The Daily News WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1914. THE LOYALTY OF INDIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 94, 16 September 1914, Page 4

The Daily News WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1914. THE LOYALTY OF INDIA.

India has been uptly described as the brightest jewel in the Imperial Crown,but the universal and spontaneous exhibition of loyalty and offers of service evoked from every part of India on the outbreak of tho war with Germany has indelibly stamped that portion of the British dominions as the most loyal in the whole Empire. The loyalty of Indian chiefs and notables has burst upon the world as a mighty revelation of the . noble work accomplished by English rule in that vast country, the conquest and maintenance of which has coat in the past so vast a sacrifice of human life and treasure. All that-, however, is mere matter of history. To-day, there is but one feeling through every Stato in India—even tho most remote—and that is intense loyalty to the King and Emperor. Chiefs, rulers, and native princes have not only set a magnificent example in immediately coming to the assistance of the Imperial Government, but they have vied with one another in their generous offers, thua setting a golden seal on their loyalty. When an Indian potentate gives he will empty his treasury, for his generosity is as boundless as his wealth. The.se nobles have, iu many cases, even gone the limit, for not content with offering their all, they have also offered their own personal services, and no man could do more. Take, for instance, the case of the veteran, Sir IPetab Singh, who at the advanced age of seventy, insists on serving the King and Emperor, and to take with him a nephew of sixteen years. Again, it is most gratifying to liote that although much has been said about tho possibility of the present trouble being seized upon as an opportunity to influence the Moslems and other creeds against the British, yet there has not been ft single dissentient note in th; outburst of loyally throughout India. Apparently all creeds, and all of the castes that count liave but one desire, that of rendering aid to the Imperial Government ill its hour of need. This is a veritable triumph of administration, having a significance almost beyond comprehension. No citizens of tho Empire can fail to experience a thrill of pride and gratification at tho fact that they and the Indians are all part of a supremo Government towards which their hearts beat as one. It is in times of a great crisis that the real qualities of the human race are tested. The color question at such times melts into thin air; religious differences sink out of sight; minor troubles disappear as if by magic; and the one great business 0:: hand obliterates, every consideration but that of overcoming the crisis.Tho unprecedented and magnificent loyalty of India in rallying round the Imperial flag is enhanced by the spontaniety and selfsacrifice by which it was accompanied. •'AH that I have —wealth, retinue, forces, equipments, vea, even iny own services, are thine. My only desire is to he of service to my King and Emperor." Such may be said to be the way in which the Indian potentates camo to the assistance of their supreme sovereign. No words can express the intense admiration that such whole-hearted service deserves. It is beyond all praise, and its record will remain for all time as a priceless evidence of the unity of the Empire, the vastness of its resources, the justice of its rule. No less than 70!) rulers of the Native States offered personal service, as well as the resources of their States, to aid Great Britain in the- war, while many of the larger States offered to provide and maintaiu troops. At. present the offer of only twelve States has been accepted, hut if more men are wanted they are ready and eager to serve. Who can doubt that with such loyalty throughout the Empire that the end will be the complete triumph of the cause of right and justice over that of military despotism? Sad as war is, it has produced many Compensating features, amongst the most glorious of which is the story of India's loyalty. To read this splendid testimony of India's devotion to the Empire will cause the pulses of all true patriots to quicken, and it should evoke the heartfelt tribute of "India! Well and nobly done." This spontaneous exhibition of loyalty and sacrifice is almost equal to that of tho Boers, with whom but a few years ago we were at death's grips. Our enemies of yesterday are more than our friends to-day—they are Britishers in sympathy, in action, in name. They realise, do these liocrs, that Britain stands for righteousness, justice and humanity, and that it is her very regard for these essentials that h»3 brought her into the fighting line. To have these marked expressions of devotion and loyalty is worth more than battle victories —they aro priceless testimonies to the benignant rule of the greatest Empire the world has seen, an Empire that will emerge from this crisis stronger, greater, and nobler, with her influence and power immensely strengthened.