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The Old Year
THERE
are periods in the history of the world when the unseen Power that guides its
destinies seems to be filled with a consuming passion for change and a strong
impatience of the old. The Great Mother, the Adya Shakti,
has resolved to take the nations into Her hand and shape them anew. These are
periods of rapid destruction and energetic creation, filled with the sound of
cannon and the trampling of armies, the crash of great downfalls, and the turmoil of swift and violent revolutions; the world is thrown into the smelting pot
and comes out in a new shape and with new features. They are periods when the
wisdom of the wise is confounded and the prudence of
the prudent turned into a laughing-stock; for it is the day of the prophet, the
dreamer, the fanatic and the crusader, — the time of divine revelation when
Avatars are born and miracles happen. Such a period was the end of the
eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth; in such a period we find
ourselves at the dawn of this twentieth century the years of whose infancy have
witnessed such wonderful happenings. The result of the earlier disturbance was
the birth of a new Europe and the modernisation of the Western world; we are
assisting now at the birth of a new Asia and the modernisation of the East. The
current started then from distant America but the centre of disturbance was
Western and Central Europe. This time there have been three currents, –
insurgent nationalism starting from South Africa, Asiatic revival starting from
Japan, Eastern democracy starting from Russia; and the centre of disturbance
covers a huge zone, all Eastern, Southern and Western Asia, Northern or Asiaticised Africa and Russia which form the semi-Asiatic element in Europe. As
the pace of the revolution grows swifter, each new year becomes more eventful
than the last and marks a large advance to the final consummation. No year of
the new century has been more full of events than 1906-07, our year 1313.
If we
look abroad, we find the whole affected zone in agita-
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tion and new births everywhere. In the Far East the year has not been marked by
astonishing events, but the total results have been immense. Within these twelve
months China has been educating, training and arming herself with a speed of
which the outside world has a
very meagre conception. She has sent out a Commission of Observation to the
West and decided to develop constitutional Government within the next ten
years. She has pushed forward the work of revolutionising her system of
education and bringing it into line with modern requirements. She has taken
resolutely in hand the task of liberating herself from the curse of opium which
has benumbed the energies of her people. She has sent her young men outside in
thousands, chiefly to Japan, to be trained for the great work of development.
With the help of Japanese instructors she is training herself quietly in war,
and science, has made an immense advance in the organisation of a disciplined
army, and is now busy laying the foundations of an effective navy. In spite of
the arrogant protests of British merchants, she has taken her enormous customs revenue into her own hands for
national purposes. By her successful diplomacy she has deprived England of the
fruits of the unscrupulous, piratical attack upon Tibet and is maintaining her
hold on that outpost of the Mongolian world.
Japan during this year has been vigorously pushing on her industrial expansion
at home and abroad; she has practically effected the commercial conquest of Manchuria and begun in good earnest the
struggle with European trade and her manufactures are invading Europe and
America. Her army reorganisation has been so large and thorough as to make the
island Empire invincible in her own sphere of activity. A little cloud has
sprung up between herself and America, but she has conducted herself with her
usual sang froid, moderation and calm firmness; and, however far the
difficulty may go, we may be sure that she will not come out of it either
morally or materially a loser.
In other parts of the Far East there have only been slight
indications of coming movements. The troubles in the Philippines are over and
America has restored to the inhabitants a certain measure of self-government,
which, if used by the Filipinos with energy and discretion, may be turned into
an instrument for the
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recovery
of complete independence. Siam has purchased release from
humiliating restrictions on her internal sovereignty at the heavy price of a
large cession of territory to intruding France; but she is beginning to pay
more attention to her naval and military development and it will be well if
this means that she has realised the only way to preserve her independence. At
present Siam is the one weak point in Mongolian Asia. Otherwise the events of
this year show that by the terrible blow she struck at Russia, Japan has
arrested the process of European absorption in the Far East.
But the most remarkable feature of the past year is the
awakening of the
Mahomedan world. In Afghanistan it has seen the inception of a great scheme of
National Education which may lay the basis of a State, strong in itself,
organised on modern lines and equipped with scientific knowledge and training.
