Viceroy's Stirring Appeal for Peace Falls on Deaf Ears:
Bloodshed in Calcutta's Streets: Wild and Impressive Mohurrum Procession row Our Own Calcutta, July 28.
Recently, there has been a_recrudescence of the communal trouble!
Calcutta, a Hindu procession having been attacked by Mahommedans when it was passing a mosque. This attack was quite unprovoked, for at the time there were no prayers being conducted in the mosque. Seven er) Jeight.people were killed and many wounded, The police, however, acted very promptly in the matter, many arrests were effected and the mob were soon got under control. The Hindus swore vengeance, and fear was felt that the great Mohur-rum Festival of the Mahommedans would provide the occasion for another deadly clash. This fear wa: Justified, though as it happened the first day passed without—incident. The Mahommedans, however, anticipated trouble, and it was not tha Mohurrum procession which was a! tacked by Hindus but a Hindu Rath Jathra procession was held up; by the Mahommedans who began great battle of brickbats whilst the Mohurrum procession was peacefully in progress elsewhere. The situattion'was soon under control and, beyond one victim of the mob's fury, J—a Hindu carter who was battered to death—bloodshed was averted. Following the riots, as was the ca isolated cases of stabbing in the streets, Mohurrom Procession 'The Mohurrum procession, by the' way, is the greatest public Moslem festival of the year. It celebrates the battle of Kerbeila in which the grandson of the prophet was slain. The processionists in Calcutta were chiefly Persian Mahommedans. It is 'a wild and impressive affair, Clad in black, the processionist their chests, crying "Hassan! Ha: san\" whilst' some of the more fana tical amongst them strike thei Dodies with iron chaing to whic sharp knives are in beautiful designs in various colours' and said to be a replica of the actual banners used in the battle Kerbella, axe caryled by the processionists. Four richly caparisoned horses, or "Dulduls" also walk in the precession, Throe of them re recent the steeds ridden by—the.
son and son-in-law of Hox the Prophet's grandson, and fourth the horse of Hossain hi which carries his two swords: and turban. At the head of the procession walks a single drumm the drums are of the "tom-tom kind—who notifies the progress of! the procession by beat of drum. Behind him follows a red standard, the "allan" of Abbas, uncle of Hossain, and behind this again is the zoolfiquer, a replica of the sword of, Akbar, the 18-year old son of Hossain, At night there are many processions throughout the city and the scenes becom wikler. "Some of the processionists Jcarry burning rags—the rags are soaked in parafin—on the ends of sticks which they whirl round their heads to the seemingly imminent danger of their fellow proce-sioristo, Others enact a sham fight whilst a bizarre effect is created by the numbers of illuminated emblems Dare in procession. All night lone' they ream the city, quite undeterred by the heavy showers of our rainy, season, and they do mot cease th! celebrations till about five o'clock the morning. There is very ith sleep for the rest of the community during the Mohurrum procession.
Anticipating trouble on the occasion of the Mohurrum festival the Viceroy made a great appeal for communal peace which, however, was quite ignored, as I have shown above, on the following day by both. Lord Irwin warned Pointed out the gravity of the situa. tion in regard to self-government} inasmuch as an essential condition its attainment is harmony betwee the two great communities, "By harmony," he said, "I do not_mean the surrender by 'a community of its individuality, but T do mean the harmonious intercourse of daily life and the mutual acknowledgement of common rights and duties in all that goes to make up Indian citizen hip." Lord Irwin, it is generally known, is a pious man and feels pro-underlying the riots, oration was a noble appeal to the Letter instincts of each community:—"T appead in the name of re-Jigion because I can appeal to nothing nobler and because religion the language of the sovl and it is a change of soul that India needs to-day....In all religion, I suppose, there must be present in the mind of the individual a sense of Fersonal deficiency, a consciousness of failure to apprehend more han a fraction of mystery _which constantly impels him with irresistible yearning to reach out for higher and yet higher things—There can surely be no greater tragedy Ithan that religion, which thes should be the expression and support of man's highest instincts, should be prostituted by an alliance with tions through which those instincts are distorted and disgraced." These fine sentments, however, fell on unheeding ears.
Case of Dr. Saver Some time ago I sent you ai account of a certain Dr. Sauer, german, who was arrested in Afy.' hanistan on a charge of murdering an Afghan. After an escape he sured near the fron tier and brought back—for {trial, The trial has been Jong-drawn out business and for a considerable time it iched. Costly' thought that the issue would har! for him. Recently, it was stated (that the fudge who had "tried the ease had' been imprisoned for mal-Deactices in connexion with another ease and, in the ordinary course of events, this would hi completely new trial which would have been a most trying ordeal for Dr, Sauer, News, however, has now arrived stating that the family the deceased Afghan has forgiven {him andy as a consequence the trio!
for murder falls through. Neverthe. less, Dr. Sauer's diftcultics are noi set over, ax it is said that he be tried on the Afghan Government's Accusation that he "almost endanz-Jered the public peace by his rash action."" This should not mean any serious punishment, however, ans possibly only a nominal sentence, so that the unfortunate doctor should soon be relieved of the terrible ao-{sity to which he has been sobject Torrential Rains On Wednesday night last we ex perienced one of the heaviest down pours of rain we have had in. Cal Jeutta for many years, The rainfall was accompanied with thunder and lightning, the storm pash ly over head. The drainage leutta has never been of the and is totally unsuited to the rairy {season of a tropical climate. Cor-sequently Calcutta suffered severe. ly. In some parts of the city the water was so deep that boats had to be used, whilst in others the peo [ple waded'ince deep thravgh water ito business, In Calcutta are mans! beautiful gardens with large tank, some of which are used for swim. ming, whilst others exist for the coo atmosphere they foster. During the storm many of these overflowed with the result that, the next morning there was the unusual spectacle of Indians catching fish in the streets. that this could only end in the in-Action of a mortal wound upon human character, upon India and upon the cause of religion, He also has been sparingly used in this temple, but most of the pillars and pilasters are of stone, ar are the huge drain pipes or gargoyles. shap-_ ed as the heads of crocodiles or}
Alan Cobham's Flight By, the time you receive this letter Alan Cobham will have left] India far behind on his flight to Australia; indeed, probably he will have arrived at his destination. He arrived in Calcutta last Saturday, his seaplane landing on the Hooghly in full view of hundreds of spectators. Mr. Cobham said that the Makaras. flight from Allahabad was made
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.