[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,— For utter ignorance
of India and the mentality and psychology of its varied peoples and religions your article of July 19th and its conclusions is hard to beat. Had this article appeared in the Indian Extremist Press or emanated from Moscow or any of the other enemies the British Empire possesses, the reader would be able to appreciate its general sentiments. That it should appear in a paper of the standing as the Spectator is a grave indictment of its Editor and Directors, not only as regards their lack of understanding, hut above all on account of their lack of patriotism. You seem to ignore the Simon Report with its comprehensive analysis of India and the present situation and indulge in the diatribes, unhappily so common in England, against Indian ex-administrators and residents whose chief crime appears to be some experience and knowledge of the country in which they have passed their lives. No one would talk of Europe as an entity in any form except geographical, yet you and other armchair critics calmly speak of India with its population of one-fifth of the world, its various religions, languages, and social differences, as if it comprised a single nation. The fact that ninety per cent, of the population is agricultural you also appear to ignore. I enclose a letter—not mine—addressed to the Statesman which sums up the general situation, in ease you are not too prejudiced to read it.
I may add that I am the fourth generation of my family in India, and had the privilege of serving with an Indian regiment during the War, while I have also lived in mofussil, or country, districts for some years. I have many Indian friends and like and admire the Indian soldier ; it is on their account as much as from patriotic motives that I write so strongly.—I
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