INDIAN UNREST.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2106, 14 June 1907, Page 4

INDIAN UNREST.

A CHAT WITH CAPTAIN HUME

Captain Hume, Sir John Hall’s exsecretary, served in India for something like seventeen years, and possesses an extonsive knowledge of the politics of that huge territory. In conversation with a Christchurch Press reporter ho was kind enough to supply some interesting information regarding the present situation there.

“I trace back tho present trouble to the year 1883, when Lord Brittan was Viceroy,” said Captain Hume. “In that yoar Mr. (new Sir Peregrine) Ilbert brought in a measure which came to be known as the Ilbert Bill, and which gave extended jurisdiction to native magistrates over Europeans. Such a measuro naturally gave rise to great discontent, because in India Europeans have in self-defence to take up the attitude of keeping entirely apart from the natives, whilst always giving them absolute justice and fair play. The situation there, you will readily understand, is very different to that hore in respect to the Maoris. Here the natives are in a small minority, but in India there are 7Cf,oo(> white men as compared with 308,000,000 natives. The latter are in a state of transition. They have"begun to acquire a smattering of Western ideas, but are still very strongly imbued with Eastern notions. Western thought does not appeal to them, and they, are not able to understand the European’s philosophy of life or relation to the outside world.

“Coming to later times,” Captain Hume continued, “the partition of Bengal had a disturbing effect on India, and especially upon that class of the Indian community—the Bengali, who is the tin-pot orator of India. I do not for a moment think tho present disturbance’ serious, although it might appear to be so to the uninitiated. There is nothing

whatever in it to justify alarmists in- - raising tlio cry of a second mutiny. My liaison for saying this is that tho Oriental, wlion lie moans sorious mischief, does not talk about it. Ho goes abotit tho' matter in a dark and mysterious manner,- iviicl ill© first' intimation tho European gots that ally troublo is browing is a general blowup. In 1894, in Debar, on tlio. borders of Nepaul, an extraordinary scare was caused by tlio ‘mud-daub-ing’ incident. This consisted in a uuiubor of trees being daubed with a patch of mud the, size of . tho palm of your hand. In tho a contro of . this patch woro ihroo buffalo hairs. Thest daubs spread in tho most mysterious manner all'oVer tlio‘district. No ono soomod to know tlio ; origin or tho purpose of those ’daubs. A certain portion of tho European community affected with norvos, including many men who ought to have known bettor, jumped at the conclusion that a socond mutiny was on foot, and quite lost thoir heads. I saw men at that timo white witli fear who ought to havo been ashamed of themselves for being affected by tlio panic: An incident connected with this happened one evening when I ivas dining with tho Collector, or Chief Magistrate of tho- district in which I was stationod. Tho Collector boasted at tho dinnor table that no native would daub tlio trees in his compound.: Next morning tho whole of liis trees were daubed. Nobody saw it done. It turned out afterwards that tlio object of tliis daubing was to guido tlio faithful to a shrino in tlio depths of Nopaul. I mention this incident because it is of valuo not only as emphasising tho secret ways of tho natives of India, but also as a warning to Europeans not to pay attention to strange happenings, and above all not to show funk even if they feel it. “But tho latter part of the incident also teaches another lesson,” Captain Hume added. “It is that the natives of India no longer show tho samo respect to the European as they used to do. AVlien I first went to India, no native merchant on meeting a European would omit to dismount from • tho knock-kneed pony, which is tho customary mount with tliom, and salaam down to tho ground. But when I loft India in i fc was th° exception for tliom to do this. Tho change is partly duo to tho spirit of independence which has boon dovoloped in tho native mind by tlio education on AVestern lines which we have provided for thorn. Lord Cromor, in his report on Egypt, notes the same thing in connection with nativo Egyptians, and, boliove me, it is an absolute mistake to supposo that universal education, which may or may not be a good thing in Europe, is of tho slightest use in India, where it is likely to do more harm than good.

“Let me correct ono very common but utterly erroneous and fallacious idea regarding India,” said Captain Humo iu conclusion. “Olio hoars people saying that wo hold India by the sivord. Nothing could be moro absurd, and if people only thought for a moment they would not talk such nonsonso. How can wo hold India by tho swrod when there are less than one hundred thousand white men, all told, there, to face over three hundred million natives? The notion is preposterous. AVo hold India on account of our great sense of fair play, the breadth of our views and our system of justice. The merchant class in India now realise the benefit of our rule in securing for them the rights of property and of the person, whereas in pre-Euro-pean days a merchant never know when his stores and houses would he looted by the lord of his district. Again, the caste question is a very great factor, and one of the greatest safeguards in the tenure of India, as an amalgamation between various castes is an impossibility, at aiiy rate until such timo as the natives have become entirely Europeanised. The agitating class in India consists if fhe Hindu priesthood and the Bengali Baboos, to wheih I have already referred. Tho former exercise great sway over the religous susceptibilities of the people, whilst the latter are the living exponent of the old adage that ‘a little learning is a dangerous thing.’ Tho physique of the Bengali Baboo is very poor indeed. As a fighting man he does not enter into the question at all, but makes up for that by using his brains to agitate and to induce others to strive against constituted authority.”