INDIA IN TRANSITION.*
Swam time has elapsed since the first edition of this book was published in 1885; and some of the remarks relating to changes consequent on the developments of modern civilisa- tion have lost their freshness, if not some of their weight. Especially in the paper which Sir Henry Cotton has entitled "The Increased Bitterness of Raze Feeling" is it evident that comparison is being made with a rather distant past. A quarter of a century ago English officials in India were able to visit England in the space of three months' leave ; they came home practically as often as they do now, cora- mnnicated with England as frequently, and retired as early. It is not to such facts, therefore, that any recent change in the feeling between Europeans and natives of India can be attributed. Further, with regard to this, as to many other subjects dealt with in the book, it is highly doubtful whether Sir Henry Cotton's statements have more than a restricted local application. The preface informs the reader that he served for thirty-five years as a member of the Indian Civil Service. This period was, however, as we understand, spent exclusively in the North-East of India; and very many of the author's views are not shared by the majority of officers who served equally long in the same province. It is evident from many parts of his book that Sir Henry Cotton has a very slight acquaintance with the races, of much greater military strength and political importance than the Bengalis, inhabiting Upper India. In fact, the English reader, for whom the book is "primarily intended," has much need to be on his guard against sweeping assertions constantly made by the author concerning "the nation" and "the people," which do not really relate to the people of India at large, but are based on the author's experience or beliefs regarding the population of a single province.
The book consists of a number of papers dealing with various aspects of Indian polity and administration. Written in excellent English, it will doubtless be found interesting even by those whose attention is likely to flag considerably in reading the more technical portions. To us the best chapters appear to be those dealing with "The Social and Moral Crisis" and "The Religious Tendencies of India." These papers are uncontroversial (except so far as their negation of missionary advance may be traversed by some), and they explain sym- pathetically the moral difficulty in which the Hindu who has unlearned his ancestral faith is placed, and point out the novel theories and quasi-beliefs which have gained some degree of temporary acceptance. The chapters of limited and technical scope, dealing with the tenure and taxation of land, and with the judicial administration, contain an abundance of controversial matter, and will not convince, nor in any great measure enlighten, the English reader. It is, for instance, obviously extravagant to allege (p. 96) that the theory of the established land-revenue system is that the land belongs to "a small minority of foreigners" or "party of foreign occupiers who choose to call themselves 'the State.' " The information supplied to the English reader is also frequently partial and incomplete, even allowing for the moderate dimensions of the book. We much doubt if a correct impression is conveyed by the statement (p. 126) that the expenditure on primary education from funds of the State is small and that there is no free education. In the paper relating to "The Separation of Judicial from Executive Functions" it does not appear to be anywhere explained that complete separation already exists as regards civil judicial work ; nor that the executive local officer has no power of interference with Courts authorised to pass a sentence of more than two years' imprisonment ; nor, again, that in all except trifling cases an appeal from conviction lies to an • Na, India; or, India in Transition. By Sic Henry Cotton, ILCALI., Revised Edition. London, Hogan Paul, Trench, and Co. [Se. (fd. net.]
authority which is quite independent of the executive officer. These portions of the book, indeed, seem hardly intended for the general reader. Sir Henry Cotton advocates the complete withdrawal from Indian Civil servants of criminal judicial powers, leaving in their hands police and revenue work only. He admits himself, however, that this course would be im- possible in many parts of India.
The paper on "India's Economical Problem" is full of doubtful and contentious statements. It should, however, be read by any one who is anxious to know what the complaints are which the Indian National Congress (with which Sir Henry Cotton has identified himself) urges with reference to the treatment of India as a producing and consuming country. As regards the practical question, it is no doubt right that all which is just and possible should be done towards promoting the establishment of manufactures and commercial enterprises in India by natives of the country.
