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THE PUNJAB CHIEFS' ASSOCIATION

Sirdar PARTAP SINGH, c. s. i.

OF KAPURTHALA

Member of the Imperial Legislative Council

AND

of the Legislative Council of the Punjab

The TRIBUNE PRESS
LAHORE

1911

. -«-

THE PUNJAB CHIEFS' ASSOCIATION.

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VIII.-

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XIII.-

XIV.-

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XVIII.-

XIX.-

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CONTENTS.

-The idea developes into action ....

-Organisation of District Committees

-Revision of the " Punjab Chiefs and Families of
-^ ote ........

-The Provincial Meeting

-Proceedings of the Provincial Meeting and General
Secretary's Inaugural Address ....

-Proceedings continued

-Proceedings concluded ......

-Address to His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor

-His Honour's Reply

-The Association welcomes the Viceroy
-Some details of the Garden Party to His Excellence .
-Association's "Welcome Address to the Viceroy
-The Viceroy's Reply

-Farewell to H. E. Lord Minto
-The Farewell Address to the Vic

■The Viceregal Reply

-Chief Activities

■Concluding Remarks

■Statutes of the Association

-List of the office bearers and members

No. of
Pages.

13—14
15—16

17—24
25—28
29—34
35—40
41—46
47—48
49—50
51—54

DO OO

57—60
61—64

65—67
68—70
71—74
75—79

80-87

FOREWORD.

• » «lArf

More than five years ago while revolving in my mind the scheme
of an Association of the Chief families and representatives of the
aristocracy and old landed nobility of the Punjab, 1 little dreamt of
the amount of whole -hearted and active support that it was destined to
receive. At the outset I had no idea of the eventualities that have
marked its career and the success which its activities have met with.

My object in giving an account of this nourishing institution is
simply to introduce it to circles in which the aims and objects of the
Punjab Chiefs' Association are less favoured, because they are mis-
apprehended and to acquaint those who view it with a friendly eye
more fully with those aims and objects.

It is gratifying to observe that the Association has been favour-
ably commented upon by the press generally with the exception of
a few selfish journals which entertain extreme views on matters politi-
cal and communal.

I am not called upon to philosophize on the necessity of an aristo-
cracy in society in the light of recent conceptions of social science or to
make au attempt at refuting of those who advocate the destruction of
it on the socialistic principle of forking out their penny and pocketing
others' shillings. Their propaganda is well known, having been taken
up in the continental and trans -Atlantic penny press.

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

People who have no stake in a country and win their bread and
notoriety by dipping their pen in the poison of undeserved calumny
and vituperation, may certainly feel ill at ease at the sight of the old
noble families girding up their loins to set their house in order and
lend their support to the maintenance of law and order instead of
patronizing the fell cult of anarchism and terrorism. To them I
have nothing to say. To general public my word is to receive the
institution in a proper spirit and to make proper use of it. Aristocracy
will die a natural death when it will no longer be needed by society.

As in philosophy so in politics there are destructionists as well
as constructionists. And it is the former that has been looked down
and despised in every age. ^ on have amongst you an Aristocracy,
Why not make what you can of it. We have critics sacrificing the
graces who are in time and out of it apt to indugle in crying down an
institution or individual that does not happen to follow the same
line of ideas as thev do. We should have felt thankful, had thev
been good enough to give us suggestions or counsel to guide us.
We have been hopelessly disappointed and have only been greeted
with the vulgar cry ' still the} conic.'

It is my opinion and I have no hesitation in giving it expression,
that there is not an iota of truth in the allegation that the Punjab Chiefs'
Association, or bodies of similar character, arc quasi-Government
institutions inimical to popular interests. Most of us being landed
proprietors and holders of hereditary Ja//irs and muafs have more
interests than one which, broadly speaking, run counter to Govern-
mental interests more or less. In fact, after the ruling princes it is we
who lose or gain by the measures and policy of Government rather
than the irresponsible journalist ruminating over them in his sanctum
sanctorum or the politician in his debating club.

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

The contents of this pamphlet are taken mainly from the records
of our Association. They will show I hope its raison d'etre and the
line of action that it has chosen. With these preparatory remarks I
introduce you to an institution, which though of comparatively recent
origin as regards its constitution, contains among its members some
who represent families as old as the five rivers that give this land
the name it bears, a name of which all are justly proud.

BIKEAM HALL, ) PAETAP SINGH,

Jullundur City ; •
Dated 11th January 1911. ) of Kapurthala.

CHAPTER I.

THE IDEA DEVELOPS INTO ACTION.

The scheme of forming an Association of the Chiefs of the
Punjab had occupied my mind for a long time. Before the beginning
of the winter of 1900, I had made up my mind and wrote a long
letter giving details as to the nature and scope of my scheme. It
appeared in the Civil 8f Milt t cay Gazette in its issue of the 1st
November 190G. The project was hailed by the public press. I
soon got the letter printed separately and sent it to the gentlemen
whom it directlv concerned. That letter ran as follow : —

AN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ARISTOCRACY.

Sir, — I propose in this letter to urge the necessity for the for-
mation and organisation of a body of aristocracy and nobility in this
province. With the view that opinions on the subject may be called
for and the question discussed from all standpoints in the public-
press, I beg to contribute the following views to your journal trusting
you will find room for them.

The first question that presents itself is whether an aristocracy is
a necessarv institution natural and unavoidable or whether is it better

that the modern age should do away with it altogether. It goes
without savins: that the historical evolution of every aristocracv must
have been in the formation of it originally out of a group of selected
human beings, whose natural advantages were perpetuated. If Ave
view the world from the standpoint of natural science and admit that
the universal laws regulating the organic world are also the funda-
mental and governing principles of human social life, then we cannot
hesitate to acknowledge that the institution of an hereditary aristocracy
is not only natural but in some respects even useful in a nation.
Whatever philosophical speculation which does not take account of
actual facts may have to say against the existence of a privileged elas<.
it is absolutely certain that such a class is sure to arise wherever
more than two human beings combine into a permanent union of
interests.

From the start better organized and higher minded than the
masses of the people, such a class will be obliged to practise and
increase its strength and valour continually, as otherwise it could
not resist the encroachments of the people. I>\ this means its
supremacy over the people is maintained. The operation of natural
laws leaves an aristocracy only the alternative of keeping up the
advantage its members have gained over the rest, or of vanishing into
obscurity. They must perform their duties as vanguard and standard-
bearers in every particular. The aristocracy in the Punjab has
always been recognised by Government as middlemen between the
rulers and the ruled. In times of public unrest they have been Pound
a- source of every possible assistance to Government and preservers of
peace and order in their spheres of influence. While, in time of peace
they are looked upon to influence and direct public opinion to the

The Punjab Chiefs' Association,

right path in hard cases of disquietude of the popular mind, and
where law and gibbet failed to dissuade people from committing the
heinous crimes that are cherished by barbarous customs.

There can, therefore, be no doubt that an aristocracy is not only
a source of strength to the people at large but also to the Government
of the land, and it is always recognised as such.

The next question is whether the present aristocracy perform
their duties in every particular, and whether it is not a fact that their
would-be rivals will discover that they have ceased to be the better
race. I do not for a moment mean any offence, nor do I mean to
disparage the good qualities of a few among the aristocracy, but 1
may be excused for remarking that it is far below the standard
it is expected to occupy. The middle classes and the masses
consider them to be dullards and dissipated imbeciles, and therefore
do not reckon them as their leaders of thought and action. I mus'
painfully acknowledge that there is a great deal of truth in this
estimation of them.

The Ciovernment on the other hand takes solicitous care of the
nobility and aristocracy witli a view to maintain their existence and
leaves no stone unturned to ameliorate their condition and strive as
best it can to preserve their distinct entity. The foundation of the
Chiefs' College, the many courts of wards, the rank given in Durbars,
the position allotted to them on all public functions, their nomination
to Legislative Councils, the seeking of their co-operation in all matters
of public importance, clearly prove the benign interest of our
Government in them as a class. Yet the improvement is not satisfactory.
Perhaps the establishment of the recently proposed Girls' School as a
counterpart of the Aitchison College, may assist in giving a new and

The Punjab Chiefs' Association.

healthy complexion to their homes and show better results hereafter.
My own idea is that while one should he thankful to Government
for all it is doing for us, Ave must not lose sight of the principle
that the improvement should begin from within more than from
without.

I need hardly say that as a class the aristocracy cannot improve by
the betterment of a few individual cases without the mutual aid and
co-operation of it as a body and it is. therefore, necessary that the
scattered members of the aristocracy and nobility in the Punjab
should combine and unite in an effort for their amelioration which
cannot fail to be of great utility in all times to the Government and
the public at large.

It is a regrettable circumstance that in all movements in which
the public is concerned and which emanate from the Government
the aristocracy has more or less some share of co-operation, but in
popular movements they are absolutely left in the background, for
the obvious reasons that they are too weak internally to exercise any
influence over the people generally. If the aristocracy were a strong
body imbibing the light and leading of ths age they would \m capable
of exercising healthy influence over the public. I am afraid if their
present degeneracy continues and they do not wake to their sense of
duty, they will be pushed off from their pedestals.

With such ideas in my mind, I beg to propose that an association
be formed composed of members of junior blanches of riding families
hereditary jagirdarb and big zemindars holding large ancestral estates.
It may be said, bv the way, that Ruling Princes have sot their own
spheres of action which are more than enough to keep them fully
occupied. They, therefore, cannot well afford to condescend to work

The Punjab Chiefs Association. 9

for the welfare of the aristocracy in general, and are not expected to
think it worth their while to meddle with the affairs of the British
subjects.

The objects of such an association may be roughly enumerated
as follows : —

1. To see that relations behveen Government and the people
are as they ought to be. It Avill be one of their principal duties and
efforts to get all misunderstandings and misconceptions effaced from
the pnbiic mind, which mere ignorance may have created about an
action or policy of the Government.

2. To discuss public enactments and suggest to the Government
measures useful to the country. To take in confidence the middle
classes and the masses, and represent their interests loyally to the
paternal Government.

3. To improve social intercourse with the rnlers of the realm,
which at present is far from satisfactory. That social intercourse
conduces to mutual good feeling, self-respect and social elevation, and
to the imbibing of those virtues and manly qualities which are the
salient points of the English character, admits of no doubt. It will
be acknowledged on all hands that a great deal is gained by remain-
ing in touch with the ruling race than by keeping aloof. Our object
must be to mix with the ruling race more freely, take part in their
sports and pastime, in their manly games, and we may well hope
that the ruling race will meet us half way.

4. To promote mutual intercourse, fraternize more sincerely and
affectionately instead of the present cold ceremoniousness. Put aside
petty jealousies and increase a healthy tone and esprit lie corpus as a
class.

. — ■ ...fc. — ■«»■

10 77/6" Punjab Chiefs Association.

5. To educate their children to the highest standard, not for the
purposes of Government or State employments only, but also for their
own moral and mental betterment. To equip them for the higher
duties of citizenship and the leadership of the people, and thus impart
a healthy tone to public opinion for guidance and counsel.

(3. To look after their own interests in matters of emoluments,
rank and social position and the better management of their estates
in order to prevent deterioration and decay. And to request the
Government that more facilities be given to the deserving youths of
artistocracv in obtaining appointments in the army and political
departments.

7. To regulate the expenditure of the ceremonials to reasonable
limits and commensurate with their income-.

'$. To eradicate social evils by introducing reforms which
individually they are unable to accomplish.

9. To approach the Government witli the request that in
certain matters concerning the welfare of the estate and prestige of
families under the care of the Court of Wards, the senior members of
the aristocracy in the district be consulted by the Deputy Commissioner,
and that due regard be paid to their sentiments and opinions.

In short, to organize them into a compact body and move in
pari passu with the modern civilization, which the Government is ever
ready to facilitate, and for which it always lends a helping hand.

1 have implicit confidence in the fact that, if the matters be taken
in hand in proper time, a moral, economical and educated aristocracy will
spring up and prove a source of strength to Government in times of
need and of usefulness to the public at large, and at the same time
serve the purpose of middlemen between the riders and the ruled.

The Punjab Chiefs' Association. 11

It is, I presume, the duty of every member of aristocracy to show
by action that we have at least t -ire of serving our benign Govern-
ment loyally and improving the condition of our class. If we show
that such is our real desire, and that ire are forming into a bod? with
the object of serving Government loyally and watching the interests
of our own class, and the public at large, we may well hope to b
the cordial support of Government and the patronage of our pre- I
Lieutentant- Governor whom we can all claim as a friend of our
province, if we are so fortunate as * secure it.

I. therefore, solicit the opinions I - 10 wish to co-work

with me in calling into existence an A-s,„iation of the nature ah

set forth.

PARTAP SINGH.

CHAPTER II.

Organisation of District Committees.

The proposal was welcomed by all concerned ; but for certain
reason, which T need not here mention. T had to wait till about the
middle of the next year before taking action.

I started with establishing District Committees in some of the
districts. Ambala which contains a large number of hereditary
Jagirdars and Ptaises was the first scene of action. In the scorching
heat of May, 1007, I went to Ambala and held a district meeting.
The meeting was attended by some 28 liaises and a District Cum-
mittee was formed. Amritsar, Karnal, Multan and Lndhiana were sub-
sequently visited, and at these places and a few other District Committees
were formed. A long time was taken up by discussion of Statutes
and other details relating to the constitution and line of action to be
adopted by the Association. Draft rules were circulated in the province
and opinions invited. I must acknowledge with heartfelt gratitude
the fraternal spirit with which my brother chiefs responded to my call
on each and every occasion. Our members went up to 100.

CHAPTER III.

Revision of the Punjab Chiefs and Families of Note.

I was thinking of holding a Provincial Meeting of the Association
when the Punjab Government undertook the task of revising the book
known as " Punjab Chiefs." Government being aware of the exist-
ence of the Association condescended to consult it in the matter of
admitting new families to the status of Chiefs and including them
among those whose history Sir Lepel Griffin and Col. Massy had given in
the pages of " Punjab Chiefs and Families of Note." In June 1908
the Punjab Government wrote to the Commissioner of Jullundor
on this subject. The following extracts from that letter are import-
ant : —

" The Lieutenant-Governor would be much obliged if yon could
see and talk to Sardar Partap Singh about the following matter.

