regard for humane considerations in face of the infuriated multitudes who sought to restore the damaged portion of the Machli Bazaar Mosque. It is elsewhere that the real responsibility must be sought. It is somewhat like the deplorable bloodshed at Johannesburg, where passions that threatened to provoke the most terrible catastrophes necessitated the intervention of the Imperial troops. The actual tragedy was only the result of antecedents which do not appear to have been recognized until the mischief had occurred. It is said in India, and in all probability said with justice, that the religious passions of the Cawnpore Muhamadans had been insidiously excited by agitators from outside. There has been a growing excitement among the Indian Muhamadans ever since the misfortunes of Turkey and the declarations of antiTurkish policy by the Liberal Cabinet at Westminster. The unfortunate accident which led to a mosque being sacrificed in part in order to make room for an improved roadway, while a Hindu temple, that was intended to be demolished originally, was spared, gave an opportunity for sowing illwill too tempting not to be utilized by the emissaries of discontent. receive all these explanations, which have no doubt their historical value. It remains regrettable that things should have been allowed to come to this extremity. The traditional administration of British India was accustomed to prevent such explosions in preference to suppressing them. Was it necessary to demolish any portion of a Muhamadan religious edifice without the full consent of the Muhamadan community? Granted the importance of good roads and better communications, might not a con siderable circuit be much less an impediment to the public convenience than a religious edifice removed at the We can expense of many human lives and the anger of scores of millions of the King-Emperor's subjects? Somehow it does not recall the historic spirit of English rule it does not recall the ways by which we won and kept India for glorious generations, when we read of "municipal improvements" being mishandled with such results. Has the un-English spirit which is conspicuous in so many aspects of the Liberal Cabinet and party at home also come to influence the administration of our Asiatic Empire? There have been many changes and many strange arrivals in the conduct of Indian government since the Asquith Ministry came το office. It would be calamitous if our Parliamentary rulers, who have degraded Parliament, should succeed in making India feel anything of what Ulster has to suffer. It is a poor excuse that there is an anti-British agitation among the Indian Muhamadans at England's abandonment of Turkey. Why should England have abandoned Turkey? There is absolutely, as we have said, no reason for censuring the action of the magistrate who had actually to meet the outburst of religious passion and fury on the side of the angry crowd of Muhamadans. It is not when thousands of rioters are actually showering stones upon a small police force that hesitation can be shown about restoring order. It is the previous situation and the general condition of feeling throughout India, as well as the local circumstances at Cawnpore, which must invite the attention of the judicious observer. In the first place it appears that a curious discrimination was exercised in favor of Hindu petitioners. “Originally a Hindu temple as well as part of a mosque was to be demolished for the road improvement. In obedience to a protest from the peo ple of the town the temple was spared." We believe that we are right in holding that no such injurious discrimination would have been tolerated by the old tradition of British rule in India. It is somewhat absurd to add the sapient remark that "The occurrence illustrates the danger of agitators playing on the religious fanaticism of an ignorant crowd." Let anybody try to pull down a Roman Catholic chapel in Galway or Limerick for "road improvement," and let him .consider if the most perfect creation in pavement would be worth the trouble that must follow. It appears that the Government had a long warning of the growth of Muhamadan indignation. "The dalan or vestibule of the mosque was demolished to widen the road on July 1. The work of destruction was carried out in the presence of the district magistrate, who had ordered out a strong force of police with fixed bayonets to preserve order. As soon as the building had been pulled down, thousands of Moslems visited the mosque. On July 17 a public meeting of Muhamadans of Cawnpore was held to petition the Viceroy, Lord Hardinge, to order the restoration of the demolished building." The whole month of July was suffered to elapse, during which the Muhamadan protest extended all over India; and yet the devotees in high places of "road improvement" took no account of the deplorable situation. Does the Secretary of State for India receive no information of the rise and progress of vast movements of popular indignation and religious fanaticism, if you please, throughout our Indian Empire? We are greatly afraid that, in addition to any incompetence which may exist among the novel elements introduced into Indian government, there seems to be a certain neo-official dislike at the sympathy which Moslem India has exhibited towards the misfortunes of Turkey and the discontent caused in India by the Near Eastern policy of our Foreign