In the latter part of the same year, another war broke out in Asia. The State of Gwalior, situated in Central India, had been under our protection since 1803; but the death of the native sovereign, in 1843, produced a degree of anarchy which led to the interposition of the British Government. Lord Ellenborough made a public announcement that he could “neither permit the existence of an unfriendly Government with the territories of Scindia” (the reigning family in that part of Hindostan), “nor that those territories should be without a Government capable of coercing its own subjects.” This was on the 20th of December; on the 29th, the army of Gwalior, under the command of Sir Hugh Gough, Commander-in-Chief, and in presence of the Governor-General, defeated the native forces at Maharajpoor. On the same day, the left wing of the army, under Major-General Grey, defeated the enemy at Punniar; and the strong fort of Gwalior, sometimes called “the Gibraltar of the East,” was taken by our soldiers. By a treaty concluded in January, 1844, the native dynasty was permitted to retain 9,000 troops of its own, in addition to a large contingent under British authority; and Gwalior still preserves a certain amount of independence, though strictly under the supervision of the Anglo-Indian Government. CHAPTER IX. IRELAND, RUSSIA, AND FRANCE. O’Connell and the Agitation for Repeal of the Union--Early Life of the Agitator--Character of his Oratory--Question as to the Purity of his Motives--The “Repeal Year” (1843)--Methods by which O’Connell worked on Irish Opinion--Open-air Gatherings on the Repeal Question--Extravagant Speeches of O’Connell--Crowning of the Liberator on the Hill of Tara--Prohibition of a proposed Meeting at Clontarf--Arrest of the Chief Agitators--Trial, Condemnation, and Sentences--The Convictions annulled by the House of Lords--Release of O’Connell, and Final Years of his Life--Effect of the Prosecution on the Government of Sir Robert Peel--Death of Prince Albert’s Father--Visit of the Prince to Saxe-Coburg-Gotha--His Presents to the Queen on her Birthday (1844)--Visits of the King of Saxony and the Emperor of Russia to England--Appearance and Manners of the Emperor--Political Objects of Nicholas in Visiting London--His Designs on Turkey--Memorandum of Agreement between the Czar and the English Government--Jealousy on the Part of the French--Ministerial Crisis in the Summer of 1844--Sir James Graham and the Opening of Letters at the Post Office--Disagreement with France with Respect to the Island of Tahiti--The Pritchard Affair--Queen Pomare and Queen Victoria--Anxieties of the English Court as to the Maintenance of Peace--The Ashburton Treaty with the United States.