The Dominion. SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 1909 TWO VIEWS OF INDIA'S UNREST.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 407, 16 January 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 1909 TWO VIEWS OF INDIA'S UNREST.

That the Indian Empire which came in a day would disappear in a night was the reluctant -'opinion ;7. of V/Mfc.' I 'Mebedite ' Towksbnp, a. fascinating writer upon Eastern affairs who marshalled.'an array of plausible reasons in support of. his conviction. A writer in tho 'Nineteenth \ Century magazine for December would almost give the impression that the night may not be far off. Sir Edmuxd 0. Cox, [ Bart., was a late Deputy-Inspector General of Police for the Bombay Presidency, and so appears to speak with an authority which makes more ■ serious his alarmist views.' Not: to, mince words, he says. India is seething with sedition. It is not merely a handful of discontented Babus or a few widely-separated tribes who arc disaffected; from;ono,end of India to the other all.;classok, are .dissatis-1 ified with tho English rule, and would rejoice :to see it swept; away; Their discontent is not logic.il, he admits; for the most part- it rests upon the most imaginary and foolish grounds, but among a' people credulous as children this does not make it any the less dangerous. Nor would the discontont be satisfied by any future modification of the terms of British rule; "India for the Indians" is the goal which all the tribes desire none the less ardently that they have at present no intelligent conception ' of how it should be attained, or what should follow its attainment.

There are three main reasons, and a host-of smaller ones, accordinpt to. "snavND Oox, why. Hindu and Moham-

mcdan, Brahman and pariah, who agrco in nothing else, agree in their aversion to British hilo. First and foremost, the Englishman is a foreignpr, a stranger, a member of a white race, and the newborn sense of Indian nationality, which was encouraged when a former Viceroy, Loup Eipon, gave his recognition to tho National Congress, cries everywhere, wc are given to understand, for a purely Native India. Plagues, famines, all the evils to which the, great peninsula is prone, are. cunningly or credulously attributed to British rule, and already tho anarchic, blood-stained centuries boforc the English advent aro referred to as a golden age. The Hindus who had received an . English education, t.nd: been afterwards disappointed in their hopes of political or legal advancement, do not hesitate to-falsify history in ths most outrageous manner in order that they may spread their ■ sentiments of disaffection. Even if they do not go so far, they have probably imbibed the notion from their study of Miij< and Huxley, and of Engljsh history itself, that revolt against established government and restraint is the first of virtues. The free Constitutions which have followed the Boer risings in South Africa, the Diinuv which has followed ' Russian Nihilism,, and other events of recent history: have cpnfirmed the belief , that violence and insurrection can attain their object, even when their outlook seems least promising. The success of the Japanes'e in their struggle against Russia has convinced young India ; that the Asiatic is not necessarily the inferior, in final force, of the European. ■ After racial aversion,, the chief grievance of the Hindu against British rule. is tho imaginary constant drain".of inpney from .his country; he does not consider that millions of money, havo been brought into the soimtry to' improve its communications and - facilities.,; ..Also, the fiict .that socially the Englishman in India draws the .colour-, lino against, the native more strictly than it is drawn in England is everywhere resented bitterly. A campaign of . hostility and; calumny against the ruling race is carried on through press and pamphlet by , the. educated class, and readily responded to by the ignorant masses,, who eagerly, credit the aspersions which the Government does not trouble to deny. Having drawn this gloomy picture 6f the' mental state of' India, • Sir . ■Edmund Cox proceeds, to minimise the divisions and. opposing forces which are; commonly believed ;to, frustrate its potentialities for havm. ' Although it , is quite true■ that India represents'a multitude of races, railways, post offices, tele-: graphs, tho. press, .education, knowledge of English 'nave, lie believes, welded them together. Tho Indian nation is now ono in its hatred of the foreigner, and personalities and. incidents, .whoso memory , formerly sustained a-tribal tentiment, are fact-becoming- national.'inspirations'. The Mohammedan dislikes the Hindu, but, ho dislikes • the: Englishman- more. The : Army is still loyal, but- may. not.be loyal ■for ever.. It is probably: .in' his. statement of unification, that, ■ Sir EdmlinD Cox'.most exaggerates ;his.,case.;..- ; : :An article of-even: date tho fmeS of India, , published in Bombay,, docs much; to. restore the confidence in Indian sta-' ; bility vwhich- the . G.eniury's. alarmist article would shake. It affords, incidentally,- an excellent example;of ..the totally 'diverse impressions, which raay be formed by spectators of . the same events.;] The Times laments the "orgie of untruth" in . which. Bomo Engliah papers have, in its opinion, been indulging on the subject: of the Indian unrest. "Eng-.

lish opinion," it, declares;'> "is wholly, misled in .the-. actualities..;of tho Indian, situation," and "tho immense mass of loyal and law-abiding Indians ,is cruelly libelled." ..The Bombay journal admits that there are serious features in the Indian situation, but it ;is confident that the violent section is a very small one, and .with the aid' of special legislation,

if need be, and a firm and ablo administration, can .be .kept -in check, . .Discontont in India;; is likely ;to 'lie short-lived and powerless if the, . Government is strong and wise. For the sake of India, even , more than Britain, it is to be hoped that The Times's estimate of : . the' situation is correct, and that tlio night which Me. Townsend seemed to. foreseo is still Bomo centuries "remote. :