New-York tribune., 1908-12-17
INDIAN UNREST.

Unrest In India is obviously becoming more
oninous That is confessed by the government
in its enactment Of summary Justice Dill
for dealing with sedition. For weeks the news
from that empire has been almost daily marked
with reports of dacoity, of assassination at
tempted or effected. Dynamite plots have been
discovered bomb-throwing has been INDUCED
in and indictments to wholesale massacre ana
insurrection have been and are numerous in the
press There have been hints at a general up
rising in April next Whether they are tul-
filed or not there can be little question that
the government is now facing the most serious
problem which it has had before it since the
great Mutiny of half a century ago.
The causes Of this disQueting state Of affairs
are doubtless several, as is usually the case
with great popular movements of any klnd. Inc
arbitrary partition of Bengal upon which We
commented at the time 1t was effected, unqls6-
tIonably caused much dissatisfaction and re-
sentiment and that in the very part of India
where such feelings were sure to be most mis-
schievous Three years ago nothing but amuse-
ment and derisiOn greeted the announcement
that lot of baboos at Calcutta had solernnly
crowned Mr. Surendra \. Baner1ee as king
of Bengal" To-day Mr.. Banerjee stands af-
frighted at the extremes to which his former
followers have gone, leaving their king, a
timorous conservative hopelessly in the rear
Not IN the Northwest Provinces but in Ben
gal and IN Calcutta ltSelt IS now Ine cnlel udH-
ger point of the Indian Empire
Brahmin disaffectioH is to be ranked among
the foremost causes of the trouble Before the
British occupation the members of that caste
were the actual rulers not only of Bengal but of
most Of India, even Of the Mahometan states.
Among their own regOnists their prestige and
authority were due to spiritual considerations,
and among others to their superior education.
With the advent Of British rule all this was
v,1l 90
men of all castes and the public service was
similarly opened. The result that the
Brahmins soon found themselves in competition
with educated Sudras and others whom they
despised as their interiors. This they bitterly
resented, and resent to-day. And since, de
spite the rise of men Of other castles to equality
with them the BrahminS still the most
numerous caste in the public service all through
Northern India, their influence for sedition is
formida BILE.
Education misdirected or misapprecated is a
third and potent cause of trouble. N1ultitudes
of Indian boys have been educated as if for
the civil service or for learned professions,
only to find those voCatiOns already over
crowded and offering them no opportunities
for entrance or advancement. In other COun-
tries they would therefore turn 10 the honest
trades or businesses of their fathers. But IN
India they consider that below their dignity.
They regard the state as owing them a living.
As it has educated them, they demand that it
shall provide for them ar their lives. If It does
not do So they loaf around in idleness and plot
sediton. These unemployed baboos are a curse
to India. What would serve the interests Of the
empire far better would he not to close the
schools or to withhold education, but to pay
more attention to technical industrial and com
mercial education. If young Indians were
taught to he artisans. manufacturers. mer
chants or even skilled agricultursts, instead Of
ba boos their own interests and those of the
state would be vastly better served
OF course, when 1t is brought face to face
with such conditions those of the present
time. the first duty Of the Indian government,
as of any government is to sustain itself to
vindicate its authority and to suppress sediton
with as strong hand as may he needed. But
should expect so enlightened a government
as that at Calcutta and that presided over by
Lord Morley to consider thOughtfully the
causes of the trouble and to abate them So far
ss possible. Force may he necessary in some
contingencies. there as elsewhere But rs
Bright once said. force is remedy. The rem
edy must lie In removal of the disturbing
causes and that is the task which the British
Indian government will doubtless undertake.