Islam will make the dream of
reconciling the Indian populations to our rule for ever an
impossibility. Leaders they will look for elsewhere--in Russia, maybe,
in Germany, or even France, jealous of our interests in Egypt--not
leaders such as we might have been for their good, but for our evil, and
in pursuance of their own designs. The Caliphate is a weapon forged for
any hand--for Russia's at Bagdad, for France's at Damascus, or for
Holland's (call it one day Germany's) in our stead at Mecca. Protected
by any of these nations the Caliphate might make our position
intolerable in India, filling up for us the measure of Mussulman
bitterness, of which we already are having a foretaste in the
Pan-islamic intrigues at Constantinople.

But enough of this line of reasoning, which after all is selfish and
unworthy. The main point is, that England should fulfil the trust she
has accepted of developing, not destroying, the existing elements of
good in Asia. She cannot destroy Islam, nor dissolve her own connection
with her. Therefore, in God's name, let her take Islam by the hand and
encourage her boldly in the path of virtue. This is the only worthy
course, and the only wise one, wiser and worthier, I venture to assert,
than a whole century of crusade.

In conclusion, I would say to Mohammedans that if I have drawn a gloomy
picture of their immediate political fortunes, it is not that I despair
even of these. Their day of empire in the world seems over, but their
day of self-rule may well dawn again, though under changed conditions
from any we now witness. I foresee for them the spiritual inheritance of
Africa and Southern Asia, and as the intelligence of the races they
convert shall have risen to the level of their present rulers, and
Europe, weary of her work, shall have abandoned the task of Asiatic and
African government, the temporal inheritance too. How long this shall be
delayed we know not. Their prophet has foretold that Islam shall not
outlive two thousand years before the Mohdy shall come, and the thirteen
hundredth is just commencing; nor do I believe their deliverance will be
so very long delayed. A "man of justice" may yet restore their fortunes;
but it will hardly be by present violence or by wading to Mecca through
seas of blood; and when the end of their humiliation shall have come,
it may be found that his true mission has commenced already, and that
the battle he was to fight has been long waging in the heart