DECEMBER 21, 1908

NATIVE PRESS OF INDIA RESPONSIBLE
FOR SEDITION
------------------Eighty Years Ago Director of East India Company
Prophesied Trouble.
----------------SITUATION NOT SERIOUS
------------------Position Only Requires Very Careful Watching
and Firm Handling.
------------------Even after this lapse of time authorities differ as to the predisposing
conditions which brought about our troubles in 1857; therefore where the
mischief is still smouldering, and so much is obscure, it behoves any one
professing to unravel the tangled skeins of present-day unrest in India to step
warily, lest, he lead his readers astray, says a writer in the London Daily Mail.
There have, however, been two main factors operating in, and to the
prejudice of, our administration for many years which are sufficiently obvious
to any one viewing the question by the light of Indian experience. These are
an unduly liberal system of higher education and a culpable indifference to the
excesses of the vernacular press. One of the first duties of every government
is to provide elementary education for the lower classes of society, but the
bountiful and almost free scheme of advanced education which we have given
to India has, in attracting imperfectly trained minds towards disaffection,
done much to ruin many whom it should have assisted to become useful
citizens.
In this sense India has its unemployed, who are devoting the talents
they acquired so cheaply to rendering the government of their country
impossible. Regular means have been adopted for the study and propagation
of active sedition—the requisite energy and ardour being derived from

DECEMBER 21, 1908
religious motives, the fostering of racial hatred, and the reports of anarchy in
other countries. Thus we find that the actors on the state in the drama of
sedition are often immature youths, prompted, not doubt, by cowardly
wretches who pull the strings in the background.
Liberty of the Press.
Secondly, there is the ever-ready handmaid of discontent, a section of
the vernacular press, which flourishes on mendacious and malicious
representations, and(?) systematically vilifies European officials, and openly
preaches sedition, with an occasional incitement to murder.
The poison thus carefully distilled is scattered far and wide by selected
emissaries, and so by degrees penetrates into the simple mind of the
agriculturalist, “the man who matters,” who has hitherto had nothing but
veneration and respect for the government which has treated him so well.
Eighty-six years ago, in a minute for the court of directors of the old East
India company, Sir Thomas Munro, dealing with the then vexed question of
the Indian Press, at that time entirely in European hands, wrote: “A free press
and the dominion of strangers are things which are quite incompatible, and
cannot exist long together, for what is the first duty of a free press? It is to
deliver the country from a foreign yoke and to sacrifice to this one great object
every measure and consideration, and if we make the press really free to the
natives as well as to Europeans it must inevitably lead to this result.”
The minute contains much more that is wonderfully prophetic, recorded
by a man who knew India and was beloved by all classes.
No one would propose at this stage entirely to muzzle the vernacular
press, but liberty and license are different things, and it is to be hoped that the
measures foreshadowed by the viceroy in a speech as Simia will not long be
delayed. The publication of honest public opinion, even if antagonistic, may
often do good by opportunely informing the official mind, but constant
streams of misrepresentation and abuse can only do harm in a country where
the population is so largely illiterate.
The Unsettled East.
There are doubtless other contributing causes to unrest besides the two
discussed. The victories of Japan over Russia, showing what it is possible for
an eastern nation to accomplish, probably have had some unsettling influence.

DECEMBER 21, 1908
Similarly the revolutions in other countries—Russia, Persia, and Turkey—
have all been used to foment disaffection, without, of course, any
consideration for the fact that in those countries, unlike India,
maladministration has been chronic and grievously burdensome.
Finally, it must regretfully be admitted, and impression prevails, rightly
or wrongly, that the controlling force of our government in India exhibits an
incapacity for recognising the potential gravity of the situation. It would
perhaps be unfair at present to criticise too closely the jail management at
Calcutta, which allowed an informer, whose evidence was most valuable, to be
assassinated; or the apparent ineptitude of the Calcutta police in some recent
incidents culminating in the folly of allowing Gossain’s body to be publicly
paraded and worshipped. The time would seem to have arrived when it might
be a…(illegible word) that city would be to involve in the cost and burden or
punitive proceedings the ordinary citizen, dwelling in the disturbed quarters,
who is frankly unsympathetic and unconcerned would government plans be
thwarted or its officers murdered.
Need for Government.
In considering the remedies applicable the first thing to remeber is that
in an eastern country you can only maintain peace and prosperity provided
you are strong—the Oriental respects firm authority and sees in leniency
towards misbehaviour merely humorous(?). The well known phrase in India,
“the Sirkar has a tough arm,” is thoroughly appreciated; if the strength of this
member be dissipated on the altar of doctrinaire principles the worst results
must ensue.
Some concessions are inevitable, and when made we must earnestly
hope that a clear distinction will be drawn between the aspirations of the
legitimate opposition and the crazy ideas of the implacable bomb-throwers
and sedition-mongers, none of whom are fit to undertake any responsibility.
The manner in which His Majesty’s gracious proclamation has been received
by the latter faction is significant. Nothing will satisfy them short of complete
surrender to the cry of “India for the Indians,” and good-bye to the regime
under which the country has emerged from chaos to order and prosperity—
for, judged by any text that world-wide experience may apply. India is
undeniably prosperous.
To pacify the extremists, who have no redressible grievance, nothing
can be done or should be attempted. The cure for their ailment is extra

DECEMBER 21, 1908
vigilance by the police, a firm and more rapid administration of justice, the
exclusion of newspaper reporters from the courts when sedition cases are
under trial, and the rigid abstention when enforcing the law, from anything
calculated to advertise sedition or to promote the hero-worship of anarchists.
The Echo from England.
In England something is urgently required both to restrain and to assist
Indian students. When they indulge, as they did at a meeting held recently in
the Caxton hall, in open manifestations of disloyalty, the though naturally
arises that there is something radically defective in their training.
Official chaperonage is undesirable and would be resented, but at the
same time nothing really useful can be done without pecuniary assistance
from the government.
Though the position of India requires careful watching and firm
handling, there is nothing as yet to cause alarms. It is, for instance, quite
untrue to say that there is anything approaching general dissatisfaction with
our rule; some mischief has undoubtedly been done, but the evil has not
permeated too deeply to be eradicated, and we may well hope that the hearts
of the masses of the population are as yet untouched. In a letter to the Times a
week or two ago, the Maharajah of Benares, alluding to the “unmeaning and
hollow cries” for Swaraj, wrote: “We…would scarcely have troubled our head
about them had it not been for their echo which is now and then ominously
reflected from the white cliffs across the English channel.” If all speakers in
this country would measure their language and not seek to add to our
difficulties in Hindustan it would be both prudent and patriotic.
It is comforting to know that we have among the Maharaja of Benares’
brother princes and chiefs of India an asset of the greatest possible value—
their loyalty and devotion to the British crown. The gallant behaviour of one
of the Bengal chiefs, when Sir A. Fraser was attacked is fresh in our memory.