THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
T^ ^- n 
 
 Pamphlets issued by the \United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 SHOWING 
 
 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER 
 
 OF 
 
 THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS 
 
 AND THE 
 
 OPINIONS HELD BY EMINENT NATIVES OF INDIA 
 
 Who are OPPOSED to the Movement < 
 
 ALLAHABAD.- 
 
 PRINTED AT THE PIONEER PRESS. 
 
 188 8. 
 
& 
 
 »t3l?* 
 
UL5 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS, 
 
 Page. 
 
 Introduction . . . . . . . . v 
 
 Extract from Pamphlet of the Raja of Bhinga . . i 
 
 In What Will it End ? By Mr. Theodore Beck . . 6 
 
 The Danger of an Indian Mutiny from the spread of 
 
 Sedition, by Munshi Imtiaz Ali . . . . 32 
 
 Speech of His Highness the Maharaja of Benares . . 38 
 
 Letter from Mr. Syed Hosain Bilgrami to Sir Syed 
 
 Ahmed . . . . . . . . 51 
 
 Speech made at Bombay by Mr. Mahomed Hosain Hakim, 67 
 Government and the National Congress, by Sir Syed 
 
 Ahmed . . . . . . . . 72 
 
 The Pioneer on Sedition . . . . 79 
 
 Pamphlet of Choudhri Nasrat Ali on "The Coming Mutiny 
 
 in India" . . . . . . 92 
 
 Appendix. — The United Indian Patriotic Association — 
 
 Rules of the Association . . . . . . i 
 
 Patrons, Members, and Donors of the Association, iv 
 
 List of Affiliated Muhammadan Associations . . xv 
 List of Public Meetings held against the National 
 
 Congress . . . . . . . . xxxii 
 
 M317607 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The object with which this pamphlet has been 
 compiled and circulated may be ascertained by re- 
 ferring to the Rules of the United Indian Patriotic 
 Association, printed in the appendix. It is intended 
 to supply English politicians and other gentlemen 
 who take an interest in India with information as to 
 the views held by some of the ablest and most in- 
 fluential natives of India concerning an agitation on 
 foot in that continent, for the object of which sym- 
 pathy is now being canvassed in England. The 
 movement, which centres round an institution mis- 
 named " The National Congress," has for its aim 
 the introduction by degrees of representative Gov- 
 ernment into India. The agitators, while employing 
 in India methods of a dangerously seditious charac- 
 ter, as any one may learn who cares to read this 
 pamphlet, make an appeal in England to the most 
 cherished principles of English Liberalism, and to 
 the strong sentiments of justice inherent in the 
 English race. They base their chance of success 
 almost entirely on the effect they hope to produce in 
 England on people unacquainted with the political 
 condition of India, as they have little hope of finding 
 in India responsible statesmen willing to accede to 
 their demands ; for among the many charges of folly 
 and criminality levelled by them at the Indian 
 
VI THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 Government, a desire to commit suicide has never 
 been included. To produce anyhow a sensation in 
 England they have placarded the streets with notices, 
 stating that their Debating Society represents the 
 opinions of 200,000,000 people, the monstrous 
 absurdity of which assertion can be only realised by 
 people resident in India, though its falsity may be 
 seen by a mere glance at the appendix of this pam- 
 phlet, in which it is shown that not only have large 
 public meetings all over India condemned the 
 movement, but more than forty political associations 
 have expressed their bitter hostility to it. To the 
 Englishman in England they appeal against the 
 alleged tyranny of his brother in India. They 
 profess to be the champions of a down-trodden 
 nationality, ground down by a greedy band of Anglo- 
 Indian officials. That they represent not a nation, 
 but a party recruited from certain small classes in a 
 certain group of Indian nations — (mostly nations 
 down-trodden before English rule, but now raised by 
 means of the colleges created by Anglo-Indians), — 
 and that they are stoutly opposed by men in all 
 parts of the continent belonging to other classes, 
 and more especially the sturdier and more martial 
 races, are facts which the United Indian Patriotic 
 Association is anxious to bring prominently before 
 the eyes of the English public. The selection of 
 writings published in this pamphlet will, it is hoped, 
 make this sufficiently clear. 
 
 The writers belong to the two main racial divi- 
 sions of India, Hindus and Muhammadans. The 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. Vll 
 
 Raja of Bhinga is a Baron of Oudh, belonging to the 
 chivalrous and brave caste of Rajputs, the second 
 and most highly esteemed of the four castes of 
 Manu, the fighting or ruling caste. This caste 
 ruled India before the Muhammadan invasion, and 
 during the Muhammadan empire held the highest 
 positions of military command. The Raja's ances- 
 tors were men of high rank under the Muhamma- 
 dan Emperors, and their deeds of prowess have been 
 recorded by the Raja in a short monograph. The 
 Rajputs of Oudh have entirely thrown in their 
 influence against the Congress, and their most illus- 
 trious names will be found in the list of members 
 of the United Indian Patriotic Association. The 
 whole fighting force of the Hindus of Oudh is sub- 
 ject to their influence. A second Hindu name of great 
 significance in this compilation is that of the Maha- 
 raja of Benares, a nobleman of the old school, and 
 the representative of a famous royal house. Turn- 
 ing to the Muhammadan writers, Sir Syed Ahmed 
 is the chief leader of the Muhammadans throughout 
 India. Mr. Syed Hosain Bilgrami is a high official in 
 the Nizam's Government, and is distinguished for his 
 literary abilities. Munshi Imtiaz Ali is Legal Adviser 
 of the political association of the Barons of Oudh, 
 and is a man of great influence in that Province. 
 Chaudhri Nasrat Ali is a taluqdar of Oudh. Mr. 
 Muhammad Hosain Hakim practices at the Bombay 
 Bar. But the most important name in the whole 
 list of opponents of the National Congress is that 
 of the first Patron of the Association, His Highness 
 
Vlii THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 the Nizam of Hyderabad. The premier Prince of 
 India, ruling a country as large as that of a first- 
 rate European power, his name is regarded with 
 affection and esteem by Muhammadans in all parts 
 of the continent. Sir W. W. Hunter seems to 
 think that the political forces represented by the 
 National Congress are so great that the British 
 Government, if it sought to thwart them, would 
 wreck itself in the attempt. Suffice it to say that 
 the name of the Nizam alone is by itself ten times a 
 match for them. 
 
 The members of the United Indian Patriotic 
 Association, while strongly opposed to the intro- 
 duction of representative institutions as utterly 
 unfitted for the present state of the country, yield 
 to none in their desire for the true advancement 
 of the people. But they do not believe that the 
 way to secure this end is by an effort to wrest the 
 power from the hands of the Indian Government, 
 or by attempting to coerce it, either by uninformed 
 British electors, or by the ignorant masses of 
 India. While recognising the value of the strong 
 sense of justice towards India that animates 
 the public in England, they do not believe this 
 feeling to be so superficial in Englishmen as to 
 evaporate entirely on their arrival in India, nor 
 do they admit that Anglo-Indian statesmen have 
 shown a want of regard for the good govern- 
 ment, progress, and advancement of the country. 
 They therefore invite the cultured English public to 
 hesitate before forming a judgment on the present 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. IX 
 
 complicated political questions at issue in India, 
 and if they have an hour to spare, to peruse the 
 collection of speeches and articles published in 
 this pamphlet. 
 
 THEODORE BECK, 
 Hony. Editor, United Indian Patriotic 
 
 Association. 
 
DEMOCRACY NOT SUITED TO INDIA. 
 
 By the Raja of B king a.* 
 
 A very able pamphlet with the above title has 
 appeared, analysing the constitution, aim, and 
 pretensions of the National Congress, and discuss- 
 ing the fundamental principles of Indian politics. A 
 few extracts are here given : — 
 
 In the Preface the Raja says : — " I entreat the 
 martial races of India in general, and my Rajput 
 brothers in particular, to pause before they decide 
 to take any part in the aforesaid movement which, if 
 not confined to Bengal and Madras, cannot fail to 
 end in misrule and anarchy." 
 
 An examination of the proposals of the National 
 Congress is thus summed up : — " They are for 
 the most part crude, ill-considered and unpractical, 
 showing no signs of political ability or insight, and 
 affording no ground for anticipating political results 
 of any value from the introduction of representative 
 institutions into India." 
 
 As to the methods employed by the agitators, 
 the writer says : — " The real, though not always the 
 avowed, object is to persuade the people that the 
 power of Government has in various ways been 
 abused, and ought to be diminished, and that a large 
 proportion, if not all the ills to which they are 
 
 * This pamphlet may be obtained at the Pioneer Press, Allahabad, India. 
 Price,— annas 8 (8 pence;. 
 
THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 >^ 
 
 subject, are the direct result of the action or the 
 negligence of Government. Consider first the effect 
 which an agitation, primarily directed to this end, is 
 likely to produce in India. It is true that the 
 speeches of the agitators abound in loyal protesta- 
 tions. It is a common practice at the Congress 
 meetings to propose cheers for the Queen-Empress, 
 to express the most exaggerated attachment to the 
 person of the Sovereign, and even occasionally to 
 acknowledge the benefits which India owes to the 
 British rule. But the whole thing is obviously 
 forced and artificial, designed to catch the ignorant 
 or unwary in England, and, it must be admitted, 
 with considerable apparent success. It is of small 
 practical advantage to express devotion to the 
 Queen-Empress when everything done by her ser- 
 vants is persistently denounced and misrepresented, 
 or to extol British administration in the past while 
 everything is done to weaken and discredit it in the 
 present or future. The British rule to which all 
 this loyalty is professed, is the rule of past time and 
 distant places ; the British rule as it is here and now 
 is held up on every side to reprobation ; and which 
 of the lessons is the more likely to be learnt by the 
 ignorant and unthinking masses ? The third Con- 
 gress report begins with a glowing description of 
 the extraordinary results achieved by a century of 
 English rule. ' British education and British litera- 
 ture instinct with the highest principles of civil and 
 religious liberty ; British history and the examples 
 of Britain's noblest sons — these the grandest gifts 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 3 
 
 ever bestowed by conquerors on a subject nation, 
 poured with an unselfish hand into the minds of a 
 noble, though fallen people, alone rendered this great 
 Congress a possibility.' This is for English con- 
 sumption. The ' Conversation between Maulvi 
 Fariduddin and Ram Bakhsh,' which is being circu- 
 lated among the masses, adopts a very different 
 tone. There is no eloquence wasted about the 
 Queen-Empress or « the grandest gifts ever bes- 
 towed by conquerors on a subject nation.' The ob- 
 ject of the pamphlet is to contrast India as it is 
 under the British Government in its present form 
 with India as it would be under representative in- 
 stitutions. It is in the form of a dialogue between a 
 High Court pleader and a villager, to whom the 
 former explains how all the evils which the peasant- 
 ry suffer should be attributed to the form of Govern- 
 ment now existing, and will disappear if it is recon- 
 stituted on a popular basis." 
 
 The effect of the spread of literature of this 
 stamp is thus described in the Raja's pamphlet : — 
 
 " There can be no doubt that such writings con- 
 stitute a most serious political danger. It is not as 
 if they were addressed to people trained in the 
 methods of European democracy and accustomed to 
 distinguish between the most severe criticism of the 
 measures of Government and the desire to destroy 
 its authority. The readers of the ' Conversation 
 between Maulvi Fariduddin and Ram Bakhsh' are 
 wholly destitute of the experience which would 
 make such a notion intelligible. The only idea that 
 
THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 denunciations of Government and assertions that it 
 is the cause of their poverty and all their other mis- 
 fortunes can possibly convey to their minds is that 
 what is necessary is a general rebellion and the des- 
 truction of every European in the country. This 
 feeling is enormously strengthened by the attitude 
 assumed by Government towards the agitators and 
 their preaching. The ignorant masses are as little 
 able to understand toleration by Government of its 
 enemies as to understand that the enemies of 
 Government do not desire its overthrow. Such 
 toleration is universally regarded as mere cowardice 
 and the consciousness of weakness." 
 
 We close our extracts from the pamphlet with 
 the following : — 
 
 " It is time to consider very shortly the question 
 recently so much discussed — ' In what will it end ? 
 The answer given by many whose opinions are en- 
 titled to respect is that, unless checked, it will end in 
 revolution and massacre. They see that the agi- 
 tators are lighting fire close to the most combustible 
 and explosive materials, that no hand is raised to 
 stop them, but that on the contrary well meaning 
 men of undoubted loyalty and patriotism are, with 
 extraordinary infatuation, encouraging them in their 
 work. They see that every grievance is being fost- 
 ered under the pretence of constitutional reform, that 
 in the name of national unity and the fusion of races 
 every form of internal dissension is stirred up, and 
 that in the name of peace and good-will between 
 England and India the people are being taught 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 5 
 
 to hate their rulers. It may well seem that to all 
 this one end only is possible. 
 
 " But notwithstanding these considerations, it is 
 too early to despair, and there is still abundant 
 ground for hope. If the conclusions stated in the 
 earlier chapters of this work are sound, the agitators 
 do not yet represent the people of India or more 
 than the smallest fraction of the people. Moreover, 
 those whom they do represent can never themselves 
 be dangerous except indirectly and by inciting others. 
 The brave races of India are as yet untouched ; the 
 natural leaders of the people still hold aloof from the 
 work of destroying the results of the patient and de- 
 voted labours of a century. If a strong and fear- 
 less policy is adopted and consistently adhered to, 
 there is nothing to fear from the designs of the 
 agitators." 
 
THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 IN WHAT WILL IT END? 
 
 By Mr. Theodore Beck. 
 
 (FROM THE " PIONEER.") 
 Jack Cade : There shall be in England seven halfpenny 
 loaves sold for a penny. All shall eat and drink on my score ; 
 and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree 
 like brothers and worship me their lord. Go to Sirrah ! Tell the 
 king from me that for his father's sake, Henry the Fifth, I am 
 content he shall reign ; but I'll be protector over him. Now 
 show yourselves, men ; 'tis for liberty. We will not have one 
 lord, one gentleman. Away, burn all the records of the realm : 
 my mouth shall be the Parliament of England. — (Shakespeare : 
 Henry VI, Part II, Act IV). 
 
 I. 
 
 As it is my belief that the agitation of which 
 the National Congress is the visible head will, if un- 
 checked, sooner or later end in a mutiny, with its 
 accompanying horrors and massacres, followed by a 
 terrible retaliation on the part ol the British Govern- 
 ment, bringing absolute ruin for the Musalman, the 
 Rajput and other brave races, and resulting in the 
 retardation of all progress, I wish to place before 
 my countrymen the reasons which have led me to 
 form this opinion, and to invite a refutation of the 
 arguments adduced. We had a sharp lesson in 1857 
 about the inadvisability of not studying the under- 
 currents of thought in India, and I fear that if we let 
 the Bengali Press and the Congress agitation go on 
 for another ten or twenty years, we shall have as 
 disagreeable an awakening as we had then. 
 
THE' INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 
 
 There are two things to be distinguished in the 
 National Congress \ first, its object ; second, its modus 
 operandi or method. In its method lies the danger. 
 Were its object not visionary and unattainable, but 
 wise and beneficial, the danger would still exist, 
 unless a radical change were made in the means by 
 which it was sought to effect the object. But before 
 pointing out the latent danger of the method, let me 
 say a few words about the object — the proposed 
 reconstitution oi the Legislative Councils. 
 
 One of the speakers in the last Congress did 
 me the honour of alluding to some criticisms of mine 
 on the proposal to introduce parliamentary govern- 
 ment into India. He said, and many papers which 
 criticised me also said, that the intention of the 
 Congress stopped far short of a parliament, and was 
 confined to the scheme about Legislative Councils, 
 and therefore that all my arguments were beside 
 the mark. But I note in the "Tamil Catechism," 
 printed at the end of the report of the Madras Con- 
 gress, the following question and answer : — 
 
 " Q. — Then you think the Congress will really 
 be of great use ?" 
 
 "A. — Yes, most certainly ; for one of the best 
 means of promoting the welfare of India is the estab- 
 lishment of a Grand Council on the lines of the Eno-- 
 lish Parliament, and if persevered in and wisely guided 
 and supported by the whole country, the Congress 
 will gradually, when India is fit for this, be converted 
 into an Indian Parliament, which will take the place 
 of the sham Councils of the present day." 
 
THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 From this and a hundred other indications, I 
 conclude that I was right in thinking that a parlia- 
 ment is what the promoters of this movement have 
 as their goal, and that the assurance that the only 
 object is a reconstitution of the Legislative Councils 
 is the language of diplomacy. But I will leave 
 the parliament aside. I will suppose that the ulti- 
 mate ambition of the Congresswallas is their pro- 
 posed reform of the Legislative Councils, and that if 
 Government suggested going a step further, every 
 man who now supports the Congress would turn 
 round and oppose such a proceeding as too radical. 
 I will now discuss this measure, which its advocates 
 complacently describe as extremely moderate. 
 
 The proposal, as formulated by the National Con- 
 gress, contains seven distinct clauses, some of them 
 embodying several distinct propositions, and to all 
 these clauses and propositions six hundred men gave 
 unanimous consent ! In the first clause it is stated that 
 the number of members on the Legislative Councils is 
 to be "materially increased," and of these not less than 
 one-half are to be elected, while not more than one- 
 fourth are to be members ex-officio, and not more than 
 one-fourth nominated by Government. In the sixth 
 clause it states that "all legislative measures and all 
 financial questions, including all budgets, whether 
 these involve new or enhanced taxation or not, are to 
 be necessarily submitted to and dealt with by these 
 Councils." It will thus be seen that the elected mem- 
 bers have only to gain one supporter amongthe official 
 or nominated members to secure a majority and be 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 
 
 absolute. The use to which this reformed Council is 
 to be put, is thus described by Mr. Surendranath 
 Banerji, the proposer of the motion: — " It is impos- 
 sible to think of a domestic grievance, or a matter of 
 domestic complaint, which will not be remedied, if the 
 constitution of the Councils were changed and re- 
 modelled according to our programme. Talk of the 
 separation of judicial from executive functions, why, 
 the reform would be effected at once, if we had the 
 making of our own laws. Talk of the wider employ- 
 ment of our countrymen in the public service, why the 
 Queen's Proclamation would be vindicated to the 
 letter (applause), if we had some control over the 
 management of our domestic concerns. (Applause). 
 You fret and fume under the rigour of an income-tax 
 which touches even the means of subsistence, why 
 the incidence of the tax would be altered, the mini- 
 mum raised, if we had anything to do with the imposi- 
 tion of the tax, or if we were permitted to modify it. 
 (Applause)." Some further notice of the magnitude of 
 the demand may be gathered from the philanthropic 
 froth of an English lawyer who is innocently trying 
 to ignite the gunpowder. "The day will come," said 
 Mr. Eardley Norton, " when an infinitely larger and 
 truer freedom will be yours, when the great question 
 of taxation will be within your grasp, when you will 
 in truth realise that you have got something more 
 than mere potential power, when you shall place 
 your hand upon the purse-strings of the country and 
 the Government. (Loud and continued applause). 
 Money is power, whether it be in the hands of an 
 
10 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 individual or of a Government. He who has the 
 dispensing of money is he who has the control of all 
 ultimate authority. (Cheers). Once you control the 
 finances, you will taste the true meaning of power 
 and of freedom. (Cheers)." 
 
 Now let us suppose these Councils constituted, 
 and let us suppose Government to propose a 
 measure, for example, the income-tax, to which these 
 high-minded democrats object. There are two pos- 
 sibilities. Either the elected members support the 
 Government, or they oppose it.- It is pretty clear 
 which they will do ; but suppose, for the sake of ar- 
 gument, they support it. Is anyone so foolish as to 
 imagine that it will be less unpopular because the 
 elected members agree to it ? Everyone will think 
 that Government coerced them. They cannot take 
 on their shoulders the odium and the responsibility 
 which everyone rightly attributes to Government. 
 Nor can Government shirk this responsibility. 
 Now, suppose they oppose the Government. Is it 
 conceivable that under these circumstances Govern- 
 ment could continue to govern ? They want money 
 to pay the army and their servants, and the Council 
 refuses them. They are to bear the weight of the 
 responsibility ; they are to protect the country 
 from Russia ; they are to prevent the martial races 
 of Upper India, Behar, and other places from throw- 
 ing off the yoke of the native rulers belonging to 
 castes and races whom they despise, placed over 
 them by competitive examination ; and yet they 
 are to have no power. The electorate is to " taste 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. II 
 
 the true meaning of power and of freedom " — without 
 the responsibility. Well, in this case of Govern- 
 ment finding itself frustrated by the Council — the 
 case to which Mr. Surendranath Banerji looks 
 forward with delight, the only case in fact which 
 gives any point to the Congress proposal — what 
 is Government to do ? It must do one of two 
 things : either abolish the Council, or retire from the 
 country. The former case will cause great exasper- 
 ation ; the latter we do not intend to do, nor do 
 the Congresswallas want it. The experiment of 
 these mixed Councils has been tried in the West 
 Indies, and Mr. Froude points out that it is one of 
 the causes of their decline in prosperity. The 
 elected members, he says, always vote against 
 Government, and thereby the greatest amount of 
 friction is produced and the greatest unpopularity 
 of the Governor. In Jamaica, when Government 
 overrode the decision of the elected members, a 
 Negro gentleman, named Gordon, a well-meaning 
 agitator, called a big public meeting against Govern- 
 ment. The Negroes went armed. Some English 
 soldiers went to see : a fight ensued, the Negroes 
 began to ravage the land, the country was put under 
 martial law, Gordon was hanged, and the Con- 
 stitution was abolished. That incident gives a 
 graphic picture of what would probably take place 
 in India, but on a hundred times bigger scale, if this 
 proposal of the Congress were adopted. 
 
 But there is a minor measure which Gov- 
 ernment might adopt, without such disastrous 
 
12 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 consequences. A change might be made in the 
 present Legislative Council by which a small number 
 of native members might be elected by specified con- 
 stituencies, no increased power being given to the 
 Councils, and no handle in the executive. Such a 
 reform would possess a specious resemblance to the 
 proposal of the National Congress, and it is not 
 inconceivable that Government might throw it out 
 as a sop. I venture to say that this would, in my 
 opinion, be a fatal mistake. It would as much satisfy 
 their appetite as a sparrow would that of a hungry 
 tiger, and it would give a gigantic stimulus to the 
 whole movement. Moreover, when there are so 
 few seats, it would be jvery unfair to give any con- 
 stituencies or interests a permanent footing on the 
 Council. The Parsees, for example, are a wealthy 
 and important community. If they were represented 
 according to their numbers in an Indian Parliament, 
 then in a Parliament of the preposterous dimensions 
 of 3,000 members there ought to be only one Parsee. 
 The measure would be unfair on those who were 
 left unrepresented. For the elected members would 
 consider it their duty to push the interests of their 
 constituencies. And thus the Government, too, 
 would lose, for this duty towards the constituency 
 would conflict with the Imperial duty which alone 
 should animate the members. A further objection 
 to this measure is, that it would insert the thin end 
 of the wedge for the agitators ever to hammer at, 
 and it would disguise the true nature of the British 
 power in India, which is, and must be, a despotism, 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 13 
 
 controlled not by ignorant masses, but by the law of 
 duty. A cosmopolitan bureaucracy, with the ultimate 
 authority in the hands of Englishmen, is, it seems 
 to me, the only possible ambition for the Indian poli- 
 tical idealist. 
 
 Besides this main demand of the National 
 Congress, there are a number of minor proposals 
 which are some objectionable, some unobjection- 
 able. I do not propose to discuss them because 
 they would carry me far away from the main thesis. 
 They have to be noticed only as showing in 
 a plain and unmistakable way one of the princi- 
 ples constituting the modus operandi of the agi- 
 tators. The principle is this : — That the Congress 
 seeks to strengthen its hold on the community 
 by opening its doors to every kind of political 
 grievance. Thus, while bent on one main object — 
 to seize the reins of Government — it encourages 
 everyone who cares for some other object to 
 join and vote for the representative proposal, in the 
 hope that the mighty uproar, when directed on his 
 pet scheme, will give it a chance. The army was 
 held out as a bait to the Mahomedans, but they 
 caught sight of the hook. The unofficial Euro- 
 peans and Eurasians with amazing simplicity have 
 walked into the trap, and have of course been received 
 with open arms. Anyone with a following and a 
 grievance is welcome. It all adds fuel to the fire. 
 I am now well launched off on the discussion of the 
 method of the Congress, and I have to justify the 
 proposition I made at the commencement of this 
 
14 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 discussion. And I ask now — What will be the effect 
 of this ? What will be the result of keeping open a 
 great grievance-shop in this Empire ? What will be 
 the effect on the minds of people who go and listen 
 for four or five days to glowing accounts of injus- 
 tice and mismanagement, brought in from all parts 
 of the continent ; to the brutality of this damnable 
 political agent, who " betrays his trust to his con- 
 science, his country, and his Queen;" to the cruelty 
 of the Government which causes "thousands of their 
 countrymen and countrywomen to be killed every 
 year by tigers and leopards " because of the Arms 
 Act ? And when you have carefully hunted out every 
 grievance — and I suppose no one has no complaint — 
 and have collected them and tabulated them, and 
 when the whole year round the press reeks with 
 them, and once a year all the grievance-mongers 
 come together and blow off their eloquence, will it 
 strengthen the Empire ? It will be a great running 
 sore which will never heal because the ambition of 
 the agitator will demand fresh grievances as fast as 
 any are removed, and he will create them if they do 
 not exist. There will be no difficulty in this. In 
 every country there are men dying of starvation; there 
 are miscarriages of justice and acts of oppression — 
 this is the sad order of this world. Who that has 
 once seen the East End of London, with its million 
 inhabitants sunk in squalor, dirt, and misery, their 
 faces ingrained with degradation and suffering, can 
 forget the terrible sight ? Or the spectacle, of our 
 great civilised city at night, with the drunken men 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 1 5 
 
 reeling out of the public houses and the brazen faces 
 of the women ? There is nothing so shocking as 
 this in India. But suppose London were under 
 foreign rule instead of being under " the most en- 
 lightened Government in the world," all these mise- 
 ries would be wrongly put down to the foreigner, 
 and the forces of anarchy would arise in irresistible 
 strength. So it will be in India. The agitators tell 
 the people that all their ills, the miserable poverty of 
 sections of them, are due to the English, and that their 
 nostrum is a magic wand that will set all right. The 
 manufacture of grievances is already in full swing. 
 The Congress could no more get on without griev- 
 ances than an English political party could without a 
 programme. For without grievances it would die. 
 And the Congress has to be kept alive because, if 
 Mr. Hume's ambition is to be realised, it will some 
 day wake up and find itself a real Parliament. 
 
