of the great
conqueror Tamerlane, the lineal descendant of the magnanimous Akbar and
of Shah Jehan the magnificent, he ended his days as a common felon, far
from the country of his ancestors, unwept for and unhonoured.

_September 22_.--Lieutenant Hodson, also on the 22nd, took prisoner, at
a place some miles from Delhi, the two eldest sons and the grandson
of the King. These men, more especially the eldest, who was
Commander-in-Chief of the rebel army, had been deeply implicated in the
murders of May 11, had urged on the sepoys and populace in their cruel
deeds, and were present at the terrible massacre of our people which
took place in the Chandni Chauk on that day.

Hodson's orders were precise as to the fate of these blood-thirsty
ruffians, and though his name has been vilified and his reputation
tarnished by so-called humanitarians for the course he adopted in
ridding the world of the miscreants, he was upheld in the deed by the
whole Delhi army, men in every respect better qualified to form a
judgment in this particular than the sentimental beings at home who
denounced with horror this perfectly justifiable act of speedy and
condign punishment.

The three Princes were placed in a _gharee_, or native carriage, and,
guarded by Hodson's native troopers, were conducted towards the city.
Before they entered, the carriage was stopped, and Hodson spoke to his
men of the crimes committed by the prisoners. Then, dismounting from his
horse and opening the door of the _gharee_, he fired two shots from a
Colt's revolver into each of their hearts. After being driven to the
Kotwali, or chief magistrate's house, in the centre of the Chandni
Chauk, on the very spot where our country men and women had suffered
death, the three bodies were stripped save a rag around the loins, and
laid naked on the stone slabs outside the building.

Here I saw them that same afternoon; nor can it be said that I or the
others who viewed the lifeless remains felt any pity in our hearts for
the wretches on whom had fallen a most righteous retribution for their
crimes. The eldest was a strong, well-knit man in the prime of life, the
next somewhat younger, while the third was quite a youth not more than
twenty years of age. Each of the Princes had two small bullet-holes over
the region of the heart, the flesh singed by gunpowder, as the shots
were fired close; a cloth covered part of the loins, but they were
otherwise quite naked. There was a guard,