At a meeting of the South - West London Polytechnic
Institute on Friday week Lord Lansdowne, in the course of a speech about India, said some very wise and noteworthy things in regard to the Protected States. At one time they were regarded with uneasiness, and as a source of danger. They are now loyal and contented, and vie with each other to place their military resources at our disposal. An equally important sign of progress in India was the gradual delimita- tion of a real frontier. "Our long frontier, which for so long remained undefined, has been ascertained and demarcated from the Persian Gulf on one side to the frontiers of China and Barmah upon the other." On the problem of how to give a certain share of self-government to the native popeflation. Lord Lansdowne was equally optimistic. Our cautions and tentative efforts in this direction, instead of embarrassing our authority, had provided a useful outlet to public opinion, and had in many ways assisted those responsible for the conduct of Indian affairs. Lord Lansdowne ended by pointing out that great as had been our recent anxieties in other parts of the world, in our great Indian dependency we have had absolute peace.—not a single event had occurred to add to our pre. occupations. That was a remarkabl e testimony to our aims and objects in administering the affairs of India. This is, no doubt, a very striking fact, and one which should not be lost sight of by those who are inclined to think of India as the chief point of danger in the Empire.
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