(1917) Some Facts About India: Interviews with Lord Islington During November, 1916

8/9/2019 (1917) Some Facts About India: Interviews with Lord Islington During November, 1916

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ISLINGTONmi SOME FACTS ABOUT INDIA

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THE LIBRARYOFTHE UNIVERSITYOF CALIFORNIALOS ANGELES

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SOME FACTSABOUT INDIA

^TERVIEWS WITH LORD I5UNGT0NDURING NOVEMBER, 19)16.

BYROBERT SLOSS,


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SOME FACTSABOUT INDIA

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INTERVIEWS WITH LORD ISLINGTONDURING NOVEMBER, 1910.

BYROBERT SLOSS.

London :BuRRUP, Mathieson & Spraque, Ltd.

1917.


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Some Facts About India.I.

Intrigue in the United States AgainstTHE Peace of India.

Various rumours, charges and counter-charges as to the state of affairs in India

\ have been rife of hite, and I made theseSthe subject of considerable inquiry at the^India Office, with the purpose of obtaining\Slor the Daily Neivs an authoritative^Britisli statement of the position. LordIsUngton, Parhamentary Under-Secretaryfor India, kindly consented to answer myQuestions, the first of which was :

^S " Is it true that the United States haveDeen used as a base of operations designedto overthrow British rule in India ? "

" That a number of disaffected Indianswere collected in San Francisco, in August,1911, to sail for India ' with the expressobject of waging war against the Govern-ment in India and of expelling theBritish, using murder, dacoity, seductionof troops and other similar measures to


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achieve their objects,' was the conclusionarrived at by a Special Tribunal appointedto try a number of conspirators in whatis known as the Lahore Conspiracy Case,"said Lord Islington. " The Trial washeld in public in 1915, and the publishedjudgment states that in May, 1913, Har-dial commenced to stir up inflammablematerial in America into a state of hos-tility towards the British Government

;

and proceeded, with others, to conspireand prepare for an insurrection in India,with the object of overthrowing theGovernment established there, at somedate to be determined in the future." In pursuit of this conspiracy, meetingswere held in various places in America ;and a revolutionary paper, the Ghadr(which means " Mutiny ") started in SanFrancisco. With the aid of sympathisersand agents and the sedulous distributionof inflammatory literature, many recruitswere obtained in the Far East, particu-larly in Shanghai ; and men were inducedto throw in their lot with this revolu-tionary movement in Shanghai, Hong-kong, Manila, Penang, Singapore, Siamand in India itself. Eventually, the inflammatory material in Shanghai and in


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America bui'st into flame in July andAugust, 1914 ; the approximate causesbeing the Komagatu Maru affair and thebreaking out of war with Germany, thehitter being regarded as giving oppor-tunity for the commencement of the warwhich had been advocated in the Gliadr.

" In July, an armed gang of men flailedfrom kShanghai for India. In August, alarger armed gang of men, collected inOregon and elsewhere, left San Francisco,arriving in India in November. Otherarmed gangs also left America andShanghai for the sa.me purpose, pickingup en route to India recruits for therevolutionary force.

" Some of the revolutionists made anarmed demonstration on November 25th,1914, at Lahore Cantonments ; and thenmoved to Ferozepore with the intentionof assaulting the arsenal there, but in anencounter with the police, were capturedor dispersed. Others seduced troops,villagers and students manufactm-edbombs and anmiunition and secured armsand committed dacoities with murder.Attacks on railway communications werealso planned and attempted. As a final


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act of the war which was to overthrowthe British Government, a contempor-aneous rising of troops and other revolu-tionists was planned to take place on the19th February in Lahore, Ferozepore,Ambala, Meerut and other places. Butowing to the police obtaining informationin time, this movement was checked."

" Had the revolutionists any connec-tion with Germany ? " I asked.

