sixteen years of age he was supposed to be still attached to the faith of his fathers, that is, to Hinduism in its modern corrupted form.
The Indian Government were desirous that, before taking the management of his territories into his own hands, he should visit England. But it was considered necessary by all his relations that before starting on such a long and perilous journey he should provide himself with a wife; and it appeared to his guardians that it would be advisable, both in his own interests and in those of his subjects, to bring about a marriage between him and the daughter of Keshub Chunder Sen. The young lady in question was not quite fourteen years of age, but she had been carefully educated, and it might reasonably be hoped that her influence and that of her father would be most valuable in determining the future development of the young prince and his people. That the Brahmo leader was only a private gentleman, while his proposed son-in-law was a sovereign prince, was no obstacle in the way, for the former was a man of very high caste, and it would be an act of condescension on his part, to allow his daughter to marry the Rajah, to which his well-known opinions on the subject of caste would be likely to dispose him favourably.
But although to disinterested spectators the proposed match seemed to offer advantages on both
