THE INDIANS IN SOUTH AFRICA.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR"] SIR,—In your leading article on this subject in the issue of November 22nd you emphasize the fact "that although the right of self-government involves the right to do wrong," and although " the principle that the British Empire watches over the welfare and rights of all its subjects is in collision with the principle of self-government," yet " the principle of interfering with a self-governing Dominion is hopelessly wrong." Now you cannot have it both ways. It seems to me that yours is a most excellent statement of the case and principle of self-government, but on one assumption only— that the matter in question is really a self-governing question —that is, some question of strictly local interest to a certain colony. Now can this question, which affects the Empire as a whole, in so far as the Indians are subjects of one of the Imperial Dominions, to which Dominion the Empire has as great obligations as it has to the colony—can this question be looked on as one of self-government pure and simple ? The question of the Indians is what may be called " an overlapping question," for it has its self-governing colony aspect and its Imperial aspect, or, to put it in other words, Is Great Britain, as representing the Empire, in order to satisfy the non- interference principle in one of her colonies, supremely to dissatisfy the enormous body of opinion in one of her Dominions? I take it that there is "another principle " involved in this question. Is there not a tacit "Imperial principle " that all subjects of the Empire should enjoy the rights that the privilege of citizenship confers on them? Now if it be conceded that Imperial citizenship does confer privileges, it may well be asked why should one colony of the Empire be allowed to infringe this principle, thereby denying the subjects of another part of the Empire from enjoying all that that principle involves ? Is it not becoming more and more clear that the Empire cannot be run on a watertight compartment system, but that certain overlapping questions must be treated Imperially P—I am, Sir, &c., W. H. DEEDES,
Captain Imperial Ottoman Gendarmerie.
[No doubt it would be an immense benefit if there were some body vested with authority to treat overlapping ques- tions Imperially and authoritatively. Till, however, we reach that happy stage we can only trust to diplomacy and good sense. These are questions which cannot be rushed.—En. Spectator.]
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