The political future of India; a study of the aspirations of educated Indians, a prize essay

THE POLITICAL FUTURE
OF INDIA

A Study of the
Aspirations of
Educated Indians

LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF

THE POLITICAL FUTURE
OF INDIA

THE POLITICAL
FUTURE OF INDIA

A STUDY OF THE ASPIRATIONS
OF EDUCATED INDIANS

A PRIZE ESSAY

BY

H. P. MODY

WITH TWO OTHER ESSAYS COMMENDED BY
THE ADJUDICATORS

HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON MCMVIII

TQ'2,15

130&

Mb

PREFACE

THE leaders of current political movements in
India focus their aspirations upon SELF-
GOVERNMENT, and all thoughtful people — except a
few who, prompted by personal or what they con-
ceive to be British interests, find it convenient to
trample upon all aspirations — ask themselves if it be
possible that the heterogeneous races of India can
be welded into one community capable of suc-
cessful autonomy. If so, how and when ? Recent
deplorable events prompt the further inquiry how
violence and outrage, the greatest hindrances to
progress, can be effectively suppressed. With a
view to obtaining expressions of opinion on these
points from all sections, I offered, while on a recent
visit to India, a prize of two thousand rupees to
be competed for under the conditions stated on
another page.

The essays received in accordance with these
conditions were carefully read and adjudicated
upon by the following gentlemen : —

Mr. James Kennedy, formerly of the United Pro-

.735

6 PEEFACE

vinces Civil Service, Treasurer of the Royal Asiatic
Society, and well known for his Indian historical
researches. He was a contributor to the recently
published historical volume of the " Imperial
Gazetteer of India." (14, Frognal Lane, Finchley
Road, London, N.W.)

Mr. C. E. Buckland, C.I.E., formerly Chief Secre-
tary to the Bengal Government, author of " Bengal
under the Lieutenant-Governors," and compiler of
"The Dictionary of Indian Biography." (61, Corn-
wall Gardens, South Kensington, London, S.W.)

Mr. F. H. Brown, who has been in Anglo-
Indian journalism in connection with leading
papers both in this country and India for many
years. (Dilkusha, Westbourne Road, Forest Hill,
London, S.E.)

My own views as to newly-awakened aspirations
in India are of little moment, and I do not propose
here to define them in any detail. I would only
say that I have lived too long in the Dependency
to approach these difficult problems otherwise than
as a humble inquirer. I have known something of
our great Indian Empire at first hand for over
thirty years, and many of its people with whom it
has been my lot to come in contact I shall ever
regard with feelings akin to affection. I have from
an isolated position been able to watch impartially

PREFACE 7

the working of the Government machinery on the
one hand and the lives of the people on the other.
In all lands and in all ages education has given a
broader outlook to its recipients, and with an en-
larged horizon has come a keener sense of power
and a fuller and juster estimate of personal and
collective possibilities. India is no exception to
this rule. The "movement" which we find in
India to-day, in common with other countries in
the East, is closely connected with a very natural
development of the human mind. It is but the
awakening to self-consciousness of minds emanci-
pated from the darkness of ignorance, minds
brought into the glare of noonday, with the whole
world, past arid present, suddenly brought within
their ken. The map of a new world has been
spread before the East. The movement inspired
by this new world vision has been mothered by
education and vivified by the flash of the Japanese
sword which repelled Russia, and is fanned by
uplifted hands that stretch out after liberty and
progress in China, Turkey, Persia, and Egypt.

We cannot go on turning out thousands of highly
educated men from our schools and colleges with-
out rendering inevitable far-reaching changes in
the social and political life of the people. The
man with his back to the wall ready to thrust aside

8 PEEFACE

all progressive movements must be regarded as
hopelessly blind and deaf to all the teachings of
history. There can be no justification for a desire
to keep the Oriental for ever in swaddling clothes
just because he is an Oriental, or because the
enlightened and capable are a mere fraction of
their race. The existence of millions of illiterate
Indians is no reason why we should be oblivious
to the claims of the literate ! It is hard to say
which is the more dangerous amongst our country-
men— the man with his back to the wall, or the
warm-hearted enthusiast who would travel towards
great constitutional changes in a sixty horse-power
motor regardless of the condition of the road or
of the many gardens destroyed by dust.

There is ample room between these extremes for
moderate men both in this country and India to
help forward great reforms on safe and permanent
lines, and it must be a great satisfaction to all such
to find that the hand of the present Secretary of
State is neither being forced nor hindered by ex-
tremists. Our business in India to-day, while
suppressing crime, is not to check political move-
ments, but to guide them into proper channels.
"Wise men hasten slowly," but has not the time
fully come for us to discard the ekka and the
bullock-cart ? A fifteen horse-power car may

PEEFACE 9

suffice for the present to carry us safely along the
path of progress, and before we attempt to exceed
the speed limit we must be sure that there are no
awkward bends in the road and no obstructions
in the way.

The questions propounded, with conditions of
competition, are followed by an able and interesting
report by the adjudicators. The essay of Mr. Mody,
the prize-winner, is published with two others of
special merit. It should be explained that while
the arguments adduced are unchanged, the essays
have all been subjected to editorial revision by an
expert, and repetitions or redundancies and points
of altogether minor interest have been eliminated
or curtailed, while misconceptions or mis-state-
ments of fact have been editorially noted. In this
slightly abridged and revised form the essays are
published in the hope that they may help in some
small degree to enlighten inquirers in this country
as to the nature of the great problems which are
to-day agitating the minds of so many of our
educated fellow-subjects in India, and that they
may encourage those of the latter who believe
that good political progress can be obtained on
strictly constitutional lines.

R. LAIDLAW.

HOUSE OF COMMONS,
December 5, 1908.

THE COMPETITION

The following notice was sent to intending
competitors : —

A prize of Rs. 2,000 is offered for the best reasoned
answers to the following three questions : —

1. Is it possible for the diverse races of India

to become one united self-governing com-
munity ?

2. By what steps and in what period of time

can this consummation be attained ?

3. How can encouragement best be given to

legitimate political aspirations, and sedition
most effectively suppressed ?

RULES AND CONDITIONS.

1. Papers must not exceed sixty thousand words.
Must be typewritten on one side of the paper only,
and must reach the undersigned not later than
July ist next.

2. Papers must not be signed by the writer, but
bear a nom de plume, and a sealed envelope con-
taining the full name and address of the writer

must be securely attached to the paper.

10

EULES AND CONDITIONS 11

3. The papers will be judged and award made
by three Europeans of long Indian experience and
of no specially pronounced political views. Their
decision to be final.

4. The undersigned will be at liberty to publish
the successful paper in book form or otherwise ;
the name of writer will, however, not be disclosed
without his permission. No other papers will be
published without the consent of the writers, and
in any such case a fee will be paid. No unsuc-
cessful manuscripts will be returned.

5. Decision of the judges will be announced in
the Pioneer, Times of India, Madras Mail, and
Statesman, Calcutta, at earliest possible date.

REPORT OF THE JUDGES ON MR.
LAIDLAW'S COMPETITION

The competition has elicited nearly 50 essays,
but only 35 of these have complied with the
prescribed conditions and been considered by the
judges. The essays range from 2,000 to 50,000
words, and vary as greatly in ability as in length.
One is exceptionally able ; several are excellent ;
others are merely dull ; a number are confused in
thought and defective in expression.

The value of the essays consists in their illustra-
tion of the currents of political thought which are
at work among certain sections of Indian and
Anglo-Indian society. The identity of the essayists
was, of course, unknown to us, but they usually
state or betray their nationality, and it is easy to
infer from the technical use of words or the special
knowledge displayed with what part of India the
essayists are acquainted. Fifteen appear to be
Englishmen or Eurasians, while the twenty Indian
writers include three Mahomedans, one or two
Parsis, three Theosophists, a follower of the Arya-
Samaj, and at least one Indian Christian. Some

12

POINTS OF AGREEMENT 13

of the Indian essayists are thoroughly Anglicised,
but the majority belong to the less educated middle
class which knows some English. The Bombay
Presidency and Hindustan proper contribute the
larger number. The fighting clans have no repre-
sentative. Burma is excluded from the discussion.
It is therefore apparent that while Anglo-Indian
opinion is well represented, the expression of
Indian opinion which is reflected in these essays
must be taken with some reservations.

The competitors are all agreed on certain points.

1. With the exception of a single Extremist
writer, not one of them intentionally desires to be
revolutionary. The more simple-minded expressly
say that they do not propose to drive all Europeans
from the country, and one essayist who thinks all
railway employes should be natives propounds a
scheme for turning Europeans into agriculturists,
to be settled at Lyallpur in the Punjab under the
supervision of the clergy.

2. All are agreed that any form of government
which may supersede the present lt bureaucracy "
must be maintained in its place by the British army.

3. All are very loyal to the Crown. We are
assured that the Hindus are king-lovers by nature,
and worship their kings as deities. One gentleman
naively says that when the millennium (shortly to
be expected) comes, "the only thing the people
will have to do is to adore the Sovereign, not as a
ruler, but as a deity who does not interfere with

14 PAPEE CONSTITUTIONS

men's thoughts, words, or actions." A Theosophist
remarks that "the population (of India) are re-
forming themselves as brethren of one united
family under one common white king of Eng-
land, the emblem of the blessed Vishnu " ; and he
looks back with gratitude to the day when " Bharat
Varsha, under the inspiration of her divine patron,
Vishnu, threw the garland of her espousals round the
neck of England." A third gentleman, more prac-
tically minded, proposes a handsome contribution
from India to the King's civil list.

4. Even the best of the essayists, European and
Indian, display remarkable political inexperience.
They draft paper constitutions lightheartedly, with-
out any recognition of the difficulties in the way or
any conception of how their schemes would work.

With these preliminary explanations we proceed
to summarise the answers to Mr. Laidlaw's questions.

I. The first question deals with three things — the
idea of Indian nationality, the possibility of political
union with or without it, and the idea of autonomy.

The European and a number of the Indian
essayists deny the possibility of Indian nationality,
of Indian political union, or Indian autonomy. It
is argued that the peoples of India are separated
from each other by creed, caste, language, history,
and inherited antipathies ; they have nothing in
common except submission to British rule and
Asiatic prejudice against foreigners.

INDIAN NATIONALITY 15

On the other hand, a small and able minority of
the essayists contends that an Indian nationality
is already in existence and the possession of a
party, few indeed in numbers but full of self-con-
fidence, and prepared to act as the political leaders
of the people. The members of this party are
united by European education, English ideas, and
the habitual use of the English language ; also by
a common faith in the future of India, a common
colour, and a common Asiatic origin ; above all,
by opposition to the present form of government.
They argue that the disruptive factors of caste and
religion are falling into the background and be-
coming mere secondary matters — matters of private
life and personal belief ; and they add that the
Mahomedans have much more reason to unite
with them than with the English. The Maho-
medan essayists take up a somewhat different
position, but they are not quite agreed among
themselves. They, too, have an enthusiasm for
the future of India, and would certainly prefer
Mussulman rule to the rule of a foreigner ; but
since that is impossible, they have no belief in
Indian autonomy, and are somewhat sceptical of
parliamentary institutions. One essayist in par-
ticular points out that since the days of Lord
Ripon the party of Young India is much more
divided than it was formerly, and that the pros-
perity of Mysore and Baroda and the successful
working of the Bombay municipality are due to

16 CONSEEVATIVE ELEMENTS

the energy and tact of individuals, and not to
any corporate form of government.

So far we have followed the Anglicised Indians,
who are mainly dwellers in the Presidency towns.
But the essays also show that, scattered through-
out the country, there are many individuals whose
English is imperfect, whose thoughts are crude, but
who are true patriots after a fashion, each with his
favourite nostrum. These we need not here discuss ;
sufficient to say that all competitors, high and low,
are agreed on certain facts. It is admitted that the
upper classes, the Rajas, Raises, big landholders,
and Darbaris, are conservative and averse to any
national movement. One essayist goes so far as
to say that their action will always be retrograde,
and that they should therefore never be entrusted
with real power or get beyond the status of an
advisory council. It is further universally ad-
mitted that British rule suits the masses, and that
there is no enthusiasm for either municipal or local
self-government. The demand for self-government
comes from a small but growing number of pro-
fessional men who have sprung up under British
rule and British training. One Indian writer points
out that they gain their importance by their access
to and power of appeal from those very " bureau-
crats" whom it is their object to replace, and
without whose help it is impossible that they
should succeed. They do not reflect that they
are not the natural heirs to the authority which
they would overturn.

EDUCATION 17

II. The second question is virtually determined
by the first. The majority are agreed that Indian
nationality is a chimera, and autonomy under
British suzerainty an impossibility. On the other
hand, one hopeful gentleman guarantees Home Rule
in a couple of years, if the English are subjected to
a firm, though friendly, boycott. Another points
out that it may easily be obtained by passing a law,
whereby only Indians shall be eligible for Govern-
ment appointments. The Congress essayists think
that autonomy may be obtained in a couple of
generations, the Theosophists in a thousand years.

There is a general agreement that education must
be the chief instrument for improving the condition
of the people, and the preliminary of any possible
union. On this subject, of which they have
had experience, the Indian essayists usually talk
excellent sense. They dwell mainly on three
things — religious, technical, and vernacular educa-
tion. The chief want of India at the present day
is the encouragement of native industries, and
the writers urge the importance of technical
education.

European and Indian competitors are agreed that
the neglect of religious training has done much harm,
and they would make religious teaching at school
and college compulsory. Several demand a mini-
mum age for conversions — a man should not have
independent religious convictions of his own until he
is thirty. Lastly, the more thoughtful essayists dwell

Political i Future of India 2

18 SEDITION

on the importance of vernacular literature, and the
study of the vernaculars. Of course, even here
we have an instance of the shoemaker and his last.
A Bombay schoolmaster advocates the suppression
of all grants in aid, the abolition of most vernacular
schools, and the establishment everywhere of free
English schools, secondary as well as primary. It is
noteworthy that the only Government department
which Indians do not profess a desire to monopolise
is the educational.

III. The third question deals with the measures
to be taken for improving the political position of
the people and the suppression of sedition. This
last must come first, since suppression of disorder
must not follow, but precede or accompany reform.
Sedition is easily got rid of, says one writer ; it is
due to the fact that the discontented are not granted
what they want ; satisfy, therefore, he says, their
demands, and repeal the Acts of Lord Morley and
Lord Minto. The moderates of the Congress camp
part from the extremists with some apologies, and
desire a very tender treatment of the vernacular press.
The majority, however, of the essayists, Indian even
more than European, call for firm government,
and approve of drastic measures towards the press.
The vernacular press has admittedly been the chief
instrument in bringing about the present agitation
and inflaming popular passions ; it ought therefore
to be bound over in heavy securities, and be subject
to severe penalties.

LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY 19

For the rest, we have a number of suggestions
which may be classified under three main heads.

i. The establishment of Parliaments, Imperial
and Provincial, with certain reservations regarding
the army, foreign policy, and finance, but with a
non-official majority. Regarding the details there
is no unanimity — some doubt the advisability of an
Imperial Parliament, and would have provincial
Parliaments tried as an experiment in one or two
selected provinces. Some would provide the
provincial Parliaments with a cabinet, subject to
the Governor's control and veto. Others wish the
district officer to be regarded as the Parliament's
executive. Most of the Indian competitors,
including those of the Congress, regard it as the
future Parliament's chief business to put a curb
on the Collector. One writer proposes a represen-
tative from every district in order that he may
report on the Collector's doings ; and another
proposes to reduce the Collector to the rank of
"a simple citizen." The ablest of the Congress
essayists says : "All our efforts are concentrated
towards breaking down the ramparts behind which
the bureaucratic forces are at work."

Although there is much talk of Parliaments,
there is the greatest diversity of opinion as to
their composition. The Congress writers resent
every restriction which would prevent them from
getting all power into their own hands. The claim
of the Congress men to be the leaders of the people

20 PROVINCIAL REDISTRIBUTION

is vehemently denied by others. They insist on the
representation of every class by genuine members
of that class, and the recognition of the rights
of minorities, including native Christians; they
declare that the rule of a small educated and
Anglicised class would be intolerable, and tanta-
mount to the enslavement of the whole body of the
people ; that the civilisation of India is in its own
way as great as that of England, and for Indian
purposes the more important ; and they deny that
an English education gives any right or ability to
rule. We may add that the protesters are not
Mahomedans, but Hindus. It is the protest of
the non-Anglicised against the Anglicised party.

2. The second suggestion put forward by several
essayists is the redistribution of the present provinces
into smaller groups. This redistribution should be
based: on the historic nationalities which exist, and
the administrative arrangements should be suited in
each case to the character of the people. Much
may be said in favour of this proposal, but only one
writer has worked it out in detail. He gives an
outline sketch of a model State, with an English
Governor and a few European administrators, an
executive recruited almost entirely from the
province, an official language which every one
can understand, and an impartial representation
of minorities, the English element to be reduced
in proportion as the province advances in civilisa-
tion and capacity for self-administration. Moreover,

THE HIGHER APPOINTMENTS 21

every attempt of any one province or party to
interfere with its neighbour should be severely
repressed. For instance, racial and religious
disputes often take the form of a dispute over
the official language, and our essayists afford an
illustration. Those who are Anglicised desire
English, the Mahomedans advocate the use of
Urdu, some half a dozen wish to make Hindi
compulsory, and only one stands up for the local
language.

3. The great majority of the essayists argue in
favour of a much larger employment of Indians
in the higher official posts. On this subject little
need be said, since the principle has been conceded
by the Government of India. Some writers look
only to the Civil Service, and demand that one
quarter or one half of the appointments over
Rs. 1,000 a month should be reserved for Indian
officials. Others desire a larger share in all the
Government services except the army and edu-
cation. Several essayists, both Europeans and
Indians, urge the appointment of an Indian Legal
Member in the Viceroy's Executive Council.

We do not consider that it comes within our
province to criticise the suggestions which we
have surveyed in this report, and we must expressly
dissociate ourselves from implying approval of, or,
indeed, any opinion on the views put forward by the

22 AWARD

writers whose essays we recommend. In making
our award we have looked to sanity of judgment,
moderation of tone, general practicability of
suggestion, cogency of argument, literary merit,
and careful and exhaustive treatment. Judged by
these standards, we are unanimous in considering
the essay which bears the signature of " Dum spiro,
spero " to be the best. It is a singularly able presen-
tation of the views of the moderate party in the
Congress. On its publication some small mistakes
of fact should be corrected. But although it is
certainly the most powerful and "best reasoned"
of the essays, it is scarcely advisable to publish it
without any indication of other points of view.

It appears to us to have much special pleading,
many false analogies, assumptions which will not
hold, and obliviousness of some fundamental facts,
while the writer appears to know little of India
outside certain limits, and much of what he asks
is impracticable. The chief value of these essays
consists in their evidential and educative signifi-
cance. We would therefore recommend that with
the prize paper some others be published which
represent a different standpoint. We have selected
" Moghal " and "Action Front" as representatives
of two opposite schools. " Moghal " has a wide,
but not, we think, a very profound or always
practical, grasp of the question, and is somewhat
wordy. "Action Front" displays a much surer
knowledge of Indian ways, but he ignores too much

SELECTED PAPERS 23

the position of "Young India" and the force of
English sentiment. Along with these we have
placed a very different paper by "A. M. I.," written
in halting English, and far down the list as a
literary composition. We have selected it because
of its obvious sincerity, its pathetic pessimism, and
its grasp of certain elemental facts overlooked by
the writer's more brilliant compatriots, which make
it the best representative among these essays of the
large and voiceless class of conservative Hindu
patriots.

Among the remaining essays "Garuda's" is the
most noteworthy; as an essayist he is equal to
"Moghal" or "Action Front"; he appears to
occupy a position midway between the Mahomedan
and the moderate Congress party, but his views
are covered to a considerable extent by those of
" Dum spirOy spero."

F. H. BROWN.
C. E. BUCKLAND.
J. KENNEDY.

CONTENTS

PAGE
PREFACE . . . . . . .5

THE COMPETITION . . . . .

REPORT OF THE JUDGES

THE POLITICAL FUTURE OF INDIA

BY H. P. MODY
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . 31

CHAPTER I

NATION-BUILDING . , . . . -35

CHAPTER II

SELF-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA . . . . 77

25

*

26 CONTENTS

CHAPTER III

PAGE
THE PRESENT TASK ..... IOI

CHAPTER IV

INDIAN DEMANDS . . . . . . 113

CHAPTER V

A PRACTICAL PROGRAMME 125

CHAPTER VI

SEDITION AND UNREST . . . . .156

CHAPTER VII

THE OUTLOOK . . . . . • . 172

REGENERATION ON A RACIAL BASIS
BY ACTION FRONT

CHAPTER I
AN ALLEGORY ...... l8l

CHAPTER II

ETHNIC TYPES l86

CONTENTS 27

CHAPTER III

PAGE
A LAND OF CONTRASTS . . . . . 193

CHAPTER IV

POPULAR FALLACIES ..... 198

CHAPTER V

THE WAYS OF THE PEOPLE 211

CHAPTER VI

SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES . 222

CHAPTER VII

ETHNOLOGICAL PROVINCES ..... 238

CHAPTER VIII

A FIRM POLICY ...... 248

CHAPTER IX

A RECONSTRUCTED INDIA .... 260

28 CONTENTS

EXPERIMENTAL REFORM
BY MOGHAL

CHAPTER I

v PAGE

POSSIBILITIES OF SELF-GOVERNMENT . . ^ 269

CHAPTER II

THE POLITICAL BALANCE .... 283

CHAPTER III

POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS . . . . .286

CHAPTER IV

THE CAUSES OF DISCONTENT .... 302

CHAPTER V

SUPPRESSING SEDITION . . . . .316

CHAPTER VI

THE TEACHERS OF THE PEOPLE . . . 325

THE POLITICAL FUTURE
OF INDIA

BY H. P. MODY, BOMBAY

INTRODUCTION

IN the annals of history it will be hard to find
a parallel to the romantic story of India. The
traces of its civilisation lie deep in the misty past,
when the West had not yet emerged from its
primaeval barbarism. Kingdoms rose and fell in
this ancient land ere the foundations of the Roman
Empire were laid. The home of great religions, of
science, ethics, law, and politics — in the region of
thought its influence was unbounded. Its ancient
sages taught the world the wisdom and the philo-
sophy of the East. For centuries India maintained
its supremacy in the domain of thought and the arts
of civilisation. Then the tide turned. The country
was given up to bloody feuds, anarchy, and mis-
rule, and darkness settled over the land. Successive
dynasties swept over it, and at each cycle of change
it stood where it was — lifeless and unprogressive.
Once in a while the victorious arm of a strong
ruler subdued disorder and restored peace and
good government. Then the country would again
plunge into confusion and chaos. Thus India lived

31

32 THE POLITICAL FUTURE

on for well-nigh two thousand years, while her
strength was being exhausted and her vast re-
sources drained. Then came a small band of
white traders from the West, attracted hither by
wondrous tales of the fabulous wealth of the East.
The story of the long struggle which ended in the
conquest of this vast empire by the white traders
can hardly be surpassed in dramatic interest by
anything the imagination can conceive.

It can be easily perceived that while the country
was given up to anarchy and misrule individual
consciousness had not manifested itself, and under
a long succession of despots the identity of the
individual was lost in that of the State, which
meant the king. When the English came they
found the people disunited, disorganised, and
demoralised. They evolved order out of chaos,
and to their eternal credit be it said, they set about
the task of uplifting the masses. In an auspicious
hour they decided upon educating the natives, and
through the blessings of higher education to bring
about their moral and material regeneration. That
wise and beneficent policy has been steadfastly
pursued for more than half a century. And now
the inevitable has happened. Education has brought
to life ambitions and aspirations for which there
was no scope while the people were under the heels
of the oppressor. But when good government was
established, and security of life and property as-
sured, men's minds turned away from mere mate-

INDIAN ASPIRATIONS 33

rial pursuits towards higher things. Hence has
sprung up the intense desire among the people to
have a share in the administration of the country
which has been their home from times immemorial.
"Good government can never be a substitute for
government by the people themselves," x and the
educated native has come to realise with much
force the truth of this statesmanlike dictum.

With the realisation of the truth has sprung up a
host of complicated issues. What Macaulay pro-
phesied with the vision of a seer has come to
pass. Speaking from his place in Parliament on
the occasion of the passing of the Charter Act,
he said : —

" It may be that the public mind of India may so expand
under our system as to outgrow that system ; that our sub-
jects, being brought up under good government, may develop
a capacity for better government, that being instructed in
European knowledge, they may crave for European institu-
tions. I know not whether such a day will ever come, but
when it does come it will be the proudest day in the annals
of England."

Nobler words were seldom uttered. That day
which Macaulay dreamt of has at length arrived.
Is England ready to respond to the call ? Or does
she refuse to recognise the conditions which the
policy of her own statesmen has brought into
being ? Herein lies the problem of India. It is
the great mission of Englishmen in India to solve
this problem in a spirit of broad statesmanship, and
1 The late Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman,

Political Future of India 3

34 THE POLITICAL FUTURE

thus carry to its logical conclusion the policy that
was inaugurated some fifty years ago. The pheno-
mena that are to-day observed throughout the land
are of England's own creation. Does she stand
aghast at her handiwork ? Will she not instead
courageously shape and direct the forces she her-
self has brought into being ? The path of duty is
plain, and therein also lie the safety, the prosperity,
and the honour of England. In the following
pages I shall endeavour to answer the questions
set before me with an open mind. They touch
some of the most burning topics of the day, and
on their right treatment by the British authorities
depends the stability of their ruje and the happi-
ness of their subjects.

CHAPTER I

NATION-BUILDING

THE question before us is, Is it possible for the
diverse races of India to become one united
self-governing community ? I propose to treat it
under two distinct heads. Under the first I mean
to discuss the possibility of the various races of
India forming themselves into a compact, united
nation ; under the second I shall deal with their
capacity for self-government.

Probably one-half of those who talk about the
diverse races of India do not realise how much
that means. No other country in the world can
afford so many varying types of civilisation. It is
necessary to emphasise this fact in order the better
to grapple with the difficulties before us. For this
purpose I shall quote at some length the words of
the late Marquis of Dufferin. Making due allow-
ance for the gorgeous imagery in which that
brilliant statesman delighted to indulge, the
picture given to us may be considered as fairly

35

36 NATION-BUILDING

accurate. Speaking at St. Andrew's Day dinner,1
he said : —

" Well, then, gentlemen, what is India ? It is an empire
equal in size, if Russia be excluded, to the entire continent of
Europe, with a population of 250 million souls.2 This popula-
tion is composed of a large number of distinct nationalities,
professing various religions, practising diverse rites, speaking
different languages, and many of these nationalities are still
further separated from each other by discordant prejudices,
by conflicting social usages, and even antagonistic material
interests. Perhaps the most patent peculiarity of our Indian
' cosmos ' is its division into two mighty political communities
— the Hindus, numbering 190 millions,3 and the Mahomedans,
a nation of 50 millions.* But to these two great divisions must
be added a host of minor nationalities, who, though some are
included in the two broader categories I have mentioned,
are as completely differentiated from each other as are the
Hindus from the Mahomedans. Such are the Sikhs, with
their warlike habits and traditions and their theocratic
enthusiasm ; the Rohillas, the Pathans, the Assamese, the
Baluchis, and the other wild and martial tribes on our
frontiers ; the hillmen dwelling in the folds of the Himalayas ;
our subjects in Burma, Mongol in race and Buddhist in
religion ; the Khonds, Mairs, and Bhils, and other non-
Aryan peoples in the centre and south of India ; and the
enterprising Parsis, with their rapidly developing manu-
factures and commercial interests. Again, among these
numerous communities may be found at one and the same
moment all the various stages of civilisation through which
mankind has passed from the prehistoric ages to the present
day. At one end of the scale we have the naked savage hill-
man, with his stone weapons, his head-hunting, his polyandrous
habits, and childish superstitions; and at the other the
Europeanised native gentleman, with his refinement and
polish, his literary culture, his Western philosophy, and his
advanced political ideas; while between the two lie, layer

1 Calcutta, 1888. 2 294 millions in census of 1901.

s Now 207 millions. 4 Now 62$ millions.

WHAT IS A NATION? 37

upon layer, or in close juxtaposition, wandering communities,
with their flocks of goats and moving tents ; collections of
undisciplined warriors, with their blood-feuds, their clan
organisation, and loose tribal government ; feudal chiefs and
barons, with their picturesque retainers, their seignorial
jurisdiction, and their mediaeval modes of life ; and modern-
ised country gentlemen and enterprising merchants and
manufacturers, with their well-managed estates and pros-
perous enterprises. The mere enumeration of these diver-
sified elements must suggest to the most unimaginative
mind a picture of as complicated a social and political
organisation as ever taxed human ingenuity to govern and
administer."

Is it possible for this confused mass of humanity
to emerge into a united community with definite
ideals and definite aims ? The question is one of
great difficulty, involving a consideration of com-
plex factors in political and social evolution. At
the outset it will be necessary for us to analyse
carefully the conception of nationality. We shall
then be in a position to state definitely to what
extent the diverse races of India have the making
of a nation in them.

What is a nation ? It is generally understood
to denote a distinct homogeneous race of men,
united by the ties of common origin, language,
and manners. It is here the confusion between a
"people" and a "nation" comes in. Bluntschli,
in his great work on " The Theory of the State,"
has clearly distinguished between the two. Com-
munity of race and community of religion may
be essential elements in the formation of a

38 NATION-BUILDING

people. But it is quite possible to believe that a
nation may grow up where these two conditions
do not exist. By a nation we generally under-
stand a society of all the members of a State as
united and organised in the State. To put the
difference between the two conceptions shortly,
"it is the consciousness, more or less developed,
of political connection and unity which lifts the
nation above the people."

Seeley, in his " Expansion of England," after
stating that it is not every population that constitutes
a nationality, goes on to discuss some of those
uniting forces which go towards the formation of
a nation. He assigns the first place to community
of race. Now, it may be at once conceded that it
is much harder to establish and maintain the unity
of a nation if it is composed of several peoples
each fighting for power and place, than if it is a
single people descended from a common stock.
But it is submitted that community of race, though
a very helpful, is not an indispensable factor. It is
difficult to understand why racial differences should
stand in the way of political unity (which is all we
are concerned with) if other conditions favouring
its growth exist. Now what are these conditions
which make possible the union of the heterogeneous
communities of India ? The answer is to be found
in the following definition of a nation : —

" It is the aggregate of those who are citizens of one
country, subordinate to one Power, subject to one supreme

A SENSE OF GRIEVANCE 39

legislature, taxed by one authority, influenced for weal and
woe by one system of administration, urged by like impulses
to secure like rights and to be relieved of like burdens."

In other words, common grievances and common
aims, a common country and a common system of
government, supply the defects of diversity of race.
I shall now consider one by one the value of these
factors in combating the adverse influence of racial
differences.

Where a body of people suffer under a sense of
injury, there is formed between them a bond which
far transcends mere community of race as a moral
and political force. Now it will not be denied,
even by the Anglo-Indian official, that the people
of India have grievances and are discontented.
Whether we have to thank "pestilential agitators"
for this, or "sun-dried bureaucrats," this is not
the place to inquire. Sufficient for us is the fact
that the unrest in India is not confined to one
community or to one district. All over the land a
ceaseless campaign is being carried on against the
policy of the Government. From the press and
from the platform a flood of criticism, valuable or
worthless, is being poured upon the methods of
British rule in India. Bengali and Sikh, Rajput
and Brahmin, Madrasi and Parsi, all are united in
one common endeavour to ameliorate the lot of the
people of this country. There is not a single
measure affecting a district or a province which
does not evoke an active and sympathetic interest

40 NATION-BUILDING

throughout the whole land. Even a purely pro-
vincial question such as the Partition of Bengal
produced a commotion which was felt by Bombay,
Madras, and the Punjab no less than by the divided
province itself. Of course, the intensity of feeling
in Bengal was not manifested to an equal degree in
the other provinces. That is but natural. Similarly,
the Punjab Colonisation Bill was impartially con-
demned everywhere, though it affected the Land of
the Five Rivers only. These are signs which he who
runs may read. Here we have practical demonstra-
tions of the power of common grievances in uniting
widely divided peoples. A significant passage in a
recent issue of the Fortnightly Review amply sup-
ports my contention. Says the writer : " It is a
matter of life and death for our regime in the
East that no artificial unity of the Indian peoples
— Bengalis with Sikhs, Pathans, Rajputs, Mahrathas,
arid the rest — should be created by the burning
sense of a common injustice.'' By " artificial unity "
I suppose the writer means a unity based on other
factors than community of race. If that is the
interpretation, I have nothing to say to it ; but
the word is otherwise apt to mislead.

If common grievances have the power to unite
people, community of aims is no less instrumental
in doing so. It is another stimulus to co-opera-
tion and combination. The leaders of thought all
over India are animated by a single purpose, and
that is the moral and material advancement of the

A COMMON COUNTRY 41

country and the larger association of the people in
its government. Methods may differ, but the ulti-
mate aim of all is practically identical. Extremist
or moderate in their opposition to Government, and
in their desire to have a substantial share in the
administration, they are all at one. I shall have
occasion to dwell on this topic further on.

For the present, I pass on to another factor of
importance in breaking down the barriers of race,
and that is a common country, which includes
common laws, common rights, &c. Whether We
are Hindus or Mahomedans, Gurkhas or Sikhs, we
are the children of one soil. Mr. Seeley has con-
tended that India is not a political name, but only
a geographical expression like Europe or Africa.
This is but a half truth, which generally is worse
than palpable error. I am prepared to admit that
before the advent of the British the word " Indian "
had no meaning, and India was only a geographical
expression. But circumstances have altered, and
what was formerly a conglomeration of scattered
principalities is now a single country dominated by
a single Power. No longer is the south the country
of the Hindu and the north the dominion of the
Moslem. We are all British-born subjects, living
under the same flag, enjoying the same rights, and
suffering the same disabilities. India is equally the
home of the Pathan in the North and the Tamil in
the South. The population is the same as before,
the geographical boundaries are the same, but the

42 NATION-BUILDING

dividing forces are no more. We are all the inhabi-
tants of British India. This has added one more
bond of sympathy between us, and thus helped
to break down further the demoralising influence
of racial diversity.

My last argument deals with the part played by
the Government in bringing about the same end.
It is a commonplace in politics that where there is
a centre of resistance round which all the moral,
political, or social elements cluster, there will be
found a powerful incentive to organised effort.
This pivot of opposition is supplied by the British
Government. However divided the people may
be, the division between one community of India
and another is not so great as between the Indian
and the Englishman. There is much that is
common between the various races of India, but
what community of interests is there between the
rulers and the ruled ? Here, the consideration
of the beneficence or otherwise of British rule does
not enter at all. Even if it was a perfectly organised
machinery, the interests of the rulers on the one
hand and the aspirations of the subject races on
the other must inevitably produce a conflict which
would drive the two forces into opposite camps.
All our efforts are concentrated towards breaking
down the ramparts behind which the bureaucratic
forces are at work. We constitute, so to say, a
permanent Opposition, and just as in English
politics there is a combination while in opposition

OVERBEARING MANNERS 43

which was lacking in the days of power, so our
combinatiori grows vigorous and intense. A
Liberal in power occasionally declaims against
his own party ; in opposition he is a staunch and
consistent enemy of all that is Conservative. Thus
we are never demoralised by victory, but always
united by constant reverses.

But, letting alone the political aspect of the
question, what are the ties that draw us to our
rulers ? Do they lie in the Anglo-Indian's ill-
disguised contempt for the "nigger," or in his
arrogant behaviour towards all and sundry, irrespec-
tive of class and education ? * Is the over-sensitive
native to be won over by being socially ostracised
and continually reminded of the blackness of his
skin ? Does it tend to better relations when insti-
tutions all over the country are labelled "For
Europeans only," with the " Eurasian " also thrown
in at times ? A Mahratha and a Sikh, a Rajput and
a Gurkha may not have much in common, but the
connection between them and the nation which
conquered them all is still less. The victor of
Plassey and Argaon, of Khirkee and Sobraon can
hardly be more acceptable to the Indian than a
compatriot and fellow-countryman. Specially is
this the case when the conquerer never forgets his
racial superiority. It is unfortunately forgotten

1 It is to be regretted that the writer does not here dis-
criminate, but charges Anglo-Indians as a class with an
attitude and spirit observable in a small minority only. — ED.

44 NATION-BUILDING

that " In India bad manners — overbearing manners
— are a crime." But then every Anglo-Indian is
not a Morley. Thus it comes to pass that the
division is not between the Hindu and the Moslem,
but between the Hindu and the Moslem on the
one hand and the Englishman on the other. Mr.
Sydney Low, who has hardly much sympathy with
Indian aspirations, thus observes in his book on the
Royal tour : —

" What did not seem to me a small matter by any means
was that all these Anglicised, de-Orientalised natives had
a certain common national feeling as against the alien ruler.
Differing as they do among themselves in origin, race, and
language, they yet manifested a consciousness that vis-a-vis
the British they were all ' Indians.' It was a sentiment the
existence of which most Anglo-Indians would emphatically
deny, but I have seen other evidence that it prevails even in
Europeanised Bombay, which is perhaps the last place where
one would expect to find it."

I have so far attempted to show that racial diver-
sity is not an insuperable obstacle to the attainment
of political unity. Perhaps, if we find some illustra-
tions from history in support of our view, our
case will be very much strengthened. The most
striking instance is that of Switzerland, which has
succeeded in retaining different nationalities side
by side without injuring the unity of the State.
It has maintained a vigorous patriotism in spite of
its three languages and two religions. French,
German, and Italian elements there co-exist without
any quarrel or conflict. In a lesser degree, the same

UNITY OF LIFE AND IDEALS 45

may be said of modern Germany, whose different
peoples have merged their petty differences and by
their union created a strong and militant Father-
land. How many discordant elements, again, have
gone to the making of the American nation, since
the days when Europe first poured her human
cargo into the New World. So, while we reflect
upon the diversity of races in India, let us not
despair of their political unity. A united India is
not a fond visionary's dream, but quite within the
range of practical politics. And what, after all, does
this diversity in substance amount to ? Underlying
all these various manifestations of civilisation there
is an essential unity of Indian life and ideals. A
shrewd observer has remarked : —

"Compare the most dissimilar Indian sects, and if a few
wild tribes at a lower stage of civilisation be left out of
account, striking similarities will at once appear, while the
differences of both from the civilisation of Europe on the one
hand, or of China and Japan on the other, will be very marked-
To take only one point, it will be found that the ideal of
sanctity is the same throughout India ; so that there are
saints who are held in veneration by men of all religions in
India."

But the casual observer is of course more struck
by superficial differences than by the underlying
similarities.

I have attempted to demonstrate that a common
origin is not an essential condition of political unity,
if there are other circumstances conducive to its
growth. I now proceed to discuss what has been

46 NATION-BUILDING

regarded as another indispensable element in the
formation of a nation, and that is a common
religion. According to Seeley, it is the strongest
and most important of all the elements that go
to constitute nationality, and he thinks this ele-
ment exists in India. The latter part of this
remark is, of course, not correct (though it is an
admission in my favour), for Hinduism and
Mahomedanism have nothing in common, and
there are absolutely no indications of the one
absorbing the other. In ancient times, religious
belief had immense influence over the thought
and life of man. The principle of toleration
was practically unknown, and religious liberty
amounted to a "permission to believe what I
believe." Those were the days when heretics and
unbelievers were tortured and burnt. In the first
days of man's faith, religious belief brought with
it an intolerance and bigotry which almost
amounted to fanaticism. Human life was not so
sacred then, and our forefathers had rather vague
notions of its value. Respect for individual con-
science there was little, and as the Greeks called
all others barbarians, so difference of belief was
termed unbelief. The statutes of civilised coun-
tries bear witness to the spirit which dominated
the religious convictions of men down to within
recent times. Our modern civilisation can boast
of no prouder achievement than the triumph over
religious bigotry and fanaticism. We are not

RELIGIOUS TOLERATION 47

totally free from their influence, but the old fury
will never again take possession of men's souls.
No longer will a Bartholomew massacre disgrace
the annals of mankind. No more will the mili-
tant faith of Islam carry conviction at the point
of the sword. Not in our day will an imaginary
Popish Plot unhinge the minds of men. Never
again will adherence to the ancient faith of Persia
be purchased with exile from hearth and home.
The dictates of a man's conscience we value above
religious unity, and we have too much respect for
the human mind to make of it a slave. Freedom
from dogma has enabled us to grasp with clearer
perception the essentials of religion, and its teaching
of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood and
equality before God of men.

Thus it has come about that religious differences
have ceased to be the disruptive influences that
once they were. Outside of our beliefs, we find
much that brings us into close communion with
our fellow-creatures. As Mr. Wells observes in one
of his essays : —

"One man may be a Swedenborgian, another a Roman
Catholic, another a Calvinistic Methodist, another an Eng-
lish High-Churchman, another a Positivist or a Parsi or a
Jew ; the fact remains that they must go about doing all sorts
of things in common every day, and may meet unanimously in
the market-place with a desire to shape their general activi-
ties to the form of a public-spirited life, and when at last the
life of every day is summed up, to leave the world better than
they found it."

48 NATION-BUILDING

This is, of course, an ideal held before us, and
it has not yet succeeded in directing the public life
of any country. But we are gradually progressing
towards this ideal, and the day is not far distant
when our religious differences will be entirely
merged in a higher conception of the essential
unity of all religions. In Protestant England, it
was found possible for a Jew to attain the highest
position in the State, and a French Canadian and
a Catholic could become Prime Minister of Canada.

In India, this spirit of broad-minded tolerance
has been specially inculcated by the wise policy
of the British Government, which has emphatically
declared that it regards all religions alike. Hence
the violence and animosities of earlier days have
ceased to exist, and the acuteness of our dissensions
is considerably diminished by the lesson of toler-
ance thus taught. Of course there are occasional
outbursts of ill-feeling between the Hindus and
the Mahomedans, but to represent these solitary
instances as a chronic condition of things is too
ridiculous to need refutation. Since the British
occupation there have been very few instances of
any serious conflict between the two races. The
recent breach between them in Eastern Bengal is
due to political reasons, and religious differences
have not contributed thereto. Of their general
relations I shall have to speak shortly. For the
present I shall content myself with one or two
notable illustrations in support of my contention

COMMUNITY OF LANGUAGE 49

that diversity of religion is not such a disruptive
influence among Indians as it is represented to
be. The premier Native Prince of India, a staunch
Mahomedan, has for his Prime Minister a Hindu
gentleman, and the enterprising Parsis have mono-
polised in that State some of the highest positions
in the gift of the Nizam. The Gaekwar of Baroda,
a devoted Hindu, and the most enlightened of all
the Native Princes, has had more than one Parsi
at the head of his State. Similarly, in other Native
States, important posts will be found to have been
distributed irrespective of caste or creed. This is an
encouraging sign of the times, and a happy augury
for the future. Bluntschli's opinions are always
deserving of respect, and this is what he has to
say on the influence of religion : —

"Now that religious freedom is valued more highly than
unity of belief, the influence of religion upon the formation
and separation of peoples becomes weaker. Germans have
become conscious of their unity as a nation apart from the
question whether they are Catholics or Protestants, Jews or
Pantheists, and they maintain their distinction from foreign
peoples, although many of these are of the same religion with
them."

A third element in the formation of a national
spirit is community of language. Unlike the other
two elements we have just discussed, it is an essen-
tial condition of political unity. For unless there
is a common language which serves as a medium
of intellectual intercourse, there cannot be a com-

Political Future of India 4-

50 NATION-BUILDING

munity of ideas. Common language is the special
characteristic of a nation, so that those who speak
the same language have a mutual recognition of
each other as members of the same people. It
must not be understood that community of speech
always denotes nationality ; for the English and
Americans both speak the same tongue, yet are two
distinct nationalities. But it is essential that there
should be a common instrument for the diffusion
of ideas before there can be a community of
interests. Now, India has more than a hundred
dialects, and it would appear that here is an insur-
mountable obstacle to our ultimate unification.
But the spread of English education has par-
tially removed this obstacle, and the gradual diffu-
sion of the language among the masses will
ultimately supply us with that common speech
which is so necessary for our progress. Already,
all over India, the educated classes find in it a
common medium for the expression of ideas.
How much it has done for us can best be real-
ised by an attendance at the annual meeting of the
Indian National Congress. Here will be found the
Bengali and the Sikh, the Brahmin and the Mos-
lem, the Mahratha and the Parsi conversing with
each other in the language that threatens to sup-
plant their mother-tongues, and voicing their griev-
ances through the medium of a common speech.
It will be urged that the English-speaking portion
of the population is very small, and that the masses

THE USE OF ENGLISH 51

of the people cannot even write their own dialects.
But so far we have been considering the educated
classes only, and it must be admitted that whatever
unity exists at present exists among them alone.
It is remarkable, however, with what facility Indians
have adopted a tongue which is not their own. The
foreigner stands amazed at their command over the
English language. There are hundreds of natives
who can speak and write it as well as Englishmen
themselves, though the eloquent Babu sometimes
butchers the idiom. To one who is a resident of
this country the fact needs no demonstration.
Attend a political meeting or read a native journal,
and no further proof will be required.

