Letter from the undersigned Sirdars, etc. of the Baroda Sate to Philip Sandys Melvill, Agent to the Governor-General of India, Baroda [‎21v] (10/18)

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exertions enabled the first Gaekwar to bring this State into existence.
If any evidence be needed at all to prove this fact, we only beg your
Honour to refer, (1) to para. 8 of the letter from the Resident to the
Secretary of Bombay Government, No. 146-762, dated 19th August
1873, and published at page 25, vol. 1, Report of the Baroda Com
mission ; (2) to Schedule 2, page 111 of the same Report; (3) to 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. Records; and (4) to the Records of this State. Such mili
tary class has the privilege of being excluded from the operation of
ordinary laws not only in the Native States, but also in the British
teintones. All matters regarding them are always decided by military
officers according to military principles. Moreover, in those parts of
India which have been conquered by the British, and which are inde
pendently ruled by them, they, as a conquering race, are excluded from
the ordinary jurisdiction of a court presided over by a native officer,
and also special rules have, in some respects, been framed for Govern
ment officers. Ihis fact is, we think, well known to your Honour.
The new Criminal Procedure Code also declares that a Native Officer
is incompetent to try and decide criminal cases against European
British subjects. A reference to the undermentioned Acts passed by
the British Government will convince your Honour of the truth of
these statements:—
Regulation II. of 1827, Sections 43, 45, 46.
Regulation XII. of 1827, Section 8, Clause 4; Section 10, Clause
2; Section 11; and Section 17, Clause 4.
Regulation XXII. of 1827.
Regulation XXX. of 1827, Section 7, Clause 2.
Act XXV. of 1861, Sections 39, 40, 41, 42.
Act X. of 1872.
When such is the practice recognized by a most civilized government
like the British, we submit, for your Honour's consideration, whether
we, too, as a military class, as a conquering race, as men through
whose help this State was established, are not entitled to the privileges
and advantages attached to a similar practice, which has existed here
from the earliest times, and which the principles framed by the
present Ministry are calculated to abolish.
The old system of jurisdiction enables us to secure the following advan
tages : —
(1) As all business concerning us is conducted through the Buxees,
and as they are hereditary kamdars, they are intimately acquainted
with, and always act with perfect regard to, our respect and