Sta,—The whole point of those who cannot rest satisfied with
the present attitude of the British Government in India is that we want the con- viction of those who are at present defying it, rather than their coercion; and we do not despair of attaining it. We want more initiative on the side of the Government, and a refusal to despair. If all that is possible has been done by the Viceroy, by Mr. Winston Churchill, by Mr. Amery, Sir Stafford Cripps, and the whole Cabinet, still there are others who might be asked to try. The Indian members of the Viceroy's Council, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru single-handed, or representatives of the United Nations, China, the U.S.S.R. and the United States, or one alone—Mr. Roosevelt—all have been suggested. They might refuse. They might try and fail. • Certainly. But no one can tell. Why not try? What should they negotiate about? Well; what are the points on which nearly all of us think the most powerful of India's leaders, Mr. Gandhi, to be mistaken? Two, I think. First, he is mistaken in claiming that the National Congress Party represents the whole of India; and second, he is mistaken in the belief that India could oppose a wholly non-violent opposition to Japanese invaders. I say Indians could not do this because I believe with Mr. Gandhi that, if they could, it would be the most effective method of opposition ever adopted. The trouble is that they cannot do it, as sporadic outbreaks of violence have already proved. It requires superhuman self-control, and any nation that attempts it is trying to use a weapon it has not got. It is this fact that has forced many Pacifists in this country (including myself) to abandon their Pacifism.
Mr Gandhi has often in the past shown himself a realist. Cannot yet
another attempt be made to convince him that he is now ignoring facts? To keep him interned and without any contact with the outside world, unaware even that violence has already been used and is being used by his adherents, is to keep...him in ignorance of the very facts which might effect his conversion. To despair of it while any effort on the part of any person or persons of goodwill remains unmade is surely a very grave mistake. For what do we all really want? To convince our critics that we have always done well, or that we have on the whole done well, or at least, better than other white rulers of coloured populations, 'or to prove that, in the last resort, we can crush Mr. Gandhi? All of us, I suppose, would like to achieve some of these objectives; but what we want even more is a united contented India—united within itself, how- ever loosely, and united against the Axis Powers.—Yours, &c.,
MAUDE ROYDEN.
Nestlewood, Bayley's Hill, Sevenoaks, Kent.
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