THE UNREST IN INDIA.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10096, 13 March 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE UNREST IN INDIA.

«Uy the Kcv. J. W. Burton, in the Sydney Morning .Herald.)

There can be little room for doubt that the rague feeling we call "unrest" is general throughout India. It may not, it does not, manifest itself in some localities, and among certain classes; but it is there notwithstanding. It may be masked by other influences and may disguise itself by even a show of loyalty; but one has only to probe in these quieter districts to find a long sinus reaching to some deep-seated trouble. At first, the movement was confined to the English-educated native. It had its-birth among men trained in our schools, and fed on Herbert Spencer, J. S. Mill, and Rosscau. We scarcely realise the extent to which English thought and language have spread through the peninsula. It is possible to address huge audi-. crioes in .Madras, Calcuttajyand t Bombay ' upon^thc'.inbst^aostruse f, 'philosop|hical l .|atid; ■ scientific .subjects',-. in\our; own', tongue. Every year* the universities;' send '-. forth [ some 2000 It.A.'s and M.A.?s, who hav©> taken their course in English,; and the number of .undergraduates runs into five figures. papers, |>rintcd in the language of the ruling race, arc most widely read, and wield an astonishing intluence. For some time agitation was confined to this class, but of late years it" has spread to the vernacular reading people., and now we can say that the unrest is more or less co-extensive with the reading population. The vernacular papers — most !carful and wonderful journals — have made their appeal to the wider mass, and revolution and anarchism have been sanctified into a gospel. The trouble is even wider than this, for the methods of the professional agitator in England and the Continent have been copied, and his, tactics have been followed. So now the viHages, and especially the secondary schools, throughout the provinces, have been vigorously canvassed. The professional stump orator —leather-bag, bulging umbrella, soiled linen, and smoked glasses, all complete—has attempted to stir up the bovine masses of India into something like Thus far ho has met with but scant success, and now upbraids the vulgar herd as being incapable of fine feeling. As in the mutiny, we were slain by our own weapons, so in this political insurrection we are likely to be punished by the munitions we have placed in the hands of the people. It is British rule, with its 30,000 miies of railway, its net work of telegraphs, its university education, its democratic ideals and its almost universal language, which has brought about an unification of interests in India, which did not exist before. India is far from being united, and is still a loose bundle of separate sticks; but a sense of oneness, of common origin, and of common destiny, is gradually spreading. It is much too early to dignify this spirit by the high name of patriotism, but it is the germinal point whence the noble vitruc may spring. \Vc may lay it down, as a general axiom, that "unrest" is confined, in the main, to the educated classes. We must not, however, count the greater illiterate portion of the population as being immune. To them the disaffection may spread at any time—and spread with a. rapidity of which we reck not. For there is an, "as yet, inarticulate feeling which only the man in close contact with the peasant class (of whom are nine-tenths of India) can interpret. It is, on the whole, ' a human and noble sense—a sense of wrongs that ought to be redressed, of ills that may lie mended, of grinding poverty that has" no just cause. The average man would probably most sincerely declare that British rule has done good, and good only to India ; but behind that admission, mado without much enthusiasm, is the conviction that it has not been so beneficent as it might have been. This conclusion is, perhaps, quite just. This feeling is the one to which the popular agitator makes appeal. He exploits the sense of injustice and of discontent which possess men and by the aid of much misrepre- ■ sentation and misstatement, he leads the simpler man to believe that when the Knciish depart the golden age will come again. Thus the harmless peasant and toiling artisan become revolutionists, subscribe to agitation funds, and even hide bombs in their mud and plaster huts. But "unrest" finds wildest expression and highest intensity in Bengal. The Bengalis are perhaps" the most unpopular people in India. They .-<re not trusted by the while they are despised by the Indian. A native proverb sums them up thus: '•Mountain-like in speech: musrard-seed-lifee in action." Yet they are of the cleverest people in the continent—quick of brain, fertile in resource, ingenious in plotting, and sensitive beyond words. Physically they are weeds, lor the most part but'intclfeccutally they are men to be treated with respect. It is easy enough for a Avar correspondent like Steevens to make caricatures of their legs and for a journalist like Ilr Fitchett to coin clever epigrams concerning their fecundity; but when the laugh has died away the Bengalis remain a force to be reckoned with. The part Bengal has taken in the agitation is not explained, as the patent lca-ther-shoed Italia' would have us believe, by any superior education. For that pro--vincc is behind some others, and as superstitious and ignorant as any. But in Bengal is Calcutta. There Babudom flourishes as nowhere else. The vakil class—the law-.j-ers —have their headquarters in that city, and flock round the High Courts like vultures around the l'arsi Towers of Silence. In Calcutta are all the insignia of authority, and the British Raj parades itself with an ostentation without parallel in European lands. True the native seeks to out-Herod Herod, and nearly succeeds. Babudom has motor cars without 6tint, and lives in mansions that make the Civil servant's sallow face put on a greenish tint—but to no avail. The English have a "tone"—something—which even the Babu cannot imitate. This annoys him exceedingly. Here "unrest" has developed into anarchy, and has taken to infernal machines. Bengal is, however, disappointed that India has not responded to its challenge, and, though sympathetic with the objective, has not approved of the methods employed. Br Hash Behari Chose in the Viceroy's Council summed up the attiture of the cducated^classes. "Wo condemn anarchism because it's spread would, end in the dissolution of all that holds society together. And we condemn anarchism most because it is opposed to the laws of God as well as of man. . . . Anarchism is bound to die out, because it is in opposition to the best traditions of our race, traditions which are much older than that gospel of love which was preached eighteen centuries ago, older even than the teachings of Gautama Buddha. Anarchism, I repeat, is ibound to die because it is in opposition to all those precepts of pity and compassion for the meanest of sentient beings, which are our great and priceless heritage, precepts which still guide and inspire the life of every true' son o£ India, and which will continue to inspire and guide until civilised man exchanges for the' gentler, purer, and higher qualities of humanity the tiger instincts of the savage, whether of the old world or of the new, whether ancient or modern." Recently the Government has brought in a summary law dealing with sedition and anarchy. This new statute was a bomb thrown into the midst of the bomb-makers. Hitherto -the jame had much excitement and comparatively few risks. A man could prate sedition in Chowringhe?, Calcutta, and-find only echoing applause from those who listened to his inflammatory speeches. He could write murder-excit-ing articles in hysterical English, and the British lion merely yawned complacently. He could arrange for schoolboys and hoodlums to throw bombs into railway carriages, and run but small chance of detection. At the worst there was all the uncertainty of conviction in the law courts. In fact, so strong is the Bengali's love of litigation that hanging would be sweet if only a long and sensational trial preceded it." Under the. old lav.- a man who was tried had a jury that could be packed, .1 .Judge that could be bribed, and n score of vakil.- eauer to defend him (out nf agitation utmic-vsl. As in a recent case, over two hundred law points could lie raised, each to lie tediously argued and wearisomely heard. Judgment, in the ordinarv course <n' thines. cou'd not be ','iv-n under two y«ir>. Nov.- it is different. Punishment is .•■■harp and sudden. !Vunb throwing and professional agitation are therefore, not so popular. A Court, comprised of three High Court Judges, without jurv, and without appeal, tries

