Page:Malabari, Behramji M. - Gujarat and the Gujaratis (1882).djvu/14

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PREFACE.

its soundness may be contested, but amongst Indians there would be a universal consensus as to its truth. The law's delay is in India an intolerable grievance; and it is certainly the fact that in the first mutiny the English judges were the most frequent victims.

The portraits of Indian notabilities seem to be drawn from the life, and will, no doubt, be thought by some to be recognisable; and it may be learnt from them that it is not always those Indians who are most countenanced and raised to the highest posts by the English authorities, who are most acceptable to their countrymen.

It will be seen that the author, although a very much younger man, is a friend of Lutfullah and his fellow-townsman, and these sketches have something in common with the autobiography of the older writer. May the débutant be equally fortunate with the English public!

E. B. EASTWICK.