Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-05-27
An Indian Queen.

An eminent female potentate OF the
last century is thus sketched in an ar
ticle on the Mahratta Empire, in the
Westminster Rerie,o for January:
Mulhar Rao was succeeded in the gov
ernment of his provinces, which lay in
Malwa, and north of the Nerbudda river,
by Allah Bae, the widow of his son, and,
considering the circumstances OF her
time, one OF the most remarkable women
to be met with in history.
Among the Mahrattas of rank, it is not
customary to conGne females, or compel
them to wear wells. Allah Bae, in con-
sequence, offended no prejudices when
she took upon herself the management of
public affairs, and transacted business
in open durbar. We do not wish to refer
without reason to the hackneyed simils
of an oasis in the desert, but there is
nothing else which can so well character
ize the spot of sunny green which Allah
Bae's administration of Malwa marks out
from the surrounding waste, The great
aim of her rule was to raise the condi-
ton of the agricultural classes. She
recognized them as the backbone OF
state which derives almost all its revenue
from the land, and strove to develop eul-
tivation by light assessments and q
sacred respect for proprietary rights.
| she made use of courts of arbitration /;
but was herself always accessible to ap-
peals, and on oil points connected with
the administration Of justice she was
| most patient and unwearied. A deep
sense Of responsibility accompanied her
| in the performance of her duties. She
deemed herself answerable to God for
every exercise of power" was enc of her
sayings and when urged by her minis
ters to acts of severity, she would reply,
LET us mortals beware how we destroy
the works of the Almighty"
For moro than twenty years she sus.
tanned the burden of life. During that
time the country was free from external
aggression, and enjoyed almost perfect
trau guilty within. 1t was the greatest
Measure of her life to behold the con.
tentment and prosperity of her subjects.
| So far from deeming an increase ofwealth
to be ground for greater exactions, she
held it to be q legitimate claim for favor
and protection. Under her care, Indore,
the present capital of Holkar's domin-
ions, rose from village to wealthy
town. She constructed roads over the
| difficult hill ranges which intersect Malws;
she built resting places and dug wells for
the use of travellers along all the routes
in her kingdom. Through all Hindustan
she was an object Of admiration and es.
team. Among her own chiefs it would
have been regarded as the hight of wick
edness to have become her enemy, or, il
need were, not TO die in her defense. The
| Nizam Of Hyderabad, and Tippoo, the
Sultan of Mysore, paid her as much
respeet as the Paishws, and Mahomme-
dams ioined with Hindus in praying for
her long life and prosperity. Flsttery
was lost upon her. A Brahmin wrote Q
| book in her praise she heard it read with
patience, merely observing that she was
a weak and sinful woman and not de-
serving such fine encomiums, ordered the
book TO be thrown into the Nerbudda, and
took no further notice Of the writer. Such
was the Allah Bae.
"a female without vanity, q bigoi
without intolerance, a mind imbued with
the deepest superstitions, yet receiving
no impressions except what led to the
benefit and happiness Of those under its
influence; o being exercising in the mosI
active and able manner despotic powers,
not merely with sincere humility, but
| under the severest moral restraints that
a strict conscience could lay upon human
action; and this combined with tbs great