1 What the interests of
2 Imperial India dictate,
3 Jubilee of Her
4 Majesty the Queen
5 Empress, 16th February
6 1887.
7 Public festivities
8 and rejoicings,
9 .
10 Release of convicts,
11 Congratulatory
12 addresses from public
13 bodies.
14 Public prayers for
15 Her Imperial Majesty.
16 Sri Sat
17 608 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB,
18 to its strength and resources. Had the Government of India not acted
19 with vigour and decision in regard to this province, it would have been
20 menaced by dangers and. difficulties which it would have been no eas
21 matter to face and surmount. It is to the interest of the subjects of Her
22 Majesty to make Imperial India compact and strong, to see its resources
23 developed and its influence and power increased. The true interests of
24 the people and of the Government are closely interwoven; they are inse-
25 parable—they are, in fact, identical. Every well-wisher of the country feels
26 sincerely grateful for the stroke of policy adopted by Lord Dufferin with
27 reference to Burmah; and the people rejoiced when the news came that the
28 Imperial Government of Her Majesty the Queen-Empress had not been
29 slow in showing its recognition of the services of His Lordship in connec-
30 tion with the annexation, and that Her Most Gracious Majesty had been
31 pleased to confer the title of the Marquis of Ava on Lord Dufferin, a dis-
32 tinction to which his services eminently entitled him.
33 The Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen-Empress was celebrated on the
34 16th February, 1887. It was ushered in, at all the principal stations of India,
35 by an imperial salute of 101 guns. A more prosperous reign or a more beloved
36 sovereign the world has never seen. The 50th year of Her Majesty’s
37 auspicious reign was celebrated with the greatest enthusiasm in the Panjab,
38 which, fifty years ago, was still ruled by Ranjit Singh. Festivities and
39 rejoicings and gaiety were everywhere the order of the day. Darbdrs for
40 the reception of the nobility were held at the head-quarters of all the dis-
41 tricts ; there was a presentation of addresses, breathing a spirit of fervent
42 loyalty to the person and throne of Her Majesty, and a review of troops was
43 held at every military station. Over two thousand convicts were released in
44 the Panjab, in honour of the event ; nor were the poor forgotten on the happy
45 occasion; charitable and public buildings were opened or founded; and there
46 were general illuminations and social entertainments of every description.
47 The Lieutenant-Governor laid the foundation stone, which was of Naushera
48 marble, of the Victoria Jubilee Hall at Léhore, and received congratulatory
49 addresses from fifteen societies and local bodies, including the Panjab
50 University, the Khalsé Dewdn, the Indian Association and the Mahomedan
51 Association. Following the precedent established at the Imperial Assemblage,
52 certificates bearing the signature of the Honourable the Lieutenant-Governor
53 of the Panjab were presented to some four hundred native gentlemen through-
54 out the Province, as an acknowledgment of their good services and loyalty.
55 The Government had left the initiative of rejoicings to the people, and the
56 public demonstrations of joy exhibited throughout the length and breadth
57 of the empire were of a marked character. At the Jummdé Masjid, in Dehli,
58 special prayers for the welfare of Her Majesty were offered up. At
59 Peshéwar an enterprising Hindu (Lorinda Mal) gave a lakh of rupees to found
60 a poor-house and home for the sick and incurables. A Mahomedan gentle-
61 man (Ghulam Rastl Khan) gave 60,000 rupees to build new gates for the
62 city and shops, the income of the latter to be devoted to charitable purposes.
63 At Amritsar, Hindus, Sikhs and Mahomedans, assembled in masses at their
64 respective places of worship and offered up prayers for Her Majesty. At Bannt
65 the Mahomedan Maliks, Khans, Arbdbs and officers assembled in the grand
66 mosque, and special prayers were offered for the long life of Her Majesty.* At
67 Rawalpindi the members of the Ahluwalid Singh Sabhé offered a beautifully
68 wrought needle work-box and phulkdri, worked by the ladies of their
69 | * he speech made on the occasion by the author was most enthusiastically received by
70 the Pathdns and Maliks of the independent hill country. Khan Bahadur, Khan Baba Khan,
71 ee Assistant Commissioner, a member of the late Boundary Commission, made an impressive
72 guru agit Singh |i eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com