[Page 1] THE
relation between politics and students is one of the vexed questions of
the day. There are two classes of people in India — those who
believe that students should as a matter of duty take part in politics, and
those who are of opinion that they should not. People frequently talk over
the matter with me and ask for my opinion, knowing me to be interested in
the subject, but I always tell them that their question cannot be answered
off-hand. In the first place it seems to me to be necessary to know what is
meant by politics, and then it is equally important to know the
circumstances surrounding the student, and his age. Let us takes these
points one by one.
First, then, with regard
to the definition of politics, Now the broadest definition I can think of
is that politics is a science concerned with the means of promoting the general
welfare of the state. It is a science (like any other science) with laws
which, if brought into operation, produce certain definite effects. If we
go no further than this I doubt whether there will be [Page
2] any
two opinions regarding the desirability of students taking part in politics,
of their studying the laws which govern the prosperity of their country — provided,
of course, that they are old enough to study with profit. We do not start
the beginner in Algebra with Quadratic Equations, nor do we place before
the young child, about to learn English, Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding.
We begin with the simple and thence proceed to the complex, and this is just
what we should do in connection with politics.
Unfortunately, the word politics has acquired a different significance, and it
is because of this that there is so much confusion at the present time.
Politics has come to mean agitation, constitutional or otherwise, either
against certain measures which the Government of the country has thought
fit to adopt, or in favor of certain measures which the Government does not
adopt and which the agitator thinks it ought to adopt. And either kind of
agitation has come to involve in the minds of many the imputing of bad
motives to the opposite party. Newspapers, pamphlets, books, are brought
into play by both sides to hurl sarcasm, abuse and logic against the
opposing forces, personalities are indulged in, and sooner or later the
excitement thus produced threatens to become uncontrollable.
With this kind of
politics I am very strongly of opinion
that students should have nothing to do. Let
me, however, hasten to add that I am by no [Page
3] means
of opinion that agitation is wrong, at all events constitutional agitation,
agitation in which the law is made to work for the agitator, in which he
takes advantage of existing forms to secure his ends; so long as personalities
are carefully avoided, together with the imputation of evil motives. In
this way, indeed, the state makes progress, and the more honest agitation
of this kind there is, the better for the people. But the point is that to
agitate in this way necessitates knowledge, necessitates acquaintance with
the forms of Government in this country and elsewhere, means an understanding
of the condition of the people and of their requirements. There is no question
of excitement in such agitation, but rather a calm, deliberate pressing of
the needed reforms upon the attention of those in power, educating the masses
to understand their needs, and guiding public opinion to express in no
uncertain voice the lines along which the Government shall proceed. As for
agitation by violence, I cannot believe that it will ever give prosperity
to the people which adopts it — out of
evil good cannot come, and violence is an insult to the harmony of nature.
Leaving this aside,
let us go back to the question of constitutional agitation as a part of the
definition of politics. The point at issue is: Are students justified in
taking part in it ? Ought they, as a matter of duty to their mother-country,
to join in this method of procedure ? If my explanation of the meaning of [Page
4] constitutional
agitation be correct, then I think the answer is an unhesitating "No".
To agitate constitutionally means a knowledge of the constitution in the
first place, in the second place a knowledge of the conditions of life, in
the third place an understanding of the evils of existing forms and methods
and of the reasons why they are
evil, and in the fourth place a knowledge, based on the study of the history
of the country in question and of the history of other countries, as to the
most suitable remedies and the method of their application. Does any
sensible person suggest that the mind of the student is sufficiently
developed to undertake this stupendous task, or even the smallest part of
it ? Who would entrust the young medical student with a difficult surgical
operation ? And for the matter of that how many men are there in
India today who by experience and study are fitted for such a burden ? This
brings me to the second and third points which I raised at the beginning
of this article — the circumstances surrounding the student and the
question as to his age.
Suppose for a moment
that the student mixes himself up with the kind of agitation described above
what will be the result to himself and to others? Unless he has had time
to give to study he will be forced to take ready-made, without question
or examination, the opinions of others, probably of those as irresponsible
as himself, and the more violent the opinion, the more will it appear palatable.
