THE GAIKWAR OF BARODA.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 252, 2 April 1875, Page 4

THE GAIKWAR OF BARODA.

(Pall Hall Budget.')

The history of the large and opulent Mahratta state of Baroda during the last few years has been an eventful one. The present G-aikwar stepped from a prison to his throne. Soon after this event the troublesome rumours were afloat in India as to the altered condition of affairs at the Baroda Court. The favourites of the former G-aikwar, and especially all those who bad any hand in the incarceration of Mulharrao, his successor, were summarily deposed. The new potentate, it was affirmed, had surrounded himself by new Ministers, whose reckless vagaries astonished even those who were most familiar with the worst-governed native provinces. The new Gaikwar seemed determined to destroy the memory of his past privations by a course of unbridled luxury, and his favourites and advisers encouraged him in a career which would certainly prove profitable to themselves whatever happened to the country at large. The Court of Baroda became the scene of such wanton profusion that adventurers naturally flocked to it from all parts of India. The treasury was speedily emptied, and of that the industrious subjects of the Gaikwar were soon made aware. For them and their burdens he cared nothing. Banquets, nautches, music, fireworks, fights of wild beasts, torchlight processions, the blare of horns, and the rattle of tomtoms amused him every day and every night. His jewels were the talk of every bazaar from Scinde to Mysore, and the number and beauty of his dancing girls themes of conversation in every native palace. Blacker reports soon followed. Justice, it was said, could not be had in Baroda, especially

justice between poor and rich. Extortion was practised in the most barefaced manner. The industrious ryots were systematically beggared by troops of men who called themselves officials, and who levied exorbitant taxes in the Gaikwar's name. The English and Parsee papers of Bombay were full of sensational letters from Baroda territory, describing the state of anarchy into which everything was rapidly drifting. Time after time Colonel Phayre, the British resident at the Court of Baroda, had to remonstrate with the wretched voluptuary, and since these representations were treated with contempt, he had to lay before the Supreme Go_ vernment at Calcutta the facts of the case. At length matters arrived at such a crisis that a commission of inquiry was appointed, under the presidency of Colonel, now Sir Richard, Meade. But even then the proceedings of the Government of India were conducted with marked forbearance. A " commission," not a " court," of inquiry was appointed; and throughout the proceedings the Gaikwar, who seemed to regard the whole matter as a solemn joke, was treated with the utmost consideration. The revelations elicited by the commission are known in their entirety to a very few, —a circumstance which we, for our own part, do not regret. But the maladministration of the Baroda State was so clearly laid bare that the Viceroy had only one course open to him. The censure and the warnings conveyed by Lord Northbrook to Mulharrao are well known. All India has since watched the course of the Gaikwar. The Mahrattas especially, of whom the Gaikwar is one of the three great chiefs, are, of course, deeply interested in the result. They, as the only great division of Hindoos proper who possess any intact power in the India of the present day, regard with considerable apprehension the state of probation in which the British Government has placed their leader. The Gaikwar has been warned that unless by the end of 1875 the conduct of his Government is found to have undergone a radical change for the better, he will be deposed. Now a large portion of the richest of his Mahratta subjects regard his passion for display and tbe vices which have drawn upon him the Viceroy's threat as just those characteristics which, if they do not most become a prince, are most excusable in him. Many are jealous that the British should interfere in the management of a principality the independence of which, though only partial, reminds them of a glorious past; and many more see in the threatened intervention ot Government the prospect of personal loss. Moreover, it is a mistake, we apprehend, to suppose that the Gaikwar is unpopular with the wealthy and influential of his subjects. His poor subjects may curse him, but their curses, if deep, are certainly not loud, for obvious reasons. Then the Gaikwar has either wit or religion enough to pamper his Brahmins. Mulharrao is lavish in his gifts to the temples ; he has personally visited with great pomp, many of the shrines in his territory ; his costly cultus of dancing girls—who occupy a conspicuous position in the ordinary temple services, and who are known in India by the euphemistic name of " Handmaidens of the Lord" —throws a good deal of money into the temple treasuries. Accordingly, every mendicant Brahmin who tinkles his sacred bell in the by-ways and hamlets of Baroda extols the pious munificence of Mulharrao. Taking all things into consideration, it is not surprising that the threatened deposition of the reigning Gaikwar should have made a deep and not very welcome impression on the native mind, and that throughout India, and Western India especially, his conduct should now be narrowly and anxiously watched. Erom the attitude which Mulharrao has assumed since the Viceroy's warning was administered, it seems that he either regards the caution as a challenge, or that, feeling himself secure in his position, he is not inclined to regard it seriously at all. His attitude so far has been one of defiance, or at best of lofty indifference. Just after he was warned, the marriage of Mulharrao with Luxmeebaee was celebrated with the utmost ostentation. She was a girl of thirteen, of a poor and obscure family, and at least betrothed, if not married, to one of the Gaikwar's humble subjects. The husband of the girl instituted proceedings against Mulharrao at the Court of Surat, but it seems that there the case was quietly hushed up. While the commission on the Gaikwar of Baroda was sitting, the intrigues connected with this piece of business were in full swing; and while the report of that commission was under the consideration of Lord Northbrook, Mulharrao was completing his matrimonial arrangements. Next, the Gaikwar formally installed Dadabhoy Nowrojee, a Parsee adventurer, as his Prime Minister. Opinions as to thia step are

