the Government of India never harboured for a moment any 'ulterior designs.'* The Maharaja, innocent from the beginning, has served out his probation admirably well, and no ground now remains for keeping him under the ban of displeasure. Col. Nisbet in his letter to the Prime Minister_, dated the 17th April 1889, which, by one stroke of the pen, transferred the government of Cashmere from the Maharaja to the hands of the Council, wrote to say that the Viceroy and Governor-General in Council, 'after full considera- tion of affairs in the Cashmere State for a long time past, has ordered me to inform His Highness the Maharaja that, for a time at least, he will be expected to refrain from all interference in the administration.' Two years and a half elapsed from the date of this letter, and the above order was partly withdrawn, the Maharaja being installed into the Presidentship of his Council. Two years more have since rolled away, but the
- See page 67 ante.
