{"id":263,"date":"2013-07-13T01:26:58","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=263"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:26:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:26:58","slug":"151-convention-and-conference-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/01-bande-mataram-volume-01\/151-convention-and-conference-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-151_Convention and Conference.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nConvention and Conference<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n               
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>W<\/font><\/b><\/span>HEN<\/font><\/b>
\nthe leaders of the Moderate Party meet at Allahabad, they will be on their trial
\nbefore India and all the world. They have done much in the past for the country.
\nWhatever we may think of the views they hold or the methods dear to them, they
\nare the survivors of a generation which woke the nation from political apathy
\nand helped to break the spell which British success had thrown upon the hearts
\nof the people. They turned a critical eye on things which had been taken for
\ngranted, British peace, British justice, British freedom. Even while they
\nlauded, they criticised, and the habit of fault-finding which they turned into a
\nweapon of political warfare, helped to break the hypnotic power of the
\nbureaucratic domination. This was no small or unimportant result for so abjectly
\nprostrate a generation as the one into which they were born. If the nation is
\npassing out of their hands, it is largely on account of the change in the
\npopular mind which they brought about by their ceaseless attacks on the
\nbureaucracy. But if they did so much to raise the nation, the political
\ninfluence which they acquired by their services was an ample recompense. They
\nare now losing that influence; the minds of the rising generation are widening
\nto receive ideas which they have chosen to oppose, to envisage hopes which they
\nare anxious to discourage, to attempt enterprises with which they are either
\nunwilling or afraid to associate themselves. The Surat Congress failed because
\nthey desired to throw an insuperable barrier across the path of the onward march
\nof the rising generation, because they hoped to confine the future to the
\nformulas of the present and leave the mould of their ideas as the rigid form out
\nof which the nation would not be permitted to grow. The Convention is an attempt
\nto drag back the Congress out of the twentieth century into the nineteenth. It
\nis as much a futile piece of reaction as Mr. Morley’s Council of Notables. The
\nsame exclusive, oligarchical spirit of the past trying to dominate the future,
\nof the few with wealth, position and fame<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-824<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nfor
\ntheir title claiming the monopoly of political life, animates the idea of the
\nConvention. Perhaps, if the Convention becomes a living fact, it may, who knows,
\nbe accepted by Mr. Morley as the basis for his Council of Notables? But if the
\nModerates of Bombay would welcome such a consummation, the Bengal leaders ought
\nto know that the attempt to separate the Congress from the life of the people
\nwill be disastrous to the future of the movement for which Bengal stands. If
\nthey associate themselves with any such attempt to bring back the country to
\nthe footstool of the bureaucracy, they will have given the last blow to their
\ninfluence and popularity. They may remain Notables, they will cease to be
\npopular leaders. The resolution of the Pabna Conference which was accepted by
\nthem leaves them no ground to stand upon if they associate themselves with the
\nBombay attempt to turn back the wheels of time and put an end to the natural
\nevolution of the Congress. The Convention was the creation of Sir Pherozshah
\nMehta who will leave no stone unturned to save his offspring when the
\nConvention Committee meets at Allahabad; it will be seen whether the fear of Sir Pherozshah Mehta or the fear of the country is strongest in the hearts of the
\nModerate leaders. They are still, it seems, undecided as to their course, a
\ndangerous condition of mind since the powerful will of Sir Pherozshah is likely
\nto carry all before it, if it is not met by a settled determination to give
\neffect to the plainly expressed wishes of the people.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Whatever happens at the Convention, the leaders of the Moderate Party
\nwill be held responsible for the result. If the Congress breaks asunder for
\ngood, the blame will rest on them and they will no longer be able to throw it
\nupon the Nationalists who have since the break-up at Surat laid themselves open
\nto the charge of weakness and cowardice rather than stand in the way of
\nreconciliation. From the first meeting of the Nationalist Conference after the
\nfracas on the second day of the session to the present moment the attitude of
\nthe party has been accommodating to a fault. They allowed the Moderates to score
\na seeming triumph at Pabna rather than allow a second split. At Poona in their
\nstronghold they invited the co-operation of the Moderates at Dhulia, they even
\nconsented to the question of the Boycott<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-825<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nbeing
\nallowed to stand over, unless otherwise decided by the Provincial Conference,
\nrather than forfeit Moderate co-operation. The public utterances of Nationalist
\npapers and Nationalist speakers from the speech of Mr. Tilak after the fracas to
\nthe latest speeches at the Poona Conference have all been pervaded by the
\nthought of reconciliation, the anxiety for union. The Nationalists make no
\nstipulation except that no creed shall be imposed on the Congress from outside,
\nno action be taken which implies that the Convention is the arbiter of the
\ndestinies of the Congress and that no constitution or change of policy shall be
\ndrawn up by anyone as binding on the Congress before the Congress itself decided
\non its future course. This is an attitude to which no one can take reasonable
\nexception. The Nationalists also appointed a Committee after the fiasco, but the
\ninstructions issued to this Committee were merely to watch the results of the
\nsplit, to see that a reconciliation be effected and only in the last resort to
\ntake up the work of the Congress where it had broken off, if no accommodation
\nproved possible. The Committee has therefore taken no action beyond watching the
\ncourse of events and exercising the influence of its authorised officials to
\nbring about such resolutions as would help the reconciliation of the parties. It
\ndepends entirely on the result of the meeting at Allahabad whether the Committee
\nis to assert its existence or quietly allow itself to cease when the main object
\nfor which it came into being has been accomplished. Convention and Conference
\nare both mere party organisations and, if either of them affects to be the
\nCongress, it will be guilty of a parricidal action leading to the death of the
\nparent body.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBy The Way<\/a><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe
\nannual meeting of the European and Anglo-Indian Defence Association took place
\nlast Monday without the world being any the worse for the calamity. There were
\nspeeches and there was a report. Each of the orations was in the usual key of
\nsolemnity and the Association conducted itself with imperturbable seriousness
\n\u2014 a feat of muscular self-control which should be put down to<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/h2>\n

