It will be deemed a singular fatality, that this last conspicuous act in the political life of the regent should have been on the spot which exactly sixty years before witnessed the opening scene of his career; for the field of Bhatwara[[14]] adjoined that of Mangrol. What visions must have chased each other on this last memorable day, when he recalled the remembrance of the former! when the same sword, which redeemed the independence of Kotah from tributary degradation to Amber, was now drawn against the grandson of that sovereign who rewarded his services with the first office of the State! Had some prophetic Bardai withdrawn the mantle of Bhavani, and disclosed through the vista of threescore years the regent in the foreground, in all the panoply of ingenuous youth “spreading his carpet” at Bhatwara, to review the charge of the Kachhwaha chivalry, and in the distant perspective that same being palsied, blind, and decrepit, leading a mingled host, in character and costume altogether strange, against the grandchildren of his prince, and the [585] descendants of those Haras who nobly seconded him to gain this reputation, what effect would such a prospect have produced on one whom the mere hooting of an owl on the house-top had “scared from his propriety”?
Soon after the satisfactory conclusion of these painful scenes, the regent returned to the Chhaoni, his fixed camp, and projected a tour of the State, to allay the disorders which had crept in, and to regulate afresh the action of the State-machine, the construction of which had occupied a long life, but which could not fail to be deranged by the complicated views which had arisen amongst those whose business was to work it. Often, amidst these conflicts, did he exclaim, with his great prototype both in prosperity and sorrow, “My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.” But Zalim had not the same resources in his griefs that Job had; nor could he with him exclaim, “If my land cry against me, if I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or caused the owners thereof to lose their lives, let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley.”[[15]] His yet vigorous mind, however, soon restored everything to its wonted prosperity; and in a few weeks not a trace was left of the commotions which for a while had totally unhinged society, and threatened to deluge the land with proscription and blood. The prince was reseated on the throne with far greater comforts about him and more certainty of stability than previous to the treaty; the nobles took possession of their estates with not a blade of grass removed, and the ghar-kheti, the home-farms of the Regent, lost none of their productiveness; commerce was unscathed, and public opinion, which had dared loudly to question the moral justice of these proceedings, was conciliated by their conclusion. The regent survived these events five years; his attenuated frame was worn out by a spirit, vigorous to the last pulsation of life, and too strong for the feeble cage which imprisoned it.[[16]]
Character of Zālim Singh.
the world is e’er deceived by ornament;
nor did the princes of Kotah ever appear with such magnificence as when he possessed all the attributes of royalty but the name. Every act evinced his deep skill in the [587] knowledge of the human mind and of the elements by which he was surrounded; he could circumvent the crafty Mahratta, calm or quell the arrogant Rajput, and extort the applause even of the Briton, who is little prone to allow merit in an Asiatic. He was a depository of the prejudices and the pride of his countrymen, both in religious and social life; yet, enigmatical as it must appear, he frequently violated them, though the infraction was so gradual as to be imperceptible except to the few who watched the slow progress of his plans. To such he appeared a compound of the most contradictory elements: lavish and parsimonious, oppressing and protecting; with one hand bestowing diamond aigrettes, with the other taking the tithe of the anchorite’s wallet; one day sequestrating estates and driving into exile the ancient chiefs of the land; the next receiving with open arms some expatriated noble, and supporting him in dignity and affluence, till the receding tide of human affairs rendered such support no longer requisite.