{"id":301,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:12","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=301"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:12","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:12","slug":"087-the-7th-of-august-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\/087-the-7th-of-august-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-087_The 7th of August.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\nThe 7th of August<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n                       
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>T<\/font><\/span><\/b>HE<\/b>
\napproaching celebration of the 7th of August has a double importance this year,
\nfor it has not only its general and permanent importance as the commemoration of
\nour declaration of independence, but an occasional though none the less urgent
\nimportance as an opportunity of reaffirming our separate national existence
\nagainst the arbitrary and futile attempt of the bureaucracy to reaffirm and
\nperpetuate a vanishing despotism. The 7th of August will be recognised in the
\nfuture as a far more important date to the building up of the nation than the
\n16th October. On the 16th October the threatened unity of Bengal was asserted
\nagainst the disingenuous and dangerous attack engineered by Lord Curzon; and
\nsince it is on the solidarity of its regional and race units that the greater
\nPan-Indian unity can alone be firmly founded, the 16th October must always be a
\nholy day in the Indian Calendar. But on the 7th of August Bengal discovered for
\nIndia the idea of Indian independence as a living reality and not a distant
\nUtopia, on the 7th of August she consecrated herself to the realisation of that
\nsupreme ideal by the declaration of the Boycott. The time has not come yet when
\nthe full meaning of that declaration can be understood; even the whole of Bengal
\nhas not yet understood, much less the whole of India. But the light is coming;
\npartly by the efforts of the preachers of the light, still more by the efforts
\nof the enemies of the light, it is coming: and in the dim wide glimmer of the
\nmighty dawn we can see the vast slow surge of Indian life quickening under the
\nbreath of a stupendous wind, we can discern the angry fringes of the tide
\ncasting themselves far beyond the old low level, we can almost hear the roar of
\nthe surf hurling itself on the flimsy barriers it had once accepted as an iron
\nand eternal boundary. The waters are at last alive with the breath of God, the
\nflood which is to overwhelm the world has begun.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The 7th of August was India’s Independence Day. A big<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-493<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nword,
\nit may be said, far too grandiose for <\/i>the little that was accomplished.
\nTo those who judge only by the gross material event it may seem so, but to those
\nwho look beneath and watch the course of events as they shape themselves in the
\nsoul of a nation, the phrase will not seem one whit too excessive. It is the
\nsoul within us that decides, that makes our history, that determines Fate, and
\nthe material nature, material events only shape themselves under the limitations
\nof Space and Time to give an outward body and realisation to the decisions of
\nthe soul. The day of a nation’s independence is not the day when the
\nadministrative changes are made which complete the outward realisation of its
\nindependence but the day when it realises in its soul that it is free and must
\nbe free. For it is the self-sufficing separateness of a nation that is its
\nindependence, and when that separateness is realised and recorded as a
\ndetermined thing in ourselves, the outward realisation is only a question of
\ntime. The seventh of August was the birthday of Indian Nationalism, and Indian
\nNationalism, as we pointed out the other day, means two things, the
\nself-consecration to the gospel of national freedom and the practice of
\nindependence. Boycott is the practice of independence. When therefore we
\ndeclared the Boycott on the seventh of August, it was no mere economical revolt
\nwe were instituting, but the practice of national independence; for the attempt
\nto be separate and self-sufficient economically must bring with it the
\nattempt to be free in every other function of a nation’s life; for these
\nfunctions are all mutually interdependent. August 7th is therefore the day when
\nIndian Nationalism was born, when India discovered to her soul her own freedom,
\nwhen we set our feet irrevocably on the only path to unity, the only path to
\nself-realisation. On that day the foundation-stone of the new Indian nationality
\nwas laid.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Let us then celebrate the day in a spirit and after a fashion suitable to
\nits great and glorious meaning. Let it be a reconsecration of the whole of
\nBengal to the new spirit and the new life, a purification of heart and mind to
\nmake it the undivided possession and the consecrated temple and habitation of
\nthe Mother. And, secondly, let it be a calm, brave and masculine reaffirmation
\nof our independent existence. The bureaucracy has flung itself<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-494<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nwith
\nsavage fury on the new activities of our national life; it has attempted to
\ntrample on and break to pieces under its armed heel our economical boycott; it
\nhas made the service of the motherland penal in her young men; it has visited
\nwith the prison and deportation the preaching of Nationalism by the elder men.
\nThe 7th of August must be an emphatic answer to these persecutions and
\nprohibitions. The Boycott must be reaffirmed and this time in its purity and
\nsimplicity as the national policy to which all are committed. The Risley
\nCircular must be definitely and unmistakably challenged and negatived in action.
\nLet there be a procession of students led by those venerable leaders of Bengal
\nwho are also professors of the Government University. And let us see afterwards
\nwhat the bureaucracy can do and what it dare do to the men who refuse to give up
