The sun., 1894-09-09
BRITISH NCE.
1HBREttoIoS orsournERN INDIA.

IectsaI Hire or che Caivans Of Insis-Ips
port-sse OF ths Taan Lssspnss a.,
1iternture n ths ProbIsu. or Isdis-Iu
Past, Present. s-d Future-The tsru-.
LAUo Di Conc. Aug 2c.-lIow much longer 4
England 10 keep her hold upon those vas
dominions in the East, which less than twentJ
years ago Lord BeaconsHcld. by touch Of poll
tical prestidigitation, converted into an empire
This is very grave question which really vel
Informed and thouphtful Engilshmen have beer
more or less quietly putting 10 themselves eveI
since the great struggle for predominnnce in the
control Of the relations Of India with Europe
between England and France came To an end
with tho victories Of Eyre, Coote. and Give,
hardly more than ten years before the outbreak
of the Revolution which overturned the British
rule In America. In $780, had the French Gov
srnment appreciated the work Of Dupley and
Lally Tolendal, France might have established
her flag in India; and had she done this the
peace Of Versailles, which In 1888 made
the United States Of America a nation.
might also have restored Canada and the
b. Lawrence TO the crown Of the
Bourbona II is we'll TO recall these
things from time 10 time, because the tendency
Of each generation OF men is to forget precisely
how and when the world came TO be lust what
Il ls in their time and therefore TO be very much
confounded when great changes, the result usu-
ally Of conditions easily ascertainabe, suddenly
overcome the world as with especial wonder"
The great Indian mutiny, for instance, Of
1857. which imperilled not only the British
supremacy, but the life Of every British subject
In the Indian peninsula, came not only upon the
world at large, but upon the statesmen and the
people of England like bolt from the blue.
Forty years have not yet passed since the sup
precision OF that mntlny. and yet there can be
dOtiht that the mainrity of educated
Engllshmen really imagine the throne of Vic
toria, as Empress of India, TO be as firmly set-
tied as II che had come TO II through the
gradual development OF q dynastic author
ity, rooted for centuries In the instincts
traditions. and interests OF tho millions over
whom her sceptre is assumed to exercise in the
East an enduring sway.
It Is q slight, but very Instructive
Illustration of the superficial and inade-
ouate knowledge OF the Indian races which
passes current with English statesmen that the
Queen has been led to suppose that her East
Indian subjects look with favor and compla-
cency upon the presence In her suite and about
her person of a Moonshee, or picturesque Hindu
attendant, with sundry subalterns, who. during
the last two or three years, has taken the place
in the royal household once occupied, as our
readers will doubtless remember, by that faith
full and devoted Highlander John Brown, who
now lies buried near Balmoral under monument
erected by her Majesty to his memory. The Hindu
attendants Of the Queen play conspicuous
part In every court ceremony and royal progress |
They were regarded with infinite wonder and
admiration by the Italians during her Majesty's |
sojourn at Florence In the spring OF this year. |
and great pains have been taken to spread |
throughout India the story OF the conspicuous |
place awarded to them In the good will of the |
sovereign. whom India knows as the Kaisar-I-
Hind. Yet as matter Of fact tho Queens |
Moonshee and the rest Of her Hindu servants
are Mussulinans representing about 50. .O00.OO |
of the population OF India, as against more than
200.000,000 by whom not only is the Moham-
medan religion regarded with extreme dislike,
but the rule In bygone ages of the Mussulman
conquerors remembered with adherence.
Experienced Anglo Indians tell me that the Sc
lection of Mussuiman for u post of confidence
near the person of the sovereign In England
has really given rise already to not little dis
content and to the most absurd rumurs among
the Hindu population In various parts Of the In
dian empire or course 1t was not necessary
that the Queen should have Indian attend
ant. But II the Queen was to have an Indian at
tendant would II not have been judicious to select
that attendant from among the Hindus of In
dia rather than from among a race associated
by Its religious belief and by its traditions with
recollections oppressive and distasteful to an
overwhelming majority OF the Queens Oriental
suo!ocsf hSwas not such selection nader
rrooooY because II never occurred either to the
queen OF 70 any oil her ADVISERS that real and
deeply rooted antagonsm Of ideas and OF SYM
pa.nles eais's between the oo.ooo.ooo OF Mussui-
mAhs ana the @oo'ooo'ooo OF Hindus In india.
A very interesting book, the fruit Of much
labor and research, has just been issued by the
Government press at Allahabad on the popular
religion OF northern India This book, the work
Of Mr.. Crook OF the Bengal Civil Service. will
probably never be studied. or even read. by so
many As i've hundred educated Englishmen not
directly and oficially with Indian
Affairs. And yet so thoughtful an English Jour
nal ~ the London Spectator, In a very careful
review OF this book, urgently insists that it
ought 70 be text book for every English :" mis-
sionary college which trains men for India"
You can never" says the Spectator, very truly,
really convert people until you understand
them" And the book of Mr.. Crook, II would
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