1 AUGUST 1931, Page 25

Four Books on India

India on the Brink. By a British Merchant. (King. 3s.)

Boons published to-day on the Indian situation are likely to fall into one of two elasses—those which violently attack British rule, and those which violently defend. Passions have been aroused, and therefore controversy on this subject is almost inevitable.

India on the Brink is highly controversial in this sense. As the title shows, it is intended to be frankly sensational. Its main theme is that Indians have hitherto shown no capacity for self-government. For this reason, Great Britain must continue to govern India for India's own benefit. Only British rule, firmly administered, can save India from appalling disaster. The book consists mainly of long quotations, which are intended to prove this thesis.

Mr. Byron's Essay on India, on the other hand, is an exceptional and original work with a singularly impartial

outlook. The author begins his story with an account of the way in which he came to India—a country that had afforded no interest to him whatever before. " My sojourn in India," he relates, " was a period of acute intellectual strain. The strain began as I stepped from an aeroplane at. Karachi on August 4th, 1929 ; and it by no means ended when I boarded the P. and 0. at Bombay on April 4th, 1930.

I went to India primarily in order to reach Tibet, secondarily because Lord Beaverbrook gave me a ticket."

When an author opens like this and startles the reader with some new unexpected thought on every page, it becomes hard to leave his book aside. The present reviewer would confess that he found the essay so interesting that it was not put down till the last page was reached. Mr. Byron's main theme is that America and Russia have both become converts to the modern material conception of civilization- They have ultimately given way to that standardized mechani- zation of human life, by scientific methods, which destroys human sensibility and spiritual ideals. It remains for India either to go over to the same materialism, or else, with the sympathy and support of Great Britain, to resist it and by resisting save our higher human culture for the future genera- tions of mankind. Japan and China cannot do this. They have already gone over to the " enemy." Only Indian idealism remains between us and- chaos. It may unite itself with the idealism still not entirely overwhelmed in Europe, and thus create a new world. " I see," he says, " the whole philosophy of Western history and culture--already thrown aside in Russia and the United States—now undergoing the supreme and ultimate test of its practical value " in India.

The surprise of this book grows greater when one tries to think how such intimate knowledge of the crucial problems

of India could have been gained in so short a tune. Towards

the end of the book the author condemns unsparingly the intolerable racial attitude of the British, which has so pro- foundly embittered Indian social life. He is equally un- sparing in his condemnation of the modern Indian, who oft en shouts himself hoarse with the raucous cries of nationalism and waves flags in the most grossly Western manner, while claiming to represent Indian culture.

Mr. Gundappa's pamphlet on The Slates and their People deserves also the highest praise. -It is a well-arranged and

documented review of one of the most difficult subjects which will come up before the Round Table Conference when it reassembles in September. The author is outspoken in his disappointment at the Princes' attitude during the earlier Conference sessions. They bluffed and in the end surrendered nothing at all. They entrenched their own position, as arbitrary rulers, at the expense of their subjects. Mr. Gundappa hopes that at the next session the leading Indian statesmen will not barter away, as they did before, the rights of Indian States' subjects.

Lieut.-Commander Kenworthy's India : A Warning, does not go so deep as either of the two books just mentioned, but it offers a most interesting picture of the surface of Indian political life as it was watched by a very keen observer. Commander Kenworthy had the advantage of meeting personally many Indian leaders who candidly gave him their own opinions. Perhaps the most important of all his con- clusions is that the younger generation in India is deter- mined to put aside the Hindu-Muslim "communal divisions and to stand for a purely national franchise. " The future," he says, " lies with the youth of India. They are creating one-fifth of the population of the world into one people. And who can set boundaries to the march of a People ? " It is probably altogether premature to assert so positively that the communal tension will be over in a single generation ; but every well-wisher of humanity will long that Commander Iienvrorthy's prophecy may prove true.

C. F. ANDREWS.