navas shall for any cause summons a Maháráj to appear in a court of justice. We say, without fear of persecution, that this is hard and oppressive. If the Mahárájas do not interpose in a man's private concerns, and improperly wrong any Vaishnava, it is plain that no necessity would remain at all to take one's religious preceptor to a court of justice. Where, then, was the necessity of inserting such a hard clause. Any impartial thinker would at once honestly say that the Mahárájas extorted such a hard clause from their followers, simply that they might be free to interfere in one's private concerns and administer arbitrary justice. We say again, religious preachers and preceptors ought never to make their followers to pass such a hard writing to them. Who can be so imprudent and rash as to summon his religious preceptor to a court of justice without any cause? After such a writing, it appears clear how the Mahárájas intend to behave towards their followers, and how they wish their followers to behave towards them. We wish that the Mahárájas would look to their respectability and position, and annul this article at once.

"About the third article. This article suggests that no Vaishṇava shall write a word tending to injure the feelings of the Mahárájas. With all due deference to the holy position of these religious preceptors, we beg leave to say that we feel this to be a harder and more oppressive article than the second. The English Government possesses such power and authority, that the native tyrants are too feeble to cope with and encounter it. Even this Government cannot peremptorily say to the newspapers, "Do not write anything that would injure our feelings." When even such a potent and powerful Government cannot pretend to wield such an authority, the Mahárájas, whose authority, when compared with the world, extends over but a handful of Vaishnavas, will never be allowed, in this just and equitable reign of the English, to exercise this hard and oppressive sway over the independent newspaper writers. The Mahárájas and their advisers have signally erred by inserting such a hard article. Had they exercised a little more discretion, they would never have thought of inserting this selfish article. We heartily wish that this paper may not have to say ill of the Mahárájas. But it is an error to suppose that this or any other newspaper will be backward in expressing just and proper thoughts, when they find that public interests are at stake. It is true that this, as well as other respectable newspapers, will always refrain, as they have done till this day, from publishing false slanders and ungrounded stories about the Mahárájas; but no editor, living

under the shadow and protection of the English Government, will draw his pen backwards in denouncing any unjust act tending to jeopardize the weal of thousands. None will fear to publish anything just and proper. We are sorry to say that the Mahárájas and their followers have, by thus shutting the mouths of editors, ruined their own cause.

"About the fourth article. This article suggests that, if persons who belong to castes which do not believe in the Mahárájas summon Mahárájas in a court of justice, all Vaishnavas shall combine, and at the cost of any sum come to an amicable settlement with them, or adopt such measures as will not necessitate the personal attendance of the Mahárájas to a court of justice. It appears that the Mahárájas and their followers have used no better discretion with regard to this than with the foregoing three articles. Any person who may have any money dispute about the Mahárájas will at once take advantage of this and issue a summons against them. Thus Vaishnavas will be forced by this article to come to an amicable settlement with all the Mahárájas' creditors. If this necessarily becomes frequent, and involves the expenditure of large sums, the Vaishnavas will find how feeble they are to bear the evils which they have themselves drawn upon their shoulders. These articles will then be annulled as a matter of course.

"Thoughts common to all the articles. It will be evident from this that not one of these four articles is just and harmless. Every one of them is as unjust and reprehensible as it is injurious to the social and private interests of all the Vaishnavas. We are glad to say that their leading followers would not consent to the fifth article, which relates to the buying of newspapers. Had this been retained, they would never have progressed. But the Mahárájas and their followers will never be able to impede the sounding western torrent of civilization which has begun to flow with all its might towards this country. Those who inserted these four articles may insert fifty more, but no tyrants or their slavish followers will have power to impede the mighty torrent of civilization. We are sure that the current of civilization and liberty will in a short time overspread the whole of Hindustan, check the force of the opponents of civilization, and break the chains of oppression.

