And the laws of the Mânavas, which were so much abused by Mill, what do they teach?[86]
"Evil-doers think indeed that no one sees them; but the gods see them, and the old man within."
"Self is the witness of Self, Self is the refuge of Self. Do not despise thy own Self, the highest witness of men."[87]
"If, friend, thou thinkest thou art self-alone, remember there is the silent thinker (the Highest Self) always within thy heart, and he sees what is good and what is evil."[88]
"O friend, whatever good thou mayest have done from thy very birth, all will go to the dogs, if thou speak an untruth."
Or in Vasishtha, XXX. 1:
"Practice righteousness, not unrighteousness; speak truth, not untruth; look far, not near; look up toward the highest, not toward anything low."
No doubt there is moral depravity in India, and where is there no moral depravity in this world? But to appeal to international statistics would be, I believe, a dangerous game. Nor must we forget that our standards of morality differ, and, on some points, differ considerably from those recognized in India; and we must not wonder if sons do not at once condemn as criminal what their fathers and grandfathers considered right. Let us hold by all means to our sense of what is right and what is wrong; but in judging others, whether in public or in private life, whether as historians or politicians, let us not forget that a kindly spirit will never do any harm. Certainly I can imagine nothing more mischievous, more dangerous, more fatal to the permanence of English rule in India, than for the young civil servants to go to that country with the idea that it is a sink of moral depravity, an ants' nest of lies; for no one is so sure to go wrong, whether in public or in private life, as he who says in his haste: "All men are liars."
FOOTNOTES:
[17] Mill's "History of British India," ed. Wilson, vol. i., p. 375.