03-28-2007, 02:29 AM
From vol 9 on dharampal.net emphasis in original.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Enclosure in a letter from Sir R. Temple, dated February 18th, 1875.
From,
THE REVEREND J.ROBINSON.
To,
SIR RICHARD TEMPLE.
HONORED SIR,
Your HONOR having requested me to state in writing my personal opinion on the loyalty of the Natives of Bengal, I have very carefully weighed and considered the subject, and have the honor to submit the following statement, which I trust will meet with your Honor's approval.
Satisfactorily to define the present state of feeling among the Hindoos is no easy task. In comparing the tone they now assume with that evinced by them forty, or even thirty, years since, the difference is very striking. Under the rule of the Honorable East India Company, when their admission to posts of responsibility under the Government was a matter of special favor, and dependent entirely on the will of their superiors, they were polite, gentle, and unassuming. The style in which they spoke or wrote was one of great deference and modesty. They complained then, as now, of the private or official conduct of public officers, but it was in a tone of modest submission. This may have arisen from their long subjection to foreign powers. Yet from all that could be gathered they regarded the just and equitable rule of the British as an unspeakable blessing.
A new era seemed to dawn upon them when, within the last twenty or thirty years of the Company's rule, the advantages of a liberal education in English were offered them, the learning and civilization of the West were brought within their reach, and posts of honour and responsibility were held out to them as rewards of diligence.
They were apt and ready scholars, and the new impulse given them they were not slow to use. Their advancement was very marked, and the highest eucomiums were publicly paid to their intellectual abilities. There then appeared a change in their bearing, and one which was regarded by most Europeans as an improvement. It presented a contrast to their former servility. Unhappily they soon began to be puffed up with a sense of their abilities, and, rather over-estimating them, thought themselves in every way equal, and in some respects superior, to the authorities, to whom they were nevertheless compelled to be in subjection.
When, after the Mutiny of 1857, Her Majesty in the well known proclamation then issued declared that her subjects, of whatever race or creed, should be freely and impartially admitted to offices the duties of which they might be qualified to discharge, the Bengalees, already elated with the high praises accorded to their intellectual powers, began at once to assume a higher tone of independence. A free Press gave ample scope to the expression of their sentiments. Measures of Government were freely discussed, and men as well as measures were brought to their bar, and approved or condemned according to their judgement; their standard being in many cases their own shastras and the principles by which their early Hindoo kings were actuated. Their aspirations are high. <b>The opinion so often expressed in private and public, that England governs India for India's good, is interpreted as meaning that England retains India only to instruct her children in the art of governing themselves, and as soon as they are competent, [the] reins of government will be resigned to them*.</b> The proposition that all situations, whether executive or administrative, for which the Natives of India are found competent should be given to them in preference to European British subjects, born in England or India, has added not a little to their high expectation. They generally consider themselves quite competent for those posts already, and always complain when Europeans are preferred to themselves for situations of authority or responsibility. They watch with extreme jealousy the action of civil servants in every department, and regret that these offices are not filled by their educated men, who, they suppose, will administer justice with greater equity and superintend the finances with a stricter regard to economy. <b>Suggestions have even been made that one of their more noted men should be appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal*.</b>
Of those of the Natives who have been raised to the office of Judge of the High Court, or have been made members of the Legislative Councils, they have been justly proud. Yet as the latter are appointed by the Presidents, only in a few cases have their nominations met with general approbation. In most cases these gentlemen have been spoken of as having but little independence of character and as timidly yielding to the opinion of others. <b>They therefore consider that the time has come when their representatives should be chosen by themselves.*</b>
Such opinions and such aspirations do not prove a want of loyalty. They may be regarded as the natural outcome of their almost sudden elevation from a state, not forty years ago, immeasurably inferior.
If, on the other hand, we turn to the Native periodicals as exponents of public feeling, it is scarcely possible to conclude otherwise than that the Natives are not loyal. <b>The almost unavoidable impression is that they chafe under the necessity of their subjection to a foreign rule,*</b> which they endure simply because they are not in a position to throw it off. The impression is rather strengthened than otherwise by the assertion frequently made that the Editors of the Native journals make use of strong language against the officers and the measures of Government, in order to secure a larger number of readers, whom they find principally in the public offices. Others there are, however, who apologise for their brethren, excusing this extravagance of diction as being merely the exercise of a newly-gotten power, which they have not yet learned to use discreetly.
