INDIA AND IRAK.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 June 1925, Page 4

INDIA AND IRAK.

Address of -Mr Paid D. Cravnth I’.FLA.. lx;fore the Hriti sll (.ham tier of Commerce in New York.

Mr President and gentlemen I accepted Mr Brown’s invitation to talk informally about India and Irak because frankly I like to talk about India. 1 ■an somewhat embarrassed on this occasion because I can’t very well address tins serious body of British merchants and bankers about tiger hunting or any experiences like that. I have got to be inon? sonous.

On the other hand I hestitate to express views about India. Whenever l pint myself inclined to develop views or reach conclusions about India 1. remember the remark made to Us the day before we landed at Bombay by Sir John I (oweit, who. I think, knows more about India than any other living man. liaviim- risen from the lowest ranks ol the Civil Service to the great Office »f I lent Governor ol the ( entral 1i ovinces. 11 is remark was that the one thdm be learned after tlurty-ltve years in India was that lie know nothing about India and the Indian people. He said that while commenting on the fact that another Knglishman had written a hook on India alter having lived there five years. The result is that an American traveller who has only spent two nionih< in India hesitates to express opinion;. Therefore 1 shall only give vihi impressions.

We'had a most interesting visit. On th-,. w ho!e, I think it is the most interesting trip of my hie and I think , n y fellow traveller. Ilairison \\ illiam.s. shares inv views. We went as far north as the Khyber Pass and Afghanistan m the Northwest and to Darjeeling in the foothills of the snowelad Himalayas in the North and as far South as Trit lii mipoly and Taujore in the Madias province. We had the pleasure of spending

week with the Viceroy of Delhi. Me visited several (loveruors ol Provinces and two or three AI aim rajas. Although we came in contact with Indian liie from a great many angles, we com-

pletely realized the truth of what Sir John Howell had said. Me ionised one very strong impression—-indeed 1 think I may cull 'it a conviction and that is that the most remarkable achievement of (.treat Britain, outside of her own boundaries, is the compiesl of India and the establishment of wliat lms been called for several generations the Government ol India. It is a marvellous achievement, the most remarkable triumph ol moral strength, line organization and character that the

world ancient or modern has ever produced. There i; nothing in the history of Home in her ,wi:.l glorious days tliat to my mind is comparable to British rule in India became Homan power was always hacked by Homan heinous. Homan power was imposed

on .semi-barbarous nations and ’was maintained usually Irmn beginning until the end by armies. Done was always essential for the maintenance of Homan rule. In India finite the contrary is the case and has been for a good many decades. There are three hundred and twenty million people. Hindus and .Mohammedans, that are ruled bv a handful of Knglishmen. The total British population is only about one hundred and twenty thousand and about half of that number are .soldiers. More than half of the Indian Army is made up of Indian troops office mi by British oilicers. There are only. I think, about three thousand , ivil servants in ail ol India yet thee dominate the entire organization of the government of India. Hue finds them in the most remote districts where order is maintained, law is cnforied and justice adm.inislered bv three or four l-lngiishmen with native assistants, 'lire extent to which have imposed iheir authority on this great mass of natives is a psychological marvel. In all my experiences I uve never been so impressed with Hie majesty of human achievement as I uas In i In' success of British rule in India.’ V.ut arc not a logical people. If all Englishman were talking of the history of India, particularly fluring the earlier decades, lie would call it muddling. I would not call it that, hut. ii. was not a logical process, it was not an orderly growth, (loveruors v. ho came in main-

tain nonce were apt to wage war. Those who came to wage war were very apt to maintain peace. Thai quality runs all through I lie history of ) udiu. The growth of British power in India is this illogical ami apparently plant's- progress toward ultimate success, always aei-oinpnnied by the most bnl haul capacity to make the most of op jsirtunities when they presented themselves. Another thing: no one can deny tlial British rule in India was horn in a do sire fur commercial aegrandisem..-nt. No one can say that the British went to India originally willi a benevolent intent. Thev went there to make money. They went there under the then universal .practice of civilized nations to exploit the undeveloped nations of the Hast. I should say they went there solely for the purpose ol exploitation. Thai was their purpose for ti t lir.st century and a half or two centuries. Gradually a remarkable change took: place such as is often found in great movements in Great Britain.

