Chapter IV: Part 4

Now we must admit that this is certainly a distinct and marked advance on the existing situation. The Indian Constitutional party, however, wants to have the percentage of recruitment in India fixed at 50 per cent., retaining at the same time the annual increase suggested. In our opinion, this difference is not material, provided the number of posts to which the rule of percentage is to be applied is substantially reduced. We may state our position briefly.

We are of the opinion that the system of administration in India is much more costly than it should be, considering the sources and the amounts of Indian revenues. Unless the industries of the country are developed we can see no new sources of increased taxation. Consequently, to us, it seems essential that some economy should be effected in the various departments of the administration. The only way to effect that economy is to substantially reduce the number of posts on which it is considered necessary to retain a certain percentage of Europeans. In speaking of the machinery of the Government of India, the authors of the Report say:

"_We think we have reason for saying that in some respects the
machinery is no longer equal to the needs of the time._ The normal
work of the departments is heavy. The collective responsibility of
the Government is weighty, especially in time of war. There is
little time or energy left for those activities of a political
nature which the new situation in the country demands. A
legislative session of the Government of India imposes a serious
strain upon the departments, and especially on the members in
charge of them. But apart from the inevitable complexities of the
moment, the growing burden of business, which results from the
changing political conditions of the country, is leading to an
accumulation of questions which cannot be disposed of as quickly
as they present themselves. We find the necessity for reforms
admitted, principles agreed upon, and decisions taken, and then
long delays in giving effect to them. Difficulties are realized,
enquiries are started, commissions report, and then there is a
pause. There is a belief abroad that assurances given in public
pronouncement of policy are sometimes not fulfilled. On this
occasion, therefore, we have taken steps to guard against such
imputations, and to provide means for ensuring the ordered
development of our plans."

PRESENT CAUSES OF DELAY

"267. The main fault for the clogging of the machine does not, we
think, lie altogether with its highly trained engineers. What is
chiefly wanted is some change of system in the directions of
simplicity and speed. _How does it happen that announcements are
made that arouse expectations only to defeat them?_ We know that
it is not from any intention of deluding the public. We suggest
that it is because the wheels move too slowly for the times; the
need for change is realized, but because an examination of details
would take too long, promises are made in general terms, which on
examination it becomes necessary so to qualify with reservations
as to disappoint anticipations, and even to lead to charges of
breach of faith. We suspect that a root-cause of some political
discontent lies in such delays. Now, so far as the provinces are
concerned, we believe that our proposals _for freeing them to a
great extent from the control of the Government of India and the
Secretary of State will improve matters. But the Government of
India are in the worst case_." [The italics are ours.]

These observations raise an apprehension in our mind that it is proposed to add to the strength of the services under the Government of India. We, for ourselves, do not see how it can be otherwise. With the steady admission of the popular element into the Government of India the activities of the latter are likely to increase rather than diminish; the secretarial work of the different departments will expand rather than contract. The question of questions is how to meet the increased cost.

The remedy is the same as was suggested many years ago by Sir William Hunter, the official historian of India. He said:

"If we are to give a really efficient administration to India, many services must be paid for at lower rates even at present. For those rates are regulated in the higher branches of the administration by the cost of officers brought from England. You cannot work with imported labor as cheaply as you can with native labor, and I regard the more extended employment of the natives, not only as an act of justice, but as a financial necessity. If we are to govern the Indian people efficiently and cheaply, we must govern them by means of themselves, and pay for the administration at the market rates for native labor."

Now, whatever may be said about the necessity of maintaining a strong European element in the departments which require initiative, courage, resourcefulness and all the other qualities of "leadership" they are certainly not a _sine qua non_ for efficiency in secretarial work. We can see no reason why, then, the different secretariats of the Government of India cannot be manned mainly, if not exclusively, by Indians. Their salaries need not be the same as those now paid to the Europeans engaged in these departments. May we ask if there is any country on earth where such high salaries are paid to the secretarial heads of departments as in India? Secretaries to the Government of India in the Army and Public works and Legislative departments receive 42,000 Rs. each ($14,000, or £2800 a year); Secretaries to the Government of India in the Finance, Foreign, Home, Revenue, Agriculture, Commerce and Industry and Education departments get Rs. 48,000 a year each ($16,000 or £3,200); Educational Commissioners from 30 to 36,000 Rs. ($10,000 to $12,000).

