helper of the college, actually came forward to preside over a committee, composed exclusively of princes, appointed to prepare a scheme for the religious education of the boys. Here was the fruit of the policy of co-operation. In the chiefs' committee, working on the reform of the colleges, was seen the living germ of a great institution, destined, perhaps, to spread out far beyond this early limit, and to gather up the chiefs of India in one great federation for Imperial ends.

But the Government of India was not satisfied with reforming the education of the nobles. It was necessary to take a wider survey, and to consider the prospects of the Indian aristocracy for leading useful and patriotic lives. For those who were already, or were about to become, rulers, there was no need to look about them. Their work in the fullest measure lay ready to their hands. For the rest-for the younger members of the ruling houses, for the non-ruling nobles, for the great landowners and their sons, there was indeed no lack of useful occupation, whether in the management of their own properties, or in the civil administration of native states, or in the native armies and the Imperial Service Troops. The Indian aristocracy were not satisfied with that. They were moved by a higher ambition, which they could not gratify. They cherished one supreme desire, and it was denied. The nobles of India wished to be allowed to serve their Emperor in the Indian army, and no amount of honours and distinctions could suffice to console them for their exclusion from its ranks.

From time to time the idea of admission had been put forward, agitated, even officially considered; one scheme, which came to nothing, of an Indian Sandhurst, had been associated with the Duke of Connaught's name. The fear of the unknown had always triumphed; the fear of sowing dragon's teeth, and those tremendous scruples which restrain British Governments in India from innovation and organic change. The Government of Lord Curzon was the first to realise in this matter that the danger of refusal was becoming greater than the danger of acceptance, and that even in the regular army, as well as in administration, the co-operation of the nobles would widen and strengthen the basis on which the Empire rests. In the first year of the present

reign, and with his Majesty's cordial approval, Lord Curzon founded the Imperial Cadet Corps.

The scheme was carried out as an experiment on a modest scale. In two years twenty-three cadets have been enrolled. The full course for a commission extends over three years. Seven cadets are now engaged upon their final year's training, and will, if they qualify, receive commissions and be employed on the staff, or on other extra-regimental duties. The Pioneer,' which speaks with great authority on military subjects, warns the cadets against forming false hopes of success in this career. It points out that the profession of arms is now one of the most arduous that can be adopted; that, in the light of Lord Kitchener's recent memorandum, the modern staff-officer must be the possessor of all the talents; and that a cadet's course of training affords but slender preparation for such a purely professional task. It may perhaps be wise to issue warnings against exaggerated hopes of easy and rapid success. But it would be most unwise and short-sighted to belittle the vast possibilities of the cadet-corps scheme. Natives have risen to positions of eminence in the civil service, with especial distinction on the judicial side. The same class of person has also shown a certain capacity for discharging with credit the duties of higher administrative posts. But the class which furnishes cadets is new material for the service of the Sirkar. It is not from this class that native magistrates or native judges are drawn. The highest class of Indian native is taking up anew its old hereditary calling; and all the resources of science are at its disposal to perfect itself under new conditions in a career in which it excelled for centuries before we conquered India. What ground is there for thinking that these men, with their feet on the first step of the ladder, will throw away their opportunity and be satisfied with an empty name? What ground is there for thinking that when Indian sepoys excel as sepoys, and Indian subadars excel as subadars, the new type of Indian Imperial officer will not also prove itself in the highest degree worthy of its rank? It seems to us more reasonable to expect the contrary; to predict the rise of a new class of skilful soldiers from the ancient stock of Rajput heroes and Mahratta leaders and Afghan

conquerors; and to see in Lord Curzon's scheme the small beginning of a larger movement in which an Empire, having opened to her sons an honourable career from which they were excluded, sees her strength increased by their responsive effort.

We have dealt now with three general measures affecting institutions; the reform of the chiefs' colleges, the beginning of a system of chiefs' conferences, and the formation of the Imperial Cadet Corps. It is possible that a fourth measure of this class may be attempted, affecting the scope and status of the Imperial Service Troops. These forces now number some 15,500; many of the contingents are in a high state of efficiency; since 1890 they have seen active service in Hunza Nagar, Chitral, Tirah, China, and Somaliland, and have acquitted themselves well. But it has always been felt that the system on its present basis is but a halfway house to some more solid form of military federation; and Lord Curzon, in a speech at Jodhpur, the home of two of the finest Imperial Service regiments, suggested a policy which has since been elaborated by the Aga Khan, and which may presently be taken up by the Government and the ruling chiefs.

