India—The Next Step

BY EDWARD VILLIERS, President of the European Association of India.

(While we do not necessarily agree with all the views expressed in Mr. Villiers' article, we welcome the opportunity of allowing him to express them, as against the misinterpretations of the European community in India which aro current in this country.—En. Spectator.]

SINCE the ROund Table Conference adjourned in January much has been gained and, I fear, much lost. The great gain lies in the successful issue to the conversations which

Lord Irwin had with Mr. Gandhi, and which resulted in the belated agreement of the Congress to- participate in. the resumed Conference. The Congress, as has been said over and over again, does not represent India, but equally it cannot be denied that it is the best organized political party in India, and to that extent fullness of representation will be added to the Conference if, and when, it .reassembles for.

the purpose of develdping the principles provisionally accepted at ifs first session. This is all to the good and' constitutes a full justification of the policy which Lord Irwin, in the face of opposition and discouragement but with unswerving constancy of purpose, has pursued throughout his term of office. There can be no question that he has been right, for although the Conference, as previously constituted and without Congress participation, could have and doubtless would have evolved a workable Constitution for the con- sideration of Parliament, nevertheless a Constitution to which all parties agree will have a vastly better chance of success than would otherwise be the case.

Demands, however, have subsequently been made by Congress: Those which are of immediate concern are the right of secession from the Empire and the avowed determination to accept only such reservations and safeguards as may be,

in the opinion of Congress, for the good of India.

The British trading community in India have held throughout that, for- the safety of India herself, certain

statutory reservations must be made—such as the Army, foreign affairs, finance and so forth ; also that there must be certain provisions such as shall preclude either the British

or their trade being legislated on to a basis of non-equality- in other words, of their waking up one day to find them,

selves legislated into the position of foreigners in a country which they, more than anyone else, have created as one of the great world powers of to-day. On the question of these reservations and safeguards, and of their absolute and undoubted right to them, the British will admit of no question ; and indeed, the . principle has already been definitely accepted by the Conference.

The question of secession, however, is somewhat different, for unless it is cleared up beforehand it threatens to wreck the Conference. For the past three months Mr. Gandhi and

his confreres have been saying openly that they are going to demand the right of India's secession from the Empire. This question cuts right across the most important of the

principles agreed to at the first session of the Conference, namely, an all-India federation ; the absolute basis of such a federation obviously postulates the participation of the Ruling Princes ; they, however, made it a condition precedent to their agreement to enter that India should remain an integral part of the Empire, and there is no doubt but that the Princes would refuse to participate in the all-India federation did they think that there was any question of India seceding. If, therefore, this matter of secession is raised by the Congress, the Chairman will be faced with one of two alternatives. Either he will hold that the question of secession is inadmissible because, apart from any other reason, it would, by excluding the Princes, at once destroy all chances of a federation, or, in the alternative, he would admit it with all that such an admission would entail.

If, taking the first alternative, the Chairman rules the whole question as being inadmissible, and the matter is not cleared up beforehand, the Congress delegates will have the perfect right to say that they have been brought to the Conference under false pretences.

If, on the other hand, the issue is raised, it is tantamount to reopening the entire question of an all-India federation, and the remaining delegates would doubtless take up the attitude that if the most important and spontaneous agreement is to be reopened, just because two or three new delegates wished so to do, there would be no finality in anything and further discussions would be a waste of time.

From every point of view, therefore, it would seem that this question should be settled now.

When first the Conference assembled a good deal of criticism was heard to the effect that no agenda had been drawn up by the Government. So essential was it, however, to establish the fact that all parties were assembling with completely open minds, that the lack 9f an agenda was undoubtedly a wise thing. The position now, however, is different. Certain broad principles have tentatively and conditionally been accepted, and to that extent the Conference will reassemble with closed minds ; closed, that is, so far as the principles themselves are concerned, but still open as to the best methods by which these principles can be implemented.

The obvious step now, therefore, is for Mr. MacDonald's Government to draw up and' publish a detailed agenda. That will at once rule out such, to my mind, wild suggestions as the right of secession from the Empire. But this agenda should be published now ; it will be too late when the Conference itself is about to resume.

There is one other matter only which I have space to men- tion, one which, unlike the last, is a matter of principle and not merely of procedure. There has arisen a tendency to ignore the all-important constituent units of the proposed federation and to envisage only the coping stone of the federal centre. It is possible that some of our Indian friends have adopted this attitude out of a genuine fear that provincial autonomy might be fobbed off on them in place of that which they seem to value so much more highly, namely, the responsible government at the centre. None the less, until the component units of the federation, the confederate States, have been constituted, it is surely idle to consider exclusively the federal centre ; for until confederate States have been established there is surely nothing to federalize.

Moreover, if the federal government is going to be evolved on a basis which shall be worthy of India; it will be evolved only after surmounting the host of difficulties which lie ahead. With the best will in the world, and with the desire that we all have got to, get matters stabilized and .settled as quickly as possible, this federal government must surely take some years to work out when the innumerable points on which prior agree- ment has to be reached are taken into consideration. No such delays, however, need take place in the case of the confederate States, for they, as separate entities, have only got to consider the evolving of their own constitutions in such a manner as to satisfy the national characteristics and difficulties of each as well as the susceptibilities of the more important communities ; a difficult task, but not approaching the difficulty of the former.

The sooner, therefore, that provincial Round Table Conferences can be set up the sooner will there be something to federalize, and the sooner will India feel the reality of Parliament's determination to give her the vital principles of self-government.

The reality of self-government can be secured for India only by building up from the units below, and not by the unreal and top-heavy method of devolution from above.

India cannot be governed like a British county by direct, executive order from Delhi. It can only be governed piece- meal, unit by unit, whether these units are called provinces or confederate States. It is infinitely more important, therefore, to push on now with the provincial Constitutions than it is to spend overmuch thought on the ultimate evolution of the centre, for whatever is decided now is bound subse- quently to be modified as the confederate States develop their own national Governments. Eventually the centre Govern- ment is going to be what the provinces make it. The growing point is in the States themselves ; that is where the life of the plant is to be found.

Let us therefore give immediate facilities to each State to evolve its own provincial Government along the lines to which its native genius impels it ; then, and then only,' will the political structure contain the germs of reality and contentment.