Hfi-ieic of Hel'ieirSy I/0/O6, 



Leading Articles. 



481 



capital is found by a Madras Clietty or a Chinese money- 

 lender, and that but a meagre sliare of the profits finds 

 ite way into Burmese cash-boxes. Although the Burman is 

 everywliere, it is not he who hafi the money. Of the ruraJ 

 districts it is more diHicuIt to speak. If you inquire of 

 those wljo know, however, you will invariably be told the 

 same tale. Tiiat despite the existence of great, areas of 

 nntllled land the Burman falls more deeply year by year 

 into the toils of the Madras and Chinese money-lender. 

 'luati whei-e ne is not actually expropriatea by tne foreigner, 

 he is drifting into the position of the sowcaj's serf. 



There are some who would coldly view as inevitable the 

 overwhelming of the Burmese by the mixed low races who 

 are pouring into the country, and the extinction of the 

 only laughter-loving race in onr Asiatic Empire. Happily 

 they are few. 



Unfortunately, whether few or many, they seem 

 unable to suggest any means by which the over- 

 whelming of the only laughter-loving race in our 

 Eastern Empire can be averted. 



INDIA A NATION: 



How We are Digging Our Own Grave. 



The supreme duty of every foreign Power which 

 has acquired dominion over other nations is to dig 

 its own grave with the maximum of despatch. In 

 other words, just as fathers train their sons to stand 

 on . their own feet and make their own way in the 

 world, so Empires should seek ever to make their 

 subjects fit to dispense with their aid. 



THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS A SPADE. 



In India the process has been slow but steady, 

 and now a distinct national sentiment has been 

 developed among the Indian peoples chiefly, it 

 would seem, by the spread of the English language. 

 The Indian World of February, quoting from the 

 Pioneer, says : — 



Unification is. iu essence, an assertion of race differ- 

 ence, and the unity brought about by the use of the Eng- 

 lish language seems doomed to be used against those whose 

 native tongue tlie English language is. . . . The new 

 sentiment of Indian nationality embracing, in its scope, 

 the Barman and the Mech, the Kol and the Santhal, the 

 Naga and the Cossj'ah, as well as the ancient civilised races 

 of India, is a very remarkable and interesting result of 

 the vigour and efficiency of British rule in India. 



THE EFFECT OF THE JAPANESE OBJECT LESSON. 



The process of gravedigging is not rapid enough 

 to satisfy the Indians. The)- complain that in the 

 King's Sf)eech self-go\ernment is relied upon as 

 means of promoting prosp>erity and loyalty to the 

 Crown in the Transvaal, and they ask, why not also 

 in India? — 



May we be permitted to enquire why two different 

 policies should be followed in two different parts of the 

 Empire, under the same Government and at the same 

 time, to ensure a common end — "the increase of prosperity 

 and loyalty to the Crown"? If India has not yet been 

 fit for free institutions, it is certainly not her fault. If, 

 after one and half a century of British rule. India remains 

 ■where she was in the Middle Ages, what a sad commentary 

 must it be upon the civilising influences of that rule! 

 When the English came to India, this country was the 

 leader of Asiatic civilisation and the undisputed centre 

 of light in the Asiatic world; Japan was then nowhere. 

 "Now, in fifty years. Japan has revolutionised her history 

 Tvith the aid of modern arts of progress, and India, witli 

 one hundred and fifty years of English rule, is still con- 

 demned to tutelage. 



A PERTINENT QUESTION. 



The Indian World says : — 

 The Conservatives used to look npon India as a semi- 

 ■savage country where personal and autocratic rule was 



believed to suit the genius of its people; but may we not 

 hoj)© that Mr. John Morley knows the situatiou better, 

 botli as a scholar and a politician? \^ ill tlie Liberal 

 Party treat India as tlie Conservatives did, and allow no 

 reform in the constitution and Government of the Indian 

 Empire? It India finds that there is nothing to clioose 

 between the two great parties in England, tlien her loyalty 

 and attachment to England will, as a matter of course, 

 j-eceive a great shock. . . . Wliy should not, then, the 

 Government of India be revised in the light of modern 

 progress and be adapted to the needs and requirements 

 of the modern day? 



AN APPEAL TO BRITISH LIBERALS. 



Revision, the editor declares, is imperatively 

 needed : — 



Under the system of government that now obtains in 

 the country, the development of any popular institution in 

 India or even our training for any sort of representative 

 government must be considered absolutely impossible. 

 Bureaucracy and personal rule, two bastard issues of 

 Imperialism, are holding their reins too tight in India 

 and it is only upon the ashes of autocracy that the temple 

 of freedom can be built. We must therefore wage an un- 

 compromising war against autocracy and appeal to our 

 Liberal friends in England to help ns in this crusade. 

 Once we are down with that feudal and time-worn form 

 of government, our salvation will begin to da.wn upon us. 

 It will not do any more to tell us that the East is East 

 and that no popular government can thrive this side of 

 the Medit«rrane:i.n, for Japan has effectually disiielled the 

 Western tuperstition on this point and has proved as worthy 

 of representative, and self, government as any country in 

 Europe. 



THE TRUMPETER OF SAKKINGEN. 



It is not given to many poets to achieve such 

 fame with one work that many new editions of it 

 appear every year, as is the case with Joseph Viktor 

 von Scheffel, the author of '■ The Trumpeter of 

 Siikkingen." Scheffel is best known by this book 

 and two others — " Ekkehard,'' a mediasval prose ro- 

 mance, and " Gaudeamus," a collection of students' 

 songs. 



An interesting chapter in the poet's life has re- 

 cently been given to the world, and in the March 

 number of Wcsterinann is told the love-story of 

 Scheffel and Emma Heim, together with the circum- 

 stances of the present publication of Scheffel's let- 

 ters to his " Emmale," which have appeared in book 

 form with Emma Heim's personal recollections of 

 the poet. Scheffel's friendship with Emma Heim 

 extended from 1851 to the day of his death, thirtv- 

 five years later, in 1886. 



In " The Trumpeter of Sakkingen," a tale in 

 verse of the Thirty Years' War, which Scheffel wrote 

 while he was in Italy, the poet expresses his longing 

 for his love in the Black Forest ; but no one, not 

 even Joannes Proelss, Scheffel's biographer, seems 

 to have been aware that Emma Heim, who cele- 

 brated her seventieth birthday in Berlin last year, 

 had influenced the poet's work so much. When 

 Scheffel returned from Italy to ask her to become 

 his wife, it was to learn that her hand had already 

 been promised to another. The correspondence is 

 an autobiography of the most intimate nature, 

 portraying the poet's life, with all its struggles and 

 bitterness, as well as happiness. 



