[7]. The Author, who placed himself on the extreme left of the regent’s line, to be a check upon the dubious conduct of his troops, particularly noted this intended movement, which was frustrated only by Major Kennedy’s advance.
[8]. Lieutenants Clarke and Read, of the 4th Regt. Light Cavalry.
[9]. Major (now Lt.-Col.) J. Ridge, C.B.
[10]. Lieut. (now Captain) M‘Millan and the Author were the only officers, I believe, who witnessed this singular scene.
[11]. In a letter, addressed by some of the principal chiefs to the regent, through the Agent, they did not hesitate to say they had been guided in the course they adopted of obeying the summons of the Maharao, by instructions of his confidential minister.
[12]. The native treasurer at Delhi, who conducted these intrigues, after a strict investigation was dismissed from his office; and the same fate was awarded to the chief Munshi of the Persian secretary’s office at the seat of government. Regular treaties and bonds were found in the camp of the Maharao, which afforded abundant condemnatory evidence against these confidential officers, who mainly produced the catastrophe we have to record, and rendered nugatory the most strenuous efforts to save the misguided prince and his brave brethren.
[13]. The Author, who had to perform the painful duty related in this detailed transaction, was alternately aided and embarrassed by his knowledge of the past history of the Haras, and the mutual relations of all its discordant elements. Perhaps, entire ignorance would have been better—a bare knowledge of the treaty, and the expediency of a rigid adherence thereto, unbiassed by sympathy, or notions of abstract justice, which has too little in common with diplomacy. But without overlooking the colder dictates of duty, he determined that the aegis of Britain should not be a shield of oppression, and that the remains of Hara independence, which either policy or fear had compelled the regent to respect, should not thereby be destroyed; and he assumed the responsibility, a few days after the action, of proclaiming a general amnesty to the chiefs, and an invitation to each to return to his dwelling. He told the regent that any proceeding which might render this clemency nugatory, would not fail to dissatisfy the Government. All instantly availed themselves of the permission; and in every point of view, morally and physically, the result was most satisfactory, and it acted as a panacea for the wounds our public faith compelled us to inflict. Even in the midst of their compulsory infliction, he had many sources of gratulation: and of these he will give an anecdote illustrative of Rajput character. In 1807, when the Author, then commencing his career, was wandering alone through their country, surveying their geography, and collecting scraps of their statistics, he left Sindhia battering Rahatgarh [in Sāgar District, Central Provinces] and with a slender guard proceeded through the wilds of Chanderi, and thence direct westwards to trace the course of all the rivers lying between the Betwa and the Chambal. In passing through Haravati, leaving his tent standing at Bara, he had advanced with the perambulator as far as the Kali-Sind, a distance of seventeen miles; and, leaving his people to follow at leisure, was returning home unattended at a brisk canter, when, as he passed through the town of Bamolia, a party rushed out and made him captive, saying that he must visit the chief [582]. Although much fatigued, it would have been folly to refuse. He obeyed, and was conveyed to a square, in the centre of which was an elevated chabutra or platform, shaded by the sacred tree. Here, sitting on carpets, was the chief with his little court. The Author was received most courteously. The first act was to disembarrass him of his boots; but this, heated as he was, they could not effect: refreshments were then put before him, and a Brahman brought water, with a ewer and basin, for his ablutions. Although he was then but an indifferent linguist, and their patois scarcely intelligible to him, he passed a very happy hour, in which conversation never flagged. The square was soon filled, and many a pair of fine black eyes smiled courteously upon the stranger—for the females, to his surprise, looked abroad without any fear of censure; though he was ignorant of their sphere in life. The Author’s horse was lame, which the chief had noticed; and on rising to go, he found one ready caparisoned for him, which, however, he would not accept. On reaching his tent the Author sent several little articles as tokens of regard. Fourteen years after this, the day following the action at Mangrol, he received a letter by a messenger from the mother of the chief of Bamolia, who sent her blessing, and invoked him, by past friendship and recollections, to protect her son, whose honour had made him join the standard of his sovereign. The Author had the satisfaction of replying that her son would be with her nearly as soon as the bearer of the letter. The Bamolia chief, it will be recollected, was the descendant of the chief of Aton, one of the great opponents of the regent at the opening of his career.
[14]. The battle of Bhatwara was fought in S. 1817, or A.D. 1761; the action at Mangrol, Oct. 1, A.D. 1821.
[15]. Job, chap. xxxi. 38-40.
[16]. [Zālim Singh died in 1824, and was succeeded as regent by his son, Mādho Singh, who was notoriously unfit for office, and he was succeeded by his son, Madan Singh. Maharāo Kishor Singh II. died in 1828, and was succeeded by his nephew, Rām Singh II. (1828-66). Six years after his accession disputes again arose between him and his minister, Madan Singh, and it was resolved to dismember the State of Kotah, and to create the new principality of Jhālawār as a separate provision for the descendants of Zālim Singh (IGI, xv. 414; H. H. Wilson, continuation of Mill, Hist. of British India, 1846, vol. ii. p. 424).]