LIFE AND LABOUR OF THE PEOPLE OF INDIA.
Are and Labour of the People of India. By Abdullah Yusuf- Ali. (John Murray. 12s. net.)—The author of this book is a native of India who has studied in Cambridge, and has spent much time in observing European life. The volume contains the substance of lectures delivered at the Passmore Edwards Institute and elsewhere, papers that have appeared in sundry magazines and reviews, and some fresh matter. It is impossible to speak too highly of the spirit and tone which pervade all that the author has to say. That he is wholly satisfied with the present order of things cannot be said. But he gives the British rule credit for a sincere desire to promote the benefit of its subjects, and his most vigorous appeals are to his own countrymen to exert themselves to bring about the amelioration of social and material conditions. Reform cannot be effected from without, if it is to go below the surface. " Until woman's sphere is drawn concentrically with man's; until the idea of love is ennobled through the magic light of poetry and chivalry, and marriage ceases to be an affair of convention and becomes an affair of the heart; until then the salvation of the higher classes, or indeed of any of the classes in India, will be a mere chimaera." So writes Abdullah Yusuf-Ali, and if he is right there is plenty of work for the Congress Party to do before they try to get rid of the British raj. If it be objected that such changes are very slow indeed, and that this means putting off the whole question to the Greek Kalends, then there are suggestions in the section headed " Industrial and Economic Problems" to be considered. Among the many interesting things in this volume may be noted the fact that "the charter of the Swadeshi movement is already embodied in a Government Resolution." The whole book is well worth study.
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