Evening star., 1932-04-03
India-Britain's Lost Empire?

| FeISlJleS SEOulQ De IN EnEllS1. lHlS
has opened up to them the literature
Of liberal England, the history of the
struggles Of the British people for con-
stitutional liberty, the revolutionary
poetry Of Keats, Shelley, Byron. In
dians travel and study in Europe and
America. They return to India to be
affronted by racial discrimination in
| their own country
Until the last few months the higher
ranks In the army and navy were closed
to Indians. Safeguards" are insisted
upon at every stage of the reforms In
dian political thought and aspirations
move ever further in advance of the
constitutional concessions offered by
England. But back of it all is this
| social problen-the failure of the Eng
lish overlords to sympathike or try to
understand the viewpoint of the con-
quered.
Reform Commission Named.
| One of the worst blunders ever COM
! mitted by British statesmen was when.
/ in 1927. the last Conservative cabinet
appointed the Simon Commission
under the terms Of Montague's gov
ernment of India act of 1919, to in
quire into the progress Of the reforms
and to advise on the next step. Not
one Indian was appointed to this COM
| mission.
This action cut deeply into Indian
susceptibilities and injured the amour
prupre of princes. Brahmans. Mahome-
| tans students and even the awakening
masses
Another bluhder was when the Rollno
| Table Conference first assembled IN
| London in the Fall of 1890. It's as
sembly overlapped with the meeting
of the Imperial Conference. The dele
gates to the imperial Conference. In
! Guiding the few Indian delegates NOM
| mated by the viCeroy. were guesta Of
his fnajeSty's government. The Indian
delegates to the round table, some of
whom had been delegates to the I'M
perial Conference. were not treated as
| guests, but we're given subsistence al
lowance and money for their expenses.
! The British treasury saved few hun
dreds of pounds. but all India felt af-
! fronted.
These blunders by the British home
government would not amount to so
much If they did not come on top of
crop of grievances which has been
growing for so years. All Asia is
awakening, and India is not unaf-
fected. The first galtanic shock was
the defeat of Russia. a first-class Euro
peah naval and military power. by an
Asiatic nation. Japan. The World War,
when Britain shipped her Indian troops
and France her soldiers from Indo-
China to fight in Europe. caused fresh
| spaS1ns in the Indian mind!
In the postwar years different
class of officers and officials began to
| arrive in India. A great though silent
| revolution has been in progress in
! England. High taxes, and especially
the Inheritance tax on landed estates.
have practically obliterated the Eng
lish landed gentry. This class which
had for so long dominated English
political and social life, had high ira
ditions of public service The former
ruling families are now to a great ex-
tent impoverished. Another type has
taken the place of these hereditary
rlilers-without their background or
their traditions. Some are successful.
others are not. But India long used
to hereditary rule and aristocratic gov
eminent, Is quick to see the change.
The social stigma placed on Indians
by the ''pukka sahib,' the real gentle
men, was irksome. 1t is unbeatable
from men and women without the
manners or bearing of their predeces-
sors. And the trouble spreads down.
ward. The English petty officials. the
private soldiers, ape their superiors.
! Omcialdom. government" tries hard
to make its agents behave. But the
evil goes deep.
Relates Delhi Incident.
I will relate two incidents of which
was eyewitness little over a year
ago. Sightseeing. in the wonderful cid
| Mnp1al fnrt r,a1ana TNolI-;
followed by family party of Indians
from some other city or province
two men, two or three women, chile
or two. Well and cleanly dressed in
native costume, quietly behaved, OBJ
viously educated-they probably were
OF the merchant class to which Ma
hatma Gandhi belongs. Presently
there rode around the corner, on his
bicycle, a fresh faced young corporal
belonging to well known Scottish
regiment. He imagined the Indians
were in his way and cursed them
roundly. The women shrank together.
the children fell silent, the men glow
cred The corporal rode on. Probably
decent young fellow at heart; he
would never have dreamed of behav-
ing In such way in, say, Edinburgh.
II he had behaved thus in Britain he
would have had his head broken.
The other incident happened at
small Indian port. / was embarking
by steamer for Karachi, where an air
plane waited to fly me back to West
| minister. The harbormaster an Eng
lishman, showed me the courtesy of
his company on board the steamer.
AS we passed along the lower deck an
Indian porter accidentally iostled the
harbormaster, who kicked him
If he had Kicked a cockney porter
in London, he would have got a black
eye or a police court Summons-or
both-for his pains But this cad was
a member of the ruling race; so he
could kick laborers with impunity.
The French manage these things
better. They tolerate no agitation for
| political reforms or democracy" in
their colonies but they recognize no
color bar. l have seen French officers.
white and colored, fraternizing in our
interallied club In Paris at the Hotel
Rothschild in complete amity and com
radeship. Such thing was incompre-
hensible to most of our officers.
What is the explanation?
France. Italy, Spain and Portugal
were provinces of the Roman Empire.
Home tolerated no racial distinctions
Il am Roman citizen" boasted
Paul. the Jew. The tradition has sur
vived. England was conquered by
Rome. But the Romanized Celts were
obliterated or driven to the Welsh
hills, by the Anglo-Saxon invaders.
presently to be conquered in their turn
oy the Normans. Both races came
| from those northern countries Of
Europe which never fell under Roman
rule and influence
Poor Mixer-East of Sue.."
And the average Englishman today
is bad mixer, east of Suez. In any
case, his public school education In
stills a certain snobbery, false sense
of superiority. And when India de-
mands democratic reforms and self
government, her people, and especially
ha