UNREST IN THE PUNJAB.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 18, 16 October 1907, Page 11

UNREST IN THE PUNJAB.

UNSETTLED MIND OF INDIAN ARMY,

Tho Rawalpindi correspondent of "The Times" writes:—Tho ovents in the Punjab, which culminated in tho transportation of certain agitators, are too recent and liavo been too fully reported to requiro recapitulation. But overy serious student of the situation 'must havo been impressed by tho almost instantaneous manner in which overt agitation ceased in the Punjab when it was realised that tho Government of India, at the instance of tho Government of tho Punjab; put off tho vacillation which had marked its attitude towards Bengal. The Hindu change of front was instantaneous. From tho moment that tho India Office acquiesced in the deportations, and Sir Donzil Ibbetson informed the deputation which waited on him at Kalka that, in answer to his enquiry, tho whole body of Deputy Commissioners in his province had informed him that they considored the political propaganda of tho Arya Samaj to be at the bottom! of the entire movement, tho Hindu leaders put on a mask of astonished simplicity and outraged decorum. ONLY A MASK. But it is only a mask. This should be clearly understood, and, if at any moment tho situation in tho Punjab has been a delicate one, it has never been more delicate than at tho present time. Tho object of the rovolt of the educated classes was to acquire fuller control of tho administrative machine for themselves. Even the most fanatical of their leaders cannot in their hearts believe that the total removal of British. influences for peace would result in anything.but their own destruction. Patriotism in India, though so extensively during the past 12 months, has not grown so rapidly that these aspirant leaders of -the people can persevere in a course which in its ultimate results would be suicidal. But, if the Government weakens, overy means, even to isolated outrages on Europeans, will bo employed to establish a native ascendency in the administration of the country. An India'ruled by Indians; but kept quiet from within and inviolate from without by the forces of tho British Empire, is what those leaders of native thought are aiming at who have definitely ca'st off the weakening cable of mode-, ration which had up'till last year held the vessel of congress to its original moorings. Power lor them to have and to use, and for us to give protection I It is a naive divorco, and none but tho nativo mind could dissociato these forces. A MISCALCULATION. . : But what is to bo the next move? It is held by almost every official in the Punjab, and I boliv.e rightly, that tho present penitent attitude of the 'disaffected party is, merely a ruse de guerre. The last three months have shown every European in India, official or other, that there exists a .trend of .native opinion which it is possible for tho agitators to-exploit whenever local friction arises, as it inevitably must arise from timo to time, between the Government and the 'people. Misled by the developments in Bengal, the leaders of the Punjab hoped to evolve a powerful lover out of the military spirit of tho province. What more powerful lover for coercing Government could there be than a dissatisfied army? A general mutiny of this:army was never seriously propounded. All that was required was a sufficient demonstration of organised insubordination to cow the Government into a hurried acquiescence in the, demands of the 'disaffected party. But it all proved a miscalculation; the friction existing, in the Canal Districts, .though real enough, was not based upon the racial question or, national antipathy. The adjustment of grievances satisfied tho people, who ceased to bo an available instrument'of agitation. CHANGE OF METHOD.

But tho effort, though a failure, disclosed certain weak joints in the British armour. It is upon these joints that the agitators will now concontrate their efforts. The unsettled inind 'of tho Indian Army is proved. The almost hysterical apprehension of the largo non-official section of the European \population in India has produced another disturbing factor. It has taught tho potency of agitation as a weapon of moral coercion upon the ruling race. Tho machinery of Government-has for , the'moment turned/the balance of force against the agitators, who, temporarily foiled," havo .; fallen back upon Bengal to teach them a new lesson in procedure; and, the Government having proved itself propared against active measures, they have , now sot out to. study, under the guidance'of the subtle Bengali, the more insidious methods of passivo resistance -practised in Bengal. Now, thore is no necessity to view this state of affairs with alarm. European, panic and Government'weakness alone can envenom the sore which, tho educated agitators are ! cultivating. They are both re-; sponsiblo for the persistency of'the troublo in Bongal. Panic means advertisement, and advertisement spells success in agitation as well as business.

NO TIME FOR COMPROMISE. During the past month tho Punjab Government has collected a vory considerable' amount: of documentary evidence. Somo of this evidence has become public in tho Rawalpindi riot case.; : . But the mass of it remains unpublished. Some, of course, is .false, compiled 1 for special purposes, somo is largely imaginative, somo shows deliberate sedition, and underneath it all thero is disclosed a current of unwholesome thought, which is tho ■ most dangerous' legacy; that recent events have left tho Punjab. The advantages to bo derived from a campaign of passive resistance . aro being canvassed in the army; native investors are plied with falsehoods intended to shake their confidonce in European banking establishments, and cultivators aro being exhorted to .withhold the payment of land revenue.; The lawless and'vicious aro regaled with a tissue of lies concerning tho success of the. rioters in Rawalpindi—inflammatory lies of a depraved description. These things do not require advertisement. Advertisement is the manure upon which they multiply' and gather strength. ' But as long as these things exist, thero should bo no talk of compromise, no credence placed in the professed contrition of late offenders, , no woakness of any kind. Tho hand ot the surgeon must be ruthless whilo tho pationt is upon the operating table. Sympathy and kindlinoss must be , reserved for the period of approved convalescence.