DURBAR IN THE DEWAfr-I-AM 155 



Council. In thanking them, I stated my convic- 

 tion that a new era of happiness and prosperity 

 was in store for India. I expressed my faith in 

 India, her people, and her future, and said that 

 I was absolutely certain that the tragic occurrence 

 of that day would not cause the Government to 

 falter in promoting under Divine guidance the 

 best interests of the Indian people. 



I then advanced and took my seat on the dais 

 and held, what I know to have been, a most im- 

 pressive Durbar in the historic Dewan-i-am. 



Those present numbered over one thousand and 

 were representative of all that is best in India. 

 The sight was as gorgeous as it was impressive. 



I prefaced the speech which Lord Hardinge was 

 to have delivered, and which I read, by saying 

 that I knew full well that every loyal Indian felt 

 as great an abhorrence of the atrocious deed done 

 that day as did every loyal Englishman; that 

 Indian public opinion would be clear and emphatic 

 in its condemnation of an outrage as senseless as it 

 was iniquitous, and that all hearts, Indian and 

 English alike, would go out to the Viceroy in his 

 grievous pain and intense disappointment. 



One had only to look at the faces of all the 

 Indians present to see that I rightly gauged their 

 feelings and correctly interpreted their mental 

 attitude. 



I concluded: " May the blessing of the Al- 

 mighty ever guide and direct those who from this 

 Imperial city shall govern this great Empire for the 

 good of the people and their advancement in the 

 path of progress and civilisation under the pro- 

 tecting aegis of the British Crown." 



