New-York tribune., 1897-08-16
INDIAN DISAFFECTTON.

Attention has been called of late TO the bench
ccnce of British rule in India. as eXemplihed
in the mastcrly dealing with plague and fam
inc. as we'll as in the general functions OF gov
crnment There is no room for doubt that II
India had for the last two years been under
purely native rule. such as IL had before the
British occupation, the victims Of disease and
starvation would have been a thousand times
more numerous Yet Immediately upon the
heels of these incalculablc bcnefactOns come
seditons and rovolts. and more serious
clamor against British rule than India has
known for forty years Perhaps these are To-
caly spontaneous. Perhaps they are due to
Russian intrlgues. Most probably they are q
part Of the Pan-Islamic propaganda No mat
ter which. for present considt ration. The in
tpreSting fact is that anti-British sentiment ex-
lists and nt-Britlsh acts are performed. Why
are they? Why does India turn against British
rule at the very moment when the latter has so
signally demonstrated Its beneficence?
The question may be answered without any
cynical reference to the universally of ingrati-
tude. The overwhelming mass Of the Indian
people have no realization Of the benefits Of
civilized government, because, generally speak
ing its benefits have not yet become perceptible
to them. To two hundred million agricultursts
life is to-day the same struggle that it was TO
their fathers. The change from MOgul En-
peror to Anglo-Saxon Empress has made no diff
ference to them. The soil is no more produc
tive. the climate no more favorable the tiger
no less ravenOus. the cobra no less deadly.
They have nothing TO set down TO the credit
Of British rule, therefore, and when there Is
nothing on the credit side the smallest debit
item makes the balance altogether to the bad.
1t is true. there are irrigation works and i'm
proved roads and other things which are of
service to the ryOt But the fact that they are
controlled and administered by aliens in a sys-
tematc and orderly fashion entirely alien to the
easy going HindOo nature, makes them n cause
Of offence more than Of gratitude. The aver
age Indian would rather starve and die in his
own way than live and prosper in way i'm
posed upon him by another.
If from the country we turn to the towns and
cities the case is little altered. The we-tO-do
and educated appreciate the value Of British
rule and are largely loyal to it, The masses
of the poor do not appreciate it, and while they
receive its benefits they do so with reluctance
1t is well TO stamp out the plague by sanitary
measures. as the British have done. But these
people would rather let the plague decmate
the city than have doctors and health officers
invade their homes Moreover. they regard
plague and famine as vsitations of God and
any attempt to check them or to mitigate their
evils as sacrilcgous Interference with the d-
vine will. As for the third class, unhappily
numerous the vicious and criminal rabbc of
the cities, they are for obvious reasons hostile
10 any government that enfOrces law and order
end Furnishes evil-doers. Evidently such a ma
tion is fruitful field for the propagation of dis
affection and the very measures of relief from
plague and famine which the Government has
so successfully executed are sufficient TO develop
it 10 a dangerous degree There is no more
difficult problem in human government than
for one nation TO rule another which has en-
tirely different traditions customs and tempera.
ment. Great Britain in India has made note
worthy efforts TO solve it, and has succeeded
better than any other such expcrimen,er But
her success is b! no means complete and the
complications and difficulties that NAV vet
arise are to be regarded with gravest apprc-
hpnSiOn