At the same time it should be noted that in the public journals - Lord Northbrook is very rarely mentioned Her Majesty never I believe - but with the highest respect. This has led me to think that the strong language, sometimes s o freely indulged in, is mere vapid blustering by which the writers seek to give their readers an idea of their own importance and dignity as leaders of public thought and opinion; and that, whatever may be said to the contrary, there is a degree of truth in their frequent assertion that they are a loyal people.<b> At the same time they may possibly mean that as they must be subject to a foreign yoke they prefer the rule of Britain to that of any other power.*</b>
May it not, however, be necessary to guard against too lenient a judgement? And may it not be worthy of consideration whether the strong language so constantly and freely used against the authorities with impunity is not calculated to debase their rulers in the estimation of the people, and whether the p oison is not secretly working, producing a widespread feeling of dissatisfaction and discontent which may hereafter be attended with consequences both painful and troublesome ? <b>The Hindoos of Bengal are, with the exception of a very small percentage, idolaters, and there can be no true fellow feeling between an idolatrous race and their Christian conquerors, from whom they are widely separated by long established institutions, which they hold more dear than life itself*. </b>The laws prescribed by their rulers they may obey, and if appointed to judicial offices, they may discharge their duties strictly according to prescribed laws; but anything like true sympathy with Christians they are not likely to have while so far and unavoidably separated by superstitions. A small number have broken loose from the trammels of caste, and forsaken idolatry; but not acknowledging the Scriptures as the foundation of faith and practice, they are wanting in those high moral and religious principles which can emanate from no other source than Him who is the light of the world. <b>I imagine, therefore, we must wait till the blessed truths of the Gospel have been universally received before we can see such evidence of hearty allegiance to the Queen as the Native Christians of India manifest.</b>
<b>In this I have not referred to the Mahomedans. They constitute a religious sect, who consent to submit to a foreign yoke, while their religion is not interfered with, until the advent of their long expected Imam, who will overthrow all other forms of religion*. </b>In their mosques in Calcutta and all over Bengal, when the Khootba is read, blessings are invoked on the Mohamedan Badashah (Badshahi Islam), whoever that may be. If true to their principles, they cannot yield hearty allegiance to a Christian Queen.
I have thus endeavoured to state my opinion on this important subject. That the Hindoos of Bengal are loyal, I have always believed. Yet it has struck me that <b>loyalty with them may not possibly be exactly what we understand by the term. With us it is a kind of constitutional thing, which we almost naturally entertain; with them, it may be merely an assent to British domination, as a conquered race.*</b>
I have, &c.,
JOHN ROBINSON.
January 21st, 1875.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Enclosure in a letter from Sir R. Temple, dated February 18th, 1875.
From,
THE REVEREND J.ROBINSON.
To,
SIR RICHARD TEMPLE.
HONORED SIR,
Your HONOR having requested me to state in writing my personal opinion on the loyalty of the Natives of Bengal, I have very carefully weighed and considered the subject, and have the honor to submit the following statement, which I trust will meet with your Honor's approval.
Satisfactorily to define the present state of feeling among the Hindoos is no easy task. In comparing the tone they now assume with that evinced by them forty, or even thirty, years since, the difference is very striking. Under the rule of the Honorable East India Company, when their admission to posts of responsibility under the Government was a matter of special favor, and dependent entirely on the will of their superiors, they were polite, gentle, and unassuming. The style in which they spoke or wrote was one of great deference and modesty. They complained then, as now, of the private or official conduct of public officers, but it was in a tone of modest submission. This may have arisen from their long subjection to foreign powers. Yet from all that could be gathered they regarded the just and equitable rule of the British as an unspeakable blessing.
A new era seemed to dawn upon them when, within the last twenty or thirty years of the Company's rule, the advantages of a liberal education in English were offered them, the learning and civilization of the West were brought within their reach, and posts of honour and responsibility were held out to them as rewards of diligence.
They were apt and ready scholars, and the new impulse given them they were not slow to use. Their advancement was very marked, and the highest eucomiums were publicly paid to their intellectual abilities. There then appeared a change in their bearing, and one which was regarded by most Europeans as an improvement. It presented a contrast to their former servility. Unhappily they soon began to be puffed up with a sense of their abilities, and, rather over-estimating them, thought themselves in every way equal, and in some respects superior, to the authorities, to whom they were nevertheless compelled to be in subjection.