divided, and we may give the Gaikwar the benefit of the doubt. Nowrojee is represented as a most estimable philanthropist by some, and by others as a shrewd Parsee, who has undertaken the management of a province after a series of misfortunes in the conduct of mere business transactions. It must be conceded that the appointment of a clever Parsee was very popular in Bombay, the latter-day home of Parsees. However, some time must elapse before the wisdom of this appointment can be ascertained. Next, we have to observe that the expenditure of Mulharrao's Court has been as reckless as ever; but all this is, perhaps, of little account. Lastly, the life of Colonel Phayre, the British resident at the Court of Baroda, has been attempted by poison, under circumstances with which our readers are familiar. These, as far as we can learn, are the principal events which have taken place in Baroda since the Viceroy's declaration to Mulharrao that, if he did not amend his ways before the close of 1875, he would certainly be dethroned. We now come to two other circumstances. The Government of India has resolved to recognise Luxmeebaee as the lawful wife of Mulharrao, and her recently born child as the Gaikwar's heir. It is not difficult to guess the reasons for this decision. If Luxmeebaee's first husband has withdrawn his claims, no matter for what consideration, it would be hard to insist on a charge of bigamy against the ruler of Baroda. And as it is known that Mulharrao is infatuated with Luxmeebaee's charms, and would probably sink every consideration of prudence and policy for her sake, the natural conclusion is that so far it were better to leave matters as they are. Next we hear that Colonel Phayre has been recalled, and that Sir Lewis Pelly, the well-known Kattywar political agent, has been appointed in his stead. This, again, seems to us a proper as well as natural step to take. As much forbearance as possible should be shown to Mulharrao now and during the next year. Colonel Phayre, as in duty bound, has taken up for a considerable time a position antagonistic to the Gaikwar. He has constantly had to make complaints of the manner in which Baroda affairs were managed, and Mulharrao knows it. If at the end of the year the decision of the Government goes against the Gaikwar he may allege in excuse that he has been under the eye of a prejudiced official. Sir Lewis Pelly will be an independent judge of the turn matters take.

No moral is necessary for such a tale. "Whatever the Gaikwar may sow during the course of the next twelve months, that most assuredly he will reap. Lord Northbrook's action with reference to Baroda affairs has hitherto been marked by extreme care and sagacity. Mulharrao has every chance offered to him. If, after all, he persists in rushing to his own ruin, the great question will remain—a change of Mahratta rulers, or annexation ?