\ntheir lifelong and sacred occupation at an alien bidding and to the youths who
\nrefuse to abstain from initiation in the same sacred service out of sordid hopes
\nand fears.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>But most of all the day should be a day of rejoicing and a day of
\nconsecration. The whole Indian part of the town should be illumined in honour of
\nthe divine birth which saw the light two years ago. And along with the outer
\nillumination it should be a day of the illumination of hearts. It is the
\nsacrament of our religion that can alone give the perfect and effective blessing
\nto our movement, and the celebration of this great day will not be complete
\nuntil every Indian makes it a sacred observance, worshipping God in his own way,
\nthe Hindu in his temple, the Brahmo in his Mandir, the Mahomedan in his mosque,
\nto consecrate himself anew on that day to the service of that single and
\nomnipresent Deity through the task He has set to the whole nation, the
\nupbuilding of Indian nationality by self-sacrifice for the Motherland.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe
\n"Indian Patriot" on Ourselves<\/font><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\nWe
\ngave in full yesterday the article of the Indian Patriot <\/i>in which our
\ncontemporary criticised the action of the Bengal Government in searching the Bande
\nMataram <\/i>office as a preliminary, it<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-495<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nis
\npresumed, to a prosecution under the sedition clause. We thank our contemporary
\nfor his sympathy, but we are bound to say that he does not seem to have entirely
\ngrasped the political gospel preached by Bande Mataram<\/i>. <\/i>The Patriot <\/i>seems
\nto be under the impression that it is a gospel of violent despair. Because
\nEngland has refused to hear our prayers and melt at our tears, therefore we
\nadvocate an appeal to force. But this is not and has never been our attitude.
\nThose who are at present responsible for the policy of this paper were never
\nbelievers in the old gospel of mendicancy and at no time in their lives were
\nassociated with Congress politics, they publicly opposed the Congress propaganda
\nas futile and doomed to failure at a time when the country at large was full of
\na touching but ignorant faith in prayers and resolutions and British justice.
\nDespair and disappointment therefore could not possibly be the root of their
\npolicy. It is rather a settled, reasoned and calm conviction we have always
\nheld, but for which the country was not ripe until it had gone through a
\nwholesome experience of disillusionment. Neither is our teaching a mere gospel
\nof brute force. We preach on the contrary a great idea in the strength of which
\nwe are confident of victory. All that we contend is that we must reach the
\nrealisation of that idea in the same way as other nations by utter
\nself-devotion, by self-immolation, by bitter struggle and terrible sacrifices,
\nand that we cannot hope and ought not to wish to have liberty given to us at
\nless than its eternal and inevitable price.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> August 6, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\nSrijut
\nSurendranath Banerji in his remarkable speech in College Square, the other day,
\nobserved that what the country now needed was not oratory but statesmanship, for
\nthe only effective answer to bureaucratic repression is the organisation of the
\nwhole strength of the country to carry out its natural ideal in spite of all
\nrepression. We think the veteran leader has gauged the situation very
\naccurately, but we confess we do not see at present<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-496<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nwhere
\nthe statesmanship is to come from which is to carry out the difficult, arduous
\nand delicate task before us. What we have done hitherto we have done without
\nleadership, almost without clear purpose, under an inspiring and impelling force
\nwhich we must necessarily think divine. Where that force has visibly guided us,
\nwe have done astonishing things: but at the same time there has been much
\nconfusion, one-sidedness and incoherence in our work. And now that a powerful
\nand organised Government has set itself in grim earnest to destroy our movement
\nit is imperative that we too should organise and make our whole potential
\nstrength effective for self-defence. The divine guidance will only be continued
\nto us if we show ourselves in our strength and wisdom worthy of it. But it
\ncannot be denied that the first effect of the repression has been to disorganise
\nour work. Since it began, there has been no concerted and coherent action, every
\nman has done what seemed good in his own eyes or else remained inactive. The
\nresult has been much weakness, supineness and ineffectiveness. Barisal fights
\nfor its own hand to maintain the boycott. The Yugantar <\/i>attacked carries
\non a heroic struggle with the bureaucracy with what stray assistance, individual
\ngenerosity or patriotism may offer it. But organised resistance, organised
\npersistence even there is none.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>This unsatisfactory condition of things is traceable to one main cause.
\nAll Bengal is heartily agreed in Swadeshi and professedly all are agreed on the
\nnecessity of industrial Boycott. But a majority of the older leaders, trained in
\nanother school of politics cannot adapt themselves to the new state of things,
\nthey cannot even throw themselves heartily into the only measures which can make
\nthe individual boycott crushingly effective, and they are out of sympathy with
\nthe wider developments of boycott which are becoming indispensable if we are to
\nmeet the bureaucratic attack with full success. They object personally to the
\nnew men and decline to work in co-operation with them. The new men, on the other
\nhand, who have immensely increased their following and influence in the country
\nare not in possession of the machinery of Congress and Conference, are, in fact,
\nzealously excluded from it <\/i>by the present possessors and have but small
\nfollowing among the richer men who might provide the sinews<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/h4>\n

