which we have endeavoured to rule them, surely it is to be found in this convincing and overwhelming demonstration. [Applause.]
I think sometimes if those men who have given their services, often without recognition, during the last century in India could, as they lay in their graves, hear the march of these 70,000 men across the battlefields of Europe, could hear the sound of the trumpet as it called them to charge, it would indeed be recompense worth living for, worth dying for, worth all the sacrifices that they made. [Applause.] For my own part, I venture to hope that these Indian troops when they come to Europe will be in at the death. [Applause.] I should like to see the lances of the Bengal Lancers—[applause]—fluttering down the streets of Berlin. [Loud and continued applause.] I should like to see the little dark-skinned Gurkha—[loud applause]—making himself at ease in the gardens of Potsdam. [Applause.] Of course I must not ignore the equally spontaneous, equally effective offers of our own kith and kin across the seas—[applause]—and if I have laid stress upon India it is only due to the special circumstances of my own connection with that country. All these people I know. I have reviewed these troops scores of times. These Indian chiefs I know, these Indian officers who are coming and who will conduct themselves in a manner that will give shame to the Huns of Europe. [Loud applause.] These Indian officers have come before me and have held out the hilts of their swords and asked me as the representative of the Sovereign to touch them. I thrill at the memory of these incidents. I glory in the friendship of these men, and I look forward with pride and confidence to the services they will render to their country. [Applause.] The Colonies are doing likewise splendidly. From all parts of the world expeditionary forces are coming, from Canada and Australia, from New Zealand and South Africa. [Applause.] From all parts of the earth we see this great march of the armies, white, yellow, brown, no longer any distinction of colour, all marching to the common centre, all inspired by the same cause, all bent on doing service on the same battlefield. Never before in history has there been anything to compare with this glorious symbol of Empire.
