India lies between the mountains and the ocean. Along one-half of her land frontier the highest range of mountains in the world makes a great rampart, defending her from invasion. The railways which now extend through the whole land not only help to prevent death from starvation when the harvests fail, but also enable the Indian Government to concentrate the army quickly for the defence of the only portions of the frontier of India by which invasion is possible. In 1738, Nadir, Shah of Persia, invaded India, took Delhi and slew one hundred thousand of the people. In 1761, Ahmed, Shah of Afghanistan, invaded India and defeated the Mahrathas in the great battle of Panipat, almost at the gates of Delhi. After that time the British Raj grew up, and no foreign enemy has since been able to disturb the peace of India. Who can measure the value of peace for the millions of our people? There are nearly 730,000 villages in India: without peace they could not reap their harvests. There are over 2,000 towns in India: without peace their trade would be ruined.
4.
The Ocean: The Surf at Madras.
But we must not forget that more than one-half of the boundary of India is washed by the waves of the great sea. Why is it that we need not maintain great armies along the coast of India? The water of the ocean spreads round all the lands of the world, and enemies from many lands might come in ships to attack us. The reason why we need give little thought to the defence of our shores is that the British Fleet is strong, and is ready in distant parts of the ocean to fight with any hostile fleet that might set out to invade India. No rule in India has ever before had the advantage of peace on the ocean. The Emperors at Delhi in former centuries were obliged to pay for an Abyssinian Fleet to give some protection to their shores.
In three ways therefore India draws great profit from her share in the British Empire. In the first place she is saved the cost of defending her sea border from foreign invasion. In the second place the sea road lies peacefully open for a vast commerce with the rest of the world. And in the third place, by means of the railways from her ports to her land frontiers she is able to defend those frontiers not only by the Indian Army, but, if necessary, by all the strength of the other parts of the Empire brought over the seas and carried quickly to the threatened point. Never before has the peace of India been so secure at so small a cost. This is the strength which comes from standing not alone, but as one of the league of nations which is known as the British Empire. It is a splendid thought to think of the many separate races, each living their own lives according to their own traditions, which are now held peacefully together within the British Empire. In Britain itself you must remember that there are the English, the Scotch, the Irish, and the Welsh, just as in India there are the Rajputs, the Sikhs, the Mahrathas, the Bengalis, and many other races. Once the English and the Scotch used to fight one another; but now there is peace in Britain as there is in India. Yet throughout the British Empire all men are free to think and say what they like.
5.
Map of the Railways of India.
6.
Sutlej Bridge.
7.
Bhor Ghat Reversing Station.
The Empire is held together to-day chiefly by means of railways on the land and steamships on the sea. The railways of India end at the foot of the mountains. In the plains they cross the broad rivers by long bridges. In the Deccan they descend to the sea by ways that are cut into the mountain face. Here we have a bridge over the Sutlej, on the Delhi railway, and here the curious Reversing Station on the Bhor Ghat above Bombay, where the steepness of the ground does not allow space for the railway to bend on its way down the mountain side.
The modern capitals of India are naturally on the coast, for it is there that the life of India comes into contact with the life of the world over the sea. In these capitals, protected by the Fleet, the commerce borne by the railways connects with the ocean-borne commerce.