 I have now to discuss the spirit in which these 
 grievances- are laid before the public, and the means 
 adopted for stirring up the ignorant. I maintain 
 that this spirit and these means are disloyal and 
 seditious. I must now define the precise meaning 
 that I attach to the term "disloyal." For I shall 
 at once be told that the raising of three cheers for 
 the Queen is a frequent phenomenon in Congress 
 meetings, and that many of the delegates not only 
 say but feel they would be sorry for the English to 
 leave India. Granted. To doubt the fact would 
 be to doubt their sanity. But I still call them dis- 
 loyal. If a boy abused and injured his father to 
 
16 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 whom he owed his means of support, I should call 
 him an undutiful son in spite of the fact that he 
 knew that his father's death would be his own ruin. 
 The loyalty which consists of not wishing the 
 British army to go, and yet of doing everything to 
 weaken the Government, trying to seize from it all the 
 power of rule and undermining its influence in the 
 hearts of the people, is a kind of loyalty I loathe. I 
 had rather have an honest foe than an insidious and 
 backbiting friend. Real loyalty tries to strengthen 
 the Government and breathes a spirit of gratitude. 
 The other loyalty is identical in its effects with the 
 disloyalty of a wily enemy. We judge of men by 
 their deeds and not by their words, and we judge of 
 their loyalty by whether their actions tend to re- 
 move the soreness from the hearts of men or to 
 aggravate it. 
 
 Coming now to the means adopted in this 
 Congress agitation, the essential feature is that 
 they do not confine their action to the educated 
 classes, but make every effort to extend it to the 
 ignorant. This tomfoolery about delegates neces- 
 sitates it. Mass meetings are held and addressed by 
 fiery orators ; and inflammatory literature is circu- 
 lated in the vernacular. Only the man who believes 
 in the infinite gullibility of the Englishman can dare 
 state that the masses in India can understand the 
 question of the reform of the Legislative Councils, 
 of which they have never even heard the name. As 
 easily could a company of English rustics compre- 
 hend the philosophy of Kant. To understand how 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. \J 
 
 the Hindu is to govern India under the cloak of the 
 British name by means of a representative system 
 imported from England, the English with their 
 swords standing by as the willing slaves of their 
 rulers, is a conception sufficiently difficult to tax the 
 intellectual resources of even a Calcutta graduate. 
 One broad issue arises at once to the popular mind. 
 British rule or Native rule ? And when the English 
 are abused and the grievances of the people are dwelt 
 on, can there be any doubt on which side they will 
 decide ? To illustrate this by an example : — At a 
 certain town a meeting was held, and as usual they 
 secured as chairman (by what means I will not spe- 
 cify) a Mahomedan, so as to keep up the deceitful 
 farce that the Mahomedans are with them. He 
 was an uneducated nobleman, with nothing but the 
 primitive ideas of rule in his head prevalent in the 
 savage land from which he hails. They stood up 
 and abused the English before him, one man calling 
 English Assistant Collectors monkeys. What will 
 be the effect on the mind of that wild and ignorant 
 chief ? I know of an unlettered Thakur Baron in a 
 Native State who asks of his friends when the next 
 mutiny is coming, being quite indifferent which side 
 he takes, but longing for something to relieve the 
 monotony of his dull life. I will not give his address 
 lest the Congresswallas should invite him to be 
 chairman of a meeting in his country, or should send 
 him a copy of the pamphlet to which I shall allude 
 further on, when I shall bring more specific charges 
 of disloyalty. 
 
18 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 II. 
 
 In the first part of this discussion I pointed out 
 that the very constitution of the National Congress 
 was such that it was bound to foster a spirit of dis- 
 content and mutiny in the people ; that a Grievance 
 Hall, as a permanent institution, would be like a 
 running sore bringing all kinds of aches and pains 
 to the body politic ; and that the delegate system, 
 based as it was on popular support and popular dis- 
 content, was bound to encourage a kind of public 
 speaking and literature, the object of which would 
 be to picture in glowing colours the injustice of 
 Government. And thus, however strong and how- 
 ever loyal the hands that controlled the movement, 
 however much they might wish not to inflame dis- 
 content among the ignorant, it would be practically 
 impossible to prevent the National Congress and its 
 ramifications from becoming a deadly engine of 
 sedition. 
 
 What then will be its effect when the leaders 
 of this Congress, the authorised official heads, pub- 
 lish in their authorised official volumes, and throw 
 broadcast over the land, as an example to their 
 followers in every district, literature of an actively 
 incendiary nature ? At the end of the report of 
 the National Congress is printed a pamphlet which, 
 I am told, has been largely circulated in the verna- 
 cular, in which case a certain number of potential 
 mutineers has probably been already created by it. 
 I shall make some extracts from this poisonous 
 tract, but I can, in so short a space, give no adequate 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 19 
 
 notion of the amount of venom hidden in it. I re- 
 quest all who take an interest in public affairs, and 
 in the future of this glorious country and of its 
 gifted peoples, to purchase a copy of the report and 
 study the tract for themselves. It represents a hy- 
 pothetical conversation between a Congresswalla 
 (a Maulvi ! ) and a peasant. The Congresswalla 
 points to the difference in prosperity between two 
 villages — one S/iams/ipur, which is owned jointly by 
 the villagers, and another Kambakhtpur, owned by 
 an absentee Raja. The former is said to typify 
 India as it would be under a native representative 
 government, and the latter, India as it is under Bri- 
 tish rule. A vivid contrast is drawn between the 
 prosperity of Shamshpur and the misery of Kam- 
 bakhtpur. Every misfortune from which our poor 
 peasants suffer, whether removable by Government 
 or beyond the resources of human power to cure — 
 the poverty, the extortions of the money-lender, the 
 oppression of the police, the ill-effects of canal water 
 ■ — are described with studied accuracy as ruining 
 Kambakhtpur, while from all of them Shamshpur 
 is free. With such illusions did Jack Cade urge on 
 his band of rebels. I will now quote : — 
 
 Maulvi Fariduddin : — " But how does your 
 village thrive ? " 
 
 Rambaksh : — " How does it thrive ? Why, 
 Maulvi Sahib, you know that there never is a day 
 but that there is some case from Kambakhtpur in 
 Court ; that we are growing poorer and poorer ; that 
 land is going out of cultivation ; that we have scarcely 
 
20 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 oxen enough to plough what we still till. Look 
 down the street ; why the houses are half of them 
 nearly in ruins, and the two abkari shops that the 
 Sirkar has set up here are always full. Even this 
 chopal, built by our forefathers and so much needed 
 for our meetings and our guests, is now in ruins. 
 Look at Shamshpur. It is twice as populous as this 
 bustee (village), and yet there is no abkari shop 
 there, and the lumbar dar says there never shall 
 be, and so say they all. Thrive indeed ! Of all the 
 miserable places in this whole zila, Kambakhtpur 
 is nearly one of the worst." 
 
 Thus the British Government is charged with 
 making the people drunk by its liquor policy ; to its 
 door is laid the poverty of the peasantry ; and re- 
 gardless of facts, it is said that the poverty of the 
 country is increasing, and the land is passing out of 
 cultivation. 
 
 Further on, English officials, as a class, are thus 
 described : — " They don't know the difference be- 
 tween a 6-anna crop and a 16-anna crop, and press 
 in bad times for rent, so that we have to sell our 
 cattle ; they don't know who is reliable (matbir), and 
 they make advances, when none ought to be given, 
 to ne'er-do-weels that lose their money, and then say 
 we are all budmashes (bad characters, rogues), and 
 won't even give seed-grain to the best of us, when 
 times are such that we really need it. And then 
 they are fussy and self-conceited, and won't hear a 
 word from any of us. There was the old tank there, 
 the Soorujkund, that from generation to generation 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 21 
 
 used to irrigate half the village ; that burst when I 
 was a boy fifty years ago. Well, we wanted the 
 Raja to repair this. It wouldn't have cost many 
 hundred rupees, and the whole village knew from 
 their forefathers how well it worked. But no ! 
 Naib Sahib knew better ; he wouldn't listen to us. 
 ' What you cattle-folk know ? Hold your tongues.' 
 He was all for new-fangled plans. He would bring 
 a /-///(channel) of the Sirkari canal to irrigate the 
 village. We told him that canal water is cold, that 
 our land lay low, that it would not do. But what 
 was the use ?. ' What you cattle-folk know ? Hold 
 your tongues ;' and so the kid was brought, and 
 the first year it overflowed and swamped half the 
 crops, and then when the water dried up the canal 
 people came and measured up all the land, and 
 made us pay tax for ' one watering.' A fine thing, 
 seeing it had ruined our crops. But we had to 
 pay, and now it is bringing the reh ( a saline 
 efflorescence) all over our best lands. The Raja 
 pays no heed to us ; his naibs understand nothing 
 of our affairs. They order this and order that, press 
 us for money in season and out of season, they 
 know nothing of village matters themselves, and 
 they won't hear a word from us because they think 
 they are all-wise and we utter fools— and under 
 such a system (dastur), how can a village be other- 
 wise than ruined ? " 
 
 Thus, even our benevolent efforts to avert 
 famine by means of irrigation are used as a dagger 
 wherewith to stab us. I will close my extracts with 
 
22 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 the following charming description of an English 
 Collector, Mr. Zabardast: — 
 
 Rambaksh : — "Remember him ? Ram, Ram, 'ska 
 nam mutlo (don 't mention him) ; I bear his marks 
 now (where I can't show them to you, Maulvi Sahib)> 
 though it is twenty years ago. You see, his lashkar 
 (camp) came to our village. There was no grass for 
 the horses ; the Collector shouted to the Tahsildar, 
 who said Rambaksh was responsible. ' Oh,' said 
 the Sahib, striking me with his whip. ' You are the 
 son of a pig, the misbegotten {suar ka bac/ia, haram- 
 zada). I '11 teach you how to attend to orders. Here, 
 khlassi (tent-pitcher), tie him up and give him thirty 
 baints (blows with a cane), and lay it well on.' 
 Now the Tahsildar had never spoken a word 
 to me about the matter. I tried to explain this, 
 but the Sahib hit me over the mouth and face, 
 with his whip, shouting out ' hold your tongue. I'll 
 teach you ! Tie him up, tie him up, flog his life 
 out ; ' and I was dragged away and flogged till I be- 
 came insensible. It was a month before I could 
 walk. Yes, he was a bad one ; many Collectors 
 have I known — some good, some indifferent — but 
 this was the only real devil." 
 
 Now what does this mean, and what will it lead 
 to? It means — if Government allows this sort of 
 propaganda to go on — it means the massacre of 
 Enojishmen, and their wives and children. For on 
 what material is this seditious trash thrown? Not 
 on the educated and cultured. Not on those who 
 owe their means of livelihood to British rule, and 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 23 
 
 who would be swept away at once if it went. Not 
 on men who are afraid of fighting. The people of 
 these Provinces are not cowards ; they love a fight 
 as well almost as an Englishman. We had examples 
 at Delhi and Etawah. And some classes of these 
 people, notably the Muhammadan and the Thakur, 
 the most spirited and pugnacious, have lost terribly 
 by the turn in the political kaleidoscope. Religious 
 fanaticism is not yet dead. And the poverty of the 
 whole Muhammadan community and of the noble 
 families is so distressing, and their backwardness in 
 English education is so great, that only a Govern- 
 ment which was the slave of noise or doctrinaire 
 theories would frame measures in disregard of it. 
 Now if they are urged to dwell on their sorrows, 
 which are invariably laid to the British Government, 
 instead of trying to improve themselves by trade 
 and education, the result will be that disloyalty will 
 take its seat in their hearts. Do you think they 
 will stop at reform of the Legislative Councils ? 
 And do you think the Congress people, who have 
 stirred up these passions, can allay them ? They 
 would be blown away as butterflies in a hurricane. 
 
 The worst sufferers by a mutiny would be 
 Muhammadans. As far as savagery goes, both sides 
 would have a good fling. At such a period men 
 become fiends, and the innocent and the guilty, the 
 strong and the defenceless, share the same fate. 
 The English nation, on whose benevolence at home 
 the Congresswallas lay such stress, would forget all 
 about constitutions and elective councils, and cry 
 
24 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 onlv for vengeance. But Eng-land would not lose her 
 national existence, while the Muhammadan would 
 be irretrievably ruined. This is why the Muhamma- 
 dan leaders wish to keep their people from the 
 whirlpool of political agitation. My revered chief, 
 Sir Syed Ahmed, whose humble disciple in matters 
 political I boast myself, has pointed this out clearly. 
 No one has even grappled with his arguments, but 
 in place of reason a shower of mud and abuse has 
 been hurled at him ever since. He has been called 
 selfish, foolish, childish, and a flatterer. But the 
 fact is, people in other Provinces and of other na- 
 tions can in no way understand the circumstances 
 and feelings of the people here. The Bengali has 
 made enormous progress under British rule ; his 
 political star is in the ascendant ; how can he 
 put himself in the position of the Musalman 
 whose greatness is in the past, and who sees ruin 
 staring him in the face ? If, in spite of this, he 
 will disseminate his poisonous literature among 
 Muhammadans, have not Muhammadan patriots a 
 right to be angry ? In Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, 
 there was no mutiny, though, if report be right, 
 materials exist for one in the last of these Provinces. 
 To people there it seems an unreality, a chimera. 
 But it is far otherwise here. Our old men were 
 middle aged in 1857. The Bombay Gazette urged 
 the Muhammadans of the N.-W. P. to indulge in 
 a little " wholesome grumbling," if they could find 
 anything to grumble about. Pray how, if we start 
 grumbling, are we to be sure that it will remain 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 2$ 
 
 " wholesome ?" There is plenty for Muhammadans 
 to grumble at. This so-called self-Government of 
 the municipalities, in which Muhammadans have 
 been bound hand and foot and handed over to their 
 rivals to be governed by them, is a case in point. 
 An order just issued by the Bengal Government 
 that all minor appointments are to be given by 
 competitive examination — an order which will almost 
 destroy the Muhammadan middle-class which cannot 
 for one generation at least acquire English educa- 
 tion sufficient to compete with others — is another. 
 But rather than bring these things forward and 
 create a popular agitation, we will submit to them 
 as the lesser evil. Another Syed Ahmed, the 
 great Wahabi, and Maulvi Ismail, his supporter, 
 raised a great popular agitation, but urged their 
 followers never to attack the British. They fought 
 the Sikhs, but after that what took place ? To 
 every thoughtful Muhammadan the idea of another 
 mutiny is as horrible, more horrible I believe than 
 to an Englishman, and to every Musalman lady 
 more dreadful even than to an English lady. 
 
 I have written the above on the supposition 
 that the promoters of this movement have no 
 desire of raising a storm, but are doing it unwit- 
 tingly, not knowing the country. But this is by no 
 means as certain as it at first sight appears. In 
 the report of the Congress, after many eloquent 
 harangues on urging forward "the chariot of India's 
 destined development," there comes with a sense 
 of infinite relief a speech by a man, Babu Ambica 
 
26 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 Charan Muzamdar, who had the courage to express 
 opinions distasteful to the majority. He said : — 
 " There is a kind of maniacal writing in many of 
 the petty Vernacular papers that would qualify, 
 and should qualify, the writers for prison diet." 
 But he was shouted down. This is a small incident. 
 It would not be fair to press it too far. Of very 
 much more serious account as showing the conscious 
 drift of the movement is a pamphlet written by 
 Mr. Hume, " The Father of the Congress," 
 entitled The Star in the East. At the close are 
 printed some articles from the Indian Mirror, 
 evidently written by the same hand ; but whether 
 written by him or not, printed and sanctioned by 
 him in this pamphlet. These letters are actively 
 and consciously seditious. No one but a madman 
 would have written them if he did not wish to bring 
 the people to the verge of rebellion. I make the 
 following quotation : — 
 
 "We again quote Mr. Payne: — ' The settlers 
 (at Cape Colony) petitioned for representative gov- 
 ernment in 1841, but their claims were neglected 
 [they took no measures to make the?nselves disagree- 
 able), and so little attention was paid to their wishes 
 that the Home Government, when the Australians 
 refused to take any more convicts, determined to 
 make the Cape a penal settlement, and in 1849 
 despatched a ship-load of convicts to Cape Town. 
 The colonists, who were resolved to make a stand, 
 rose in arms and refused to allow them to be landed. 
 This incident fixed their claims on public attention, 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 27 
 
 and in the next year (1850) the Governor was em- 
 powered to summon a constituent council for the 
 purpose of settling a more acceptable form of 
 government.' 
 
 " Full responsible Government was then con- 
 ceded, and though their path, in other ways, has 
 been beset with thorns, this was the end of the 
 colonists' troubles with their Government. 
 
 " Now, can anything show more clearly than 
 this simple, unvarnished story that the whole secret 
 of eliciting reform at the hands of our good Lord 
 and Master, John Bull, is to make oneself disagree- 
 able ? You may apparently complain and petition ad 
 infinitum ; thus did the Canadians, the Australians 
 and the Cape, but they took nothing by their 
 motions ; they might shout until they were hoarse, 
 but until they began to kick, to fight, or evince a 
 readiness to do so — until, in fact, they began to 
 make themselves disagreeable in good earnest — no 
 one paid the slightest attention to them. 
 
 " Very clearly we have to make ourselves dis- 
 agreeable, and please God, as time goes on, we will 
 do so, and no mistake. But there are ways and 
 ways of doing things. We do not approve of a 
 resort to arms. We shall not break either the laws 
 of God or man. We shall work within both con- 
 stitutional and common law and local law limits, 
 but we shall nevertheless hope to make ourselves 
 ultimately so stupendously disagreeable as to force 
 even our claims on public attention, and so secure 
 those modifications in the existing form of the 
 
28 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 administration which are essential to the prosperity 
 of India, and the well-being of her now greatly 
 depressed and suffering population," 
 
 He also quotes Canada as rising in arms, praises 
 the Canadians for it, and says Indians must take 
 this lesson to heart, but not rise in arms. However, 
 if freedom of the Press and the right to agitate 
 be interfered with, he says : — " We also may begin 
 to think of sterner measures to vindicate our rights." 
 Is this direct incentive to mutiny or not ? Does it 
 or does it not tend to a repetition of those scenes 
 at which the whole world shuddered ? He brings 
 forward examples of colonies which have gained 
 the identical proposals of the National Congress 
 after, and only after, an appeal to arms. He lays 
 the greatest emphasis on this again and again, and 
 tells his followers to take the lesson of the colonies 
 to heart. He tells the people of India to take the 
 first steps towards this rebellion, and to make them- 
 selves " stupendously disagreeable." He says there 
 are other ways of accomplishing this without an 
 appeal to arms, but he does not say what those 
 ways are. Then he says it would be wrong for In- 
 dians to mutiny ; but he does not explain why it was 
 right in the colonists, as he positively asserts it was, 
 and would be wrong in the people of India. Now 
 Mr. Hume may wish us to believe that the sentence, 
 telling the people of India not to appeal to arms, is a 
 proof that there is nothing seditious in his intentions. 
 It is nothing of the sort. To have ended the reason- 
 ing with the natural conclusion and exhortation to 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 29 
 
 revolt, would have been absolute treason, and would 
 have brought Mr. Hume within the compass of 
 the law. Therefore he gives all the steps of the 
 reasoning and leaves his readers to draw the right 
 conclusion, himself cleverly ending up with an illogical 
 statement by which he seeks to evade the direct 
 charge of treason. No man who really wished to 
 keep the people quiet, and to dispel notions of revolt, 
 would have held up the picture of countries which 
 had gained what they wanted by revolt. A man 
 who wants to cure a drunkard does not place a glass 
 of brandy on the table before him, deliver an oration 
 on the delight of its flavour, tell him he can have it 
 by stretching out his hand, and that many people 
 have derived the greatest benefit from drinking 
 brandy, but that, under present circumstances, it 
 would be wiser if he abstained. 
 
 Furthermore, he insinuates that the people ought 
 to mutiny if freedom of the Press and the right to 
 agitate be removed. Why freedom of the Press 
 and the right to agitate in particular ? No one but 
 an Englishman would have singled out those two 
 things as the only causes justifying a rebellion. 
 There are many things an Oriental cares infinitely 
 more about — his religion, for example. And would 
 not anyone, Oriental or not, care more about the 
 alleged poverty of the country — not to mention the 
 castigations of Mr. Zabardast ? A Press Act would 
 be no grievance to the people in Kambakhtpur ; may 
 they not rise for their many grievances which he is so 
 careful to point out to them ? And even if a Press 
 
30 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 Act be the greatest evil the people of India could 
 suffer, is it not dangerous morality to teach them 
 that they have the right to rebel ? Perhaps, indeed, 
 Government will not carry its mania for license of the 
 Press to such an extent as to allow active incentives to 
 revolt. Will Mr. Hume then be ready to stand by 
 his words ? Let him head the Congress and die the 
 death of a martyr, with as many Congresswallas 
 as he can get to stand by him ! But let him not stir 
 up the Mahomedan and the Thakur to their ruin. 
 
 All this that I have said may appear to English 
 ears very unwarranted by the circumstances. I 
 don't think it will so appear to the ears of my Hin- 
 dustani countrymen. Everything looks quiet and 
 peaceable. Popular agitation flourishes in England 
 and nothing bad takes place. Yes ; but England is 
 not a conquered people under foreign rule. And, 
 moreover, the people there is king. Popular agita- 
 tion is nothing more than the working of the king's 
 mind. The constitution at once brings into effect the 
 people's wishes. But to talk of a " constitutional 
 agitation" when there is, and can be, no constitution, 
 is a perversion of language. And agitation without a 
 constitution to work it off on is the prelude of blood- 
 shed. Look at Ireland. And popular agitation in 
 India will inevitably end in its becoming another 
 Ireland on a much larger scale. We live apart from 
 the people, and we take little trouble to see what is 
 going on. The thing is still in its infancy and could 
 be checked. The virus has not yet spread far in these 
 Provinces. But after a time it will be very difficult to 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 31 
 
 check it. It is no proof that because things are 
 smooth and quiet there is no danger. How was the 
 Mutiny of 1857 ushered in ? The Anglo-Indian world 
 up to the hour when the great tragedy burst upon 
 them was busily amusing itself as best it can in this 
 country with social nothings. And what were the 
 causesof this Mutiny? Thegenerally assigned cause 
 is that the people feared their religion was about to 
 be touched by Government. This National Congress 
 is not a religious business. But religion is not the 
 only thing which affects men. Poverty is as 
 strong a provocative of crime as anything else. 
 Mr. Dadabhai Nowroji is diligently trying to prove 
 that India is growing poorer. This can produce no 
 harm in his own community, who live like princes 
 and are a thousand times as rich as they used to be. 
 But on nations which are really impoverished it 
 may produce deadly effects. A political cause is 
 also given for the great Mutiny — the annexation of 
 Oudh. If the passions of the people be stirred up 
 about politics, there is no reason why there should 
 not be a mutiny. The soldiery will readily imbibe 
 the sentiments, and then all will be up. Mr. Hume 
 boasted that he and his organisation could reach the 
 soldiers and fill them with their sentiments and ideas. 
 The people will get ready and wait for a favourable 
 opportunity. If there be a single battle lost in a 
 fight with Russia, this will be taken as the signal, 
 and the whole of India will be aflame. 
 
 THEODORE BECK. 
 
32 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 THE SEDITIOUS PAMPHLET. 
 
 Translated from the Urdu Letter of 
 
 M mis hi Imtiaz Alt. 
 
 The supporters of the National Congress have 
 published a pamphlet, which consists of a conversa- 
 tion between two hypothetical personages, Maulvi 
 Fariduddin and Ram Bakhsh, the effect of which, 
 on the hearts of the readers, will be to produce a 
 settled conviction that the English rule exercises 
 a crushing oppression on the people, and that the 
 laws, rules, and administration of the Government 
 are bad, despotic, and ruinous for natives of India. 
 In the last paragraph of the pamphlet the intention 
 is expressed of circulating it in every village and 
 hut in the whole country, and of making every 
 man in India understand its meaning. And fur- 
 ther, that over and beyond the circulation of the 
 book, hired men should be engaged, who should 
 travel to every village, and in every way try to make 
 the people understand its meaning. 
 
 The contents of the book are such as to pro- 
 duce, without a doubt, on the hearts of the readers, 
 a feeling of opposition to the whole administration of 
 the Government, and to cause in the ignorant a most 
 dangerous excitement of anger and hatred against 
 British rule. Moreover, it raises such new hopes of 
 representative government, and of untold visionary 
 benefits to be derived therefrom, as in all probability 
 will affect the brains of even the educated classes. 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 33 
 
 The book, besides being printed in the other 
 vernaculars of India, has been published in Luck- 
 now by Ganga Pershad Varma, and the supporters 
 of the National Congress have displayed the great- 
 est energy in its circulation. Subscriptions for 
 printing and distribution have also been raised. If 
 but for a short time this state of things continues, 
 and the supporters of the National Congress be 
 successful in their attempts, then it is certain that 
 the result will be that the whole people of India, 
 with one heart and one tongue, will become hostile 
 to the British Government. When such has be- 
 come the case, it will be extremely difficult to set 
 things right again. There is thus the greatest 
 danger that from these evil doings of the National 
 Congress a universal discontent will arise, and then 
 it will be impossible for Government in a time of 
 necessity to derive from such discontented subjects 
 any kind of assistance. In such time it will be able 
 to obtain help from those men only who think their 
 own well-being, or ruin, is involved in that of the 
 Government, or who stand at their posts from a 
 sense of duty. But from subjects who want by un- 
 lawful force to change the Government, and who 
 hate it, it can expect nothing. And if a time of 
 difficulty on the frontier or with a foreign Power 
 should arise, at that very time they will attempt to 
 create disturbance within. 
 
 Perhaps the British Government believes that 
 all the people of India, with one heart and one voice, 
 are pleased with its administration. But such is 
 
34 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 not the case. Many things in the arrangements of 
 the British Government are liked, but there are also 
 many matters about which people in different parts 
 of the country complain. For some years the ru- 
 mour has been spreading among the fighting classes 
 that the Russians are coming ; that they are very 
 brave, and have regard for brave races ; that they 
 give very high positions in the army to brave people 
 without consideration of race or religion ; and that 
 they will receive much consideration on their com- 
 ing. This class of fighting men has suffered greatly, 
 and many complain of not getting employment. 
 The class of Mahajans * is not opposed to Govern- 
 ment on account of peace, nor do they look forward 
 to the coming of the Russians ; but they look back 
 with regret to the old Nawabi times, j* They complain 
 of the stoppage of the hundi business (bills of ex- 
 change). They are angry at the money-order sys- 
 tem and the opening of Government savings banks 
 and other English banks. The people educated in 
 Hindi, Persian, Sanskrit and Arabic, who used to 
 make their living as clerks, are generally discontent- 
 ed on account of the middle-class and other examina- 
 tions, and their being thereby thrown out of employ- 
 ment because they have lost their only means of 
 livelihood. The old aristocracy grumble against 
 the Government for not protecting them from the 
 abuse they receive at the hands of low upstarts in the 
 Press, and they long for an opportunity of resorting 
 
 * Native Bankers. 
 
 t Times of the Kings of Oudh, before 1856. 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 35 
 
 to the good old method of dealing summarily with 
 such offenders. Indian artisans are angry at the 
 introduction of foreign goods and the loss of their 
 art or profession. The people who have received 
 a hioh English education are discontented because 
 they do not obtain high positions — Memberships of 
 Council, Secretaryships, Lieutenant-Governorships, 
 &c. And some of those people who have gained 
 most from the British Government are loudest in 
 their demonstrations of discontent. 
 
