The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-23 00:00:00

EVEN SUN

IMPERIA L PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, Sept. 22.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at a Quarter before
Four o'Clock. - - -

Sir E. KNATCHBULL took the oaths and his seat
for the Eastern Division of the County of Kent, and the
Eon. Mr. Duncombe for the Northern Division of Lan-

,eashire.
Captain ir,OUS presented a petition from the City of
Westminster, praying that the toll might be taken off

Vauxhall-bridge.-
Mr. MASTEI-BIAN presented a petition from cer-
tain inhabitants of London, praying the abolition of the

toll on the Metropolitan Bridge::.
RAJA OF SATTARA.
Mr. AIDA.7I presented a petition from Sir Charles
Forbes and other East India Proprietors, members of
the Society of the Friends of India, praying the
Ilouse to inquire into the case of the Rl*. of Sattara,
who had been accused of conspiring against the British
authority id India, carried off in the middle of the ni7ht
from his pdaee, and was still detained a pri::oner. The
petitioners prayed the House would interfere to induce
the East India Company to take some steps to reinstate
'the Raja on his throne, if it should be found that he had
been unjustly deposed, as the petitioners beliered.--Laid
on the table.

The fiillowing is the Petition above alluded to:—
" TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS Or

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND IN PAR-
LIAMENT ASSEMBLED.
4"The Petition of the British India Society ; a Society
whose aim it is to make known the condition, and to
advance the welfare, of th,^,ir fellow-subjects, the Na-
tives of India, in the belief that they can thereby best
promote the interests of the British Empire :
Showeth—Thtt there has lately occurred the case
of a native Prince of India, the Raja of Sattara, who
has been violently dethroned, and, with his family,
exiled by the British Indian authorities ; a case in
which the welfare of the natives of India at large, and
tile honour and interests of this empire, are deeply con-
ccrm,d ; for which reasons your petitioners beg leave to
submit to your Honourable House some of the facts of
the ease, as established by evidence, namely—
" From his accession in 1818, until the year 1836, this
Prince was held up by the Government of Bombay, the
Governor-General of India, and the Court of Directors,

an example to all Native Princes. Four successive
lioliti-,111 Residents at his Court attest, by their personal
knowledge, extending through nineteen years, the just-
ue.;:.; of this praise.

" The traveiler in the Deccan, whenever he passed the
boundary line which divides the territories under the
dominion of :he East India Company from those under
the dominion of the. Baja, had ocular proof presented to
hire, in the plenty, the contentment, and the happiness
he c.ver)%vhere beheld, of the wisdom and justice. the
nioderation and beneficence, of thie liaja's rule. His
:albjects blessed his name. On the 29th December,
1835, the C,mrt of Directo7s of the East _lndia Company

addresFed to him thr., fodowing high paneg.,
Your Iligimess---We have been highly gratified by
the informatioa from time to time transmitted to us by

NT :-

our Goveratvent, on the subject -of your Highness's
exemplary fulfilment o:' the duties of that elevated situa-
th,n in which it has pleased Providence to place you.
" 2s course of conduct so suited to your Highness's
exalt 1 station, and so well calculated to promote
the prosperity of your dominions, and the hap-
piness of :four people, as that which you have
wisely and uniformly pursued, while it reflects
the highest honour on your character, has im-
pArted to our minds the feeliug'i of unqualilied satisfac-
z,ion and pleasure. The liberality also which you have
displayed, in executing at yol:r own cost various public
works of great utility, and wl:iuli has so justly raised
your reputation in the eye of tile princes and people of
India, gives you an additional claim to our approbation,
respect, and apilause. .

".
Tmore6s-;.‘cl with thoFe sentiments, the Court of
3)iiectors of the East India Co:upany have unanimously
resolved to transmit to you a sword, which will be pre-
sented to you through the Government of Bombay, and
which we trust you will receive with satisfaction, as a
token of their high esteem and regard.
" With sincere wishes for your health and prosperity,
we subscribe ourselves, in the name of the Court,
6' • Your Highne:.;s's most faithful friends,
WILLIAM ;..i.f.ANLEY CLAIIKE,
Chairman,
" RIVET CARNAC,
I )ei).l .y-Chairman.'

(Sig:ed)

" This letter, and the sword ulif:nimen;ly o:.stowed upon
the Rej3, were %%ithh,:d from by the Governor
Council of Bombay, 6ir 1-tert Grant, for no reasons
that have been openly avowed
"In 1832, the Raja complained of an infraction of treaty
by the Bombay Government, who denied his paramount
sovereignty, guaranteed to him by treaty, over one of
his Feudatories, and seized upon the latter's jag-
hecr or estate. The liflja solicited a reference to the
Court of Directors of the East India Company, or to the
foam, r of the treaty, the Honourable Mountstuart Elphin-
stone, pledging himself to abide by the decision of those
authorities. The reference was repeatedly promised. At
the end of four years, the Raja discovered the reference
had never been made, while the Bombay Government had
seized upon another jagheer. Feeling himself deceived, op-
pressed, and aggrieved, and despairing of redress, the Raja
declared his intention of appealing to the Home Autho-
rities, by his own agents ; a right to which he was
entitled from the hour he became a dependent Prince.
Oa the representation of the Resident he relinquished
this intention at that time. But, from that time he was

tmated with open insult by the Governor in Council.
73e was apprised of the letter and sword sent to him by
the Court of Directors ; both these testimonials were
intentionally withheld, while his own annual present and
'letter to the Governor in Council were returned, the

letter unopened. The Resident at his Court, General
Lodwick, prophetically warned him of the fate of his
predecessor, Bajee Rao, a prisoner for life at Benares,
and his subjects foretold that he would be de-
throned. The means to do throne him were at

hand. The Raja was aMahratta. His throne was raised

on the ruin of the Peish‘vah, a Brahmin. The Bombay
Government were officially apprised by two Governors
who visited the Deccan, Sir John Malcolm and the

