The "Friend of India," in its notice of this event, remarks:—
"It will, of course, be observed, particularly in England, that it would have been more advisable to postpone this irrevocable renunciation of Hindooism, until matured age should have given the young Maharajah the knowledge and experience necessary to enable him to make a permanent decision; but according to Major Smyth's 'Reigning Family of Lahore,' Dhuleep Singh was born in 1837, and he is therefore already sixteen. A lad of this age in India is a man, with as great a capacity for estimating the merits of different creeds, as he is ever likely to possess. From the time that he was placed under the charge of Dr. Login, his education has been most carefully provided for; and the boy who, when rescued from Lahore, could not even read, is now almost English in language, ideas, and feelings. His conduct, with reference to the ceremonial salutes, and his visit to the Governor-General, are sufficient proofs that his judgment is not beneath his acquirements, and that he has been fairly rescued from those influences which warp the minds of the Porphyrogeniti of the East. Sixteen is the age at which the Law Courts acknowledge the right of a native youth to judge for himself; and this last act of the Maharajah has been performed entirely of his own free will. He has been neither coaxed nor frightened into Christianity. Indeed, the Government had every motive for retaining him in his old creed. An Asiatic Christian prince, with £40,000 a year, might excite an interest in England, which it has hitherto been the policy of the home authorities to avoid, but they doubtless felt that it was not for them to interpose obstacles in his way. He was simply left to his own discretion; and that he has chosen rightly will, we think, be allowed even by those who are not given to 'Missionary fanaticism.' His conversion, will, at least, save the palace of Futtyghur from becoming like that of Delhi, a place where all evil naturally seeks shelter; and a native Christian noble, with his vast wealth, may accomplish far more good than a hundred ordinary converts.
"With the exception of 'Prester John,' in whom, despite Marco Polo, our faith is exceedingly limited, and a Roman Catholic Ziogoon of Japan, Dhuleep Singh is the first of his rank in Asia who has become a Christian. His example may, perhaps, give confidence to many who remain in Hindooism, rather from a vague dread of the consequences of abandoning it, than from any belief in its tenets; and we may see Christianity reverse its ordinary course, and descend from the highest to the lowest ranks. We have little hope of such a result; but it requires no religious belief to prove that it would be of the highest advantage to themselves and the people. The mere fact that there then would exist oaths by which they could be bound, and principles which they would scruple to violate, would bind their subjects to them, with a chain stronger than any which the ablest of their number have yet been able to forge."
The editor of the "Oriental Christian Spectator," observes: "From the persuasion which we have of the Christian judgment and prudence of Dr. Login, whose instructions have been blessed to this great result, we have every confidence that this conversion is of the most satisfactory character.
"The Sikh Prince, in the path he has pursued, appears before us, as no inappropriate specimen of his nation, and of what may be expected from them, if only at the present juncture suitable opportunities be presented. Their national discomfiture has been the overthrow of that fanaticism, under the standard of which they hoped to find themselves invariably the conquerors, and progressing rapidly to universal dominion. It has disappointed them; its prestige is gone; it has lost all hold upon them. If we neglect to meet adequately the present crisis, they will become rapidly absorbed in Hindooism, or Mahomedanism, and infusing a new and energetic element into those decayed systems, may re-invigorate them, and prolong their existence for a season. But if we go forward on a liberal and comprehensive scale of action, to the improvement of the remarkable opportunities now presented to us, there is hope that, as a nation, they may follow the example of the young ex-Maharajah, whose profession of Christianity, at the present moment, is calculated to exercise upon them a very important influence."
FOOTNOTES:
[37] See Appendix XV.
[38] See Appendix XVI.
[39] See Appendix XVII.