The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-19 00:00:00

INIORNI,Tti SUN.

THE RAJA OF S,„TTAB,A, AND
TREATMENT OF HIS AGENTS BY THE DI-
RECTORS OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY.

In The Sun of the 23d July, we deemed it our duty
to direct public attention to the systematic ill faith and
oPpression, the trumped up charges to colour th;s op-
pression, the wicked condemnation that followed it, and
the scandalous personal treatment, ending in the death
upon the high-road of the Raja's dearest friend and re-
lative, of which this much injured Prince and his family
have been made the victims by the Government of Born-
Y. We stated that the five days' debate at the India
ouse elicited proof of the fact, that a majority of the
Court of Directors have bestowed " THEIR WARM COM-
kENDATION" upon all these acts, even upon the act of
secretly accusing the Raja of treason, sending a Com-
mission to his capital, without a word of announce-
ment, to try him behind his back, and positively, and
1Y express order, forbidding a human being to be
Present on his behalf, to cross-examine witnesses
Who confessed to deliberate perjury, or even to
Mite a note of the evidence ! This, in the deliberate
Commendation of the Court of Directors, is their justice
. and international law. The subsequent midnight seizure
;of the Raja and his sleeping family, like the most atro-
eious of malefactor's, their forcible deportation to Benares,
and the confiscation of the whole of his private property,
down to his flocks and herds—all acknowledged by three
Political Residents at his Court to have been the Ra-
ja's own, as absolutely as any thing that belongs to any
one of these Directors—is a further exposition of their
justice and their law. Aye, they get up in their Court,
the Court of Proprietors, and take God to witness they
do justice to the nations of India, high and low, rich and
Poor, Raja and Ryot, according to the solemn oath they
have sworn. And they produce and print their sanc-
tion, their approval, and their confirmation of such con-
duct and such acts as these, as evidence of the sanctity
With which they regard that oath. One thing they
nuke quite manifest—their intimate conviction ttat their
Willing audience are knaves or fools.
-Death resulted in a very few days to one of the vie-
bins from the treatment he received—" A noble fellow !"
exclaimed General Lodwick when he spoke of and
described that victim, the unfortunate Balla Sahib. The
British public is little aware that.a similar tragedy was
en the point of being rehearsed before their' eyes, in
this city, as was acted on the road to Benares ; the victim
In this case, too, another friend of the Raja's, one of his
yakeels or agents, four of whom he deputed many
Months since to England, to solicit in vain from the Court
of Directors all that he has ever asked from his perse-
tutors in India or in England—a hearing. ; and who would
have fallen a pray to sickness, wrought by distress of
and to absolute want, if a generous hand,
" Open as day to inciting charity," •
had not interposed its aid, and by immediately minister-
ing that relief to the necessities of the sufferer, which
the Court of Directors sternly and peremptorily denied
to his respectful prayer, rescued him from being borne to
Pauper's grave in a foreign land.
The agent in question, the first whom the Baja de-
tilted, was a Mahomedan, of talent and education, named
daleer Afzal Ali, who, having been in England some years
previous, was sent before, to prepare the way in a man-
ner, for the coining of three other persons, all
4lindoos, subjects of Sattara, who were intimately
acquainted with the Raja's affairs, two of them having
those
been his secretaries, and the other a relative. As
nse individuals had never before quitted Sattara in
their lives, hardly knew aught beyond its walls, nor
Understood a word of English, they needed all the aid
lied guidance which the experience of their colleague
could give them, in directing their course in the very
novel world to which they were to be transplanted, by
"'air sense of duty and personal attachment to their
sovereign. Meer Ali, duly accredited, arrived in Eng-
land in December, 1838, when, as he states to the
Court of Directors (Sept. 14, 1840), "in consequence
of assurances that Sir James Carnac would amicably
adjust all the existing differences " with the Raja, he
refrained from addressing the Court. At the time he
Was silenced by these assurances, the Court were in pos-
session of the folios upon folios of evidence, which have
!teen raked and piled up against the Raja—a glance at
the nature of which sufficed to make the future Gover-
ner, Sir James Carnac, declare, that he undertook to
In the affair with the Raja in five minutes.
.ta
June, 1839, arrived two of the Hindoos,
detail
their numerous attendants. And here we shall
retail the treatment which these agents, not British sub-
ILeet's, but men of birth, rank, post, and consideration,
'go subjects of a reigning Prince, not merely guiltless
of crime or offence, but who were clothed by him with a
character held sacred even by barbarians, received at
the hands of the Governor in Council, when, on leaving
Sattara, they reached Bombay as the first stage in their
ntission to England. The Raja had distinctly told the
late Governor, Sir R. Grant; of his intention to appeal to
England
; he made so little mystery of it that the Re-
tsident had no difficulty in hearing of the steps he was
taking, nor in learning the names of all the persons who
"a4l consented to undertake an errand to them so arduous
and perilous, for the Resident first communicated their
names and purpose to the Government in November,
,738, and, when they set out, their departure. Momen-
i„,'"us was the intelligence considered. The Governor in
,s'euncil, consisting then of three individuals, all Com-
vaily's servants, all of whom had repeatedly adjudged
the Raja to be guilty of every shade of crime they im-
puted to him, met in solemn conclave. They severally
recorded in a variety of minutes, and parts of minutes,
/vith and without date, extending from the 12th February
t
019th March, 1839, their opinion that—
b "With M—(a Frenchman), we have nothing to say,
interfere with the natives we have a great deal, and we should
e,rfere to stop them."
th As a deputation from the Raja proceeding without
"e consent of this Government, I should think these
Persons could be stopped."
" If the Baja applies to send such an embassy, we may
refer the application to the Honourable Court, and await
the Honourable Court's orders." -

