UNREST IN INDIA.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 13726, 16 October 1908, Page 2

UNREST IN INDIA.

REFORMS AXD THE WAY OUT. The Calcutta correspondent of the London " Daily Chronicle" savs: — The. one grave preoccupation of 'he Indian. Government just now is to gel its views before the Indian public, to ensure a proper appreciation of the bona fides- -of its policy. 10 olxain a coriect, fair, and honest ptesentation of the news of the day among the humblest peasants of the soil. lam perfectly well aware that the propoitjon of the nat've population who can read is a singularly small one. At the sauie time there are few people now in India -who have not eorae sort of general knowledge of what is going on. A new India has sprung into being within the last ten years —to be exact, since 1897. ' Education, the extraordinarily cheap means of trans':, jailways. and tehgtaplus, the vernacular prnis. the awakening of Asiatic sentiment. Pan-Islamisai, the economic struggle, are all contributing to the lonhation of a homogenous India, and would have so contributed irrespective of any eirors of policy on our part. Do not mistake me when I talk of a homogenous India. It. is in tiie future, of course', but even now Ind'an sentiment in one part of India is practically solid with the sentiment in any other part. The agitator is preaching a common crusade. The "wrongs" of Bengal find ready ears in the Bombay Presidency; the Punjab "grievances"' are common talk in Madras: and when any extra Hindustani trouble—such as the Transvaal policy towards the Indians—comes to the front, there :s not anywhere a single native conversant with' the fact who does not feel brouelf personally and deeply aggrieved. And how do they follow the trend of events and keep in touch with opinion in the various districts. Any Government official will tell you. Uy 1 organisation. The Indian movement is being excellently organ'sed. We at home who read of occasional congresses, occasional Press diatribes, occasional street distuibances, may think, perha]*> come insensibly to think, that these brief chronicles of fact indicate a spasmodic and fitful agitation. They do not. The verna cular Press of Ind'a is now immensely powerful, immensely widesptead, in a way very able, but often exceedingly unscrupulous. Its paragraphs, both as to opinion and to latt, are tio clevely distorted from the point of view of truth, that they mislead even the man with the open mind. These newspapers seldom par..'it is true, but they circulate all vne better for an absurdly low ecalr of prices. Still, this would not be sulh»nt if there weie no further means of propaganda. Such means are provided by an elaborate system of political evangelism in the rural districts, by diatribes of men who pafi* from one remote spot to another, and who -address little groups of • ryots the others who can neither read nor write, and who are quite incapable of forming any tsort of judgment upon any event, but. whose receptive, fallow nrnds absorb as gospel truth the wildest romances of the unprincipled agitator. Xo one could believe the extent to which such a propaganda is carried on in some districts unletd one came directly in touch with its results.

Sow what is the Government t/><lo 10 meet this evangelism? It cannot compete on analogous lines. The .English ]-i.ih is not widely enough diffused to be of great value, and the mere fact that the vernacular organs borrow largely of its contents dors not ensure the absence of distortion in translation. The idea of specially subsidised Government organ* is not popular. Interpellations on policy in Legislative Councils are not of very great value. And ye the existence of'pupeis giving a fair and honest presentation of Government policy would be invaluable, only they can hardly be said to exist. One organ, the "Mahratta," recently established in Bombay under very able" English auspices, may prove to be "of great value if it can manage to live, bui apart from this..there are only two or three fair-" minded native papers. On the whole, it will probably come to indirect official financial support ,of various. cheap newspapers published in the vernacular. THE WAY OP REFORM. They tell a good atory—quite true-—of an old Rajah here*, one of the real bad old type, who noticed that his ryot* were busily cultivating a new and "profitable crop, and as a result thereof waxing relatively prosperous. He at once and without he-vitation drove his elephant into their standing crops and demolished them. The Government of India strongly remonstrated, and there was a note of "more than surprise in its comments that he should take such a step. But the old man was equal to the occasion. "I prefer my tenants poor," he said, "they pay the same rent as when they do well, and they give infinitely less trouble." Possibly this is the point of view of some Anglo-Indians, but I contend with all deference it is not the one of the great body of neutimeut. Our policy has been, is, and always must be to regard as our bounden duty the need for taking into consideration the steady intellectual development and the fair political claims of the nation over which we hold the power of the sword. It i* in deed just this point of view which lead* me to oppose, on pure grounds of policy, any—even the lightest— reduction of the British Army in India. I am far from saying this may not come in future, bat, for the moment, the step would be inopportune. Our troops are in jndia not so much to rvprtCß as to pierent, and wliil* there is no doubt we could put down any armed native ruing, on any scale, aided or not by native .soldiery, it is equally certain that it would be. ut the cool of an enormous expenditure of blood and money. Our army is there for insurance purposes against trouble, and if you reduce it you render th<- work of ju.s.l "und honest r<-K.un much more difficult, because it will always be asserted that concessions are due as much to weakness as to our inherent nonse of justice—a grave defect where serious and beneficial results can only be looked for from a right appreciation of motive by the bulk of the community. And, too, just at present we owe. it V> the white population resident in the country not to lessen the outward visible »'gr*>" of the safeguards which have be.u piovided for them.

