Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/701

654 The same Vidyasagar proposed a measure on the Age of Consent Bill, which, if adopted, would have saved both sides, but it was rejected, although it was not wholly conflicting with the views of the rulers. Was it because, this time, the Government was afraid of losing its prestige?

The Hindu Society was glad to find that Vidyasagar did not fall into errors in his discussion of the Age of Consent question, as he had done on the occasion of Widow Marriage movement. Some even went so far as to fancy, that it was his own conviction of his former errors that led him to oppose a Bill interfering with the religious usage of the Hindus. Besides, Vidyasagar had kept himself aloof, for some time past, from taking part in the re-marriage of Hindu widows, which also served to make the people draw this portrait in their mind. The advocates of widow marriage, however, attribute his apathy to his own ill-health and to the want of firmness and faithlessness of his country-men, which might be the more probable cause. We have already said, that he was no hypocrite, and had he been really convinced of his errors, he would never have been afraid to declare it openly. Moreover, it is said that even so late as a little before his death, he tried to give his own grandson (daughter's son) in widow marriage. There can be no doubt that he was disappointed at the conduct of some of his followers, who had subsequently forsaken him, which,