{"id":1066,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:21","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1066"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:21","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:21","slug":"58-facts-and-opinions-25-12-1909-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\/58-facts-and-opinions-25-12-1909-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-58_Facts and Opinions 25-12-1909.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

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

Volume <\/b> I –
\nDec. 25, 1909 – Number 25<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\n United Congress Negotiations<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nT<\/font>he
\npersistence of the Bengalee<\/i> in shielding Moderate obstinacy under cover
\nof an appeal to the wholly inconclusive proceedings of the private Conference
\nin the Amrita Bazar <\/i>Office last year shows both the paucity of possible
\narguments for the Moderate position and the readiness of its chief organ to
\nignore facts of which it has been reminded more than once and which it cannot
\ndeny. The difference between the conference last year and the recent negotiations is radical. That conference was between Conventionists and non-Conventionists,
\nthe recent negotiations were between Moderates and Nationalists. The Amrita
\nBazar<\/i> Office Conference was an attempt made by certain leaders in Bengal
\nand Maharashtra to secure admission for the
\nNationalists to the Convention. The United Congress Committee was confined to
\nBengal and sat to consider whether Bengal Moderates and Nationalists could not
\nagree together before inviting the Conventionists of other provinces to accept
\nthe terms offered by United Bengal. Last year’s Conference was a confabulation
\nof leading men representing their own opinions only, this year’s negotiations
\nwere conducted by men elected for the purpose by the Provincial Conference
\nrepresenting the whole of Bengal. At the Conference in Bagbazar
\nit was the middle section of opinion, neither Moderate nor Nationalist, of
\nwhich Sj. Motilal Ghose, Rai Jotindranath Chaudhuri, and some of the older leaders in
\nthe Mofussil are the most influential
\nmembers, which engineered a compromise in the absence of the Nationalist
\nleaders. Sj. Tilak was a prisoner in Mandalay jail, Sj. Aurobindo
\nGhose under trial at Alipur, Sj. Khaparde and Sj. Bepin
\nChandra Pal absent in England. The compromise was reluctantly accepted
\nby many of the Nationalists present, \u2014 as we have ascertained by correspondence
\nwith some of the chief Nationalists who attended, \u2014 and only because it was
\npressed on them<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 314<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nthat these were the only terms on which the Moderate
\nParty would admit of the idea of union. It was not accepted at all by the
\nBengal Nationalists and it has been recently admitted by the Amrita Bazar Patrika<\/i>
\nthat letters were received from the Mofussil
\nrepudiating the surrender on the question of the creed. How is it that the Bengalee<\/i>
\npersists in ignoring these facts ? The
\ncompromise was rejected by the Moderates themselves, Bombay refusing utterly
\nto recognise the four Calcutta resolutions as a possible part of any treaty,
\nand this was recognised by the Moderates this year;
\nfor at the first meeting of the United Congress Committee it was distinctly
\nintimated to the Nationalist members that the four resolutions must not be
\npressed as a condition of union. In other words the one concession for which
\nsome of the leading Nationalists induced themselves to waive their rooted
\nobjections to constitution and creed, is expunged and the Nationalists are
\nexpected to be bound by a rejected compromise by which the Moderates refuse to
\nbe bound. They are expected to adhere to the concessions they made last year,
\nwhile the only concession made to them is withdrawn. This fact is quite
\nsufficient by itself to put the Bengalee<\/i>‘s argument out of court. We repeat that the recent
\nnegotiations had nothing to do with last year’s abortive compromise, rejected
\nas it was by both parties immediately after it was made. Their sole object was
\nto ascertain whether the Moderates would accept substantial concessions from
\nthe Nationalists without asking the latter to sacrifice their conscience and
\ntheir principles. Apparently they are not. Therefore union is impossible.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n\tA
\n New Sophism<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another and very singular argument is
\nadvanced by the Bengalee <\/i>which evinces a similar disregard of facts and
\nof the real significance of facts. It is alleged that both sides in Bengal are
\nagreed as to the four resolutions, that the creed is part of the four resolutions,
\nthat the creed was accepted by the Nationalists at Pabna
\nand therefore they ought not to object to sign it as a condition of
\nentering the Congress. In the first place, if the four resolutions<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 315<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nare to be so binding on the Nationalists that they
\nmust be ready to sign one of them at the call of the Moderates, then they must
\nbe made equally binding on the Moderates and we call on
\nthem to sign a declaration of acceptance of the Boycott as a condition of entry
\ninto an United Congress. Just as the Moderates from Bombay accepted the Boycott
