LORD C1JRZON'S LATEST IDEA.
rrirE courage and originality of Lord Curzon's latest idea are manifest, and we think we can show that there is policy in it too. He has been struck by the false position occupied by the younger Princes and nobles of India, and has hit upon a bold plan for remedying it. They are already well educated according to European ideas—which may not, however, exactly suit Asiatics—in the four Indian Etons or "Chiefs' Colleges" established at Ajmere, Rajkot, Indore, and Lahore, but when they leave those establishments there is nothing for them to do. They have no States or estates to manage while their fathers live, they are not always welcome as advisers, and they can no more devote themselves to ordinary pursuits than European Princes and great nobles can. The soldier's trade is the only one which, in their own eyes, would not degrade them, and from regular soldiers' training they have been hitherto debarred. The means for such training do not exist in their own States, and the British Govern- ment has regarded their entrance on that career with a certain jealousy. They have consequently become wealthy loungers, have plunged into the harem life or the life of sport, have sometimes taken to drink with a readiness which is strange in a country so free from that destructive vice, and, eaten up with ennui, have in a few cases sunk into melancholy or degradation. They have, be it remem- bered, to live among men and women who are not only their inferiors by birth, but who understand none of the ideas which they have gained from their education, and cannot, therefore, even converse acceptably, —an aggravation of the situation which did not exist under the Roman Empire, where the great families, though cut off from political life, could. at least find. in their friend- ships and in society some relief from the torments of idleness and ennui.
Lord Curzon, having by degrees become fully conscious of this state of affairs, proposes to terminate it by a bold innovation. He throws open the military career to the princely houses. Such of the young Princes and nobles as desire it are to be permitted to enter for two years a kind. of Sandhurst of their own, an " Imperial Cadet Corps," and for one year a training class in garrison; and. afterwards, if they are willing and fit, are promised that they shall obtain " the rank, position, and duty of a British officer in staff or other extra-regimental employment." They will in that capacity be carefully observed, will be entrusted with serious duties as opportunity serves, and will, we doubt not, though this is not promised, if found qualified, be entrusted with the command of irregular regiments, a position for which there is reason to believe they thirst. Most of them, be it remembered, have soldier blood in their veins;; all of them have the instinct of command; and all will be obeyed. with the utmost readiness by soldiers- of their own colour, who will know their histories as the histories of our own officers are rarely blown to British privates.
The measure is so obviously benevolent and large- hearted that the only criticism passed upon it will be contained in the question " Is it safe " We would risk it even if it were not, for we cannot believe that the right to govern the millions of India includes the right to deprive them of their historic manliness; but we feel con- vinced that it will be •safe. It is not from the Princes that the danger to the Empire comes. Their motive for rebellion is very slight. Within their own States their authority is as great as it ever was, the Residents inter- fering only in exceptional cases of tyranny, or when misrule plainly threatens the general welfare of the Empire. Their personal wealth is, we believe, in the majority of cases immensely increased by their new security. They are not more humiliated by the supremacy of King Edward VII. than by the supremacy of the Emperors of Delhi, while they are much less threatened, and enjoy as against rebellion from below a guarantee which is only too complete. During the great Mutiny scarcely any Prince not descended from Timour sided with the mutineers—the Nana had been disinherited—while several, Scindiah more especially, expressed a statesmanlike conviction that if the movement succeeded it would ulti- matelybe fatal to themselves. In any case, their new training in Western soldiership cannot of itself increase their dis- loyalty, while it must open their eyes to the magnitude and living force of the great machine which it must be the first object of any rebellion to break in pieces. Moreover, if we are to speak plainly, in India trained soldiers must always be the least dangerous of our foes. Their instinct will lead them to meet us with armies in the field, and with armies we can deal. It is a popular rebellion, not the rebellion of a Prince, a guerilla war like that which the Boers are conducting, waged everywhere at once, and never concentrated., which is really dangerous. Of course, there is always the chance of the Royal families producing a man of military genius who is also a fanatic, or ambitious of an Imperialtlirone ; but that danger cannot be averted by human care, nor will it be increased. by train- ing a few Princes in the military knowledge of the West. It may even be diminished. It is exceedingly doubtful whether the military organisation of the West,which requires infinite trouble maintained for years, is the organisation best suited. to Asiatics, who left to themselves have produced. great soldiers and most effective armies. We suspect that Lord. Roberts would much sooner meet Runjeet Singh than Ryder Ali, and the wealmess of the Sepoy army, drilled and taught by British officers for a century, was, amidst all the incidents of the great struggle of 1857, the most amazing. The Sepoys did not throw up one leader of even second-rate capacity, and were, the historian of the future will strongly suspect, rather paralysed than strengthened. by a training the effects of which they never from first to last attempted to shake off. The most formidable Asiatic troops who ever existed, the Janissaries, were self-evolved, not borrowed from Europe, and with their successors, who were trained in the European fashion, the great Empire of the Turk ceased to be formidable, and began its un- expectedly long process of decay.
It may be asked why, if the possibility of a military career is so beneficial, it should not be thrown open to all natives of India, or at least to all of them who belong to the fighting races. The answer is that it is useless to train men for careers which do not exist, and that we could. not find work for any large number of native cadets without in the end. transferring to their hands the control of the native Indian Army, which would be a most inexpedient pro- ceeding. We should. have to double the British garrison in order to be safe. If we have a right to rule India at all, we have a right to keep its fortresses in our own hands, and one of its strongest fortresses is the rule that the higher commanding officers in the native as in the British Army shall be white men. The relaxation of the rule in favour of the princely houses is only an experiment, and fortunately it is one which will provoke no jealousy. Indians are not democrats. Their idea is that men are highly born or highly placed as a reward for previous virtues, and that their children ought therefore to have preferential chances in the battle of life. They would give those preferences themselves by pliSbiscite if they had the power, and will think that Lord Curzon in doing it is only showing so much favour as is in accord with the divinely appointed scheme of things. That they allow, and have always allowed, meanly-born men to rise to thrones is true, but that does not prevent them believing that Kings' sons have by nature the first claim to all things valuable or pleasant. They will receive Lord. Curzon's proposal, which has been accepted by the Home authorities, as a, concession, and one which gratifies their pride all the more because it acknowledges those distinctions of rank which they consider indispensable to a sound society.
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