The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-16

necessarily con1ne ourselves to a few OF
the many questions examined, and we have
chosen for the purpose out OF the twenty
SIX chapters the four which deal respectively
with the vice-regal position, the famine
administration and the problems of the
northwestern frontier of India and the
northeastern border OF Burma. A word
also should be said about the extent to
which Bombay is competing with Lanca-
shire as a manufacturing centre.
In a chapter on sIhe Vice-Regal Posi-
ton" the author reminds us that India is
participating to the full in the desire for
change, or what some call progress, which
to-day ia so distinguishing a feature in the
social and political life of Asiatic nations
The opinion is expressed that the Home
Government has fostered this tendency in
British India by its attitude and methods
during the controversy between Lord
Curzon, the late Viceroy. and Lord hitch-
ener, the commander in chief. II is
thought TO nave lent the sanction of its
authority and example to the idea that the
Viceroy and his council al Calcutta are no
longer 10 he the Supremacy responsible
srbiters and administrator of the Indian
Empire but rather the instruments by
which the behests or caprices Of a transient
marty leader. installed at the India Office,
NAV be carried ont effectively, Unques-
tionably the supremacy of the civil author
tiles has been challenged successfully by
an eminent soldier of only limited Indian
experience, and in the agitation concerning
the partition of Bengal certain sections of
natives do not hesitate 10 influence the
publio mind against British rule. which
alone has rescued Bengal from absorption
nv the more strenuous races of the peninsula.
obviously, too, the liberty OF language
which for some time has been con-
ceded to the vernacular press has produced
an overgrowth of license which in our
authors Judgment must be eradiCated with
A ruthless hand or else liberty will be ex-
tinguished. The educated natives OF Ben
gal. whose ambitions oscillate between
administrative posts and prospective seats
in an Anglo Indian Congress. no longer rec
oenize the oneo great Pro-Consul as the
almighty Vice Regent OF a benefcent King
Emperor, the sage counsellor in whom are
. vested by proxy all the attributes and powers
Of the Emperor himself, 80 long as the huge
dependency is wisely governed. He ia now
looked upon as a public servant 10 he
supervised by a superior official in England
who. far from being the king. is only the
temporary occupan Of a political Office.
Look" a v the travelled Bengali, at the
= average Englishman who thus becomes the
srbiter Of our destiny; are we not as com
4" petent RS he 10 be the captains Of our fate?'
The Bengali audience yes; let
lis combine. on the platform and in the,press
to boycott English manufactures. TO under
mine British rule and TO shape the destinies
of India for ourselves
Our author autions us not to draw the
deduction that this conce ption Of the vice
regal position is shared TO any considerable
extent by races Of India other than the
Bengal Hindu. On the contrary his own
firm impression is that the idea of a benevo-
lent despot is entirely ~ sympathetic to most
Of the inhabitants of the Indian peninsula
especially in the semi-independent native
States. The delays and intrigues inherent
in such autonomy a. these va >sal States
retain do not invite their subjects To agItate
nj present for an extension Of these quesa
'ionable privileges. In their minds. more
over, the regime established By the British
autocTat compares faVorably with the
turbulent conditions Of existence under the
AsiBtic ~potentates of Asia Of whom they
learned when they were at school, OuI
author recalls that in many a native State
during the recent agitation for partition
in Bengal he heard men of all classes ash
him whether the Home Government wa
aware of the way in which sedition was
being propagated in oral and written speed
in Bengal and Of the disloyalty that there
was openly preached. The Rajput and tho
Mahratta know from past experience thei
Bengal Babu by heart and have but little
respect for him. They feel, too, that i
the same methods Of agitation were adopted
in native states or IN other provinces fur
ther removed from Calcutta the trca'men
melted out to offenders would bc eXcmplarl
aud their shrift short indeed. Yet even in
these loyal communities there is, II seems
some change TO he noted, as significant il
IT'S way as the altered attitude Of BenGs
toward the Vice-Regal Government. W
are informed that the Anglo-lndian civilian
who leave home as young men to admlniste
vast tracts Of territory no longer feel tina
they ave a free hand TO do tho best 70
The districts assigned IN them. TheY ar
now continually hampered lay appeals Il
superior force.
In a chapter on Famine Admrnistratio