interests. They know at least that they have nothing to dread
from Englishmen on the score of religious intolerance, and there is even
a tendency with some of them to exaggerate the sympathy displayed
towards them by supposing a community of beliefs on certain points
considered by them essential. Thus the idea is common among the
ignorant in many Mussulman countries that the English are _Muwahedden_,
or Unitarians, in contradistinction to the rest of Christians, who are
condemned as _Musherrakin_, or Polytheists; and the Turkish alliance is
explained by them on this supposition, supplemented in the case of the
Turks themselves with the idea that England is itself a part of Islam,
and so its natural ally.[18] These are of course but ideas of the
vulgar. Yet they represent a fact which is not without importance,
namely, that England's is accepted by Mussulmans as a friendly not a
hostile influence, and that her protection is sought without that
suspicion which is attached to the friendly offices of other powers.
Even in India, where Englishmen have supplanted the Mussulmans as a
ruling race, the sentiment towards British rule is not, as far as I can
learn, and compared with that of other sections of the Indian community,
a hostile one.

The Mussulmans of Delhi and the Punjab would no doubt desire a
resumption by themselves of practical authority in the country where
they were till lately masters; but they are conscious that they are not
strong enough now to effect this, and their feeling towards English rule
is certainly less bitter than towards the Hindoos, their former
subjects, now their rivals. Were they in any way specially protected in
their religious interests by the Indian Government, they would, I am
confident, make not only contented but actively loyal subjects.

As things stand, therefore, it would seem natural that, in the general
disruption which will follow the fall of Constantinople, it is to
England the various nations of Islam should look mainly for direction in
their political difficulties. The place of adviser and protector,
indeed, seems pointed out for her. With the disappearance of the Ottoman
Sultan there will be no longer any great Mussulman sovereignty in the
world, and the Mohammedan population of India, already the wealthiest
and most numerous, will then assume its full importance in the counsels
of believers. It will also assuredly be expected of the English Crown
that it should then justify