\nPage-497<\/span><\/h4>\n
\n

\nof
\nwar. They are moreover prevented, by a natural unwillingness to hopelessly
\ndivide the nation, from organising a machinery of their own. Yet to talk of
\norganising the nation while excluding the new men is absurd. If the older party
\nhave the greater solidity and resources, the younger men have the lion’s share
\nof the energy and driving force, they divide the great middle class and are no
\nlonger there in a hopeless minority, but are gathering adherents all over the
\ncountry (even in Madras they commanded one third of the votes at the last
\nConference) and they exercise an overwhelming empire over the minds of the
\nrising generation. To organise the nation means to make all its elements of
\nstrength efficient for a single clear and well-understood work under the
\nleadership of a recognised central force. To exclude such important forces as
\nthese we have described, simply means to leave the nation unorganised.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The country is in need of a statesman, yes; but what kind of statesman?
\nHe must be a man thoroughly steeped in the gospel of Nationalism, with a clear
\nand fearless recognition of the goal to which we are moving, with a dauntless
\ncourage to aim consciously, steadily, indomitably towards it, with a consummate
\nskill to mask his movements and aims when necessary and to move boldly and
\nopenly when necessary and, last but not least, with an overmastering magnetic
\npower and tact to lead and use and combine men of all kinds and opinions. Such a
\nleader might organise the nation to some purpose, but those who shrink from
\nfollowing where their hearts and intellects lead them or who form party feelings
\nor personal dislike or jealously try to exclude
\npowerful forces from the common national work cannot claim the name of
\nstatesman. It is an encouraging sign of the times that Surendranath is coming
\nmore and more into sympathy with thoroughgoing Nationalism but will he have the
\ncourage and magnanimity to hold out his hand to the new men and if he does will
\nhe be able to retain the loyalty of his principal followers? If not, he will
\nnever be able to carry out the task he has declared to be the one and supreme
\nneed of the nation.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> August 8, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-498<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nA Compliment and Some Misconceptions<\/font><\/a><\/h5>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWe
\nextract in another column the opinions and interpretations of the London Times
\n<\/i>anent the Bande Mataram<\/i>. <\/i>It is gratifying to find the Thunderer so
\ndeeply impressed with the ability with which this journal is written and edited,
\neven though the object of this generous appreciation be to point us out as the
\ntallest oak of all on which the lightning may most fitly descend. But we feel
\nbound to correct certain misapprehensions into which the Times <\/i>has too
\nreadily fallen. It suits the Times <\/i>to pretend that the Nationalist
\nmovement in India is a pure outcome of racial hatred and that the creation and
\nfomentation of that hatred is the sole method of Indian agitators and the one
\nobject of their speeches and writings. But Nationalism is no more a mere
\nebullition of race hatred in India than it was in Italy in the last century. Our
\nmotives and our objects are at least as lofty and noble as those of Mazzini or
\nof that Garibaldi whose centenary the Times <\/i>was hymning with such fervour
\na few days ago. The restoration of our country to her separate existence as a
\nnation among the nations, her exaltation to a greatness, splendour, strength,
