under a
misconception as to what Jung's position in his own country might be,
seeing that it is not usual amongst European nations to send their prime
ministers