These secretarial officers are not of Cabinet rank. Besides their salaries they get various allowances, and the purchasing value of the rupee in India is much higher than that of 33 cents in the United States or of 16d. in the United Kingdom, the exchange equivalents of an Indian rupee. The same remarks may be made about Provincial Secretariats. We do not ignore the fact that a European who cuts himself away from his country and people for the best part of his life cannot be expected to give his time, energy and talents for the compensation he might accept in his own country, nor that, if the best kind of European talent is desired for India, the compensation must be sufficiently attractive to tempt competent men to accept it. In Paragraphs 318 to 322, both inclusive, the Secretary of India and the Viceroy have put forward a forceful plea for improvement in the conditions of the European Services by (_a_) increment in their salaries, (_b_) expediting promotions, and (_c_) grant of additional allowances, and also by bettering the prospects of pensions and leave. We are afraid the only way to obtain the concurrence of Indian public opinion in this matter, if at all, is by restricting the number of posts which _must_ be held by Europeans. The _cadre_ of services to which the rule of percentage is to apply must be reduced in strength, and if Europeans are required for posts outside these they should be employed for short periods and from an open market. For example, it seems inconceivable to us why professional men like doctors, engineers and professors should be recruited for permanent service. Nor is there any reason why the recruitment should be confined to persons of British domicile. The Government of India must be run on business principles. With the exception, perhaps, of the higher posts in the I. C. S. and in the Army, all other offices should be filled by taking the supply on the best available terms for short periods and from open market. By reducing the number of higher posts to which the rule of percentage should apply, the Government would be reducing the number of Indian officers who could claim the same salary as is given to their European colleagues. In our humble opinion, the latter claim is purely sentimental, and the best interests of the country require that the administration should be as economical as is compatible with efficiency. The strength of the different permanent services should be reduced as much as possible and the deficiency made up by the appointment of the best persons available at the price which the administration may be willing to pay, whether such persons be European, Indian or American. Take the Indian Educational Service, for example. The members start with a salary of 6000 Rs. a year ($2000 or £400) and rise to about 24,000 Rs. a year ($8000 or £1600). In the United States, to the best of our knowledge, few professors, if any, get a salary higher than $7000 or 21,000 Rs. a year. High-class graduates of Harvard, Yale and Columbia start their tutorial careers at $2000 to $3000 a year, many at $1500 a year. These men would refuse to go to India on a similar salary. On the other hand, if a salary of $4000 to $10,000 were offered to a select few, the services of _the men at the top_ might be had for a short period. Surely, in the best interests of education, it is much better to get first-class men on high salaries for short periods than permanently to have third-class men beginning with smaller salaries and eventually rising to high salaries and ensuring to themselves life long pensions. What is true of the Educational Service is similarly, if not equally, true of the Medical, the Engineering and other scientific services. At the present time we have men in these technical services who received their education about twenty or twenty-five years ago and whose knowledge of their respective sciences is antiquated and rusty. Apothecaries, absolutely innocent of any knowledge of modern surgery, are often appointed to the post of Civil Surgeons. No sensible Indian desires that the present incumbents should be interfered with, except where it is possible to retire them under the terms of their service. All engagements should be met honorably. What is needed is that in future there should be a radical departure in the practice of appointing non-Indians to responsible posts in India. We do not want to deprive ourselves of the privilege of being guided in our work by European talent, nor should we grudge them adequate compensation for their services. What we object to is (1) racial discrimination; (2) excessive power being vested in individual officers; (3) the employment of more than a necessary number of persons of alien origin; (4) the crippling of the country's resources by burdening its finances with unnecessary pensions and leave allowances; (5) the continuance of men on service lists long after their usefulness has disappeared; (6) the filling of appointments by jobbery, as is now done in the so-called non-regulation provinces. We, in the Punjab, have been "blessed" by the rule of several generations of Smiths, Harrys and Jones. Those who failed to pass the I. C. S. joined the _cadre_ by the back door and received the same emoluments as those who entered it by competition. It is they who block the avenues of promotions and not the sons of the soil.

COST OF ADMINISTRATION

On the subject of the cost of administration it will be instructive to compare the annual salaries allowed to the highest public servants in India, the United States and Japan.

The President of the United States, who ranks with the great royalties of the world in position, gets a salary of $75,000, without any other allowance. The Prime Minister of Japan gets 12,000 yen, or $6000. The Viceroy and the Governor General of India gets 250,000 rupees, or $83,000, besides a very large amount in the shape of various allowances. The Cabinet Ministers of the United States get a salary of $12,000 each, the Japanese 8000 yen or $4000, and the Members of the Viceroy's Council, $26,700 each.

In the whole Federal Government of the United States there are only three offices which carry a salary of more than $8000. They are:

The President of the General Navy Board $13,500
Solicitor General $10,000
Assistant Solicitor General $9,000

All the other salaries range from $2100 to $8000. In the State Department all offices, including those of the secretaries, carry salaries of from $2100 to $5000. In the Treasury Department the Treasurer gets $8000, three other officers having $6000 each. All the remaining officials get from $2500 to $5000. In the War Department there are only two offices which have a salary of $8000 attached: that of Chief of Staff and that of Quartermaster General. The rest get from $2000 to $6000. In the Navy Department, besides the President of the General Board mentioned above, the President of the Naval Examination Board gets $8000 and so does the Commandant of the Marine Corps. All the rest get from $6000 downwards. In the Department of Agriculture there is only one office carrying a salary of $6000. All the rest get from $5000 downwards. The Chief of the Weather Bureau, an expert, gets $6000. In the Commerce Department four experts get $6000 each, the rest from $5000 downwards.

