Empress of India

“ By my presence with the Queen-Empress I am also anxious to show our affection for the loyal Princes and faithful Peoples of India, and how dear to our hearts is the welfare and happiness of the Indian Empire. ”

“ Within less than twenty years after the great mutiny, the Nationalist Movement of India was born, almost at the same time and place at which Lord Lytton was presiding at the great Imperial Durbar, and announcing that the great Queen of England was assuming the title of Empress of India. ”

“ It is now my duty to inform you, on behalf of the Queen Empress of India, that I recognise and confirm your succession to the Chiefship of Jammu and Kashmir. I trust that your Highness's life may be long and prosperous; and that, in all difficulties, of whatsoever kind, you will rely with confidence upon the good-will of the British Government, which will never fail you so long as you are loyal to the Crown and earnest in the desire to rule your State with justice and moderation. Your Highness has before you a difficult task. ”

“ In 1877, Lord Beaconsfield, to complete this work, caused Queen Victoria to be proclaimed Empress of India.
Upon these extraordinary lines India and Britain are linked at the present time. India is still the empire of the Great Mogul, but the Great Mogul has been replaced by the “crowned republic” of Great Britain. India is an autocracy without an autocrat. Its rule combines the disadvantage of absolute monarchy with the impersonality and irresponsibility of democratic officialdom. The Indian with a complaint to make has no visible monarch to go to; his Emperor is a golden symbol ”

“ In all matters connected with India, the Queen Empress displayed an unvarying deep personal interest, and I am well aware of the feeling of loyalty and affection evinced by the millions of its people towards Her Throne and Person. ”

“ Victoria was the seventh queen regnant, with the added honor and responsibility, since 1877, of being Empress of India. On January 22, 1901, Victoria passed to the spirit realm. Magnificent as was her coronation, no pageant has ever followed a sovereign indicating the love, veneration and honor expressed by the cortege that followed the oak catafalque from Osborne to Windsor. ”

“ It has given me infinite pleasure to be once more among my faithful subjects in India, and the Queen-Empress and I have been touched beyond words by the genuine love and devotion towards us which we feel have entered into the spirit of the people. ”

“ Queen and empress, — here and there, —
⁠English pride is laid to sleep,
Seated in th' imperial chair,
⁠State in brand-new fashion keep!
India entreats thy light,
Empress, excellently bright. ”

“ We are therefore sanguine that Your Lordship's own observation will enable all the members of the Ruling race in India to form an opinion of the relations that exist between us and the British Crown. The Mahomedans of India and the Punjab are proud of being the devoted subjects of the Queen-Empress. In so acting we perform our religious duties, for our sacred religion enjoins upon us faithfulness and obedience towards our Ruling monarch, and teaches us to regard the Christians as our own brethren. ”

“ In conclusion, we have only to pray to the Father of All Good that He may shower His choicest blessings upon you and your consort—that noble lady who has, in addition to cheering you in your hard and onerous work in India, herself done a great deal for the comfort of the soldier and the sepoy, and that He may grant you many years of happy life—a life which has done so much for the Queen-Empress's dominions, and which may yet do much more. ”

“ The military bands played a march, and Lord Lytton, accompanied by Lady Lytton, their daughters, and his staff, proceeded to the pavilion. His Excellency took his seat upon the throne, arrayed in his robes as Grand Master of the Star of India, the National Anthem was played, the Guards of Honour presented arms, while the whole of the vast assemblage rose as one man. The Chief Herald was then commanded to read the Proclamation. A flourish of trumpets was again sounded, and Her Majesty was proclaimed Empress of India. ”

“ Where is this 283Empire that I am destined to govern, and how can such a wonderful event be brought about?’
‘It is the Empire of India, my sweet one; it is the home of my fathers—my own beautiful country!’ he exclaimed rapturously. ‘Thou wilt be chosen by the vote of the nation as their first Empress. To thee is given the honour of establishing the Royal Line for India! Thou and I, Mercia; our children, and children’s children shall hold the reins of Government through all generations. ”