Very naturally so, of course. [Page
5] Youth
is the age of violent enthusiasms, and it is right that it should be, but
the enthusiasm must be directed into channels wherein there is but little
possibility of its doing harm to other people or of springing back and
inflicting injury on its possessor. In this way the enthusiasm of youth will
gradually become tempered by the wisdom of maturity, and the two
conjoined will serve as a powerful and admirable incentive to unselfish
action. In politics, however, tempered enthusiasm cannot be looked for in
youth. Indeed, we rarely find it among men of the world; and though the
educated man may know what he is excited about, the youth will be excited
without really understanding why — and nothing can be more injurious
both intellectually and morally than unreasoning excitement.
But
apart from the evil that may come to the young man himself, we must also
take into consideration his surroundings. What effect will the plunge into
politics have upon his relatives and friends, upon his College, upon his
teachers ? I do not lay so much stress, when talking to students, upon the
fear lest they may ruin their future careers by playing with the political
fire, because their generous hearts may revolt at the idea of placing their
own personal material welfare before what they regard as the welfare of
their country. That is a matter for the guardians and advisers to look
to; it is for them to prevent the youthful misdirected ardor from injuring
its possessor irretrievably — and this has to be done regardless of [Page
6] the
almost inevitable antagonism which will result. I put to the students rather
the question: "Have you the right to endanger the prosperity and peace of
your family by adopting a course which may be extremely injurious to them,
until by study, age, and experience you can form matured judgment?" In the
extreme case of the family as a whole approving of their young relative
thus imperiling their status and future, or in the case of a young man
without any family, then, provided he is of an age to understand more or
less what he is doing, he is entitled to do what he thinks proper and must
abide by the consequences: only, he should cease to remain a member of
a College which his actions would necessarily compromise. But such cases
are rare; for the most part the families are occupied in carrying on
peaceable avocations on various lines, which may be seriously interfered
with by a young man who engages in political agitation. Rightly or wrongly
it will be assumed by those who are on the side of law and order that the
home influences are unwise, that the youth is permitted to mix with
undesirable associates, that the College in which he is studying
encourages its young men to agitate, and the result will be that his relatives
will — at the very least — experience mistrust and disapproval,
while the work of the College will be hindered and its professors be regarded
with suspicion. The question then arises as to whether any student should
impose such a risk on [Page
7] his
family or allow the good work that his College may be doing to suffer through
his action. Common-sense, it seems to me, very clearly says "No". For
my own part I have never come across one single parent who has been willing
that his son should mix himself up in political agitation of any kind,
and I know well the obstacles which such action places in the way of the
College of which the young man may happen to be a member. My own experience,
therefore, leads me to the belief that a student has a very clearly defined
duty to avoid participation in political agitation, a duty which he owes
primarily to his family which has supported him since his birth and which
is equipping him for life's struggle in the near future; secondarily to
his College which exists for the purpose of helping him to the best of
its ability, and whose professors and teachers are making every effort
to be of service to him in his needs, and also to himself — for youth
should spend in study the period of life naturally allotted to it, so as
to develop those powers and capacities without which a young man cannot
become a useful citizen of his mother country.
It
would, indeed, be incomprehensible to me how any young man situated as
above described could for a moment — knowing the difficulties to which
he will expose those around him — take up so selfish a course, were it
not for two facts: first, the ignorance of the student, and second, that there
are [Page
8] people
in India who are past-masters in the art of tempting young men to neglect
their relatives and their teachers for what they are pleased to call the
glory of the service of the Motherland. Cunningly written articles in newspapers,
soul-stirring speeches by irresponsible orators to audiences of which they
know nothing, clever persuasions by professional agitators who rush through
a town sowing seeds of discord and unrest, whose harvest must be reaped
by the inhabitants, by the families and by the teachers — these are
the ways in which the young man of the present day is tempted from the
plain duty before him to engage in work which seems surrounded by a halo
of glory and sacrifice strongly contrasted with the homely, less glittering
and often seemingly humdrum and troublesome path of making himself a good
son and of acquiring the knowledge which will enable him later on to decide
as to the many momentous problems of political life. Natural it is that
the temptation should prove too great for the students to withstand, natural
that they should be led away by the attractiveness of the possibilities
opened out before them and by the thought of becoming national heroes and
even martyrs; but upon those who thus call them there is a very heavy responsibility.