2. " We are, as you are aware, bringing out a new edition of the
Punjab Chiefs and Families of Note. In doing so we think of adding
certain families to those included in the existing work, but the question
whether these families should or should not be included is one open to
opinion and the Lieutenant-Governor would be glad to obtain the advice
of the Punjab Chiefs' Association on the subject. "

14 The Puniab Chiefs Association.

A Committee of six members of the Association was formed and
sat on 25th July 1908, and considered every case that Mas referred to

them. It consisted of the following gentlemen : —

The Hon'ble Lieutenant Malik Umar Ilavat Khan Tiwana. c.i.e.

Khan Znlfiqar Ali Khan of Malerkotla, Khan Bahadur Faqir Sved
Qamr-ud-Din, Sardar Bikram Singh, Khan Bahadur Makhduui
Hassan Bakhsh Qureshi, and Partap Singh of Kupurthala.

The Committee prepared a report after their deliberations and
submitted it to the Government. The following reply was received : —

From the Hon'ble Mr. E. D. Maclagau, CM., Chief Secretary to the Government of the
Punjab, to the Hon'ble Sardar Partap Singh, Honoorary Secretary, Punjab Chiefs'
Association, Jullundur, No. 1930, dated Sin, la. the L2th Angual L908.

" Sir, — I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
No. 221, dated 3rd August 1908, reporting the proceeding of a Com-
mittee of the Punjab Chiefs' Association to consider the claims of
certain persons to be included in the " Punjab Chiefs and Families of

Note."

2. "I am to request that the thanks of Government maybe
conveyed to the Committee for their labours and advice and for the
expression of their sentiments. As regards the nam33 to ba included
in the book the Government accepts unreservedly the Committee's
recommendations and is much obliged to the Committee \'^v their help
in enabling it to arrive at a decision in this matter."

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

CHAPTER IV.

The Provincial Meeting.

Everything was ready to hold a large Provincial Meeting of the
Association, and therefore, early in 1909, invitations were issued to all
eligible persons who had already enrolled as members or consented to
join it. Close upon hundred Chiefs gathered together at Lahore to
celebrate the session of the Punjab Chiefs' Association and the pro-
gramme extended over three days, i.e., the 23rd, 24th and ."25th
February 1909. The proceedings were wound up by a Garden Party
in the Shalemar Gardens to meet His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor,
to which a number of local gentlemen and officers of the Civil and
Military was also invited.

His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor very graciously accepted to
become the Patron of the Association, a deputation of whose members
waited on His Honour with an address.

In giving an account of the proceedings of the provincial sessions
of the Association I would like to give some extracts from the columns

The Put/ jab Chiefs Association.

of some Lahore papers than to give a narration in my own words.
The extracts Avill he rather long for which I need not make any apology
to the reader.

The Punjab Chiefs' Association. 17

CHAPTER V.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE PROVINCIAL MEETING.
(lateral Secretary 's Tnaitgural Address.

The Tribune of Lahore in its issue of 27th February 1909 gave
the following account : — ■

PUNJAB CHIEFS' ASSOCIATION.

Inaugural Meeting.

The Punjab Chiefs' Association founded by the Hon ble Sardar
Partab Singh, C. S. L, met at the Chiefs' College, Lahore, on the :2:3rd
February 1909. Between. 00 and 70 Raises attended, among those
present were noticed the following : —

Raja Narinclur Chand, c.s i., of Nadaun, Raja Gajjan Singh of
Nurpur, Raja Balbir Singh of Maukot, Raja Rani Pall, c.s.i., of
Kutlehr, Nawab Fateh Ali Khan, c.i e., Nawab Khuda Bakhsh Khan,
Zamindar, Dewan Narindar Nath, Sardar Bikrani Singh, Sardar Jiwan
Singh, c.s i., Shahzadpur, Sardar Sundar Singh, Majithia, Nawab
Ibrahim Ali Khan, Kunjpuro, Baba Gurbakhsh Singh Bedi of Rawal-
pindi, Sardar Din Muhammad Khan of Dera Ghazi Khan, Tikka Ram

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

Narain Singh of Anandpur, Fakir Syed Qamar-ud-Din, k. b., c.i.e.,
Kanwar Charanjit Singh, Nawab Muhammad All Khan, Sardar
Bahadur Harnam Singh, Raja Fateh Singh of Lahore, Shahzada
Hamdam.

At 10-45 nearly all the Chiefs who had been requested to attend
the meeting were assembled in the main hall of the Aitchison Chiefs'
College. There were present 59 Chiefs and the proceedings commenc-
ed at 1 1 exactly.

The Chairman, Nawab Fateh Ali Khan, c.i.e., in a short and
interesting speech expressed the advantages which would accrue to the
Chiefs generally if the Association was properly worked and earnestly
conducted. He said that the aristocracy in the Province were under
a heavy debt of gratitude to the Hon'ble Sardar Partap Singh, the
originator of the scheme, who after years of unremitting labour and
expense has achieved his remarkable result, He further said that it
behoved the members of the Association to cherish and promote the
interests of this organization.

The Hon. Secretary, the Hon'ble Sardar Partap Singh, then de-
livered his inaugural address which in an eloquent and lucid style traced
the history of the aristocracy of the Province and dealt with the whole
question from the point of view of a statesman and scholar.

THE ADDRESS OF WELCOME.

The following is the address of welcome delivered by the Hon'ble
Sardar Partap Singh, C.S.I., of Kapurthala : —

My Dear Friends, — The duty I have to perform on the present
occasion is to receive you who have come on the inaugural ceremony
of our Punjab Chiefs' Association. I beg to tender you a hearty and

The Punjab Chiefs' Association. 19

sincere welcome. It would be at all times the highest pleasure and
privilege to receive and welcome such distinguished guests who
form the flower of Society.

I find round me a galaxy of nobles whose distinguished persons
would have adorned the court of any Emperor, being representatives
of those families whose ancestors were the architects of their own
fortunes in the latter half of the 18th century. Although now only
territorial magnates, their forefathers once enjoyed full sovereign
powers like our present day ruling princes. I see in this assemblv
representatives of the families with whom the British Government
effected alliances and concluded treaties. There are among the
members of our Association those who represent some of the foremost
missals of the late Sikh period and also scions of families the
members of which led the army of the Lion of the Punjab in
many a sanguinary engagement or administered the provinces of
Sindhia and other Mahratta Kings. Our Association also counts
descendants of those who hailed from Sherman now in Russian
territory and who heralded the invasion of the Durrani forces and
Nadir's sweeping columns. And last but not the least there are
present in this gathering and some on the rolls of this Association
representatives of families who guarded the roads of communication and
thus facilitated the advances of the column of the famous Nicholson
in the dark days of Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, and withont whose co-
operation it would not have been an easy task for the resourceful
John Lawrence to maintain order in the Punjab, then a newly annexed

province.

In short, there are present in this meeting men whose ancestors
were actively engaged in the field, for months, for the suppression of
rebellion in the far off districts of Oudh and U. P. We also have

wm^^t^^m

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

amongst us some chivalrous young men who have themselves clone
brave and heroic deeds outside Indian frontier in the service of their
Sovereign. In a word, I see assembled in this Hall the flower of Indian
chivalry and aristocracy whose part in the past as well as the present
history of the country has been very great and important, Gentlemen,
this is the material that our Association is composed of, and such is
the assembly that I have the honour on the present occasion to tender
welcome and call upon you to formally organise the Punjab Chiefs'
Association.

Let me now change the scene of self-glorification to real business.
I have already in the preliminary letter addressed to you touched upon
the political and social significance of aristocracy. I may be pardoned
to say a few Avords again on this subject, The first matter to consider
in this connection is whether an aristocracy is a necessary and a natural
institution ? It goes without saying that the historical evolution of every
aristocracy in the world must have been in its growth originally out of
a group of selected human beings, whose natural advantages were per-
petuated. If Ave view the world from the standpoint of natural science
and admit that the universal laws regulating the organic world or also
the fundamental and governing principles of human sociological life, Ave
must assert that the institution of an hereditary aristocracy is not only
normal and natural state of thing, but that in some respects is even
useful for a nation ; let the word of speculative philosophy be what it may.
Leaving other countries apart in India, Aristocracy has always existed.
Says Sir LeAvis Tupper : —

" In the Mahratta country Jagirs Avere usually held in a perma-
nent tenure and some of them have become petty States under the
Protectorate."

Sir William Lee-Warner after drawing a parallel between the
Roman and Indian aristocrarcy savs that " otli3r iivicbnte of feudalism
can readily 1)3 traced in India."

Todd confirms the above view. He says : — •

" There is a martial system peculiar to Indian States, so extensive
in its operation as to embrace eveiy object of society. This is so
analogous to ancient feudal system of Europe, that I have not hesitated
to hazard a comparison between them."

The British Government too adhered to the old practice. Instance
the case of Sattara treaty of IS 19 by which the possession within the
territories of the Raj were guaranteed by the British Government.

Gentlemen, the question now is whether it is not our highest duty
to preserve an institution Avhose existence we venture to think is amply
justified. Is it not worth our while to conserve its strength and by
co-operation enhance its usefulness, or to allow it to vanish in oblivion.
I need not dilate on this subject but I wish to state that the Aristocracy
has always occupied the position of the middlemen between the rulers
and the ruled, and have fully demonstrated itself to 1)3 the defenders
of peace and order whenever the occasion has arisen. It would, I am
afraid, tax your patience were I to enumerate the numberless instances
of our aid to the British Government in times of difficulty. History
of the Punjab abounds with' such instances. We are all of us now
conscious of our present condition and let me hope awakened to our
interests, There has not been any lack of sympathy for us in the
minds of our well-wishers.

In 1850 the Government of India wrote as follows in its des-
patch : — -

" The maintenance of a landed aristocracvin India, where it exists,
is a subject of such importance that one may well afford to sacrifice

0 9

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

to it some tiling of system which, while it has increased the independ-
ence and protected the rights of the cultivators of the soil, has led to
the exhaustion or decay of the old nobility."

Sir John Strachev, one of the most farsighted and sympathetic
statesmen that ever came out to India in 1SS4 observed : —

" India is doubtless a country in which it would 1)3 more than
ordinarily foolish to ignore the consideration due to families whose
position and claims may have been recognised for centuries, and which
in the eyes of the people still retain their titles to honour.

Sir Charles Aitchison, one of our ablest and most sympathetic
Provincial Governors on occasion of the laying of the foundation stone
of this very building under the roof of which we are to-day gathered,
in his inaugural address said : —

" From the middle and lower ranks of native society is rising up
year by year an ever-increasing number of candidates for honour in our
educational institutions and for positions of responsibility under the
Government, while those who are the hereditary leaders of the people
are bsin0, elbowed out of the positions which they are naturally expected
by their fellow countrymen to occnpv."

These few observations will suffice to show the degree of the
solicitude on the part of the Government and its members in the
matter of maintenance and betterment of our class whose represen-
tatives I have to-day the honour to address.

Our interests have been neglected for want of combination and
lack of united efforts to husband our resources and energies.

We feel bound, nevertheless, to acknowledge gratefully what the
benign Government has been doing for us. The establishment of a
well ecpiipped Chiefs' College at the capital of the province, the many
Court of Wards, appointment to the list of hereditary Darbaris, enlist-

The Punjab Chiefs Association. 23

ment in the Imperial Cadet Corps, granting Honorary Commissions in
His Majesty's Indian Army and last but not the least the desire to
secure our co-operation in all matters of public importance — these are
some of the gracious gifts to us. Notwithstanding all these favourable
circumstances and encouragements there yet existed an imperative need
of self-help.

These and other cognate circumstances suggested to me the idea
of combining all hitherto scattered components of our class in an
organised body with the object of making their existence more useful,
their influence more effective and their condition better.

Actuated by these sentiments and keeping the political outlook
in view and realizing the necessity of active co-operation with Govern-
ment of a class of people whose interests are peremptorily, entwined
with those of the Government, a little more than two years ago in
190C>, I opened the subject in public press, and also privately addressed
vou gentlemen* to combine in an Association, corresponding with some
in addition to personal conferences with most of you. The proposal
was cheerfullv hailed by those directly concerned. Certain circum-
stances, however, which it is not advisable to mention here, hampered
the speedy progress of the movement. At last my theme began to
show symptoms of realization and what was seemed by some a
visionary's dream presented a fair prospect of taking a solid shape.
The first meeting of the hereditary Reises in this connection was
held at Amballa, one of the greatest aristocratic districts in the Punjab.
Amritsar followed, next Karaal, Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan
followed suit with no less zeal and enthusiasm. I avail myself of
this occasion to express my hearty thanks to the Reises of the said
places, Who most cheerfully responded to the call.

24 The Punjab Chiefs Association

There is hardly any necessity for me to touch upon the con-
stitution and other particulars regarding the status and peculiar features
of the Association, draft rules and statutes of which you will presently
consider. There is only one point which I. feel my duty in particular
to impress upon you and bring home to individual member that the
success of the Association can be insured and patronage of Government
can be enjoyed only so long as Ave remain united, banishing all petty
jealousies and retain a cosmopolitan character within our class as a
Avhole, remain true to our traditions and be bound by our prescribed
constitution.

I fervently hope that a very useful career is in store for us and
am sure that there are great possibilities of our regaining the old
standard of usefulness and influence.

Before concluding, it is my dutv to offer my humble thanks to
the Government of our province for placing every possible facility in
my way in organizing this Association.

I thank you, gentlemen, for the patience with which you have
listened to me and thank you even so much for your responding in
person to my humble call by coming up to join this inaugural meeting
of the Punjab Chiefs1 Association.

Second and third Day's Proceedings.
The last two days were occupied in discussing the Statutes and
rules of the Association. On the 24th at 4-3Q the members waited on
II. II. the Lieutenant-Governor and presented an address in a beautiful
silver casket to which II. II. made suitable reply and accepted the
Patronship of the Association. After the address and reply a photo-
graph of the members with Lieutenant-Governor was taken and the
members were entertained by 11. II. at the Government House at a
garden party.