Nor will proof be needed to demonstrate the
immense influence of language and literature in
bringing about a feeling of nationality. A common
literature is the means whereby community of
thought and feeling is engendered, for it is the
vehicle by which ideas are exchanged and acquired.
To this result the periodical press has contributed
not a little. If the Elizabethan age was the age of
poets and dramatists, the twentieth century may
aptly be said to be the age of newspapers. Within
the past fifty years the press in Western countries
has acquired and wielded an influence which has
been felt by princes and cabinets. This is not the
growth of a decade or a generation. It is the result
of a long struggle against neglect, opposition, and
oppression. To-day, its position as the spokesman

52 NATION-BUILDING

of the people and the moulder of public opinion is
unchallenged. The press in India had no such
difficulties to encounter, though it, too, has had its
share of abuse and ridicule. With a magnanimity
which deserves the highest commendation, the
Government of India, some twenty-five years ago,
granted the complete freedom of the press. To
this may be ascribed the birth and growth of native
journalism, for its position as a power in the land
dates from that time. At the present day it per-
forms the difficult task of voicing the aspirations of
the people and criticising the methods of the
Government. In a country of vast distances, it has
been the only means of bringing the people of the
different provinces into communication with each
other. It has created and shaped public opinion,
and, in voicing the aspirations of the diverse races
of India, has helped to bring about a common
feeling of nationality.

Of all the various shapes which political activity
has taken in this country, I am inclined to attach
the greatest importance to the efforts of the native
papers. Their influence is being slowly recognised
by the Government, and by none more so than by
the present Governor of Bombay, who has borne
public testimony to their usefulness and importance.
Their influence has not been confined to the edu-
cated classes only. The vernacular papers have
their own sphere of activity. But, it will be urged,
the people of India have no common vernacular.

THE INDIAN NEWSPAPERS 53

True ; but whether the papers are printed in Guje-
rati or Hindi, Bengali or Mahrathi, Tamil or Arabic
they are all directed towards the same object, and
that is the education of the people in political
principles and improvements in the methods of
administration. They are conducted with an ability
and energy of which those who have not seen them
can have no idea. Their integrity, too, is unques-
tioned ; and if they adopt a too partisan tone it may
be excusable under the peculiar circumstances of
the case. For the matter of that, a Tory journal
has seldom a good word to say of the Liberals. Of
course, there are black sheep everywhere, and the
man who wrote that Lady Curzon's death was a
visitation from God on the late Viceroy for par-
titioning the province of Bengal cannot be too
severely condemned. But, despite occasional lapses
from good taste and common sense, the native
press as a whole is doing yeoman's service to the
cause of the country.

Here, then, we have a mighty instrument at work
in forming a national spirit. And for this we have
to thank the language of our adoption. Without its
aid nothing could have been achieved. With its
aid, there is being slowly formed a feeling of
nationality all over the country. As has been well
said : —

" Even strange races, entering on the heritage of a new
language, are gradually transformed in spirit by it until their
nationality is changed. Thus the German tribes of the Ostro-

54 NATION-BUILDING

goths and Lombards in Italy became Italian ; the Celts, the
Franks, and the Burgundians in France became French ; the
Slavs and Wends in Prussia became Prussian.1'

And so it may come about that the diverse races
of India, entering on the heritage of the English
language, may be so transformed by it in spirit that
they all may be able to call themselves Indians in
the real sense of the term.

A fourth element of nationality consists of what
Renan styled "community of historical antece-
dents." This element exists in India, though its
force is rather weak. It is natural that people who
have been associated with each other in the past
should develop strong tendencies to unite. In spite
of what may be said to the contrary, the people of
India have historic associations. Whatever rulers
they had, they remember at least the ancient glory
and prosperity of their fatherland. Nor have the
alternations of Hindu and Mahomedan rulers tended
to impair this sense of historical associations in
the past, if it be remembered that the distinction
between a Hindu and a Mahomedan is not so great
as that between them and a foreigner. On the other
hand, the rule of a universal benefactor like Akbar
has handed down glorious traditions which are the
common property of all. Just as the dark episodes
of the Mutiny excite no bitter feelings in the breast
of the Englishman now, so the scenes of their early
conflicts do not conjure up bitter memories in the
descendants of those who fought and died for their

HISTOKIC ASSOCIATIONS 55

faith. The racial hatred which brought about the
conflicts has been forgotten ; but the brave deeds
and heroic sacrifices which distinguished them
remain as treasured recollections of the gallantry
of their countrymen.

It might be urged that the country is too large,
and the connection between its various divisions
too little, to admit of associations growing up round
it. This argument overlooks one or two material
particulars. It is generally forgotten that the
division between India and the rest of the world
is much greater than that between one part of India
and another. The attitude of Seeley towards the
question of Indian nationality is very uncompro-
mising. But even he is forced to admit that despite
ethnical and local divisions, some vague conception
of India as a possible whole has existed from very
ancient times. And if the conception of a single
political whole exists, there is bound to be a com-
munity of historical antecedents. The veneration
in which Akbar's name is held throughout India,
and the cult of Sivaji, the great Mahratha warrior,
in far-off Bengal, are remarkable illustrations of the
unity of historical traditions among the people of
this country.

I have now discussed some of the elements which
go to constitute nationality. Of these, I have
admitted that community of race and community
of religion are wanting in India. But I have argued
that their existence is not essential, though it would

56 NATION-BUILDING

vastly facilitate the growth of a national feeling. In
their place, I have pointed out, there are several
conditions which are favourable to the formation of
political unity among Indians. They are community
of grievances, community of aims, community of
historical antecedents, and last, but not least, a partial
community of language provided by the gradual
adoption of the English tongue. These are some
of the factors which are responsible for whatever
political unity there exists among us, and which
make us hope with confidence for that complete
unanimity of feeling which our common lot ought
to create. Having discussed the subject in the
abstract, I shall now cite concrete instances
which will afford proof that racial and religious
barriers have broken down to a certain extent, and
are in process of gradual but inevitable annihilation.
But let us first ask, What is Unity ? The ideal
standard was aptly and pithily put centuries ago :
" In essentials — unity ; in non-essentials — liberty ;
in all things — charity." In other words, there
should be a uniformity of essential principles, a
toleration for differences of opinion in matters of
detail, and an attitude of charity towards all men
and measures. Thus unity does not mean a dead
uniformity, but a common recognition of certain
definite principles, whatever differences of opinion
there may be as to the means to be employed. In
human affairs, it is absolutely impossible to expect
complete unanimity on all points. Progress is

UNITY IN ESSENTIALS 57

always achieved through conflict, and stagnation
follows a spirit of dull contentment. In a well-
regulated State, all that we can expect is that certain
principles which affect the very existence of the
State and the welfare of its members as a whole
shall be accepted by all. Beyond these limits, it
is permissible to hold a variety of conflicting
opinions without danger to the continued existence
of the body politic. It is necessary to bear this in
mind while judging of recent events in India. In
some quarters there has been much ill-disguised
jubilation over the split in the Indian National
Congress at Surat. Much solemn nonsense has
been spoken and written about our differences and
divisions, and the claims of the Congress to voice
the unanimous feelings of the educated classes in
the country have been contemptuously laughed out.
Those who criticise in this vein forget that the
difference between the Extremists and the Moderates
is one of degree only, and is not inconsistent with
their agreement on essential principles. Both parties
are equally anxious to see the introduction of radical
improvements in the existing machinery of govern-
ment. Both are united in their desire for a sub-
stantial share in the administration of the country.
But their methods differ. The Extremist would
have nothing to do with the alien ruler. The
Moderate believes in co-operating with the Govern-
ment. The Extremist has no faith in gradual
advancement towards the desired goal. The

58 NATION-BUILDING

Moderate considers (and rightly too) that India is
not yet ripe for the wholesale introduction of repre-
sentative institutions. The Extremist's methods are
apt to be violent at times. The Moderate is always
constitutional. This, in short, is the difference
between the two parties. Does it, then, argue that
Indians are disunited and disorganised ? Let us
take the case of England. The administrative
machinery of the most perfectly governed country
in the world is controlled chiefly by two great
parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives. Besides
them, there are the Radicals, the Labourites, and
the Nationalists. These various parties have hardly
anything in common except their loyalty to their
King and country. Their opinions on most ques-
tions differ radically from each other. Even the
Navy, on which the very existence of England
depends, gives rise to eager controversies. The
Radical and his kin call loudly for a reduction
of armaments. Their opponents would not have
anything less than the two-Power standard. One
would have thought that the voice of the nation
would be unanimous on a question so vital to its
existence. But the " free Briton " is highly pug-
nacious, and never sacrifices his opinions. Thus it
is that there is a difference of opinion on almost
every question. The Boers fight with the English,
and up spring a host of pro-Boers in England.
Russia treats with England, and soon a fierce con-
troversy is raged in the press as to the merits and

IGNORANCE OF THE MASSES 59

demerits of the peace settlement. But suppose
Germany threatened England to-morrow. All these
acute differences would vanish as with magic, and the
nation would rise as one man to resist the common
enemy. So it is with us in India. We will fight
tooth and nail over Swadeshi, or Swaraj, or the
Congress presidentship. But let the Universities
Bill be passed into law, and we are up in arms
together. Let Lord Curzon revile the educated
classes, and the Extremist and Moderate will equally
protest against it. This is all as it should be. It
is foolish, then, to argue that there is no political
unity among Indians. As I have shown, there
exists a substantial unanimity of feeling, though it
is at present confined to the educated classes.

An oft-repeated argument in favour of the theory
that the diverse races of India can never become
united is that the masses are blissfully ignorant of
any national awakening, and that the educated
classes who exhibit this sentiment are " a micro-
scopic minority." Hence the existence of such
unity must be disregarded, as it does not touch the
mass of the people. This reasoning is based upon
ignorance. The educated classes in all countries
are the natural leaders of the people. They voice
the hopes and fears, the grievances and aspirations
of the dumb millions. It is to them that people
look for guidance and support ; and a wise govern-
ment will always take their peculiar position into
account. A foreign government specially needs

60 NATION-BUILDING

their co-operation, for where the masses are illiterate,
it is generally out of touch with them. In any case,
the educated classes are in a better position to know
the wants of vast numbers of their own kith and kin
than an alien bureaucracy. Their position as the
interpreters between the rulers and the ruled is one
of great importance and influence. What the
educated classes are thinking to-day, the masses
will be thinking to-morrow. Just as the mountain-
tops catch the light of the rising sun first, and then
the plains, and lastly the valleys — so the light of
knowledge must first shine on those whom Nature
has placed in a higher sphere than the rest, and
then extend itself to the labourer in the field
and the artisan in the workshop. But as when
once the sun has risen high up in the heavens,
mountains and plains and valleys alike pulsate with
life and vigour, so when education has spread its
beneficent influence over rich and poor alike, the
whole people will throb with one impulse. Thus
it will not do to take refuge in the fact that the
feeling of nationality is confined only to the few,
and that the many are divided and disorganised.
The same forces that have achieved so much for the
few are also slowly but surely at work among the
many. Perhaps not in a year nor in a generation
will the transformation be brought about. But
look upon the educated classes as the indicators
of the prevailing tendencies, and there will hardly
be room for doubt that the evolution of the diverse

THE MAHOMEDAN ATTITUDE 61

races of India into a politically united community
must come in the fulness of time.

I am bound to admit that the Mahomedans have
more or less kept themselves aloof from the political
tendencies of the age. But at the same time I
maintain that their differences with their Hindu
brethren have been painted with more vivid colours
than the facts of the case warrant, and if we go to
the root of the matter we shall find that there is not
much cause for despair at the somewhat strained
relations between the two communities. Before the
British conquest the Mahomedans lorded it over
the greater part of India. Except for a few offices,
all the great positions of the State were in the hands
of their own kith and kin. The great House of
Baber had made them masters of the peninsula,
and such they remained till the British came. The
Mahomedan power then vanished, as also did the
Hindu dominion over the South. But whereas
the supple Hindu quickly adapted himself to the
changing conditions of the times, the Moslem stood
sullen and refused to recognise the new order of
things. He slowly sank into a moral and intellec-
tual torpor. The Hindu, who had served him for
generations, now became his master, for he mono-
polised all the offices that were at the disposal of
the natives of the soil. Generations have gone by
and the followers of Islam have not yet emerged
from that lethargy into which they sank at the time
of the British conquest. It is human nature to

62 NATION-BUILDING

envy that which one cannot attain, and the shrewd
Hindu has thus become an object of suspicion and
jealousy. The force of racial differences has been
strengthened by the success of the one and the
failure of the other.

In the early 'eighties, when the new India came
into being and the Mahratha and the Babu
clamoured for political privileges, the Mahomedans
kept aloof from them. They saw that with their
intellectual inferiority they stood no chance of
sharing proportionately with the Hindus the privi-
leges thus demanded. They fell back upon the
Government. They protested their great loyalty
and invoked the protection of their rulers. Hitherto
the British had been strictly impartial in their treat-
ment of the various communities. But now they
became impressed with the preponderating influence
of the Hindus, and as the Mahomedans were unable
to hold their own through their backwardness in
education, they extended a protecting hand to the
latter. However well-meaning the effort may have
been, the inevitable consequence was that the
Mahomedans saw the advantage of throwing in
their lot with the Government and against the
Hindus. They perceived that in their present stage
of development it was not possible for them to
derive any advantage from a campaign of political
agitation. Thus the cleavage deepened.

Unfortunately, events have of late occurred which
are calculated to widen the breach still further.

THE BENGAL PARTITION 63

I much regret to have to state it, but the recent
policy of the Government has been to show a
distinct preference towards one community as
against the other. I am not an opponent of the
much-debated Partition of Bengal. As an adminis-
trative measure it aimed at greater efficiency in the
machinery of government. But, inasmuch as the
consequence has been to set the two communities
by the ears and to place them in a situation of open
rivalry to each other, the partition is to be con-
demned. Nor was this result unforeseen, and hence
more than the measure itself is to be condemned
the policy which lay behind it. In pursuance of
the same policy special favours have been granted
to the Mahomedan community in the proposed
measures for the expansion of the Legislative
Councils. It will indeed be an evil day when the
Government pins its faith to the principle of
"Divide et Impera." I for my part fail to see
why the interests of the Mahomedan minority are
to be specially safeguarded when the minority are
unfit for the exercise of the powers proposed to be
vested in them.

If it were a fact that the preponderance of
numbers which the Hindus possessed tended to
exclude even capable Mahomedans from the enjoy-
ment of political privileges, no one would question
the wisdom of specially protecting the minorities.
But it has never been so in this country. Wherever
a capable Mahomedan has been found his merit

64 NATION-BUILDING

has been recognised by his own countrymen. For
instance, the non-official members of the Madras
Legislative Council, who are nearly all Hindus,
have for years been sending a Mahomedan gentle-
man as their representative to the Council of the
Viceroy. Similarly, Bombay and the United Pro-
vinces have been represented in times past by
members of the same community. The landowners
of Behar have displayed an equally catholic spirit.
Again, take the instance of the Parsis. They have
long been wielding an influence out of all propor-
tion to their numbers. This has been due solely
to their intellectual superiority and Western culture.
The non-official members of the Bombay Legislative
Council — mostly Hindus again — for a number of
years sent a Parsi gentleman to the Imperial Council.
This proves that merit has been recognised wherever
found. It is, then, deplorable to find special protec-
tion being extended to one community, which has
the effect of sowing dissensions in all quarters.
Herein lies one reason of the differences between
the Hindus and the Mahomedans.

The backwardness in education which has won for
Mahomedans the special favour of the Government
is also the reason of their hesitation to share the
political activities of the other races of India.
Commercial and industrial occupations have weaned
them away from intellectual pursuits. The class of
petty traders and artisans has driven the educated
few into a hopeless minority. In the learned pro-

MOSLEM CO-OPERATION 65

fessions the followers of Islam are found to be few
and far between. In Government service, too, their
number is very limited. This low level of educa-
tion is the prime cause of the general indifference
of the Mahomedans to the attractions of politics.
The class of petty traders and artisans have neither
the time nor the capacity to take an intelligent
interest in the fortunes of their country. Where
there is no education there are no aspirations.
This is almost a truism and hardly needs proof.
If half a century of high education had not taught
the natives to think for themselves there would have
been no more unrest in India than there is in
Brighton or Blackpool. It is precisely because we
are instructed in European knowledge, as Macaulay
says, that we crave for European institutions. Let
there be no delusion, then, that when the Maho-
medans as a class have raised themselves from their
intellectual torpor they will refrain from joining
their Hindu brethren in the cause of Indian
emancipation.

In spite of the teaching of their great leader, Sir
Syed Ahmed, in spite of the attractions of Govern-
ment protection and favour, the educated among
the Mahomedans have sufficiently testified their
devotion to the cause of their country to kindle in
us a larger hope for the future. I am not here
throwing out vague generalisations. Read the pro-
ceedings of the Indian National Congress, and you
will find a sufficient sprinkling of Mahomedans

Political Future of India 5

66 NATION-BUILDING

therein to support my contention. Two of their
number have enjoyed the distinction of being its
president. The one was the late Mr. Justice Tyebji,
of the Bombay High Court, and the other the late
Mr. Sayani, a member of the Imperial Legislative
Council. Then again, if you look over the reports
of public political meetings during the past quarter
of a century, you will find many eminent Mahome-
dans among the speakers. A notable recruit to the
ranks of Indian politicians has lately been found in
the person of a retired Mahomedan Judge of the
Calcutta High Court,1 who, in his position as
president of the English branch of the All-India
Moslem League, lately declared that the objects of
the League were the creation of a united India, and
were not hostile to those of any class or community.
The straw shows which way the wind is blowing,
and these are indications of the conditions that will
prevail when this backward community has received
the blessings of high education. I will close this
topic by citing a quotation in support of this con-
tention. In a Conservative review, the National,
a writer observes : —

"The supposed rivalry between Mussulmans and Hindus is
a convenient decoy to distract attention and to defer the day
of reform. I do not wish to affirm that there is no antagonism
between the adherents of the two faiths ; but I do most
positively assert that the antagonism has been grossly exag-
gerated. Every municipal improvement and charitable work
finds members of the two faiths working together and sub-

1 Mr. Syed Ameer Ali, C.I.E,

INSTANCES OF UNITY 67

scribing funds to carry it out. Every political paper in the
country finds supporters from believers in both creeds. Just
the same is witnessed in the proceedings of the Congress.
The members of the Congress meet together as men, on the
common basis of nationality, being citizens of one country,
subjects of one Power, amenable to one code of laws, taxed
by one authority, influenced for weal or woe by one system
of administration, urged by like impulses to secure like rights
and to be relieved of like burdens. If these are not sufficient
causes to weld a people together into one common alliance of
nationality, it is difficult to conceive what would be sufficient."

Let me now cite a few instances of actual unity
in the public life of this country. I can give no
better example than that of the Corporation of
Bombay. The municipal government of the city
deals with vast and varied interests. It collects and
disburses a revenue that is close upon three-quarters
of a million pounds. Who are the administrators
of this important organisation ? There are 72
members, about a fourth of them being nominated
and the rest elected. Among these 72 are repre-
sentatives of all the communities in Bombay.
There are Europeans, Mahomedans, Parsis, Hindus,
Native Christians, and even Jews. Yet these hetero-
geneous communities are working together with a
single eye to the good of the city. Their administra-
tion of its affairs is conducted with an energy and
ability that are worthy of the best-managed county
councils of England. The elections to this body
are contested with admirable zeal and vigour, and
are free from many of the disagreeable features of
English and American elections. Here it is not

68 NATION-BUILDING

unusual to find Hindu constituencies returning
Parsis or Mahomedans to the Corporation, and vice
versa. This is a practical illustration of harmony
and good-feeling among the various communities
of India.

Let us now illustrate the force of common
grievances in effecting the same object. Take the
case of the famous Ilbert Bill. If ever there was a
hard-fought battle between the united forces of the
Englishmen on the one hand and the Indians on
the other, this was one. Throughout the country
the natives rose as one man to protest against the
iniquities of a law which was a standing reproach to
British justice, and which the Bill now sought to
remove. This unanimity of feeling was provoked
by the determined opposition which the Bill en-
countered from the Anglo-Indian community. It
is impossible at this distance of time to realise the
intensity of feeling among all classes. This was the
birth of New India. It is in the fitness of things
that it should have been born during the regime
of a Viceroy whose name is venerated to this day
throughout the length and breadth of this vast
continent — I mean the Marquis of Ripon. Since
that day every measure calculated to affect in-
juriously the interests of Indians has met with a
united opposition from all communities. Not to
mention the Partition of Bengal, the Universities
Bill, the Official Secrets Act, the Bombay Land
Revenue Bill, and a host of other executive and

MR. DADABHAI NAOROJI 69

administrative measures, the unhappy Convocation
speech of the late Viceroy evoked a chorus of
condemnation that is fresh in all memories. The
Indian Mutiny is an ugly subject to discuss, but
its lesson is most significant. The Native Army,
recruited from all communities, rightly or wrongly
thought it had grievances. It believed the Govern-
ment was wounding the religious susceptibilities
of Indians. Some administrative blunders added
fuel to the fire. The result was a blast which shook
the British Empire to its very foundations. The
bitter memories of the Mutiny have passed away, but
to this day it must provide us with food for reflection.
Another manifestation of unity is found in the
homage paid to Indian leaders irrespective of caste
and creed. The name of Dadabhai Naoroji is a
household word among Indians, and the remarkable
enthusiasm which has greeted the occasional visits
of the Grand Old Man to this country has been
without any parallel in her history. I am not using
the language of hyperbole when I say from per-
sonal observation that the extraordinary outburst
of popular feeling which manifested itself on his
last arrival in Bombay was such as princes might
envy. And yet Dadabhai Naoroji belongs to a
community which is as a mere drop in the ocean
of Indian humanity, and which outside Bombay
and a few places in Gujerat can be counted on
one's fingers. A highly honoured figure in the
public life of this country was the late Mr. Bad-

70 NATION-BUILDING

rudin Tyebji, a staunch Mahomedan, but an equally
staunch Indian. Such was also the late Mr. Sayani,
sometime member of the Viceregal Council. A
remarkable man was the late Justice Ranade, a high
type of the cultured Brahmin. So was W. C.
Bonnerji, the leader of thought in Bengal. Not
less talented are the men of the moment, Sir
Bashyam lyengar, Sir P. M. Mehta, Mr. Gokhale,
and others. The respect paid to these leaders,
who represent the various communities, is irre-
spective of caste, creed, or place, arid is a proof
of the growing unity among educated members of
the various races of the Empire.

The Indian National Congress affords the best
example that can be given of the practical
unanimity of native feeling. This much-abused
and much-ridiculed body has gathered within its
fold representatives of all the communities in the
Indian Peninsula. Here you will find the Punjabi
from the north meet the Madrasi from the south,
and the Babu from Bengal in animated discussion
with the Brahmin from Poona. In spite of dis-
cordant elements within, the Congress maintained a
vigorous existence for well-nigh a quarter of a cen-
tury. The split came last year, but it cannot be
too strongly insisted that it was not due to racial
jealousies. In fact, the wreckers of the movement
are as widely divided in caste and creed as those
who still cling to the old organisation and the old
methods. The fight was not between the Babu

THE CONGEESS 71

and the Brahmin, or the Moslem and the Sikh, but
between the Extremists on the one hand and the
Moderates on the other ; and it was precipitated by
personal ambition on the part of the leaders of the
Extremists. You can no more argue from this
incident that the people of India are divided among
themselves, than you can argue that the Nationalists
and Labour party wish to ruin the Empire because
they press for a reduction of armaments. The
Indian National Congress still remains the re-
presentative of the cultivated intelligence of the
country, as Sir Charles Dilke puts it, in spite of
the split among its followers. The quarrel has no
more wrecked the movement than Tariff Reform
and Irish Home Rule have wrecked the Con-
servative or the Liberal party respectively. No
adequate idea can be gathered of the national
character of the Congress except by a personal
attendance at its annual deliberations. When you
realise the vast distances that have to be travelled
in order to reach the place of meeting, and the
sacrifice of time and money entailed thereby, you
will understand that it is no mere academic interest
or idle curiosity that draws together these various
people from the four corners of this great con-
tinent, but the consciousness of a national awaken-
ing which shall triumph over petty prejudices and
minor differences.

My arguments will not be complete without some
reference to the influence of the rise and growth of

72 NATION-BUILDING

Japan on modern Indian thought. The success of
the Island Empire of the East has opened up a vista
of glorious possibilities. It has shattered the old-
time belief in the invulnerability of Western might
and power. Men gaped with astonishment when
they saw a Power which had dominated the councils
of Europe crumble into dust before the vigorous
arm of a nation of patriots. This stirred into
activity the East that was slowly awaking from her
slumbers. What Japan has done, India can do —
thus men argued. The wish is often father to the
thought, and what men wish to believe they accept
without critical examination. Thus the success of
Japan has created a spirit of emulation in the breast
of every Indian patriot — not the aspiration to rival
her feat of arms, but to imbibe somewhat of that
spirit which has created heroes and statesmen. This
is but in harmony with the general spirit of restless-
ness which is stirring the Eastern world, slowly
emerging from its dreamy moods into the bustle
and turmoil of every-day life. The East was too
introspective and other-worldly ; it is fast becoming
logical and practical.

Hence the problem of the future will be the
problem of the darksraces. Unless better statesman-
ship is displayed in grappling with the difficulty than
has hitherto been shown, the future will see a vast
conflict between the white and the black races. In
India the tendencies of the hour are visible in the
dim consciousness of a national existence. No one

THE NEW ORDER OF THINGS 73

who has not lately visited the country can form an
idea of the great change that has taken place within
the last ten years. That ill-fated measure, the Parti-
tion of Bengal, has marked a new stage in its
existence. The India to which Lord Curzon came
in 1898 1 is not the India which is taxing the
patience and trying the resources of the Radical
philosopher. On every hand signs are visible of the
new order of things. Caste is slowly but surely
crumbling down, and the veil that hides the zenana
is being torn away. There is even a talk of a ladies'
congress in the coming months. Many and varied
are the phases of this new-born activity. The old
Anglo-Indian revisiting the scenes of his early
labours will find himself in a world which has cast
off its old idols. He will stand amazed at much
that is new and inexplicable to him, much that
has transplanted discarded ideals and worn-out
traditions. Maybe he will sigh for the days when
the country was jogging along peacefully under the
easy guidance of a paternal government.

I have now come to the end of my discussion of
the possibility of India becoming a united nation
under the auspices of British rule. Having ana-
lysed the constituent elements of nationality and
assigned to them their relative importance, I have
shown which of these exist in India and to what
extent. I have adduced instances which indicate
the actual awakening, however partial, of a national

1 Lord Curzon landed in Bombay December 30, 1898. — ED.

74 NATION-BUILDING

consciousness among the people. Care has been
taken to avoid mere vague generalisations unsup-
ported by argument. Moreover, I have studiously
refrained from citing the opinions of manifest
partisans, however high their position and whatever
the value of their testimony, as, I am aware, they
carry little weight as an argument. Had I not been
thus deterred I could have quoted volumes of
opinions favourable to my case from men of the
type of Sir Henry Cotton or Sir William Wedder-
burn, who are the betes noir of the bureaucracy.
Instead, I have always sought to strengthen my
points by the testimony of neutral and even hostile
witnesses. And, having done so, what is my
position ?

I hold that there is nothing in the political or
social condition of India which will effectually
prevent her people from forming themselves into a
united community ; that we are still far away from
the complete realisation of that ideal, though forces
are already at work in that direction ; that at present
the educated minority have developed a national
spirit, which, however, does not quite extend to the
masses ; but that with the diffusion of knowledge
will come the same awakening among the people
which has been felt by those who have enjoyed the
blessings of higher education. I shall close this
branch of the subject by the citation of two or three
authorities. The late Sir William Wilson Hunter,
one of the ablest of English officials, in an article

BRITISH RULE A UNIFYING BOND 75

dealing with the effects of a strongly constructed
and vigorously enforced system of Western instruc-
tion upon an Asiatic population, says : —

" India is now going through a quicker and more striking
metamorphosis. We sometimes hear its marvellous awaken-
ing compared to the renaissance of Europe four hundred
years ago. But in India the change has not only taken place
on a greater scale ; it also goes deeper. It derives its motive
power, moreover, not from the individual impulse of isolated
men of genius or of cultured popes and princes, but from the
mighty centralising force of a government which, as an
engine of human unification, has had nothing to compare
with it since the days of Imperial Rome. English rule in
India is, however, calmly carrying out processes of consolida-
tion that never entered the brain of Roman statesman or
emperor. While maintaining a policy of cold non-inter-
ference towards the rival religions, the domestic institutions,
and the local usages of the Indian peoples, it is silently
undermining those ancient separatist influences which made
for the isolation of races. It has created a new nexus for the
active intellectual elements in the population — a nexus which
is beginning to be recognised as a bond between man and
man and between province and province, apart from the ties
of religion, of geographical propinquity, or of caste, a nexus
interwoven of three strong cords, a common language,
common political aims, and a sense of the power of action in
common, the products of a common system of education."

These words were written some years ago. Much
has since happened, specially during the stressful
regime of Lord Curzon, to strengthen and support
this remarkable expression of view. In his recent
admirable book on the people of India Sir Herbert
Risley examines at length the problem of Indian
nationality. He discusses the various elements
which commonly bring about unity, and comes to

76 NATION-BUILDING

the conclusion that they do not exist so far as
India is concerned. Yet he is forced to recog-
nise the existence of Indian nationality within
certain limits. In his opinion the result has been
achieved through the common use of the English
language and the participation in a common
system of government. Besides, he notices a
certain uniformity of life beneath the manifold
diversity of physical and social type, language,
custom, and religion. Sir Herbert's official attitude
is well known, and gives added weight to his ad-
mission of the existence of Indian nationality. No
less remarkable is the testimony of Sir Charles
Elliot, once Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal. In
a series of articles on Indian problems recently
appearing in the Westminster Gazette he observes1 : —

"One of the most remarkable changes in these general
politico-social conditions of India is the growth of an Indian
reeling — that is, of a feeling of Indian nationality. In India
itself the idea and word "India" hardly existed in pre-
European times. ... No external fact was sufficiently im-
portant to call forth by contrast a feeling of internal union.
This has been supplied by the presence of Europeans. Great
as may be the difference and even the hatred between Hindus
and Mahomedans, it is felt by all that the division is Euro-
peans on one side and Hindus and Mahomedans on the other,
and not Europeans and Mahomedans versus Hindus. And
that in spite of the omen of the Mutiny is certainly a good
thing ; the European is impartial."

1 The essayist has fallen into an error of identity. The
writer of the articles was not the former Lieutenant-Governor
of Bengal, but Sir Charles N. Eliot, lately Commissioner of
the British East Africa Protectorate.— ED.

CHAPTER II
SELF-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA

WE have discussed the possibility of the various
races of India becoming a united nation.
The question now before us is, Is it possible for this
heterogeneous mass of people to become a self-
governing community ? In other words, it is asked
how far Indians are capable of managing their own
affairs. As a preliminary, it will be necessary for us
to inquire what self-government means.

What is self-government ? To put it shortly, it
means the government of the people for the people
and by the people. Within the limits of this defini-
tion there is a variety of forms which popular
government may take. The form of government
enjoyed by England differs much from that enjoyed
by Germany, and the constitution of political society
in Switzerland or France presents features that are
not to be found in Canada or the United States.
Yet all these are self-governing countries. We
must therefore hold before us a definite ideal, and

77

78 SELF-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA

then we shall be able to state whether we can realise
all that we have set before us. What, then, does
India ask ? Does she want a constitution like that
of Canada or Australia, or does she want an Imperial
Duma, as a too ardent champion would have it ?
The question is easier put than answered. Self-
government not being within measurable distance
of attainment, he would be a bold man who would
predict what particular form of it this country would
be fit for when the proper time arrived. What is
good for Canada may not then be good for India,
and he who takes no account of the peculiarities of
each case is a visionary, if not a fool. Let us there-
fore consider what it is precisely that young India
wants to-day.

As students of Indian affairs know, there are two
political schools in this country. The followers of
the one are known as Extremists, or, as they like to
call themselves, Nationalists ; the adherents of the
other profess themselves to be Moderates. Now,
which of these shall we take as our guide ? I have
no hesitation in pronouncing in favour of the
Moderates. All the men of light and leading in this
country, almost without exception, are to be found
in their ranks. They have a strong following in the
country. The Congress, which is representative of
public feeling, has also shown its preference for con-
stitutional methods. It was wrecked at Surat not
because the Extremists were in a majority, but
because they were in such a hopeless minority that

THE CLAIMS OF THE MODERATES 79

to gain their ends they had to resort to illegal
obstruction and violence. It was due to the leaders
of the Moderates that the Extremists were not given
a severe handling by the vast assemblage which had
gathered to voice the grievances of the country in a
temperate manner. At the present moment the
existence of the Extremist party may be absolutely
disregarded. How the future may shape the two
elements, no man knows. We shall now concern
ourselves only with the aspirations of the Moderates.
Their demand for self-government consists in a con-
siderable substitution of the Indian agency for the
European in the administration, in the increase of
the powers of the district and the local Boards, in
the transformation of municipal bodies into wholly
popular assemblies, in the larger introduction of the
popular element in the Imperial and Provincial
Legislative Councils, in short, in the " living repre-
sentation" of the people in the government of
this country. This is far, far from being the com-
plete autonomy which Canada, Australia, and South
Africa enjoy, an autonomy so complete that an
Imperial Government is powerless to obtain for
three hundred millions of its loyal subjects the
barest rights o£ citizenship in one of these self-
governing colonies.

Having understood what the cry for self-govern-
ment in relation to India means, we shall discuss
some of the requisites of self-government, and see
how far Indians possess these. We shall then be

80 SELF-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA

able to state whether Indians are capable of
managing their own affairs.

What are the requisites of self-government ?
They are unity, intellectual capacity, and character.
The possession of these three is necessary before a
people can justly claim to govern itself. I have
already shown that there are signs of a national
spirit among Indians, and that the complete welding
of the various elements is in sight. On the strength
of the arguments I have advanced in the preceding
chapter I shall assume the existence of a rapidly
growing national feeling among the natives of
India, and proceed to discuss their intellectual
capacity.

Are Indians wanting in intelligence or ability ?
Let Englishmen themselves give the answer.
Speaking on the Indian Bill as far back as 1853,
Cobden said : —

"I have been particularly struck with the overwhelming
evidence which is given as to the fitness of natives of India
for high offices and employments. Nothing comes out clearer
before the Committee than this, that the natives are well
fitted to hold the higher class of offices. All the great
authorities in Indian matters, Munro, Metcalfe, Malcolm, and
Elphinstone, advocate the distribution of patronage to the
natives."

Even more emphatic is the testimony given five
years later by Bright. Said he : " There are
thousands of persons in India who are competent
to take any position to which the Government
may choose to advance them." This was fifty

STANDARD OF CAPACITY 81

years ago. What wonderful strides the country
has taken since that time ! Education has made
such rapid progress that the universities are
turning out every year hundreds of capable
graduates. Alongside with the education imparted
by our schools and colleges has come the wider
culture acquired by a stay in Western countries.
An Indian student in London, Edinburgh, and at
other centres is a common enough figure. Facilities
of travel have placed within our reach means of know-
ledge not available before. An able press keeps us
abreast of the times, and does valuable services in
educating the people in political principles. Above
all, participation in the deliberations of Legislative
Councils and municipal bodies, and enjoyment of
positions of trust and responsibility, have tested and
improved the general capacity of Indians during
these fifty years. Indians have been so far con-
sidered fit that they have been given the highest
judicial positions in the gift of the State, and in the
discharge of their duties they have earned the con-
fidence of the Government and the people alike.
More than once a Bengali has acted as the Chief
Justice of the Calcutta High Court, than which no
higher position exists in the Judicial service ; and a
Mahomedan and a Madrasi have enjoyed similar
distinctions in Bombay and Madras. In the postal
department, natives have become postmaster-
generals of whole divisions. In the revenue line,
an Indian distinguished himself as the commissioner

Political Future of India Q

82 SELF-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA

of a division. In the customs service, the collec-
torates of Bombay, Karachi and other places have
been held by natives. In the Civil Service examina-
tions, students from India working under special
difficulties can hold their own with the pick of
English youth. Above all, English electorates have
thought fit to send two Parsis as their representatives
to the " Mother of Parliaments." In divers ways
the abilities of Indians have been thus recognised,
and in none more remarkably than in the selection
of two natives last year to sit on the India Council.
After this practical testimony, it is absurd to say
that the educated native is not capable. India has
produced administrators of the genius of Salar Jung
and Madhav Rao ; judges of the calibre of Telang
and Mahmood ; jurists of the learning of Ghosh and
Ameer Ali ; economists of the ability of Dutt and
Ranade ; scientists of the eminence of Gajjar and
Bose ; scholars of the erudition of Bhandarkar and
Mookerji ; publicists of the integrity of Phirozeshaw
Mehta and Gopal Krishna Gokhale ; reformers of
the daring of Kursondas Mulji and Byramji
Malabari ; religious teachers of the fire of Keshub
Chunder Sen and Ram Mohun Roy ; orators of the
attainments of Lai Mohun Ghose and Surendranath
Bannerji ; and last, but not least, patriots of the
worth of Dadabhai Naoroji and W. C. Bonnerji.
These are men of whom any country might be
proud, and as long as India produces such sons she
has nothing to fear. Be it said in justice to English-

INDIAN CHARACTER 83

men, that, even while refusing practical recognition
of the abilities of the educated natives, they have
never failed to acknowledge them. I have before
me volumes of testimony as regards the fitness of
Indians for the highest positions in the State. Said
Sir Bartle Frere : " Wherever I go I find the best
exponents of the policy of the English Government,
and the most able coadjutors in adjusting that
policy to the peculiarities of the natives of India
among the ranks of the educated natives." Not less
generous was the praise Lord Dufferin bestowed in
his jubilee speech, though he often expressed his
disagreement with the views of Indian politicians.
Even Sir John Strachey, an official of officials, was
constrained to admit the intellectual capacity of the
sons of the soil. I do not think I need pursue the
subject any further.

V The third essential condition of self-government
is character. In the expression I include all those
qualities of alertness, self-reliance, self-abnegation,
and integrity which constitute a vigorous and healthy
nation. Do the natives of India possess this moral
backbone ? Here I find myself arrayed against all
the forces of prejudice and ignorance. To these,
nothing has contributed more than the appellation
"native" as applied to the people of India. This
designation is particularly unfortunate. It conjures
up a vision of the Red Indians of America, or the
aborigines of Australia, or the blacks of Africa. It
is a contemptuous term used to designate people

84 SELF-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA

who are low down in the scale of civilisation. I do
not suggest that the British Government desired to
attach to the word any such meaning. The term
was primarily used to distinguish the children of
the soil from their English masters. But it carries
with it associations which the uninformed mind
finds it hard to dispel. The use of this designation
has been deplored by many eminent Anglo-Indians,
and Mr. Theodore M orison, in his book on "Imperial
Rule in India," rightly remarks on its misleading
tendency. " Give a dog a bad name and hang him,"
says a well-worn proverb. Thus a " native " has
come to stand for a human being vastly inferior in
the scale of civilisation, and different in his moral
character from the inhabitant of the West. To this
view the hasty generalisations of writers like
Macaulay added considerably. Macaulay's brilliant
and scathing criticism of the Bengali character
stands to this day among Englishmen as a faithful
and accurate delineation.

It may be observed, in the first place, that all
sweeping international condemnations are more
of a caricature than a correct description. The
Englishman is set down as a hypocrite on the
Continent, and we are all familiar with the phrase
" perfide Albion." The Scotch have a name for
hard-fistedness, and the humourist has had many
a fling at them. The Frenchman is known as
hysterical and insincere. The Germans are de-
scribed as a hard-headed, beer-drinking lot, and

THE CHARGE OF UNTRUTHFULNESS 85

Uncle Sam bears an evil name for business methods.
All these international courtesies must be accepted
with a good deal of reserve. Nobody who reads
"The Unspeakable Scot" or "The Egregious
Englishman," and books of that type, thinks of
taking them seriously. When, therefore, you hear
the " native " spoken of in terms of contempt, pause
before you judge. In any case, unless you are
personally acquainted with the people of this
country, subject the criticisms that you come
across to the strictest scrutiny. I am now going
to attempt a vindication of my countrymen, and
here, as elsewhere, I shall studiously refrain from
vague generalisations. But at the same time I shall
have to make large use of quotations, for that is the
only way in which I can meet the charges flung
against Indians from time to time. I cannot hope to
answer these satisfactorily if I rely on mere con-
tradictions unsupported by independent testimony.
Instances and examples are very difficult to adduce
in this connection. Hence the necessity of falling
back upon the testimony of impartial witnesses.

Now, the most constant charge brought against
Indians is that they are liars and perjurers. This is
an opinion which has become an article of faith
with a certain class of Englishmen. It may be
admitted that the people of India are not particularly
distinguished for truthfulness. But then they are
no more untruthful than any nation of the West.
In most cases their seeming lies proceed from

86 SELF-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA

ignorance, or misconception, or thoughtlessness.
Sir John Malcolm, whose authority is undisputed,
writes : —

" I have hardly ever known where a person did understand
the language, or where a calm communication was made to a
native of India, through a well-informed and trustworthy
medium, that the result did not prove that what had at first
been stated as falsehood had either proceeded from fear or
from misapprehension. I by no means wish to state that
our Indian subjects are more free from this vice than other
nations that occupy a nearly equal position in society, but I
am positive that they are not more addicted to untruth."

This is amply corroborated by the statement of a
Civilian of the older generation. He once declared
that he had heard one of the most eminent of English
judges doubt whether the perjury that went on in
his court could be surpassed in India. This will
perhaps shock the English conscience, but I have
no desire to advance this view in a spirit of exulta-
tion, as I have no means of knowing how much
perjury goes on in England. What I am here
attempting to do is to supplement my own observa-
tions by impartial evidence. And there can be
none more impartial and emphatic than that of
Colonel Sleeman, who in his " Rambles and Recol-
lections of an Indian Official " says : " I have had
before me hundreds of cases in which a man's
property, liberty, and life has depended upon his
telling a lie, and he has refused to tell it." Max
Miiller follows in much the same strain, and is even
more generous. But it is no use flogging a dead

THE CHARGE OF SERVILITY 87

horse, and I have quoted enough in support of my
contention. The fact is that this defence would
not have been necessary had it not been for Mill,
and some other writers who have blindly followed
him. As real genuine intercourse between the
European and the native is unfortunately rare,
much that passes current for a correct delineation
of the native character is not based on first-hand
knowledge. To misunderstand is to misjudge, and
once a man is misjudged, there is ample opportunity
for dislike and distrust.

Another opinion that generally prevails is that the
natives are servile. This charge, like the other, is
not quite unfounded. Successive despotisms left no
room for the development of that manly self-con-
sciousness which distinguishes a free people. When
life and property were not secure, servility and
flattery were the only conditions of a peaceful
existence. In pre-British days there was no public
opinion, no free press. The orator who spouted
eloquence from the platform would shortly find it
the nearest cut to heaven, or " the other place " !
Once the British conquered the country, the task of
government was comparatively easy. They found
the people docile and submissive. If it had not
been so, no power on earth could have subdued all
these three hundred million souls,1 specially when

1 The population must have been far below the present
figure when British rule was established. The first general
census, taken as recently as 1871, showed a population of
239 millions.-— ED.

