The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-21 00:00:00

Bajee Rao, the ex-Peishwa, died at Bhitoor on the 28th
ult. ; particulars have not reached us. The Peishwa has
received annually 8 lacs of rupees as a pension since his
dep sition in 1819, or in all above 2,500,0001. sterling. The
proverb which alludes to the brevity of the interval usually
elapsing betwixt descent from the throne and into the grave
has not in this case been realized—he has spent 32 years
powerless and in prison. The name of the Peishwa is fami-
liar to every one—to the younger part of our readers the
nature of the office, and authority he possessed, may not per-
haps be generally known. Under the Mahomedan Soversigns
in India there was a regular division of offices and distribu-
tion of the places of Government. The Vizier-was the first
authority under the Crown, then those of Bukshee, Ameer
al Omrah, and so forth. The Hindoo rule conferred all these
things together—they had a sort of course of Bukshees, but
the Minister of State, named the Peishwa, among the nobles
was himself supreme. It was this same Bajee Rao with whose
enmity and duplicity we had to deal in 1802. While en-
deavouring to secure our assistance in 1801, to defend him
against the hostilities of Holkar, tha-• Pr nce attacked and
defeated him, and drove him to seek refuge in the old fort of
Singhur. He was before the end of the year driven from
point to point by Holkar, at d at last found refuge in Bassein,
and protection from the British Government. He was the
following year restored to authority by our assistance, on
,7tigreeing:to..aceep“ subsidiary force from us, to remain on
terms oramity and alliance with us, and be guided in'his
foreign policy by our councils. It was on the occasion of his
restoration that General Wellesley was at Poona, when he
commenced the march against the great Mahratta coufede-
racy, which terminated with Assaye. Restored by us to au-
thority in 1803, he was detected in 1815 Intriguing against
us. The murder of Gungadhur Shastree, envoy from Baroda,
residing at the Court of Poona under our protection, brought on
a collision between us, which terminated in the overthrow at
Dirkee, in 1818, of the power of the Peishwa, and the sei•
sure of his dominions. The Raja of Sattara, the real Sove-
reign of the State, was now released from the confinement
in which he had been in early youth kept by his Minister,
and re-established on the throne of his ancestors, with a frag-
ment of the dominions assigned to him. Bajee Rao has
lived to see his victim's deposition and death, the ascent of
his brother to power, and the final extinction of the dynasty.
His name will ever hold a conspicuous place in history from
the position he occupied, not from the deeds he performed.
We take the following from the Delhi Gazette, of the
29th ult., in reference to the annexation of a portion of the
4izam's dominions to the British territories :
.• We have been informed on g.od authority that final
orders were received by the last mail from the Hon. the
Court of Directors for the immediate annexation of the
Hyderabad territory. This determination of the Hon. Court
has no doubt been hastened by the continual neglect, or,
more properly speaking, inability of the Nizam to settle
the debt owing to our Government, and as the intentions of
Government, in the event of further delay, have been for
some time no secret, the Calcutta andßombayjournals having
several times broadly hinted at the probability of this de-
nouement in the event of the Nizam not meeting his en-
gagements, it is to be hoped all will be quietly settled. We
believe that a certain time was allowed by the Government
for the payment of the debt, which has now become some-
thing considerable, and according to our contemporaries the
stated period elapsed some 20 days since, when a letter was
addressed by the Resident, calling for immediate payment,
and the only reply vouchsafed was a call upon the Minister
of Finance to supply funds, which, with that easy grace pe-
culiar to courtiers, they promised t) do, well knowing at
the time that their promises were, as they have always
proved in this matter, made without any prospect of their
being pefurmed within the specified time. It is therefore ex-
pected that immediate steps will be taken for the annexation,
and hence we suppose another leaf will be added to the
laurels of the most noble the Earl of Dalhousie, an; in all
probability with as little bloodshed as the act of annexing
the Punjaub cost us." •