{"id":417,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:52","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=417"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:52","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:52","slug":"023-is-mendicancy-successful-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\/023-is-mendicancy-successful-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-023_Is Mendicancy Successful.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nIs Mendicancy Successful<\/b><\/font>?<\/font><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n               
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>A<\/font><\/span>N <\/font> <\/b>
\napologia
\nfor the mendicant policy has recently appeared in the columns of the Bengalee<\/i>.
\n<\/i>The heads of the defence practically reduce themselves to <\/i>two or
\nthree arguments.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>1. The policy of petitioning was recommended by Raja Rammohan Roy, has
\nbeen pursued consistently since then, and has been eminently successful \u2014 at
\nleast whatever political gains have been ours in the last century, have been won
\nby this policy.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>2.  <\/span>Supposing this contention
\nto be lost, there remains another. There petitioning is bad, but when the
\npetition is backed by the will of the community, resolved to gain its object by
\nevery legitimate means, it is not mendicancy but an assertion of a natural
\nright.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>3.  <\/span>Even if a petitioning
\npolicy be bad in principle, politics has nothing to do with principles, but must
\nbe governed by expediency, and not only general expediency, but the expediency
\nof particular cases.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>4. Then there is the argumentum ad hominem<\/i>. <\/i>The Dumaists petition, the Irish petition, why should not we?<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n                         
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>We believe this is a fair summary of our contemporary’s contentions.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n                         We
\nare not concerned to deny the antiquity of the petitioning policy, nor its
\nillustrious origin. Raja Rammohan Roy was a great man in the first rank of
\nactive genius and set flowing a stream of tendencies which have transformed our
\nnational life. But what was the only possible policy for him in his times and
\nwithout a century of experience behind him, is neither the only policy nor the
\nbest policy for us at the present juncture. We join issue with our contemporary
\non his contention that whatever we have gained politically has been due to
\npetitioning. It appears to us to show a shallow appreciation of political forces
\nand an entire inability to understand the fundamental facts which underlie
\noutward appearances. When the sepoys had conquered<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-175<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nIndia
\nfor the English, choice lay before the British, either to hold the country by
\nforce and repression or to keep it as long as possible by purchasing the
\nco-operation of a small class of the people who would be educated so entirely on
\nWestern lines as to lose their separate individuality and their sympathy with
\nthe mass of the nation. An essential part of this policy which became dominant
\nowing to the strong personalities of Macaulay, Bentinck and others, was to yield
\ncertain minor rights to the small educated class, and concede the larger rights
\nas slowly as possible and only in answer to growing pressure. This policy was
\nnot undertaken as the result of our petitions or our wishes, but deliberately
\nand on strong grounds. India was a huge country with a huge people strange and
\nunknown to their rulers. To hold it for ever was then considered by most
\nstatesmen a chimerical idea; even to govern it and keep it tranquil for a time
\nwas not feasible without the sympathy and co-operation of the people themselves.
\nIt was therefore the potential strength of the people and not the wishes of a
\nfew educated men, which was the true determining cause of the scanty political
\ngains we so much delight in. Since then the spirit of the British people and
\ntheir statesmen has entirely changed \u2014 so changed that even a Radical
\nstatesman like Mr. Morley brushes aside the expressed "will of the
\ncommunity" with a few abrupt and cavalier phrases. Why is this? Precisely
\nbecause we have been foolish enough to follow a purely mendicant policy and to
\nbetray our own weakness. If we had not instituted the National Congress, we
\nmight have continued in the old way for some time longer, getting small and
\nmutilated privileges whenever a strong Liberal Viceroy happened to come over.
\nBut the singularly ineffective policy and inert nature of the Congress revealed
\nto British statesmen \u2014 or so they thought \u2014 the imbecility and impotence of
\nour nation. A period of repression, ever increasing in its insolence and cynical
\ncontempt for our feelings, has been the result. And now that a Liberal
\nGovernment of unprecedented strength comes into power, we find that the gains we
\ncan expect will be of the most unsubstantial and illusory kind and that we are
\nnot to get any guarantee against their being withdrawn by another reactionary
\nViceroy after a few years. It<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-176<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nis
\nperfectly clear therefore that the policy of mendicancy will no longer serve.