88 SELF-GOVEENMENT IN INDIA

the conquering nation was small and far away.
With the blessing of a civilised government came
the necessary change in the temper of the people.
A government that allowed the freest latitude of
public opinion slowly roused the slumbering sense
of self-respect. When people saw that an attitude
of independence was no longer a passport to the
gallows, they began to look up. Thus the old
habits of flattery and servility began to die away.
The process, however, has necessarily been slow, for
various reasons. iThe might of England has always
inspired awe and respect, and the Anglo-Indian, the
living symbol of that might, has an imperious
temper. Besides, his superior civilisation has always
inspired something akin to a sense of inferiority.
Then he is the absolute master of this vast continent,
though he is far from being a tyrant. It is true, the
young Civilian does not punish disobedience with
death or imprisonment, but then he has a funny
way of using his hands and feet.

Thus the growth of a manly spirit has not
been very rapid in the past. But within the last
few years, along with the great increase of political
activity, a remarkable change has taken place in
the temper of the people. They are no longer to
be trifled with, and are not slow to return physical
compliments. Indeed, from a spirit of servility
they have passed into a spirit of truculence, which
is scarcely less deplorable. The Mahomedan has
never been a very docile character to deal with.

THE CHARGE OF CORRUPTION 89

But the mild Hindu is exhibiting signs of in-
dependence— which is truly astonishing. More
than half a century back, referring to Bengalis,
Macaulay wrote : " There never, perhaps, existed
a people so thoroughly fitted by habit for a foreign
yoke." This read in the light of present events
savours almost of a joke. These very Bengalis
are now proving a veritable thorn in the side of
the Government. They are making the adminis-
tration of Bengal a task of immense difficulty for
the Anglo-Indian officials, who dare not trifle
with, though they may despise, the Bengalis.
Personally, I consider the attitude of the people
of Bengal as unduly hostile and truculent. But
the change among them is symptomatic of the
metamorphosis the people of India are generally
undergoing. Let not Englishmen regret this.
Instead, let them be proud that they have roused
the instincts of manliness and self-respect in a fifth
of the human race.

Another charge laid at the door of Indians is
that they are as a rule corrupt, and scarcely to
be trusted in positions of responsibility. I shall
not devote much space to the refutation of this
calumny. Within the last fifty years natives have
enjoyed some of the most responsible positions
in the administration of the State. Both in the
Revenue and the Judicial services they have held
posts which have put their integrity to severe
tests. Leaving out of consideration a few black

90 SELF-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA

sheep, such as are to be found in every com-
munity without exception, will it be said that
Indians have proved themselves unworthy of the
confidence placed in them ? If any one has the
hardihood to say that, will he have the courage
to substantiate his statements by facts and figures ?
Until these are supplied, we may safely ignore all
reckless allegations. It is enough that the Govern-
ment of India has the fullest confidence in the
honesty and incorruptibility of the natives, despite
what may be said by prejudiced critics. This is
fully evidenced by the increasing employment of
educated Indians in the public services. The
governing authorities have never doubted their
integrity, though they have been slow to recognise
their capacity. Herein lies the best refutation of
the calumnies indulged in by narrow-minded
observers. I need not pursue this topic any
further, but will close with a remark made by
Mr. Bennett in his " Introduction to the Oudh
Gazetteer." Speaking of the various peoples with
whom he had come in contact, he says, "Their
whole system postulates an exceptional integrity."
We have seen that the natives of India are not
habitually addicted to untruth any more than the
nations of the West ; that they are not so servile
as they used to be, but are becoming every day
more courageous and independent ; and that they
are as honest as civilised people generally are.
All these are qualities which are essential for the

THE SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY 91

administration of a vast empire. There is another,
the possession of which is no less necessary, and
that is self-abnegation. Akin to this is the con-
ception of a sense of responsibility. If we hope
to govern our country, we must learn to govern
ourselves. We must cultivate a sense of what we
owe to ourselves and to our motherland. We
must cast aside our all-absorbing interest in self,
and learn to look a little beyond us. Until we
do that, all our political progress is a mere
delusion. Hindu and Mahomedan alike must
work with a single eye to the good of the
country, rising above all petty prejudices. Are
we possessed of this loftiness of purpose ? Have
we divorced all considerations of self in the battle
for our cause ? Are we prepared to make genuine
sacrifices for the sake of our principles ? I wish
I could emphatically say yes. I regret to state
that the sense of civic responsibility has not yet
been keenly developed among us. We are fervent
in our protestations of love for our country, but
many of us have shrunk from the sacrifices this
involves. Of course, there are scores of noble-
minded men who have dedicated their lives to
the common cause. Many among them have
incurred heavy pecuniary losses and undeserved
obloquy. For their high-minded endeavours no
praises are extravagant.

And here it must be remembered that the
temptations for a public man in India are far

92 SELF-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA

greater than for those in England. There, whether
you are on the side of the Conservatives or the
Liberals, your services to your side are always
recognised when your party is in power.1 Here
you have on one side offices and dignities ; on
the other the bare applause of a fickle multitude.
Hence no small credit is due to those who have
not only rejected the smiles and favours of a
powerful Government, but have also turned aside
from lucrative pursuits in order to serve their
country. All honour to such sterling patriots.
But this spirit of self-sacrifice must extend itself
to the generality of our politicians before we can
say that we are fit for governing ourselves. At
present there is much wild talk and little to show
by way of achievement. The love of a cheap
notoriety makes some of us forget our responsi-
bilities both to the Government and to the
people. We have not yet learnt to efface ourselves
in our political controversies. We must remember
that principles are everything ; individuals do not
count for much. If the leaders of the Extremists
had realised that the good of the country must
be placed above personal considerations, the last
session of the Congress would not have proved a
miserable farce. The Congress has survived the
blow and will possibly be the stronger for the
purging of the undesirable elements from it. But

1 Many disappointed party politicians in Great Britain will
read this statement with surprise. — ED.

STEADY ADVANCE 93

the revelations of the inner workings of the minds
of some so-called patriots have left bitter memories
behind. Such irresponsible politicians and no-
toriety-hunters cannot be too strongly condemned.
It is a very hopeful sign that the vast majority
of the people have dissociated themselves from
these self-seeking patriots. While this is the case,
there is hope for the country.

The same phenomena that are observed in
India to-day have, perhaps, manifested themselves
in the infancy of all political communities. Just
as "it is liberty alone that fits men for liberty,"
so the enjoyment of political rights is the essential
condition of the fitness of a community for the
exercise of political functions. There is no oc-
casion for despair. Our political education is
only a generation old ; and what we have achieved
both on the moral and the practical side makes
us very hopeful for the future. After all, the
black sheep among us are not so numerous as to
cause much anxiety. The large body of our
patriots remain unshaken in fidelity to principles,
and firm in their application in practice. As
we grow older, we shall undoubtedly adopt as
our own a high standard of public virtue. We
have on more than one occasion shown the stuff
of which we are made. The much-despised
Bengali has astonished every one by the dogged
persistence of his resistance to the Partition of
Bengal. At great sacrifice, he has striven to keep

94 SELF-GOVEENMENT IN INDIA

the boycott movement alive. Economically, the
movement is a blunder. But as indicating the
spirit of the people it is worthy of note. This is
but one aspect of the great mental and moral
upheaval that is shaking to its foundations the
slumbrous East. When she came into contact
with the vigorous West, it would have been
strange indeed had she remained what she had
been for centuries. It is absurd to imagine that
the vivifying influence of a younger and more
advanced civilisation should not make itself felt.
All historical estimates of the Indian people must
now be recast in the light of the new influences
that are transforming the national character. The
dreamy East is slowly turning away from meta-
physical speculations to the strenuous pursuits of
our modern life. But it is impossible to impress
the unimaginative Briton's mind with this fact, so
long as the tendency prevails to regard the native
character as something beyond comprehension.

I attach no little importance to this subject, for I
hold that a high state of morality is an essential
condition of all progress, social or political. If it
is once held that Indians are generally deficient in
their moral character, then neither their unity nor
their intellectual capacity is of any avail. A vast
country governed by liars and cowards would indeed
be a phenomenon. A tribe of Red Indians may
govern itself without the possession of any virtues.
But a country rich in all the arts of civilisation can

MORAL PROGRESS 95

never hold for a day without a firm moral basis.
That that basis is not wanting I have already shown.
For further proof I may refer to the views of Elphin-
stone, Bishop Heber, Warren Hastings, Thomas
Munro, John Malcolm, Professor Wilson, and a
host of other distinguished men. They came into
contact with the natives before the light of the West
had sufficiently dawned upon the latter. The lapse
of nearly a century has brought to an inherently
upright moral character political principles which
have been exclusively the property of self-governing
countries. No one will have the hardihood to
assert that Indians have deteriorated since the
period at which the eminent authorities mentioned
came in contact with them. That would indeed
be a miserable compliment to the civilising influ-
ence of England. But there is no ground for
the suggestion. Scores of later administrators and
non-official critics have recorded their praise of the
people of this country. I shall select only one of
the numerous testimonies, and that will close this
subject. The late Sir Richard Temple, once
Governor of Bombay and a Civilian whose expe-
rience embraced every part of this country, says in
one of his works : —

" The native character, as a whole, may be disparaged by
some whose experience is short, and whose knowledge is not
profound. But with an Englishman who lives and labours in
the country, the wider his acquaintance with the natives and
the deeper his insight, the greater is his liking for them. He
who has the best and longest acquaintance with the natives

96 SELF-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA

esteems them the most. Probably every Englishman without
exception, who has during a lengthened residence been
brought much into contact with the natives, parts from them
with sincere regret, remembers them with the most kindly
regard, and breathes heartfelt aspirations for their welfare
and happiness. He who has the best data for an opinion
regarding them and the firmest ground on which to found
his belief will have the most hopeful faith in their mental and
moral progress."

We have laid down three conditions for a nation
which aspires to govern itself. It should have
unity, intellectual capacity, and character. I have
attempted to show that, within certain limits, the
people of India possess all these three requisites,
and that it is merely a question of time when their
progress in all directions will fit them more com-
pletely for governing themselves. They are not
ripe for it yet, but then no one has claimed for
them the immediate grant of self-governing insti-
tutions. Of course, there are some hare-brained
fools who will say almost anything. These we may
safely ignore. We never look for political wisdom
in that quarter. Our attention must always be
focussed on that overwhelming body of sober
politicians who are the real leaders of the people.
All that they claim is that the natives of this country
have attained that degree of fitness when a begin-
ning might be made of granting them real repre-
sentation in the councils of the Empire. Is the
claim extravagant ? Are Indians utterly incapable
of governing themselves ? Those who suggest it
have not read history. Perhaps it will be news

THE PUNCHAYETS 97

to them that the people of this country have been
managing their own affairs with success from times
immemorial. But it is a fact. The village pun-
chayets, unhappily done away with by the British,
afford the best examples of self-governing bodies to
be found anywhere. In every village a small number
of the most influential residents were formed into
a governing authority, to which the .whole village
paid homage. These men decided all questions
affecting the welfare of their little republic. The
headmen were selected by the people, and were
under their control in so far as they dared not go
against the sentiments of the majority.

Dynasties came and vanished into nothingness,
Moghal followed Afghan and Mahratha followed
Moghal, but the village system lived and survived
them all. The mighty events which wrenched the
sceptre from one contending party and placed it
in the arms of another left the village untouched.
It lived on, oblivious of Panipat, which saw in turn
the rise of one and the extinction of another Power ;
oblivious of Plassey, which laid the foundations of an
empire greater than the Great Moghal's. Provided
it paid its due contribution to the imperial authority,
the village remained unmolested and managed its
own affairs. Taxation in money or in kind was its
only link with the sovereign power. For the rest,
it was an autonomous self-governing republic. Of
course, the system had its defects. What human
institution is perfect ? But taken all in all, the

Political Future of India 7"

98 SELF-GOVEKNMENT IN INDIA

village communities were particularly suited to
the genius of the people, and it was a sad mistake
on the part of the Government to sweep them out
of existence. Recently the authorities have been
reconsidering the question, chiefly at the instance
of Mr. B. M. Malabari, a very eminent Indian
publicist, and one who stands high in the favour
of the official classes. There are indications that
some steps will be taken to give the system a fresh
trial. What Lord Lawrence said in 1864 is note-
worthy, both as regards the village communities and
the capacity of the natives for self-government : —

"The people of India are quite capable of administering
their own affairs ; the municipal feeling is deeply rooted in
them. The village communities, each of which is a little
republic, are the most abiding of Indian institutions. Hold-
ing the position we do in India, every view of duty and policy
should induce us to leave as much as possible of the business
of the country to be done by the people."

It was due to the sympathy and statesmanship of
Lord Ripon that general urban local self-govern-
ment and district boards came into being. The
experiment was given a trial with the noblest of
objects — that of educating the people by degrees in
the art of governing themselves. As the Viceroy
himself explained it, he did not expect in the first
instance that the municipalities would be better
governed by the people than by the State. But the
measure was desirable chiefly as an instrument of
popular political education. In course of time these

MANAGEMENT OF LOCAL AFFAIRS 99

local bodies, it was expected, would justify their
existence. The results so far have in a few cases
belied the expectations of the founder, but not
through any shortcomings in the instruments
employed. It has been found that failure in such
cases has been mostly due to hasty application of
the principle to areas not suited for its operation.
In the mofussil, moreover, the inclusion of the
official element was an effectual bar to the inde-
pendent expression of views. But in places where
local bodies have been so constituted as to be really
representative institutions, the vindication of Lord
Ripon's policy has been complete. I do not mean
to suggest that those who can look after drains and
gutters can also manage the vast affairs of an
empire. What I do say is that, given a liberal
education and a gradual training in the affairs of
the State, the possibility of the diverse races of
India becoming a self-governing community is
not too remote.

From all that has preceded it must not be
supposed that I advocate the immediate grant of
representative institutions. On the contrary, I hold
that such a step would be positively inimical to the
best interests of the country. We are not yet ripe
for it. As we stand at present, whatever our
abilities, character, or political unity, if the English
were to leave the country to-morrow there would
be disorder and confusion. Lord Morley was quite
right when he talked of carnage and confusion if

100 SELF-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA

India was left to itself. But, as an argument, it was
hardly worthy of " Honest John." His conclusions
were based upon a borrowed premise. He had
no right to assume that the natives wanted the
English to leave the country bag and baggage. Of
course, there are people who have set no limits
to their demands. But they certainly do not con-
stitute " the better mind " of India. And it is a
great injustice to the educated classes to assume
that they want to be left to themselves. The
position of an overwhelming majority of Indian
politicians is simply this, that they consider that
the time has arrived when a definite step should be
taken to give the people a real voice in the adminis-
tration of the country. The Congress is the repre-
sentative of the aspirations of the people. Read the
Congress speeches and see if you find anything
there that is at variance with the position indicated.
Of course, it is the cherished hope of every true
Indian that the time may come when India can
take her place as a self-governing unit within the
Empire. To that goal, however distant, our
efforts are steadily tending. We have resolutely
set out on a long journey, the end of which no
one can foresee. There are difficulties and dangers
on the way, but if our progress in the past be any
indication, we have no reason to despair of our
future. Only let us remember that no civilised
nation, either in the ancient or in the modern
world, ever achieved its political emancipation in
a day or in a generation.

CHAPTER III
THE PRESENT TASK

HOW long will it be before the diverse races of
India can become a united community, and
what are the steps by which the consummation can
be attained ? In the preceding pages I have ad-
mitted the absence of some of the elements oi
cohesion among Indians ; at the same time I have
indicated the existence of other co-ordinating in-
fluences, and have pointed to signs that a spirit of
unity is developing among the various races. What
now remains to be done is to detail the steps by
which a complete fusion may be brought about of
diverse and discordant elements.

In the first place, the unfortunate differences
between the Hindus and the Mahomedans must
be settled in a spirit of broad statesmanship.
These differences have been greatly exaggerated,
but their existence cannot be denied. To remain
idle in a spirit of optimism is not the part of wise
statesmanship. We must strive to remove those

differences which have their root in causes other

101

102 THE PRESENT TASK

than want of education. Mahomedan leaders will
pardon me for saying that the salvation of their
community will not be brought about by an eager
zeal to take shelter under the Government umbrella.
" Deserve before you desire " is a motto they might
well bear in mind. Instead of whining and grumb-
ling, it will be more to the purpose to remove the
woful ignorance of the great mass of Indian
Moslems. The loaves and fishes of office secured
for the few will not bring about the regeneration of
the many. Titles of honour will not lift the com-
munity out of its miserable plight. First look to
the mental, moral, and industrial welfare of the
masses, and you will certainly not be left behind
in the race. Remember the proud position occu-
pied by your countrymen for countless centuries.
If the traditions of your nation count for anything,
they ought to open your eyes to the pitiful depths
to which you have fallen. I do not suggest for a
moment that you should develop an attitude of
hostility to the ruling Power. But what I do say
is, that an attitude of cringing is not manly, and is
unworthy of the glorious traditions of your race.

A great task lies before you. Follow in the foot-
steps of that great co-religionist of yours, the late
Sir Syed Ahmed. He was a staunch opponent of
the Congress movement. Indeed, it was mainly due
to his efforts that the Mahomedans as a rule kept
aloof from it, and the influence of his doctrine is
still at work. But he was the first to recognise the

THE DUTY OF MAHOMEDANS 103

value of education, and in founding the Mahomedan
Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, he laid his
community under a debt which can never be
adequately repaid. Follow the work of the great
reformer, and help to kindle the torch of learning
in every nook and corner of this land. Imitate the
example of another great countryman, the late Mr.
Justice Badrudin Tyebji. In the field of politics,
education, and social reform he has left behind him
a name for sobriety and breadth of view which
future generations will cherish with affection and
respect. Let the memories of these and other great
men spur you on to fresh efforts. Let not their
work perish after them. There is no greater task
before you than that of uplifting the masses who
look up to you for guidance. Official smiles and
favours are all good in their own way, but they will
not bring about the salvation of your countrymen.
Help must come from within and not from without.
When education spreads among your community,
there will be no talk of safeguarding the interests of
the minority. Be sure you will not then be left
behind in the race. " Palmam qui meruit ferat."
Keep that as your watchword.

You have before you the splendid example of
the Parsis. The little community to which I have
the honour to belong numbers less than a hundred
thousand souls in all India. This is but a mere
drop in the vast ocean of Indian humanity. Yet
there is not a corner of this country where the

104 THE PRESENT TASK

pushing and energetic Parsi has not made his
presence felt. The only Indian members ever
returned to Parliament have been Parsis. The life
and soul of the Congress movement is a Parsi.
The "Grand Old Man" of India is a Parsi. A
Parsi is the acknowledged leader of the Municipal
Corporation of Bombay. In the service of the
State, some of the highest positions have been held
by Parsis. Whether in the strenuous atmosphere
of the University Hall and of the Council Chamber,
or in the peaceful paths of commerce and of in-
dustry, this little community is always in the fore-
front. Even in the matter of official honours and
decorations, it has received recognition out of all
proportion to its numbers. It possesses the only
two baronetcies r conferred upon Indians. Even
beyond the country of its adoption it has made its
influence felt. Twice the freedom of the City of
London has been conferred upon representatives
of this community — an honour for which there is
no parallel. Surely these are achievements of
which any race may be proud. But the greatness
of the achievement becomes even more remarkable
when it is remembered that in their dealings with the
Government the Parsis have always maintained an
attitude of fearless independence. Loyal to the core,
they have never truckled to the gods in authority.
Radicals in the matter of social reform, they have
maintained a tone of moderation in politics which
1 A third was bestowed in the last Birthday honours.— ED.

IDENTITY OF INTERESTS 105

has given Bombay — the stronghold of the com-
munity— an enviable reputation for political
sobriety. To what may this remarkable success
be attributed ? To the rapid assimilation of all
that is best in Western culture. This, and this
alone, is the key to their success.

When the Mahomedans have realised this, there
will be no more attempts on the part of some of
their leaders to repudiate ostentatiously the political
tendencies of the other races of India. Let it be
remembered that the interests of the various com-
munities of India are identical. What injuriously
affects one injuriously affects the rest. Every
privilege gained is a gain for all. Let this identity
of interests be always kept in mind, and differences
and jealousies will vanish. As I have demonstrated
in a previous part of the work, the bulk of the
educated Mahomedans are in sympathy with the
national movement. But this sympathy must
become general before we can hope for the com-
plete unification of India. I look upon education
as the instrument by which this result will be
brought about. When the Mahomedan community
enters the arena of politics, it will infuse a healthy
tone in our political life. The Mahomedan mind
is better balanced than that of the Hindu, and it
can more easily keep itself clear of the mists and
fogs which gather round political controversies.

If the Mahomedan leaders have a duty to perform
the Hindus have no less tasks before them. They have

106 THE PRESENT TASK

their own share of the responsibility for the present
state of things. In the first place, their attitude is
often truculent and hostile. They require to be
toned down a little. They must show more con-
sideration for the feelings of the sister community
than they have hitherto done. In short, they must
mend their manners. Secondly, their attitude
towards the Government is often one of unreason-
ing hostility. No good can come out of indis-
criminate criticism of the official policy, even when
expressed in temperate language. To overrate the
merits and underrate the defects of our enemies,
though eminently pious, may not be a workable
principle in politics. But, in my opinion, the
opposite tendency is much worse. A tone of
extreme partisanship is the tendency of modern
politics. Perhaps it infuses a vigour without which
a well-governed State cannot live. But it detracts
a little from honesty of motive and sincerity of
purpose. Hence Hindu politicians, if they wish
to make themselves respected by the Government
and trusted by the people, must infuse into their
criticisms a more generous recognition of the good
work done by the British administration. They
will thereby also draw to themselves the sympathy
of the Mahomedan community, whose political
tendencies are generally on the side of constitu-
tional agitation. At present the Mahomedans are
not so much repelled by apathy towards political
agitation as by aversion to the methods of criticism

MORE CORDIAL RELATIONS 107

of the Government. An extravagant programme
will not appeal to a community which has yet to
receive its preliminary schooling in politics.

Having said so much of the duty which lies on
the leaders of the two races, it is agreeable to
notice that the relations between them are getting
smoother every day. Where they have been left
to themselves the Hindu and the Moslem have
lived in peace and amity, But where, as in Bengal,
the Government has thought fit to interfere, friction
and unpleasantness have resulted. With the ex-
ception of the partitioned province, all over India
the two communities have maintained cordial
relations. Even in Bengal there are signs of a
returning common sense. A circular issued lately
by the Hindu and Mahomedan leaders to bring
about a better understanding indicates a desire to
work in peace and harmony. As I have already
pointed out, the fortunes of the Hindus and
Mahomedans are more closely bound up with each
other than those of either with the Government.
This fact is being realised more vividly every day,
and Sir Syed Ahmed himself was not slow to
recognise it, as the following remarks will show.
Said he :—

"Mahomedans and Hindus are the two eyes of India.
Injure the one and you injure the other. We should try to
become one heart and soul, and act in unison ; if united we
can support each other ; if not, the effect of one against the
other will tend to the' destruction and downfall of both."

108 THE PRESENT TASK

On another occasion he said : " In the word
'nation' I include both Hindus and Mahomedans,
because that is the only meaning which I can attach
to it."

The settlement of the differences between the
two great communities I consider as the first step
in the creation of a united India. Another step in
the same direction consists in educating the masses.
To hope for unity among ignorant people divided
in race and religion is to expect the impossible.
By ignorant people I mean those who are utterly
illiterate, unversed even in their own vernaculars.
Of this class, the number still is very large.1 Until
something is done to lift this huge mass from super-
stition and ignorance, we cannot lay claim to a
national spirit to its fullest extent. Ignorance is
no bar to a feeling of nationality among people
who have a common origin. There is always a
sort of fellow-feeling due to the ties of blood and
kinship. But where, as in the case of India, there
are no ties of race or religion, but only the welding
influences of common aspirations and common
grievances, it is necessary that people should under-
stand their own best interests before they can co-
operate. And this can only be achieved through
education. It is due to that alone that a large

1 The last census return shows that 277! millions out of the
total population of 294 millions are unable to read and write,
and that the number of the population literate in English
(including, of course, English residents) is only 1,125,000.
—ED.

THE NEED FOR DISCIPLINE 109

number of Indians, comprising the most diverse
racial elements, are to-day united in thought and
action. And the instrument which has brought
about this partial unity will also be the means
whereby the complete unification of India will be
achieved in the fulness of time. Education will
teach us our duty to ourselves and to our country.
It will teach us that the interests of the individual
must be subordinated to those of the State, and
that the welfare of the latter predicates the happi-
ness of the former. In short, it will instil into us
those higher ideals of citizenship without which
no real progress in politics can be achieved.

But education alone will not achieve everything.
The rising generation must be imbued with the
spirit of genuine patriotism, and must be taught
the value of discipline. Without discipline, society
cannot hold together. Indian students, with half-
digested fragments of Mill and Burke in them, are
sometimes apt to carry to an unreasonable extent
the doctrine of individual freedom in word or deed.
This tendency must be severely repressed. There
can be no unity where there is no discipline, and
whatever detracts from discipline must be con-
demned. The participation of schoolboys in
political controversies is therefore highly unde-
sirable, and those who encourage it are the enemies
of their country. The aim of our leaders should
be to infuse into our young men a spirit of self-
abnegation and genuine patriotism. They must be

110 THE PRESENT TASK

taught that the primary duty of a man is not
towards himself or his particular community, but
towards the country of his birth. In a word, our
youths should be inspired to lay aside all sectarian
considerations and to "think imperially." When
such ideas have been instilled into the minds of
our countrymen, we shall have gone a long way
in the making of a strong and united India.

Besides all this, our social system must be over-
hauled, root and branch. The barriers of caste
must be broken down and our women brought
out from the seclusion which saps their mental
growth. At first sight this appears a task of tre-
mendous difficulty. But in the light of recent
events there is little to fear and much to hope.
Here, too, as in our political ideals, the beneficent
influence of Western education has effected a trans-
formation of ideas. The old order is fast changing,
yielding place to the new. Whereas formerly
Indian women seldom stirred out of the seclusion
of their homes, they are nowadays not only seen in
society, but found on the platform also. Nothing
surprises the foreign observer so much as the vast
upheaval the social constitution of India is under-
going. The debt we owe to our English rulers
for planting the civilisation of the West in the
hoary soil of the East will never be amply repaid.
The results may sometimes be disappointing, but
it is not for our generation to judge of the wisdom
of the policy. That Indian politicians are sum-

THE PATH OF REFORM 111

ciently alive to the benefits of Western civilisation
is demonstrated by the social and educational
conferences that are being continually organised
throughout India. But the work is necessarily
slow and cautious. Prejudices always die hard,
and particularly so in a conservative country.
The path of the reformer is strewed with diffi-
culties. Ridicule and abuse are often his lot.
But no cause that was worth the winning was
ever won without a struggle. The battle must be
waged in a spirit of resolute courage, and there
should be no yielding or faltering. Our political
emancipation is bound up in no small degree
with our social regeneration, on which, again,
depends the happiness of vast numbers of the
human race.

There is yet another way by which Indian
nationality can be brought into vigorous existence.
Sir Herbert Risley believes that a genuine form
of self-government might draw together, by the
force of the common interests which would be
created, the great majority of the people of India.
This is identical with my contention that com-
munity of interests is a factor of great value in
the formation of unity. We are enjoying to some
extent representative institutions, and I have shown
the beneficent results achieved thereby. When we
are blessed with a larger form of self-government,
the interests of the various communities will be
bound up more closely together. Thus self-govern-

112 THE PRESENT TASK

ment will have brought to the people of India not
only peace and contentment, but will have achieved
for them that which none of their own emperors
even remotely succeeded in bringing about — a
healthy and vigorous spirit of nationality.

To set down a definite period for the creation
of a United India would be to take a big jump into
the future. The action of the forces of evolution is
seldom constant. Periods of progress are some-
times followed by periods of inactivity. All that
I can say is, that, taking into consideration the
vastness of the population and the diversity of its
elements, at least half a century must elapse before
we can expect complete unity among the diverse
races of India. To expect the result earlier is to
overlook the complexities of the problem. A vast
amount of work has to be done before a great and
diversified population can be inspired with a single
purpose. Not many of us will live to see the realisa-
tion of our hopes. But that need not deter or
dishearten us. We are but a link in the long chain
of progress. Our task is to hand over to our suc-
cessors, strengthened and ennobled, the political
traditions we have received from our predecessors.
The Revolutionists in France thought they would
bring about the millennium in their own generation.
How grievously they failed all the world knows.
Let us then advance cautiously, though firmly.
The day is distant, but if it arrives within half a
century, our fondest hopes will have been realised.

CHAPTER IV

INDIAN DEMANDS

AS self-government is a boon to be granted by
the ruling power, and is not to be wrung
by force of arms, its gradual attainment must
largely be the work of the Government. Of
course, the people, and chiefly the educated
classes, have their own duty in the matter. They
have to fit themselves for the task. They must
learn to help themselves and to rely on their own
efforts. They must bring about the industrial
development of the country and the social re-
generation of the masses. They must lift the
peasantry from its depths of ignorance and ele-
vate the condition of the outcasts and pariahs of
society. They must emancipate their womankind
from the fetters which now bind them, and thus
help them to take their proper place in the develop-
ment of the nation. And lastly, they must infuse
in the mind of every true Indian a sense of pride
in his Motherland and a burning desire to serve
her best interests. But when all this is done, self-

Political Future of India 8 U

114 INDIAN DEMANDS

government would be as far away as ever if our
rulers did not think it proper to grant it to us. If
Indians even had the capacity, they would shrink
from enforcing it at the point of the sword, such
is the deep-seated loyalty of the people towards
their rulers. Hence in considering the steps by
which self-government can be attained, I shall
now confine myself to the measures by which
the Government can pave the way for the ulti-
mate emancipation of the Indian people, always
assuming a desire on its part to do so.

Before passing to the subject, I should like to say
a word on the moral side of the question. The
claims of Indians to govern themselves have been
held by many to be wildly extravagant and unjust.
It has been tacitly assumed in some quarters that
India can never be a self-governing country, and
that the grant of representative institutions is bound
to be attended with failure. It will be therefore
useful to remind Englishmen that not only has
self-government been considered possible for this
country, but that a long line of illustrious states-
men has declared that England owes it to us as a
moral duty. Nor can those who have propounded
this view be classed as "amiable cranks" or " disap-
pointed Civilians." Said Macaulay in 1833 : —

" It would be on the most selfish view of the case far better
for us that the people of India were well-governed and inde-
pendent of us than ill-governed and subject to us. We shall
never consent to administer the ' pousta ' to a whole com-

ENGLAND'S TRUE MISSION 115

munity, to stupefy and paralyse a great people, whom God
has committed to our charge, for the wretched purpose of
rendering them more amenable to our control."

These words were not uttered in a fit of post-
prandial oratory. They were not meant for foreign
consumption — to gain the applause of the natives.
They did not come from the lips of a statesman
who was "inebriated with the exuberance of his
own verbosity " ; they were the studied utterance
of a man whose nobility of heart was not less
remarkable than the vastness of his genius. In
the same strain are the remarks of Sir Frederick
Halliday, who declared that it was England's
mission in India to qualify the natives to govern
themselves. A long line of great statesmen has
corroborated and confirmed these declarations of
the policy that ought to govern the relations of
England towards India. It has been repeatedly
affirmed that the principles of self-government are
the glorious heritage of the British nation, and that
Great Britain will abide by those principles in the
government of this country. Mr. Gladstone, writing
to the Nineteenth Century in 1877, thus observes : —

" The question who shall have supreme rule in India is, by
the laws of right, an Indian question ; and those laws of right
are from day to day growing into laws of fact. Our title to be
there depends on a first condition, that our being there is
profitable to the Indian nations ; and on a second condition,
that we can make them see and understand it to be profitable.
It is the moral and not the military question which stands
first in the order of ideas, with reference to the power of

116 INDIAN DEMANDS

England in India, as much as with reference to the power
in England itself of the State over the people."

When England embarked on her mission of
educating the natives, few among her statesmen
foresaw the far-reaching consequences of the policy.
There were a few people like Macaulay who in dim
prophetic vision saw the direction of the current.
But whither it was to lead them, no one could say.
Within a short time the legitimate and necessary
consequences of the policy began to manifest them-
selves. It became at once apparent that the strong
hold of England over India was loosening. The
blind unquestioning obedience of the subject races
was being replaced by a spirit of enlightened criti-
cism. The measures of the Government ceased to
carry the stamp of infallibility as soon as the light
of knowledge was brought to bear upon them.
Inquiry replaced ignorance, and a general awaken-
ing of the people was everywhere visible. The
Government saw the effects of its policy and became
alarmed. Those among the officials who were
opposed to Indian progress closed their eyes to
what was happening. They ridiculed the aspirations
of the people. Far better had it been for them to
have avowed, with the boldness of Lord Ellen-
borough, that the spread of education was incom-
patible with the maintenance of British rule in
India. Instead, they countenanced the existence of
the cause and ignored its effect. If they wished to
see the Indians for ever following obediently at the

A MOKAL EVOLUTION 117

heels of the rulers, their best policy was to shut all
schools and colleges. They did not do that. On
the contrary, education was increasingly encouraged,
and when the necessary consequences followed they
imitated the good old lady who attempted to drive
back the tide with a mop. Instead of taking in hand
and guiding the new forces that were coming into
existence, they attempted to stifle the national
movement by calumny and ridicule. But it is
satisfactory to note that this handful of men did
not constitute the Government of India, and in the
ranks of the bureaucracy there were men who sym-
pathised with and encouraged the natural desire of
the people to share in the administration. They
declared in substance that the new-born spirit was the
direct outcome of British policy, and that England
held fast to her traditions of liberty and freedom.

Thus it will be seen that the demands of the
natives rest on a moral basis. They claim to govern
themselves, firstly, because England is preparing
them for it ; and secondly, because she believes in
the principles of self-government. Speaking at
Bradford some years ago, Sir Henry Campbell-
Bannerman declared : —

"We believe in self-government. We treat it not as an
odious necessity, not as a foolish theory to which unfortunately
the British Empire is committed. We treat it as a blessing
and as a healing, a sobering, and a strengthening influence."

Lord Morley before he went to the India Office was
of the same opinion, and the Premier, Mr. Asquith,

118 INDIAN DEMANDS

has often delivered himself in a similar strain.
After this, I hope it will not be said that the demands
of Indians are wholly extravagant and unjustified.
Whether they are not a little hasty and premature
is a matter which will be considered hereafter.

Granted the moral right to self-government, by
what steps can it be attained ? In the front rank
I would put the education of the people as a step of
paramount importance. The educated classes, as
they stand now, do not constitute the bulk of the
people. It is true they are the real leaders of the
masses, and as such their influence is very great.
But representative institutions cannot be granted to
a nation in which the educated classes form a
decided minority, and the bulk of the people is
ignorant and illiterate. There should be a certain
level of culture before any country can be entrusted
with its own destinies. It may be that even in
advanced countries like England, France, and
others, vast numbers of people may be without
the blessings of education. But then the scale of
civilisation is higher among the people of the West
than among those of the East, and the general intelli-
gence brought to bear upon the affairs of the country
is consequently greater. Besides, among Western
nations the proportion which the illiterate classes
bear to the educated is much smaller than in India.
The primary duty of the Government is therefore to
educate the masses. As Sir George Clarke in his
Convocation address lately observed, it is only by

MILITARY EXPENDITURE 119

the diffusion of education among the mass of the
population, and thus creating gradually the environ-
ment which stimulates and inspires, that India can
be raised to her rightful position among the nations
of the world.

At present, there are in this country four villages
out of five without any school, and seven men out of
eight without any education. Poverty has hitherto
been the greatest obstacle in the diffusion of know-
ledge. The native is an apt and willing student, but
he is generally without the means to satisfy his
desire to learn. Consequently, the Government
must come to his aid. It is satisfactory to note that
increasing provision is made every year in the
Budget for educational purposes. But considering
the needs of the country, I believe more might and
ought to be done if the three hundred millions of
India are to be rescued from ignorance and its
concomitant evils. I do not advocate a sweeping
reduction of the military forces of the Empire.
But I believe a million or two less spent on arma-
ments will not imperil the safety of this Dependency,
specially in view of our happy relations with Russia
and Afghanistan. The money thus saved will go a
long way towards satisfying our intellectual wants.
Care must be taken to adapt the methods of educa-
tion to the peculiar genius of the people.

Primary education should be made free, but not
compulsory, except in a few selected areas. I do
not think the time has arrived for compulsory

120 INDIAN DEMANDS

methods of schooling. Let there be a free diffusion
of knowledge before applying the principle of com-
pulsion. In the Presidency and other towns,
primary education might be made compulsory
with advantage. In course of time the system
might be extended to the whole of India. In his
ideal Republic Plato rejected all compulsion. He
says, " A free spirit ought to learn no piece of learning
with slavery. No piece of compelled learning is
lasting in the soul." All this is very fine, but we are
no longer living in the days of Plato. The race is
now to him who is best equipped, and those who
stick to the old ways will be left behind. India
aspires to self-government, but while the masses are
steeped in ignorance she might as well ask for a
piece of the moon. The efforts of both Govern-
ment and the leaders of the people must therefore
be directed towards the great task of education. In-
asmuch as the ignorance of the people arises from
poverty, it is the duty of the Government to come
to the rescue. Inasmuch as it is due to the apathy
and indifference of the masses themselves, it is the
duty of the popular leaders to demonstrate the
blessings of education, and thus remove the
obstacles that lie in its path. Let the aim of all
be that which is set forth in the Educational Code
of Japan. It is there recited that "it is intended
henceforth that education shall be so diffused that
there may not be a village with an ignorant family,
nor a family with an ignorant member."

HIGH OFFICES OF STATE 121

The second step towards self-government lies in
the gradual admission of natives to the high offices
of the State. The proportion of natives in the
highest ranks of the service is very small, and the
recognition afforded to native talent is not very
generous. If you wish the Indians to be trained in
the art of governing themselves, you must entrust
them with positions of trust and responsibility. In
face of the overwhelming testimony of impartial
critics, you cannot with justice assert that the
natives are not fit for high offices in the State. And
if they are, it is the duty of the Government to
accord a more generous recognition of their merits.
You cannot on a sudden transform a nation of
clerks and munsiffs into a nation of legislators and
administrators. Hence the necessity of a gradual
advancement of the natives to positions of dignity.

The third step consists in the gradual introduc-
tion of popular representation in the Imperial and
Provincial Councils. It was a favourite saying of
Gladstone that " it is liberty alone which fits men
for liberty." In the same way, it is only through the
gradual enjoyment of representative institutions that
Indians will become fit to govern themselves. To
take a homely instance, no man can learn to swim
unless he has dipped into the water. To this it
might be replied that unless he knows how to swim
he will be drowned. We might rejoin that it is
for this very reason that the man should be first
taken into shallow water, and then by degrees into

122 INDIAN DEMANDS

the river, and lastly into the stormy waters of the
ocean. Thus, Indians should be trained for self-
government first through municipal bodies, secondly
through Legislative Councils, and lastly through
Executive Councils. "Wait till they are fit"
is a bad maxim when applied to the art of
government. Fitness for administration is not
a theoretical acquisition. It only comes through
first-hand acquaintance with the problems of
government. The right attitude to adopt towards
the question is that which was taken up by Lord
Ripon with regard to local self-government. In
a Resolution published in 1882, he expressed the
view that it was not primarily with a view to im-
provement in administration that the measure was
put forward, but it was chiefly designed as an
instrument of popular political education. The
Viceroy was well aware that there would be many
failures at the start which would discourage ex-
aggerated hopes, but he doubted not that efficiency
would follow as a matter of fact when local know-
ledge and interest were brought to bear more fully
upon local administration. This is the spirit which
ought to animate English statesmen in their attitude
towards the question of popular representation in
the Councils of the Empire. They must not expect
that we can conduct the affairs of the Empire, in
the first instance, better than those whom long
training and hereditary instincts have fitted for the
task. But there is every reason to expect that the

THE NEED TO LOOK WITHIN 123

duty will be equally well performed when our
political education has advanced to a certain stage.
It is unnecessary, perhaps, to point out that in
the regeneration of a nation help must come from
within as well as without. While we criticise the
Government, it will be well if we turn the search-
light of criticism occasionally on ourselves. Let
the Brahmin who rails against the aloofness and
hauteur of the Anglo-Indian not lay himself open
to the same charge in his relations towards the
outcasts and pariahs of society. Let the Indian
who clamours for social recognition throw open
his doors to his fellow-men, irrespective of caste or
creed. Let the Babu who inveighs against the
Government for killing the industries of the
country manifest his practical sympathy with
industrial regeneration. Let the politician who de-
lights to call the officials " irresponsible " be imbued
with a sense of his own responsibility. Lastly,
let the reformer who lectures the Government on its
duty towards the people understand his own obli-
gations towards them as regards their social and
moral condition. It is a magnificent task, the
uplifting of helpless and ignorant men from poli-
tical and intellectual slavery. Whether we are
English or Indians, let us all unite in moulding
in a spirit of firmness and righteousness the
destinies of a fifth of the human race.

As to the period within which it is possible to
attain self-government, I should hesitate to say any-

124 INDIAN DEMANDS

thing definitely. The complexities of the problem
are so great that one might well pause before
assigning a definite period. Political forces
alternate between progression and retrogression,
and continuous progress cannot be predicated of
any community. Our political life is but in its
infancy, and our expectations must not be very
high. We have singularly misread history if we
believe that a generation or even a century is
sufficient for the complete emancipation of a down-
trodden people. England herself has attained her
liberty by the slow and patient toil of centuries.
Canada and the other colonies had to wait for
long and weary years before they achieved
self-government. Not till the last century had
well advanced did France rescue herself effec-
tually from the tyranny of kings and nobles.
Ireland has been clamouring for decades, and
Home Rule appears as far away as ever. Let
our expectations be chastened, therefore, by the
light of history. Taking everything into con-
sideration, I am inclined to believe that India
will be ripe for self-government some time by
the end of this century.1

1 It will be noted that the author draws a distinction
between the unification of the Indian people, which he
expects to be achieved in half a century (see end of Chapter
III.), and the attainment of ripeness for self-government, which
he believes will occupy not less than nine decades. — ED.

CHAPTER V

A PRACTICAL PROGRAMME

I NOW come to what is perhaps the most difficult
part of the work, viz., a consideration of the
ways and means by which encouragement can best
be given to the legitimate political aspirations of the
people. The subject requires constructive criticism,
and it is here that we find the difficulties that always
arise when we descend from the general to the
concrete. The orators of Bengal have been for
years teaching the Civilians how to run the Govern-
ment. If they were asked to formulate a definite
practical scheme, I am afraid they would not find
it so easy. The fact is obvious that destructive
criticism is very easy. Mr. Balfour in the latter
days of his Ministry made a rather bad muddle ;
yet in Opposition he has no difficulty in pro-
nouncing to the world that the Liberals are ruining
the Empire. Conscious of these difficulties, I shall
attempt to formulate a programme at once, I
hope, moderate and practical. Before I do so,
a little explanation is necessary. While I assume

125

126 A PRACTICAL PROGRAMME

the fitness of natives for high administrative work,
I think it necessary to disclaim all unreasonable
and extravagant aspirations. Not only do they
provoke opposition, but they throw discredit on our
legitimate claims. The late Lord Salisbury once
asked : —

" Is there any man who will have the hardihood to tell me
that it is within the range of possibility that a man in India
should be appointed Lieutenant-Governor of a province, or
Chief Commissioner, or Commander-in-Chief, without any
regard whatever to his race ? "

The noble lord need not have had such
fears, for no sober politician has ventured to
advance such claims. Of course, in politics one
sometimes hears things which make the angels
weep. But then a single swallow never makes the
summer. Hence, the claim advanced by a few
politicians that all the posts in India, except a dozen
or so, should be in the hands of natives must not
be taken too seriously. If political capital is sought
to be made out of such talk, that is another thing.
Otherwise, the statement must be regarded as the
product of a diseased imagination or the vapouring
of an unguarded moment.

