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secure some of the nobles of the country, and raise a body of mercenaries, thousands of whom can readily be obtained to cut one another's throats at a few shillings a head. All arrangements being completed, she left Rajcote, and took the field; mounted on horseback at the head of her troops, and attended by some of the chiefs, she once more presented herself at the gateway of Wudwan, this time in full hope of admittance. But some of the

garrison, not let into the secret, or not sufficiently bribed, opened fire upon her, and a chief fell dead at her side. Nothing daunted, the plucky old lady rushed on, trusting to her star and to the success of her previous arrangements; and not in vain, for the guard opened the gates to her, and she effected a triumphant entry into the town. There the obsequious sequestration officer had contrived to get possession of the person of the young Raja, whom he now made over to her, and thereby at once secured her control over the people. Outwitted and checkmated, Goelwao found herself compelled to beat a retreat, and in her turn besieged the British authority with the tale of her woes and with

claims for restitution of what she considered her

rights.

The above is a fair sample of many of the cases that repeatedly come before the Political authorities of India, in the settlement whereof but feeble assistance can be gained from all the works on international or any other written law. On one side it could be urged that power had been surreptitiously gained through a breach of faith; on the other, that that power was the legitimate right of the mother rather than of the grandmother of the young prince. To this was answered that the grandmother had ruled, and ruled well, during thirty years, with the approbation of the leading men of the country, without whose consent, and foremost without that of the British Government, first obtained and deliberately expressed, no such change of regent should have been made, and especially not by stealth in the manner done. The mother rejoined that the consent of many of the leading nobles had been given her; that her mother-in-law was of an age fast unfitting her for public duties, of which her voluntary surrender of

the reins of government, to go on a distant pilgrimage, was a tacit admission; that she took possession of the regency in the natural course of events, without any necessity to do more than report the fact for the information of the protecting government which had sanctioned the measure; that she had been in possession under the ægis of that Government when forcibly dispossessed; and that the least that could be done was to restore her to the same position pending the adjustment of the dispute, unless the British Government allowed force rather than justice to be the rule of right.

It is easy to perceive the delicate nature of such transactions, and the difficulty of doing justice in them. In the present case, apart from the danger of establishing a precedent in favour of parties taking the law into their own hands, more especially pending reference to Government on the merits of the case, there were more reasons for confirming the grandmother in the regency than for ejecting her in favour of the mother, an unknown, untried person. These reasons prevailed with the controlling authority, and the matter was

settled by a moderate fine on the grandmother, who was permitted to retain rule, and a maintenance was allotted to the mother.

This decision is to be regretted in its general effect on the country at large, as it formed an evil example for every aspirant to power, instances of which will appear in the following chapters. The true policy would have been to appoint a well-selected regency, setting both ladies on one side, and to rescue the young prince from the condition in which these were purposely keeping him, in order to prolong their own rule. To exercise interference only to keep things still, till they become rotten, is unworthy of our nation.

CHAPTER III.

PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS.

'HE Raja' of Limree, a small Rajpoot state

THE

adjoining that of Wudwan, in Kattywar, died in 1837 at the age of eighteen, leaving three young widows. His minister, Nuthoo Mehta by name, was at the time in confinement at the British Agency 2 on a charge of connivance in a gang robbery that had occurred in his territory. Great was the consternation in the little state at the prospect of a change of dynasty, for the Raja died without issue, and apparently without hope of any. A conclave of the dowager queens met to

1 Thakoor, lit. the Lord, is the more correct appellation of these petty chiefs; but this name being unfamiliar to English ears, I use the term better known and which is also occasionally applied to them. The same may be said of their Ranees, who should strictly speaking be called Baee, lit. the Lady.

2 I am sorry to say, an unjustifiable measure.

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