608 PROCEEDINGS OP SECTION F. 



Majesty's Indian subjects living in the British colonies, the great 

 hardships and disabilities to which they are subjected by colonial 

 governments, and the consequent degradation of their status and 

 rights as subjects of the King, and protests against the treatment of 

 Indians by the colonies as backward and uncivilised races ; and it 

 prays that, in view of the great part the Indian settlers have played 

 in the development of the colonies, and the economic advantages 

 which have resulted, both to India and to the colonies, from their 

 emigration to and stay in the latter, the Government of India will 

 be pleased to ensure to them all the rights and privileges of British 

 citizenship, in common with the European subjects of His Majesty, 

 by enforcing, if necessary, such measures as will render it impossible 

 for the colonies to secure Indian immigrants except on fair, equitable, 

 and honorable terms ; and that, in view of the great importance of 

 the principle of equal treatment of all His Majesty's subjects. His 

 Majesty's Government should devise adequate measures to ensure 

 that position in all British colonies." 



It should not be forgotten that the Indians, in pleading for their 

 rights, take their stand on England's pledge, when she took over their 

 country from the East India Company, after the mutiny of 1857. 

 Her Majest}?-, the late Queen Victoria, in her proclamation of 1858, 

 said — " No native of the said territories (India), nor any natural-born 

 subject of Her Majesty resident therein, shall, by reason only of his 

 religion, place of birth, descent, color, or any of them, be disabled 

 from holding any place, office, or employment under the said Govern- 

 ment, and it is our further will that, as far as may be, our subjects — 

 of whatever race or creed — be freely and impartially admitted to 

 offices in our service, the duties of which they may be qualified by their 

 education, ability, and integrity to discharge." 



Mr. Kingston, the first Federal Minister of Customs, in a speech 

 at Brisbane, proclaimed his own incompetency to occupy a seat in the 

 Commonwealth Government by the following discreditable utterance : — 

 " If there was an industry that must have the ' yellow agony ' or the 

 ' black curse ' to keep it alive — a proposition which he did not admit — 

 then it must be swept ofi the face of Australia, which was a white 

 man's land." By the " agony," he evidently meant the Chinese and 

 Japanese, and by the " curse," the kanakas. The Japanese Consul- 

 General of Australia, at a social function, subsequently replied to the 

 insulting language of Mr, Kingston in terms of faultless courtesy. 

 " He would like to say a few words concerning fears entertained by 

 some people ... in regard to a danger they termed the ' yellow 

 peril.' A little reflection would show those fears were groundless. 

 Since the beginning of the present Japanese dynasty, which had 

 continued in an unbroken line for over 2,500 years, they have never 

 been an aggressive race. They had centuries of undisturbed peace. 

 . . . The great desire of Japan was to pursue the arts of peace ; 

 to live in friendly communion with the whole world." 



The following is the translation of an ominous paper from Triabem, 

 the official gazette of Tokio, of April 18th, 1904 :—" Here (Japan) 