In Japan the officials of the Imperial Household have salaries ranging from $2750 to $4000. Officials of the Higher Civil Service get from $1850 to $2100 a year; the Vice-Minister of State, $2500; Chief of the Legislative Bureau, $2500; the Chief Secretary of the Cabinet, $2500; and the Inspector General of the Metropolitan Police, $2500; President of the Administrative Litigation Court, $3000; President of the Railway Board, $3750; President of the Privy Council, $3000; Vice-President of the Privy Council, $2750, and so on.

When we come to India we find that the President of the Railway Board gets from $20,000 to $24,000 and that two other members of the Railway Board get $16,000. Secretaries in the Army, Public Works, and Legislative Departments get $14,000. Secretaries in Finance, Foreign, Home, Revenue, Agriculture, Commerce and Industry Departments get $16,000. The Secretary in the Education Department gets $12,000; Joint Secretary, $10,000; Controller and Auditor-General, $14,000; Accountant-General, from $9,000 to $11,000; Commissioner of Salt Revenue, $10,000; Director of Post and Telegraph, from $12,000 to $14,000.

Among the officers directly under the Government of India there are only a few who get salaries below $7000. Most of the others get from that sum up to $12,000.

The United States includes forty-eight States and territories. Some of them are as large in area, if not even larger, than the several provinces of India. The Governors of these States are paid from $2500 to $12,000 a year. Illinois is the only State paying $12,000; five States, including New York and California, pay $10,000; two, Massachusetts and Indiana, pay $8000; one pays $7000, and three pay $6000. All the rest pay $5000 or less. There is only one territory, the Philippines, which pays a salary of $20,000 to its Governor-General.

In India the Governors of Madras, Bombay and Bengal each receive $40,000, besides a large amount for allowances. The Lieutenant-Governors of the Punjab, the United Provinces, Bihar and Burma get $33,000 each, besides allowances. The Chief Commissioners receive $11,000 in Bihar, $18,700 in Assam, $20,700 in the Central Provinces, and $12,000 in Delhi. The Political Residents in the native States receive from $11,000 to $16,000, besides allowances.

In Japan the governors of provinces are paid from $1850 to $2250 per year, besides allowances varying from $200 to $300.

The Provincial services in India are paid on a more lavish scale than anywhere else in the world. In Bengal the salaries range from $1600 for Assistant Magistrate and Collector to $21,333 to Members of the Council, and this same extravagance is also true of the other provinces.

Coming to the Judiciary, we find that Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States get a salary of $14,500 each, the Chief Justice getting $15,000; the Circuit Judges get a salary of $7000 each; the District Judges, $6000. In the State of New York the Judges of the Supreme Court, belonging to the General Sessions, get from $17,500 and those of the Special Sessions from $9000 to $10,000 each. City Magistrates get from $7000 to $8000. In India the Chief Justice of Bengal gets $24,000; the Chief Justices of Bombay, Madras and the United Provinces, $20,000 each. The Chief Judges of the Chief Court of the Punjab and Burma get $16,000 each and the Puisine Judges of the High Courts the same amounts.

The Puisine Judges of the Chief Courts receive $14,000. In the Province of Bengal the salaries of the District and Session Judges range from $8,000 to $12,000. District Judges of the other provinces get from about $7000 to $12,000. The Deputy Commissioners in India get a salary in the different provinces ranging from $6000 to $9000 a year. The Commissioners get from $10,000 to $12,000.

In Japan the Appeal Court Judges and Procurators get from $900 to $2500 a year. Only one officer, the President of the Court of Causation, gets as much as $3000. The District Court Judges and Procurators are paid at the rate of from $375 to $1850. It is needless to compare the salaries of minor officials in the three countries. Since the Indian taxpayer has to pay so heavily for the European services engaged in the work of administration, it is necessary that even Indian officers should be paid on a comparatively high scale, thus raising the cost of administration hugely and affecting most injuriously the condition of the men in the lower grades of the government service. The difference between the salaries of the officers and the men forming the rank and file of the government in the three countries shows clearly how the lowest ranks in India suffer from the fact that the highest governmental officials are paid at such high rates.

In New York City the Chief Inspector gets $3500 a year; Captains, $2750; Lieutenants, $2250; Surgeons, $1,750; and Patrolmen, $1,400 each. In Japan the Inspector General of the Metropolitan Police gets $2500. The figures of the lower officials are not available. But the minimum salary of a Constable is $6.50 a month, besides which he gets his equipment, uniform and boots free. In India the Inspectors General get from $8000 to $12,000, the Deputy Inspectors General from $6000 to $7200, District Superintendents of Police from $2666 to $4800, Assistants from $1200 to $2000, Inspectors from $600 to $1000, Sub-inspectors from $200 to $400, Head Constables from $60 to $80, Constables from $40 to $48.

We have taken these figures from the _Indian Year Book_, published by the _Times of India_, Bombay. We know as a fact that the Police-Constables in the Punjab are paid from $2.67 to $3.33 per month--that is, from $32 to $40 per year. The reader should mark the difference between the grades of salaries from the highest to the lowest in India as compared with the United States and Japan. While in India the lowest officials are frightfully underpaid, the highest grades are paid on a lavish scale. In the other countries of the world this is not the case.

EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT

In the United States (we quote the figures of New York) the lowest grade school teachers get a salary of $720, rising to $1500 a year. In the upper grades salaries range from $1820 to $2260. Principals of elementary schools receive $3500 and assistants $2500. In the High Schools salaries range from $900 to $3150, in training schools from $1000 to $3250. Principals of High Schools and Training Schools receive $5000 and the same salary is paid to the District Superintendent. The Commissioner of Education in New York gets $7500.

In Japan the Minister of Education, who is a Cabinet Minister, gets $4000, and the lowest salaries paid to teachers range from $8 to $9 per month. In the United States College Professors make from $3000 to $5000 per year, a few only getting higher sums. In Japan salaries range from $300 to $2000. Coming to India we find that while the Administrative officials and even the College Professors get fairly high salaries, the teachers in the schools are miserably underpaid.

Even the _Times of India_, an Anglo-Indian newspaper published in Bombay, has recently commented on the colossal difference between the salaries allowed at the top and those allowed at the bottom. Yet recently the Secretary of State has been sanctioning higher leave allowances to the European officers of the Indian Army.

The Secretary of State for India in Council has approved, with effect from January 1, 1919, the following revised rates of leave pay for officers of the Indian Army and Indian Medical service granted leave out of India:

INDIAN ARMY

per annum
On appointment £200
After completion of 3 years' service 250
" " 6 " " 300
" " 9 " " 350
" " 12 " " 400
" " 15 " " 450
" " 18 " " 500
" " 21 " " 550
" " 24 " " 600
" " 27 " " 650
" " 29 " " 700

INDIAN MEDICAL SERVICE.

On appointment 300
After completion of 3 years' service 350
" " 6 " " 400
" " 9 " " 450
" " 12 " " 500
" " 15 " " 550
" " 18 " " 600
" " 21 " " 650
" " 24 " " 700

VII

THE INDIAN ARMY AND NAVY

The real enemy is the war spirit fostered in Prussia. It is an
ideal of a world in which force and brutality reign supreme, as
against a world, an ideal of a world, peopled by free democracies,
united in an honourable league of peace.

DAVID LLOYD GEORGE

"The Destruction of a False Ideal." Speech
delivered at the Albert Hall on the launching
of the New War Economy Campaign, October 22,
1917.

When the Indian troops first arrived in October, 1914, the
situation was of so drastic a nature that it was necessary to call
upon them at once to re-enforce the fighting front and help to stem
the great German thrust. Their fine fighting qualities, tenacity,
and endurance were well manifested during the first Battle of Ypres
before they had been able to completely reorganize after their
voyage from India.

LORD FRENCH, the First
Commander-in-Chief of
British forces on the
Western front.

The full story of the Palestine victory still remained to be told,
BUT WHEN THE RECORD OF THAT GLORIOUS CAMPAIGN WAS UNFOLDED, ACROSS
THE PAGE OF HISTORY WOULD BE WRIT LARGE THE NAME OF INDIA.

LORD CHELMSFORD, the
Governor-General of India,
on September 26, 1918.

As is usual in our history, we have triumphed after many sad
blunders and in the end we have defeated Turkey almost
single-handed, though our main forces have throughout the war been
engaged with another foe. In fact, IT IS TO INDIA THAT OUR RECENT
VICTORY IS DUE....

MAJOR GENERAL SIR
FREDERICK MAURICE in
_The New York Times_,
November 6, 1918.

The present Governor of the Punjab (his precise designation is Lieutenant Governor), who is the most reactionary, self-complacent and conceited of all the provincial rulers of India, has in the course of his appeals for recruits for the present war said more than once that the right of self-government carries with it the responsibility of defending the country. The distinguished authors of the Report have also remarked in one place that so long as the duty of defending India rests on Great Britain, the British Parliament must control the Government of India. Now let us see what the facts are.

(1) The first thing to be remembered in this connection is that during the whole period of British rule in India, not a penny has been spent by Great Britain for Indian defence. The defence of India has been well provided for by Indian Revenues. On the other hand India has paid millions in helping Great Britain not only in defending the Empire, but in extending it.[1] Whatever protection has been afforded to India by the British Navy--and that has by no means been small--has been more than repaid by India's services to the Empire in China, Egypt, South Africa and other parts of the world. As to the military forces of India, they consist of two wings: (_a_) the British and (_b_) the Indian. The pre-war Indian army consisted of 80,000 British and 160,000 Indians. Indian public opinion has for decades been protesting against the denial to Indians of officers' commissions in the Indian army, as also against the strength of the British element therein. Every British unit of the Indian army from the Field Marshal to the Tommy is paid for his services by India. India pays for these services not only during the time they form part of the Indian army but also for their training and equipment. It pays all their leave, transfer and pension charges. It even pays for whatever provision is made in England for their medical relief, etc. In the line of the military and naval defence of India, Great Britain has not done as much for India as she has done for the dominions and self-governing colonies. Under the circumstances it is adding insult to injury to insinuate that India has in any way shirked the duty of providing for her defence. We will say nothing of India's services during the war.

