Life of Ahmad — Page 691
as ADDRESSES RULERS AND THE RULED 691 world, has ever enjoyed. . . The long period over which her reign extended was, in one sense, the most remarkable in the history of the world. So far as the English-speaking races are concerned, it witnessed a material and moral progress which has no parallel in their annals. ' Anyhow, the tactful, reasonable and above all the truthful way in which Ahmad as has addressed Queen Victoria in the above quotation does great credit to him indeed. He has really acted upon the instructions given by God to Moses as when he was commanded to approach Pharaoh: 'Speak to him in a gentle manner,' said God. So Ahmad as spoke gently and mildly to the Queen, but he preached the message to her by telling her that God had made him the Messiah. If along with this we remember the fact that a Bishop of Lahore was once so much offended at Ahmad’s as calling himself the Messiah (because he said that it was a grievous insult and dishonour to Jesus as ) that he would have nothing to do with Ahmad as , we can, easily understand that in addressing one of the greatest Christian monarchs of the world, Ahmad as really showed a courage which cannot be easily equaled. On September 27th, 1899, Ahmad as addressed the Indian Government headed by Lord Curzon by means of a leaflet in which he spoke, by way of introduction, of the services which he and his family had rendered to the cause of peace and gave an assurance that he was a great well-wisher of the Government and the country. The strong language, he said, which he had