C^i<^tc^t^«<i^^<<i^t^c^

AMANULLAH

King Amanullah will risk a complete break with
tradition."

Thus it seemed that the whole world was combining
to swell the head that was already bursting.

And on the 17th of December the Gateway of India
was again ablaze with colour. The S.S. Rajputana
churned her way West with the feted King on board.

The optimism of The Times was no doubt based on
reason and sound common sense. It could not reason-
ably be expected that Amanullah would be infected
with the germ of the West so seriously as to lose his
sense of proportion- Yet that was exactly what was
happening. Every blare of bugles in his honour went
to his head. Every red carpet was a delight to his eye.
Every compliment was absorbed greedily. The pheno-
menon has happened before, and will happen again.
The British Government, when it finally decides to
honour its visitors, sends them into paroxysms of
self-congratulation. It is dangerous in the West, It
is playing with dynamite when the guest is of the East.

Amanullah had replied to the compliments with true
Eastern reciprocity and tact. He had urged the
Mahomedans to live peaceably with Hindus, He had
returned bouquet for bouquet in his perfect Persian
accent. He had been the slightly impulsive but charming
guest, and had endeared himself to all as a real man
and a strong one.

The circumstances of his visit to India, the pomp and
formality which accompanied his journey down to the
liner at Bombay, were carefully noted in his own
country. There were ears anxious for every detail of
that tour of triumph. The significance of the rivalry
in Europe, to do him honour and to impress him, was
not lost in Kabul, With the satisfaction generally felt,
however, there was a slight feeling of contempt that such

100