In the military defence of India, the contribution of the Punjab has always been the greatest. If the British provinces are considered singly, it will be found that the Punjab has been supplying the largest number of units for the Indian army, not only in the ranks of the fighters, but also in the ranks of auxiliaries. During this war, too, the Punjab made the largest contribution of both combatants and non-combatants. Yet, if we compare the civil status of the people of the Punjab with that of other provinces, we will find that they have been persistently denied equality of status with Bengal, Bombay and Madras. The Punjab peasantry, which supplies the largest number of soldiers to the army, is the most illiterate and ignorant of all the classes of Indian population. Their economic and legal position may better be studied in Mr. Thorborn's _The Punjab in Peace and in War_. The Municipal and Local Boards of the province do not possess as much independence as has been conceded in the other provinces. The judicial administration of the province is as antiquated as it could possibly be under British rule. Instead of a High Court we have still a Chief court.[2] Captains and Majors and Colonels are still performing judicial functions as magistrates and judges. The trial by jury in the cases of Indians is unknown. Until lately the Punjab was stamped with the badge of inferiority by being called a non-Regulation province. Even in this report the Secretary of State for India and the Viceroy have spoken of it as a backward province. It will thus be seen that the contribution of the Punjab to the military strength of the Empire has in no way benefited her population in getting better opportunities for civil progress or greater civil liberties. But recently the President of the Punjab Provincial Conference uttered hard words against the Provincial administration's policy of repression and coercion. He said that their "cup of disappointment, discontent and misery, in the Punjab, at any rate, was full to overflowing."

So much about the discharge of obligations for military defence carrying with it the right of self-government. The Indians have no desire to shirk their responsibility for the military defence of India; nor do they want to balk their contribution to the Imperial defence. Their demands in this respect may be thus summarised:

(1) That the Indian Army should be mainly officered by the
Indians.

(2) That as much as is possible of the arms and ammunition
equipment, and the military stores required for the Indian army be
produced in India.

(3) That the strength of the British element be considerably
reduced.

(4) That the nature of the Indian army, which is at present one of
hired soldiers, be converted into that of a National Militia with
a small standing army and a great reserve.

(5) That in order to do it, some kind of compulsory military
training be introduced. All young men between the ages of 17 and
21 may be required to undergo military training and put in at
least one year of military service.

(6) That as a preliminary step towards it the existing Arms Act be
repealed and, under proper safeguards, the people be allowed to
carry and possess arms in peace and war, so as to be familiar with
their use.

(7) That slowly and gradually, as funds can be spared from the
other demands more urgent and pressing, an Indian Navy be built.

Having explained the position of the Indian Nationalist in this matter, we will now see what Mr. Montagu and Lord Chelmsford say on this matter in their report. In Paragraph 328 they state the "Indian wishes" and point out that "for some years Indian politicians have been urging the right of Indians in general to bear arms in defence of their country"; and that "we have everywhere met a general demand from the political leaders for extended opportunities for military service," but that the subject being more or less outside the scope of their enquiry and "requirements of the future" being dependent "on the form of peace which is attained," they "leave this question for consideration hereafter with the note that it must be faced and settled."

In Paragraph 330 they deal with the question of "British Commissions for Indians."

"The announcement of his Majesty's Government that 'the bar which
has hitherto prevented the admission of Indians to commissioned
rank in His Majesty's Army should be removed' has established the
principle that the Indian soldier can earn the King's commission
by his military conduct. It is not enough merely to assert a
principle. We must act on it. The services of the Indian army in
the war and the great increase in its numbers make it necessary
that a considerable number of commissions should now be given. The
appointments made so far have been few. Other methods of
appointment have not yet been decided on, but we are impressed
with the necessity of grappling with the problem. We also wish to
establish the principle that if an Indian is enlisted as a private
in a British unit of His Majesty's Army its commissioned ranks
also should be open to him."

The "other methods of appointment" that have been announced since the report was signed are far from satisfactory. It has been said that the responsibility for this niggardly policy in the matter of admitting Indians to the Commissioned ranks of the army rests with the Home Government and that the Indian Government's recommendations were much more liberal. Now, as practical men, we fully realize that for some time to come, at least until British suspicion of India's desire to get out of the Empire is completely removed by the grant of responsible government to India, India's military policy and the Indian army must be controlled by the British executive. On that point all the parties in India are agreed. But it is absolutely necessary that some steps be at once taken to remove the stigma of military helplessness from India's forehead. Let the British retain the control and the command, but let us share the responsibility to some extent and let our young men be trained for the future defence of their Motherland. To deprive them of all means of doing that, to charge them with neglect of that paramount duty and then to urge it as a disqualification of civil liberties, is hardly fair.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See chapter on "How India has helped England make her Empire," in _England's Debt to India_, by the present author.

[2] It has now been converted into a High Court.

VIII

THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY IN INDIA

The old world, at least, believed in ideals. It believed that
justice, fair play, liberty, righteousness must triumph in the
end; that is, however you interpret the phrase, the old world
believed in God, and it staked its existence on that belief.
Millions of gallant young men volunteered to die for that divine
faith. But if wrong emerged triumphant out of this conflict, the
new world would feel in its soul that brute force alone counted in
the government of man; and the hopelessness of the dark ages would
once more fall on the earth like a cloud.

