{"id":1097,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:32","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1097"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:32","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:32","slug":"54-facts-and-opinions-11-12-1909-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\/54-facts-and-opinions-11-12-1909-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-54_Facts and Opinions 11-12-1909.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


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

\nVolume I – Dec.
\n11, 1909 – Number 23<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n


\nT<\/font>he
\ncontroversy which has arisen between the Bengalee<\/i> and the Amrita Bazar Patrika<\/i>
\non the subject of an united Congress does not strike us as likely to help
\ntowards the solution of this difficult question. We should ourselves have
\npreferred to hold silence until the negotiations now proceeding between representatives
\nof both sides in Calcutta are brought to a definite conclusion either for
\nsuccess or failure. But certain of the positions taken up by the Bengalee<\/i>
\ncannot be allowed to pass unchallenged. Our contemporary refers to the meeting
\nin the Amrita Bazar<\/i> Office last year as an All India Conference. He
\nought to know perfectly well that it was nothing of the kind. The Mahratta
\nNationalists were extremely anxious for a settlement and they approached the
\nBengal Moderates to that end through the mediation of Sj. Motilal Ghose.
\nThe terms arrived at were so humiliating that, although they gave way rather
\nthan imperil the success of the negotiations, it was with great difficulty
\nthey could bring themselves to consent, and Bengal Nationalism has never
\naccepted the surrender on the subject of the creed. At the Hughly Conference, when the four Nationalist
\nmembers of the Committee were named, great anxiety was expressed by the
\ndelegates that men should be chosen who would not repeat this surrender. If the
\nmeeting in Bagbazar last year were an All
\nIndia Conference, how is it that Bombay Moderatism
\nrefused to have anything to do with its resolutions, or that Sj. Surendranath and his following did not consider
\nthemselves bound by the decision to which they were a party and joined the
\nMadras Congress ? It was an attempt at
\nnegotiation and nothing more and, having fallen through, binds nobody. The Bengalee
\n<\/i>says that unless the Nationalists sign the creed, an United Congress is
\nimpossible, since no one shall be admitted to the Congress who is not
\nsatisfied with self-government within the Empire<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 295<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

and
\nconstitutional means of agitation. This seems to us to be an indirect attempt
\nat intimidating us by hinting that, if we do not join the Moderates on their
\nown terms, we shall be declaring ourselves seditionists
\nand anarchists. That is a method of bringing about unity which we think the
\nBengal Moderates had better leave to their friends in Bombay and Punjab; it
\nwill not work in Bengal. If by constitutional means is meant acquiescence in
\nthe Reforms, \u2014 that is the only constitution given to us, \u2014 we decline to join
\nin using constitutional means. If peaceful means are intended, we do not know
\nthat any party advocating public political action is in favour of any but
\npeaceful means. Nor is it a question of adhesion to or secession from the
\nBritish Empire. That is an ultimate action which is too far off to form a question of practical politics or
\na subject of difference. The dispute is one
\nof ideal, whether we shall aim at being a province of England or a separate
\nnation on an equality with her carrying on our ancient Asiatic development
\nunder modern conditions. Whether such separateness
\nand equality can be effected without breaking the English connection is a
\nquestion which can only be decided by the final attempt at adjustment between
\nIndian and British interests. We Nationalists lay stress on the ideal, which is
\na matter of principle, and not on the form it takes, which is a matter of
\nexpediency and detail. As far as the United Congress is concerned, the
\nNationalists are willing to accept the self-government of the provincial type
\nas the object of the Congress and to make no attempt to disturb this provision
\nuntil India becomes unanimous for a change, but any attempt to make them sign a
\ncreed which violates their conscience will be resisted. There can be no farther
\nweakening on that point, and if the Moderates demand that we shall lay down our
\nprinciples on the altar to Sir Pherozshah Mehta before they will admit fellowship with us
\nthen farther negotiations are useless. Disunion must take its course.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n The
\n Spirit of the Negotiations<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Both the Bengalee<\/i>
\nand the Amrita Bazar
\nPatrika<\/i> seem to us to<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 296<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

