[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In the matter of
General Dyer and Amritsar, I have a few observations to make which may be of interest. At the time of the Jalianwalabagh affair I was in charge of Gurdaspur District, which borders on Amritsar District. As there are some who have called in question the reality of the emergency in the Punjab at that time, may I affirm my profound con- viction that the emergency was genuine and acute ? Only the day before that unhappy Sunday I had called in British troops, and gathered the Batala missionaries, with their Indian schoolboys and masters, in my house at headquarters.
A few days after the Sunday incident General Dyer came to my district with a Movable Column. Till he left next day I was in close touch with him. The impression I got from that contact was that he was grieved over the loss of life at Amritsar, and I believe he would have given expression to that grief when he was examined before the Hunter Commission if the manner in which he was handled there had not provoked him into speaking unadvisedly. I was only present when pert of the evidence was given, but what I heard made use wonder whether cross-examination is necessarily an efficient instrument for the eliciting of truth.—I am, Sir, &e., II. HARCOURT. 6 Pig Tree Court, Temple, E.C. 4.
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