A SPECIFIC-;SUGGESTION. B EFORE we leave this resurrection-pie of Pseudo- Federalism,
Parliamentarism, Bureaucracy, Jacobinism, and abstract political theorizing wedesire to meet the challenge which is sure to be made, and in a sense ought to be made to us, to answer the question : " What is your alternative ? What do you propose ? " We propose that we should continue to govern India for the present, and foi at the very least another two generations, upon what we may call the Trustee system of Government—the system which has prevailed in India ever since the days of Cornwallis and Wellesley, when in truth the foundation was laid, in deed if not in word, of govern- ment in the interest of the governed. By Trustee Government we mean to suggest not a superficial but an exact analogy to the duties for which Trustees are made strictly accountable in the Chancery Division. It is the business of Trustees in all essential matters, not to ask the views of the subjects of the Trust, but to do what is in their best and truest interests. Trustees who have to look after a family of minors do not go to them and try to find out their desires, and then, shrugging their shoulders, say : " Well, this will probably mean ruin for the members of the family who are asking for this policy, and, what is more, it will almost certainly involve the rest in the-common disaster. Still, as they clearly want it done, we must obey, and sacrifice all the interests of Truth and Freedom rather than that they should have their will crossed." On the contrary, the wise and dutiful Trustee says, very likely with a sigh : No ; I must withstand the request of this or that member of the family because, though it may sound reasonable at the moment, I know it will be the cause of loss and confusion, and even of ruin for the estate as, a whole. Of course it would be much less trouble to yield. Refusal, indeed, will lead. to a great deal of unpleasantness, hard work, anxiety, and- even danger, because those subjects of the Trust who want to take the whole estate out of the Trustees' hands and run it themselves are very likely to be able to persuade, or appear to persuade, the rest that they could do it better than.we shall. But this supineness and apparent indifference on the part of a great many of the subjects of the Trust, and especially of course of the infant members, is the reason why the Trust had to be created. In reality what is called letting the subjects of the Trust have their own way, learn by their own mistakes, and so forth, means in a family of invalids, minors, or other persons unendowed with busi- ness aptitude, not that the will of the' majority of the sub- jects of the Trust shall prevail, but that a small minority will be clever enough to get hold of and work the machine in their- own interests. Some day, when the, whole family has grown up, and we have been able to instil business ideas into' the majority of them, and have secured that the family shall not be overridden and exploited by one section, we shall be able to declare our Trust at an end. Until that time has arrived it is our duty to think, not of what' we are• told by any of the parties is the clearly defined will of other members of the family, or even of what will apparently make the family most contented and least troublesome at the moment, but of what is their true interest. That is the proper way of discharging our Trust, and in this way we must discharge it if we are not to suffer the humiliation and degradation of being brought before the Court of Public Opinion of the World and condemned for breach of Trust and for negligence which will be pronounced to be as deleterious to the Trust we undertook as if we had been actuated by fraud and corruption. The Court would hold, and rightly hold, that it would be no more an excuse for us to say that we had made nothing out of the bargain for ourselves than it was for the• timid servant who hid his talent in a napkin."
And now, if it is contended that' we must make a specific proposal •of some sort to satisfy the Judges in the Agora, we will propose an experiment in Indian Reform which could do no great harm, and might, we think, if fairly acted upon, do a good. deal of good, and- indeed lead ultimately to giving expression to such of the aspirations behind the Montagu Report as are sound and worthy—for of course we admit, in spite of our dislike of the animating spirit, that there' is a considerable amount of good intention.
On two or three occasions within recent years the Govern- ment of. India have, where circumstances have permitted, most wisely restored certain Native States and re-established a Prince of the old line, which had been deposed by us, or more often by some marauder chief whom later we had been obliged to conquer in the general interest of the Pax Britannica. Unless we are mis- taken, Mysore affords one example of this re-establishment of local autonomy, and the Rajah of Satara another. Now what we propose is that the Government of -India should select (we admit the task will be a difficult one) some portion of India in which, the population is as far as possible homogeneous in race and creed, and whose inhabitants, owing to their general development and intellectual vigour, appear fairly capable of self-government. In this area, instead of installing a Prince, we would, as it were, instal a Native Republic, subject—as of course in the case of the re-established Prince—to the guidance of a Political Officer. The Constitution for the Native Republic should be very carefully drawn up, and it should as far as possible secure that the true will of the majority should prevail, and not the will of some caste or clique which might from the very beginning have the enterprise to seize the power and the cleverness to maintain it in its own hands. For this reason we should like to see as wide a suffrage as possible, though, needless to say, at the beginning the nascent democracy would have to be carefully watched lest some band of Asiatic Jacobins should usurp its powers. We are sure, however, that with proper precau- tions the more democratic the experiment the better Would be the result. The main danger to be avoided is that of installing the Babu or the Brahminical politician in a Parliament and calling him the People with a big " P." If the experiment of introducing democratic and representative government, with elected representatives and h native Ministry responsible to them and so forth, should not merely produce good govern- ment, but should be really liked by the population, in a word, should be a success, then of course we should go on with the experiment in some other selected area. If, on the contrary, it did not prove a success in spite of perfectly just and judicial handling, then we should at any rate have learned wisdom. Remember, we must always face the possibility that though Democracy—and by this we mean of course true Democracy and obedience to the will of the majority, not to that of the minority—is so evidently the best, and indeed the only sound, government for the white races of the world, it may prove to be something which does not and never will agree with the Asiatic. It may be that, in spite of his subtlety of mind and quick intelligence, he is not merely not capax imperil, but also incapable of self-determination, to use the barbarous idiom of Brest-Litovsk. But however that may be, we can and should try the experiment, provided that we try it honestly, and yet not on so big a field that it will, if it fails, bring ruin and misery on too large a portion of the population.
In quitting this most untimely and circuitous piece of political unreason we appeal to all who really care for the interests of the various peoples of India, those whom we have ventured to call the dumb millions of the great continent, pathetic in their poverty and their powerlessness, to join the admirable body for which we have before appealed, the Indo- British Association, of which Lord Sydenham is the President. The address of the Secretary, from whom all information can be obtained, is 6 Broad Street Place, B.C. 2. Let our readers remember that this is by no means a body which can be called a collection of domineering, unbending oppressors of the Asiatic or of old and. crusted or prancing Proconsuls. On the contrary, it is a body which has the support of some of the very best, wisest, and most thoughtful of native Indian statesmen,
Previous page
