No one but the voice of the Mother herself will and can determine when once She comes to herself and stands free what constitution shall be adopted by Her for the guidance of Her life after the revolution is over. ...  Without going into details we may mention this much, that whether the head of the Imperial Government of the Indian Nation be a President or a King depends upon how the revolution develops itself ...  The Mother must be free, must be one and united, must make her will supreme.  Then it may be that She gives out this Her will either wearing a kingly crown on Her head or a Republican mantle round Her sacred form.

But after being exhorted in impassioned accents either to sacrifice themselves in the great national struggle now at hand, or at the very least to stand back and keep the ring, they are warned as to the consequences of disregarding these admonitions:—­

Forget not, O Princes! that a strict account will be asked of your doings and non-doings, and a people newly-born will not fail to pay you in the coin you paid.  Every one who shall have actively betrayed the trust of the people, disowned his fathers, and debased his blood by arraying himself against the Mother—­he shall be crushed to dust and ashes....  Do you doubt our grim earnestness!  If so hear the name of Dhingra and be dumb.  In the name of that martyr, O Indian Princes, we ask you to think solemnly and deeply upon these words.  Choose as you will and you will reap what you sow.  Choose whether you shall be the first of the nation’s fathers or the last of the nation’s tyrants.

In some less rabid quarters an attempt has been made to decry the views of the native rulers as emanating from petty Oriental despots, terrified by the onward march of the new Indian democracy.  If so it is strange that whilst these “despots” make no secret of their attitude towards disaffection, they are equally outspoken on the necessity of a liberal and progressive policy.  The Nizam himself states emphatically that he is “a great believer in conciliation and repression going hand in hand to cope with the present condition of India.  While sedition should be localized and rooted out sternly, and even mercilessly, deep sympathy and unreserved reliance should manifest themselves in all dealings with loyal subjects without distinction of creed, caste, and colour.”  Unfortunately it requires at the present day more courage for an Indian to hold such language as that than to coquet, as many politicians do, with violence and crime.  Indians in high position are peculiarly sensitive to printed attacks, perhaps because behind such attacks there often lurk forms of social pressure, rendered possible by their caste system, with which we, happily for ourselves, are totally unfamiliar.  One of the most discouraging features of the present situation is that so few among the “moderate” politicians who are known to share and approve the views expressed by the Princes of India have had the moral courage to endorse them publicly.