misunderstand
\nthe spirit of the negotiations which are proceeding. The Patrika<\/i> harps on the inconsistency of the
\nModerate leaders negotiating on one side and at the same time holding a meeting
\nto send delegates to the Three Men’s Congress at Lahore. There is no such
\ncondition underlying the negotiations. At Hughly Sj. Surendranath
\nexpressly reserved his liberty to attend Sir Pherozshah’s
\nCongress and there is no reason why he should not do so if he thinks that his
\nduty or his best policy. Nor do the Nationalists ask the Bengal Moderates to
\nrefrain, though they will naturally put their own interpretation on an alliance
\nbased on the pusillanimous surrender of the Boycott Resolution. On the other
\nhand the Bengalee<\/i> is quite mistaken in thinking that what the Nationalists
\nseek is admission to the Convention or that they feel themselves under any
\nnecessity to go cap in hand to Sir Pherozshah Mehta and Mr. Gokhale.
\nOn the contrary they distinctly state that the Convention is not the Congress,
\nbut they recognise that as a mere matter of convenience the reparation of its
\nerrors by the Convention is the readiest method of bringing
\nabout a compromise and they are therefore willing to take the status quo<\/i>
\nas a basis for negotiations. They recognise no obligation to conform
\nsubmissively to that basis or approach the Bombay leaders as the arbiters of
\ntheir destiny.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t
\n A
\n Salutary Rejection<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We draw the attention of all weak-kneed Nationalists to the ban placed
\nby the Bombay Government on the candidature of the distinguished and able Poona Nationalist, Mr. N. C. Kelkar.
\nMahratta Nationalism has never been so robustly uncompromising as the
\nBengal school in its refusal of co-operation in the absence of control, and Mr. Kelkar, though a sincere and ardent Nationalist, a friend and constant
\nfellow-worker of Mr. Tilak, has always
\npreserved an independent line in this matter and considered himself at liberty
\nto help the cause of the country on bodies controlled by the Government. It
\ngreatly helps our cause that the Government should so emphatically set its face
\nagainst any mistaken diplomacy of this kind. Mr. Kelkar’s
\nonly specific<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 297<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

offence
\nagainst eligibility was a sentence of fine and two months’ imprisonment for
\ncontempt of court, and that is short of the time required for ineligibility. Sj. Surendranath, who was, by the way, sentenced
\nto six months for a still graver contempt, has been specially exempted,
\nunasked, by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal from another disability. It is
\nobvious therefore that Mr. Kelkar’s real
\noffence was his Nationalist views and his friendship with Mr. Tilak. We hope that all compromising Nationalists will
\ntake the lesson of this rebuff to heart. The
\nobject of the Government is to rally the Mahomedans
\nand the Moderates and isolate the Nationalists. No doubt they mean by the
\nModerates the Loyalist section of that party, but they are evidently wishful
\nnot to entirely alienate the Nationalist Moderates, if they can do so while
\nexcluding them from all real weight on the Councils. But by what reasoning any
\nNationalist can imagine that he will escape the operation of the excluding
\nclauses, we are at a loss to understand. We may also ask our Mahratta brothers what advantage they have gained
\nby being less rigid than ourselves. They are, if anything, more rigorously
\npersecuted than we are in Bengal. Weakness of any kind does not pay in dealing
\nwith the Briton.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t
\n The
\n English Revolution<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The note of
\nrevolution which was struck with resounding force by Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Winston Churchill in the quarrel with the Lords,
\nis now ringing louder in England and has been taken up in soberer but not less
\nemphatic tones by Mr. Asquith and Sir Edward
\nGrey. There can be no doubt that there was dissension in the Cabinet over the
\nBudget and that the concessions made by the Government in the process of
\npassing it were forced upon Mr. Lloyd George and certainly not to the taste of
\nthat fiery and uncompromising Celt. But the reactionary attempt of the House of
\nLords to control finance, has evidently
\nclosed up the ranks by driving the Moderates over to the cause of revolution.
\nIt is evidently felt by the Liberals that, with an Upper
\nChamber more and more shamelessly and constantly a mere tool<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 298<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