DAVID LLOYD GEORGE

"No Halfway House." Speech delivered at Gray's
Inn, December 14, 1917.

A whole section of the Report has been devoted to a consideration of the claims of the European Community in India. It is said:

"We cannot conclude without taking into due account the presence
of a considerable community of non-official Europeans in India. In
the main they are engaged in commercial enterprises; but besides
these are the missions, European and American, which in furthering
education, building up character, and inculcating healthier
domestic habits have done work for which India should be grateful.
There are also an appreciable number of retired officers and
others whose working life has been given to India, settled in the
cooler parts of the country. When complaints are rife that
European commercial interests are selfish and drain the country of
wealth which it ought to retain, it _is well to remind ourselves
how much of India's material prosperity is due to European
commerce_." [The italics are ours].

We have no desire to raise a controversy over the assumption which underlies the last statement in the above extract. The authors are themselves cognizant of it when they remark, later on, that the "benefit" which India has received by her commercial development in European hands is "not less because it was incidental and not the purpose of the undertaking." These are matters on which the Indian Nationalist may well hold his own opinion and yet endorse the spirit of the following observations:

"Clearly it is the duty of British Commerce in India to identify
itself with the interests of India, which are higher than the
interests of any community; to take part in political life; to use
its considerable wealth and opportunities to commend itself to
India; and having demonstrated both its value and its good
intentions, to be content to rest like other industries on the new
foundation of Government in the wishes of the people. No less is
it the wish of Indian politicians to respect the expectations
which have been implicitly held out; to remember how India has
profited by commercial development which only British capital and
enterprise achieved; to bethink themselves that though the capital
invested in private enterprises was not borrowed under any
assurance that the existing form of government would endure, yet
the favourable terms on which money was obtained for India's
development were undoubtedly affected by the fact of British rule;
and to abstain from advocating differential treatment aimed not so
much at promoting Indian as at injuring British commerce."

We must say that the last insinuation is perfectly gratuitous. Nor is it correct to say even by implication that the non-official European community has hitherto abstained from taking part in politics. The fact is that Indian politics have hitherto been too greatly dominated by the British merchant both at home and in India. The British merchant doing business in India had to submit to the prior claims of the British manufacturers in Great Britain in matters in which their interests did not coincide, but otherwise their interests received the greatest possible attention from the Government of India. In proportion to their incomes derived from India by the employment of Indian labour on terms more or less guaranteed to them by the Indian Government's special legislation they have made the smallest possible contribution to the Indian Revenues; yet they have been the greatest possible hindrance in the development of Indian liberties. They have all the time owned a powerful press which has employed all the resources of education and enlightenment, all the powers of manipulating facts and figures in maintaining and strengthening the rule of autocracy in the country. We do not propose to open these wounds. But we cannot help remarking that so far they have exercised quite a disproportionate influence in the decisions of the Government of India. Those of them who are domiciled in the country are our brothers and no Indian has the least desire to do anything that will harm them in any way. Their importance must, in future, be determined not by their race or colour or creed but by their numbers, their education and their position in the economic life of the country. They must no longer lord it over the Indians simply because they are of European descent. They should claim no preferences or exemptions because of that fact. As an integral part of the Indian body politic they are entitled to all the consideration which they deserve by virtue of their intellectual or economic position. They should henceforth be Indo-British both in spirit and in name. They will find the Indians quite ready to forget the past and embrace them as brothers for the common prosperity of their joint country.

As regards the other European merchants who are not domiciled in India but are there just to make money and return to spend it in their native land, they are no more entitled to any place in the political machinery of the Indian Government than the Hindus who trade in the United States or in England. So far every European, of whatever nationality he might be, has occupied a position of privilege in India. He was granted rights which were denied to the sons of the soil. Every German or Austrian or Bulgarian could keep or carry any number and kind of arms he wanted without any license, while the natives of India, even of the highest position, could not do so unless exempted either by virtue of their rank or by the favour of the Administration. Jews and Armenians, Turks and Russians, Scandinavians, Danes, Italians and Swiss all enjoyed the privilege. When charged with any serious offence punishable by imprisonment for more than six months, they could claim trial by a jury having a majority of Europeans on it, while no Indian outside the Presidency towns of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras had that right. Even there, the jury trying an Indian could include a majority of Europeans. In the famous trial of Mr. B. G. Tilak in 1908, the jury was composed of seven Europeans and two Parsees. It is obvious that these discriminations in favour of the Europeans must cease and that no European not domiciled in India should enjoy a position of special privilege. Indians are noted for their hospitality and chivalry. Their own codes of honor effectively prevent them from doing any harm or injury to a foreigner. Every European doing business in India or on any other errand is a guest of honor and entitled to that treatment, provided he does not assume racial superiority and look down upon the people of the country and take advantage of their being subjects of a European power. No Indian will be so foolish as to injure the commercial development of his country by scaring the foreign trader or the foreign capitalist. All that he wants is freedom to lay down the terms on which that trade will be carried on consistently with the interests of India's millions. What he stands for is equality and reciprocity. As other peoples are free to name the conditions on which the foreign trader may do business in their countries, so must the Indians be. Nothing more and nothing less than this is demanded.