Having admitted this, it is but fair to say that
except in the highest places room should be found
for natives of talent whenever practicable. The
case against the larger employment of Indians is
not at all so strong as against the grant of self-
government. For the latter, long political training

DIFFICULTIES OF THE GOVERNMENT 127

and a general diffusion of knowledge are necessary.
As regards the former, it will be sufficient if there is
a large number of educated and talented men fitted
by their position to occupy places of trust and
to act as interpreters between the rulers and the
ruled. To regard these men as a "microscopic
minority " unworthy of serious attention is neither
just nor politic. Let it be remembered that the
British Government has to labour under peculiar
difficulties. The late Professor Wordsworth once
remarked : —

" It seems obvious that in addition to the difficulties which
are common to all despotisms, their isolation, the imperfection
of the instruments through which they work, the paralysis of
public spirit which neutralises their best intentions, their
ignorance of the new social and intellectual forces which are
coming into existence around them, the heedless unthrift
which seems inseparable from that form of government, they
have a whole class of special difficulties in the want of attach-
ment, in the inevitable suspicions and mistrust of their
subjects, in the privation of that reciprocal cordiality which
is so considerable an element in the strength of govern-
ments."

When these things are taken into consideration
it is obvious that there is need for a more en-
lightened policy towards the educated classes. By
their intellectual superiority and intimate acquaint-
ance with the wants and feelings of the masses they
constitute the real leaders of the people, and exer-
cise an influence over them which no wise Govern-
ment will ignore.

128 A PRACTICAL PROGRAMME

The measures by which encouragement can best
be given to legitimate political aspirations may
be considered under three heads: (i) by the larger
employment of natives in high positions ; (2) by
introduction of the popular element in the Councils
of the Empire ; x and (3) by the removal of some
of the difficulties which block the way to the public
services. There is yet another way of satisfying
Indian aspirations, and that is by opening out
careers in the Army. I shall not say anything on
this last point, as, to use a well-worn phrase, it is
not within the range of practical politics. India is
loyal to the core, but an alien Government which
does not understand the people over whom it rules
may well be pardoned for being cautious about
its military supremacy. For a long time past it has
been apparent to Englishmen that their rule, justly
or unjustly, is not popular. The unrest in Bengal
and other parts of India has confirmed the notion.
Moreover, the vastness of the population has added
an element of anxiety. It is not surprising, there-
fore, that even those who flout the pernicious
doctrine of India being held by the sword should
hesitate to give even a partial control of the Army
into Indian hands. Of course, their fears are totally
ungrounded. Our loyalty has been testified by the
highest authorities, both civil and military. The
Government has declared that the idea of the

1 The writer means a larger infusion of this element, which
already exists.— ED.

THE HIGHER POSTS 129

subversion of British power is abhorrent to the
people of India. But there is a deep-seated mis-
understanding which nothing can remove, and
which will ever stand in the way of our military
ambitions. Hence it is no use pursuing the
subject any further.

Let us now consider the question of the larger
employment of the natives of India in high posts.
The Act of 1833 declared:—

" That no native of the said territory, nor any natural born
subject of His Majesty resident therein, shall by reason
only of his religion, place of birth, descent, colour, or any
of them, be disabled from holding any place, office, or em-
ployment under the said Company."

The next great declaration of policy on the subject
took place when the echoes of the Mutiny were
ringing in the ears of Englishmen. The horrors of
Cawnpore were still fresh in the minds of men.
The spirit of vengeance was abroad. Loud and
long were the cries to avenge the blood of
thousands of helpless women and children. The
policy of Lord Canning was being assailed with a
vigour and determination which would have broken
down the courage of a lesser man. It was at this
period of bitterness and anxiety that the great
Charter of our liberties was proclaimed in language
that breathed the magnanimity of a great and Royal
woman. Among other things it said : —

"And it is our further will that, so far as may be, our
subjects of whatever race or creed be freely and impartially
Political Future of India 9

130 A PRACTICAL PROGRAMME

admitted to offices in our service, the duties of which they
may be qualified by their education, ability, and integrity duly
to discharge."

These pledges were repeated and confirmed on
another solemn occasion. Lord Lytton at the Delhi
Durbar of 1877 told a brilliant assemblage that the
natives of India had a recognised claim to share
largely with their English fellow-subjects in the
administration of the country. The claim was
founded in the highest justice, and was recognised
by the Government as binding on its honour and
consonant with all the aims of its policy. After
this there is no room for doubt as to the benevolent
intentions of the sovereign power. Lord Curzon,
in a thoughtless mood, tried to explain away these
pledges, but it is satisfactory to note that Lord
Morley expressly disclaimed the attitude taken up
by the late Viceroy.

The question now remains, how far has the
Government followed the declared policy of the
Crown. We have been told that within the last
few years the number of natives employed in the
Government service has increased out of all pro-
portion to the increase in the European element.
That may or may not be. What we are
concerned with is to know the proportion which
the native element bears to the European in the
higher branches of the service. That is the real
point at issue. We have never complained that
there are not enough native clerks or mamlatdars in

SOME FIGURES 131

the Government employment. Our contention all
along has been that, in the higher grades, natives of
capacity have not been given those opportunities
which the repeated declarations of the sovereign
Power have led them to expect. Under existing
arrangements, there are well-defined limits beyond
which no Indian, whatever his claims, can go. It
is only in the judicial department that the highest
appointments are open to the children of the soil,
and even there there is room for a more generous
recognition of talent. If we say that all real power
and authority rest in the hands of Englishmen
we shall not be far from the truth. Lord Curzon,
with the thoroughness and zeal characteristic of
him, compiled figures in 1903, x from which he
attempted to refute the charge that the natives were
given an inadequate voice in the administration
of the country. These figures were afterwards
embodied in a resolution of the Government of
India, and I shall refer to them in support of
my contention.

At the date in question, the total number of
Government posts in India with a salary above
Rs. 75, equivalent to £5, a month was 28,278. Of
these 58 per cent, were held by natives and 42 per
cent, by Europeans and Eurasians. To these figures
Lord Curzon triumphantly pointed as the best
vindication of England's generosity. I am afraid
I cannot go into raptures over this condition of
1 1904. — ED.

132

A PRACTICAL PROGRAMME

things. The Viceroy divided all appointments into
three classes: those ranging between Rs. 75 and
Rs. 200 a month ; those over Rs. 200 and below
Rs. 1,000 ; and lastly those carrying more than
Rs. 1,000 a month. Now, more than half of the
appointments in India have always been on posts
less than Rs. 200 a month. It is evident that very
few Europeans can be found to fill these low-paid
offices. They simply cannot manage to live on
such a pittance. Therefore it is a matter of absolute
necessity that these places should be filled by
natives. As a fact their percentage in this class
is ninety. But as you go higher up, the proportion
grows less and less, so that when you come to
positions of real power and responsibility the native
element becomes insignificant. The following table
illustrates my meaning : —

From Rs. 200 to Rs. 300, 60 per cent of Indians.

300
400
500
600
700

400, 43
500, 40
600,25
700, 27
800, 13

It will be seen how the percentage diminishes as we
go higher up the scale. But it is in posts carrying
more than Rs. 1,000 a month that the policy of
England shows itself best. In 1903 there were
1,370 such appointments, out of which only 92
were filled by natives. These figures speak for
themselves. These 92 men represent, then, the

LORD QUEZON'S APOLOGIA 133

sum total of India's cultivated intelligence. Beyond
this paltry number the Government of India does
not expect administrative capacity among Indians.
And yet we have been told times out of number
that the highest positions are open to all, irrespective
of caste or colour. Lord Curzon was at least frank.
He was good enough to declare that —

"The highest ranks of civil employment in India, those in
the Imperial Civil Service, though open to such Indians as
can proceed to England and pass the requisite tests, must,
nevertheless, as a general rule be held by Englishmen, for the
reason that they possess, partly by heredity, partly by up-
bringing, and partly by education, the knowledge of the
principles of government, the habits of mind and the vigour
of character which are essential for the task, and that the rule
of India being a British rule, and any other rule being in the
circumstances of the case impossible, the tone and standard
should be set by those who have created and are responsible
for it."

The assumption underlying this argument ignores
not only the great statesmen and administrators
India has produced in times past, but also those who
have contributed to the making of modern India.
The native principalities of Baroda, Mysore, Travan-
core, Gondal, and others are among the model
States of India. In some matters they set the
standard to British administrators. Baroda, parti-
cularly, can teach a few things to them. Unfor-
tunately for Lord Curzon's dogmatic assumption,
these States are managed chiefly, if not altogether,
by the children of the soil. But let me not quarrel

134 A PRACTICAL PROGRAMME

with his lordship. He at least has spoken straight
and square, and we are thankful to him for that.
It is enough that Lord Morley has expressly dis-
claimed the attitude taken up by him. The facts
and figures given demonstrate that the question of
the higher employment of the natives of India is in
as unsatisfactory a condition as it was a generation
ago. The position, then, is briefly this : either the
natives are not capable or the Government is un-
willing to recognise their claims. In the first case
British statesmen lay themselves open to a charge
of inconsistency ; in the second case they are guilty
of "breaking to the heart the words of promise
they had uttered to the ear."

Both expediency and justice demand that there
should be a change of policy as regards this vital
question. Let us consider the ways and means by
which it can best be effected. I must content
myself with indicating in general the lines on which
improvements should run. To take the judicial
branch, it has never been doubted that the natives
make excellent judges. At the time of the Ilbert
Bill agitation all manner of hard things were said
about the ability and integrity of native judges.
But that was not a time for sober reasoning. Even
in those days there were not wanting men who
were not afraid to give merit its due. The Earl
of Selborne, the then Lord Chancellor, from his
place in Parliament declared that the natives made
quite as good judges as Englishmen, whatever way

JUDICIAL OFFICE 135

one looked at it. Apart from mere testimony, there
has been a practical recognition of the judicial
attainments of natives. It is due to the Govern-
ment to observe that it has acted honourably in
this matter. The supreme judicial post in Bengal,
Madras, and Bombay has often been given tem-
porarily to Indians, and a recent appointment has
created a Bengali gentleman the Advocate-General
of Bengal. But it may be urged that a little more
might be done with advantage. In the four High
Courts it should be provided that at least half the
judgeships should be reserved for the children of
the soil. At present in Bombay, Madras, and
Allahabad only two out of seven judges are natives,
and in Calcutta only four out of fourteen. Then
the Civilian element should be reduced. The Bar
can produce scores of talented men, and their
ability should meet with a fitting recognition. The
claims of the subordinate judiciary must also not
be forgotten. Then as regards the various posts
attached to the courts of justice the Indian element
might be increased. I should also like to see more
natives exercising magisterial and judicial functions
in the districts. Taking the figures of 1903, I find
that out of a total of 239 posts carrying Rs. 1,000 and
more only 49 were in the hands of the natives.
This, considering the peculiar fitness of Indians for
exercising judicial functions and the amplitude of
the materials that lie at hand, is not a result with
which we can long remain satisfied.

136 A PRACTICAL PROGRAMME

In the Revenue department there is much less
cause for satisfaction. In the department of Land
Revenue there are 278 posts of Rs. 1,000 and more,
out of which only 19 are enjoyed by natives. Why
it should be necessary to man this department
almost wholly with Englishmen I cannot under-
stand. The native is capable of making a good
revenue officer. In the Customs, Opium, and Salt
departments, among the 26 high-paid officials not a
single native is to be found. Every reasonable man
will admit that there is no justification whatever for
this state of things. Indians should have at least
a fourth of these appointments. The Imperial
Customs service should be thrown open to all, and
must not remain the exclusive preserve of English
civilians. If Indians are thought fit to sit on the
Council of the Secretary of State I think a [Customs]
collectorate ought not to be beyond their powers
to tackle. As we dip further into the official tables
we find some interesting revelations. In the Forest
and State Railway departments there are 120 high-
salaried positions ; the native element therein is nil.
As before, one stands amazed. Apparently there
are wide limitations to the capacity of educated
Indians. The Postal and Telegraph departments
are beyond their capacity too. There is a solitary
native among 32 Europeans.

Similarly, in the other departments of State the
Indian element is conspicuous by its absence.
Taking all the services together, it is a bare

LORD MORLEY'S ATTITUDE 137

7 per cent, in the higher branches. Is this the
response which England gives to the claims of the
educated classes ? Is this the fulfilment of solemn
pledges given by the sovereign authority and re-
iterated by a generation of eminent statesmen ? Is
this the recognition of the new spirit which is trans-
forming the thought and attitude of the East ? The
latest of our political philosophers has said : —

" In regard to the question of the employment of Indians
in the higher offices, I think a move — a definite and deliberate
move — ought to be made with the view of giving competent
and able natives the same access to the higher posts in the
administration that are given to our own countrymen."

Then, referring to the Queen's Proclamation of
1858 and emphatically rejecting the construction
that was sought to be placed upon it by Lord
Curzon, he declared that he did not believe that
one of the most memorable documents in English
history was to be construed "in a narrow, literal,
restricted, or pettifogging sense." Let Lord Morley
courageously put into practice what he has so
admirably preached. I for one have great faith in
our Radical philosopher, and fully appreciate the
difficulties which surround him. To expect him,
on the strength of previous utterances regarding
Ireland, to dance to the tune of the Extremists of
Poona and Bengal is simply ridiculous. We must
represent our grievances in temperate language and
with convincing logic, and the fight is ours.

138 A PEACTICAL PROGRAMME

Let it be understood that we have no desire to
monopolise the higher branches of the Imperial
Service. But between that and a paltry 7 per
cent, there is a vast ground to be covered. In
my opinion, a fourth of the higher appointments
should be filled by natives. Even then, there
are several departments which we are content
should remain in the hands of Englishmen. It
is but just that the political service should be
manned by the ruling caste. Political officers
have to deal with a variety of questions touching
various interests, and it is desirable that the
European element should there predominate.
Even in the Educational Service I should not
for the present consider a large infusion of native
blood desirable, though I cannot agree to the
necessity of having only one Indian as against
forty-eight Europeans. It is necessary that English
education should be imparted by men who have
been born and bred in the spirit of a noble and
inspiring literature. Mere book-work is not every-
thing. The spirit is the essence of the thing, and it
can only be imbibed by familiarity with the sights
and scenes among which the great writers lived and
moved. Of course, this proposition, like everything
else, is subject to exceptions. But the general
principle that the arts and science of the West can
best be imparted by the men of the West holds
good. Conspicuous merit, however, must be fit-
tingly recognised wherever found, and it is hard

MONOPOLY OF POWER 139

to believe that there is only one man with the
necessary qualifications among more than a million
of educated natives.

Leaving these and like departments aside, there
are many others affording ample scope for the exer-
cise of native talent. Such are the Public Works,
the Railways, the Excise and Customs, the Posts
and Telegraphs, Jails, Forests, Salt, Stamps, Opium,
Police, &c. In these non-political departments
at least a fourth of the appointments should be in
the hands of natives. There is no reason to exclude
them therefrom on the false pretext of incom-
petence or dishonesty. The report of the Public
Service Commission has favoured a generous policy
as regards these appointments. It has expressly
recommended the inclusion of native officers in the
higher ranks of the Police. Yet among forty-nine
officers in its ranks, not a single Indian is to be
found. It will be observed that I have all along
been speaking of high offices, such as carry more
than Rs. 1,000 a month. But it is precisely with
regard to these that the Government has given us
its solemn pledges. It is here that we look for real
power and responsibility, initiative and authority.
What avails it, then, to point out the preponderance
of our numbers in subordinate positions ? If
mamlatdars and tehsildars can by any stretch of
imagination be considered as the rulers of our
Empire, then certainly we can be said to be associ-
ated in the task of government. As matters stand

140 A PRACTICAL PROGRAMME

at present, it is not unjust to say that Englishmen
hold the monopoly of power. I have no desire to
put forward Government employment as the be-all
and end-all of an educated man's existence. But is
it not an absurdity that you should train men for
the discharge of high duties and then let their talents
run waste ? Mr. Theodore Morison, member of the
India Council, once declared that British rule had
crushed Indian talent and emasculated the native
character. How far that is the case is beyond my
purpose to inquire.

The second measure for encouraging the political
aspirations of the people consists in the introduction
of the popular element in the Councils of the
Empire. The expansion of the Legislative Councils
effected at the end of the last century r has been
productive of much good during its short career.
If the Councils have not provided any efficient
check over the actions of the Government, they
have at least kept before the officials the fear of
wholesome criticism. If they have not brought
about beneficent measures, they have in some cases
mended mischievous ones. And as the training-
ground of Indians for self-governing institutions,
their value cannot be overrated. But they have
outgrown the conditions which brought them into
being, and the new spirit that is abroad demands
new institutions. The educated classes are no

1 The enlargements were made by an Act passed in
1802.— ED.

THE PROJECTED REFORMS 141

longer content with the privilege of criticising the
acts of the Government twice or thrice a year. The
opportunity of shining forth on Budget day has lost
its attractions, and something more substantial is
wanted.

In response to the insistent demands for reforms
in the constitution of the Councils, Lord Morley in
conjunction with the Government of Lord Minto
has proposed certain measures and invited criticism
on them. They consist in the institution of a
Council of Notables and in the enlargement of the
numbers and powers of the Imperial and Provincial
Legislative Councils. Without any desire to indulge
in carping criticisms, I may say at once that these
proposals are very disappointing. The Imperial
Advisory Council1 is to consist of sixty members,
including ruling chiefs and territorial magnates.
To invest ruling chiefs of independent territories
with the right of advising the Government on
matters pertaining to British India, about which
they know nothing and care less, is perfectly absurd.
As to the territorial magnates, it will be no injustice
to them to say that neither by inclination nor by
capacity have they afforded any justification for
their selection for the proposed task. Besides, the
interests of property and capital are not often
identical with those of the agricultural and labour-
ing classes. Then again, membership will be by

1 It is understood that this portion of the draft scheme is
not to be proceeded with. — ED.

142 A PRACTICAL PROGRAMME

nomination by the Viceroy. How far that will
ensure independence of views scarcely requires
to be told. So much with regard to the constitu-
tion of the Council. As regards its status, it is
to receive no legislative recognition, and will not
be vested with any formal powers. It is to be
consulted at the will of the authorities, who will
not be bound in any way to adopt its advice.
Its deliberations are to be secret, and this will
scarcely contribute to freedom of opinion, public
criticism being withheld from it. Lastly, this body
is only to deal with matters specially referred, and
will have no powers of initiative. Needless to say,
such a Council is a mockery. The same remarks
apply, with some modifications, to the Provincial
Advisory Councils.

As regards the Legislative Councils, it is to be
regretted that the framers of the proposed measures
seem to have been actuated by an ill-disguised
hostility to the educated classes. An attempt has
been deliberately made to discount their influence
and to set up a counterpoise. This is apparent
both in the constitution of the new Councils and
in the prefatory remarks of the Government of
India. The Imperial Legislative Council is to
consist of 54 members, made up as follows : —
9 members ex-officio, including the Viceroy, 20
official members, 18 elected members, and 7
members nominated by the Viceroy. Out of this
number, the elected members are only 18, and

MINOKITY SEATS 143

of these, two are from the Chambers of Commerce,
which will return Europeans only. The rest are to
be either official members or nominated by the
Viceroy. These will almost always side with the
Government, which will thus have a majority of
38 to 16. This is an excessive disproportion, and
wholly without justification. Then out of the
seven members nominated by the Viceroy, two
are to be Mahomedans, who have already been
provided for by two seats among the elected
members. I have elsewhere spoken of the folly
of giving special preference to classes and com-
munities, and have shown how the interests of
the Mahomedans have not suffered at the hands
of the other communities. But evidently the
Government thinks otherwise. As regards the
constitution of the elected members, there are to
be two from the Chambers of Commerce, seven
from the non-official members of the Provincial
Councils, seven from the nobles and great land-
owners, and two from the Mahomedans. I need
not comment on the policy of reserving eleven seats
for minorities and special interests, as against
only seven for the representatives of the non-
official members of the Provincial Councils, who
may be styled the true spokesmen of the dumb
millions. The same number of seats is given
to the nobles and landowners, who, according to
the qualifications laid down by the Government,
represent an electorate of about a thousand men,

144 A PRACTICAL PROGRAMME

as is given to the representatives of the vast
masses of India. Yet it is chiefly to satisfy the
legitimate aspirations of the people that these
measures have been framed ! Besides this unequal
distribution of seats, there is a proviso that the
members elected to represent a class must them-
selves belong to it. Why should the landholders,
for instance, be precluded from selecting proper
and capable men from outside their ranks ? If
they cannot find a suitable representative from
among their own class, must they elect an
incapable man simply because he happens to
belong to it ?

If these things are taken into consideration, the
scheme will be found to be disappointing. Its
greatest drawback is its scant recognition of the
elective principle. We have heard much of late
that the principle is not suited to the peculiar
conditions of India. Unfortunately for the advo-
cates of this theory, the operation of the principle
in local bodies and in the Councils has been
attended with satisfactory results. I am willing
to admit that conditions exist which make it
necessary to provide room for membership by
nomination. There are certain elements in Indian
society which need to be included in all assemblies
that claim to be representative, but which would
otherwise be left out. It is for this reason that
wholesale election is not demanded. But the
principle holds good in spite of its partial applica-

A SCHEME OF REPKESENTATION 145

tion. In his speech during the debate on the
Councils Bill of 1892 Mr. Gladstone observed :

" It is evident that the great question — and it is one of great
and profound interest — before the House is that of the intro-
duction of the elective element into the Government of India.
That question overshadows and absorbs everything else. It
is a question of vital importance. What we want is to get at
the real heart and mind, the most upright sentiments and the
most enlightened thoughts, of the people of India."

Now it is this very element which has not received
due recognition in the constitution of the proposed
Councils. For this and other reasons mentioned,
I do not consider that the scheme is entitled to the
unqualified approval of any right-thinking man. Of
course, it does not deserve the severe condemnation
it has received from most quarters, as some of its
provisions, notably those regarding the Budget
debates, are a welcome response to long-felt griev-
ances. The chief cause for dissatisfaction is that the
Councils are not to be of a representative character.
The measure is still on the anvil, and we may hope
for considerable modifications. It may be permis-
sible for me to offer some suggestions as regards the
constitution of the Councils. I should like the seats
to be distributed as follows : —

His Excellency the Viceroy i

Ex-officio Members 8

Nominated Officials 16

Nominated Non-Officials 5

Representatives of the Chambers of Commerce 2

Political Future of India 10

146 A PRACTICAL PROGEAMME

Representatives of the Indian Mercantile Com-
munities 2

Representatives of the 8 Provinces and Presi-
dencies (Bombay, Bengal, and Madras send-
ing two each) ii

Representatives of the Mahomedan Community 2

Bepresentatives of the Landholders 3

Representatives of the Universities 4

The Councils as thus constituted would be fairly
representative, and would at the same time guard the
interests of the Government. I have suggested the
raising of the number of elected members from
18 to 24. Considering that out of the 30 nominated
or ex-officio members almost all would vote with
the Government, which can also count upon the
support of some at least of the elected members,
I submit that the Government majority would be
duly ensured. As regards the proposed rules for
Budget debates, I have nothing but praise to record.
Under the old system, a rambling criticism of the
Government policy was all that the members were
able to give. Under the rules now proposed the
Budget will be discussed in the first instance under
separate heads, to be followed by a general debate.
This will concentrate attention on each head of
expenditure, and will prevent a loose criticism
embracing all the groups. The power to vote and
move amendments might be added with much
advantage. The Viceroy will in any case have his
veto, but the moral effect of dividing the Council
will be very great. I have other suggestions to offer,

THE EXECUTIVE COUNCILS 147

both as to the Imperial and Provincial Councils,
but as they enter into details and do not touch the
substance, I refrain from putting them forward.

The Legislative Councils exist for the purpose of
making laws and regulations. But the laws that
come into being almost always emanate from the
officers of the Government, who are ex-officio
members. In this sense they are the work of the
executive authorities, who have thus all power
centred in their own hands. The members of the
Executive Councils wield an enormous influence,
and the ruler of the presidency or province is often
a tool in their hands. Sometimes proconsuls of the
type of Lord Curzon turn up, and then the bureau-
cracy has a hard time. But otherwise it is supreme.
It is this stronghold of authority and power that it
is the ambition of Indian politicians to storm. Of
their capacity impartial judges are convinced. Lord
Morley himself lately declared it as his opinion that
the Indian is perfectly worthy of being given a
share in the councils of the paramount Power.
But leaving opinions aside, the admission of two
natives to the Council of the Secretary of State is
a signal proof of the ability of the children of the
soil. Since the India Council has opened its
doors to natives, the Executive Councils ought
no longer to remain the exclusive preserves of
Englishmen. A beginning might be made in the
Legislative department. As Law Member the
Indian would not be unworthy of taking a place

148 A PRACTICAL PROGRAMME

in the Council. If he can honourably discharge the
high duties of a Chief Justice, there is no reason
to suppose he would not do justice to the functions
of a Law Member. As occasion offered, an Indian
might be placed in charge of the Revenue and
Agricultural departments. Men of the stamp of
Mr. Gokhale or Mr. Dutt would prove an accession
of strength to any Government.

I do not suppose the bureaucracy will readily
yield to the demand for giving up some of its most
cherished possessions, and that is but natural. But
in the irresistible march of time the expediency of
to-day becomes the necessity of to-morrow. It is
the part of a wise statesman to lead and direct the
new forces that spring up everywhere. "Bis dat qui
cito dat " is a maxim that is not without its applica-
tion to politics. The clamour of legitimate demands
must be met by timely concessions if the ferment is
to be allayed. A reform tardily introduced loses
much of its grace and utility. There cannot be
a better illustration of this than the way in which
the appointments of two Indians to the India Coun-
cil were received. Lord Morley complained that he
had not received a word of thanks from anybody for
bringing about the most important constitutional
change within the last fifty years. I am in full
sympathy with him, as it has always seemed to me
peculiarly ungracious to receive such an important
privilege with coldness and indifference. One reason
of it was that the nominations were singularly ill-

THE CIVIL SERVICE 149

made. But merely to have established our right
to enter the India Council is a great thing in itself,
whoever be the men selected in the first instance to
exercise it. The fact is that the privilege came
at a time when the demands of the natives, too long
neglected, had increased in volume and intensity,
and were not to be satisfied by being met half-way.
It may be hoped that the lesson of current events
will not be lost upon the Government of India.
Side by side with the reform of the Councils,
the recruitment for the Indian Civil Service should
be placed on a more satisfactory basis. This is
at the root of all questions touching the association
of the people in the task of administration. The
time has come when the rules and regulations
of the service must be radically changed. I have
no cheap sneers for the Civilian. I believe that,
taken all in all, the Indian Civil Service constitutes
the most remarkable public service the world has
ever seen. It has produced administrators of
whom any country might be proud. It has
during half a century maintained an efficiency
rarely to be found in any other body of men.
But the service has outgrown the conditions that
brought it into being. It clings to old traditions
and old ways of thought. It is wedded to methods
long since discredited. In an age of democracy
it believes in a paternal Government. In short, it
has grown out of touch with the needs and senti-
ments of the masses. Among many causes that

150 A PRACTICAL PEOGRAMME

have brought about its deterioration may be
mentioned the system of frequent transfers of
officials, and their occasional absence from the
country on leave. Formerly, Civilians were posted
to certain districts for long periods, during which
they came to study and know the people among
whom their lot was cast. They thus acquired a
knowledge and influence to which the Civilian
of the present day, with his perpetual transfers,
is a stranger. Besides, for want of facilities for
travel, they spent their holidays in the country.
Their interests were thus largely centred in the
scene of their labours. Nowadays, the weary
Anglo-Indian pines for the day when he can
snatch a three months' leave in England. These
and other causes have contributed to the steady
decline in influence and popularity of what was
once the finest public service in the world. Hence
the necessity arises of leavening it with the native
element in order to bring it in touch with the
new order of things. If the administration is to
retain its hold over the minds and affections of
the people, it must seek to govern them to a
certain extent by means of the people them-
selves.

Now this cannot be done so long as the present
system of recruitment for the Civil Service is in
force. A long stay in England at a heavy expense
is not within the competence of most Indians.
Besides, the uncertainty attached to a severe test

SIMULTANEOUS EXAMINATIONS 151

makes it impossible for any but a favoured few
to attempt the experiment. For these reasons, it
often happens that the most talented youths of
the country are shut out from the service. The
only solution of the difficulty lies in the institution
of simultaneous examinations in England and in
India. The House of Commons in 1893 actually
adopted a resolution to that effect, but the or-
ganised opposition of the Indian Government and
the retired Anglo-Indian officials reduced it to a
dead-letter. Now the objections that are usually
urged against the holding of simultaneous exam-
inations are twofold. In the first place, it is
contended that those who discharge high ad-
ministrative positions requiring great capacity
and liberal training should receive their mental
equipment in the healthy atmosphere of England.
Secondly, if the proposal were carried into effect,
it would result in the swamping of the English
element in the service which is necessary for the
proper maintenance of British supremacy. The
first objection may be met by the provision that
selected candidates, after passing their examination
in India, should be required to undergo a two
years' stay in England. This would help to give
them the intellectual stamina and breadth of
outlook without which mere book-learning is
nothing. If during their stay they were placed
on honorary duties in connection with the India
Office, there would be a resultant benefit to all

152 A PRACTICAL PROGRAMME

concerned. As regards the second objection, the
remedy is very simple. Let it be provided that
only a fourth of the vacancies every year should
be at the disposal of the natives in India, and
the limit thus imposed would be an effectual bar
to the preponderance of the Indian element in
the service. Besides, is it not an unworthy fear
on the part of Englishmen that the Brahmin or
Babu would beat the best and the ablest of the
youth of England out of the race ? What becomes
then of your boasted mental superiority ? The
Indian is certainly not competing with you on
equal terms. Your infinitely superior training in
early life gives you an advantage over him which
cannot be lightly estimated. Besides, he has to
cope with the difficulties of a foreign tongue.
Why, then, should you fear competition from the
"dull-witted" Indian?

The first obvious advantage of simultaneous
examinations would be that the administration, by
the admixture of Indians, would become vastly
more popular and alive to the needs and aspira-
tions of the people. Besides, I fail to see how
the Government can fulfil its pledges as regards
the higher employment of natives unless the
Civil Service is more within their reach. Outside
the covenanted service there are few appointments
of dignity and responsibility. And it is clear that
unless simultaneous examinations are instituted the
number of native Civilians will be very small.

ENGLISH OFFICIALS' ALLOWANCES 153

Again, with the larger employment of Indian
agency, the administration could be made much
cheaper. For that, several changes would be
necessary. Under the present system the salary
of both Europeans and natives is the same in
the same grades, though the native promotion is
slow and restricted within certain limits.

Now it would not do to make an invidious
distinction, and give the European a higher
salary than an Indian on the same grade. But
it is perfectly just that it should be so. I am
afraid it seems a startling proposition to come
from the pen of one who himself belongs to
India. But I do not see either the absurdity or
unreasonableness of the suggestion. Why should
the Indian be paid the same salary as is paid
to the Englishman in consideration of an exile
from hearth and home and work in an inhospitable
climate ? The Indian works among his kith and
kin in a climate to which he has been accustomed
from birth. Surely there is nothing wrong in
paying him less than his English brother. The
best way to arrange this would be to have a
uniform scale of pay, but on a lower basis than
at present, and to allow the Englishman a special
allowance in recognition of his peculiar position.
But this should only be done when, through
simultaneous examinations or otherwise, the native
element is fairly conspicuous in the Civil Service.
If it were not so, it would not be wise to disturb

154 A PRACTICAL PROGRAMME

existing arrangements in order to save a few
hundreds a year.

Further, given simultaneous examinations, there
would be an improvement in the material of the
service. At present, the disparity of marks between
the first and the last student selected is very great.
If marks be any criterion of merit, then it may
reasonably be supposed that there is generally a
great disparity of merit between the candidates
at the top and the candidates at the bottom.
Now, if a wider field of selection were opened
out by holding examinations in India as well as
in England, there would be less of this disparity,
for the necessity for taking the man at the bottom
would vanish. Thus, it may be argued that
simultaneous examinations, apart from their other
advantages, would add to the efficiency of the
service by widening the field of selection. Side
by side with the change in the existing conditions
of the Civil Service there should be a reform of the
other services, the Forest, Medical, and Engineering
services among others.

I have attempted a general sketch of the methods
by which encouragement can best be given to
the legitimate aspirations of the people. If it is
contended that it is an ambitious programme con-
sidering the present development of the country,
I would suggest a perusal of Professor Thorold
Rogers's book called the " British Citizen." He
there says that a hundred years ago not more

THE FORWARD CALL 155

than one man in ten or one woman in twenty
knew how to read and write. In the days of
the Stuarts the ignorance of the general body
of people was amazing. Yet there was a House
of Commons in those days, and England was a
free, self-governing country. There is, then, no
reason to defer the day of reform, simply because
the educated classes form only a small portion
of the people. If there is a small minority (though
not so small as is generally believed) capable of
exercising high functions, it is neither wise nor
just to make it wait until the masses are duly
qualified. It is opposed to all common sense,
let alone statesmanship. Let English statesmen,
then, courageously advance a few paces further
on the path of reform. Let it be remembered
that the advancing tide can only be kept back
for a space. The East has risen from its long
slumber, and it will .yet achieve its lofty destiny.
Whatever else it may mean for the rest of the
world, to England the problem of the dark races
will present no difficulty, if she learns to treat
her subject races with the same justice and im-
partiality with which she treats her own people,
and if she recognises that, as M. Chailley-Bert
has said, her true role in India is not to administer,
but to control the administration of native leaders.

CHAPTER VI

SEDITION AND UNREST

IT is a singular commentary on a century and a
half of British rule that the most talked of
subject in Indian politics at the present moment is
connected with sedition. The topic presents a host
of difficulties which are not at once apparent. In
the first place, what is sedition ? The meaning
varies with the point of view of the one who uses
the word. The " sun-dried bureaucrat " is ready to
detect a seditious purpose in every outspoken criti-
cism of the policy and attitude of the Government.
He is over-sensitive to pin-pricks, and apt to mis-
construe them. The extremist of Bengal and Poona
believes in incitements to disorder and rowdyism, and
calls it patriotism. To him the word "sedition" is a
technicality of law which operates with particular
hardship upon high-minded and high-spirited
patriots. To the sober politician the term defines
the limits beyond which criticism ceases to be
legitimate and justifiable. Lastly, to the ultra-
loyalist, all that the Indian National Congress says

156

A DEFINITION 157

and does is sedition. Amidst such a conflict of
views it is not exactly easy to find one's way to a
proper definition. To add to our difficulties, we
have it on the authority of a learned judge that
disaffection is "want of affection." This was
perhaps a joke, and we will not stop to discuss it.
What, then, is the proper meaning of sedition ?
By the Indian Penal Code, whoever "excites, or
attempts to excite, feelings of disaffection to the
Government established by law in British India " is
guilty of sedition. Taken by itself, this definition
is vague and confusing. The explanation which
follows makes the matter clearer. We are told
that mere disapprobation of the measures of the
Government is not disaffection, unless there is a
tendency to incite men to subvert or resist the
authority of the ruling power. Judicial decisions
have made the law still clearer. No criticism of
the Government, however severe or strongly ex-
pressed, is to be reckoned as sedition if it takes the
form of free and fair discussion. The object should
be to point out grievances with a view to their
removal, and not to stir up active opposition to
the ruling authority. There should be no incite-
ment to insurrection or rebellion, and language
which has this tendency is taken as seditious. The
essence of the offence consists in the intention of
the person accused, and that intention must be
judged solely by the language employed.

Thus, the definition is narrowed down to well-

158 SEDITION AND UNREST

defined limits, and there should be no difficulty in
comprehending it. But in an age of freedom men's
views express themselves in a variety of forms,
and in some cases it becomes an exceedingly nice
question whether the limits of the law have or
have not been transgressed. In such cases, the
legal definition of the crime fails to elucidate the
knotty points at issue. Fault is then found with
the law, and various suggestions are made, which
have nothing but their novelty to recommend them.
Recently, a well-meaning champion of India's cause
asked the Secretary of State for an alteration of the
existing law on the subject. The reason alleged was
that the law, as it stood, was a bar to the free and
unrestrained expression of views, and was calculated
to draw within its pale the doctrines of the Nation-
alist school of Indian politicians. Now, I cannot
help saying that the proposal was rather silly, what-
ever the motives of its author. No reasonably
possible definition of sedition will meet every case,
and in certain circumstances there must inevitably
be room for doubt and uncertainty, unless the
scope of the offence is made too wide or too
narrow. Neither unrestrained licence nor harsh
repression being desirable in the interests of
free government, the law has to take a middle
course. It prescribes the limits within which
grievances may be freely ventilated. If any one
steps outside these, he does so at his peril. Now,
it seems to me, upon a view of all the circum-

SECTION 124A 159

stances, that the section in the Penal Code relating
to sedition (i2^A) has served its purpose well, and
I know of very few instances in which there has
been a miscarriage of justice. No one can justly
complain that the existing law is harsh and restrains
liberty of speech. I am a constant reader of native
papers, and I find that their tone is as severe as any
reasonable man could wish.

Of course, it is absurd to draw any analogy from
the tone of the press in England. There the
various rival factions are all in a position of
equality. Here the relations are different. We are
a conquered people, owing allegiance to a sove-
reign Power whose authority must be maintained.
We cannot, therefore, indulge in language calcu-
lated to subvert it. With us, the overthrow of the
Government in power would not mean the over-
throw of a particular party, but that of the sovereign
authority itself. What is therefore right and proper
for the press of England or Ireland is not so for
the press in India. But outside wild and reckless
language there is a wide scope for severe and inde-
pendent comments on public affairs. I do not see
the necessity of going beyond this. The writers in
the native press are able to understand where to
stop. As long as judges in India observe the letter
and the spirit of the law, so long there is no fear of
oppression or misconception.

It is the fashion in some quarters to represent
India as seething with sedition. It is impossible to

160 SEDITION AND UNREST

imagine what purpose can be served by such wild
and foolish talk. If the whole country is disloyal
and discontented, does it reflect any credit upon
British administration ? Would it not be singular
if the educated classes in a body were opposed to
British rule ? But no one who knows them has put
forward such a suggestion, which has only emanated
from the fevered brains of a few scaremongers. No
less a critic than Lord Curzon has declared that the
unrest in India is " skin-deep." Recent events have
not affected the substantial truth of this verdict. It
is true that there is a widespread feeling of discon-
tent with British rule. But it is the inevitable
awakening of the national consciousness, which has
been fed and fostered by the "pax Britannica." In
the history of the people there comes a time when
commerce, industry, law, and good government
cease to satisfy men's minds. There rises up then
a vague feeling of dissatisfaction and a healthy rest-
lessness. To call it sedition is preposterous. Lord
Morley, before he was frightened into deporting
respectable people, in his memorable Budget speech
of 1906, proclaimed that he did not believe there
was any disaffection in India worth speaking of.
He expressly warned his hearers against over-
readiness to scent evil and disaster. Unfortunately,
it is the very thing that often happens, through
lack of intimate acquaintance with the native
character. It is useful to bear this in mind, when
we come to consider the ways and means by which

REMOVING THE CAUSES 161

sedition can most effectively be suppressed. The
remedy must always be proportioned to the disease,
and much evil results from unduly exaggerating the
danger.

There are various ways in which sedition can be
met. Bacon, in his essay on the subject, wisely
remarks : " It is a thing well to be considered ; for
the surest way to prevent seditions is to take away
the matter of them. For if there be fuel prepared,
it is hard to tell whence the spark shall come that
shall set it on fire." Then he sets forth two causes
that lie at the root of all trouble. Now, the remedy
he prescribes is too obvious to require much argu-
ment. But it is generally the least thought of. It
is plain that if we take away the matter of sedition it
ceases to exist. Yes, but the question is, How shall
we do it ? Here we enter upon large questions, and
it would seem that the idea of changing the whole
policy of the Government to suit the requirements
of a few malcontents would be rather funny. But
sober reasoning will tell us that as long as there is
material for trouble there will always be trouble.
Provided there is proper fuel, a spark will soon
burst into a flame. In so much, therefore, as dis-
affection has materials to go upon, those materials
must to some extent be removed. This need not
involve such a change in the administration as may
on first thoughts be supposed.

The prime cause of trouble is the want of con-
fidence between the rulers and the ruled. As a first

Political Future of India \\

162 SEDITION AND UNREST

measure, then, the people must be taken into the
confidence of the Government. There should be
no secrecy about its aims and policy, except under
special circumstances. Nothing affords a better
handle to the mischief-maker than an attitude of
closeness and secrecy on the part of the authorities.
He has then all the tools of his trade to work with :
exaggeration, misrepresentation, calumny. Why
should the Government fear to work in the open ?
Let it submit its policy to the searchlight of public
criticism before it is finally decided upon. Such a
course would be of advantage both to the officials
and to the people. Would it not have been better,
for instance, to have consulted the wishes of the
people before the Punjab Colonisation Bill was
passed, rather than to have withdrawn it afterwards
in deference to the popular will ? By that time much
mischief had been done, and the Government had
lost its prestige. This is but one of many instances
in which deplorable results have ensued from work-
ing "in camera." Is it asking too much of the
bureaucracy that they should let the people into
their confidence, and thus prevent misconception
and ill-feeling ? Surely it is a better preventive of
sedition than deportations under an obsolete Regu-
lation.

What I have suggested above is not a remedy, but
a prevention. How, then, shall we meet sedition
when we are confronted with it ? There ought to
be no two opinions on the subject. Every one —

FIRM DEALING NEEDED 163

whatever his political views — must agree that sedi-
tion should be ruthlessly stamped out. If England
is to retain her hold over this country, she must
come down with a firm hand on those who attempt
to subvert her authority. No Government, however
powerful, can afford to ignore the open preaching
of pernicious doctrines. A policy of indifference
would be attended with serious consequences. We
have lately tasted the fruits of the neglect of the
Government to deal promptly and firmly with
malcontents. The horrible atrocity in Muzaffapur
showed the lengths to which miserable weak-minded
men can go when once their minds have been worked
upon by seditious doctrines. That retribution, then,
should be swift and sure admits of no discussion.
The problem is how to effect this object so that the
ends which justice has in view may not be frus-
trated. On the one hand, there is the danger of
making martyrs of insignificant persons ; on the
other hand, there is the grave risk to society of leav-
ing dangerous criminals at large. To steer a middle
course is the part of a wise statesman. Upon mature
consideration, it will appear that what seems at first
a difficult task admits of easy solution.

As sedition in India is more generally disseminated
from the press than from the platform, I shall leave
the latter out of consideration. What, however,
applies to the one will, with certain modifications,
apply to the other. To turn to the native press,
then, within the last ten years the number of native

164 SEDITION AND UNREST

papers has greatly increased. The tone of Indian
journalism has suffered much thereby. The taste for
reading not being much cultivated in this country,
new journals often have to cater for support by
violent and sensational writings. Much of this is
undiluted nonsense. Apart from that there is
enough that is dangerous in character. Effusions
of this kind must be severely dealt with. The
offender must be warned twice, and if he still
persists in his ways he must be brought before the
regular tribunals of justice and dealt with according
to law. On a second conviction he must be debarred
ever afterwards from owning or editing any journal.
The prosecution must not be conducted in a
spirit of revengeful hostility — as was done in a
famous case some years ago, when the Crown
engaged all the leading talents of the local Bar — for
this is calculated to bring discredit on the Govern-
ment and attract undeserved sympathy towards the
accused. Let Justice take her course, and if the
offender is guilty he will assuredly pay the penalty
of his misdeeds. When he has been tried and con-
victed, the journal which served to disseminate his
views must be warned that its publication will be
suppressed in case it transgresses again. If the
Government has not this power, it must be acquired
by special legislation.1

Under present conditions, insignificant persons

1 This has been done, since the essay was written, in the
case of press incitements to violence.^-ED.

SUPPEESSING NEWSPAPERS 165

are often put forward and made the wretched tools
of clever, designing men who manage to keep out-
side the pale of the law. When these poor victims
pay, as it were, for the sins of others, their places are
taken up, and the guilty journal continues in its
career of sedition. This is not a fancy picture, but
based upon hard facts happening before our very eyes.
Now, it is obvious that if persistently seditious papers
are allowed to exist, the punishment meted out to
their conductors fails to have a deterrent effect on
the evil which it was meant to check. There are
people who make light of a few months' imprison-
ment, provided they can again start on their career,
specially as the circulation of their journal vastly
increases after their supposed martyrdom. It is,
therefore, necessary that such papers should be totally
suppressed. Nor is it harsh to visit sedition with
such consequences, if it is borne in mind that the
prosecution of the offender takes place after two
warnings, and the suppression of the paper only on
a second conviction. People who are not deterred
by repeated warnings or prosecutions must be so
dealt with as to be rendered incapable ever after-
wards of propagating mischievous doctrines. The
higher the influence and position of the offender,
the greater relatively must be his punishment, which
should in no case be very severe. Insignificant per-
sons should be dealt with lightly, as harsh sentences
serve to give them an importance which they do
not deserve. In all cases there should be a full and

166 SEDITION AND UNREST

free inquiry, and a prosecution must never be under-
taken unless upon the clearest proofs. I think these
provisions would go a long way towards checking a
growing evil. There is nothing in them to which
any reasonable man can take exception. They alter
the existing arrangements but slightly, though in a
much-needed direction. It has been suggested that
all persons intending to start new journals should
be required to furnish a substantial security. The
suggestion has much to recommend it, but I am
afraid it is not practicable.

