India and the British Raj
By SIR FREDERICK WHYTE
IT has been said that the Indian problem is not one of institutions but of temper. This is not the whole truth, nor the essence of it ; but it is so near the mark that one may safely say that, if our administration had always been inspired by the spirit in which this book is written, England and India together would have found the road of their common fate easier to travel. The authors say, in their preface, that their hardest task as historians was to avoid national or racial bias. They have succeeded, in large measure, in this ; and since it is obvious that Lord Lloyd, for instance, will not endorse, nor Mr. Gandhi relish, some of their judgements, they may claim that they have held an even balance. Too much of Indian history has hitherto been written either as an apologia of the British Raj or as a eulogy of individual men, or, again, as nationalist pamphlet- eering. Even standard works, like the Cambridge History, are not altogether free from bias, which is difficult to avoid because the principal sources of material are predominantly British, and it is only in recent times that Indian writers " have shown anything of the true spirit of history.
The two authors of this book know India : Mr. Thompson by his well-known work in Bengal, and Mr. Garratt by a life-time of official service. They may be said to combine the official and non-official views of Indian problems, though the Government of India might deny that Mr. Garratt is or was a representative official." He is, as historian, none the worse for that ; while Mr. Thompson's writings have already won for him great esteem in England and America, not to mention India itself. Judged as history, their book is somewhat unequal. By that I do not mean that their " historical-mindedness " often fails them ; for that is clearly not true. But the different parts of the narrative, covering the three centuries from Queen Elizabeth to Lord Willingdon, seem to arouse in them very different degrees of interest ; and consequently the story moves with sharply-contrasted varieties of animation and dullness. It seems legitimate to hazard the guess that the post-Mutiny period appeals to these two authors with a living force which does not work in them when they are writing of earlier years. The record from 1599 to 1857 is closely packed and well documented, if sometimes over-loaded with quotations. The story of the Company is given in good and in evil repute, and the chapters which deal with the thirty odd years before the Mutiny bring out clearly both the character of the men and the nature of the service that England gave to India in that critical time.
It is a tragic irony that much of the best work done by Englishmen was accomplished then, but was also accompanied by certain effects of our impact on Hindu •life which made a sharp reaction inevitable. The Dalhousie regime was vigour incarnate : the creation of the Punjab tradition " is a great page in Anglo-Indian history ; but the real tragedy of the Mutiny was, not so much that it arrested the completion of the Imperial task, but that it engendered a disastrous estrangement between the two races, especially in Northern India. The causes and'consequences of this separating influence are as well stated in this book as in any other work, and are important not
The Rise and Fulfilment of British Rule in India. By Edward Thompson and G. T. Carratt. (Macmillan. 21s.) merely as history, but as factors still operating in the contemporary life of India.
The title of the book is significant—Rise and Fulfilment. The first part suggests and reveals a process of historical growth, the second implies the achievement of a purpose which may be assumed to be inherent, if not explicit, throughout the whole course from the Charter of Elizabeth through Warren Hastings, Bentinck and Dalhousie to Ripon, Curzon and Irwin. The authors rightly depart from the mere enumeration of Viceregal reigns and give their attention to movements, tendencies and the " condition of the people." But since they are the historians of British Rule, they give large space to the contribution made by British rulers, and it may be said at once that their portraits of Hastings, Dalhousie and Curzon are faithfully drawn. Since, however, •
the word " Fulfilment " implies a purpose, we must ask what that purpose was, if purpose, there was at all. In
the mass of despatches, reports and " Resolutions," there is little that reveals a political purpose for India. John Company was originally a trading enterprise which acquired by commerce, intrigue and war such vast responsibilities that it became a " government ; but it was only after 258 years that the " Government of India," as we know it, really came into being.
For at least 200 years the English in India did not conceive it to be their duty to elevate or educate the people of the penin- sula; nor did they envisage their political task as exceeding that of the tax-collector and policeman. They were autocrats, often benevolent and sometimes harsh, whose moral concep- tions conformed to the prevailing standards of their times and must be judged accordingly—low in the eighteenth century, but rising steadily with the growth of ethical ideals in England until in the time of the Lawrences in the Punjab the individual morality of the Englishmen in India stood higher than ever before, or perhaps since But, in the matter of ultimate purpose, there was no clear conception of England's mission in India beyond the decent government of people who could not govern themselves.
We have to look outside the official record—even as late as Queen Victoria's Proclamation as Queen-Empress—to find hints of something more than a trading, conquering or administrative motive in British rule. Great Englishmen, here and there, saw that some higher justification of our mission was necessary. Sir Thomas Munro and Lord Macaulay both had glimpses of a purpose latent in our Imperial task ; and, as time went on, others expressed the obligation to prepare India for a future of self-government. Indians themselves did not awaken to their own political necessities till 50 years after Macaulay. Their awakening is now an accomplished fact ; and in it the authors of this book see (or do they not see ?) the "Fulfilment of British Rule." The book closes on a note of guarded optimism about the future of India ; for though its writers do not share the pessimism of Meredith Townsend, they know India too well
to believe that the constitutional reforms of 1034 are the last word in Indian political progress. And they wisely remind their readers that, not in politics, but in social and religious reformation, is to be found the secret of India's welfare.
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