Lord Curzon, speaking on Tuesday on the Indian Budget, drew
a rather painful picture of the change in the foreign re- lations of the Indian Empire. The "secluded land" is losing its seclusion. Great Britain, Russia, France, Germany, and Turkey, said the Viceroy, were becoming great Asiatic Powers, while China, Thibet, Siam, Persia, and Afghanistan corre- sponded to the minor European States, and contained perhaps in themselves seeds of decay. It was essential that these smaller States should not fall into hostile hands. India was thus being pushed into the forefront of international politics, and it became necessary that her forces should be kept in a high state of efficiency and her defences made secure. That is a noteworthy statement, the more so because it was on this very change, which he clearly foresaw, that Lord Palmerston based his otherwise unreasonable opposition to the Suez Canal. The "improvement of communication" does not always, or necessarily, tend to peace.
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