that being done, finding that the use of a seal, or the delegation of my authority to others, leads to misconception and misunderstanding.

To take a concrete case. Death sentences are first pronounced by district judges, and afterwards go up to the High Court, which consists of three judges, for confirmation. An appeal then lies to me for mercy. When this comes before me, my Minister records his opinion on the case, and the Deputy Minister, who is generally a judicial officer, records his, and if I experience any doubt or difficulty, I consult other officers or send for the judge concerned.

For deciding in the last resort-civil suits, and, in some cases, criminal appeals-I have the help of a committee, consisting of not less than three officers, who go into the papers, hear counsel, prepare a memorandum, and submit the matter to me for decision. This is called the Judicial Committee.

Generally I work without intermission till three or four o'clock, but occasionally business is much further prolonged, because the most important cases in all departments in the administration are brought before myself for orders.

In the times of the former Maharajas the departments had no definitely written constitution to appeal to, but only a tacit understanding existed, and often at least seemingly illogical practices prevailed. There was too, then, a dearth of educated subordinates, and the Maharaja left almost the whole administration to be carried on by his Ministers, except that he allowed himself to be accessible to the aggrieved parties.

I, however, chose, out of regard for the welfare of my people, to take a different course.

Business has become a passion to me, and my work for the people a real pleasure; so I have spent more personal pains than, strictly speaking, I need have done.

At four or five o'clock, if business is over, I join Her Highness the Maharanee in the zenana, which, however, is not in an enclosed quarter of the palace, but merely that portion occupied by Her Highness. I use the word in its literal sense. I stay there an hour or two with Her Highness, the children at this time being at school with their private tutors.

An hour later I go out for a drive, if the weather is fine, with an escort of twenty-five troopers, generally lancers, of whom, however, I dismiss all but five when I pass the city gates. When I drive through the city, occasionally someone wants to present a petition. In that case, one of the officers of the guard will take it, and I appoint a time for the petitioner to come to see me or the officer in control of that department to which the matter relates. In order to be accessible to all my people I arrange that on two days in the week certain hours are set apart for the reception of visitors.

The system of administration and disposal of work is now mainly

based upon the British model, and therefore it is no longer necessary for matters to be referred to the Maharaja to the same extent as was probably thought necessary in the olden days.

When I am travelling, as I often do in the districts, in order to learn as much as possible about my people, I relax this system, talk to the village heads, or to anybody who may happen to be in the fields. On such occasions I try to remain unknown, but find this difficult.

On other occasions I shoot duck and small game, and also tigers and big game. I have shot two or three tigers and a lion in Katiawar. I am afraid it is true that the lion is becoming extinct. I would not of course shoot a nilgai, or any beast belonging to the cow-tribe.

When I am on tour, the different members of my staff are engaged on the inspections to which I depute them. I take great care to respect the feelings and sentiments of the people, and as I can speak Gujarati as well as Mahrati, these two languages suffice for all my subjects. I have no difficulty in this respect in communicating with everyone who wishes to see me on business.

I took over the reins of Government in December 1881, at the age of nineteen, being a direct descendant of one of my predecessors, who represented an older branch of the family than that to which Maharaja Malhar Rao Gaekwar belonged.

From the age of thirteen I studied with Mr. Elliot, who was appointed by Lord Northbrook to be my tutor. No effort was made, I am glad to say, to separate me from my family, or to alienate my sympathies with my people, and except in regard to the exercise of the powers of administration, I performed the social and public functions falling to the Maharaja from my earliest years.

Looking back upon my training, I think in some respects it might have been altered with advantage, and might well have been prolonged. For instance, I might have been brought more in contact with the people and the chiefs, and might have travelled more about the State and in India.

My tutors and guardians, wisely as I think, left me a Hindoo, but in regard to the training of my own sons in this transition epoch, I think it necessary to give them the best modern English education, and I am therefore sending them to Eton and Balliol.

I think that the religion which it is most important they should adhere to is the love of their country, and if they retain that, they will be really good Hindoos.

From a ritualistic and narrow point of view, they may discard some of the prejudices and sentiments of their people. Yet underneath the English frockcoat they may still retain their sense of duty to their country and their people.

Socially speaking, in my opinion the result of my visits to Europe has been good. The vague fears entertained in Baroda have

disappeared, and my subjects no longer think that I shall be kidnapped, and kept in England.

There is now a greater desire on the part of my people to send their children to Europe to be trained. This symptom is observed far down the line. Servants who originally came to Europe with me with great reluctance now are unwilling to be left behind, and men in receipt of one pound monthly have made efforts to come over on their own account. Even cultivators, of course not the poorer ones, are now sending their sons to Europe for education. Thus the bonds of caste are being rapidly relaxed in Bombay and Baroda, and the ritual of atonement, and payment of fine for crossing the ocean water, is falling into disuse-in fact, the people begin to understand that travel is education, and one of the chief methods of acquiring knowledge according to the old Hindoo authors.

I consider that all kinds of contact with Europeans are of great importance for the progress of India.

To prevent such intercourse is in my opinion to retard the progress of that country.

In the old days India has suffered much, just as China does now, from its policy of isolation and seclusion from the rest of the world. Hindoos were ignorant of the progress of the world, and were not in a position to test the validity of their own institutions.

