India would have been richer, and the Empire
safer, had she been a partner instead of a possession. But this side of
the question will come under the matters directly affecting merchants,
and we may venture to express a hope that the Government help extended
to munition factories in time of War may be continued to industrial
factories in time of Peace. The net result of the various causes
above-mentioned was that the expense of the Indian army rose by leaps
and bounds, until, before the War, India was expending, L21,000,000 as
against the L28,000,000 expended by the United Kingdom, while the
wealthy Dominions of Canada and Australia were spending only 1-1/2 and
1-1/4 millions respectively. (I am not forgetting that the United
Kingdom was expending over L51,000,000 on her Navy, while India was free
of that burden, save for a contribution of half a million.)
Since 1885, the Congress has constantly protested against the
ever-increasing military expenditure, but the voice of the Congress was
supposed to be the voice of sedition and of class ambition, instead of
being, as it was the voice of educated Indians, the most truly patriotic
and loyal class of the population.
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