these cases. The British lion 'has stretched himself, and the monster which was apparently so drowsy now shojvs bright teeth and hooked claws. There can be no doubt that England has been too easygoing with this class. The sedition-mon-ger had come to believe that he was safe Jrom a'H harm; but now he walks warily, and is even terrified to speak words of innocence. £ few weeks ago a Bengali Jiabu, who had been making inflammatory speeches an South India, v;as arrested He had! been talking about slaughtering white goats to the honor of the Holy -Mother—the Mataram—i.e., .Kali. Ho expected, at the -worst, 12 months' imprisonment, and afterwards hero-worship. The Judges gave him transportation for life—. without option of appeal! The people were aghast! The agitator all bub swooned ! The rest of the" IJengali gentlemen sneaked out of the town and have" since been lost to the political, world.. They ' have given .up ;Stum'p-specchesv,of-'double i meaning, ;Tarriifg'rdyai sfetues "and throwing ' home-made - bombs are now! out of t thpir^line.

The introduction of this measure, together with the appearance of Lord .Morle.vs reform scheme, has caused a subsidence of the symptoms of unrest. The writer was in India when both these were published, and the eU'ect was almost magical. But in the course of a few weeks India commenced to look this gift horse -n the mouth, and the teeth gave evidence of a crabbed age for which they were scarceJv prepared. These "reforms," which in reality mean very little, are taken on the principle of the native proverb, that "today s egg is better than to-morrow's hen " Inc. people arc not satisfied by any means and this subsidence of symptoms of unrest must not be interpreted to mean that that the trouble is at an end. It is really only the dramatic "lull" in a cyclonic storm, llic worst is ycfc to come—and from another quarter. The "unrest movement will still go on—probably upon more constitutional lines—but increasin.r in persistency and growing in volume." An Indian gentleman - said to the writer regarding Lord Morley's reform scheme.-" It is only an empty egg; but the principle ot giving eggs being thus admitted makes the rest easier. The one good feature is the non-ofncial element in the Provincial Councils. It is only a'little, but it means more. We have now the thin end of the wedge in the crevice—we shall asitate in legitimate ways until we drive "it ri"ht home. It is, T know, hard to legislate for a countrv so diverse in race, and of such unequal degrees of development. I appreciate the difficulty of the situation. But tho Government will have to trust the native more, and gradually give wider responsibilities. It must prepare the wav for self-government on the lines of the colonies—for that is our real goal." ' That statement contains the attitude of the better class of educated natives. How (ar distant is the attaining of this ideal'' is the question to be decided, and over tins long and,.perhaps, bloody strife must take place.

There arc the few who are bitter, and hate venomously all Knglish authority. -1 hey are principally the Bengali Babus. JJut there is a great and growing mass that, while dissatisfied with the results of British rule, desire not abolition, but amendment. There is. therefore, no hope that discontent will lessen in volume though it seems likely to improve in tone! Uhe twentieth century is certainly "oin" to be one of storm and stress in India" and lintain will have no occasion to fold her hands in smiir complacency. We have bid the Indian look up. He sees a new heaven. Shall we wonder that he also seeks a new earth?