in 1865 against Lord Dalhousie, for 'harshness' towards the man afterwards known as the infamous Náná Sáhib[1]. As this charge, however, is still occasionally repeated, and as it has even been suggested that Lord Dalhousie was to some extent responsible for the Mutiny of 1857, in consequence of his action towards Náná Sáhib in 1851, I must briefly state the facts.
In 1818, the Peshwá, of the Maráthás, completely beaten in the field, threw himself on the generosity of the British. Sir John Malcolm, then the Governor-General's Agent in the Deccan, assured him of his protection, and engaged that he should receive an allowance of £80,000 a year for his support. The Governor-General, Lord Hastings, thought the arrangement too liberal, but would not go back from it; especially as Sir John Malcolm argued that even a short continuance of the war, 'would have cost more than the value of the life pension granted to Bájí Ráo[2].' These distinct words of General Malcolm, who conducted the business, show that the allowance was expressly intended as a 'life pension.' Indeed there could not be the slightest pretension that it was ever
- ↑ A History of the Sepoy War in India, by John William Kaye, vol. i, p. 103, ed. 1865.
- ↑ This letter, dated 19th June, 1818, explaining ab initio the purely life interest conveyed by the pension, was known to Mr. Kaye, and is quoted by him in his Life of Sir John Malcolm, vol. ii, p. 259. Indeed Mr. Kaye himself speaks in that work of Bájí Ráo as 'an annuitant.'