\nmagnificence equalling and surpassing her ancient glories is the goal of our endeavours: and we have undertaken this arduous task in which we as individuals
\nrisk everything, ease, wealth, liberty, life itself it may be, not out of hatred
\nand hostility to other nations but in the firm conviction that we are working as
\nmuch in the interests of all humanity including England herself as in those of
\nour own posterity and nation. That the struggle to realise our ideal must bring
\nwith it temporary strife, misunderstanding, hostility, disturbance, \u2014 that in
\nshort, it is bound to be a struggle and not the billing and cooing of political
\ndoves, we have never attempted to deny. We believe that the rule of three
\nhundred millions of Indians by an alien bureaucracy not responsible to the
\nnation is a system unnatural, intrinsically bad and inevitably oppressive, and
\nwe do not pretend that we can convince our people of its undesirability without
\nirritating the bureaucracy on one side and generating a strong dislike of the
\nexisting system on the other. But our object is constructive and not
\ndestructive,<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-499<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nto
\nbuild up our own nation and not to destroy another. If England chooses to feel
\naggrieved by our nation-building, and obstruct it by unjust, violent or despotic
\nmeans, it is she who is the aggressor and guilty of exciting hatred and
\nill-feeling. Her action may be natural, may be inevitable, but the
\nresponsibility rests on her, not on Indian Nationalism.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPal
\non the Brain<\/font><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\nWe
\nhave commented on one misconception of the Times <\/i>about ourselves which it
\nperhaps could not help, so necessary was the error to justify its own position,
\nbut it has perpetrated another which
\nseems wilful, <\/span>\u2014<\/span>
\nunless it is the result of monomania. The <\/span>Thunderer
\nseems to have Srijut Bepin Chandra on the brain; it sees him gigantically
\nreflected in every manifestation of Nationalism and is rapidly constructing him
\ninto a sinister Antichrist of British rule. So it insists on identifying him
\nwith the Bande Mataram <\/i>and will take no denial. Somebody has been
\npointing out to it that Bepin Babu severed his connection with the paper nine
\nmonths ago, and this is how the Times <\/i>disposes of the attempt to
\ndissipate its cherished delusions: "Mr. Bepin Chandra Pal has nominally
\nceased to edit the paper, but there can be no question that he is the dominating
\nforce behind its policy and comments, which are stated with a literary ability
\nrare in the Anglo-native Press." The Times <\/i>is evidently not going to
\nbe deceived. The literary ability with which the Bande Mataram <\/i>states its
\nviews is rare in the "Anglo-native" Press but it is known that Bepin
\nPal has a rare literary ability, therefore it is unquestionably Bepin Pal and no
\nother, who really edits and writes in the Bande Mataram<\/i>. <\/i>There seems to
\nbe a flaw somewhere in the Thunderer’s logic, and we do not think the Bengal
\nGovernment in its recent affectionate enquiries has come to the same conclusion.
\nBepin Babu has his own sufficient portion of anti-bureaucratic original sin
\nwithout being burdened with ours. The Times <\/i>should realise that almost
\nthe whole literary ability of Young Bengal is behind the movement of which we
\nare the daily expres-<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-500<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nsion, so that the ability and literary excellence
\nof our paper is not to be wondered at.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBande Mataram<\/i>, August, 12,1907<\/font><\/p>\n


