403 



INDIA. 



rajah, bringing with them their contingent of 

 troops, and their part of the tribute. On this 

 occasion the ceremonies were changed into a 

 reception of the Prince of Wales, the native 

 princes tendering him their tributes in person. 

 The parade took place in the afternoon, and 

 was an imposing spectacle, every prince lead- 

 ing his own troops, and then taking his place 

 at the side of the Prince of Wales. 



On February 1st the prince arrived at Gwa- 

 lior. He was met by the Maharajah of Scindia 

 several miles from the city, who accompanied 

 him to the palace, the route of which was 

 lined by 14,000 of the maharajah's picked 

 troops. At the review held by the Prince of 

 Wales on Tuesday, about 8,000 men of Scindia's 

 forces of all arms were present. They all pre- 

 sented an admirable appearance. The inarch 

 past was followed by an excellent sham fight, 

 in which the maharajah directed the operations 

 personally, the prince and the military officers 

 of his suite acting informally as umpires. The 

 prince arrived at Bunbussa on February 1 9th, 

 and was met a few miles from the place by 

 Sir Jung Bahadoor and suite and the British 

 resident in Nepaul, all having crossed the 

 river ISarda into British territory the previous 

 day. The prince on reaching his camp received 

 the visit of Sir Jung Bahadoor, who came in 

 state, wearing magnificent jewels and attended 

 by a brilliant suite, bringing with him a letter 

 from the Maharajah Dhirajh of Nepaul. His 

 royal Highness afterward returned the visit, 

 and was received with due ceremony. A picked 

 force of Nepaulese infantry, cavalry, and artil- 

 lery, was drawn up and paid the prince the 

 usual military honors. Presents were ex- 

 changed, Sir Jung Bahadoor presenting the 

 prince, among other things, with a fine collec- 

 tion of living wild beasts and birds. The 

 prince, on leaving Sir Jung Bahadoor's tent, 

 inspected the Nepanlese force, and compli- 

 mented Sir Jung on their appearance. Sir Jung 

 Bahadoor returned into Nepaul in the evening, 

 and the prince shortly afterward also crossed 

 into Nepaulese territory. Sir Jung Bahadoor 

 welcomed the prince, and expressed the pleas- 

 ure it gave his master and himself to see him 

 in Nepaul. Everything would be done to ren- 

 . der his royal Highness's visit an agreeable one, 

 and to gratify his every wish. The speaker 

 said, in conclusion, that he had never forgot- 

 ten the visit which he paid to England in 

 1850, and the reception extended to him by 

 Queen Victoria and the late prince consort. 

 It was his intention to visit England last 

 year, but an accident prevented him, and he 

 hoped to be able to repeat his visit on a fu- 

 ture occasion. The Prince of Wales, in reply, 

 thanked Sir Jung Bahadoor for his expres- 

 sions of good-will, and for the services of the 

 Nepaulese Government to the British cause 

 during the Indian mutiny. His royal Highness 

 had always strongly wished to visit Nepaul, 

 and was glad to have had an opportunity of 

 -doing so; Sir Jung Bahadoor assured the 



prince that nothing in his career gave him 

 greater satisfaction than to be able to assist 

 the British Government during the mutiny, 

 and, should the necessity arise at any future 

 time, he would feel it his duty to render Eng- 

 land the utmost assistance in his power. Dur- 

 ing his stay in Nepaul the prince gave himself 

 up to the pleasures of the chase, being accom- 

 panied by Sir Jung Bahadoor. The visit to 

 Nepaul formed the last stage in the journey of 

 the prince, and he then returned to Bombay, 

 where he left on board the Serapis on March 

 13th. 



An important change took place in the Gov- 

 ernment of India in 1876. Lord Northbrook, 

 the Viceroy, had already expressed his inttn- 

 tion in 1875 of resigning his position. This he 

 did in the beginning of January, and on the 

 4th of the same month Lord Lytton was ap- 

 pointed his successor, and was confirmed by 

 the India Office. Lord Lytton arrived in Bom- 

 bay on April 7th, and immediately entered 

 upon his office. In the beginning of the year, Sir 

 William Muir introduced into the Legislative 

 Council a bill to enable the Government of In- 

 dia to declare certain coins of native states to 

 be a legal tender in British India. Hitherto the 

 native states had coined their own money, and, 

 as their rupees varied considerably in value, no 

 little inconvenience and loss were caused to all 

 persons who had business transactions within 

 the feudatory states. The proposed law pro- 

 vides that any chief may enter into an arrange- 

 ment with the Government whereby he will, 

 for a definite period of not less than thirty 

 years, abstain from coining. The Government, 

 on its part, will undertake to strike coins for 

 him at its own mints, these coins being identi- 

 cal in fineness with the corresponding coins of 

 British India, and it will be careful that each 

 coin shall clearly indicate by its device the 

 chief for whom it has been struck. These 

 coins will then be a legal tender throughout 

 British India, while the British rupee will pass 

 in each state which accepts the offer. Two of 

 the native members of Council the Mahara- 

 jahs of Benares and Vizianagram expressed 

 their general approval of the bill: but the 

 former suggested that, instead of asking native 

 princes to abstain from coining, the Govern- 

 ment should hold them responsible for the cor- 

 rectness of the weight and value of their coins. 

 It was also mentioned that the little Kajpoot 

 state of Ulwar had signified its readiness to 

 enter into an arrangement such as that pro- 

 posed by the bill, and that Holkar had opened 

 negotiations for the same purpose. 



The financial statement of Sir William Muir 

 was published in April. The budget for 1876- 

 '77 estimated the revenue at 50,480,000, and 

 the ordinary expenditure at 50,333,000. The 

 extraordinary expenditure for public works was 

 fixed at 8,759,000, to meet which it was pro- 

 posed during the financial year 1876-'77 to 

 raise 3,000,000 by loans, including 360,000 

 on account of the Scindia and Holkar Rail- 



