The Annual Register 1914 / A Review of Public Events at Home and Abroad for the Year 1914

by Anonymous

At the end of July the number of persons employed on relief works was 4,684, whilst 102,338 were receiving gratuitous relief. The monsoon of 1914 was, on the whole, good, and the condition of the famine districts soon became the same as that of the rest of India, throughout the whole of which prices continued high till the close of the year, causing considerable distress amongst the poorer classes.

(3) PLAGUE.

As was to be anticipated from the returns for the last quarter of 1913 the plague statistics showed a considerable increase. The total number of deaths from October 1, 1913, to September 30, 1914, was 264,760, against a total of 181,668 for the corresponding months of 1912-13. The highest monthly total was 57,577 in March, the lowest 1,439 in July.

(4) BRITISH INDIA—GENERAL.

In closing the Legislative Session on March 24 the Viceroy was able to announce that a satisfactory settlement of the very intricate question of the treatment of Indians in South Africa had been reached, and that a telegram had that day been received from General Smuts that a Bill would be introduced into the Union Parliament to give effect to the report of the Commission. Unfortunately an equally satisfactory statement cannot be made regarding Canada and British Columbia. Here the grievance is not the manner in which Indians are treated within the Colony, but the almost absolute refusal to admit them at all. Although this attitude of the Colonies was perfectly well known, a steamer, the Komagata Maru, was chartered by certain Indian leaders, some of whom were known to be agitators and are believed to have been acting under German influence, for the conveyance of some 300 Indians, mostly Sikhs, to Vancouver. They were not allowed to enter the Colony (May 21), and it was with great difficulty that they were persuaded to re-embark and return to India. On the arrival of the Komagata Maru at Budge Budge, a station on the Hooghly near Calcutta, they were met by officers deputed to arrange for their dispatch by special trains direct to their homes at Government expense. The first train, with about sixty passengers, was despatched quietly, but, whilst the second train was being prepared, the men who were to be sent off suddenly fired on the police with revolvers which they had concealed, and one European officer was killed and three or four others wounded. The police were compelled to fire on the rioters, of whom sixteen were killed (Oct. 2).

Last year reference was made to the existence of widespread conspiracies (A.R., 1913, p. 400) the object of which was the overthrow of British power in India by any possible means, including murder and outrages of all kinds. Early in 1914 the Punjab police succeeded in discovering one of the most important of these. Eleven men were placed on their trial on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder, before a special court of sessions at Delhi, which began its proceedings in May. These lasted for three and a half months and resulted in three of the accused being sentenced to death and four to transportation for life, whilst four were acquitted. It is impossible to go fully into the details of the case, but a general outline of it affords an excellent illustration of the manner in which the work of sedition is carried on in India and who are engaged in it. In 1904-5 one Har Dayal, a resident of Delhi and a student of great promise in the Punjab University, was sent to St. John's College, Oxford, on a State scholarship of 200l. a year. He visited India in 1906 and delivered lectures, chiefly to students at Lahore, on the supposed needs of India. In 1908 he resigned his scholarship, and, returning to India, commenced a further course of lectures, openly advocating sedition, but not yet murder. Not long afterwards he left for America, where he is believed to have remained, making over his work to Amir Chand, accused No. 1, who carried it on zealously. In October, 1912, a Committee was formed at Lahore with the object of promoting anarchy on the lines followed in Bengal and the United Provinces, namely the distribution of inflammatory literature, teaching the art of manufacturing bombs, planning outrages, and engaging tools to commit them. If the attempt on the life of the Viceroy on December 23, 1912, was not actually planned by these conspirators they certainly knew who were engaged in it. Leaflets approving it were issued by them and distributed broadcast, and were even posted up in the colleges at Lahore. On May 17, 1913, a bomb was exploded in the Lawrence Gardens, Lahore, with the intention of killing Europeans, but, owing to the failure of the courage of the man engaged, the only result was the death of an Indian orderly. Various other outrages were planned, but miscarried from one cause or another. In October, 1913, there was a fresh outburst of activity and publication of leaflets. It was the search for these that led to the discoveries which resulted in the eleven accused being brought to trial. Most of them were young men who had received their education in Government schools and colleges, and some of them had obtained good posts in the public service. Although these conspiracies may be described as widespread, they were so only in the sense that they were carried on by agents in all parts of India. The men who actually took part in them were confined almost entirely to the class already mentioned. The great mass of the people of India are too much occupied with the task of providing themselves with their daily bread to take any interest in general politics.

The appeal of Mr. Channing Arnold, editor and proprietor of the Burma Critic, from his conviction by the Chief Court of Lower Burma in 1912 was dismissed on April 7 by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (A.R., 1912, p. 403). Their Lordships were of opinion that there was no misdirection on any point of law in the Judge's charge and that the jury had sufficient evidence to justify their findings on the question of fact.

The expectation of Germany that the entrance of Turkey into a war with a great Power in Europe would be the signal for a revolutionary outbreak in India was completely falsified. Instead of an outbreak of disloyalty there was one of fervent loyalty. Throughout the whole country from all races and all classes there came professions of attachment to the Government and offers of support of every kind (p. [200]). At the commencement of the war the Indian Government was able to send to Europe two complete Divisions of British and Indian troops, and these were followed a little later by the despatch of a third Division. This sending of Indian troops to fight side by side with their British comrades in a great European War aroused enthusiasm not only in the Indian Army, but also in the country generally.

The second expectation of Germany that, when they had succeeded in dragging Turkey into the war as their ally, there would be an outbreak of religious fanaticism throughout the world of Islam in general and of India in particular, was even more ill-founded than their expectation of a general Indian revolt. As soon as it was clear that Turkey was joining Germany the Viceroy (Oct. 31) issued a note pointing out the true facts of the case, how no interests of Islam were involved, and how completely England, France, and Russia had assured Turkey that, if she maintained her neutrality, her independence and integrity would be upheld at the close of the war. The truth of this was at once apparent to all educated Mohamedans; they knew well not only that no interests of Islam were threatened, but also that the Sultan himself was not a free agent. The Government of Turkey was really in the hands of the Young Turks, men hated and despised by all true believers, and who were truly described by Mr. Asquith in the House of Commons as possessing all the vices and none of the virtues of the old Turkish official class. The ruling Mohamedan Chiefs, from the Nizam to those of the Protected Malay States, issued proclamations pointing out to their subjects the true facts, and enjoining loyalty to the British Government as a thing required by the precepts of their religion and by their own true interests. Similar action was taken by all the important Mohamedan associations, and by leading Mohamedan gentlemen, including the Agha Khan.