\nAfter all, cries the Bengalee<\/i>, <\/i>we have only failed in the case of the
\nPartition. We have failed in everything of importance for these many years,
\nmeasure after measure has been driven over our prostrate heads and the
\nlonged-for Liberal Government flouts us with a few grudging concessions in
\nmere symptomatic cases of oppression. The long black list of reactionary
\nmeasures remains and will remain unrepealed. We do not care to deny that in
\nsmall matters petitioning may bring us a trivial concession here or a slight
\nabatement of oppression there, even there we shall fail in nine cases and win in
\none. But nothing important, nothing lasting, nothing affecting the vital
\nquestions which most closely concern us, can be hoped for from mere mendicancy.
\nTo the contention of antiquity and success, therefore, our answer is that this antique policy has not succeeded in the long run,
\nbut utterly failed, and that the time has come for a stronger and more effective
\npolicy to take its place. To the other contentions of the Bengalee <\/i>we
\nshall reply in their proper order. This which is the true basis of the
\npetitionary philosophy has neither reason nor fact to support it.<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n
\nBy The Way<\/a><\/span><\/font><\/b>
\n<\/font><\/b>
\n
\n
\nThe Englishman <\/i>is at it again. His fiery imagination has winged its way
\nover rivers and hills and is now disporting itself on airy pinions over far
\nSylhet. We learn from our contemporary that the British Government has been
\nsubverted in Sylhet, which is now being governed by a number of schoolboys who
\n<\/font><\/span>
\n\u2014<\/font>
\nhorrible to relate <\/font><\/span>
\n\u2014<\/font>
\nare learning the use of deadly lathi<\/i>. <\/i>This
\nstartling resolution is the result of Babu Bepin Chandra Pal’s recent visit to
\nSylhet. To crown these calamities, it appears that Golden Bengal is circulating
\nits seditious pamphlets broadcast. Its irrepressible emissaries seem not to have
\ndespaired even of converting the Magistrate to their views, for even he is in
\npossession of a copy. We have, however, news later than the Englishman<\/i>‘s. <\/i>We
\nhave been informed from a reliable source that the Sylhet<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-177<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nRepublic
\nhas been declared and that Babu Bepin Chandra Pal is to be its first President.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The Englishman <\/i>graciously accedes to the request of a
\ncorrespondent who prays this "much-esteemed journal to accommodate the
\nfollowing lines". There is some gems from the delicious production which
\nthe accommodating Englishman <\/i>has accommodated. "We should always beg
\nthe Government and not fight it for favours." Fighting for favours is
\ndistinctly good; but there is better behind. "It is impossible for us to
\nobtain rights and privileges by fulminating acrimonious invectives on the
\nGovernment and making the Anglo-Indian rulers the butt-end of mendacious
\npersiflage and anathema." Shade of Jabberjee! The junior members of the Bar
\nLibrary will enjoy this elegant description of themselves. "For ought I
\nknow most of the educated men are opposed to the despicable spread-eagleism of a
\ncoterie of raw youths, who having adopted European costumes and rendered their
\nupper lips destitute of "knightly growth" give themselves all the airs
\nof a learned Theban and range themselves against the British Government."
\nThis is a sentence which we would not willingly let die and we would suggest to
\nthe raw youths with the destitute upper lips that they might sit in council and
\ndevise means to preserve a literary gem which will immortalise them no less than
\nthe brilliant author. How infinitely superior is the true Jabberjee to the mock
\nimitation. Even the author of the letter to Mr. Morley must hide his diminished
\nhead before this outburst.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>This attitude of the Extremists merely exposes their Boeotian stupidity.
\nLet them lay to it, that if they do not yet refrain from the obnoxious
\nprocedure, they are sure to come to grief. We will lay to it, S.M. After such a
\nscintillation of Attic wit and rumbling of Homeric thunder, our Boeotian
\nstupidity finds itself irremediably reduced to Laconic silence. Truly, there
\nseems to be<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-178<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nsome
\nfearful and wonderful wild fowl in the ranks of the moderationists.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> <\/span>
\nSeptember
\n18, 1906<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe
\nleading article in last Tuesday’s Mirror<\/i>, <\/i>reproduced in another column,
\nshows the peculiar frame of mind that finds safety both from bold thoughts and
\nbrave sacrifices, in its professions of friendship and loyalty to the foreigner.