Through the mere force of public opinion ill home the Government of In<li;i gradually changed from a seiiish :i ti<! a in hi t iotts government into tho iiiii-l. unselfish and just government tlniL has ever heoil imposed by one nation on nnother. British rule was imposed on the people of India; they were not consulted. It was a gradual conquest. Step by step, tho British conquered province alter province and people after people until they had imposed their rule over practically the entire peninsula that tve know as India. It was a very fortunate thing not only for the progress of the liritish Kmpire hut lor the Indian people, because no one who has not read Indian history can realize the ho|>e!e.ss coufusioii of races and languages, of nations big and small, that existed in India before liritish rule began. No one can realize what would have been the fate ■ a the hundreds of millions of Indian people had not liritish rule gradually built up" this effective orgauytation which stopped famine and prevented disease and stood for the administration of justice and for the prevention of almost countless calamities that would have certainly befallen the Indian people after the dec line and fall of the Mogul Kmpire. You all realize that a political change is supposed to have taken place in India in tho last few years especially since the war. You have heard a great deal about Indian unrest and you have heard much about the Indian people governing themselves. You have beard much of Glia lid i and the anti-British alliance between the Moslems and the Hindus. I was more interested in looking for signs of unrest and in studying that problem than in anything else. Of course we did not see very far beneath the surface' because our contacts - were chiclly with the British. Wo had very little opportunity of talking with the proletariat, and with the leaders of the radical movement, but I am sure that the rumours in the American newspapers from year to voar regarding the unrest in India are very much exaggerated, ’lo tho casual observer—to the ordinary American traveller—there are practically no signs of disorder. i 1 think the British made a mistake during the wave of emotionalism that followed the war when in their grati-

ode to the Indian people for their hd■lity to the Empire during tho \\ ar the British House of Commons decided to 'rant a. considerable measure of sellgovernment to the Indian people tinier the scheme that is known as the Montague-Chenisfoid Reform. I thiuk that scheme went too far. I think that it gave the Indian people more power than they were prepared wisely to exercise. I think that harm was done both to the British Empire and to the Indian people. Most ol the troubles of tl,e last four or live years have grown out of the liberality of the British jieople exercised through the AIo nt ague-diems lord Rclorui. 1 tiiink the Indian people have shown their incapacity to exercise self-government by their failure to take advantage of the reasonable opportunities tnat wcio vouchsafed by the new Constitution. They were given three members of the Viceroy's Counsel and a corresponding representation in each ol the Provincial Councils which are the executive bodies. They were also given legislative powers hut instead of exercising tlm powers that the constitution gave them Hi,, legislatures almost invariably policy of obstruction and of trying to nut the government into a hole by fomenting discontent and withholding appropriations which were required lor the orderly administration of government. It seems to me that the experience of the last four years demonstrates that the Indian people with all the progress they have made are not yet roadv to exercise any consideiahln'degree of self-government in the

