Journal of Race Development - 1910 - 16 PDF

The Indian Problem and Imperial Politics Author(s): Alfred L. P. Dennis Source: The Journal of Race Development, Vol.
1, No. 2 (Oct., 1910), pp. 187-208 Published by: Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29737857 . Accessed: 04/10/2013 02:06
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THE INDIAN PROBLEMAND IMPERIALPOLITICS.

By Alfred L. P. Dennis, Professor Wisconsin. versity of Ph.D., of History in the Uni?
An address delivered
at Clark University
the Far East.
during the Conference
upon
The demand of natives of India for a greater degree of

self-government, possibly for complete freedom from foreign
control, has within recent years defined and enlivened the present problem of India. This problem is infinitely com? Its roots lie deep in Indian history; and its solution plex.
is "on the knees of the gods." Here are questions peculiar
to India and here also is a situation revealing forces which are at work throughout Asia. Furthermore it involves much more than the adjustment of relations between European and Asiatic, for the conditions which affect party politics inEngland and which influence international policies through
out large the world questions of are also entangled. Indeed, racial, as in so many economic, of governments, religious, Here of then the causes
and educational
problem possible answer We
ideals are fused in the passionate

importance. to ask for some
life of a
is a very
fundamental
difficult matter,
therefore it. must,
not likely to be quickly settled.

only
It will be
of this
difficulty, to analyze the question rather than to attempt

recognize however, and new conditions at
to
regard
investigations certain Thus
history. set forth,
generalizations of an absent-minded, the noJon based on the facts. So
that recent the outset force us to deny or to dis? as to Indian and deductions unintentional the is
acquisition mistaken
analysis force,
of India by the English, which Sir John Seeley

is not assumption
that, because English rule in India has in the last
on on force, and should depend it must depended stuff for all time to come. Of similar and force alone,
188 is the occasional
ALFRED
L. P. DENNIS on the undoubt?
catholic
self-congratulation
The em? ed but ill-defined benefits of British administration. phasis which many wiser writers have with justice laid on the military aspect of the revolt of I?57 has also tended to obscure the fundamental fact that British administrative
policy, as well as military, was re? in large degree political a a was more for much that than rising sponsible mutiny.
Again the lack of national feeling and of efficient national organization in India, at least since the English have known India, threatens to give too long a lease of life to the state? ment that there can be no Indian nation. Indeed one is in
the making to-day. of contrast But by way note the equally mistaken pre?
judice that a brilliant and prolific antiquity, the imperial as well as the local tradition of India, should entitle the de?
scendants ment of earlier perhaps rulers to-day, to a larger degree of self-govern? to entire from foreign freedom rule.
As well argue that the Greek to-day is fit to inspire modern civilization, that the silvern memories of the Incas should
secure to Peruvians hand, the that on the other in South America or, larger claim a record of centuries sunk in subju?
gation and disunion should to-day operate to deprive the Italian of his independence and his national pride. Fre?
also we find the preposterous statement that fam? quently were ines in India before British unknown administration.
Too often the intended conclusion

responsible of native for recent documents The famines. of earlier The Hindu,
is that the British

slightest of Muhammadan India examination
are
or
of Maratha
statement.
origin is sufficient to show the falsity of this

deforestation of ancient is a funda?
mental
Veda
cause of drought and famine.
Indeed
in the Rig
of this (Book III, Hymn 8) some remote conception sort may be recognized, to the "Sovran for the prayer of the Forest" beseeches from "poverty, freedom and famine." reads: "From this our misery
The prayer to Indra (the rain-god) in Book VIII, Hymn 55,

set us free;" and and famine in Book X, Hymn the is again prayer, 42, "May we subdue all famine and evil want store of grain with and cattle." The prayers for rain are of course numerous; and so clearly
THE
INDIAN PROBLEM AND
IMPEEIAL POLITICS
189
was
the evil recognized that the word for plague became synonymous with famine. But it is possible that some of the hymns of the Rig Veda were written before the Hindu con?
querors of India are supposed to have entered India. Even
if this were so the continued use of these hymns throughout the history of Hindu India would indicate their appreciation So also we have the equivalent by priest and people as well. to our English phrase, "let well enough alone." The Indian (l proverb runs : Through too great cold the wood is burned, through too much rain famine comes; too much is ever
bad." Here of course wet a man the cause Then take of famine we have is assumed the old law to be that to sup? an excessively in famine-time seems For season. could been 1396
his wife's
property
port life without

fore, times.
obligation
of refunding.
A.D., we
Famine,
record
there?
in a
to have the year
a familiar
experience the have
in ancient
Maratha manuscript of the "dreadful famine" distinguished The from all others by a special name, the "Durga Diwi." Hindu tradition declared that it lasted for twelve years and that its disastrous influence was seen in the continued depopulation nearly thirty years later of the vast region The Muhammadan between the Godavari and the Kistna. historians, not of one but widely scattered parts of India make frequent allusions to frightful famines; and Bernier
the French "of traveler, the wrote in the seventeenth century to
Colbert of a famine in which "no adequate
idea" could be
of the people."* sufferings given After all, the causes this is only a part of the story. But can be revealed of the present and character only problem
by a correct appreciation of the facts of Indian history.