\n <\/P>
\n


\n
\nTo
\nOrganise Boycott<\/font><\/a><\/B><\/P>
\n


\n 
\n<\/font>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThat
\nBoycott is the central question of Indian politics
\nis now a generally recognised fact, recognised openly or tacitly by its
\nsupporters and its opponents alike. The Anglo-Indian papers are busy trying to
\nmake out that it is a chimera, and a failure; the executive are straining every
\nnerve to crush it by magisterial interference, by police Zulum, by prosecution
\nof newspapers and all the familiar machinery of repressive despotism; the
\nfriends of the alien among ourselves are reiterating that the movement is a
\nfoolish affair and that no nation ever was made by Boycott. If Boycott had
\nreally been an impossibility or a failure, it is obvious that all this elaborate
\nmachinery would not have been brought into play to crush it. On the contrary it
\nhas become a very substantial reality, a very palpable success, and now stands
\nout, as we have said, the central and all-important question of Indian politics.
\nThose who say that no nation was ever made by boycott, do not know what they are
\ntalking about, do not understand what boycott is, do not know the teachings of
\nhistory. Boycott is much more than a mere economical device, it is a rediscovery
\nof national self-respect, a declaration of national separateness; it is the
\nfirst practical assertion of independence and has therefore in most of the
\nnational uprisings of modern times been the forerunner of the struggle for
\nindependence. The American struggle with England began in an enthusiastic and
\ndetermined boycott of British goods enforced by much the same methods as the
\nIndian boycott but with a much more stringent and effective organisation. The
\nItalian uprising of 1848 was heralded by the boycott of Austrian cigarettes and
\nthe tobacco riots of Milan. The boycott was the indispensable weapon of the
\nParnell movement in Ireland, and boycott and Swadeshi are the leading cries of
\nSinn Fein. The first practical effect of the resurgence of<\/font><\/P>
\n


\n <\/P>
\n


\nPage-501<\/font><\/SPAN><\/P>
\n

<\/p>\n


\nChina was the Boycott of American goods as an assertion
\nof China’s long down-trodden self-respect against the brutal and insolent
\ndealings of the Americans towards Chinese immigrants. In India also Boycott
\nbegan as an assertion of national self-respect, and continued as a declared and
\npractical enforcement of national separateness, liberty, independence and
\nself-dependence. “We will no longer tamely bear injury and insult, we will no
\nlonger traffic and huckster with others for broken fragments of rights and
\nprivileges; we are free, we are separate, we are sufficient to ourselves for our
\nown salvation,” that was what boycott meant and what its enemies have understood
\nit to mean: its economical aspect is only an aspect.<\/font><\/P>
\n

           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/SPAN>The economical boycott has been on the Whole an immense success, \u2014 not
\nindeed in every respect, for the crusade against foreign sugar has not
\ndiminished the import, though it may have checked to some extent the natural
\nincrease of the import, and the Tarpur sugar factory is, we understand in danger
\nof failing because people will not buy the dearer Swadeshi sugar, \u2014 an example
\nof the futility of “honest” Swadeshi unsupported by a self-sacrificing boycott:
\nbut enormous reductions have been made in the import not only of cotton goods
\nbut of all kinds of wearing apparel, and salt has been appreciably affected. But
\nnow the whole weight of bureaucratic power is being brought to bear in order to
\nshatter the boycott, and if we intend to save it we must oppose the organised
\nforce of the bureaucracy by the organised will of the people. What the
\nunorganised will of the people could do, it has done; it has indeed effected
\nmiracles. But no statesman will rely on the perpetual continuation of a miracle,
\nhe will seek to counteract weaknesses, to take full advantage of every element
\nof strength and to bring into action new elements of strength; he will in short
\nutilise every available means towards the one great national end. Srijut
\nSurendranath has said well that we must answer the campaign of repression by
\norganising the country. And the readiest way to organise the country is to
\norganise boycott.<\/font><\/P>
\n

           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/SPAN>The chief weakness of the movement has been the want of co-ordinated
\naction. We have left everything to personal and local enthusiasm. The
\nconsequence is that while in East Bengal<\/font><\/P>
\n


