FRIENDLIER SPIRIT

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 168, 13 April 1926, Page 5

FRIENDLIER SPIRIT

QUIET RESTORED TO INDIA LORD READING'S RULE Lord Reading will leave India in a far better state than lie found her. Even the severest critics of his administration as Viceroy concede this obvious fact, though they may disagree as to the extent bis personal influence has been responsible for the change, wrote the “Dailv Mail” special correspondent (Sir Percival Phillips) on January 15, after a tour of investigation in India.

He assumed office at a time when sedition was everywhere showing its head. To-day, practical sedition is almost dead. The outburst of hatred which swept the country like a conflagration at the height of Gandhi’s power has died out, leaving only a few smouldering embers. Armed revolt is no longer preached, except by a handful of fanatics in Bengal.

Comparative peace prevails. This is undoubtedly due in part to physical conditions, for India is enjoying greater prosperty. She has had four good monsoons in succession, a thing which is almost unprecedented, and the people who were made .receptive to political propaganda by privation no longer turn to militant agitators for relief. Nevertheless, Lord Reading has been directly instrumental in improving the state of India by the exercise of firmness at the right time, and, above all, by his wise and unfailing patience in dealing with difficult situations. His reluctance to take extreme measures early in his administration was interpreted, both in the Government of India and out of it, as a sign of weakness. Fie was criticised for showing §too great willingness to listen to extremist agitators. He declined to be rushed into a policy of repression which semed to be clearly indicated by the campaign of violence and intimidation which was increasing throughout the country. For a year and a-half India suffered from the evil effects of the Gandhi Non-Co-operation movement, with its attendant disorders and riots. Lord Reading waited, with almost Oriental patience,, until the psychological moment, and then clapped Gandhi into prison. He had been warned that this act would “set India aflame.” But nothing happened. In the language of a disgusted follower of the Mahatma, “not even a dog barked.” Militant Gandhism died a peaceful death. This same quality of watchful restraint was displayed by Lord Reading in dealing with other difficult problems. Native leaders who at first thought him weak because he would not be baited, grew to realise that be could be unexpectedly and disconcertingly firm. He supported Lord Lytton in every step in dealing with the revolutionary movement in Bengal. That province is quiet to-day, thanks to the enforcement of an ordinance which gives the the Government power to imprison dangerous agitators. They have been allowed full liberty even ■ beyond reasonable limits, and then quietly interned when it was clear that their nefarious schemes were about to be put into effect. In looking at India at the close of Lord Reading’s term of office, the fact that is most apparent, even to the casual visitor, is the complete and apparently hopeless disruption of the Indian Nationalists. They talk loosely about Home Rule for India, but much more about their factional differences. There are at least seven sections, each with its own leaders and distinct views. It is of little use to discuss the prospects of self-government for India while the chief elements of her political parties arc unable to agree among themselves. The most absurd . arguments and pleas have been put forward by the men who are asking for Home Rule. For example, Gandhi’s Indian Congress demanded a few days ago that the British Government should declare war on South Africa for its “ill-treatment” of Asiatics. Moslem-Hindu Breach. The Nationalists are definitely divided on the question of working with the Government- Politics in India has always been a war of phrases, and the present internal struggle of contending factions centres around “Non-Co-operation,” “Responsive Co-operation,’’ and “Apparent Co-operation with obstruction from within”—the latter being a kind of “white-ant policy” of permeation.

Most serious of all, however, is the breach between Moslems and Hindus. It has always been there, but recently an attempt was made by the late C. R. Das, of Bengal, to bring about a Mos-lem-Hindu pact whereby the two religions would divide public ..offices between them. The scheme never worked effectively; there were riots every now and then, and even in Calcutta a few weeks ago. C. R. Das died in June last, and his artificial structure soon fell apart. It reinnined for Sir Abdul Rahman to shatter the whole theorv of political fusion in a speech at the’Moslem conference at Aliirarh three weeks ago. Tie said finite franklv what has always been, at the back oi’ the mind of every native of India—namelv, that there never has been and never’ will be unitv between Moslems and Hindus under present conditions, and that so far as the Moslems were concerned they would infinitely prefer British rule to that of a Home Rule Hindu Government. Less Bitterness. Seventy million Moslems will never submit themselves to two hundred million Hindus. It mav be said witli cnual certainty that the Hindus contemplate with real terror the po'-sibilitv of their ever again becoming subject to Moslem domination. Tlicv, too. would infinitely p,refer British rule. Consequently tlie vexed problem of self-government seems to be farther from settlement than ever.

I am assured by competent observers of the state of India during the. past five years that anti-British feeling is much less acute. There is less real bitterness in the. attitude of Opposition leaders. There is also less suspicion, and a greater willingness to work with the Government in carrying out reform measures, even though they continue to feed their supporters with fiery platitudes from the platform. On the whole, Lord Reading can contemplate the state of India with satisfaction. Ik- has not accomplished all that he set out to do, but undoubtedly he has done far more than seemed possible four years ago, and lie ' behind him the .record of a sound, wise, and capable administration, which in manv respects may well serve as. a model for his successor. Lord Irwin, formerly Mr. E. F. L. Wood.