Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/193

 already crushed before again raised his head. A period of unrest followed when he rejoined from leave and restored peace. This is a very striking example of his strong per- sonality. A glance at the history of the period forcibly reminds one of another prominent trait of his character — his judicious selection of men and his unbounded confidence in their loyalty. Raja Lachman Singh, then a kumar, Munshis Debi Prasad, Ishwari Prasad, Ram Bakhsh, tehsildars, and Munshi Shiam Bihari Lai, Kotwal, among the officials, and Rao Jaswant Rao, K. Zar Singh of Par- tabner, L. Laik Singh of Marchandpore, Lai Chatur Singh of Sahar, Rao Jawahar Singh of Barhpura, the Raja of Malajani, the Bagpais of Lukhna, the Tewaris of Kudarkat, the rais of Takah and Babu Ajudhia Prasad of Etawah, all Hindus, were his faithful allies and were conspicuous for their loyalty. To each and all mutineers and loyalists he had but one reply — '* It may be months, it may be years, but sooner or later the English Government will get the upper hand and every man will eat the fruit of his deeds." Memorable words indeed ! They reveal intense sympathy and true loyalty. The two feelings are very happily blended, each overlapping the other. We leave Mr. Hume to describe with just pride the result of his just and wise policy and its moral effect upon those who came under the spell of his magnetic personality. " From the very day," he wrote, " I first at the borders of the district received the congratulatory visits of hundreds of our well-wishers, I gave it to be generally understood that I had no feelings of animosity to gratify. . . . The enemies of order had, even in the worst of times, always been in a minority, numerically speaking, but from the time that my intentions became generally known they certainly on the mainland parganas (excluding Auriya) scarcely exceeded i per cent, of the population. In this lay our strength, any surprise by the ill-affected and their mutineer friends was impossible ; every move, every accession of strength, was reported at once from a dozen different quarters ; men — nay whole communities — who had been plundering, were, instead of