The Government and the Round Table Conference have to come
before it for discussion, such as the public debt, and the control of the army.. It is difficult to resist the impression that the Congress leaders have deliberately stiffened their terms, in order to preserve their position of splendid moral isolation. In this they have failed, for Lord Irwin's reply proved beyond any doubt that the British Government in India has not .abandoned a policy of conciliation, and is ready to return to it the moment the present threat to law and order is withdrawn. With the withdrawal of the emergency ordinances, and ade- quate representation at the Round Table Conference, both of which were among the terms offered by Lord Irwin,- the Congress party would have been in a very strong position, reinforced by the .cessation of the civil dis- obedience movement. As it is, by attempting to deprive the Conference of its proper function, they have weakened their own position, as reports from India, already -show, and made it far easier for the Conference to proceed
wit hout them. ,
lint, if the Conference may, indeed must, now proceed without them, it is all the more necessary that it should not ignore that which they represent. Parallel with the Congress attempt to forestall the Round Table Con- ference there has been going on in this country a persistent attempt to exalt the Report of the Simon Commission—to present it to the British public in the light of the only possible settlement.: Now that the Congress Party is with- drawn from the Conference there will be a temptation for this country to fall .back upon the elements which hold this view, forgetting that the Simon Report proposals have not been made any more acceptable to India than they were before. The weight of the Indian States &le-. gation_ and of the less liberal parties in the Conference will be far greater in proportion now than it would have been with Congress - participation. Up to this point the Labour Government has withstood admirably the attempt to make it declare in favour of the Simon Report. Now that it finds the way made easy, the temptation.must be even more strongly resisted. The avowed object of the Labour Party, the establishment of the constitution of India on a permanent basis, becomes even more important than before, for if it is not attained the Congress will-imme- diately regain the position of moral prestige, which it has slow, for the .moment, thrown away ; and it will be strong enough to render any other constitution.unwork-
able. .
What exactly the establishment of such a Constitution will involve should he a matter for the Round -Table Conference to discuss, and nobody to-day can -predict what form its deliberations will take. We have already said, however, that in our opinion the assumption. of Dominion Status by India is quite compatible with the safeguards which are admitted by all parties to be necessary during the transition period. Were this status secured to India by the new Constitution, moreover,• a number of questions would automatically be settled which have caused much heart burning both in India and outside. The status of a Dominion, for instance, as we have repeatedly pointed out, involves automatically, if not the right, the ability to secede from the Empire. It also involves complete fiscal autonomy. It cannot include the right to repudiate debts, but as many people have been made aware by recent agitation in Australia, it includes the ability to do so.
Such possibilities as this, however, need not be ex. mined too closely. Given a Constitution which satisfies reasonable Indians, it is certain that the debt of India to Great Britain will be seen more clearly in India, whose people arc naturally. among the most sensitively honour- able in the world. The question for the Government now is how to secure such a Constitution from the Round Table Conference.
Previous page