 As I am not now criticising the administration 
 of Government, it is not necessary for me to discuss 
 whether the causes of this discontent are justifiable 
 or not. My object is to point out that, before the 
 coming of the National Congress, some sections of 
 the people were rightly or wrongly discontented 
 with the British rule, and that it was desirable, for the 
 good government of India, to consider this discon- 
 tent and, as far as possible, to remove it, and as re- 
 gards unavoidable grievances, to instruct in some 
 suitable manner the disaffected people, and by 
 pointing out the impossibility of gratifying their 
 wishes, to make them contented. But pursuing an 
 opposite course, the crowd of English educated 
 people have, by starting the National Congress and 
 printing such pamphlets, adopted a policy the result 
 of which will be that no single native of India will 
 be free from discontent ; and that anions those 
 classes in which disaffection already exists, the ex- 
 citement of hatred will greatly increase. The flames 
 of disloyalty will leap up in the breasts of those 
 
36 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 ignorant people who are wearily passing their lives in 
 the hope of the arrival of the Russians. Does the 
 National Congress wish by printing such books to 
 spread universal opposition and discontent, and by 
 showing criminal violence to coerce Government in- 
 to carrying out its wishes ? Cannot the National 
 Congress accomplish its objects in a fit and suitable 
 way without employing dangerous methods ? Is the 
 National Congress to be allowed exemption from 
 obedience to the law of the land, that it can carry 
 on its proceedings so fearlessly ? 
 
 Inasmuch as I have with my own eyes seen the 
 Mutiny of 1857, and have suffered terrible losses 
 and troubles in those times, and for one year and 
 some months lived a life that was worse than death, 
 I have the greatest fear that by the widespread cir- 
 culation of this book and by the methods of the 
 National Congress a great mutiny will arise. I 
 speak as one who remembers how we were looted, 
 first by the mutineers and next by the British troops ; 
 how we sat in our houses and were robbed of every- 
 thing, even to our clothing ; how the food was stolen, 
 and such as could not be taken away was destroyed. 
 The first night eight of us had to sleep under one 
 blanket, and for four or five days we almost died of 
 starvation. I appeal to Government to protect us 
 from a repetition of such horrors. The effect of the 
 Mutiny of 1857 was limited to the N.-W. P. and 
 Oudh, but if from the doings of the National Con- 
 gress any mutiny arise, it will spread all over India. 
 No doubt the power and greatness of the British 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 37 
 
 Government will find no difficulty in suppressing it ; 
 but it cannot be done without fresh loss to the lives 
 and property of the people, and to the army of Gov- 
 ernment. The reputation of the British Govern- 
 ment will be stained. The progress of everything 
 will receive the greatest blow, and for a long time 
 the condition of India will be wretched and miser- 
 able. On this account I bring this matter to the 
 attention of the Government and of its officials. 
 
 IMTIAZ ALL 
 
38 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 TRANSLATION OF A LECTURE 
 
 Delivered by His Highness the Maharaja of Benares, 
 G. C. S. I., Patron of the Benares Institute, 
 at the Town Hall, on 20th July, 1 
 
 Brothers, — You well know that I am not 
 in the habit of talking at any length or creat- 
 ing any excitement needlessly ; but as Sa'di says : — 
 " If I see a blind man going towards a well and 
 be silent, it will be a sin ; " so, acting on this 
 proverb, I am about now to address a few words 
 to you. 
 
 I see that some of my countrymen (how sad 
 for me to confess it) are trying to bring endless 
 calamity, disgrace, and ruin to their country. I also 
 am an inhabitant of dear India, though one of its 
 humblest, but I would certainly not like to fall into 
 the well ; if you all choose to do so, why — you 
 must bear the brunt of it. In the Benares In- 
 stitute, according to a saying, "secrets of politics are 
 known only to rulers, "so that any discussion of them 
 is against the standing rules ; but when the Institute 
 itself ceases to exist, of what purpose would the 
 rules then be ? " Necessity has no law ; " and " to 
 escape death all is lawful ; " these are two well-worn 
 proverbs. As we all sail in the same boat, so bro- 
 thers self-protection must be looked for above all 
 other matters. But to the point : — 
 
 I hear that some people have perpetrated a 
 chimera, and named it "The National Congress!" 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 39 
 
 National Congress — delegate — representative gov- 
 ernment — I myself really do not understand the 
 meaning of these words ; therefore I cannot explain 
 them to you in my own language. Hitherto I under- 
 stood that "delegate" meant a deputy, an agent or a 
 representative; but I see in the newspapers that some 
 " delegates" from Benares were present at the Madras 
 meeting. Now, I have questioned several, and can- 
 not find out any who would acknowledge having 
 sent a deputy, agent or representative from Benares 
 to Madras ; or whether any recorded proxy was so 
 delegated. So the saying has been verified that 
 " whether you acknowledge or not I am your guest." 
 Let those who choose give what meaning they 
 like to the word " delegate " by which they may 
 probably mean a ghost or demon, a genii or mortal 
 man ; but our purpose is to ascertain what the 
 so-called National Congress wants and what its 
 objects are. 
 
 I know very well that there are some men in 
 the Congress whose equals we can scarcely find, and 
 their motives are also good and pure ; but saints 
 cannot always make good statesmen. Dadhichi 
 gave even his thigh-bone to get off the task of Gov- 
 ernment, and if you say among the Congress party 
 there are men holding the degree of B. A. or M. A.. 
 why I can only remind you that Dr. Ballantyne 
 styled such persons " unfledged birds." As far as I 
 understand, these simple-hearted people want a 
 " representative government, " perhaps like that of 
 America. Though they may not just now confess 
 
40 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 this openly, yet they — and mark the inconsistency 
 — while holding these views which are opposed to 
 the policy of Government, do not cease to pray 
 constantly for Her Most Gracious Majesty, whose 
 loyal subjects they profess to be ! But if they 
 have any common sense they will try, as the saying 
 goes, " to take hold of the arms by taking hold of 
 the fingers," and they will lay first of all a firm 
 foundation ; because if such be not their object, then 
 what is it ? No sane man with a head on his shoul- 
 ders will take so much trouble and make so much 
 fuss without having some object in view. If you 
 say that the Congress wants only to represent to the 
 Government true facts and to give better advice, and 
 that they do not think of bringing any pressure, then 
 why do they make such unseemly noise and raise 
 such an agitation ? Cannot a man even now bring 
 to the notice of the Government any matter he likes, 
 or give the Government any advice he chooses ? 
 Why are there so many newspapers ? The Govern- 
 ment will be most thankful for any observations 
 which will tend to promote the welfare of the people, 
 and it will immediately act upon any suggestions 
 which tend to promote this object. Look at the 
 Civil Court. It was this very Court which the then 
 reigning Maharaja Kapurthala told Mr. Thomason 
 was the Court of Lunatics (Divani means Civil and 
 Divana a lunatic), and I will show you what he 
 meant by an illustration. A gentleman of this city 
 had sued another gentleman for Rs. 4.500. The 
 suit was actuated, I must inform you, by motives of 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 41 
 
 malice because the native gentleman in question was 
 security for a European. The case went on for 18 
 long years. Both parties died, and then at last the 
 decree was passed against the son of the defendant 
 for Rs. 26,000, but through the intercession of 
 mutual friends and fear of an appeal to England 
 Rs. 6,500 were accepted, and a deed of release was 
 given by the plaintiff's son. Now the Civil Court 
 has become proverbial for speed : for accuracy I 
 cannot vouch. A man returned home from the 
 Allahabad fair ; the people asked him for a descrip- 
 tive account of what he had seen. He said, brothers ! 
 don't ask anything about the railway trains, the 
 cholera pestilence, and the decisions of the Small 
 Cause Courts ! 
 
 Might I now call your attention for a few 
 minutes to the progress of events during the last 
 century. Warren Hastings came here from Calcutta 
 in sailing boats. No one had up to that time seen 
 a steamer. Modes of conveyance were then crude, 
 and it took a friend of mine and his father, 55 years 
 ago, to reach Agra via Etawah in bullock carts and 
 palkis, a month or so. Not to speak of railways, 
 the time I refer to was when even the Grand Trunk 
 Road was not in existence. Now, coming to our 
 own time, I think no one will deny that the Railway 
 and the Telegraph have added considerably to the 
 convenience, welfare, and prosperity of the inhabi- 
 tants. So that one might well say that a year's life 
 now is far more valuable and useful than that of a 
 100 years before the British rule. Allow me to 
 
42 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 ask you whether all these blessings have been 
 brought to our dear country by this or any other 
 similar Congress. You ought to enquire of these 
 Congresswallas what the relative and numerical 
 positions ot" the educated in America and India are. 
 An American woman holding a similar position 
 to that which maid-servants and nurses occupy 
 in India I have often seen, and such can "cut the 
 ears " of many of our Babu Sahibs and Thakur 
 Sahibs, whom she can teach in all respects for years 
 to come. Another point is, can you tell me how 
 much gentlemen of your position in England spend 
 in educating their children and how much you simi- 
 larly spend here ? In Germany, education and mili- 
 tary service are compulsory : would you like such a 
 system to be legally enforced here. Schools have 
 been established in India, but we all know how Icth 
 the Babus and Thakurs are to send their children 
 to these institutions for education, and it is wonder- 
 ful if even one per cent, of the population avail 
 themselves of the educational means placed within 
 their reach. There is an English proverb, " first 
 deserve then desire." I cannot recall just now any- 
 thing like it in our language. But I can assure you, 
 and that without hesitation, that our kind Govern- 
 ment is always anxious to permit us to have a share 
 in the administration, and that as it finds the oppor- 
 tunity, it invites us to do so. 
 
 But these matters are perhaps beyond your 
 comprehension. Now, as regards the Indian Coun- 
 cil, you will remember that men like Maharaja 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 43 
 
 Scindhia and Maharaja Patiala were the first to be 
 admitted. But they considered the serving in the 
 Council an unbearable nuisance, and the Nawab of 
 Rampur on being subsequently elected, after remain- 
 ing some weeks in Calcutta, feigned sickness and 
 returned home, telling the Viceroy that there was 
 wisdom in all his acts with the exception of his selec- 
 tion of Calcutta as his capital. A poet has truly 
 said that " Calcutta has been built on a piece of 
 land from hell itself. " Now, it is a well-known fact 
 that every man is not fit for every business. Eng- 
 lish Dukes, Earls, and Marquises, many of whom 
 have larger incomes than many of our Maharajas 
 and Nawabs, feel that it is incumbent on them to 
 attend the British Parliament. But apart from all 
 this, there is an Association which has deservedly 
 received the recognition of the Viceroy, who clearly 
 saw that there was no better representative of India 
 than the British Indian Association in Calcutta. 
 The National Congress cannot equal even the dust 
 off the feet of that noble Association. Though an 
 oilman by caste, yet the Viceroy selected the able 
 and energetic Secretary of that Association, Babu 
 Krishna Das Pal, in whose place we have an efficient 
 substitute in Raja Peary Mohan Mukerji. But a 
 heterogeneous mass is now thrusting itself forward, 
 and in order to obtain seats in the Durbar and to 
 rub their shoulders with the Rajas, even Kalvars and 
 Modus are leaving no stone unturned to be elected 
 as Municipal Commissioners, or to be appointed 
 Honorary Magistrates. You can judge of the work 
 
44 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OE 
 
 of our countrymen by taking into consideration only 
 that done by the Benares Municipality. You may 
 remember what Mr. F. B. Gubbins, Magistrate of 
 Benares, did single-handed for the City, and what 
 the Board now, notwithstanding its countless taxes, 
 is in vain endeavouring likewise to do. You may 
 say whatever you like, but, as far as I understand } 
 the real object of these Congresswallas is to have a 
 majority of natives in the Imperial Legislative 
 Council, in order that, when the question of an in- 
 crease arises owing to some sudden and unexpected 
 cause, the native members of the Council may have 
 the opportunity of displaying their ideas of govern- 
 ment by proposing instead of an increase a reduc- 
 tion in expenditure and the abolition of the Income 
 Tax. For example, they may recommend the 
 reduction of the European soldiers here and the 
 raising of a native Volunteer Corps, or the appoint- 
 ment of native Commissioned Officers in the Army; 
 but if the Government has even a particle of sense 
 left it must, in order to secure peace and harmony, 
 increase the European soldiery in proportion to the 
 numerical strength of the native armed men ; and 
 so with the expenses. The Government cannot 
 forget the year 1857, at least for the next two thou- 
 sand years. As an illustration of military zeal and 
 duty, see how the Duke of Connaught is discharging 
 the duties of a Commander-in-Chief, and how the 
 Maharaja Kashmir discharged his duties when he 
 was appointed General of the British Armies. The 
 son of the French Emperor, Louis Napoleon, went 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 45 
 
 to Zululand as a Volunteer. There is just now 
 some disturbance again in that land. If the Con- 
 gresswallas give me a list of their sons, I can send 
 such a list to the higher authorities, who would pro- 
 bably post these men to Zululand as Volunteers ! or 
 perhaps our wise native legislators may propose to 
 do away with the highly-paid Covenanted Commis- 
 sioners, Judges, and Magistrates, and put in their 
 places low-paid natives or honorary functionaries. 
 But, just for one moment, let me draw your attention 
 to one body of our armed men, the Native Police ; 
 does not their utter inefficiency almost lead you to 
 wish that European constables should be in every 
 station. I would never be surprised if our Native 
 Police some day reported us to be rebels and revolt- 
 ers. If you say that the Congress does not want a 
 majority in the Council, then remaining in the 
 minority, even if we be 500 strong, of what use can 
 we be. But there is another aspect of affairs to look 
 at. Suppose the Government do admit as many 
 native members by election as are now nominated 
 into the Council, I ask you how would you care to 
 have Kalvars and Mochis as our legislators. The 
 shoemaker can never get beyond his last, nor the 
 brewer beyond the still : so there must be distur- 
 bances in one way or the other. 
 
 Democracy is an occidental idea. A Hindu 
 cannot comprehend it as long as he is a Hindu. It 
 is against his religious belief. The divisions of 
 Varna are the basis of his religion. He cannot see 
 without distress a Brahman or Kshtriya serving; a 
 
46 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 Sudra. A Brahman may beg or even may die, yet 
 he will never touch a dish from which a Sudra has 
 partaken food. When to save themselves from the 
 hands of the Muhammadans the Mahrattas formed 
 a union among themselves, they appointed a Brah- 
 man their Peshwa (leader), Baji Rno. So long as 
 Hindus remain in Hindustan you cannot succeed in 
 extending the democratical ideas. If there is any 
 defect in our Government, it is only this that our 
 Government is democratical, inasmuch as it appoints 
 its officials by the result of examinations passed for 
 official posts, independent of the social position of 
 the candidate. For example, we may have a 
 carpenter as Deputy Collector, and a Kalvar Hono- 
 rary Magistrate. The Congress men want a 
 separation of the Executive from the Judicial and 
 technical education. This is a very small affair. 
 Hundreds of proposals like this come before the 
 Government every day, and hundreds of changes 
 which are thought an improvement are always being 
 made. About education — who prevents you ? You 
 can teach your sons in your schools to read Milton 
 and Shakespeare, or to draw pictures, or (if the worst 
 comes to the worst) to parch grain. The choice lies 
 with you. Why do not these Congresswallas go to 
 some Native State and turn it into an administrative 
 model according to their fancies. Babu Nilambar 
 Mukerji has been in Kashmir, and perhaps a bro- 
 ther of the Indian Mirror is still in Jeypur. Why 
 has the Nizam of Hyderabad appointed Colonel Mar- 
 shal his Secretary, and why has the Begam of Bhupal 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 47 
 
 appointed Colonel Ward her Manager ? Some of 
 the advocates of the Congress bring forward the 
 names of some British officers as being in their 
 favour ; but these latter are and cannot but be dis- 
 appointed Civilians. If a native feels disappointed 
 because he is not made a Judge in the High Court 
 or a Dewan in a Native State, is it any wonder that 
 a British Officer feels disappointed if he be not 
 made a member of the Viceregal Council or a 
 Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, especially 
 when they both think themselves equally fit for 
 the posts aspired to. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that people in Eng- 
 land do not know the real state of affairs in India, 
 nor the peculiar nature and habits of the Indians. 
 One lady actually regretted that the Indian culti- 
 vators could not provide themselves with boots ! ! ! 
 (what an idiosyncrasy) ; another had a long conver- 
 sation with a Rani on the evil effects of infant 
 marriage, and was surprised to hear that the Rani 
 had been married at the aQfe of seven and had sons 
 and grandsons, all of whom were happy and content- 
 ed. The Rani then turned to the lady and observed 
 that her hair was turning grey, and inquired 
 whether no one had ever offered her proposals of 
 marriage, and she suggested that English laws re- 
 quire some modification which would ensure ladies 
 against remaining so long in the state of single 
 blessedness. Self-interested persons ignorant on 
 Indian matters not only mislead the leading Mem- 
 bers of Parliament, but they rush into print on the 
 
48 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 slightest pretext, and ventilate what they call the 
 grievances of the Indians, and thus increase the diffi- 
 culties of the Indian Government. In the Western 
 countries as the Ministers resign when their budget 
 is not passed, so here in India the Viceroy must 
 resign ; and if you ask whether there is no native fit 
 for that post, I say leave the question of fitness aside; 
 without the British protection two French Regi- 
 ments from Chandernagore are quite enough to 
 plunder Calcutta, and to conquer India up to Pesha- 
 war. If our Government had not taken Burmah it 
 had become probably the property of the French ; 
 and even if the French did not come, Amir Abdul 
 Rahman Khan with his ten thousand horsemen can 
 plunder and massacre down to Madras. It is said 
 that the Jats and Mahrattas have 700,000 horsemen 
 at Panipat, but Ahmad Shah Durrani scattered 
 them away with his handful of cavalry. In short, 
 as I have already said, had these Congressivallas 
 followed the tracks, step by step, as chalked out 
 by the British Indian Association, they would 
 have been most likely benefactors of their coun- 
 try ; but the track which they have followed 
 now and the fuss they are making, and the arti- 
 cles they are publishing in the Vernacular news- 
 papers, and the speeches they are making to the 
 ignorant masses, coupled with the mischievous 
 pamphlets they are distributing, must convey to the 
 ignorant masses the idea that the natives will get 
 high salaries ; that they will be appointed to those 
 posts which are now held by Europeans ; that the 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 49 
 
 service will increase, and more pay will be obtained ; 
 and that the taxes will be abolished — if not abolished 
 they must be reduced ; as Babu Harish Chandra 
 had his motto here in his Kavibachan-Sudha — ■ 
 " let the disease of taxation be swept away" 
 [kardukh bahai). Who likes to pay a tax ? More 
 than any one I personally shall be glad if this 
 word "tax" be cut out from the dictionary; 
 but you are to remember if there be no tax there 
 would be no government, and then might will 
 be right. 
 
 In my humble opinion if the Government will 
 not take the trouble in some shape or other to put 
 down these mischievous movements and writings, 
 no doubt sooner or later the minds of the ignorant 
 masses will be, to a certain extent, prejudiced against 
 them, and disturbances may take place in the 
 country. Then we must suffer and be ruined. 
 Though the Hindus blame the Muhammadans and 
 the Muhammadans blame the Hindus for the failure 
 of the plan, yet they both acknowledge more or less 
 their failure. The blister has burst, and the more you 
 scratch it now the worse it will be. The Govern- 
 ment any how will not suffer. The Government will 
 be the gainer in every way ; whether the melon falls 
 on the knife or the knife on the melon, themelon must 
 suffer. But, in conclusion, 1 ask you to bear in mind 
 one thing most clearly. It is far from my intention 
 to insult in any way any oilman or carpenter or 
 Kalvar or Mochi, but I have endeavoured simply to 
 prove that democracy or representative government 
 
50 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 does not suit India, and that elections will not do for 
 the Council. Oh Almighty God, I pray, give some 
 wisdom to our Hindu and Mu ham mad an brethren, 
 that they may close up this Congress business, and 
 not prolong the quarrel which can have but one 
 inevitable and disastrous end. 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 5 1 
 
 MR. SYED HOSAIN BILGRAMI 
 
 ON 
 
 THE NATIONAL CONGRESS. 
 
 Nawab Imad-ud-Daidah, Maulvi Syed Hosain 
 Bilgrami, All Yar Khan Bahadur, Motamin Jung, 
 Secretary of the Council of State of His Highness 
 the Nizam, has written the following letter with 
 respect to the Indian Patriotic Association to the 
 Honorable Sir Syed Ahmed, Khan Bahadur, Secre- 
 tary of the Association : — 
 
 My dear Sir Syed Ahmed, — I am glad to see 
 that you have laid the foundation of the Indian 
 Patriotic Association in opposition to the so-called 
 Indian National Congress. I have long been of 
 opinion that it was high time for some such move- 
 ment, and when Mr. Beck was on a visit here, I had 
 the pleasure of discussing with him the urgent need 
 of a conservative organisation for the purpose of 
 banding together such of our fellow-subjects — 
 Hindus, Muhammadans and Christians — as in com- 
 mon with us deplored the spirit of unrest with which 
 soi-disant patriots were inoculating the country, 
 and wished to preserve the existing social and 
 political order from violent disruption at their hands. 
 The scope of the movement which we discussed 
 was, however, wider than a mere opposition to the 
 Indian National Congress, and was to have em- 
 braced a free dissemination of conservative views 
 
52 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 in politics and religion, and exposure of the fallacy 
 underlying the transfer of a democratic propaganda 
 to India with all its latent dangers. The movement 
 could not have been initiated by an abler or a more 
 worthy leader than yourself. 
 
 While cordially agreeing with you in your 
 general attitude towards the question, and placing 
 my services, such as they may be, at your disposal 
 in furtherance of the objects of the association you 
 have founded, and of which I hope you will do me 
 the honor of enrolling me as a member, I beg to 
 offer a few general observations on the principles 
 which, with some minor exceptions, I am proud of 
 sharing with you. 
 
 I take it as axiomatic that Britain has a civilis- 
 ing Mission in India, and that in our own best in- 
 terests British power must be upheld at all costs. 
 The good time (if it ever comes) when India will 
 have lived long enough under a self-governing peo- 
 ple to have herself acquired the art of self-govern- 
 ment, and above all, that of self-defence, is so far 
 distant that it may be omitted from our calculation ; 
 and it may safely be assumed that we are destined 
 to live and die under the present regime for genera- 
 tions to come. Our soi-disant patriots themselves 
 admit that the Empire of England in India must 
 be upheld, but by a subtle trick of reasoning they 
 wish to make it out that a loyal attitude towards 
 the throne is consistent with a seditious abuse of 
 the administration. " We would change the system," 
 they seem to say, " not the sovereign ; we attack 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 53 
 
 their measures, not our rulers." They forget that 
 we are not living on English or American soil, and 
 that any step that tends in the slightest degree to 
 weaken the absolute power of the Government, 
 strikes at the root of England's usefulness to this 
 Empire. The Imperial Government could not 
 suffer an Ireland in India and live. It could no 
 more tolerate a Parnell than it could tolerate an- 
 other rebellion like that of 1857. Yet so different 
 are the conditions of political existence in the two 
 countries, that England not only lives alongside a 
 discontented Ireland, but it takes Parnell and his 
 associates to her bosom as trusted counsellors. An 
 Indian Gladstone would be given short shrift here, 
 and people would say " serve him right ; " and yet 
 Gladstone is in England an honored (though just 
 now a rather discredited) name, and one of the first 
 and foremost of the day. 
 
 There would be some show of reason for feel- 
 ing aggrieved, if legislation in India were under- 
 taken without regard to the views and wishes of the 
 people, if our best interests were sacrificed to their 
 own selfish ends by our rulers, and if the immense 
 military power possessed by England was wielded 
 only to grind us down in order to furnish grist for 
 her own mill. But such is not the case. The Im- 
 perial Government undertakes no new measure 
 without putting itself in possession of the views and 
 wishes of the people in a manner much more com- 
 plete and effective than any representative chamber, 
 such as our patriots sigh for, could supply. We really 
 
54 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 enjoy all the advantages of a representative system 
 without the drawbacks with which it would be 
 hampered, if imported into this country — the only 
 difference being that our Government very con- 
 siderately places it out of our power to make 
 politics a profession. From the way in which our 
 supposed political grievances are paraded by the 
 patriots, one would think that they had just emerged 
 from the workshop of social reform, and with hands 
 yet reeking with the grit of the debris of social 
 evils they had helped to demolish, they were about 
 to build up for themselves the fabric of a new poli- 
 tical life resplendent with all the glory of a recover- 
 ed Heaven. But what are the facts of the case ? 
 The facts simply are that the alien Government 
 whom we undertake to teach the art of government, 
 suppressed the more shameful and cruel of those 
 evils out of pure humanity, in the face of strong 
 opposition, open or covert, from the very people 
 whom they concerned, and recently offered to remedy 
 some other crying social evils, which same offer was 
 rejected by our patriots with indignation and scorn. 
 Ask those who have had to deal with masses 
 of men in India and have helped in governing them, 
 what the effect on the progress and prosperity of the 
 country would be of the introduction of a measure 
 that puts it in the power of any native legislator 
 from his place on the Viceroy's Council to call the 
 Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab or the Governor 
 of Bombay to account regarding his conduct as a 
 ruler. They will at once tell us that were such a 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 55 
 
 privilege granted there would be an end of the 
 prestige of the Government, and the wondering 
 awe and reverence with which it is regarded by the 
 populace, and which serve the purpose of bulwarks 
 and safeguards to the Empire, would be swept away. 
 Muhamadans among whom the traditions of Em- 
 pire and its high devoir are not yet extinct, ought to 
 understand the importance of this sentiment as a 
 factor of orderly Government. Those who have a 
 stake in the country and have something to lose in 
 the general upheaval apprehended from the spread 
 of democratic tendencies which have no home in 
 this country, ought to appreciate to the full the 
 importance of keeping supreme power intact and 
 untouched, and hedging it round with as much of 
 the elements of awe and reverence as can be saved 
 out of the wreck of old ideas and traditions which 
 are in the process of being ruthlessly destroyed by a 
 blind, ill-judged, and ill-digested imitation of Euro- 
 pean radicalism. 
 