Are these people who incite the students to take action prepared for that
responsibility ? Have they even for a moment thought about it ? Do they
intend to support those families which may be ruined through [Page
9] the
action of young men who have listened to schemes which seem to promise
so much but which are often so bitter in their fulfilment ? Have they stopped
to think of the harm they are doing in unsettling the minds of those who
should be leading a quiet studious life, but on whose weak backs they are
placing the burdens of strong men? I venture to say that they are making
immeasurably difficult the duty, which lies upon those of us who are directly
responsible for the education of the young, of instilling good principles
and right motives; and, during the last few years, this duty has thus become
more and more onerous, more anxious, and less successful in its
performance. By all means let them ruin themselves, and if their ruin
contributes towards the greater prosperity of their country — and I
am prepared to admit freely that it sometimes may — then I honour and
respect them for their self-sacrifice; but let them beware of allowing the
ruin to fall upon such as barely know what they are doing, who have no business
to be allowed to suffer when those responsible for their suffering escape
unscathed.
After all, however, apart from these considerations, the main point in one
sense is that the young man cannot possibly know more than the barest
outline of political science, and the putting of political ideas by agitators into
his hands is as if a child were given a surgical knife and told to perform an
operation. The agitator does not seem to see that the very crudity [Page 10] of
the young man's efforts is as likely to do harm to his cause as to do good.
The question then arises as to what policy those, whose aim is to educate
the youth for his own benefit and for that of his country, should pursue as
against the methods of people who use the young impressionable spirit
without considering the injury which they may be inflicting upon it.
What are our ideals ? What is the object of education ? Does the patriotic
Indian aspire to see his country under a system of Self-government ? Of
course he does, and who will blame him ? Does he not wish as far as
possible to alleviate misery, to establish prosperity and to create peace and
harmony among all ? We are all agreed as to this. But the way in which all
these dreams are to be converted into living conditions of society is where
differences of opinion will arise. I have tried to show the utter harmfulness
of certain methods, and it remains for me to suggest what seem to me to
be means by which our ideals may be realised.
Let me premise by stating
that I conceive Indian Self-government to be in no degree incompatible with
a prominent place among the component parts of the great Empire to which
we all belong. I do not wish for a single moment to appear blind to the many
faults which the British people possess. As an Englishman myself, I can see
them very clearly. Nor do I for a moment deny that we make many [Page
11] mistakes, from lack of
understanding and from want of sympathy, in our government of India, and
these have to be remedied sooner or later, or we shall fail in the trust
which Providence has imposed upon us of guiding and helping our Indian
brethren in the task of the formation of an Indian nation, or at least of
a federation of nations within an Empire. This is a matter for the British
people and its national conscience, and it is good that the national
conscience should be pricked by those who know just when and in what
manner it requires pricking. But while making due allowance for mistakes,
there must be some great and world-affecting reason for the presence of
the English in India. East and West, it would seem, are not to be entirely
separated in the future; East is not to be East and West to be West,
for there comes a time in the great evolution of races when each is to learn
from the other not only those virtues which it lacks and which the other
possesses, but also that it is the ultimate destiny of mankind regardless
of creed or colour to live in peace and brotherhood. First in the small and
then in the large is the great lesson of brotherhood learnt, and I believe
that the great Empire to which we all belong is, as it were, an experiment
by Providence in the direction of a brotherhood which one day we may hope
to become universal. Therefore is it that while I look forward to the time
when India shall become a nation in the true sense of the word, I [Page
12]
also hope that she may be able
when that time comes to take her stand with many other nations — grouped
together for peace and harmony.