" The Tribunal came to the conclusion,"was the reply, " that there were indica-tions of a possibility of some definiteunderstanding between Germany andHardial, and evidence of the readiness ofGermans to assist the revolutionists when-ever they could. One witness said hewas told that ' the German Governmentwas behind Hardial, and that many ofthe arms, brought by the returning emi-grants, had been supplied by Germany.'Another witness was told in Penang that' Germany would provide arms and am-munition and would otherwise help therevolutionists.' The Tribunal stated thatthe evidence does not prove judiciallythat there was a clearly defined ar-

between the revolutionists and


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Germany. To establish such a connectionwould be well-nigh impossible on theevidence then before the Tribunal ; butit does strengthen the opinion the Tri-bunal recorded ' that there is a possibilityof such connection, and we are quitesatisfied that the outbreak of war withGermany was regarded as the psycho-logical moment for a revolution in India,in which it was expected Germany wouldparticipate.'

" It may be noted that when Hardialleft San Francisco he went to Berlin.The Ghadr newspaper is still in existenceand is edited by Eam Chandra."

II.Why the British Is'avy is Active about

THE Philippines.As certain actions of British warships

in the neighbourhood of the Philippineshave been attributed here to the existenceof gun-running plots at Manila, thepurpose of which is to strike at Britishrule in India, I asked Lord Islingtonwhat knowledge he might have of such asituation.


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" There has for years been a smallIndian community in the Philippines,"said Lord Islington, " consisting of menwho have gone on from China. Manyof these are employed as watchmen atManila, while others live by peddling.They are peaceable and inoffensive i)eoplewho, when let alone, had no thoughts ofpolitical conspiracy. In 1911 they hadoccasion to invoke the good ofiices of theBritish Consul-General, as a concertedmovement against them was started bycertain Filipinos, who accused the Indiansof systematically kidnapping Filipinochildren for purposes of cannibaUsm aswell as immorality ! Indians were at-tacked and pelted in the streets, and themovement was actually supported bycertain local newspapers. The Consul-General, of course, gave a sympathetichearing to the complaints made to him,and the Administration displayed a cor-dial and energetic attitude which soonput an end to the trouble. The residentIndian community probably never num-bered more than 300, but dmnng the lastfive years a number of Indians have goneto Manila in the hope of obtaining aneasier entrance to the United States by


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a short residence in the Pliilippines, andhave generally asked the British Consul-General for help to enter the UnitedStates, which of course was quite out ofhis power to give, though the applicantsmay not always have believed this. TheImmigration Laws and Regulations, alikeof Canada and the United States, haveprevented the entrance into NorthAmerica of many uneducated Indianswho had been attracted by talk of highwages, and for some years past all theFar Eastern ports have had a floatingIndian population, labouring under asense of grievance against the Emopeanrace generally, who Avere ready to giveear to any clever agitator. The politicalcoterie of Indians established in California,which uses the privileges of freedom con-ferred by American laws and ideas toprint and disseminate among Indianselsewhere a systematic gospel of murder,has natm^ally seen its chance here, andhas sent its papers widespread to Indiansin Japan, the Chinese ports, and thePhilippines. The outbreak of the Euro-pean war brought in the Germans asactive patrons of the Indian seditiousmovement and reinforced the coffers of


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the Indian politicians in California. Abranch Indian revolutionary society isknown to have been established at Manila,which is, geographically, a convenientcentre for a campaign of organisation,the apparent idea being to get in touchwith Indians in Japan, China and Siam,and with German agents in China and theDutch East Indies. Java and the Philip-pines, in fact, offered the best facihtiesfor establishing the revolutionary organi-sation on neutral territory, and the Philip-pines have the marked advantages of amore central position and of constantand free communication with the con-spirators in the United States, while itis at least possible that it was hoped toestablish arms depots without the know-ledge of the American authorities in un-frequented spots in the islands, whichmight serve gun-runners as a half-wayhouse between Chinawhere the Germanscan give arms to Indiansand India.The Manila revolutionaries' secret societyis known to be divided into classesaccording to the degree of initiation, andit has been stated that every memberof one class binds himself to mm-der atleast one British official."


