"مسألة الشرق الأوسط أو بعض المشكلات السياسية المتعلقة بدفاع الهند" [ظ‎‎٢‎٣‎٩] (٦١٦/٤٨٣)

388 OUR POSITION IN INDIA
at any other moment, thrilled the whole of the vast
assemblage. Princes and people, natives and Euro
peans, soldiers and civilians, men and women, all rose
as by one impulse to salute that band of heroes, and
many an eye was dimmed and there was a choke in
many a throat as we gazed upon that pathetic remnant.
There was one thought in every mind. But for them
and such as them, humble fighters though they were,
who, to borrow the terse and eloquent inscription on
Henry Lawrence's grave at Lucknow, had just "tried
to do their duty," where might be all the pageantry
of that fleeting day, where all the promise of a splendid
future which still lies before our Indian Empire?
Amongst the abiding memories of that memorable
fortnight, surely none will be deeper, none more
stimulating, than that vision conjured up in such
surroundings out of the tragic but glorious past.
One other incident I should like to recall from those
days at Delhi which illustrates the peculiar ties of
sentiment that bind the peoples of India to our rule-
ties of which, with our cold Western habits of thought,
we are apt to overlook or underrate the value. Of all
the peoples of India none, perhaps, has accepted
British rule with more unreserved loyalty than the
Sikhs for to them, probably, alone it represents the
fulfilment of prophecy. Two hundred and twenty-eight
years ago one of their greatest religious leaders, Teg
Bahadur, ninth Guru, was put to death at Delhi by
Aurungzeb for refusing to embrace Islam. According
to Sikh tradition, Teg Bahadur had come to Delhi and
surrendered himself into the Moghul Emperor's hands
with full knowledge that he was about to lay down his
life for his people. He had himself preached, e
faithful even unto death to them that have put trust in