Sir Salar Jung, Minister of the Nizam—the child whose inability
to visit the Prince of Wales caused such an official fuss in India the other day—was on Tuesday presented with the freedom of the City, an honour justly voted him, for his conduct in the Mutiny. The address was spoken by the Chamberlain, who apparently does not know much history, and spoke of the Nizam as an independent Prince, whereas he is one of the most strictly dependent Princes in India, his tenure being by treaty dependent on his loyalty to the British Government. He is an important Prince, because his territory is large, and he is the natural head of the Southern Mahommedans, but he is not independent on that account. Sir Saler Jung, of course, caught at the expression, and repeated it, and hoped the "alliance," which had now lasted a century, would last for ever. He expressed his gratitude for the honour done him, praised the Prince of Wales for his courtesy, and took the opportunity to mention, in most honorific terms, his colleagues in the administration of Hydrabad,— certain nobles whose support or hostility is of importance to him. His speech, read by Anglo-Indian eyes, was a model of tact, though, as we have elsewhere intimated, other thoughts of a slightly different kind were probably also present in his mind.
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