DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.34827#0206
IQO ^?/* cn. XIY.
assessment is in progress. I must now conclude. I long to see
my old friend Baber in print. Remember me kindly to Mrs.
Erskine, and believe, &c. ' M. ELPHINST03"E.'
On his return to Bombay at the end of November he laid
before his council a report of his visit to the Deckan. It de-
scribes his meetings with the different chiefs, their complaints
or applications, and enters in some detail on matters of civil
administration. I give some long extracts expressing his
general views on the progress of the country since it became a
British province. The reader will not fail to note the candour
with which he passes in review the success or failure of his
former plans.
' At Rehmatpoor I met seven chiefs of the family of Put-
wurdun, also Yencal Rao, Gorepura, Raja of Moodhole, and the
chiefs of Nergoond and Ramdroag. AppaDessye was indisposed,
and did not leave Nepaunnee.
'The whole of these chiefs are still in possession of the same
lands that they held in the Peshwa's time. A continuance of
quiet and the want of any example of military pomp has reduced
their retinues since my last visit to the Deckan. Some of them
were then attended by as many as a thousand or fifteen hundred
men, wdth several guns. None now had more than an escort
of two or three hundred horse, and they often rode in company
with only one or two attendants.
' These chiefs, holding their estates secure and free of every
sort of demand on the part of Government, are no doubt in a
much better situation than they were under the Peshwa; but they
are now in complete subjection to the Government, the orders
of which they cannot resist or evade like those of the Peshwa,
and this circumstance must have diminished their feelings of
pride and independence. I think also from the time when our
administration assumed a settled shape they have been treated
with rather less respect and consideration than was intended in
the original plan. It ought to be a rule with the Government
to discourage all direct interference with them, even in cases
assessment is in progress. I must now conclude. I long to see
my old friend Baber in print. Remember me kindly to Mrs.
Erskine, and believe, &c. ' M. ELPHINST03"E.'
On his return to Bombay at the end of November he laid
before his council a report of his visit to the Deckan. It de-
scribes his meetings with the different chiefs, their complaints
or applications, and enters in some detail on matters of civil
administration. I give some long extracts expressing his
general views on the progress of the country since it became a
British province. The reader will not fail to note the candour
with which he passes in review the success or failure of his
former plans.
' At Rehmatpoor I met seven chiefs of the family of Put-
wurdun, also Yencal Rao, Gorepura, Raja of Moodhole, and the
chiefs of Nergoond and Ramdroag. AppaDessye was indisposed,
and did not leave Nepaunnee.
'The whole of these chiefs are still in possession of the same
lands that they held in the Peshwa's time. A continuance of
quiet and the want of any example of military pomp has reduced
their retinues since my last visit to the Deckan. Some of them
were then attended by as many as a thousand or fifteen hundred
men, wdth several guns. None now had more than an escort
of two or three hundred horse, and they often rode in company
with only one or two attendants.
' These chiefs, holding their estates secure and free of every
sort of demand on the part of Government, are no doubt in a
much better situation than they were under the Peshwa; but they
are now in complete subjection to the Government, the orders
of which they cannot resist or evade like those of the Peshwa,
and this circumstance must have diminished their feelings of
pride and independence. I think also from the time when our
administration assumed a settled shape they have been treated
with rather less respect and consideration than was intended in
the original plan. It ought to be a rule with the Government
to discourage all direct interference with them, even in cases