{"id":2013,"date":"2013-07-13T01:38:55","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2013"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:38:55","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:38:55","slug":"78-facts-and-opinions-30-vol-08-karmayogin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/08-karmayogin\/78-facts-and-opinions-30-vol-08-karmayogin","title":{"rendered":"-78_Facts and Opinions_30.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tKARMAYOGIN<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA WEEKLY
\n\t\t\tREVIEW <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tof National
\n\t\t\tReligion, Literature, Science, Philosophy, &c.,<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n
\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tVol. I <\/font>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t }<\/font><\/td>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSATURDAY 29th<\/sup> JANUARY 1910<\/font><\/td>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t{<\/font>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tNo. 30<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/font><\/div>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFacts and Opinions <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe High Court Assassination<\/a> <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The startling assassination of Deputy Superintendent Shams-ul-Alam on Monday in the precincts of the High Court, publicly,
\nin daylight, under the eyes of many and in a crowded building, breaks the silence which had settled on the country, in a fashion
\nwhich all will deplore. The deceased officer was perhaps 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 in the Alipur Bomb Case in which he zealously and
\nuntiringly assisted the Crown solicitors, but in the investigation of the Haludbari and Netra dacoities. The nature of his duties exposed him to the resentment of the small Terrorist bodies whose continued existence in Bengal is proved by this last daring and
\nreckless crime. Under such circumstances a man carries his life in his hand and it seems only a matter of time when it will be struck
\nfrom him. We have no doubt that the Government will suitably recognise his services by a handsome provision for his family.
\nAs for the crime itself, it is one of the boldest of the many bold acts of violence for which the Terrorists have been responsible.
\nWe wish we could agree with some of our contemporaries that the perpetrators of these deplorable outrages are dastards and
\ncowards; for, if it were so, Terrorism would be a thing to be<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-425<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

abhorred, but not feared. On the contrary, the Indian Terrorist seems to be usually a man fanatical in his determination and
\ndaring, to prefer public places and crowded buildings for his field and to scorn secrecy and a fair chance of escape. It is this
\nremarkable feature which has distinguished alike the crimes at Nasik, London, Calcutta, to say nothing of the assassination of
\nGossain in jail. With such men it is difficult to deal. Neither fear nor reasoning, disapprobation nor isolation can have any effect
\non them. Nor will the Government of this country allow us to use what we believe to be the only effective means of combating
\nthe spread of the virus among the people. All we can do is to sit with folded hands and listen to the senseless objurgations of
\nthe Anglo-Indian Press, waiting for a time when the peaceful expression and organisation of our national aspirations will no
\nlonger be penalised. It is then that Terrorism will vanish from the country and the nightmare be as if it never had been.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnglo-Indian Prescriptions<\/a><\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Anglo-Indian papers publish their usual senseless prescriptions for the cure of the evil. The
\nEnglishman
\n<\/i>informs us that it is at last tired of these outrages and asks in a tone full of genuine
\nweariness when the Government will take the steps which Hare Street has always been advising. It seems to us that the Government have gone fairly far in that direction. The only remaining steps are to silence the Press entirely, abolish the necessity of
\ninvestigation and trial and deport every public man in India. And when by removing everything and everyone that still encourages
\nthe people to persevere in peaceful political agitation, Russia has been reproduced in India and all is hushed except the noise of the
\nendless duel between the omnipotent policeman and the secret assassin, the
\nEnglishman
\n<\/i>will be satisfied, \u2013<\/font>but the country will
\nnot be at peace. The
\nIndian Daily News
\n<\/i>more sensibly suggests police activity in detecting secret organisations,
\n\t\t\t\u2013<\/font>although its
\nremarks would have sounded better without an implied prejudgment of the Nasik case. If the police were to employ the sound
\ndetective methods employed in England and France, it would<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-426<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

take them a little longer to effect a coup, but there would be some chance of real success. It is not by indiscriminate arrests,
\nharassing house-searches undertaken on the word of informers paid so much for each piece of information true or false, and
\ninterminable detention of undertrial prisoners in jail that these formidable secret societies will be uprooted. Such processes are
\nmore likely to swell their numbers and add to their strength. The Statesman
\n<\/i>is particularly wroth with the people of this country
\nfor their objection to police methods and goes so far as to lay the blame for the murder of Shams-ul-Alam on these objections.
\nIf we had only submitted cheerfully to police harassment, all this would not have happened! The bitter ineptitude of our
\ncontemporary grows daily more pronounced and takes more and more refuge in ridiculously inconsequent arguments. Is it
\nthe objectionable methods or our objections to them that are to blame? We may safely say that, whatever influences may
\nhave been at work in the mind of the assassin, the occasional criticisms of vexatious house-search in the Bengali journals had
\nnothing to do with his action. The
\nStatesman
\n<\/i>does not scruple, like other Anglo-Indian papers, to question the sincerity of the
\ncondemnations of Terrorist outrage which are nowadays universal throughout the country, and to support its insinuations it has
\nto go as far back as the Gossain murder and the demonstrations that followed it. Those demonstrations were not an approval
\nof Terrorism as a policy, but an outburst of gratitude to the man who removed a dangerous and reckless perjurer whose evil
\nbreath was scattering ruin and peril over innocent homes and noble and blameless heads throughout Bengal. We do not praise
\nor justify that outburst, \u2013<\/font>for murder is murder, whatever its motives,
\n\t\t\t\u2013<\/font>but it is not fair to give it a complexion other than
\nthe one it really wore. If it had really been true that a whole nation approved of Terrorism and supported the assassin by secret
\nor open sympathy, it would be a more damning indictment of British statesmanship in India than any seditious pen could have
\nframed. The Chowringhee paper’s libellous insinuation that the secret societies are not secret and their members are known to
\nthe public, has only to be mentioned in order to show the spirit of<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-427<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

