Page:The Autobiography of an Indian Princess.djvu/87

 The following letter, which my father wrote to Miss Cobbe, puts the position clearly. " Lily Cottage, " 78, Upper Circular Road, " Calcutta. " 29th April, 1878.

"MY DEAR FRIEND,

Your kind letter has given me great relief, for which I thank you most sincerely. In the midst of my present trials and difficulties it is truly a Godsend. My antagonists have impeached my character, showered upon me abusive epithets of all kinds, and represented me before the public as one who, for fame and wealth and worldly ad- vantages, has unhesitatingly sold his conscience and his daughter ! This is indeed the substance of the charges preferred against me, and an insinuation to this effect is to be found, I am told, in the so-called protest. If my conscience acquits me, none can convict me. Of this I am sure, that I never sought a Rajah. I never coveted filthy lucre. As a private man I should not probably have acted as I have done. I was acting all along as a public man, and one course only was open to me. The British Government sought me and my daughter ; a Chris- tian Government that knew me thoroughly to be a Brahmo leader, proposed the alliance, and the weighty interests of a State were pressed upon me with a view to induce me to accept the proposal and make the needful concessions. I found such arguments