The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-26
WRITES ROOSEVELT
OPEN LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE
 PRESIDENT.
Society for Advancement of Indian Puts Strfctures on White House Occupant for Some Re-
 cent Utterances.

Occupant for Some Re-
 | cent Utterances.
 Washington. Feb. 25-An open letter
 has been addressed to President Roose-
 welt in protest against his recent iauda-
 tory characterizati ton of British rule in
 India at the Metropolitan Memorial
 Methodist Episcopal Church in Wash
 inRton. The protest has 17 signers
 members of the Society Tor the Ao-
 vancement of India and others, includ- ing Rev. Dr. J. T. Sunderland, Hart ford; Moorfield Storey, Boston; Erving l Winslow. Boston; pr. Leslie Willis Spfague New York; Rev. pr. R. Heber Newton New York; J. Collins Pumpelly New York: John J. Murphy. New York
 Dr. John H. Girdner New York: Dr. John Milton Dexter, New York: J. H.
 Postlethwaite. New York: Myron H.
 Phelps, New York: Rev. pr. Frank O.
 Hall. New York; Rev. pr. Merle St. Croix Wright. New York; Charles B. Soutter. Aiken, S. C.. Hon. Chas. II.
 Aldrich. of Chicago. formerly solicitor
 general of the United States; Rev. Jen-
 kin Lloyd Jones. of Chicago; Louis y
 Post. of Chicago. N Worse than Russian Despotism.
 In refutation of the Presidents as-
 sertion that British rule in India IS s l COloSSdl SuCCcSS, tHe lttttT ucCldteS that, on the contrary, 1t is a despotism
 worse than that of Russia as far as possible removed from the ideal of the
 government at the head of whlcn ns
 stands and which he is supposed. t,'
 believe in and represent. The peopie | of India have no voice whatever in the management of their own affairs. The
 small number of Indians on govern | ment councils are. with rare exceptions. | a annnintad hV the Their functions are merely aovIsory. Tnev
 have no power In the management of
 Indian affairs" Not a tax can be l changed. not a rupee of the peoples g
 own money appropriated for any pur- l pose. however urgent. without the con sent of British officials. Even the new reforms proposed by Lord Morley will effect no essential change. Lord Nor | ley himself declares: If it could be said that this chapter of reforms led | directly of necessarily up to a parlia- mentary system for India. I. for one. would have nothing to do with it. ~ Imprisonment Without Trial.
 Not only" it Is alleged, "are Indian l people allowed no part in shaping the destiny of theiro own country, but even freedom of speech and or assembly are permitted only under the severest limi- tations and the most galling espionage, and freedom of the press has been ta- ken away. Today fully one hundred editors are serving terms of from three to ten years in prison, many of them without trial. without having hau op- portunity to defend themselves, in not a few cases without even having been in- formed of the nature of their offense. The crime almost invariably charged is 'sedition.' In India the mere oIscus
 sion of reforms Is punished by open or secret Imprisonment. There Is no In- dian home that is not liable at any hour of the day or night to be forcibly entered and serched at the instigation of spying police. There Is no indian gentleman. however high his standing or unimpeachable his character. who max not at any moment be arrested and hurried away to an unknown pris- on Nine such arrests and incarcera- tions took place recently in single week. Even distinguished Englishmen visiting India have their mail tempered with and are shadowed by the police 1T they are so much as suspected of any sympathy with the Indian people.
 Despotic Censorship of Press.
 "All telegraphic and other news from India is closely censored" 1t Is said, "in the English interest" What IS learned by the world Is for the most part only the English view. But one in MT Roosevelt's position, the protest fn- sists, should have adequately Informed | himself before undertaking to speak on a subject affecting the interests Of some three hundred millions of people. Adequate information is available. The English Labor Party IS taking up the wrongs of India. determined that they shall no longer be ignored Dis- tinguished and able Englishmen, many of them members of parliament who have also had long service In India. are, in increasing numbers. espousing the cause of India resolved that Ine truth shall be known. Sir Henry Cot ton, M. P. Is quoted: Indian admin istration as carried on today Is a sys- tenn of pure Absolutism from the Vice roy downwards, as autocratic as that of the Car of Russia" The idea that the Indian people have any real share in the government of their own coun try, he pronounces absolutely illusory." SeIf-government Practicable.
 The letter insists that to assert. as the President did. that India Is inca
 pablo of governing herself is to "fly in the face of history. India govern- ed herself for thousands of years. In the history of India. we find empires as illustrious and we'll ordered as any Tn Euroue." The same objections were by the supporters of Lord North's gov ernment regarding the American col onies-that If left to their own direc- tion they would speedily fall into mu- tual strife. anarchy and ruin" In like manner when Japan began her modern career 1t was generally predicted that she could not carry on a government under modern conditions. At the time England first entered India, three hun dred years ago. the old Mogul Empire was breaking up, new political and mil itary adjustments were forming and the country was in a state of unusual turmoil, which gave the English their condition, and would have passed as similar periods in other countries have passed, For two thousand years India has been far more peaceful than Flu rope. There Is no record of Indian wars worse than tlrerWars of the Roses in England or so bad as the Thirty Years War in Germany. and none that compare at all in loss of life with the wars of Napoleon; neither does Indian history show anything that in anarchy and violence equals the Reign of Ter TOT in France" As to disturbances be- tween Hindus and Mohammedans, these have lived side by side without conflict for hundreds of years at time. 1t Is asserted. under both Hindu and Mohammedan rulers. and there has at no time been any greater hostility between them than between Roman Catholics and Protestants in Europe.
 British are "BiFds of Prey"
 The letter goes on to flatly contra dict the Presidents claim that Eng land does not draw a penny from India for English purposes. and likens the