Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/87

 picion and jealousy, as an instrument of aggrandizement for the Hindus. It cannot be said that this feeling has died out even at the present day, but happily it is not generally shared by the rising generation of educated Mahomedans, nor by leaders like His Highness the Aga Khan. For his part, Mr. Hume indignantly repudiated the idea that the Mahomedans could not hold their own in fair competition. " The wretched plea," he said, that they will have no chance if a fair field is conceded to all classes and sects, is monstrous. I swear that no good true Mahomedan ever, if he reflected on it, would put forward so base a libel on his coreligionists. Haven't I had thousands of both under my own eye ? Have I not hundreds of Mahomedan friends ? " He then named Sir Salar Jung, Mr. Justice Budrudin Tyabji, Mr. Justice Syed Mahmud and other distinguished public men ; and continuing, he said, ** The whole thing is a shameful libel on the Mussulmans, who, alike in times past and present, have ever held and ever will hold their own, and what- ever advantages flow from an improved and gradually developing administration of India, believe me that the Mussulmans will ever obtain, in virtue of their hereditary capacity, energy, and pluck, a full and fair share." To this he added a personal note, saying, ^* I speak warmly on this subject, because even inferentially to charge me with participation in any scheme injurious to the best interests of the Mussulmans, to whom in the past I have owed so much, amongst whom I have still so many friends, is an insult. Can I forget the brave friends and followers who in those dark days of danger and distress stood by me, protected me, and fought for and beside me in 1857 — aye, and in too many cases sealed with their lifeblood the record of their friendship and fidelity ? Never ! "
 * ' about the Mahomedans being so inferior to Hindus