So much for the reform of institutions. It is a class of measures which would lose the greater part of its value if it were not balanced by other elements of great importance in the policy of the Indian Government towards the native chiefs. Direct intimate personal relations between the Government and each individual ruler; direct stimulus to individual exertion; direct discouragement of individual idleness-these are the most essential conditions of success. The present Viceroy has paid a quite unprecedented number of visits to native states; he has kept up a private correspondence with their rulers with his own hand; he has continuously brought to bear, alike on the great ruling princes, on the wealthy Maharajas of Bengal, and on the wild chiefs of the frontier, both in east and west, that very powerful pressure which only the head of the Government in person can exert. The great test of the chiefs was furnished by the famine; in that crisis they were made to realise that their credit with the Government depended on the earnestness of their efforts to approximate in famine work to British standards; and it is gratifying to read, in the report of the last Famine

Commission, that the members were struck with the advance made in this famine by most of the Durbars towards bringing their relief into line with the humane policy of the British Government.'

The good results of this influence have been large and numerous; only one or two striking instances can be quoted here. The premier state of Hyderabad was first among the native states of India, not only in size and rank and dignity, but also in maladministration and torpor and decay. The Nizam, a prince of good abilities and a fine sense of honour, was averse from public business. His state was crammed full of abuses; his finances were decaying; his officials were notoriously obstructing the efforts of the British Residents. The great unsettled grievance of Berar had now lain in abeyance for more than twenty years; and the most experienced Residents had been wont to warn their Governments of the danger of touching on this ancient sore. Lord Curzon invited the Nizam to Calcutta, and paid him a return visit at Hyderabad. The Nizam made promises, and kept them with scrupulous fidelity. He renewed his interest in public business; he reduced his personal expenditure; he accepted the services of a British officer to reorganise his finance. The Nizam's famine administration was officially commended by the Secretary of State. Above all, the question of Berar was finally and honourably settled; and in the settlement the Nizam agreed also to make a large reduction in the number of his irregular troops. There are plenty of reforms left to accomplish; but no one will deny that, in the first few years of the new century, Hyderabad has made a substantial advance.

Another instance of awakening is the case of Jaipur. The Maharaja of Jaipur had been a recluse in his palace; the government was in a Babu's hands. Not only is the Maharaja now administering his own affairs, but he has filled the position of adviser to the Indian Government on points of ceremony, and has appeared before the English public as a model leader of orthodox Hindus. Emulating each other in the race for distinction by merit are two young princes of high qualities-the Maharaja of Gwalior and the Maharaja of Bikanir. The child of a race of turbulent forefathers, himself a model pupil of the Aitchison College, the young Nawab of Bahawalpur

burns with zeal to show by hard work that he deserves the honour of his installation by the Viceroy. Everywhere among the ranks of the princes we see the awakening of conscience and the rise of new standards of Imperial duty and new conceptions of what loyalty means.

There is another side to the picture. Of course not all the princes have risen to the Viceroy's appeal. There have been, and are, some cases of persistent neglect of duty; and for these the Government has only stern discouragement in word and deed. There is a story that a Babu, who sat outside the Viceroy's tent during an interview which had been granted to an unruly and troublesome Nawab from beyond the border, reported that the chief had issued from the Lord Sahib's presence 'sweated and surprised.' The hand of the Government has fallen heavily on Central India. Two ruling chiefs, tried and convicted of capital offences, have been deposed. The bearer of the proud name of Holkar has been permitted to abdicate, and his son rules in his stead.

If we look round for a sign of the general adoption by the princes of the Imperial burden, we find it in the Delhi Durbar. Sixty-six chiefs attended the Durbar of 1877. One hundred and two chiefs attended the Durbar of 1903. In 1877 they attended as spectators of an Imperial pageant. In 1903 they attended as participators in an Imperial rite. Every important ruling chief, who was not either excused for poverty or prevented by an unavoidable reason, attended the last Durbar. In that great ceremony the chiefs of India signified their active acceptance of the policy of co-operation; and with that acceptance a new era in Indian history has begun.