is indeed on this occasion
It
to detail many of them. unnecessary re? some of these facts and conditions must be briefly But in India and Bur? called. then, is the British Empire Here, a as large as that in ma, lacking unity, region geographic portion marck ulation
* Cf.
of the United in the north numbering

Hopkins : India,
States to El Paso nearly

Old
east four
of a line drawn Here of times that
in the South.
from Bis? is a pop? the United
and New.
190
ALFRED
L. P. DENNIS
States in 1901, of great diversity civilization and history. These

accordance ments some belief, with a uniform than there in India of the
in race, religion, language, people are not ruled in
for there are more govern? system, are religions. even within And the population secure an even separations greater of diver?
larger
occupation social among
of groups and interest custom people
sity of ideals.
and religion and sanctity
To
these differences of every description,

naturally to whom give religion sanction special is still a power?
ful matter of every day life. Here, too, the subtlest in? tellectual ability is to be found side by side with the deepest
veneration as for mere and tradition and with unexpected credulity to the new are the unknown.
For the first time in their history

tions under times one and supreme for any in modern
these lands and popula?

rarely any of the larger Indeed
authority. long period has
portions of this empire had real political unity. dition is that of separation, of the disintegration
sive political set up fabrics, which the military periods ardor
The tra? of succes?
and adminis? Rebellion and
trative ability of various individuals and families may have

for longer or shorter of time.
secession have been habits of Indian politics. In like fash? ion large portions of the present Indian Empire have been the
wars Until prize of successive foreign conquerors. recently and raids have for nearly 1200 years been the almost yearly never before of many of its rulers. occupation Apparently in historic of India been at peace times has so large a portion
as within the last fifty years. For the second Afghan war, the third Burmese war, and the frontier expeditions have
left the great of unrest, centers of the empire undisturbed. are done fact Yet to-day the past. is an
the traditions of Indian history are still strong; the forces

political From this point of rebellion, of disintegration as they have so regularly system of view, therefore, the threatening in times there
that
Indian problem to-day is in line with the history of India. But this does not lessen the difficulty of that problem.
So In far we have and considered up of reality governments it is made in the singular. history the histories of many ancient A number of these are part of Indian
peoples.
THE
INDIAN PROBLEM AND
IMPERIAL POLITICS
191
the British Empire, enjoying a large degree of autonomy, proud of their relative freedom from administrative control by the foreigner and hostile to the pretensions of outside
forces ture whether on this Asiatic general or European. in the litera? Nowhere can seen of this solution be any subject
question which would be at all likely to satisfy the aims and aspirations of the native states now included in the Indian Of course complete independence, the division Empire. of India into a multitude of petty sovereignties and a few larger states would be the answer to this query by certain
sections of public opinion. Such a result, however, these by the even if the
the peaceable withdrawal of the British were conceded, would

inaugurate conquest stronger. a long period between of wars states of the smaller and weaker Such a condition would invite states, larger and interven?
foreign
tion in the interests of peace if not of selfish aggrandizement. Here, then, is another difficulty closely related to the ancient yet continuing political tendencies of India. In the third place is religion. The two militant religious
systems of India, Hinduism and Islam, have a long record
both of hostility and of mutual toleration. Their relations are of the greatest importance; indeed the cycles of religious
history are everywhere important in politics. The practi?
cal expulsion of Buddhism from India proper, the great Hindu revival which compelled it, and the establishment of
Muhammadanism as together ing class, of Islam among the of a fighting and conquer? the religion extension the subsequent with quieter lower ranks of Hindu society are all
factors
madam
in Indian political
and social development.
The
marked century, high tide of Muham however, and in in India as in other parts of Africa influence an in the fash? there is Indeed interesting parallel Europe. Protes? ions in which century by the end of the seventeenth seventeenth tantism of Since been and Muhammadanism extension time the that had each reached its maximum respectively. has chiefly territorial in North in Europe and in Asia of Protestantism expansion
Roman
and South Africa, that of Australia America, and that of Islam in South America Catholicism in India, and Central in Western Africa. Subsequently
192 on the other
ALFRED
L. P. DENNIS of one sort or another, took
hand,
Hinduism,
on new fervor and political force in the rise of theMarathas and the Sikhs. But this attempt to recover political lead?
ership in India by Hindu confederacies and states was
stopped by the rise of British rule and by force of British arms. Thus, although the first charters of British adminis?
tration the cause real nascent were gained from decadent was Under Hindus acquisition Hindu princes. of India officials, of at the expense largely be? these circumstances, and than Muhammadans the Muhammadans withdrawn themselves Muhammadan
there were
far more since
because, certainly have until recently
the Mutiny, to a great extent
in proud disappointment from political activity in India the British have recognized Hindu rather than Muhammadan
assistance that even in the in Eastern at administration Bengal, has where of India. The result was were the Muhammadans
in a decided majority,
to natives from
the civil staff, in so far as itwas opened
until been recruited all, largely recently the minority?from Hindu of Hindu The society. of Madras and of Bombay has furthermore shown Calcutta,
remarkable activity in availing himself of the opportunities for education, such as it is; he has been aided in tiiis by a
remarkable has memory, by great intellectual dexterity, espec?
ially in the field of the humanities.