I have now indicated some 'of the methods of
suppressing sedition. There is one point, however,
on which I cannot too strongly insist, and that is,
that harsh repression can never achieve the object
in view. Now that a new Press Act is said to
be in contemplation, this note of warning cannot
be too strongly sounded. At this critical juncture,
the calm deliberation and ripe statesmanship of
a Canning are needed. In the hour of danger,
a policy of repression is apt to be mistaken for a
policy of firmness. Let the Government of India
beware of this. There should be no unreasonable
checks on the safety-valve of public opinion, " for
he that turneth the humours back, and maketh the
wound bleed inwards, endangereth malign ulcers
and pernicious imposthumations." z It is too often
forgotten that intrigues carried on in secret are far
more dangerous to the peace of the State than acts
1 Bacon,

THE SEDITIOUS MEETINGS BILL 167

of open hostility. The Government of India lately
acted in a manner which showed that they had
not quite grasped this obvious fact. Finding that
a regular campaign of sedition was being carried
on from the platform, they passed a Bill which
unreasonably restricted the right of public meeting
itself. They did not reflect that what was publicly
forbidden might be easily done in private, con-
sidering the difficulties under which a small
number of police must labour when confronted
with a vast population of various nationalities.
The natural course for the Government to take
was to bring to book such of the speakers as
transgressed the limits of legitimate criticism.
This could have been easily effected by a pro-
vision that at every public meeting official reporters
should be present. The detection and punishment
of seditious harangues would thus have been easy
enough, and a few exemplary sentences could have
effectually checked the evil. Instead, vexatious and
unnecessary restrictions were placed upon the right
of public meeting, and widespread dissatisfaction
was caused thereby. What is more, the preaching
of sedition continues as before, despite the industry
of a corrupt and inefficient police.

These and like considerations will help us to
understand the popular detestation of harsh and
repressive measures. Very few people in England
realised the intensity of public feeling evoked by
the deportations some time ago of Lajpat Rai and

168 SEDITION AND UNREST

Ajit Singh. But such was the indignation felt by
people at the injustice done to men against whom
nothing was proved, that the Punjab was at one
time on the brink of a revolt. It was rightly felt
that to deport men without a trial under the sanction
of an obsolete Regulation was a blot upon the fair
name of British justice. The Regulation was passed
at a time when England had not established herself
firmly on Indian soil. It was a remedy suited to
meet the exigencies of the period in which it was
established. To revive it under conditions vastly
different was to violate every canon of civilised
jurisprudence. If the men were guilty, why were
they not put on their trial? "Reasons of State"
may be a convenient refuge, but they will not alter
public opinion on the subject. Under such pre-
texts the Government could do away with any and
every person who proved himself obnoxious. To
supersede regular tribunals of justice is at all times
dangerous, and particularly so at a period of unrest
and ferment. It shocks our conscience to think
that a man should be condemned without being
heard in his defence. It is a great pity that the
most odious act of the Indian Government for
many a day should have received the approval
of a philosopher who has worshipped at the shrine
of Burke and Mill. But " Honest John" has put
on many hues and shapes since he came to the
India Office, and the irony of Fate was complete
when he entered the House which he wanted to
mend or end.

THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 169

This subject would not be complete without
some reference to a question closely related thereto
and which promises to have a profound bearing
on the course of Indian history. Of late, men
have been asking whether our system of education
has not contributed to the prevailing unrest and
agitation. An instructive debate on the subject
recently took place in the House of Commons.
The question presents many points of difficulty,
and to deal with it adequately would involve an
inquiry into the net results of a system that has
formed part of our Indian life for half a century.
Looking at it from a critical standpoint, it must be
admitted that our education policy has grievously
failed in some respects. Inasmuch as it has done
little for the growth and formation of character, it
stands convicted of having shared largely in the
shaping of the present state of affairs. In the zeal
born of a noble cause, the statesmen of the earlier
generation desired to engraft Western culture root
and branch on Indian soil. Education was made
too academic, too literary. The moral aspects of the
question were overlooked. In the olden days the
defects of the system were not apparent. The
number of boys being very small, the influence
of the professors could make itself felt. There
was room for that personal factor on which so
much depends. Thus, whatever was defective in
the system was balanced by the hold which the
professors had over the minds of their students.

170 SEDITION AND UNREST

Eut in these times of stress and activity such
a thing is no longer possible. With the advance
of culture we have found that our Universities
have not quite realised the ideal of sending forth
a healthy, level-headed, and manly set of young
men to fight the battle of life. With the realisa-
tion of the fact has come the desire to alter the
system responsible for these shortcomings. This
is not the place to inquire into the merits or
demerits of Lord Curzon's scheme of reform.
Whatever may be involved by this and other schemes,
education must be such that the imagination of
the East may be schooled, not destroyed, by the
learning of the West. It should aim at the develop-
ment both of intellect and character. Without
discipline, mere book-learning becomes useless
• and even dangerous. In India we are already
realising the truth of this. Much of the sedition
now1 - rampant is a schoolboy affair. The recent
dast?jfrdly outrages have been committed by hare-
brained youths intoxicated with the pernicious
cHoctrines of the scum of Western countries. I
2km far, far from saying that education is solely
responsible for the present state of affairs. But
it h>as prepared the soil on which cunning and
intrigil1 ing persons have set to work with disas-
trous results. The minds of students have been
inflamed ho an extent which is scarcely credible.
No worAder the poor fools play into the hands
of cleve- r agitators.

SCHOOLBOYS AND POLITICS 171

A powerful blow dealt at sedition will be to
wean away schoolboys from bad influences.
Whatever measures are framed to prevent their
participation in politics must command the sym-
pathy of every true Indian. Young minds are apt
to be carried away by foolish notions of freedon1-
and independence, specially when they devour
without digesting Burke, Mill, and writers of that
stamp. A true reading of history acts as a correc-
tive to ill-formed notions, and I believe more-
attention might be paid to the subject than has
hitherto been done. An attentive study of history
will dispel many of the delusions under which ill-
trained minds are apt to labour. It will be an
evil day for India when her youths turn aside
from the engrossing pursuits of arts, science, and
literature to the dangerous attractions of politics.
They who foster and encourage this tendency
are the real enemies of the country. The men
responsible for the recent dastardly outrages are
not so much actual culprits but the infinitely more
dangerous persons who spurred and egged them on.
It is much to be regretted that the real criminals
will escape the punishment that will be meted out
to their less guilty brethren.

CHAPTER VII

THE OUTLOOK

THROUGHOUT this essay I have studiously
refrained from mere loose assertions unsup-
ported by argument, and have attempted to state
my case with fairness and moderation. I should
now like to supplement what I have said by a few
general remarks, which, I trust, will not be con-
sidered out of place.

The dawn of the twentieth century has witnessed
a new era in the history of this country. It has
marked a distinct stage in our political progress,
and has opened out before us new paths and fresh
fields of work. What the future has in store for us
no man can foresee. The Indian problem presents
features that no country either in ancient or in
modern times has hitherto presented. We have
before us a vast heterogeneous population in all the
various stages of civilisation, coming for the first
time under the vivifying influence of Western civili-
sation and Western modes of thought. Whether
the mingling of the speculative and imaginative

172

UNFORESEEN RESULTS 173

mind of the East with the logical and practical
intellect of the West will ultimately produce a
type superior to both, would be a very interesting
question, but one with which we have no concern.
What we are concerned with is to trace the results
of implanting English institutions and English
modes of government in the hoary soil of India.
These results have falsified all expectations. It
was perhaps anticipated that, being imbued with
Western learning, the native would clamour for
Western institutions. But the congresses and the
conferences, the extremists, the seditionists, the
anarchists, and all the rest of the various manifesta-
tions of political activity — these were not foreseen.

But these phenomena are of England's own
creation. If the Government of India had moved
with the times there would have been no unrest, no
sedition. If it had recognised and encouraged the
disinterested labours of the popular leaders the
extremists and the anarchists would not have been
produced. If it had respected the voice of the people
the cult of the bomb would not have developed. It
may be admitted that much of what goes on in
India at the present time is inexcusable. But
once dissatisfaction is allowed to grow, can it be
directed and confined within well-defined limits ?
It would be futile to expect this. But the past is
irrevocable, and let us spare our regrets. Instead,
let us look to our future policy and shape it to
suit the new forces at work. It is necessary that

174 THE OUTLOOK

England should pursue her great task in India in a
different spirit from that which has dominated her
hitherto. It is no longer possible to govern this
country on the old hide-bound theories. We
have outgrown the system of government on the
Napoleonic principle of " everything for the people
and nothing by the people." Why does the bureau-
cracy persistently ignore this glaring fact ? The
extreme unwillingness of British statesmen to
comprehend the signs of the times is truly
deplorable.

So acute a critic as Seeley has declared that the
day Indians are united England must begin to
pack her things, and make up her mind to march
out of the country. He considers it impossible
that a handful of Englishmen can stand against
the patriotic union of three hundred millions of
human beings. Recent events have shown that a
united India is a living possibility. Must we then
follow Seeley, and say that the end of English
dominion is in sight ? I refuse to accept any
such view. The stability of English rule in India
depends not upon the valour of British arms, not
upon the physical force which England can com-
mand, but upon the firm basis of justice, sympathy,
and righteousness. Any other relation between
the two countries is impossible. England will be
digging her own grave if she pins her faith to the
pernicious doctrine of the sword and leaves out
of account that moral force which is the greatest

MORAL FACTORS 175

asset of an empire. The military strength of a nation
is an inconstant factor. Greece, Rome, Babylonia,
Persia, Turkey, Spain, each rose and fell in the
inexorable workings of Fate. Will England con-
tinue to rule the greater part of the world with her
own unaided strength ? How long will she hold
Canada, Australia, South Africa, India and a host
of other possessions with the might of her armies
and her fleet ? Already the moral factor — the
feeling of kinship and loyalty — is beginning to be
the dominating influence in the relations of the
mother-country with her daughters across the seas.
The ominous example of the American colonies is
exercising its influence over British statesmen. It
is being slowly recognised that the colonies have
become too powerful and independent. Very re-
cently a Canadian judge declared that Canada will
soon be recognised as an ally instead of a unit of
the Empire. How long, then, does England expect
to govern India by the sword in the face of the
growing forces of nationalism ?

These and like considerations make it imperative
that England should banish from primacy the
military factor. India has never been and will
never be held by the sword. This has been fully
recognised by all who are competent to judge. But
it is not sufficient merely to acknowledge the prin-
ciple. It must be acted up to in a manner calcu-
lated to make it a living force. Now, if it is held
that the stability of England's rule in India depends

176 THE OUTLOOK

upon the willing allegiance of her subjects, it follows
that no reasonable efforts should be spared to main-
tain and foster that allegiance. This can only be
effected by a wise policy of reform, by a generous
response to Indian aspirations, and by a just
recognition of Indian subjects as citizens of the
British Empire. If you continue to govern on the
old cast-iron system, if you refuse to encourage the
just aspirations of the people, and if you allow your
Indian subjects to be trampled upon by your own
colonies, then you are seriously undermining the
deep-seated feelings of gratitude and loyalty which
are so characteristic of the Indian people. Lord
Curzon did not exaggerate when he said that India
was the mainstay of the Empire. What a vast
accession of strength she would be to the old
country is but dimly realised.

And this brings home the sad reflection that the
English people as a rule know very little and care
still less about the affairs of this country. Whatever
interests them beyond their own concerns pertains
to the colonies. This may be partly natural ; but
it is none the less deplorable. Many of even the
ablest of English statesmen are blissfully ignorant of
what takes place in this country. The Indian debates
are carried on in a nearly empty House. Crores
of rupees are voted away with as much unconcern
as if only the parish pump was in question. While
this state of things continues there is little hope for
this country. As long as English public opinion

A NEGLECTED TRUST 177

is not brought to bear upon Indian policy, so long
will the administration remain lifeless and soulless.
No praise is too great for the disinterested labours
of men like Sir Henry Cotton and Sir William
Wedderburn, who are doing so much to enlighten
public opinion in England. If only they were
listened to with the attention they deserve, how
much could be achieved 1 But unfortunately the
British public has other mentors as well, notably
Mr. Rees, who is playing the heroic role of the
champion of the bureaucracy. Thus it comes to
pass that India is often either ignored or misunder-
stood.

However that may be, of this I am convinced,
that, when once the conscience of England is
roused, the sacred trust which an all-wise Provi-
dence has placed in her hands will be nobly
discharged. The nation which has carried to the
uttermost corners of the world the principles of
justice and liberty will ultimately not fail in their
application to the governance of a fifth of the
human race. The present situation is one of great
difficulty, but I do not believe that General Gordon
was right when he said that India would never be
reformed until she was in the throes of another
revolt.

Political Future of India 12

REGENERATION ON A
RACIAL BASIS

BY ACTION FRONT

179

CHAPTER I

AN ALLEGORY

BEFORE entering into the questions framed
by Mr. Laidlaw it will not be inappropriate
to preface this essay with the following story of
how the tiger became the king of the Indian
forests, holding despotic sway over the lives of all
the other jungle folk. The fable was related to
me at the conclusion of a discussion I had with a
shrewd native politician, whose comment at its
close was : " Wisdom may be acquired even from
little things. Let us hope the British Lion will
profit by the fate of his fabled prototype."

Once upon a time there was a great and beautiful jungle-
land which stretched from the north to the south and from
the east to the west, and the lord of it all was the noble lion.
He ruled over his subjects as a benevolent despot, and was
admired and respected by all. He only took from the jungle
that which was his due and what was absolutely necessary
to maintain his regal position. He was a terror to evildoers,
but the bulk of his subjects lived in peace and amity, in-
creased and multiplied, and grew fat on the land. There was
no danger to apprehend, as good King Lion guarded them all
from both internal troubles and foreign foes.

181

182 AN ALLEGORY

They lived for a long time in such peaceful conditions ; but
eventually the very peace brought forth grumblers, who knew
nothing of the outside world, and began to think that their
peaceful and happy condition was due to their own innate
good qualities and had nothing to do with the fact of the
lion being their King. They grumbled and groused and
made much mischief, and at last decided that there should
be a general meeting of all the animals to discuss the situa-
tion. On the occasion the leading grumblers explained in
their own way that there was no necessity to have a King
over all ; that it would be better if all the different animals
governed themselves, and lived in their own way, and used
the jungle as it best suited them. A good number of the
foolish creatures were led away by the plausible arguments,
and gave a " No King " vote. But a very much larger number
remained neutral, and said they would wait and see what
would happen, as they feared the lion's wrath.

At this stage the wolf, the hawk, the cobra, and the
scorpion formed themselves into a committee of ways and
means, and informed the beasts and birds that they would
rid the forest of the lion, provided the others promised to
support their efforts either actively or by passive resistance.

The disaffected quartet talked much, but were unable to
combine for an open attack on the lion, for they feared his
might, and, what is of much more consequence, they dis-
trusted each other. Failing in this direction, they decided
that it would be safer to try to worry the lion, and make his
life henceforth such a burden to him that he would of his
own accord abandon the jungle and go and live elsewhere —
they did not care where, as long as they had the jungle to
themselves. This plan appealed to them, for besides entail-
ing less danger, it brought them a certain amount of cheap
notoriety among the rest of the jungle denizens.

So it came to pass that henceforth the lion was subjected
to all sorts of petty annoyances, and his rule in the forest was
thwarted and upset in many little ways. When the lion went
out for his dinner, the wolf would howl round him and
frighten all the game away. The hawk would circle scream-
ing round his head, and occasionally peck at his eyes. The
cobra would suddenly rise out of the grass and puff himself

MISTAKEN MAGNANIMITY 183

out and threaten to bite him ; and the scorpion used to nip at
his large paws and threaten to sting him ; and so on, day by
day and week by week, the proud lion was pestered by these
contemptible tormentors, and he was very unhappy in mind
at the base ingratitude of these creatures, whom he had
fostered and protected for so many ages. He could have
wiped them out by one sweep of his powerful paws ; but he
was sorry for them, and felt that it was their ignorance of
the world that made them so disrespectful and foolish. He
thought he would gently reason with them and convince them
of the folly of their ways. But his equanimity had the opposite
effect, for they said, " Behold, the lion is afraid of us, or he
would not speak to us like this. If he really was strong he
would punish us ; so courage, brothers — let us renew our
efforts to drive him out. He will soon go, for is he not
already showing signs of weakness and despair ? "

So things went on in the forest from bad to worse. Occa-
sionally the lion growled and slapped a few of his tormentors,
and they got hurt and some died ; but he was too magnani-
mous to slaughter them all, as he could easily have done, and
thus put a final stop to these evil doings. He just looked on
with contempt, tempered with a great deal of pity for his
misguided and foolish subjects. As a matter of fact, he was
far too good a King, and as he had no evil thoughts against
the other animals, he in his benevolence thought that they
also were too noble-hearted to do him any real injury. But
his magnanimity and compassionate heart were his undoing.
He gradually became careless as well as contemptuous and
pitiful. One day, after a hard day's work, he came home and
lay down to rest. He slept heavily, and was therefore not
as conscious as usual of the noises round him. This was the
opportunity the disaffected were waiting for, and they fell
upon their slumbering monarch.

The cobra sneaked up and inflicted a poisonous wound ; the
hawk swooped down and pecked at his eyes ; the wolf flew
at his throat ; while the scorpion crawled round and stung
the dying lion wherever he could safely make an attack.
Taken by surprise by those he still trusted, the poor lion
was unable to defend himself, so he was cruelly done to
death and his carcase was thrown out into the sea. The four

184 AN ALLEGORY

miscreants then devastated the lion's home and slaughtered
all his loyal adherents. After that they went and bathed,
and cleaned and perfumed themselves, and put flowers and
coloured paints on their foreheads, and then presented them-
selves to all the other animals and announced that henceforth
they were free and could do whatever they liked in the forest.
There were great rejoicings, and old enemies embraced each
other and promised eternal friendship, and the wolf and the
lamb played together, and for a time they all revelled in their
freedom.

But the wolf, the hawk, the snake and the scorpion, having
tasted power, were loath to come down to the common level
for ever, so they decided among themselves that they should
combine to rule the others. By the latter there was much
weeping and gnashing of teeth and lamentations over the
happy past. But it was too late, they could not resist their
persecutors ; the good old time had gone for ever. This state
of affairs did not last long, however, for the wolf and the
hawk and the snake and the scorpion — bred in suspicion and
distrust — began to quarrel among themselves. Then they fell
upon each other, and they and their followers fought and
killed and slaughtered and looted by day and by night, and
the forests rang with the pain and anguish of the wounded
and dying, and the streamlets flowed red with the blood of
the dead.

The smell of the blood and the cry of the dying were
noticed in north, south, east, and west, and there was much
comment and agitation among the animals of the world. At
last, however, a mighty tiger, who roamed about in a spirit
of adventure, seeking whom he could devour, decided to
go to the forest and see whether he could do anything
for himself in the commotion that was raging. But he was
wise in his generation and took no risks ; so he invited the
leopard and the monkey and the mongoose to join him in
the expedition. On arriving at the forest they saw it was a
good place to live in, so they decided to conquer the other
animals and possess themselves of all that was therein. To
the leopard the tiger said, "Go thou and wage war on the
wolf and all his tribe." To the monkey was allotted the
freedom of the trees and the task of eating up the eggs and

THE REIGN OF THE TIGER 185

young of the hawk and all feathered creatures. The mon-
goose was told to kill the cobra, and hereafter to spare no
kind of snake.

And so it happened that the tiger established his terrible
reign over the forest — and you will find him there to this
day, and none of the jungle inhabitants have since known
what safety or peace means. For every animal is against
every other animal, and the tiger reigns supreme, taking his
toll from all. The mournful cry of the koel is heard in the
forest to this day lamenting over the happy days when he
sang in the mango-tree over the peaceful lion, and the jackal
howls dismally of a night, calling on the lion to return to his
kingdom ; but there is no lion now to hear either cry. As
they have sown so they have reaped, and the night of death is
over all.

This is the legend of how the lion, through his own
thoughtless benevolence, disappeared from India, and how
the shortsighted animals of his great kingdom returned once
more to primitive savagery and desolation under despotic
King Tiger and his ruthless followers.

CHAPTER II

ETHNIC TYPES

" T S it possible for the diverse races of India
JL to become one united self-governing com-
munity ? " Before answering this question it is
necessary that we should survey the histories of
other portions of the globe and see whether we have
any analogous examples to base our theories on.
The only modern instance of a variety of peoples
forming one self-governing community is that of
the United States of America.1 There we have
seventy-eight million people under one law and
one government, speaking the same language, and
practising one fundamental religion. Of this popu-
lation the bulk are descendants of British colonists
and immigrants. A comparatively small proportion
are of Latin, German, and Scandinavian origin, and
the balance is made up of ten million negroes and

1 The writer probably means the most striking instance, for
he must be aware of both German and Italian unification
in the last century.— ED.

THE UNITED STATES 187

about half a million or so of aboriginal Red
Indians.

It will be seen the preponderating factor is the
Anglo-Saxon element. This virile and robust stock
has imposed its language and its government on all
the minor races, whom it has also absorbed, with
the exception of the negro and the Red Indian.
The latter race is already doomed to extinction
because of its inability to conform to the life and
ethical standards of the superior white majority.
The negro population, on the other hand, is steadily
increasing in numbers, but it has always formed a
separate and distinct nationality in the United States.
Though for ages the negroes have had the same
government, language, and religion as the white
Americans, they cannot be assimilated by the
latter, and there is no doubt if they were able to
do so they would separate entirely and evolve some
form of kingdom or republic of their own. What
is it that prevents the negro and the Red Indian
from becoming one united community with the rest
of the American nation ? It is not the religion,
language, or government of the country, for all
these have already been adopted more or less by
both these races, and yet they remain separate and
antagonistic to the true American — and will do so
as long as they exist.

To get a true appreciation of this problem one
must go back to the origin of races. Ethnology
teaches us that the different races of the globe

188 ETHNIC TYPES

are products of certain climatic, geographical, and
natural conditions — that the food they eat, the
water they drink and the air they breathe, and
the general environment of their habitation, go to
form the peculiar physical and mental character-
istics of each race. We also know that each
portion of the earth's surface produces its own
particular type of fauna and flora, and that these
arrive at their highest limit of development in the
land of their origin. There are a few apparent
exceptions to this rule ; but even these are explain-
able by later discoveries, which show that in
instances where a vegetable or an animal has been
transplanted to a new country and has thriven
better there, it has really in the dim past originated
there, or in a land with identical conditions. Its
present home is simply due to some accidental
circumstance, brought about by some great natural
cataclysm or by unavoidable human agency, which
has changed its previous favourable conditions of
existence. The exotics have eventually adapted
themselves to a changed environment, but have
continued their species with a lesser degree of
vitality and development. They therefore exist in a
modified form and are no longer identical in every
way with the original type.

The negro, for instance, attained his highest state
of physical development in the land of his origin,
namely Africa ; and his mentality, if it ever develops
beyond its present stage, will be developed in

THE NEGRO AND THE RED INDIAN 189

Africa and not in America, and will be of a dissimilar
standard to that of Europe. The Red Indian, on
the other hand, is entirely the product of American
environment, and he has long since arrived at his
highest state of development. Brought into contact
with a more virile race, the product of European
evolution — he is bound sooner or later to succumb
to changed conditions of life. Being the ultimate
human product of his own country, the natural laws
of his environment effectually prevent his ever
becoming a European or African ; his extinction is
therefore only a question of time. While the Red
Indian cannot become a European in his own
country, it is conceivable, on the other hand, that an
American of European descent might in the course
of time conform to the type of the Red Indian. It
is a very remarkable fact that this reversion to
the aboriginal type is already noticeable to a certain
extent in Americans of pure white descent. It is
conjectured that if America could again be
absolutely isolated from the rest of the world, in
a million, or it may be only a few thousand years,
the whole population would physically and perhaps
mentally resemble the extinct Red Indian. This
conformity to an aboriginal type has also been
noticed in China and Africa, where children born
of white residents have frequently shown distinct
traces of the Chinese and African cast of features.

It follows that if the American and the negro
are ever to fuse into one race, it will only be

190 ETHNIC TYPES

when they, after many aeons, have evolved into
the aboriginal Indian type. But 'this can never
be, because the American population has a constant
inflow of white blood from Europe, while the
negro, coming originally from a distinct type in
Africa, and now living in a somewhat similar
tropical climate in America, 'will tend to remain a
negro for an incalculable and indefinite period.

The reason why the immigrant European races
have hitherto partially fused into the Yankee type
is because the latter is the preponderating factor,
while all are more or less of the same stock. This
tendency to racial fusion is, however, already show-
ing signs of abridgment, as the later immigrants are
forming distinct colonies of their own, where
their own language, customs, and characteristics
are being perpetuated. If this continues, there can
be no doubt that the United States of America will
eventually be formed of many separate nationalities.
The question will then arise as to whether these
races will remain as integral portions of the United
States or separate therefrom and form independent
governments of their own.

Two distinct inferences may be drawn from what
has already been said. They are, first, that an
aboriginal conquered race can never change its
typical racial characteristics and rise entirely to
the new standards of its superior invading con-
querors ; while on the other hand it is quite
possible for the latter, in the course of time, to

THE RACES OF EUROPE 191

gradually conform to the aboriginal type and thus
lose their own distinctive qualities. That is to say,
given a set of conditions, nature will always pro-
duce the same result as often as the conditions are
repeated. These results may be artificially modified
for a time, but they can never be radically altered
in essentials. The second inference is that even
under favourable circumstances diverse races do not
naturally coalesce to form a united self-governing
community. The tendency, on the contrary, is for
different races to separate and for each to work
out its own salvation independently.

This latter fact will be now clearly elucidated
as we survey the races of Europe, where we have
at the present moment over a score of separate
and independent governments, many of which are
gradually but surely splitting up into fresh racial
divisions. The original empire of Turkey in
Europe has, for instance, within the last century
been divided into Turkey proper, Bosnia, Servia,
Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Roumania. Norway
and Sweden separated only the other day. In the
United Kingdom itself Ireland has always agitated
for independent government, and Wales is asserting
its distinct nationality. Russia shows the same
tendency to disintegrate and form many separate
nationalities. And there can be no doubt that,
if the Hungarians were in a position to do so, they
would strike for absolute independence from
Austria. In cases where two or more races have

192 INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT

formed one government this may as a rule be
traced to force majeure; for instance, the Danes
and Poles would not be factors in the German
Empire if they could possibly avoid it.

There are practically only three great families
of human speech in all Europe, namely the Slav,
the Teutonic, and the Latin, and there is only
one religion throughout, and that is Christianity.
Yet no reasonable person has ever suggested the
possibility or even the desirability of fusing the
whole of Europe into one self-governing com-
munity. If such a doctrine were preached its
promoters would be classed among the wildest of
visionaries, and their retrograde and unpractical
scheme would be laughed to scorn by all think-
ing men. All civilisations, on the contrary, have
proved that rivalry and racial competition have
been the essence of progress. Without such in-
centives a nation stagnates and eventually degene-
rates. The continuity of progress in Europe
proves that the independent development of each
race is the best means of perfecting the highest
attributes of mankind. Europe would not be what
it is but for the individual development of each
of its component parts.

CHAPTER III

A LAND OF CONTRASTS

BEFORE applying our previous deductions to
India, let us analyse the factors which go
to the composition of that vast continent.

In area India is 1,766,557 square miles, and there-
fore greater by 12,000 square miles than the whole
of Europe, excluding Russia. Of this area 61*5 per
cent, is under British administration and 38*5
per cent, under native government. In the last
census (March, 1901) the total population was
roundly 294 million persons, or about one-fifth of
the whole world, of whom 232 millions were
enumerated in British territory, and 62 millions in
the Native States. These figures held good seven
years ago, but considering the rapid increase of the
population, the present numbers are computed to
be over 300 millions, and this is the enormous total
that should be borne in mind when Indian problems
are discussed.

However, for the sake of absolute exactness we
will deal only with the actual figures given in the

Political Future of India 13 193

194 CENSUS PERCENTAGES

1901 census. Of the total population 70 per cent,
or 207 millions were returned as Hindus of various
degrees and denominations. About 21 per cent,
or 62-J millions were Mahomedans, who therefore
amount to a fifth of the people of India. Over three
per cent, or about 9^ millions were votaries of
Buddhism. Nearly another three per cent, (over 8J
millions) were classed as Animists, who are mostly
wild tribes with no particular known religion. In
1901 about one per cent, or 2,923,241 were Christians,
of whom 2,664,313 were natives, and the remainder
Europeans or those of European descent. The
Sikhs of the Punjab slightly exceeded two millions,
and the Jains numbered about 1,350,000. The
Parsis only formed a small section of the population,
about 80,000 all told. The balance was made up of
numerous small communities that could not be
classed among any of the above principal religious
divisions. The whole European population of
India in 1901 only amounted to 249,721, of whom
about 80,000 were of mixed European and Asiatic
descent.

Of the 207 millions who are votaries of some form
of Hinduism, it is impossible in the limited space
available to describe the innumerable castes, sub-
castes, and distinct sects and sub-sects, which go to
make the above enormous aggregate. There are
four main castes or divisions, namely, Brahmins or
priests, Kshatriyas or warriors, Vaisyas or traders, and
Sudras or menials. These four castes are again

A LAND OF CONTRASTS 195

subdivided into an infinite number of sub-castes.
They are separate communities, more or less antago-
nistic, and do not intermarry or live together in any
way; in fact, members of different castes cannot
eat, drink, or smoke together.

The 62^ millions of Mahomedans, though essen-
tially of one religion, are divided into two great
sects, namely the Sunnies and the Shias. These
may roughly be compared to the division in
Christendom of Protestants and Roman Catholics.
There are within them many minor sects. But
though the Mahomedan sects may differ on certain
doctrinal points, they as a whole are far more
united in their faith than the Hindus, to whom they
are opposed not only in religious and social matters,
but also in politics and racial feelings.

Of the total population of India only 53 per
thousand, that is, one male in 10 and one female
in 144, were able in 1901 to read or write more or
less in some vernacular tongue. Of 10,000 persons
of each sex only 68 males and seven females had any
knowledge of English. And if all Christians are
excluded the proportions fall to 56 males and one
female. Nearly two-thirds of the whole population
relies on some form of agriculture as a principal
means of subsistence. It is worth while noting here
that there are five million professional beggars in
India, who are supported and fed as a matter of re-
ligious duty by the rest of their countrymen. Forty-
seven per cent, of the people work for their living,

196 DIFFICULTIES OF GENEKALISATION

and 53 per cent, are directly or indirectly dependent
on others. When we review the subject of language
we find there are five distinct families of human
speech which have their homes as vernaculars in
India. There are the Aryan, the Dravidian, the
Munda, the Mon-Khmer, and the Thibeto-Chinese.
To these might be added in a smaller degree the
Semitic and Hametic. These seven families of
speech give birth to over 30 separate languages and
nearly 200 dialects spoken in this vast continent.

It is when we bring thought to bear on the myriad
peoples, the diverse races, the conflicting religions,
the multiplicity of tongues, of this vast continent,
that we begin to realise the insuperable difficulty of
generalising in any way about the Indian Empire.
What, for instance, might be welcome to a fiery
Pathan in the north would be repellent to the mild
Madrasi in the south. What might appear a matter
of necessity to the volatile Bengali in the east would
probably be looked upon with contempt by the
Maharatha in the west. The proud intolerant
Brahmin has absolutely no sympathy for the other
sects beneath him in the Hindu hierarchy. He can
break bread with none of them : their touch is a
sacrilege, the very fall of their shadow a pollution.
The warlike Kshatriya defies the Brahmin and
despises the Vaisya or trader ; and these in their
turn consider the Sudras preordained to slavery.
The Mahomedanslump the whole Hindu population
as infidels and idolaters. The peaceful Jain asks for

WIDE DIVEKGENCIES 197

nothing but to be left alone. He is an unqualified
vegetarian, and abhors bloodshed of any kind. It
is his belief that no form of life should be destroyed,
not even that of vermin. Conversely the dignified
Sikh is a born soldier of a militant church. He
glories in battle and the slaughter of his opponents,
whoever they may be. Again, the sturdy Mon-
goloid Goorkha on the north-east, and the
bellicose Pathan on the north-west are invaders by
instinct, and consider India their rightful looting
ground. With few exceptions the rest of India
would get very short shrift from these two hardy
races were British rule ever removed. Lastly, we
have between eight and nine millions of Animists or
barbarous jungle tribes who have no friends amongst
the other peoples of India. For countless ages pre-
ceding British rule these poor folk were despoiled
and slaughtered by every Indian race that has come
in contact with them. There are many scattered
tribes of these primitive and nude savages still
living across Bombay Harbour, within a few miles
of the second largest city in the British Empire.
Such are some of the vivid contrasts to be found
in juxtaposition in India — contrasts that defy all
idea of nationalism, and have only to be stated to
demolish the sentimental theories of the armchair
faddist.

CHAPTER IV

POPULAR FALLACIES

INDIA has been from immemorial antiquity the
land of conquest, subjugation, and colonisation.
At the present time the wild aboriginal jungle tribes
are probably the only real Indians in existence.
The rest of the inhabitants are merely the product
and residue of numerous invasions from every point
of the compass. The greatest invasions have come
from the north and north-west, and the next in im-
portance are those from the north-east and east.
There are races of negroid origin in the south-
west, of Mongoloid descent in the north-east, and
a mixture of Scythians, Bactrians, Aryans, Greeks,
Persians, Turks, Afghans, Baluchis, and other races
all over the north and west. The invaders entered
the peninsula not as humanitarian philanthropists,
but with the lust of conquest and the sole intention
of possessing the land, the previous inhabitants of
which they either exterminated, drove out, or re-
duced to menial servitude. These latter when
driven out pressed in turn on the neighbouring

198

THE "ARYAN BROTHER" 199

races, who had likewise to move further on.
Practically every conquering host left its hordes
in India, and thus in the course of time very
nearly the whole peninsula has been re-peopled
by foreigners and their descendants. Besides the
conquerors, many minor races have entered India
as suppliants and fugitives, fleeing from persecution
in their own countries. Of these may be mentioned
the Jews in the extreme south and the Parsis in the
west.

There are many pleasing fancies about the phrase
" our Aryan brother," and we indiscriminately use
it as if all India was peopled by none other than
Aryans. Now these, it is well known, came from
Central Asia in two separate waves of invasion, and
never got much beyond the north-western portion
of India, where alone their descendants can be
found in any considerable numbers. But they
were a virile, energetic white race who impressed
their characteristics, religion, and language, in
more or less modified forms, on their indigenous
neighbours of those days. These latter looked
upon the Aryans as a superior celestial people ;
hence the Aryan cult spread, and when a certain
amount of this was absorbed they flattered them-
selves with the idea of being Aryans also. Conse-
quently, obviously distinct races in various parts of
India call themselves Aryans, who have no more
Aryan blood in them than have the Chinese or
Patagonians. Comparisons are odious, so it is not

200 POPULAK FALLACIES

necessary to mention who these pseudo-Aryans
are. We may, however, still have feelings of pride
and kinship for our real " Aryan-brothers." It is
unfortunate, however, they number only from
eighteen to twenty millions of the myriads of
India.

That non-Aryans did in the past call themselves
Aryans has long ago been logically and scientifically
proved, and it is not necessary for me to recapitulate
the proofs here. The assumption by an inferior
race of the religion, language, and designations of a
superior race is a common practice in India to this
day. The most modern instance of it is that of the
Mainpuris on the east of Bengal. These are pure
Mongols of Thibeto-Chinese origin, but have in com-
paratively recent times been converted to Hinduism,
and have now all the Hindu castes and religious
mythology, and actually claim descent from some
fabulous Aryan ancestors !

To revert to our original argument, it will now be
obvious that the present-day Indians are not one
people, any more than all Europeans can be
reasonably called one people. In fact, it may
roughly be computed that quite two-thirds of India's
inhabitants are of diverse foreign origin. The only
right these foreigners have to Indian soil is the right
of the conqueror ; and the only difference between
them and the British conquerors is the difference
of time. We happen to have come after others,
and that is all that can be said. But we have just

FOREIGN RULE IN NATIVE STATES 201

as much right to call India our country as the
descendants of early invaders, while we have still
greater claim to govern the country, because, as a
vernacular paper was candid enough to explain to
its readers, "the British are the only conquerors
who have hitherto governed India in the interests
of its people."

While on the subject of aliens in India it is
interesting to know that of the many Native States
a large proportion are ruled by dynasties of foreign
origin. That is to say, the ruling classes are often
of totally different race, religion, and language to
the ruled. And it is still more remarkable that
many of these ruling dynasties were established
by conquest, and that they only received fixity of
tenure in consequence of the establishment of
British sovereignty over the land. Before that
period the founders of these dynasties were pure
adventurers, more often of no family or lineage,
only holding what they could by the ancient law
of might being right.1

There is, in fact, no homogeneity even in the so-
called self-governing parts of India. If this question
were thoroughly gone into it would be found that
instances of " swaraj " or independent government
of a race by its own people are extremely rare, if
not wholly unknown, in present-day India.

1 In illustration of this point the writer mentions Hyderabad,
Kashmir, Gwalior, and Indore. The paragraph is omitted to
save space. — ED.

202 POPULAR FALLACIES

A common fallacy is that Hinduism is one organ-
ised form of religion, exactly alike for the 207
million so-called Hindus. Nothing could be
more erroneous. Hinduism comprises innumer-
able separate sects and sub-sects, all more or less
in opposition to each other, worshipping different
gods and having fundamental differences in belief.
Even among the highest Brahmin caste there are
vast divergencies in sentiment and religious belief,
and often bitter racial antagonism. The Maharatha
Brahmin of Poona has very little in common,
except the name, with the Dravidian Brahmin of
Madras, whom he heartily despises. The Brahmin
of Benares would consider it a personal pollution
to have to consort with a Brahmin from Lower
Bengal. Other sects are similarly out of sympathy
with each other, and by no stretch of imagination
can it be said that there is an organised Hindu
church for all Hindus. One can describe what
Mahomedanism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism are
as religious systems, but no one, not even the
Hindus themselves, can give an adequate and
comprehensive description of Hinduism. Each
Hindu caste differs in its beliefs, and each race
accentuates the differences. The priestly Brahmin
caste have a philosophic cult comprising some of
the sublimest spiritual conceptions of the human
intellect ; but it does not follow that they either
practise or preach these altruistic doctrines. Still,
they have them, and if you assail a Brahmin the

THE BRANCHES OF HINDUISM 203

philosophical aspect of his religion at once con-
fronts you, and you are told that his ordinary
every-day religious practices are only for the
edification of the ignorant multitude ! Hence
Brahminism may be considered a religious edifice
with foundations of idolatry, walls of superstition,
and an aerial superstructure of eclectic philosophy.
From the Brahmin's heights of philosophical
theology you come to other branches of Hinduism,
and by ever-varying degrees you find less and
less of philosophy and more and more of supersti-
tion and idolatry, till you descend to the grossly
libidinous rites of the numerous Sakti sect in
Bengal, and the revolting practices of female
infanticide, widow immolation, and human
sacrifices, still believed in by many of the votaries
of Hinduism. The differences in the religious sects
of Christianity are small compared to the infinite
differences that exist between the various sects of
Hindus. In fact, there is just as much divergence
in religious beliefs between the highest class of
Brahmins and the lowest sects of so-called Hindus
as there is between the High Churchman in England
and the fetish worshipper in the heart of Africa.
It is therefore obvious that Hinduism is not one
religion, but a complex agglomeration of a
medley of beliefs and practices more or less
in antipathy to each other. We realise the hope-
lessness of the Christian sects, with their compara-
tively slight differences, ever coalescing to form one

204 POPULAR FALLACIES

universal Church. But when we survey the infinite
variety of Hindu beliefs, any conception of their
union into one religion becomes a mere phantasm of
the visionary. India is a small cosmos of the world's
religions. All the forms of worship and religious
thought in the rest of the earth's surface will be
found in this country. There is no more chance
of the Hindu, the Mahomedan, the Sikh, the
Buddhist, the Animist, and the Christian amalga-
mating in religious beliefs than there is of our solar
system combining to form one perfect and har-
monious abode of humanity.

The average Englishman at home has generally
a vague idea that the Indian climate is " hot for
three months and hotter for the other nine." But
he will be surprised to hear that this land possesses
as great a variety in climate as it does in peoples,
religions, and languages. He will find frozen
snow and everlasting ice in the north, and equa-
torial heat in the south ; desiccated deserts in the
west and miasmatic swamps in the east ; the
flattest and most monotonous plains and the loftiest
and grandest mountains on earth ; bracing and
delightful uplands and submerged and malarious sea
coasts ; pine and oak forests with the soaring eagle
and agile ibex, and the lowland palm and cane-
brake with the proverbial tiger and snake. I have
myself had the experience of being nearly frozen
in a snow blizzard at one time, and at another
of feeling my blood dry up and my skin crack in the

VARIED HABITS OF LIFE 205

heat of the desert. Again have I trudged over arid
rocks without a drop of moisture and squelched
through tropical swamps with the leech and the
mosquito extracting my life-blood. On each of
these occasions it was almost impossible to realise
that the other conditions existed, and that I was
all the while in India.

Such enormous differences in climate and en-
vironment must necessarily produce a variety of
life. It can therefore now be realised that the
peoples that inhabit these various regions cannot
all be alike in either physical or mental character-
istics. The dissimilarity in the diet of the people
is as marked as the dissimilarity in the various
races themselves. The Punjabi Sikh, for instance,
lives entirely on wheat and millet, the Bengali
Hindu on rice and fish, while the Mahomedan,
especially in the north, adds beef and mutton to
his vegetable food. The flesh-eating Mahomedan,
partly from his diet and partly from inherent
racial qualities, is known to have more vitality
and to be more prolific than the rice and fish con-
sumers of Bengal. Some will eat the flesh of
almost any animal, others only of certain definite
animals, and others only fish. A vast number are
total vegetarians ; but even here the races differ,
as some will only eat one kind of grain, some
another. Cooking also is often based on racial
prejudices. Some will only use animal oils or fats,
others only butter, others again only vegetable oils.

206 POPULAR FALLACIES

A description of the effects of food, climate, and
environment on a few typical diverse Indian races
will substantiate these statements. We will deal
with the Punjabi Mahomedan of the north-west
first. He is of Turko-Iranian < descent, probably
formed by a fusion of Turki and Persian elements,
in which the former predominate. He is a flesh-
eater, and his bread is comprised principally of
wheat and Indian corn. He is a teetotaler by
religious conviction. He lives in a dry climate,
varying from intense heat to severe cold. He
inhabits a country of treeless plains, bleak rocks, and
towering mountains, where only the fittest can
survive. The result is a physically well-developed
and hardy, tall race of born fighters, who prefer to
settle a quarrel by force rather than by argument,
by the sword rather than by the tongue. An army
of such men, supplemented by their kindred across
the frontier, could not be resisted by the other races
in India. The Punjabis have, as a matter of fact,
often led the vanguard of Mahomedan invaders in the
past, and would do so again but for the British.

We next come to the Maharatha of Western
and Central India, who is a Scytho-Dravidian,
formed by a mixture of Scythian invaders and some
Dravidian sects of the south-west. He has adopted
certain bigoted forms of Hinduism as his religion.
He is of a wiry build, but of lower stature than the
Mahomedan of the north-west, from whom he
differs in many other physical qualities. His food

MAHARATHAS AND BENGALIS 207

consists principally of rice and millet and small
quantities of fish and goat's flesh, and he is
addicted to spirituous liquors. He lives in an
equable though semi-tropical and somewhat ener-
vating climate. His language is distinct from that
of any other race. He has a keen intellect, gener-
ally misapplied towards destructive rather than
constructive criticism. His instincts are preda-
tory rather than warlike. He abhors perma-
nency and prefers fishing in troubled waters.
On the destruction of the Moghal Empire he, like
his Scythian ancestors, roamed about India and
looted and devastated a considerable portion of the
country. He resents responsible authority, even
that of his own countrymen, and is consequently
much given to political intrigue. If British
sovereignty were removed, the Maharatha would
at once resume his predatory and destructive pro-
pensities, to the detriment of all neighbouring
races.

