SELF-GOVERNMENT IN THE PRILTMNES AND IN BRITISH.. INDIA.

[COMMUNICATED.]

THE'

three great democracies of the West are at present confronted with similar problems in the adnainistra-, tion of the Oriental races under their rule. France in Indo-China, true to her Latin traditions, is pursuing the work of civilization by the path of administration rather than of politics. The two Anglo-Saxon nations, with their innate belief in self-governing institutions as the universal panacea, are now attempting to transplant democracy to Eastern soil in the Philippines and in British India. The process in both cases has been unduly hastened by blind allegiance to the new doctrine of self determination—a doctrine which is sometimes exploited to cover moral cowardice and the shirking of responsibility. The Prime Minister, in the Indian debate of Feb- ruary 14th, showed characteristic insight into the difficulties of the problem. He said :- " Democracy is only a recent experiment in the West. India has never had democratic government; and it has yet to be seen whether democratic institutions • suit the Indian mind- . . . If the experiment in India is to be a success, it must be a gradual one, as it has been in the West.. . . We must take care not to weaken authority when strengthening liberty."

He quoted from Macaulay that " laws exist in vain for those who have not the courage nor the means to defend them," and he said. that if the British withdrew from India, those who are most turbulent in their demands would be quite incapable of defending their liberties. This is the first time for years that the Indian politicians • have heard the truth from the highest quarters, and it is• not pleasant. "Cest la v4rite qui blesse."

Mr.. _Lloyd George might have 'spoken with even more conviction had he been aware of the results of the attempt to enforce self-determination in the Philippines. This has just been made public in General Leonard Wood's Report of the Special Mission to the Philippines. Fas est ab hosts doceri ; but it is still better to profit by the experience of our friends. For some years Indian politicians have been reproaching us with the fact that the Philippines under American guidance had in a genera: tion progressed' further towards self-government than India had after a century of our rule.

There is no real analogy between the two cases. Even before the conquest of the Islands by the States in 1898 Spain had, as the Wood Report shows, in her 300 years' rule welded the Filipinos from a number of warring tribes into a fairly homogeneous group, " capable of becom- ing a people with_ distinctive and uniform charac- teristics. That unification was facilitated by the fact that 90 per cent. of the- people- are Christians, and, like their Japanese neighbours, their outlook is Western rather than Eastern. India, on the other hand, is a mosaic of Eastern races—Aryan, Dravidian, Mongol, Semitic—between whom, owing to caste and religious lines of cleavage, there has been little fusion. The Filipinos have no castes ; India has over 2,000 main castes. Thirty-seven per cent. of the Filipinos are literate against. six per cent. in India. Ten per cent. of the Filipinos are attending school against 2.5 per cent. in India. One in fifteen_ of the_ total Filipino population voted at the general election of 1919 ; in India only one in 1,300 voted for the All-India Assembly, one in 180 for the Provincial Councils.

There is clearly no real parallel between the Philippines, with 11 millions of fairly homogeneous people, and the sub-continent of India, with 320 millions—often as far asunder as the poles in race, religion and civilization, " marching with uneven strides through the centuries from the fifth to the twentieth," and 95 per cent. of whom, in the words of the Montagu-Chelmsford Report, " are poorly equipped for politics, and do not at present wish to take part in them."

It- follows that _even if the experiment in self-deter- mination had succeeded in the Philippines it would not be safe to argue that a similar_ experiment would, succeed in India. But General Wood's Report proves that the Philippines experiment has been in many respects a Lamentable failure.

• The United States conquered the Islands in 1898, and President McKinley at once announced the following policy :

" The Philippines are not ours to exploit, but to develop, to civilize, to educate, to train in the science of self-government."

That policy has been vigorously pursued, and the experi- ment divides itself into four stages. In the first, 1898- 1901, a military administration quelled rebellion, established public order, and laid the foundations of progress. That period corresponds with our rule in India down to the Mutiny of 1857. From 1901 a Civil administration was set up, with a nominated legislature composed mainly of trained American administrators and a minority of Filipinos. Rapid progress was made in every branch of the administration, and the Islands showed a wonderful advance in civilization and prosperity. Compare the -great era of administrative activity in India from 1858 down to the Morley-Mimto Reforms of 1908.

From 1907 the Americans in the Philippines, like our- selves in India, undertook the development of self-governing institutions.

The Philippine Assembly or Lower House-was established on an elective basis, and composed almost entirely of `Filipinos, while the old nominated body became an Upper 'House with very limited powers. Politics began to invade the sphere of administration ; the American element 'was steadily reduced till in 1913 it amounted to only 18 per cent., and signs of administrative deterioration began to appear. Compare British India from 1908 down to 'the announcement of August 20th, 1917, that self-government -within the Empire is our goal in India, and the Reforms Act.of 1919 giving practical effect to that declaration.

The fourth stage, 1914-20, -with Mr. :Wilson as President . and his ardent disciple Mr. Harrison as Governor-General, saw the almost complete Filipinization of the legislature, the superior executive, the judiciary, and all branches of -the administration.

