LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE TORY PROGRAMME
Stn,—Mr. Rawlinson, in your issue of last week, criticises, by implication, the speeches made by Mr. R. A. Butler and me at the Blackpool Con- ference. He says that they had disastrous repercussions in India. I have not the least idea what he means. Mr. Butler and I emphasised, as did my resolution, our support of full self-government for India. It is unlikely that we should have spoken otherwise since we both risked our seats to support the Government of India Bill thirteen years ago. So strongly was I attacked by Tcry opponents of the Bill in my con- stituency that I had to ask for (and obtained) a vote of confidence by the Tory Association there.
We asked fcr proper safeguards for minorities. After the events in Calcutta and Bombay in recent months, anyone who fails to support such a demand is, in my opinion, devoid of any measure of common sense. I said that it would be intolerable if, when Parliament has no longer any responsibility fcr Indian Government, British troops were employed to maintain internal order. Mr. Rawlinson believes that the statement of these unimpeachable contentions has "complicated the Viceroy's task." I have had long Parliamentary and administrative experience. I was a Parliamentary Private Secretary as long ago as 1905. I was in the Cabinet (I have never been ashamed of the fact) in September, 1938. I %%as nearly seven years at the India Office and a member of two " round table " conferences. One thing all this has taught me. It is not the statement but the evasion of hard, unpleasant facts which does mischief in a country like Britain, whose kindly, tolerant inhabitants wish con- stantly to persuade themselves that all the rest of the world is as humane
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