the Central Powers he but expresses the opinion of British ministers.
We hope, therefore, with the framers of the Muslim rejoinder that His
Majesty's ministers will mend the mistakes if any have been committed
and secure a settlement that would satisfy Mahomedan sentiment.

What does the sentiment demand? The preservation of the Khilafat with
such guarantee as may be necessary for the protection of the interests
of the non-Muslim races living under Turkish rule and the Khalif's
control over Arabia and the Holy Places with such arrangement as may be
required for guaranteeing Arab self-rule, should the Arabs desire it. It
is hardly possible to state the claim more fairly than has been done. It
is a claim backed by justice, by the declarations of British ministers
and by the unanimous Hindu and Muslim opinion. It would be midsummer
madness to reject or whittle down a claim so backed.


THE SUZERAINTY OVER ARABIA

"As I told you in my last letter I think Mr. Gandhi has made a
serious mistake in the Kailafat business. The Indian Mahomedans base
their demand on the assertion that their religion requires the
Turkish rule over Arabia: but when they have against them in this
matter, the Arabs themselves, it is impossible to regard the theory
of the Indian Mahomedans as essential to Islam. After all if the
Arabs do not represent Islam, who does? It is as if the German Roman
Catholics made a demand in the name of Roman Catholicism with Rome
and the Italians making a contrary demand. But even if the religion
of the Indian Mahomedans did require that Turkish rule should be
imposed upon the Arabs against their will, one could not, now-a-days,
recognise as a really religious demand, one which required the