 I hope you will pardon my saying that I do not 
 think Muhammadans have anything especial to dread 
 from the so-called National Congress movement 
 that is not shared by their Hindu fellow-subjects. 
 The danger is a common danger, and if I am able 
 to read it rightly, it consists not so much in what 
 the Congress mio-ht do, as in what it tends to undo. 
 We, orientals, are a restful people, our movements 
 are sluggish, our progress in civilisation has followed 
 a slow process of development. This characteristic 
 is an element of our nature, perhaps the outcome of 
 
56 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OE 
 
 our climate and environment ; it is at any rate a 
 valuable characteristic, seeing that it preserves us 
 from the sudden and furious social and political 
 cyclones which have every now and again swept over 
 the more warm-blooded nationalities. Now, the 
 Congress movement is an engine for turning this rest 
 into unrest, and inciting men to seek change for the 
 sake of change. It teaches people to be dissatisfied 
 with their present lot and hanker after something 
 indefinite, the real nature of which the Missionaries 
 and Apostles of the new creed have themselves 
 hardly realised. Our self-constituted teachers are 
 in this, if they but knew it, merely paying a compli- 
 ment to their English rulers, namely, the compli- 
 ment of imitation, and nothing more. Just as 
 some of us love to rig ourselves out in ill-fitting 
 tail-coats and trousers of doubtful tailoring, and go 
 into sulks if we are not afterwards asked to parti- 
 cipate in the social amenities of our European 
 neighbours, so we pick up the cry of Irish Home 
 rulers and English Radicals, and are surprised that 
 we are not invited over, there and then, to sit in the 
 House of Commons and help to convert the strong 
 and beneficent Government of our country into a 
 haphazard rule of platform and party. 
 
 I am glad to see that our co-religionists are, on 
 the whole, sensible enough to see through the move- 
 ment and avoid the pitfalls with which its path is lined. 
 The few misguided men who have given in their 
 adherence are no doubt excusable on account of 
 their youth and inexperience. It is easy to see how 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 57 
 
 little real faith even they have in their new creed 
 by the vituperation and abuse which they find it 
 necessary to pour over the devoted heads of its 
 opponents. The cause must be weak indeed which 
 needs such doubtful advocacy. 
 
 It occurs to me here to instance a very recent 
 display of the sentiment of which the Congress move- 
 ment is only a mode of expression. You must 
 have noticed the indecent haste with which some of 
 our Congressionist papers have seen it fit to rejoice 
 in public over the misfortunes of Mr. Commissioner 
 Crawford. It is premature to crow over such a sad 
 catastrophe for any one, not to say execrable bad 
 form. Common decency ought to have admonished 
 them to hold their tongues. A Government that 
 will dare place a high and influential official like 
 Mr. Crawford in such a predicament for the sake of 
 official purity and honor, deserves all sympathy. It 
 is matter for condolence rather than for rejoicing. 
 Mr. Crawford's guilt is not proved yet, and all well- 
 wishers of order and good Government and of the 
 noble service to which he belongs, will hope and pray 
 that he may be able to clear his good name. Better 
 a man of Mr. Crawford's ability and calibre were he 
 ten thousand times guilty (which I hope he is not, 
 though I have no personal interest in the matter) than 
 a hundred such revilers of the existing order of things 
 as the Congress movement seems to be breeding. 
 
 The Government of a great Continent like 
 India, peopled by a hundred different nationalities, 
 and embracing a heterogeneous mass of widely 
 
58 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 diverging interests, is no schoolboy's joke, and is 
 not to be mapped out by an assemblage of school- 
 masters, lawyers, et hoc genus omne. It needs the 
 o-uidance of trained statesmen, backed by phalanxes 
 of armed and disciplined soldiers ready to die for 
 Empire and Queen. Those who wish to dictate 
 how India shall be governed, ought to talk at the 
 head of an army, and with the mouth of cannon 
 thundering in their flank. Will the Congress men 
 rush forward to fight on the frontier for our hearths 
 and homes when Russian artillery belches forth fire 
 and shell at our gateway, and threatens to plunge 
 us once more into that anarchy from which we 
 have emerged with England's help and God's ? 
 
 It is impossible to criticise the Congress 
 apart from the programme it has adopted. An in- 
 stitution must stand or fall by the quality of its 
 handiwork. I wish to speak of the movement and 
 its chief representatives with all respect. They are 
 men of light and leading, seeking no doubt the 
 good of our common fatherland in the way that 
 seems to them best. But frankly, who that reads the 
 Resolution, for example, on the Arms Act, or on mili- 
 tary expenditure, or on the conquest of Burmah, can 
 helpcalling in question the statesmanship of those who 
 have such puerile sentiments to record on important 
 questions of practical statecraft. Any member of the 
 executive service, native or European — for that mat- 
 ter any sensible man with some practical experience 
 of how the peace is kept in town and country, 
 and familiar with the machinery employed — would 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 59 
 
 pronounce the remedy suggested for the Arms Act 
 grievance, if grievance it is, to be unstatesmanlike 
 and impracticable. The Congress Resolution on this 
 subject, were it carried out, would cause more 
 needless irritation and heartburning than was ever 
 caused by the Act itself. The views of the Congress 
 on volunteering are no doubt very loyal; but there 
 are obvious practical difficulties in the way of their 
 ever being carried out, which would have occurred to 
 the orators who spoke at the Congress, if they had by 
 an effort of imagination, which would have cost them 
 nothing, put themselves in the place of their foreign 
 rulers and worked the problem out from that point 
 of view. This same rule of " putting one's self in 
 another's place " before one weighs that other in the 
 balance of approval or disapproval is, by the way, a 
 golden rule, and if applied to Indian politics by the 
 rulers and the ruled, would, I verily believe, be worth 
 many a Representative Chamber to the subject-races 
 and many a National Congress. 
 
 In fact, the demands of the Congress have only 
 to be stated in order to bring their absurdity into 
 prominent relief. Shorn of unnecessary verbiage 
 and presented in all their naked audacity, they are : — 
 (1). Elective Councils with the right of inter- 
 pellation. 
 (2). Taxation by popular vote. 
 (3). Access to all appointments in the State, 
 
 Civil or Military. 
 (4). Peace and war by national mandate. 
 And some others of minor importance. 
 
60 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 But underlying all the demands, important or 
 unimportant, is the idea of forcing the hands of 
 Government by what is euphemistically styled 
 "constitutional means," but which, translated into 
 ordinary language, means " seditious agitation ; " for 
 there is only a thin paper-wall between agitation and 
 sedition. 
 
 I need not dwell on the demand for Elective 
 Councils. Government might possibly see its way 
 to the adoption of some modified system of election 
 for certain seats in Council. Personally, I do not be- 
 lieve it will be an improvement on the present con- 
 stitution. Indeed, I do not see how any electioneering, 
 properly so called, can be conducted in India. I have 
 heard of no suggestion that was not open to grave 
 objection. The idea of native candidates canvass- 
 ing for seats on the Viceroy's Council, or delivering 
 speeches setting forth their own merits, and holding 
 out promises to possible constituencies, is at first 
 sight so ludicrously opposed to all our notions of 
 the fitness of things, that it is difficult to stop to 
 look at the serious and practical side of the 
 question. It will no doubt be possible to get a few 
 "unfledged birds" (as H. H. the Maharaja of 
 Benares calls them) or some of his famous Kalvars 
 and Mochis, and mightily tickled their vanity will 
 be in the possession of this new toy, this " sally- 
 come-up " of the imported ballot-box. But will they 
 add to the dignity or usefulness of the Council ? I 
 am afraid, not. Representation in the true sense of 
 the word there will be none, for our B. A.'s and 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 6l 
 
 M. A.'s who will manage to get elected are not repre- 
 sentative men. They only represent a certain class 
 (the English educated) who hold a very infinitesimal 
 place in the census of the country. They are, more- 
 over, poor men ordinarily, though energetic and 
 pushing — hardly the sort of men, for example, whom 
 the Maharaja before mentioned would care to hob- 
 nob with (in the metaphorical, Heaven fore-fend, 
 not the literal sense of the word). It is also said of 
 these graduates (of whom I am proud to call myself 
 one, these strictures notwithstanding), that they 
 begin to grind at the mill of competition from so 
 early a stage that they actually know less of their 
 own country than English officials who make a busi- 
 ness and a study of it in the course of their duty — 
 that they are more at home in the geography, 
 folk-lore, and history of Great Britain or China than 
 of their own country. I am afraid the indictment is 
 not without a certain amount of truth. That English 
 educated youths manage to alienate the feeling of 
 their less exotically literate fellow-countrymen is to a 
 certain extent also true. I am afraid we have not 
 yet solved the problem of imparting English educa- 
 tion to our youths without impairing their usefulness. 
 This will come with a national system of education, 
 based on religion and morality, but we have no 
 time for such trifles now with our hands full of ur- 
 gent political reforms ! 
 
 But granted that we get a proper election and 
 unexceptionable representatives, what shall we gain 
 by it except a few more speeches and little more 
 
62 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 talkee talkee. A small minority leading the Opposi- 
 tion in such a Senate as the Viceroy's Council would 
 serve no purpose that is not served under the pre- 
 sent constitution. A powerful minority would be 
 replete with mischief and embarrassment ; while a 
 majority, that could outvote the Viceroy and his 
 following, would reduce the Queen's Government in 
 India to a protectorate without the right even of 
 levying tribute from the protected country. If the 
 Opposition could carry with it a European follow- 
 ing, the situation would not be improved ; in fact, 
 the mischief in that case would only be rendered 
 more far-reacbing. 
 
 I need not spin out the argument against plac- 
 ing the " Vote of Supplies" in native hands, and 
 thus putting it in their power to starve out the 
 Government. If our Universities had given to the 
 world a financial genius or two who could show our 
 rulers how to make the two ends meet, we might 
 have asked with better grace for some share of power 
 over the purse-strings of the State. But alas ! our 
 modern Todur Muls are yet unborn, and we have 
 not a shred of evidence to show that if called to 
 power, we shall manage the ways and means of the 
 administration better than their present custodians. 
 
 The Covenanted Civil Service question has 
 been threshed out by this time, and the final deci- 
 sion on it is even now under deliberation by Govern- 
 ment. The command of our military resources, 
 which the Congress does not ask for except by 
 implication in the other demands, need not be taken 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 63 
 
 au-serieux. That the Government should ask our 
 permission before going to war, could only have 
 occurred to some patriot anxious to parade Peace 
 Association platitudes before a delighted audience 
 of schoolboys, in whose craniums the bump of 
 combativeness was conspicuous by its absence. 
 
 I have touched briefly on most of the topics 
 that have engaged the attention of the Congress. 
 Their emissaries are abroad preaching what 
 amounts to sedition towards the existing order of 
 things. They are sowing broadcast the seed of 
 future storms and whirlwinds. This raising of 
 vague aspirations and vain hopes is unsettling men's 
 minds. Your Patriotic Association must be up and 
 doing, if the tide is to be stemmed in time ; and you 
 must beein nearer home. Your work here is cut out 
 for you. While " informing the people of England " 
 in the words of your circular, "of the real condition 
 of India by printing pamphlets from time to time," 
 it behoves the Association to take effective steps, 
 both from the platform and the Press, to disabuse 
 people's minds of the glamour cast on them by the 
 false, though attractive, political programme that is 
 being preached, and save our deluded countrymen 
 from stumbling into pitfalls from which there is no 
 escape for those who pursue the Will-o'-the-Wisps 
 misnamed Political Liberty and Popular Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 It is unfortunate in this connection that your 
 public utterances should have been misunderstood 
 to encourage the banding together of Muhammadans 
 
64 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 against Hindus as regards the aims and objects of 
 the Congress movement. I do not think a man of 
 your sagacity and experience could have failed to 
 see that such a view of the matter was a mistake, 
 both of fact and of strategy. The interest of the 
 two peoples, rightly understood, are one and in- 
 divisible. The propagation of a spirit of unrest and 
 discontent is as pernicious for the one nationality as 
 for the other, and it behoves them both equally to 
 unite and make common cause against this move- 
 ment which has been set on foot by a few ambitious 
 spirits, and eagerly taken up by the class whose 
 principal claim to be heard is its blind adoption of 
 foreign ideas, its familiarity with the tactics of Eng- 
 lish agitators, and its ill-judged imitation of the 
 modern European love of change. 
 
 The task before you is that of educating native 
 public opinion into an attitude, not of servile sub- 
 jection, but of manly sympathy with the Government 
 and a due appreciation of the difficulties it has to 
 encounter in the work of keeping order among 
 the vast and heterogeneous conglomeration of 
 races and nationalities found in India. The 
 velocity with which we are progressing would 
 be accelerated ten-fold if our countrymen were 
 brought to a fairer and more charitable view of the 
 motives of our rulers than politicians of the new 
 school are inclined to take, and were taught to 
 meet them half way in their efforts for our good. 
 If the newly-awakened energy of our English- 
 educated classes needs a sphere of activity, it will 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 65 
 
 be your duty and the duty of the Indian Patriotic 
 Association (League, I should myself prefer to 
 call it) to give it the proper direction, and teach 
 it to flow in channels advantageous to themselves 
 and to their country. There are numerous fields 
 of patriotic usefulness yet unworked, many urgent 
 social and economic reforms on which the energies 
 of our youths might be profitably employed. No 
 one need be inactive with such tasks before us 
 as the founding of a national system of education, 
 the introduction of moral and religious teaching into 
 our schools, the revival of our old industries, and a 
 host of others which a foreign Government is power- 
 less to undertake, but in which, if we put our 
 own shoulders honestly to the wheel, it can and will 
 render us valuable aid. 
 
 It is well that you have taken up this noble 
 work. Round your standard will rally true patriots 
 of all creeds and nationalities, Indian and English 
 Unionists, haters of the common enemies of England 
 and India, and of the creed which has Liberty and 
 Home Rule for its articles of faith, and Sedition 
 and Assassination for its ritual. You will carry 
 with you the sympathy of all ruling Princes and 
 Chiefs, of their ministers and advisers, and of all 
 religious bodies and orders. Our great zemindars 
 and all the old families jealous of the honor of their 
 race will be with you, and all those who have a 
 stake in the country. Nor will the sinews of war 
 be wanting to you, for few of those who join your 
 standard but will open their purse-strings in this 
 
66 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 good cause, and if need be, lay down their lives for 
 their country and their Queen. 
 
 Apologising for the length of this letter, and 
 with my best respects 
 
 I remain, 
 My dear Sir Sayed Ahmed, 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 IMAD-UD-DAULAH 
 
 (SAYED HOSAIN.) 
 
 Hyderabad, Deccan ; 
 20th Ai 
 
 bad, Deccan ; I 
 \ugust t 1888. j 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 67 
 
 MR. MAHOMED HOSAIN HAKIM 
 
 ON 
 
 THE NATIONAL CONGRESS. 
 
 (FROM THE " PIONEER.") 
 
 A meeting of Muhammadans was held at Bom- 
 bay, at which it was decided not to send representa- 
 tives to the National Congress. We quote one of 
 the speeches made on this occasion. 
 
 Mr. Mahomed Hosain Hakim said that this 
 year the promoters of the Congress had asked the 
 Anjuman-i-Islam if they wished to send any of their 
 representatives to the Congress to be held next 
 cold weather at Allahabad. There were many who, 
 even to this day, did not know what the Congress 
 was really about. He was blessed by God with 
 some common sense and knowledge, but he could 
 not understand what possible good the movement 
 could do to the Muhammadans, nor could he under- 
 stand of what avail it would be to his Parsee and 
 Hindu brethren. Every man of sense would ad- 
 mit that no rule in India had been so good, so just, 
 and so merciful as that of the English. (Applause). 
 The British had given them education, and would 
 it be a reward to them for the. blessing of education 
 they had freely given to his countrymen to say — 
 " We have now been educated enough to know 
 how to govern our own country, and therefore we 
 no longer want these foreigners in our midst. Let 
 
68 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 therefore the Governor-Genera] pack off to England, 
 and let the Governors of the different provinces 
 follow him thither. The Civil Servants who have 
 come out from England must also go, and we will 
 rule in their stead ? " They always professed that 
 they were very loyal to Government and were their 
 real well-wishers. But had they reflected on what 
 the Congress would ultimately come to fifty or a 
 hundred years hence ? Had they reflected for a 
 moment on its far-reaching results ? His Hindu 
 and Parsee friends would pardon him for saying that 
 the Congress boded no good to the people, nor to 
 the Government either. The organisation had 
 been taking a leap in the dark, little knowing where 
 it would land them. (A voice : "True, quite true "). 
 He was sorry that some of his own community had 
 joined the Congress, among them being his friend the 
 Hon'ble Budruddin Tyabji, who was deservedly 
 held in the greatest esteem by every one. Now 
 a son of this same gentleman had entered the Civil 
 Service of India, having come first in the list of the 
 competitors. Would such a thing have been possi- 
 ble under any other Government than the British ? 
 Had they no reason to rest contented and be thank- 
 ful for what they had already got, and hope that, in 
 the good time to come, they might get from the 
 same Government more rights, as soon as they 
 were considered deserving of them ? Well, then, 
 what was the good of their assembling in large num- 
 bers at Calcutta, Madras, or Allahabad, and joining 
 their voice for the intimidation of Government ? 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 6$ 
 
 The numbers attending these annual assemblages 
 had been steadily increasing. Last year 600 per- 
 sons attended the Congress, and a time might come 
 when io.ooo persons might meet together. The 
 Russians, as they were all well aware, were 
 approaching nearer and nearer to India, and what 
 would they think of these mighty assemblages ? 
 They would imagine that there was disunion in the 
 enemy's camp, and that now was the time for taking 
 advantage of it. Now, did the people wish the 
 Russians to come and govern ? They were a cruel 
 and semi-barbarous race. They would demolish 
 their mosques, the temples of the Hindus, and the 
 fire-temples of the Parsees. They would grind 
 their subjects down. Did they wish such a power 
 to rule over them ? Were not the British a 
 thousand times better than the Russians ? That 
 being so, may the British rule of India last for ever- 
 more ! ( The Chairman : " Inshallah ! May God 
 preserve it for ever ! " ) Look at the present poli- 
 tical aspect of the great powers of Europe. Their 
 relations were in a state of the utmost tension, and 
 a spark might any day set the whole fabric in a flame. 
 In such a state of things it was imperatively neces- 
 sary for their own preservation that the races and 
 communities of India should present a united front 
 to their enemy ; and let it be inscribed on their 
 hearts thac if they failed to make common cause 
 against a common enemy, and continued to carry on 
 their agitation by means of these Congresses, the 
 consequences, fifty or a hundred years hence, might 
 
70 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 simply prove disastrous. Then there were those 
 who complained that Government had increased the 
 Indian army by 10,000 men from England. But 
 this was quite a necessary provision in view of 
 the steady advance of the Russians in the direction 
 of India. He would ask once again — What did 
 Mr. Hume and others, who were interesting them- 
 selves in the Congress, want ? Did they want the 
 country to be relieved of all the taxes ? Did they 
 want to get rid of the police and the army ? Did 
 they obtain no justice under the British Govern- 
 ment ? Were they lacking in political wisdom and 
 in capacity to govern the country wisely and well ? 
 No. Then why would they throw away the blessing 
 they enjoyed for the very doubtful benefits of the 
 Congress? It was a most difficult task to govern 
 well a country like India. The Government had 
 achieved wonderful success in the performance of 
 that task, bringing peace, and security, and pros- 
 perity into the land. See what even now was the 
 case of some of the Native States, and contrast the 
 government there with the British rule. To this 
 day, in Cambay, the Boree subjects were not allow- 
 ed to ride on horseback. And yet some of the 
 educated natives, instead of being thankful for what 
 they had got, abused the Government and said that 
 the Government were not doing this, that, and the 
 other. With these remarks the speaker moved : — 
 " That it is not desirable, either from an education- 
 al point of view, or looking to the unsettled condi- 
 tion of Europe and Asia, even from a political 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 7 1 
 
 point of view, that the Muhammadan community 
 should join the Indian National Congress in trying, 
 however unconsciously, to force the hands of the 
 British Government in India by an organised demon- 
 stration, however seemingly pacific in character." 
 (Applause). 
 
72 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 THE NATIONAL CONGRESS AND THE 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 By Sir Syed Ah»ied. 
 
 The Hon'ble Pandit Ajudhia Nath said in the 
 speech which he made at Lucknow in praise of the 
 National Congress, that the Government of India 
 approved of its objects and sympathised with it; and 
 in proof of this he said that " the Governor-General 
 in Calcutta and the Governor of Madras gave par- 
 ties in their respective Government Houses to the 
 members of the Congress, and invited everybody, 
 and welcomed them warmly, and instead of raising 
 objections, expressed their sympathy with the Con- 
 gress." He further said that when an address was 
 presented to the Governor-General he made a 
 favourable reply, and said as much as a Viceroy of 
 the Queen could possibly say. The Hon'ble Pandit 
 then said " that the present was a suitable occasion 
 for telling them that if they feared the opposition 
 of the rulers of the North-West Provinces and 
 Oudh, they should attach higher importance to the 
 opinions and acts of the Governor-General and the 
 Governor of Madras." Although I cannot believe 
 that the favour shown by the Governor-General and 
 the Governor of Madras to the members of the 
 Congress was inspired by any motive other than 
 ordinary courtesy, yet in any case I have an objec- 
 tion to make against these acts of the Government. 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 73 
 
 For if the Governor-General and the Governor of 
 Madras acted thus only out of ordinary courtesy, 
 they should at the time have taken into considera- 
 tion the danger lest the people to whom they show- 
 ed this kindness should make an improper use of 
 the favour so shown. Now, however, the Govern- 
 ment knows that the supporters of the Congress 
 interpret this kindness in another way, and wrong- 
 fully point to the conclusions that the Governor- 
 General and the Governor of Madras "sympathise 
 with the objects of the Congress ; " and by this pre- 
 text try to deceive people into joining them. Gov- 
 ernment ought therefore to be very cautious in 
 showinsf this kind of favour. 
 
 But if, on the other hand, the Governor-Gene- 
 ral and the Governor of Madras exhibited this 
 favour to the members of the Congress for the 
 reason which my friend the Hon'ble Pandit Ajudhia 
 Nath has stated, and expressed their sympathy with 
 the objects of the Congress, then that section of the 
 people which is opposed to the National Congress 
 has the gravest cause for complaint. Government 
 knows well that there are two parties regarding the 
 National Congress, or to be more explicit, that some 
 nations, especially Muhammadans, are on one side, 
 and some nations on the other. Then why should 
 Government lean towards one side and express 
 sympathy with it ? It is necessary for Government 
 to hold itself aloof from both parties. Its duty is 
 merely to stop that disturbance from which there 
 is every reason to expect an increase of hostility 
 
74 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 between the two nations, and those acts by which gen- 
 eral discontent is being: raised against the Govern- 
 ment. For the result of this fomentation of unreason- 
 able discontent cannot be beneficial to the country. 
 
 I cannot imagine why my able friend the Hon r - 
 ble Pandit Ajudhia Nath should attach so much 
 importance to the fact that Sir William Hunter, Sir 
 Charles Turner, and three or four radical members 
 of Parliament sympathise with the objects of the 
 Congress. Is the government of the British Empire 
 in their hands ? Let us suppose a few members of 
 Parliament sympathise with the National Congress, it 
 must be remembered that there are about six hun- 
 dred and fifty members in the House of Commons, 
 leaving aside the House of Lords. Hence the 
 significance to be attached to the support of three 
 or four members is, as the Hindi proverb says, less 
 than a caraway-seed in the mouth of a camel. To 
 change the Government, or its constitution, and to 
 substitute representative Government, is no easy 
 matter. The people of Ireland, who have so weighty 
 a supporter in Mr. Gladstone, besides many Mem- 
 bers of Parliament, — what have they been able to 
 do that our poor National Congress should think 
 they can effect this ? In my opinion if all the rulers 
 of India should sympathise with the National Con- 
 gress, yet even then the supporters of the Congress 
 could not be successful. Some Members of Parlia- 
 ment may go mad, but all cannot. 
 
 Without doubt Government is itself anxious for 
 the progress of the people of India. If the present 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 75 
 
 state of things be compared with that at the com- 
 mencement of British rule, then the advancement 
 that the British Government has given to the people 
 of India is really astonishing ; and it is still inclined 
 in the same way to give them further advancement, 
 and is giving what it thinks expedient, and will 
 continue to give. From the uproar of the National 
 Congress no good result can follow. Rather it is to 
 be feared that those proposals for the benefit of the 
 people which the Government has under considera- 
 tion, among which may be counted some of the 
 recommendations of the Public Service Commission, 
 may be postponed in order that the Congresswallas 
 may not be elated, and fancy that they have been 
 accomplished by their agitation. The Congress has 
 been in existence three years. To what Congress 
 do we owe the conspicuous benefits which the people 
 of India have received from the commencement of 
 the British Rule to the present day ? Similarly the 
 Government is ready to give further advancement 
 at suitable times. The Mutiny of 1857, which I 
 am right in calling the Sepoy War, as Mr. Kayehas 
 styled it, and which was due to the mistakes of some 
 officials, threw back the progress of India a hundred 
 years. If that Mutiny had not occurred, then 
 hundreds of our young men of a soldierly temper 
 would have been Volunteers ; the Arms Act would 
 not have been passed ; many among us would have 
 been Captains, and Colonels, and Generals in the 
 Army ; and we would have said to Government: — 
 " Do not trouble your European officers and British 
 
76 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 soldiers. See — we, and we alone, will advance be- 
 yond the frontier, and will give the Russians a 
 practical lesson how to advance and how to give 
 
 fight." 
 
 I cannot understand the meaning of the state- 
 ment of my honourable friend that people should not 
 fear the opposition of the rulers of the North-West 
 Provinces and Oudh. Whatever the opinions of 
 Government may be about the administration of the 
 country, yet it has given freedom to all its subjects 
 and to the newspapers to criticise its policy as they 
 like. Hence, if the Government of the N.-W. P. 
 and Oudh be opposed to the objects of the Congress, 
 why should those who join it fear ? But, yes. 
 There is one thing on account of which the Con- 
 gresswallas may well fear their rulers — a thing which 
 my honourable friend has not mentioned. Can 
 the Congresswallas deny — their intentions may not 
 be bad, and I do not charge them with bad inten- 
 tions — but can they deny the fact that they have 
 left no stone unturned in their attempts to spread 
 discontent among the common people against the 
 Government ? Are not The Star in the East, The 
 Tamil Catechism and the Conversation between Farid- 
 uddin and Rambakhsk, in which many statements 
 are false while real facts are placed in a wrong light, 
 as well as many other of their speeches and writings, 
 sufficient proof? If it be true that thousands of 
 copies (the Hindustani newspaper says lakhs) have 
 been printed in Urdu and Hindi, and circulated in 
 the Provinces, while the men who distribute them 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 77 
 
 say to the banias, " see, how oppressive the taxes 
 are, we are trying to remove them ;" and to suitors in 
 the law-courts, " see the stamp fees, what tyranny ! " 
 and to the landlords and cultivators, " how unjust 
 the revenue laws are, " and abusing Government 
 before every kind of man in ways appealing to his 
 circumstances or his comprehension ; is not this a 
 thing which gives the people of the N.-W. P. and 
 Oudh very good reason for standing in fear of their 
 rulers ? And is it not the duty of Government to 
 try to discover, by every means and method in its 
 power, how far this dissatisfaction has spread, and 
 how deep are its roots, and to ascertain whether or 
 not the time has come for interfering actively and 
 uprooting it ? Is it not the duty of Government 
 to prevent this disaffection from increasing, and 
 thus to avert a time when it would be necessary to 
 adopt harsh measures, such as has been done in 
 Ireland ? These things are included in the duty of 
 the Government, and Government ought to do 
 them, and it would be absurd to accuse Government 
 of being hostile if she were to do her duty in these 
 respects. The idea of my honourable friend about 
 the rulers of our North-West Provinces and Oudh 
 being opposed to the Congress, and the people 
 not fearing the opposition of their rulers, is ab- 
 surd. In my opinion the Congresswallas need fear 
 nobody, but they have good reason to be afraid 
 of their own actions, as well as of the hostility 
 they are stirring up between Hindus and Muham- 
 madans. 
 
