THE NEW SPIRIT IN INDIA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7828, 22 June 1909, Page 1

THE NEW SPIRIT IN INDIA.

In an article in tho Nationl Review on "The New Spjrit in India," Mr H. W. Nevinson expresses tho conviction that India is on the verge of a national renaissance. The long peace, 'easy communication, wide distribution of newspapers,. the common use of Eng- I lish among the educated, close study of the lives and deeds of the leaders j of the Liberal Party in the House_ of Commons —these all imply a new spirit;] which would have been wholly admirable had the English bureaucracy been able to appreciate it at its true worth, and guide it into the right channels. Unfortunately, this has not been, the case and the result is the widespread disloyalty that we see. It is impossible for one race to deny freedom to another and rule it to the true advantage of either. The worst is we are losing our reputation for justice. On every side societies are growing up for the promotion of Indian ideals and the development of Indian character quite independently of our' influence. Mr Nevinson would meet all this with a sweet reasonableness and more primary schools. At present there are not one in ten literate males. Also, there must be a "change of heart" in the governing official class. But for India herself the present unrest holds out a. promise of.the highest possibilities, no matter how she may suffer in realising them. Are we then to sink from suppression into persecution and from persecution into atrocities? Or are we to welcome the spirit of freedom and nationality we have done so much to create? Such is the drift of the argument. As the converse of a sane Imperialism it is almost a classic of mistaken political faith. •