Amir Abdur Rahman consolidated Afghanistan; it is evidently the mission of
Habibullah, who seems not inferior in statesmanship to his great father, to
modernise it. In Persia the year has brought about a peaceful revolution, — the
granting of Parliamentary Government by an Asiatic king to his subjects under
the mildest passive pressure and the return of national life to Iran. In Egypt
it has confronted the usurping role of England with a nationalist movement, not
only stronger and more instructed than that of Arabi Pasha but led by the rightful sovereign of the country. The exhibition of
cold-blooded British ferocity at Denshawi has defeated its object, and, instead
of appalling the Egyptians into submission, made them more determined and
united. It is now only a question of time for this awakening to affect the rest
of Islam and check the European as effectually in Western Asia as he has been
checked in the East.
In this universal Asiatic movement what part has India to play? What has she
done during the year 1313? In India too there has been an immense advance, — an
advance so great that we shall not be able to appreciate it properly until its
results have worked themselves out. The year began with Barisal; it closes with
Comilla. The growing intensity of the struggle in Eastern Bengal can be measured
by this single transition, and its meaning is far deeper than appears on the
surface. It means that the two
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forces which must contend for the possession of India’s future, — the British
bureaucracy and the Indian people, — have at last clashed
in actual conflict. Barisal meant passive, martyr-like endurance; Comilla means
active, courageous resistance. The fighting is at present only on the far
eastern fringe of this great country; but it must, as it grows in intensity,
spread westwards. Sparks of the growing conflagration will set fire to Western
Bengal, and India is now far too united for the bureaucracy to succeed long in
isolating the struggle.
The
second feature of the year has been the rapid growth of the Nationalist Party.
It has in a few months absorbed Eastern Bengal, set Allahabad and the North on
fire, and is stirring Madras to its depths. In Bengal it has become a distinct
and recognised force so powerful in its moral influence that petitioning is
practically dead and the whole nation stands committed to a policy of
self-development and passive resistance. The Press a few months ago was, with
the exception of a few Marathi weeklies, one journal in the Punjab, and the
Sandhya
and New India in Calcutta, almost entirely Moderate. The increase of Nationalist journals
such as the Balbharat and Andhra Keshari in
Madras, the Aftab in the North and ourselves in Calcutta, the appearance of local papers filled with the new spirit, the sudden
popularity of a
paper like the Yugantar and the extent to which the new ideas are
infecting journals not avowedly of the new school, are indices of the rapidity
with which Nationalism is formulating itself and taking possession of the
country.
A third feature of the year has been the growth of National Education. The
Bengal National College has not only become an established fact but is rapidly
increasing in numbers and has begun to build the foundations of a better system
of education. The schools at Rungpore and Dacca already existed at the
commencement of the year; but immediately after the Barisal outrage, fresh
schools at Mymensingh, Kishoregunj, Comilla, Chandpur and Dinajpur were
established. Since then there have been
further additions, — the Magura School,
another in the Jessore
District, another at Jalpaiguri, as well as a free primary school at Mogra. We
understand that there is also a probability of a National School at Chittagong
and Noakhali. No mean
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record for a single year. As was to be expected, most of these schools have
grown up in the great centre of Nationalism, East Bengal.
Such is the record of Nationalist advance in India in 1313. It is a record of
steady and rapid growth; and the year closes with the starting of a tremendous
issue which may carry us far beyond the stage of mere beginnings and
preparations. Long ago we heard it prophesied that the year 1907 would see the
beginning of the actual struggle for national liberty in India. It would almost
seem as if in the turmoil in Tipperah the first blow had been struck.