What we are concerned with at present, however, is as to how best to
prepare the coming generation to take an intelligent part in the work of their
country's regeneration. I, for one, believe that this preparation should be
begun in School and College, not by allowing the students to take part in
definite political agitation, but by setting before them, gradually and
according to their capacity to understand, the principles and history of
government both in the past and at the present time. In the School
Department, for example, I should prescribe a course of study which
should include the main features of the history as far as known of the
systems of government in ancient India, e.g., the systems as described in
Manu and as in vogue in the time of Akbar and of later rulers. To this
should be added a brief outline of the present system of administration as
adopted for the Government of India, together with a rough estimate of the
position and duties of the Secretary of State for India and the India Council.
This would, I think,
be sufficient for the average schoolboy and would probably cover a two years'
course in the highest classes, for, together with this, there must, of course,
be a syllabus of Indian and of English history, the former preferably by
some Indian writer of experience and note.[Page
13]
Coming to the College Department
we shall begin the really serious, and to a certain extent practical, study
of politics. In the first place, with the help of extracts from a book
such as The Imperial
Gazetteer of India (of which several volumes have already
appeared) the teacher may expand the knowledge of administration already
acquired in the School Department. The rough sketch may be completed with
as many useful details as can be given, and a comparison effected between
the present system and systems in use in the past, not in the nature of a
criticism but rather as a statement of differences and resemblances — for
the student is not yet prepared for critical examination. With such study will
go hand in hand a more detailed study of Indian history, and we must then endeavor
to give a careful survey of British history especially from the point of view
of the growth of Parliament [cf Anson’s Law and
Custom of the Constitution, Carter’s English Legal History and
other similar works suitable for the teacher’s reference] and
of the influence of the Reform movement both in Europe and in England, examining
in detail the causes leading to the English Civil War and to the American
and French Revolutions, ascertaining, in connection with the latter, the
reasons for the English opposition to the Revolution and the causes which
finally enabled the states of Europe to join in crushing the Napoleonic power.
I should then think
it advisable to explain the present political situation in England and to
survey [Page
14] recent
British legislation, pursuing the same course with regard to India, and at
the same time I should recommend my students to read small works on economics — both
Indian and European — and to study a book like that of Dr. Keynes on
the scope and method of political economy.
This
brings us to what now becomes of much importance — the showing of
the theory as it works in practice. Let the student study, for example, the
nature of the business as transacted by a Municipal or District Board, let
him obtain and read through carefully the Municipal By-laws, and let him
from time to time attend court to witness the administration of justice. Let
him read the official reports and statements in connection with the current
business of the Provincial and Imperial Legislative Councils and let him
read two classes of newspapers — that which supports the Government
decisions and that which opposes them fairly, and without distortion of
motive. And now the time has come for these young men to attend political
meetings, even while students of Colleges. Please note that I say attend
meetings, I do not say "to take a prominent part in organizing and
carrying out overt acts of political agitation ". As regards this I am in full
agreement with the Risley Circular which created so much feeling a short
while ago. School students, says the circular, may not attend political meetings,
and I think that this is a prohibition as much in the interests of the students [Page
15] themselves as in the interests
of public peace. But College students "may reasonably claim some wider
liberty of action than is permitted to schoolboys", and attendance at public
meetings, as distinguished from taking an active part in them, is therefore
allowed.
I think it extremely desirable that College students — at
any rate those who are training themselves to understand political questions — should
attend such meetings to hear the views of well-known responsible public
men of all parties and to weigh them as far as they are capable. Some of
the Professors of the College should also attend such meetings and afterwards — as
a matter of principle — criticize to the students the views of the
lecturers whatever they may be, so as to endeavor to show that there are
always two sides to every political question agitating the minds of the
public. Side by side with this, to make such a system as the above complete,
it is highly important that the student should be given opportunities of
understanding practically the nature of Government and its responsibilities.
As an American Professor has said: "A true political education......is
not a study of facts about civil Government. A man may possess vast knowledge
with regard to the workings of our social and political machinery, and
yet be absolutely untrained in those things which make a good citizen".
