The king was supported in his opinion by Walter Asquith, who has been the firm champion of home rule. He predicted civil war in case the demands of Ireland were not satisfied, and taunted the government with pusillanimity in the face of the recent events in South Africa. He then moved an amendment to the reply to the speech from the throne "that it would be disastrous for the House to proceed further with the government for Ireland until the measure had been submitted to the judgment of the country." He showed his calm judgment and steady hand when the threatened Ulster uprising took place by proposing home rule for all of Ireland that wished it. These radical moves were the more surprising, for King George was spoken of as a strong conservative when brought to the throne. This was seen by the patience the Queen and he showed during the coronation in England and India. They were spoken of as mere figures by the Liberalists because they went through the endless festivities from the great procession to the numerous banquets with a smile, with words of patience and good cheer. It was the first time in many centuries that an English King and Queen had made a long trip to India to partake in their coronation festivities at Delhi and Calcutta. They wished to renew the pledge made by the late Queen Victoria when she assumed the title of Empress of India, emphasizing the incorporation of the great peninsula into the British Empire that all her Indian subjects were the children of the Great White Queen. They showed that this was more than a promise when they reached Bombay on the 4th of December, 1911. At half-past nine they and their royal suite drove out to the fête grounds, adjoining the Bombay Gymkhana building. Here in an open space some 26,000 children had been drawn up in a large semicircle, over against the centre of which was a dais for the King and Queen. As their majesties drove up at a quarter to ten, four selected groups of children belonging to the European, Urdu, Gujarati and Marathe schools sang each two verses of the National Anthem in their own tongue. Though they sang in their own tongue and danced their native dances, they shouted "Long live the King and Queen" as enthusiastically as would have done the same size body of English children.