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it was not difficult for him to become popular and
to run into debt!
As regards mind and ability and experience
of work, it cannot be said that he achieved any-
thing like distinction as Prime Minister. He too,
like his predecessor, had to depend largely upon
his secretaries, and some of them were men who
were inclined to serve their own interests with
greater zeal than his. By their insinuating
manner and flattering subservience they could
keep him in good humour, and so control his confi-
dence. I remember some of these tacticians and
their doings, but it is needless to dig out such
trifles from beneath the dust of half a century.
Sir Viqar, to his misfortune, soon became a centre
of intrigue owing to his weak but good nature ;
and of this His Highness the Nizam became aware
through secret reports which reached him from
time to time. One of the sources of information,
and perhaps the most reliable, was Nawab Akbar
Jung, Akbar-ul-Mulk, c.s.t., the lynx-eyed, lion-
hearted Kotwal. The Nizam's suspicions increas-
ed from day to day, until a sort of bitterness
entered into their mutual relations, and he decided
to change the Minister. An order was passed
suddenly in 1901 removing Sir Viqar from office
and appointing Maharaja Kishen Pershad, the
Peshkar, in his place.
Sir Viqar died soon after this while he was
out on a shooting expedition in one of his jagirs.