{"id":2065,"date":"2013-07-13T01:39:12","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2065"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:39:12","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:39:12","slug":"41-facts-and-opinions-14-vol-08-karmayogin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/08-karmayogin\/41-facts-and-opinions-14-vol-08-karmayogin","title":{"rendered":"-41_Facts and Opinions_14.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tKARMAYOGIN<\/font> <\/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 25th<\/sup> SEPTEMBER 1909<\/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. 14<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

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

\n\t\t\t <\/font><\/p>\n

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

Facts and Opinions <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tThe Convention President<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

The nomination of Sir Pherozshah Mehta as the President of the three men’s Convention at Lahore is not an event that is of
\n\tany direct interest to Nationalists. Just as the three tailors of Tooley Street represented themselves as the British public, so the
\n\tthree egregious mediocrities of the Punjab pose as the people of their province and, in defiance of the great weight of opinion
\n\tamong the leading men and the still stronger force of feeling among the people against the holding of a Convention Congress
\n\tat Lahore, are inviting the representatives of the Moderate party to a session of what is still called, even under these discouraging circumstances, the Indian National Congress. It is of small importance to us whom these three gentlemen elect as their
\n\tPresident. The nomination was indeed a foregone conclusion. Sir Pherozshah Mehta, having got rid of his Nationalist adversaries,
\n\tnow rules the Convention with as absolute a sway as he ruled the Corporation before the European element combined against
\n\thim and showed that, servile as Bombay respectability might be to the Corporation lion, it was still more servile to the ruling
\n\tclass. Indirectly, however, the election is of some importance to Bengal owing to the desire of the people of this province
\n\tfor a United Congress. It is no longer a secret that in Bengal<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tPage-240<\/p>\n

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

\n

Moderate circles the feeling against Sir Pherozshah is almost as strong as it is in the Nationalist party. It has even been threatened
\n\tthat, if Sir Pherozshah becomes the President, Bengal will not attend the session at Lahore. This has since been qualified by
\n\tthe proviso that Bengal as a province will not attend, although some individuals may overcome their feelings or their scruples.
\n\tBengal as a province would in no case attend the sitting of a mutilated Congress. Even the whole Moderate party were not
\n\tlikely to attend unless their objections on the score of constitutional procedure were properly considered. All that the threat can mean is that, even of those who would otherwise have gone, most will not attend. This is, after all, a feeble menace. Neither Sj. Surendranath nor Sj. Bhupendranath nor the Chaudhuri brothers are likely to forego attendance, and, for all practical
\n\tpurposes, these gentlemen are the Moderate party in Bengal. If the Bengal leaders do go to Lahore, they are certain to obey
\n\tmeekly the dictates of Sir Pherozshah Mehta; for there is not one of them who has sufficient strength of character to stand up
\n\tto the roarings of the Bombay lion. They were in the habit of obeying him even when he had no official authority, and it can
\n\twell be imagined how the strong, arrogant and overbearing man will demean himself as President, and how utterly impossible
\n\tit will be even to suggest, either in Subjects Committee or in full meeting, any idea which will not be wholly palatable to
\n\tthe autocrat. Sj. Surendranath Banerji at Hughly advanced the strangely reactionary conception of the President of a Congress
\n\tor Conference as by right not less absolute than the Czar of all the Russias, bound by no law and no principle and entitled to
\n\texact from the Conference or Congress implicit obedience to his most arbitrary and unconstitutional whims and caprices. This
\n\tabsolutist conception is likely to be carried out to the letter at the Lahore Convention. If ever there was any hope that the Lahore
\n\tsession of the Convention might be utilised for bringing about a United Congress, that has now disappeared. The hope was
\n\tcherished by some, but it was from the first an idle expectation. A firm combination of all, whether Moderates or Nationalists,
\n\twho are in favour of union, and the holding of a freely elected<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tPage-241<\/p>\n

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

\n

Congress at Calcutta was all along the only chance of bringing about union.\n\t<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tPresidential Autocracy<\/a> <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

The conception of the President as a Russian autocrat and the
\n\tassembly as the slave of his whims is one which is foreign to free and democratic institutions, and would, if enforced, make
\n\tall true discussion impossible and put in the hands of the party in possession of the official machinery an irresistible weapon for
\n\tstifling the opinions of its opponents. It is a conception against which the Nationalist party have struggled from the beginning
\n\tand will struggle to the end. The ruling of the President is final on all points of order, but only so long as he governs the proceedings
\n\tof the body according to the recognised rules of debate. He cannot dictate the exclusion of resolutions or amendments which do not seem to him rational or expedient, but must always base his action on reasons of procedure and not on reasons of state.
\n\tThe moment he asserts his individual caprice or predilection, he lays himself open to an appeal to the whole assembly or even, in
\n\tvery extreme cases, to an impeachment of his action by a vote of censure from the delegates. It has been erroneously alleged that
\n\tthe Speaker of the House of Commons sways the House with an absolute control. The Speaker is as much bound by the rules of
\n\tthe House as any member; he is the repository of the rules and administers an old and recognised procedure, elaborate and rigid
\n\tin detail, which he cannot transgress, nor has any Speaker been known to transgress it. Some have been suspected of administering the rules, wherever they left discretion to the Speaker, with a partiality for one party, but even this has been rare, and it
\n\twas always the rules of procedure that were administered, not personal whim or caprice. As the present Speaker pointed out
\n\trecently in his evidence before a public Commission, there is a recognised means by which the conduct of the Speaker can
\n\tbe called in question by the House. It would be strange if it were otherwise. The framers of the British Constitution, who
\n\tso jealously guarded every loophole by which autocracy might<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tPage-242<\/p>\n

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

\n

creep into any part of the system, were not likely to leave such a glaring defect of freedom uncorrected, if it had ever existed.\n\t<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tMr. Lalmohan Ghose<\/a> <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

The death of Mr. Lalmohan Ghose removes from the scene a
\n\tdistinguished figure commemorative of the past rather than representative of any living force in the present. His interventions in politics have for many years past been of great rarity and, since the Calcutta Congress, had entirely ceased. It cannot therefore
\n\tbe said that his demise leaves a gap in the ranks of our active workers. He was the survivor of a generation talented in politics
\n\trather than great, and, among them, he was one of the few who could lay claim to the possession of real genius. That genius
\n\twas literary, oratorical and forensic rather than political but as these were the gifts which then commanded success in the
\n\tpolitical arena, he ought to have stood forward far ahead of the mass of his contemporaries. It was the lack of steadiness
\n\tand persistence common enough in men of brilliant gifts, which kept him back in the race. His brother Mr. Manmohan Ghose,
\n\ta much less variously and richly gifted intellect but a stronger character, commanded by the possession of these very qualities a much weightier influence and a more highly and widely honoured name. In eloquence we doubt whether any orator of
\n\tthe past or present generation has possessed the same felicity of style and charm of manner and elocution. Mr. Gokhale has
\n\tsomething of the same debating gift, but it is marred by the dryness of his delivery and the colourlessness of his manner.
\n\tMr. Lalmohan Ghose possessed the requisite warmth, glow and agreeableness of speech and manner without those defects of
\n\texcess and exaggeration which sometimes mar Bengali oratory. We hope that his literary remains will be published, especially
\n\tthe translation of the Meghnad Badh, which, from such capable hands, ought to introduce favourably a Bengali masterpiece to
\n\ta wider than Indian audience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tPage-243<\/p>\n<\/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 25th SEPTEMBER 1909 { No. 14   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-2065","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\/2065","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=2065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}