UNREALITY IN INDIAN POLITICS. (To THE EDITOR or THE "
SPECTATOR.") SIR.—Indian politics remind one of a very dangerous kind of child's play. It is as if a number of naughty children had obtained access to a munitions factory and there played with
the instruments of death with the freedom and irresponsi-
bility of childhood. But whereas real children would be summarily whipped and rent to bed, the grown-up children of the Orient who have suddenly precipitated themselves into Imperial politics are coaxed and petted by the India Office and encouraged in their dangerous sport, while experienced administrators are frowned on and cold-shouldered. And all because there is known or suspected to be a liaison between Indian politicians and the leaders of the Labour Party. FOr this reason—surely the most pitiful that ever caused statesmen to swerve from the path of common sense—the whole fabric of the Empire is to be thrown into the melting-pot.
The facts that distinguish India from the Dominions are plain and obvious. India requires a British garrison for its protection. The Dominions do not. Tl►e electorates of the Dominions are of European stock, mostly of British stock, and have behind them the experience of generations of self- government. The Indian electorate will be far otherwise constituted. The Dominion electorates come of a race which thirteen centuries ago was converted to Christianity, and their ideals have taken shape under Christian influence. The predominating influences in India through that long tract of years have been Moslem and Hindu, and only in quite recent times has Christianity influenced the formation of Indian ideals. And yet in deference to the momentary exigencies of politicians we are to pretend that India is like Australia. In a matter of supreme moment affecting hundreds of millions of His Majesty's subjects, affecting, indeed, the whole British Empire, we are to indulge in make-believe.
"Things are what they are and the consequences will be what they will be." No amount of make-believe will make India a "Dominion" in the Canadian or Australian sense. Behind Canada, behind Australia, lie centuries of effort. The character of the English- man as it stands out in the modern world is the result of steadfast striving to combine liberty with law. The toil was hard. The way to ordered liberty was long. No race can enter into our heritage till it submit itself to our discipline. But that heritage, which we hold in trust for mankind, is too precious to be lightly risked. We dare not risk being placed in the false position of having to sanction conduct repugnant to British ideals of justice and humanity. We cannot permit a revival of widow-burning or child murder, nor abandon the hope of the cessation of child marriages, at least so long as they involve the possibility of life-long compulsory widow- hood. We remember the forces of cruelty, contempt, and pride that lurk beneath the surface of Indian society, and we know that to be just to India we must be true to our-
Previous page
