New-York tribune., 1918-05-19
. Around the World and Back Again :.

whom ! have talked during these exciting
days. She is president of the Theosophical
Society. and in this office has been for
years the object of something closely akin
10 worship; the recipient OF the slavish de-
votion OF thousands of otherwise normal
people, who are said to have surrendered
INTO her hands all their powers of yolition,
and who believe her to be the sole mouth
piece of the great Masters of Wisdom and
the future ruler of gods and men,
And the curious thing is that, while she
has host OF followers among the un
thinking and untutored masses, she domi
mates the minds of some of India's richest.
most Intelligent and best educated men. It
is through these that she has been able to
turn the Theosophical Society into a politi-
cal machine. with power to grind up every
vestige of opposition to itself. One hears
OF the great whispering gallery of theoso-
pho circles and gets the impression that
by means of this whispering gallery the
wiIi OF the mahatmas-o or the higher ones
IS conveyed through Mrs Besant, who is
their only representative on earth, to all
parts Of India. Her followers become fa-
natic to degree that is unknown to other
sects, and one OF them recently wrote in
BritIsh-lndian newspaper:
Let the authorities know what great
personages stand behind Mrs Besant
to protect her and her adhcrents and to
guide india! These agents of
God have given ample opportunities to
our rulers, and they shall yet give more.
But let it not be too late. If the
British cannot make themselves worthy
instruments to make India free, God's
agents must and shall do so!
What is a sane community to do with
politics like that? Yet that is the kind of
politics now influencing the Indian situa-
tion; and when Mrs Besant was recently
elected president of the National Congress
"a supposedly sober and substantial po-
litical organization which was originated
by Englishmen for the purpose of giving
Indians a medium of self-expression.-it
was openly proposed that she be deitied or
recognized as an immortal; and 'idolatrous
practices for the acceptance of the con-
gress' were seriously suggested.
Cup to about four years ago Mrs. Besant
took interest in Indian aspiration She
was religionist pure and simple and admon-
ished her followers to let politics alone and
to uphold the benevolent and otherwise
worthy British government. Then she got
into some dit'1culties-which need not be
detailed in this article--had some unpleas-
ant encounters with the courts and made
herself a host of enemies. Some of these.
strangely enough, were important political
leaders who, having been numerically
lashed by her in pamphlets, newspaper ar
ticles and public speeches, are now bound
with thongs of abject devotion to her polit-
ical chariot wheels She WAS losing her
grip on the imaginations of the people and
these men contributing largely to the
influences that were working against her,
so she calmly and with consummate clever
ness maneuvred her forces into gradual
change Of tactics and began to them.
And she won them"
The writer next makes an astonishing
statement when she states, not as sur
mise, but plain fact, that Mrs. Besant-
"tells the Indians that her soul is Indian
and that she is on earth in the guse
of white woman as punishment for some
terrible sin she committed in a former ex-
stence. Yes, she does, really! And they
believe her. Then she tells them that she
thinks she is working it out all right, how
ever, and that the next time she visits the
earth she will come in her rightful guise."
And that, observes this writer, would
be the time for her to undertake the job
of leading India out of bondage. "They
might" she thinks, ''be ready for it by
then" And "Indian women might by
that time be allowed to know something,
to do something and to speak without
waiting to be spoken TO-"
Now it would be extremely interesting