Home Rule and Home Defence

IN his speech at the recruiting durbar at Ambala Sir Michael O'Dwyer once again referred to the close relation between Home Rule and Home Defence. "There are doubtless among you," he said, "men with political aspirations who look forward to the goal of responsible government within the British Empire. But let me remind them that the goal is only to be reached it the great bulk of the people desire to attain it and strive towards it, and prove the genuineness of their desire and their fitness for the obligations and sacrifices inseparable from it. The foremost is the obligation to defend our country from internal danger and external attack." This means that Home Rule and Home Defence are ultimately inseparabler. It is their consciousness of this truth that has led the party of self-government in India for years to loudly and insistently demand facilities for military training.