of
\nthe Conservative leaders, it is impossible for any Liberal Government to
\naccept office unless it has a mandate to end or mend the Lords. We cannot
\nbelieve that a similar feeling will not actuate the great mass of Liberals all
\nover Great Britain and heal all differences. Already the Labour Executive has
\ndecided to make the victory easier for the Government by not dividing the forward
\nvote in a considerable number of constituencies and we have no doubt this is
\nthe outward sign of a secret compact between the Labour Party and the Liberals
\nby which the return of a powerful Socialist party has been secured. Even the
\nextreme Socialists, who usually are against all dealing with the middle class
\nand whose motto is "A plague on both your houses", are calling on
\nSocialists of all shades to support the Government in abolishing the House of
\nLords. If Mr. Asquith had followed the line
\nwe suggested as possible in a previous number and introduced a moderate but
\neffective bill for nullifying the Lords’ veto, he would certainly have gained a
\nnumber of Moderate votes which will now be denied to him, but it is doubtful
\nwhether the gain of the entire Socialist vote, secured by keeping himself free
\nto end the House of Lords, is not, in the present condition of English
\npolitics, a compensation far exceeding the loss. Already Tariff Reform is
\nreceding into the background and promises to be a subordinate issue. The battle
\nis over the constitutional, not the fiscal issue. By their anxiety to bring
\nUnionist Labour candidates into the field and the eager talk of Conservative
\nleaders about the necessity of reforming the Lords, the party of reaction show
\nthat they perfectly understand from what quarters disaster threatens. Now that
\nthe Liberal party is pledged to destroy the Lords’ veto, the English Revolution
\nis assured and it will be not a middle class but a Socialist and Labour
\nrevolution. This result is assured whether the Liberals win or lose in the
\npresent battle. One campaign does not decide the fortunes of such a war.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n Aristocratic
\n Quibbling<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When we speculated that the Lords would be more likely
\nto amend the Budget and leave their opponents the onus of throw-<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 299<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

ing <\/span>the finances of the whole country into confusion, we underestimated the want
\nof wit of which this highly venerable but somewhat brainless house is capable.
\nThis want of wit has shown itself in an unseasonable and wholly futile excess
\nof refined cunning. The House of Lords felt that its great weakness, when its
\nconduct went before the country for its verdict, would be the odium of its
\nunconstitutional attempt to interfere with the control of the finances by the
\npeople. To mend the unconstitutional appearance of their act, they have taken
\nup this position, that they have no right to amend but they have the right to
\nreject the Budget. It appears to be a right which they have sometimes been
\nunwise enough to claim, but never unwise enough to enforce. The aristocratic
\nhair-splitter who discovered this quibble seems to have forgotten that, however
\npleasing the distinction may be to his ingenuity, the mass of the voters will
\nnot care one straw to examine fine distinctions which claim the whole and
\ndisclaim the part. They will simply say that the right of rejection means the
\nright of baffling the representatives of the people and paralysing finance.
\nThe other device of the Lords is to avoid the appearance of disputing the
\npeople’s right by putting the rejection in the form of a referendum to the
\npeople, a procedure which the British constitution does not include in itself
\nand which is entirely new. Unfortunately they have made too much noise about
\nthe woes of the Dukes and Mr. Balfour has
\nmade the damaging <\/i> admission that it
\nis only the liquor and the land clauses to which he objects, so that it is too
\nlate to pretend that it is anxiety for the liberties of the people and not
\nsolicitude for their own pockets and the pockets of their allies the publicans
\nthat has dictated their action. The indecent crowding of Lords who never before
\nattended a single sitting, to reject the Budget, was also a tactical error. On
\nthe whole the action of the House of Lords has greatly helped Mr. Asquith and we may await with some confidence the
\nresult of a struggle in which India is deeply interested.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 300<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facts and Opinions Volume I – Dec. 11, 1909 – Number 23 The United Congress   The controversy which has arisen between the Bengalee and…<\/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-1097","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\/1097","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=1097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}