The work comprises a collection of addresses and speeches delivered before societies and associations in Great Britain and articles con-tributed to English magazines, between 1880 and 1883, by a renowned British administrator and statesman, Sir Richard Temple, former Governor of Bombay and Finance Minister of India.
While British India naturally occupies a considerable portion of the volume, other regions of the East come into view. A great variety of subjects may be found in the con-tents of the volume. Out of the twenty-one chapters in the book eleven refer to Indian affairs and the remainder relate to the progress of survey and exploration through Asia by European and American travellers.
Of the Indian topics, dealt with in this book, local self-government, Mahrattas, political economy of British India, conditions of the people, the expansion of trade, banking and industry and religious thoughts of Indian people, etc. figure prominently. Of the topics related to other eastern regions, the physical features of the Central Asian plateau, of social cataclysms in the region, natural products, lessons of Chinese history, faith and aspirations of Mohammedans, etc. deserve special attention. The pervading idea in all these varities of subjects dealt with in the work is the nineteenth century British policy in the East, and here lies the historical importance of the work.
Three chapters being addresses on geographical characteristics are abundantly illustrated and each of the chapters has been prefixed by a special map.
THIS book is intended to be a continuation of my two former books, India in 1880,' and 'Men and Events of my time in India. The volume comprises a collection of addresses and speeches delivered before Societies or Associations in Great Britain, and articles contributed to English magazines, by me since my return to England in 1880. They all relate to one great subject, namely, the East, and in that sense are all connected together. Almost all of them are the results of my personal experience. Though they are entirely pervaded by the one idea of that duty which we British people owe to our solves and to others in the East, yet there is no sameness about them. On the contrary, there will, I trust, be found in them a ceaseless variety. In this loom, so to speak, are extended numerous threads of diver’s hues, but they are crossed by a woof of one colour, and that represents British responsibility. Thus, the texture has an uniformity in general appearance with an endless diversity in detail. While British India naturally occupies a considerable portion of the volume, other regions of the East come into view. Out of the twenty-one chapters in the book, eleven refer to Indian affairs, and the remainder to different subjects in the East. These latter chapters relate to the progress of survey and exploration throughout Asia by European and American travellers who, in adventure, in peril, in suffering, have widened the limits of human knowledge, and of whom some have been steadfast unto death in the cause of science; to the physical features of that Central Asian plateau which is replete with marvels of scenery, of climate, of social cataclysms, of natural products; to the lessons of Chinese history, showing the unchanging polity, the deep-rooted institutions, the contradictory qualities, the unfathomable mind, the despairing courage, of a people whose part in Asiatic politics is not yet played out; to the lovely lake-district on the frontier of East Tibet, near the dividing line between the British and Cutinise dominions, and between the two most populous empires on earth; to the railway alignment through the Indus deserve into the mountain flanks of the region still called Khorasan, up to the border of southern Afghanistan; to the inner disposition, the stern faith, the proud aspirations, the declining forces, the waning hopes, of the Muhammadan world in which England has a pre-eminent interest politically; to the situation and prospects of Egypt and the principles of administration in a land whose destinies are to be guided by British policy;-to the outward objects and inward associations of the Holy Land as they actually present themselves before the student on the spot and the pilgrim of to-day; to the diffusion of social science from its centre of enlightenment in the United Kingdom to the remotest parts of the British empire abroad.
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