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 [‎83r] (65/100)

has more than once lamented to me that his administration has been cramped,
harassed, and in some instances brought into contempt owing to all classes of
the community entertaining a conviction that 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. was a sort of Court
of appeal against 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). .
27. In respect to the moral certainty strong moral probability of the
facts themselves : after—
A perusal of the evidence and other details recorded ;
2nd. Personally witnessing the manner in which the principal statements
were made, and also some of the incidents accompanying the
delivery of those statements ;
Maturely and to the best of my ability weighing the direct and in
dependent corroborative evidence adduced ; and
Mh, After considering the report of the Commissioner of Police and the
opinion of the Advocate-General;
I am of opinion that the statements recorded are not the result of a con
spiracy; that they are substantially true; and that they involve the admission
that His Highness was directly concerned in an attempt to poison the late Resi
dent, Colonel Phayre.
28. I am further of opinion that the evidence taken in connection with
what was previously on record in this 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. shows that the attempt was
not the result of a sudden and unpremeditated impulse, but was the final deve
lopment of feelings of anger and eventually of exasperation, excited by the pro
ceedings of the Resident, and which culminated on the part of the Gaekwar in
attempts first to appease, next to seduce, then to exercise, then to expel, and
finally to poison the British Representative at his Court.
2 ( ,). I come now to the third point, that of considering the case in refer
ence to the mutual relations subsisting between a protected Native State and a
paramount Imperial power. It is on record that " from the earliest period of its
vide the viceroy's kimreeta to the connection with the Baroda State the British
Gaekwar. dated 25th July 1874. Government has repeatedly found it necessary to
intervene its Baroda affairs **, for example by investing the Resident with
power of control over its finances; by assuming for a time the management
of portions of the State, and by the removal of evil-advisers."
30. The Commission assembled at Baroda last year established " so serious
an amount of general misgovernment" on the part of His Highness as " to
vide Govermnent of India letter, dated necessitate decided intervention on the part of
2511. July 1874. t | ie British Government." The details of this
mal-administration are amply given in the report of the Commission or in its
Appendices. It may be sufficient here to recall that among " gross abuses" charged
against His Highness' Government were: the " discreditable and spoliatory,"
" arbitrary and unjust" treatment of bankers and traders ; the " arbitrary" and dan
gerously sudden reductions made among he military class; the practice of
" barbarous processes" in " realizing revenue ;" " the levy of nuzzerana on ap
pointments ;" the practice of " torture" on the part of "subordinate officials ;"
" scandalously excessive punishment" for crime; " the abduction of women
for forced labor in the Polace," thereby " bringing" a most serious scandal
on the personal character of the Chief himself; the personal ill-treatment and
" corporal punishment of women;" "the vindictive treatment of the rela
tives and dependents of the late Chief."
31. My own observation here has assured me that the cultivating classes
are discontented to an unusual degree, and were until recently in a state of
Vide my Report No. 433-1431 of 19th alm0St resistance to tllC Collection of the
December 1874. revenue. Again the nobles were, until my recent
cember 1874^° 440 1472 of 27th ^ interview with them, in combination against the
authority of His Highness. Until purged by the
administration of Mr. Dadabhoy, the criminal and civil administration of justice
was notoriously venal and corrupt. The general voice of the community was
57 15