Sir Henry Cotton's views as to the future course of events in India are conveyed under the heading "Political Recon- struction." He does not, we gather, think the original occupation, or conquest, of India creditable to this country ; for he speaks (p. 195) of "the injustice of the English con- quest," and says it may be condemned "as animated by unworthy motives for which no adequate justification has ever been brought forward." He contemplates India in the future as comprising, under the mere " supremacy" of England, a number of federated autonomous States, similar to the States of Australia or the Provinces of Canada. The British army in India is to be withdrawn, and provincial armies estab- lished, "recruited from the common people and officered by the native gentry of the provinces." Denouncing any attempt "to transplant the radical associations of our democracy into a country altogether unsuited for their growth," the author insists on the necessity for maintaining the existing chiefs and nobility, the result being "an organisation of small States, each with a Prince at its bead, and a small body of patrician aristocracy interposing between him and the lower orders of working men." Singular as this vision of the future is, it is less extraordinary than the scheme which commends itself to Sir Henry Cotton for the disposal of the Anglo-Indian and Eurasian community. His plan is that these classes should be gathered in "separate little settle- ments at suitable localities, resembling the free cities of Germany or the city republics of Venice and Genoa." The political prophecies contained in this chapter will, we believe, stamp the author, in the opinion of all sensible readers, as a benevolent but rash dreamer. In race, advancement, religion, character, in fact in everything but common humanity, the Indian population is utterly different from that of British self- governing Colonies. To withdraw British military force, and set up throughout India a number of comparatively small aristocratic States, each with its own Army, would be to hand back the mass of the people to the oppression from which we redeemed them, and to render certain a widespread warfare which would result in the ascendency, if not absolute control, being gained by the Mahrattas, or the military races of Northern India. The Eurasian population can in no respect be compared to the intensely virile inhabitants of the old German and Italian cities, and if abandoned in the way suggested would have later to be rescued at the cost of much blood and treasure.
We have little doubt that there is at least great exaggeration in the imputations made by Sir Henry Cotton regarding the recent partition of Bengal, —namely, that the covert design of the Government of India was to weaken Bengali influence, and that English officials were swayed by the prospect of obtaining additional highly paid appointments. These statements sound like an echo of the explanation usually given for the agitation against the partition, which is that it arose from the disgust of Bengalis at the lose of political influence necessarily involved, and also from the fact that official posts in Eastern Bengal were rendered inaccessible to the educated classes of Calcutta. The contention that a serious wrong was done by the mere administrative division of what here figures as "the Bengali nation" leaves us cold, for it is the commonest thing for populations of the same race to be divided into two administrative units. We can find no proof of any material injury to Bengalis in the appendix which Sir Henry Cotton has devoted to this subject. It appears, indeed, therefrom that the Bengalis would not have been contented even with the maintenance of the old system, for the author says that their claim is that for the Lieutenant-Governor of undivided Bengal should be substituted a Governor in Council. This part of the book is argumentative, and is certainly not adapted for the English reader, no intelligible explanation being supplied to him of the difference between the two forms of controL The Council at Madras and at Bombay consists of two European officers besides the Governor. We do not believe that this is the arrangement which Bengali agitators really want, nor do we think there is any substantial ground for Sir Henry Cotton's assertion that Lieutenant-Governors, who are appointed from the Indian Civil Service, usually lack independence of character. It is curious that such an allegation should be made immediately after the resignation of the Lieutenant-Governor of Eastern Bengal.
Before accepting the wide statements as to a national movement or "upheaval" constantly made by Sir Henry Cotton, who writes practically of the educated class in towns, it is necessary to remember the very small proportion borne in India by the urban to the country population. As the author himself states (p. 107), "an overwhelming majority of the people of India live in rural villages " ; and, again, "out of a population of three hundred millions, only 7 per cent. live in towns of more than 10,000 inhabitants." It is not the opinion of those who know the rural population of India much better than Sir Henry Cotton does that the feelings of a portion of the inhabitants of a few cities either guide or indicate those of the villagers who form the "overwhelming majority" of the people. Sir Henry Cotton claims that the so-called delegates to the Indian National Congress "declare the public opinion of the multitudes of whom they are the mouthpiece " : while those who do not share his views assert that the members of the Congress represent no one but them- selves. This being so, in a book intended for the English reader it would have been better if Sir Henry Cotton had provided some intelligible account of the manner in which the " multitudes " have given a commission to the soi-disant delegates. It is nothing to the point to show that the members occupy a respectable position in society and are taken from all races and religions. In such a vast community as that of India this means merely that in most parts of the country English education has inspired some of the upper class with political aspirations. What still remains in doubt is whether the gathering is of any really national significance ; whether, if the existing framework of order were dissolved, the weakest of the forces set free would not scatter this assembly of self- appointed debaters to the winds.
As a whole, New India may be read with advantage, on the principle of audi alteram portent, by those who are by no means inclined towards the author's anti-Government--and sometimes anti-British--opinions. The book contains some regrettable attacks on the Government of India and on officers of the Indian Services, but we do not doubt that it is expedient that retired officers should be at liberty to set forth unorthodox contentions, nor that they owe loyalty as much to the people from whose resources they were paid as to the Government which actually employed them. Sir Henry Cotton's book testifies to the interest which he feels in the people of India, but it should not, in our judgment, be used without great caution as a guide on any of the practical questions with which it deals.
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