religion and the priests. There is no country in the world where
parents are more reverenced than in India, or where they more readily
make sacrifices of all sorts for their children, or for those they
consider as such. We succeeded in [June] 1817 to all the rights of
the Peshwa in Bundelkhand, and, with great generosity, converted the
viceroys of Jhansi and Jalaun into independent sovereigns of
hereditary principalities, yielding each ten lakhs of rupees. [W. H.
S.] The statement in the note that Raghunath Rao I 'went to Benares
in 1795 to drown himself' is inconsistent with the statement in the
text that this event happened 'some twenty years ago'. The word
'twenty' is evidently a mistake for 'forty'. The _N. W. P.
Gazetteer_, 1st ed., names several persons who governed Jhansi on
behalf of the Peshwa between 1742 and 1770, in which latter year
Raghunath Rao I received charge. According to the same authority,
Sheo (Shio) Ram Bhao is called 'Sheo Bhao Hari, better known as Sheo
Rao Bhao', and is said to have succeeded Raghunath Rao I in 1794, and
to have died in 1814, not 1816. A few words may here be added to
complete the history. The leper Raghunath Rao II, whose claim the
author strangely favoured, was declared Raja, and died, as already
noted, in May, 1838, 'his brief period of rule being rendered unquiet
by the opposition made to him, professedly on the ground of his being
a leper'. His revenues fell from twelve lakhs (L120,000) to three
lakhs of rupees (L30,000) a year. On his death in 1838, the
succession was again contested by four claimants. Pending inquiry
into the merits of their claims, the Governor-General's Agent assumed
the administration. Ultimately, Gangadhar Rao, younger brother of the
leper, was appointed Raja. The disorder in the state rendered
administration by British officers necessary as a temporary measure,
and Gangadhar Rao did not obtain power until 1842. His rule was, on
the whole, good. He died childless in November, 1853, and Lord
Dalhousie, applying the doctrine of lapse, annexed the estate in
1854, granting a pension of five thousand rupees, or about five
hundred pounds, monthly to Lacchhmi Bai, Gangadhar Rao's widow, who
also succeeded to personal property worth about one hundred thousand
pounds. She resented the refusal of permission to adopt a son, and
the consequent annexation of the state, and was further deeply
offended by several acts of the English Administration, above all by
the