The Punjab Chiefs1 Association. 25

APPENDIX VI.

Proceeding continued.
TheCivit and Military of 27th February, 1909 wrote

PUNJAB CHIEFS' ASSOCIATION.

INAUGURAL PROCEEDINGS.

A brilliant function — and one pregnant with significant possibilities
for the future — came off in the grounds of Government House,
Lahore, on Wednesday afternoon, when the newly established Punjab
Chiefs' Association presented an address to their patron, the Lieutenant
Governor.

A large number of noblemen from all parts of the province had
come to Lahore for the occasion. On Tuesday and again on
Wednesday they had met at the Chiefs' College to pass the rules and
regulations relating to the working of the Associations and to elect

the president, the vice-presidents, the secretary and other office-bearers
for the next two years. The Tumandars from the wilds and fastnesses
of Dera Ghazi Khan, fine old Sikh Sardars, the territorial magnates
of Manjha and Malwa, the scions of the Mussulman nobility and
aristocracy from all parts of the province, representatives of some of
the best and most ancient Rajput classes — men who trace their
descent far into antiquity, and young men with the bluest of blood
in their veins whom the Aitchison Chiefs' College has enabled to
acquire and assimilate the learning and the culture of the West,
composed the notable assembly whose picturesque dresses invested
the occasion with its typically oriental aspect. There were not a few
amongst this assembly in addressing whose fathers and grandfathers
fifty years ago in a Durbar held in Lahore Lord Canning referred to
them "as ^ whole race of brave and loyal men " — men who had
rendered valuable assistance in retrieving the fortunes of the Empire
in the dark days of the preceding year — (1S57).

The address presented on behalf of the Association was a
document of considerable importance. The views it expressed were
in consonance with the traditions of loyalty Avlnch characterise the
aristocracy and nobility of this province.

In his reply Sir Louis Dane expressed his hearty appreciation of
the efforts made by the natural leaders of the people to assert them-

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

selves and to take the place which is theirs by right as advisers of
Government and as intermediaries and interpreters between the State
and the masses of their fellow-countrvmen.

That the Punjab Chiefs' Association has a great future before it
will not be denied by anyone who knows the Punjab and has some
idea of the hold over the people possessed by men of noble birth and
ancient lineage, Over 130 gentlemen have already joined the As-
sociation and the number is daily on the increase.

Sir Louis Dane in his speech referred in appreciative terms to
the good work done by the llon'ble Sirdar Partap Singh, c. s. i.,
in organising the Association. Worthv son of a worthy father, the
late Kan war Bikrama Singh, c. s. i., who rendered highly meritorious
services to Government, Sardar Partap Singh, a typical aristocrat and
nobleman, is carrying on the loyal traditions of his family.

All the Chiefs were individually presented to Sir Louis Dane.
The members of the Association and the Lieutenant-Governor were
subsequently photographed in a group.

By this time began to arrive the Durban*, the Title-holders, the
Fellows of the University and a select number of European officials,
together with a selection of students from the Aitchison Chiefs'
College who had been invited by the Lieutenant-Governor to be

The Punjab Chiefs' Association.

present at the party. The Police Band discoursed music and the
guests dispersed after spending a pleasant hour and a half in congenial,
friendly intercourse.

The Punjab Chiefs Association. 29

APPENDIX VII.

Proceedings concluded.
The same journal in giving a detailed report of the sitting
wrote : —

PUNJAB CHIEFS' ASSOCIATION.

HOW AND WHY IT CAME INTO BEING.

(From a Correspondent).

The first sitting of the Punjab Chiefs' Association took place at
Lahore on the 23rd February and two succeeding days in the main
hall of the Aitchison Chiefs' College. The origin of the Association
must be fresh in the memory of the public. The Hon'ble Sardar
Partap Singh in November 1906 wrote a detailed letter in the Civil
and Military Gazette in which he expressed his views for starting an
association for the aristocracy and landed gentry in the Punjab. The
zeal and perseverance with which the Sardar has since carried the
movement safely past many rocks and shoals is deserving of credit.

The gathering was representative in its character and imposing in
its appearance. Among those present were noticed Raja Narindar
Chand, c.s.i., of Nadaun, Raja Gaggan Singh of Nnrpur, Raja Ram

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

Pall, c.s.l. , of Kutlehr, Raja Balbir Singh, Mankotia, Diwan Narindar
Nath Bahadur, Nawab Fateh Ali Khan, c.i.e., Sardar Charanjit Singh
of Jullundur, Nawab Khuda Bakhsh Khan Tiwana, Nawab Muhammad
Ali Khan Kazilbash, Fakir Qamr-ud-din, c.i.e., Sardar Jiwan Singh,
c.s.i., Umballa, Sardar Din Muhammad Khan Tumandar, Laghri
Chief, Dera Ghazi Khan, Sardar Bhagwant Singh Bhadauria, Nawab
Ibrahim Ali Khan of Kunjpura, Sardar Raghbir Singh Sindhanwalia,
Sardar Sundar Singh Majithia, Makhdum Hussan Bakhsh Qureshi,
Khan Bahadur, Tikka Ram Narain Singh of Anandpur, Shahzada
Humdum.

The number of those present exceeded GO. The following gentle-
men were appointed office bearers : —

Nawab Behram Khan, c.i.e., Chief of Mazari tribe — President.
Raja Narindar Chand, c.s.i , of Nadaun,

Nawab Fateh Ali Khan, c.i.e., and Sardar Jiwan Singh c.s.i. of
Shahzadpur, Vice-Presidents.

The -Ilon'ble Sardar Partap Singh, c.s.i., of Kapurthala, Honor-
ary General Secretary.

Khan Zulfiqar Ali Khan of Malei'kotla, Honorary Assistant
Secretary.

In the afternoon of the second day, the :24th, a deputation of the
Association waited on the Lieutenant-Governor at Government House,
Lahore. The members of the deputation were introduced by the
Hon'ble Sardar Partap Singh, the" founder of tho Association, who
presented an address on its behalf to Sir Lonis Dane contained in a
beautiful silver casket, After his Honour's reply the members of the
Punjab Chiefs' Association were entertained at a garden party at the
Government House.

The proceedings of this sitting of the Association having bene
brought to a satisfactory conclusion, Sardar Partap Singh and Sardar
Duljit Singh, his brother, entertained the Lahore gentry and civil and
military officers at a garden party at the Shalimar Garden to meet the
Lieutenant-Governor, the Patron and Members of the Punjab Chiefs'
Association.

The following are the names of the members who attended the
Provincial Meeting and were present at the Garden Party given at the
Government ll^use : — ■

KARNAL DISTRICT.
Nawab Ibrahim Ali Khan of Kunjpura.
Sardar Shamsher Singh of Arnauli.
Sardar Gurdit Singh of Shamgarh.

AMBALLA DISTRICT.

Sardar Jiwan Singh, Shahid, c.s.i., of Shahzadpur.

Sardar Jawahar Singh of Mustafabad,

Sardar Bahadur Harnam Singh of Kharar.

Sardar Narain Singh of Nanak Mazra.

Sardar Devinder Singh of Ghanauli.

Sardar Jodhhir Singh do.

Sardar Harinder Singh do.

Sardar Bhagwant Singh.of Bharaili.

Nawab Muhammad Ishaq^Khan^of Kotla Nihang.

Sardar Bahadur Partab Singh of Mianpur.

Sardar Randhir Singh of Bharatgath.

LUDHIANA DISTRICT,

Sardar Bhagwant Singh, Bhadauria.
Shahzada Muhammad Ilumdum,

ii^rr -

The Tunjab Chiefs' Association.

Bhai Arjan Singh of Bagrian.
Sardar Harnam Singh of Bheri.
Sardar Mansa Singh of Lidran.
Rai Inayat Khan of Raikot.
Rai Wali Muhammad Khan of Raikot.

JULLUNDUR DISTRICT.

Sardar Dal jit Singh of Kapurthala.
Sardar Charanjit Singh.
Sardar Balwant Singh of Moran.
Sardar Knldip Singh of Moknndpnr.

HOSHIARPUR DISTRICT.

Tikka Ram Narain Singh of Anandpur.
Sardar Bakhtawar Singh of Kathgarh.
Sardar Harnam Singh of Mnkerian.

KANGRA DISTRICT.

Raja Narinder Chand, c.s.i., of Nadaun.

Raja Ram Pall, c.s.i., of Kutlehr.

Raja Gaggan Singh of Nnrpnr.

Raja Balbir Singh, Mankotia.

Tikka Baldeo Singh of Gnler.

Rai Sahib Chandhri Nahla Singh of Indora.

Mian Rnghnath Singh of Reh.

AMRITSAR DISTRICT.
Sardar Raghbir Singh, Sindhanwalia of Rajasansi,
Hon'ble Sardar Sunder Singh, Majithia.
Sardar Bahadur Arur Singh, Sarbarah, Darbar Sahib.

Sardar Gurbakhsh Singh, Gyani.

Sardar Joginder Singh, Rasulpuria of Aira Estate, Oudh.

Thakar Mahan Chand.

Sardar Bikram Singh.

Sardar Sunder Singh, Ramgarhia.
Sardar Gulzar Singh of Kallian.

LAHORE DISTRICT.
Nawab Eateh Ali Khan, Qizilbash, c.i.e.
Raja Eateh Singh of Shekhnpnra.
Diwan Narindra Nath, Diwan Bahadur.
Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan, Khan Bahadur.
Khan Bahadur Eaqir Syad Qamr-ud-din, c.i.e.
Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Khan of Malerkotla.
Diwan Som Nath, Madan.
Diwan Krishn Kishore.
Bhai Gurdit Singh.
Khan Bahadur Sheikh Na'sir-ud-din.
Bhai Manohar Lai,
Bhai Dan Singh.
Sardar Raza Ali Khan.
Sardar Lyakat Hayat Khan.

RAWALPINDI DISTRICT
Baba Gurbakhsh Singh Bedi.

SHAHPUR DISTRICT.
Nawab Khuda Bakhsh Khan, Tiwana.

JHELUM DISTRICT.
Sardar Hari Singh of Wahali.

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

MULTAN DISTRICT.

Khan Bahadur Makhdum Hassan Bakhsh, Qureshi.

Khan Bahadur Syad Hasan Bakhsh, Gurdezai.

Makhdum Sadr-ud-din Shah, Gilani.

Khan Bahadur Ahmad Yar Khan, Khakwani.

Khan Bahadur Sheikh Riaz Hussain, Qureshi.

Khan Bahadur Mehr Alia Yar Khan.

Pir Ghulam Rasul.

DERA GHAZI KHAN DISTRICT.

Sardar Din Muhammad Khan, Laghari.

The Punjab Chiefs Association. 35

CHAPTER VIII.

ADDRESS TO HIS HONOUR THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR.

The following is the text of the address which the Punjab
Chiefs' Association presented to its patron the Lieutenant-Governor.

H.H. SIR LOUIS WILLTAM DANE,

F.R.C.S., K.C.I.E., C.S I., I.C.S.,

Lieutenant-Governor, Punjab and its Dependencies.

Your Honour,

We, the members of the Punjab Chiefs' Association, have the
honour to approach Your Honour with this humble address, which
act is the first and the most pleasant function of this Association since
its inception. The occasion is, moreover, of great significance, not
only in the life of this infant Association, but in the history of the
development of the Province under the administration of an enlightened
Government, This first formal meeting of the scions of aristocratic
families in the Province with the worthy representative of the King-

The Punjab Chiefs Association

Emperor is an event of great importance and invested with a great
deal of solemnity, inasmuch, as the assembly, which demonstrates the
blessings of peace and order, is rendered feasible only under the
aegis of Paos-Britannica. which has dispelled lawlessness and anarchy
from the soil so rampant in the period preceding it. Is it not a
contrast with the record of so many sanguinary struggles between
our ancestors which the history of our Province relates ? Could the
wildest imagination in those days have pictured to itself the remotest
possibility of a congregation of the descendants of those warriors
engaged in mutual strife assembled now in a body with one mind to
demonstrate their gratitude and appreciate the solid and invaluable
benefits of civilization and peace conferred on them by an alien human
race from the Par West.

The aims and objects of our Association are already known to
Your Honour as well as to the public, and need not b3 detailed
on the present occasion. We deem it, however, advisable to emphasize
the peaceful mission which is the guiding and ruling principle of its
members ; and let us hope the spirit which permeates our Association
will affect the atmosphere around us in the ratio of increase of our
influence as time rolls on. We are not unmindful of the responsible,
serious and delicate role which we feel called upon to play. But,
we hope the immensity of our task will not make us recoil from it.
Now or never must Ave prove that we are worthy of our brilliant part.
The honour of our families, the glorious traditions associated with the
names of our ancestors, encourage us to grapple with seeminglv
insurmountable difficulties in our path by putting forth all that is best
in us. Whatever ill-advised insinuators may say we are unshakable in
our conviction that the sacred cause of the country and the interests of

The Punjab Chiefs' Association. 37

Government are inseparably interwoven, and that service of one is the
service of the other. Time only will show how far instead of mere
eloquent words of loyalty, which is a fashion with some, we shall prove
solid loyalty by deeds.

We cannot allow this occasion to pass without making some
observations on the present state of political affairs in the country.
We view with horror and indignation the dastardly and diabolic deeds
of a class of people who have taken into their heads to substitute
anarchism with its concomitants for a settled Government and
constituted authority. It is gratifying, however, to note that even
among the agitators there is a good proportion of sensible men who
heartily condemn such acts of violence. Tor ourselves, we beg to
assure the Government that our united efforts will be joined with
those of Government in uprooting this poisonous plant which is wholly
extraneous to the soil.

