The Round Table Conference
As we write His Majesty the King-Emperor is opening the Round Table Conference, probably the most important gathering of his subjects which has ever assembled in London. We do not exaggerate. The Indian delegates to the Confereece have in their power the opportunity of making recommendations which, if unanimous, will profoundly affect the welfare of the entire human race. No British Parliament would be able to withstand the demands of a united Indian delegation.
We do not propose to go over old ground nor to attempt to draw up a constitution for India. But we will reiterate our belief that, no matter how great the difficulties, it should be possible to reach two separate objectives, provincial autonomy as recommended in the Simon Report and a supreme all-India Federal authority, including the native States and minority interests, which in due course would become to the United States of India in some respects what Congress and the Senate are to the States of the American Union.
The Spectator has never wavered in its recognition of the fact that India, if she is to remain within the British Commonwealth, must be granted equal status with Great Britain and with the Dominions—by whatever name this status may be called. When India had fewer friends in the Press of Great Britain we urged that the only way to ensure friendly co-operation between Great Britain and India in the future, to which we attach so much importance, was to grant India's absolute right to decide her own destiny in the future. By " India" we meant all sections of British India and the Native States. In our view, whatever the constitutional lawyers may say, the self-governing India of the future, and any other self-governing States in the British Commonwealth, will have the right to withdravi from the British Empire should it desire to do so.
This right, in our view, is implicit in the Balfour Declaration of 1926. But this is not to say that we think it will be used. Just the contrary. Let us take the example of South Africa, the Dominion in the British Commonwealth where national sentiment is perhaps strongest, or at least as strong as in Southern Ireland or Canada. The links which bind South Africa to the British Commonwealth to-day are much stronger than ever before, because they are based on freedom and not on compulsion. The change which has taken place in Nationalist sentiment in that country since the declara- tion of " equal status " in the 1926 IMperial Conference is a remarkable tribute to British political genius.
No nation in the history of civilization has been given such a wonderful opportunity of leaving its footmark in the sands of time as has the British nation to-day. Such opportunities do not come often in a nation's life. To assist in the creation of the United States of India, con- sisting of one-fifth of the world's population, and to help it to become one of the world's great powers, is one of the greatest tasks ever given to any nation. How small in comparison sound the arguments, used in certain quarters in Great Britain, about " Great Britain's deter- mination to look after her own interests and to think of British trade and not to pay any attention to Indian agitation."
The British nation can act magnanimously when the moment comes. Its treatment of South Africa after the South African War will never be forgotten while the world lasts. A successful nation, at the end of a bitter struggle, gave to the conquered foe, within five years of the armistice, the right to decide its own destiny.
To-day Great Britain has an even greater opportunity for exercising her gifts of statesmanship and of showing the world how real is her belief in free institutions. It is part of our spiritual " make up," woven into the very texture of our being. With a full realization of the tremendous responsibility resting upon us, and of the great opportunity before us, in all humbleness we should ask for Divine guidance in these fateful weeks that we may do the great thing in a great way. ,
Even from the standpoint of national self-interest by no surer method could the British people secure their trade and other " interests " in India than by this policy. There is such a thing as national gratitude. We have only to call to mind the affection, the esteem with which Lafayette is regarded in the United States of America—one hundred and fifty years after he fought for American freedom. If the British nation showed by its acts that it was just as devoted to the welfare of India as the most ardent Indian patriot and that its sole desire is to help to create a great and powerful United States of India at the earliest possible moment, without any thought of personal benefit or loss, then Great Britain would grapple India to her with invisible rivets which could not be broken.
We have never doubted that India needs Great Britain as much as Great Britain needs India. We think the work of social amelioration, of hygienic betterment, of irrigation, of education, of emancipation which might be achieved in that country with the help of British men and women is only beginning. British help will be required in India for many a long day to come, but it must be given in response to India's asking. If India is to remain within the British Commonwealth, as we hope, what better service could the individual Briton render than to advance the welfare of India as a great free nation within the family of Britannic nations!!
Last week an Indian friend said to the present writer : " What is really being decided at the Round Table Conference is whether the British Commonwealth is great enough to become a World Commonwealth, embrac- ing nations of all colours and creeds, or whether it is just going to • become a Commonwealth of white nations." True words if ever we heard any. It is because we believe in the great mission of the British Commonwealth that we pray that Britain may rise to the greatness of the present occasion and lay the foundations truly and well of the United States of India. But as Sir Francis Younghusband writes elsewhere in this week's issue, " the future of India must be in her own hands."
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