\nThe Indian Mirror <\/i>gives an assurance to his Anglo-Indian friends that
\nthere is no danger to the Empire from the insignificant band of
\n"extremists" who preach the pernicious doctrines of national autonomy
\nand popular freedom; and we hope, it will give rest and sleep to the
\nChowringee
\npaper. The Mirror <\/i>says: <\/span><\/font>
\n\u2014<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n<\/span>           
\n<\/span>"To say that educated India desires to
\nbe absolutely free of the British control is absolutely idiotic, and we are sure
\nevery thoughtful and cultured Indian will resent <\/i>such a suggestion with
\nthe utmost <\/font> indignation<\/i>."<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n            
\n<\/i>But why resent<\/i>, <\/i>my brother? And
\nwhere is there any room for indignation here, either? It may be idiotic, we
\nadmit, for we are sure that the Indian Mirror <\/i>with all its conceits would
\nnot dare to claim an absolute monopoly of this virtue for itself and those who
\nthink with it. But this indignation is difficult to understand unless the
\nOphelia of old has taken to play the part of Godiva with the whole lot of
\nBritish friends as his spouse, in his old age. Go on, thou brave queen, ride in
\nall thy nudeness through the country, and we shall close our doors, put down our
\nblinds, and desert every thoroughfare until thou comest to thy journey’s end.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nA
\nLuminous Line<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n<\/b>            There
\nis, however, one sentence in this lengthy leader of the Mirror <\/i>which is,
\nafter all, very reassuring even to the extremists.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-179<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nOur
\namiable contemporary unconsciously admits that absolute<\/i> autonomy is not an
\nabsolutely sinful ideal even for the people of this country, who are head over
\nears burdened with a debt immense of endless gratitude to their British rulers;
\n\u2014 only, we must first of all be fit for it.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>"We have not as yet gone through our preliminary training and such a
\nthing as absolute<\/i> autonomy would just now<\/i> be an evil rather than a blessing to
\nus."<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>So says the Mirror<\/i>, and it shows us how slowness of thought and
\nunderstanding may exist in some minds, with a lightning-swiftness of fearful
\nimagination. Take heart, dear friend, we do not propose to procure a decree nisi<\/i>
\nnow and at once, and set you free immediately. What we say is that for this
\npreliminary training, which even you would not object to, a clear perception of
\nthe end is necessary, in both trainer and trained; the one needs it for right
\nguidance, and the other for diligent pursuit of the goal. Fear not, soft soul,
\nwe are not so heartless as to disturb your
\nsweet slumber so soon!<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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


\nBy The Way<\/font><\/a><\/h2>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe
\nStatesman<\/i> and the Indian Mirror<\/i> appear to have entered into a Holy Alliance for
\nthe suppression of the extremists. The basis of this great political combination
\nseems to be mutual admiration of the most effusive and affectionate kind. Mirror<\/i>
\nassures Statesman<\/i> that he is a noble Anglo-Indian and a true and tried Friend of
\nIndia; Statesman<\/i> quotes Mirror<\/i>‘s solemn lucubrations by the yard. It only needs
\nthe Hindu Patriot<\/i> to join the league and complete the Triple Alliance. An
\nAnglo-Indian paper, a Government journal masking under the disguise of an Indian
\ndaily, and the exponent of the most pale and watery school of
\n"patriotism", would make a beautiful symphony in whites and greys.
\nSuch an alliance is most desirable: it would be a thing of artistic beauty and a
\njoy forever \u2014 and it would not hurt the new party.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-180<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/div>\n

\n

\nWe
\nwere a little surprised to find the Bengalee <\/i>lending itself to the
\ncampaign. It chooses to insinuate that while the methods of the old party are
\nextremely proper, sober and legal, those of the new party are outside the bounds
\nof the law. In what respect, pray? We advocate boycott and picketing, but that
\nis a gospel of which Babu Surendranath Banerji has constituted himself in the
\npast the chief Panda. We advocate abstention from Legislative Councils and other
\nGovernment bodies, but so do the old leaders
\nstrongly recommend it <\/span>\u2014<\/span>
\nto East Bengal. We advocate <\/span>the assertion
\nby the people of their right to carry on the agitation in every lawful way \u2014
\nbut so did the old leaders at Barisal. We advocate abstention from all
\nassociation with the Government, but such abstention has not yet been forbidden
\nby law. We advocate the substitution of Indian agency and Indian energy in every
\ndepartment of life for our old state of dependence on foreign agency and energy.
