पान:आंग्ल प्रभा.djvu/4

് though they have their own defects, in the absence of better materia's, they shed a flood of light upon the real movements and the hopes and fears, the strength and weakness of the people for over a century, and for purposes of instruction and guidance, they far outweigh in value the na"ratives of wars and conquests, dynastie changes, and revolutions, which take up so much space in our ordinary histories. It is proposed in this paper to introduce this vast record to the attentive student of Maratha history, and with a view to give point to the lessons which it suggests, an attempt will be made to set forth the contrast between the causes, which helped the Martha Confederacy in the first of the last century to spread its rule and influence over the whole of India and prevail over every country power, Musalman or Hindu, Sikh or Jat, Rohilla or Rajpoot, Kathis or Gujars, the Portuguese, the Nizam and Hyder in the Telangana and Dravid countries, and the circumstances which led, in the latter half, to the gradu al dis memberment of that power. The dividing line which separates the two periods coincides with the transfer of sovereign power from the descendants of Shivaji and Shahu to the hands of the Brahmin Peish was, when, on the death of Shahu, the Maratha capital was removed from Satara to Poona. The deed executed by Raja Shahu empowered the Peishwa to manage the whole government of the Empire on the condition of perpetuating the Raja's name, and keeping up the dignity of the house; and this deed was ratified, later on, by Shahu's successor Ram Raja, when he agreed to renounce all power on condition of a small tract near Satara being assigned to his own management. The battle of Panipat, which closed the floodtide of Maratha conquest, may be regarded as a serviceable historical boundary-mark for this period. The next 60 years bring out, one by one, the weak points in the character of the rulers and of the nation generally, and show how the fall was hastened long before the English conquest of the country in 1817. This contrast will illustrate how the later Peishwas policy departed from the principles laid down by Shivaji, and pursued with more or less fidelity by Rajaram and Shahu, and how their neglect of the true policy and their return to the old Brahminic ideals of exclusiveness and division sowed the seeds of decay, which ultimately hastened the downfall of the Confederacy. " The changes in the constitution of the Government under Maratha rule necessarily demand our first attention. In my paper on 'Shivaji as a Civil ruler' read before the *tie Society, I have described at some length the principal features of the constitution of the Raj-Mandal, or the Council of the State, "י " "ין ס Οonstitution.