India.

Part of Orders of the Day — King's Speech. – in the House of Commons at on 14 February 1922.

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Photo of Mr Edwin Montagu Mr Edwin Montagu , Cambridgeshire

What I meant was that there are still imperfections. We were very desirous of meeting the objections which have been raised, and the imperfections which exist are under con- sideration. The scheme of reform has made the position of the Services different. There has been a transfer of certain responsibilities. There is also very great financial stringency and hardship which India in its present financial position is powerless to remedy. I can assure the House that the officers have been protected and supported not only by the local governments but by the Government of India and His Majesty's Government. Whenever the Secretary of State in Council has had reported to him conspicuous service in exceptional circumstances by much tried officers, he has never failed to express his appreciation, a fact which is so often forgotten when only the censures are remembered. It is obvious that we owe it to the services to reward their loyalty, and it is common knowledge that the services of India have helped to work the reforms and make them a success, with a loyalty traditional to them. We owe it to them and we intend to discharge our obligation to protect them in the discharge of the duties with which they are entrusted, and to do everything in their support.

That does not mean that, whenever a public servant in India does anything which we may think is prejudicial to the interests of India, that we are to be debarred from expressing any adverse opinions. If it were the rule that every officer should do as he liked, and it was wrong for us to express an opinion, there would not be a Government of India, or even a provincial government, but the government would pass into the hands of individual officers. It is because on occasion censure has been expressed that there has been a deliberate attempt to get the service in India to believe that they are not being supported by the Government, and I assure the House there is no foundation for that belief.

I read a speech reported in the papers this morning. Sir William Vincent is the home Member of the Government of India, and his speech has twice been quoted. I want to tell the House that it was at my suggestion that Sir William Vincent pointed out the prejudicial effects upon the service which continual abuse has with regard to recruiting. I am not surprised at what he has said on that subject. It is quite true there were only three successful English candidates at the recent test, but what, the House must remember is, that under the exceptional methods of recruiting we had to adopt under post-War conditions, we have got by selection 114 admirable candidates, and there is no reason to believe that by various kinds of methods there are not coming forward a sufficient number of recruits for the Indian service. If there are not, I can assure the House that the question of recruiting for the indispensable Indian services will engage our most earnest attention.

I want to say, if I may, one word on policy. After all, what is in the hearts of hon. Members supporting this Motion? This policy the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Mr. Gwynne) said was unauthorised by the Government. I do not know what he means by that. The declaration of the 20th August, 1917, was drafted by the Cabinet and made on the authority of the Cabinet. I really did not invent that policy. Sometimes it is attributed to my right hon. Friend the Lord Privy Seal. I cannot give claim of parentage to him. Let me read to the House a most shocking speech made in a previous Parliament by an eminent statesman. This is what he said: It may be that the public mind of India may expand under our system till it has outgrown that system; that by good government we may educate our subjects into a capacity for better government; that having become instructed in European knowledge, they may, in some future age, demand European institutions. Whether such a day will ever come I know not, but never will I attempt to avert or to retard it. Whenever it comes it will be the proudest day in English history. To have found a great people sunk in the lowest depths of slavery and superstition, to have so ruled them as to have made them desirous and capable of all the privileges of citizens, would indeed be a title to glory all our own. That was Mr. Macaulay in 1833, and had the hon. Member opposite been in the House and heard some of the language which Mr. Macaulay used, he would not have been able to retain his indignation at such terrible proceedings which he might have described as only being worthy of a Coalition Liberal of this generation. Now about the policy which really has been developed from the days of Mr. Macaulay and is the result of a century of British politics; I want to mention this because I feel that I must say something to India. Our policy is the maintenance of the integrity of the British Empire coupled with the grant of opportunity of development to full self-government within that Empire. I think I ought to say something about the conditions of that policy because I do not think it is at present sufficiently understood by the legislatures of India. His Majesty's Government announced that policy in 1917, and it was ultimately endorsed by Parliament by the passage of the Government of India Act. I do not think there will ever be any question of going back on that policy, but I want to explain that in my view, while there may be every reason for suggesting that Parliament was right, Parliament would not be justified at the present time in thinking of extending the scope of that policy. It is true that when the Act was passed it was intended to be transitional, and that it was described as a first step towards further instalments of self-government; but it was made plain at the time, and I want to make it plain now, that these further steps would depend upon Parliament becoming satisfied with the use made of the first instalment. That was to be the criterion. Upon Indians themselves depended the view which Parliament would take of future steps. It was our view and our desire, and it is still, that if the matter went well, eventually further steps should be taken, but it was and is the determination of Parliament that if the matter did not go well, no further steps should be taken. I ask for no judgment at this stage, but I think I do right in expressing my belief to Indians who are working these reforms and other Indians who are not, that I believe that so far as this House is concerned, that criterion will not be departed from. To win their way to self-government, under the supreme and continuing authority of the King Emperor, they must show; not merely individually but collectively, a readiness for all that is involved in self-government—matters which were mentioned in this House at the time of the passage of the Act, the creation and education of an electorate in political affairs, the safeguarding and toleration of opposing views, the protection of the rights of minorities, and willingness to share the risks which are inherent in the art of government, of maintaining order by whatever steps may be necessary against any challenge. No useful purpose will be served by minimising the great difficulties. No human being can say for certain what the eventual form of self-government will be. It is not necessary to contemplate that Indian genius will wish to accept every self-governing institution which we possess. We have not yet determined, and cannot determine at this stage the size of the unit of self-government, whether it will be the existing provinces or other provinces. These things will all solve themselves in the future, but at the present moment the absolutely essential condition of any further progress is the successful working of the first instalment that Parliament has given. I want to say one other thing at this very serious moment. The self-government which we promised India the opportunity of working was self-government within the Empire, and therefore I want to say to India that I do not believe the British Parliament will ever jeopardise the Empire. After all, Indians, in their thinking moments, will be the first to recognise that it was with British enterprise and with British energy the present Indian Empire was built up, and that it is under British guidance and with British help that their future will be achieved. I do not believe, for our sake, as well as for India, that this Parliament will ever jeopardise the existence of Empire, and therefore I would say in all sincerity to India that the exhibition of separatist tendencies and of disloyalty to the King Emperor, or futile attempts to mar the welcome given to the King Emperor's son must postpone or, at any rate, prejudice the good will of the British people towards Indian aspirations.

These are my concluding words. It is well, I think, that Indians should realise that, based on good will and partnership, there are no rights that will be denied her by the British Parliament. But if the existence of our Empire is challenged, if the discharge of the responsibilities of our Government towards India is prevented, if demands are made in the very mistaken belief that we contemplate a retreat from India, then India will not successfully challenge the most determined people in the world—a people who will once again, as it has done so recently, answer the challenge with all the vigour and determination at its command. On the other hand, if India will believe in our good faith, as she ought to believe, if she will accept the offer that has been made to her by the British Parliament, then she will find that the British Empire, for which so many Indians and Englishmen have so recently died, and which at this present moment is saving the world, will give her liberty but not licence, freedom but not anarchy, progress but not stampede, peace, and the fulfilment of the best destinies that the future can possibly offer her.