It is true that no one can stem the tide of human progress in
the world, but the doctrine of evolution has proved beyond a shadow
of doubt that prosperity can only be achieved by cultivation of the
arts of peace. A civilized Government like the British cannot be,
and has not been, apathetic to legitimate aspirations of the subject, —
aspirations which the liberal education it has bestowed has produced
and which it has fostered villi a paternal care. A review of past
events and a correct estimate of changes from time to time inaugurated
by the Government will convince the most critical minds that the
Government has not been remiss in steadily and gradually meeting
with the legitimate and reasonable wishes of the aspirants. The
Reform Scheme has been hailed with a [grateful welcome by the
most fastidious of Indian publicists, and we hope that as a body of

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

laiidliolding members and as a class having special interests and
position, as we are, our body will be graciously accorded the privilege
of nominating some of us as members ol the Councils in near future.
It is impossible to overestimate the boon which the Reform Scheme
will confer on the people. We view it as marking a dawn of the
advent of an epoch fraught with beneficence throughout, and let us
hope Ave shall prove worthy of the privileges to be conferred.

Speaking of ourselves in another phase, it is one of the objects
of the Association to promote social intercourse between the ruling
race and Indians We assure Your Honour that our efforts in this
direction will bring the rulers in immediat3 and constant contact with
the ruled, and it is to be hoped that great benefits will flow from a
better mutual understanding and a freer reciprocity of hospitality.

After the above observations, we now come to the vitally im-
portant aspect of our Association, viz., the elevation and regeneration
of our fast decaying class. We are paying the penalty of our
lethargy, and had we not awakened to our interests by organising
the present Association, the inevitable result would have followed,
and we would have irretrievably gone to the wall if not wiped out of
existence ere long. A consciousness of our present condition has
aroused in us a desire to ameliorate it. A promising vista was open
before our eyes, a glorious prospect presented itself to our vision
and we availed ourselves of the opportunities. We are sensible of
the mighty change wrought in the body politic of India by an
intellectual ferment which has almost revolutionized the old order of
things. A cla^s has been called into existence by a liberal university
education, who compete and dispute with the old gentry the privileges

The Punjab thief* Association. 39

won by the sword by our ancestors, which are daily being wrenched
and wrested from our hands. It is with a sense of shame that we
acknowledge we are at present unequally poised in the struggle owing
to our backwardness in a variety of ways. We do not lay the blame
at the door of the Government. We have to thank ourselves for our
indolence in the battle of life. Where cleverness deals with incapacity
energy pitted against quiescence, activity against languor, vitality
against slumber, the consequence cannot but be startling.

We must here put in a word of grateful acknowledgment and
thankful expression for the earnest solicitude and paternal care that
Government has always shown in maintaining and keeping from decay
the nobility and landed gentry in the Province, and has from time to
time shown active sympathy and extended a helping hand in their
preservation and betterment.

It is with a view, therefore, to set our home in order that the
aristocracy and the gentry have risen to the occasion to ameliorate
their condition, by education in all lines to assume the proper
functions which, had they been vigilant enough, would not have fallen
into disuse, to co-operate with the Government in maintaining law
and order, to encourage and promote social intercourse and good
feeling between the rulers and the ruled, and let us hope that Providence
will crown our future useful career with success.

All we desire in the shape of our advancement is achievable by
our own efforts and with the benevolent support of our benign
Government. We now very respectfully crave that Your Honour
may be pleased to honour us by consenting to become the Patron of
our Association, which boon we shall always deem invaluable and shall
ever feel grateful.

40 The Punjab Chiefs' Association.

AVe all thank Your Honour most heartily for the interest you
have evinced in our behalf for the solicitude with which Your
Honour views our endeavours, and we hope, with your fostering care
and guidance, we shall be able to benefit ourselves, serve the country
and the Government

The Punjab Chiefs Association. 41

CHAPTER IX.

HIS HONOUR'S REPLY.

His Honour replied as follows : —

Gentlemen of the Punjab Chiefs' Association, It is always a great
pleasure to meet the Chiefs and landed gentlemen of the Punjab but I
count myself most fortunate in that I am the first Lieutenant-Governor
of the Punjab to receive you all here to-day as an associated body with
definite aims and aspirations.

You refer to your loyalty. That the Punjab Chiefs have always
been loyal goes without saying, and I can assure you that the British
Government has thoroughly appreciated that loyalty and the effect
that the loyalty of the Chiefs and leading men must have before the
peoples of the Punjab. AVe have felt that while we had the Chiefs
with us we could count upon the races from whom we drew some of
our best soldiers and workers in all spheres af public utility.

You recognise that Government has done what it could in the past
to preserve your families and your status and express your gratitude
for what has been done. It is true that we have done our best. AYe
have provided mainly at the expense of Government a splendid school

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

for your boys in the Aitcliison College, and I trust that it -will be one
of the chief aims of your Association to do what you can to further
the interests of that College and to increase its sphere of usefulness.
AVith the assistance of the generous gift of the Phulkian States in
honour of the visit of H.R.H. the Princess of Wales and other sub-
scriptions a school for the daughters of the higher classes in the Punjab
has been started, and I confidently look to your association, to support
the Victoria May School which ought to be as valuable to you in years
*o come as the Aitcliison College. Some of your young men have
gained positions in the Imperial Cadet Corps, and one of the 'dreams
that I cherish most dearly is a desire to see that Cadet Corps develope
into a channel whereby the sons of the Chiefs and Nobles of India may
win their way to a career suited to their genius and worthy of their
past history, whether in the military line or in the general work of the
country after receiving a full training in the excellent school of military
discipline. Your Association can help us in this also. Then Govern-
ment has ever been ready when its finances admitted of this to assist an
old family financially. It has been very tender about enforcing the
conditions for reductions of assignments and has always tried to deal
liberally in such matters, The Court of Wards under the Financial
Commissioner has been the salvation of many an old family, and you
all owe a debt of gratitude to the able and sympathetic men who have
laboured to make the administration of Wards Estates so effective.
Amongst these I would specially mention my freind Sir James Wilson,
who has done so much in this and in other ways for the landowners
of the Punjab. He is now going for a short but well-earned rest,
and I am sure that you will join me in wishing him a pleasant voyage,
a happy stay in the home land and a sjieedy return to us in India.

Thus, gentlemen, has the Government of India, striven to main-
tain your position, rights and privileges, and you may count confidently
in the future on the support of that Government and of all its officers
for any efforts that you may yourselves make to improve your position
and to open out for yourselves careers of greater and more widespread
utility that has been possible for you in the past. It has been said
that an Englishman loves a Lord. It is a true saying in the sense that
democratic as our Institutions are the bulk of us have an inherent
regard and respect for old families which have been handed down from
the earliest days of the origin of our race, whether we be Celts or
Teutons. The feeling naturally leads us to take a special interest in
the old families of the Punjab with whom we are in the strongest
sympathy, and so long as men of those families try to do something
worthy of their history and of their descent so long will they find
ready helpers and well wishers amongst us. We, therefore, warmly
welcome this movement of "self-help on your part.

Now the objects at which your Association aims are those
which have no doubt animated you all as individuals in the past, the
amelioration and the education of your class, co-operation with Govern-
ment in the maintenance of law and order and the encouragement
and promotion of social intercourse and good feeling between all
classes. These are noble aspirations and must meet with the fullest
sympathy of us all.

It may be said, why make any changes and why should not
these aims be furthered by private endeavour as in the past ? I admit
at once that unnecessary change is undesirabe and I fully agree
that private endeavour on these lines as heretofore is most desirable
and even essential. At the same time I can quite understand why

The Piot jab Chiefs Association.

you have thought it necessary to supplement and assist private
endeavour by collective effort and action. There is great truth in
the adage " United you stand : divided you fall," and the application
of many minds to the solution of difficult social and economic problems
makes in the long run for a more correct solution. There are many
ways in which your Association can be of great service to yourselves,
to the province and to Government. Obviously it will place you in
a better position to encourge friendly and social relations amongst
yourselves and between yourselves and other classes and I personally
attach the greatest importance to such relations which clear away
misconceptions and furnish a broad and sound basis for sympthetic and
common action in our common cause — the good of the Punjab and
its peoples. I wish you all success in this branch of your work.
Then there are matters in which consultation and joint action cannot
fail to be of much help to yourselves and Government. You are as
landowners deeply interested in revenue and agricultural questions
and all matters affecting the prosperity of the landwning and
cultivating classes. Your well considered and collective advice will
be of gerat value to Government in dealing with such questions, and
incidentally you will be able to protect your own interests far more
effectively than you can at present by individual action. So, too,
in the matters affecting the education of the young members of
your families and of the land holding classes generally your Association
will be able to speak authoritatively and its opinion will be entitled
to the greatest weight.

It is however on the political side that your joint action may be
most useful. You refer to the reforms which are at present engrossing
the attention of us all. I am glad to see that you welcome these

reforms and this welcome coming from so conservative a body of
men as the Punjab Chiefs is especially gratifying. When the reforms
come into full work your Association will be of the greatest value in
assisting Government in adopting its policy to meet the requirements
of your order. You ash that in the near future you may be allowed
to nominate some of your body as members of the Councils. On
this I can only say that the grant of such a privilege must depend
largely on the growth and vitality of your Association. If it does
grow and forms a truly representative society of the Punjab Chiefs,
as I believe that it will, I can not suppose that its claims to a voice
in the selection of the members of that class in the Legislative
Council will be overlooked.

I wish you all success and accept with much pleasure the honour
which yon have done me in asking me to be your Patron, and I can
assure you that I will do all that I can in reason to assist you in
makino- your Association a credit to the province and one worthy
of the interests of the great and important class which it claims to
represent.

Finally, it is my pleasant duty to voice what I am sure is the
feeling of yon all in thanking your Secretary, Sirdar Partap Singh,
for the part which he has played in bringing about the happy results
which your presence here to-day commemorates. It was no easy
matter to get together so many men with so many apparently con-
flicting interests. That he has succeeded shows how his heart was
in the work and proves that he possesses the qualities of ability,
industry and tact which are essential in carrying through a public
movement of this character. These qualities should enable him to

The Puniab Chiefs' Association.

carry on the work for the future with the same success as he has
achieved in the past.

With Nawab Bahrain Khan, the leader of the Baluchis, as your
President, with Raja Narinder Chand of Nadaun, a hill Rajput of the
Rajputs, Nawab Patch Ali Khan Kazilbash, a leading representative of
the strong western Muhammadan influence in the Province and him-
self a prominent landowner and citizen of Lahore, and Sirdar Jiwan
Singh to represent the great Sikh community which has made the
Punjab famous, as your Vice-Presidents, and with Sirdar Partap Singh
as Secretary. I can confidently predict a career of wise and well-consider-
ed utility for your Association to which I wish God-speed.

CHAPTER X

THE ASSOCIATION WELCOMES THE VICEROY TO THE

PUNJAB.

His Excellency Lord Minto, the Viceroy and Governor- General of
India, visited the Capital of the Punjab in the end of spring 1909g
His Excellency was entertained by the Association at a Garden Party
at the Shalamar Gardens on the 2nd April 1909, to which a large
number of Indian and Europeon ladies and gentlemen was invited.

In connection with this function the Lahore Tribune wrote : —

" The Garden Party at Shalamar Gardens on Friday, the 2nd April
afternoon, in connection with the address of the Punjab Chiefs'
Association was one of the most pleasant functions in connection with
His Excellency the Viceroy's visit to Lahore. The gardens were
adorned in a tasteful style, the rich foliage of nature being beautifully
set off by decorations of art, while hundreds of fountains threw cooling
sprays. Their Excellencies and staff accompanied by the Lieutenant-
Governor and staff were received by the President and members of the
Association at the entrance, and were conducted to the Reception Hall,
the Dogra band playing National Anthem. The address was read by

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

Sardar Partap Singh, c.s.i. General Secretary of the Association, and
was presented in an exquisite silver casket to the Viceroy by the
President, Nawab Bahrain Khan, c.i.e., His Excellency then presented
Faqir Syed Qanir-ud-Din with the insignia of C.I.E. and Kaisar-i-Hind
to Sardar Raza Ali Khan."

CHAPTER XI.

SOME DETAILS OF THE GARDEN PARTY TO HIS

EXCELLENCY.

Address from the Punjab Chiefs' Association.

One of the pleasantest and most sociable functions that the
Viceroy has attendend took place at Shalimar Gardens on Friday after-
noon, when His Excellency received an address from the Punjab
Chiefs' Association to which he replied with a most encouraging
speech — one that will make history as far at any rate as the nobility
of the Punjab is concerned. There was a very large number of guests
present, both European and Indian, and all were delighted with the
kindly hospitality of their genial hosts. The gardens were adorned in
a beautiful style. Hundreds of fountains threw graceful sprays into
the air, and the musical tinkling of the falling water was refreshing
in the extreme. The decorations of the beautiful hall which at the end
of the upper terrace overlooks the lower were delicious. The colours
were few and simple. The overspanning arches were adorned with
cloths of light blue and white of delicate texture which gave one a
pleasing sensation of coolness, while rich rugs were placed around the
throne on which Lord Minto took his seat. In another part of the
gardens shamianas had been erected where tea and other refreshments
were partaken of. Two bands were in attendance, the South Lancashire
Regiment's and the 38th Dogras.'

The Punjab Chiefs' Association.

His Excellency, Lady Minto and staff, accompanied by the
Lieutenant-Governor and staff, were received at the entrance by the
President of the Association, Nawab Bahrain Khan, and the leading
members of the Association.

They were then conducted down the long walk leading to the
reception hall. Halfway the procession came to a halt and His Excel-
lency stood at the salute while the Dogras band played the National
Anthem. Lord Minto then passed down a row of the remaining
members of the Association to whom he bowed in acknowledgment
of their salutations. Lord Minto then took his seat in the reception hall,
and the Chiefs' Association address was read bv Sardar Partab Sinerh
C.S.T., General Secretary of the Association. This was enclosed in a
beautiful silver casket, a handsome specimen of Delhi work, and
handed to the Viceroy by the President. Lord Minto then made his
reply.

A pleasant function afterward took place immediately. His
Excellency presented the aged Fakir Sayid Kamar-ud-Din with the
insignia of CLE., making at the same time a few congratulatory
remarks. The Fakir had to be supported in a standing posture to
receive the honour ; he is of great age, and although a healthy looking
old gentleman is necessarily very feeble. Afterwards the Kaiser-i-
Hind was presented to Sardar Raziallah Khan Qazilbash.

