The Dominion. THURSDAY, AUGUST 12 1909. THE PROBLEM OF INDIA.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 584, 12 August 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, AUGUST 12 1909. THE PROBLEM OF INDIA.

It baa boon mado abundantly clcar that tho situation in India at tho present time ia a gravo one. At any time tho government of this groat possession, with itn lmgo native population of conflicting typea . and characloriatica, has been fraught with difficulty, but tho task has been niado more difficult during the past 18 months by tho growing unrcat amongst a largo soction of tho pooplc. Tho illitorato masses havo boon played on by tho • educated extremists—tho .political agitators who havo proachod tho boycott and incited to riot and acta of violence, and hold up to tho ignorant the alluring prospect of tho deposition of the British and the restoration of native rule, in India. For a long timo.tho British Government hesitated to adopt strong measures to stem the tide of sedition. Acts of violence went unpunished, for the simple reason that tho pcaccablc soction of the native population dared not give evidence . against the offenders,' and the polico were incapable of sheeting homo tho crimos committed. An informer mot with short shrift. Even when information was given privately the malcontents slowed an astonishing capacity _ for discovering the souroe of information, and the informer paid heavily for his loyalty —as often as not. with his life. The result has been an increasing difficulty in securing evidence against offenders, and a consequent contempt for tho law. The ordinary law, in fact, has proved quite useless as a means of suppressing political crime, and in consequence the Government has been forced to fall back upon its power to deport political' agitators. This action has' been condemned in some quarters, on the ground that these deportations are made without trial. Many questions have' been asked in the House of Commons on the subject, and a Bill was introduced to limit the powers of the Government in this respect. In the Nineteenth Century for. July "A Bengal Civilian" reviews the position in India, and in the course of an able defence of the recent deportations throws an interesting light on the situation as it presents itself to a resident of India' of many years' standing.

' The three main points which have to be faced, he contends, are these: That the maintenance of the public peace and the protection of its subjects from oppression are the first duties of a civilised Government; that in existing conditions in India willing witnesses against the disturbers of peace and the oppressors of the people will not come forward in the ordinary Courts, and that failing such witnesses the Courts are impotent; and that even where witnesses are, examined privately, to' publish their name?, or even the details of their evidence-is to expose them to the gravest risks. Deportation without trial is naturally repugnant, to British ideas of justice, but, as pointed out by Lord HpnLtrsr, "it has been, resorted to for the sole purpose of preserving the country from grave internal commotion. It is. a preventive, not a punitive, measure." The position really appears to be that the British Government has been forced to go from one ixtreme to. the other. The absolute liberty given to the political* agitator's fpr so long has had the effect of encouraging their blind followers to such an extent that they have created a perfect reign of terror, and the native' population dare not' resist the anti-British movement. They feel that it is wiser to hold their tongues and submit to the terrorists than to speak and trust to British protection. Being 1 unabtts, therefore,: to secure' evidence, the British authorities have been forced to resort to the other extrome of, • deportation of known agitators without indulging in thß formality of a trial. The writer of the article inthe Nineteenth Century regards the situation as an extremely grave one. The martial races, the Mohammedan community, he says,,and. the illiterate millions, may stand apart from, and be out of sympathy with, the political agitators, but they are watching the course of tho struggle between the Government and the extremists. The fighting peoples have no intention of submitting to government by the literate or unwarlike classes, but they see very clearly that their own chance of ruling India might come with the overthrow of tho British Raj through the machinations of • those classes, and their faith in the' Government to. hold its own. is weakened when they see it, as they, think', bullied and embarrassed by agitators 'whom they themselves hold in contempt. So far as the massos are concerned, the position is depicted as being quite as bad. If the Government cannot secure them from oppression, they will not hesitate to make common cause with the oppressors.

"It is not necessary to be alarmist [says the writer referred to], or to be blind to the existence of .various hopeful symptoms, to recognise that India is passing through a very critical period in her history, and that the whole welfare of_ the country, - its present prosperity, and its future progress depend on the manner in whioh the Government faces tho present situation. Anarchy, and assassination cannot be allowed to prevail, but the ordinary law has proved powerless- as a moans of checking their growth. If tho abnormal^-but still mild, measures taken fail to eradicate them, or at anyrato keep them 'within bounds, it is inevitable that still more drastic- measures should be taken, and measures which mil -affect a far larger section of' tho people than has been affected by the deportations. Military law has been spoken of in some quarto's, and, though no responsible person would contend that anything which has yet occurred would justify its introduction, it is there as a last-resort, and as an alternative far' preferable to the unthinkable one, that a.British Government should fail through sheer inability to govern."

In the circumstances jfc is contended, and the weight of Indian opinion supports this view, that the British Government haa not only acted wisely in ordering the deportation of known political agitators bent on creating internal commotion in India, but that it would be the height of madness, in the face of the grave and uncertain situation which exists, "to allow any lawful instrument for the suppression of tho various forms of anarchical violenoe to be discarded."