\nWe advocate an organised system of self-development guided by a Council with
\nregard to Bengal and an open democratic constitution for the Congress instead of
\nthe secret unconstitutional manipulations of a few leaders. We advocate finally,
\nautonomy as the ideal and goal of our endeavours. Where is the illegality, if
\nyou please?<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>To listen to these excited people one would imagine we were calling on
\nthe teeming millions of India to rise in their wrath, fall upon the noble
\nAnglo-Indian friends of the Mirror <\/i>and with teeth, nails and claws, drive
\nthem pell-mell into the Indian Ocean. All these imputations have, of course, a
\ndefinite object and the excitement is a calculated passion. On one side to
\ndiscredit the party with the timid and cautious, on the other to draw the
\nattention of the bureaucracy and secure for us free lodgings from a paternal
\nGovernment, seems to be the objective. Of neither contingency are we afraid; the
\nnew policy is not <\/i>for those who tremble or who prefer their own safety
\nand ease to the service of their country, and the fear of the Government we
\nrenounced long ago and have forgotten what it means. It is no use trying to
\nawaken that dead feeling in our nature: We shall go<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-181<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\non
\nour way steadily and persistently, careless of defeat or victory,
\nindifferent
\nto attack or suffering, until we have built up such a <\/span>nucleus
\nof force and courage in India as will compel both moderate and official to yield
\nto the demands of the people. But always within the bounds of the law, if you
\nplease, our friend of Colootola. We are a law-abiding people, even when we are
\nextremists.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>We have been severely attacked more than once for splitting up the
\ncountry into factions and thus marring the majestic unity of the national
\nmovement. We have already given our answer to that charge. Already before the
\nSwadeshi movement the divergence of ideals had begun to declare itself and in
\nseveral parts of India strong sections had grown up who were already
\ndissatisfied with mendicancy and with the haphazard formation and methods of the
\nCongress. Until recently the only course which seemed left to men of this
\npersuasion was to hold entirely aloof from the Congress or else to attend it
\nwithout taking any prominent part in its deliberations. But at the present time
\nthe aspect of things has greatly changed. The party predominates in the Deccan,
\nis extremely strong in the Punjab and a force to be reckoned with in Bengal. It
\nnumbers among its leaders and adherents many men of ability, energy and culture
\nsome of whom have done good service in the past and others are obviously among
\nthe chief workers of the future. They have a definite ideal which is not the
\nideal of the older leaders and definite methods by which they hope to arrive at
\ntheir ideal. It is idle to expect that a party so constituted will any longer
\nconsent to be excluded from political life or from the deliberations of the
\nCongress through which it may exercise a general influence over the country. The
\nold party is anxious that we should take up the position of an insignificant
\n"extremist" party, tolerated perhaps and sometimes made use of to
\nfrighten the Government into concessions, but not recognised. "Exist, if
\nyou please, but do not interfere with or oppose us," is their cry,
\n"and do not try to assert yourselves in the Congress." Such a demand
\nis ridiculous in the extreme. When there is a definite difference as to ideals
\nand methods, it is<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-182<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\ntoo
\nmuch to expect of any growing party that it shall not use every means to educate
\nthe people to their views and organise such opinion as has declared itself on
\ntheir side. Nor is it reasonable to demand a considerable part of the educated
\ncommunity to banish itself from Congress or only attend as a mute and inert
\nelement. If the Congress is really a national body, it must admit all opinions
\nand give them free facility for expressing their views and urging their
\nmeasures. If, on the other hand, it is merely a gathering of moderates, it has
\nno right to pose as a national body. The argument usually urged that the
\nCongress has been built up by a certain class of people and with certain ideas
\nand that therefore it should remain in the same hands and under the domination
\nof the same ideas, is one which has no value whatever, unless we are to accept
\nthe Congress merely as a society for the cultivation of good relations with the
\nGovernment. If it is a national assembly, it must answer to changes of national
\nfeeling and progress with the progress of the nation. We shall therefore
\npersist in disseminating our ideas with the utmost energy of which we are
\ncapable and in organising the opinion of the country wherever we have turned it
\nin the desired direction, for action and for the prevalence of our ideals. The
\nonly question that remains, is the question of united action. It is certainly
\ndesirable, if it can be brought about, that the action of the whole country in
\ncertain important matters should be united. But the very first condition of such
\nunity is that all important sections of opinion should have the chance of
\nexpressing its views and championing its own proposals, before the united action
\nto be taken is decided by a majority. It is for this reason that we demand an
\nelective constitution and a Council honestly representing all sections, so that
\nreal unity may be possible and not the false unity which is all the old party
\nclamours for. Their plan for united action is simply to boycott the new party
\nand impose silence on it under penalty of "suppression". So long as
\nthey persist in that spirit, united action will remain impossible.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> September 20, 1906<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-183<\/font><\/p>\n

\n


\nBy The Way<\/font><\/a><\/h2>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nTo
\nthe onlooker the duel between the Statesman <\/i>and the Englishman <\/i>is
\nextremely amusing. The interests of Anglo-India are safe in the hands of both;
\nonly they differ as to the extent to which the alien yoke should be made light.