sense that we are accustomed lo use the term. I think an adjustment is coming and coming very rapidly. 1 think many of the political leaders have seen the evil nt their ways and are beginning to co-operate. I hat result is due in a very great measure to the wisdom, patience and knowledge ol human nature that has been shown by Yiiernv land Heading, lie was the ideal man to he the \ ieoroy ol India al the pari icular time when he was sent there. If tlm British had sent the typical viceroy of the earlier period. the old fashioned nobleman with high ideals, fine traditions, an unbending disposition, unit great respect Ini the use of power, there would have been serious i rouble. Lord Heading had the advantage of being a lawyer and of having had to learn a great deal about many different kinds of jobs. 110 came lo India with no preconceived notions. lie was not an expert in Indian alf a i is. Kxpcrtx are dangerous when they become old. lie used his wits and his knowledge of human nature in dealing with the problems presented and I think he lias made a marvellous success as vu eroy. [its dealing' with Cliandi In lace of much opposition from his own compatriots was masterly. H he had arrested Ghandi when he was at ilie height of his power he might have made a martyr of him. Instead of that he resisted great pressure Iriim home and gave (Ihandi rope, realizing that in time lie would demonstrate the futility of his own political plans. That is what happened. M’hen the time came when il was necessary to arrest (Ihandi he had to admit in open i-ourf Hint there was nothing leit lor the (lovernmcnt to do hut to arrest him. M'hile I think (Ihandi is a spent force politically, lie lias the respect ol the good people of India, both Kuropean and native.

Wliat is more important tco in the. British m'ini of view i. that a temporary combination between the Hindu and Moheinmedan forces, seems to have ended. The .Mohammedans now see the futility of attempting to combine with the Hindus, and vice versa. MTiat the future of the (loverninent of India will be no one can forsre, mil ei'cn Hie wisest men, much less a Vasiel el server like mvself. If von will read a most interesting book called, 1 'i ho Lost Dominion." by an anonymous Indian civil servant- you will see that by applying purely logical pincess-

es to the situation lie reaches the conclusion that the Brill.h Government haiing given partial self-government If India cannot refrain Iron' giving coinplcle • ;-|(-governmeni very soon. It is hard to escape Hi' 1 logic u| that honk, hut I am eon-ol.'d by the fuel that the f.'riiisli hale novel boon logical; they lime - imply h.-cil efficient. They have great faith in their future. I believe they will go ahead in India as they have gone ahead for the last two hundred years, meeting the opportunities and overcoming the difficulties as thev

a.rise. making compromises here and i omproniises ilu re : and that they will (ciiiiuue to he the dominating political force in India for many, ninny gonerai inns, all the time remaining true to tlieir double trust, their position of trust toward the great British vested interests in India and tlieir obligations to the Lillian people to gradually help them lo rule themselves. I leel as (ortaiii that the British will be flic dominating political force in India one hundred years hence as that we will have a republican form of government in this Doited States. I don't see yet how it will Be done, Imf I believe tlial the British in tlieir good old-fashioned, illiygienl wav, will do it.

I so- that I am to speak about Irak as Midi as about India. Your president does not know whore Irak is. M'o enjoyed our two weeks’ I rip oil a H. and 0. steamer from Marseilles io Bombay very much, but .Air Williams and I could not see our way clear to take two weeks to return by the same route. This struck us as an anti-climax. So we began to bunt up some other way of getting home. M’e could not go north because the Himalayas were in onr way. M’o thought of going through Hersia. but there is no motor road beyond Kfibnl. M’e could have gotten through Baluchistan by motor Hut we might have been scalped before we got

aeross. We therefore decided to nun promise upon what i- called ilic "overland route” established within a year or two. Wo took n steamer from Bombay to Basra at the mouth of the Tigris. From there we Hew in military aeroplanes up the Valley of the Tigris to Bagdad and never did eyes see more historic places in three hours. We felt about the valley of the Kuphratcs and the Tigris very 'much the way the American hoy fell about the ruins of Babylon. He said he was glad to he able to tell the folks at home he had seen them, hut would not pay a dollar to see them again.

Bagdad is the capital of Irak. That is one of the four mandatory states erected out of the portion of the old Turkish Kmpire which is inhabited by Arabs, (.'ol. Lawrence and '.Ronald Stores and their associates about a year and a half before the end of the War persuaded the Kmir of Mecca to range the Arabs on the side of the Allies against Germany and Turkey. The Arab lenders were promised that in ease the Allies won the war the Arabs would lie given the portion of Turkey in which the Arab population predominates. When the war ended, the Arabs having fulfilled their part of the contract, it became the. duty of the Allies to perform their promise. Then the trouble began.

