justified in that I have precious friendships amongst the intellectuals of Asia, with whom I have remained in correspondence during this war. These friends have been so little misled as to my real thought that one of them, a leading Hindu writer, Ananda Coomaraswamy, has dedicated to me an admirable essay which appeared in the New Age (December 1914), entitled "A World Policy for India," but—
1. Asiatic troops, recruited amongst races of professional warriors, in no way represent the thought of Asia, as Coomaraswamy agrees.
2. The heroism of the troops of Africa and Asia is not under discussion. There was no need for the hecatombs, which have been made during the past year, to evoke admiration for their splendid devotion.
3. As regards barbarism, I am glad to confess that now the "white-skins" can no longer reproach "skins black, red, or yellow" in this respect.
4. It is not the latter but the former whom I blame. I denounce to-day once more with as much vigour as fourteen months ago, the short-sighted policy which has introduced Africa and Asia[1] into the quarrels of Europe. The future will justify my indictment.
Printed in Great Britain by
UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON
- ↑ The terms Asia and Africa have not, of course, a geographical but an ethnological signification. Turkey is not, and never has been, European; and it is difficult to decide up to what point certain of the Balkan Powers are European.
