The history of the murderer appears to be pretty clearly
ascer- tained. Major-General Reynell Taylor, Commissioner of Um- ritsur, informs the Times that Shore Ali was his mounted orderly in 1862, was known to be engaged in a blood feud with a branch of his own family, whose members he every now and then asked leave to go and kill ; but was nevertheless a devoted servant to the Commissioner, and always at the beck and call of one of General Taylor's children, a little girl. He was neither cruel nor fanatical, but one day, in his ignorance of geography, he killed a relative within our border instead of beyond it, and as we forbid the vendetta, it was necessary in 1869 to transport him. Three years of unpleasant life had probably made him a sullen, brooding man ; the sight of the Viceroy, the representative of English power, which had forbidden him his just right of killing his blood relations, roused him to fury ; and he fell on him as on an enemy. He is, of course, to be hanged ; but General Taylor warns future Viceroys not to come into personal contact with such characters, as they often harbour a determina- tion of revenge. The advice is not worth much, though well meant. An Indian Viceroy cannot seclude himself in his house or wear armour, and if he rides abroad he can be killed by any- body who will give his own life to kill him.
