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INDIA

native prince within the limits of British India from his
throne to a prison, or at least to a state pension and
honourable confinement. The Amir is distinctly independent—more
 independent than the Khedive of Egypt
or the Sultan. of Zanzibar; and there must be many
radical changes in the political relationship between Kabul
and Simla before Afghanistan can be reckoned as a
“native state” of India.
Amongst the most interesting of the social problems
which arise out of our position as an educating, as well
as a governing, influence in India is the question of the effect
that European civilisation, and the example of English
methods, may have had on the character of those princes
and chiefs who govern the native states, Below the
throne and the court the mass of the people, agriculturists
and traders, are much on the same educational! level on
whichever side the border they live. You will find quite
as many (or as few) who can talk and write English
within our own borders as within the boundaries of a
native state. The manner of life, the modes of thought,
the ethics of everyday existence, do not vary greatly
amongst the ignorant masses on either side ; but amongst
the rulers of the people, the princes, chiefs, and nobles,
there is often a wide divergency of mind and manners.
The divergency arises chiefly from the greater or less
adoption of European habits whilst under tuition at the
Government colleges (or at the hands of a European tutor),
and subsequent association with Englishmen.
Amongst the Rajput princes of the plains of India
there are many who live the lives of their forefathers
amongst their people, uninfluenced and untouched by the
glitter and unrest of western civilisation, although they
may be well educated after European methods, and quite
able to take their place in any western court society with
dignity and ease. Intensely proud and jealous of their
position in the scale of precedence, they prefer not to
risk the social dangers which arise from too small a
measure of appreciation of their dignity amongst a society
of democratic tendencies. They live on their ancestral