Page:Indian independence.djvu/16

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Indian Independence

come more and more in subjection to the yoke of the British Empire. Such a period is surely ‘a long time.’ Therefore, if Seeley’s maxim is true, every year that India remains in subjection to England in the future will only drive the national deterioration deeper and deeper. How much longer, then, is India to go on in this state of dependence? Is not every year that passes only adding to national deterioration?

There then is one terrible fact of history to be faced. Any further remaining in a state of dependence within the British Empire would appear to mean an increasing measure of national deterioration. We must, therefore, at once awake and shake ourselves free.

The second of the two historical maxims presented by Sir John Seeley forces Indians into a dilemma from which there appears to be no escape. He faces the ultimate question of the withdrawal of the British Government from India. With regard to

such a withdrawal, he uses the following

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