Evening star., 1922-03-24
India and Islam.

American newspapers for the most
part agree in characterizing the pres
ent crisis in India, coupled with the
resignation of Edwin Montagu from
the Indian Office, as the most serious
since the "mutiny.' The Boston
Transcript independent republican,
insists that 1.-The Indian crisis must
somehow be solved on its own merits.
Matters are rapidly drifting toward
bloodshed on large scale. Lord
Reading certainly knows this as well
as any one else. His request for
and one which would throw Greeks
and Armenians to the wolves of An
CORA, may be in the nature of pure
intrigue. Britain's present task in In
dia Is to get the Hindus out OF the
clutches of the Mohammedans. who
make no secret Of their intention OF
ruling India if self-government is
conceded. . Nothing in the situa-
ton up to the present moment has
revealed what is in the back of Lord
Readings mind. But it Is plain
enough that the British government
cannot in any offhand way accede to
the Delhi governments demands, and
the premature publication Of that de-
mand has for the time being strength
ened the hand of the conservative
wing of the cabinet, which will not.
if 1t can help it, let go the firm hold
Of the British Raj on the empire that
Give and Hastings conquered and
that Colin Campbell and Havelock
saved"
Lord Reading and his associates"
says the Springfield Republican Gin
dependent). must like Mr.. Montagu
action must embarrass the govern
ment and hamper its diplomatic free
dom at the conference on the near
east. If, nevertheless, they
decided for publication it can only
be because they felt that nothing less
that in the effort to save that they
were justified in taking extraordl-
nary measures to force the govern
ment's hand"
.'The British are a stubborn race"
says the Grand Rapids Press; they
committed themselves to support of
the Greeks, right or wrong, and they
will hardly give up Constantinople.
Furthermore, British support of, or
apology for, Mohanime edan oppression
Of Christian peoples during the past
century has been the worst blot on
The St. Louis Globe-Democrat be-,
lieves If we are to have warless
world the capacity of the Turk to
work mischief must be destroyed.
"To neutralize this menace to peace"
it says. "is even more important than
an adjustment Of Pacific problems.
The RESTORATION of Constantinople is
unfhinkable. Even the presence of
the suitan, and his plot-hatching court
in an international Constantinople is
a cause for anxiety. - What the
Reading proposal asked was that the
aiIias should confess themselves de-
feafed in one of the most important
phases Of the war of 1914-1S.",
"The strength of the situation is
that Great Britain is dfscharging. her
obligations faithfully" says the, New
Haven journal Courier (fudependent).
England will middle through II she
puts her hand to forcible. suppression,
through change of personnel"
The New York Evening Post inde-
pendent1 believes ''it should be possi-
HE to reach an adjustment that will
at once protect the Christian minori-
ties IN the near east, stop the
fieStine and restore Anglo French
concord and help placate England"
Characterizing Montagu as the Ed
mund Burke of India, the Fort
wayne Gazette ldemocratic)
says: "It is well to keep in mind that
men of genius and keen inteli1gence
like Reading and Montasu nonestiy
believe that the present poncy In
India is destructive of the empire:
'India may be ripe for a revolution"
saws the Winnipeg Evening Times,
but it is not at all the sort OF revo-
luton looked for by Gandhi and the
Ali brothers. It will bs . sweeplag
out of q Rovernment in which the
generosity of conquest has :degener-