this gratuitous adviser of the Indian people. Nor can one peruse without a smile the suggestion that the Hindu community should
\nuse the weapon of social ostracism against the Terrorists. Whom are we to outcaste, the hanged or transported assassin, or his
\ninnocent relatives? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHouse Search<\/a> <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While we are on the subject we may as well make explicit the rationale of our objection to house search as it is used in Bengal.
\nNo citizen can object to the legitimate and necessary use of house search as an aid to the detection of crime; it is only to its misuse
\nthat objection can be made. We say that it is misuse to harass 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
\n\t\t\t\u2013<\/font>on the remote chance of finding incriminating correspondence or arms in his possession. It is a misuse to take this step on the information of characterless paid informers
\nwhose advantage it is to invent false clues so as to justify their existence and earn their living. It is a misuse to farther harass
\nthe householder by carrying off from his house half his library and his whole family correspondence and every other article to
\nwhich the police take a fancy and which are often returned to him after infinite trouble and in a hopelessly damaged condition.
\nA house search is never undertaken in civilised countries except on information of the truth of which there is moral certainty or
\nsuch a strong probability as to justify this extreme step. To find out the truth of an information without immediately turning a
\nhousehold upside down on the chance of its veracity is not an impossible feat for detective ability in countries where all statements are not taken for gospel truth merely because they issue from the sacred lips of a policeman, and where police perjury
\nor forgery is sure of swift punishment. Where a detective force is put on its mettle by being expected to prove every statement
\nand take the consequences of illegal methods, they do manage to detect crime very effectively, while the chances of the innocent suffering are greatly minimised. In other countries there are<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-428<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

or have been Anarchist outrages, Terrorist propaganda, secret societies, but nowhere, except in Russia, are such methods used
\nas are considered quite ordinary in India, nor, if used, would they be tolerated by the European citizen. If the police would
\nconfine themselves to legitimate detective activity, they would receive the full support of the public and the occasional trouble
\nof a house search, caused by the existence of a suspected relative or dependent, would be patiently borne,
\n\t\t\t\u2013<\/font>though it is absurd
\nof the
\nStatesman
\n<\/i>to expect a householder to be cheerful under such untoward circumstances. This is the rationale of our views
\nin the matter, and we do not think there is anything in them either unreasonable, obstructive or inconsistent with civic duty. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe Elections<\/a><\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Elections at the time of writing seem to point to the return of
\na Liberal Ministry dependent first on Labour, then on Irish votes for its very existence. At the end of last week after being long in a
\nslight minority, the combined Liberal-Labour party exceeded the Conservatives by 14, but the Liberal vote, apart from the Labour
\nrepresentatives, was still well behind the Unionist numbers. 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 occasions, well-distributed all over the country,
\nwe see the United Kingdom ranged into two adverse parties on a great revolutionary issue, according to geographical, almost
\nracial distribution. Wales, Scotland and the North are for 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 and we think there is hardly a constituency
\nin which the Liberal majority has not been either materially, often hugely reduced or turned into a minority. <\/p>\n

In the North, even in Yorkshire, still more in Westmoreland, the Unionists have achieved a few victories, but the verdict of
\nthe North as a whole has gone heavily against the Lords and for the Liberals. Wales is still overwhelmingly Radical in spite of
\none or two Conservative gains. In Scotland the Liberal party has<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-429<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

been amazingly successful and increased its majorities in many places, maintained them in most and balanced occasional losses
\nby compensating victories. The Celt everywhere has declared for revolution, as was to be expected from that ardent, mobile and
\nimaginative race; the frank, adventurous Scandinavian blood of the North may account for its progressive sympathies; but the
\nrest of England is the home of the conservative, slow-natured Anglo-Saxon always distrustful of new adventures and daring
\ninnovations. The struggle seems to us to have been not so much one of opinions as of blood and instinct. It is notable that the
\nConservative victories have been attained not so much by the reduction and transference of the Liberal vote as by a rush of
\nConservative electors to the polls who did not vote in previous elections. The unparalleled heaviness of the polling shows how
\ndeeply the people have been stirred and feel the magnitude and importance of the issues.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-430<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KARMAYOGIN A WEEKLY REVIEW of National Religion, Literature, Science, Philosophy, &c., Vol. I  } SATURDAY 29th JANUARY 1910 { No. 30   Facts and Opinions…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-08-karmayogin","wpcat-44-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013","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=2013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}