Our last typical example of race differences is
the Bengali. He is mainly of East Dravidian
descent, modified by a strong strain of Mongoloid
blood from former conquering invaders of the
north-east. In Bengal many forms of Hinduism
are practised, from the loftiest philosophical con-
ceptions of the spiritual down to the grossest
superstitions and libidinous rites, to be found
nowhere else in India. The Bengali lives in a
moist, steamy, and wholly enervating climate,

208 POPULAR FALLACIES

and in consequence he is physically weak and
unenergetic. He is very voluble in speech and
excitable and hysterical in temperament, and much
given to mischievous intrigue and interference with
others' affairs. A Bengali not long ago excitedly
informed me that his nation meant to declare
war against the British Government. On my point-
ing out that that might be a somewhat dangerous
pastime, he exclaimed, " God forbid that we should
be made to fight with lethal weapons ; I only meant
fighting with our lingua franca — by tongue and
pen!"

To compensate for his moral and physical weak-
ness a kind Providence has endowed the Bengali
with the quickest and subtlest intellect in all India.
He can acquire almost any mental knowledge,
which, however, he is generally unable to assimilate.
He is now suffering from an acute attack of mental
dyspepsia brought on from a surfeit of European
education. His language is distinct from that of
the Maharatha or the Punjab Mahomedan, neither of
whom understands him, while both wholly despise
him for his effeminate characteristics. His food con-
sists entirely of fish and rice, both of which his country
produces in superabundance. A plentiful supply of
such sustenance and a relaxing climate have made
him a verbose talker, with a strong aversion to all
forms of physical exertion. He is the opposite of
all that is warlike. In the whole of India, neither
in the British service nor in the armies of the Native

NEW WINE IN OLD BOTTLES 209

States is a single Bengali soldier to be found. He
has as a consequence never been able to protect
himself or defend his country against invaders,
and has therefore, since the dawn of history, always
been under some form of subjection to other
stronger races, both Indian and foreign. He is the
natural product of an unfavourable climate and
environment. But he is also the unfortunate victim
of our misguided policy. Our illogical system of
education, and the absence of all moral and dis-
ciplinary restraints in his upbringing, have produced
the unhappy results we see before us. Instead of
gradually building up his character and teaching
him how to be self-respecting and self-reliant, we
have destroyed the guiding and beneficial influences
of his religion, caste, and community, effaced the
good in him and accentuated the evil, and then
cast him loose on the ocean of life like a damaged
and rudderless ship.

We have poured rich new wine into old and
weak bottles ; we have given irresponsible freedom
to those who required strong but sympathetic
guidance, and we have in our folly wilfully
neglected to cultivate the rich mental inheritance
of the East. There is much that is admirable and
likable in the Bengalis. Under other methods and
other ways they, with their high mental capacity,
might now have been the brilliant leaders of all arts
and sciences in India. Let us hope it is not yet too
late to apply the breaks and call a halt all round.

Political Future of India 14

210 PRACTICAL NATIONALISM

Let us hope our Government will cease to pander
to the notoriety-hunting political mountebank, and
that the Bengalis will themselves justify the good
opinions their real friends still have of them by
giving up childish politics and seriously applying
their undoubted mental abilities to the regenera-
tion of their country in the arts and sciences, in
industrial developments, in trade within and com-
merce abroad, and, last but not least, in internal
social, and religious reforms. Let them be assured
these are not only the most practical and laudable,
but also the easiest means of attaining that self-
respecting freedom and nationality which we all
sincerely wish them.

If the reader carefully studies the brief epitomes
of the three typical races here depicted, he will at
once realise the vast diversity of speech, religion,
dietary, climate, environment, and racial blood that
go to make the Mahomedan of the north-west, the
Maharatha of the west, and the Bengali of the east.
Is it possible to imagine that three such absolutely
distinct human factors can ever fuse into one nation,
having one common sentiment and one impartial
system of self-government over all ? I have only
described three races by way of example, but
scores of others might aptly be mentioned just as
distinct and even more opposed in every way
towards each other.

CHAPTER V

THE WAYS OF THE PEOPLE

A NOTHER and a very common fallacy is the
-Z~Y belief among homestaying Englishmen that
India is a poor country. Some colour is lent to this
idea by the low standard of living among its inhabi-
tants. But what is not remembered is that a great
part of India has a tropical climate, where all but the
lightest clothing is a luxury and not a necessity. A
light covering of cotton cloth is often worn more
for decency's sake than from any desire for warmth
and comfort. It is a country, too, where a light
vegetarian diet is preferable to strong meat. Of the
three hundred millions of people, over two-thirds
are connected with agriculture in some form or
other ; these live scattered over the whole peninsula,
often in wild and remote parts where they live in
primitive yet peaceful conditions. The villager's
wants are few, and ambitions, as a rule, he has
none.

A self-satisfied globe-trotter, nurtured on the

British Constitution, unimaginative and insular, and

aii

212 THE WAYS OF THE PEOPLE

with very exaggerated ideas of the rights of man,
comes touring round India. He travels luxuriously
in a well-appointed train, and while being whisked
through the land he notices a village ryot plough-
ing with two slender bullocks out in the broiling
sun, and with hardly a scrap of clothing on. " Poor
fellow," says our comfortable tourist; "how hard
his lot ! He evidently cannot even afford a decent
covering to his weak body. And we call ourselves
a Christian Government and allow the people to be
reduced to such a pitiable state ! I must take a note
of this, and speak about it in Parliament on my
return." While in this frame of mind, he next day
meets some natives who have already heard of his
biassed tendencies. He asks them some direct ques-
tions about the wretched ryot, and is volubly told
harrowing tales of the great injustice done to the
poor villager by our Government. He thinks now
he has ample corroborative evidence against the
Government officials, and Anglo-Indian brutality
generally. He straightway sits down and writes a
perfervid letter to his pet paper at home, drawing
on the imagination he may possess to make his story
have the desired effect on the credulous British
public.

But what are the facts of the case ? Our hypo-
thetical ryot prefers to go about practically in a
nude state ; he is more comfortable in that condi-
tion. He ploughs in the sun in perfect contentment,
as his ancestors have done for thousands of years.

THE GLOBE-TROTTER'S MISTAKE 213

His cattle are small and lean in appearance because
the indigenous breeds in India are mostly of that
type. He has enough cotton clothes in his hut
for his simple wants. His wife may even have
some silver trinkets and a gala dress of bright
colour for village festivals. He has a pair of shoes
and an umbrella for such occasions. These two
latter are absolute luxuries, but he can afford them.
He is, in fact, a hundred times better off now than
he was when the British first put foot in India.
Within my own experience in this country the
standard of living among the lower classes has
risen by leaps and bounds. Thirty years ago it
was the exception to see the ordinary villager
wearing shoes. As for umbrellas, they were con-
sidered marks of distinction which only the rich
could venture to use. And now, well, it would be
hard to find anybody who did not wear some sort
of foot-gear ; and as for umbrellas, the very coolies
use them when working. Such a change does not
prove increasing poverty or decadence.

As regards the corroborative evidence the globe-
trotter obtains from his native friends, if he only
knew his India like the much abused Anglo-Indian
does, he would realise that you can get any imagin-
able kind of corroborative evidence you like there.
False witnesses are procurable around any court
at fourpence each ! And it is well known that the
average native is an adept at guessing your wishes.
If you asked him directly if he did not think the

214 THE WAYS OF THE PEOPLE

ryot a poor man, he would reply as he felt you
wished him to, and he would swear by all his gods
that the Indian ryot was the most miserable wretch
in existence, and would straightway call upon his
fertile and agile imagination, and narrate many
examples to show how pitiable was the condition
of the gentle, suffering ryot.

If on the other hand our globe-trotter had, we
will suppose, said in all sincerity to his native
friends, " I am so pleased to see the happy, con-
tented ryot ; don't you think he is well off ? " the
answer would have been, "Oh yes, sahib; under the
benign British Government the ryot is indeed a
favoured individual. No other country can show
such happy, contented, and well-to-do ryots. It
is all due to your honour's love and care of them,"
&c. The natives among themselves, and those
experienced in their ways, avoid asking a direct ques-
tion when exact information is wanted. One has to
be tactful and dissemble one's intentions. After a
multitude of indirect questions, and much patience
and waste of time, one may eventually be able to
glean the few grains of truth, and by analytical
deduction arrive at some fairly correct conclusions.

I have sometimes when shooting in the interior
of the country lost my bearings, and not knowing
which path to follow to get back to a camp, I have
had to question those I happened to meet. In my
callow and inexperienced days I used to ask the
direct question, " Does this path lead to the village

ROUNDABOUT ANSWERS 215

of Jhutpore ? " " Yes, your honour," was the prompt
reply. " How far is it ? " " Only the distance of
two gun-shots." Such information invariably sent
me in the wrong direction and generally further
from my camp ! Afterwards, when I learnt dis-
cretion, I put the question as follows, " Where does
this path lead to ? " — speaking as if it really didn't
concern me. The reply came, " This path — oh,
it goes down to Rampur." " What sort of village
is that ? — many people, good crops," &c. Then I
heard the good or bad history of Rampur. " And
how," said I, "do the people of Rampur get to
Jhutpore?" "Oh, Jhutpore, that is not near Rampur
at all ; it is over there," pointing in the opposite
direction. "You see that hill? Jhutpore is just
beyond it, about seven gun-shots from here." " Is
there good drinking water over there?" "There
is only one good well in the village, but it belongs
to the headman. But he will doubtless give your
honour some milk to drink." " All right, salam."
" Salam, sahib." At last I know my way and reach
my destination safely.

Now, it must not be inferred from the above
that the natives of India are as a rule a set of liars.
The villagers on the whole are simple and confiding,
and, taking their lives into consideration, a truthful
folk. But you must speak their language, and be
friendly and sympathetic, before they will be frank
towards you. For hundreds, nay, thousands of
years they have been ruthlessly treated by the

216 THE WAYS OF THE PEOPLE

many Asiatic conquerors, as well as by their own
people in power, and have been used to seeing the
strong always tyrannise over the weak. Unable to
hold their own, they have been compelled through
force of circumstance to resort to misrepresentation
and deception as a means of self-defence. And
these have now become a part of their nature. If
the villager does not know you, his first impulse
is to tell a lie and avoid having anything further
to do with you.

Unfortunately, I cannot speak as favourably about
the town folk. They have in many places raised
misrepresentation to a fine art, and this is not
done in self-defence, as in the case of the villager,
but as a means of attaining some object in view.
The end, it is considered, justifies the means. A
very telling instance of this came under my obser-
vation after Lord Curzon's famous Convocation
speech in Calcutta, on which occasion he advised
the Bengalis to be more exact in their statements.
Always ready to find fault and abuse the Govern-
ment, the Bengalis started indignation meetings,
wrote pamphlets, &c., to prove they had been
maligned and were the most truthful people on the
earth. I came across one of these pamphlets, which
was being widely circulated throughout India for
the purpose of getting up further indignation meet-
ings among other races, whose veracity, mind, had
not been impugned by Lord Curzon. In one
pamphlet were given a number of extracts alleged

PEEVAKICATIONS 217

to have been taken from various Anglo-Indian
papers, proving that they also considered the
Bengalis truthful and Lord Curzon wrong in his
statements. One of these extracts purported to
have been taken from a leading Anglo-Indian
journal of a certain date. As at the time I was
a careful reader of this particular paper, I was
astonished at not having seen the alleged extract.
I searched the files in vain. I inquired, and found
that nobody else had come across any such para-
graph in the paper. Subsequently the journal itself
took up the matter. The authors of the pamphlet
were written to, pointing out that the said paper
had never published the paragraph quoted in its
name, and demanding that the alleged extract
should be deleted from the pamphlet. No reply
was received to the remonstrance, and the pamphlet
continued to circulate in increasing numbers.
Now, here was an appeal made to the native public
to support the Bengali contention that they were
a truthful people, and yet this very appeal was based
on a deliberate falsehood !

Now, it must not be understood that I make these
statements as evidence to show that there is no
honesty in India, and that all Indians are untruthful.
I have no such purpose. I merely desire to explain
that superficial impressions about Indians are
extremely misleading, and that the so-called cor-
roborative evidence tendered by interested parties
is as a rule utterly unreliable.

218 THE WAYS OF THE PEOPLE

To revert to my thesis that India as a whole
cannot seriously be considered a poverty-stricken
country : — it may be a land of easily satisfied and
unenergetic people, but it can never be called a
poor country. My contention will be amply borne
out by the following extracts from a speech by a
learned native gentleman, Mr. Shapurjee Broacha,
the President of the Bombay Native Share and
Stock Brokers' Association, at the annual meeting
in 1906. He remarked : —

"It is the conviction of brokers, merchants, tradesmen,
and captains of industry that India is slowly but steadily
advancing in material prosperity, and for the last few years it
has taken accelerated pace. Opposed to this is the opinion
of the pundits, that is, the professors, the lawyers, and the
pedagogues with assumption of universal knowledge, who
have made it a business to arraign the shortcomings of the
Government, that India is steadily retrograding deeper and
deeper into poverty. ... If the Indians are poor, they are
poor in the sense the Red Indians were poor when the white
men took possession of their country. If the Indians are
poor, they are poor in the sense the Zulus and other races of
South Africa were poor with gold clinking under their heels,
with King Solomon's mines spread out to the view in all
their variety, and their land flowing with milk and honey.
India was considered the richest country by the ancients and
moderns. She was the cynosure of all eyes, and no traveller
or adventurer has left a record that his expectations were
not realised. She was the cynosure of all the marauders from
the North. . . . India is capable of yielding all the crops and
all the textile fibres of the world, besides some special pro-
ducts of her own ; she has all the fauna and flora of the
world ; her bowels are bursting with all the liquid and solid
mineral wealth ; her spaces are strewed with diamonds and
gems ; her shores are encrusted with pearl oysters, and her
seas and rivers are teeming with fish. If India is so rich, and

ADVANCE IN MATERIAL PROSPERITY 219

the Indians are poor, it is because they are just being roused
from a deep encrusted lethargy of more than a thousand years
of anarchy, misrule, oppression, and insecurity, under which
they could call neither their bodies nor their property their
own. They are just being lifted on rough carts, on rough
ruts of rough roads, until the roads are macadamised, and new
carts built and greased to make their passage quicker from
poverty to wealth. Putting aside higher politics, and the
still higher aspirations of a democracy, which is not in being —
for when in being its spirit will brook no superior — I would
say that when the Mahar (of low caste) has asked, and the
Brahmin has accepted, his right to the same table, India will
have welded itself into a nation, and then what India asks
shall be given. But until then, for the development of the
wealth of the country the present Government are the best.
India is endowed with great natural wealth, and we are
handicapped with very light taxation in the race for wealth."

Mr. Broacha went on to prove this by showing
the incidence of taxation in various countries. In
India it is only Rs. 3 per head per annum, while in
Great Britain and France it amounts to between
Rs. 53 and Rs. 54. The average taxation for Europe,
bar Russia, comes to Rs. 43 or Rs. 44 per head. In
Russia it comes to Rs. 2 is. or Rs. 22 ; in Egypt to
Rs. 15 or Rs. 16 per head. In Japan, also an agricul-
tural country with cheap labour, the taxation per
head comes to Rs. 9, or just three times more than
in India. Considering only land taxation in India,
it comes to Rs. i per head, in Japan about Rs. 2j, in
Egypt Rs. 7J. The taxation of India is light in all
conscience. Mr. Broacha calculates that as com-
pulsory taxes " the upper middle, the middle, and
the lower middle classes pay 6 annas per head for

220 THE WAYS OF THE PEOPLE

the Government of the country." These, he says,
" bellow the loudest about the grinding taxation."

Another item it is necessary to call attention to
is the incalculable amount of the precious metals
that lie buried, hoarded, and useless all over India.
Abdurrahman, the late Amir of Afghanistan, once
remarked that if the Afghans ever joined Russia in
the invasion of India, it would be only for one
definite purpose : not dislike of the English or love
of the Russian, but solely to loot the vast hoard of
treasure known to exist in almost every native
town ! It is a characteristic of the inhabitants of
the peninsula to hoard money rather than lay it
out in industrial developments. The coolie with a
few rupees a month saves as much as he can, and
either ties these savings in a knot round his loins
or buries them under the fireplace in his hut. The
trader does the same, only on a larger scale, while
the native Raja seals up the bulk of his revenue in
vaults below his zenana.

Statistics go to prove that four hundred lakhs of
rupees' worth of gold, and five hundred lakhs of
rupees' worth of silver bullion and coined rupees
are absorbed annually by India. That is to say, the
precious metals to the value of nine hundred lakhs
of rupees, or .£6,000,000 sterling, are every year being
hoarded by the people. Add to this the import of
jewellery, pearls, and precious stones, and you will
have an incredible total of unused and unproductive
wealth. The figures given represent only the annual

POTENTIAL WEALTH 221

hoarding at the present time. But to this accumu-
lating store must be added the untold millions' worth
of gold, silver, and precious stones that have been
lying buried in every town and village for countless
ages back. It is only when one gets some mental
conception of this fact that one realises the vast
wealth of India which is available for India's wel-
fare, but which for all practical purposes might just
as well be lying in the bottom of the Indian Ocean.
India may be likened to an ignorant miser, who
lives in rags and apparent poverty, but who might,
if cured of his hoarding propensity, live in a palace
with every modern comfort and luxury.

Only one inference can be drawn from these facts
and figures, and that is that India actually and
potentially is one of the wealthiest countries in the
world. The reasons why the Indians appear to be
poor are, first, because of their own free choice they
have hitherto preferred a low standard of living ;
and secondly, because of oppression in the past they
have till now preferred to hoard their wealth, rather
than lay it out, after the manner of Europeans, in
opening up their country and developing its trade,
commerce, and industries.

CHAPTER VI

SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

I TRUST from what has already been said it will
be realised that the various races of the Indian
continent can never fuse into one nation, nor can
they have self-government on the one-nation basis.
The present absolute rule of Great Britain over all
the peoples is the nearest approach to such an ideal.
Under existing conditions the Indians as a whole
must in self-defence for a long time to come put
up with an impartial arbiter, who will protect the
weak against the strong, maintain internal peace
and personal freedom, and guard all from foreign
invasions by land and sea ; and the only con-
ceivable authority who can fulfil these conditions is
Great Britain. But the fact that a powerful arbiter
is necessary for an indefinite period does not do
away with the possibility of establishing some form
of local self-government based on other principles
than those already tried.

I have shown in a previous chapter that the
modern tendency of all races as they advance in

CONFEDERATION 223

civilisation, stability, and self-reliance, is not to
coalesce and fuse and form self-contained new
races, but, on the contrary, to diverge from each
other and assert their own individuality as separate
peoples. Hence the plausible attempts that are
being made by political cranks and faddists to
make all Indians into one nation must necessarily
be futile and retrogressive, such action being
contrary to known natural laws. If I were an
irresponsible despot with absolute sovereignty over
all India, I would, to maintain my absolutism, con-
sistently encourage the propagation of the one-
nation idea. For as long as the misguided Indians
pursued this phantasm I would feel safe in my
power, as the stupid would always be dragging
down the intelligent, the backward would retard
the progress of the more advanced, and the pace
of the whole movement would be that of the
slowest and least developed race. JEons of ages
would elapse before even a semblance of union
emerged from such chaotic elements. The very
futility of such unpractical efforts would be the
mainstay of my despotism for an indefinitely
remote period.

But, on the other hand, if the day dawned when
each one of my subject races started a propaganda
for separate racial self-development, apart and dis-
tinct from each other, I would have to recognise
that the beginning of the end of my despotic rule
had come. This conclusion would be forced on me

224 SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

for the following reasons : — (a) As each separate
race advanced independently in civilisation it would
gradually become self-reliant and self-contained,
and would strongly resent being dragged down, or
even retarded in its progress, by its other less
enterprising neighbours; (6) as a practical man,
though a despotic ruler, it would be to my interest
and advantage to placate and help on the develop-
ment of the inherent good qualities of such a
progressive race till it could, metaphorically
speaking, stand on its own feet ; (c) the same
procedure would be followed with successive races
as they showed tendencies towards self-improve-
ment, till at last a time would come when all the
races in India would form separate self -governed
States, acknowledging one suzerain power over
the Indian continent.

It is possible in the far dim future, when all the
Indian races have separately developed a high state
of civilisation and self-government, that they may
for purposes of defence against foreign aggression
form themselves into the Confederated States of
India, and so in an indirect way eventually become
a community, internally dissimilar, but one in
union against the outside world. But this con-
summation is so infinitely remote that to pursue the
idea further would be a useless incursion beyond
the realms of present-day politics.

The idea of unity on an equality basis is wholly
foreign to the Indian mind. Indians always have been

EQUALITY: AN ALIEN SENTIMENT 225

and always will be aristocratic rather than demo-
cratic in their ideas of government. India is a land
where no sentiment of equality exists. Every man,
from the moment of his birth to the end of his life,
has a place allotted to him by race, religion, caste,
and hoary custom. If he is above in any way, he
domineers over all below him ; if below, he is
abjectly subservient to those above. Equality in
the European sense has not yet been grasped by
the Indian mind. The one-nation idea is entirely
a Western importation, introduced by certain
Englishmen when incubating the so-called
" National " Congress, which represents no nation
in India. I speak from personal experience, as I
joined the movement at its inception, hoping in
some way to help my Indian fellow-subjects. I
represented nobody and nobody represented me.
We all elected ourselves, and my colleagues talked
impractical and childish politics, which a third-rate
debating society at home would be ashamed of.
I soon realised that no good purpose could be
served by such an amorphous institution, while it
was eminently calculated to unsettle ignorant and
weak minds and hamper the work of Govern-
ment. So I gave up electing myself and conse-
quently ceased to be a member.

Were it not that the sincerity of the faddists who
introduced the " one-nation " idea is well known,
one could not help coming to the conclusion
that they had deliberately planned a Machiavellian

Political Future of India 15

226 SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

scheme for retarding the progress of the Indians
and keeping them in perpetual subjection to our
rule. The natives, as is ever their way when
impossibilities are promised, blindly followed the
lead of these misguided enthusiasts, and have ever
since been wasting their opportunities in vainly
chasing a chimera. There is more disunion, discord,
and diversity of opinion now among the Indians
than there was twenty-three years ago, when the
Congress propaganda was first started. The dis-
integrating influences are obvious to all : the sole
factor of the cohesion among the Congress
partisans is an ungrateful and senseless opposi-
tion to Government. Yet if the Government were
abolished to-morrow, it would be followed next day
by the extinction of the Congress, the component
parts of which would immediately engage in an
internecine war of extermination all over India.

I need not expatiate on the ethics of the
"National" Congress party. The abuse of all
constituted authority in and out of season is their
only ideal. Their criticisms are purely destructive.
They have not only hindered good government, but
have thrown back the progress of their country by
quite half a century. They may be given the credit
of introducing a new pastime into India — and that
is how, with safety to oneself, to bite the hand that
feeds you. It is not only a safe, but a cheap way of
attaining a much desired notoriety. It is, however,
an amusement that can only be indulged in in the

THE NATIVE STATES METHOD 227

British territory, as the atmosphere of the Native
States instantly blights it Only a determined
suicide would attempt to abuse, or even mildly
criticise, a Raja in his own territory ; such folly
would automatically cause not only the complete
disappearance of the individual himself, but that of
his family and belongings as well ! We have much
wisdom to learn from the Native States in such
matters. The prestige of constituted authority is
consistently and uncompromisingly maintained by
the Indian Raja, who is fully aware that too much
freedom among his countrymen in their present
condition rapidly degenerates into irresponsible
licence, which in its turn produces " wind in the
head," as the natives aptly express it. For such a
mental disease the ruler of a Native State wisely
considers that timely prevention is better than a
subsequent doubtful cure.

One deplorable defect which militates greatly
against any stable form of self-government is the
growing desire on the part of many Indians to
achieve cheap and meretricious fame amongst their
countrymen, regardless of the means used or the
ill-effect of their examples on the rising generation.
The substance is neglected and the shadow grasped.
Real earnest, unobtrusive, and self-sacrificing work
which makes for substantial progress and formation
of national character is neglected, while notoriety
is eagerly sought after for personal gratification.
And what is still more deplorable to those who have

228 SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

the country's welfare at heart is that hitherto Indian
public opinion has not condemned such men and
their methods.

Here are one or two out of many instances that
might be given to illustrate this trait. In a large
town in Upper India there lived an individual who
was locally considered one of its prominent citizens.
He was a man of neither family, influence, educa-
tion, nor riches ; still he was great in his own
estimation and that of his countrymen. And for
what, forsooth ? Well, simply because he had in-
stituted a lawsuit, and a discreditable one, against
the head of a Government department. He had
been a contractor and had tried to bribe the official
to pass inferior work, but the only result was a
rapid and forcible ejectment from the irate official's
house. Then followed a charge of assault and
battery, the result, it was stated, of the official
demanding a half share in the profits, which the
honest contractor indignantly refused ! Every one
in the town was aware of the utter falseness of the
charge, as the inner history of the incident was
known even to the commonest coolie. Yet Govern-
ment in its folly suspended the official and curtly
ordered him to clear his character. At great
inconvenience, expense, and mental worry he
eventually was able to expose the whole conspiracy
against him, and much more besides ; and the
contractor and his confederates and false witnesses
were duly sent to gaol or fined. Another blunder

INDIVIDUAL CASES 229

was committed by Government at this point.
Instead of allowing the official to resume his
post, and instead of publicly recognising his worth,
as would in similar circumstances have undoubtedly
been done in a Native State, he was weakly trans-
ferred to another district. When the contractor
had completed his period of incarceration he was
received by the native community as an envied
hero. And ever after, up to the day of his death,
he was pointed out with whispered admiration as
the man who had the famous court case, and had
driven out a great official from the district !

Another instance occurs to me of an educated
Indian who was really an intelligent, peaceful, and
law-abiding individual, but whose craving for
notoriety eventually mastered his otherwise worthy
character. He started in a modest and earnest way
by writing and preaching on social reform, industrial
development, the advantages of a strong and
peaceful Government, the necessity of loyalty to
constituted authority, and so on. He really did a
good deal of genuine patriotic work, and earnestly
practised what he preached. He expected recog-
nition from Government, but none came, and this
was a tactless official blunder. At this stage a word
of praise, a small recognition of his public services,
would have satisfied his ambition, as it would have
brought him great "izzat," or honour, among his
countrymen ; and, what is more, would have per-
petuated his loyalty to the British Government.

230 SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

But the practical thing was not done. On the
contrary, year by year an ungrateful Government
overlooked him, and honoured and decorated with
a lavish hand those who generally gave the most
trouble to our administration. The result was a
complete volte face on the part of my friend. He
saw which way the wind blew recognition and fame,
so he boldly transferred himself to the Congress
party, and there he used his undoubted talents to
vilify the very Government he had hitherto been
praising ! His activities were so great that Govern-
ment soon recognised his ability, and it was not
long before he received his much coveted official
honours ; but it was too late to make a good citizen
of him, and he became after that what the native
proverb aptly describes as " na ghur ka, na ghat ka."
That is to say, like the washerman's dog, which
belongs neither to his house nor to the ford
where he washes, but meanders aimlessly between
both.

Such incidents are not uncommon in India, and
truly patriotic Indians are much to blame for not
openly condemning those who court notoriety at the
expense of national degradation. Great leaders are
never made of such stuff, and no nation can hope
for progress when selfish ends are followed under the
guise of pseudo-patriotism. On the other hand,
however, rightly or wrongly, a feeling prevails
among the native community that open loyalty to
the British Government does not pay — that name

"LOYALTY DOES NOT PAY" 231

and fame are more easily attained by blatant oppo-
sition to all things British. There are many good
men and true who are now in opposition to us, and
an infinitely larger number all over the country who
have adopted a neutral attitude towards us, because
of this unfortunate feeling. They speak with corn-
tempt about a Government which does not know
how to discriminate between its well-wishers and its
enemies.

Another defect which must be eradicated from the
Indian character before real and solid progress can
be hoped for is the deplorable absence of moral
courage. I have seen a notoriety-seeking agitator
with a few vagabond accomplices cow a whole
district, every man in which knew that the agitator
was wrong and that his preaching would end in
trouble and disaster. Yet not a man moved a finger
against the firebrand ; some actually went so far as
to make a pretence of agreeing with him ! In any
self-respecting European community such an agitator
would promptly have been mobbed, ducked in a
pond, and literally kicked out of the place. And if
the mischief-makers could not effectually be dealt
with in this rough-and-ready way, the whole popu-
lation would immediately have sided openly with
constituted authority, and thus any disturbing move-
ment would promptly have been suppressed, to the
advantage of all. Not so with the average Indian.
From time immemorial he has been in the habit of
siding with the strong, or those who appear to be

232 SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

the strong for the time being, without any con-
sideration for the rights or wrongs of the situation.
This trait is an inheritance from the past ages of
conquest, rapine, and oppression, when the only
safety for the weak was to place themselves at the
mercy of the strong, whoever they might be. It
therefore follows that whenever a native sees a
political agitator openly preaching disloyalty and
opposition to our Government, his peculiar process
of reasoning can come to only one conclusion,
namely, that the Government is weak and impotent
and unable to protect him. Government being
weak, the other party must be the more powerful of
the two. Hence it is wise to appease the other party
and let Government take care of itself.

A peculiar incident happened in my own
experience which will aptly illustrate this trait in the
native character. A few years ago I had the honour
of commanding a well-known Volunteer Corps in
India. A Hindu landed proprietor from a neigh-
bouring district was very keen at one time on joining
my corps. He was a well-to-do, intelligent in-
dividual and an admirable character all round. I
greatly valued his friendship, and as we were on
intimate terms we discussed public matters without
the slightest reserve. Many a time have I learnt
wisdom and enlarged my Indian experiences from
his instructive conversations. On one occasion we
were discussing the question as to whether it would
be politic to have native volunteer corps in India.

CASTE AND FAMILY PRESSURE 233

His verdict was that in peaceful times it would be a
good move, as it would bring natives and Europeans
together in friendly rivalry, and would greatly please
the personal vanity of the former by placing them
in this respect on an equal footing with the latter.
But he said with great emphasis, " In war-time you
would have to disband nine-tenths of them, as these
native corps would be the first to be tampered with
by foreign agents ; and the members of such corps
would be the first to feel the enormous pressure
exerted by race, religion, caste, and family. If a
race or caste became disaffected towards the British
Government, every volunteer of that race or caste,
whether he wished to or not, would ipso facto have
to be against you."

I replied, " Do you mean to say that members of
such volunteer corps would not have the moral
courage to maintain their own convictions as to
what is right and what is wrong ? — that they would
betray their Government if caste or family pressure
was brought to bear on them for such a purpose ? "

" Yes," he sadly remarked ; " though I am sorry to
have to admit it. You Europeans cannot even
faintly realise what this overwhelming deadly
pressure means. For instance, if there was rebellion
in India and my caste and family were opposed to
you, I would have to desert you in the hour of need,
and make a pretence of being disaffected even when
I was really not so. If I did not act the part
allotted to me, I should soon be outcasted, my

234 SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

family would disown me, my life would be en-
dangered, my property, my land, all would be taken
from me by clever and unscrupulous forgeries,
intrigues, and false evidence. Your very courts of
justice would have to decide against me, as not a
man would be found to speak the truth in my
favour. My former associates would stand aside
and remain neutral, my friends and partisans would
in their own interests do likewise, or be cajoled,
intimidated, or forced in self-defence to do likewise.
No, it would not pay me to be loyal. As you rightly
say, we have not got the moral courage to maintain
the right against the wrong. There lies the greatest
weakness in our national character. If we would
overcome this defect we would be within measurable
distance of being a self-governing people. Many of
those among us who now outwardly assume a hostile
attitude towards you are secretly praying to their
gods to maintain your Government. They are
playing a part — want of moral courage again."

Last but not least come the two most deplorable
defects in Indian character, and these are the
universal propensity for bribery and intrigue.
Bribery is in fact not considered a crime, and under
various euphemisms it is held to be even praise-
worthy and natural. I once witnessed a bet between
two natives that any native could be bribed. The
bet was taken up and a prominent native official
named as the one on whom the experiment was to
be tried. To my astonishment the bet was easily

BRIBERY AND INTRIGUE 235

won. The money was accepted and the purpose
for which it was offered was duly carried out. It
was cleverly done, and nothing could be proved, but
it was obvious the bribe produced the result. On
another occasion I was in a Native State and was
present when the Raja was offered a " nazzur" or
present of Rs. 5,000, to cancel an obnoxious order of
his own. The nazzur was accepted as a friendly
offer, and the order withdrawn. But the sting of
it appeared subsequently. Within six months the
same order was reissued under some new pretext,
but the Rs. 5,000 were never returned !

As regards intrigue, this bulks, if possible, even
larger than bribery. As there is no sense of equa-
lity, every one who is in any way below considers it
absolutely essential for his own welfare to intrigue
and bring about the downfall of those who happen
in any way to be above. This passion for intrigue
has brought about universal suspicion and distrust,
and is one of the chief causes of India's helplessness
and degradation. They range from palace intrigues
for power, place, or the throne, down to petty little
intrigues between miserable coolies. It is every-
where the same, and has to be reckoned with in
every walk in life as the great disintegrating factor
in Indian life. The worst culprits in this respect
are said to be the Bengalis, who are so expert in
this line that, on the principle of set a thief to catch
a thief, they are often employed in Native States to
confound the intrigues of the Raja's own subjects !

236 SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

There is a native saying that " The Bengali is the
brother of the white ant, which builds nothing,
but undermines palaces." Ninety-nine per cent,
of the present political unrest in India is the out-
come of Bengali intrigue. The pity of it all is
that Indians as a whole do not yet realise that by
intriguing they proclaim their own inferiority —
equals do not intrigue against each other as a rule,
and there is no occasion for a superior to intrigue
against an inferior. And further, it would be
well for them if they understood that their present
low position in the scale of nations is due mainly to
this propensity for intriguing against constituted
authority. So it was in the past, and so it will
be in the future, until they learn to be frank, trust-
ful, and helpful to each other and the Government
of the country, be it British or native.

These are some of the characteristic defects
noticeable throughout India, and which will
undoubtedly hamper to a very serious extent the
advancement of the country on Western lines;
but, knowing the people as I do, I am sanguine
under a really strong and impartial Government,
and with the advance of education, all such defects
will gradually disappear, especially when the
Indian fully realises that true patriotism does not
mean illogical, insensate hostility to all things
foreign, nor a mongrel pseudo-sentiment towards
other Indian races with whom he has nothing in
common. When he understands that patriotism

TRUE PATRIOTISM 237

means a sincere and unselfish love and attachment
to one's own land, race, religion, language, and
literature — an attachment that will be self-sacri-
ficing, all-absorbing, and helpful to his own people
— then alone will the renaissance and regeneration
of India begin on true patriotic principles.

CHAPTER VII
ETHNOLOGICAL PROVINCES

WITH such ideals in mind, I believe the
following scheme to be the best suited
for the moral, social, industrial, and political
development of the various Indian races, and the
one most likely to encourage autonomous govern-
ment in this country. But it is essential for the
success of the scheme that each race should work
out its own salvation, independent, unconnected,
and untrammelled by its neighbours. This is a
sine qua non. Any interference in each other's
affairs and intrigues and combination for the pur-
pose of silly abuse and hampering of the paramount
Power will pre-doom the whole scheme to failure.

Granting these premises, I propose that a new
map of India be constructed on an ethnological
and linguistic basis. Boundaries should be demar-
cated round the habitat of each race. For instance,
the Sindhi-speaking people should be separated
from the Punjabis on the north, and the Rajputs
and Cutchis on the west and south. There should

PRINCIPLES AND DIVISION 239

be a Punjabi province, a Maharatha province,
a Tamil province, a Telegu province, and so on
throughout India. The above are only a few of
the leading divisions, but they will serve to explain
my meaning. Each such division, according to
its size and population, would be presided over for
the present by a British Governor, Lieutenant-
Governor, or Commissioner. They would have
adequate British and native staffs under them.
The native staff would be entirely composed of
people of the division. That is to say, you would
not have Bengali officials in the Punjab or Maha-
ratha officials in Bengal.

When a division was composed of entirely one
race, there would be no difficulty of forming a
simple system of self-government on a national
basis. But there are some portions of India
which would be difficult to divide into racial
divisions, as two or more races may be living
more or less in juxtaposition. For instance, in
Orissa, on the east coast, you will find, besides
Oryias, lesser tribes of aboriginal Gonds, Khonds,
Gadabas, and others. All tracts occupied by such
people would form small subdivisions of Orissa,
and their interests would be guarded by special
officers under the Commissioner of Orissa.

To explain my thesis more in detail it is neces-
sary to take a special people and formulate my
scheme round them. We will take, for instance,
the supposititious land of Rishiwara. Here the

240 ETHNOLOGICAL PROVINCES

Rishis would form the bulk of the inhabitants,
speaking one language and practising one form
of religion. In the country you would also find
a small colony of Mahomedans. These would be
descendants of, say, Persian and Arab conquerors,
mixed up with converted Rishis and the offspring
of mixed marriages between all these classes.
Their language would be Urdu, though all would
use Rishi, and the lower classes would probably use
it exclusively. Rishi would therefore be considered
the language of the whole country, and in this
direction, therefore, all could meet on common
ground for purposes of education and government.
In religion and racial sentiments, however, a sharp
distinction would exist between the Rishi majority
and the Mahomedan minority. As our purpose
throughout would be to develop each race on
its own merits, we would have to carefully guard the
racial interests of the minority and thus give them
a fair and equal opportunity of attaining to their
highest capabilities.

Primary education would be compulsory for both
men and women, and would be entirely in the
Rishi language. Beyond this, Mahomedans would
also be taught to read and write their own language,
Urdu. The upper classes would undoubtedly avail
themselves of it, as it is the common language of
all Mahomedans, and it may be styled the lingua
franca of all India. English would necessarily
for a long time to come be the vehicle of higher

LOCAL LANGUAGE AND HISTORY 241

education, as it is the only useful medium by which
Western civilisation could be imparted to the
inhabitants. Nevertheless, Rishi would be used as
much as possible in higher education, and its
literature would be encouraged, and text-books
in the language would gradually be compiled on
matters scientific, industrial, and social. Every-
thing, in fact, would be done to create and foster a
national literature. Urdu literature could always be
obtained from purely Mahomedan divisions, many
of which would undoubtedly come into existence
under my scheme.

Each race would be thoroughly grounded in the
history of India, and more especially in its own par-
ticular history, truthfully and impartially expounded.
Immature and undeveloped minds would not, as
is unhappily the case now, be stuffed with English
history and that of other foreign races fundamen-
tally different from them in national characteristics.
All education would have two principal objects in
view : first, the formation of character, and second,
the production of practical men, who would turn
their attention to the improvement of their own
countries in industries, commerce, agriculture, and
science. In fact, the national education would be
practical instead of theoretical. It would produce
level-headed professional men for all branches of
work necessary to Rishiwara, and not windy-headed,
superficially educated clerks jostling each other for
an infinitesimally small number of Government

Political Future of India 16

242 ETHNOLOGICAL PROVINCES

appointments. In economics the Rishis would be
taught the necessity of co-operation and mutual
trust. The absurdity of hoarding their money
underground and the advantages of laying it
out in the industries and development of their
native land would also be impressed on their minds.
Under such a system of education the appalling
ignorance and the pitiful conceit of present-day
Rishis would gradually disappear, and a people
would be evolved which would be honourable,
self-respecting, patriotic, and proud of their
country, and whom every Englishman would
joyfully welcome as an equal fellow-subject of
one great Empire.

Rishiwara would be divided into districts with
collectors, magistrates, and deputy commissioners
at the head. Groups of districts would be under
commissioners, and these in their turn would be
under a Chief Commissioner, or Governor, who
would be responsible for all departments in the
State, and would correspond directly with the
Supreme Government of India. His functions
would combine those of President of the State and
the Agent of the Supreme Government. He would
govern with the aid of a representative executive
council composed of all classes in the State. The
Governor in Council would legislate for the admini-
stration of Rishiwara, subject to the formal approval
and sanction of the Supreme Government. All the
departments of the State would be directly under

OFFICIAL NEWSPAPERS 243

the Governor, with the exception of the army,
navy, railways, telegraphs, and foreign affairs, which
would be controlled all over India by the Supreme
Government.

Rishiwara would have a special official news-
paper in the Rishi language, publishing general
news calculated to educate the people on all that
would be useful to the State. But its chief function
would be to explain and defend the policy of the
Rishiwara Government, to contradict false rumours
and misunderstandings, and to expose the machina-
tions of all would-be mischief-makers ; and, last
but not least, it should also interpret the wishes
of the Supreme Government to the Rishiwara
public. Such an official journal in the language
of the people would be published in each racial
division ; and at the same time there would be a
chief official paper for all India published in
English under the authority of the Supreme
Government. This would explain, defend, and
justify Imperial policy throughout India.

The Mahomedans would have one or more repre-
sentatives on the executive councils, and their
rights and interests, as well as those of other minor
races in the State, would be strictly guarded against
any encroachments by the preponderating Rishi
population.

Rishiwara would in fact be practically self-
governing and quite independent of all other such
States in India. Its internal administration would

244 ETHNOLOGICAL PROVINCES

not be directly interfered with by the Supreme
Government except in matters of Imperial policy,
and the inhabitants would be left to progress in
civilisation at their own pace. There would be
no hustling and no maudlin philanthropy. If they
had any virility and capacity for advancement it
would come out under such conditions, and if they
had not, they would be allowed to go their own
pace without any sentimental anxiety on our part.
In either case they would be happy in their own
way, and would have nobody but themselves to
blame if other Indian nations went ahead of them
towards the goal of independence.

As an unknown writer has aptly stated : " The
paramount executive for the well-being, happiness,
and security of the myriad millions must rest for
a time, that cannot be measured or computed, in
the hands of Great Britain." But though this must
be admitted for all India, it is necessary that we
should gradually, very gradually, hand over the
purely internal and local functions of the admini-
stration to its advanced inhabitants. The process,
however, would necessarily be slow, and the Rishis
would have to exercise patience and willingly co-
operate in getting the training that would fit them
for positions of trust and responsibility in their
country. No civilised Government, and least of
all that of Great Britain, would ever allow a noisy
and self-interested minority to usurp authority for
the purpose of misgoverning the inarticulate and
helpless masses.

FOSTERING LOCAL PATRIOTISM 245

All the various nationalities in India would thus
be simultaneously started on the road to self-
development and ultimate self-government. Those
which advanced rapidly would be given greater
facilities and would necessarily be more inde-
pendent than those that lagged behind. No greater
incentives could be given to the peoples of India
than the fostering of local patriotism and the con-
sequent friendly inter-racial competition for civilised
progress and ultimate autonomy. I also maintain
that this scheme is the only means of establishing
an entente cordiale between the Mahomedans and
Hindus of India. Barring religious matters, on
which these two sections of the Indian population
can never be on one platform, it has been my
experience that, in questions concerning their own
native land, the mental attitude of both Hindu and
Mahomedan is comparatively harmonious. There
is a sort of incipient patriotism that brings them
together as against Hindus and Mahomedans of
another country. For instance, the Hindus and
Mahomedans of Sind think more alike than does
the Hindu of Sind and the Hindu of Madras or the
Mahomedans of Sind and the Mahomedans of
Bengal.