78 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 TheMuhammadans paid no heed to theCongress 
 for years as along as the Congresswallas told no lies 
 about Muhammadans joining them, nor tried to secure 
 their co-operation by deceitful methods. But in the 
 Madras Congress they began to adopt this proce- 
 dure, and to try to induce Muhammadans to take a 
 part. Then those Muhammadans who wished to pro- 
 tect their nation from the bad results of the Congress 
 stood up and warned their people of its evil effects. 
 
 SYED AHMED. 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 79 
 
 THE "PIONEER" ON SEDITION. 
 
 The two following leaders have appeared in 
 the Pioneer, the leading English journal in India, 
 on the seditious methods adopted by the National 
 Congress : — 
 
 The Spread of Sedition. 
 
 With characteristic indifference we are taking 
 no steps to deal with the latest and most dangerous 
 development of popular agitation in India. The 
 Congress Catechism and its other incendiary tracts 
 are being distributed every day in larger numbers 
 in the vernaculars of India. In the Punjab the 
 ground is "being prepared" by this means for the 
 Congress of December, 1889. In Guzerat the agita- 
 tors boast of having printed 35,000 copies in the 
 local vernacular. The leading ideas of the Cate- 
 chism are utterly subversive of British rule. First, 
 it is assumed throughout that the present condition 
 of the country is miserable. Frequent allusion is 
 made to " our many grievances " and to " our hard- 
 ships and disadvantages." Next, the people are 
 told that they can expect no assistance either from 
 Anglo-Indian officials, who "wish to keep matters as 
 they are," or from the Indian Government. It 
 is clear that this idea cuts at the root of loyalty, 
 while it presents the rulers of the country in the 
 light of tyrants. To remedy this state of things 
 the prospect is held out of coercing the Indian 
 Government by means of English public opinion. 
 
So THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 Such a state of things, if possible, would mean ruin 
 to the prestige of the Government and to its 
 strength. Finally, the object towards which this 
 coercion is to be directed is that " a Parliament 
 must be established " in India, Mr. Hume confess- 
 ed that this idiotic dream was his goal, but he 
 generously allowed fifty or seventy years for its 
 realisation. The Catechism points exultingly to 
 the glorious time after "a year or two when we 
 have won the day." Thus these four main ideas of 
 the Catechism inculcate discontent, antagonism to 
 the rulers, contempt for their authority, and revolu- 
 tion. This propaganda is dignified with the name 
 of the " political education of the masses." To 
 suppose that it will have no effect is to argue 
 sheer ignorance of the people of Upper India. 
 We have heard of a case of one of these pamph- 
 lets being read out before a crowd of ignorant 
 men of a fighting caste, the result being that they 
 became very excited, and cried out — " God grant 
 that the fighting comes soon." The pamphlets had 
 been distributed by a Bengali. To add to the 
 effect of this seditious literature, the agitators are 
 themselves travelling up and down the land abus- 
 ing the Government and conjuring up chimerical 
 visions of prosperity if the people do but unite and 
 insist in having representative government. No 
 aro-ument is too absurd if a few ignorant supporters 
 can by its means be gained. A Musalman named 
 Bhimji has been touring over the Provinces and 
 telling the Muhammadans that if they joined the 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 
 
 National Congress their holy cities — Mecca, Meshed, 
 and Jerusalem — would be better protected. Fancy, a 
 Bengali garrison defending Mecca against the attacks 
 of the infidels ! He further drew attention to the 
 poverty of the poor, and said that all this would be 
 removed if the National Congress had its way. 
 While this is going on in the vernacular the Anglo- 
 Bengali Press from Calcutta to Lahore, with one or 
 two exceptions, is attacking the Viceroy, the Gov- 
 ernment, and Anglo-Indians at large with a viru- 
 lence that can only be explained as the result of 
 malice united to the belief that Government is co- 
 wardly in the face of abuse. To embitter race- 
 feeling the Tribune, a Bengali paper of Lahore, 
 has even assailed the modesty and chastity of 
 English ladies. Every scandal, true or false, that 
 can be gleaned from the four corners of the Empire, 
 is greedily laid hold of and served up to feed the 
 appetites of the detractors of British rule. The 
 result is, that throughout the English-reading Hindu 
 public a settled discontent is spreading, based on 
 misconceptions and untruths. Again, our easy- 
 going nature thinks that truth will prevail in the end. 
 But we forget that the Mutiny of 1857 was due to a 
 misconception, namely, that the Government was 
 planning an attack on the religions of the people. 
 Government has been solemnly warned of the danger 
 of letting this state of things continue by men who 
 know the people far better than we do. Natives of 
 India, among the most able, influential and honour- 
 able in the land— Sir Syed Ahmed, Mr. Syed Hosain 
 
32 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 Bilgrami, the Maharaja of Benares, Sir Salar Jung, 
 the Raja of Binga, Munshi Imtiaz Ali, and many 
 others — have stated their firm conviction that if this 
 agitation proceeds long enough, it will lead to a 
 terrible catastrophe. Now, what has been the 
 attitude of Government towards this rival and ex- 
 traordinary propaganda ? The Catechism undertakes 
 to answer this question. It says that the Finance 
 Commission and the Public Service Commission were 
 the direct results of the Congress ; and it goes on to 
 state that Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Chamberlain 
 have declared themselves in its favour. The Con- 
 gresswallas make great capital out of the circum- 
 stance that they were invited to the Government 
 Houses in Calcutta and Madras: this fact beinQf trium- 
 phantly paraded before the people in every oration 
 as conclusive proof that Government approves of their 
 agitation. The Hon'ble Pandit Ajudhia Nath said, 
 in his speech at Lucknow, that " the Governor-Gene- 
 ral in Calcutta and the Governor in Madras gave 
 parties to the members of the Congress in their 
 respective Government Houses, and called them all 
 and received them kindly, and instead of making 
 objections, expressed their sympathy with the aims 
 of the Congress." But unfortunately the Congress - 
 wallas need not rely entirely on misrepresentation in 
 their attempts to prove Government to be on their 
 side. The strong advocacy of their cause by Sir W. 
 Hunter, a man on whom the Government had lavished 
 its honours, is, in the absence of any rejoinder, 
 a conspicuous victory, and has given a very great 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 83 
 
 stimulus to the movement. The active support of 
 Mr. Hume and several unofficial Europeans is an 
 indication of support from people closely connected 
 with the rulers. They have further had the wit to 
 secure a prominent Englishman of Calcutta as their 
 next President. And, finally, the Congress has 
 achieved a triumph in the pronounced approval of its 
 methods by the Governor of Bombay. Lord Reay 
 must welcome, he says, anything that tends to im- 
 prove the administration. One of the improvements 
 suggested by the Congresswallas, with that singular 
 want of political insight which prevents them from 
 seeing even their own interests, was the abolition 
 of the Governorships of Madras and Bombay. Per- 
 haps when the Governor of Bombay has been im- 
 proved out of existence, His Excellency may have 
 time to reflect on the inadvisability of playing at 
 fireworks in a powder magazine. 
 
 It would appear, therefore, that the Congress 
 agitators can lay claim to some social countenance 
 and a certain amount of support in high quarters, 
 which they do their utmost to magnify in the eyes of 
 the uninformed public: and that the Supreme Govern- 
 ment has contented itself with a mysterious silence, 
 while its very existence is being undermined, and 
 aspirations are being encouraged in the people which, 
 being preposterous and unrealisable, are doomed to 
 bitter disappointment. What is the cause of so ano- 
 malous a state of things ? The cause is to be found 
 in the singular elasticity of the proposals of the 
 Congress. To the English public it shows itself, as 
 
84 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 an English member of Parliament remarked, "ridi- 
 culously moderate " in its demands. It merely wants 
 certain changes tending "to improve the administra- 
 tion," while the solid groundwork itself is to remain 
 untouched. But to the ignorant masses it presents 
 a very different front. It knows it can catch their 
 allegiance by no such mild proposals. Nothing less 
 than the abolition of taxation and the expulsion of 
 the hated foreigner are the baits held out to popular 
 ignorance and fanaticism. English supporters of 
 the movement imagine that these are mere excres- 
 cences that will disappear in time. They are, on 
 the contrary, the vital principles of the movement, 
 and the apparent moderation of its formal demands 
 is simply a diplomatic device in order to gain a van- 
 tage ground from the enemy for a further advance. 
 The originators of the Congress showed their wis- 
 dom in assuming that we fall easy dupes to a little 
 palaver. A little anecdote may here be mentioned. 
 Two Englishmen, accompanied by a native friend, 
 were walking one evening in an Indian town. One 
 of them was a visitor from England ; the other had 
 recently come to the country. They were accosted 
 by a jovial, English-speaking Hindu, who joined 
 himself to the party, offered them his carriage, and 
 escorted them to their hotel, holding forth magni- 
 ficently on the depths of his loyalty, and how nothing 
 could give him greater pleasure than to die for his 
 Queen. Having arrived at the hotel he called for 
 a peg, and remarked to the native member of the 
 trio that he knew well how to catch the owls. So 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 85 
 
 it is with Mr. Hume and the Congresswallas. 
 Unfortunately they, too, know how to catch the 
 owls. 
 
 Such being then the attitude of the Congress 
 towards the Government and the attitude of the 
 Government towards the Congress, the question 
 that arises before anyone who does not wish to see 
 the mischief grow, is whether there is no means 
 open of allaying or averting it. But to consider 
 this it is necessary to take into account the feelings 
 of that not inconsiderable portion of the population 
 which is either outside the pale of the agitation or 
 actively opposed to it: and this involves an extend- 
 ed train of argument which must be reserved for a 
 separate article. 
 
 Sedition and its Antidote. 
 
 After treating of the character of the propa- 
 ganda that is being spread throughout the country 
 by the working party of the National Congress, 
 we were brought up at the question — How Gov- 
 ernment is to deal with this fever that has seized 
 on the body politic ? The simple and straight- 
 forward method would be direct suppression, for 
 which purpose a dozen policemen would be ample. 
 But it is doubtful whether the British public would 
 tolerate interference with the Press and the right of 
 public meeting before the bloodshed came to en- 
 lighten its wits. And when the bloodshed comes, 
 whether between Hindu and Muhammadan, or be- 
 tween Englishman and sepoy, the flame may 
 spread so fast as to make its extinction very 
 
86 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 difficult, especially if synchronous with a Russian 
 war. However, without applying to England for a 
 Coercion Act like that in force in Ireland, there 
 appear to be ways in which the Government of 
 India could vastly diminish the evil. 
 
 In Upper India there are three communities to 
 be dealt with. First, the Bengalis, who are settled 
 or employed in large numbers in the Provinces. 
 They are the backbone of the Congress movement. 
 In dealing with them no arguments are of any avail. 
 Lord DufTerin personally appealed to them to mo- 
 derate the tone of their Press. The consequence 
 was, they redoubled their vituperation. This is the 
 result of treating them as gentlemen, amenable to 
 reason. They have one unanswerable reply, that 
 their method pays. They are intoxicated with 
 success. However, deeds and not words would 
 very soon produce an astonishing change in their 
 convictions. The second community are the up- 
 country Hindus. At present they are undecided. 
 Some, including their noblest caste, the Rajputs, are 
 against the Congress ; some are in its favour; and 
 many are wavering, not knowing whether or not to 
 accept the Bengalis, whom they dislike, as their 
 leaders. It remains for Government, by throwing 
 its weight in the scale, either to preserve the loyalty 
 of the up-country Hindus, or to turn them as a 
 nation into a seditious band far more dangerous 
 than the Bengalis. The third community are the 
 Muhammadans. These detest the Congress cordi- 
 ally, as the triumph of democratic principles means 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 87 
 
 for them utter and hopeless ruin. They are like the 
 men of Ulster in Ireland without their wealth and 
 education. But in dealing with the Muhammadans 
 two great facts should be borne in mind. First, 
 there is an almost universal and intense long-ino- for 
 reconciliation with their old foes, for friendship with 
 their rulers. Their long series of misfortunes has 
 crushed the old spirit of rivalry, and it needs but a 
 slight manifestation of friendship to win their 
 devoted loyalty. The second fact is their ignorance 
 how to effect this reconciliation. They behave 
 according to their traditional method and refuse 
 to embarrass the Government. They see the coun- 
 try overrun by Bengalis, who publicly and privately 
 do nothing- but abuse the Government. Hence 
 they sometimes argue that the way to please their 
 eccentric rulers appears to be by abusing them. 
 And there is a real and serious danger of old-fashioned 
 Muhammadans imagining, from the extraordinary 
 attitude preserved by Government in this Congress 
 agitation, that it is really in favour of the Congress. 
 A clear indication of this danger may be seen in the 
 report of some Congress meetings held in Ludhiana. 
 The itinerant lecturer Bhimji managed to convert 
 •an old Maulvi, who made a speech in the Jumma 
 Musjid, in which he said that " the National Congress 
 was a blessing sent by God for the relief of millions 
 of poor people who at the present time were starving." 
 Various remarks in the report clearly indicate that 
 Bhimji had managed to produce an impression that 
 Government was for the Congress, and that without 
 
88 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 this impression he could not have secured the support 
 of this influential but uninformed Maulvi. The op- 
 ponents of the Congress were stigmatised as Wahabis 
 and enemies of British rule ; and it was said that 
 Bhimji called on the Deputy Commissioner and the 
 District Judge, " both of whom received him most 
 kindly, and expressed their sympathy in his public- 
 spirited mission." It was further stated that the 
 police were used to disperse an anti-Congress meet- 
 ing and to protect a Congress meeting. It is obvi- 
 ous, therefore, that the adoption by Government of a 
 negative policy, relying on the two parties to fight it 
 out, is an unsafe one. In the first place, it is capable 
 of misinterpretation. In the second place, in a fight 
 between two popular parties, in which one side pro- 
 mises everything and the other side nothing, what 
 chance is there of victory for the latter? And again, 
 what guarantee is there that even the agitation that 
 has sprung up against the Congress may not in the 
 future take a dangerous course ? 
 
 Things have, in fact, come to a pass when it is 
 well for Government to review the principles on 
 which India has been governed, for there are indi- 
 cations that it is fast becoming a second Ireland. 
 We are threatened not only with " National " Con- 
 gresses, but with perpetual Provincial Congresses in 
 every part of India. The agitation is growing by 
 leaps and bounds. The present condition of the 
 Bengali community should be a solemn warning as to 
 where our methods are leading us. We have given 
 them more favours than we can possibly give to any 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 89 
 
 other race in India, because not only did we find 
 them at a lower level, but we have put them to rule 
 in many countries in which they are foreigners ; 
 and yet they are ostentatiously disloyal, as no other 
 people in India are. 
 
 What is the cause of this ? Not so much per- 
 haps education, as some imagine ; but the whole 
 policy and principles of our rule which foster 
 methods that run into sedition, and do nothing to 
 encourage loyalty. Loyalty should be the watch- 
 word of our policy. Loyalty, carefully tested, should 
 be the supreme virtue recognised by Government. 
 Men should be given high posts only if their loyalty 
 be proved ; and, if well proved, loyalty should be 
 rewarded much more liberally than has hitherto been 
 the case. Loyalty to the Government whose salt 
 one has tasted was the most sacred of Oriental 
 political virtues. It was the pivot of Eastern States. 
 At present it holds in the Native Army, but it is fast 
 disappearing in " New India." If a man give proof 
 of loyalty he is blackguarded by every Bengali paper 
 as a sycophant and a flatterer, but if he abuse 
 Government, they laud him as a man of public spirit 
 and of independence. In a dozen ways we ourselves 
 encourage this. When a man is troublesome we 
 reward him with a high post to induce him to keep 
 his mouth shut (which he seldom does), and so 
 produce fifty imitators. When we give favours we 
 manage to do it in such a way as to inspire no 
 gratitude. We give it not as a favour but as a 
 right, or we even admit it as a claim. We let it 
 
90 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 appear not as if we had given it but as if it had been 
 taken from us. The policy of Akbar was to crush 
 opposition, and then, when his enemies felt wholly 
 powerless and at his mercy, to raise them up and 
 shower on them his favours. In this way he won 
 their devoted loyalty. Loyalty of the heart and feel- 
 ings of personal gratitude to Government — sentiments 
 strong under Muhammadan rule, but weak under 
 ours — have to be carefully fostered. In England 
 they are unnecessary. But Government in India 
 is on far weaker basis than Government in En or- 
 land. The Government is foreign and painful 
 to sentiments of national honour. The disgusting 
 manner of the increasing numbers of low class Eu- 
 ropeans and Eurasians towards natives of rank is a 
 source of constantly growing friction. There must 
 be created feelings of personal loyalty to counter- 
 act this. But one essential element in this sen- 
 timent is a feeling of respect and awe. This can 
 never exist if the rulers appear weak, timid, and 
 frightened of their subjects. Their prestige and 
 their unquestioned power must be maintained. But 
 here a common English misconception must be re- 
 moved. The prestige of Government rests on the 
 prestige and position of those persons only who are 
 by virtue of their position rulers, not on the prestige 
 of every Englishman as member of a ruling race. 
 The latter idea is odious to the people. It encour- 
 ages every Englishman of the lower orders to swag- 
 ger as if he were the Viceroy. We should show 
 ourselves as jealous of the honour and position of 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 91 
 
 natives of rank as of our own. In testing loyalty 
 the first criterion is that a man's acts and words 
 should tend to make people at large contented. To 
 stir up discontent should be treason. Methods of 
 attacking Government, which have the least tenden- 
 cy to run into sedition, should be suppressed with a 
 firm hand. Englishmen have a natural tendency to 
 sympathise with any kind of healthy activity which 
 appears among the people. But the safety of the 
 Empire demands that this activity, whether English 
 or native, should be confined within narrower bounds 
 than are permissible in England. If people — Eng- 
 lishmen no less than natives — overstep these bounds 
 they must be taught their mistake. The National 
 Congress has overstepped these bounds. Its strength 
 or its weakness now depends entirely on ourselves. 
 If it be seen that proposals for the advancement of 
 the people suffer rather than gain by being debated 
 in the Congress, the Congress will very soon 
 collapse like a soap-bubble. But if our statesmen 
 stand with hands joined before a spurious public 
 opinion, always giving in a little to popular clamour, 
 the time is possibly not far distant when they will 
 have to make way for the men of iron with the 
 Commander-in-Chief at their head. 
 
92 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 THE COMING MUTINY IN INDIA. 
 By Choudhri Nasrat AH. 
 
 The notorious pamphlet published in English 
 and Urdu and purporting to be a conversation be- 
 tween two fictitious persons, Maulvi Fariduddin 
 and Rambakhsh, gives some idea of the emphati- 
 cally disloyal sentiments entertained by the found- 
 er of the National Congress and his co-adjutors, 
 who, by constantly fanning the flame of rebellion, are 
 trying to produce a general conflagration which will 
 envelope the whole of India, and which it will be 
 difficult to suppress or extinguish. They are foolish- 
 ly endeavouring to conceal the fire beneath the ashes 
 which has at last smoked out in and through the 
 pamphlet. Beneath the ashes lie smouldering, not 
 little sparks which might die out by themselves, 
 but gigantic blocks of wood which will blaze out 
 and destroy the public peace. 
 
 Every intelligent man, who cares to read the 
 pamphlet, will be driven to the conclusion that a wide 
 dissemination of such disloyal and revolutionary 
 notions will one day make the well-contented and 
 peaceful citizens, who clearly see danger in the 
 present agitation, and who do not like the peace of 
 the country to be disturbed and the social fabric to 
 be destroyed by the flames of rebellion, forget the 
 disastrous events of 1857. 
 
 The pamphlet was first published in English, 
 but in order to secure universal circulation among 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 93 
 
 the masses, it was subsequently translated into Urdu, 
 and many thousand copies of the Urdu version 
 have been distributed gratis in Lucknow and the 
 neighbouring towns and villages. 
 
 Mr. Hume and the partizans of the Congress 
 have made many frivolous pretexts, and put forth 
 pleas which are altogether inadmissible. The dis- 
 tribution of many thousand Urdu copies of a dis- 
 tinctly seditious publication must be taken to indi- 
 cate a desire to throw the country into a political 
 ferment, and create rebellion. This is clearly stated 
 in the pamphlet itself to be its aim and object. 
 The revised pamphlet was re-published in 1887, an d 
 incorporated with the report of the Madras Na- 
 tional Congress. Greatly annoyed and distressed at 
 Mr. Theodore Beck's sharp review of the pamphlet,* 
 wherein he has called the serious attention of the 
 Government to the distinctly seditious character 
 of the publication, Mr. Hume has set up a weak 
 defence and denied all responsibility for it. He has 
 further insisted that controversial articles which 
 were published three or four years ago should not 
 be called in question now. This is not a satisfac- 
 tory reply, for it was under Mr. Hume's personal 
 responsibility and immediate control as General Sec- 
 retary to the Congress, that the report for 1887 na s 
 been printed and published with the objectionable 
 pamphlet full of seditious notions, as an appendix. 
 
 People are astonished at the extreme violence of 
 the Congress and the Anti-Congress demonstrations 
 
 * The pamphlet here alluded to is The Star in the East.— Ed. 
 
94 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 lately witnessed at Lucknow and in its vicinity. 
 The Congressists ascribe this to the strong Anti- 
 Congress feelings excited by the political lecture 
 delivered by the Hon'ble Sir Syed Ahmed Khan 
 at Lucknow, on the 27th December, 1887. This is 
 utterly wrong, and is intended to mislead those not 
 acquainted with the real state of things. The vio- 
 lence of the Anti-Congress demonstration was 
 owing, as a matter of fact, to the wide distribution 
 in Lucknow and its neighbourhood of many thou- 
 sand copies of the seditious pamphlet, wherein the 
 British Government is strongly condemned as a 
 grinding despotism, and the people are called upon 
 to rebel against it. Those who desire peace at any 
 cost and who know by experience how the mutiny, 
 only thirty years ago, spread like wild fire among the 
 ignorant and brave races of Upper India, and what 
 disastrous results it produced, clearly perceived the 
 danger and determined to oppose the Congress, 
 which is its real source, and stem the tide of mutiny 
 before it had attained the magnitude and strength 
 of a disastrous flood. 
 
 The people of Lower Bengal cannot realize the 
 real character of the Mutiny of 1857 and the cala- 
 mities and hardships it brought in its train. Eu- 
 ropean gentlemen and their families were cruelly 
 murdered by the brutal native soldiery as if they 
 were born to be butchered or tortured to death. 
 Thousands of natives who were suspected of being 
 in " touch " with the British or of possessing wealth, 
 were plundered and murdered in cold blood. At 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 95 
 
 Amethi, a respectable native gentleman was most 
 cruelly tortured to death by the rebels, who poured 
 gunpowder into his ears and mouth and then set 
 it on fire, blowing away the poor man's brains 
 simply because they mistook him for a wealthy man, 
 and demanded of him a large sum which he could 
 not pay. People were plundered to an unlimited 
 extent. A plunderer went about the country with 
 two bullocks loaded with ornaments plundered from 
 Hindu and Muhammadan women. 
 
 The disastrous events of 1857 are remembered 
 to this day with deep horror. Thousands of respect- 
 able women threw themselves into wells, tanks, and 
 rivers, preferring death to dishonor. The atrocities 
 perpetrated by the Russian soldiery on the Musal- 
 man population of Bulgaria after the Russo-Turkish 
 war of 1877, resemble in character and extent those 
 perpetrated by the brutal rebels upon Englishmen 
 and natives in 1857. 
 
 The object of the writers, the printers, and the 
 publishers of this seditious pamphlet seems to be 
 to re-kindle the flame of rebellion throughout Brit- 
 ish India, which, in 1857, touched only a portion 
 of Upper India. Like flint they have sparks con- 
 cealed within them and are seeking for an oppor- 
 tunity to let the hidden fire blaze out. Had they 
 not been actuated by sinister motives, they would 
 have confined their teachings to the intelligent 
 and the cultured, and would not have circulated all 
 this seditious stuff among the reckless, whose rash- 
 ness makes them long for the sword which has 
 
g6 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 been taken away from them to ensure peace and 
 tranquillity. If the ignorant masses are re-armed, 
 then I confidently assert that they will not be able 
 to distinguish between a lawful and an unlawful use 
 of their weapons, for they still retain their primitive 
 rashness, and can only tear the Indian Penal Code 
 to pieces and twist Ctte torn leaves into small bundles 
 of grocery. It is a grave apprehension of such 
 danger that has compelled the Musalmans of India 
 as a whole, and many respectable and influential 
 Hindus, to endeavour most strenuously to check 
 the growing evil and prevent the coming storm. 
 
 Nothing can be more convincing than the evi- 
 dence afforded by the fact that the British Indian 
 Association of Oudh, considering the Congress 
 movement distinctly seditious, convened a General 
 Meeting on the 4th April, 1888, at which a Resolu- 
 tion was unanimously passed disclaiming all connec- 
 tion therewith. This is a political Association of 
 the Maharajas, the Rajas, and the Talukdars of 
 Oudh, both Hindus and Musalmans, and I have 
 the honor of being the Assistant Secretary to this 
 important Association. I say that the Talukdars' 
 Association has rightly sounded the note of alarm, 
 clearly perceiving the seditious forces which the 
 founder and the promoters of the Congress are 
 setting in motion. It was in no uncertain tones 
 that an influential member of the Association, an 
 Hon'ble Maharaja, spoke of the Congress as 
 foreboding the disastrous events of 1857. It is 
 therefore utterly wrong to say that it is Mr. Beck 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 97 
 
 only who has taken an alarmist view of the Con- 
 gress agitation, as a similar opinion was publicly 
 expressed by a great Talukdar of Oudh some time 
 before Mr. Beck's trenchant articles appeared in 
 public print. Do not the partizans of the Con- 
 gress remember the remark made by a German to 
 Nawab Fateh Nawaz Jung of Hyderabad while 
 travelling in Europe, that the people of India had 
 conspired against the British Government ? Such 
 being the general impression produced by the action 
 of the Congress in foreign countries, which can 
 know anything about India through newspapers 
 only, great must be the danger apprehended by the 
 peaceful inhabitants of this country from the practi- 
 cal measures adopted and carried out by the Con- 
 gresswallas with such eclat. If such seditious ideas 
 continue to be promulgated, the evil day may not be 
 far distant when the whole country will be drenched 
 in blood like the clothes of the Hindus besmeared 
 with the conventional red powder during the Holi 
 festival. 
 
