The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-28
FORTY YEARS OF
 THE INDIAN EMPIRE

| / April 27,- 1878, that Queen Victoria
 was declared the Empress of India
 The formal proclamation of the new dignity and title of the beloved Queen
 was made in London shortly after ward, and on the first of the following year durbar of unexampled magnifi-
 cence was held on the historic ridge
 overlooking the 4MughaI capital of Del-
 hi, to celebrate the turning of a new
 page in India's long and tragic his
 tory. ! The Institution of Britain s Asiatic empire was shadowed by the
 terrible famine which soon swept over
 a large and populous portion of the country, claiming a vast multitude of
 victims in spite of the hervu1ean eff
 forts of the government. Great Bri-
 tain spent the tremendous sum of $55. 100000 to feed the stricken and stay the pestiIences which followed in
 the wake of famine, yet some five mill
 lion people died of disease and want. Since then the progress made by the people has been such that wide lsspreads famines such as have brought
 misery and woe to1 India for count | less centuries are now unknown. In the brief period of forty years a peaceful revolution has occurred in India, and it's lteeming millions have attained a stage of enlightment un- l i sumed the imperial title. In spite of l KipIngs assertion that never the l twain shall meet,'' East and West have 1 found common ground of anity and ! und erstanding. The, terrible mutiny lof the '5O's was due to a, mutual lack 1 of understanding between Britishers | and natives. The fact that the latter
 have not taken advantage of the pres 1 ent war to initiate a revolt on a. large l scale is sufficient proof that the gap
 between West and East has been
 bridged. Thousands of agents in the pay of Britain's, foes have been spreading the propaganda of discon- 1 tent ever since the outbreak of tn e
 war yet the result of their efforts has l been a few sporadic and half-hearted
 disturbances which were speedily sup l pressed.
 The loyalty of India to the British
 crown is one of the great disappoint- ments suffered by Germany in this
 war. In Berlin it was considered as
 almost a1certainty that the declaration
 of hosti1ities in Europe would be fol- lowed by general revoIts. against the British in India and South Africa. In spite of the fact that such revOluti ons
 would have had excellent prospects. of success, the efforts of the discontented
 few to arouse the masses to rebellion
 were met with indifference of active hostility. According to reports which
 have filtered through from India,
 many a. propagandist of revolt has I been given short shrift by those to I whom he preached his doctrines of
 sedition.
 Many of the reports of Indian dis
 affection have in all probability been | false. The statement widely circI1- lated few months ago that the Mi
 gam of Hyderabad. the greatest of the
 Moslem native princes, had been de-
 posed, has been declared to be wholly
 ernment. It is stated that on the con
 trary the Nizam gave $2,000, ,000 to the i British cause early %n the war, and 1 that when the Turkish Sultan declar- 1 ed "ho1y war the Nizan issued a proclamation to his people command \ fng them to pay no attention to such ] a call to arms, and maintaining that l no religious principles were involved | in the European conflict The rulers { of all the other native states have -contributed great sums to the London l government.
 : From all accounts it would seem | that the Indians as a whole have
 shown no inclination to falter in their
 allegiance, and that on the contrary,
 they look upon the peril of the British
 raj as a threat to themselves. It
 seems altogether probable that the
 war will have the effect of binding In- l dia more closely to the destinies of England, rather than the reverse.