Page 311 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

£
292 COAST OF ARABIA. [cii.
I
not least, if the welfare of a hundred millions
:1
of our native subjects be not sufficient to j US-
tify its immediate adoption, they may per-
s
haps be found in the increased security which
in other respects we might hope would attend
the bringing our eastern possessions nearer to
Britain. Modern history furnishes abundant
proof of the difficulty the mother country
must experience in exercising a direct con­
trol, and in rendering permanent and effectual
aid to a distant colony. With India, situated
as it is at present, we can never hope to do so;

she must for long periods be left wholly to her
own resources; but if, on the contrary, a line
of steamers was established, opportunities
would continually be afforded of conveying
thither large bodies of troops, as well as of
keeping up that reciprocal intelligence be­
tween either state, which must prove of incal­
culable benefit to both.
In the event of a war breaking out unex­
pectedly, of what importance might it not
prove to India to have a well-organised steam
flotilla on the spot? possessing also two thou­

sand miles of coast connected by a chain of
military posts, with what facility might not