The significance and methods of the recent riots in Bombay,
after the trial and conviction of Mr. Tilak, are explained by a correspondent in the Times of Wednesday. The principal object of the riot-leaders was to procure a general strike. But that was a rather difficult thing to do, as the strikers, chiefly mill-hands, confessedly had no particular economic grievance. One of the largest mills was made the head- quarters of a campaign of false rumour. It was said that Mr. Tilak was improperly sentenced at night when the "powers of evil weighed down the scales of justice "; and that the ship in which Mr. Tilak was taken away was miraculously turned back. Really, Mr. Tilak was removed by train to an up- country prison. By such stories and by threats the men in one mill were indueed to strike. The coercion of other mills followed from this centre. The lesson of the strikes is that labour in India, notoriously unorganised and uneducated as it is, can do a vast amount of mischief when worked upon by dangerous agents. As the forces controlled by sedition became gradually more amenable to their leaders, as doubtless they would become, the trouble would be much graver than it was a month ago. The suppression of sedition at the source is proved to be the only right and wise policy.
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