As regards the citizens of the British Empire also, the same right of reciprocity is demanded. We are glad that the representatives of the Dominions have recognized the justice of that claim and expressed their willingness to concede it.

Coming to the Missions, European and American, the advice given is rather gratuitous. The Indians have left nothing undone to show their gratitude to them for the good work done by them in spite of the fact that they, too, in the past, have not hesitated to use the fact of their race and colour for the benefit of their propaganda. The person of a religious man is sacred in the eyes of an Indian, regardless of his particular creed. The Christian missionary has so far enjoyed a unique position of safety and freedom in the country even to a greater extent than the Hindu or the Moslem priest. The latter have often quarrelled amongst themselves, but the former they have always respected and honored. There is absolutely no reason to think that this is likely to change in any way by the grant of political liberty to the Indians.

It is possible, however, that, with the growth of free thought in India, religious teachers of all denominations may not continue to be the recipients of the same honour as has been paid to them in the past by virtue of their religious office. Dogmatic religion, whether it be Hinduism, Mohammedanism or Christianity is in a state of decay. In that respect India is feeling the reaction of world forces and no amount of political coercion or repression can stop it. In my humble judgment the average Indian has thus far been more tolerant of and more considerate to the Christian missionary than the latter has been to the Indian. Even in the matter of gratitude the Christian missionary may with advantage learn from the Hindu. The instances are not rare in which all the hospitality, respect and honor which a Christian missionary has received during his stay in India have been repaid by the latter's freely traducing the character of the Indians in his home land. To no small degree is the Christian missionary responsible for the feeling of contempt with which the Indian is looked down upon in America and other countries of the West. We do not object to his speaking the truth, but it is not the truth that he always speaks. Of gratitude, at least, he gives no evidence.

The European Community in India is divided into two classes: (a)
pure Europeans, who number a little less than 200,000 in the total
population of 315,000,000. (178,908 in the British provinces and
20,868 in the native States.)

(b) Anglo-Indians, hitherto called Eurasians, who number about
83,000 (68,612 in British territories and 15,045 in the Native
States). Thus the whole European community in India is less than
300,000.

IX

THE NATIVE STATES

The Native States of India constitute one of the anomalies of Indian political life. They are the honored remnants of the old order of things--an order in which personal bravery, resourcefulness and leadership with or without capacity for successful intrigue enabled individuals to carve out kingdoms and principalities for themselves and their legal successors.

In the case of some of these Native States the genealogies of the ruling houses go back to the early centuries of the Christian era by historical evidence and to pre-Christian times by tradition. Their origin is somewhat shrouded in mystery. In popular belief they are the descendants of gods--gods of light and life, the Sun and the Moon. Next to the Royal family of Japan, they are perhaps the only houses among the rulers of the earth which can claim such an ancient and unbroken lineage of royalty with sovereignty of one kind or another always vested in them. There have been times in their history when the royal heads of these states had no house to live in and no bed to sleep on, much less a territory to rule and an army to command. This was, however, a part of their royalty. In struggles against powerful enemies, sometimes of their own race and religion, but more often foreign aggressors of different blood and creed, they were many a time worsted and driven to extreme straits of poverty and helplessness. In peace or in war, in prosperity or in misery, they never gave up the struggle. Their right to lead their people and to rule their country they never yielded for a moment. It is true that sometimes they submitted to the superior power of the enemy and accepted a position of subordination, though in one case, at least, even this was done only for a short time under the Moguls. In the darker days of Indian history, when the military devastation of foreign invaders left nothing but tears and blood, ruin and ashes, defeat and misery in their track, these houses kept the lamp of hope burning. For full ten centuries they carried on a struggle of life and death, sometimes momentarily succumbing before the overwhelming force of their adversaries, but only to rise again in fresh vigor and life to reclaim their heritage and preserve their own and their country's independence.

