{"id":320,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:18","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=320"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:18","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:18","slug":"070-an-out-of-date-reformer-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\/070-an-out-of-date-reformer-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-070_An Out of Date Reformer.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nAn Out of Date Reformer<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

               
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>T<\/font><\/span><\/b>IME<\/b>
\nwas and that time was not more than two years ago, and indeed even less, when
\nthe reforms which Mr. Morley has announced would have been received in India by
\nmany with enthusiasm, by others with considerable satisfaction as an important
\nconcession to public feeling and a move, however small, in the right direction.
\nToday they have been received by some with scorn and ridicule, by others with
\nbitterness and dissatisfaction, even by the most loyal with a cold and qualified
\nrecognition. Never has an important pronouncement of policy by a famous and once honoured statesman of whom much had been expected, delivered moreover under the
\nmost dramatic 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 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 of our
\nnational future; these he was prepared to concede to us by slow degrees
\naccording to his own convenience and ability. Nor was the prospect denied to
\nIndia of becoming after the lapse of many centuries a trusted servant of
\nEngland, or even something very like an adopted son.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-417<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe
\nbargain was one-sided, but the political leaders had an overpowering sense of
\ntheir own weakness, of the superior excellence of British civilisation, and of
\nthe unshakable might of Britain. They had too a profound trust in the justice of
\nEngland and the genuineness of English Liberalism. They believed that the
\nLiberal offers of small rights and privileges were made not as a bargain or out
\nof a shrewd calculation of advantages and disadvantages, but from the sense of
\njustice and from a true sympathy with liberal aspirations all over the world.
\nThey were therefore ready to take gratefully and contentedly whatever small
\nmercies were conceded to them. Now the spirit of the people has changed. From a
\ntimid and easily satisfied dependence on the alien they have passed at once to a
\npassionate and determined assertion of their separate national existence and a
\ndemand for an immediate recognition of their right to control their own affairs.
\nIt is not surprising that the old Friends of India should be alarmed and
\nindignant at the change or that they should call upon the older leaders whom
\nthey know and think they can influence, to drive the Extremists out of their
\ncouncils, return to their old allegiance and observe the terms of the contract.
\n"We are where we were, we still offer you the same terms," they cry,
\n"you shall have your reforms, but on the old conditions, the permanence of
\nBritish control, the repression of all turbulent aspirations, dissociation from
\nthe forces of disorder and revolution." So they cry to the Moderate leaders
\nto turn back and retrace their steps, and by main force to bring India back with
\nthem to the standpoint of twenty years ago. It is a vain cry. If the Moderate
\nleaders wished to go back, they would have to go back alone as men without a
\nfollowing, lost leaders, prophets whose power had passed out of them. The force
\nwhich has swept the country forward is a force no man has created and which no
\nman can control. As well ask a man who has become adult to return to the age of
\nchildhood as India to go back to the standpoint it has
\nleft
\nirrecoverably behind.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The British Government is like Tarquin with the Sybil; the terms it has
\nrefused will no longer be offered to it. It might have purchased contentment, a
\nnew lease of Indian confidence and a long spell of ease at a very small price
\nonly three or four years<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-418<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nago.
\nNow at a price ten times as high it will be able to purchase at the most a short
\ntruce in a war which must be fought to the end. Mr. Morley recognised this fact
\nwhen with an indiscreet frankness he referred to the educated class in India as
\n"our enemies". A long era of repression and reaction culminating in
\nCurzonism has opened the eyes of the Indian people. They have learnt that not
\nonly were the reforms of Liberal Viceroys and Governments small and ineffective
\nin themselves, but that they were held on a precarious tenure. Mr. Morley or
\nanother might give "rights" and "privileges" of a dubious
\ncharacter, but the power of Liberalism in modern England is apt to be brief and
\nsucceeded by long periods of pure Imperialism in which those rights and
\nprivileges will surely be taken away or nullified. They have discovered also
\nthat the support they might expect from Liberalism is of a very limited and meagre nature and that, when in office, Liberal and Conservative are for India
\nsynonymous terms. The struggle which began with the Partition has generated a
\nnew ideal and a newborn Nationalism has sprung in a few days almost to its full
\nstature. There was no chance therefore that any reform would be acceptable which
\ndid not ensure popular control, make reactionary legislation by despotic
\nViceroys impossible and open the way to Swaraj. And even if Mr. Morley’s reforms
\nhad had any chance of being acceptable, it was ruined by the series of
\nrepressive measures which preceded them. Reforms simultaneous and compatible
\nwith the deportation of leaders, the prosecution of popular journals, the
\npersecution of students and teachers and the prohibition of public meetings were
\nof so patent a hollowness that the most moderate and loyal were compelled to
\nreceive them with a bitter scepticism. And as if to drive the moral home, the
\nspeech in which the reforming statesman introduced his measures was couched in
\nthe sour and autocratic spirit of a reactionary bureaucrat contemtuously
\ndoling out sops to the rabble to an accompaniment of<\/span>
\n<\/span>hardly-veiled menace and insult. Mr.
\nMorley has been unanimously complimented by the Liberal Press in England on his
\ncourage in coupling repression with reforms, kicks with breadcrumbs. For
\nourselves we are struck by his singular want of sagacity and of even an
\nelementary knowledge of human nature and<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-419<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe
\nfeelings which govern great masses of men. As well might we call the p0licy of a
\nLouis XVI or a Czar Nicholas courageous. The courage may or may not be there, but
\nthere can be no doubt of the unwisdom.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font>June 12, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n