Office. It would be worse than foolish of any Government to show its resentment at such natural sentiments by any disrespect of Indian Muhamadan convictions. Clearly the necessity is evident for a careful examination and investigation where such danger is involved. Religion is the heart and centre of Indian feeling, both Muhamadan and Hindu. The Great Mutiny arose out of the excitement caused by the story of the "polluted cartridges" which were to destroy the caste of the Native soldiery. Unfortunately, the forcible demolition of part of a mosque can neither be denied nor explained away. However high in the official hierarchy may be the origin of such a gigantic mistake as the demolition of a Moslem place of worship in order to improve a roadway, the investigation should not stop short of the exact truth and the real responsibility. We do not want the spirit of the Balkan Committee, with its pitiful contempt for Muhamadan beliefs and Muhamadan rights, to be imported into the government of the hundred million Muhamadans of the British Empire. Lord Crewe and Mr. Edwin Montagu are distinguished members of the Ministry which has hounded on the savage Serb and the merciless Bulgar to the destruction of Turkey in Europe-not only the Turkish army and rulers, but the civil population. They, too, have turned the deaf ear to every demand for justice or equality of treatment. Even the Consular reports of British Consuls have found them as unheeding as their eminent colleague in the Foreign Office. They have done an ill service to the Empire in Asia; and if the knowledge of their avowed tendencies has not failed to fill the Moslem world in India with suspicion and discontent that is the most fertile soil for disaffection, the culpability is mainly theirs. The present is a time when The Outlook. exceptional consideration and friendliness, and not provocation of any kind, should be shown to Moslems by a wise Administration. THE GARDEN PARTY. "Francesca," I said, "I am intoxicated by the beauty of this day. Let us do something dashing." "What particular dash do you feel like?" said Francesca. "I think I've got the pic-nic feeling," I said. "Yes, I feel like a picnic." "What a pity you didn't feel like that yesterday when we all wanted you to come." "No matter," I said, "I feel like it to-day. I will carry the table-cloth." "We shan't want a table-cloth." "Is that wise, Francesca? A tablecloth gives an air of aristocratic ease to the humblest feast. You shake your head? Very well, then, no tablecloth. But I will watch you cutting the bread-and-butter and making the tea. The children shall carry the cake and the jam. I will choose a spot for the feast. We will go there in a boat, and, if you like, you shall do the sculling while I steer and the children all let their hands trail in the water. Yes, Francesca, I feel more like a pic-nic every minute." "I'm sorry for that," she said. "Sorry, Francesca! Why are you sorry? When I refuse in consequence of overwhelming work—” "Overwhelming sofa-cushions," said Francesca. "I repeat: when I refuse, owing to the pressure on my time, to join a picnic you are-I will not say angry, for you are never angry, are you, dear? but you are certainly displeased. And now, when I propose a pic-nic, and when I expect you to dance for joy, you say you are sorry. Varium et mutabile semper." "It is useless," she said, “to fling a stupid old Latin insult at me." "Let me," I said, "call the children and tell them about the pic-nic. They, at least, will be delighted." "That, too, would be useless." "But why, Francesca?" I said. “I'm quite determined to have a pic-nic." "And that," she said, "is more useless than anything else." "I knew it would be," I said. "I have only to express a wish—” "And it is always gratified. But not to-day." "And pray, why?" "Because of the Garden Party." "The Garden what?" I said frantically. "The Garden Party," she repeated calmly. "Gracious Heavens!" I said. "You don't mean to tell me you are going to a Garden Party?" "I do. I am. And what is more, you are coming with me." "We will see about that," I said gloomily. "But first let me tell you that Garden Parties don't exist. They are Victorian. They are like Penny Readings and Literary Institutes and -er-umbrella covers. Yes, they are exactly like umbrella covers. Don't you remember umbrella covers, Francesca? Some were of plain silk, others were very black and beautiful and glistened wonderfully. Everybody had them and nobody used them. We took them off and threw them away and forgot them. Francesca, there must be millions of unused umbrella covers in England. Let us start a company for the recovery of umbrella covers, but, as we value our peace of mind, do not let us go to a Garden Party." "But," said Francesca, "it's such a beautiful day." "It isn't really, you know," I urged. "It's only pretending. There's quite a nasty little cloud over there, and it's growing. You mark my words, it'll rain in buckets in another hour or so; and how will your Garden Party get on then? There, I felt a drop on my nose." "But that'll stop the pic-nic, too, won't it?" "How foolish of you, Francesca! It never troubles to rain on a quiet family pic-nic, but a great showy Garden Party brings out all nature's worst qualities." you see me in a black frock coat and brown boots and a straw hat you will be ashamed of me and you will wish you hadn't brought me; but it will then be