In this mental affinity lies the hope of a future
solution to the partition question in Bengal. If,
for instance, Bengal proper (excluding Oryias, Nag-
puris, Beharis, Assamis, and all other border races)
could be constituted into a new State on an ethno-

246 ETHNOLOGICAL PEOVINCES

logical and linguistic basis, with a Governor of its
own, it is quite possible that a real Bengali nation
might eventually be evolved comprising both Hindus
and Mahomedans of Eastern and Western Bengal.
Such a union of Bengali-speaking people is very
desirable, and devoutly to be wished. But two
things at present militate against any such con-
summation. One is the Hindu Bengali's hostile
and selfish intrigues against Mahomedan interests,
and the other is his childish and imbecile opposition
to all things British. The Mahomedans will there-
fore be wise to strongly uphold the Bengal partition
until such time as the Hindus of their own accord
genuinely remove the two unfavourable conditions
mentioned. When that welcome time arrives the
British will be the first to join the hands of Eastern
and Western Bengal in a union of mutual respect
and attachment, and Britannia will be proud of
being the foster-mother of a brilliant race.

It is very necessary that my scheme for racial
autonomy all over India should be favourably
started and its growth carefully guarded to maturity.
This can only be done with a powerful and sym-
pathetic arbiter over all the land — a Government
which will see fair play, prevent internal discord,
and ward off aggression from without. The only
possible Government for such a purpose is that of
Great Britain. So the Viceroy in Council will, on
behalf of the King-Emperor, be all powerful, and
will continue to watch over the destinies of the

AN ADVISORY COUNCIL 247

Empire. But he will be helped by an Advisory
Council constituted of distinguished representatives
of all the autonomous States as well as of the exist-
ing Native States. At first, and for some time to
come, the Council's functions will be purely con-
sultative and advisory ; but in the fulness of time,
when all the States have shown a real capacity
for self-government on civilised principles, the
Council would be transformed into a modified
parliamentary institution for the Confederated States
of India, with the Viceroy as President. The
Governors and Commissioners would then remain
in the States only as British political agents. But
here we enter into realms beyond the sphere of
present-day practical politics, and it is therefore
unnecessary to speculate on this final phase of
the Indian problem. Sufficient for the present is
the realisation of separate racial States, in each of
which the inhabitants would speak one common
language and be imbued with one common
patriotism for their native land.

Let us hope the Indians will fully realise that
all this cannot come about in one day. There is
no magic in politics. The development of a race
must be gradual, steady, and progressive. Perfec-
tion will only be attained after years, or may be
centuries. It is the slow growing tree that pro-
duces the soundest timber : mushroom growth does
not last.

CHAPTER VIII
A FIRM POLICY

" T T OW can encouragement best be given to
JL JL legitimate political aspiration, and sedition
most effectively suppressed ? " To the first part
of the question I answer that the true remedy
lies in separate racial development, as already
explained in the previous chapters. When a race
improves from within as it were and concentrates
its efforts on developing its own inherent quali-
ties, it will have ample scope within itself for all
legitimate political aspirations. A truly patriotic
people will not waste their opportunities for
advancement by thwarting the suzerain Power,
which helps them along and guards them against
outside interference. Their leaders will soon realise
that they have everything to lose and nothing to
gain by allowing other jealous and perhaps hostile
races to interfere with their internal and domestic
politics. "Self-help" will be their motto, and
"Hands off" their attitude to outsiders.
The greatest folly the Indians have hitherto

248

THE ONE COHESIVE FACTOR 249

perpetrated is the encouragement of the idea that
they are all one and the same people, and that
therefore they can combine to displace the British
Government by an imaginary " national " Govern-
ment of their own ! This idea is the outcome of
colossal ignorance of their own history, and their
extraordinary inability to logically argue out the
sequence of events. They can neither look back
to what they were nor look forward to what they
might be. Their thoughts and actions are always
concentrated in the present, regardless of conse-
quences. It is this defective mental horizon that
has produced the political buffoon in this country,
and resulted in the sorry spectacle of the warlike
Punjabi being dragged at the heels of the effeminate
Bengali.

The first thing the various peoples of India must
learn is that the word "India" is merely a geo-
graphical expression invented by Europeans to
designate a vast continent, and that since the
advent of the British the term "India" has con-
tinued to expand. The map of India has ever since
been changing towards the west, north, and east,
but it does not follow that, because a borderland
is painted red on this map, the indigenous inhabi-
tants of that land thereby immediately by some
legerdemain become Hindus — say of the type of
Bengal or Madras. The only cohesive factor in
India is British sovereignty ; remove that factor
and its peoples would automatically cease to be

250 A FIRM POLICY

Indians. They would be known henceforth as
Kashmeris, Punjabis, Sindhis, Rajputs, Maharathas,
Bengalis, Assamis, Telegus, Tamils, Pathans, and
an endless number of other distinct nationalities.
Until this obvious lesson is thoroughly grasped
by the Indians there can be no hope of any
genuine political advancement. Self-contained de-
velopment on a racial basis is the key to the
whole problem. The race that first fully realises
this, and ceases to meddle with the domestic affairs
of others, will easily take the lead in India and
soonest attain self-government on rational prin-
ciples. Such a race will naturally in its own
interests range itself on the side of law, order,
and peaceful government, and it will therefore
have ample scope for legitimate political aspirations
in the promotion of the best and highest ideals of
its own people.

We come to the second portion of the question :
" How can sedition be most effectually sup-
pressed ? " One word answers this, and that is —
firmness. Boycotting, picketing of shops by hired
ruffians, preaching of sedition, encouragement of
race hatred, should all be summarily stopped. And
when schoolboys are concerned in such practices
they should, as a Japanese friend of mine has
suggested, be promptly flogged, and their parents,
guardians, or schoolmasters be severely fined, and
made to enter into a bond for the future good
behaviour of such youths. In India we must to a

EXPLODED SHIBBOLETHS 251

very great extent do as Indians do in such matters.
In a Native State, if a man preached disloyalty to
the Raja, he would be seized, punished, and effaced
in a couple of days, and all connected with him
would suffer likewise. To act as a deterrent,
punishment for political crime must be prompt,
severe, and final. Native politicians desire self-
government by their people, so they cannot logic-
ally object to the adoption of Native State methods
for suppressing crime.

The Supreme Government must cease to pander
to such plausible and long exploded shibboleths as
" the equality of men," " liberty of the subject," and
" freedom of the press." Indians, with their present
limited range of political thought, do not understand
such altruistic ideals. This is amply proved in the
conduct of every Native State, where no two men
are considered equal, where liberty of the subject is
restricted to personal good behaviour, where abso-
lute freedom of the press is not tolerated on the
solid ground of expediency. By all this, I do not
mean that such ideals should not sway our govern-
ing principles. They should always be kept in
view, and gradually applied to the people as they
attain a proper sense of responsibility. You cannot
have absolute equality in a country where you have
two such opposite extremes as a twentieth-century
educated and polished native gentleman and a
prehistoric savage in a state of rude nature — a
juxtaposition that may be seen any day in and

252 A FIRM POLICY

around almost any large town in India. You
cannot have complete liberty of the subject where
the extreme products of the country can never take
the same view of anything, and where all the
myriad intermediate degrees of civilisation and
savagery will differ infinitely in thought, belief, and
conduct. You cannot rationally allow a native
press — to a great extent ignorantly conducted — to
freely preach false and erroneous principles to a still
more ignorant public. It is not fair to the Govern-
ment of the country, and is still more unfair to the
unfortunate people, to subject them to the tyranny
of an unwholesome press.

In our dealings with the ignorant peoples of
India we want less sentimental theory and more
practical common sense. The native press requires
controlling for the sake of the people themselves.
With few honourable exceptions these papers do
not give any news at all, and are consequently
of no educational value. Their contents are
nothing but stupid, illogical, and destructive
criticism of all things concerning the Government
of the country, vilification of its officials, and adver-
tisements, a considerable number of them obscene.
Such papers are mostly conducted by dismissed
native officials, or by students who have failed in
their exams., and failed, in fact, in everything else.
All the mischievous trash they publish is swallowed
without judgment or comment by the still more
ignorant multitude, whose only arguments for per-

WILD STORIES 253

forming this mental gastronomy are, " It is printed,
therefore it must be all true. If it was not true
Government would have punished the authors and
stopped the papers. As they have not done so
Government must be in the wrong, and they are
afraid to do anything" — and so on.

I have heard such statements made even by so-
called educated natives, who in ordinary matters of
business are as sensible and level-headed as one
could wish. During the late Zaka Khel expedition
on the North-West frontier, one obscure vernacular
paper gave out that the British soldier could not
fight, he was worthless in war ; that one whole
British regiment was absolutely wiped out by the
Zaka Khel, and that this was the real reason why
our forces hastily retired from the frontier ; that the
only thing that saved the entire army from total
destruction was the brave front shown by the native
troops ! All this was conveyed in good faith by
letter to me from an educated native gentleman
who has travelled over most of the civilised
countries of the world, and whom one would
naturally credit with greater judgment and dis-
cernment. Yet he believed it all because a friend
of his had told him he had read it in a vernacular
paper somewhere !

It is this sort of unwholesome credulity which it
is our bounden duty to control and guide on prac-
tical lines, and this, I maintain, can never be done
until the present licence of the vernacular press

254 A FIRM POLICY

is curbed, and it is taught to realise its true position
as a great educational factor in the country. It is
useless to expect the people to move in the matter,
as their whole conduct and attitude towards this
press has shown conclusively that they have failed
to realise how a licentious and untruthful press is
destroying their mental equilibrium, undermining
their national manhood, and exposing them to the
ridicule and contempt of the civilised world. They
will not or cannot help themselves, and therefore it
is our bounden duty as the rulers of the land to
educate the vernacular press and place it on a
proper and useful footing.

This, I maintain, would not be difficult to accom-
plish if every vernacular paper was required to take
out a licence for permission to publish. This
licence would be given after due inquiries had
been made as to the qualifications of its staff
and directorate, and after a certain sum in cash or
securities had been deposited as an earnest of good
conduct. The first time the paper misconducted
itself it would receive a warning and a severe
reprimand ; the second time, a heavy fine would
be inflicted out of the deposit money ; and the
third time, the licence would be cancelled and the
rest of the deposit money as well as the press itself
would be confiscated. I would place the genera
control of a paper under a vigilance committee,
composed entirely of educated and respectable
native gentlemen of the locality, and as far as

A VIGILANCE COMMITTEE 255

possible of the same nationality as the staff and
conductors of the paper. They would have the
power to carry out the first and second sentence
of punishment in cases of misconduct. The last
sentence would be left solely to the police magis-
trate, and would be final and without appeal to any
higher authority.

Such a scheme would insure the paper starting
on a respectable business basis. It would have the
advantage of having its conduct under the re-
sponsible control of the natives themselves, and
lastly its final extinction would be automatic, as
the licence would only be cancelled and the press
confiscated after all other remedies, applied by the
natives themselves, had railed to check misconduct.
As the failure would be with the natives themselves,
Government could not be blamed as at present
for taking drastic and final measures. And lastly
Government would have the advantage of always
feeling the political pulse, as it were, of the native
community, as the attitude of the vigilance com-
mittee towards the views of the paper would be an
indication of their attitude towards Government.
Such a scheme, while allowing for reasonable and
dignified criticism of Government, would effectu-
ally prevent all political mendacity, scurrilous abuse
of officials and native princes, and seditious and
disloyal intrigues against constituted authority. No
respectable vernacular paper would object to its
adoption, as its own self-respect and dignified

256 A FIRM POLICY

conduct would render it immune, as now, from
punitive consequences of the law. But it would be
impossible for third-rate rags to exist, as they would
automatically bring about their own suicide.

Another cause of sedition in India is our irrational
system of education, which is superficial and entirely
misdirected. What good result can be expected
from an ignorant native, a descendant of hundreds
of generations of illiterate forebears, who is suddenly
caught and rushed through various impractical
schools and colleges, on such mental pabulum as
Herbert Spencer, Macaulay, Rousseau, and Kant ?
The wonder is that there are any level-headed men
left amongst the so-called educated. We neglect to
teach them their own history, while we cram them
with European and American history, and other
unsuitable literature. We teach them no religion,
no moral principles, no manhood ; and little or
nothing is done contributing to the formation of
character. We turn out, in fact, a lot of literary
prigs and unmannerly cads, instead of solidly
educated men and broadminded gentlemen. The
need of India is for men who have received a
thorough training in commerce, trade, industries,
agriculture, mining, mechanics, engineering, and
other practical callings.

Again, another cause of disaffection and contempt
for Government is the laxness with which we main-
tain our prestige in India. Nowhere can a peaceful
and civilising Government be maintained, and least

ATTACKS ON BRITISH SOLDIERS 257

of all in India, when the people at large are not
taught to respect constituted authority. In India
respect for authority has been and always will be
the bed-rock of all forms of government. No Native
State would for a moment allow the scurrilous abuse
and the attacks on its officials that we permit in
British territory. A native Prince, referring to the
frequent attacks on British soldiers by villagers,
once said to me, " You are allowing the foundation-
stone of your Government to be shaken. If it goes
on much longer your whole administration will fall
to the ground. In India we worship power, and
despise anybody who does not maintain his izat
[honour and dignity]. For every soldier that is
attacked by villagers, you lose the respect and good-
will of thousands of Indians, who are then willing
to believe anything that is said against you." How
true all this is can easily be realised nowadays,
when rebellion, murder, and anarchism stalk the
land as a result of our previous laxness in main-
taining order. Every attack on a Government
official, from soldier to Viceroy, should be swiftly
visited with condign punishment — direct on the
actual perpetrators, and indirect on all remotely
responsible for the act. We cannot afford to allow
even the commonest European to be maltreated
because he is a European, or because he is a
Government official.

It may here be as well to call the attention of the
Indian politicians to the degrading practice of

Political Future of India 17

258 A FIRM POLICY

employing schoolboys to do their dirty and dan-
gerous work for them. When the men of a race
sink so low as to demoralise and prostitute their
own offspring, they publicly condemn themselves,
and proclaim their utter unfitness for any form of
self-government. There is nothing that shames the
true friends of India so much as this contemptible
practice, and until it is wholly given up the Indians
can never hope to have the respect and sympathy of
any civilised people. Let men meet men, my Indian
friends, but for the sake of your own izat keep your
women and children out of the arena.

Slowness to move, procrastination, and leniency
are well-known Oriental defects, and are believed
by the native to be the results of weakness and fear.
As a native shikari once remarked to me, " When a
wounded bear does not come straight down on me
as he ought to, I know he is afraid of me, and after
that I feel I can destroy him with impunity when-
ever I feel inclined." When the seditious and
disaffected in India have politically wounded the
Government, and the latter does not come straight
down on them, the absence of prompt action is
immediately construed into weakness and fear, and,
like the shikari, they come to the conclusion they
can destroy Government with impunity. I reite-
rate, that when there is deliberate mischief against
the Government or its officials, the punishment
must be swift and thoroughly deterrent; there
must be no maudlin sentiment and leniency.

CUMBROUS LAWS 259

This leads me on to our laws. These in the
present condition of the country are too cumber-
some, too complicated, too costly, and in many
cases a direct incentive to political crime. Our
system has bred a multitude of lawyers, who prey
on the ignorant multitude and who are generally
the leaders of disaffection. It has produced a con-
tempt for our Government, because with its legal
technicalities and quibbles, backed up with bribery,
corruption, and false evidence, a political criminal
can nearly always escape scot-free. For every
known criminal that thus escapes his just doom,
a hundred more join the ranks of the disaffected ;
and so the ball of sedition keeps rolling on, ever
increasing in force and magnitude, till it now
threatens to overwhelm us altogether. Even in
civil matters there is already too much law and too
much interference with the people. There ought
to be a separate political law, shorn of all legal
technicalities and complications, and it should be
so framed that its application in all cases would be
prompt and decisive ; and, above all, there should
be no hesitation in applying it. In saying this
I voice the opinion of all peaceful and law-abiding
Indians, and they form the vast majority of our
fellow-subjects.

CHAPTER IX

A RECONSTRUCTED INDIA

TO sum up all that has been said. India must
henceforth be considered and treated not as
one country with one people, but as a vast sub-
continent of Asia, with a congeries of separate
nationalities, having different religions, languages,
sentiments, and idiosyncrasies. The country must
be grouped into racial divisions and governed on
that basis. Each race must be allowed to develop
on its own inherent merits, and one dead level of
uniformity should not be expected. Each racial
division should, under British supervision and
control, employ its own people as far as possible
in governing itself. All education should be prac-
tical and cheap and not academic, and should be
carried on to a very great extent in the language of
the people. Only the higher education should be
in English, and this should be paid for at its proper
value. The European officials in such racial divi-
sions should spend the greater part of their service
in divisions where the same language and customs

DIVISIONAL DEVELOPMENT 261

prevail, as this is the only way we can identify our-
selves with the inner sentiments and aspirations of
the people.

These racial divisions would be started on their
career with the same European staff as is considered
necessary for the Government of the country at
present ; but gradually, as the people acquired a
sense of responsibility and showed themselves fitted
for self-government, the European staff would be
removed until the irreducible minimum considered
necessary for the maintenance of British sovereignty
was reached. In the course of time practically the
whole governing staff might be natives of the divi-
sion ; and there is no reason why there should not
ultimately be even a native Governor, with a local
Legislative Council. But, of course, such a con-
summation will be entirely dependent on the growth
of education and sense of responsibility to the
suzerain Power, which must necessarily be British
for an indefinite time to come.

The Supreme Government will be carried on as
now by a Viceroy in Council. He will be assisted
by an advisory council consisting of representatives
from all the racial divisions. The Supreme Govern-
ment will have absolute authority over the army,
navy, railways, telegraphs, postal and customs de-
partments, and will control all the internal and
foreign politics of the whole Empire. The prestige
of the Supreme Government must be maintained at
all costs. There must be no dallying with sedition,

262 A RECONSTRUCTED INDIA

and no maudlin sentiment. Mischief-makers of all
kinds should be dealt with promptly and decisively,
regardless of what might be said by ignorant busy-
bodies at home. The Government attitude should
be, on one side, one of sympathy, friendliness, and
sincere concern for the welfare of the people ; on
the other side, one of unsentimental justice, prompt
chastisement, and unswerving determination. There
must be the velvet glove and the iron hand, the
olive-branch and the sword. There can be no
medium course in India. The vernacular press
must be brought under control in the manner I
have already indicated, as much for the sake of
peaceful government as for the rational education
of the people themselves.

Our civil laws may be retained as they are in the
large towns, but they require considerable cheapen-
ing and simplifying throughout the country. The
power to appeal should be reduced, and except for
grave crimes the judgment of the court of first
instance should be decisive and final.

There should be little if any interference with
the customary usages and ordinary lives of the
people. Their social evolution should be left to
themselves. The misdirected zeal for village sani-
tation should be curbed or wholly checked for the
present. Official interference with village govern-
ment should be discountenanced as far as possible.
The people should not be worried to clean out
wells and tanks which have been in use from time

UNDUE INTERFERENCE 263

immemorial on account of the officious zeal of
some sanitary inspector. They must not be forced
to cut down hedges and shrubbery round their an-
cestral homes just because someone sees imaginary
cobras in such places. When the people themselves
ask for such action to be taken, then Government
should promptly move in the matter, not before.
The inept rewards spent on killing snakes and wild
beasts should be discontinued, and the money
should be utilised for some more practical purpose.
The death-roll ascribed to snakes and animals is for
the most part fictitious. The rewards go not to the
villager, but to the native official who writes up
the record ; to the professional shikari, who makes
a livelihood out of the shooting in the neighbour-
hood, and to the snake-charmer, who mostly breeds
the snakes for which the rewards are given ! As
for the statistics, I know from personal observa-
tion, and from what reliable natives have told
me, that a very large number of cases of suicide,
infanticide, poisoning, and other secret forms of
murder are hushed up with a little expenditure of
money and the death entered in the official returns
as due to some animal or snake.

All this grandmotherly concern for the protection
of the native against himself may appear laudable
to goody-goody folk and the comfortable arm-chair
critic at home; but such minute interference with
the daily lives of the people is intensely irritating,
and often leads on to higher forms of discontent

264: A RECONSTRUCTED INDIA

when the professional agitator mendaciously dis-
torts the intentions of Government. The secret of
success in this direction lies in leaving the people
alone as much as possible. If the natives of this
country are ever to develop higher forms of civilisa-
tion, they must be left to develop them in their own
way ; there must be no hustling on our part. All
we are called upon to do is to give the people a
strong and peaceful Government ; for the rest they
must be allowed to work out their own salvation in
lines they understand and can utilise themselves.

The inhabitants of India, taken as a whole, are
peacefully inclined, law-abiding, charitable, and
admirable in many of their personal characteristics.
Those who have taken the trouble to study them,
and understand their customs, beliefs, and racial
sentiments, must end by having a kindly respect and
liking for them. I have lived a great part of my
life among them, and have resided in practically
every part of their country, with Rajas in their
palaces and with ryots in their mud and thatch
huts ; and I personally feel so great an attachment
to the land of my adoption that when I retire from
active life I mean to settle in it, feeling sure my
many native friends will help to make my residence
among them welcome in the future as they have in
the past.

I mention all this lest it should be inferred from
my previous criticism and advice that I am pre-
judiced against the people and their ancient country.

A CANDID FRIEND 265

On the contrary, I have been animated with the
friendliest feelings ; and if I have used plain words
and stated some unpalatable home-truths, it is be-
cause, as the old Indian proverb aptly says, "The
enemy flatters, only the well-wisher tells the truth."
I may or may not be mistaken in my views. I
give them for what they are worth, and therefore
trust they will be read in the spirit in which they
are written.

EXPERIMENTAL REFORM

BY MOGHAL

267

CHAPTER I

POSSIBILITIES OF SELF-GOVERNMENT

IN considering the question whether it be possible
for the diverse races of India to become one
united self-governing community we are unfortu-
nately confronted by one of those problems which,
intensely interesting as they may be, are yet outside
the pale of actual definite conclusion. We may
argue as we will with a view to establishing our
negative or affirmative, but so long as the subject
remains within the realms of controversy at all,
we can prove nothing. The dispute, in fine, is of
the solvitur ambulando order. Once let a united
self-governing community become an accomplished
fact and the event, it is clear, will answer all doubts
and adverse speculations. There will be no further
room for discussion. But no disputant can fairly
be called upon to logically prove a negative, and in
the particular theorem we are considering no mere
academic correlation of probabilities will demon-
strate a possibility. Personally I should hesitate

270 POSSIBILITIES OF SELF-GOVERNMENT

to say that such an event as Indian political homo-
geneity is impossible ; but this hesitation, I frankly
admit, is a mere confession on my part of the
limitations of human prescience. I can only deal
with what appeals to me as being the reasonable
possibilities of such a political cohesion.

It seems to me that the term " united self-govern-
ing community " demands some attempt at precise
definition. By such a term it would be illogical to
postulate too much. All self-governing communities
which may logically be termed " united " have yet
their very distinct phenomena of political cleavage.
And this, indeed, has ever been so, even from the
days when Lot and Abraham found it necessary to
part company owing to the strife between their
herdmen. The antiquity of social and political
cleavage might easily be proved, were proof neces-
sary, by references to the history of the Greeks and
Romans, or other nations of the past. Plebeian and
patrician, oligarch and democrat have their counter-
parts in socialist and aristocrat, using the latter term
not quite in the sense of the Greek aristos ; and
though to-day we may not find so pronounced a
Tory as Dr. Johnson, it is certain that our modern
Liberals labour under no delusion as to the dual
personality which vivifies and controls the State.
But these factors of divergence and differentiation
are quite compatible, as we know, with a real and
national unity ; and this being admitted, we may
well consider on what basis of solidarity a national

THE SPIRIT OF NATIONALITY 271

unity as apart from minor political divergencies
may rest.

There have been times in the history of mankind
when political passion and sentiment have seemed
for a time to place the spirit of nationality in a
subordinate position. This was so in the great
French Revolution and in a minor degree in our
own revolution of the seventeenth century. But
the careful student of history will recognise that
these disturbing phenomena were in reality the
great emotions of a national life stirred to depths
profound. Without a national soul in France the
guillotine would never have disfigured the land of
Clovis and Charlemagne with its scarlet stain.
Without a national soul in England the axe that
fell at Whitehall would never have severed from its
royal body that kingly head which, with all its
follies, was yet the Lord's anointed. The national
soul, indeed, is prepared to stake much where the
national honour is concerned. This existence,
then, of a national vitality is a prime factor in any
scheme of political self-government. Consequently,
in any consideration of the question it devolves
upon us to inquire whether a national vitality exists
in India at the present day, or if not actually now
existing, whether there be signs of its genesis and
growth.

And at this point we may fitly glance at the
historic past of India. Though the Hindus are
really a people in whom the historic sense, as we

272 POSSIBILITIES OF SELF-GOVERNMENT

understand it, is strangely wanting, we yet know
something of their ancient social organisation.
From the earliest ages of which any trustworthy
records have reached us we find that the Hindus
have made communal government the very basis of
their social fabric. We can trace the organisation
and authority of the village panchayet and the
whole system of village administration very far
back indeed ; and although the establishment of
caste organisation in its modern rigidity is a de-
velopment of post-Vedic times, here again we can
discern the communal idea very practically domi-
nating the life, the ideals, and religion of the
people. But are we justified in concluding that
the institutions at which we have briefly glanced
constitute nationality in the true sense of the
term ? I think not. Nationality implies some-
thing far more than the existence of a number of
small foci which, so to speak, are the centre of
their own environment. A controlling and co-
ordinating force for the whole is essential. But
India, I submit, can scarcely be said to have pro-
duced such an example of supreme authority.
There have, it is true, been kingdoms in India,
but the whole country, as we now know it, has
never been really united as a homogeneous political
organism until we come to the period which is
marked by British conquest and dominion. The
advent, rise, and gradual establishment of British
power in India are imperishably written on the

WHAT THE WEST HAS SOWN 273

records of time. But the tremendous vitality and
supreme importance of British domination are only
now commencing to change the whole thought
and spirit of the Indian mind. Herein lies the
supreme political interest of the present. For
the West, though it has not brought the com-
munal idea to the East, has stimulated the national
ideal. The West has ploughed the field with its
own political machinery. It has sown with works
and blood and tears. It has fertilised the fields
with the waters of its freedom, with the spirit of
its literature, with the rich self-sacrifice of its con-
cept of duty, with the wealth of altruistic opinions,
and over all it has cast the mantle of its protection,
the shield of its justice, the invincible prestige,
status, and dignity of its citizenship of Empire.

The observant reader will perhaps notice that I
have made no reference to religion. This is not
at all because I fail to recognise that the spread of
Christianity in India has had much to do with
fostering the germs of a national ideal ; but our
proselytising has been unobtrusive. The Christian
creed is a gift we have offered to be accepted or
rejected. Our scrupulous tolerance of all forms
of faith has been to us a great strength, and to the
millions whom we rule a great cause for thank-
fulness. Yet among those Indians who to-day are
the most enthusiastic advocates for political reform,
they who are Christians are few. The reasons for
this need not be examined. The fact is well

Political Future of India 18

274 POSSIBILITIES OF SELF-GOVERNMENT

known. But that the spread of Christianity has
been an element in fostering aspirations towards
nationality I think will be admitted. The general
effect of religious ideals on a community may,
however, for a moment well claim our attention.
A German writer (Dr. Wilhelm Bousset), whose
profound analysis of religious evolution is in
advance of much of the conventional thinking of
to-day, has the following passage which I cannot
forbear quoting (Mr. F. B. Low's translation), as
touching the bearing of a national religion on
national life : —

"National life is created by the union of different tribes.
Thus Babylon took its lead of the city communities of the
Babylonian plain, and the Babylonian Empire arose. In
Egypt the separate districts and provinces were merged into
the one Empire, and under the leadership of Moses the tribe
of Israel became a nation. Mahomed compelled the Bedouin
Arabs to become a national unity. In the transition from the
tribal life to the national life the fiction of blood relationship
and blood unity, on which tribal life is based, vanishes. The
fundamental law of blood revenge and blood feud which has
hitherto obtained is replaced by the idea of regulated justice.
No longer does the clan, the family, avenge the murder of one
of its members ; those in authority, acting in the interests
of the whole community, guard the inviolability of the law
and the idea of public justice arises.

" New links in the common life are forged, a great expansion
in the idea of life in the community takes place. The nation
takes over the management of a large number of matters
which concern the whole community. Division of labour
begins ; the separate occupations — those of the soldier, the
peasant, the artisan — become now distinct. Fighting still
remains a most important occupation of the communal life,
but it is not the only important one. There are also the works
of peace — industry, trade, mighty buildings, undertaken by

VARIATIONS OF RELIGIOUS FAITH 275

the many ; the beginnings of arf, regulations for the administra-
tion of justice, social institutions. The nation experiences
a history in common and an attempt is made to fix this history
in the memory, at least in rough outline. The art of chrono-
logy arises, the art of writing is developed in its most ele-
mentary form; the events of the past, the great deeds of
ancestors handed down chiefly in an oral form, mostly in song,
or already written, cement more firmly the common life. The
moral, personal, historical relation now enters into the life of
man in the community in place of the merely natural one."

It is important to bear in mind that, while a
common religion tends to arise from a common
nationality, a common religion by no means makes
very strongly, if at all, for a common nationality.
The Christian States of Europe are to-day all
different nations. Nationality we must recognise
is really distinct from religion, though a religion
common to a community, assuming such commu-
nity not to be a nation, would naturally possess
much synthetic value in the constructive processes
of the national ideal.

The truly potent causes in creating a nationality
are affinity of interests, racial, social, and commercial,
a common theologic ideal, and the existence of a
common controlling authority, whether vested in
an individual or a corporate body representing
and expressing the popular will. We thus see that
the national life may truly exist under forms of
government as wide apart as an absolute monarchy
on the one hand and a democracy on the other,
but it is obvious that in the first case the element of
self-government is entirely absent.

276 POSSIBILITIES OF SELF-GOVERNMENT

It follows, therefore, that if what we have postu-
lated be the true bases for the creation of a self-
governing community, India presents many complex
conditions and certain anomalies which come into
sharp conflict with those conditions we have
assumed to be essential. An examination of the
conditions which obtain in India leads us to
the following classification of their main charac-
teristics, namely : —

(i) The racial factors are heterogeneous and
antagonistic. (2) The social and religious customs
and beliefs of the people are intensely divergent,
and in the community which embraces the largest
number of individuals professing one common faith
— namely, the Hindu — we find innumerable divi-
sions and subdivisions of caste. (3) The com-
mercial interests ma.y be said to be homogeneous.
(4) The common controlling authority exists not
in the people themselves, but in a nation of
foreigners.

It is clear that before the people of India can
weld themselves into a self-governing community
a profound modification of the fourth condition
is essential. Indeed, the possibility of this modifi-
cation is really the crux of the whole problem
and demands the closest and weightiest examination.
The first and second conditions, though presenting
many factors which make union extremely difficult,
are not of a nature so radically intractable as to
render the eventual evolution of self-government

THE CONTEOLLING AUTHOKITY 277

impossible. But the existence of a common con-
trolling authority is an absolute essential, and at
present that controlling authority is, so to speak,
not of the people themselves. Self-government
for India in a national sense, then, implies the
renunciation by Great Britain of certain prero-
gatives which the conquest of India has conferred
upon her and the transfer of these prerogatives
and obligations to Indians themselves.

And here it may with justice be observed that
this ideal of national self-government springs very
naturally indeed from the branching life of our past
administration. The Company of merchants became
in time a body of rulers ; from trade and conquest
sprang bureaucracy, and this bureaucracy, ever
quickened through the years with the fresh and
unfolding ideals of our British national life and
constitutional modifications, has by degrees, often
against its own innate concepts of administration,
sometimes in conformity with such concepts, been
compelled to delegate power and control more and
more to the Indian people themselves.

Students of Keene's History may remember that
this author synchronises the new era in India
with the period when Lord Mornington destroyed
French influence, beat down Tippu, and made all
Native States accept the arbitration and control of
his Government. This, he is careful to add, was
"not a conquest of India," but the foundations
were laid for a social and political fabric on which

278 POSSIBILITIES OF SELF-GOVERNMENT

the various populations of the vast peninsula should
hereafter meet in unity and order. But the point
upon which too great stress cannot be laid is that
what Keene designated as the "advance of the
Indian races to a united nationality and a common
civilisation " has implied in modern times the con-
trol of this country by Great Britain. It means so
now. India is not to-day a united nationality, but
an aggregation of communities existing under the
sovereignty of Great Britain. The measure of self-
government allowed to this aggregate of communi-
ties is dependent largely on the inclination of Great
Britain to meet the growing political aspirations
of the people and the capacity of the people them-
selves to play the part of independent colleagues
in the great work of empire. A separate and in-
dependent Indian nationality cannot be assumed ;
that is, a nationality with the power to declare war,
to make peace, to possess an independent financial
autonomy, to treat independently with the nations
of the world. Such an assumption at once sweeps
the sovereignty and control of Great Britain aside,
and is quite untenable in any argument which pro-
fesses to deal seriously with political conditions as
they exist to-day. We are not discussing the possi-
bilities of a revolution, but the probabilities of a
wider and more evenly adjusted balance of power
being created, under which new political conditions
the Indian shall acquire a larger share of executive
and administrative control than he to-day possesses.

THE PRESENT MACHINERY 279

Here we are on safe ground, and, as it seems to me,
the only logical ground. And not only are we on
safe ground, but on soil which has already yielded
a harvest.

To make this conclusion clearer, let us summarise
as briefly as may be the extent to which self-govern-
ing representative machinery exists among the com-
munities of India to-day. Representative organisa-
tion in India, then, may be classified as follows : —

(i) Village Panchayets ; (2) Local Boards ; (3)
Municipalities ; (4) Chambers of Commerce and
Trade Associations ; (5) University Senates ; (6)
Provincial Councils ; (7) the Supreme Council ; (8)
the Secretary of State's Council.

Although the authority and influence of the
village panchayets, or village councils (consisting
of five persons), has very largely decayed (more's
the pity), these little rural boards do, as a matter
of fact, settle many minor problems of local interest
and adjudicate on many disputes. As far as their
influence extends they may be considered truly
representative. I would certainly increase the
authority of these ancient and national institutions.
The local boards and municipalities exercise the
functions of self-government on a more extended
scale than that of the panchayets. In the aggregate
they deal with and control a vast and increasing
local revenue and expenditure, and although certain
of their acts are subject to the ultimate sanction of
the provincial or Supreme Legislatures, they are in

280 POSSIBILITIES OF SELF-GOVERNMENT

many highly important matters, very closely affect-
ing the daily life and welfare of the people, true
administrative and executive bodies, fairly decen-
tralised and independent. The Government, it is
true, may, in the event of gross corruption being
manifest or scandalous inefficiency being proved,
suspend or entirely abrogate their powers ; but this
is very seldom done. Moreover, on those rare occa-
sions when the State deems it necessary to inhibit
the popular control of local affairs, the general
principles of self-government throughout the country
are in no wise threatened.

The chambers of commerce and the trades
associations, though by their very constitution
outside the realm of politics and established to
deal with a special class of problems, are, as a
matter of fact, often called upon by Government
to tender advice and suggestions on subjects which
closely affect the welfare of the people. These
remarks are of special application to the chambers
of commerce, membership of which is by no means
confined to European firms and merchants. These
chambers are steadily growing in strength and
importance, and count among their members a
number of non-officials, both Indian and European,
whose influence and opinion carry much weight,
while the aggregate value of the decisions of these
bodies and the momentum of their concerted action
are very distinct factors in influencing not only
public opinion, but the acts of the administration.

EXISTING POWERS 281

The senates and councils of the Universities also
form strong nuclei of opinion. The Government
can seldom, if ever, ignore their carefully considered
views without incurring at least the charge of grave
indiscretion and engendering unpopularity more or
less unpleasant. It is unnecessary to observe that
the highly educated personal element in these bodies
makes itself felt in a thousand different directions
throughout the country. Of the Provincial, Supreme,
and Secretary of State's Councils it is unnecessary to
speak. They constitute the Government in being,
the actual administrative machinery of the State in
its highest expression. With a decentralisation
scheme in process of formulation at the present
moment and Lord Minto's scheme on the anvil for
the general broadening of the Councils, it should be
evident that the higher political forces of India are
fairly in the current of administrative change.

We find, therefore, that while the diverse races of
India are, at present, not one united self-governing
community, the broad principles of unity and self-
government have a real vitality and articulate ex-
pression through many channels. If the people
cannot veto the acts of Government they certainly
can and do very largely control the legislative
expression in which such acts shall be clothed. It
may be pertinent here to remind my readers that in
no country in the world can the decision of the
legislature be held to be a unanimous expression
of the opinion of the whole populace. The vast
army of dissentients must always remain. Even

282 GROWTH OF POLITICAL POWER

could the referendum be applied to all big political
problems, it is obvious that a minority more or less
approximating to the recorded majority must of
necessity exist. The races of mankind are not
unanimous, nor are they ever likely to be.

But a really united self-governing community
must be invested with powers which certainly are
not yet perceptible in the higher branches of our
Indian Administration, so far as Indians themselves
are concerned. The people politically possess
little or no voice in the great problem of taxation.
Their representatives in the Council Chambers are
altogether too weak in numbers to outvote an
official measure. Moreover, assuming the official
element out-voted or overridden, there exists no
alternative power for carrying on the business of
the country. If our existing organisation of bureau-
cracy is to be flung on the scrap-heap, what is to
take its place ? If the relations between Great
Britain and India are to be profoundly modified
politically, on what lines are we to proceed ? It is
possible enough that certain elements of bureau-
cracy may be fused into our new machinery of
administration, and that a true ideal of self-
government may still be evolved. Nor need this
new thing be a mere slavish replica of Western
methods, which naturally enough bear the stamp of
their own environment. The matrix in which we
pour our molten metal may be an ideal suited to
the people of India, and in no wise destructive of
the cohesion of the Empire. Let us see.

CHAPTER II

THE POLITICAL BALANCE

what steps and in what period of time is
it possible for the diverse races of India to
become a united self-governing community ? " The
question is not an easy one to answer. It cannot
be replied to by mere dogmatic assertion, by vivid
imagination, or by the formulation of any theoreti-
cal scheme. This is a kind of riddle of the Sphinx,
but far more profound than that solved by CEdipus.
Assuming, as I hold I am justified in doing, that
the concept of self-government, so far as this essay
is concerned, does not embrace the condition of
political severance between India and Great Britain,
it must be clear that we have to deal with a balance
of political forces which will demand the extremest
delicacy in adjustment. For really there can be no
self-government in the highest degree unless the
widest authority is placed in the hands of the people
themselves. So much, especially of recent years,
has been written on this extremely controversial

283

284 THE POLITICAL BALANCE

subject by Indians themselves and by others, that
the temptation is strong to examine in detail the
suggestions put forward by those who have con-
tributed to the literature of the theme. But on
reflection I am quite sure that such a procedure
would be more a hindrance than a help to any
elucidation of the subject. The babel of voices
would be overpowering. From the vast heap of
material which has now accumulated we might
select much that is good and fitting wherewith to
build up the edifice ; but I am afraid that, long
before I had done, the reader would be heartily
sick at watching the long process of selection on
the one hand and rejection on the other.

The highest concept of self-government involves
as I have said, the recognition of the principle that
the widest authority shall be vested in those who
govern. They that rule must possess the power, if
only for a longer or shorter period, of enforcing
their enactments. Without this power there is no
rule. The concept, moreover, means something
more than this. It assumes a political ego which,
whether it move sometimes towards the realisation
of one aspiration and sometimes towards the reali-
sation of another, is yet the same ego. Diverse it
may be in its ideals, but one certainly in its general
progress in the path of political development. And
this again supposes something else. It supposes
not only the power to conceive, but the power to
translate concept into deed ; to control, and, if

THE TRUE VOICE 285

necessary, to defend against internal hostile force
or external aggression.

Any endeavour, therefore, to predict the period
of time necessary for the consummation of self-
government or for the establishment on a firm basis
of any radical modifications in the political organi-
sation of India appears to me to be necessarily of a
distinctly inconclusive nature. I therefore shall not
attempt it. All that, in my humble opinion, can
be done is to carefully watch the growing political
needs of the country, and bend with a sympa-
thetic ear to the voice of the people. But we must
be quite sure it is the voice of the people — the true
vox populij the true utterance of humanity echoing
the voice of God. We must not mistake the
interested clamour of a mere class for that articu-
late expression which when true and clear comes
from the Highest.

CHAPTER III
POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS

THE next question is: "How can encourage-
ment best be given to legitimate political
aspirations ? " A definition of the term " legitimate
political aspirations " would, it is easy to conceive,
depend very largely on the personal prejudices or
reasoned convictions of him who should make it.
Such a definition falls not within the realm of
mathematics, and is like the well-known differentia-
tion between orthodoxy and heterodoxy. The term
"legitimate" depends much on the point of view.
Mr. Gokhale's "legitimate" may differ from that
of Mr. Rees. Lord Curzon's "legitimate" I fancy
would join issue very sharply with Mr. Surendra
Nath Banerjee's ; and, in fine, what seems lawful
and just to one man may strike another as being
entirely opposed to all right, reason, and expediency.
However, as the scope of this essay postulates a
united self-governing community, it is necessary to
form a concept of political legitimacy in any scheme
of constructive government that may be considered.

LEGITIMATE AIMS 287

The fact that certain aspirations in the minds of
Indians may clash with my own views of what is
expedient must not be allowed to prejudice the
definition. For instance, it is perfectly legitimate
for the natives of any country to desire a ruler
of their own blood and lineage. By no process
of sophistry can the unlawfulness of such a wish
be maintained. The right to a ruler who shall
fulfil these qualifications is, in the abstract, a
perfectly natural and human one ; the wish is
legitimate and righteous. That it may not or
cannot be gratified will not shake the logic of our
postulate one whit. But I think it may be taken
for granted that, in any examination of the Indian
political problem, we are compelled to read into
our concept of legitimacy not only certain factors
of expediency, but certain factors of practicability
also. We cannot, much as we might wish to, get
outside the phenomena of things as they are. The
best and wisest of Indians, I believe, see this as
clearly as we do. They recognise that in this
matter, as in others, the ideal is an abstraction
held down and fettered as it were by the forces
of the concrete and practical. In politics, as in
ethics, the spirit indeed is willing oftentimes while
the flesh is weak. And, consequently, the abstractly
legitimate, it is seen, must always lie behind and
more or less remote from the practically and con-
cretely legitimate. But the practical and concrete, be
it observed, is always winning its way towards the

288 POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS

abstract and ideal. Bit by bit it transforms and
transmutes the latter into itself, and becomes the
practical of any particular present. True, the
horizon still remains. Everlastingly the ideal un-
folds and beckons us from afar. The future of
to-day becomes the present of to-morrow, and so
to ever new vistas and boundaries turn the eyes of
humanity, eager with hopes and fears.

This being so, the clearest minds in India will
discard the impracticable even though it should
be legitimate in the abstract. They will, in fine,
tend, in the main, to hold the legitimate to be
that which is not too far off for realisation.
There were kings in India long before there
were English viceroys, but that was so because
the system was concrete and practical — not
abstract. But the Indian who dreams to-day of
an Asoka or an Akbar to displace in part or in
whole the visible potentiality of Western rule is
clearly anticipating a repetition of history because
his imagination is undisciplined and his reasoning
on existing probabilities and existing data is at
fault. What, then, are legitimate political aspira-
tions and at the same time practicable ones ?