\n <\/P>
\n


\nPage-502<\/font><\/SPAN><\/P>
\n

<\/p>\n


\nthe Boycott is a fact, in
\nWest Bengal it is an idea. There is some Swadeshi in West Bengal, there is no
\nBoycott. Moreover Bengal has not brought its united influence to bear upon the
\nother provinces in order to make the Boycott universal. The whole force of this
\nvast country is a force which no Government could permanently resist. But this
\nforce has not been brought to bear on the struggle, Bengal and Punjab have been
\nleft to fight out their battles unaided, without the active sympathy of the rest
\nof India. This must be altered, the rest of India must be converted and we must
\nnot rest till we have secured a mandate from the Congress for an universal
\nboycott of British goods. Meanwhile we must bring West Bengal into a line with
\nEast Bengal, and for that purpose we must have a stringent and effective
\norganisation. We need not go far for the system which will be most effective. We
\nhave only to apply or adapt to the circumstances of the country the methods used
\nby the American boycotters against England. How this can be done we propose to
\ndiscuss in another article.<\/font><\/SPAN><\/P>
\n


\n <\/font>
\n<\/font>
\n<\/SPAN><\/P>
\n


\n
\nThe Bloomfield Murder<\/font><\/a><\/SPAN><\/B><\/P>
\n


\n <\/font>
\n<\/font>
\n<\/SPAN><\/B><\/P>
\n


\nThe Bengalee <\/I>seems to be much surprised and
\nrather hurt at the unkind conduct of the Statesman <\/I>in adversely
\ncriticising Justices Mitter and Fletcher for their judgment in the Bloomfield
\nMurder Case. Our contemporary’s invincible faith in the Statesman <\/I>is
\nreally pathetic. One would have thought that the attitude of the Chowringhee
\npaper with regard to Lala Lajpat Rai and its support of the policy of repression
\nwould have opened the eyes of the blindest. What does the Bengalee
\n<\/I>expect? The Statesman <\/I>is a Liberal Imperialist organ wedded to the
\neternal continuance of the British control and all that it implies, but willing
\nto concede unsubstantial privileges and a carefully modified liberty because
\nthat will make the task of the British ruler easier. It cannot be expected to
\nsympathise with Swadeshi and Nationalism. No patriotic Englishman, Sir Roper
\nLethbridge has said, can support Swadeshi: no patriotic Indian can help
\nsupporting Swadeshi. The opposition of interests is complete and irrecon-<\/font><\/P>
\n


\n <\/H3>
\n


\nPage-503<\/FONT><\/span><\/H3>
\n
<\/p>\n


\ncilable. When therefore the Bengalee <\/I>and other
\nModerates took up Swadeshi, they forfeited all claim to the support of the
\nStatesman<\/I>. <\/I>No patriotic Englishman again can support anything which can
\npossibly injure the prestige, supremacy and exceptional position of the white
\ncommunity in India; no patriotic Indian but must desire to see that prestige
\nlowered and that supremacy and exceptional position replaced by the equality of
\nall communities before the law, as well as socially and politically. Cases like
\nthis Bloomfield murder raise, therefore, a crucial point. When the whole basis
\nof a political system is the despotic rule of a small alien handful over the
\nimmense indigenous numbers, it is an essential condition of its continuance that
\nthe persons of the foreigners should be held sacred, that those who lay hands on
\nthem, no matter under what provocation, should be overtaken by the most terrible
\nretribution the other conditions of the rule may permit. While therefore there
\nmay be two opinions among Anglo-Indians as to the advisability of allowing
\nEuropean murderers of Indians to go free, there can be no two opinions on the
\nnecessity of avenging every loss of a European life by the execution of as many
\nIndians as the police can lay their hands upon. No matter whether the revenge be
\nunjust or inhuman, no matter whether it be even monstrous. The principle it is
\nsought to uphold is itself unjust and monstrous, and squeamishness about means
\nis out of place. Terrorism is indispensable, whether it be the naked, illegal
\nand unashamed terrorism of Denshawi or terrorism in the fair disguise of legal
\nforms and manipulating for its own purposes the Criminal Procedure Code and the
\nEvidence Act. It is not the fault of the Anglo-Indians but of their position,
\nand it is that position which must be altered if such massacres as that which
\nthe calm judicial temper of Justices Mitter and Fletcher prevented in the
\nBloomfield Case, are to be rendered an impossibility.<\/font><\/P>
\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>, August
\n14, 1907<\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n

Page-504<\/P><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 7th of August                           THE approaching celebration of the 7th of August has a double importance this year, for it has not only…<\/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-301","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\/301","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=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

\n <\/font> <\/font>
\n
\nTo
\nOrganise<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n