27 successful mediator between the Nizam and the British Resident at a time when feelings on either side were running high and when the slightest mdiscretion or tactlessness on the part of the middleman would not merely have made the situation irreparably worse for both the parties, but would also have led to a series of incidents pregnant with enough explosive ma- terial to disturb peace — to have played one's part, in such circumstances, Jionestly,_ ^ is no mean achieve- ment for any Indian statesman, the mere recounting whereof would constitute quite a substantial compliment to him. But in the case of Sir Nizamat Jung such a statement of fact does but poor justice to him, because his services to Hyderabad and to the cause of a sound British Indian policy cannot be read on the files either of the Government of India or of the Hyderabad State — so unobtrusively did he work." " It was as much his ill-luck as that of the State which he served so conscientiously for a third of a century that when the delicate task of the conduct of Anglo-Hyderabad relations was entrusted to him, the great problem of the moment was not one of doing some good or improving upon things, but that of arresting downward trend or bringing about a state of affairs that could form the starting point for a better dispensation. However great the value of the services rendered in such circumstances