THE AMRITSAR RIOTS.
(To THE Roma or TIM " Sencrwroa.")
Sia,—Please excuse my saying that I think you are unfair in your remarks on General Dyer. Had he hesitated ever so little, he and his small force would have been annihilated, and apparently the greater part of the Punjab, comprising the most warlike and manly races of all India, would have risen in revolt, which could only have ended in heavy fighting and much loss of life. The destruction of the Swiss Guard in the French Revolution seems to me a similar case. There the King acted as you think General Dyer should have done. Who can compute how many lives the King's action lost, including his own and his poor Guards'? Napoleon was looking on, and in his opinion the Guard would have won as General Dyer did if the King had not interfered. There is, as we all know, a time when the surgeon must cut, and cut boldly, to save the patient's life. This I consider just such an occasion. The real culprits are those who allowed the agitators full play, as Mr. Asquith and Mr. Birrell did here in Dublin, and I suppose twice as many lives were lost here as in Amritsar. This saving of life is, in my opinion, entirely due to General Dyer. I spent nearly thirty years in the 19th Punjab Infantry and I love the Pun- jabees, and therefore uphold General Dyer's action.—I am.
(Maier sneLal, Retired).
Attchnacloy, Killiney, Co. Dublin.
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