Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-04-13
IRr A.snciassd press1

in the war right up to the present
moment Germany has never ceased
attempts to stir the Indian Empire to
revolt, according to Sir Charles Cleye-
land, director Of criminal intelligence
in this country, who made this state
! ment to a correspondent of The AS
ISOLATED Press. Sir Charles charac-
teriZed the plot as clumsy, belated,
too theoretical. and based on a mis-
understanding OF India character,
and declared that the scheme failed
chiefly because OF the. sanity OF the
great Indian public which has with
held its support"
Sir Charles is rcputed to know more
about those in whom the Secret Ser
vice naturally would be interested
than any other man in India. For years
! he has made a study OF that class
which favors the darkness OF night for
its coming and its goings, and now as
head of the Secret Service the gov
eminent relies upon him to check
untoward occurrences in any section
before they have grown into serious
\ menace. r.
Trouble Report Exaggerated
! There has been some trouble In
| India said Sir Charles. but it has
| fallen very far short both Of the pie.
lures drawn in enemy publications and
of the enemy's desire. The state OF
| India all through the war seems to
have exposed a very big. miscaleula-
ton on the part of the Germans.
/ at would lie interesting u examine
how far this miscalculatlon was due to
misunderstanding of normal Indian
affairs and how far to miscarriage
Of plans for causing trouble In India
and among Indians outside India dur
ing the war My own impression Is
that Germany thought India would
need very little extraneous prompting
and assistance TO rise against the
British if the latter were in serious
embarrassment owing to big. cont.
mental war, ard that therefore not
very much attention was paid by the
German government to instigation in
India before the war. Where and how
did the German government get that
/ idea? Was it conveyed to them by
secret unknown agents or by their
, consular, officers in India or by some
over confident Indian extremist or by
British panic mongers? 1t is difficult
! to say for certain but remember that
some years ago an Indian extremist
leader used the following words to
me: 10. ..: >
"We shall certainly try to embar-
rass you actively in India IL you have
a wal, with a continental power or with
Afghanistar. Our feelings are firm
on that point unless, indeed, self
interest or some special reason die
tates passive attitude to some or all
of us. But never again will you find
such positive assistance as we gave
You, at the, time of the Boer War Z.
My extremist friend went on ito
|, tell me that we were foolish to think
/ we could count on the Indian army.
At the time l thought my friends
attitude was pathetic in its self-delu-
sion and time has shown that | was
right go Il. ~ -. = ..-F p
Willing to Spend Money
After the war broke out the Ger
man government showed willingness
Ito spend money laVishly on Indian
trouble but there was no sign or
financing of troublesome schemes or
individuals before the war. In 1913
and 1914 German viewing the situa-
ton in India with patriotic anti British
Leyes would have observed the follow
ing phenomena: A rapproachment
between a section CT Indian Mohame-
dams and the Young-Turk party in
Europe; an anarchieal revolutionary
movement in. Bengal with some RANT
| fieatiens in the north of India; a latent
movement of extreme nationalism in
the Bombay presidency and some other
places; and unrestra;ned Ghadr move
ment among Indians in the United
| States and Canada, Pnd a certain
| amount of Moslem dissatisfaction in
north of India and along. the northwest
frontier think it was beyond the pow
err of any German to decide whether
these phenomena were the signs of a
deep widespread unrest or merely
local surface disturbances: and feel
sure that in order to Interpret them
the Germans consulted exiled and
partisan Indians who were out OF
touch with India as a. whole and who
| therefore nlagnified their own views
and feelings and those of their friends
and associates out of all reasonable
proportion. 20 .....a sss
Germany Waits Developments
"For the first few months Of the
war the Germans waited for the In.
dian storm to come of itself as they
had been led to believe that it would
! come. To begin. with our enemies
based extravagant hopes and Turkeys
Intervention, but the Indian Mohanie-
dams as a whole took this with extra
ordinary calm and resignation. Then
came the 'Ghadr' invasion from. the
United States, Canada and the Far
East, but that broke itself hopelessly
on the good sense of feeling Of the
Punjab public and the resourceful adj
ministrationl Of that province. .5ze
Disappointed by these failures OF
the Indian trouble to arrive automati-
| cally, the Germans realized that they
must attempt direct assistance and
turned their attention to the Bengal
\ - at, he