Minute by His Excellency the Viceroy [‎24v] (6/10)

( 6 )
Gaekwar in terms of confidence and friendsliip. Tliis would ha-T^been
impossible, considering Mulhar Rao's character and antecedents, so long as lie
lay even nnder the suspicion of being concerned in a cowardly and atrocious
crime, not against an ordinary individual, but against the Representative of
the British Government at his Court.
19. It has already been stated that the Commission differed essentially
from a judicial tribunal, and this is apparent upon the face of the public
instructions which the Commissioners received. It was their function to
receive and examine the evidence and to report their opinions upon it, as well
as to afford Mulhar Rao an opportunity of freeing himself from the grave
suspicion which attached to him. But the Government of India were the
ultimate judges of the matter enquired into; they held it to be their
duty to express a final decision upon the issues which were laid before
the Commissioners; and they would not have supported the opinions of a
majority, or even of the whole body, unless they had considered that those
opinions were based upon sufficient evidence.
20. The possibility that the Commissioners might be divided in opinion,
or that they might not be able to arrive at any very positive conclusions,
had been previously discussed, and it was the deliberate opinion of the Govern
ment of India that, bearing in mind the character and antecedents of Mulhar
Rao, he should not be restored to power unless he should be able to clear
himself fully from the suspicion which attached to him.
21. The Government of India most carefully and deliberately considered
the reports of the Commissioners and the evidence on which they were based,
and arrived at the unanimous conclusion that the imputations against Mulhar
Rao were true. It was therefore determined to recommend to Her Majesty's
Government that Mulhar Rao and his issue should be deposed; that the fittest
member of the Gaekwar House should be selected in his room; and that
Jumnabaee, the widow of the late Gaekwar Khundee Rao whose loyalty to
the British Government was shown during the events of 1857, should be
permitted, in accordance with a request which she had made, to adopt the
person who should be so selected. In appointing a successor to Mulhar
Rao, the Government of India considered that no change should be made
in the relations which existed by treaty between the British Government
and the Gaekwars of Baroda.
22. These opinions of the Government of India were transmitted by
telegraph for the consideration of Her Majesty's Government.
23. Her Majesty's Government decided that Mulhar Rao, together with
his issue, should be deposed from the Sovereignty of Baroda, and sanctioned all
the proposals with respect to the re-establishment of a Is ati"v e Adminis
tration in that State which were made by the Government of India. Her
Majesty's Government, however, directed that the deposition of Mulhar
Rao should not be based upon the enquiry and report of the Commission, but
upon general grounds. The Government of India reviewed the conduct of
Mulhar Rao since the report of Sir Richard Meade's Commission, and were so
b