Page:The Marquess of Dalhousie.djvu/149

Rh in urging that the British Government, in the case of Jhánsí, should act upon its right, should refuse to recognise the adoption, and should take possession of Jhánsí as an escheat.' An ample pension was granted to the widow of the late Raja, and the territories were brought under the direct administration of the Government of India.

The same principle of lapse on failure of heirs was applied by Lord Dalhousie to several other dependent States. Jaitpur in Bundelkhand, Baghát a petty hill Chiefdom of thirty-six square miles in the Punjab, Udaipur on the Western frontier of Lower Bengal, and Budáwal in Khándesh, passed under direct British rule from this cause. The fort and military fief of Tanjore were annexed after Lord Dalhousie's departure from India, but practically on the grounds set forth by his government. The estates of one of the Amirs of Sind were forfeited on the discovery of the forgery of the document, under which he had fraudulently obtained possession of certain British districts. Two patches of territory, the one in Cachar, the other in Orissa, were also forfeited on account of the misconduct of the ruler, or the persistent practice of human sacrifice. The great case of the Central Provinces will receive separate treatment in the next chapter.

I have thus summarised, as far as it is possible to do so in a single paragraph, what may be termed the miscellaneous annexations made during Lord