The guests then partook of tea, and later, after the Viceroy and
Lieutenant-Governor and their respective parties had left, the gathering
dispersed. There were some hundreds of guest, but thanks to the
excellent police arrangements there was never any trouble in securino-
the conveyances waiting outside.

CHAPTER XII.

ASSOCIATION'S WELCOME ADDRESS TO THE VICEROY.
The following is the text of the address : —

We, the members of the Punjab Chiefs' Association, are gathered
here this evening to present Your Excellency with an address of
welcome to the Capital of our Province, and Your Excellency's accept-
ance of the same at once honours and exalts us.

It is a fortunate chance that Your Excellency's visit to the Punjab
happens within a few week of the birth of our Association, thus not
only bringing about a most auspicious circumstance, but enabling us
to make known to Your Excellency the aspirations which have led
to its formation, and which we hope will meet with Your Excellency's
approval.

Your Excellency may have read in the newspapers an account
of the formation of our As'aociation. We need not here dilate on the
programme we have planned for ourselves. Suffice it to say that we
have deeply felt the necessity of making audible the voice of a class
which has felt its responsibility towards the Government and the

52 The Punjab Chiefs' Association.

masses. A voice hitherto discordant will now be heard in chorus and
perfect union.

Most of us have watched Your Excellency's masterly steering
of the ship of the State through troubled waters for the last two years,-
and our hearts have been gladdened by the strength and wisdom which
have shown the presence of an iron hand under the velvet glove whose
grip is not meant to strangle freedom but has been able to paralyse
crime and to dispel all lawlessness and disorder from the land.

We assure Your Excellency that no class is more vitally interested
in the maintenance of peace and order than ours, and we stand ready
to help the Government with whatever humble resources we have at our
command. We would fain have refrained from alluding to these
topics and confined ourselves to more agreeable subjects, but the times
require it. We feel it our bounden duty to emphasize that peace
and order are our watchwords and that it shall be our supreme duty to
vindicate and maintain them.

Your Excellency's noble persistence in recommending in the
midst of untoward political circumstances sufficient to cast lesser minds
into despair measures which will more and more associate the people
in the work of Government are proofs of a liberal mind and a
generous heart in which the spirit of a farseeing statesmanship is at
work ; and we trust that when Your Excellency's proposed reform
measures which have been so enthusiastically taken up by Lord Morley
have become an accomplished fact they will belie the pessimistic
forecasts which certain people whom nothing can reconcile are
making.

We must also avail ourselves of this opportunity to express one
grateful feelings to Lady Minto for evincing such a tender solicitude

The Punjab Chiefs' Association. 53

for the welfare and uplifting of Indian Womanhood. It is true that
the task of approaching purdah ladies is fraught with many impedi-
ments, but her ladyship's remarkable tact combined with her courtesy
has won her the love and respect of all with whom she has come in
contact. We wish her ladyship all success in this noble work. Her
ladyship has by her presidency of the Lady Dufferin Fund considerably
increased its scope and its usefulness. To the pilotage of that bene-
ficent work she has added another instituttion, namely, the Nursing
Association, which will ever be the mark of her love of alleviating
human suffering.

Your Excellency, as we have said before, is aware of the aims and
objects of our Association, and we, therefore, deem it superfluous to
give a detailed description of the reasons which prompted us to launch
it into active life. Briefly put we were actuated by an ardent desire
to put our house in order and effect such charges in it as are rendered
indispensable by its environment.

We cannot help mentioning to Your Excellency how our
Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Louis William Dane, has encouraged us in
our work of organisation ; which but for His Honour's encouragement
would have ended in failure, and how he has warmly sympathised
with our aspirations which under his auspices we feel confident are
bound to be realised.

In the end we must express our gratitude to Your Excellency and
your worthy Consort for the honour done to us this evening by Your
Excellency's gracing our garden party with your presence.

The following members of the Association waited on His
Excellency with the Address : —

The Punjab Chiefs' Association.

Nawab Bahrain Khan, c.i.e., Mazari Chief, President of the
Association, Raja Narinder Chand, c.s.i., Chief of Nadaun, Vice-
President, Nawab Pateh Ali Khan, Qazilbash, c.i.e., Arice-President,
Lieutenant the Hon'ble Malik Umar Havat Khan, Tiwana, c.i.e.,
Nawab Khuda Bakhsh Khan, Tiwana, Shahzada Muhammad Hamdam,
Bedi Sujan Singh of Una, Rai Sahib Chaudhri Malha Singh,
Kangra, Mian Rughnath Singha, Kangra, Nawab Ibrahim Ali
Khan, Chief of Kunjpura, Sardar Arjan Singh of Mukerian,
Sardar Charanjit Singh of Kapurthala, Sardar Daljit Singh of
Kapurthala, Sardar Bahadur Harnam Singh, of Ambala, Sardar
Jawahar Singh of Mustafabacl, Bhai Manohar Lai of Lahore, Sardar
Hari Singh of Wahali, Khan Bahadur Makhdum Hassan Bakhsh,
Qureshi, of Multan, Khan Bahadur Mehr Alia Yar Khan, Khan Baha-
dur Sheikh Riaz Hussain, of Multan, Sardar Harnam Singh of Hoshiar-
pur, Sardar Arjan Singh, of Hoshiarpur, Sardar Din Muhammad Khan,
Laghari Chief, of Dera Ghazi Khan, Sardar Mir Muhammad Khan,
Laghari, of Hera Ghazi Khan, Sardar Raghbir Singh, Sindhanwalia of
Rajasansi, Sardar Muhammad Aslam Ilayat Khan of Wah, Rai Wali
Muhammad Khan of Raikot, Khan Bahadur Faqir Syed Qamr-ud-Din,
c.i.e., Bhai Gurdit Singh, Lahore, Bhai Dan Singh of Lahore, Thakur
Maha Chand of Amritsar, Sardar Bikram Singh of Amritsar, Rai Bhawani
Singh of Gurdaspur, Diwan Rajkumar, Darhiwala of Lahore, Diwan Som
Nath, of Lahore, Diwan Krishen Kishore of Lahore, Sardar Mansa Singh,
Ludhiana, Sardar Sunder Singh, of Ramgarhia, Sardar Arur Singh,
Sarbarah, Darbar Sahib of Amritsar, Makhdum Sadr-ud-Din Shah,
Gilani, Multan, Pir Gulam Rasul Shah of Multan, Nawab Muhammad
Ali Khan, Qizilbash, Sardar Raza Ali Khan, Qazilbash, Hon'ble Nawab
Zulfiqar Ali Khan, Hon'ble Assistant General Secretary, the Hon'ble
General Secretary.

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

■)■)

CHAPTER XIII.

The Viceroy's reply to Punjab Chiefs, Association.

The Viceroy then replied : —

" Gentlemen, — I warmly thank yon for the welcome yon have
extended in your address to Lady Minto and myself, but I have also
to thank yon for your hospitality as our hosts in the midst of surround-
ings full of charm and historical interest. You could have chosen no
more beautiful place for to-day's ceremony than the Shalimar Gardens,
an ideal spot for a gathering such as this, inaugurated by the Chiefs
of the Punjab.

" Your Association is I know still in its infancy ; it is not yet a
year old. But youthful as it is I can assure you I have watched its
growth with deep interest, for it has come into existence at a time
when there is much need for the fulfilment of the objects it aims at,
and for which the future promises many useful opportunities. Your
President is Nawab Bahrain Khan, whilst I know how much Sardar
Partab Singh of Jullundur has done to inaugurate your organisation
and to ensure its success. I am also aware that Sir Louis Dane takes a
keen intererst in your progress. So that I feel that the infant As-
sociation has begun its life in careful hands and under good tutelage.

" At the present moment, especially when the air has been so full
of political discussion, together with anxieties as to the peaceful ad-
ministration of the country, it is very encouraging to recognise in your
Association a common effort on the part of those, who are natural leaders

The Punjab Chiefs' Association.

of the people of this Province, and who have the greatest stake in it
prosperity, to unite together in the representation of interests which not
only affect themselves but the population amongst whom they live. You
are the great landowners of the Province and the hereditary leaders as
representatives of the people : you know their daily life and their daily
wants, and it is to you that the Government of India must look for
information and for guidance.

" I am glad that the Sardars have united in one common cause ;
that they have manfully determined to make their voice heard in
support of the Government whose first duty must be the maintenance
of law and order, which alone can ensure the success of the reforms
they have been so anxious to introduce. Gentlemen, I heartily wel-
come the assurance you have to-day given me of your combined assist-
ance, and I know full well that the Government of India will have
no more willing and sufficient co-adjutors in their task of furthering
the highest interests of the people than the nobles and gentlemen of
the Punjab.

" Lady Minto asks me to thank you, gentlemen, for the many
kind words you have so gracefully addressed to her, and to tell you
that it is very encouraging to her to hear from you that her sympathies
for Indian womanhood and the work in which she is so much interest-
ed have been appreciated. Lady Minto and I will carry away with
us very happy recollections of your reception to us in the Shalimar
Gardens, and, gentlemen, I must assure you that it has been very
gratifying to me to find myself surrounded by so many representatives
of some of the finest soldierly races in the Empire, many of them
descendants of men who have over and over again proved themselves
sturdy fighters and gallant gentlemen on many a hard-fought field."

The Punjab Chiefs' Association. 57

CHAPTER XIV.

FAREWELL TO H. E. LORD MINTO.

The members of the Punjab Chiefs' Association presented their
farewell address to His Excellency the Viceroy on the evening of the
3rd of November last at the Ambala Cantonment railway station, where
the Viceregal special was stopped for a short time to enable the Punjab
Chiefs to wait on 1 Lis Excellency and present their address. The
Lieutenant- Governer of the Punjab arrived by the special train from
Patiala at 5-30, bringing with him a large number of members of the
Association who had gone to Patiala for the installation festivities. The
Viceregal train steamed into the station at 0 p. m., and on alighting
from the train His Excellency was received by His Honour the Lieute-
nent- Governer, Patron of the Association, the Hon'ble Nawab Bahrain
Khan, CLE., and the members of the Association, who were presented
by the Honorary Secretary of the Association. Their Excellencies were
then led to silver chairs. On the platform there were also present
General Sir James AVilcocks, Commanding the Northern Army ; Major-
General Sir A. Martin, (whom His Excellency invested with a K.C.B.
immediately before the presentation of the address) ; Colonel Davies,

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

Commissioner of Jullundur ; Colonel Dallas, Commissioner of Delhi,
the Hon. Mr. Eenton, Chief Secretary, Punjab Government, Major
Bayley, Private Secretary to H. H. the Lieutenent-Governor, Major-
General Pilcher, Commanding the Sirhind Brigade, and several other
military Officers ; Mr. Sykes, Deputy Commissioner, Ambala District ;
Major H. Dennys, Depnty Inspector- General of Police, Eastern Range ;
Mr. Goldney, Superintendent of Police and others with a sprinkling of
ladies. The silver casket in which the address was presented to His
Excellency by Nawab Bahrain Khan was of beaten silver mounted on a
small base of ebony. On the lid of the casket was the Punjab shield
in enamel with an inscription on one side of the Box. The address was
read by the Hon. General Secretary.

The following members formed the Deputation : —

Hon'ble Nawab Bahrain Khan Mazari, CLE., President, Raja
Narinder Chand, C. S. I., of Nadaun, Nawab Eateh Ali Khan, C. T. E.,
Lahore, Sardar Jiwan Singh, Shahid, C.S.I., Vice-Presidents; Raja
Eateh Singh of Shekhupura, Hon'ble Lieutenent Malik Ulnar Hyzat Khan
Tiwana, C. I. E., Hon'ble Malik Mubariz Khan Tiwana, Hon'ble Sardar
Sunder Singh Majithia, Nawab Ibrahim Ali Khan of Kunjpura, Sardar
Dal jit Singh of Kapurthala, Sardar Charanjit Singh, Khan Bahadur
Mukhdum Hussan Buksh Qureshi of Multaii, Khan Bahadur Syed
Hussan Bakhsh Gurdezi, Khan Abdul Qadir Khan Baddozai, Sardar
Jawahar Singh of Mustafabad, Sardar Kuldip Singh of Mokundpur,
Khan Bahadur Sheikh Riaz Husain Qureshi of Multan, Khan Bahadur
Mehr Allah Yar Khan of Multan, Mukhdum Sudruddin Shah Gilani, of
Multan, Sardar Drehan Khan Dreshak, Sardar Gulam Hussain Khan,
LuriLund, Sardar Jallab Khan, Gurchani, C. I. E., Sardar Jamal Khan,

The Punjab Chiefs' Association. 59

Laghari and Sardar Muhanimed Massu Khan, Tibbi Lundan, of Dera
Ghazi Khan. Rai Wali Mohammed Khan of Raikot, Sardar Gurdit Singh
of Shamgarh, Sardar Bahadur Partap Singh of Mianpur, Nawab Khuda
Bakhsh Khan Tiwana of Shahpur, Rai Bahadur Sardar Amrik Singh of
Gujranwala, Sardar Jwala Sahai of Amritsar, Rana Basant Singh and
Kanwar Gubardhan Singh of Bhibat, Sardar Bhagwant Singh, Bhadau-
ria, Bhai Arjan Singh of Bagrian, Diwari Daya Kishen, Kaul C. I. E., of
Lahore, Bhai Dan Singh and Bhai Manohar Lai of Lahore, Sardar
Bikram Singh, Sardar Bahadur Arur Singh, Sardar Sunder Singh Ram-
garhia and Sardar Gulzar Singh of Amritsar, Diwan Krishen Kishore of
Lahore, Sardar Mian Anrodh Singh and Sardar Jodhbir Singh of Ambala,
Tikka Sodhi Ram Narain Singh of Anandpur, Sardar Bahadur Harnam
Singh of Kharar, Sardar Mansa Singh of Lidran, Sardar Hari Singh
of Wahali, Jhelum, Hon'ble Sardar Partap Singh of Kapurthala, C S.I.,
Honorary General Secretary and Honb'le Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Khan of
Malerkotla, Assistant Honorary General Secretary.

