INDIAN DISCONTENT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 143, 16 December 1908, Page 6

INDIAN DISCONTENT.

The interesting telegram printed in the Post of yesterday, sent by our correspondent in Christchurch, supplies in the form of an interview apt rorroboration of all that has been previously said on the subject of the discontent among the natives of India. The speaker, Major Andrew, of the Indian army, emphasises the fact that the agitation of which we hear so much is confined to a comparatively small number of the vast Indian population. Of the natives' congress, Major Andrews says that it claims to voice the opinions o F 300 milt lions of people, but probably 290 millions of these have never evep heard of the existence of the congress, and will pursue their ordinary occupations contentedly as long as they are not tampered with by agitators. The nucleus of the agitation is represented by a small knot of irreconcilable Bengalis, and around this nucleus support is given by a larger number of Hindus, who do not demand any great constitutional changes. ' ' They simply desire wider powers in the matter of local government, • a larger 6harc in the civil appointments of tho Slate, and tho placing of the province of Bengal once more under one administration." These things, as Major Andrew truly says, are questions or machinery rather than of principle; and po far as it is possible to arrange them in accordance Avith native wishes, no doubt the Indian Government will move by degrees in the required direction. The difficulty is that as long as the agitation continues, and especially while the agitation takes the colour of sedition, the Government's hands are more or

less tied. In India, any appearance of concession, particularly when it follows active opposition to the Government, is likely to be attributed to fear on the part of tho ruling power. To yield to the wishes of bomb-throwers, according to the doctrine of men who havo closely studied the Eastern mind, would only result in emboldening rebellious individuals to throw more bombs in the expectation of gaining a still greater profit. The whole lesson of Indian administration is that anything in the shape of active rebellion against constituted authority must be stamped out . thoroughly before clemency is shown. To take any other course is merely to fan the flame instead of smothering it. And the aggressive discontent is tconfined to a small area, our cable mes--sages show that within that area it is serious. It must be remembered that the Hindu is no outer barbarian of the Empire, but in many social classes a man. of intelligence much more acute than that of the average Briton, though for several reasons his intellectual processes are characterised rather by subtlety than by strength. He makes a most dangerous conspirator in council, and it is only the racial reluctanco to translate thought into action which has prevented other local uprisings from attaining grave proportions. Apparently the agitators have learned how to overpass their typical limitations, and have been fired by national sentiment to accept all personal risks in order to gain their ends. The clever organisation reported on the side of the seditious movement is only to be expected, but the inclusion of landowners as participants is unquestionably a sign that the conspiracy has deep roots. We have already set down the reasons which make it imperative that the British policy in India shall not be subject to interference, and we trust that the firm attitude of the Government will presently result in making the agitators realise that the resort to force can but impede the reforms which they are fully entitled peaceably to advocate.