Letters to an Indian Raja from a Political Recluse

But the doctrine of evolution represents Him to be ever present all objects giving them better and nobler forms; and it thus justifies the observation of the Upanishads and the Bhagavagita that God dwells in the heart of all things the sun the moon the stars the earth the wind &c. [...] You must"21 betCr in mind the truth conveyed in the wise saws—' kings are the religionisers of the people ' and as is the king so are the subjects.' I quote these maxims not to suggest that you are to.coerce men's consciences or encourage a simulation of views not really held or the suppression of opinions sincerely believed in but to show the supreme value of a salutary example and of the nec [...] Moreover the devouring application of the doctrine of lapse has ceased to exist and the State like the family can now as it was before the days of the prevalence of that doctrine be continued by adoption as well as by an heir male of the body ; and adoption offers a choice of a son and successor based on the possession of mental and moral qualities which is denied to birth. [...] A radical change must therefore be made in the position of the Political Agent and the best mode of effecting the change seems to me after giving the question all the thought I can to be that he the Political Officer should be held responsible along with the Raja for the good government"48 of the State to whose court he is attached; and siould he in his discharge of that or any other duty [...] Now these surrounings consist of vested interests of all sorts in whose eyes the one merit on which the existence of the State rests is indiscriminate charity to idlers of sorts and indulgence to the privileged and official classes and the one sin is strictness in the expenditure of the taxes or justice to the toiling llyot.