Bande
Mataram, April 16, 1907
A Vilifier
on Vilification
Our Bombay
contemporary, the Indu Prakash, is very wroth with the Nationalist Party
for their want of sweet reasonableness. He accuses them of rowdyism "which
would put the East End rowdy to shame", and adds, — "Their forte seems
to be abuse, vilification, impertinence and superlative silliness, and these
are exhibited alternately." It strikes us that the Indu Prakash has
been guilty of "abuse, vilification, impertinence and superlative
silliness" not alternately, but in a lump within the brief
space of these two sentences. This sort of phraseology is, however, part of
the ordinary Moderate rhetoric which is usually the reverse of moderate in its
temper. Unable to meet the Nationalists in argument, they make up for it in
invective, denouncing them as "maniacs", "rowdies",
"mere school boys". We have already answered the charge of rowdyness
and we will only add here that violent personal attack is not confined to one
party. But the moderates have their own methods. They attack individual
members of our party behind their backs or else in meetings in which the
public are not admitted, like those of the Subjects committee, but not usually
in public. They vilify them in the correspondence columns of their papers and
ignore them or only abuse the party generally in the leading articles. Then they
call this the decency and "high dignity of public life". We
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prefer to call it want of straightforwardness and courage. The Indu thinks
that personal attacks and violent outbreaks of temper have no part in English
politics. This is indeed a holy simplicity; and it is not for nothing that the
Bombay journal calls itself Indu Prakash, "moonshine". It is
true, of course, that English politicians do not carry their political wranglings and acerbities into social life to anything like the extent that the
Continental peoples do or we do in India; and this is a most praiseworthy
feature of English public life. We do not agree with the Indu that the
differences which divide us are smaller than those which exist between English
parties; but small or great, we agree that they should not generate hatred, if
it can be avoided. But if the moderates are so anxious to avoid the acerbation
of feelings, why should they not set the example? Let them avoid autocracy and
caucus tactics, frankly recognise the Nationalists as a party whose opinions
must be consulted, be conciliatory and constitutional in their procedure;
and what the Indu misterms "Extremist rowdyism" will die a
natural death.
By The Way
A Mouse in a Flutter
Poor N. N. Ghose! When we dealt with him faithfully in our "By the
Way" column, we did so in the belief that it would do him good; the wounds
given by a friend are wholesome, though painful. We expected that if we printed
him in his true colours, he would recognise the picture, grow ashamed and
reform; but it is possible we did wrong to pluck out so cruelly the heart of our
Sankaritola Hamlet’s mystery. Certainly we did not anticipate that the sight of
his own moral lineaments would drive him into such an exhibition of shrieking
and gesticulating fury as disfigures the Indian Nation of the 15th
April. Such self-degradation by a cultured and respectable literary gentleman is
very distressing and we apologise to the public for being the cause of this
shocking spectacle. We will devote our column today to soothing down his ruffled
plumes. By the way, we assure Mr.
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Ghose that when we talk of his ruffled plumes, we are not thinking of him in
his capacity as a mouse at all. We are for a moment imagining him to be a
feathered biped — say, a pelican solitary in the wilderness or else, if he
prefers it, a turtle-dove cooing to his newly-found mate in Colootola.
What is it that Mr. Ghose lays to our charge? In the first place, he accuses us
of having turned him into a mouse. In the second place, he complains that after
turning him into a mouse, we should still treat him as a human being. "I am
a mouse," he complains; "how can I have an arm of succour or a fully
organised heart? I am a mouse, ergo I am neither a politician nor a
cynic." We plead not guilty to both charges. We do not profess to have any
magical power whatever and when we casually compared our revered contemporary to
the mouse in the fable, we had not the least idea that we were using a powerful
mantra
which could double the number of Mr. Ghose’s legs and change him into a
furtive "rodent". The rest of our remarks we made under the impression
that he was still a human being; why he should so indignantly resent being
spoken of as a human being, we fail to understand. No, when we made the
allusion, we did not mean to turn Mr. Ghose into a mouse any more than when we
compared him to Satan reproving sin, we intended to turn him into the devil. But
the Principal of the Metropolitan College seems as skilful in mixing other
people’s metaphors as in mixing his own.
If, after this explanation, he still persists in his "mouse I am and mouse
I remain" attitude we cannot help it. The worthy publicist seems to have
had mice on his brain recently. The other day he discovered a winged or
fluttering species of the rodent; now the mere mention of a mouse has engendered
the delusion that he is one himself. We do not believe in the existence of
fluttering mice, — but after Mr. Ghose’s recent exhibition we can well believe
in the existence of a mouse in a flutter. This time
he seems to have discovered a new species which he calls "rhodents"!
