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were unanimously of opinion that the only remedy lay in an appeal to the Law Courts. Two names occur to me in this connexion, to which I cannot refer without emotions of the deepest gratitude—those of Mr. John D. Bell, and Sir Taraknath Palit, who was then in England, having been recently called to the Bar. They took the matter up with earnestness and enthusiasm. Mr. Bell was for many years a leading barrister of the Calcutta High Court, and was now in retirement in England, practising before the Privy Council. He declined to take any fee, for, he said, it was a just cause, and he had eaten the salt of India. It is no exaggeration to say that the success of our application was largely due to his earnest and disinterested advocacy. Those who knew Sir Taraknath Palit in his later life knew the ardour of his soul, the warmth of his friendship, and his invincible tenacity of purpose in any cause that he made his own; and these qualities, which made him the distinguished citizen and the eminent advocate that he became in after life, were already conspicuously in evidence.

Sripad Babaji Thakur did not move in the matter. Wise man that he was, he rightly concluded that if I won he would win too; for the two cases stood exactly on the same footing. I engaged Mr. Mellish, who afterwards became Lord Justice of Appeal, as the leading counsel, and Mr. John D. Bell as his junior. On June 11, 1869, Mr. Mellish applied before the Queen's Bench Division for a mandamus upon the Civil Service Commissioners to show cause why my name should not be restored to the list of probationers for the Indian Civil Service.

The Bench that heard the application consisted of some of the greatest English judges, and was presided over by the Lord Chief Justice of England, Sir Alexander Cockburn. Mr. Mellish had no difficulty in obtaining a favourable hearing, and the following résumé of the proceedings in Court will explain the attitude of the judges in regard to the merits of the case:

Mr. Mellish said that this was the first instance in which a native of India—necessarily at very great disadvantage—had succeeded in this examination; and it would be most unfortunate if he should be unfairly defeated on such a ground as this. After a successful career at the University of Calcutta, this gentleman, in the face of immense difficulties, had come over to this country to compete with Englishmen in examinations upon English subjects conducted in the English language, and he had succeeded. It would be lamentable that it should go forth to India that he had been, after all, defeated upon such a point as this, and without the