Page:Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards to Burma.djvu/199

Rh lifetime from adopting a son as his successor, but after his death Baiza Bái was permitted to choose one from among the far-away kinsmen of the royal house, and in June 1827, Mukt Ráo, a boy of eleven, was installed as chief, the power of the queen dowager being assured by his betrothal to her granddaughter. The Mahárájá, says Major Stewart, 'was by no means deficient in understanding, his temper was mild and gentle, though his courage was never doubted. Apathy and indolence were his besetting faults. He was raised to sovereignty at the age of fourteen, and was brought up from childhood among the scenes of rapacity and treachery that characterized the Maratha camp. The last act of his life showed his unbounded confidence in the justice and generosity of the British Government.'

It is only fair to Baiza Bái to say that she probably would have gone to the funeral pile with her husband if Major Stewart had not peremptorily sent her to her apartments.