"We women, your most gracious majesty's most devoted and loyal subjects, inhabiting the ancient city of Surat, the birthplace of the British empire, are particularly proud of it as being thus gloriously ruled over by one of our own sex, and we quite appreciate that we owe our present position, progress, and advancement and education, and our prospective elevation entirely to your majesty's most righteous, philanthropic, and sympathetic reign; and we thank the Almighty for having placed us under the noble-hearted sovereign who always evinces a motherly tenderness, care, and anxiety, and who is always anxious for the promotion of our happiness and the relief of our distress.