We cannot with our limited space hope to given even
an impression of the marvellous scene amid which the accession of Edward VII. to the Imperial throne of Hindostan was proclaimed on Thursday. The scene was a mighty amphitheatre filled with the blazing magnificence of the East, a hundred Princes and a hundred and fifty Premiers all shining in gem-studded garments, and ' with the tightly fitting, rigorously regulated splendour of the West. The proclamation itself is, perhaps necessarily, a little stilted, but the message of the Emperor to his Indian subjects was in its kindly dignity worthy of the occasion, and reflects the
greatest credit on the judgment of its writer, who evidently knew that of all Indians the Princes are the most sincere in their devotion to the throne which, if it overshadows, guarantees them all They know, and show by their attendance in all their " barbaric " splendour that they know, how well the pledge given twenty-five years ago has been kept, and how sincere are the words in which their Emperor promises that it will be kept during his reign. " To all my feudatories and subjects throughout India I renew the assurance of my regard for their liberties, of my respect for their dignities and rights, of my interest in their advancement, and of my devotion to their welfare, which are the supreme aim and object of my rule." The masses, too, outside the amphitheatre applauded with a certain sincerity, for though in their inmost hearts the belief still reigns that the British regime is but a cloud passing over the face of the indestructible firmament, still the cloud is brilliant, and could not be there without the will of the Supreme, who overthrows the Tartar and establishes the Briton for some high purpose of His own.
