History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

CHAP. 1.] A MERITORIOUS. OFFICIAL. 33

by the populace must have filled Ardeshir himself with some surprise mixed with gratification. The darbar held by Mr. Anderson, judge of Surat, on 12th February 1849, under Government auspices, was the last public tribute of respect paid to this popular favourite, at the same time that it marked the close of his honourable and prosperous career as a Government official. The reception accorded to him on this occasion was as warm and spontaneous as former assemblages of the same kind had been. The speech of Mr. Andrew, the president, delivered to a mixed assembly of natives and Europeans, dwelt in glowing terms on the incidents of Ardeshir’s praiseworthy career, and before its close the representative of the British Government conveyed to the principal Sadar Amin the warm acknowledgments of Government and their high estimation of his character and worth as a public servant. Ardeshir replied, expressing his thanks in appropriate terms. At the termination of the proceedings the entire assembly formed themselves into a procession, and escorted the hero of the day to his residence.

' The only incident that, for a time, threatened to obseure the lustre of Ardeshir’s fame took place in 1844, when he was charged by Mr. R. D. Luard, a Judge, with complicity “in a conspiracy alleged to have been entered into by him with others for the

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