Enclosures of Letter to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India, No.213, dated 27 November 1874: Nos. 3 to 31 of Abstract of Contents, from Foreign Department, Fort William [‎46r] (91/102)

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No. 1986, dated 20tli October 1874.
From—Resident at Baroda,
To—His Highness the Gaekwar of Baroda.
Referring to my yad No. 2693, dated 8th November last year, and to the
recent ebullition of the discontent amongst the military classes of the State, I
beg to bring specially to Your Highness' notice the accompanying petition
received this day from a number of Sindhees, the adherents of Sirdars Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. , &c.,
some of whom have for some years past taken to cultivation in Your Highness'
Mahals in order to obtain a livelihood.
Instead of such a desirable mode of providing for superfluous military
retainers being encouraged as it ought to be, it appears from the petition of
these poor people that the very reverse is the case, I request therefore that
• Sic in orig. Your Highness will at once order that substantial
justice to % be done in this case, which has been so
strongly inculcated by His Excellency the Viceroy and Governor-General in
his khureeta An important letter usually sent in an elaborate textile pouch, dispatched as part of the royal or diplomatic correspondence of rulers and elites. of the 25th July last.
Now that the peace of the country is endangered on all sides, I must beg
seriously to press upon Your Highness' notice that nothing short of an
immediate performance of the promises which you have from time to time made
to Government during the last year and upwards will satisfy His Excellency
the Viceroy and Governor-General that there is any meaning or reality in
those promises.
To His Excellency the Right Hon'ble the Governor of Bombay.
The humble petition of the undersigned Sindhee
inhabitants of the villages of Uttersoomba, Khai-
raloo, &-c., under Baroda Prant.
R espectfully S heweth .,—That your Petitioners' ancestors being originally
the inhabitants of Sind were brought to this country, the Baroda State, by the
late Hamid Jemadar Saheb, and afterwards by his son, Amin Saheb, and other
Jemadars, &c., during the time of His Highness the late 1st Futtesing Rao
Maharaja in Sumbut 1821 (A.D. 1764) a period of war and trouble,
for the purpose of the conquest of this country. At this time some of
the ancestors of your petitioners died while on duty or fighting, and others
proved of use and service to this State (during their lives). In consequence
of which the rights and privileges of wuttun were granted to the aforesaid
Jemadars in the same way as are enjoyed by the " chiranjeers," or heirs of
of the 44 Gadhee' or State. In like manner, your petitioners being regarded as
entitled to a participation of the wuttuns, lands and salaries were assigned to
them in Guzerat for their maintenance or service. In this way your petitioners,
who were foreigners, were retained here as permanent residents of this country.
They came into possession of lands by virtue of mortgage, &c., and these
acquired lands as well as their " wuttuns ones,"t were continued to them unin
terruptedly, and they also enjoyed the rights and privileges till the time of th^
late Khundee Rao Maharaj. Afterwards taxes in the shape of inam committee,
&c., were demanded from your petitioners, and the same were taken by the
Wywutdars from some of them by force, which induced your petitioners to
go to Baroda to make a representation to the Hoozoor (Sirkar), on doing which
the new imposts were discontinued.
In the year of Sumbut 1927 on the accession of His Highness Mulharao
Maharaj, and on the installation of the late Gopal Rao Myral as Dewan, the inam
committee tax was abolished. Afterwards Nana Saheb Khanvilkur, brother-
in-law of His Highness, became Dewan, and he ordered the " inam committee"
together with the other new taxes to be reimposed. In consequence of these
orders the Wywutdar compelled your petitioners to pay the same. Whereupon