with the title of Subáhdár, accepted the protection of the foreign overlord, and agreed to pay an annual tribute of 74,000 rupees. In return, the British declared his title and position to be hereditary in his family. Fifteen years later, to mark their approval of his rule, they allowed him to assume the title of Rájá. This prince, whose name was Rám Chand Ráo, died without heirs, natural or adopted, in 1835. The Government of India, however, had, as we have said, bestowed the hereditary rule upon his family. They therefore appointed his nearest relative, who happened to be his uncle, to succeed him.
This man was a leper, and incapable. After three years of unpopular rule his death left the quasi-royal seat vacant. There was a lengthened inquiry regarding a successor, and then the Government nominated his brother, Bábá Gangadhar Ráo, to succeed him.
It unfortunately happened that this man was also an imbecile. To prevent the country falling into irremediable confusion the Government then carried on the administration by means of British agency. When, in 1843, a financial equilibrium had been restored, the Government was handed over to the Rájá. After a rule, conducted neither wisely nor well for eleven years, this chief died in 1854, the last surviving member of the family to which the Government of India had, in 1818, guaranteed the succession. There remained only his widow, a young, high-spirited, and ambitious lady. But Lord Dalhousie was of opinion that the guarantee did not extend to any person in whose veins the blood of the founder of the dynasty did not run. In spite, then, of the protestations of that lady he declared the state of Jhánsí to have lapsed to the East India Company.
The Rání, like Náná Sáhib, never forgave that which she considered an insult and an outrage. Powerless, she
