Forces of Revolt in India.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13355, 3 August 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

Forces of Revolt in India.

One of the -most .serious features in the agitation in Bengal is (says "The Times") tlu': growth of a quasi-military organisation known as the ,'" National Volunteers,'" which has already play el a conspicuous' part in all the recent disturbances-. Mr Henry Newin.ui, one of the editors of the " Englishman," whose intimate knowledge of life and thought in India, and acquaintance with the people of all classes, are beyond dispute, has recently been investigating the situation, and his- experience adds to the force of his conclusion, embodied in letters to the " Englishman " and to the "Times of India,"-that the "National Volunteer" movement has resulted in an organisation "of a most subtle and dangerous kind, and .should have the immediate attention of tin Imperial Government." Its widespread activity is not a thing of such mushroom- growth as has been supposed. Some eight or ten years ago a cultured Bengali lady. Miss Gho.'al. bitterly .resenting the slurs cast upon Bengali physique and courage by writers from Macaulay downwards, advocated with much energy the establishment of schools of physical culture. She interested many of her friends in the project, and schools called akharas were founded for the teaching of wrestling, leaping, sword-play, and the use of th; lathi—the long bamboo of the Indian peasant—as a weapon of offence and defence. More lately, the "Sivaji cult, got up by extreme politicians to further their anti-British propaganda, gave an impetus to tho movement. Akharas grew and multiplied until there was scarcely a village in Bengal that did not possess one. A ready nucleus for their organisation was found in the schools and colleges of Bengal. Then came the boycott agitation, and 1 the demand for active and alert ineu to carry on the propaganda. The akharas naturally furnished such men, and because, at first at least, they offered their services voluntarily, without any hope of reward, the term volunteers came to- be applied to them. Drill was added to the subjects taught in the akharas and the valunteers adopted a kind of 1 ougli uniform, comprising a ye'low turbivn, a red shirt, and a sash round the shoulders, inscribed! with ths. words " Bande-mataram." The general organisation was first based on what was known as the Anti-Circular Society, -which consisted of men banded together to defy Sir Bamyfylde Fuller's Government. After Sir Bampfylde's retirement, the society was replaced by two others—the Brothi Samti and the Bande Mataram Sampradaya. The first of these has a membership restricted more.or less to schoolboys, and is without regular sources of income. The Sampradaya is open to all classes of Bengalis, and draws its recruits from students, ex-students, clerks,

;iiid muscular Hindus of otJier classes. Its members are trained in the us-2 of the lathi, sword, spear, and swordstick... .The latter weapon, locally known as the goomti, is manufactured and 'openly sold in Eastern Bengal. The fact that in conn* districts Hindu zemindars have insisted on their tenants joining the akharas accounts for the inclusion among the volunteers of " stout fellows, very dissimilar in physique and bearing from the clerkly classes of Bengalis." Mr Newman states that there is a central body in Calcutta, with duly appointed officers, whose business it is to control and advise thy various' corps throughout the two provinces. The central body appears to hi amply provided with funds. Large sums have undoubtedly been spent in conveying the Volunteers • from one locality to another for particular purposes, although in some cases th? Volunteers evade paying their fares, owing to the sympathy or cowardice of tli3 booking clerks at railway stations and steamer landing-stages. Money is also required for travelling agents, who are moving very freely about the countiy. organising fresh centres of discontent and sedition. Tlio Volunteers were first utilised to preach the boycott. They visited th? bazaars, and told the people that the purchase of Briish goods increased the poverty of the country. They remonstrated with those who refused to patronise Swadeshi shops. Then, growing bolder, they threatened, and, being organised and armed with lathis, they began to inilict their will upon the people. "In every place I have been to," writes Mr Newman, "the story is the same. In the local bazaar the chops selling Manchester piece goods and foreign cigarettes, and other articles, they had to close down, b?cacse the Volunteers entered the shops, irliniidalod the shopkeepers, threatened and often beat purchasers, and 1 in very many cases made bonfires of the goods. Stores of Liverpool salt have been thrown, into the river or- nearest tank, or defiled in the most disgusting way. Jn a lew cases where those who have, suffered have had the courage to complain 'he police have intervened, but the offenders have cither escaped or been awarded lidiculously light punishments." The Volunteers a. - -" deliberately preaching what is milling sh< rt of a revolt against British i"'le. But for the Mohammedans having definitely declared themselves on the British ;n'e, every European throughout Eastern Bengal would be iu danger of Si'j inns molests Men Unhappily, the British officials iu the di-1 rid:: of Eastern Bengal arc few in number, and the staff.; on which they have to rely are overwhelmingly Hindu, althci:gh th. l province contains a largfl majoiity of Mohammedans. The .special correspondent of the "Empire" remarks that those who accuse the officials of slowness of action, and of failure to foresee and prevent tlio riots and dacoities which are of s:ul] frcqiu'iit occurrence have either no id; a. of the wide area of the disaffected districts and the difficulties of transit, or purposely ignore these considerations. lie giv;;s a number of samples of the dav's woj-k of Hriti-h official-, and one of tlnse may In quoted as more indicative of Ihe retc.it state <if affairs in Eastern Bengal than an ygeneial di:-ciip.'.io:i could be:---"Mr Clarke, the district magistrate at M.aimaiisiiigh. was riding round on inspection on Sunday .and readied iJcwanganj at nightfall, to .'hid th.' plate in anaichy. Tu-i "ihoi'sand dacoil.i were looting and tiiiuK shops. Mr Clarke, who had Ih.ch out all day, went, into the bazaar single-handed, for there wa« not a constable in the place, and with lino grit subdued the panic among th:- bazaar people, and so secured the withdrawal of th' dacoits. Anyone who has seen him at Jamalpur ' phu ing' 'men as a precautionary measure, despatching lues sages to all part.'-, of the district., giving orders to inn on the spot, r.adiug reports, and. after a. tremendous amount of desk work, ordering out. his horse, knows that hii; energy has met a great difficulty L'ravilv and adroitly."

Some instances are given i:i Hie" Englishman" 'if I lie ingenuity and vimiict with -which trade in British wares, and particularly in h-sllr pi.-re goods, is hampered. A Tipperah eloih-scller, having regard to Mahoinuicdun resentment «>f Iho boycott, thought In; might, .-afcly indent largely on Calcutta for Manchc::!.'. T cloth. After' taking delivery he found that through each hale a rrd-ho' skewer had been thrust, mining every dhoti and sari within. 'J he gunny-bag h : ><l been picked open, the skewer thrust Mining]) the goods, and the hag then carefully r;scwn, so that there were no external indications of damage having been done. This wanton destruction of property could nut have been perpetrated without the connivance of Bengali clerks, eithsr on the railways or on the river st-eaintrs. In another iv.stance a merchant bought live bales of English cloth. Someone forged a. receipt-, took doliveiy of tli.- bales, and threw them into the river.