The special correspondent of the Times lately in India contributed
two remarkable articles to the issues of Monday and Tuesday on "The Growth of New Political Forces in India." After explaining the causes which have concentrated Indian discontent on a purely political propaganda, the writer deprecates any effort to underrate the power and extent of the National Congress Party, which controls the vernacular Press and numbers among its adherents practically all the members of the liberal professions. Amongst its leaders are men claiming respect by their unselfish devotion and patriotism, however misguided and misapplied. The misfortune is that they should have drifted into acute antagonism towards the British administrators of India, who as a class are not a whit less honestly devoted to the interests of the people of India, and that while their authorised programme need not be taken to imply disloyalty, they have not openly disavowed the un- authorised underground propaganda of the extremists, which is animated by a spirit of subversive lawlessness and intimida- tion. To the employment of the natives in the higher executive positions the writer holds that the objections are for the present insuperable. The foundation of the British rule is its impartiality towards all castes, creeds, and races. The Briton stands outside all these as the Indian cannot stand. Besides, this policy, if carried to its logical consequences—i.e., the undermining of British authority—would be absolutely suicidal for the very class of Indians who are chiefly responsible for it. The Times correspondent concludes with the following weighty words :—" One of the greatest dangers for India, not merely from the British point of view, is the growth of an intellectual proletariat. It cannot be more surely averted than by the creation of an intelligent and highly trained middle class competent to develop the vast agricultural, commercial, and industrial resources of India in the spirit of modern enterprise and science."
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