The _Sessodias_ of Mewar called the _Ranas_ of Mewar (Udaipur) and the Rahtores of Marwar (including Jodhpur, Bikaner, Rutlam, Kishangarh and Alwar) have written many a glorious page of Mediaeval Indian history and dyed it with their own blood as well as that of their adversaries. Not only their men but their women have made themselves immortal by their bravery, chivalry, purity and self-immolation. The one thing which distinguishes the Indian Rajput from the peoples of other lands is that he has never waged war against the poor, the helpless and the defenceless. Numberless men gave their lives freely and ungrudgingly not only in protecting the lives of their own women and children but also in doing the same service to the women and children of their enemies. The Rajput never fought an unfair fight. He never took advantage of the helplessness of his enemy and always gave him right of way and the use of his best weapons for a free and fair fight in the open. Anyone desirous of knowing their deeds may read them in that poem in prose, known as the Annals of Rajhasthan by Col. Todd. Col. Todd has drawn a most faithful and thrilling picture of Rajput bravery and Rajput chivalry in a language worthy of the best traditions of English literature. Here and there in matters of minor details his authority has been questioned; otherwise the results of his monumental labors still remain the best picture of Rajput India. The Rajput States of India are thus the objects of reverent honor to the 220 million Hindus of that country. Next to the Rajput States comes the native ruling family of Mysore as the representative of a very ancient Hindu Kingdom. The Mahratta States are the remnants of the Mahratta Empire and the Sikhs those of the Sikh Commonwealth. The biggest of all the Indian Native States, Hyderabad, arose out of the ruins of the Mogul Empire and is supposed to be the most powerful guardian of Moslem culture and tradition. From this description the reader will at once see why the Native States are so dear to the peoples of India and why the Indian educated party has always stood by the Native States, whenever either their treaty rights or the personal dignity and status of their chiefs was threatened by the British authorities. Lord Dalhousie's policy of annexation by lapse was so much resented by the people of India that it had almost cost the British their Indian Empire. Only in the Native States do the Indians see remaining traces of their former independence. That fact alone covers all the defects of native rule or misrule in the States, in their eyes. Some of these Native States have been so well administered that in education, social reform and industrial advancement they are far ahead of the neighboring British territories. But their chief merit lies in the fact that ordinarily the people get enough food to eat and are seemingly happier than British subjects. This fact has been noticed by several competent observers of contemporary Indian life, among them the Right Honorable Mr. Fisher, President of the Board of Education in England. In his book _The Empire and the Future_ he has observed:

"My impression is that the inhabitants of a well governed native
state are on the whole happier and more contented than the
inhabitants of British India. _They are more lightly taxed_; the
pace of the administration is less urgent and exacting; their
sentiment is gratified by the splendor of a native court and by
the dominion of an Indian government. They feel that they do
things for themselves instead of having everything done for them
by a cold and alien benevolence." (Italics are ours)

But after all that is favourable to the Native States of India has been said, their existence in their present form remains a political anomaly. As at present situated, they are an effective hindrance to complete Indian unity. Although "India is in fact as well as by legal definition, one geographical whole," yet these Native States, occupying about one-third of the total area of the country and with a population of about 70 million will, for a long time, prevent its becoming a homogeneous political whole. Thus a circumstance which was hitherto looked upon as a piece of good luck will operate as a misfortune.

"The Native States of India are about 700 in number. They embrace
the widest variety of country and jurisdiction. They vary in size
from petty States like Rewa, in Rajputana, with an area of 19
square miles, and the Simla Hill States, which are little more
than small holdings, to States like Hyderabad, as large as Italy,
with a population of thirteen millions."[1]

The general position as regards the rights and obligations of the Native States has been thus summed up by the distinguished authors of the joint Report (Lord Chelmsford and Mr. Montagu):

"The States are guaranteed security from without; the paramount
power acts for them in relation to foreign powers and other
States, and it intervenes when the internal peace of their
territories is seriously threatened. On the other hand the States'
relations to foreign powers are those of the paramount power; they
share the obligation for the common defence; and they are under a
general responsibility for the good government and welfare of
their territories."

As regards the assimilation of the principles of modern life, it is remarked in the same document:

"Many of them have adopted our civil and criminal codes. Some have
imitated and even further extended our educational system.... They
have not all been equally able to assimilate new principles. They
are in all stages of development, patriarchal, feudal or more
advanced, while in a few states are found the beginnings of
representative institutions. The characteristic features of all of
them, however, including the most advanced, are the personal rule
of the Prince and his control over legislation and the
administration of justice."

Under the circumstances the question of questions is how these territories are going to fall into line with the British controlled area in the matter of the development of responsible Government. We will once more quote the opinion of the Secretary of State for India and the Viceroy, who say:

"We know that the States cannot be unaffected by constitutional
development in adjoining provinces. Some of the more enlightened
and thoughtful of the Princes, among whom are included some of the
best known names, have realised this truth, and have themselves
raised the question of their own share in any scheme of reform.
Others of the Princes--again including some of the most honored
names--desire only to leave matters as they are. We feel the need
for caution in this matter. It would be a strange reward for
loyalty and devotion to force new ideas upon those who did not
desire them; but it would be no less strange, if out of
consideration for those who perhaps represent gradually vanishing
ideas, we were to refuse to consider the suggestions of others who
have been no less loyal and devoted. Looking ahead to the future
we can picture India to ourselves only as presenting the external
semblance to some form of 'federation.' The provinces will
ultimately become self-governing units, held together by the
central Government which will deal solely with matters of common
concern to all of them. But the matters common to the British
provinces are also to a great extent those in which the Native
States are interested--defence, tariffs, exchange, opium, salt,
railways and posts and telegraphs. The gradual concentration of
the Government of India upon such matters will therefore make it
easier for the States, while retaining the autonomy which they
cherish in internal matters, to enter into closer association with
the central Government if they wish to do so. But though we have
no hesitation in forecasting such a development as possible, the
last thing that we desire is to attempt to force the pace.
Influences are at work which need no artificial stimulation. All
that we need or can do is to open the door to the natural
developments of the future."