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 on the part of the native officials. These recommendations were acted upon, and a most beneficial change produced. The people regained confidence. The spare land was eagerly taken up, and the district became one of the most prosperous in India. The obvious effects of this policy led to its wide extension throughout the Bombay presidency, as well as to Sind, Mysore, and Berár. Frere's zeal and ability thus gained for him promotion to the post of assistant revenue commissioner. This office he held until 1842, when he was appointed private secretary to Sir George Arthur [q. v.], the newly arrived governor of Bombay. Frere's new duties entailed considerable responsibility, more especially because Arthur had no experience of Indian administration. Upon Sir Charles Napier's annexation of Sind, the governor had to co-operate in the consolidation of the province. He was ably supported by Frere, who thus early gained an insight into the administration of the presidency. On 10 Oct. 1844 Frere married Miss Catherine Arthur, the second daughter of the governor, and shortly afterwards went home on sick certificate. On his return to India after an eighteen months' leave, he served for a time as assistant commissioner of customs, and was then appointed political resident at the court of the rajá of Sattara. The position of Sattara was defined by a treaty made on the conquest of the Marathá territory in 1818. Pertâb Sahib, the then rajá, a descendant of Sivaji, who established the Marathá power in 1644, was the nominal ruler, but for several generations the imperial authority had been allowed to fall into the hands of the peshwas or mayors of the palace. By the treaty of 1818 the greater part of the southern Marathá territory was annexed by the East India Company, Sattara being especially reserved for the rajá. Four years later the district was handed over to him, and a resident was appointed to his court. From being a mere puppet in the hands of the peshwa he had thus become a reigning sovereign. But he had grown disaffected to his benefactors, and had been at last sent as a state prisoner to Benares. Shahjí, his brother, was appointed to succeed him. Frere was nominated to Sattara during the reign of Shahjí, and for two years and a half he devoted his energies to improving the condition of the people. He directed especial attention to the improvement of the roads and the means of irrigation, and it was at his instigation that a tunnel, the first ever constructed in India, was made connecting a fertile valley with the town of Sattara. In 1847 Pertâb Sahib died, having adopted an heir who was inclined to put forward pretensions to the rajáship. Meanwhile Shahjí was in bad health, and having no male issue was desirous of adopting a son and successor. In the beginning of April 1848 the rajá told Frere of his intention. He hoped that the government would sanction a handsome provision from the Sattara revenues for the support of the child whom he might take under his protection, and begged Frere to obtain the consent of the government to his adopting a member of the Bhonslay family as his son. Frere agreed to submit the rajá's request to the government, but warned him that the previous sanction of the court of directors might be necessary. This warning did not prevent the rajá from making the adoption a few hours before his death. Frere, who was absent at the time, having left at the rajá's earnest request to press his wishes on the government, hastened back to Sattara at the risk of his life, for the people were fanatically excited at the political position, and without the escort which the governor wished him to take. For nine months he administered the province, being careful in the meantime to avoid recognising in any way the adopted son. By the old treaty of 1818 the government of India had definitely ceded Sattara to the rajá, his heirs and successors, and Frere was of opinion, therefore, that they were in honour bound to recognise the title of the adopted son to the throne. This was strongly the opinion also of Mountstuart Elphinstone [q. v.] and Captain Grant Duff, the negotiators of the treaty, and of Sir George Clerk, the governor of Bombay, but the governor-general and the majority of his council took an opposite view. Lord Dalhousie recorded it as his strong and deliberate opinion that ‘the British government is bound not to put aside or to neglect such rightful opportunities of acquiring territory or revenue as may from time to time present themselves,’ and therefore should not give effect to the device of the Hindoo law for sustaining the succession by adoption. These views were supported by a majority in the court of directors, and Sattara was consequently annexed as British territory. Though Frere had not hesitated to urge officially an opposite opinion, he was selected as the officer most competent to discharge the duties of commissioner in the newly annexed province. In the exercise of his new powers he promoted cultivation by introducing cotton seed from New Orleans and sugar canes from Mauritius. He reformed the sanitary condition of the towns and villages, and provided them with abundant supplies of good water. He established suitable encampments for pilgrims, inaugurated municipal boards, introduced a system of popular education,