" The Raja of Sattara can send no deputation except
.„through the authorized channel, and no such deputation
"as been authorized.
" The grounds on which these persons are supposed
to be proceeding to Europe from the Raja of Sattara
Should be reported, and their names stated.
" The Governor-General and Secret Committee to be
informed."
" The reference to the Senior Magistrate of Police
should be made regarding these natives, and the Advo-
cate-General may be consulted, as to whether we can
detain them on any information we possess, as deputed
Y the Raja of Sattara."
" The Senior Magistrate should hand up the state-
!nent of each individual, which, it is presumed, he took
la writing."
" Colonel Ovans's letter, of the 18th instant, and the
result of the examinations taken by Mr. Boyd, leave no
doubt regarding the nature and objects of the mission
Znitato proceed to England on the part of the Raja of
ra.
" Mr. Boyd should inform the principal persons, that
Without
are satisfied that, proceeding as they do
the sanction of this Government, they 1611 find
themselves, mistaken in the expectation that they will be
``cognized in any public capacity by her Majesty's Go-
enunent or the Honourable Court of Directors.
" The Advocate- General may also be informed of this
decision, in case he has any objection to offer to it.
shouldp of all papers connected with the subject
recommendation,
be sent to the Secret Committee, with our earnest
jee,enimendation, that the mission may not, on its arrival
hill;:ngland, be recognised, either by the Court or by
her Majesty's Government. Their instructions may also
,se solicited, whether such mission should be allowed, or
"°t, to proceed to England.
i.." The Secret Committee will determine whether this
t'`Peeeding is in conformity with the Raja's agreement
With Government."
Rut these minutes, so creditable to the writers, and so
Worthy of the occasion, do not, however, reveal the
.I",nh le story. The agents, fearing to embark in an
glish ship, had secured their passage in a French "%W-
V, the G. Cuvier, then on the eve of sailing for .P.or-
aux. Orders were issued to stop this ship and refuse
er a port clearance. The agents were seized in their
house by the police, carried before the senior magis-
trate, who first detained them as charged with a crimi-
nal offence, next severely interrogated them upon a string
Of questions, which had been suggested by the Advocate-
General, for the express purpose of frightening and con-
founding them. The same Governor in Council, be it
*membered, had peremptorily denied legal advice to the
lilaja. The poor men, alarmed for their lives, repudiated
heir character of agents to the Raja, and declared them-
elves to be no longer envoys but private merchants ;
hereu on the magnanimous Government branded
themimpostors ; and although the
as liars and
84Perear 0i
of the French ship attended at the
Felice g lice and repeatedly offered . to give
bolld thato 'they should not communicateh with
the shore, as the ship passed down t._eicsolahsot,ultiis offer
them,
was rejected, he was compelled to sail
11'nd they were made to forfeit the whole of the sum they
grad for their passage. Three weeks
from
they
y
further
Were. released by another solemn minute
oetention and told they might now embarkfrformEnglanidr
at their own risk, and on paying a second time for thei
Passage. About nine months after leaving Sattara, t ey
reached Liverpool. What their reception and treat-
ent has been since their arrival in England, we shall
describe in the words of a Director, General Robertson,
who was personally acquainted with these native gritle-
mens when he was British Resident at the Cou' of
liir master. The General, turning to and addressing
is cotlearsue3 the Directors, said, " had these men been
thieves and robbers, they could not have been treated
worse. I know not what right there is to treat the
liatives of India in this way. They had not bread to
e,at- I myself was obliged to give them money to keep.
tnem from starving !" " The earnest recommendation'
of the Bombay Council was thus fulfilled even beyond
the letter. Not only was " the mission not recog-
nised by the Court" (and such a Mission,• the
Mission of a Prince secretly accused, and afterwards vio-
lently deposed!), but the persons composing it were re-
garded in the light of " thieves and robbers." Then came
Physical want, to aggravate their hitter mental suffer-
ings- The confiscation of their master's private pro-
Perty left them with no other pecuniary resources than
those they had brought with them. These they hus-
banded for many months, with the frugality known only
to the limited personal wants of the natives of the East,
feeding their minds with the vain hope that the aecents
of truth, justice, and compassion would penetrate to the
hearts of their master's judges. Their last shilling (Es-
aPPeared, ere these hopes fled. The health of the first
comer, Meer Ali, who with his colleagues had been sub-
sisting upan the bounty of private frieze:ls' now sunk
under protracted care and distress ; his life being in
danger, he addressed the Court, praying that they would
save it, by advancing him a sum sufficient to pay his debts,
and enable himself and four attendants to return to
India. The answer to this prayer, dated ono-and-twenty
"aYs after (7th October), is before us. We give it entire.
" Your petition, dated 14th September, requesting an
advance of 7001., to enable you to return to India, has

