ON IMPERIAL CITIZENSHIP. 431 



of coinmerciiil and public morality which will make India respected 

 among the nations of the world ; a steadily rising standard of efficiency 

 in education, public health, and industrial life; a growing acceptance 

 of democratic principle and practice. The edifice should be an imposing 

 one, for the country has all the makings of greatness and the material 

 is vast. The foundations are there, in India's own best traditions and 

 in our labours of the last two centuries. We have now got to help in 

 the superstructure. The duty is one that calls for a more intelligent 

 knowledge of India, and a closer interest in her affairs, than have 

 always obtained in the past, either in this country or in the Dominions. 

 Stimulated by that knowledge and that interest, we have it in our power 

 to inoculate our own people with a sense of their responsibility for 

 India. It must no longer be the plaything of political parties, or the 

 stalking-horse of cranks. It must be induced to feel that the thinking 

 British public is committed to assist in its advancement towards a real, 

 and not a merely ceremonial partnership in our Imperial federation! 

 In this way I believe we shall keep it steadfast on the road to Imperial 

 Citizenship . 



In opening my story I proposed to approach our subject from the 

 point of view of status rather than of emotion. In dealing with India, 

 I am conscious of having occasionally confused the two aspects. The 

 truth is that they are inseparable. Without the status, we need not 

 look for the spirit. Give the status, and it is our earnest belief that 

 the spirit will abound, for it is the spirit that will make us live. Our ■ 

 Empire has not been built up on the blood and toil of subject-races; 

 it does not rest on tribute, and it will grow in greatness only so long 

 as it abides by the mighty principles on which it has been nurtured in 

 the i^ast, only po long as it remains an association of free peoples, 

 working out their own development each in its own way, but united in 

 a form of brotherhood which will transcend differences of colour and 

 creed, and will find its expression, in an ever-increasing measure, in 

 terms of an Imperial Citizenship. 