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" What is the attitude of the Americanauthorities toward these plots ? " Iasked.

" Of course," said Lord Islington, " theseditionists know that the Americanauthorities in the Philippines will notknowingly tolerate any campaign ofmurder. But they are there, and theease with which political agitators travelround the Pacific on neutral ships compelsthe British Navy to keep a close watchfor the transmission of emissaries andcargoes of arms. For the object of allthese plotters is to start an armed insur-rection in Indiaas can be seen by therepeated mendacious announcements ofEarn Chandra, editor of the San Fran-cisco Ghadr, that armed rebellions on alarge scale have broken out in India. Ifthe Navy relaxed its patrol work, com-munication would certainly reach Indiaand be established with the dupes of theagitators in India or Singapore. It mustbe remembered that the Indians in the FarEast have been given, by the GJiadr andby German agents, an entirely mistakenaccount of the course of the war, and thatconsequently their mental attitude is notso very unlike that of the Indian jungle


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tribe which was told, and believed, thatthe Kaiser was about to arrive in Indiain an aeroplane.

" A certain Bhagwan Singh, at onetime a priest at the Sikh temple inHongkong, where he did not acquire anoverwhelming reputation for sanctity, hasfor the last few years been travellingbetween British Columbia (whence hewas expelled before the war), California,Japan, China, and Manila, and a personof this kind, absolutely without scruples,yet, in the eyes of many Indians who donot know his record, a holy man, can anddoes arouse fanaticism and race-hatredamongst impressionable and ignorantOrientals who, in the absence of suchincitement, want only to earn theii' livingand go their own way unmolested."

III.

British Rule in India.As allegations of British misrule in

India have been faii'ly prevalent dmingthe war, I asked Lord Islington if hecared to say anything in rebuttal.


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" Allegations of misrule can be made,and are made, against every Govern-ment," said Lord Islington. " TheBritish found India in a state of chaoson the gradual break up of the MoglialEmpii'e. There was the same disorderin India a centm-y and a half ago as thereis in Mexico to-day. But it was less easyto let India alone to evolve order as bestit could, because the British had as rivalsother European competitors who mightnot only have established order but havedestroyed British trade, which was thespecial object of our presence in India.Since the British have been in India theyhave striven both to preserve order andto improve the education and the generalwelfare of the people. It is a difficult task,for there are 320 million inhabitants andthey vary in degree of civilisation fromaboriginal jungle tribes to such higidycultured poets and philosophers as SirEabindra Xath Tagore, who was recentlyawarded the Xobel Prize. And it cannotbe supposed that satisfaction is giveneverywhere. But these facts may beconsidered : that all the revenue raisedin India is expended on India, and Indiadoes not contribute to the British

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exchequer; that railways, irrigation canals,postal facilities and agricultural develop-ments are constantly improving thematerial welfare of the people ; and thatas they are becoming better educatedthey are being admitted in continuallyincreasing numbers into the higher ad-ministrative posts. Mr. Roosevelt, in therole of candid friend, criticised Britishadministration in Egypt. Of India hesaid : ' It is easy enough to point outshortcomings, but the fact remains thatthe successful administration of the IndianEmpire by the English has been one ofthe most admirable achievements of thewhite race during the last two centuries.' "

" Do you consider that Germany hasany designs upon India ? " I asked.

" For years past," said Lord Islington," the Germans have been working east-ward, acquiring a greater and greaterinfluence over the Turks ; possessed ofthe idea of a Berlin-Baghdad railwaywith a port on the Persian Gulf ; andintent also on causing pressure on Egypt.Their theory seems to have been that theBritish were decadent and not fit togovern India, and their practice during the


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present war has shown that they intendedto cut communications with India inEgypt and to work through Persia andAfghanistan to attack the British inIndia.