\nThe Englishman <\/i>advocates <\/i>an open and straightforward course
\n<\/span>\u2014<\/span>
\n<\/span>to make the Indians feel that they are a
\nconquered people \u2014 as helpless in the hands of the conquerors as was the dwarf
\nof the story in the iron grip of the giant. The Statesman<\/i>, <\/i>on the other
\nhand, wants to cover the heels of British boots with soft velvet. We for
\nourselves prefer an open course to a crooked policy.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The fun of the thing is that from consideration of methods they have
\ndescended to personalities. The Englishman <\/i>credits the Statesman <\/i>with
\nthe instinct to follow Mr. Surendranath Banerji with doglike fidelity. To this
\nthe Statesman <\/i>replies \u2014 "Strange as it may appear to the
\nEnglishman<\/i>,
\n<\/i>we are in the habit of forming our own opinions and of expressing them
\nwithout any extraneous assistance
\n<\/span>\u2014<\/span>
\n<\/span>even from the Bar Library, or elsewhere.
\nMr. Banerji has certainly not done us the honour of tendering his help, nor have
\nwe found it necessary to invite it." We take our contemporary at his word.
\nBut we may be permitted to ask our contemporary if the paragraph about the New
\nIndia <\/i>to which we referred the other day was not written under some
\nextraneous inspiration, \u2014 white or brown? Next, our Chowringhee contemporary
\nboasts of his independent policy and fearless proclamation of it. "In
\norder," says our contemporary, "to attain a wide circulation and a
\nposition of influence, it is not enough to follow the example which this journal
\nset a quarter of a century ago by reducing its price to an anna. If the Englishman
\n<\/i>is ever again to become a force in journalism, it must copy the Statesman
\n<\/i>in matters of greater importance than the mere cost of its daily issue. It
\nmust learn to have an honest and independent policy and to proclaim it
\nfearlessly." And our contemporary seems to think that man’s lapses like
\ntheir civil claims are barred<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-184<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nby
\nlimitation, or he has a very conveniently short memory, or how could he
\notherwise so soon forget the dangerous position he was placed in at the time of
\nthe Rent Bill controversy and the way out he found by removing Mr. Riach, the
\nresponsible editor?<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAfter
\nall we do not despair. There is yet some hope left for our contemporary, for he
\ncan still understand that \u2014 "it is possible for a newspaper, as for an
\nindividual, to err at times and honestly to advocate views which may be
\nmistaken."<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The Indian Mirror<\/i>, <\/i>has, after all, found one good point in the
\narmour of the "extremists"; they will not stand any humbug, says our
\nancient contemporary, and no one will dare question the truth of his opinion,
\nfor he speaks clearly from personal experience.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Babu Surendranath Banerji is reported to have advised the youthful
\nstudents of Bally \u2014 "to keep themselves within the limits of law and
\nnever, in their excitement, run into excesses but always to serve their
\nmotherland with unflinching devotion, through<\/span>
\ngood report and evil<\/i>", <\/i><\/span>
\nand
\nthe old leader is right, because <\/span>the latest
\nexperience shows that Indian publicists and patriots have good reason to stand
\nin fear of reports.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The Indian Mirror <\/i>is surprised that we are resting on our oars
\nwhen the Congress-bark should be fast sailing. The light that the Mirror <\/i>is
\nreflecting is both dim and antiquated in these days of radium and X-rays. Our
\ninformation is that the "recognised" leaders are making arrangements
\nfor the Congress though even the Mirror <\/i>has not been taken into their
\nconfidence.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-185<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe old saw was that a mountain in labour produced a
\nmouse. But the modern saw is that the Indian politicians in labour produce
\nspeeches and interviews. Somehow the information has leaked out that the
\nHon\u2019ble Mr. Gokhale’s recent visit to England has not been much of a success.
