The election of Mr. D. Naoroji—pronounced NourOjee—for Central Finsbury by
a majority of 3, is a picturesque though not wholly satisfactory incident of the elections. If the electors of Central Finsbury like to be represented by a fire- worshipping Asiatic, that is their affair, and, at all events, shows absence of prejudice ; but Mr. Naoroji will pose as the Native Member for India. That is not a just pretension. He is one of a small tribe of Persians, now eighty-nine thousand in number, who live and prosper in Western India under the British flag, but who have no relation, either in race, creed, or social customs, to the Hindoos, and are regarded by the Mussulmans with an acute traditional dislike, which has led more than once to serious rioting. We have no objection whatever to Parsees, who are perhaps the most advanced people in Asia, and who are of necessity loyal to the flag which protects them from extermination ; but a Parsee is no more a representative of Indians, than a Nestorian Christian would be of Ottomans. Mr. Naoroji, to begin with, professes to be an extreme Radical, and if there is a set of ideas in the world antipathetic to the Hindoo or Mussulman mind, it is that described as English Radicalism.
Previous page
