India at the Crossings. By Lord Meston. (Cambridge University Press.
3s. 6d. net.)—Lord Meston's recent Rede Lecture is, in effect, an admission that the Montagu-Chelmsford scheme is a gamble. He points out that India has never known anything about democracy, and that " it will require no ordinary casuistry to reconcile caste disabilities with democratic theory," while communal representation, upon which all the minorities insist, implies that the different communities in India mistrust one another. Lord Meston points out how the killing of a cow may set friendly Hindu and Moslem villagers at each other's throats, and how the Hindu philosophy of despair is " the dead hand on Indian life." He expresses anxiety as to the conse- quences of entrusting education to native ministers ; his remark that " Indian opinion " was " unanimous " in favour of this decision is, however, profoundly misleading, for, as he himself says, " in India a small section of public men have to work upon a perfectly raw electorate, to create public opinion before they can lead it." That is, there is no such thing as " Indian opinion." Lord Meston is one of Mr. Montagu's supporters, but he takes almost as gloomy a view of the outlook as any of Mr. Montagu's critics because, unlike his chief, he knows India.
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