When, after the Mutiny of 1857, Her Majesty in the well known proclamation then issued declared that her subjects, of whatever race or creed, should be freely and impartially admitted to offices the duties of which they might be qualified to discharge, the Bengalees, already elated with the high praises accorded to their intellectual powers, began at once to assume a higher tone of independence. A free Press gave ample scope to the expression of their sentiments. Measures of Government were freely discussed, and men as well as measures were brought to their bar, and approved or condemned according to their judgement; their standard being in many cases their own shastras and the principles by which their early Hindoo kings were actuated. Their aspirations are high. <b>The opinion so often expressed in private and public, that England governs India for India's good, is interpreted as meaning that England retains India only to instruct her children in the art of governing themselves, and as soon as they are competent, [the] reins of government will be resigned to them*.</b> The proposition that all situations, whether executive or administrative, for which the Natives of India are found competent should be given to them in preference to European British subjects, born in England or India, has added not a little to their high expectation. They generally consider themselves quite competent for those posts already, and always complain when Europeans are preferred to themselves for situations of authority or responsibility. They watch with extreme jealousy the action of civil servants in every department, and regret that these offices are not filled by their educated men, who, they suppose, will administer justice with greater equity and superintend the finances with a stricter regard to economy. <b>Suggestions have even been made that one of their more noted men should be appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal*.</b>
Of those of the Natives who have been raised to the office of Judge of the High Court, or have been made members of the Legislative Councils, they have been justly proud. Yet as the latter are appointed by the Presidents, only in a few cases have their nominations met with general approbation. In most cases these gentlemen have been spoken of as having but little independence of character and as timidly yielding to the opinion of others. <b>They therefore consider that the time has come when their representatives should be chosen by themselves.*</b>
Such opinions and such aspirations do not prove a want of loyalty. They may be regarded as the natural outcome of their almost sudden elevation from a state, not forty years ago, immeasurably inferior.
If, on the other hand, we turn to the Native periodicals as exponents of public feeling, it is scarcely possible to conclude otherwise than that the Natives are not loyal. <b>The almost unavoidable impression is that they chafe under the necessity of their subjection to a foreign rule,*</b> which they endure simply because they are not in a position to throw it off. The impression is rather strengthened than otherwise by the assertion frequently made that the Editors of the Native journals make use of strong language against the officers and the measures of Government, in order to secure a larger number of readers, whom they find principally in the public offices. Others there are, however, who apologise for their brethren, excusing this extravagance of diction as being merely the exercise of a newly-gotten power, which they have not yet learned to use discreetly.
At the same time it should be noted that in the public journals - Lord Northbrook is very rarely mentioned Her Majesty never I believe - but with the highest respect. This has led me to think that the strong language, sometimes s o freely indulged in, is mere vapid blustering by which the writers seek to give their readers an idea of their own importance and dignity as leaders of public thought and opinion; and that, whatever may be said to the contrary, there is a degree of truth in their frequent assertion that they are a loyal people.<b> At the same time they may possibly mean that as they must be subject to a foreign yoke they prefer the rule of Britain to that of any other power.*</b>
May it not, however, be necessary to guard against too lenient a judgement? And may it not be worthy of consideration whether the strong language so constantly and freely used against the authorities with impunity is not calculated to debase their rulers in the estimation of the people, and whether the p oison is not secretly working, producing a widespread feeling of dissatisfaction and discontent which may hereafter be attended with consequences both painful and troublesome ? <b>The Hindoos of Bengal are, with the exception of a very small percentage, idolaters, and there can be no true fellow feeling between an idolatrous race and their Christian conquerors, from whom they are widely separated by long established institutions, which they hold more dear than life itself*. </b>The laws prescribed by their rulers they may obey, and if appointed to judicial offices, they may discharge their duties strictly according to prescribed laws; but anything like true sympathy with Christians they are not likely to have while so far and unavoidably separated by superstitions. A small number have broken loose from the trammels of caste, and forsaken idolatry; but not acknowledging the Scriptures as the foundation of faith and practice, they are wanting in those high moral and religious principles which can emanate from no other source than Him who is the light of the world. <b>I imagine, therefore, we must wait till the blessed truths of the Gospel have been universally received before we can see such evidence of hearty allegiance to the Queen as the Native Christians of India manifest.</b>
<b>In this I have not referred to the Mahomedans. They constitute a religious sect, who consent to submit to a foreign yoke, while their religion is not interfered with, until the advent of their long expected Imam, who will overthrow all other forms of religion*. </b>In their mosques in Calcutta and all over Bengal, when the Khootba is read, blessings are invoked on the Mohamedan Badashah (Badshahi Islam), whoever that may be. If true to their principles, they cannot yield hearty allegiance to a Christian Queen.
I have thus endeavoured to state my opinion on this important subject. That the Hindoos of Bengal are loyal, I have always believed. Yet it has struck me that <b>loyalty with them may not possibly be exactly what we understand by the term. With us it is a kind of constitutional thing, which we almost naturally entertain; with them, it may be merely an assent to British domination, as a conquered race.*</b>
I have, &c.,
JOHN ROBINSON.
January 21st, 1875.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->