ently less appreciation education and because there Under
For science he appar?
or capacity. has also been a revival of an?
But side by side with this eager desire to acquire one sort
of European cient Hindu religious situation of India, stirred. feeling ambition. and also a renascence as of political the stimulus of this provocative of other enlivening forces, outside as well
in India has also been society Indeed Pan the East and in Africa throughout a political islamism has become factor. In India, however, other and more local ambitions, have been affected by this situation. The Muhammadans of India, general therefore, are asking for greater while pro? recognition by the British, their to British of rule. The testing loyalty alignment Hindu and Muhammadan, in the ear of each a quicker while step is beating, is not a sign of peace nor a promise of mutual
Muhammadan
THE
INDIAN
PROBLEM AND
IMPERIAL POLITICS
193
toleration. Politics and religion are the two sides of the single coin which passes current throughout India and in?
deed are throughout stirring with Asia. renewed And, while such primal the social forces of rela? vitality, readjustment
and between both tions between Hindu and Muhammadan and the English is pregnant with the gravest difficulties.
So the stimulating memories of social antagonisms, the zest
of religious propaganda, and the smoldering jealousies of fanaticism are the complicating possibilities of revived po? litical ambitions on the part of both Hindu and Muhamma? dan in India. The develop? But there is a fourth aspect of this matter. ment of India has been largely influenced in earlier periods by the history of other parts of Asia; and many of the dom? inant political forces in India have been of foreign origin; nevertheless the history of the past century has, on the whole,
set India apart, in comparative isolation from the rest of
Asia. The course of events in the Far East or in the Near East has not until recently directly stimulated the inner life
of India. This condition, however, has passed, perhaps
Certainly now and in the immediate future the India belongs to the larger problem of Asia. In of problem Turkey, Persia, China, Korea and the Philippines, as well forever.
as in India, are similar of energetic a larger the political movement. connection and social The of Asia We the on forces student present
working
same must, mark Two it hard tom has whole cient and led
toward the solution of local problems,

as part therefore, appreciate the influence
yet at the
time
problem of India with

at least things, to realize local some however,
the Asiatic question as a whole

of contemporary are important.
and
India.
in America
have a breathless benevolence

the hold habit. to assume could wheel
for the future and often find
cus? of deep rootages in ancient The of undoubted Asia awakening that in various Asiatic from countries the an? in orderly fashion where the avenue,
peoples highway and the
was to a new country were not makers heir? road The skillful. rough a con? are in the and a revolution, looms, moreover, baggage; all the of and the glib patter professional stitution, agita
194
ALFRED
L. P. DENNIS
tor and the hasty patriot are of small account compared with the ancient history which even a new nation may not
forget. on the But, the new age?
"half
other
hand,
open
to all
the
tempests
stands
built
"Scaffolding As, moving
against veils to and
the
sky." the wall, their tasks the masons
And dim dust floats and falls,

fro, ply."
And an
the masons excursion
are, ticket
for a wonder, via railway
hurrying and steamboat
in Asia.
Busts
of Rousseau
on sale in China; Thos. Cook & Sons planning

for the pil?
grimage toMecca; the American school-teacher in the Phil? ippines; and the dash of the Japanese torpedo boats in the " harbor at Port Arthur. This world is a catholic kind of
seen "save but such facts Asia has never out of one place," chimerical So must the soothsayers generation.'7 give way never can never ?the of was. it be it because prophets And now the isolation of India has passed. The spectac? ular How causal assumed immense successes of Japan, successes for were as example, a cause attracted of the present the most
sympathetic and jubilant notice in the native press of India.

far these connection by interest some revival
of native feeling in India is open to debate; but, even if the

is not observers, in Japanese has been aroused policies certain influential of Indian sections society. On the one hand, the awakening sense of an increased as has been and direct strong the fact still remains that an in of
Asiatic unity among the peoples of the Far East andMalaya and Burma by the Buddhist revival has on the whole had only an academic interest for India. And this is probably
for it has prevented of advantage, any entanglement from interfering with the development of jealousy, religious an appreciation of other currents of Asiatic in China feeling and ments The military, economic and political achieve? Japan. of Japan, and agitating educational and however, social reforms in China, have been of special to significance on these matters. Indian Thus the ancient thought policy an
THE
INDIAN PROBLEM AND
IMPERIAL POLITICS
195
of the Chinese boycott and its recent application have had at least a counterpart in Bengal in the "Swadeshi" movement.
"Swadeshi" tunate has fashion been applied recently to economic conditions, in rough in an and unfor? to attempt
boycott goods of European origin; but true "Swadeshi" is essentially amuch broader movement, hiding the continuing spirit and some of the characteristics of Indian thought and life, "the patient, deep disdain" of Asia for Europe. Of course the other side of this movement is the notion of
a general methods and of some of the conceptions strike, the adoption some extremists the of anarchists of European by
in India. But still another sign of the relation of the Indian situation to Asiatic affairs is the feeling in certain quarters in Calcutta that the Anglo-Japanese alliance is really a be? trayal of Asiatic interests by Japan. There are not a few Indians who look eagerly for the ending of that compact as the signal for the reduction of British power in India.
Yet Indian students are now going to Japan as Chinese
students did a few years ago; and at the other end of Asia it was an Indian who last winter largely assisted in the
of the organization at Beirut. College The influence student revolt in the Syrian events in Persia Protestant and more
on India
of recent
It is particularly in Turkey and Arabia is hard tomeasure. too early to know whether the Wahabbi unrest in Arabia, which has been reaching perilously close to the holy cities,
will India. have any serious In time past, effect on Muhammadan similar however, in opinion movements have
The more had a decided r?le in promoting disturbance. to establish the rep? attempts important question iswhether resentative institutions in both Shiah and Sunni countries,
in Persia and in Turkey, awakening greater until very in which have held branches dence that this of change have may of political not be responsible in India. hopes Indian Muhammadans agitation Indeed for an even The fashion of both is no evi? the signs revolution as on
recently aloof from political will continue. self-denial be seen. As
can already
the Turkish on Hindu
has complicated the English position inEgypt, so itmay well