“ Besides this troop of attendants, from each town and village near the halting-place come obsequious natives—those of the higher rank on gaily-caparisoned horses, the more lowly peasants on foot. Some come to offer petitions, some to seek employment, some, as it appears, only to pay their homage to one of the lords of creation. What lies under all this outward respect we need not now inquire. The government of our Empress-Queen’s vast possessions in India may be described as a kind of oligarchy, the English officials forming an aristocracy to which all pay at least the semblance of honour. ”

“ This was on behalf of the Supreme Legislative Council. His Majesty replied as follows:
"In the name of the Queen-Empress and on my own behalf I heartily thank you for your loyal and dutiful Address, the words of which have deeply touched us.
"They recall those countless messages of affectionate devotion which India, in common with all parts of my Dominions, greeted us on our Coronation in England, and which have been repeated by all classes and creeds of my Indian subjects since our arrival in your country. ”

“ India has been subject to many conquests; the Aryan, Greek, and Mussulman invasions swept from the NW.; the Portuguese obtained a footing on the SW. coast in the 15th century; the victories of Plassey 1757, and Seringapatam 1799, established British rule throughout the whole peninsula, and the principle that native princes where they retained their thrones were vassals; Sind was won in 1843 and the Punjab in 1849, and the powers of the East India Company transferred to the Queen in 1857, who was proclaimed Empress in 1877 ”

“ Madras exceeds Great Britain; Bombay equals Germany; the North- Western Provinces and Oude cover as much space as Great Britain, Belgium, and Holland ; the size of the Punjab is that of Italy ; while the native States put together have an area equal to Great Britain and Ireland, Germany, and France combined."
The population of India at present, reader mine, is over rather than under 300,000,000, and our beloved Queen is Empress of the whole. ”

“ There were stories afloat that one reason why the Queen wished to become an Empress was because the Russian Princess, who was the daughter of an Emperor, had claimed precedence over the English Princesses, who were only the daughters of a Queen. However that may be, the title was formally assumed in 1876. It was proclaimed in India with all magnificence. Sixty-three princes were present to hear the proclamation. There were thousands of troops and long lines of elephants. A throne that was a vision of splendor was built high up above the plain ”

“ The results of this neglect are already deplorable, and must ere long receive the attention of the Government of India. Indian titles are officially defined to be, either by grant from Government, i.e. a new creation by Her Imperial Majesty the Queen Empress through her representative; or "by descent, or by well-established usage." The Government alone can be the judge of the validity of claims, and of their relative strength, in the case of titles acquired by "descent" or by "well-established usage." ”

“ The Queen is not Empress anywhere but in India; the title may not even be used in the United Kingdom. Otherwise the natural meaning of the phrase “imperial interests”113 would seem to be the interests of the Emperor, as opposed to any other. It would mean the interests of the imperial power, as opposed to the interests of the states which are dependent on the imperial power. The word as now used seems intended to mean the interests of the whole of the Queen’s dominions, as opposed to the interests of any particular part of them. ”

“ He went to India to paint the “Declaration of Queen Victoria as Empress” in 1876, a large canvas with many portraits. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1897. His publications include Imperial India: An Artist's Journal (1879) , several plays, and some writings on art. ”

“ In the simplicity of their faith and lack of practical knowledge, several of them had ventured to intimate that we might go to England and see the Queen, and tell her their troubles. “For,” they said, “the Queen does not countenance it; for she has daughters of her own, and she cares for her daughters in India.” “The Queen is a woman, and we also are women, and our shame is the Queen’s shame; and for us to be exposed is as though the Queen were exposed; it is a shame for women to be so treated when a woman is Queen.” ”

“ It is for such objects that the servants of the Queen rule in India; and Providence will ever sustain the rulers who govern for the people's good.
'I am here only for a time. The able and earnest officers who surround me will, at no distant period, return to their English homes; but the Power which we represent will endure for ages. Hourly is this great Empire brought nearer and nearer to the throne of our Queen. The steam-vessel and the railroad enable England, year by year, to enfold India in a closer embrace. ”

