If Mr. Chamberlain's scheme for tariff reform and for preferences to our Colonies and Dependencies ever comes to anything, India will have to be dealt with on the same terms as the Colonies. That is to say, she must enjoy equal fiscal freedom with them, and be allowed to work out her own salvation. Moreover, should a council or conference of the Empire be called hereafter, she cannot be excluded from it.
There are men in India of high birth and sober, reflecting statesmanship who would adorn a seat in such an assemblage, and whose advice would be of real value. It may be added that by such means more could be done to tie the people to us, and to make their natural leaders feel that they were regarded as having a rightful voice in affairs of State, than by any measures of so-called self-government and premature representative institutions, which would only spell conflict and disaster.
If we turn to the other side of the account, and ask what India has done for the United Kingdom, there will be little difficulty in showing that she has paid her debt. The possession of India has converted England from a small island Power into a world-wide Empire. In India we have the main links of our commerce with the Far East We have the complement of that great chain of naval and coaling stations which give us a command of the sea which no other nation can boast. Our dominion in India, moreover, makes us much more powerful as a military nation than we should be without it. The 70,000 British troops and 200,000 Indian soldiers do not count for nothing. It is true that they are for the most part tied to India and set apart for her service, but in case of emergency they can be drawn upon with effect. Witness the 10,000 British troops sent by India to Natal in the Boer War, and the 20,000 Indians despatched to Pekin during the Boxer riots, at a time when England could hardly have found a man for this service. Everyone knows what an incomparable field India has afforded for the training of our army. Without this field our officers and men would