 Before this notorious pamphlet had been print- 
 ed and published as part and parcel of the Con- 
 gress Report for 1887, on the direct responsibility of 
 the Congress, the responsibility of publishing it in 
 English rested with a few persons only ; while the 
 person or persons who had published an Urdu 
 version of it might have alleged that they were res- 
 ponsible only for what was, after all, a translation, 
 though this plea looks like holding up one's hand to 
 save one's head from being struck off with the 
 
98 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 sword. But from the fact of the objectionable pam- 
 phlet being incorporated with the Annual Report of 
 the Congress, not Mr. Hume only, but every mem- 
 ber and supporter of the movement, has become 
 answerable for its disloyal ideas and tone. God 
 only knows what made the Congressists incorporate 
 this seditious pamphlet with the printed record of 
 their proceedings, and how the man who has 
 published it has escaped the punishment prescribed 
 by law. 
 
 The foregoing remarks, far from being merely 
 sentimental, are the result of my personal observa- 
 tion. They may appear very strange to those not 
 acquainted with the real state of things, or who 
 have not had the opportunity of seeing with their 
 own eyes the mutinous spirit and the seditious pro- 
 ceedings of the Congressists. But with the over- 
 whelming evidence before us there ought to be no 
 doubt or misapprehension. 
 
 In support of what I have said above, I may 
 refer the reader to those passages in the pamphlet 
 which are calculated to arouse the general popular 
 feelings against the British Government. I say it 
 is advisable to check the disease before it gets firm 
 hold of the system. Snake-bite is at first confined 
 to a tip-toe, but when the poison pervades the whole 
 system, no remedy can be applied with effect. 
 
 The pamphlet consists of a conversation be- 
 tween two fictitious persons, Maulvi Fariduddin and 
 Rambakhsh, the former a pleader of a district call- 
 ed Hakikatabad, and the latter the mukaddam or 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 99 
 
 headman of the village Kambakhtpur. The po- 
 litical condition of Kambakhtpur, which means liter- 
 ally an unlucky village, is vividly contrasted with 
 that of Shamshpur, another and a remarkably pros- 
 perous village. The former is represented as being 
 under the despotic rule of one Raja Harbans Rai, 
 and the latter as being under the constitutional go- 
 vernment of another Raja named Dharam Singh. 
 The one implies the despotism of the Indian Govern- 
 ment and the other the constitutional government 
 of England. Maulvi Fariduddin is represented as 
 persuading Rambakhsh into the belief that if he 
 wished to be relieved from the tyranny of a despotic 
 Government, he must seek for a representative one, 
 and co-operate with his educated and wealthy coun- 
 trymen for obtaining the desired change ; and that 
 if he did this, the English nation would compel the 
 Government to comply with the w 7 ishes of the edu- 
 cated natives. From beginning to end the pamph- 
 let is an uniform and persistent attempt to show that 
 the Government of India is an oppressive despot- 
 ism, and that it is the duty of the native population 
 to oppose their oppressors, might and main. Igno- 
 rant people are deluded into the belief that the 
 people of the United Kingdom (meaning perhaps 
 the Irish malcontents) will support their pretensions. 
 Some professed organs of the Congress party have 
 at last broken the spell, and plainly suggested that 
 the Congresswallas ought to adopt the tactics of 
 the Irish Home Rulers and raise funds. Great 
 stress is laid on the views of Sir William Hunter, 
 
100 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 and it is said that the learned Doctor being a con- 
 fidential adviser of the Government, his letters in 
 the Times truly reflect the decision of Her Majes- 
 ty's Government. The reason generally assigned 
 for this decision is that the British Government, 
 fully conscious of its own weakness and inability to 
 oppose Russia, contemplates making over the coun- 
 try to the natives. I have myself heard an educat- 
 ed native talking such nonsense to one of his 
 temper and tastes amid the jeers and laughter of his 
 jolly companions. A series of articles in the London 
 Times are. fondly regarded as an unmistakable sign of 
 victory ; and with the leading English journal com- 
 ing forward to support the cause of the Congress, 
 representative institutions for India are, with these 
 radical faddists, a foregone conclusion and an accom- 
 plished fact. 
 
 They foolishly depend for success in the 
 attainment of their object upon those who are 
 the component parts or consistent elements of 
 British Government. These are honest men, no 
 doubt, but not fools. Perhaps they do not suffi- 
 ciently realize the fact that the population of India 
 consists of an almost endless variety of nations, 
 tribes, and sects, diametrically opposed to each 
 other in their religious creeds, their social institu- 
 tions, and their political interests. Geographically, 
 India is but a peninsula, but from the vastness and 
 heterogeneousness of her population she looks like 
 a great continent. The inhabitants of one part of 
 the country materially differ from those inhabiting 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. IOI 
 
 the other, not only in religion but in language, 
 manners, and customs, and all the essential elements 
 of social life. They do not at all seem to be the na- 
 tives of one and the same country. Among Asiatic 
 nations, religion occupies the foremost place in all 
 their thoughts and actions. It serves as a touch- 
 stone for testing every problem, moral, social, or 
 political. The native population chiefly consists of 
 Hindus and Musalmans, who stand in the ratio of 5 
 to 1. Numerically, the other nations are extremely 
 insignificant. How a well-balanced representative 
 Government or Council is possible in a country so 
 circumstanced, passes human comprehension ; and if 
 the balance of power cannot possibly be preserved 
 between the rival sects and races, the inevitable 
 majority of one in the Legislative Councils constitu- 
 ted on a representative basis, will naturally be 
 strongly resented by the other. It would be utterly 
 impossible to reconcile conflicting interests in such 
 a Council. " It is puerile," rightly observed the 
 Hon'ble Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in his famous 
 political lecture, " to talk of two hostile races 
 fighting with each other most fanatically outside the 
 Council-room, and maintaining perfect good-will 
 and concord between themselves inside the Legisla- 
 tive Chamber." * Not only the Muhammadans as a 
 whole, but many respectable and influential Hindus 
 also have come to regard the spread of sedition 
 through the Congress as extremely dangerous to the 
 peace of the country. Fully convinced of the utter 
 
 * This was said by Sir Syed Ahmed in a letter to the Pioneer. 
 
102 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 impracticability of representative institutions in a 
 country like India, they naturally look upon those 
 who are longing for them as " building castles in the 
 air." Those who apprehend serious danger to their 
 country and their society, not only from the seditious 
 pamphlet, but from the inflammatory speeches and 
 underhanded proceedings of the Congressists, are 
 naturally anxious to see the mischievous agitation 
 summarily put down. The British Government has 
 been mildly but deliberately overlooking these sedi- 
 tious proceedings, but it must be remembered that 
 these same proceedings will one day compel it to 
 take action. 
 
 As representative institutions, as demanded by 
 the Congressists, cannot be worked in a country like 
 India, the question naturally arises — In what will 
 the spread of sedition end ? The answer to this is 
 obvious. It must end either in setting the ignorant 
 masses, whose loyalty is thus being undermined, 
 against the Government, and thus involving the 
 Government and the loyalist party in trouble, or in 
 the discomfiture of the party of sedition-mongers. 
 In either case, the peace of the country is seriously 
 compromised. 
 
 The partizans of the Congress will object to the 
 use of the word loyalist in the above sentence ; but 
 they must understand that our loyalty is not due to 
 "white men" as such, but to their beneficent rule 
 under which we enjoy the inestimable blessings of 
 peace and civilisation. I know full well that my 
 outspokenness exposes me to sharp personal attacks; 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 103 
 
 but as a sincere Musalman and a representative of 
 my community, I declare that the Musalmans are 
 bound by their religion not to excite sedition and 
 foment rebellion ao-ainst their rulers for the time 
 being. If they do this, they are sinners in the eye 
 of God, and if they die in the state of rebellion, 
 they will not enjoy that eternal bliss in Paradise, 
 which they have so much coveted through their 
 lives. 
 
 I am glad to find that my right-thinking and far- 
 sighted Hindu countrymen are as much bent on 
 stamping out sedition as I am, for they as well as I 
 fully realize the fact that the attempt to set up a 
 representative government in India is both senseless 
 and hopeless, like the effort of a baby to catch 
 hold of the moon by stretching out its little arms 
 in the belief that it will successfully accomplish 
 the feat. 
 
 The pamphlet represents the Viceroy of India 
 as an unscrupulous Raja, and the English officers 
 as reckless Hakims or tyrants, loth to hear and re- 
 dress the grievances of their subjects, who are thus 
 forced to regard their chief ruler (the Viceroy) as 
 politically dead. They are further taught to believe 
 that they are being ground down by their despotic 
 rulers in a thousand ways. Rent is extorted from 
 them before the proper time, no allowance is made for 
 a bad harvest, and even their ploughs and bullocks 
 are sold. No doubt these false charges have been 
 brought against the Government with the object of 
 turning a loyal and contented people into disloyal 
 
104 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 and discontented subjects. Such grievances, if they 
 are really found and felt anywhere, may be repre- 
 sented through a free Press, and equally free public 
 associations, which already exist in large numbers. 
 This safe and effective plan for ventilating popular 
 grievances, real or imaginary, was rightly suggested 
 by the Oudh Talukdars' Association, but it did not 
 find favor with those who prefer dodging and 
 skulking to plain sailing. The Government is 
 calumniated and denounced before an ignorant and 
 excitable populace which cannot understand the 
 current political problems, cannot realize the ad- 
 ministrative difficulties which surround their rulers, 
 and cannot judge of the soundness or otherwise of 
 the policy which the Government ought to pursue 
 with due regard to existing circumstances and 
 conditions. 
 
 To spread sedition in the country, the pamphlet 
 has been translated into colloquial Urdu, easily in- 
 telligible to rude peasants and ignorant villagers 
 steeped in their primitive barbarism. 
 
 The writer of the pamphlet seems to be an 
 average man with a modicum of common sense and 
 with very hazy notions of the subject he is treating 
 of. While deliberately exposing the dark side of 
 the picture, he has carefully concealed the bright 
 side of it. He ought to have asked some zemindar 
 whether the Government does not postpone the 
 realization of the revenue for a bad harvest; whether 
 it does not sanction remissions for crops injured or 
 destroyed by hail; whether it has not exempted by 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 105 
 
 law agricultural implements from distraint and sale 
 even in execution of a decree. 
 
 Furthermore, the pamphlet plainly says that 
 the British Government is despotic both in its con- 
 stitution and its actions, that the Queen-Empress, 
 who has never visited India, has made over this 
 unfortunate country to the Viceroy and his subor- 
 dinate officers, who, like Raja Harbans Rai of 
 Kambakhtpur, are unscrupulous tryants, who are 
 squandering away millions of rupees extorted 
 from the poor people, and who are by their 
 oppressive rule creating strong discontent in the 
 country. Who that knows the people can say 
 that such notions are not calculated to poison 
 their hearts against their rulers ? Can the people 
 at large understand the Budget account ? If not, 
 they are at least being taught to treat their English 
 rulers as their enemies who are working their ruin, 
 and upon whom it will be their duty, as true 
 children of the soil, to avenge their wrongs when 
 the day of retribution comes. 
 
 Further on, it is plainly stated that the present 
 being a despotic Government, should no longer be 
 suffered to exist. But here the fault is attributed to 
 the system rather than to the officers of Govern- 
 ment, who are said to be bound to respect the exist- 
 ing depotism equally with the subject-races. 
 
 The writer of the pamphlet seems to have a short 
 memory. In the first few pages he has represented 
 the gomashtas or local officers as utterly careless of 
 their charge, but further on he has painted the 
 
IC6 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 English Collector in the most hideous colours, and 
 tried to make of him a " Nero" in miniature. Of 
 this I shall write more fully hereafter. 
 
 I do not know by what means it is sought to 
 get rid of the present Government. That at the 
 last meeting of the Congress Babu Surendranath 
 Banerji strongly insisted on the Indian Arms Act 
 being repealed forthwith, furnishes a clue to the 
 motives at work. 
 
 The British Government may be for or against 
 the introduction of representative institutions in 
 this country ; but I would respectfully remind the 
 Government that the manlier races of Upper India, 
 apprehensive of serious mischief to themselves as a 
 nation or nations, are fully prepared to oppose the 
 so-called reform, might and main. Nature has so 
 arranged the different nations making up the po- 
 pulation of India that the weaker nation cannot 
 reasonably expect justice and fair play from the 
 stronger one. I confess I cannot pin my faith on a 
 single newspaper letter from Mr. Budruddin Tyabji 
 promising fair play to all who would enter the Con- 
 gress and join in the senseless cry for representative 
 institutions ; nor can I trust even a solemn pledge 
 to smooth down numerical and other inequalities be- 
 tween rival races, contending parties, and opposite 
 sects, whose representatives are to be the future 
 rulers of the country. I cannot really believe that 
 in the Council Chamber the law of the majority 
 will not prevail, and that the party which has the 
 largest number of supporters in the country will not 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 107 
 
 command a working majority in the Council. Such 
 a pledge is transient and shadowy, like a dust-storm 
 which rises up only to vanish in the thin air. 
 
 "The pamphlet" endeavours to excite the 
 hatred of that " terrible swarm of locusts," i. e., 
 the great mass of ignorant cultivators and rude 
 villagers against the British Government, by telling 
 them that they are being ruined by enhanced rent 
 and increased taxation on land. Of course, the 
 object aimed at is to make them hate the Govern- 
 ment as a cruel despotism ; and extremely foolish 
 as they are, it is easy to make them believe such 
 foolish things. Being myself a zemindar of Oudh, 
 I know very well that the landholders of the pro- 
 vince possessed unlimited powers to enhance their 
 rents prior to the passing of Act XX of 1886, and 
 that many well-to-do cultivators who had acquired 
 land by purchase became zemindars and enhanced 
 the rents of their estates. I do not mean to say 
 that they practised extortions upon their tenants 
 and squeezed more money out of them than was 
 justified by the capacities of their holdings or the 
 necessities of management. Rents were enhanced 
 in proportion to the rise in the value of land, increas- 
 ed facilities for cultivation, and increased produce of 
 land. Cultivators were never deprived of their pro- 
 per share of the improvements effected by human 
 ingenuity, and it was to these improvements that 
 the rapid rise in the value of land and a proportion- 
 ate enhancement of rent were mainly due. The 
 writer of the pamphlet, if he were an honest and 
 
108 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 candid man, would have attributed the poverty of 
 the cultivators to the systematic exactions of the 
 Mahajan or village banker, but this he would not do 
 and has not done, his real object being to show that 
 the Government and its officers are abominable 
 despots. Perhaps he was not aware of the fact that 
 by Act XX of 1886, the Government has reduced 
 to a minimum the practically unlimited powers of 
 enhancement of rent previously exercised by zemin- 
 dars, who can now under the new law enhance their 
 rents only once after every seven years, and even 
 then at the moderate rate of one anna per rupee 
 or 6-4 per cent. The wonder is that the Govern- 
 ment has been severely blamed, instead of being 
 warmly praised, for all it has done for the great 
 body of cultivators. 
 
 Further on, the pamphlet plainly says that the 
 present being a despotic Government has been 
 working the country's ruin, and as a natural conse- 
 quence, must be got rid of at all costs. Well and 
 bravely said ! This fearless outspokenness on the 
 part of the indomitable writer of the pamphlet 
 might fairly be rewarded with the exalted rank of 
 the Commander-in-Chief of the rebellious forces in 
 the coming mutiny. Of course, the Congresswallas 
 would jump to the conclusion that representa- 
 tive institutions are only the panacea for the evil, 
 but to the sober judgment of all sound and candid 
 observers, representative institutions are utterly im- 
 practicable in a country like India, split up as it is 
 by a thousand and one differences and dissensions. 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. IO9 
 
 To show that the present is a purely despotic 
 Government and that its officers are tyrants, a 
 sensational story is concocted about an English 
 Collector, who is painted in hideous colours as a 
 petty tyrant, and Rambakhsh is represented as 
 telling Maulvi Fariduddin how cruelly he (Ram- 
 bakhsh) was whipped 30 years ago by order of this 
 English Collector, and how ashamed he felt of show- 
 ing the lower part of his body, which still bore the 
 marks of the stripes. The latter part of the above 
 sentence is a pure fiction, as, in fact, is the whole 
 story ; and it is unquestionably meant to excite the 
 people against the Government, for the dhoti com- 
 monly worn by the Indian peasant very imperfectly 
 covers the lower part of his body. The writer of 
 the pamphlet would have acted more wisely and to 
 some purpose if, before preaching war against the 
 Government, he had introduced a much-needed re- 
 form in the ordinary dress of the rude peasant of 
 Upper India, or even in the wearing apparel of the 
 more civilized inhabitants of Lower Bengal, where 
 the notorious sari, a thin and flimsy piece of cloth, 
 generally prevails. 
 
 The story, as related by Rambakhsh, runs 
 thus : — " Once it so happened that the brutal English 
 Collector came to inspect the village where I reside. 
 The usual supply of grass for the Collector's camp 
 was somehow delayed. The Tehsildar, Murtaza 
 Shah, a notoriously bad character, who had once 
 been convicted of forcible extortion and punished 
 by transportation, pleaded his innocence before the 
 
110 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 incensed Collector and laid the blame at my door. 
 The heartless tyrant caused me to be cruelly whip- 
 ped, called me a 'pig' and a 'block-head,' and threat- 
 ened me with ruin, saying he would teach me how 
 to obey the Hakim. He again ordered his kkallasi 
 to inflict thirty stripes on the lower part of my body, 
 so I was bound, hand and foot, and whipped most 
 severely, till I fell senseless on the ground." 
 
 Comment on the above is unnecessary. Is not 
 this an outrage upon truth and common sense ? 
 The writer of the pamphlet fears neither God nor 
 man, and most audaciously sets the Government 
 at defiance. Even the native Tehsildar has been 
 incriminated and stigmatized as a petty tyrant 
 simply because he was an officer of a despotic 
 Government ! 
 
 Such a startling incident, I say, has never 
 occurred since the establishment of British rule in 
 this country, for who has ever heard of a district 
 officer holding a villager punishable under the Penal 
 Code for failure to supply grass, and causing him to 
 be whipped almost to death ? No doubt such sen- 
 sational stories are invented with the criminal intent 
 to undermine the loyalty of the rude peasantry who 
 are completely swayed by their brutal instincts, and 
 are scarcely amenable to reason. The pamphlet 
 starts upon the idea that sedition is of little or no 
 effect, unless it spreads among the ignorant and 
 brave people. I hope the Government will pardon 
 me if I should call its reticence, impolitic and in- 
 expedient. That it is a harmless beginning of the 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. Ill 
 
 end I quite admit ; but I would point out that a 
 house is not burnt to ashes the moment it is set on 
 fire. Radicalism has become more powerful in 
 India than Nihilism in Russia, for while the Russian 
 Nihilists seek to destroy the existing Government 
 by secret machinations, the Indian Radicals openly 
 and fearlessly denounce the Indian Government as 
 the worst type of despotism, and are strenuously en- 
 deavouring, by inventing and publishing false stories, 
 to make every member of the subject-race a pro- 
 nounced enemy of the Government. I am really 
 astonished at the foolish credulity of my countrymen, 
 who seem to think it a child's play to pull off the mou- 
 stache of the living lion ! I wish they could realize 
 the fact that such deliberate misrepresentations 
 reflect seriously upon their truthfulness and loyalty. 
 They seem to have taken it for granted that the 
 British Government is blind of both eyes and that 
 its officers are simply fools. The Congresswallas 
 seem to believe that an unarmed populace would be 
 able by mere brute force to shake the Government 
 to its foundation, just as a violent earthquake once 
 convulsed the land of Kashmir, and would even- 
 tually pull down the tottering building and construct 
 a new and a more durable one with Bengalis for its 
 main pillars. 
 
 They also foolishly imagine that the people of 
 England would readily believe what they have 
 never seen with their own eyes. This is the reason 
 assigned by Mr. Hume in his reply to Mr. Beck 
 for publishing such seditious writings. 
 
112 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 Further on, the pamphlet says that the brutal 
 Collector was compelled by the Government to 
 resign, and would have been dismissed but for the 
 recommendation of his relatives who held hi^h office. 
 This is meant to show what a tremendous power the 
 English officer exercises in oppressing the poor 
 under the protection of his relatives in high quarters. 
 Then the people are taught to believe that such 
 brutal officers cannot possibly exist under a repre- 
 sentative government. 
 
 Such sweeping assertions by the writer of the 
 pamphlet disclose his intention to set in motion sedi- 
 tious forces to destroy the peace of the country. 
 
 The hypothetical Maulvi asks the village 
 headman to publish the stories of British oppres- 
 sion among peasants and others, through newspa- 
 pers, with the view of forming native public opinion 
 on the subject. Thus sensational stories showing 
 grinding oppression exercised by the English on 
 the subject-race are concocted to excite the masses 
 against the Government. Is this acting in good 
 faith ? The loyal subjects of the Crown will not 
 approve of such perfidious falsehoods. This trea- 
 sonable policy has been persistently carried out by 
 the Bengali Press. While every offender is held 
 personally liable to punishment, this gang of sedi- 
 tion-mongers is allowed to write and talk rank 
 sedition ! The ominous reticence of a mild Govern- 
 ment has spurred them on to overt and daring 
 attempts at sedition. They have already come to 
 regard the Government as a puppet in their hands. 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 113 
 
 (After commenting on the strictures on the 
 Police contained in the pamphlet, the writer 
 proceeds) : — 
 
 The pamphlet, if circulated in Central India, 
 will bring a handsome reward to its writer from 
 the notorious dacoit, Tantia Bhil. Police Super- 
 intendents are said to be the chief source of 
 crime, the friends and accomplices of budmaskes, 
 and representative institutions are declared to be 
 the panacea for these evils. Every false instance of 
 oppression has been cited as a fair argument for 
 getting rid of the present system of government. 
 By denouncing the British Government as a grind- 
 ing despotism, squandering away untold sums of 
 money extorted from poor people and hastening 
 their ruin, and by characterising public officers as 
 heartless tyrants and warm friends of budmaskes, 
 the hypothetical Maulvi has apparently succeeded 
 in inducing Rambakhsh to do his utmost to com- 
 bine the people against the Government under the 
 banner of the National Congress. I fear the next 
 step would be to declare war against the Government. 
 Common people do not know English law ; they 
 are a host of semi-civilized and half-educated men, 
 utterly ignorant of the first principles of Govern- 
 ment and of the essential conditions of reform. 
 They are ignorant in the broadest sense of the 
 word, and, as a necessary consequence, haughty 
 and excitable. Such people are sure to assist their 
 leaders, or rather ringleaders, in their overt attempts 
 at sedition. 
 
114 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 I invite a refutation of my arguments. But 
 any one who undertakes to refute me, should not be 
 of the type of Mr. Hume, whose judgment has 
 been vitiated by old age. 
 
 Here I may ask whether, at the Congress meet- 
 ing of December, 1887, Babu Surendranath Banerji 
 had not demanded the repeal of the Arms Act for 
 himself. But it must be remembered that he is a 
 Bengali, so he wanted the ignorant and excitable 
 populace to be re-armed in order to assist him and 
 his party more effectively in achieving their end, 
 though I do not think the Government will give 
 them its forts and its bomb-shells. 
 
 Further on, Maulvi Fariduddin explains to 
 Rambakhsh the advantages of a representative 
 government like that of England, and strongly re- 
 commends the adoption of the representative system 
 for India. In doing this, the writer deliberately 
 ignores the animosity caused by religious and other 
 differences among the different classes of the native 
 population. In England fanaticism has completely 
 died out, but in India religious feelings are as 
 strong as ever and susceptible of excitement at a 
 breath. Here the followers of one religion shudder 
 at the very thought of being overwhelmed by their 
 religious antagonists. The writer of the pamphlet 
 seems to have had a short memory, or how could 
 he forget the Mohurrum and Daserah disturbances, 
 which only two years ago convulsed Delhi, Etawah, 
 and other cities, towns, and villages ? How the 
 Jumma Masjid of Delhi was desecrated by the 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 115 
 
 Hindus, who tied a pig there to the inexpressible 
 horror of the Faithful, who retaliated upon their 
 enemies by slaughtering the sacred cow in a Hindu 
 temple, must be fresh in the memory of every one. 
 It was the strong arm of the British Government 
 which prevented a general rising in many parts of the 
 country and averted a dire calamity which threatened 
 the social fabric with ruin at Delhi and elsewhere. 
 Were it not for the opportune arrival at the Etawah 
 Railway Station of the British troops proceeding to 
 Burmah, nothing could have checked the riots at the 
 former place, where the rioters, almost maddened 
 by fierce religious emotions, were literally engaged 
 in a bloody struggle when they were pushed back 
 by the British soldiers at the point of the bayonet. 
 Like the writer of the seditious pamphlet, Mr. 
 Hume seems bent on earning a cheap notoriety by 
 posing as a champion of oppressed humanity in 
 India, just as his father, according to his own ver- 
 sion of the story, paved the way for the supersession 
 of a despotic by a constitutional government in 
 Canada. But I cannot help observing that Mr. 
 Hume desires to surpass even his father in revolu- 
 tionising an empire perhaps ten times larger than the 
 Dominion of Canada, if only the British Government 
 would keep its eyes and ears shut against the storm 
 that is brewing and if the Congresswallas succeed in 
 stultifying English statesmen, and Sir William Hunter 
 in electrifying the English people by his magic pen. 
 Then we find the deluded Rambakhsh trying 
 his best to spread sedition among his friends and 
 
Il6 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 neighbours, until not a single native of India is left 
 unmoved with a yearning for a radical change in the 
 principle of Government. 
 
 The hypothetical Maulvi is then made to say 
 that his own friends and neighbours are likewise 
 promulgating such views among traders, artisans, 
 and others, and that this is done in order to secure 
 unanimity, which is essential to the accomplishment 
 of the object in view. But what is the object in 
 view ? Surely the subversion of the present system 
 of Government. I wish they had induced the peo- 
 ple to gather pebbles with which to pelt the British 
 out of the country ! No, I made a mistake. I should 
 have said that the Government of India would be 
 foolish enough to repeal the Arms Act in response 
 to the vehement protests of Messrs. Bepin Chandra 
 Pal and Surendranath Banerji, made with feminine 
 obstinacy. My European friends probably do not 
 know that Try a Hat, or feminine obstinacy, is a 
 prominent trait of native female character. 
 