“ I recognise the sons of my old allies, the Maharaja of Cashmere and Puttiala: the Sikh chiefs of Malwa and the Manjha; the Rajpût chiefs of the hills: the Mahommedan Mulliks of Peshawur and Kohat; the Sirdars of the Derajat, of Hazara, and of Delhi. All have gathered together to do honour to their old ruler. My friends! Let me tell you of the great interest which the illustrious Queen of England takes in all matters connected with the welfare, comfort and contentment of the people of India. ”

“ Your jewel shall pass to the future generations as an Imperial Heirloom, and shall always stand as the token of the first meeting of the English Queen with the ladies of India. I thank you for your congratulations and for the good wishes expressed by you towards the King-Emperor and myself, and join my prayers to yours for the strength, unity, and well- being of the Empire. ”

“ It is as if men living two thousand years after our day should expect it to be proved to their satisfaction by positive documentary evidence that every bit of India was included in the British Empire under Queen Victoria. ”

“ But in India a woman can do nothing. It is little wonder I trembled for my Princess.
A picture of her Imperial father lay on the low table at her elbow, painted by a Persian artist of fame, and beautiful as a jewel in its small brilliant colours, and looking upon it one might see the Kismet of the Emperor in every feature. Eyes stern but sad, the narrow brows and close lips of the man who sees not life as it is but as his own thought of it, bounded by those high narrow brows that overweighted the lower part. ”

“ In my opinion, in which many of you, I am sure, would join, our late Empress, must have been an Incarnation of Lakshmi, born in this world to become a model to others as a Sovereign, as a wife, and as a mother. ”

“ For with the curious inconsistency which pervades all Indian speculations religious and political, though countless dynasties have fallen and countless rulers have come to a violent end in the chequered annals of Indian history, nothing has ever destroyed the ancient conception of royalty as partaking of the divine essence. The remoteness of the Western rulers under whose sceptre India had passed lent if anything an added mystery and majesty to the royalty they wielded. Even the avowed enemies of British rule seldom levelled their shafts at the Throne. ”

“ Stand of an evening on the Queen’s Road in Bombay, looking over the wide curve of Back Bay, where the lights of the city fade away into the distances of the sea and on the right the hill throws its contour against the darkening sky. They pass here, brightly-clad, quietly smiling, modestly distant, the women of India at their newest and most modern, yet in essentials formed by the ancient rule. They are discarding perhaps the habits of dark ages of misrule and superstition, but they cling none the less to the spirit of old India—to those principles hallowed at its best and freshest age. ”

“ There is no question that the Indian populations are possessed with a strong feeling of personal attachment for her Majesty the Queen, and while they grow yearly more and more estranged from their Anglo-Indian masters they yearly look with more and more hope to England and to her who sits upon the English throne. ”

“ These questions, which have divided the minds of millions of men, which have caused rivers of blood to flow, nowadays sound idle and even absurd to our readers, who hear Hindu religion spoken of as mere mythology, and India as some far-off planet; but, at the time of which we are now speaking, the Indian Empire was the centre of the civilised world and master of the known world. ”

“ If a mere handful of Englishmen are to continue to hold the two hundred millions of the various native populations of India, they cannot do so by mere brute force, but only by convincing the leaders of the people that the English Government is actuated by feelings of "justice, charity, and kindliness" towards them. The Queen's Proclamation produced the best effect in India. ”

“ Now their sympathies have expanded with their knowledge and their sense of responsibility; with the degree of confidence reposed in them. They recognize their obligations to their own states and their duty to the imperial throne. The British crown is no longer an impersonal abstraction, but a concrete and inspiring force. The political system of India is neither feudalism nor federation. It is embodied in no constitution; it does not rest upon treaty, and it bears no resemblance to a league. ”