This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1863 edition. Excerpt: ...real obstacles that stood in the way of the act were the hereditary rights of the Maharajah. It was impossible, by any conceivable sophistry, to make little Gyajee Scindea, at his age, appear as a political delinquent; but it was a comparatively easy task to hold up his pretensions as being in themselves ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1863 edition. Excerpt: ...real obstacles that stood in the way of the act were the hereditary rights of the Maharajah. It was impossible, by any conceivable sophistry, to make little Gyajee Scindea, at his age, appear as a political delinquent; but it was a comparatively easy task to hold up his pretensions as being in themselves contemptible, and thereby remove all fear of his having, in the event of his downfall, anyone's sympathy in England. It was, we believe, with that view that Lord Ellenborough described the boy, in a secret Minute, ' as a relative of robber-chiefs, ' and as one ' who was elected by the zenana and the chiefs of the army for their sole benefit, not for that of the 'people.' The allusion to 'the people' was such a telling expedient--such a beautiful means to an end--coming, too, as it did from the pen of a friend of extreme democracy! But if those opinions were honestly entertained, "why were they not openly expressed in February, when Lord Ellenborough publicly recognised_the child as the proper heir to the throne? An overstrained delicacy was surely not the reason, as that feeling did not very often oppress his mind at any time. It was the opportune and vehement invective of Lord John Eussell, Mr. Vernon Smith, . Sir Eobert Inglis, and others, that really saved this prince, and, as we shall show when we come to the period of the great mutiny, rescued, LORD ELLENBOROUGH IN HIS IMPERIAL TENT. 81 through the instrumentality of this ' relation of robbers, ' the cause of our empire from becoming, at a critical time, absolutely desperate. If, as Sir John Lawrence truly remarked, ' a succession of miracles saved us/ one of the miracles was most assuredly our having, in the darkest hour of our peril, an unflinching, a thoughtful, and a brave friend in...
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