CH. VI 
THE INDIAN POPULATION 
61 
of an eye change faced him in every direction. More¬ 
over, I fear that, do what one will, never again will 
the native see as much happiness in the future as he 
has enjoyed in the past. Second to them in popular 
sympathy one would have anticipated that the 
European population would have ranked. Why ? 
Because after all he is of the same flesh and blood as 
his critic and because too he has done his best, and a 
good best at that, to improve the condition both of the 
land itself and of the population that land contained. 
And, last, one would have said should have stood the 
Indian. He, like the European, is an interloper, but 
unlike the latter he has done nothing to ameliorate the 
lot of the native, but, on the contrary, has done much 
to degrade it. Where the European has given 
better clothing, better and more regular food, 
education and medical attendance, the Indian has given 
disease, drink and crime. 
As a matter of fact, however, as far as one can 
judge, the sympathies of both the home Government 
and of those comparatively few of the public who 
are interested in the subject rest in the first place 
with the Indians, secondly with the natives, and, 
“ longo intervallo,” with the white population. What 
is the reason of this curious preference ? I suggest 
that it is made up partly of ignorance, partly of our 
traditional love of fair play, and partly of the growing 
tendency and indeed readiness to depreciate our own 
race in every sphere of action. The general idea 
of the Indian, as known to the majority of politicans 
and to the upper class specialists, is a courtly, 
cultivated gentleman living in a cool, delightful 
climate in the North of India. He is polite, clean, 
patriotic, and in every way desirable. The idea takes 
