White Mughals (66 page)

Having tried to explain the purported reason for his sudden change of plan, Russell then, as discreetly as possible, drops a heavy hint about what has happened in his relationship with Khair un-Nissa:

Having gently dropped into the middle of the letter the news that he had bought the Begum a
zenana
next to his own Residency bungalow, Russell goes on to reveal that Khair un-Nissa was very nervous about the security of her estates under Mir Alam. Her affair with James had, after all, led to the Mir’s disgrace six years earlier, and in his violent treatment of both Aristu Jah’s widow and the former Minister’s close political allies, the Mir had already shown his appetite for revenging himself on those who had brought exile and disgrace on him at that time. Khair thus had every reason to worry that since James’s death she was vulnerable to her cousin’s schemes of vengeance, and at the very least could expect that her estates, given to her at the time of her marriage by Aristu Jah, might now be seized by his successor. For this reason, in an earlier letter, she seems to have persuaded Russell to ask Sydenham to use his influence as Resident to guarantee her estates and her income. Sydenham had agreed to this, and Russell now ended the letter by telling Charles:

The response to this letter was not long in coming. Despite his careful wording, no one in Hyderabad—least of all Sydenham—seems to have had any doubts about the nature of the ‘protection’ Russell was offering the Begum. Nor did the new Resident have any doubts as to Russell’s motives in wanting Khair installed in a
zenana
within easy reach of his bungalow. In both cases Sydenham’s suspicions proved entirely correct: though it was not something Russell yet felt able openly to admit, thrown together in the house in Calcutta by James’s death, he and Khair un-Nissa had indeed become lovers.

Three weeks later, when Sydenham’s reply reached him, Russell had not yet set off from Calcutta and was still making preparations for his overland journey back to Hyderabad. His preparations were not going to plan, and he had been forced to put off his departure as he grappled with the massive task of arranging a full complement of tents, elephants, carriage bullocks and an armed escort. He cannot have been very surprised by what he read in Sydenham’s letter, but nevertheless both he and Khair must have been bitterly disappointed by it.

In his reply to Russell, Sydenham makes it quite clear that he does indeed have a ‘serious objection’ to the plan of the Begum returning to the Residency, with the political repercussions this could cause.
^id
He also remarks that Russell’s plan would hardly be a very satisfactory solution to the Begum’s needs as, ‘after occupying the Rang Mahal and living in a state of comparative Opulence and Splendour, it must be distressing to her own feelings to be placed in the local remembrance of all her former Enjoyment, at one of the Moonshies dwellings’. It would, in other words, represent a considerable demotion for the Begum: from Lady of the Manor to what Sydenham regarded as a residence behind the green baize door. To soften this blow, the new Resident added:

This was an important and unexpectedly explicit guarantee of full protection, and must have come as a great relief to Khair. However, Sydenham appears immediately to have copied these letters, or at least relayed their contents, both to the acting Governor General in Calcutta and to Mir Alam in Hyderabad. It was at this stage that Khair un-Nissa’s love-life blew up again into yet another full-scale scandal.

Sir George Barlow was the first to respond. His letters to Russell on the subject have been lost, but it is clear that he was horrified by the new development. Worried by the possibility of Khair un-Nissa causing yet another breach in Anglo—Hyderabadi relations, he went as far as attempting to forbid the Begum from ever returning to Hyderabad at all. In a letter to Sydenham he cited the recent mutiny of sepoys at Vellore, and claimed that ‘the connexion of native women with European officers having been urged by the troops on the coast as one of the causes of the disaffection, it might be dangerous to recall to their minds so conspicuous an instance as that afforded by the connexion of Col Kirkpatrick with a female of the Begum’s rank and family’.
⁴²
This was an extremely dubious assertion, and one that even Sydenham thought stretched credibility.
^ie
But the ban on Khair leaving Calcutta remained in place.

A desperate Henry Russell was forced to go to Government House to plead on the Begum’s behalf with Barlow’s Private Secretary, Neil Edmonstone, himself something of a Persian scholar and (discreetly) the father of an Anglo-Indian family. Russell pointed out ‘the painful and cruel situation to which the Begum would be reduced by being detained in Calcutta, and the difficulty she would find in returning to her family at any future time’.
⁴³
This argument had little impact on Edmonstone. As Russell later wrote to his brother, ‘All this he acknowledged, but still he said that the objection which had suggested itself to Sir George Barlow’s mind being of a public nature he would not suffer any considerations of individual hardship to be opposed to it.’ Russell then lost his temper and angrily pointed out that Barlow had no jurisdiction over Khair, a subject of the Nizam of Hyderabad, and so was hardly in any position to order her to remain in Calcutta. Edmonstone coolly replied that he would convey Russell’s argument to the Governor General. On Christmas Eve 1806, Russell received a curt note from Government House stating Barlow’s conclusion on the matter:

That night Russell finalised his preparations for departure, and scribbled a last, conciliatory note to Sydenham, saying that he wished to

Khair and Henry bade goodbye to the two
munshis
, Aziz and Aman Ullah, who were setting off into retirement by the banks of the Ganges at Benares. The following morning the two lovers nervously set off on their journey to Hyderabad.

It was a journey that they would never complete.

For over three months, Russell and Khair, accompanied by Sharaf un-Nissa and the Begum’s household, travelled slowly down the now-familiar spine of the Eastern Ghats, between the teak forests of the hills and the white breakers of the Bay of Bengal.

With little to look forward to in their return to Hyderabad, they took their time about the journey. Their progress slowed even further after an express message from Sydenham reached them on the road sometime at the end of January. The Resident had received Barlow’s orders, and explained that regrettably he was now forced to withdraw his offer of protection for Khair. He claimed to have ‘rejoiced’ that Russell had been able ‘to overcome the Governor General’s objections to the Begum’s Return to this Place’, adding: ‘As a question of mere policy, I should certainly prefer the Begum to remain in some part of Company’s Territories; but as she felt such repugnance at that plan, I do not foresee that there will be any unpleasant consequences to her return to Hyderabad, provided she remains in the City under the protection of her own Family and Friends … I am told that the houses, both of the mother and Grandmother of the Begum are in good repair and sufficiently convenient; and I should imagine that one of them would be the proper place of Residence for the Begum herself.’ But Sydenham then added what was in effect a new condition to Russell’s return, further impeding his and Khair’s hopes.

Rather stiffly, the very English Sydenham then added as a postscript: ‘P.S.: If such a message be not inconsistent with Propriety I beg you will make my Compliments to the Begum,’ before noting that: ‘Sir H Russell [Henry’s father, the Chief Justice] had once the Goodness to spare me a canister of his excellent snuff. Do you think you could prevail upon his kindness to repeat such a sacrifice?’

Just to rub salt in Russell’s wounds, there soon appeared a second express letter, this time from his old enemy, Captain Hemming. It was short and to the point. Hemming wrote that he had just had breakfast with the Begum’s brother, Dustee Ali Khan,
^if
and he wanted to make a few things quite clear to Russell: ‘It is not impertinent curiosity that makes me ask you if you are prepared to take leave of the Begum the day you arrive, probably never to see her again. I don’t mean to say that her life would be in any danger residing in the city. But I am sure that all intercourse between you will be interdicted by Meer Alum ...’
⁴⁷