" British administrators are well awarethat there are shortcomings, and they dotheir best to make them good. But asregards many of the allegations of misrulemade at the present time, Americansmust be well aware that they are cir-culated as part of the German propagandafor a definite German purpose. Someof the people in this country have criti-cised the system of Government in Indiaas they have criticised the Governmentof their own country. This is a charac-teristic of a free and self-governing com-munity of a kind that the Germans donot understand. But our enemies seizehold of these outspoken comments, andcirculate them, in a distorted form, throughtheir own agencies, for the purpose ofdoing the British harm, but without anythought of the welfare of India."

" You mean to imply that Germany'sinterest in India is not wholly philan-thropic ? " I suggested.


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" It is worth refle(;tiiig on the questionas to whether the Germans, who are sofond of criticising our rule in India, wouldhave done any better themselves," saidLord Islington. " We only have to lookat their conduct before the war, and duringit, to find the answer. In Europe, beforethe war, they shamefully maltreated theminor races of the German Empire, suchas the inhabitants of Schleswig-Holsteinand the Poles. As regards the latter, noscheme was left untried for denationalis-ing them and robbing them of theirnative spirit and ideals. It is notoriousthat the attempt to dragoon their subjectraces in Europe into the Prussian mouldhas been a lamentable failure. The sameapplies to German behaviour abroad.The atrocities committed in South WestAfrica, in the compaign against theHereros, are well known to all. Theprinciple appears to have been that theGermans can only colonize by anni-hilating the original inhabitants, and,since the war, papers have been publishedshowing the hostile attitude of theGermans towards the Moslems in GermanEast Africa. In Europe the Germanrecord during the war is a sufficient


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proof that they are unfitted to goYernthe less advanced races. In deahng withtheir highly civilised neighbours, theGermans have not scrupled to adopt anj^form of barbarity that might serve theirimmediate purpose. WTiat can be ex-pected of them when they are dealingwith ignorant uneducated tribesincapable of voicing their feelings orinvoking the assistance of civilisedpowers ? "

" What are India's prospects for self-government ? " I asked.

" Wliile I cannot help making thesecomments on the German claim to beregaided as a colonizing power," saidLord Islington, " I should wish Americansto understand that the British are farfrom regarding the system in India withcomplacent self-satisfaction or as repre-senting an unchanging state of affairs.The Government of the United Kingdomis progressive. So is the Governmentof India. Within the last few yeais im-portant measures, with which the namesof Lord Morley and Lord Minto will everbe associated, were taken for increasingthe scope and powers of the Indian Legis-


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lative Councils (containing a large electedelement of Indians) which are associatedwith the Government of India and theProvincial Governments. This is only-symptomatic of the change that is goingon in India, where the movement forgiving Indians a wider part in the adminis-tration of their own country is sympatheti-cally viewed by the Authorities. Whenthe Report of the Public Services Com-mission (of which I was Chairman) ispublished, as it shortly wiU be, I amconfident that Americans who are in-terested in this aspect of Indian rule willfind cause for satisfaction. Progress inself-government is necessarily slow. Itmoves in accordance with the advance ofeducation and with the capacity foradministration. Any attempthoweverwell meaningto force the pace would befraught with the gravest danger to thewelfare of India. But I would say thatwe can see no finality to the degree towhich the admission of Indians into thehigher ranks of the public services and theresponsibility of the Councils may becarried in conformity with the capacityof the people of India to undertakeadministrative responsibility and subject


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to the over-riding interests of the peopleof India as a whole.

" While, therefore, I cannot see anyalternative to the British rule in India,Americans will understand that I haveno static conception of what form thisrule must take. As years go on, it willcontinue to be inspired by the free spiritthat characterises Great Britain and theUnited States and which is exemplified inthe American administration of thePhilippines."


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(1917) Some Facts About India: Interviews with Lord Islington During November, 1916

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