\nNow Sir William Wedderburn comes to the rescue of the Bombay patriot and says
\nthat the Hon\u2019ble gentleman had a series of interviews with eminent British
\npoliticians from the Prime Minister down to 150 pro-Indian M.P’s. Achievement
\nindeed!<\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>\u201cStar to star vibrates light" \u2014 is there also a similar
\nresponsiveness between mind and matter, or else why should there be so fearful a
\ntremor in mother earth, keeping time, as it were, to the nervous tremours of the
\nbold British and the timid Indian heart, at the present unrest in Bengal caused
\nby Sonar Bangla <\/i>and the <\/font> Shanti-Sechan?<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> October 1, 1906<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBy The Way<\/font><\/a><\/h2>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nMr.
\nGopal Krishna Gokhale is a mathematician and these mathematicians are a
\nwonderful people. They can prove anything they please. If Mr. Gokhale’s
\npolitical opponents are numerous, he
\napplies the qualitative test, and shakes his head <\/span>
\n\u2014<\/span>
\n"no <\/span>good"; if they are not many,
\nhe applies the quantitative test and turns his nose up at \u2014 "too
\npoor!" Anyhow, what was required to be demonstrated has been demonstrated,
\nQ.E.D.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Is Narendranath Sen among the boycotters? <\/font> <\/span>
\n
\n\u2014<\/span>
\nenquires <\/span>the Englishman<\/i>, <\/i>else how
\nhas he put his name on the Rakhi-Circular, which asks people to renew their
\nboycott vow on the Rakhi-Day? Will Babu Narendranath send a copy of his Subliminal
\nConsciousness <\/i>(sic) to his Hare Street brother to illu-<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-186<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nmine
\nthe situation? That, or the Isis Unveiled<\/i>, <\/i>will explain all.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The Bengalee <\/i>is in mortal agony because of the prolonged
\n"tension between the rulers and the ruled". Love’s quarrels never last
\nlong, we know. But how to make these up? The traditional Dooti must be called
\nin, and Morley and Minto must play Brinda and get about a re-union between the
\nforlorn Bengalee <\/i>and their discarded Lords. "Call them back, for old
\nlove’s sake, or we cannot live \u2014 outside the Council Chambers," \u2014 cries
\nthe widowed Bengalee<\/i>. <\/i>The Rakhi-Day is coming, and love-bands will be
\ndistributed to all the world, except only to him whose association makes the
\nworld sweet! Oh the bitterness of it!<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>"The demonstrations of last year passed off without any excesses of
\nany kind and without any breaches of the law. The same temper animates us now.
\nThe triumphs of constitutionalism are writ large on the pages of the year’s
\nhistory." Thus perorates the Bengalee <\/i>in its appeal for the coming
\nRakhi-celebrations. "The triumphs of constitutionalism!" but of whose
\nconstitution: of the Bengalee <\/i>or of the British?<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n


\n
\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Empire <\/font> <\/span><\/i>Portents
\n<\/span>–<\/span>
\nFollowing the portentous tremors of <\/span>mother
\nearth came, says the Empire<\/i>, <\/i>the capture of "a huge Boal fish at the
\nHaldi river. It measured six feet and was unusually
\nswollen."
\nWhat was swollen, the editor does not say <\/span>
\n\u2014<\/span>
\nthe feet, <\/span>the tail, or the fish itself?
\nWhen cut open, however, a dead jackal was found inside! When doors are
\n"crossed", and trees are marked, and jackals are found inside greedy
\nBoal fish, and there is the murderous cry of Bande Mataram <\/i>all over the
\nland, judgment
\ncannot, surely, be far<\/span>
\n<\/span>away.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-187<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nMany
\nthings, the world knows, have saving power, but that a striking metaphor could
\nsave a Conference was not known to us before. But this seems actually to have
\nhappened recently at Umballa. When the Legislative Council Resolution came up
\nfor discussion, there suddenly developed a rift in the lute. Everybody agreed
\nto the view that "the Punjab Council as at present constituted serves no
\nuseful purpose". The New Party, with their acknowledged partiality for
\ninconvenient logic, wanted to add, "and it may as well be abolished".
\nThe logic of it was dreadfully strong, and the amendment was pressed on the
\nConference and debated upon. But the situation was saved by a "statesmanly metaphor" from Lala Murlidhar, the well-known poet-politician of
\nUmballa. "Do men cut down a tree because its fruit is unripe or happens to
\nbe bitter <\/i>or worm-eaten?  Do men raze to the ground a house that leaks?"
