The Government have evidently felt this themselves as Mr. Montagu's
letter—though the letter is signed by Mr. Montagu it is no doubt the judgment of the Cabinet—begins with the occurrences at the sunk garden at Amritsar on April 13th, 1919. The Cabinet are far more emphatic in their condemnation of General Dyer than is the Majority Report of the Hunter Com- mittee. General Dyer's action in firing on the unarmed crowd without warning and in continuing to fire until there were some 1,500 casualties although the crowd was trying to disperse, is condemned as " inconsistent with the principle that when military action in support of the civil authorities is required the minimum of force necessary should be used." General Dyer, it is added, " was not entitled to select for condign punish- ment an unarmed crowd which had committed no acts of violence, many members of which must have been unaware that they were disobeying his commands."