"It will not fail to excite both wonder and sorrow in any man of good sense to see that the very Shetiás who have been the foremost among the reformers, and thoroughly understand the beauty which the English rule affords, should have, by signing such a hard docu

ment, drawn the chains of despotism on their own hands. We wish, and pray to God that our wish may succeed, that these Shetiás may speedily look to their own respectability, to their own states in life, to the beauties of the benign and free government they are under, and boldly break off the shackles of despotism which they have worn. We have dwelt rather too long on the subject, and therefore we shall not say more, but conclude with the following prayer to God: "O God! may the chain of despotism which the leading Shetiás, our companions in the cause of civilization, have worn round their necks, be quickly removed. O God! may the Shetiás who have temporarily lost their senses, and forgotten their respectability and position, recover their senses soon. O God! may the cloud of ignorance and doubt which has obscured the vision of our Shetiás be quickly dispelled, and may the faces of those who oppose civilization at once be covered with paleness, Amen."*

This article was followed by a succession of anonymous hand-bills, issued by various persons; and two prize essays were advertised in the Satya Prakásh, one upon the "Slavery Bond," and the other "Upon the Authority of the Mahárájas." These several attacks had the desired effect. The Mahárájas and their followers speedily discovered that, if the editor were excommunicated, he would file an action and drag the Mahárájas to the bar of justice. The funds the worshippers had been asked to raise were not realized; for the subscribers, seeing the drift of events, waited with impatience to ascertain if the conditions of that article of the Slavery Bond" which threatens with punishment any one writing against the Mahárájas would be carried out. The timidity of the Mahárájas hindered them from taking this course, and their neglect to pronounce sentence of excommunication encouraged the Vaishnavas to withhold their subscriptions. The notorious "Slavery Bond," the object of which was to bind in still stronger fetters the patient Vaishnavas, thus fell to the ground, and the supreme Maháráj himself took flight from Bombay.

* The Satya Prakash, January 23, 1859.

In the action brought against the editor of the Chábak by the Vaishnava whom he had so conspicuously denounced, the editor pleaded not guilty, and that what he had published was not libellous. The court overruled this plea, after examining the plaintiff's witnesses, affirming it to be libellous, and entered a decree, with costs, against the Parsee editor, who thereupon solicited the "gentleman" by whom he had been specially instigated, to assist him. He was grossly disappointed by his refusal, and therefore published in his paper the name of the individual, and all the circumstances connected with the affair. This poor Parsee editor, being unable to pay all the incidental costs, died broken-hearted, in very distressed circumstances.

In the process of this "Slavery Bond," and all its adjuncts, we observe a further declension of the power and influence of the Mahárájas, to which the Libel Case, into the history of which we shall now enter, has given, we hope and expect, the fatal blow.

CHAPTER XI.

THE MAHARAJ LIBEL CASE.

THE Mahárájas, being thus defeated in their attempts to prevent the public press from exposing their misdeeds, sought to attain their object by other means. Jadunáthji Brizratanji Maháráj, of Surat, upon arriving at Bombay in the middle of the year 1860, consulted with some of his followers with a view to ascertain whether an action for libel, brought by him against the publishers, could be prosecuted in his absence from the court, or whether, as plaintiff, his presence would be held to be necessary; for he wished to avoid appearing in a court of justice.

The editor of the Satya Prakásh, not being aware of the specific object of the Maháráj's visit to Bombay, but having heard that he had established a school at Surat, gave him a hearty welcome in his paper, and expressed a hope that he would render material assistance to the cause of education. This expectation seemed at first to be realised; for the Maháráj consented to be present at an exhibition of the Gujaráti girls' schools, and to distribute the prizes with his own hand, thus publicly expressing his approval of the education of females. The Mahárájas of Bombay, who had often been solicited to do the same thing, had always declined, and Jadunathji Brizratanji having accepted the invitation, the editor of the Satya Prakásh hailed it as a great victory in the cause of educational reform; for, owing to the populace being adverse to female education, the influence of the Maharaj's position gave it a strong and powerful support. The editor, unconscious and unsuspicious of the deception