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'Baroda Enquiry Commission Report, 1874' [‎50v] (105/502)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (249 folios). It was created in 1 Nov 1873-14 Feb 1874. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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2
case of a housG servant of the Maharajas, who is said to have been poisoned,
under aggravated circuinstances. Xhe Resident fuither avers that his interfer,
ence in this case, was based on the sole ground that complainant was a Britigli
subject, and that had the Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). furnished its proceedings to hira when demand-
ed by him, it could not have represented the case to the Commission in the aspect
it has brought it forward.
4. The Commission has given this case very careful consideration, and finds
itself unable to adopt the Resident's view of it, which is based on extraneous
information which has not come before it, and on the trustworthiness of wEcli
it can form no opinion.
In the first place the complainant was not stated in the Schedule to be a
British subject, and himself put forth no claim before the Commission to protection
on that score, nor has anything transpired in connection with him or his case to
show that he has any title thereto. According to his own account, he is a
wandering Fakir and came to Baroda three years ago from the south of India, and
appears to have no claim to any special nationality. Next, following his own
deposition, which is that with which alone the Commission has to deal in the
case, he was arrested on information given against him by a person, with whom
he had a quarrel, of his being in the habit of writing to the public papers, and
admitted the fact. He does not state that the manuscripts produced before the
Commission were then shewn to him, but as these manuscripts contain the libel
lous statements, which formed the subject of the charge against him, and for
writing which he himself understood he was punished, there can be no reasona
ble ground for doubting that they were so. The manuscripts in question, which
are admitted by the complainant to be in his own handwriting, proved on perusal
by the Jaipur minister, who is one of the members of the Commission, to contain
a string of highly defamatory statements regarding the Maharaja personally,
which, however founded on fact, were no doubt grossly exaggerated, and could
not but render the writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. liable to a very severe punishment in any Native State
in India; and after hearing their purport, the Commission is quite of opinion
that however they came into the hands of the Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). , it was fully warranted in
taking proceedings against him, in connection with them, and in punishing him
therefor on his own acknowledgment that he had written them.
The Commission, however, at the same time, considers that the sentence
was very excessive; and though the complainant is, in its opinion, altogether
undeserving of sympathy or interference on his ow^n account, it has no doubt that
the action of the Resident in his behalf appeared to be warranted under Colonel
Phayre s view of the case, and that complainant's escape from the long term of
imprisonment imposed on him may be regarded as a not unsatisfactory result of
that action.

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Content

Report of the Baroda Enquiry Commission on the administration of the government of Malharrao, Gaekwar of Baroda. The Commission comprised Richard John Meade (President), Edward William Ravenscroft, Mumtazul Dowlah Nawab An honorific title; an official acting as a provincial deputy ruler in South Asia; or a significant Muslim landowner in nineteenth century India. Faiz Ali Khan, Colonel Alfred Thomas Etheridge and Thomas Duncan Mackenzie (Secretary).

The report comprises a letter from the members of the Baroda Enquiry Commission to the Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department presenting their report on the results of the proceedings and submitting copies of correspondence, reports and statements relative to the enquiry (ff 5-19):

Appendix A, Part I

  • Schedules I-III: Complaints and grievances against the Gaekwar's Government from individuals and groups (ff 21-78).
  • Appendix B, Schedules I-III: Cases of complaint and grievance which the commission did not look into during the enquiry (ff 79-81).
  • Appendix C: Letter from Colonel Richard John Meade, President, Special Commission of Enquiry on Baroda Affairs, to Colonel Robert Phayre, Resident at Baroda, 1 November 1873 (ff 82-83).
  • Appendix D: Translation of an amended notice issued by the Resident to complainants desirous of appearing before the Baroda Enquiry Commission (ff 84-85).
  • Appendix E: Schedules presented to the Commission along with Colonel Phayre's introductory statement regarding them. (ff 86-131).
  • Appendix F: Letter No. 1128 of 1873 from Colonel Phayre to the President, Baroda Commission regarding the cases already submitted to the Commission, the List of undisposed petitions to be attended to by the Resident which could be used as additional cases if required and the statements that he had yet to make on cases under enquiry by the Commission (ff 132-133).
  • Appendix G, Schedule I: Statements from witnesses with cross examination statements from the Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). on behalf of the Gaekwar and statements from the Resident as to the accuracy of the information provided (ff 134-229).

Appendix Part II (ff 231-245)

Extent and format
1 volume (249 folios)
Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main sequence of foliation consists of a small pencil number in the top front right hand corner of each folio enclosed in a circle.

There is also an original sequence of foliation which consists of larger pencil numbers also in the top front right hand corner of folios, however the sequence is not consistent and some of the numbers may be filing references rather than foliation numbers.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'Baroda Enquiry Commission Report, 1874' [‎50v] (105/502), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F126/78, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023442806.0x00006a> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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