It is desirable in considering the question at this
stage to recognise once for all that for India two of
the great functions of national government must
be absolutely retained by Great Britain. Great
Britain cannot from the very nature of the relations
which exist between the two countries part with

FINANCE AND DEFENCE 289

her prerogatives of financial control and military
control. Outside these two functions we may do
much, and I would submit to the judgment of all
fair critics that we are doing much. We cannot
have an Indian as Viceroy, or as Governor or
Lieutenant-Governor, and an Indian Secretary as
the administrative head of one of the great depart-
ments of the State would, in my humble opinion,
be impossible. It is not at all a question of such
a man possessing the intellectual ability and high
character necessary for such a post. He certainly
would not possess the racial qualifications, and his
presence in such a position would be at once a
potent cause for the most intractable friction. It
is quite useless for the mere abstractionist obsessed
by his ideals of theoretical perfection to ask why
the racial disability would be overpowering. If
such a theorist cannot see why, without argument,
no amount of argument will make the thing plain.
I have seen it urged ere now that the Moghals with
a free and spacious policy elevated Hindus to the
highest offices in the State ; and consequently, so
it is contended, we English should do the same.
The conclusion is not warranted. The political
data are different. The Moghals, let it be admitted,
largely affiliated their Hindu subjects with the work
of government, and Akbar's able minister Todar
Mai is sure of immortality, so long as the stones
of history shall hold together. But as Mr. Rees
has lately pointed out in his book "The Real

Political Future of India 19

290 POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS

India/' though the Moghals " were foreigners as we
are, they were Asiatics, and the existence of a
solidarity of sentiment wanting in our case may
be admitted." Again let me quote Mr. Rees : —

" It seems that the Mahomedan kings of the time were
accessible to their subjects, and personal in their rule, though
practically absolute authority was delegated to governors of
provinces. The army was composed of levies supplied fully
equipped by local chiefs, and by individual soldiers who
served for hire. The Hindus had to pay the poll tax, but
they were generally employed in the administration and some-
times as generals. The Emperor Babar in his memoirs says
that the revenue officials, merchants, and workpeople were
all Hindus, and much the same might be said at the present
day, for the actual government is generally in the hands of
Brahmins, who are supervised by a handful of Civil Servants
who form a corps d' elite"

There is, however, I submit, no real parallel to
be drawn between the British Empire in India and
that of the Moghals. It may also be profitably borne
in mind that the break up of the Moghal power after
the death of Aurungzebe was largely due to events
in the Deccan, in which territory the Viceroys
appointed by the Court at Delhi became open
revolutionaries and trucklers to the Mahrathas.
That should be a salutary object-lesson to us, for
it indicates very clearly the danger of delegating
power to Asiatic satraps. By what steps, then, I
again ask, are we to proceed ? How may we
safely encourage legitimate political aspirations ?

It has often been urged that municipal govern-
ment in India is more or less a failure. So it is.

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 291

It is often a failure, too, in other parts of the
world ; or if not wholly a failure its results are
disappointing in the extreme. Perhaps we some-
times expect too much. Certain it is that munici-
palities often seem to achieve too little. There is
no magic in the phrase " municipal government "
or " local self-government " — none whatever. I
hold that whether local self-government or any
kind of government be a success or failure largely
depends upon the governed. Intelligent, enter-
prising, liberal-minded, and high-spirited citizens
will have good municipal government — they will
insist upon it — they will not rest until they get it.
It is the honest, enterprising, and intelligent citizen
who is not a councillor who really keeps the muni-
cipality up to the mark. As with municipal govern-
ment, so with provincial government, so with the
Supreme Government. But the outside criticism,
to be of any value, must be intelligent, well-
informed, and, above all, non-partisan and tolerant —
wholesomely, healthily tolerant. Such criticism, if
properly appreciated, should be of the highest value
to the legislature. The thing in India is not only
to get it — to be quite sure that it is untainted ; but to
focus it — to co-ordinate it — to acquire it in an in-
telligible form, so that it may be fairly weighed,
examined, and analysed. How is all this to be
accomplished ? How are we to make these
political aspirations the subject of definite material
experiment ?

292 POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS

I have no patience with men of the Dr. Ruther-
ford stamp, who parade their profound ignorance of
India as knowledge of India ; who come out to this
country on a flying visit, accept crude odds and
ends of information for the whole information,
particles of fact for the whole fact, very often
falsehood for truth, and having, so to speak, stuffed
this collection of curiosities into their political
wallet, return home and exhibit their wares to
people so credulously silly and ignorant that they
are actually willing to be impressed by such
mountebanks of reform. For example, Dr. Ruther-
ford on his return to the House of Commons had
the effrontery to tell his hearers that "the officials
had captured the universities, the municipalities, the
district, provincial, and Imperial Councils, and in fact
every public institution, and they had deprived the
people of India of the opportunity of taking advan-
tage of the great effort made by Lord Ripon." Now
this quotation is an evidence of Dr. Rutherford's
utter incapacity to speak on the subject. The muni-
cipalities of Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Karachi,
Rangoon, and the big towns generally, are by no
means dominated by Government officials, and
the same freedom of action is conspicuous through-
out the country. When Dr. Rutherford charges the
officials with having " captured " the municipalities,
I would remind him, what he seems to have entirely
overlooked, that the Indian municipalities were
created by the Indian Government — in other words,

THE MUNICIPAL SYSTEM 293

by that very bureaucracy regarding which he has
hardly a good word to say. There are nearly eight
hundred J municipalities in the country at the
present moment, I should say — I have no figures
before me — and the part they play in administration
is very fairly put by Mr. Rees. He thus summarises
the position : —

" The elected members vary in number, from one half in
Bombay to three-quarters in the United Provinces and
Madras, and not more than a quarter of the members of the
committee may be salaried officers of Government in Madras,
Bombay, and Bengal, while considerable powers of control are
in all cases reserved to Government and its officers. About
two-thirds of the aggregate municipal income is derived from
taxation and the remainder from other sources, including
Government contributions. . . . The development of local
industries in rural areas has been accomplished through the
agency of local boards, which in the beginning, like munici-
palities, partook of a voluntary character. In 1871 Acts were
passed in every province dividing the country into local fund
circles and creating consultation boards nominated by the
Government, with the collector as president. Local taxation
was now introduced, and in 1882 Lord Ripon replaced the
local committee by a network of boards on which the non-
official preponderated, and the elective principle was
recognised in the same way as in municipalities, but the
degree to which this system has been introduced is not
constant, but varies in different provinces."

If people in England imagine that the repre-
sentative principle is everywhere in India hankered
after they make a great mistake. India is not a land
of democrats, but in its ideals of status and
authority and what constitutes fitness for rule,
1 Seven hundred and fifty-six in 1906-07. — ED.

294 POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS

administration, and control, one of the most con-
servative of countries. I will admit that this charac-
teristic of the people is changing, but very, very
slowly, and the change is mainly in the big towns —
the ports, where the fusion of the Occident and
the Orient is more marked than up-country. Mr.
Rees is, broadly speaking, right when he asserts
" that no man of any position amongst his country-
men will submit himself, at any rate in rural
districts, to the ordeal of election or the chance of
having to accept as his colleagues persons of low
caste and slight consideration." There is, too, an
indisposition to accept the vexatious and exacting
requirements of public life, and little doubt exists
that the inhabitants of the districts, if they could be
polled, would by enormous majorities vote for
leaving all administrative business in the hands of
the impartial and professional administrator who
represents the British Government and is their
local providence.

Whether this be so or not, however, there is not
much doubt, I fancy, that we must, to some extent,
remodel our administration. And it must be re-
modelled on lines which will be acceptable to men
upon whom is pressed more and more every
day the cramping influence and restrictions of
bureaucracy. The Simla scheme of reform does
not, I believe, commend itself to a single Hindu in
the country. The proposal to create Advisory
Councils is largely ridiculed, and the methods

A SUGGESTED SCHEME 295

suggested for the expansion of the Legislative
Councils have been condemned as being distinctly
retrograde and reactionary. The Indian Review, in
an article on the unrest in India published a few
months ago, gives what I believe to be a true
synopsis of the Hindu ideal, thus : —

" What India wants is a real living representation of the
people on a wider scale ; a council to which the repre-
sentatives are elected by purely non-official bodies, with
power to initiate legislation, to discuss and to divide on the
budget, with such safeguards as may be deemed essential. In
fact, the entire scheme of reform should be so devised as to
enable the people to take a larger share in the government of
their country and to train them to govern themselves. No
proposal for reform which has not this objective in view will
be popular or conducive to the best interests of the country."

I do not consider that India is ripe for a Council
created purely from the votes of non-officials.
While striving towards the attainment of a fuller
representation, it is necessary that we should
proceed on practical lines and recognise the virtues
of a policy of reciprocation. If we are to make
this experiment at all (and in my opinion it cannot
be much longer delayed) I would say begin with
one province only. The experiment would be
made in the interests of all provinces. I would
make the constitution of the council embrace an
equal number of (i) covenanted English officials ;
(2) uncovenanted English officials ; (3) Hindu
officials ; (4) Mahomedan officials ; (5) English
non-officials ; (6) Hindu and Mahomedan non-

296 POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS

officials. Were the province selected for the
experiment to be Bombay, a proportion of Parsis
would have to be brought in: for in this province
the Parsis, though numerically weak in proportion
to the other classes of the population, form a com-
munity in which nearly every male is an educated
man either commercially or professionally. Few
though they may be in numbers, they largely colour
the life and thought of the province of Bombay, and
in the capital their influence is universal, so to
speak. The Council proposed would be brought
together by nomination or direct appointment and
by popular election. In detail it might be composed
as follows : —

Eight covenanted English officials ; eight uncovenanted
English officials ; eight Hindu officials, and eight Maho-
medan officials, to be appointed by Government. Eight
English, four Hindu, and four Mahomedan non-officials,
to be elected.

We should thus have twenty-four English or
European members and twenty-four Indian
members. In Bombay I would suggest eight
Parsi officials and the like number of Parsi non-
officials. This, it is true, would give us forty
Oriental members as against twenty-four Occidental
members, but I do not think there would be much
danger of the Hindu, Mahomedan and Parsi
members forming a coalition against the European
element by reason of racial antagonism, prejudice,
or caprice. Any attempt at basing the proportion

THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL 297

of members of each community on the numerical
strength of the community they were drawn
from would be a mistake. In one province we
should have the Hindu vote swamp everything, in
another the Mahomedan vote would dominate
the franchise. I have merely made eight the
number as an illustration ; six, twelve, sixteen, any of
these numbers might be selected ; but I would not
have the Council too big, and I am of opinion that
eight is a good workable unit.

I would give a vote to all European and Eurasian
males in our experimental province over the age
of twenty-one. They would be entitled to one
vote for an English or Eurasian candidate for
membership, one vote for a Hindu and one for a
Mahomedan or Parsi. Men of other nation-
alities would be equally entitled to one vote for
each candidate ; but the Oriental franchise would
be somewhat differently constituted. The Hindu,
Mahomedan, and Parsi communities would, I
believe, not be entirely satisfied with a mere age
qualification among themselves. However, the
franchise .qualifications for these communities
could be easily arranged. The Governor or
Lieutenant-Governor, as the case might be, would
be the President of the Council. The present
Governor's Councils would disappear entirely.
Any member would have the power of initiating
a Bill which, when brought forward, would have
to be passed into committee by a majority vote.

298 POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS

Failing this vote the Bill would have to be dropped
for that session. A Bill dealt with in committee
would be again brought forward in Council for
a second reading debate. If passed it would go
up to the Viceroy's Council for ratification. The
Supreme Council would have power to suggest
modifications or reject. If passed in the Supreme
Council the Bill would go on to the Secretary of
State for India for final ratification. It is plain
that the Secretary of State for India would very
rarely indeed exercise his veto on a Bill thus
sent up, but occasions might conceivably arise
when the Home authorities might not see eye to
eye with the Indian legislature. Bills thus care-
fully prepared would, however, ordinarily receive
the Secretary of State's ratification as a mere matter
of form.

From the members of Council the Governor
or Lieutenant-Governor would select his chief
ministers of State, who would fulfil the same
functions as do our own Secretaries of State at
home. The ordinary departmental system would
consequently remain, but it would be subject to
a far wider and more searching measure of
criticism and control. The Council would have
the power of legislating on everything (with one
exception) appertaining to its province. That ex-
ception would be the army, the control and organi-
sation of which must remain absolutely undisturbed
and outside the current of any political dialectics

RESERVATIONS 299

or polemics. No member of Council would be
paid by the State, apart, that is, from the emoluments
of any office he might hold. I have elsewhere
referred to the subject of financial autonomy. Any
unwise interference in this realm would be safe-
guarded by the vetoing power possessed by the
Supreme Government. And beyond this, at present,
I hardly think it wise to go. The measure of
reform which I have sketched may not satisfy the
advanced section of Indian politicians ; but these
gentlemen may rest assured that if they want
nothing less than everything which they have
scheduled in their programme, such a change as
that implies will be held by the British nation
to be quite impracticable. Public opinion at home
is already commencing to take alarm at the violent
and wicked attempts at terrorism which have
followed the vituperative sophistries of Bengali
agitators.

The idea of appointing Indians, in any number,
to collectorships or commissionerships ignores
altogether the facts of the past, out of which have
been created the conditions of the present. I do
not wish to labour this point. If not obvious to
enlightened Indians, I must either suspect their
reasoning powers or their sincerity in argument.
There is a vast difference between the functions
of a mixed and collective legislature and the indi-
vidual responsibilities of executive officials. To
give a concrete illustration : there is nothing

300 POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS

unreasonable or opposed to the principles of
rational administration in a body of legislators
(among whom, we may suppose, there might not
be a single architect or engineer) deciding upon
the erection of a public building or the construction
of a railway bridge. Expert opinion would be
at the command of such a body of men and they
could obtain the best advice on all details connected
with expenditure, while the best constructive skill
and talent would be at their command. They
would, however, be regarded as singularly wanting
in wisdom if they insisted that to one of themselves
should be given the work of construction. Here
the disability is ignorance.

The objection to throwing open to Indians the
higher executive appointments in India is simply
that to do so would disintegrate the whole fabric
of the executive which translates into work the
administrative command. The Indian may retort,
Well, if Englishmen would refuse to take up appoint-
ments under these altered conditions, Indians
would not. No doubt. But history is not written
to be wiped out quite in this manner. The com-
pelling force which brings about such a change
must be something more than mere idealism or
altruism. It must be power on one side or the
other translated into action and authority. At
present the action and the authority lie with the
British Empire. And that to-day is the sovereign
consummation of the whole problem. It would

AN UNWEAKENED POWER 301

be well for those persons who talk in a violently
patriotic strain about their "motherland" to re-
member this fact. All kinds of changes may be
made, and many changes no doubt will be made,
so long as it is believed that this power of action
and authority remains unweakened. But once
let the potentiality for these essentials be transferred
from the British Empire to any other community,
State, or nation, and it is clear we should be in
the thick of events which at the present juncture
are not worth discussing. They will discuss
themselves then with the inevitableness of accom-
plished fact, and a new page will be written in
the history of mankind.

CHAPTER IV

THE CAUSES OF DISCONTENT

THE causes of the " present discontents" in
India, to borrow a phrase from Burke, are
many. In the main, British policy and individuals
of British birth are responsible for them, but re-
sponsible in a sense which, regarded broadly, implies
no discredit, but quite the reverse, on many years of
continuous conquest and administration. In the
September, 1907, issue of The National Review,
the Indian correspondent of that publication, in
the opening passages of a very able letter,
observes : —

" To understand the present situation it is first necessary to
appreciate the various causes of unrest. In my last letter
I touched upon some of the more obvious and deep-seated of
these causes. The lack of flexibility in the administration, the
reluctance to adjust the system to changing conditions, the
growing lack of touch between the Government and the people,
the vague and unformed aspirations induced by the dazzling
rise of New Japan, were, I think, among the points noted. Be
it understood that these points are not new. With the excep-
tion of the reflex and accidental influence of Japan they have
been slowly at work for a long time, but recent events have

302

MANY AND VARIED 303

served to accelerate and focus them. Foremost among these
events may be placed the recent General Election in England
and the departure of Lord Curzon."

Thus the writer in the National, but there are, in
my opinion, many causes other than those set forth
by him. They include the Russian Revolution and
the birth of the Duma, the strange phenomenon of a
constitution being formed with a quite startling
rapidity in Persia, the movement towards a like form
of popular representation in China, the continual pre-
valence of the plague in India, the steady upward
trend in prices, the bitter tone of hostility towards the
British Raj taken up by a large section of the Indian
press, the virulent opposition against Anglo-Indian
administration which goes on with ever-increasing
strength in Great Britain, and, finally, the effect of
our educational system in India.

It seems strange at the first glance that lack of
flexibility in the administration should be cited as a
cause of unrest. In the things that touch him most
closely the Indian is one of the most inflexible
creatures on the face of the earth. The iron hand
of caste and custom in this country holds all men
and women in a relentless grip, but where adminis-
tration is concerned it seems they desire a greater
flexibility. Why ? There can only be one reason,
and it is a distinctly human one. It is a reason
which lies at the base of all human action and
endeavour. The Indian wants a greater flexibility
in the administration because he recognises, what

304 CAUSES OF DISCONTENT

indeed cannot be denied, that the administration is
exclusive. Up to a certain point the road is open
to him. Beyond that it is barred. He wants the
barrier swept away. " The reluctance to adjust
the system to changing conditions " is a kind of
corollary to the foregoing. No doubt it exists. It
is considered a distinct grievance.

As for the growing lack of touch between Govern-
ment and people, I have often asked myself whether
there ever was a time when the " Government " of
India was really in touch with the " people." I am
inclined to think there never was. The people are
so vast ; the Government is so small. Individual
Englishmen have been often in touch with the
" people " in a way — some more, some less ; but
the men really in closest touch with the people,
I am of opinion, have more often been non-officials,
or officials not of the Indian Civil Service. And it
will always be so. The Englishmen in India who
occupy high official positions, or any " covenanted "
position, are not often even in touch with their own
fellow-countrymen who may be in what is termed a
lower station of life. They either ignore them en-
tirely, or occasionally (very rarely, thank goodness)
attempt to " patronise " them. Men whose attitude
towards their own countrymen in a foreign land is
of this nature can hardly be expected to be past
masters in the art of " being in touch " or successful
exponents of the grace of political sympathy. Nor
are they.

THE CLAIM FOR "SYMPATHY" 305

At the same time, so much cant and hypocritical
rubbish is continually talked on this subject that it
is but fair to the official Englishman to say that it is
not all his fault. How can he have any real every-
day sympathy, except more or less in the abstract,
with communities whose social ideals are utterly
different from his own, who regard many of the
commonest actions of his life with abhorrence, and
in their hearts class him as an inferior, though they
may bow down to the earth before him ? Again,
there is, in my opinion, not much doubt that, were
the relations between officials and Indians to
become socially more intimate and less conven-
tional, there would be many disadvantages attending
such a change. The spectacle of a Hindu or
Mahomedan on terms of cordial social familiarity
with an English official would give rise to all kinds of
rumours. Both would be regarded with the utmost
suspicion. For the East is intensely suspicious.
The mental attitude of the Oriental is that nothing
is ever done out of the common without something
out of the common being expected. The result is
that all social intercourse is more or less ceremonial
— attar, pan, garlands, fireworks, flowery addresses,
graceful salaaming — all mere froth, effervescence,
theatrical, meaning no more than " my dear sir " or
" your most obedient servant " at the head and tail
of a letter. The East smiles at the West and the
West smiles at the East. But the smile is not half
as sincere as the scowl and the frown would be,

Political Future of India 20

306 CAUSES OF DISCONTENT

were these to appear on those countenances behind
the eyes of which rest the soul and the spirit of
different creeds and different civilisations.

Then again, if we cannot be profoundly wise, we
can at least be frank, unless we be moral cowards.
Why should there be much sympathy between
Indians and Englishmen ? We have conquered
their country. Do you think that creates sym-
pathy ? Any man who does think so must be an
utter fool. We have administered the land honestly
and well. Let this even be granted. Will you
point me a single nation that was ever yet grateful
for benefits which flowed from the hand of the con-
queror ? Did we Britons love the Romans ? Is
there much gratitude in Ireland to-day towards
Great Britain ? No, do not let us delude ourselves.
We are not miracle-mongers. We shall not gather
grapes of thorns or figs of thistles. But I must, to
be quite just, qualify the foregoing remarks a little.
Between the Englishmen and Parsis, who are, of
course, as much foreigners in India — broadly
speaking — as we are, there do exist very close ties
of real friendship, social and otherwise. Any
Englishman who really knows the Parsis will bear
me out in this. They are wonderfully intelligent,
polite, refined, and in addition to this are actuated
by a charity, sympathy, and kindness of disposition
which not only wins esteem but arouses true friend-
ship and affection. The only pity is there are so
few of them. It is perfectly true that there are

LOED CURZON'S RESIGNATION 307

Mahomedans and Hindus with whom very cordial
relations can be established ; but these communities
are on an altogether different plane. Racial dis-
tinctions between the Englishman and the Parsi
are often for all practical purposes non-existent.

The vague and unformed aspirations induced by
the dazzling rise of New Japan I regard more as a
phase of the discontent in India than as a factor in
its causation. That events in Japan have produced
these aspirations among many people in India there
is not the slightest doubt. The result of the last
General Election in England and the departure of
Lord Curzon have both contributed to arouse feel-
ings antagonistic to the administration, but in Lord
Curzon's case the effect was dual. To the Indian
people — as distinct from the Anglo-Indian com-
munity— the departure of Lord Curzon came as a
blessed relief. It was not his " departure " which
made them discontented. That filled the articulate
portion of them with delight. His presence and
influence in the country they had long sickened of,
and in my humble opinion with excellent reason.
There is altogether too much imagination in the
National's correspondent when he says, speaking of
Lord Curzon's resignation : —

"The public of India regarded it as a downfall, an over-
throw, in some sense a degradation. To them it seemed as
though the King's vicegerent, the Viceroy who was looked
upon as omnipotent, had been hurled from his high place.
The forcing of Lord Curzon's resignation was the greatest

308 CAUSES OF DISCONTENT

blunder made in India for years, not on his account, but on
account of his office. Any scheme, however imperative,
should have been postponed rather than belittle the office of
Viceroy."

All this is absurd. It ignores everyday facts of
our Indian administration, and above all it fails to
recognise the growing influence of the English
press, the British Parliament, and English public
opinion on Indian affairs. To read the passage
quoted, one would imagine that the right of memo-
rialising the Secretary of State for India as against
a decision of the Viceroy in Council did not
exist, or that the power of carrying an appeal
to the Privy Council against the judgment of the
Indian High Court were a fiction. Finally, it
may be said with perfect truth that Lord Curzon
brought his resignation on himself. If there was a
blunder, he was the blunderer. But it is useless to
revive (indeed, the scope of this essay will not allow
of my reviving) the arguments of a controversy
over which the grass is already growing.

To understand, or even to faintly appreciate, the
political situation in India, one of two things is
essential : (i) a knowledge of the country derived
from a study of the written records of its past
history, or (2) a residence of some years in the
country. It need hardly be added that i plus 2
is a far stronger equipment for grappling with
the problem than i or 2 alone. From these two
springs of cognition branch many important streams

FACTOKS ENUMERATED 309

of fact : (i) India is not one country but many
countries. (2) Religious thought, sentiment, and
ideals enter tremendously into the practical, every-
day life of the whole people, whether they be Hindu
or Mahomedan. (3) There is a permanent and
strong antagonism between the two great com-
munities in the country. (4) The Queen's pro-
clamation of 1858 is considered by many — by the
majority of educated Indians — as conferring upon
the natives of India the full right to hold, so long
as they are qualified, the highest posts in the
administration. (5) The past fifty years of educa-
tion have produced an ever-increasing community
able to qualify in the highest educational tests which
may be laid down for admission to the public
service. (6) The increasing number of Indians
who now go to Great Britain has led to English
ideals of constitutional government and the equality
of the individual being regarded as desiderata for
the East. (7) The rise of prices in India and the
continuation of plague are causes of depression
and discontent.

It is needless now, unfortunately, to speak of the
sedition openly preached in the native press, but
I may cite as contributory causes of discontent
the irritation caused by suits at law between
Europeans and Indians ; the growth of a poor
white community ; the " nexus " between Indian
agitators in India and English agitators at home ;
and the administrative evil wrought by continual

310 CAUSES OF DISCONTENT

transfers of officials, and the want of continuity in
individual control which is caused by leave and
furlough. But possibly my readers will think my
category of causes is already long enough. You
are not going to alter these things in a day. They
cannot be cut down as the reaper mows down a
field of corn. Yet we must gather in our harvest ;
somehow we must separate the grain from the
chaff, grind it in our best mills and make the finest
and the purest flour we can. The seed is of our
sowing — all of us, English, Hindu, and Mahomedan ;
and all of us must work together in the great labour
of honest production and transmutation. How ?
Ah ! that is the question. Well, speaking as an
Englishman, I say we are emphatically not going to
further the work by striving to reconcile the irrecon-
cilable ; by striving to compound elements the
contact of which will merely result in the produc-
tion of an explosion ; by endeavouring to mix
molecules the nature of which is to remain for ever
antagonistically apart. It is something gained to
recognise the elemental non possumus. Were this
not so, half mankind might still be trying to solve
the quadrature of the circle, to devise a mechanism
of perpetual motion, or to discover a universal
coefficient. If men would agree they must pay
deference to the principle of compromise, they
must recognise not only that the ideal is always far
off, but that the path to the ideal lies through
successive graduations of expediency. Above all,

DISCONTENT AND SEDITION 311

they might reflect on this fact, that the thing they
accomplish to-day may merely give the generation
which comes after them all the trouble of undoing.
We have heard of men working for posterity. One
way of doing so is to give posterity as little unneces-
sary work to do as possible.

Sedition may be described as a disease which
appears in the body politic when discontent, real or
factitious, makes itself manifest by unlawful, irregu-
lar and violent means among the people of a State
or certain sections of the population thereof.
Sedition is less violent than insurrection, rebellion,
or treason, but it is often the forerunner of these
gloomy and tragic conditions of society, and in my
opinion is usually more difficult to deal with effec-
tively. For it must be recognised that discontent
among the populace may be just and logical
enough. A populace has a perfect right to be
discontented. It is only when discontent en-
deavours by illegal methods to force the hands of
the lawful authority that it becomes sedition. And
it must further be remembered that the authority in
being is the source whence proceeds the indictment.
And authorities in being are not infallible. The
dividing line between a justifiable expression of
discontent and acts of sedition is often not clear,
and hence the great difficulty experienced by both
the legislature and the administration not only in
defining sedition but in dealing with it. The
discontent which eventually materialises in seditious

312 CAUSES OF DISCONTENT

expression may, as I have said, be real or artificial.
A Government, for example, may make unjust,
oppressive, or irritating laws, or the servants of
Government may administer even just laws in an
oppressive manner. Here the discontent may be
very real, natural, and justifiable. On the other
hand, a populace may be wrought upon by the
machinations of unscrupulous agitators to evince
symptoms of discontent with their rulers when
really no valid cause for serious discontent
exists.

In my opinion the discontent in India is of both
varieties. There is a real and natural discontent,
and there is a forced and simulated one. The first
kind of discontent has been, as we might imagine,
exploited and stimulated by those dangerous persons
who have created and nourished the second. The
result has been that discontent has merged
into open sedition, and there are clear indica-
tions that if this sedition be not checked, it
will, in turn, give place in time to organised
rioting and rebellion. It may be a long time,
I am willing to grant, before India comes to
this latter pass, except for sporadic ebullitions of
public sentiment, but I think we may glance at the
end of the chain while dealing with the link on
which our attention is concentrated.

I have already dealt with the chief causes of our
present discontents, but there is one cause for the
unrest and sedition in India which is not often

THE BENGAL ZEMINDARS 313

referred to, though, singularly enough, I notice a
letter on the very subject to which I allude in the
Times of India of May 13, 1908. I refer to the
fear of the zemindars in Bengal that the Permanent
Settlement of Lord Cornwallis may be subjected to
substantial revision. Now, I happen to know from
certain inquiries that I have made in Calcutta and
elsewhere that the belief does actually exist as
touching the revision of this historic and ancient
settlement. I have pressed natives of India on
the point. I have asked them plainly whether this
fear is not, at least, one reason for the unrest.
Some, a few, have met my question with an
unhesitating denial ; but others, the majority, have
prevaricated and evaded the question as though it
were a subject upon which they preferred to be
silent, though finally they have admitted that the
shadow of this fear was at the root of much of the
existing trouble. I shall make no apology for quot-
ing from the letter I have referred to, bearing as
it does so closely on the existing political situation.
The writer, who veils his identity under the initials
M. N. O., says : —

"Where is the seat and centre of the agitation and the
sedition — where but in Bengal ? There, too, shall you find
the moneyed interest whose apprehensions furnish the cause
and motive power of the whole series of manifestations. The
Permanent Settlement of Lord Cornwallis has more to answer
for than the mere transfer of the gigantic income to the
pockets of the undeserving. It has created a class of evil
parasites and has endowed them with the enormous power

314 CAUSES OF DISCONTENT

that a hundred millions sterling a year represent. That their
wealth and their worthlessness should have attracted the
jealousy of the State it would be idle to deny ; and it would
be strange if our statesmen did not cast about for some
honourable means of undoing the terrible evil wrought by
their predecessor, and of restoring to more worthy channels
the wealth so madly diverted in 1793. Whether in the pigeon-
holes at Simla there exist developed schemes for the attain-
ment of this end, none may know save the initiated ; but
this, at least, is patent to all observers. The mysterious
tree-plastering epidemic which took place while the Bengal
Tenancy Act of 1898 was upon the anvil withered, like Jonah's
gourd, within twenty-four hours of the publication of an
article in the Calcutta Statesman pointing to its origin in the
Bengali zemindar. The anti-partition agitation of three years
ago — what was it but the expression of zemindari terror at
what was regarded, rightly or wrongly, as the first step
towards a serious invasion of the interests created by the
Permanent Settlement ? Whether Lord Curzon contem-
plated, whether the present Government contemplates, any
such attack upon the zemindar, each may conjecture for
himself ; but that the zemindar anticipates and fears the
attack, and strives in his terror to divert the Government
from their possible purpose by fostering trouble and foment-
ing sedition, no one can doubt. Unto him there gathers
every one that is in debt, and every one that is discontented ;
and in him they find a ready paymaster, a means of indul-
gence of their private spite, and a source of easy and lucrative
employment. And here is the whole secret of Indian
sedition."

It is quite unnecessary to enter upon an exhaus-
tive analysis of the economic and political effect
which in the process of time has been produced
by Lord Cornwallis's famous Settlement. That the
effect has been bad, however, nobody doubts who
is conversant with land conditions in Bengal and
the rack-renting proclivities of the zemindars.

"LEAVE IT ALONE" 315

Moreover, there is every reason for believing that
the Government have from time to time contem-
plated the revision of the Settlement, and have
only been deterred from taking action by the
apprehension of the political trouble which such
a measure, it is believed, would create. I may
here pause to remark that the apprehension is
only too well-grounded. To touch the Permanent
Settlement at the present juncture would be an
act of madness. The Government of India is
doubtless fully cognisant of the haunting fear that
ever overshadows the imagination of the Bengal
zemindar. Nevertheless, no official pronouncement
has ever been made to dissipate this fear, nor do I
at all see how Government can give an assurance
of non-intervention ; for to do so would still
further weaken the State's freedom of action in
the future, even as the original Settlement is a
restrictive influence to-day. The continuance of
the Permanent Settlement must be regarded as an
evil, but its abrogation would just now lead to very
grave trouble. The best that can be done is to
wait upon the opportunities which the future may
present. As I have said elsewhere, one way of
working for posterity is to give posterity as little
unnecessary work to do as possible. Lord Corn-
wallis has not only given his successors work to
do that should have been unnecessary, but it is a
work of a dangerous and dynamic nature.

CHAPTER V

SUPPRESSING SEDITION

proverbial wisdom which assures us that
1 prevention is better than cure is applicable
naturally enough to the seditious movement in
India. It may be urged, conceding as we must
that sedition springs from discontent, would not
the removal of certain causes of discontent wither
sedition at the root, or (to adopt another figure)
take from the actively seditious much of that fuel
with which they make their fire ? Possibly, and
possibly not. For let it be remembered that we
English are not conceding the fruits of national
liberty to our own people, but to foreigners. The
more we give them the more they will want,
and naturally. Whatever we may refuse will in
time come to be regarded as an evidence of
tyranny and oppression. We may withhold much
from a beggar without arousing his hatred. To
refuse even a trifle to one who moves much
on the same plane as ourselves may easily be con-
strued into an affront and breed the most violent

GKATUITOUS OFFENCES 317

enmity. And remember, too, that the nearer draws
the adjustment of equilibrium between two powers,
the greater becomes the possibility of turning the
scale in favour of that which previously was the
lighter. A wise Government, whether it rule a
dependency or its own people, will take heed not
to give offence unnecessarily and gratuitously. " It
must needs be that offences come, but woe to that
man by whom the offence cometh," is a warning
which the statesman may not ignore. Let us look
to it as far as within us may lie that we give no
cause for sedition, and, finally, let us be honest and
scorn to brand as sedition that which is, after all,
only fearless if drastic criticism — justified by the
event — even if the arguments of those who com-
ment on our acts be tempered in the furnace of
indignation and sharpened on resentment.

That we have built our modern India of inflam-
mable material, to some extent, cannot be gainsaid.
Our Western ideals of government, coming as they
do into juxtaposition with the East, produce com-
bustion. Under the British doctrine of equality
for all the Brahmin has been robbed of much of
his prestige. In theory — in our theory — the Sudra
is his equal. There is not a Brahmin in the country
but resents this inexorable levelling process which,
though it touches not his social life, reminds him
ever that prestige is no longer his in all the scheme
of being. But this is something we cannot alter.
Moreover, our very literature — the thought of

318 SUPPKESSING SEDITION

Spencer, of Burke, of Mill, of Bright, of Glad-
stone, of Milton, of Macaulay, yea, of a hundred
others — has given ideas to the East which can bear
but one kind of fruit. The potency of the spirit
which breathes through English literature is beyond
all power of State repression. The educational
system we have introduced into India has pene-
trated too deeply for its growth to be now eradi-
cated. Our land revenue system, I think, might
with advantage be revised. Our settlements should
be for longer periods, and I am quite at one with
Mr. Rees in his contention that land cesses for
furthering the services of Western civilisation, such
as sanitation and education, are injudicious and
bitterly resented by the people. In my opinion,
too (an opinion shared by many competent critics
of our administration), the income tax is a dis-
tinctly unwise measure to have introduced into
the financial structure of our rule. It is intensely
unpopular, and for this reason, that in the hands
of unscrupulous assessors it becomes an instru-
ment of gross extortion and oppression, and is
used sometimes for the gratification of private
revenge. No wise ruler would keep this tax on
the Indian schedule for a day. It makes systematic
liars and defrauders of thousands.

Still, none of these things or others that might be
cited justify sedition. The problem is, what are we
to do with that ? What, for example, is to be done
with the editor of a paper who preaches seditious

A VICIOUS CIKCLE 319

doctrines ? Is it any good prosecuting him, fining
him, consigning him to prison ? Personally I am
inclined to think it is not an atom of good. All
that our prosecutions for sedition have done so far
has been to lead to bomb outrages. We move in
a vicious circle. The seditious paper inflames the
brain of some homicidal fool or revolutionary
visionary, and he, in his turn, by his actions, sends
up the circulation of the paper that records his
doings. Imprison one editor, up springs another.
Frankly, I cannot see that State prosecutions of
newspapers for alleged seditious writing — whether
in Russia, or Ireland, or India, or elsewhere — do
anything but intensify the passions of the populace
against authority.

There are people who seem to imagine when
measures of injustice and oppression are legalised,
sanctioned by law, brought on to the statute
book, they cease to be unjust and oppressive.
Such a doctrine is in my opinion hateful and
odious in the last degree. Injustice and oppres-
sion are only made all the worse by being legalised.
A mode of action which is bad is not made any
better by being made what is termed " a law." Why
should one set of men in a community oppress their
fellows by making bad laws ? And if these bad
laws and oppressive actions are written about and
condemned, why should we brand those who thus
write as criminals ? Seditious writing is peculiarly
a political distemper of countries which have no

320 SUPPRESSING SEDITION

popular representation. It must ever be so. And
the radical remedy for sedition is to allow the voice
of the people to be heard and to carry weight in the
councils of the nation. If you can convict an editor
of treason or plain incitement to rebellion, it is
doubtless better that he should be hanged than that
thousands of other people should lose their lives.
But then treason and rebellion are not sedition.
The biggest tyrant that ever lived, or the most
tyrannical oligarchy ever invested with authority,
is bound to meet treason and rebellion with armed
force. Much greater reason and justice has the
non-tyrannical ruler for suppressing these evils
with a stern hand.

I have no doubt that the views here enunciated
as touching sedition will strike many of my own
countrymen in India and elsewhere as absurd.
"What," I can hear them exclaiming, "you will
allow these wretches to proceed in their campaign
of vilification ? " — or words to that effect. No,
not quite, I reply. For writing to be really sedi-
tious it must be of a nature to incite the people to
oppose the lawful authority of the State. Actions
of public men can be covered with ridicule — but
that is not sedition. The unjustness of certain laws
can be openly denounced — but that is not sedition.
A Government can be criticised with the utmost
hostility and rancour — but that necessarily is not
sedition. When we English think it is we shall
have got too thin-skinned to govern at all. But

THE LICENSING OF NEWSPAPERS 321

when, in the terms of my definition, I came across
actual seditious writing in a newspaper I would deal
with it severely. And here let me say that the right
to own, print, and publish a newspaper should be
controlled by licence. The granting of this licence
should be a mere matter of form. It should never,
except under most exceptional circumstances, be
refused. In the event of flagrantly seditious matter
appearing in a newspaper, the proprietor, printer,
and editor thereof should be warned. A notifica-
tion of the warning should also be published in
every newspaper in the country. In the event of
the seditious writing being continued, the offending
press should by a simple order of the State be con-
fiscated.1 Press, machinery, type should be publicly
smashed up and destroyed. Any action against the
State would lie with the proprietor of the said paper.
Let him be the prosecutor. It is needless for me
to point out, after what I have said, that I assume
the State would exercise the greatest forbearance,
prudence, and judgment before taking the drastic
course I here suggest. The law officers of the
Crown would be consulted. Should the news-
paper proprietor bring an action it would be tried
before the highest tribunal in the land — the High

1 This essay was no doubt prepared before the introduction
and passing of the Newspapers (Incitement to Offences) Act
1908, whereby in certain cases a newspaper may be sup-
pressed and the press where it is printed be confiscated. —
ED.

Political Future of India 21

322 SUPPRESSING SEDITION

Court, and appeal to the Privy Council would lie
therefrom.

After confiscation of a newspaper every new
application for a licence to establish a newspaper
would be carefully scrutinised. The applicant
would have to make an affidavit to the effect that
the proposed paper was not financed either directly
or indirectly by any person whose press had been
confiscated. He would, moreover, have to guarantee
that he would adopt all reasonable precautions to
prevent such person ever at any future time acquiring
an interest in the said property, or ever becoming a
member of the staff of such paper in any capacity.
The penalty for violation of these provisions would
be a heavy fine. A repetition of the offence would
lead to confiscation. For offenders the eclat of a
State prosecution would no longer exist. Gentle-
men of revolutionary instincts would no longer
be able to air their views through the medium
of the Law Courts, either by means of their
own oratory or that of counsel. The strong
arm of the law would simply pluck them
forth, as one plucks out a poisonous weed or evil
growth from the ground and consigns it to the
rubbish heap.

Let it not be forgotten that there do exist in India
a large number of vernacular papers and newspapers
under Indian proprietorship which scorn to make
use of the violent and unworthy tactics of their
contemporaries. There should be some means

PRESS SUBSIDIES 323

devised for systematically extending on well or-
ganised lines the influence of this better element.
I must confess the matter is not so easy as it may
perhaps appear. Writing as I am from an inside
knowledge of journalism in India, I am fully cog-
nisant of the difficulties which hamper the news-
paper proprietor in this country. I cannot but
recognise that any co-operation between the Govern-
ment and the press in the interests of law and order
must, in fairness, be enjoyed by papers worked with
British capital as well as by those worked with native
capital. I think that Government might well grant
a subsidy to all well-conducted papers, should the
proprietors of such care to accept such a grant.
Such a subsidy would be given on the express
understanding that it should be used for the im-
provement of the paper, in securing ampler tele-
graphic information, in a better service of news
and information generally, possibly too in lowering
the subscription rates, or in any other ways which
from time to time might commend themselves to
the management. Moreover, to such papers let
the State give a preference in the early communica-
tion of official information. Readers of these papers
would get better value for their money than would
the readers of the rabidly "patriotic" sheets, and
human nature, whether Oriental or Occidental, is
influenced by considerations of this kind. Then
again, the State should keep a keen and intelligent
eye on the really sound and illuminating writing

324 SUPPRESSING SEDITION

in the newspapers, and articles which deal with
public affairs in a really telling fashion should be
reprinted as leaflets and placards. These docu-
ments, whether in English or vernacular, or both,
should be distributed and posted in prominent
places throughout the country both in cities and
rural districts.

CHAPTER VI

THE TEACHERS OF THE PEOPLE

THE State would do well to exercise a careful
supervision over the training and selection of
schoolmasters, especially those in charge of primary
and secondary schools. The principles of good
citizenship, of obedience to superiors, of respect for
the laws of the land are things surely not impossible
to inculcate in the youthful mind. In casting about
for teachers of the young let us place a higher value
on character than on mere literary attainments.
Let us, as far as possible, recruit our schoolmasters
and their assistants from families who are known to
be the nuclei of good citizens. The son of a man
who is notoriously a mischievously disposed agita-
tor is likely to be infected from his birth, by his very
surroundings, with political doctrines of a malevolent
tendency. That these should be the circumstances of
his life would be unfortunate for such a youth, but the
interests of the State demand that he should seek
some other avocation than that of the teacher ; or
that if he himself should wish to be a trainer of

325

326 THE TEACHERS OF THE PEOPLE

youth, it certainly would be prudent for the State to
regard his ambition with suspicion. We cannot
well prevent the young men of the country who are
still students at our colleges and universities from
discussing matters political. Yet, admitting this, we
can, at least, make some systematic effort to prevent
their knowledge being crude, their judgments biassed
from their birth, their prejudices all twisted in the
wrong direction, their passions inflamed to base and
dishonourable ends. Indeed, I would say, wisely
encourage the student who is approaching maturity
and assist him to grasp and master with a sane and
well-equipped intelligence the problems of govern-
ment and the principles of sound political economy.
Awaken in him — if he have it not — the pride of a
true, noble, and independent manhood. Make him
realise that liberty and freedom are based on order,
that the assumption of the toga virilis brings with it
not only the dignity of manhood but the obligations
and responsibilities of recognised maturity.

Apart from the printed word, the agencies of
sedition which perform their nefarious work by
word of mouth are many. The wandering fakir
and sunnyasi, the itinerant teachers and preachers
of various sects, are by no means above suspicion.
In a country in which the proportion of people who
can read and write is infinitesimal, the spoken word
is naturally the chief medium for the conveyance of
thought from brain to brain. The Government
should make more use of the town and village crier

DISTRICT DURBARS 327

than it does. The people should be told in simple
language the nature and scope of certain laws and
regulations which affect their welfare. Similarly, in
districts in which it is known or suspected that
mischievous rumours have been set afloat, and the
acts and intentions of Government misrepresented,
a full proclamation by word of mouth should be
sedulously made to deny the lie at once, and to
counteract its effect, at least to some extent.

In certain centres I think, too, it would be a good
thing if commissioners or their deputies, collectors,
or the chief executive officer were to hold a kind of
meeting or durbar once a month or once every two
months. Complaints from villagers and others
should at these assemblies be dealt with viva voce.
There should be no overbearing and corrupt chup-
prassies at the doorways to keep the people out.
The poorest ryot should have free ingress, and
should be encouraged to make his prayer and
petition to the Sirkar's representative. I am con-
vinced that this innovation would be heartily
welcomed by the people. That it would savour of
a procedure associated with the patriarchal ages is,
in my opinion, no objection against it whatever.
Far otherwise, in fact. The primitive simplicity of
the Indian villager's outlook on life can only be
understood and appreciated by those who have
turned a sympathetic eye upon his environment
and bent a sympathetic ear to his plaints. To him
the Sirkar is still the " Protector of the Poor," and

328 MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING

he is accustomed to regard the State in loco parentis.
I have spoken to many natives of India, especially
in the Punjab, on this subject of periodical meet-
ings free and unrestrained among the people and
their rulers, and I have never once heard anything
but the heartiest approval for such a suggestion.
A Punjab landowner was the first to put the idea into
my head, and the more I have thought it over the
more I am convinced it would work "for good. The
great thing for us in India is that we should under-
stand the people and that they should understand
us. A kindly word, a friendly glance, a sympathetic
tone, the visible presence of the personality of the
Raj standing up in front of the man whose welfare
he largely controls, does much to place us en rapport
with the minds and sentiments of the millions who
labour in their villages and fields. Hence the in-
estimable value of the district officer who truly
understands the countryfolk among whom he
moves. We may feel assured that when the ryot
gives his farewell salaam to such a man he goes
back to his people an agent of helpfulness to us in
the onerous and complicated work of government.
He is the channel through which we have poured
oil into the works of the mighty machine. The
cogs and wheels will work all the better for the
lubrication.

UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON.

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