true man; but from the moment that, forgetful of its glorious task, the idea becomes pernicious, assailing the noble object of civilisation it once struggled for and defended, I exclaim-" Perish such an idea; let national lines be obliterated, if they are nought but barriers upon which unblushing egotism and unreasoning enmity between nation and nation are inscribed."

I allude, in speaking thus, to the ignominious behaviour of a certain portion of the German and French Press during the late differences between England and Russia in Central Asia-to certain writers who, forgetful of the glorious work hitherto done by England in Asia, were already exulting with triumph at the prospect of what they thought the near end of Great Britain, and, extolling semi-barbarous and despotic Russia, were ready to destroy the prestige of the very nation whose banner has always been, and is, the harbinger of a new and better world in the distant regions of the East, and whose shores have proved hitherto the safest asylum of Frenchmen and Germans persecuted for political ideas.

CHAPTER XII.

WHY OUGHT ENGLAND TO RETAIN INDIA ?

FROM the comparison we drew in the foregoing chapter between the doings of Russia and Great Britain in Asia, it has become obviously patent that England's position in India must enlist the interest of every European from a humanitarian point of view, and it is, therefore, our duty to support, to the best of our abilities, that agency which most faithfully represents our Western culture, and which, as the real embodiment of what we call Europeanism, is best fitted for the onerous but glorious task of spreading in future also, the light of our Western civilisation, to which we intend to convert the masses of Asiatics who are still groaning under the yoke of an old and effete epoch. Moreover, I would bring home the conviction to all Englishmen that they have to persevere in the ambition of their forefathers, and are, so to say, in honour bound to retain India, the field of their civilising action during more than a hundred years.

I may be laughed at for speaking of a necessity at a time when the struggle for retention is in preparation. But my insinuation is not so groundless as it seems to be, for I had abundant cause to notice that, in spite of the zeal and enthusiasm for the national honour prevailing amongst a large portion of the British public, there still is a considerable fraction with whom the idea of the possession of India is a matter of utter indifference-a fraction which has invented the famous saying,

Perish

India "and which goes even so far as to be delighted to "see burst" that horrid beast called the British lion. The origin of this rather extraordinary sentiment-what I would style a mental aberration— may be easily discovered, if we view the extraordinary struggle for daily life going on in the denselypeopled island, where the division of wealth and property is so very uneven, and where the preponderating poorer classes are naturally led into such arguments as: What need they care about the prosperity, well-being, and enlightenment of distant races, when help and assistance are so urgently wanted at home; and, more than that, why should the taxes extorted from them be spent upon the prosecution of an imperial policy, by which, as they very unjustly remark, only the upper ten thousand are profiting? These arguments, the outflow of ultra-Liberal or Radical

tendencies, have been variously supported by the views of statesmen who, over-confident in the industrial and commercial prosperity of the United Kingdom, were short-sighted enough to maintain that England can stand by itself alone, and that she does not want colonies at all for her natural greatness.

Now, in order to prove the utter fallacy of such theories, it will be quite sufficient to draw the atten-. tion of the reader to the great advantages England derives from her Indian possessions through her commercial connections and shipping; connections which are continually increasing, so that out of the 154,000,000 sterling at which the total trade of India was valued, the lion's share fell decidedly to England.

"The total exports of British produce from the United Kingdom are valued at £240,000,000 a year; the total value of our exports of British produce to India is £32,000,000, i.e., more than one-eighth. This sum does not include £6,000,000 of treasure, and £3,000,000 of foreign produce, which gives employment to our shipping, though it does not give work to our manufactories. £32,000,000, therefore, represents the amount of English goods for which we find a market in India. That is, it is worth £5,000,000 more to us than the United States, and a third again as much as Australia.

"The most important articles of this trade are

cottons, metals, machinery, railway plant, woollen goods, and coal. Of these, cotton is the most valuable. In 1882-83 our whole export of cotton from Lancashire was worth £76,000,000; of that India took £25,000,000, that is, India is worth as a customer to Lancashire half as much as all the rest of the world put together. Of the next importance is the metal trade, worth £6,000,000. This includes cutlery from Sheffield and Birmingham, and copper from Swansea. Next, machinery; of this we sent £1,750,000, chiefly from Leeds, Manchester, and Glasgow. Next, railway plant, valued at £1,500,000, chiefly from Leeds, Middlesbrough, Sheffield, Birmingham, Barrow, and Bristol. The trade in woollen is worth £1,250,000 to the West Riding of Yorkshire, and the coal trade £1,000,000." (Professor Cyril Ransome, "Our Colonies and India," London, 1885.)

The profits derived in this way do not certainly form a contemptible portion of the wealth of Great Britain, and I am really curious to know where and how the much boasted-of industrial and commercial activity of Great Britain would find a market, if India did belong to any other Power of Europe. It would be sufficient to allude to the fact that, from the time Russia took possession of the Central Asian khanates, the English trade through Afghanistan to Bokhara has greatly diminished, and the exorbitantly

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