EAST AND WEST

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2849, 14 August 1916, Page 6

EAST AND WEST

LECTURE BY MR LIONEL CURTIS \

BRITISH RULE IN INDIA

A very interesting lecturo, entitled "East and West," was delivered by Mr. Lionel Curtis, under the auspices of tho Wellington Social Democratic Party, in tbo Alexandra Hall last 'night. ■;

Mr..Curtis might have given his'address another title, "The White Man's burden," for it v.'as the purpose of bis lecture to show that the relationship of the East with the West must not be one by which the white man shall establish himself in the enjoyment of privileges at the expense of the black and brown, but rather one by which the white man shall with best result discharge _ liis obligation to give to the less civilised races freedom. From many instances of crises in the history of lesser nations and lesser peoples in many parts of the world at different periods, ho 6ought to show that it would be fallacious to argue that the white man. could give freedom to the black, by loaving him ■ alone. ■ Most often, as lie showed, it occurred that the organised power of the European had to intervene to save for the Asiatic or' the African some vestige of freedom not already despoiled from him, or to restore to him some portion of the heritage already bartered away by ignorant or avaricious rulers. By such easy stages, and with sueh an introduction, he approached the Question to justify Britain's occupancy or India. All through long ages the course of events in India had been, he said, a via dolorosa, culminating in a short period of most bitter wretchedness after Clive's victory at Plassy. Then the conscience of the people of England was awakened bv certain facts adduced in the impeachment of the man who first of all made a serious effort to prevent the further cruel exploitation of the, luckless people of In- i dia, one Warren Hastings. So England set itself to the task of regulating the powers of tho East India Company, whose servant Clive had been, and gradually this company was shorn of all its quasi-sovereign rights in India, and finally abolishedaltogether.' Later, at the. timo the Mutiny, tho question was raised as to whether England ought not to withdraw from India, the chicf advocate of this course being Richard Cobden. Mr. Curtis argued that simply to withdraw our troops and officials from India would not havo been a complete withdrawal. To give back to tho people their country, it would have been necessary to absolutely prohibit tho entrance into India of any European trader, and to havo, enforced that prohibition with ships of war—an. impossible policy. The task of tile British then as now was to help the people of India to get free, and to dispenso justice 'for them, and to keep order for them until one day, many generations licnce, perhaps, they shail be able to understand justice for themselves, and to maintain order for themselves. So ho justified our rule in India, and in further justification of the righteousness of this policy, he pointed to the fact that never in the history of the two countries havo the people of India and Egypt had such happy years as in those years .since Britain intervened to end long-standing and extremely oppressive misrule. The chief ~ Jiegeral idea of his ■ discourse were well expressed in two of his sen"You icannot keep freedom by keeping it to yourselves," and "The basis of freedom is hot privilege< but obligation."