Enclosures of letter to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India, No.11, dated 15 January 1875: Nos. 3 to 45 of Abstract of Contents, from the Officiating Under-Secretary to the Government of India, Fort William [‎59v] (16/100)

owing to the exceptionally vindictive character of the present Maharaja and
the pregnancy of the fresh complications created by his own outrageous and
self-willed misconduct. Thus the causes of disagreement between the two
Governments have at length attained a magnitude and vitality of importance
which are unparalleled even in the history of our relations with the present
Maharaja's father, Syajee, who though he gave more trouble than any of the
previous Gaekwars has been far surpassed in crime by his sod , Mulhar Rao.
40. For instance, even since His Highness received His Excellency the
Governor-General's warning on the 3rd August last, instead of listening to that
warning as he promised to do, he has deliberately committed the following acts
of disloyalty and misrule :—
1st. —Retaliation on complainants before the Commission notwithstanding
the Proclamation issued for their protection.
2ndly. —The Premchund Eoychund bribery intrigue undertaken to secure
the removal of the Resident from his Court, and to obtain certain political
advantages by disloyal and insulting means.
Srdly. —His repeated importunities regarding additional military honors
to Nana Saheb Khanvilkar, well knowing that such honors were utterly
incompatible with the authoritative advice of His Excellency the Viceroy and
Governor-General, which he professed to follow. To this may be added his
frequent importunities for military honors to Luxmee Baee.
kthlij. —His false and malicious attack on the Resident in the 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
2nd November last.
hthly, and lastly.—His final attempt to get rid of the Resident by poison
on the 9th November instant, and his general demeanour in connection there
with since that time.
41. Under these circumstances, I respectfully submit that neither the
honor or interests of the British Government, or the welfare of the two and a
half millions of the Baroda State are safe under a Prince who, in spite of all the
warnings which he has had since the close of 1872, a period of two years and
upwards, continues deliberately to set the common principles of humanity,
loyalty, and justice at defiance; and I therefore, as British repr sentative at this
Court, where I am in a position to prove my personal conduct and general
bearing towards His Highness the Gaekwar to have been marked by kindness
and forbearance, claim the substantial protection of Government on behalf of
the general interests which arc at stake, which interests, I feel assured, will not
be promoted by the least concession to a Prince who from 1857 to the present
time appears from the evidence recorded to have had his own way, however
opposed to the laws that regulate all political and social relations in every part
of the world.
42. In conclusion I have the honor to state that, although the recent
attempt on my life has failed, I have reasonable grounds for believing that those
who were induced in the Maharaja's interest to compass that attempt have not
abandoned their intentions. I have observed myself and have been also warned
that my steps after dark are dogged by spies; and the presence of suspicious
persons in parts of camp, where they can have no ordinary business, has been
brought to my notice. I have also received by post some friendly letters coun
selling the utmost vigilance and forethought. For these warnings I believe
there is at the present time ample ground, and I leave it for Government to
decide to what extent they think that a Representative of their own should
be exposed to them at the Court of a Prince who is known to be one of the
most revengeful and malicious in India, and for whose acts he has been hitherto
held irresponsible on the grounds that he was of deficient intellect.
8
Exd.—R. T. B.