\nAfter this, the amendment was bound to be negatived and the Resolution
\ncarried. Lala Murlidhar has discovered the art evidently of making sunshine out
\nof cucumber, and pressing sweet honey out of bitter almond!<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>An additional proof of the tremendous work the "Moderates" have
\nbeen doing in the country was found by the last Provincial Conference at Umballa.
\nIt passed a number of Resolutions asking the Government to do <\/i>this and undo
\n<\/i>that thing; but when it was proposed that a Committee or Association should
\nbe started "to establish and help District Associations," the
\nConference left it, we are told, "untouched<\/i>".<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Mr. Gokhale resolves the complexities of the present problem in Bengal
\ninto "private quarrels and personal jealousies"
\n\u2014<\/span>
\nBurke was right when he said that he had known great states<\/span>men
\nwith the intellect of pedlars; yet Burke did not know us of modern India.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-188<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n             Is
\nMr. Gokhale also among the extremists? He advises the Bengalis to agitate
\n"in statesmanlike and reasonable manner" and explaining these terms,
\nsays\u2014<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The Boers have got self-government by fighting manfully. The Irish will
\nget self-government within a year or so. We must keep their examples before our
\neyes. And everything will be easy, he adds, if we imitate their ways
\n<\/span>\u2014<\/span>
\n<\/span>and perhaps finish with an object \u2014 but our
\npolicy interdicts all personalities.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> October 10, 1906<\/font><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nEmerson
\nand original sin have never as yet gone together. But Principal Herambachandra
\nMoitra has achieved the impossible. Lecturing to a Bombay congregation on a
\nWednesday he solemnly declared that "even children themselves are not free
\nfrom sin," and on the following Sunday discoursed on "Emerson".
\nPoor sage of Concord!<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nCalcutta
\nis going to have a Tower of Silence <\/i>\u2014 for the Parsis. The Patrika <\/i>would,
\nhowever, seem to hold that it is more needed by our own patriots. They evidently
\npermit writing in that dreadful place.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>A "veteran" laments the decay of manners among the people of
\nthis country, in the hospitable columns of the Pioneer<\/i>. <\/i>There was a time,
\nonly forty years ago, when on the approach of a European, Indian lads would cry
\n\u2014 "Gora ata Gora ata" \u2014 and skid. When the same class of lads now
\n"pass a European with a cigarette between their lips and stare him calmly
\nin the face," and a "large number of natives salaam with their left
\nhands" <\/span>
\n\u2014<\/span>
\n<\/span>the world or the British Empire, which
\nmeans the same thing, must be nearing its end.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/font>Page-189<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nBengal politicians seem determined to maintain the ancient reputation of
\nthe nation for its logical acumen and subtlety. The Barisal Conference resolved not
\n<\/i>to send any prayer or petition to Government; when the Conference was
\nforcibly dispersed, the leaders sent a wire to the Viceroy on the ground that a
\ntelegram was surely not a petition. They have resolved not to approach the
\nLieutenant-Governor of the partitioned Province with any prayer or address, but
\nmay still draw their Honours’ "serious attention" to various matters,
\npublic and personal, including the gift of a Deputy Magistracy to their sons.
\nSurely a cosy place in the Executive Service is not <\/i>a membership of the
\nLegislative Council.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>There is considerable indignation among the true "Friends of
\nIndia", both in England and in this country, at the "political
\noration" delivered by Mr. Manmatha Chandra Mullik at the recent Tyabji
\nmemorial meeting in London. After this we shall be told that it would be sinful
\nto discourse on religion at a commemoration service in honour of Lord Bishop of
\nCanterbury, or to speak on science at a memorial meeting of a President of the
\nBritish Association. We think at the recent Tyabji Bose meeting in London, Babu
\nRomesh Chandra Dutta must have discoursed, therefore, on the greatness of Islam,
\nand Sir Henry Cotton on the saving grace of Brahmo-Theology. We anxiously await
\nfull reports of their speeches.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> October 11, 1906<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-190<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is Mendicancy Successful?                   AN apologia for the mendicant policy has recently appeared in the columns of the Bengalee. The heads of the defence…<\/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-417","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\/417","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=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

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

\n
\nMischievous
\nWritings<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n