\nresolution at Calcutta in deference to the weight of public opinion, so we
\naccepted the Colonial self-government resolution as the opinion of the majority
\nand are no more bound to subscribe to it personally than Sir Pherozshah Mehta is bound to subscribe to the
\nBoycott. The four resolutions merely framed a compromise between the two
\npolitical schools, not a declaration of Nationalist faith. As for Bengal, it is
\nwell-known that the whole of Bengal does not accept Colonial self-government as
\nthe ultimate goal of political aspiration. At Pabna
\nit was only to avoid a discussion dangerous to unity that the Nationalists
\ncontented themselves, in spite of the majority they had, with placing their
\ndissent on record through the mouth of Sj. Manoranjan Guha. The Bengalee<\/i> cannot have
\nforgotten that incident. It was revived
\nagain at Hughly when the Moderates insisted
\non whittling down the Boycott to a mere commercial measure as a price of their
\nadherence to the Conference and Sj. Aurobindo Ghose desired to bring forward an amendment,
\nwhich he would subsequently withdraw, in order to mark that the Nationalists
\ndid not accept the resolution as the opinion of the country. The Moderate
\nleaders threatened to withdraw if this was done and Sj. Aurobindo Ghose was requested
\nto confine himself to the precedent established by Sj. Manoranjan Guha at
\nPabna. He then distinctly expressed his doubt whether this would be sufficient
\nto make the Nationalist attitude clear to the country and the advantage taken
\nof our complaisance by the Bengalee<\/i> to misrepresent the Nationalist
\nattitude at Pabna shows that his apprehensions were perfectly justified. If
\nthis is the light in which the Moderates choose to put the Nationalist
\nwillingness to compromise, it may be necessary at the next Conference for our
\nparty not only to move an amendment but to put it to the vote regardless of
\nModerate threats of secession.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 316<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\n\t
\n Futile
\n Espionage<\/a><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We
\nwonder whether it is really impossible to maintain a great Empire without
\ndemoralising oneself and the country by means of an unworthy system of
\nespionage. Since the initiation of the Swadeshi movement the army of spies and
\ninformers have grown as plentiful as insects round a bright light. Formerly men
\nof some distinction had the honour of being watched in their houses, dogged in
\ntheir goings, honoured by the private inspection of their correspondence. But
\nnowadays it is enough to be suspected of patriotism to have the inefficient hirelings
\nof the Police, if not the worthy guardians of the Law themselves, sticking like
\nburs to one’s heels. Is anything gained by these excessive and no doubt costly
\nprecautions ? If we are to judge by the sorry specimens who have besieged us
\nfor the last six months, a more incapable creature than the ordinary Indian
\nspy does not exist. He has an engaging simplicity of artifice which at once
\nbetrays his savoury vocation, and if he does not carry "spy" written
\nlegibly on his forehead, as a multitude of them do, he is so transparent in
\nhis methods that he might just as well be labelled, "Due at Royd Street". Nor do we quite see what is
\ngained by watching a man’s house or his office with an open brazenness. The office of the Dharma<\/i>1<\/sup> has recently been favoured with
\nthe loitering of watchers who spend their days gazing lovingly at the building
\nand making affectionate and importunate enquiries as to the movements and
\nhabits of the editor. This open love-making strikes us as a little indecent; it
\nwould be better done behind a veil. And what do the authorities hope to gain by
\nthese unique researches ? Do they hope to
\nsee either bombs or packets of sedition being carried into the building ? Or is
\na leader of public agitation likely to convert his newspaper office or his
\nhouse into an open resort of secret conspirators ? Even a bureaucracy ought to
\ncredit its political opponents with some little common sense, even if they
\ncannot credit them with honesty of motive and frankness of action.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 A
\nBengali weekly edited by Sri Aurobindo from
\nAugust, 1909 to February, 1910.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 317<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\n Convention
\n Voyagers<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We
\nunderstand that some seven or eight faithful hearts are meditating the journey
\nto Lahore to assist Mr. Madan Mohan Malaviya in carrying out Sir Pherozshah’s orders. We wish them a good voyage
\nand a speedy repentance. One wonders, by the way, where the delegates of the
\nConvention are going to start up from at the last moment. We watch in vain for
\nthe news of numerous elections all over the country. Secret conclaves, hushed-up quarrels, sittings with silent visitors,
\nand, finally, secret elections seem to be the best features of Convention politics ! <\/b> Or are the delegates ashamed of
\npublishing their names ?<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 318<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facts and Opinions Volume I – Dec. 25, 1909 – Number 25 The United Congress Negotiations   The persistence of the Bengalee in shielding Moderate…<\/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-1066","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\/1066","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=1066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}