an increasing influence in India as well
196
ALFRED
L. P. DENNIS
Muhammadan,
into greater has to passed. completion,
though not necessarily

and cooperation.
to bring these two
agreement For
From another point of view also the isolation of India

as the German as Russian comes to Baghdad railway in? Persia influence in northern
creases, the monopoly of English influence in India threatens It may then be possible for the native of India to decrease. to find over his shoulder a European interest which might give secret if not open support to his policy of baiting the British. An increase in the solidarity of Asiatic feeling,
is now therefore, sion of European a probability of the future; and the exten? to almost rivalries every part of Asia makes
the agitation in India amatter of general Asiatic significance. It may at the opportune time give special occasion for foreign influence on the Indian problem. Thus this problem be? comes a matter of world politics. Its difficulty is thereby
only increased.
But as yet we have not touched the question which many would consider foremost. The difficulties arising from the direct relations of England and India constitute in themselves
a field tions for endless are naturally discussion within the and speculation. range These of native rela? agita? special
tion in India and provide the stormiest subjects for question

and debate in Parliament. It is the unfortunate experience
of politics that complicated questions are rarely studied till they become urgent of solution. When calm honesty is most needed partisan vociferation deafens the jury. In this respect the Indian problem shares the common lot of live
questions.
There is on the one hand a grieved and now insulted pub? lic opinion in England and among Anglo-Indians in India.
is reluctantly that a considerable opinion realizing of the of India hates rule. portion population English men these Hitherto of honest for the most many have, part, lived content, in the hope that an arduous and un? possibly This
selfish lifemust
if not Oliver "for "sullen
in the end be appreciated even by the silent

have unconsciously followed as he of thought spoke government of the people and for their interest, and with They
peoples." Cromwell and
the good
THE
INDIAN PROBLEM AND
IMPERIAL POLITICS
197
out respect had to any other interest," thinking, as he did, "that's the question; what's for their good, not what pleases
them." Since evolence Indeed there is scarcely of a natural and a worthy book written has scarce in
the period 1850-1880 which does not voice this conviction.

1880 the chorus of its self-satisfaction
ly lessened.
The British public at home, serene in the ben?

intentions apparent success, has till
recently rested secure as Archbishop Laud did. The inten? tions of Charles I were good; his policies must therefore be
wise. And a wonderful achievement along certain and im?
portant lines in India has been won, at what cost the world may never know; certainly the glib orator of the Indian
National Congress hardly appreciates. It is not necessary
to copy any of the almost grandiloquent descriptions of British administrative success in India, as you may find them with slight variation in book after book. Indeed we cannot contemplate ihe possibilities of Indian history during the last century if English rule in India had been lacking. This may be due to prejudice, yet I hope it is not. At all events we must recognize that all is now not for the best in this best of possible worlds. Candide and the professional optimist have had their day.
Soon the other hand rises a chorus crescendo accelerando.
A section of Indian society, now articulate, thanks in large degree to English education, voices both present wrongs
and ancient disappointments. Even in America, we have
already heard in most eloquent language the views of this I use the word advisedly, although it will well element. arouse discontent in theminds of those who may believe that
they have heard some it thinks the voice of India and of no mere element.
They have not.

estimate knows and
But if they have heard what at the outside

ten per cent of the population of British government they such and of India have also as are and really heard some
what nearly thirty million people think.

ardor night with increasing from Swami Abhedananda heard dinned British into the ears of a still vaster his
Consider that day

statements friends being believe
population,
that the possibilities

rule are almost
of future and further discontent with

beyond calculation.
198
ALFRED
L. P. DENNIS
can then realize that there is a great difference of opinion as to British rule in India between the Anglo Indian official and the British public on the one hand and a We
constantly increasing section of Indian to me It society on the other.
On the whole the blindness of one party and the inaccurate

of the other seem assumptions order of partizan characteristics. There are undoubted errors to belong to the usual is probably inevitable rule to-day as there is
that injustice should be done to each party by the other.

in British
also a firm belief that, in spite of all itsmistakes, British rule is better for India than the sort of native rule which the na?
tives fidence could of men set up for themselves. There to politics untrained that is the natural native rule con? of any
sort must be better for India than the best rule that the for? eigner can give. So you have as the fifth real difficulty in the problem of India this dead-lock of opinion. That it is of
the gravest sort you can appreciate as you read of assassina?
tion inEngland and bomb throwing in India. But what are some of the questions involved in this dead-lock and how far do these questions themselves present difficulties? First of all is the educational system which English direc? tion and native development have set up in India. Here this matter must be touched only with a view to the special
problems trasts of treated Indian in this history grim paper. are, The however, extraordinary perhaps Here as con? nowhere we have
better
There a tribe
illustrated
is certainly of busy used
than in its recent educational history.

