BRITISH RULE IN INDIA.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9388, 6 March 1909, Page 7

BRITISH RULE IN INDIA.

PRESIDENT KOOSEYELT-S OPINION. . -Wnw York, January 18. President Roosevelt delivered an • '' * * aHfirfiP a this evening in xmportant addres. tm n of the Washington °“ ;f o Viamond jubilee celebration of the Enisoopal of ■ the ■ African Method t *°{ h Obaroli. He toot aB to. •?*£* expansion of tne . n ,; ee and during the paat four fc rememtne address wjU }P®& forcible • bered as one oi ms , rpu fi lid far-reaching ™ 6 . Preeident-e «««*•JT.he Brf.i.h eminent of inoia vy , *n Encwill have a special iu l t ®” at t i” t ■ Mr • land, because they show that mr Roosevelt haa.nosympathy with the anti-British campaign which uas , been conducted for years in against , rule In IndJJj the course of his speech t “In India W,e encounter the “ost colossal example . bv the successful admimßtration ny men of Enropean blood of a thickly populated region in another continent- It is the greatest feat oi the kind .that'has been P orfor “ 6 x. mßire the break-up of the rh^waa Indeed, it is a gieater feafcthanwas performed under the Roman Em P* r * Unquestionably mistakes have been made’ it would indicate qualities literally superhuman if 80 task had been accomplished without mistakes. It is easy enough to point out shortcomings; but the £ “®J f®" mains that the aaoceaßtul administration of the Indian Empire by the English has been one or the most notable and most admirable achievements of the white race during the past two centuries. On the whole, it has been for the benefit of the datives of India themselves. Suffering has been caused in particular oases and at particular times to these natives; much more often, I believe, by well-intended ■ ignorance or bad judgment than by any moral obliquity. But on the whole there has been far more resolute effort to do justice, far more resolute effort to secure fair treatment for the humble and oppressed daring the days of English rule in India fihau during any other period recorded in Indian history. “England does not draw a penny from India for English purposes; she spends for India the revenues raised in India; and they are spent for the benefit of the Indians themselves. Undoubtedly India is a less pleasant place than formerly for the heads of tyrannical States. There is now little or ho room for the successful freebooter chieftains, for the despots who lived in gorgeous splendour while under their cruel rule the immense mass of their country men fostered in sodden misery. Bud the mass of the people have been and are far better off than ever before, and far batter off than they would now be if the English control were overthrown or withdrawn. Indeed if the English control were now withdrawn from India the whole peninsula would become a chaos of bloodshed and violence; all the weaker peoples and the most industrious and law-abiding would be plundered and forced to submit to iudesonbible wrong and oppression; and the only beneficiaries among the natives would be the lawless, the violent, and the bloodthirsty.

"THE GREAT SALIENT FACT.” ‘I have no question that there are reforms to be advanced—that is merely another way of saying that the Government have been human. I have also no question that there isbeing made, and will be made, a successful effort to accomplish these But the great salient fact is that the presence of the English in India and the Sudan, of the French in Algiers, of the Russians In Turkestan of the Germans in South West and East Africa—and of ail these peoples and of other white peoples in m&ny other places —has been lor the advantages of mankind. Every well-wisher of mankind, every true friend of humanity should realise that the • part which England has played in India has been to the immeasurable advantage of India, and for her honour, her profit, and her civilisation we should feel a profound satisfaction in the stability and the permanence of English rule. I haye seen many American missionaries who have come from India, and I cannot over-state the terms of admiration in which they speak of English rule in India and of the incalculable benefits which it has conferred and is conferring upon the natives,”