[Forty-one years in India by Frederick Sleigh Roberts]@TWC D-Link bookForty-one years in India CHAPTER XXXII 16/17
These were in addition to the private baggage animals, servants, and numberless riding and driving horses, for all of which space and shelter had to be provided.] [Footnote 3: Servants of the Lord of the Country, or Governor-General.] [Footnote 4: A few drops of attar of roses are given to each person, and a small packet of _pan_, which is composed of slices of betel-nut smeared with lime and wrapped in a leaf of the betel-tree.] [Footnote 5: The question of Native Rulers having the right to adopt heirs was first brought to Lord Canning's notice by the three Phulkian chiefs--Patiala, Jhind and Nabha--who jointly requested in 1858 that the right of adoption might be accorded to them as a reward for the services they had rendered during the Mutiny.
The request was refused at the time on the ground that it had never been the custom of the country, though it had occasionally been done.
Since then, however, Lord Canning had come to see that the uncertainty which prevailed as to the rights of succession was harassing to the owners of land, and undesirable in many ways, and he urged upon the Secretary of State that some distinct rule on the subject might with advantage be laid down.
He wrote as follows: 'The crown of England stands forth the unquestioned Ruler and paramount Power in all India, and is now for the first time brought face to face with its feudatories.
There is a reality in the suzerainty of the Sovereign of England which has never existed before, which is not only felt, but eagerly acknowledged by the Chiefs.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|