irony in the situation. the the French "goddams" the educational poli? of philosophy are systems Celtic another invasions was of added, scorned what signs of the
Canadians cies almost Britain. the caste he could
sportsmen, to call them, whose
settling
of a race,
contemporary To the many not
complete with the castes
early of India
of the foreign ruler, who ate beef and understand. Blind himself to the
times his rationalistic
liberalism led him, at first grudgingly
and slowly, to assist a thin veneer in spreading of so-called on a Western culture surface already scarred by the deeply of the ages. lessons in England we may for To-day hope some serious consideration of educational methods and of
THE
INDIAN
PROBLEM AND
IMPERIAL POLITICS
199
the value of purely literary and philosophical studies as compared with the more practical tests of the physical
and social sciences. a solemn and But when Macaulay been learning worship the part real laid his unfortunate
burden on the Indian student the Englishman

believed Superficial of memory, system have had duty almost useless yet in exalted
in all sincerity
assumed.
successfully
a false been as
tests by rote, mere of the examination result. to The and careful the use of of
rating the examination
on the basis
large of marks the only
in examinations passage
the haven
government service have degraded lofty literary and philo? sophical subjects, and even the little science that has crept Little is valued in, to the basis of crude commercialism.
except for the sake of the examination mark. So a boy's
standing in the schools gained by foolish cramming with the aid of parrot-like memory and digested syllabi may fix the amount of dowry which his father may demand with the fu? ture bride for this precocious product of mistaken pedagogy.
Intellectually and morally Of the Indian course is that peoples, mass and in particu?
lar the Hindu

English process.
of Bengal, have as a whole profited little by

the great the natural of the popu? of an em?
education. But
lation have remained in their illiteracy undisturbed by this

the result leaders
bryo nation have been badly trained for their future work, have on the one hand lost touch with their own people and also failed to get the best and most useful of what Europe could have given them. Of course I speak in most general
terms. results The have few relatively obtained been individual cannot, cases however, where be better taken as
typical. Indeed one of the most significant and discourag? ing signs of the times is the hostility and frantic opposition
of Hindu leaders educational zon to make the system more methods sent of education. The is great. politics failure of the natives if they are alarmed office-seekers degree. to the attempts of Lord Cur effective and to secure better effect of this are to new situation chagrined on pre? at the of to a
If Englishmen of India to rise at the they
responsibilities,
vengeful considerable
garrulous misrepresentation have to blame themselves
200
ALFRED
L. P. DENNIS
A second live difficulty is the dead-lock over the economic The unfriendly critics of British rule usually question.
make of Bengal, a great deal of the exploitation of India, and especially in the consulships of Clive and Warren Hastings.
They often involve both of these remarkable men in the general corruption of the period. Then with long reach and
cumulative arithmetic East they India at calculate the present Even of poverty of true cen?
India back to the days of an unreformed House of Commons

and a rapacious commercial we have Company. the event close a bad if all were
I cannot see that the economic drain of India by English

freebooters here the case eighteenth of political
tury has very much to do with the present situation.

more, " in any
Farther
indi?
gestion
caused in large parts by
that brilliant work,

on Warren
of
near-fiction," is, however,
essay Macaulay's a deep reproach to modern,
It Hastings. and particularly
to English, scholarship that more thorough work has not been done on the financial relations of England and India. It has been left very largely toMr. Romesh Dutt, to deal with the modern economic history of India. His works
are forth patriot a veritable in scholastic cites storehouse form. with India." was of statements From and deductions A laid Indian less his pages nearly every more or less accuracy. It is on the whole
liberally British
scholarly work by the lateMr. Digby bears the ironical title

"Prosperous of Mr. less convinc?
ing ifmore stimulating than Mr. Dutt's

Justice Ranad? a misfortune
books.
The death
students
to real
of the economic question, for the first word has really only been mumbled. On the whole, the impartial investigator must continue to feel that, however serious the charges of economic exploitation and maladministration by the English
to be in the pages of Dutt and Digby, may appear for the earlier period, from 1815 to particularly dubious and that in some cases a wonderful trust shown in the work of the data 1858, are has been
Martin Montgomery what the truth is regarding the history of Anglo-Indian eco? nomics. But the whole now is in that uncertain subject condition most to present debate. inviting day political
such as early discredited compilers, who wrote about 1840. I do not know
The result of that debate is heat, not light.
THE
INDIAN PROBLEM AND
IMPERIAL POLITICS
201
The
contemporary
economic
situation
is scarcely
less
productive of differences in opinion. The army of figures, yearly marshaled in the official records, would at first thought encourage the hope that the truth might be here secured. One of the characteristic features of the whole matter, how?
ever, is the hopeless inaccuracy of partisan pamphleteers.
The native Indian press is doing incalculable harm to the cherished cause of Indian nationalism by methods which threaten to discredit even statements which may very well be true. On the other hand the general indifference of the Only English public to the situation is extraordinary. of real effective much been has there appreciation recently am so not much I mistakes of English economic policy. concerned with the question of the economic drain from India to England, whether it be annually ?18,000,000 or ?25,000, Even if these figures are 000 or at the most ?30,000,000. this drain may be not susceptible to certain modification
regarded by some as at least in part a sort of insurance,
paid unwillingly to be sure, but guaranteeing to India cer? tain benefits. The difficult question of land tax, the lack of
sufficient ment Indian irrigation celebrations industries, the extravagance projects, such as the recent Durbar, rust eating the bureaucratic of govern? the state of into adminis?
are only a few of the fields in which it seems tration?these to me galling charges can be brought against British econo? mic policy in India. At all events the net result both in real life and in political propaganda is alarming, if not dis?
heartening.
Still a third feature in this dead-lock of opinion is the in?

