The Path of Statesmanship.

WE have no hesitation in saying that this is the only path of wisdom, of expediency, of statesmanship. It is no ordinary movement with which the Government is confronted in India. A sporadic outbreak of violence, a riot, even a rebellion could be crushed by sheer force, and too often when it was crushed the spirit underlying it would be crushed also or suppressed for a long time. You cannot crush a movement by force, the very basic idea of which is the acquisition of freedom by suffering and sacrifice. Imprisonment has obviously no terror for those who have been deliberately courting it, and while it is just possible that by putting thousands of men in prison the Government might succeed in bringing about a temporary setback, in all probability it would only make things worse, as it has in Ireland. The best thing for the Government is to allow the same latitude for expression of opinion in India that is allowed in England. Let them not fear that the result would be an eventual explosion. Political explosions are scarcely ever the result of freedom. Almost invariably they are the result of a denial of freedom. What will happen is that the agitator will go down to the masses, as he has begun to do already and will infect them with his own intolerance of wrong injustice. Have you not yourselves deliberately undertaken to disturb “the placid, pathetic contentment of the masses,” and declared Swaraj to be the goal of British policy in India, a goal which is to be attained gradually, indeed, but as soon as the actual conditions in the country permit of its attainment? And having done this, does it lie in your mouth to complain if the leaders of the people or some of them take you at your word and set themselves, with the requisite energy and vigour, to further disturbing the placid, pathetic contentment of the masses, so that self-governing nationhood may grow more speedily?

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.