There was much discussion in our office as to this new animal. Some thought it a
brilliant invention of the printer’s devil; others opined that in his wild
excitement the editor’s cockney-made pen had dropped an "h"; others
held that our
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Calcutta Hamlet, unlike the Shakespearian, cannot distinguish between a mouse
and a rhododendron. A learned Government Professor assured us, however, that rhodon
is Greek for a rose and that Mr. Ghose has found a new species of mouse
that not only flutters but flowers, — of which he believes himself to be the
only surviving specimen. However that may be, we have learned our lesson and
will never compare him to a "rhodent" again. A rose by another name
will smell as sweet and a mouse by any other name will gnaw as hard.
Bande Mataram, April 17, 1907
Simple,
not Rigorous
The finale of
the Punjabee case has converted a tragedy into a farce. The bureaucracy
started to crush the New Spirit in Punjab by making a severe example of its
leading exponent in the Press. They have ended by acerbating public feeling in
the Punjab and creating racial hostility — the very offence for
which, ostensibly, the Punjabee is punished, — without gaining their
ends. The ferocious severity of the sentence passed on Srijut Jaswant Rai has
defeated its own object. Reduced in length from two years to six months in the
Sessions Court, it has in the final appeal been reduced in its nature from
rigorous to simple imprisonment. The upshot is that the Government enjoys the honour of entertaining two patriotic Nationalists with an unsolicited
hospitality for the next six months. Meanwhile, the tone of. the Nationalist
Press will not be lowered by one note nor its determination to speak the truth
without fear or favour affected even in the smallest degree. But the memory of
the original sentence will remain; the gulf between the aliens and the people
yawns yet wider. Incidentally the Punjabee has been endeared to all India
by its boldness and readiness to suffer for the cause; its circulation has been
largely increased and its influence more than doubled. Well done, most simple
and rigorous bureaucracy!
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British
Interests and British Conscience
"The
demand for popular self-government must be resisted in the interests of
Egypt" — this is the Pioneer‘s, verdict on the National Movement
in that unhappy land. We can understand why Egyptian aspirations must be stifled
in the interests of the "protectors" of Egypt; but to say that this
must be done in the interests of the children of the soil is indeed monstrous.
The inordinate self-conceit of Englishmen very often betrays them into
ludicrous absurdities. ‘The Britisher fancies himself the Heaven-appointed
ruler of the universe; and whoever ventures to stand in his way must be a
nuisance, a rebel, a traitor. The whole history of Britain is a long struggle
for liberty; and even the other day the British Premier could not help
exclaiming, "The Duma is dead; long live the Duma." But whenever it is
a question of Egypt or India where British interests are at stake, British greed
overpowers British conscience and all sorts of monstrous arguments are
fabricated to justify the suppression of popular movements. But the history of
the British occupation of Egypt which began as a temporary measure and
perpetuated itself as a piece of expediency, is quite well known and the world
can no longer be deceived by journalistic falsehoods.
A
Recommendation
The Englishman has arrogated to itself the office of
Press-censor and has commenced to
issue certificates of good conduct to our moderate contemporaries. Those that
have not the good fortune to see with it eye to eye are branded as seditious.
This is what it wrote in its yesterday’s issue: -
"We regret that in a recent issue we confounded the two papers
Swadesh and
Swaraj, identifying
the politics of the former with those of Bande
Mataram and other journals of the same bilious tinge. As a matter of fact,
Swadesh
is conducted with moderation and ability and is by no means to be confused
with the seditious sheets which are doing so much mischief in this country."
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A critic who
confounds the names of journals on which he sits in judgment, is a sight for
Gods and men; and we congratulate our Swadesh friend on the testimonial
secured from so high a quarter. But is it solicited or unsolicited? The
seditious rags may now envy the distinction. But will they be tempted to mend
their ways? We would suggest a kaisar-i-Hind for meritorious journals and
recommend the Indian Mirror and the Indian Nation for the first
two medals.
Bande Mataram, April 18, 1907
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