Dec. 6.
Mr, Winston Churchill. can be relied upon to preserve his reputation as_an incomparable antagonist. 'There is nothing of the niggard in him. Having declared war on' the British Cabinet's Indian policy, he does not content himself with destructive speeches, although they are powerful' weapon in his armoury. He comes forward This own scheme of constitutional reform. He is not foolish enough to work out, the scheme without the guidance of perienced retired officials who have shown hostility to the White Paper Proposals and he is rewarded by securing a qualified tribute of admiration from Sir Austen Chamberlain. Not only. that, Mr. Churchill appears for three days before friends and lerities of the Joint Parliamentary Select "Committee and [creates an impression of extreme good temper, electrical vivacity and elegant dialectics. His definition of a "die-hard" is worth noting; it did not appear in yesterday's otherwise adequate summary of his evidence. Here it "an abusive term which is used! by persons who are often found every ignorant of the real foundations of British power and strength."
Mr, Churchill thanked the Committee for the friendly reception he had had and fu his turn was thanked for his own patience and courtesy. The episode w:
creditable demonstration of the fair-mindedness of the machine through which the proposed Constitution is passing in its examination for adoption. Tt. should certainly have gained for Mr. Churchill the respect of Indian critics, 'They are the last. to take umbrage at the plain, straightforward, hard-hitting opponent. And' his own appreciation of the shrewdness of the questions put to him by Indian representatives at the inquiry, such as that suave and erudite barrister-politician, Mr. 'M. R, Jaykaar, a probable Indian' Minister of the future, was frankly admitted in the leon cluding, compliments wherein Mr. Churchill intimated that had not only taught but learnt. That Mr. Churchill's scheme has the slightest chance of replacing.
put it mildly. It affords valuable the ofeial plan is unlikely, to evidence of the untenability of the attitude of many of Mr. Churchill's supporters. For his scheme is, in essence, an admis~ that some constitutional advance must be made. The trouble is that it takes account of the vital factor of Indian agreement... Therein the Government's scheme has advantage, The general public is naturally perplexed by the raging controversy among Indian experts in England. Mr. Churchill was daringly provocative when he referred pointedly to certain British supporters of the Govern.
scheme as "propagand-meaning, of course, to discredit their opinions. "The three gentlemen are Sir John Thompson, a recently retired official of exceptional experience, Sir Alfred Watson, late Editor of the "Statesman," and Mr. Edward Villiers, a prominent leader of the Calcutta business community. What have these wicked men been doing? Let there be a little discreet lifting of the veil from the doings of pensioned officials whose retirements are not of recent date, but of a date antecedent to the present transitional constitu. tion, Three years or more ago Sir Reginald Craddock (the last Lieutenant-Governor of Burma) and Sir Michael O'Dwyer (the last Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab) were the chief spirits in a movement to resist what they held to be the dangerous propensities of Lord Irwin's policy, the policy of the British Government and of all three parties, They eventually or~ ganized the Indian Empire Society which broke fresh ground in organising vigorous and not! too scrupulous propaganda against the Government's alleged proposals. In June last, with {the same inspiration but more in 1 political support, the Defence League was form-This propaganda first gave ip-service to the Simon Re port, skilfully taking advant lage" of some inept remarks of Mr. Wedgwood Benn who, had it not been for the restraining influence of Mr. Ramsay Mac-Donald, would have shelved that valuable document. Later was perceived that the presence 6f Sir John Simon in the Govern-
The propagandists, if, Mr. Chur+ chill does not mind, the label for: /his own adherents, weakened: im their admiration for the Simon Report's pivotal plan of provineial autonomy. The. "Morn= ing Post," to say nothing of. the. Rothermere Press—Lord: Rothermere showed. his Indian hand so long ago as.1929—came to the support of the Indian Empire Society, with" some outtageous garblings of fact and appeals to racial hatred which have disgusted responsible men in India and would, indeed, have been surely repudiated by Sir Michael O'Dwyer, if the excite~ ment of controversy had. not been too much for his Hibernian: emotions. Recognising that the Society was securing dangerous support from powerful section of Conservative opinion which takes its cue from the Bourbonism of places like Eastbourne, Cheltenham and Bourne-. mouth, "certain recently re~ tired officials, who had had actual experience of the working" of the present constitution—an advantage not enjoyed by the chief movers of the Indian, Empire Society, with the notable, exception of Lord Lloyd, whose grievances against Mr, Baldwin had other than Indian grounds—, started the Union of Britain land India which, in the mai supported the' Government's Scheme. There is no disposition to deny the right of the Joint Parliamentary Committ amend the scheme. But it is properly pointed out that the examination of the Constitution. by the three Round Table Conferences, in accordance with Sir John Simon"s proposal to the Prime Minister, has produced certain agreed principles which Parliament can hardly ignore hour. exposing itself to the charge in India of going back on pledges. This is interpreted by Mr. Churehill's friends affront to Parliament but it is) of course, a well-recognised doctrine to be found written large in the proceedings of the House of Commons, as, for example, in" the effect of decision'to submit a Bill: to Select Committee, In this pretty. duel of wits Mr. Churchill's use of the word propaganda seems to be self-damaging. So, too, is his nccusation—strongly re. pudiated by the Princes themgelves—that the Government has brought undue pressure to bear on the Indian States. The intricacy of the problem gives the Government's critics an advant~ lage because the answer, intended to. reassure those who are rendered uneasy by Mr, Chut-" chill and Lord Lloyd, may quite easily be seized upon in India by the Congress extremists to ridicule the Liberal Indians' belief that the proposed Constitution connotes a definite, advance. Moreover the tragedy of the campaign, to which the "Morning Post" has given such sinister support, con: vehemence of ' the adduced to show that Indi are not capable 1 of perform! the functions allotted to them. These arguments have been vein-foreed by racial arrogance and [contemptuous indictments which must have gravely embarrassed Lord Willingdon in his present. difficult task. They have completely ignored the basic fact that a largely Indianised administrative and legislative machine has exercised the very powers which the British clectorate is asked to believe that Indians cannot be given without, danger to the Empire, Mr. Churchill, knowing course that the Government of India has to combat, within certain all too rigid limitations, virulent attacks on its good faith from Indian extremists, affects to believe that propaganda, un-, fairly employed, has been used to ensure the support of its own officials for the Cabinet scheme. The answer is simple: the present proposals—and indeed the existing constitutlon—have their distant origin in the initiative successive Governments of India. Tt can hardly be main= tained that retired officials are bound to remain loyal to a ment ensured the due observance Policy of which they disapprove. of the Simon Report's status.
Yet there is the irrefutable fact
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.