The Sphinx<\/a><\/span><\/font><\/h2>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nSir
\nHenry Cotton has developed a sudden love for Lala Lajpat Rai. Though he has,
\nlike all Anglo-Indians \u2014<\/span>
\nofficial, or ex-official, \u2014<\/span>
\ncondemned and condemned unheard Ajit Singh his love for Lajpat Rai knows no
\nabating. He asked Mr. Morley to confirm his statement of the 6th June that
\nLajpat Rai’s speeches had greatly dominated sedition in India and had been
\npublished broadcast, even on the floor of the House. The statement shows that
\nMr. Morley thinks he knows more about Indian affairs than we Indians do; and his
\nreference, obviously, was to Members of the Parliament like Sir Henry Cotton who
\ntease the Secretary of State for India with inconvenient questions about Indian
\nsubjects. With characteristic conceit, Mr. Morley replied that he should be very
\nunlikely to make a statement without providing himself with fair and reasonable
\nconfirmation. It was surely such "fair and reasonable confirmation"
\nthat enabled him, the other day, to make an assertion about the proposed
\nVictoria Memorial Hall which even the perverse ingenuity of the Anglo-Indian
\nPress could not support. And it was surely such fair and reasonable
\nconfirmation that made him beat a retreat on the present occasion with the sage
\nremark, that nothing would be more injudicious than to lay the facts on the
\ntable. Only deeds of darkness need be afraid of light. And people may be
\npardoned if they dare suspect that the fair and reasonable confirmation was as
\nreal as Mr. Morley’s reforms so often advertised by himself as well as by the
\nStatesman<\/i>.
\n<\/i>Next, when Mr. Mackarness asked whether it was intended to formulate a
\ndefinite legal charge against Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh and also what the length
\nof their banishment and confinement would be, Mr. Morley said that he was unable
\nat present to state the intentions of the Government<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-420<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nof
\nIndia. It seems that as far as questions on matters Indian are concerned, the
\nBritish House of Commons is as good as the Indian Legislative Councils. The
\nreason is not far to seek. The British public have absolute faith in the
\ninfallibility of the "man on the spot" in India to maintain India for
\ntheir benefit and they are ready and willing to give them a free hand in their
\ndealings with the people of the country. Had it been otherwise
\n\u2014<\/span>
\nhad the British taxpayers been guided by considerations other than those of
\nadvantage to Great Britain to take an intelligent interest in Indian affairs,
\nthe Sphinx would have found himself bound to speak. Yet to these people our
\ndeluded Moderate friends must go and spend the money of poverty-stricken India
\nin the vain attempt to "educate" them — with a view to get political
\nrights and privileges! What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font>June 14, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n


\nSlow but
\nSure<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nCommenting
\non Mr. Morley’s Budget Speech, the Statesman <\/i>remarks
\n\u2014<\/span>
\n"It is to be hoped that the new concessions will be received in no carping
\nspirit, and that there will be a resolute determination to make the best of
\nthem. Under English rule wherever it is found, reforms are almost invariably
\nslow and gradual. England abhors a revolution, or even the logical working out
\nof a principle \u2014<\/span>
\nunless it be very gradually. It proceeds by compromises and half-measures. But
\nthis cautious policy has been justified by results. The advance, if slow, is
\nsure, and a persistent well-reasoned agitation seldom fails to achieve its end.
\nAn example of the success which rewards perseverance is to be found in Mr.
\nMorley’s announcement that a Committee has been appointed to examine the
\ndistribution of the costs of the Indian Army as between the War Office and the
\nIndian taxpayer."<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>So the Indian is asked to accept the so-called concessions in no carping
\nspirit, nor to demand more like Oliver Twist, but to remember that beggars must
\nnobsp;    
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>So the Indian is asked to accept the so-called concessions in no carping
\nspirit, nor to demand more like Oliver Twist, but to remember that beggars must
\nnot be choosers. But why should Englishmen interested in India be so anxious to
\nconfer conces-<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-421<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nsions
\non Indians who in their present self-respecting mood are
\nnot<\/span>
\nlikely to appreciate the generosity of the donors? New India <\/span>
\n\u2014<\/span>
\nthe India that has showed itself prepared to suffer sacrifices and brave dangers
\nfor political rights \u2014<\/span>
\nhas rejected as obsolete the methods of mendicant agitation and it is too late
\nin the day to try to delude it with gilded toys and useless tinsel. Why waste
\nyour energy in granting "concessions" when none is wanted? After
\nimparting this sage advice the Statesman <\/i>proceeds to present a prose
\nrendering of Tennyson’s well-known description of England as the land
\n"Where freedom slowly broadens down \/ From precedent to precedent". In
\nthe case of countries conquered by England "reforms" slowly broaden
\ndown from Circulars to Ordinances. The bond is tightened and the lingering
\nsparks of the spirit of self-help sought to be extinguished. It is useless to
\nargue, for John Bull is \u2014<\/span>
\nas our Friend admits \u2014<\/span>
\nnever logical. Yet we are advised to wait and suffer in silence till the
\nmillennium arrives and in the meantime to feel grateful for chance droppings
\nfrom the basket of the bureaucracy. Let no Indian ask the inconvenient question
\n\u2014<\/span>
\nHow long are we to wait? For that will be sheer impudence not to be brooked.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram, <\/font><\/i>June 17, 1907<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-422<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

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