There is a new peril in the world which is already becoming a bogey in
the imagination of men. It is the “Rising Tide of Colour.” I do not
believe in a world conspiracy of the coloured races to overthrow white
rule. I do not believe in a new challenge of the Mohammedan peoples to
Christendom. But I do believe that the massacre of the world war and
some of its lessons and watchwords have aroused passions and ambitions
among the dark-skinned races which will lead to many new problems and
perils. The British Empire is face to face with these in India, Egypt
and Asia. France, Italy and Spain will have to face them in Northern
Africa. America will have to face them in her own southern states and
on the Pacific coast. That ringing phrase, “the self-determination of
peoples,” was translated into many tongues East as well as West. “A
War for Liberty” was an ideal which was carried across the deserts and
into the very jungles of the world. Young Indian students at Oxford
or Cambridge or London University saw the war fever in Europe, read
its rhetoric, thrilled to the words of President Wilson, saw the
weakening of European power, the overthrow of dynasties, the setting
up of new nations, the proclamation of independence for Poland,
Ireland, Czecho-Slovakia, all sorts of states and races, the triumph
of Turkey in Asia Minor. They asked themselves a whispered question:
“How about India?” The young Egyptians said “How about Egypt?” The
Arab race said: “Independence is good for us as well as for others.”
The overthrow of “tyrannies” is very catching, even though one form of
tyranny is substituted for another. The spirit of revolt travels far
and is infectious, especially when it is carried by home-going soldiers
who have fought in other people’s wars, as Indian troops in Palestine,
Mesopotamia, and, for a time, against their will, in France.