There were about eight million inhabitants in that part of the Turkish Empire. The French at once asserted control over Syria when they claimed traditional rights. 1 lelieve they have been for some centuries the protectors of the Christian population in Syria. The British established Feisal, one of tho suns the Hussein, as King of Damascus. The French soon kicked him out and he was without a throne, although one had been promised him. Then there was erected out of what used to be the Mesopotamian country the Kingdom of Irak with about three million inhabitants extending from Persia across the Syrian desert,, almost

to Palestine, and from the head of the Persian Gulf to the Turkish boundary. That left Palestine and the territory immediately east of it. The British besides having promised the Arabs their own government over all of that region also promised to erect in Palestine a national home for the Jews —-two (piite ; conflicting promises. So Palestine was , erected into a separate government, , with about seven hundred thousand in- , habitants of whom at least nine-tenths . were Arabs and the rest old-fashioned Jews and Christians. That lo 11 still a , little country hot-wen Irak and Palestine that had not been included in the promise of a national home l <jr '■' lo Zionists and was separated front Irak bv the great Syrian dewrt. There they erected a little nation of about three hundred thousand inhabitants which is called Traus-Jordian. They made Hussein's other son. Abdullah, the King of that little country. It nmv he well that if that entire population or about eight million people had been erected into a single government under Arab influence it might have been sufficiently strong politically and economically to stand up. No one can seriously claim that that is true ol any one of those four small nations. j think that these four small nations are the most ill-shapen and deformed of all the monstrous political oflspring ol the Peace Colifereeiie at Paris. In Serb, the people long either to he independent or for the return of Turkish rule. I did not talk to a single Syrian who did not want independence or Turkish rule. The people of Palestine are not especially happy and most ol them would rather have almost any other regime than the present regime. Triuis-Jordania with its three hundred thousand people is a hopeless waif. Irak is unhappy. It is oft by ilsell and very difficult to approach from any direction. They are a strange people who have had very little contact with Moslem civilization. Being Shin .Mohammedans, they do not like Kina kei--.il , because lie is a Sunni Mohammedan. Having him as King of Irak is very much like pulling a PrntesauL at the i head of the IriMi Dree Sun,- or a Cath- - ulic at the head of Lister. Sir Henry ■ Dubhs. ilie Brilish Governor, is one ol > the finest public servants 1 ever lliel r and ye I technically he i.-, only an ailvis- • or of the Arab King.

Order is preserved in those countries not liv tin) linti vcs but liy liriii'li 01 I* roncli armies. They both have iori-os there ot considerable ina^nitml<‘. I lie annv ot Ii nk is made up almost entirely nl an Air I'oice. When any trouble occurs tiicv send out a squadron of aeroplanes anil drop a nollcc in the viilaep of the recalcitrant chiel that- il ln> docs not liehavo him.sclt wiiltiu I'orly-cif'lit hours they will bomb his hoU'C, and if he doesn't behave they do l unh him. I saw many pholooraplis slunvino the precision with wiiicli they could homh (he house ol a chiel or llm \ ill aye of a particular tribe that was can.sim.; trouble. Ii is surprising what a small air force is required to mainlain order in tiiat extensive and restless count ry. I'nder the Treaty that succeeded the Mandate, the British are hound to withdraw from Irak in four years and unless they licentiate .sonic sort ol an arranoenmnt permit lino them to icm.aiu. under the .Mandate they must up. At home llie llothniero and 1! avcrlirook press are clamoring lor the complete withdrawal of the Hritisli from Irak. and Palestine liven use of the heavy expense in - volved. No one kno-.t' what tlm result will he and no one knows where the Mouse of Commons will stand. It the Hritisli withdraw I prophesy that inside of thirty days Kinj; Keisal will If kicked out and it won’t he lone holme the tribes will rebel and attack til’ peaceful merchants of the tow ns. I hat will only mean that some nation will have to come hack and take the place of tlm British.