* A very pleasant social function followed the presentation of the
address and the Viceroy's reply to it when Their Excellencies, His
Honour the Lieutenant-Governer, Major-General Pilcher, Mr. Sykes,
all the European officers and ladies and all the members of the Associa-
tion were the guests of the Hon. Sardar Partab Singh at tea. Light
refreshments were served in the refreshment room which had been
placed at the Sardar's disposal by the Hon. Mr. Burt, Manager,
North-Western Railway. At 7 p. m. the Viceregal train steamed out
of the station after Their Excellencies had wished good-bye to their
host and everybody present. The station was prettily decorated with

* Taken from the report of the special correspondent of the Civil &
Military Gazette of Lahore.

The Punjab Chief* Association.

palms, flowers and hunting, and a British guard-of -honour with band
and colours was drawn upon the platform, and was inspected by His
Excellency immediately after lie had alighted from the train. The
Viceregal train left to the strains of " Auld Lang Syne," and three
cheers for Their Excellencies Lord and Ladv Minto.

CHAPTER XV.

THE FAKE WELL ADDKESS TO THE VICEEOY.

" May it please Your Excellency, — It is at once a pleasing and a
painful duty which brings us, the members of the Punjab Chiefs'
Association, in Your Excellency's august presence to-day. Our
traditions teach us to regard the Ruler as an object of love and
veneration and to do homage to him is in our estimation a religions
duty and its performance fraught with pleasure. But when we are
reminded that Your Excellency will soon be leaving the shores of this
land, over which Your Excellency has ruled so wisely and sympatheti-
cally, and that we are here to-day to bid Yrour Evcellencies farewell,
we cannot but feel the pang which parting brings.

It is natural that on the eve of a Viceroy's relinquishment of the
reins of Government the chief events connected with his rule should
come prominently to mind as they determine the immediate prosperity
and future destiny of the people and while passing in review before
the mind's eye they move one to gratitude, inducing greater loyalty and
more fervid devotion. It has to be admitted, though with profound
regret, that when Yrour Excellency assumed the reins of Government

The Punjab Chiefs Association. .

five years ago, the relations between the rulers and the ruled were far
from being happy. It required a strong hand and a sympathetic heart
to deal with the situation. Your Excellency's broad-minded sympathy,

your soliciltude for the welfare of the people, your attitude towards
their lawful aspirations coupled with firmness in the suppression of
anarchy, violence and sedition, have brought the bark of State safely
through storm and stress to a haven of peace.

" The expansion of the Gouncils and the grant of representation
on them, the credit of the inception and initiation of which scheme
belong mainly to Your Excellency, have to the mass of seekers after
reform brought the assurance that the benign Government is not deaf
to their cry, provided their demands be just and compatible with the
welfare of the country. The noble words with which Your Excellency
welcomed the members of the newly constituted Imperial Legislative
Council, outlining a new policy and a new line of action for the
Government of India, will bear repetition. Your Excellency said : ' We
have had to recognise that British rule must again be re -adapted
to novel conditions — far more novel than any with which our pre-
decessors had to deal, in that political forces unknown to them have
come into existence in India, which it is no longer possible for British
administrators to ignore.' These were words of promise, and the
candour and strength Avhich characterise them, raised hopes and
expectations that doubts and misgivings will soon be dispelled. The
parental interest which Your Excellency evinced in subsequently watch-
ing over the growth of the reformed Councils and the attitude of
conciliation and sympathy assumed by you have fulfilled those expecta-
tions. India further realised those hopes when Your Excellency
appointed the Maharaja of Bobbili to the Executive Council of the

The Pmijab Chiefs Association. 03

Southern Presidency. Your Excellency made it apparent to the
Association that the class of people who have the greatest stake in the
country and who can whole-heartedly exert all the influence of their
birth and position towards the maintenance of law and order, is not
ignored.

" The appointment of the Hon. Mr. S. P. Sinha at the head of
the Legal Department of the Government of India brought home to
all the impartiality with which merit and worth were recognized by
Your Excellency's Government. It is no less a matter of grati-
fication to the Indians that the highest tribunal in the Empire has an
Indian, the Right Hon. Mr. Amir Ali, and the India Council has
amongst its members Messrs. K. G. Gupta and Abbas Ali Beg. Both
these appointments are really an amplification of the Reform Scheme
so nobly conceived and so generously executed by Your Excellency.

" That nothing which concerned the material welfare of the
country escaped Your Excellency's vigilant eye and that Your Excellency
has, with fostering care and solicitude, watched over the interests of all is
amply proved by the measures adopted by you for fighting the plague
and pestilence, for rendering succour and help to the destitute and
needy during times of famine and scarcity, for improving the agricultural
resources of the country by the outlay of an immense amount of money
on irrigation projects, for the resuscitation of the industries and trades
of the country by means of holding Provincial Exhibitions, and for
the dissemination of more useful and practical training by making
larger grants towards education, and establishing scholarships for the
prosecution of studies in foreign countries.

" The people of India have found in Her Excellency Lady Minto's
sojourn in India evidences of a tender and affectionate heart which

G4 The Punjab Chiefs Association.

goes out to all humanity like that of a loving mother. Her Excellency's
solicitude for the betterment and elevation of the gentler sex in India,
her gracious consideration in receiving and returning visits of Indian
ladies and receiving them at purdah parties, her efforts towards
alleviating the sorrows aud sufferings of humanity by taking a keen
interest in the working of the Ladv Dufferin Fund and establishing
the Nursing Association, are womanly virtues which have given Her
Excellency an abiding place in the hearts of all India.

" The memory of Your Excellencies will thus be cherished bv all
Indians with feelings of profound reverence and affection for genera-
tions and will serve to imbue their hearts with sentiments of fervent
loyalty and devotion to the King-Emperor whom you represent. We
now wish Your Excellencies good-bye, and beg to assure you that our
prayer for Your Excellencies' long life and prosperity and the enjoy-
ment of the choicest blessings of God Almighty will follow you over
the seas to your home. We hope and trust that you will kindly bear
in mind the Association which took its birth during Your Yicerovaltv
and which represents the most devoted servants of the Crown. A Ye
beg of you that when you reach England and are received in audience
by the King-Emperor you will graciously convey to His Imperial
Majesty, with our dutiful homage, the assurance that not only have
the sentiments expressed by him on his return to England from India
infused in our hearts the earnest desire to be able, by the grace of
God, to serve him faithfully and loyally to the ends of our lives, but
that by reason of our descent of which we are justly proud, the pre-
servation of our status and protection of our rights and interest by his
Government, Ave consider it our bounden duty to be deeply loyal and
to pray unceasingly for the stability of his throne and his long life.

" We again most humbly wish your Excellencies God-speed."

The Punjab Chiefs' Association. 65

CHAPTER XVI.

THE VICEROY'S REPLY.

His Excellency replied as follows : —

" Gentlemen, — I really cannot thank you sufficiently for your
address, and for the more than kind appreciation you express of the
services I have endeavoured to render to India during the last few
years. You have come to say good-bye to me, and I assure you
nothing could have done more to soften the pang of my farewell to
you than the knowledge that you recognise my friendship towards
yourselves and your people. The last time I received an address from
your Association was in the Shalimar Gardens at Lahore on the 2nd of
April, 1909. Your Association had then been in existence only a few
weeks. On that occasion you told me of the necessity of making
audible the views of a class which has felt its responsibilities towards
the Government and the masses. You assured me that it was ' vitally
interested in the maintenance of peace and order, ' and that it ' stands
ready to help the Government ;' that it was also ' actuated by an ardent
desire to put its house in order and effect such changes in it as are
rendered indispensable by its environment.' I told your deputation in

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

reply that though the Association was then in its infancy, I should
watch its growth with deep interest ; that it had come into existence
at a most opportune moment, when the air was full of political dis-
cussion, and when it was very encouraging to find the natural leaders
of the peoples and those who had the greatest stake in the country
showing a united front in the representation of interests affecting them-
selves, as well as those of the population amongst whom they lived as
hereditary leaders for guidance and support in the maintenance of
* law and order.' The address you have presented to me to-day shows
that during the last year and a half your Association has faithfully
fulfilled its objects and has firmly supported the Government in the
critical times through which we have passed.

" It is very encouraging, too, to hear your appreciation of the
reform schemes as a recognition of lawful aspirations, whilst lending
every assistance in your power towards the suppression of anarchy,
violence and sedition. I hope that the enlarged Councils will give
further opportunities for the expression of opinions on public affairs
by those who have the greatest stake in their country, and who
can do so much to contribute towards its good government. You,
gentlemen, are the representatives of the manly and loyal races of the
Punjab. Upon your strength the Government of India feels that it
can rely. It is to your good sense and knowledge of the every-day
requirements of your countrymen that they must largely look for
assistance. You have alluded, gentlemen, to Lady Minto's solicitude
for the betterment and elevation of the women of India, to her hos-
pitality to purdah ladies, and to her interest in Lady Dufferin's Fund
and the Nursing Association. I thank you on Lady Minto's behalf
for all you have said, and I know that though Ave are leaving India

The Punjab Chiefs Association. 67

she will never lose sight of the urgent necessities and the great possi-
bilities of the work she has done her best to encourage. I again
sincerely thank you, gentlemen, for your address. I will make it my
duty on my return to England to convey to the King-Emperor, not
only your dutiful homage, but the assurance of the loyal services you
are rendering to the British administration, and I shall carry away
with me very warm recollections of our meeting this evening, and of
the farewell tendered to me by my friends of the Punjab."

The Punjab Chiefs' Association.

CHAPTER XVII.

CHIEF ACTIVITIES OF THE ASSOCIATION.

The following extract from the agenda of a meeting of the
Association will throw some light on some of the objects on which the
Association proposes to concentrate its energies as well as the attitude
it has taken up as regards the present day questions : —

1. To put on record the deep sense of gratitude for the
gracious and kind expressions used with respect to the Association,
its Members and the Punjab aristocracy in general, by His Honour the
Lieutenant-Governor and His Excellency the Viceroy in reply to our
address.

2. To place on record an expression of approval of the policy of
firmness to preserve law and order in the land and to extirpate
lawlessness and anarchism.

3. To publish such literature in Vernacular as may neutralize the
poisonous effects of the dangerous publications which are being
circulated and sold by a certain class of people and the press and
also to protect the minds of the people generally and students in
particular.

4. With a view to securing the object expressed in No. 3 to
conduct a periodical.

TIi e Punjab Chiefs' Association, 69

5. To request Government that it may grant lands in the new
canal colonies on easy and specially favourable terms to the members
of old notable families not now in sound financial condition.

A Sub-Committee has been appointed to work out the objects
specified in Resolutions 3 and 4 and every thing is in readiness to
make a start in those directions.

What we propose doing is to watch over the education among
our sons, introduce a system of settlement of certain civil disputes by
panchayats instead of going to law, to have mixed public parties
which bring Europeans and Indians in close social contact and conduce
to promote feelings among the two communities, and last but not
the least to find out means of chastening and moderating the views
and utterances of the vernacular press and to protect the mind of the
rising generation from being contaminated by the political ravings of
the insane extremist.

Volume I of the newly revised official publication of the book
" Punjab Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab" has in its pre-
face the acknowledgment of the service rendered by the Association in
the following words : —

" In the difficult task of deciding which of those applicants (who
applied for the inclusion in the new edition) to admit, Govern-
ment has been materially assisted by a strong and representative
committee of the Punjab Chiefs' Association, to which the Hon'ble
Sirdar Partap Singh, c.s.i., of Jullundur, acted as Secretary. To
him, and to the other members of the Committee, the thanks of
Government are due."

Prom the tone of our addresses presented to His Honour the
Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab and His Excellency the Viceroy

70 The Tun jab Chiefs Association.

and Governor- General of India and from the deeds done quietly and
firmly in behalf of the public welfare our Association has fortunately
acquired a position which not only we but the whole country should
be proud of.

The Punjab Chiefs' Association. 71

CHAPTER XVIII.

CONCLUDING KEMAEKS.

That this Association has been subjected to criticism often of an
unkind and even virulent description need not surprise us. The
aspirations cast on the Association and the attempts that are made at
holding it up to ridicule are acknowledgments on the part of the press
of the fact that the Association is not a thing which may be ignored
and treated with contempt. There is not a party in the world that
would not like to add to its numbers and the Indian Press is no ex-
ception. When suasion and argument fail to win people over, scath-
ing criticism is generally resorted to in the belief that rather than stand
the fire of abuse people will desert their guns and by desertion secure
protection against calumny.

Such tactics are not new, and while their antiquity denudes
them of the charm of novelty it confers upon them the sanction and
authority of usage and precedent.

Let not such criticism, however, lead us to the conclusion that
the Association as a body or the individuals that compose it are looked
upon with the least suspicion or misgiving by the public or even by

72 The Punjab L/iiefs' Association.

those that indulge in old fashioned pleasantries at our expense for the
entertainment of their constituents. Knowing the sources from which
these criticisms well up we need not seriously consider [them. These
criticisms are a trick of — a trade -a paving commodity.

AVe have defined our position. Our position is that we are
vassals of the crown and, as representatives, servants of the public.
This is a position that both the public and the Government recognize.
Tangible facts are more convincing argument than the most abstruse
reasoning and a few are enumerated here in order to bring home to
all the truth of the assertion that the Association in spite of being
adverselv criticised bv some sections is regarded as a bodv worthv of
respect composed of gentlemen who command esteem and confidence.

During the Viceregal visit to Lahore in the spring of 1909, three
deputations waited on His Excellency with addresses of welcome. They
represented respectively the Muhammadans, the Hindus and the Sikhs
of the Province and included the leading members of those important
communities. At the head of each deputation there was a Chief belong-
ing to the Punjab Chiefs' Association. The deputation of the Punjab
Muslims was lead by Nawah Fateh Ali Khan, one of our Vice-
Presidents ; that of the Hindus had Thakur Maha Chand at its head
and Sardar Daljit Singh was the spokesman of the Sikh deputation.