creasing have friction the one caused by racial contact, and the changed rule in
conditions of intercourse between England

affected For India. ever before; character thing, more Indians and methods
and India which

of British to India There than is an
and more
go Englishmen go to England.
be serious and unwelcome in this, but there may advantage to study as the The Indian well. results goes to England he sometimes mistakes life and power; of English anatomy the On skeleton the other in the hand closet for the purely the proper commercial subject Englishman, of study. even
202 when nence not of the insult racial
ALFRED
L. P. DENNIS a sense
"beach-comber" to the respectable relations suffer.
type
often
lacks In
of responsibility;
and sympathetic
and insular ignorance may

native.
lead to imperti?
both cases
The telegraph, daily news and orders from the other side of the world, and the attempt to satisfy a double standard
of public opinion have also affected the position and respon?
sibilities of rulers in India who are no longer lonely. This condition has made Lord Morley, the Liberal Secretary of State for India, one of the most influential and autocratic rulers that India has known in recent years. The relatively few Indians who really know much about what is going on in England have also learned the possibility of appeal to
Caesar. They have their The of spokesmen, however of few and in?
effective,
has many fore, the
in Parliament;
heads.
and they have learned that Csesar

administration on the expert, there? now is spot, entangled Government by "wireless" the thing.
judgment and foreign forces. by remote is a new thing; not necessarily
the man
a wise
The general tendencies of racial feeling in other parts of the world have also had an influence in India. For obscure
and varied reasons the contact sides of races there may is greater friction to-day. On both there is producing greater be more vigorous and im? jealousy
self-assertion;
certainly
patience on the part of the white man. His task of keeping himself clear from the spiritual penalties of power is too difficult. Ruling other people is hard on the character of the ruler. So there has been bred in India an increasing habit of hostility on the part of some leaders; and at any time this may be translated into dire action as the lower ranks on both sides imitate with less comprehension the
unconscious attitude of their yet arrogant superior. on the whole, is enflamed. So, opinion causes of debate three energetic as to Anglo By selection Indian relations have been to you. I briefly suggested come now to a sixth major of the Indian difficulty problem,? often
the influence of this problem on the affairs of the British

and the effect of recent British And imperial politics. to a few aspects here
Empire
on Indian problems confine ously myself
and policies I must again rigor? of a large matter.
THE
INDIAN PROBLEM AND
IMPERIAL POLITICS
203
Europe was surprised when in 1801 a British force was successfully sent from India to expel the French from Egypt. Here was the first exhibition of the resiliency of the Anglo Indian Empire. The order to send 7000 Indian troops to Malta in 1878 and the cooperation of Indian troops in various recent British expeditionary forces in China as well as in Egypt has further illustrated this factor. But the efficiency, if not the loyalty, of the native troops under British command
and also of the armies of the Indian native states have serious
While we had no hesitancy in using negro troops against the Spanish and in the Philippines, it is doubt? ful whether British public opinion would encourage the use of native Indian regiments, though officered by white men, limitations.
in any war outside of Asia against a European or Amer?
ican enemy. Certainly during the South African war, when the temptation must have been severe, the notion that it
was a "Sahib's the use war," a fight of white It man against white man, specu? hold,
in which no Asiatic
vent lation whether any
need apply, proved

troops. such self-denying
sufficient to pre?
of Indian
is 'an interesting would ordinance
if unfortunately in years to come hostilities should break out between England and Japan, or between England and the United States, when our negro troops might be used in At all events one phase of racial feeling the Philippines. as well is hereby indicated. But if the existence of the Indian armies has been of some limited use to the British Empire at large, the increasing
of maintaining necessity still another gests aspect a large British of the matter. force For in India the sug? time we
can disregard the agitating question of the financial cost of this army. It is there "to sit on the lid." The events of
the last few months his The content fact are not that likely to decrease its size and
those events may

tax-payer budget. actually ciation
tend increasingly to justify to the British

are charged to the Indian that the Indian situation to-day is, however, to decrease the military and will continue the costs
decreases that India army
efficiency of the British Empire.

affords and that an the British heroic
I say this with due appre?

efforts ground training have been made for by
excellent
204
ALFRED
L. P. DENNIS
Lord Kitchener
the necessary tary reform.
to squeeze out of the government of India

funds to promote and power Lord Kitchener's the cause ideas of mili? and whether
Whether
the larger issue ofmilitarism, which his attitude has provoked are for the best interests even of the British Empire, is another
matter. ment At all events the fact remains that at the other whose turn end of the Suez canal an army is detained on the east coast of Britain might intrench hasty the scale in some
Armageddon
Turning,
of the future.
however, from purely military matters, English
colonial policies and crises have special significance in view of the Indian situation. The retired Anglo-Indian official has had no doubt that the burdens of British South African policy in 1879-1880 and more particularly in 1898-1901 have told heavily on British interests in India. In the earlier period the policy finally adopted with regard to Afghanistan was probably influenced by the situation in South Africa.
And in the recent immense. struggle the drain doubtedly Furthermore, and on the empire the revelation across was un? of mis?
management
pers
was a delightful surprise told not even in whis?

