( २०२) मल्हारराव महाराज गायकवाड यांचा खरा इतिहास- करण्याचा क्रम कधीं ही प्रचारांत आणिच जाणार नाहीं, अशी खात्री केल्यापासून येणार आहे. आणखी बंगाल्यांतील दुष्काळ पीडित लोकांचें प्राण संरक्षण करण्या- साठी लॉर्ड नार्थ ब्रूक यांनी पराकाष्ठेचें श्श्रम करून जें यश संपादन केले त्याबद्दल त्यांची स्तुती केली आहे. नववे कलमांत महाराजांवरील आरोपाची चौकशी करण्यासाठी कमिशन नेमाव याचे, त्यांत देशी अधिकारी असावेत याविषयी विनंती केली असून, अर्श प्रार्थना केली आहे का, तसे केले असतां आपण जी उत्तम नीति अंगीकारिली आहे तिचा पूर्णपणे कळस केला असे होईल. इंग्रज सर कारांशी तहनाम्यानें ज्या राजांचा संबंध जोडला आहे, त्या राजांची अशा रोती नें कधीही चौकशी झाली नाहीं. हा सर्व नवाच प्रकार आहे. या प्रकरणांत आरोपी राज्य- chief will be wholly destroyed if it is made the means of annexing more territory to the British dominions in India. These considerations have no doubt influenced Your Excellency's Government in formally and emphatically disclaiming all idea of annex- ing Baroda territory both in the official proclamation and in the speech which Sir Lewis Pelly delivered at the Durbar which he held on the occasion, and in assuring the subjects of Baroda that a native administration will be set up again as soon as the trial is over. Your Memorialists have felt it their duty to express in this public manner their grateful satisfaction at this act of large minded forbearance. More than a thousand victories on the battlefield, this demonstration of moral strength will serve to fasten the British hold of India by assuring in chiefs and the people of independent States that the policy of annexation will not be revived. Your Excellency's rule will be remembered long in this land as much for your great success in preserving human life during the great famine in Bengal, as for this noble determination to rise above the temptation of immediate expediency in your dealings with native States. 9. Your Memorialists have one prayer to urge in conclusion which if granted will be a fitting consumation of this noble policy. Your Memorialists feel assured that the spirit of strict impartiality and merciful indulgence to the representative of a State in long-standing alliance with the British Government which has guided your counsels, hitherto in all your dealings with Baroda, will lead your Excellency in council to appoint a mixed tribunal of European and native judges in the High Commission Court which will soon be convened in Baroda. As this trial of the chief ruler of a native, State with whom the British Government has had treaty alliances is an innovation upon the established order of things, it is necessary that your Excellency in Council should surround it with all the guarantees of constitu- tional security which the high position of the accused and the importance of the pre- sent trial as a president in future peremptorily demand. Your Memorialists accordingly pray that the number of Native and European commissioners should be equal, and that these Native and European commissioners should act as jury under the guidance of the president of the High commission. The Native members of this court may be selected from among the native judges of the High Court of Bombay and Calcutta, or they may be Maratha or Mahomedan princes of the first rank, or leading states- man at their courts; such a mixed tribunal will afford to the unfortunate Maharaja the benefit of a trial by his peers, and will serve to assure the people that the British Government do not desire to prejudge the case, and that it is their anxious wish to see that impartial justice is fairly meted out to His Highness Malharrao. Your Ex- cellency have already set a precedent this way in appointing a native member in the first Baroda Commission of inquiry. Your Memorialists pray that the same benignant policy may be carried out on the present occasion. For this act of kindness your Memorialist as in duty bound will ever pray.
