Page:The Earl of Auckland.djvu/36

30 the Maráthá power. In 1819 the young Rájá of Sátára exchanged the lot of a pensioned captive for that of a sovereign prince, ruling, under British protection, over nearly a million subjects, within an area of 5,coo square miles. The Rájá's powers were carefully defined by a treaty which placed him under the general control of a British Resident. The able historian of the Maráthás, Captain Grant Duff, was appointed to be his tutor. In 1822 he began to govern for himself, and for some few years he gave his English patrons no cause for reasonable complaint. But after a time he fell under the influence of intriguing Bráhmans, ambitious courtiers, discontented barons, and other enemies of British rule. His angry spirit chafed under the shackles of a treaty which denied him all political power, and left him little better, he complained, than 'the manager and farmer of a district.' He came to regard himself as the rightful heir to all the old claims and glories of Maráthá greatness, the destined restorer of Maráthá empire over Hindustán.

While Mountstuart Elphinstone was still Governor of Bombay, he had seen cause to warn the Rájá against placing confidence in  'Vakils and low intriguing agents;' and had earnestly besought him to discard from his councils the numerous agencies he had set on foot. But the self-willed Prince would listen to no warnings from his English well-wishers. For many years he carried on a correspondence with the Portuguese Government at Goa, in the hope of