 The part of the pamphlet of which I am now 
 speaking is the most treasonable, being an undis- 
 guised attempt to set every member of the subject- 
 race against the Government. I remember that a 
 Bengali paper accused Anti-Congressists of exciting 
 popular feelings, to which the Pioneer retorted by 
 saying that it was the partisans of the Congress who 
 were answerable for the spread of sedition among 
 the people, and every word of whose speeches and 
 writings betrayed a criminal intention to make every 
 native subject, from the prince to the peasant, a 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 117 
 
 sworn enemy of the British Government. Perhaps 
 the writer in the Bengali Press never came across 
 the pamphlet, every sentence of which breathes 
 sedition, and which endeavours to combine all sec- 
 tions of the population in a regular league against 
 the Government, with its countless ramifications 
 spread all over the country ; for this is what the 
 Maulvi says to Rambakhsh, that he would first 
 establish a Central Political Association and then 
 form minor or branch Associations in different parts 
 of the country in order to teach the people such les- 
 sons. What purpose, it may be asked, can be 
 served by exciting the illiterate masses, destitute 
 alike of a sober judgment and elementary knowledge 
 of law, except it be to create a mutiny ? 
 
 The writer insists on a large fund being raised 
 by public subscription to enable one agent to be 
 quartered at every village, elementary political tracts 
 to be printed and distributed all over the country, 
 hired men to travel all over the land preaching 
 sedition, and sensational accounts of the political 
 condition of India to be printed and sent to England. 
 
 It has been foolishly assumed that the British 
 Government will remain deaf to this trumpet-call to 
 mutiny. I know full well that by widely circulating 
 all this seditious stuff, they are moving heaven and 
 earth to enlist English sympathies on their side, and 
 to pass utterly false and highly-coloured accounts of 
 British oppression for true facts on the good people 
 of England, who do not know the real state of things 
 in this country. But I really do not believe that the 
 
Il8 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 English nation would be foolish enough to listen to 
 the mad ravings of a knot of professional agitators, 
 and disregard the earnest protests of the peaceful 
 and loyal people against the introduction of the 
 representative system in a country where it cannot 
 and will not work. 
 
 Even if it could be assumed that reckless phi- 
 lanthropists of the type of Messrs. Digby and 
 Samuel Smith would succeed in fascinating the 
 intellect of the English public, and that Mr. Slagg 
 would also succeed in wringing out of a reluctant 
 House of Commons a tardy concession to the 
 Congressional demand for representative institutions 
 " on pain of courting a grievous calamity," as 
 Dr. Hunter forcibly puts it, will the brave races of 
 India quietly submit to an arrangement which they 
 consider highly prejudicial to their interests and 
 under which they are sure to be overwhelmed by 
 their rivals ? I do not really bring myself to believe 
 that the British Government will decide the fate of 
 250 millions of human beings committed to its care 
 by Providence, according to the selfish views of 
 isolated individuals like Messrs. W. C. Bonerji 
 and Dada Bhai Nourojee ; for, to the sober judg- 
 ment of all right-thinking men and sincere well- 
 wishers of the people, a representative government 
 is no less dangerous to a country like India than a 
 fatal disease. 
 
 Further on, the writer boldly asserts that the 
 whole native population sympathises with his party 
 openly or secretly, and warns his co-adjutors against 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. IIQ 
 
 divulging the secrets of their party. How foolishly 
 the Government is threatened with a revolution. I 
 really cannot understand whether it is India or some 
 other country that is painted in such gloomy colours. 
 For aught I know, the writer of this silly pamphlet 
 may have been a lunatic, or, if a sane man, he was a 
 great liar. The National Congress has been almost 
 pierced to death with sharp lances by gallant 
 Musalmans and brave Rajputs in all parts of the 
 country, and the stupid sedition-mongers, who foolish- 
 ly imagine that the flimsy saris of the Bengalis will 
 serve as iron walls to protect them from the dire 
 consequences of their rash attempts at sedition, have 
 been unanimously condemned as enemies alike of 
 the Government and the country. 
 
 The writer of the pamphlet had better get his 
 defective eye-sight restored to its normal condition 
 by some ophthalmic surgeon, for he cannot evidently 
 read newspapers. 
 
 Let the Government stand aside and leave 
 the decision of the question of representative in- 
 stitutions to the discretion of the country, and you 
 will see that the issue is finally settled, not by 
 fictitious warfare on paper with pen and ink, but 
 by actual war with the sword, the true arbiter of 
 the fate of nations. 
 
 Further on, the writer predicts that a time will 
 come when he and his party will win the battle and 
 representative institutions will become an accom- 
 plished fact. This reminds one of a nursery tale 
 about one Shaikh Chilli, the Alnascher of Oriental 
 
120 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 tales, who first bought hens which he sold and 
 bought she-goats ; these too were sold in their turn, 
 and a cow was bought ; this again was disposed of, 
 and an elephant was purchased, the result being that 
 all this buying and selling ended in ^fiasco / I con- 
 sider the crude notions of the Congresswallas mere 
 childish freaks. I would ask them whom they mean 
 to fight ? The British Government, to be sure. 
 Well, if the Congresswallas came out victorious, then 
 what would happen? Why, an Indian Chamber of 
 Deputies would be formed with Mr. Hume for its 
 President, Sir T. Madho Rao, Dewan Raghu- 
 nath Rao, and Messrs. Surendranath Banerji and 
 Budruddin Tyabji and other shining stars who 
 move in the same orbit with them as Ministers. 
 Then I would be sorely disappointed at not being 
 pitchforked into the new-fledged Native Parliament. 
 I am afraid I would be "hanged " as a traitor to my 
 country at the bidding of the leaders of the repub- 
 lican party before distribution of public offices takes 
 place in the new Republic. But I think I should 
 rejoice at the prospect of sharing the fate of the 
 " unlucky host," as I would see brought to book with 
 me, the whole of the Talukdars' party, my esteemed 
 friends Munshi Imtiaz AH and Munshi Athar Ali ; 
 Munshi Ahmad Ali Shouk, Editor of the Azad ; 
 Mr. W. B. Thompson, Editor of the Express ; 
 Maulvi Abul Hasan, Munsarim, Office of the British 
 Indian Association, so fiercely denounced by the 
 Congress hero from Bombay at the meeting of the 
 7th July. My friend Munshi Newal Kishore, C.I.E., 
 
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 121 
 
 and his party, should also be ready to be led to the 
 " gallows." It would be useless to mention names 
 when millions of Muhammadans and Hindus, who 
 love peace and abhor the spread of sedition through 
 the mischievous propaganda, would share the fate of 
 their more active compatriots in the coming mutiny. 
 
 I cannot help observing that the extremely 
 lenient attitude taken by the Government towards 
 this mischievous agitation has much aggravated the 
 evil. This cold indifference on the part of the 
 Government, if maintained too long, will, in the 
 long run, turn the little fire, which may be put down 
 to-day by some sprinkling of water, into a fearful 
 conflagration which it will be difficult to extinguish 
 by the application of a mighty fire-engine. That 
 ignorant people are taught revolutionary doctrines 
 and promising young men are trained to treason in 
 a treasonable atmosphere, is an evil which should 
 not be lightly disregarded. 
 
 Sir Auckland Colvin rightly observed in his 
 Bareilly speech that raw youths, fresh from a college 
 or school, are apt to form too high an opinion of 
 themselves, imagining that they are perfectly fit to 
 do all sorts of work, and that those able and ex- 
 perienced men who lived in bygone times or who 
 are still living, were all fools. 
 
 I am at a loss to know in what will all this in- 
 citement to sedition end. I cannot help laughing 
 at those of my countrymen who are insane enough 
 to pelt the living Lion in the foolish hope that they 
 will kill him by the mere pelting ! 
 
122 THE SEDITIOUS CHARACTER OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. 
 
 Now, I must bring my review of the seditious 
 pamphlet to a close. I know full well that my 
 opponents will abuse me to their hearts' content, 
 but my conscience has compelled me to speak out 
 the truth in defiance of all calumny and abuse. I 
 most undoubtedly regard these overt attempts at 
 sedition as likely to destroy the peace of the country, 
 like a thunderbolt burning down a smiling garden. 
 On a future occasion I shall publish my views on 
 the Congress movement. 
 
 MUHAMMAD NUSRAT ALI, 
 Assistant Secy., B. I. Association, Oudh. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 THE 
 
 UNITED INDIAN PATRIOTIC ASSOCIATION. 
 
 RULES. 
 
 I. THIS Association shall be called " THE UNITED 
 Indian Patriotic Association." 
 
 II. Its objects shall be : — 
 
 (a). To publish and circulate pamphlets and other 
 papers for information of members of Parlia- 
 ment, English journals, and the people of 
 Great Britain, in which those misstatements 
 will be pointed out by which the supporters of 
 the Indian National Congress have wrongfully 
 attempted to convince the English people 
 that all the nations of India and the Indian 
 Chiefs and Rulers agree with the aims and 
 objects of the National Congress. 
 
 (b). To inform members of Parliament and the news- 
 papers of Great Britain and its people by the 
 same means of the opinions of Muhammadans 
 in general, of the Islamia Anjumans, and of 
 those Hindus and their Societies which are 
 opposed to the objects of the National Con- 
 gress. 
 
 (<:). To strive to preserve peace in India, and to 
 strengthen the British Rule, and to remove 
 those bad feelings from the hearts of the 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Indian people which the supporters of the 
 Congress are stirring up throughout the coun- 
 try, and by which great dissatisfaction is 
 being raised among the people against the 
 British Government. 
 
 III. Indian Chiefs and Rulers who sympathise with 
 the objects of the Association will be requested to become 
 Patrons of the Association. 
 
 IV. Subject to Rule V, any person, of whatever race 
 or creed, agreeing with the objects of the Association, 
 may become a member of the Association on payment, in 
 advance, of an annual subscription of from Rs. 12 to 
 Rs. 60, according to the wish of the subscriber. 
 
 V. No person who is a paid Government servant 
 can become a member of the Association. 
 
 VI. Donations will be accepted from members and 
 others anxious to help the work of the Association. The 
 names of donors who are not members will be published 
 in a separate list. 
 
 VII. The names of Islamia Anjumans and Hindu 
 Societies which may have expressed their sympathy with 
 the objects of the Association will be published in a 
 separate list. 
 
 VIII. The list containing the names of members, 
 donors and Anjumans sympathising with the Association 
 will be sent with every pamphlet to England for cir- 
 culation. 
 
 IX. Members who have subscribed at the rate of 
 Rs. 60 per annum will be supplied, free of cost, with copies 
 of all pamphlets which may be printed by the Association 
 for circulation in England. Other persons may purchase 
 such pamphlets. 
 
 X. An Annual Report of the work of the Associa- 
 tion, including an account of income and expenditure, will 
 
APPENDIX. iii 
 
 be sent, free of cost, to all members and the above-men- 
 tioned Societies. 
 
 XI. A European gentleman will be appointed as an 
 Editor to assist in the preparation and publication of 
 pamphlets. 
 
 XII. The contents of the pamphlets published shall be 
 as follows : — 
 
 (a). Articles and news selected from Indian papers 
 sympathising with the Association and trans- 
 lations from Vernacular papers. 
 (b). The resolutions and opinions of meetings of 
 Muhammadans and Hindus which may have 
 expressed sympathy with the objects of the 
 Association. 
 {c). Articles, lectures, and essays by members and 
 non-members in support of the objects of the 
 Association. The names of the writers will 
 be published, except in cases when the writer 
 does not wish his name to be published and 
 the gentlemen in charge of the preparation of 
 pamphlets agree to its anonymous publication. 
 
 XIII. Some members of the Association will be selected, 
 who, in conjunction with the Editor, will select and sanc- 
 tion the publication of pamphlets, &c. 
 
 XIV. All communications should be addressed to the 
 Hon'ble Sir Syed Ahmed, Khan Bahadur, K, C. S. /., at 
 Aligarh, who will act as Honorary Secretary and Trea- 
 surer till further arrangements have been made. 
 
 (Sd.) SYED AHMED, 
 
 Honorary Secretary. 
 
IV APPENDIX. 
 
 PATRONS, 
 HIS HIGHNESS THE NIZAM OF HYDERABAD (DECCAN), 
 
 Letter of His Highness s Prime I\l 'mister, Sir Asman J ah, 
 to the Secretary of the Association, Hyderabad (Deccan), 
 dated 29th September, 1888. 
 
 My dear Sir Syed Ahmed,— On behalf of His 
 Highness and by his command I have much pleasure in 
 enclosing a cheque for Rs. 4,000 towards the United 
 Indian Patriotic Association which you and other well- 
 wishers of the country have founded. I am to add that the 
 aims and objects of the Association have His Highness's 
 fullest sympathy. 
 
 I remain, 
 
 My dear Sir Syed Ahmed, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 (Sd.) ASMAN JAH. 
 
 HIS EXCELLENCY NAWAB SIR SALAR JUNG, K. C. I. E. 
 
 His Excellency Nawab Sir Salar fnng, K. C. T. E.'s letter 
 to the Secretary of the Association is as fol lotos : — 
 
 POONA ; 
 2nd September, 1888. 
 
 My dear Sir Syed Ahmed, — I have to acknowledge 
 with thanks your letter setting forth the nature and aims of 
 the United Indian Patriotic Association. I feel highly 
 gratified at being elected a patron of the Association, and 
 I take this opportunity of expressing my cordial approval 
 of the energetic and timely steps which you have taken to 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 counteract the mischievous teachings of the body which 
 has arrogated to itself the title of the Indian National 
 Congress. That the Congress in question is a truly na- 
 tional or representative association, no one acquainted with 
 the elements composing it, or the objects which it has set 
 before itself, can for a moment believe. Indeed, a repre- 
 sentative body is in the present day, at any rate, utter- 
 ly inconceivable, when one considers the heterogeneous 
 population of India, with its diversities of creed, custom, 
 character, and traditional sympathies and antipathies. 
 Whether it will become a possibility in the future we need 
 not here stop to inquire. What we have to deal with is 
 the present, and in the present what do we find ? A Gov- 
 ernment, which — whatever may be its shortcomings — is 
 beyond doubt not only far superior to any that the land has 
 ever had under former rulers, but which is decidedly 
 superior to most of those now existing in what are uni- 
 versally admitted to be the advanced countries of the 
 West. For, in which of the countries of Europe does the 
 subject enjoy greater liberty of speech and action ; in how 
 many is he more lightly taxed, and where are his rights 
 better protected by law, or greater toleration manifested 
 towards his religion and social usages than in India ? 
 The agitators forget that the Government of India, as at 
 present constituted, is no crude and novel experiment in 
 administration, but is the outcome of historical circum- 
 stances and years of earnest, philanthropic and thoughtful 
 elaboration, while the long interval of peace, which the 
 country has enjoyed under a just and impartial rule, has 
 afforded opportunities for the development of a condition 
 of prosperity which, we may be sure, is fully appreciated 
 by the immense majority of the people. 
 
 We have it on high authority that the evils which men 
 do live after them, and it is a matter of sincere regret that 
 this unfortunate agitation should have gone the length it has 
 
VI APPENDIX. 
 
 done, for even should the movement, which, as you know, is 
 not quite spontaneous, die out, the pamphlets, catechisms, 
 and tracts now being sown broadcast by the emissaries of 
 the Congress are not likely to be wholly without effect, and 
 the least of the evils to be appreciated from this misguided 
 and misleading propagandism is the fostering of a spirit of 
 discontent and restlessness amongst the masses which may 
 hereafter give serious trouble to the Government. 
 
 It is gratifying, however, to find that numbers of 
 Muhammadans of high culture and social position have re- 
 fused to countenance the Congress from the first, while 
 others, who had joined it without full consideration, with- 
 drew after a closer scrutiny had revealed to them the true 
 character and tendency of the movement to which they 
 had given their adhesion. The power of the Government 
 of India, and, in particular, its ability to act with prompti- 
 tude and energy in times of emergency, depend entirely 
 upon the centralisation of authority. Those Muhammadans 
 who have studied the history of the Musalman dynasties 
 that formerly held sway in India, are fully cognisant of 
 this fact, and to them, as well as to numbers of their 
 enlightened Hindu brethren, the demands and pretensions 
 of the Congress must appear dangerous and impracticable. 
 For the nature of the Indians, and for that matter of most 
 Oriental people, is averse to sudden and violent changes 
 of any kind. What they have been accustomed to, what 
 they have contentedly lived under for years, to that they 
 will adhere persistently. They have a settled, and to some 
 extent a natural and wholesome, repugnance to the unsuit- 
 able, the unknown, and the untried. If political experi- 
 ments are looked upon with suspicion in Europe, they are 
 infinitely more unpopular here. Exotic notions regarding 
 the parliamentary form of government are not likely to 
 take root in India until our circumstances and conditions 
 approach more nearly to those existing in England, and 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 this is not to be expected for many years to come. The 
 great majority of the people of this country know nothing 
 of the theories of representative institutions which appear to 
 be the stock-in-trade of the Congress. Wishing you every 
 success in the useful and patriotic movement which you 
 have initiated, and in promoting which I feel confident 
 that you will have the assistance and the best sympathies 
 of all who understand the real interest and necessities of 
 India, whatever be their creed or nationality. 
 
 I remain, with kind regards, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 (Sd.) SALAR JUNG. 
 
 HIS HIGHNESS THE MAHARAJA OF CHHATARPUR. 
 
Vlll APPENDIX. 
 
 LIST OF MEMBERS. 
 
 Fifty-three Muhammadan Associations, a list of 
 which is given hereafter, have been affiliated to the Patriotic 
 Association. All their members are therefore members of 
 this Association indirectly. The list would, however, be 
 far too lengthy if we gave the names of these members, 
 and we therefore quote the names of those only who have 
 directly become members of this Association and have 
 given subscriptions or donations towards its funds. 
 
 DONORS AND MEMBERS. Rs. 
 
 (i). — His Highness the Nizam of Hyderabad ... 4,000 
 
 (2). — Navvab Imad-ud-Dovvlah, Maulvi Syed Hosain 
 
 Bilgrami, Ali Yar Khan Bahadur, Motaman 
 
 Jung ... ... ... ... 500 
 
 (3). — His Highness the Maharaja of Chhatarpur ... 400 
 (4). — Thakur Chunder Pal Singh, Talukdar of Kari 
 
 Harsatana (Oudh) ... ... ... 160 
 
 (5). — Hon'ble Maharaja PertabNarain Singh, Bahadur, 
 
 Talukdar of Mahdona, Zila Fyzabad (Oudh), 200 
 (6).— Koer Misr Har Charan,Rais, Bareilly(N.-W.P.), 160 
 
 MEMBERS. 
 (7). — Navvab Intisar Jung, Maulvi Mahomed Mushtak 
 
 Husain, Bahadur, Officiating Political and Finance 
 
 Secretary to the Government of His Highness the 
 
 Nizam, Hyderabad (Deccan). 
 (8).— Syed Mir Zahur Husain Sahib, Vakil, High Court, 
 
 Allahabad, Pais, Moradabad (N.-W. P.). 
 (9). — Munshi Mahomed Imtiaz Ali Sahib, Rai's, Kakauri 
 
 (Oudh), Vakil and Legal Adviser to the Anjuman- 
 
 i-Talukdaran (Oudh). 
 (10). — Khan Bahadur Chaudhri Mahomed Nusrat Ali 
 
 Sahib, Talukdar, Sandhila (Oudh), and Assistant 
 
 Secretary, Anjuman-i-Talukdaran (Oudh). 
 
APPENDIX. IX 
 
 (u). — Theodore Beck, Esq., Principal, Mahomedan Anglo- 
 Oriental College, Aligarh (N.-W.P.). 
 (12).— The Hon'ble Sir Syed Ahmed, Khan Bahadur, 
 
 K.C.SJ., of Aligarh (N.-W. P.). 
 (13).— Wazir-ud-Dowlah, Mudabbirul Mulk, Khalifa Syed 
 Mahomed Hasan Khan, Bahadur, Prime Minister 
 
 of Patiala State (Punjab). 
 (14). — Mashir-ud-Dowlah, Mumtazul Mulk, Khalifa Syed 
 
 Mahomed Husain Khan, Bahadur, Foreign Minis- 
 ter of Patiaia State (Punjab). 
 (15). — Khan Bahadur Kazi Syed Raza Husain Sahib, 
 
 Rai's, Patna (Bengal). 
 (16). — Raja Rampal Singh Sahib, Talukdar of Rampore, 
 
 Siroli (Oudh). 
 (17).— gheikh Ghulam Mustafa Sahib, Rais of Mao, Zila 
 
 Allahabad (N.-W. P.). 
 (18). — Mr. F. Beaucierk, late Captain, Royal Engineers, 
 
 Naval and Military Club, 94 Piccadilly, and U. S. 
 
 Club, Calcutta, Hyderabad (Deccan). 
 (19). — Shams-ul-Ulama, Khan Bahadur, Maulvi Mahomed 
 
 Zaka-ul-lah Sahib, Rai's of Delhi (Punjab). 
 (20). — Koer Mahomed Lutf Ali Khan, Bahadur, Rai's, 
 
 Talibnagar, Member, Council of Rampore State 
 
 (N.-W. P.). 
 (21). — Nawab Abdul Majid Khan, Bahadur, CLE., of 
 
 Lahore (Punjab). 
 (22). — Sheikh Rahim Baksh Sahib, Malikul Tujjar and 
 
 Honorary Magistrate, Lahore (Punjab). 
 (23). — Mian Karim Baksh Sahib, Municipal Commissioner, 
 
 Lahore (Punjab). 
 (24). — Sheikh Mahomed Hasan Sahib, son of Sheikh 
 
 Sandhey Khan Sahib, Rai's, Hoshiarpore and 
 
 Lahore (Punjab). 
 (25).— Chaudhri Sher Mahomed Sahib, Rais, Mian-Mir, 
 
 Lahore (Punjab). 
 
X APPENDIX. 
 
 (26). — Maulvi Hafiz Mahomed Ismail Sahib, RaYs, and 
 
 Great Maulvi and Imam Jama Masjid, Aligarh 
 
 (N.-W. P.). 
 (27). — Khan Bahadur Maulvi Mahomed Ibrahim Sahib, Vice- 
 President, Municipal Board, Jaunpore (N.-W. P.). 
 (28).— Khan Bahadur Mahomed Barkat AH Khan Sahib, 
 
 General Secretary, Anjuman-Mslam, Lahore 
 
 (Punjab). 
 (29). — Mumtaz-ud-Dowlah Nawab Sir Mahomed Faiz 
 
 Ali Khan, Bahadur, K.C.S.I., Rai's, Pahasu, Zila 
 
 Bulandshahr (N.-W. P.). 
 (30). — Haji Mahomed Mustafa Khan Sahib, Rai's, Buragaon, 
 
 Zila Aligarh (N.-W. P.). 
 (31). — Khan Bahadur Mahomed Kadir Baksh Khan Sahib, 
 
 Honorary Extra-Assistant Commissioner, Qasur 
 
 (Punjab). 
 (32). — Hon'ble Rana Sir Shankar Baksh Singh Sahib, 
 
 Bahadur, K.C.S.I., Talukdar, Khajurgaon, Rae- 
 
 Bareli (Oudh). 
 (33). — Raja Jagmohan Singh Sahib, Talukdar, Chanda- 
 
 pore, Zila Rae-Bareli (Oudh). 
 (34). — Chaudhri Mahomed Azim Sahib, Talukdar, Kakrali, 
 
 Zila Hardoi (Oudh). 
 (35). — Raja Tasadduq Rasul Khan Sahib, Talukdar, Jahan- 
 
 girabad, Zila Bara-Banki (Oudh). 
 (36). — Sheikh Enayet-ul-lah Sahib, Talukdar, Sidanpore, 
 
 Zila Bara-Banki (Oudh). 
 (37). — Munshi Mahomed Athar Ali Sahib, Vakil, and 
 
 Rai's of Kakauri (Oudh). 
 (38). — Raja Sayed Shaban Ali Khan Sahib, Talukdar 
 
 of Salimpore, Zila Lucknow (Oudh). 
 (39). — Bhia Tirbhawandip Narain Pandey, Talukdar of 
 
 Singha Chanda, Zila Gonda (Oudh). 
 (40). — Syed Shah Abul Hasan Sahib (Motamid), Agent, 
 Balrampore State. 
 
APPENDIX. XI 
 
 (41).— Sheikh Ahmed Husain Khan Sahib, Rais of Pirya- 
 
 wan, Zila Partabgarh (Oudh). 
 (42). — Shahzada Mirza Sulaiman Qadr Bahadur, brother 
 
 of Wajid Ali Shah, late King of Oudh. 
 (43). — Muhtashim-ud-Dowlah, Muazzam-ul-Mulk Shah- 
 zada Mirza Mahomed Mahdi Ali Khan, Bahadur, 
 
 Nadir Jung of the Royal Family of Oudh. 
 (44). — Maulvi Syed Abul Hasan Sahib, Translator of Anju- 
 
 man-i-Hind (Oudh). 
 (45). — Raja Durga Parshad Sahib of Sandhila (Oudh). 
 (46). — Munshi Ahmed Ali Sahib (Shauk), Proprietor of 
 
 the " Azad" Lucknow (Oudh). 
 (47). — Qazi Khalil-ud-din Ahmed Sahib, son of the late 
 
 Qazi Said-ud-din Ahmed, Khan Bahadur, Rais of 
 
 Biswan, Zila Sitapur (Oudh). 
 (48). — Qazi Bakhsish Ilahi Sahib, Raifs of Biswan, Zila Sita- 
 
 pore (Oudh). 
 (49). — Nawab Ahmad-ul-lah, Khan Bahadur, of Meerut. 
 (50). — Maulvi Khwaja Mahomed Yusaf Sahib of Aligarh 
 
 (N.-W. P.). 
 (51). — Khwaja Wahidjan Sahib, Landholder, Gya. 
 (52). — Maulvi Sheikh Habib-ul-lah Sahib, Pleader, Azam- 
 
 garh (N.-W. P.). 
 (53)- — Koer Mahomed Faiyaz Ali Khan Sahib of Pahasu, 
 
 Zila Bulandshahr (N.-W. P.). 
 (54).— Syed Mahomed Mir Sahib of Delhi, Pleader, Judge's 
 
 Court, Meerut. 
 '(55).— Maulvi Yusaf Ali Sahib of Bhaptiahi, district Bha- 
 
 galpore. 
 (56). — Prince Mirza Sulaiman Shah Bahadur, Gorkani, of 
 
 Delhi, of the old Royal Family. 
 (57).— Maulvi Syed Mahomed Nuh Sahib, Rafs of Machh- 
 
 lishahr, Zila Jaunpore (N.-W. P.). 
 (58).— Maulvi Syed Ali Husain Sahib, Rars of Jaunpore 
 (N.-W. P.). 
 
