A History of the Mahrattas v2.c59.35

v2.c59.35

to expect power according to his ability to exercise it, and in a short time laboured as assiduously as any Carcoon under his government. The entire powers of the state were formally delivered over to him on the 5th April, 1822, at which period the boon thus conferred by the British nation on the descendant of Sivajee was certainly appreciated by the country generally, as well as by his relations and himself; but time must prove whether this liberal experiment on the part of the authorities of the East India Company will be attended with any lasting good effect, to the governors or the governed. [The experiment in the end was not a success. The chief had to be deposed in 1839 and sent as a state prisoner to Benares for persistently intriguing and holding communications with other princes in contravention of his engagements. His brother Shāhjī, who was placed on the throne, died without male heirs in 1848, and the Sātāra state was then resumed by the British Government and formed into a district of the Bombay Presidency. During the Mutiny a widespread conspiracy was discovered at Sātāra to restore the Marāthā power with assistance from northern India. The movement was suppressed with only trifling disturbances. (I.G. Bom., i. 538.)]