The despatches which have passed between the home Government and
that of India on the subject of the cost of the Indian troops sent to Saakin, add little to the general knowledge of the matter. The Viceroy and his Council contend that India has no interest in the Soudan, while the Secretary for India contends that it has an interest of the first importance,—namely, its interest in the perma- nent safety of the half-way house. The difference, it will be seen, is radical, and Parliament must be arbiter; but we do not quite see why the argument we recently pressed is left so entirely out of sight. If an ally sent troops to help us we should not pay the whole expense of those troops, and why then should we pay it in the case of India, which receives the protection of our Fleet and contributes the merest trifle, 2100,000 a year, towards its cost P The whole Mediterranean squadron is kept up to guard the Indian waterway. It is said that Indian opinion is unanimous, and we dare say that is the case; but so it would be if it were proposed that Parliament should pay the whole of the home charges. Indians, European as well as native, think the British Treasury a gold-mine, and hate paying anything which can be saved for themselves.
Previous page