Right Honourable the Earl of Clare. that the caste
of Brahmins had for years been accusing the Raja
of enormous crimes, all false, for the purpose of
etre °tiny; his downfal. On the information of a
Brahmin, named Untajee, one of the most abandoned
of men, the Raja was accused of having "tampered with
the fdlegiance of two native British officers. Upon the
receipt of this information, the Governor of Bombay
sent to the Resident at his Court a paper of hint's, sug-
gesting that the native officers should ask to see the Raja
—tell him they had heard their part of the plot had been
discovered—beg that he would protect them, either by
advancing money to escape with, or a pass under his
hand and seal, to insure them service—that if he gave them

money the evidence would be strong; if a paper, convincing.
If, however, he should give them up to the Resident,
with loud complaints of calumny, in this case the Resi-
dent was to pretend to secure them ; and suspicion being
hushed, an opportunity would be afforded of securing the
principal agents.' rhis device failing, from the charac-
ter of the Resident, the Governor in Council sent a
secret Commission to Sattara, the Raja's capital,
to try him upon the charge on the evidence of
his own subjects. The Commission received secret and

ancnyineus evidence, and evidence admitted to be per-
jured. The Commission refused to cross-examine the
witnesses ; and, by express order from the Governor
in Council, rejected a proposal made by the Resident,
that an agent should be present on the Raja's behalf,
The Resident, who was made one of the members of
the Commission, declared that the evidence was ut-
terly worthless, for the purpose of dethrdning the
Raja. This Resident was removed, and was succeeded
by another member of the Commission, Colonel °vans,.
who had adjudged the Raja to be guilty. By his tree
the Raja was bound to consult with, and be guideet- te,y,
the Resident in all things. The Governor in cteenail
instructed the new Resident ' to be distant and
in all his communications with the . reserved
Ataja '
officer and
this ocer reported, ' that he had evaeclied the ad-
vances the Raja had made of throw...ie,g himself into his
The first act of this Resi
hands.' .
the Governor-in-Council, was ..tent, sanctioned by
*.o remove the Raja's
d aalherent, Govind Ra-
favoured
owit, to
,who was under mild con-
straint at Po , altno
A 6 solitary confinement in a
distant fortress ; the raesident observing, it is to be
hoped that thi.a tneas-,are may induce his (Govind Rao's)
mother, and , his other friends, to come forward and dis-
close all t'i• kw:ay as the only means of assisting him.'
Govind B ,ao,r .4 it British subject, but a subject of Sat-
tars, Iva, costPaeed for
followed, upon
years, without charge and
upon the information of
with!). At trial. Then
and implicating her own son, a
Gov And Rao's. mother,against the Raja, spreading over twelve
fr At accusation
conspidred with the Viceroy of Goa, to
tears, of having
troops from Portugal, in order
!procure thirty thousand
out of India. The Governor in
to drive the British
evidence against the Raja, while
Council offered `liberal
'rewards and indemnity' to
evi • wlmaisoever should give
he denied all aid or counsel to the latter, and intercepted
his correspondence.
•
"The necessity of "roving the R aJa to be guilty is made
apparent by the Governor in Council, in his minute of the
sth. May, 1838, as follows :
" Under these circumstances, it-cannot be denied that
the character of the Bombay Government is almost as
deeply committed on the event of
the present discus-
sions, as that of the ruler of Sattara. We owe it to our
selves to show that we have not acted I; litli or harshly,
o: credulously ; that, from first to last, the have
had no
object but the discovery of truth, and have taken no mea-
sures but such as that object justified.'
"A host of Brahmins appeared, and declared to the truth
of the charge: the chief of them, Balkoba Kelkur, being
a leader of gang-robbers, to whom the Governor in
Conceit granted a free pardon, in order that he night
give evidence. Of this man, the Governor in Council
beught, for the sum of 400 rupees, or 401., the docu-
mentary proofs of the accusation, which had be-
longed, he said, to two Brahmins, who had. died more
than twelve months before, and which, he averred, were
pawned to an obscure inhabitant of the Goa territories
fur 900 rupees, or 90/. These proof's, asserted to he
letters fro m
genuine by the
the Governor in Council, conlprie certain
Viceroy of Goa to the Raja. The Vice-
roy, a nobleman of high birth, and now Lord Cham-
berlain to her Majesty the Queen of Portugal, has, under hie omen hand, declared to Joseph Mime, Esq., late a
ter
ember o
ascribe your H curabletoo House, that the pretended
lets d are utter forgeries. Upon
the Raja asserting his entire innocce of all these
charges, and offering, and desiring, ton surrender up his
dominions until he proved. his ianocence, the Governor
of Bombay, Sir James Eavett Carnac, Bart., in person,
presented for. his unconditional signature a new treaty,
which he. was required to acknow-
in the preamble of
ledge his guilt as.the price of•reLiti!iloihija g his chrune. Th,
tilrice firmly but respectfully declined ; say-
ing, as reported by the Governor, that he would
consent to anything except to abandon his religion, or
acknowledge that he had _been our enemy.' The Go-