I9 J 3] A Motto of Action 421 



lost, I fear, by this long period of inaction, but it is ground that can be 

 recovered, and I trust now to see the Mohammedan body taking its 

 full share in the movement for self-government. What it is necessary 

 to insist on is the danger of delay. Time needs to be taken by the 

 forelock, lest while you are waiting the British Empire should collapse 

 prematurely, and find the machinery of a native administration which 

 is to replace it not yet ready for its work. This would be a great mis- 

 fortune. Indeed, I will go so far as to say that in Mohammedan in- 

 terests the imperial connection between England and India should be 

 prolonged rather than shortened, and in this sense the Moslem subjects 

 of King George may well continue to display their loyalty. It is an- 

 other thing, however, to be what is called loyal to the existing regime 

 of the Anglo-Indian Civil Service. The servile attitude of helping this 

 alien body to maintain itself in place and power against all native 

 effort at self-government is neither dignified nor profitable, and will not 

 in reality serve the interests even of the Empire, for nothing is more 

 certain than that the only way in which the English connection with 

 India can be placed on a basis of any permanence is, by obtaining the 

 consent of the Indian peoples, and their active zeal in administering 

 their country under its imperial shield. As self-governing Colonies the 

 provinces of British India might survive many a shock under which the 

 Indian Empire, as now administered, must certainly succumb. 



" My present motto, therefore, for Indian patriotism, Mohammedan 

 and Hindoo alike, would be ' Loyalty to the Imperial Crown but in- 

 sistence on self-government under it.' And these are, in all probability, 

 the last words of advice on Eastern matters I shall presume to utter 

 in any public form. If you should think them worthy of a wider con- 

 sideration than that of just yourself or your personal friends, you are 

 at liberty to publish them, but that point I leave to yourselves to judge. 

 And so may God prosper you and hasten the day of Islamic and Asiatic 

 independence." 



This letter, part of which was published in India, was instrumental, 

 to a large measure, in causing the resignation which took place in 

 November, of the Agha Khan, my principal opponent, of his position 

 in the All Moslem League of India, an event which synchronized with 

 an apology made at home by Grey on the shortcomings of his Eastern 

 diplomacy. A short entry of that date, says : " The truth is, no 

 foreign policy ever more completely failed. My work has been to put 

 all the dots upon the i's in a way that has convinced Mohammedan 

 India that the Agha Khan and Ameer Ali, who have been preaching 

 loyalty to the British Empire, are blind guides leading to an impotent 

 result." 



Again, two months later, I find myself writing to the " Westminster 

 Gazette," warning our English peace lovers of the futility of their trust 



