रानें त्या विश्वासाचें चीज करावे; हा प्रेमभाव मांडलिक व त्यांचे सार्वभौम प्रभु ह्या उभयतांस सारखाच भूषणावह आहे, ह्यांत शंका १नाहीं. असो.
लॉर्ड आह्मर्स्ट ह्यांनीं ग्वाल्हेरच्या गादीबद्दल विचार करितांना, महाराज दौलतराव शिंदे ह्यांची शेवटची इच्छा व त्यांच्या पत्नी बायजाबाईसाहेब ह्यांची योग्यता व कर्तृत्वशक्ति हीं पूर्णपणे ध्यानांत
१ लॉर्ड डलहौसी ह्यांनी ज्या वेळीं एतद्देशीय संस्थानें खालसा करण्याचा क्रम आरंभिला, त्या वेळीं मि. सलिव्हन नामक एका युरोपियन गृहस्थांनीं ग्वाल्हेरच्या संस्थानाची ही हकीकत देऊन त्या वेळच्या उदार राजनीतीची प्रशंसा केली आहे. त्यांनीं ह्याप्रमाणे उल्लेख केला आहे:-
"In 1826 Dowlatrao Scindiah, Rajah of Gwalior, was ill and childless. Colonel Stewart, the Resident at his court, and his assistant, passed months in urging him to adopt an heir; they reasoned, they argued, they insisted, they even annoyed and irritated the sick prince: for the pride of Scindiah had been broken. After the downfall of the Peishwa, in whose defence his sword had not been drawn, the glory of the Mahratta race was, he felt, gone, and he was no longer the same man. So, careless of the future, he repulsed all their entreaties, replying- "After my death you will be masters of every thing, and may do as you please." In March 1827, he died heirless. But Lord Ahmerst did not—as Lord Dalhousie now says we are bound in "all" such cases to do-seize on Gwalior as a "lapsed" fief. On the contrary-he disclaimed any right "to regulate the Gwalior succession;" eagerly and gracefully he recognized the boy whom Scindiah's favourite wife adopted after his death. In this case the right was exercised, not by the eldest, but by the second wife, who, said Scindiah to Colonel Stewart, when teased about the eventualities of his succession, "was a woman of sense."-The Native States of India. page. 22.