And there are two stages in the performance of this part of our task, first
the placing before the student the great ideals, the striving [Page
16] after which has made some
nations great and the loss of which has caused their downfall, ideals
for which great men have struggled and suffered in the past, and second
the making of the School or College a place in which practical experiments
may be tried, in which the students may be given adequate opportunities
of learning how to govern themselves so that they may be the more fitted
to govern others when such time comes. The adoption in the School of a
Prefectorial system on the lines of that introduced by Dr. Arnold of
Rugby, and of Debating Societies in which rules of procedure are carefully
studied and followed, are means whereby the students may be saddled with
a certain amount of the responsibility of power; as well as the institution
in the College of what are called mock parliaments and mock trials
and of associations connected with athletics and other occupations. In
this way the student will begin to understand the necessity for law and
order, the great responsibility of governing, the liability to error even
though intentions may be of the best, and the mischief of inexperience.
He will also be subject to the criticism and perhaps hostility of his fellow-students
and will learn to bear them patiently. He will suffer acutely because his
motives have been misunderstood and misconstrued, and he will see his fondly-cherished
schemes swept away under the ridicule or disapproval of his comrades. In
course of time he will begin to understand from his own small and insignificant [Page
17] experience the stupendous
difficulties which must inevitably be in the path of those responsible
for the government of a great country, he will learn how necessary it is
to think before he speaks, to study before he presumes to criticise, and
to weigh beforehand the probable results of any action he may think it
desirable to take.
If
our Indian students are trained somewhat on the lines sketched roughly
above, then I believe that Schools and Colleges will be rendering valuable
service to the nation that is to be. Young men will take their part in the
life of the world with a certain amount both of theoretical and of practical
knowledge ready for use in their relations with the many acute problems
which in these days beset the would-be reformer in India. Now is the time
for such students — presuming that their College career is ended — to
begin to mix in public life, provided that circumstances and surroundings permit.
I feel strongly that every young Indian ought to make a point of taking part
in some branch of public life. At present the people as a whole — from
want of the true kind of education — are far too apathetic even as regards
the welfare of the town to which they belong, to say nothing of the larger
interests of the province or of the country as a whole. In my own
experience as a member of the Benares Municipal Board I find that very
few of the constituents (if the term may be used) of the ward I represent [Page
18] regard me as anything more
than a machine which has the sole function of being put into activity to further
personal and private requirements. All this has to be changed, but the change
is to be effected by a systematic course of education and can be
accomplished, I venture to assert, in no other way. Let the elders
among us today do what lies in our power to press for such reforms
as we may think desirable, let us indulge in such political activity
as may best suit our purpose, and we shall only be fulfilling our bare duty
as citizens of our country. But let us beware of sharing our burden
with the young men of the coming generation until they have grown strong
enough to bear it by study and experience. We of the present
generation have two duties: first, to do all that lies in our power to
promote the welfare of our native land, second, to prepare our
successors for a similar task, when their time comes to take it up
and when we, grown old and weak, are no longer fit for the work, are no
longer in touch with the progress which we have been to a small
extent instrumental in bringing about. To each generation is the
country given in trust that it may pour out its life's service in the
cause of progress and of brotherhood, and heavy will be its responsibility
if it shrink from the task and shelter itself behind the youthful enthusiasm
of those whose turn has not yet come. Sad indeed will be the effect
on the coming nation if political [Page
19] activity is permitted to
those whose want of balance makes the result of their activity or their line
of action uncertain and not to be foreseen. Above all should the political
orator take heed lest the power of his oratory so excite the undisciplined
minds of the youths who may be in his audience as to lead them to do that
which he would himself, perhaps, be the last to approve and the first to
condemn. The law of the land may be constrained to punish those who may have
been the immediate cause of disturbance or of harm, yet there is a Law
above the law of the land which will judge him guilty who incites
to harm and will exact from him the uttermost penalty; and one the agents
of this great Law is the remorse of his own conscience.
When the coming generation
has reached manhood and has striven to fit itself for the work which lies
before it, then, for some time, will the two generations be working together,
the older gradually resigning its functions in favor of the younger, and
contenting itself with advice and words of caution. Finally the older generation
lays aside its burden and makes way for those whose duty it now is to take
up the trust in its entirety. Fanciful and unpractical as this may sound,
I believe it to be the ideal towards the attainment of which we should turn
our minds and activity. At any rate, I for one shall do all in my power to
prevent those committed to my charge from taking a practical share in the
political life of this [Page
20] country until they
are ready to enter it, for not only do I know the evil which will result
if they are allowed prematurely to involve themselves in the excitement of
political agitation, but I dare not lead them directly or indirectly
into difficulties from the consequences of which I am powerless to protect
them.
