1 The opening of the
2 Alexandra Bridge over
3 the Chenab,
4 Return to Lahore.
5 The conyersazione,
6 The sword-dance.
7 Visit to Amritsar.
8 His Royal Highness
9 at Réjpura,
10 The Queen proclaim-
11 ed “ Empress of India,”
12 1st January, 1877,
13 The Imperial Assem-
14 blage at Delhi.
15 India moulded into
16 a nughty British Um-
17 pire.
18 Moral effect of the
19 Assemblage on the
20 priuces g:
21 ae ud people of
22 Sri Satg
23 598 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
24 opened the great bridge over the Chindb, which was named the Alexandra
25 Bridge, after Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. On the return of
26 the Prince to Lahore, the citadel, public buildings and streets were illumi-
27 nated. A conversazione was held in the spacious hall of the Lahore College.
28 His Royal Highuess took his seat on a dias covered with a carpet of gold
29 embroidery, and placed at the end of the central hall. On the right was a
30 full-length portrait of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, and on the
31 left a portrait of the Prince, both works of great artistic merit executed by
32 order of the Maharajd4 of Patidld to commemorate the restoration of the
33 Prince’s health. The walls were decorated with the coats-of-arms, flags
34 and emblazoned shields of the Panj&b chiefs, under each shield being a
35 Panjabi, armed and standing on a pedestal, representing the district in which
36 he was born. About a hundred and twenty chiefs from all parts of the
37 Panjabi were introduced to His Royal Highness on this occasion, and a
38 number of them received successively from his hands commemorative medals,
39 ribands and rewards. The ceremony being over, the Prince witnessed a
40 display of fire-works from the roof of the college, and round the great
41 bonfires was exhibited the sword dance peculiar to the frontier people.
42 On his-way to Agra, the Prince visited Amritsar, the sacred city of the
43 Sikhs, and surveyed the celebrated golden temple from the terrace, crowds
44 of people making their salutations as they passed before him. His Royal
45 Highness generously made donations at the mausoleum of Ranjit Singh, at
46 Léhore, and the Darbdr Sahib at Amritsar. At the former place an interest-
47 ing ode * was presented to him. At Rdjpurd station, His Royal Highness
48 received the respects of His Highness the Mahardjdé of Patidldé, and, at
49 a splendid banquet, the Mahardj4 proposed the health of the Queen, and
50 the Prince of Wales. The Prince bade good-bye to the delighted Maharaja
51 under a royal salute, and continued his journey down country, The visit of
52 His Royal Highness was followed, a year after, by another act of royal grace,
53 which became a turning point in the annals of British India. This was the
54 assumption by Her Majesty Queen Victoria of the title of “Empress of
55 India.” (Indie Imperatriz.) With a view of proclaiming to the Queen’s
56 subjects throughout India the gracious sentiments which had induced Her
57 Majesty to make to Her Sovereign style and titles an addition specially in-
58 tended to mark Her Majesty’s interest in this great dependency of the Crown,
59 and Her Royal confidence in the loyalty and affection of the princes and
60 people of India, His Excellency, Lord Lytton, Viceroy and Governor-General
61 of India, held an Imperial Assemblage at Delhi on the first day of January
62 1877, an occasion which will ever be remembered by the Indian nations
63 under British sway, as inaugurating a new epoch in the history of their
64 country. Highteen years had elapsed since the direct sway of Her Majesty’s
65 Eastern dominions had passed to the Crown. To assume the title then
66 would have been inopportune, as tending to perpetuate the memory of the
67 direst events in the annals of British India, and associating it with stories
68 of treason and treachery. The Imperial Assemblage was a festival of peace,
69 the natural outcome of an age of prosperity and contentment. The event
70 owed its significance to those historial changes which had moulded India
71 into a mighty British Empire. The assumption by the Queen of the title of
72 “ Empress of India” at this time was most opportune and in perfect accord
73 with the feelings of all classes of the people. It bound the Indian chiefs and
74 people by closer ties of devotion and loyalty to the Crown of England, and
75 the event, following so soon after the visit of their Royal Highnesses the
76 Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh, was proof of the increased
77 * Vide Appendix IT,