Letter from the Respectful Memorial of Sudashiv Rao Guicowar, alias Rao Saheb, a resident of the City of Baroda to His Excellency the Right Honourable Thomas George Baring, Baron Northbrook of Stratton, Viceroy and Governor General of India in Council [‎7v] (8/18)

power. "When your Memorialist's father became of age he hotly contested Sayajee Rao's claim;
but Sayajee Rao having possession and being in favor with the British Resident, his efforts proved
unavailing. Throughout life, however, Govind Rao did not fail to assert his right, and died under
the firm belief that his right would one day be recognized by the British Government in favor of
his sons. That the British Authorities themselves entertained a grave doubt as to the right of
Sayajee Rao to succeed to the Gadee in preference to your Memorialist's father is evident from
paragraph 31 of the Minute by the Honorable M. Elphinstone, dated April 18th, 1820, and quoted in
pages 281 to 283 in the above named work by Lieut. Col. Wallace. The paragraph is as follows :—
" The widow of his (Sayajee Rao's) elder brother had been permitted by the British Resident to
u adopt a son on the express condition of that son renouncing all right to the musnud derived from
" such adoption. Without this renunciation the adoption would have given to the adopted son an
" undoubted r'yjht to succeed to the musnud in preference to Sayajee himself. The adoption has
u been completed, but no written acknowledgement of the condition had yet been obtained from the
il relations of the adopted son. They were therefore at liberty to say, and actually did say, that they
u had never heard of the condition, and that they conceived the adopted son to have succeeded to all
" the rights of his deceased father. To guard against such a pretension a paper had been drawn up
11 and signed by Captain Carnac (who, as the person who permitted the adoption, must best have
<{ known the terms on which permission was granted), by which the relations of the adopted son re-
iC nounced all title derived from the adoption to succeed to the musnud. This paper the family refused
" to recognize, and the British Government solicited His Highness to acquiesce in the refusal. These
" proceedings obviously throw considerable doubt over Sayajee's title to the musnud. The mere omis-
" sion of so important a part of the agreement m the written instrument could not but give rise to
" doubts ; but the striking it out after it had been inserted by the Guicowar and signed by the
u Resident amounted to a virtual abandonment of the condition which it contained, and left the
11 adopted son in possession of all his r ights as much as if the renunciation had never been men-
11 tioned. It is true that the Resident was authorised to assure Sayajee that the British Government
"considered the adopted son to have renounced his title, and Sayajee, from his confidence in our
cc power and good faith, miglit feel secure that the claim of the adopted son was not likely ever to
11 operate to his own exclusion from the musnud; hut he could not fail to be conscious of the defect
a in his title t and to be apprehensive of the advantage that might be taken of it under anv future
u change of circumstances." Notwithstanding repeated protests made by Govind Rao against him,
Sayajee Rao was obliged to grant your Memorialist's family an annual allowance of Rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. 93000
out of the Khangi or personal fund set apart for the maintenance of the Guicowar and his family;
and in a memorandum prepared by the then British Resident at Baroda and signed by Sayajee Rao
himself that prince acknowledged Govind Rao and his heirs as the next in the line of succession, in
default of lineal male descendants of his own "body. It is also a fact well known to the people of
Baroda that His Highness the late Khundc Rao Maliaraj brought up your Memorialist ever since
lie was fourteen years of age as a member of his own household, until the time of His Highness'
death, that is, for about fourteen years with the avowed object of adopting your Memorialist as his
son and successor to the Gadee.
5. Your Excellency's Memorialist, therefore, respectfully submits to Your Excellency that in
accordance with Hindu law, your Memorialist is the rightful heir to the incumbency of the Gadee.
Your Memorialist, however, has a further claim as the representative of the heirs of Malojee (the
nephew of Damajee and brother of Peelajee the adopted son of the said Damajee) through your
Memorialist's father Govind Rao, son of Gunpat Rao and Grandson of Malojee, which Govind Rao,
as has just been stated, was adopted by Futtehsing Rao, the direct lineal descendant of the said
Peelajee Guicowar. Your Memorialist's claim in this respect is well stated by Lieut. Col. Barton,
late Assistant Resident at Baroda, in his report to Government on the Baroda guarantees, and quoted
as follows in Lieut. Col. Wallace's Work, page 570—" The child selected for adoption was Govind
" Rao, the son of Gunpat Rao Guicowar, who was a grandson of Malojee, the brother of Peelajee,
a of whom the reigning family were direct descendants. Should therefore the male issue of Peelajee
" fail, the descendants of Gunpat Rao would have the strongest claim to the Gadee" This view