bazaar later rumored the border.
in Calcutta
The resulting prolonged public discussion in England of the deficiencies of British colonial and military policies has naturally furnished food for discussion to the gentlemen at
at Puna Indian native: of native longing type, welcome trial and even at Lahore. the bland in England A recent English visitor to the maneuvers near Peshawar of the crack corps of the Anglo and comment of a now?" What
army reports "Your army schemes
inquiry is no good
jubilation the recent naval panic has produced in the minds

at Bombay I do no t know. of many is to be in India, even agitators able to "answer back" effectively from dictated The Whitehall. policy connected in the uprising the great Again of the more moderate to any un? successful
assertion by Natal
of natives to the vista
in 1906 of local colonial opinion as to the

of Indian
a there lighted The further autonomy. of the protection of native Indian in other problem subjects of the British has another illustrated portions aspect Empire of the indirect relations to India. of Canada and South Africa advocates
THE
INDIAN PROBLEM AND
IMPERIAL POLITICS
205
But a more important phase would at once be exposed by It any real attempt to deal with the economic question. is almost impossible to see how the trade interests of India
and fully Any of other covered plan portions by the of the British same can be success? Empire roof, however striped and gabled. customs be considered union must
of an
imperial
in the light of the Indian situation. However, I congratu? late myself that this subject cannot be taken up in this paper. The connection of the Indian problem with British
imperialism policy a policy creates clearly is therefore situations wise close, which for India. yet perplexing. The colonies
set an example
to Indian ambition;
hamper
and British
colonial
of
the development
Lastly is the difficulty arising from the present state of English politics and public opinion. The situation at home is particularly complicated by the almost universal range of British interests. Thus foreign as well as domestic factors must be kept as arriere-pensees. The history of the last thirty years inEngland, when finally the proper and possible time arrives in which to write of it intelligently and with real knowledge, will, I think, be notable for at least two things. On the one hand there is treatment by successive British ministries of three foreign problems of the first order; and in the second place, there is the rise of two relatively new factors in English domestic politics and public opinion. Among other matters Lord Beaconsfield bequeathed to the Liberal ministry of 1880 three major problems, unsolved and bristling with difficulties, viz.: the assertion of a domi? nant British interest in the neighborhood of the Suez Canal
where imperial connections were involved; secondly, the
natural hostility of Russia, balked in her plans by the British policy which had led to the Congress of Berlin; and thirdly,
of special in Indian matters, importance clearly war and the whole the Afghan in the situation potential a Middle where Russian well East, region hostility might work to British interests. special damage Now at tions and ance of British the end of thirty a welter of blood administrative years we can see after vacilla? the establishment and mainten? control in Egypt and the pro and more
206
ALFRED
L. P. DENNIS
tection of the Suez canal, while the battle of Omdurman has checked the probability of Franco-Russian intrigue in the
upper rivalry Sudan has and undergone Abyssinia at least respectively. an eclipse. Anglo-Russian A wiser apprecia?
tion both of the need of Russian influence in European politics and of the value of accomodation in fields of mutual interest in Asia has, for the time being, relieved England. And this at a time when she apparently needed both hands free to deal with a possible Anglo-German crisis. All this has in the third place, reacted on the situation in Central Asia. The wisdom of British withdrawal from Afghanistan is clearer to-day than in the eighties. But the politic assertions of the continuance of British interests in that region and the Tibetan expedition place England to-day in
a much However, in this region than ever before. stronger position on the Indian the reaction of these three results
problem may perhaps be better realized if we imagine for a moment what would be the possibilities if, instead of the
actual situation, we saw, in the Levant, that crisis of the route route. in Persia, As to India
unguarded
Muhammadan Russia in India,
and the forces both of European

unrest the the threatening continuing occasion
hostility
far
and
as
is concerned would be
coming and
fast on the heels of Turkish
revolutions
and disturbances
alarm
far greater
international friction. A similar condition of uncertainty and a wider range of obligation and possibility in Central
Asia would only intensify the critical character of present politics.
We have been considering what might have been.

the situation is different is no real guarantee that
That
the pros?
pects of the future may be fair. These fields of foreign politics each contain the possibilities, if not the probabilities,
of future long to Russian discord. Thus it is a matter will of doubt to me how remain as public reasonably quiescent advance in Persia. A more increase in rapid a quicker Russian toward the Persian influence, step Gulf, and the politics of the future would at once be pregnant with war. And it is just these possibilities on which the radical Indian nationalists most for the weakening of British depend the British
THE
INDIAN PROBLEM AND
IMPERIAL POLITICS
207
policies in India, and finally for the realization of dreams of It is hard to think of India as a whole; it independence. is harder still to measure the relation of Indian politics to
international The acter policies of world-wide of more range. Yet we will miss
something ifwe do not think on these things.

