The San Francisco call., 1903-01-03
THE DELHI PAGEANT.


King of England detracted from the splen-
dors OF that ceremony People from all Eu-
rope and America had gathered IN London in ex-
pectancy of the great event, only to. be disap
pointed. When the Kings recovery permitted the
ceremony its incidents were tame b. comparison
with what had been originally planned But what
the London ceremony finally lacked in eclat has
been more than made up by the ceremonial splen-
dors Of the proclamation OF the Emperor at
Delhi.
India has had many masters Her Aryan people
and their descendants were phiiosophc and intro
spectiye. They rejected the offensive and defen-
sive arts in the belief that non-resistaat attitude
and refraining from aggression would sufficiently
protect them against aggression by Others In this
they were mistaken Falling at last under the mas
terry OF Afahometan conquerors, thev hard rid
den by the doguls. Those mssterIul rulers, in
their ancient seat at Agra and finally at Delhi,
sapped the resous ces of the peninsula to create
Splendors that the wonder and the envy OF
the world In their turn they had 10 yield to fresh
conquerors The commercial, footholi of the Brit
ish East India Company, By the genius Hastings
and Give, was turned into political conquest, and
at Plassy TIE Mogul power was broken forever
After all Is said about II the fact remains that the
British are the best masters India has had, and if
their hold were broken it would not be to restore
control to the museum of races that people India.
For ages they have lived under invaders and chat
tate would not be changed. The unrest that erupt-
ed N the bloody incidents OF the Sepoy rebellion
seems to be thing of the past and the three hun
dred millions Of people that toll and MOL between
the Himalayas and the Indian Ocean and Bay OF
Bengal seem content. The European rivals of
Great Britain expected that the Indians would i'm
prove the opportunity offered by her preoccupaton
in the Boet revolt Bdt India quiet
Z Do1I,. C,1 d
mares and Hyderabad were as loyal as London.
Therefore It does become the rest of the world
to sneer at British rule in India nor to bete the
splendid pageantry lhat has attended the imperial
proclamation in the a1cienc capital OF descend
ants Of Shah Jehan.
It is probable that no equal spectacle was ever
seen, not excepting the tr;Imphs of pageant-lovng
Rome. The hundreds of elephants ridden by
Rajahs, Maharajsas and the Princes and mobiles OF
India, headed by the great trsker, ridden by the
Viceroy and Lady Curzon, feature in the first
days ceremony never seen before. The vast
crowds OF natives of ali races, religions and cond
tons that to hear the trumpets proclaim their
new ruler must be taken as evidence that India is
content and outsiders must take he verdict and
respect 1t. oo
To Americans the great ceremony is of interest
because Lady Curzon, the Vicereine of that vast
empire, is American woman. Strange are the
Of fate and fortune shat have brought thi:
Chicago girl TO such conspicuous part in a ce =
mony the most brilliant in all history. That he1
regal part was so royalty borne is evidence of the
adaptability of the American woman to the dut e.
OF any exaltatiOn to which her beauty and her vir
tues may bring her. Our fierce democracy, in it,
plain political Clothes will CALAMITY salute ou
American daughter, Lady Mary Curzon of Ked
deston, Vice-Empress of the Mogul empire, NOR,
worthy of the Tai Mahal than was Nourmahal, th
favorite OF JeIan