Page:The Maharaja of Cashmere.djvu/134



is superfluous to observe that the reverses that had come upon Maharaja Pratap Singh in the beginning of 1889 were not of his own seeking. They were the outcome of a combination of circumstances over which he could exercise no control. He was made to suffer for the faults of a system which dated from a period long antecedent to his birth, and which he, on his accession to the guddee, had tried his best to modify and improve. His failure to accomplish the desired end was due entirely to the thwarting opposition which had, from the very commencement, dogged him at almost every step. I have already attempted to describe how the immediate predecessors of Col. Prideaux dealt with the Maharaja. The attitude of Mr. Plowden to the Maharaja is rendered clear by the terms in which he spoke of His