AN INDIAN VIEW OF INDIAN UNREST.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 177, 29 July 1907, Page 3

AN INDIAN VIEW OF INDIAN UNREST.

Ameer All, late judge in the Bengal High Court of Judicature, writes in the Nineteenth Century on the Unrest in India—its meaning. He bears witness to the extremely grave character of the situation. Happily he thinks no mutiny likely to recur. But the. gradual evolution he would fain see is scouted by the extreme nationalist. The writer points out that if the British withdrew from India to-morrow, the only result would be anarchy and another foreign domination. "And no one will hesitate to acknowledge that, whatever its faults, British rule is preferable to that of the Russians, French, Germans, or even the Americans. He finds the apathy of the Indian Government difficult to explain. It has viewed the movement with indifference or even encouragement. "No Government worth the name can allow liberty to degrade into licenseto be used as an engine of oppression," or criticism to sink into sedition. Yet bands of national volunteers were allowed to roam about.the country terrorising law-abiding people. The writer seems to trace the present discontent to the racial pride of Englishj men despising the Indian, and to an- ! unfortunate tendency to pit Hinduagainst Moslem. "The complaint- about political disability is a misunderstood? phase of resentment of the stigma of racial inferiority." The first remedy, therefore, is to bring the official classes in touch with the people. The weekly durbars held by British officers under Warren Hastings might be revived, and a day set apart to receive not only magnates and persons of education, but also headmen of villages. The> writer also suggests the establishmentor a non-political club in England, where Indian students could meet with and Indians resident in England. "And perhaps some meansmight be found for the British Ministers at Washington and Tokio to <*>me< into touch with the Indian students who are now flecking in large numbers to Japan and the United States for technical training md "«p-n] elation." , The writer is "vidently.a great believer^ in clubs. To make Hindusand Mahommedans better friends, he advocates the formation of social clubs, where educated men of both religionsr might meet. , He asks that "the same* recognition" should be given to founders of these clubs as is now given to* founders of hospitals. Similarly, stirI dents clubs for self-improvement might take the place of the shooting clubs.