Mr. Andrews considers that Mr. Mahomed Ali’s language goes to show that he would resist Armenian independence against the Armenians and the Arabian against the Arabs.  I attach no such meaning to it.  What he, the whole of Mussalmans and therefore I think also the Hindus resist is the shameless attempt of England and the other Powers under cover of self-determination to emasculate and dismember Turkey.  If I understand the spirit of Islam properly, it is essentially republican in the truest sense of the term.  Therefore if Armenia or Arabia desired independence of Turkey they should have it.  In the case of Arabia, complete Arabian independence would mean transference of the Khilafat to an Arab chieftain.  Arabia in that sense is a Mussulman trust, not purely Arabian.  And the Arabs without ceasing to be Mussulman, could not hold Arabia against Muslim opinion.  The Khalifa must be the custodian of the Holy places and therefore also the routes to them.  He must be able to defend them against the whole world.  And if an Arab chief arose who could better satisfy that test than the Sultan of Turkey, I have no doubt that he would be recognised as the Khalifa.

I have thus discussed the question academically.  The fact is that neither the Mussulmans nor the Hindus believe in the English Ministerial word.  They do not believe that the Arabs or the Armenians want complete independence of Turkey.  That they want self-government is beyond doubt.  Nobody disputes that claim.  But nobody has ever ascertained that either the Arabs or the Armenians desire to do away with all connection, even nominal, with Turkey.

The solution of the question lies not in our academic discussion of the ideal position, it lies in an honest appointment of a mixed commission of absolutely independent Indian Mussulmans and Hindus and independent Europeans to investigate the real wish of the Armenians and the Arabs and then to come to a modus vivendi where by the claims of the nationality and those of Islam may be adjusted and satisfied.

It is common knowledge that Smyrna and Thrace including Adrianople have been dishonestly taken away from Turkey and that mandates have been unscrupulously established in Syria and Mesopotamia and a British nominee has been set up in Hedjaj under the protection of British guns.  This is a position that is intolerable and unjust.  Apart therefore from the questions of Armenia and Arabia, the dishonesty and hypocrisy that pollute the peace terms require to be instantaneously removed.  It paves the way to an equitable solution of the question of Armenian and Arabian independence which in theory no one denies and which in practice may be easily guaranteed if only the wishes of the people concerned could with any degree of certainty be ascertained.

THE KHILAFAT AGITATION

A friend who has been listening to my speeches once asked me whether I did not come under the sedition section of the Indian Penal Code.  Though I had not fully considered it, I told him that very probably I did and that I could not plead ‘not guilty’ if I was charged under it.  For I must admit that I can pretend to no ‘affection’ for the present Government.