The Association then has every reason to believe that the remarks
levelled against it are not indicating of its having lost the confidence
or esteem of the public.

As regards the Government under whose a?gis the Association
exists and to whose countenance and support the Association is indebted
for being what it is there are certain public pronouncements which
carry conviction to the world at large, and hope and encouragement
to the members of the Association as to its usefulness and its future.

The Punjab Chiefs Association 73

Commenting on the reply of His Excellency Lord Minto a
Lahore daily wrote : —

The Punjab Chiefs' Association came in for some well deserved
compliments from His Excellency the Viceroy on Friday afternoon.
His Excellency, it will be seen from the account elsewhere given,
remarked that he watched the growth of the Association with great
interest — " You are " said His Excellency, " the great landowners
of the Province and the hereditary leaders. As representatives of the
people, you know their daily life and their daily wants and it is to you
that the Government of India must look for information and for
guidance."

The London Times giving an account of our inaugural meeting
wrote : —

" More than a hundred chiefs and hereditary nobles of ancient
family in the Punjab have formed a political association, the object of
which is to support the British Government and defend the immemorial
supremacy of the aristocracy against the disintegrating forces of
unrest ".

Sir Lewis Tupper, the veteran Punjab Civilian, writing on
"Indian Reforms ' in the pages of the "British Empire Review"
referred to our organization in the following words : —

" I am glad to see that in the Province where I rendered all but
six years of my service a pronouncement has been made by a class
which appears to me far more important politically than the section of
the literates just described. If we give the ruling chiefs and the
hereditary leaders of local groups occasion to despise our folly and
curse our rule, there will be risk compared with which the trouble

74 The Punjab Chiefs Association.

arising out of bomb "outrages and recent political assassinations is quite
insignificant.

Written, as this account is, for circulation amongst our own
members it might have been closed without another word. It is not
the conventions of book-writing which compel me to acid the few lines
which follow, but the desire to imbue all alike with a sense of
the duty, which our dual relations enjoin upon us.

To the Government we are bound by ties of devotion and loyalty
as to it we owe the continuance and upholding of our class. To the
public who repose confidence in us we owe it that we shall, whenever
occasion arise, espouse their cause and make their wants known to
those whom our position renders accessible.

We shall from time to time have to perform the function of
intermediaries and intercessors and it is to be hoped fervently that we
shall be granted by God the discernment and wisdom which alone can
make our existence useful.

The Punjab Chiefs Association. 75

CHAPTER XIX.

STATUTES OF THE PUNJAB CHIEFS' ASSOCIATION

I. Title.

I. The Association shall be called the " Punjab Chiefs'
Association/'

II. Objects of the Association.
2. Objects. — The objects of the Association are : —

(a) To promote good feeling between the rulers and the ruled,

and good understanding among all classes of the com-
munity.

(b) To assist the Government in the administration of the

country by all available means.

suggest to the Government measures useful to the
country in general and to the aristocracy of the province
in particular.

(d) /To promote such social intercourse and good feeling

between members of the Association as would create
a healthy tone and esprit de corps among them.

76 The Punjab Chiefs Association.

(<?) To look after the general interests of their class in the
Punjab.

if) To adopt such measures as may be calculated to raise the
position and status and further the interests of the
members individually and collectively,

0) To devise means for the sound and suitable education
of the aristocracy in the province.

TIL — Constitution.

3. Constitution.— The Association shall have a President, three
Vice-Presidents, an Honorary General Secretary and an Honorary or
paid Assistant Secretary. The office bearers Anil hold office for two
years. Permanent rules concerning their appointment will be laid
clown after the expiry of the present term of two years.

IV. — Members.

4. 3Iembership.— A.' (1) All hereditary Parbaries and heads and
members of families holding Jagirs whose names or whose predecessors'
names are mentioned in " Punjab Chiefs" published by authority of
the Punjab Government shall be eligible for membership. (2) Mem-
bers of the junior branches of Ruling Families are also eligible if
they are permanently resident in British territory. (3) Other members
of such families who do not come within the above categories but
who may be elected according to the rules hereinafter mentioned
shall also be eligible for membership.

B. A new member under (3) shall be proposed and seconded
at meeting of the Council, and after securing a majority of votes shall
be declared elected provided he has signed an application form counter-
signed by two existing members of the Association.

C. Every member shall have to pay Rs. 50 as admission fee
and Rs. 60 as annual fee and shall have to undertake to pay such other
subscriptions which may be hereafter fixed, and abide by such rules
and bye-laws as the Association may prescribe from time to time.

5. Expulsion. — Any member of the Association who has by
his conduct and public behaviour rendered himself unfit to continue
as a member of the Association, shall be liable to be expelled. He
will first be called upon at a meeting to clear his conduct and his
name shall be removed from the rolls of members by f- votes of the
members present at the next meeting if he fails to exonerate himself.

V. — Meetings of the Association.

6. General Meeting. — General meeting of the Association shall
be called by the General Secretary three times a year, a notice of
which shall be given to all members a month before the date fixed,
and that of an extraordinary will be issued 10 clays before. Ex-
traordinary and emergent meetings will be called by the General
Secretary with the consent of the President or a Vice-President
resident at head-quarters.

7. Every member shall be bound to attend at least one meeting
in a year.

8. Accounts and Budget. — Accounts of the outgoing years will
be rendered and budget for the forthcoming year will be presented
every year in the month of March.

9. Quorum. — Twelve will be the quorum of a meeting.

10. Sub-Committees, etc. — The Association shall have power to
appoint a Sub-Committee to report on or consider any particular

78 The Punjab Chiefs Association.

matters, and also to nominate or appoint from among the members
some to form a deputation for any special object or to memorialize
the Government on important matters within the objects of the
Association.

VI. — General,

11. All the matters considered to promote or accomplish the
aims and objects of the Association shall first have to be discussed
and adopted at a general meeting.

12. Head- Quarters. — The head-quaters of the Association shall
be at Lahore. The office of the Association shall be where the General
Secretary resides until the Association gets its own building. Place of
the meetings of the Association shall be at its he ad -quarters.

13. Suggestions bg Members. — Any member of the Association
shall be entitled to make any suggestions in writing to the Association
through the General Secretary, which must reach him in time to be
included in the Agenda.

14. No matter other than those in the agenda shall be brought
before a meeting. — No matter other than those on the agenda shall be
brought before a meeting. The said agenda shall be sent to the
members as early as possible before the date and time of the meeting.

15. Chairman. — The President and in his absence a Vice-Pre-
sident and in the absence of a Vice-President a member, elected by
other members present, shall preside over the sittings of a meeting.

16. Casting vote. — The Chairman shall have a casting vote.

17. General procedure. — General procedure practised to conduct
public meetings shall be observed at all meetings of Association.

Tit e Punjab Chiefs' Association. 79

18. Rules to be made by the Association. — The Association may
from time to time make such rules and bye -laws consistent with the
spirit of the objects of the Association, regarding the conduct of the
business of the Association as may be deemed advisable.

19. Rules to be amended by the Association. — The Association
may from time to time modify, amend, or repeal any of the rules
and bye -laws made by it by a § majority.

20. Custody of the property. — The property at present owned by
the Association or hereafter acquired shall vest in the Association as
a body corporate, and shall remain in the custody of the General
Secretary who will have power to sign cheques or documents on be-
half of the Association. The General Secretary will have power to
get the Association registered as a joint stock concern," under the
law applying to such bodies.

21. Secretary the representative of the Association. — The Secretary
shall represent the Association in suits by or for the Association.

CHAPTER XX.

LIST OF OFFICE BEAREES AND MEMBEES OF THE ASSOCIATION.

Patron.

His Honour Sir William Louis Dane, k.c.i.e., c.s.i , Lieutenant-
Governor of the Punjab and its Dependencies,

First Term.

President.
The Hon'ble Nawab Bahrain Khan, c.i.e., Mazari Chief, member
of the Punjab Legislative Council.

Vice-Presiden ts.
Raja Narinder Chand, c.s.i., of Nadaun.

Nawab Fateh Ali Khan Qizilbash, c.i.e., of Lahore.

Sardar Jiwan Singh, Shahid, c.s.i., of Shahzadpur.

Honorary General Secretary, The Hon'ble Sirdar Partap Singh,
c.s.i., of Kuparthala, Additional Member of the Imperial Legislative
Council and a member of the Legislative Council, Punjab,

The Punjab Chiefs' Association. 81

Assistant Hony. General Secretary, The Hon'ble Nawab Zulfiqar
Ali Klian of Malerkotla, Additional Member of the Imperial Legislative
Council.

Members.

KARNAL DISTRICT.

Nawab Ibrahim Ali Khan of Kunjpura.
Sardar Shamsher Singh of Arnauli.
Nawab Rustam Ali Khan, Mandal.
Sardar Sheo Narain Singh, Shahabad.
Sardar Ujjal Singh, Dhanaura,
Sardar Jwala Singh, Jharauli.
Sardar Gurdit Singh, Shamgarh.
Nawabzada Umardaraz Ali Khan, Mandal.
Sardar Fateh Singh, Goda.

AMBALLA DISTRICT.

Sardar Jiwan Singh Shahid, c.s.i., of Shahzadpur.
Sardar Devinder Singh, Ghanauli.
Sardar Jawahar Singh, Mustafabad.
Sardar Bahadur Partap Singh, Mianpur.
Sardar Bahadur Alum Jan, Kotla Nihang.
Sardar Mian Anrodh Singh, Ramgarh.
Sardar Bhagwant Singh, Bharaili.
Sardar Bahadur Harnam Singh, Kharar.
Rana Basant Singh, Bhibat.
Kanwar Gobardhan Singh, Bhibat.
Sardar Bichittar Singh, Sardaheri.
Sardar Shib Narain Singh, Ghanauli.

82 The Punjab Chiefs' Association.

Sarclar Randhir Singh, Bharatgarh.
Sarclar Harindar Singh, Ghanauli.
Sarclar Juclhbir Singh Ghanauli.
Sarclar Bhola Singh, Kandhulan.
Sarclar Narain Singh, Nanak Mazra,
Sardar Jagpat Singh, Saidpura.
Sardar Ram Singh, Dhen.
Sarclar Bakhtawar Singh, Dhen.
Sarclar Shamsher Singh, Dukhri.
Sardar Ganga Singh, Sill.
Sardar Partab Singh Sill.
Sardar Kazura Singh, Saclhaura.
Sardar Narayan Singh, Saclhaura.
Sarclar Maha Singh, Sadhaura.

LUDHIANA DISTRICT.

Sardar Bhagwant Singh, Bhadauria.
Sardar Baclan Singh, c.s.i., of Malaud.
Shahzacla Muhammad Hamdam, Saddozai«
Bhai Arjan Singh of Bagrian.
Sardar Raghbir Singh, of Lidran.
Rai Wali Muhammad Khan of Raikot.
Sarclar Harnam Singh of Bheri.
Rai Inayat Khan of Raikot.
Sardar Sunder Singh of Pakkoki.
Sardar Mansa Singh of Lidran.

JULLUNDUR DISTRICT.
Hon'ble Sarclar Partap Singh, c.s.i., of Kapurthala.
Sardar Charnjit of Kapurthala.

Sardar Daljit Singh of Kapurthala.
Sardar Balwant Singh of Moran.
Sardar Knldip Singh of Nakundpur.

HOSHIARPUR DISTRICT.

Raja Raglumath Singh of Jaswan.

Tikka Sodhi Ram Narain Singh of Anandpnr.

Bedi Snjan Singh of Una.

Mian Uclham Singh of Pirthipur.

Sardar Bakhtawar Singh of Kathgarh.

Rana Lehna Singh of Manawal.

Sardar Harnam Singh of Mukerian.

Rai Hira Chand of Bhihanr.

Sodhi Narindar Singh of Anandpnr.

Sardar Arjan Singh of Mukerian.

KANGRA DISTRICT.

Major Raja Jai Chand, c.i.e., of Lambagraon.

Raja Narinder Chand, c.s.i., of Nadaun.

Raja Gaggan Singh of Nurpur.

Tikka Baldeo Singh of Guler.

Tikka Rajinder Pal of Kutlehr.

Rai Megh Singh of Kullu.

Raja Attar Singh of Tilokpur.

Raja Balbir Singh, Mankotia.

Mian Amar Singh, Finance Minister, Keonthal State.

Rai Sahib Barar Pal of Bir.

Rai Sahib Chauclhari Malha Singh of Indora.

Mian Devi Chand of Bijapur.

Mian Rughnath Singh of Reh.

Mian Amir Singh of Tilokpnr.

Mian Jagrnp Chanel of Lambagraon.

LAHORE DISTRICT.

Raja Fateh Singh of Sheklmpnra.

Nawab Fateh Ali Khan Qazilbash, c.i.e.

Diwan Bahadur Diwan Narindra Nath, m.a., Deputy Com-
missioner.

Khan Sahib Faqir Syad Zaffar-ud-Din, Deputy Supdt,, Police.

Diwan Krishn Kishore, Darhiwala.

Hon'ble Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Khan of Malerkotla, Chief Minister,
Patiala State.

Diwan Som Nath Madan, B. Sc, Extra Assistant Commissioner.

Khan Bahrdur Sheikh Nasir-ud-Din, District Judge.

Faqir Syed Jalal-ud-Din, Extra Assistant Commissioner.

Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan Qazilbash, Khan Bahadur.

Bhai Manohar Lai.

Bhai Dan Singh.

Diwan Daya Kishen Kaul, b. a., c. i. e., Chief Minister, Alwar

State.

Sardar Raza Ali Khan Qazilbash, k. h.

Faqir Syad Iftikhar-ud-Din, c.i.e., Settlement Officer.

Diwan Harnam Dass.

Diwan Radha Nath.

AMRITSAR DISTRICT.

Sardar Raghbir Singh, Sindhanwalia of Rajasansi.
Hon'ble Sardar Sundar Singh Majithia, Sardar Bahadur, Member,
Punjab Legislative Council.

The Punjab Chiefs' Association. 85

Sardar Gulzar Singh of Kallian.