The Jones Act of 1916 gave the Filipino politicians almost complete control, and they made use of their power, as • the Indian politicians are now doing with the 'British services there, to starve or squeeze out the- American element, which by 192I had been reduced to, only 4 per cent. The administrator was dispossessed by the politician ; nepotism, inefficiency and intrigue took the place of honest administration for the benefit of the masses. We are witnessing an even more serious deteriora- tion in India since the Reforms Act of 1919, with an appall- ing increase in lawlessness and violent crime as the result of the seditious and revolutionary movements which have grown up unchecked under a supine Government, and now threaten the whole fabric of our rule.

By the end of 1920 President Wilson had satisfied him- self from Mr. Harrison's Reports " that the people of the Philippines have succeeded in maintaining a stable govern- ment, and have thus fulfilled the condition set by Congress - as-precedent to the consideration of granting independence. In a message to Congress he suggested that " it is now our liberty and our duty to keep our promise by granting them the independence they so honourably covet." One can 'imagine Mr. 'Montagu, if he were still Secretary of State, -making similar 'grandiloquent proposals. President Wilson gave way to President Harding, who in- March, 1921, held' that the above message could not, '" in the face of conflicting evidence from many sources, -be accepted' as the final •word on so important a subject." He therefore appointed a Mission to study the situation on the spot and report to him. The composition of the ' Mission illustrates the American practical common-sense. It contained no politicians and no Filipinos. Its head, General Wood, had personal knowledge of the Islands and a reputation in the States as an organizer and adminis- trator equal to that of Kitchener in• the British Empire. His colleague, Governor Forbes, had been signally successful as Governor of the Islands. To them were attached a 'group of administrators, civil, military and naval, with .special knowledge of the matters under investigation and the languages of the people. The Mission spent four months in the Islands, visited forty-eight of the forty-nine districts, held conferences with officials and people in 449 towns, and got into close touch with all classes of the ..Filipinos as well AS with Americans and foreigners. How different from Mr. Montagu's delegation in India, which got into touch only with the politically minded intelligentsia of the provincial capitals ! The Wood Report is a brief document of twenty-five pages. But every sentence bears the stamp of the practical administrator. While sympathetic to Filipino aspirations, it avoids the " dreamy and dangerous nonsense ' which the Times critic found so much of in the Montagu-Chelms- ford Report. It does not hesitate to state the truth even when unpleasant to Filipino " politicos " or to the United States administration.

Every branch of the administration—Legislation, Justice, Taxation and Finance, Public Works, Education, Health and Sanitation, Prisons—is passed under review and shown to have rapidly deteriorated within the last eight years owing to the premature withdrawal of American guidance and control, while the real interests of the masses of the people have been sacrificed to political theories and the ambitions of self-seeking politicians. A few of the most salient passages are reproduced :- " The general administration in 1913 was honest, highly efficient and set a high standard of energy and morality. In- herited tendencies were being rapidly replaced by American ideals and efficiency among the Filipino personnel. . . . It is the general opinion among Americans, Filipinos and foreigners that the public services are new (1921) in many particulars relatively inefficient, that there has occurred a distinct relapse towards the standards and administrative habits of former days. This is due in part to bad example, incompetent direction, to political infection of the services, and above all to lack of competent supervision and inspection. . . . Again, the Legis- lature has passed laws tending to demoralize and introduce into the services the infection of politics."

The Report makes it clear that the breakdown is largely due to the desire of the American Government and the Filipino " politicos " to obtain too rapid results. It says the experiment would have had more chance of success " had not all the intricacies of a highly organized repre- sentative form of government been imposed upon them with too great rapidity :- " We have in many instances by the rapidity of our procedure overtaxed the ability of the people to absorb, digest and mako efficient practical use of what it has taken other nations genera- tions to absorb and apply, and in our critical impatience we forget the centuries of struggle through which our own race passed before it attained well-balanced ■self-government."

That is the very note of warning which administrators who have the welfare of the Indian masses at -heart have been sounding with reference to Mr. Montagu's reforms. But the warning fell on deaf ears till it was taken up by the Prime Minister in his recent speech. The " recommendations "-of the Wood Report are equally instructive in their application to India. They at once rule out President Wilson's proposal for the grant of full inde- pendence, recommend that the American Governor-General be given powers commensurate with -his -responsibilities, that Congress declare null and void any- Filipino legislation limiting or dividing his authority ; that no further advance be made until the people have had time to absorb and thoroughly master the powers already committed to them, and finally " that under no circumstances should the American Government permit to be established in the Philippines 'a situation which would leave the United States in a position of responsibility without authority." General Wood has done his work thoroughly and well. It is high time that an equally -sane and convincing announcement of policy, in the spirit of the Prime 'Minister's speech of February 14th, was made in regard to British India, where a slavish adherence to crude political theories has created a situation even more critical than that of the