



Produced by Al Haines








  THE
  PASSING OF EMPIRE

  BY

  H. FIELDING-HALL

  AUTHOR OF "THE SOUL OF A PEOPLE"
  "THE HEARTS OF MEN," ETC.



  "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
  that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"--that
  is to say by ideas



  LONDON
  HURST & BLACKETT, LTD.
  PATERNOSTER HOUSE, E.C.
  1913




PREFACE

Most people when they talk of India, most books when they treat of
India, are concerned with its differences from the rest of the world.
It is the appearance and the dress of its peoples, their customs and
habits, their superstitions and religions, that are explained and
wondered at.

That is not so here.  In this book little or nothing is said of any of
these matters; they do not interest me; they are superficial, and I do
not care for surface things; they are what divide, and truth is what
unites.

It is of the humanity which India shares with the rest of the world,
the hearts that beat always the same under whatever skin, the ideals
that can never be choked by no matter what customs or religions, that
this book is concerned with.

India sees life through different windows than we do; but her eyes are
as our eyes, and she has the same desires as we have.  She has been
nearly dead or sleeping for long, but at last she moves.  She is awake
or waking.  Should it not be our task, our pleasure and our pride, to
help her early steps along the path of