THE CLOUDS IN THE DISTANCE. 177 use every means in their power to restrain the BOOK VIII. 1857. June 15. Risings all about A'gra. BOOK VIII. CHAPTER II. THE events which were occurring at the period at which we have arrived at Alláhábád, Kánhpúr, Banáras, and in the Mírath division have been already related. From those quarters there came no light to A'gra. From others, within and without the circle of the North-West Provinces, issued those menacing demonstrations which forced at last a decisive policy on the Government. These have now to be noticed. In writing the history of the mutiny in the North-West Provinces, it has to be borne in mind that three central positions stand out, each distinct from the others, and each attracting to itself separate attacks, unconnected with the Three central others. These three central positions were A'gra -the point aimed at by the mutineers on the right bank of the Jamná-by those, in a word, issuing from Central India :-Kánhpúr, connected henceforth intimately with Oudh :-and Dehlí, attracting the rebels from Rohilkhand and the points in the North-West. Chapter II. 1857. northern part of the Doáb. To preserve, then, BOOK VIII. unbroken the narrative of the events affecting A'gra as a main central point, it is necessary that I should leave for a future chapter the stations and districts on the left bank of the Jamná, and endeavour to concentrate the attention of the reader on Bandalkhand, Central India, and on Rájpútáná. The town of Jhánsí lies one hundred and forty- Jhansi. two miles south of A'gra. It is the capital of the province of the same name. The history of this province has been peculiar. plunder and robbery which accompanied the break-up of the Moghol empire under the successors of Aurangzíb, a portion of Bandalkhand belonging to the dominions of the Rájá of Urchá had been appropriated by one of the Maráthá officers serving under the Péshwá, and to him. confirmed by sanad. The territory so appropriated, containing nearly three thousand square miles and a population of about a quarter of a million, was called after the chief town within its borders, Jhánsí. As long as the power of the Its carly hisPéshwá lasted the Maráthá officer and his successors ruled Jhánsí as vassals of that prince. But on the downfall of the Péshwá in 1817 the territories possessed by him in Bandalkhand and elsewhere were ceded to the British. Amongst these territories was Jhánsí, the ruler of which, known under the title of Súbádár, accepted the protection of the British, and agreed to pay an annual tribute of seventy-four thousand rupees of the currency of his State. In return the British tory Chapter II. 1857. BOOK VIII. Government declared him hereditary ruler of the country. The name of the Súbádár with whom this arrangement was concluded was Rám Chand Rao. Fifteen years later the British Government, to mark their approval of his rule, exchanged his title of Súbádár for the higher rank of Rájá. Rám Chand Rao enjoyed his new dignity for three years and then died without issue (1835). Disputes regarding the succession. The Rájá had died, and had left no direct heir, natural or adopted. But in the guarantee given eighteen years before the State had been declared to be hereditary in his family. It was, therefore, incumbent upon the British Government to acknowledge as Rájá the member of that family nearest in relationship to the deceased. Ultimately the choice fell upon Rao Ragonáth Rao, his uncle. This man was incapable and a leper. After three years of unpopular rule he died, and the throne became again vacant. There were several claimants to succeed him. Their pretensions were examined by a commission appointed by the Governor-General of India, and after a long interregnum all but one were pronounced invalid. The excepted claim was that of Bábá Gangadhar Rao, brother of the deceased. He, therefore, was nominated Rájá. Meanwhile the revenues of the country had been falling. During the reign of the leper there had been practically no government. Everywhere disorder had been rampant. Bábá Gangadhar Rao was not the man to remedy this state of things. He, too, was an imbecile, and it was duced. conjectured that under his sway, disorder, far Book VIII. Chapter II. from being checked, would be increased tenfold. Under these circumstances, the British Govern- 1857. ment stepped in as the paramount power and British resolved to carry on the administration of the agency introcountry by means of British agency. To the Rájá an annual allowance was granted, and he was informed that the government of the country would only be made over to him when it should appear that he was fit to conduct it properly. stored. That happy period arrived in 1843. By the The Rájá reexertions of the British officers the country had been restored to more than its former prosperity. It was then made over to the Rájá, subject to a small cession of territory in commutation of the annual payment previously made for the support of the Bandalkhand legion. out heirs. Bábá Gangadhar Ráo ruled Jhánsí for eleven He dies with years neither very wisely nor very well. He died in 1854 without heirs. He was the last male descendant of the family to which the British Government in 1817 had guaranteed the right of succession. The Governor-General of the day, Lord Dalhousie, was of opinion that the treaty of 1817, whilst it did guarantee the right of succession to the members of a certain family, gave no right of adoption, after the disappearance of that family, to the widow of its latest representative. He was fortified in this view by the opinion. of the commission appointed by Lord Auckland in 1848, and which had unanimously rejected the pretensions of all the claimants excepting one. And now that one had died, childless. Lord |