{"id":2860,"date":"2013-07-13T01:44:14","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2860"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:44:14","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:44:14","slug":"95-bande-mataram-12-6-07-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/06-07-bande-mataram\/95-bande-mataram-12-6-07-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","title":{"rendered":"-95_Bande Mataram 12-6-07.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBande
\n\tMataram<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t
\n\t{ CALCUTTA, June 12th, 1907 }
\n\t<\/b><\/span>
\n\t<b{
\n\tCALCUTTA, June 12th, 1907 }
\n\t<\/b><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n
\nAn Out-of-Date Reformer
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTime was and that time was not
\nmore than two years ago and indeed even less, when the reforms which Mr. Morley
\nhas announced would have been received in India by many with enthusiasm, by
\nothers with considerable satisfaction as an important concession to public
\nfeeling and a move, however small, in the right direction. Today they have been
\nreceived by some with scorn and ridicule, by others with bitterness and
\ndissatisfaction, even by the most loyal with a cold and qualified recognition.
\nNever has an important pronouncement of policy by a famous and once honoured
\nstatesman of whom much had been expected, delivered moreover under the most
\ndramatic circumstances possible and as a solution of a trying and critical
\nproblem, fallen so utterly flat on the audience which it was intended to
\nimpress. The outside world amazed at a change so sudden and radical may well ask
\nwhat are its causes. The true cause is, of course, the revolution which has been
\nworked in Indian opinion and Indian feeling in these two years. British
\nLiberalism stands where it was and refuses to move forward. Indian opinion has
\nadvanced with enormous strides to a position far in front. The British Liberal
\nhas perhaps, from his standpoint, some reason for complaint. He had formed a
\nsort of agreement with the section of Indian opinion which then dominated Indian
\npolitics. On our side we were to assure him of the permanence of the British
\ncontrol, to acknowledge our present unfitness for self-government and to accept
\nperpetual subordination and dependence as an arrangement of Providence. On his
\nside he has engaged to give us progressive alleviations of our subject
\ncondition, gradually increasing compensations for the renunciation   
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 500<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nof our national future; these he
\nwas prepared to concede to us by slow degrees according to his own convenience
\nand ability. Nor was the prospect denied to India of becoming after the lapse of
\nmany centuries a trusted servant of England or even something very like an
\nadopted son. The bargain was one-sided, but the political leaders had an
\noverpowering sense of their own weakness, of the superior excellence of British
\ncivilisation, and of the unshakable might of Britain. They had too a profound
\ntrust in the justice of England and the genuineness of English Liberalism. They
\nbelieved that the Liberal offers of small rights and privileges were made not as
\na bargain or out of a shrewd calculation of advantages and disadvantages, but
\nfrom the sense of justice and from a true sympathy with liberal aspirations all
\nover the world. They were therefore ready to take gratefully and contentedly
\nwhatever small mercies were conceded to them. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nNow the spirit of the people has
\nchanged. From a timid and easily satisfied dependence on the alien they have
\npassed at once to a passionate and determined assertion of their separate
\nnational existence and a demand for an immediate recognition of their right to
\ncontrol their own affairs. It is not surprising that the old Friends of India
\nshould be alarmed and indignant at the change or that they should call upon the
\nolder leaders whom they know and think they can influence, to drive the
\nExtremists out of their councils, return to their old allegiance and observe the
\nterms of the contract. "We are where we were, we still offer you the same
\nterms;" they cry, "you shall have your reforms, but on the old conditions, the
\npermanence of British control, the repression of all turbulent aspirations,
\ndissociation from the forces of disorder and revolution." So they cry to the
\nModerate leaders to turn back and retrace their steps, and by main force to
\nbring back India with them to the standpoint of twenty years ago. It is a vain
\ncry. If the Moderate leaders wished to go back, they would have to go back alone
\nas men without a following, lost leaders, prophets whose power had passed out of
\nthem. The force which has swept the country forward is a force no man has
\ncreated and which no man can control. As well ask a man who has become adult to
\nreturn to the age of childhood as India    <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 501<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tto go back to the standpoint
\n\tit has left irrecoverably behind. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tThe British Government is
\n\tlike Tarquin with the Sibyl; the terms it has refused will no longer be
\n\toffered to it. It might have purchased contentment, a new lease of Indian
\n\tconfidence and a long spell of ease at a very small price only three or four
\n\tyears ago. Now at a price ten times as high it will be able to purchase at
\n\tthe most a short truce in a war which must be fought to the end. Mr. Morley
\n\trecognised this fact when with an indiscreet frankness he referred to the
\n\teducated class in India as "our enemies". A long era of repression and
\n\treaction culminating in Curzonism has opened the eyes of the Indian people.
\n\tThey have learnt that not only were the reforms of Liberal Viceroys and
\n\tGovernments small and ineffective in themselves, but that they were held on
\n\ta precarious tenure. Mr. Morley or another might give "rights" and
\n\t"privileges" of a dubious character, but the power of Liberalism in modern
\n\tEngland is apt to be brief and succeeded by long periods of pure Imperialism
\n\tin which those rights and privileges will surely be taken away or nullified.
\n\tThey have discovered also that the support they might expect from Liberalism
\n\tis of a very limited and meagre nature and that, when in office, Liberal and
\n\tConservative are for India synonymous terms. The struggle which began with
\n\tthe Partition has generated a new ideal and a newborn Nationalism has sprung
\n\tin a few days almost to its full stature. There was no chance therefore that
\n\tany reform would be acceptable which did not ensure popular control, make
\n\treactionary legislation by despotic Viceroys impossible and open the way to
\n\tSwaraj. And even if Mr. Morley’s reforms had had any chance of being
\n\tacceptable, it was ruined by the series of repressive measures which
\n\tpreceded them. Reforms simultaneous and compatible with the deportation of
\n\tpopular leaders, the prosecution of popular journals, the persecution of
\n\tstudents and teachers and the prohibition of public meetings were of so
\n\tpatent a hollowness that the most moderate and loyal were compelled to
\n\treceive them with a bitter scepticism. And as if to drive the moral home,
\n\tthe speech in which the reforming statesman introduced his measures was
\n\tcouched in the sour and autocratic spirit of a reactionary bureaucrat
\n\tcontemptuously    <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 502<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n
\ndoling out sops to the rabble to an accompaniment of hardly- veiled menace and
\ninsult. Mr. Morley has been unanimously complimented by the Liberal Press in
\nEngland on his courage in coupling repression with reforms, kicks with
\nbread-crumbs. For ourselves we are struck by his singular want of sagacity and
\nof even an elementary knowledge of human nature and the feelings which govern
\ngreat masses of men. As well might we call the policy of a Louis XVI or a Czar
\nNicholas courageous. The courage may or may not be there, but there can be no
\ndoubt of the unwisdom.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 503<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, June 12th, 1907 } <b{ CALCUTTA, June 12th, 1907 }   An Out-of-Date Reformer   Time was and that time was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-06-07-bande-mataram","wpcat-54-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2860","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=2860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}