Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-27
ENGLAND BUTTRESSINC
IT'S POWER In INDIA
Worried by Gandhi, Great Britain Uses
Its Wiles to Win the
Native Princes.

| Two. however, had poor claims, and ali
we're over "a What the British wanted
was a successor young enough to be
! trained up not to give the trouble his
| predecessors had caused. Khanderao'S
widow was called in, the Maharani
| Jamnabai. She was to choose an
| adopted son, who would become heir to
the throne It was now discovered that
| there existed a branch of the family
which had come down considerably In
the world; in fact, they had fallen to
the peasant level. and lived, three
brothers with their wives and fam
lilies. ali together in a family house in
remote village 1s miles distant from
the nearest railway station Hashirao
Caekwar was head of the family. but
his age was against him and his broth
ers. The same remark applied to his
eldest son.
There we're two younger boys. how
ever. and one, Gopalao, took the Maha-
rani's fancy. and was thereupon, with
the appropriate Hindo ritual handed
over by his father and adopted by the
Maharani as her son. He was then
robed. conducted to the palace, crowned
and the British resident and his suite,
arriving on elephants and in the name
of the British government, installed and
invested the boy as Maharaja of Baroda
under the name of Sayajirao III.
This peasant boy elevated to a throne
power and great riches by a turn of
the wheel of the British imperial ma
chine, is now one of the best known of
the Indian princes, taking his position
and duties so seriously that he has been
a great upholder of the rights of the
ruling princes against the intrusions of
too paternal viceroys. Also he has long
felt cramped in his little kingdom and
has pressed claims for an expansion of
his sphere, to the considerable embar-
rassment of the British.
The relations between the viceroy
and the ruling princes are based partly
on treaty and partly on g-established
customs, but expediency has always
played a part, and over an unruly
prince the viceroy can always hold the
club of deposition. A prince who was
a confirmed drunkard shot his body
servant dead, another was privy to the
poisoning of his uncle. third, afflicted
with a strain of insanity, treated his
subjects too barbarously. All were
either invited to abdicate or were de-
posed.
Any prince who followed in the foot
steps of the late Shah of Persia and
preferred living in Paris and on the
Riviera to his own country would re-
ceive friendly circumstances from the
paramount power, then quiet but
firm, talk and if he still proved recalci-
trant he would in all probability find
that he had abdicated in favor of his
son, uncle or brother. Nothing crude
is done, but these things can happen.
"The Case of Mr.. A."
Occasionally unfortunate things do
happen, and then the British imperial
machine quivers through all its compli-
Gated members, There was the cele-
brated Mr.. A." case. Mr.. A."
young Indian potentate, tall, handsome
and noted in the British imperial pri-
vate diary as trusty friend of England,
arrived in England, accompanied by a
British Ito be quite correct, an Irish)
aid, and at big charity ball in London
met Mrs. Robinson, lady Of charm and
beauty. Subsequently the two were sur
prtsed together in hotel bed room in
Paris by a mysteries gentleman named
Newton, and to get to the point at
once, Mr.. A. parted with two checks
for S750000 each to stop divorce pro-
ceedings in which he would be quoted
as correspondent.
One check was cashed, the other was
stopped. That would have been the
end Of the affair. for Mr.. A" was
anxious to preserve his incognito but
the husband of the lady seems to have
been disappointed with the amount he
ultimately collected as compensation for
the shock to his feelings, and his
honor, and he sought to remedy his loss
by suing the Midland Bank of London
for S625,00o, alleging that the money
had been paid into the bank for his use,
and that If the bank had paid out to
some one else on that check then he
was entitled to damages.
So the whole story came out, with
the exception of the Indian person.
ages name. The India Office inter-
vened there, and throughout the cause
celebre, which intrigued England and
India nightly for three weeks 10
years back, people spent a large part
Of their time asking other people who
Mr.. A" was.
But by the time the case ended
there was judgment for the bank, the
lady and her husband were cleared
from the accusation of conspiracy, the
Irish aid left for Paris, the Judge de-
clared the money had been stolen by
menaces within the meaning of the
law, and presently Hobbs, the man who
had received and cashed the check,
went to jail--all the clubs and dinner
tables knew who mfr. A" was and the
India Office thought more harm than
good now would be done by preserving
the veil of secrecy. So it lifted the ban
hdJdn ST Harl Singh.
"Mr. A" was Rajah Sir Hari Singh,
nephew and heir and adopted son of
his highness the Maharaja of Janamu
and Kashmir. The old Maharaja had
q son who for various reasons was not
heir. There was opposition in Kashmir
TO Sir Hari and the British were afraid
the opposition would take advantage of
this scandal TO demand the disinherit-
ance of this friend of England and the
adoption o. an anti British heir.
However, the agents and counsel of
the British Empire Corporation had
had time to turn around and soften the
shock. Strings had been pulled the
whole complex machine of diplomacy
and government in India had been
turned onto the practical problem of
explaining things away and avertine
the disaster of changed will. All
went well.
Mr., A S" uncle has since died and
the duSky nephew who soWed that I'M
fortunate wild oat in Paris Is now the
ruling prince Of Jammu and Kashmir,
and, Incidentally, a tough nut for
Gandhl and company to tackle if by
some fantastic chance they were TO rise
TO full political power in British India.
The British government in India in
late years has been disposed TO take too
paternal an interest in the affairs of
the native states, at least so the Indian
princes think They do not like the
ease with which the British overload
makes and unmakes princes or compels
an erring potentate temporarily to
transfer his power to the political
officer
Tory DaiIies Watch Events.
But since the home rulers of British
India have been making trouble and
threatening 10 make more there has
been a marked disposition on the part
Of the British overload to conciliate the
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