{"id":1055,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:17","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1055"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:17","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:17","slug":"69-facts-and-opinions-29-1-1910-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/02-karmayogin-volume-02\/69-facts-and-opinions-29-1-1910-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-69_Facts and Opinions 29-1-1910.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n
\nFacts and Opinions<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\nVolume I – Jan.
\n29, 1910 – Number 30<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\n The
\n High Court Assassination<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nT<\/b><\/font>he
\nstartling assassination of Deputy Superintendent Shams-ul-Alam
\non Monday in the precincts of the High Court, publicly, in daylight, under the
\neyes of many and in a crowded building, breaks the silence which had settled on
\nthe country, in a fashion which all will deplore. The deceased officer was
\nperhaps the ablest, most energetic and most zealous member of the Bengal
\ndetective force. It was his misfortune that he took the leading part not only
\nin the Alipur Bomb Case in which he
\nzealously and untiringly assisted the Crown solicitors, but in the investigation
\nof the Haludbari and Netra dacoities. The nature
\nof his duties exposed him to the resentment of the small Terrorist bodies whose
\ncontinued existence in Bengal is proved by this last daring and reckless crime.
\nUnder such circumstances a man carries his life in his hand and it seems only a
\nmatter of time when it will be struck from him. We have no doubt that the
\nGovernment will suitably recognise his services by a handsome provision for his
\nfamily. As for the crime itself, it is one of the boldest of the many bold acts
\nof violence for which the Terrorists have been responsible. We wish we could
\nagree with some of our contemporaries that the perpetrators of these deplorable
\noutrages are dastards and cowards; for, if it were so, Terrorism would be a
\nthing to be abhorred, but not feared. On the contrary, the Indian Terrorist
\nseems to be usually a man fanatical in his determination and daring, to prefer
\npublic places and crowded buildings for his field and to scorn secrecy and a
\nfair chance of escape. It is this remarkable feature which has distinguished
\nalike the crimes at Nasik, London, Calcutta, to say nothing of the assassination of Gossain in jail. With such men it is difficult to
\ndeal. Neither fear nor reasoning, disapprobation
\nnor isolation can have any effect on them. Nor will the Government of this
\ncountry allow us to use what we believe to be the only<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 375<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

effective means of
\ncombating the spread of the virus among the people. All we can do is to sit
\nwith folded hands and listen to the senseless objurgations of the Anglo-Indian
\nPress, waiting for a time when the peaceful expression and organisation of our
\nnational aspirations will no longer be penalised. It is then that Terrorism
\nwill vanish from the country and the nightmare be as if it never had been.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n Anglo-Indian
\n Prescriptions<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nAnglo-Indian papers publish their usual senseless prescriptions for the cure
\nof the evil. The Englishman<\/i> informs us that it is at last tired of these
\noutrages and asks in a tone full of genuine weariness when the Government will
\ntake the steps which Hare Street has always been advising. It seems to us that
\nthe Government have gone fairly far in that direction. The only remaining
\nsteps are to silence the Press entirely, abolish the necessity of investigation
\nand trial and deport every public man in India. And when by removing everything
\nand everyone that still encourages the people to persevere in peaceful
\npolitical agitation, Russia has been reproduced in India and all is hushed
\nexcept the noise of the endless duel between the omnipotent policeman and the
\nsecret assassin, the Englishman<\/i> will be satisfied, \u2014 but the country
\nwill not be at peace. The Indian Daily News<\/i> more sensibly suggests
\npolice activity in detecting secret organisations, \u2014 although its remarks would
\nhave sounded better without an implied prejudgment
\nof the Nasik case. If the police were to
\nemploy the sound detective methods employed in England and France, it would
\ntake them a little longer to effect a coup, but there would be some chance of
\nreal success. It is not by indiscriminate arrests, harassing house-searches
\nundertaken on the word of informers paid so much for each piece of information
\ntrue or false, and interminable detention of undertrial
\nprisoners in jail that these formidable secret societies will be uprooted. Such
\nprocesses are more likely to swell their numbers and add to their strength. The
\nStatesman is<\/i> particularly wroth with the people of this country for
\ntheir objection to police methods and goes so far as to lay<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 376<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

the
\nblame for the murder of Shams-ul-Alam on
\nthese objections. If we had only submitted cheerfully to police harassment, all
\nthis would not have happened ! The bitter ineptitude of our contemporary grows
\ndaily more pronounced and takes more and more refuge in ridiculously
\ninconsequent arguments. Is it the objectionable methods or our objections to
\nthem that are to blame ? We may safely say that, whatever influences may have
\nbeen at work in the mind of the assassin, the occasional criticisms of
\nvexatious house-search in the Bengali journals had nothing to do with his
\naction. The Statesman<\/i> does not scruple, like other Anglo-Indian papers,
\nto question the sincerity of the condemnations of Terrorist outrage which are
\nnowadays universal throughout the country, and to support its insinuations it
\nhas to go as far back as the Gossain murder
\nand the demonstrations that followed it. These demonstrations were not an
\napproval of Terrorism as a policy, but an outburst of gratitude to the man who
\nremoved a dangerous and reckless perjurer whose evil breath was scattering ruin
\nand peril over innocent homes and noble and blameless heads throughout Bengal.
\nWe do not praise or justify that outburst, \u2014 for murder is murder, whatever its
\nmotives, \u2014 but it is not fair to give it a complexion other than the one it
\nreally wore. If it had really been true that a whole nation approved of
\nTerrorism and supported the assassin by secret or open sympathy, it would be a
\nmore damning indictment of British statesmanship in India than any seditious
\npen could have framed. The Chowringhee
\npaper’s libellous insinuation that the secret societies are not secret and
\ntheir members are known to the public, has only to be mentioned in order to
\nshow the spirit of this gratuitous adviser of the Indian people. Nor can one
\nperuse without a smile the suggestion that the Hindu community should use the
\nweapon of social ostracism against the Terrorists. Whom are we to outcaste, the hanged or transported assassin, or
\nhis innocent relatives ?<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n House-Search<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While we are on the subject we may as well
\nmake explicit the<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 377<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

