DELHI AND AFTER.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 61, 7 March 1912, Page 8

DELHI AND AFTER.

TUB NEW BRITISH POLICY TOWARDS INDIA. By T. Pi O’Connor, M.P., in Reynold’s Weekly.) All the other events of tiio week are eclipsed by the startling development in India. English opinion is not inclined to express itself definitely until a clear lead conies from India, but the first impression is distinctly favourable. This is especially the case with regard to the reversal of the partition of Bengal, for it is reversal, though the change is wrapped up in other phrases. Everybody who is acquainted with Indian feeling, especially tiiose courageous and enlightened Anglo-Indians who have braved so much opposition and popularity in their own class, has always contended that this fatal act of Lord Curxon’s Government had done more to' exasperate Indian feeling and wa.more responsible for the unrest of the last few years than any single act of policy for a generation. It is a pity in some respects that the Government which succeeded that of Mr Balfour did not have the resolution to undo the evil thing. They were pressed to do so hy some of their o" 11 " armest and most loyal supporters. Ihe fear of C at feeing which sicklies o cr the thought of so many courageous men stood in the way; the superstition that the Imperial Government must rover cdniit a mistake, the giganlic pressure from the Indian ‘bureaucracy stood in .the way, and prevented the reversal of the folly of Lord Cnrzon’s fatal act. Perhaps, in the end, it is as well that this should have happened. The reversal cf the partition of Bengal reaches the people of India after a fashion much more solemn and impressive as it comes from the lips, and under the most solemn surroundings, of the Rmg. Everybody looks to a great tranquilisation of Indian opinion from the bold and impressive act, and to that extent all sound Liberals in the Ilf.use of Commons have received the newt with -gratification. A New Epoch. The truth is that Liberal opinion is gradually coming to the conclusion that we must depart—gradually and cautiously, of course—from the old policy towards India. It is impossible to apply to a nation which is being gradually educated in the old methods of irresponsible and entirely unrepresentative government. The Eastern intellect and the Eastern outlook on life arc quite different from ours, but anybody who has ever associated with educated Indians will know that to look upon them as inferior intellectually to ns is an of surd and ev en insolent superstition. Broad thinkers also acknowledge that though our own view of life is, on the whole, probably the saner, the Oriental point of view has also its own merits and its own claims. Anyhow, no real Democratic thinker ever suggests that all national individualities must ho cast, much less forced, into the same mould. There.is such a thing as Free Trade in nationality, as in commerce; that is to say, that each nation does h6st which is allowed follow on the line of its own individuality—as much a law of life and of nature as gravitation or the of difference of soil and of climate. And that being so, Democratic thought looks to the gradual devolution to the Indians 'themselves of a greater share in the management of their own country and their own people. It s J he so views which derive so much satisfaction from the momentous pro-

nouncements of the King in India. Me see in those pronouncements far more in the future than even then - present daring and importance. Tpey mark the beginning of a now epoch, and a new method, and a. new point of view. One class which will doubtless he offended and even enraged is that; very perilous class of young officials | and young soldiers who have not yet| got rid of the old 'idea that the native | Indian, however high his-.station, hist character, or Ids intelligence, is still| to he regarded as a. “nigger.” Over an I owr again I have li.-ard linli.n gentlemen, nndistinguishahlo from an Englishman except in colour, give instances of such acts of, brutal had manners as the forcible exclusion or a young .subaltern from his carriage in a railway train of gentlemen and ladies of the highest position in .India for no 'better reason than that they were natives. Little acts of discourtesy like these work like madness on. the brain, and are accountable for many of our troubles in India. It is time they should coiiie to an end, and that the offspring of a Democratic nation, passionately attached to freedom, to equality, and to good manners, should act more in accordance with the best traditions of their own country and their own race. D.pShi as Capital. The' transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi is a local question on which naturally opinion in England is more slow to pronounce an opinion; it is a question which requires an intimate knowledge of Indian life and Indian opinion. But, .again, tiro first impression in this case also is favourable. Calcutta, with all its disadvantage®, is a .seaport in essence; and, therefore, if there came the stress of any disturbance, more accessible to British and British troops. That advantage does not exist an the case of a midland city like Delhi, in the very heart and centre of India. And, of course, a great city like Calcutta cannot he dethroned from its supreme position without causing a good deal of loss and a good deal -of heart-burning. Many great businesses may be temporarily disturbed ; many susceptibilities may ho wounded ; and the transfer must cost a groat amount of money. But in spite of these very obvious disadvantages, the general opinion in England is that the change is a salutary one. From the point of view of the great officials, it as certainly desirable. The climate of Calcutta is very weakening to health and energy; hand compels the hard-worked Indian official—and, whatever his faults the Indian official is the. most hardworked iman- in the; Imperial .sgryice—to seek resumption of health and vigour and spirit, in flight to the hill country around Simla. But Delhi is thirty-six-hours hy fastest train from Calcutta; which means that when the Government migrates there it is a long distance from the centre of Government; and, that his stay has to ho extended, ever a... lopg period. Delhi is ;pnly twelve hours .by train from Simla;; and there is therefore no,.reason why, when he. is-nip down by'work and by the climate, the hard-worked and exhausted official should . not run up to the better climate of Simla. lAnd - even when his residence there has to he extended over some months, he is still close in touch with the capital; for twelve hours in these rapid days do not mean much of *a distance; and with a good telegraph and telephone service, the Governor-General and his colleagues can do business at Simla almost as rapidly as in, Delhi itself. Those are the practical justifications cf the change; hut, of course, sentiment counted for much in resolving on this momentous transfer; and all sentiment justifies and vindicates the transfers. Calcutta., after all, is the centre of only one great .section: of the multifarious Indian population. And the supreme fact and the crowning difficulty of Indian administration—as well as the final vindication of British rule—is that these three hundred' millions of people consist of a vast conglomeration of races, different not only in character and tendencies, hut in religious faiths—held strongly, and sometimes fiercely. Now, at Delhi, in its central position, the British Government of India will he in touch with all India ; with all its races, ■ with all its creeds; and this, without doubt, will give it an opportunity of more thorough acquaintance with oil sorts and conditions of opinion, than in the detached remoteness of Calcutta. • One must odd to those powerful appeals to sentiment, the other, and even more potent fact, that Delhi holds a place in Indian history and in the Indian imagination, Which would never be approached even hy any other city in the vast country. It is the ancient seat of government; it is bound up with a thousand stories in India’s annals. Benares is the sacrod religious city of India. In that respect the transfer of the capital to Delhi makes a powerful appeal to the imagination of all the Indian people; and will he rightly interpreted hy them as a recognition of their nationality and aspirations. Thus, then, hy an act of courage and prompt decision, the Ministry have opened a new and a brighter era. in the history of India and of England. It is one of the many victories to he counted to the credit of the powerful, progressive, and courageous body of men who, for the last five years, have been responsible for the government of the British dominions at homo and abroad. It adds to the glory of accomplished and gigantic social reforms; the additional glory of a sound colonial policy, calculated to draw closer to them all the people in the world-wide Empire.