At the same time I am not disponed to deny there has been abundant justilication for the recent repret*ive legislation—th« Act amending the law [elating to ph*ive substance and the Newspapers In eitement to Offences) Act.

There is no need, in view of th«.ve two Acts, cither to reproach the Government of India for a retrogressive policy or to congratulate it, as some appear "inclined to do, on the adoption of stronger and les-. timid measures. The Government of India is not likely to adopt counsels of panin calculated to lead it, either to one or she other. It is veiy sympathetic to sane national development jn India, both [Kilitical and commercial, only it is wise enough to recognisa that progress in the former case must be alow. THE EDUCATED NATIVE. 1 have a very high opinion of the educated native, and I have met many of them. Their very able political propaganda will ivcciro no depreciatory critii ism from me. Probably if we were in their position we should adopt their line of policy, but without. I am certain, onetenth of their a-sluteue*s or without one quarter of their nuccen. And they are «te»dilv, if »]owly. achieving success—a fact which should not l>e forgotten at a lime wh<n one lieari »o much denunciation of (iovernnwn; action anil m> much »ti(; •.«!i..ti tl>..: retrogression .>ii.| demit i-ru .ue ■•talking hand in Kind, in th«-i: in'*.t brutal man f«.!'itioti». over tiir- fair fic« of India The r.ati\e pohtn.^i,

knows he is gaining ground. He has the cheery hopefulness of certain victories to come. At the .[same time, it has sometimes puzzled me why he .should be ao frankly uncompromising. I fancy some opportunism, such as is sanctioned by use and ethics in modem ■ politics, would carry him and his cause much further in a shorter space of time. But, as I say, doubtless he knows his own business besi, and if he etill prefers to keep in the forefront of his policy—so far as this policy is ascertainable^—the older grievances, such as the Partition of Bengal, to the exclusion, of rash, welldigested and specific fresh demands, he may quite 6afely be credited with wisdom and sagacity for doing so. 1 may, too, think he makes altogether unfortunate and insufficient use of the Swadtishi movement — a movement which, in all its aspects, apart from the political purposes to which it has been prostituted, should receive the whole-hearted support of every intelligent man, as it certainly does now p(; every intelligent; official, of this country. ' ids abstention may "possibly be due to his appreciation of the undoubted iriusm that a prosperous" India might hotso easily lend itself to the active movement, but whatever be the' reason at the back of his mind, one may be sure it is a good one.

At the same time I would Be very sony to propagate the erroneous, impression that a bold policy of progress and reform will ultimately win no prominent ioyal native support-. It most certainly will, and therein 1 think the Government of India shows its wisdom in recognising in its latest proposals regarding the Councils that the so-called "educative native" —the term is really synonymous with the legal profession—does not and cannot speak for more than a mere fraction of the community. Our policy is to interest all classrß of the community that can be legitimately interested; to secure representation as widely spread as possible of the views of -all sections of the- pub lie, even the humblest, and to concern ourselves but little over any misrepresentation to which this liue of action may give rise. At any rate, it is.' such a policy which can alone attract to outside the moderate man, who abounds, 1 am convinced, in India, but v whd signally up to the present has been quiescent either from grounds of indifference, ignorance or timidity. Nothing that we can do or ought to do will win over or appease the Extremist, who will go on is hitherto, preaching an advanced political evangel which will only make successful appeal to the bulk of the population and the men of. the lowest, intelligence when it can be combined—as in the case of the Punjab agitation last year—-with some economic or social grievance. It is the possibility oi such a fresh combination which must always keep the Government of Ind'a on the alert, for therein lies the peril. Failing the existence of■such favourable cir cumstance* for agitation, the Extremist will, I feel sure, endeavour to make his presence increasingly -felt by methods 'of terrorism. H« will *rf| Jbtrß I ft>o| nob sure he w ; ll meet with suc<.ck,s, au». if ae does not, his career in the role will De ehort, because then at once funds will dry up and any measure of' local sympathy will be withdrawn. As it is, we are onlv just beginning to face a' long agitation. The Government- of India have, however, in my opinion, sufficient powers iiow :o enable them to cope with it, and there is no need —though many people seem to be hankering after it—to make further use of the power of sudden deporlation. without trial, nor is it at present" necessary to put further into force *he entirety quie - cent Sed : tious Meetings Act. Jim, as 1 have endeavoured to show, coercion pure and simple, is no policy for India. VVe have educated public opinion and cannotwithhold practical recognition of the growing standard of - intelligence. Ithappens to be that pol'cy. of testing and trying the native fthich' nowadays finds nearly general endorsement at home and a-s nearly general endorsement out here, am also strongly convinced that w.hil* it ie the best policy both for India and for Great Britain, it is not particularly, likely to satisfy anyone, s r hce to ir-uch ttirns .on the question of interpretation. Hence unrest will continue to simmei- if it does nothing more, and nothing worse. Now. therefore, is the time for preaching moderation and tolerance. India has no use for extrem'sfs of any kind, and the wish* this all-vital fact could be mors- thorougldy appreciated at . home.