Letter from Colonel Sir Lewis Pelly, Baroda to His Lordship Lord Northbrook, Viceroy of India [‎6v] (2/14)

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I will now briefly resume the position to wliich my lalbours have led me,;
down to date. I desire to premise that, in so far as I am personally concerned
I have not a complaint to lodge against His Highness. I am myself certain,
and the Minister and others assure me, that he is not only willing but eager
to obtain my advice and to act thereon. But I have to bear in mind that I am
not acting as the ruler of the State, but as the adviser of a ruler placed in
peculiar and even abnormal circumstances. This sentence will become clearer
as I proceed.
CHANGE OF MINISTRY.
After lengthened controversy the Minister called on me two days ago, and
expressed to me the deliberate wish of himself and colleagues to resign. The
Guicowar also called upon me, and, while treating the question lightly, gave
me to understand that he considered Mr. Dadabhai inexperienced in affairs
and unable to conduct the administration of a Mahratta State, with which he
was comparatively unacquainted, and wherein he possessed neither the confi
dence nor the sympathy of the nobles or people.
Dadabhai, on the other hand, stated that he had several times during the
past year found himself in a false position, and had expressed his desire to
resign, but that His Highness had always opposed this move,—that recently the
Guicowar had again interfered in the routine of administration, and wished to
treat him as a mere Karkoon; secondly, that, so long as certain personal friends
of His Highness remained near his person, the proceedings of the present Minis
try would always be subject to hidden obstruction. He added that, so long as
the Guicowar had been in constant conflict with the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. , His Highness
had found himself compelled to seek support in his Ministry, but that now
that the Guicowar had in earnest resolved to follow my advice, he had been
comparatively careless of his Minister's advice, and consequently that, while
the Guicowar adhered to his promises given under my advice in large affairs,
his friends had nevertheless become more potent in undermining the Minister's
action in the common routine of business.