The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, JANUARY' 28, 1908. AIR MOBLEY ON INDIA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2100, 28 January 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, JANUARY' 28, 1908. AIR MOBLEY ON INDIA.

At a limo wlien the thoughts of colonials have been specially directed towards English management of Indian affairs by the semi-seditious statements attributed to Air Keir Hardie it is useful to note the official policy of the Secretary for India, Mr John Morley. In this respect- it may lie well to quote the opinion of a leading London journal which declares that every speech made by Mr M idloy about the affairs of bis own Department adds to his political reputation. When lie was selected for the Indian Secretaryship—that is, in fact, to bo the ultimate ruler of three hundred millions of subjects administered by an autocratic bureaucracy—there was, even among those who accepted a Radical Government with pleasure, an audible whistle of surprise. Could one of the strongest of idealists, a man in theory opposed to any government of one people by another, a man prepared even to encounter the terrible, risks of autonomy for Ireland, be a safe successor of the Great Moguls,—a trustworthy, supreme, tlipugli responsible, referee in the affairs of the greatest dependency that history has ever known ? A very few speeches have cleared away most of these doubts, which the masterly address delivered at Arbroath recently will finally dispel. The rise of the speaker, considered as a purely personal one, is simply amazing. Slightly distrusted by both parties on the day of his appointment it is now seriously contended that Mr Morley might be “sent for” to-mor-row by the King without causing more alarm among the members of either party than did the selection of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. The country lias recognised that the statesman in the Secretary lor India lias risen beyond the two great fractions who at present attempt to influence the destinies of the Indian Empire,—beyond the idealists, who would apply to three hundred millions of Asiatics the most advanced theories of Western Republicanism, and also beyond those who see in continuous repression the only possible path of safety. Mr Morley does not, indeed, shrink from repression when it is clearly needed. His first demand is for “order.” He is careful to point out that if India wore self-governing order must still be maintained with “an iron hand,” that no Government which intended to succeed'could for an instant tolerate any form of anarchy. Stating that lie rejects absolutely the idea attributed to Mr Keir Hardie, that “what is good for Canada must be good for India,” you might as well, observes the orator, arguo that because a fur coat is a good tiling amidst the snows of Canada, it must also be a good thing in the liot mists of Bengal. But nevertheless there is no man, lie declares to whom the idea of exceptional repression is more repulsive than to himself. Ho doubts even,' whether temporary laws restricting the freedom of the Press or regulating the freedom of the public meeting are altogether justifiable .for. after all, the English are "Western men endeavoring to rule an Oriental people, and bound, therefore, unless stopped by higher considerations to teach Orientals the value and the safety of Western methods. The ideal must still -be sought, but sought without

risking the authority from which, when wisely exorcised, Orientals have everything in the future to expect. Wo must be reformers, but “slow reformers,” “resell utely patient,” and above- all things, “firm.” Whether, says Mr Morlev, rising calmly above the height of the immediate controversy, tho possession of India is profitable to us or not, is a question it it needless to discuss, for wo have accepted the duty of governing her, and must perform it steadily to tho (-nil. We cannot retire from our task, for “how should wo hear the savage stings of our own consciences when, as assuredly wo should, we heard through tho dark distances the roar and scream of confusion and carnage in India?” “We are not hero to muse,” Imt to perform the ditty which circumstances have so clearly imposed upon us, and the first of those duties—it is the first duty of every Government—is to maintain order.

Tho position is here put with remarkable clearness and it is to be hoped its full meaning willl he appreciated not only by the educated classes, but the masses of the Indian people. Britain, whatever her faults, rarely shrinks from an acknowledged duty, and it is well that the natives of India, should know that, whatever changes may be desirable, they must be secured by other means than threats to the white men, or disorder among those of a. darker hue.