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Show INDIA READY TO HELP TOJTMOST Princes Will Pour Their Wealth Into the Treasury of War. TO CRUSH GERMANY Conflict Expected to Continue Eighteen Months Longer Teutons Misjudged India. GWALIOR, India Feb 1. (Correspondence (Corre-spondence of The Associated Press.) The Maharajah Slndhia of Gwalior, one of the wealthiest and most powerful power-ful of the Indian pnneos. toda told a correspondent of The Associated Press thai h- and the other rulers of India were prepared to pour all their re-BOUrces re-BOUrces into th common war coffer until Germany was crushed. The Maharajah said that the world conflagration, con-flagration, by furnishing a common platform upon which all India could work, had done much lo encourage co-ope-ration among the Indian stoics and also to emphasize the essential unif of aims between them and the government of India. Gwalior, whose people he rules, under un-der the British government, is one of the central states ot India with a population of between 2,000,000 and 3,ooo ooo. The Maharajah Is a major general In the British arm and gave his per sonal services wuh the British expeditionary ex-peditionary force to China In HVii Purlng the prer-nt war. affairs of state have precluded his leaving Gwalior. Gwa-lior. but from the beginning he has been making great contributions to the British army. His troops have been in France, are fighting in East Africa and Egypt and are helpinc guard the Indian frontier from Quettq and Ban nu How much he has donated he will not know unUl after the war is over and the final accounts are in. but he has thus far expended somewhere in the neighborhood of 300.000 pounds ($1,500,000) outside the upkeep of the hospital ship "Loyalty." To this great rnn' ribution. he modestly calls him self only a subscriber but, as a matter mat-ter of fact, during the two ears and moie the ship has been in commission, commis-sion, he has financed itself and spent on it nearly 300 000 pounds. He is also expending 1,000 pounds a month for the upkeep of a convalescent home for officers and soldiers which he established at Nairobi, Africa, at tho beginning of the war. The Maharajah gives vher he thinks the ned is most pressing, depending on the daily papers and on his agents in London for information Thus if he learns that war material of any sort is want-ed want-ed badly he immediately cables his donation to supply or help to supply the deficiency. Todav's interview took place in the palace, and during the conversation his highness talked freeh on many subjects. Regarding Germany he was most uncompromising. "I believe that the war will continue con-tinue tot eighteen months longer," he said, "and I hope, for my part, that it Will go on until Germany has been crushed. 1 am sure that all India feels as I do about this matter, quite the reverse of the attitude Germany expected ex-pected from us at the outbreak of hostilities. hos-tilities. "Germany firmly believed that India would join the Central allies. What led the Teutons into this error I cannot can-not say, but they certainly misjudged the situation here badly. There never was a chance that India would turn against Great Britain. "I don't mean to say that there is no sedition in India. There is. Just as there is sedition to some degree in America or in any other country, but those who are plotting against the government are negligible in number, num-ber, and they are no more representative representa-tive of India as a whole than were the New York bomb throwers three or four years ago representative of the American public. "But Germany thought, for some reason or other, that we were ready to sever relations with Great Britain and banked on our support in the struggle. Long before the war began, Germany was busy trying to etir up sedition in India. I cannot prove this statement to you at this time, but I know it to be true "The attempts failed and todav Hin-dUBtan Hin-dUBtan is standing loyally with the rest of the British empire and will continue so to stand until the last gun is fired." "In ordinary times we princes grouse and grumble ourselves a good deal and sometimes. 1 think we have had reason for it but when the big crisis came it found us all rushing to tender our support to the king-emperor That is only natural. ' This war has done India a great deal of good. By furnishing a common com-mon platform for us to work upou. it has drawn the princes closer together and. I hope the government of India to them. Mind vou, there was never any question of disloyalty among th-princes, th-princes, but they had not been given a chance like this before to show their devotion to the king We worked along our own individual individ-ual lines mostly But the great com mon cause has changed all this nnd I hope for Kood. The recent conference of princes in Delhi, when forty of us met to discuss matters pertaining to th welfare of our states, was an evidence evi-dence of this chance "The past months of war have don more to strengthen the feeling of sympathy sym-pathy between the stales and the gov ernment of India than anything else could have done." The correspondent referred to the fact that at the time of the recent con ference of princess in Delhi there was some talk that the conference might, ultimately develop into a council of I princes who should have a direct voice in matters of imperial moment. "Yes there was some expression of ' Ideas along that line," said his high-1 high-1 ne-'.s "We hope that a council of princes or a house of lords of some j sort may be the outcome of these con-ferences con-ferences 1 think that in a few years j it should be possible to constitute an assembly of princes who may have a hand in the adjustment of relations all around. And we princes also look for ward to the time when British India also shall have a similar assembly under proper safeguard." "What would happen in India, your highness, if the British government suddenly should decide to grant ab solute self rule to British India, should constitute 'he princes absolute sovereigns sov-ereigns and should withdraw entirely from the country?" the correspondent asked. "Who would be king?" countered the Maharajah quizzically. "By iha' your highness means that there must be a supreme head. "Exactly. If you should take away our British sovereign someone else I would have to rule. Who would it be? That is hard to say. but it would be a case of the survival of the fittest. If the British were to withdraw from India altogether the country would be plunged into ehao. "But, of course, the British government govern-ment will not withdraw and no one excepting perhaps a handful of hair-brained hair-brained agitators, wishes it to withdraw with-draw We want the British govern-m-nf to stay, for it is ihe greatest and best government In the world. We hove a true devotion for our king-emperor and for his government, and all we ask is that we may be allowed to remain a port of the empire and do our share." The query was raised as to what the effect would be on India if the entente allies brought the war to a successful conclusion and Constantinople was allotted to Russia, as has been sug-g sug-g -tod. "Your question involves the matter of religious sentiment?" asked his highness. The correspondent replied in the affirmative. af-firmative. "Such a settlement would have no effect on India," said the Maharajah. "I myself am not a Mohammedan, but I think I know the feeling of the country. coun-try. Many people in India are extremely extreme-ly sorry that Turkey has placed herself her-self in her present position, but no one is likely to exhibit active sympathy sympa-thy for her as she is ranged against the British government and their allies." |