The importance of intercourse is in my opinion so great, that were it in my power to effectually recommend, I would advise the Government of India to send every year some 500 scholars to study the arts, sciences, industries, and trades of the various civilised countries of the world.

I would select some of the students by testing their mental capacity and others by nomination, so as to spread the progress evenly throughout all castes, classes and creeds.

I think it of special importance that Princes like myself should join with Europeans and Indians of different castes at dinner, in Europe as well as in India.

In the latter country the process of dining together should be cautiously begun, so as to insure its ultimate success.

Ten years ago I could not have taken the steps I now do without seriously incurring criticism. Such even a ruling Prince may have to encounter when he offends against local prejudices; but it depends very much upon the character of the ruler, and the extent to which he really leads his people, and how much he is allowed to lead.

With the Mahrattas caste prejudices are, as is well known, not so strong as among some races in India, but in Baroda all strongly approved of Maharaja Partab Singh's helping to carry the coffin of a deceased European.

Where no caste fellows of the deceased are available for this last service, I think all Hindoos would hold a man disgraced if he did

not help. Still, it is usual only for persons of the same caste to carry a corpse.

Amongst us Mahrattahs, generally speaking, water must only be taken from a member of our own caste, but with modern ideas these obligations are getting relaxed. The drinking-water in my palace is drawn and served by a caste man.

When absent from Baroda, if I am in Europe, important matters are referred to me for orders.

The delay is not greater, in death sentences, for instance, than if I was in India, because in no case is a death sentence carried out without a delay of about three weeks.

A council is generally constituted to carry on the administration of the State during my absence. They generally dispose of all work, except such as I reserve for myself.

The council consists of heads of departments, presided over by the Minister. These arrangements are made in communication with the British Resident, to whom often certain powers have to be made over, and the effects of my absence are determined very much by the personal characteristics of this officer; but it may be generally stated that the result of my being away is to make his intervention in the administration more frequent and more felt.

The result of this external and, I might almost say, needless intervention, is that it multiplies and accentuates the slight inconveniencies of my absence into serious difficulties, and creates new ones. Uncertainty and want of confidence in the indigenous Government is promoted.

The influence of the Raja, which is indispensable for the individuality of the State, is thereby impaired. The ruler, being discouraged, slackens his interest in the continuity of his own policy.

India is said to be a land of anomalies, inconsistencies and surprises. There may be some exceptions to this. However, nowhere is the truth of this remark more forcibly brought home than in the dealings of the British Government with Native States.

The British public, which has taken great interest in the account of the Amir of Afghanistan's official life in Cabul, may like to have an idea of the kind of matters which come before me when I am away from home. Some will not seem very important. For example, turning to the order book, I find the following entries in Paris :

Order No. 7.-His Highness, the Maharaja Sahib, has been pleased to order that the following servants may be given ten shillings each for sightseeing at Paris. They should bear in mind that this present should be used for the purpose for which it is given.

(Names follow.)

Order No. 9.-Purchases from the Exhibition, Paris.-My staff should buy different articles of pottery for the Baroda Museum. These articles need not be

expensive. They will be expected to show more the different kinds of articles than to be remarkable for their intrinsic value or merit.

The amusements of the Exhibition slightly put out of gear the official routine, as will be seen by the following order passed at the same capital:

Order No. 19.—I am sorry that the regular order books have not been brought up. These books have been designed after a good deal of experience, and after studying the characters of the people with whom one has to work. If details are attended to, there is every chance of great undertakings being successfully carried out. I love system and method.

A good system of work is convenient to the master, as well as to the servants.

It was at London I received from Baroda an application for an injunction to prevent waste by an adopted son, and upon it I passed the following order:

The views of the officials are indeed correct from a strictly judicial, technical point of view. All that I would remark is that at times steps have to be taken which are extra judicial, to watch for a reasonable period the interests of old and historic families who are, under certain circumstances, unable to understand their true interests, and whose incapacity and ignorance is preyed upon by professional men and clerks.

The Maharanee and I took great interest in many English charitable undertakings. The following orders selected at random show this:

Ten pounds should be given in charity to the Little Sisters of Assumption, who tend the sick and the poor gratuitously.

Sometimes orders are passed on quite trifling matters, for instance, the following:

Five pounds should be given for the distribution of sweets to the school children in the village of Beaconsfield, Bucks, in commemoration of His Highness's visit to Sir Edward Lawson.

But these are subjects which took little time and trouble. The Famine, which continually occupied my thoughts, of course repeatedly came up for consideration.

At London I passed the following order:

Further sanction is accorded for advances to cultivators for their maintenance and purchase of bullocks and other agricultural facilities.

The amount of ten lakhs (66,0007.) is sanctioned, inclusive of the 250,000 Rs. already communicated by wire from London.

This amount should be utilised in making advances for cultivation purposes, with interest at a moderate rate. The advance should in no individual case exceed Rs. 500 (337.).

The Government reserves the right of recovering the advances.

Sometimes a subject is referred to me which in England looks strangely out of place. For instance, see these orders:

About getting the name of Kesarlal registered along with Girdharbal for an