than at the present time. The lesson of the Mutiny, of
a half-a-century ago, was not lost upon the administrators of India.
Since then, no Indian regiment can be stationed within a thousand
miles of its own home, and thus be able to enter into collusion with
the people. And the artillery branch of the army is entirely in the
hands of the British force. Moreover, as we have seen, the Mohammedans
and the Sikhs are loyal to the government, and would stand with the
British against the Hindus in any conflict of arms.

The Hindus themselves realize this situation perfectly well. One of
the best-known Hindu gentlemen recently wrote as follows: "The truth
is in a nutshell and may be described in a few words. The British
cannot be driven out of India by the Indians, nor by any foreign
Power. This fact is known to more than 90 per cent of the people. Of
all the foreigners, the British are the best. We, as we are now, are
the least able to govern India, being not equal to the worst and
weakest foreign Power."

The best class of Hindus are not only sensible of their own weakness,
from a military standpoint; they are also dissatisfied with the action
of extremists and believe that the present unrest is evil. A
well-known Hindu writer describes the situation in the following
words: "The class of people the Indian Extremists appeal to, consists
of irresponsible and impressionable students and the ignorant
populace; and the agitator, who is thoroughly cognizant of this fact,
uses it for his purposes. He appeals to their feelings, and succeeds
in making them believe in the soundness of his fallacies and
mischievous preachings. The authorities have therefore to see that
this class of people is protected from the insidious appeals of
mischievous pseudo-patriots. After over a century of beneficent
British rule in India, it is scarcely necessary to attempt to justify
its existence or continuance. At the same time, it has to be
recognized that discontent prevails among the people; though, speaking
generally, it does not by any means partake of the character of
disaffection or disloyalty. Discontent is by no means inconsistent
with loyalty to government. On the other hand, it may even be said,
with a certain degree of truth, that the deep-rooted and abiding sense
of loyalty in the people has engendered the spirit of discontent, the
healthy discontent with their lot."

It should also be remembered that the Hindu caste system is an
insupera