changes have, and problems another however, char? clearly domestic sort of significance for Indian
affairs. Two relatively new tendencies in English domestic On the politics and public opinion must now be mentioned. one hand is the increasing influence of the economic problem at home, the entry of the Labor party into more or less
effective participation in national politics, and the conse?
quent tendency of the government to consider imperial questions with reference to the discontent of a hitherto
submerged increased at home. democracy of the hardness ruling On classes. the other The hand is an older passions
of liberalism, the glow of sympathy with struggling nationali? ties are chilled. The men who cheered Kossuth and rallied
to Garibaldi are dead. The experience of decreased economic
prosperity,
the stress of foreign competition,
the bitter and
are misunder? realization that after all, Englishmen surprising if not actually almost the world over, stood, unpopular, on national character. A each factor has had its influence
people in a panic is not likely to be either wise or merciful;

the national nerves have undergone a great strain; and obsti?
nacy is not lacking in the British constitution. The new ele? ment in political life at home is, therefore, untrained to deal with Indian affairs; and the older element is bewildered and
naturally situation, plexing. incensed from And by the disappearance aspect sovereignty we of many of the
flattering monuments
after all,
to British prestige.
So the domestic
whichever
view may it, is per? in India is domestic in
England. now imagine, as a whole As you may the Indian problem answer to my mind does not admit of any satisfactory at The of Lord the and present. conciliatory policy Morley association of an increased of natives but limited number seem in the Indian to appease councils does not the likely extremists in India or in England. It may allay agitation
208
ALFRED
L. P. DENNIS
temporarily, but, though probably a wise misunderstood by self-constituted political

as a sign of weakening on the part more be unfortunate. could Nothing For
step, it may be leaders in India
of the British
government. on the whole while
the government of India by the British may be reformed, it is not going to disappear in our day or for a very long time to
come. The sooner Indians of Indian be unwise; realize this the better. natural. appreciate And yet Some all the
do not mistake me.

moderate section may of these men
I regard the attitude and hopes of the

patriots they may as most not
difficulties and dangers which their desires involve; but it is no discredit to them personally that they have taken the air of a new age and look with longing to the hills, where men
stand ascent secure, with erect, towards freedom. muscles The hardened cnief present the patient to Indian danger by
nationalism is the discrediting, if not the utter ruin of its cause by political demagogues, reckless in thought, vengeful in action, preaching liberty but eager for power, largely to
satisfy spoke: liberty, the native as long ago, ambition personal Ye have not hearkened unto every and one to his mother, and the prophet Jeremiah in me, proclaiming every man to his neigh?
bor : behold I proclaim a liberty for you, with the Lord, to

sword leaders to the pestilence. On the shoulders of real a rests tremendous therefore, responsibility. them towards I have which a false dawn. declined have in this paper been merely facts to advo? labeled. and poli? are surely
They must see to it that they do not lead the people of India
astray, hurrying Resolutely, cate solutions The cies, connections however, of problems, and
combinations
of various
a complicated the attempt to analyze situation at least we have for our comfort enough; and, if bewildering, the knowledge that much more has been left out than has been We of included. can still follow the wonderful, The racking
Indian
history.
if bloodstained, pageant realities of poverty and
the famine, the interests
perpledng tangle of the desert and and
of old
rule of kings," "tawdry are all parts Golden Rule
and new fears, hopes of the thronging the bazaar, the ancient service of the
of this great matter.

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The Indian Problem and Imperial Politics Author(s): Alfred L. P. Dennis Source: The Journal of Race Development, Vol.

THE INDIAN PROBLEMAND IMPERIALPOLITICS.

during the Conference

The demand of natives of India for a greater degree of

ideals are fused in the passionate

not likely to be quickly settled.

difficulty, to analyze the question rather than to attempt

investigations certain Thus

history. set forth,

generalizations of an absent-minded, the noJon based on the facts. So

of India by the English, which Sir John Seeley

that, because English rule in India has in the last

188 is the occasional

L. P. DENNIS on the undoubt?

Too often the intended conclusion

is that the British

origin is sufficient to show the falsity of this

cause of drought and famine.

The prayer to Indra (the rain-god) in Book VIII, Hymn 55,

INDIAN PROBLEM AND

port life without

to have the year

experience the have

Colbert of a famine in which "no adequate

by a correct appreciation of the facts of Indian history.

of the United in the north numbering

States to El Paso nearly

of a line drawn Here of times that

from Bis? is a pop? the United

States in 1901, of great diversity civilization and history. These

in race, religion, language, people are not ruled in

occupation social among

of groups and interest custom people

these differences of every description,

For the first time in their history

these lands and popula?

authority. long period has

The tra? of succes?

and adminis? Rebellion and

trative ability of various individuals and families may have

the traditions of Indian history are still strong; the forces

INDIAN PROBLEM AND

the peaceable withdrawal of the British were conceded, would

and social development.

192 on the other

L. P. DENNIS of one sort or another, took

far more since

because, certainly have until recently

the Mutiny, to a great extent

the civil staff, in so far as itwas opened

ially in the field of the humanities.

For science he appar?

or capacity. has also been a revival of an?

toward the solution of local problems,

problem of India with

the Asiatic question as a whole

have a breathless benevolence

for the future and often find

peoples highway and the

"Scaffolding As, moving

against veils to and

sky." the wall, their tasks the masons

And dim dust floats and falls,