A few final words as
to the position of the teacher. It cannot be denied that he occupies a very
difficult position and, unless a reaction against present methods sets in,
his position will become increasingly difficult as time goes on. He himself,
of course, has his own political opinions and has a perfect right to take
part in political meetings, so long as he keeps this side of his life well
apart from his life in the school, but in these times of strong feeling this
is not so easy as it looks. So far as the lower school is concerned the position
is, perhaps, comparatively easy, for no teacher worthy of the name would
venture to unsettle the minds of his young pupils by forcibly turning their
attention to that which has as yet no natural place in their thoughts. It
is only in the two highest classes that the difficulty begins at all, for then
the student for the first time begins to come in contact with the life of
the world outside, and it is for this reason that I have suggested above
that in these classes the preparation for political life should be started.
But when we come to the College Department, the task of the Professor is
indeed hard. The young man is beginning [Page
21] to
feel that desire for political activity which, if rightly trained, is the
basis and forerunner of those qualities which will make the patriot and statesman
of the future. It is here that the necessity for impartiality becomes imperative,
and yet most difficult to display. The parents themselves, for the most part,
seem to pay but little attention to the political views of their sons, or
may even be so carried away by their own political opinions as to look with
indifference or even approval upon the entry of the younger members of their
family into the political arena; while the young men themselves — fired
with the enthusiasm of youth — will regard as
unsympathetic the Professor who avoids the temptation of expressing
determined views along the lines of their own personal inclinations. It is
all very well to say that the Professor must rise superior to these
considerations; no doubt he must, but it should not be forgotten at the
same time that if the Professor is to have that influence over
the students which is essential for their well-being, he must acquire their
confidence and affection — and in these days confidence is to some
extent dependent on similarity of views. I believe, however, that this is
a passing phase — I earnestly trust that it is — and that in
the long run the generous mind of the young man will instinctively respect
the Professor or teacher who endeavors to follow the path of his duty towards
his pupils even though it may clash with their desires or with their [Page
22] own
conception of unselfish patriotism. It seems to me, moreover, that
if the course of historical and political training which has been outlined
in the preceding pages is intelligently followed, the mind of the student
will have become more otf less impressed both with the serious and
responsible nature of political life and with that knowledge
which is a
sine qua non of the intelligent exercise of political
functions; and by acquaintance with the problems of school-politics he
will be in a position to realise the difficulties, dangers and pitfalls
of the larger politics of the outside world. The task of the teacher is
to act as a guide to the student in his study, not to provide him with
second-hand opinions, nor even to suggest to him the acceptance of any
conclusions although they may possess the sanction of acceptance by those
who are qualified to judge. We must keep before us the ideal of truth
as far as it can be ascertained, we must impress upon the student the importance
of realising that facts
which he learns are in reality only so many data from which conclusions
may be drawn more or less helpful to the understanding of present
conditions and of the line of action which may be most conducive to
improvement, and we must not forget to show him that even among
those most earnest for their country's welfare, opinions may materially
differ as to the best course to be adopted. Formed in different moulds
we look upon facts from different standpoints, and, in consequence, [Page
23] our conclusions differ as well
as our estimate of the relative importance of the various facts in history with
reference to the present day. But we must have one common principle and that
is unselfish sincerity of motive; with it, there is hope for our country's future,
while without it we are doomed to destruction.
And if we claim that
those around us shall believe in our sincerity, shall not question the honesty
of our intentions, we must, in our turn, extend the same charity to others
whom we see to be working along their own lines towards what I firmly believe
is a common goal. We may and we have the
duty to question their methods; and in so far as those methods seem,
to us, subversive of the interests of the country and of its peace and harmony,
its law and order, by all means let us denounce those methods and work
against them to the extent of our ability, but even then we may credit the
individual with honesty, sincerity and patriotism, however misunderstood.
It is for the student
by study, thought, and judgment to understand what really underlies the service
of the Motherland.