too late. It will get into the local paper. The Daily Mail will have a paragraph about it:-'Strange conduct of an alleged gentleman at a Garden Party.' You mustn't take me, Francesca." "But how can I help it?" "How can you help it! There are a thousand ways. You can leave me; you can forget me; you can suddenly begin to dislike me; you can go alone; you can lock me into the library; you can fail to find me when the moment comes; you can "You needn't go on," she said. "It's not a bit of good." "Indomitable and relentless woman," I said, "tell me at least where this Garden Party is to be, and who is The Government, we are convinced, have made a mistake in refusing to take part in the Panama Exhibition. It is an intelligible mistake, and a mistake, we are glad to think, which is not past cure, but a mistake which ought not to have been made. The misconstruction which has been placed upon their decision and the irritation which it has caused, not only on the Pacific Coast, but throughout United States, are its sufficient condemuation. The explanation which they have given of it is, we are satisfied, the real explanation. That is not doubted by anybody in this country or, we feel confident, by those Ameri the cans who know us best. But this class of Americans is necessarily limited. The great masses of all nations are prone to judge the actions of others by appearances, and the masses in the United States form no exception to the rule. We are not in the least surprised that even the American opinion which admits our claims under the Canal Treaties to be reasonable should see in our abstention from the Canal exhibition an expression of ill-temper at the disregard of those claims and of our remonstrances concerning them. It was inevitable in the circumstances that they should come to such a conclusion. It was equally inevitable that, having reached it, they should condemn the "pin-prick" imputed to us as a puerile display of petty malice. Assuredly it would have deserved this censure had it been a "pin-prick" at all. In fact it was, of course, nothing of the kind. Our manufacturers and traders have been complaining for years past that exhibitions have become a serious tax upon their business. That this view is widely shared by other nations of the Old World was demonstrated by the Conference held in Berlin last October, and attended by delegates from this country and from fifteen other States. Great Britain and all the other States represented pledged themselves not to patronize "large general exhibitions" if held at intervals of less than ten years. The Ghent Exhibition was, of course, already organized, but the Belgian Government, even before this decision, had bound themselves not to promote another until 1923. It was with this recent international obligation before their eyes, and with the facts and reasoning which had persuaded the Conference to enter into it fresh in their memories, that the Government had to decide whether this country should be officially represented at San Francisco or not. On inquiry they found that manufacturers in this country were not anxious to participate. The Government made up their minds that representation at San Francisco would cost the State some £250,000, and our manufacturers a sum which has been estimated at about £500,000, and they decided that the material results would not justify the outlay. The mistake they made was that they did not take a wider view. Conscious that the Panama Canal Act had nothing whatever to do with their decision, they did not reflect that American opinion would almost infallibly judge that it was the cause of their decision. They did not remember in London the considerations which the President of the Board of Trade expounded the other day at Ghent. They did not bethink them, as Mr. Buxton did, that the value of exhibitions is not to be exclusively measured in pounds, shillings, and pence; that these international gatherings further mutual "knowledge, understanding, and appreciation"; that they help peoples to "look to the good qualities in other nations rather than to their deficiencies"; that they tend "to promote agreement rather than differences," and that "national relations between countries are greatly improved" by them. Had these somewhat elementary truths been present to their minds the Government would not have gone beyond the letter of the Berlin Convention, or shrunk from the outlay needed in this instance. If their decision is irrevocable, will not the patriotism and the enterprise of our manufacturers and traders do something to make good their blunder? That it is nothing worse than a blunder well-informed opinion in America will doubtless realize upon reflection. Americans who know us and our history know that our self-respect and our sense of fair play forbid us to uphold a serious political claim by acts of petty spitefulness. The conduct of Canada and of Australia, both of whom, we understand, have decided to participate, should suffice alone to dispel any reasonable doubts as to the nature of the mistake which the home Government have committed. Interest in the Canal and feeling against the Canal Act are at least as strong in these great Dominions as in England. If their better judgment brings out the fault of Downing street, it also demonstrates that this fault is not due to national ill-feeling, but to a failure on the part of Ministers to foresee the |