been laid before the ConiiOriiiTeciOTS, and, in reply, I
am commanded to inform you that the Court cannot take
into consideration any such proceeding from one only of the
individuals at present residing in this country, as agents
of the late Raja of Sattara.
" J. C. mr,LvILL, Secretary."

The terms of this inhuman reply, which left Meei- Ali
the option of the grave or a gaol, so increased his disor-
der, that death would have 'put a speedy period to his
sufferings, if a gentleman, Sir Charles Forbes, had not
immediately come forward and paid the money required
to extricate him from his embarrassments, and defray his
passage to India. The other agents continued to live on
in utter penury. At length, their credit ceasing, even
for necessaries, and themselves dreading arrest for debt.,
they ventured to appeal to the Court, stating that they
were thirteen persons in number wanting bread, and so-
liciting a 'trifling advance for their necessities, which
might be paid out of the 80,000/. belonging rightfully
to their master, or even out, of 4,0001. of jewels, his
property, deposited with '`.k banker . at Bombay, the
seizure of which the Governiment had sanctioned. This
appeal, the India House 'Sectiotary acknowledges as fol-
lows, on the 7th April,'lB4l
Your letter, dated 16th March (22 days before),
respecting your pecuniary dOliculties, and request of an
advance for 2,0001. has been 'received and laid before the
Court of Directors, and I have it in command to state that
the Court see no reason for complying with your request."
On the 10th of April the -Agents again implored
assistance, " They repeated that they were •in
absolute distress, without the means of subsistence,
and if not relieved should be compelled to throw them-
selves for advice and assistance upon the Lord Mayor ;"
but they now pledged themselves " as a. matter of ne-
cessity," that if assisted and furnished with the means,
they would leave England, and depart for India by the
first convenient opportunity. On the 15th of May,
thirty-five days after, the Court reply to the Agents,
that in consideration of ticeir- pledge, their " distressed
circumstances," and upon their having engaged their
passage, an advance would be made to them (a con
cession for which it is understood they are indebted
to the humanity of Sir J. Hobhouse, of whom it
must be recorded that he never kept one of their com-
munications more than a day unanswered). The sum
was afterwards increased to 4,0001. ; it was advanced to
them in the first instance by their bankers, Messrs..
Forbes, Forbes, and Co., and only repaid upon this house
producing proof to the Court of Directors that the Agents
had actually embarked and sailed. The Court further de-
scended to require from this house "a statement of the
appropriation of the money." There is a remaining part
of this correspondence too truly characteristic of the
Agents and of the Court to be passed by unnoticed. The
Agents, with the principles of men of honour, and with
the gratitude of virtuous minds for the sympathy which
Sir C. Forbes was the foremost to show for their fallen
master, the Raja, and for the unvarying interest, kind-
ness, and attentions he had manifested to themselves
throughout their painful residence in England, besought
the Court of Directors, unknown to Sir Charles, to dis-
charge the pecuniary obligation by which he bad gene-
rously saved the life of their colleague, Meer Ali. The
Court, of course, refused in their usual words, aping the
style appropriated to Majesty. Immediately Sir C.
Forbes became aware of the request, which proper feel,
ings induced the Agents to prefer, he caused it to be in-
timated to the Court that he never meant to contaminate
himself " by making the sum he had advanced to Meer
Ali a subject either of claim or solicitation on the East
India Company." We here close our notice of this dis-
graceful transaction. It is not posssble for language to
heighten any part of it. It is in truth in strict keep-
ing with all the other portions of the Sattara, pro-
ceedings. The same men who inhumanly refused to ad-
vance a trifling sum to save the Envoy of a Prince
from starving in a strange land, scrupled not to lavish
800/. of the public money upon a tavern dinner to Lord
Keane ; nay, no longer ago than last week, they gave a
large, sumptuous, and expensive feast, at the expense of
the starving natives of India, to the persons called Scru-
tineers at the late election of one of their own body !
The thing seems incredible, though we assure our readers
it is no more than the fact. These are the men, who
are the rulers over the natives, and the disposers of the
revenues, of all India ; these the men who call themselves
the judges in the last resort of the Raja of Sattara, and
condemned him unheard. All past experience of their
deliberate deeds, as they come to light, contrasted with their
despatches, forbids the future hope of shame or amend-
ment. But one course remains—" Cuncta frustra tentata,
nuncimmedicabile vulnus, Ense recidendum, ni pars sin-
cera trahatur."