Sardar Sundar Singh Ramgarhia.

Bhai Gnrbahhsh Singh, Gyani, b.a., Barrister-at-Law.

Sardar Arur Singh, Sardar Bahadur, Naushahria, Sarbarah of
Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple).

Sardar Joginder Singh of Rasulpur and Aira Estate, Ondh,
Minister, Patiala State.

Sardar Sant Singh of Rasulpur.

Thakur Maha Chand.

Sardar Bikram Singh, m.a.

Sardar Jawala Sahai, District Judge.

Sardar Bija Singh, Majithia.

Sardar Bishan Singh, Majithia.

Sardar Nihal Singh of Kot Syed Muhammad.

Sardar Sant Singh of Manawala.

Sardar Chain Singh of Hirapur.

Sardar Gurdit Singh, Tija.

Sardar Sant Singh of Rasulpur.

Sardar Chanda Singh of Attari.

Sardar Harnam Singh, Aimawala.

Sardar Thakur Singh, Bhangi.

Sardar Jawahar Singh, Sidhu.

Sardar Har Bakhsh Singh.

Sardar Hakim Singh.

Sardar Mahtab Singh.

GURDASPUR DISTRICT.

Thakur Harkishan Singh, of Kishankot.
Rai Bhawani Singh, m.a., of Batala.

86 The Punjab Chiefs' Association.

MONTGOMERY DISTRICT.

Bhai Uttam Singh, Bedi of Basirpur.

GUJRANWALA DISTRICT.

Rai Baliadur Diwan Amar Nath, Chief Minister, Jammu and
Kashmir.

Rai Bahadur Sardar Amrik Singh.

RAWALPINDI DISTRICT.

Baba Gurbakhsh Singh, Bedi, of Kallar.

Sardar Muhammad Aslam Hayat Khan of Wah, Extra Assistant
Commissioner.

SHAHPUR DISTRICT.

Hon'ble Lieutenant Malik Ulnar Hayat Khan Tiwana, c.i.e.,
Member of Imperial Legislative Council.

Hon'ble Malik Mubariz Khan of Jahanabad, Member, Punjab

Legislative Council.

Nawab Khuda Bakhsh Khan, Tiwana, District Judge.

JHELUM DISTRICT.
Sardar Hari Singh, Wahali.

MULTAN DISTRICT.

Khan Bahadur Makhdum Hassan Bakhsh Qureshi.

Khan Bahadur Syacl Hassan Bakhsh, Gurdezi.

Makhdum Sadr-ud-din Shah, Gilani.

Khan Bahadur Sheikh Riaz Hussain Qureshi.

Peer Ghulam Rasul Shah.

Khan Bahadur Ahmadyar Khan Khakwani,

Khan Abdul Qadir Khan, Baddozai.

Mukhdum Sheikh Muhammad Raju,

Khan Bahadur Mehr Allayar Khan, Political Assistant.

DERA GHAZI KHAN DISTRICT.
Hon'ble Nawab Bahrain Khan, Mazari Chief, c.i.e.
Sardar Jamal Khali, Laghari of Choi.
Sardar Din Muhammad Khan, Laghari, Chief of Choi.
Sardar Dost Muhammad Khan, Rojhan.
Khan Bahadur Sardar Drehan Khan, Dreshuk, Chief of Asni.
Sardar Jullab Khan, Garchani, c.i e , of Lalgarh.
Sardar Ghulam Hussain Khan, Suri Lund, of Lundan.
Sardar Muhammad Massu Khan, Tibbi Lund, Lundan,
Sardar Mir Muhammad Khan, Laghari, Choi.

The Punjab Chiefs' Association. 89

SUPPLEMENT.

f *-i *^ * %m

H. E. LORD HARDIXGE OF PENSHURST IX LAHORE.

On the evening of 4tli April 1911 a Garden Party was given by
tlie Associtioan in honour of His Excellency's visit to the Capital of the
Punjab where an Address of welcome was presented to the Viceroy.

The Tribune wrote : —

The last but not the least notable function in connection with
the Viceregal visit to Lahore was the garden part) given to their
Excellencies the Viceroy and Lady Hardinge by the Punjab Chiefs'
Association in the Shalamar Garden. Lahore, on Tuesdav evening last.
The Shalamar Garden which is a relic in Lahore of Emperor Shahjahan's
architectural triumphs looked extremely beautiful in the mild April
afternoon with all the fountains in play and the artificial waterfall at
work. The Central Baradari was beautifully draped in pale blue and
white hanging-. The garden part\rwas very largely attended. Beside>
the gentry, the nobility, Civil and Military Officers, and European and
Indian ladies, there were present His Highness the Raja of Kapurthala,
the Tikka Sahib of Kapurthala with his two younger brothers, the
Raja of Faridkot with his younger brother, the Raja of Chamba, the
Raja of Poonch and their staffs. Their Highnesses the Maharaja of

!MI

The Punjab Chiefs Asxociatio/t.

Patiala, the Raja of Nablia and the Raja of Jhincl did not attend the
party as they are in mourning owing to the death of the Maharaja
Rana of Dholpur. The Patiala and Kapnrthala bands were in attend-
ance and the paths on either side of the Canal from the gate to the
Baradari was lined by troops of Patiala and Kapnrthala Jugatjit
Infantry. Their Excellencies the Viceroy and Lady Hardinge accom-
panied by His Honour the Lieutenant- Governor and Lady Dane
arrived at 5-30 p.m., and were received at the gate by Nawab Fateh
Ali Khan Qazilbash, President of the Chiefs' Association and the
Hon'ble Sardar Sunder Singh Majithia, the Hon'ble Nawab Behram
Khan and Raja Narinder Chander, c.s.i., of Nadaun. The members
of the deputation who numbered about 70 were then introduced to
His Excellency by the Hon'ble Sardar Partab Singh, General Secretary
of the Association. The following are the names of some of the
members of the Deputation : —

Nawab Eateh Ali Khan Qazilbash, Raja Narinder Chandar, c.s.i.,
the Hon'ble Sardar Sunder Singh Majithia, Raja Eateh Singh of
Shaikhupura, Colonel Raja Jai Chand, Diwan Bahadur Dewan
Narendar Nath, Raja Gaggan Singh of Nurpur, Tikka Rajindar Pall,
the Hon'ble Nawab Behram Khan, Sardar Jiwan Singh, c.s.i., of
Shahzadpur, Sardar Jallal Khan, Raja Ikram Ulla Khan, Nawab
Ibrahim Ali Khan of Kunjpura, Sardar Charanjit Singh of Kapnrthala^
Sardar Bhagwant Singh Bhadauria, Bhai Arjun Singh of Bagrian,
Baba Gurbukhsh Singh Bedi, Baba . Autar Singh Bedi, Tikka Ram Narain
Singh of Anandpur, Bedi Sujan Singh, Mian Anrodh Singh of
Ramgarh, the Hon'ble Malik Mubariz Khan, the Hon'ble Malik Umar
Hyat Khan Tiwana, Eaqir Syed Iftikhar-ud-din, Mukhdum Hassan
Bakhsh Kuereshi, Khan Bahadur, Rai Bahadur Sardar Amrik Singh,

The Punjab Chiefs Association. '" 91

Bhai Gurbakhsh Singh Gyani, Sardar Sundar Singh Rmigarhia,
Sardar Bikram Singh, Bhai Manohar Lai, Diwan Radha Nath, Bhai
Dan Singh, Diwan Daya Kishen Kaul, The Hon'ble Nawab Zulliqar
Ali Khan, Dewan Hamam Das, Sardar Gnlzar Singh, Sardar Badan
Singh, Makhdnm Sardar-ud-Din, Shahzada Hamadan, Sardar Jawala
Salmi, Rai Bahadur Amar Singh, Dewan Kishen Kishore, Thakur
Harkishen Singh, Thakur Mahan Chand and Hon'ble Sardar Partab
Singh, c.i.e., of Kapurthala.

The " Civil & Military " Gazette wrote :—

On Tuesday afternoon the members of the Punjab Chiefs'
Association invited a large number of European and Indian guests to
meet Their Excellencies the Viceroy and Lady Hardinge in the charm-
ing gardens at Shalimar. A pleasant cool breeze tempered the warmth
of the sun, and the beautiful gardens, refreshed by the recent rain,
were looking their best, They presented a wonderful scene of glowing
colour. On either side of the straight watercourse leading from the
entrance gate to the Baradari were lines of palms and flowering plants
and the fountains sparkled bravely in the sunlight. Stalwart soldiers
of the Patiala and Kapurthala Imperial Service Troops stood sentinel
along the flagged pathways, the former brilliant in their scarlet uni-
form and the latter very smart and soldier-like in spotless blue and
silver. The Kapurthala State band played throughout the afternoon
alternately with the Patiala pipers, and the music contributed greatly to
the enjoyment of the guests. His Excellency the Viceroy compliment-
ed H. II. of Kapurthala on the excellence of his band. The spacious
Baradari was draped in pale blue and white, its floor spread with cloth
of gold, the decorations having been carried out under the personal
supervision of the Hon. Sardar Partap Singh, Hon. Secretary. All

92 The Punjab Chiefs* Association.

the state chairs, rtasnads, and gold embroidered carpets, &c, were lent
for the occasion by their Highnesses .the Maharaja of Patiala and the
Raja of Kapurthala.1? Shortly after 4-30 the guests began to arrive,
and by the time His Excellency's motor reached the entrance several
hundred Europeans and Indians were waiting to welcome him. Their
Excellencies," who Mere accompanied by the Lieutenant Governor and
Ladv Dane, with .Miss Sandford, the Misses Dane, Miss Bavlev, and
the Personal Staffs, of the Viceroy and the Lieutenant Governor, were
met at the gateway by Nawab Eateh Ali Khan, CLE., President of
the Association, Nawab Bahrain Khan Mazari, CLE., Raja Narindar
Chand,?rC.S.L, of Nadaun, the Hon, Sirdar Bahadur Sirdar Sundar
Singh, Majithia, and Hon. Sirdar Partap Singh, C.S.I., of Kapurthala
(founder and honoraray secretary of the Association), and conducted
to the Baradari, where several of the Chiefs' were introduced. Amongst
the members of the Association present were : The Raja of Kutlehr,
CS.L, Colonel Raja Jai Chanel of Lumbagraon, Sirdar Bndhan Singh,
C.S.I. , of Malaudh, Sirdar Jiwan Singh, CS.L. Shahid. of Shazadpur,
the Hon. Malik Mubarriz Khan, Tiwana, Khan Bahadur Makhdum
Hassan Bakhsh, Multan, the Hon. Lieutenant Malik Umar Hyat Khan,
CLE., Tiwana, and Sardar Duljit Singh, of Kapurthala. The mem-
bers of the Association then gathered in front of the Viceroy and
Lady Hardingeand the Hon. Sirdar Partap Singh of Kapurthala, Hon.
Secretary of the Association, read the following address : —

The Chiefs' address.
The address presented to His Excellency the Viceroy was ns
follows : —

" May it please Your Excellency, — We the members of the
Punjab Chiefs' Association beg to approach Your Excellency with this

address of welcome to the capital of the Punjab. We may be per-
mitted to state at the outset that Your Excellency is all the roore
welcome on account of Your Excellency's hereditary associations with
this Land of the Five Rivers. Hereditary associations appeal with
special force to oriental minds, particularly to those of aristocratic
classes. Amidst us Your Excellency Mill not fail to notice descendants
of some of the members composing the Lahore darbar of the .Sikh
Government, with which Yrour Excellency's august grandfather, over
three score years ago, concluded the Lahore Treaty, the terms of which
we have always regarded as most lenient and considerate.

''We are now in an age when the seeds of peace and reform
sown by Your Excellency's grandfather are bearing fruit. How
delighted Ave feel in greeting so distinguished a successor as Your
Excellency of those British statesmen who have, from time to time,
conferred the blessings of peace on the people of this vast continent,
We are daily observing the fulfilment of the line of policy foreshadowed
in Your Excellency's golden words uttered in England on the eve of
your departure for India to fill the exalted position of the representative
of the Crown. India of the day, however, is not India of 30 years back.
Western education and contact with Western civilization have called
into existence public spirit and public opinion, a necessary result of
the education imparted to the people. It ought to be the province of
the aristocracy to guide public opinion in such a manner that all public
measures may receive the fullest measure of independent criticism, but
not the criticism which is prompted by malice and has for its aim the
fostering of disloyalty. It shouldbe our duty in future, as indeed
it has been hitherto during the short period of the existence of our
association, to help in the constructive work of improving the

The Punjab Chiefs Association.

administration and removing obstacles in the way of its smooth
working. We trust that in matters of administration we shall be able
to co-operate in furthering the policy of Government.

" It is a matter of no small consolation to us to witness the
extinction and extirpation of sedition and the anarchist propaganda which
have been promoted in some parts of India by mischievous peoples
who are enemies of peace and order, and Ave are confident that ere -long
those atrocious misdeeds will be nothing more than matter for history.
Law, order and propriety will reign supreme with pefect serenity in the
restored atmosphere. It is no flattery to say that Your Excellency's
masterly grasp of the situation in the country, and the sound judg-
ment and wise tact employed by Your Excellency in its administration,
will be recorded by future historians in the most glowing terms. The
golden words of advice given to the deputation of the Allahabad Con-
gress, the encouragement given toAvards bringing about better feelings
of amity betAveen Hindus and Mahomedans, avIio unfortunately quarrel
over trifles, the fruition of the Legislative reform scheme inaugurated
by Lord Minto, and Similar actions of Your Excellency, Ave mav safelv
assert, have so inspired the peoples with implicit confidence in Your
Excellency's goodwill towards the people that eAen the most hostile
critics and unscrupulous maligners are being disarmed, and, it is to be
hoped, are now realising their mistakes.

k- Speaking of ourselves, it is to be remarked that ours is an
association of recent growth, and consequently our organization needs
much improvement in order to be more effective and useful for the
achievement of the objects for which it is constituted. We have,
hoAvever, made a humble beginning to ameliorate our condition and
improve our capacity for public good, and without vain pedantry, Ave

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