\nPage-826<\/font><\/span><\/h2>\n
\n

\nits
\ncredit. A sense of humour is an obstacle to success in life and the British
\nnation has always avoided or controlled it, especially since the union with
\nScotland. It is, indeed, since the Scotchman became a member of the British
\nnation that the great development of England as an Empire has taken place. Now
\nthe Anglo-Indian Defence Association hails largely from beyond the Tweed.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The first speaker who took the affairs of the Empire under his patronage,
\nwas a certain Mr. Lockhart Smith. He gave some firm but kindly advice to the
\nleaders of Indian thought as to the best way of managing their business
\nforgetting that his time would have been more usefully employed in minding his
\nown. It appears that the unrest was a natural and healthy aspiration of the
\npeople, but all the same it created a natural and healthy alarm in the manly
\nbreasts of the Anglo-Indian Defence Association and it is a good thing that it
\nhas quieted down to some extent. Unfortunately the position is still far from
\nclear or satisfactory to Mr. Lockhart Smith. This healthy unrest is still too
\nhealthily restless for Mr. Smith’s nerves. He therefore calls upon the leaders
\nof Indian thought to rise to the occasion and handle the situation with a
\nstatesmanlike reposefulness. They must learn to be quietly unquiet, restfully
\nrestless, humbly aspiring, meekly bold. If <\/b>they are restless in their
\nunrest, the Government will "put back the hands of the clock", to the
\ngreat inconvenience of old Father Time. Perhaps Mr. Lockhart Smith is in the
\nhabit of putting back the hands of the clock in his office so as to give his
\nclerks a longer spell of work; otherwise we cannot understand his sublime
\nconfidence in the effectiveness of this trick with the clock or his evident
\nbelief that it will stop the march of Time.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>On the whole the advice of Mr. Smith may be summed up as an appeal to
\nspare his nerves. The Viceroy will recognise the position "as clear and
\nsatisfactory" if the leaders are content<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/h3>\n

\nPage-827<\/font><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n

\nto
\n‘aspire’ without being over-anxious to get their aspirations realised. We have
\nno doubt he will.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>After Mr. Lockhart Smith had locked up his heart from farther speech,
\nthere was a shower of sparks. Mr. H. W. S. Sparkes chose the unrest for the
\ntheme of his eloquence. Every sentence in the report of his speech is a
\nscintillating piece of brilliance. He said "if the wishes of the people of
\nIndia, the Extremists, who are thinking of driving the British out of India were
\ngranted, they would be the first to go down on their bended knees and ask the
\nGovernment to stay back and dictate any terms they liked." That the people
\nof India are all extremists, is the first proposition we gather from this
\nremarkable prophecy, that they all want to drive the British out of India is the
\nsecond. It appears that their wishes are going to be granted, but whether by God
\nor John Morley the prophet does not inform us. At some psychological stage of
\nthe process of eviction
\n<\/span>\u2014 after the <\/span>wishes
\nhave been granted and the British have been driven out of India, \u2014 the
\nGovernment and Mr. Sparkes are to be intercepted on the Apollo Bunder by a
\ndeputation of Bepin Pal, Tilak and Khaparde on bended knees asking them to stay
\nback on any terms rather than deprive India of their beatific presence. This is
\nthe first spark.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The second spark is of a somewhat fuliginous character. Mr. Sparkes
\nhastened to disclaim this remarkable prophecy, it is his fosterchild and not his
\nown and only begotten son. "These were not his own views, but of the
\nBengalis and men who never mixed in politics." They are the views, it
\nseems, of two classes of men, first, of the Bengalis, then, of men who never
\nmixed in politics; and the opinion of the latter on a political question is no
\ndoubt exceptionally valuable, but if this is the opinion of the Bengalis, who
\nthen are the people of India who are all Extremists and want to drive the
\nBritish out in order to have the<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-828<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nluxury
\nof asking them back on their bended knees? There seems to be a confusion of
\nSparkes somewhere.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>It appears that "the Indians are trying to be registered as a nation
\nof the world, but they were fools if they thought that that time had come".
\nHere is another brilliant classification, but we do not quite grasp the
\ndistinction between a nation of the world and a nation not of the world. It
\nseems to savour of German metaphysics and is too deep for us. Anyway, we observe
\nthat Mr. Sparkes differs from the Transvaal authorities, he will not allow
\nIndians to register themselves in the book of the world. What, not even their
\nthumb impressions, Mr. Sparkes?<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>"The Partition wounded the people of Bengal to the quick but Mr.
\nMorley had done well in refusing to reopen that question." This was the
\nlast fitting coruscation of Sparkes, and yet neither the Ganges nor the Maidan
\nwas ablaze. After this Mr. Summons with his blood-curdling references to the
\ntrain-wrecking incident and the Alien affair fell quite flat. He discovered a
\ndistinct attempt made to shield the wrong-doers. This is a charge against the
\npolice to which we invite the prompt attention of Sir Andrew Fraser. Mr. Summons
\nought to be called upon either to substantiate his allegation against the
\nLieutenant-Governor’s friends or withdraw it.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Such was the feast of fancy and the flow of soul which came off last
\nMonday. The end of this once potent Association threatens to be as pitiful as
\nthat of the Roman way \u2014<\/span> which began in massive dignity and ended in a bog.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> April 4, 1908<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-829<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Convention and Conference                   WHEN the leaders of the Moderate Party meet at Allahabad, they will be on their trial before India and all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","wpcat-8-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263","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=263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}