rationale
\nof our objection to house-search as it is used in Bengal. No citizen can object
\nto the legitimate and necessary use of house-search as an aid to the detection
\nof crime; it is only to its misuse that objection can be made. We say that it is misuse to
\nharass a man and his family merely because the police have a suspicion
\nagainst him which they cannot establish or find any ground of evidence for \u2014 on
\nthe remote chance of finding incriminating correspondence or arms in his
\npossession. It is a misuse to take this step on the information of
\ncharacterless paid informers whose advantage it is to invent false clues so as
\nto justify their existence and earn their living. It is a misuse to farther
\nharass the householder by carrying off from his house half his library and his
\nwhole family correspondence and every other article to which the police take a
\nfancy and which are often returned to him after infinite trouble and in a
\nhopelessly damaged condition. A house-search is never undertaken in civilised
\ncountries except on information of the truth of which there is moral certainty
\nor such a strong probability as to justify this extreme step. To find out the
\ntruth of an information without immediately turning a household upside down on
\nthe chance of its veracity is not an impossible feat for detective ability in
\ncountries where all statements are not taken for gospel truth merely because
\nthey issue from the sacred lips of a
\npoliceman, and where police perjury or forgery is sure of swift punishment.
\nWhere a detective force is put on its mettle by being expected to prove every
\nstatement and take the consequences of illegal methods, they do manage to
\ndetect crime very effectively, while the chances of the innocent suffering are
\ngreatly minimised. In other countries there are or have been Anarchist outrages. Terrorist propaganda, secret societies, but
\nnowhere, except in Russia, are such methods used as are considered quite
\nordinary in India, nor, if used, would they be tolerated by the European
\ncitizen. If the police would confine themselves to legitimate detective
\nactivity, they would receive the full support of the public and the occasional
\ntrouble of a house-search, caused by the existence of a suspected relative or
\ndependent, would be patiently borne, \u2014 though it is absurd of the Statesman<\/i>
\nto expect a householder to be cheerful under such untoward circumstances. This
\nis the rationale of our views<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 378<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

in the matter, and we do not think there is
\nanything in them either unreasonable, obstructive or inconsistent with civic
\nduty.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n The
\n Elections<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nElections at the time of writing seem to point to the return of a Liberal
\nMinistry dependent first on Labour, then on Irish votes for its very existence.
\nAt the end of last week after being long in a slight minority, the combined
\nLiberal-Labour Party exceeded the Conservatives by 14, but the Liberal vote,
\napart from the Labour representatives, was still well behind the Unionist
\nnumbers. The vicissitudes of this crisis have been utterly unlike those of any
\nprevious election. Instead of an even ebb and flow such as we find on former
\noccasions, well-distributed all over the country, we see the United Kingdom
\nranged into two adverse parties on a great revolutionary issue, according to
\ngeographical, almost racial distribution. Wales, Scotland and the North are
\nfor the new age, the Centre and the South for the past. In the Southern,
\nMidland and Eastern counties the Unionists have achieved a tremendous victory
\nand we think there is hardly a constituency in which the Liberal majority has
\nnot been either materially, often hugely reduced or turned into a minority.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

In the North, even in Yorkshire, still more in Westmoreland, the Unionists have achieved a few
\nvictories, but the verdict of the North as a whole has gone heavily against the
\nLords and for the Liberals. Wales is still overwhelmingly Radical in spite of
\none or two Conservative gains. In Scotland the Liberal Party has been amazingly
\nsuccessful and increased its majorities in many places, maintained them in most
\nand balanced occasional losses by compensating victories. The Celt everywhere
\nhas declared for revolution, as was to be expected from that ardent, mobile
\nand imaginative race; the frank, adventurous Scandinavian blood of the North
\nmay account for its progressive sympathies;
\nbut the rest of England is the home of the conservative, slow-natured Anglo-Saxon always distrustful of new
\nadventures and daring innovations. The struggle seems to us to have been not
\nso much one of opinions as of blood and instinct. It is notable that the<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 379<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Conservative
\nvictories have been attained not so much by the reduction and transference of
\nthe Liberal vote as by a rush of Conservative electors to the polls who did not
\nvote in previous elections. The unparalleled heaviness of the polling shows how
\ndeeply the people have been stirred and feel the magnitude and importance of
\nthe issues.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 380<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facts and Opinions Volume I – Jan. 29, 1910 – Number 30 The High Court Assassination   The startling assassination of Deputy Superintendent Shams-ul-Alam on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-02-karmayogin-volume-02","wpcat-23-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}