AKBAR'S FORMER BIOGRAPHER.
[To THE EDITOR or ran " SPECTATOR.")
Sta,—May I assure "A Friend of Many Orientalists" that I intended no disrespect to the memory of the late Count v. Noer ? My rather difficult task was to write a brief appreciation of a book crowded with interesting matter. I had to grasp at any out• standing featuree in Mr. Vincent Smith's admirable biography, and what struck me was that (writing during- the present cruel war against autocracy) he found his early hero-worship of Akbar much diminished by a closer examination of his hero's character and career. For instance, he dwells on the fact that Akbar's Muslim creed became so degenerated by the atmosphere of gross adulation in which he lived that he exacted divine honours from his docile and subservient toadies. Whereas, as your correspon- dent is careful to reiterate, the Count v. Noer takes the conven- tional view of Akbar's generosity, toleration, and other public and private virtues. Does the statement of that fact " alter our estimate of a dead scholar "? Is it a proof that the war is "changing our character "P
Our character, the character of the Anglo-Saxon races, compels us to feel a profound dislike and distrust of irresponsible auto- cracy. It is this hereditary tradition that has caused us to take a leading part in the present war against the autocracies of Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and Turkey. The war has already been the indirect means of the downfall of the Russian autocracy, with consequences, for the moment, singularly erebarrassing to 0117 cause. It ie no disrespect to the industry and erudition of German Indianists and other scholars to reassert the obvious fact that they have been as docile supporters of irresponsible autocracy as Faiej or Abul Foal himself. Is there anything offensive or ungenerous in stating that fact, or in believing that we are fighting for the intellectual and moral emancipation of German. scholars and men of science? I will admit that the present Kaiser has, in his private capacity, many of the amiable qualities of the Moghal despot. I will gladly take Mr. Gerard's word that even the Kaiser's heir is by no means so black as he is painted. On the other hand, I doubt if your correspondent seriously wishes us to believe that the late Count v. Noer, " born Prince Frederic of Schleswig-Holstein Augustenburg," was a scholar of democratic sympathies. That he was amiable, a gentleman by birth, educa- tion, and temperament, and a disinterested man of letters and Marling, no one has denied. But let me remind " A Friend of • Many Orientalists" (they were always commoner in Germany than here) that we are at war wills Germany and autocracy, and that that fact, if it does not diminish our respect for the acquire- ments and services to humanity of German Orientalists, does necessarily remind us that if Abul Fast was a toe complacent admirer of his Imperial master, he lived in the sixteenth century and was practically a foreigner in Hindu India, whereas the sup- porters of German thrones (whether their acquiescence he due to patriotic conviction or physical necessity) are our contemporaries, and when all is said—if we will clear our minds of cant—are our enemies and, we firmly believe, the enemies of their own country,—
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