Xll APPENDIX. 
 
 (59).— Mufti Hyder Husain Sahib, Member, District Board, 
 
 and Rai's of Jaunpore (N.-W. P.). 
 (60).— Maulvi Syed Mahomed Sahib, Pleader, Civil Court, 
 
 Jaunpore, and Rai's of Kheta-Sarai. 
 (61). — Munshi Abdul Karim Sahib, Secretary, Anjuman- 
 
 i-Ahbab, Bombay. 
 (62). — Prince Asman Jah, Bahadur, son of the late King 
 
 of Oudh, Calcutta. 
 (63).— Mahomed Hyder AH Khan Sahib, Rais of Shah- 
 
 jahanpore (N.-W. P.). 
 (64).— Mahomed Mansur Shah Khan Sahib, Pleader, Ali- 
 
 garh (N.-W. P.). 
 (65).— Munshi Mahomed Rahmat-ul-lah Sahib (Rad), 
 
 Proprietor of the " Alam-i-Tasivir" Cawnpore 
 
 (N.-W. P.). 
 (66). — Raja Hari Har Datt Dubey, Bahadur, of Jaunpore 
 
 (N.-W. P.). 
 (67).— Maulvi Mahomed Ali Sahib, Rai's, Machhlishahr, 
 
 Zila Jaunpore (N.-W. P.). 
 (68). — Maulvi Mahomed Said Khan Sahib, Pleader, Jaun- 
 pore (N.-W. P.). 
 (69). — Maulvi Farid-ul-Haq Sahib, Pleader, Jaunpore 
 
 (N.-W. P.). 
 (70). — Mahomed Muhsin Ali Khan Sahib, son of the 
 
 Talukdar of Jagore (Oudh). 
 (71). — Lala Eshar Dass Sahib, Collector, Kapurthala State 
 
 (Punjab). 
 (72). — Lala Bhagwan Das Sahib, Mir Munshi, Kapurthala 
 
 State (Punjab). 
 (73). — Maulvi Abu Said Mahomed Husain Sahib, Editor 
 
 of the " Eshaatul Sunna" Lahore (Punjab). 
 (74). — Hon'ble Maharaja Partab Narain Singh, Bahadur, 
 
 Talukdar of Mahdona, Zila Fyzabad (Oudh). 
 (75). — Sheikh Abdul Ghafifar Sahib, Rai's and Pleader, 
 
 Civil Court, Rae-Bareli (Oudh), 
 
APPENDIX. xiii 
 
 {76). — Munshi Shahab-ud-din Sahib, Rais and Pleader, 
 
 Civil Court, Rae-Bareli (Oudh). 
 {77)' — Thakur Har Har Baksh Singh Sahib, Talukdar of 
 
 Sarorah, Zila Sitapore (Oudh). 
 (78).— Abdul Majid, Esq., Barrister-at-Law and Rais of 
 
 Jaunpore (N.-W. P.). 
 (79)- — R a J a Uday Partab Singh, Bahadur, Raja of Bhinga 
 
 (Oudh). 
 (80). — Maulvi Abdul Ghani Sahib, Rais of Saharanpore 
 
 (N.-W. P.). 
 (81). — Syed Jaffar Husain Sahib, Appellate Judge, Kota 
 
 (Rajputana). 
 (82.) — Mahomed Salam-ul-lah Khan of Devalghat of 
 
 Baldova (Berar), Honorary Magistrate. 
 (83).— Maulvi lkbal Ali Sahib, Judge of High Court of 
 
 H. H. the Nizam, Hyderabad (Deccan). 
 (84). — Nawab Mahomed Nairn Khan Sahib, Rais of 
 
 Kailaspur, Zila Saharanpore (N.-W. P.). 
 (85). — Mahomed Muzzammil-ul-lah Khan Sahib, Rais of 
 
 Bhikampore, Zila Aligarh (N.-W. P.). 
 (86). — Haji Mahomed Yusaf Khan Sahib, Rais of Dataoli, 
 
 Zila Aligarh (N.-W. P). 
 (87). — Shams-ul-Ulama Maulvi Mahomed Hasan Sahib, 
 
 Rais of Patna. 
 (88).— Mahomed Hadi Yar Khan Sahib, Rais of Dadon, 
 
 Zila Aligarh (N.-W. P.). 
 (89). — Haji Mahomed Ismail Khan Sahib, Rais of Dataoli, 
 
 Zila Aligarh (N.-W. P.). 
 (90). — Nawab Mahomed Ali Khan Sahib, Rais of Jahan- 
 
 girabad, Zila Bulandshahr (N.-W. P.). 
 (91). — Raja Syed Baqar Ali Khan Sahib, C. I. E., Rais of 
 
 Pindrawal, Zila Bulandshahr (N.-W. P.). 
 (92). — Raja Jung Bahadur Khan Sahib, Bahadur, C. I. E. f 
 
 Rais of Nanpara, Zila Bahraich (Oudh). 
 
XIV APPENDIX. 
 
 (93). — Mahomed Yakub Khan Sahib, Rais of Dataoli, 
 
 Zila Aligarh (N.-W. PA 
 (94). — Haji Ahmed Said Khan Sahib, Rais of Bhikam- 
 
 pore, Zila Aligarh (N.-W. P.). 
 (95). — Munshi Mahomed Irtiza Ali Sahib, Rai's of Kakauri 
 
 (Oudh). 
 (96). — Maulvi Mahomed Lutf-ul-lah Sahib, Rai's of Pil- 
 
 khana, Zila Aligarh (N.-W. P.). 
 (97).— Mir Ashiq Ali Sahib, Rai's of Jalali, Zila Aligarh 
 
 (N.-W. P.). 
 (98). — Nawab Khvvaja Sharf-ud-din Ahmed Khan, Rais of 
 
 Delhi. 
 (99). — Joseph Beck, Esq., London. 
 (100). — A. G. Pears, Esq., C.E., Sagra via Sambalpur, C.P. 
 (101). — C. B. Ewatt, Esq., C.E., Sagra vid Sambalpur, C.P. 
 (102). — Raja Kishan Kumar of Bilari. 
 (103). — Maulvi Fida Ali Sahib, Pleader, Meerut. 
 (104). — Sheikh Walayat Ali Sahib, Pleader, Meerut. 
 (105). — Syed Najm-ud-din Khan Sahib, Rai's of Sirdhana, 
 
 Zila Meerut. 
 (106). — Chaudhri Rustam Khan Sahib, Rai's of Khurja, 
 
 Zila Bulandshahr. 
 (107). — Hafiz Hamid Husain Khan Sahib, Ra'is of Meerut. 
 (10S). — Mahomed Umarjan Khan Sahib, Ra'fs of Meerut. 
 (109). — Syed Kasim Ali Sahib, Rai's of Meerut. 
 
 DONORS (NON-MEMBERS). Rs. a. 
 
 Raja Shimbhu Narain Singh, Bahadur, of Benares ... 10 o 
 Doctor Sadrul Haq, of Patna ... ... 2 8 
 
APPENDIX. XV 
 
 LIST OF AFFILIATED MUHAMMADAN ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 The Secretary of the United Indian Patriotic Associa- 
 tion sent a circular to various Muhammadan Anjumans, 
 stating therein the objects of the United Indian Patriotic 
 Association, and making the request that the circular be laid 
 before the Anjumans ; and that if they agreed with these 
 objects they should allow their names to be entered in the 
 list of Anjumans sympathising with the Association. The 
 following Anjumans have expressed their concurrence with 
 the aims of the Association : — 
 
 I. Anjuman Lslamia,LaIiore, Punjab. — The President 
 of this Anjuman is Nawab Abdul Majid, Khan Bahadur, 
 CLE., General Secretary, Khan Bahadur Mahomed Barkat 
 Ali Khan ; and Financial Secretary, Mahomed Fazl-ud-din. 
 
 A general meeting of this Association was held on 
 August 26th, and all the members concurred in the opinion 
 that Muhammadans should hold aloof from the Indian 
 National Congress and not join in its inexpedient pro- 
 posals. The following two resolutions were passed : — 
 
 (1). That the Anjuman Islamia, as a united body, 
 become a member of the United Indian Patriotic Associa- 
 tion. 
 
 (2). That inasmuch as the aims of the National Con- 
 gress are diametrically opposite to those of the Anjuman 
 Islamia, anyone favouring the cause of the Congress will 
 be considered as no longer fit to continue a member of the 
 aforesaid Anjuman. 
 
 2. Anjuman Lslaviia LLaqani, Ludhiana, Punjab. — 
 Maulvi Nur Mahomed, the Secretary of the Anjuman, sent 
 a letter, on September 1st, to the Secretary of the United 
 Indian Patriotic Association, stating that all members of 
 
xvi APPENDIX. 
 
 the Anjuman agreed with the objects of the United Indian 
 Patriotic Association. 
 
 3. The Central National Muhammadan Association of 
 Calcutta. — A meeting of the Committee of Management of 
 the Central Muhammadan Association of Calcutta was held 
 on September 2nd, and it was resolved " that the Hon'ble 
 Sir Syed Ahmed, Khan Bahadur, K.C.S.I., be informed 
 that the Central National Muhammadan Association has 
 every sympathy with the objects of the United Indian 
 Patriotic Association." 
 
 4. Anjuman Islamia, Amritsar, Punjab. — A meeting 
 of the Anjuman was called on September 2nd, and the 
 following resolutions were passed : — 
 
 (1). Proposed by Khan Bahadur Shaikh Gholam 
 Hasan and seconded by Khwaja Zahur Shah, that the An- 
 juman entirely agrees with the aims and objects of the 
 United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 (2). Proposed by Khan Bahadur Haji Khan Maho- 
 med Shah and seconded by Hafiz Gholam Jilani, that if 
 any member of the Anjuman become a member of the 
 National Congress, or attend any meeting convened by 
 any supporter of the National Congress, he should be 
 expelled from the Anjuman. 
 
 (3). Proposed by Shaikh Ala Bakhsh and seconded 
 by Khwaja Mehar Shah, that it is the duty of the Anju- 
 man to enlighten the public as to the evils likely to befall 
 the country, the peace of the country, and Muhammadans 
 from the National Congress ; and further, to explain the 
 benefits likely to arise from the United Indian Patriotic 
 Association. 
 
 (4). Proposed by Khan Bahadur Shaikh Gholam 
 Hasan and seconded by Khwaja Yusaf Shah, that a 
 copy of these resolutions be forwarded to the Secretary of 
 the United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
APPENDIX. xvil 
 
 5. Anjnman Himayat Islam, Amritsar, Punjab. — A 
 meeting of the Anjuman was held on September 2nd, and 
 the following resolution was passed : — 
 
 " That inasmuch as the Indian National Congress is 
 opposed to the policy of the Government and is destruc- 
 tive of friendship between the different peoples of India, 
 and is prejudicial to the peace of the country, this Anju- 
 man expresses its entire agreement with the United Indian 
 Patriotic Association and its complete hostility to the 
 Indian National Congress, and looks on the proposals of 
 the latter as poison for the Muhammadan community." 
 
 6. Anjuman Islamia Bareilly, North- Western Pro- 
 vinces. — The Secretary of the Anjuman sent a letter, dated 
 September 7th, to the Secretary of the United Indian 
 Patriotic Association, stating that the Anjuman had decided 
 that it was expedient neither for it nor for any other Anju- 
 man to join the National Congress. Nawab Mahomed 
 Abdul Aziz Khan, a member of the Anjuman, made a 
 speech, in which he spoke in the strongest terms against 
 Muhammadans joining the Congress, saying that it was 
 extremely injurious and dangerous for the peace of the 
 country. 
 
 7. The National Muhammadan Association, Bhagal- 
 pur, Bengal. — A letter, dated September 6th, was sent by 
 the Secretary of this Association to the Secretary of the 
 United Indian Patriotic Association, stating the desire of 
 the National Muhammadan Association of Bhagalpur to 
 join the United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 8. Anjuman Islamia, Chapra, cila Sarun, Bengal. — 
 Maulvi Syed Mahomed Shafi, Secretary of this Anjuman, 
 sent a letter to the Secretary of the United Indian Patriotic 
 Association, stating that the Anjuman entirely agreed with 
 the objects of the United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 9. Anjuman Ilmi, Budaon, North- Western Provinces. — 
 President of the Anjuman, Maulvi Tofail Ahmed ; Vice- 
 
XVlll APrENDIX. 
 
 President, Kazi AH Ahmed (Mahmud-ul-lah Shah); Secre- 
 tary, Hafiz Fazi-i-Ikram. It was decided that the Anju- 
 man entirely agreed with the aims of the United Indian 
 Patriotic Association. 
 
 10. Anjuman Islamia, Budaon, NortJi-Westem Pro- 
 vinces. — President of the Anjuman, Munshi Tajammul 
 Hosain ; Secretary, Maulvi Hafiz Zahir Ahmed Shah. The 
 Anjuman decided to join the United Indian Patriotic 
 Association. 
 
 ii. The Jubilee Muhammadan Association, Budaon, 
 North- Western Provinces. — President, Kazi AH Ahmed 
 (Mahmud-ul-lah Shah); Secretary, Munshi Afzal Ali. The 
 Anjuman decided to join the United Indian Patriotic 
 Association. 
 
 12. Anjuman Islamia, Bankipur, Bengal. — A general 
 meeting of Muhammadans was held by the Anjuman Islamia 
 of Bankipur on September 9th. About two thousand 
 Muhammadans were present, representing the aristocracy, 
 the gentry, the alims, pleaders and mukhtars, merchants 
 and shop-keepers, and the students of the local college and 
 schools. All the influential Muhammadans of Patna, except 
 one, were present or sent letters expressing their sym- 
 pathy with the object of the meeting. The following 
 resolutions were unanimously passed : — 
 
 (1). Moved by Khan Bahadur Maulvi Khoda Bakhsh 
 Khan, pleader, and seconded by Khan Bahadur Maulvi 
 Syed Fazl Imam, and supported by Maulvi Syed Rahim- 
 ud-din, Editor, " Alpunch "■—" That the Anjuman considers 
 that the aims and objects of the so-called National Congress 
 would, if carried out, vitally injure Muhammadan interests 
 and the Muhammadan religion." 
 
 (2). Moved by Khan Bahadur Maulvi Syed Fazl 
 Imam and seconded by Maulvi Syed Mahomed Hasan, 
 B.A., Editor, "Patna Institute Gazette" and supported by 
 Maulvi Abdul Ghani, pleader—" That this Anjuman is 
 
APPENDIX. XIX 
 
 wholly opposed to the Congress, and has not the least 
 sympathy with it." 
 
 (3). Moved by Khan Bahadur Syed Kazi Raza 
 Hosain and seconded by Maulvi Mahomed Kaim, Secre- 
 tary, Jalsa Hami Islam, and supported by Maulvi Maho- 
 med Yusaf Hosain, Secretary, Anjuman Irtibat ; Maulvi 
 Syed Mahomed Hasan, B. A., Editor, " Patna Institute 
 Gazette" ; Maulvi Syed Rahim-ud-din, Editor, "Alpunch" ; 
 and Maulvi Abid Hosain, Editor, " Anis"— u That this 
 Anjuman fully sympathises with the United Indian Patriotic 
 Association." 
 
 13. Majlis Islamia, Ludhiana, Punjab.— On Septem- 
 ber 2nd a meeting of this Anjuman was held at the house 
 of Sirdar Ali Mahomed Khan, at which it was resolved 
 that the Anjuman join the United Indian Patriotic Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 14. Anjuman Islamia, Dindigul, Madras.— On Sep- 
 tember 5th a meeting was held, at which it was resolved 
 that as this Anjuman neither in the past joined the 
 National Congress nor sent a delegate, so in the present 
 it has no sympathy with it, but agrees with the objects 
 of the United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 15. Branch National Muhammadan Association, Mid- 
 napur, Bengal— At a meeting held on September 9th, it was 
 resolved—" That this Branch National Muhammadan 
 Association fully sympathises with the aims and objects 
 of the United Indian Patriotic Association." 
 
 16. Majlis Islamia, Meerut, North- Western Provin- 
 ces— -President, Nawab Ahmed-ul-lah Khan; Vice-Presi- 
 dent, Maulvi Fida Ali ; Secretary, Syed Mahomed Mir. On 
 September 9th a meeting of this Anjuman was held, and 
 the following resolutions were passed : — 
 
 (1). That the Association be affiliated to the United 
 Indian Patriotic Association for the purpose of strengthen- 
 ing the opposition to the National Congress. 
 
XX APPENDIX. 
 
 (2). That the Association and the Muhammadans of 
 the district generally consider the objects of the said 
 Congress to be unwise and unsuited to the country. 
 
 17. Anj?iman Islamia, Mymensing, Eastern Bengal. — 
 A meeting of this Anjuman was recently held, at which it 
 was unanimously resolved — "That this Anjuman does not 
 think it advisable to join or to co-operate with the Babus 
 in their Congress movement." 
 
 18. Branch Muhammadan Association, Shaikhpura, 
 Be/tar. — On August 28th a meeting of this Association was 
 held, at which it was decided that the Association was op- 
 posed to the National Congress, and agreed with the aims 
 of the United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 19. Anjuman Islamia, Gujrat, Punjab. — On Septem- 
 ber 9th a general meeting was held, at which it was resolved 
 that the Anjuman was entirely opposed to every proposal 
 of the National Congress, and was desirous of joining it in 
 no kind of way. 
 
 20. Anjuman Islamia, J hajhar, District Rohtak, Pun- 
 jab. — On September 9th a meeting of this Association was 
 
 held, at which it was decided that the objects of the Na- 
 tional Congress were prejudicial to the interests of Muham- 
 madans and to the peace of the country ; and that the 
 Anjuman was therefore opposed to the proposals of the 
 National Congress, and agreed with the United Indian Pat- 
 riotic Association. 
 
 2 1 . Muhammadan A njuman Mujid-i-A m, Qasur, Pun- 
 jab, — President, Munshi Kadir Baksh Khan. On Septem- 
 ber 7th a meeting of this Anjuman was held, at which the 
 following resolutions were passed : — 
 
 (1). That this Anjuman unanimously sympathises 
 with the United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 (2). That if a member of this Anjuman joins the Na- 
 tional Congress he be excluded from the Anjuman. 
 
APPENDIX. xxi 
 
 22. A njuman Islamia, Jubbulpore, Central Provinces. — 
 On September 8th a meeting of this Anjuman was held, at 
 which the following resolutions were passed : — 
 
 (i). That the differences amongst the people of 
 India as regards their religion, manners and customs, the 
 variety of wants and interests which their respective 
 circumstances create, and their ignorance of politics, dis- 
 qualify them from forming a body such as the National 
 Congress. The good of the Muhammadans lies in helping 
 the Government to do what it has been doing in the 
 past — educating us and giving us more and more power as 
 our knowledge advanced. 
 
 (2). In the present state of the Muhammadan society, 
 especially in a country like India, where the number of 
 Hindus and their influence predominate, the vote system, 
 which is the fundamental principle of the Congress, is 
 highly injurious to the Muhammadans: and if the Govern- 
 ment pleases to introduce such a system in the adminis- 
 tration, the oppression of the minority by the majority will 
 be established, which is worse than the most aristocratic 
 Government; for, in the former case, the oppressed will look 
 in vain for sympathy to the public. The concrete ex- 
 ample of such a measure will be found in the local and 
 municipal self-government, where the Muhammadans are 
 disproportionally represented. 
 
 (3). The chief promoters of the Congress are Ben- 
 galis, and the Muhammadan community of India has kept 
 aloof from it, and those who have joined are not influen- 
 tial amongst us, nor worthy of being called our leaders. 
 The Muhammadans of this place should therefore stand 
 apart from this agitation. 
 
 23. Anjuman Islamia, Wazirabad, Punjab. — Presi- 
 dent, Raja Faqir-ul-lah, Khan Bahadur ; Secretary, 
 Hakim Ali Ahmed. A meeting of this Anjuman was 
 
XXII APPENDIX. 
 
 held on September 12th, and the following resolutions 
 were passed : — 
 
 (1). That this meeting is entirely opposed to the 
 objects of the National Congress. 
 
 (2). That this meeting entirely agrees and sym- 
 pathises with the aims of the Indian United Patriotic 
 Association. 
 
 24. Anjuman Himayat-i-Islam, Lahore, Punjab. — 
 The Secretary wrote to the Secretary of the United Indian 
 Patriotic Association to say that the Anjuman was entire- 
 ly opposed to the National Congress, and had refused to 
 send delegates to that body in 1887. 
 
 25. Anjuman Hamdardi, Amritsar, Punjab. — On Sep- 
 tember 1 8th a meeting of this Anjuman was held, at which 
 it was decided that the Anjuman was entirely opposed 
 to the National Congress and agreed with the United 
 Indian Patriotic Association, 
 
 26. Anjuman Muinul Islam, Ajmere, Rajputana. — 
 On September 18th a meeting of this Anjuman was held, 
 at which it was agreed that all members of the Anjuman 
 were against the National Congress, and sympathised with 
 the United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 27. Majlis-i-Islam, Bangalore, and Majlis-i-Islam, 
 Ahsan, Mysore. — On September 9th a united meeting of 
 these two Anjumans was held, at which the following 
 resolutions were passed : — 
 
 (1). That this meeting entirely agrees with Sir Syed 
 Ahmed's views, and is opposed to the National Congress. 
 
 (2). That the Majlis-i-Islam, Bangalore, and its 
 branch, the Majlis-i-Islam, Ahsan, sympathise with the 
 United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 The Secretary further wrote to the effect that Hindus 
 at their late Congress in Madras selected the name of 
 Mahomed Kasim, an honourable member of the Majlis, as 
 one of their delegates, but that he declined the honour. 
 
APPENDIX. xxill 
 
 28. Anjuman Islamia, Cawnpore, North- Western Pro- 
 vinces. — A meeting of this Anjuman was held on Friday, 
 September 7th, in the mosque of Imaman Sirdar, at which 
 500 Muhammadans were present. It was unanimously 
 decided that all present were not only opposed to the 
 National Congress, but hated it from their hearts, because 
 the National Congress would in the future be a cause of 
 great misfortune and suffering for Muhammadans. 
 
 29. Anjuman-i-Babussalam, Piry avian, Partabgarh, 
 Ondh. — A meeting of this Anjuman was held on Sep- 
 tember 1 8th, at which the following resolution was 
 passed : — 
 
 "That this Anjuman is utterly opposed to the National 
 Congress and entirely agrees with all the aims of the United 
 Indian Patriotic Association, and that all members thank 
 the United Indian Patriotic Association, and pray God 
 that He may send His blessings on the work of the 
 Association." 
 
 30. National Muhammadan Association, Branch Ellore, 
 Madras. — On September 12th a meeting of this Associa- 
 tion was held in the house of the Kazi of the city, at which 
 it was decided that all members were opposed to the Na- 
 tional Congress, and agreed with the opinions of Sir Syed 
 Ahmed and the aims of the United Indian Patriotic Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 31. Anjuman Darnssalam, Luckuoiv, Oudh. — The 
 Secretary of this Anjuman wrote to say that the Anjuman 
 agreed with the United Indian Patriotic Association and 
 was opposed to the National Congress, believing it to be 
 very harmful, not only for Muhammadans but for the whole 
 people of India ; and that the Anjuman had worked 
 hard against the Congress in Lucknow, the great meeting 
 of 20,000 people on May 6th having been held under its 
 auspices. 
 
XXIV APPENDIX. 
 
 32. Anjuman Islamia, Mooltan, Punjab. — A meeting 
 of this Anjuman was held on September 23rd, at which the 
 following resolutions were passed : — 
 
 (1). That the principle of the Anjuman is to abstain 
 from interference in politics, and therefore it cannot agree 
 with the agitation of the National Congress. 
 
 (2). Inasmuch as the object of the United Indian 
 Patriotic Association is to show that the Muhammadans do 
 not join the National Congress, this Anjuman expresses 
 its sympathy with the Association. 
 
 33. Anjuman Islamia, Umballa, Punjab. — A majority 
 of the members of this Anjuman expressed their agree- 
 ment with the United Indian Patriotic Association, the 
 remainder saying they would like to see the pamphlets 
 issued by that Association before giving an opinion. 
 
 34. A njuman Islamia, J ullundur, Punjab. — A telegram 
 was received on October 1st from the Secretary of this 
 Anjuman, stating that the Anjuman agreed with the United 
 Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 35. Anjuman-i-Mujidul Islam, Jingapara, Mohan- 
 ganj, Mymensing, Bengal. — On September 29th a meeting 
 of this Anjuman was held, at which it was decided that 
 the Anjuman was entirely opposed to the National Con- 
 gress. 
 
 36. National Muhammadan Association, Branch Pub- 
 na, Bengal. — The Secretary of this Association states that 
 the Association sympathises with the United Indian Pat- 
 riotic Association, and adds : — "The members of the Asso- 
 ciation observe that the so-called National Congress is not a 
 Congress held at the united desire of the different sects or 
 races. It is an assemblage of certain ambitious Hindus — ■ 
 the Bengalis taking the warmest interest in it. Their aim 
 is hostile to the administration of the Government as such, 
 and as the Bengalis entertain bitter feelings against the 
 Musalmans, and do not like that the Muhammadans should 
 
APPENDIX. XXV 
 
 ever prosper, it is not desirable that any Musalman should 
 join the Congress." 
 
 37. Anjuman Islamia, Ajmere, Rajputana. — A meet- 
 ing of this Anjuman was held on October 7th, in the 
 Dargah of Moin-ud-din Chisti, the famous dervish. Kazi 
 Syed Imam-ud-din, a descendant of the great saint, 
 presided. It is stated that at this meeting nearly 4,000 
 Muhammadans were present. It was decided that the 
 meeting was entirely opposed to the National Congress, 
 and that the Anjuman should be regarded as a branch of 
 the United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 38. Muhammadan Central National Association, Pun- 
 jab, Lahore. — A meeting of this Association was held on 
 
 October 7th, at which it was decided that the Association 
 was opposed to the National Congress, and sympathised 
 with the United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 39. Bilgram Institute, Bilgram, Hardoi, Oudh. — A 
 meeting of this Institute was held on September 30th, at 
 which the following resolutions were passed : — 
 
 (1). That this Institute, composed of Hindus and 
 Muhammadans, is wholly opposed to the Congress, and 
 has not the least sympathy with it. 
 
 (2). That anyone favouring the cause of the Congress 
 will be considered as no longer fit to continue as a mem- 
 ber of this Institute. 
 
 40. Anjuman-i-Islamia, Rangpur, Bengal. — A letter 
 was received from the Secretary of this Anjuman, stating that 
 the Anjuman strongly disapproved of theNational Congress. 
 
 41. Anjinnan-i-Tahzib-i-Islam, Arrah, Bengal. — A 
 meeting of this Anjuman was held on October 16th in 
 the Imperial Jumma Musjid. Haji Abdul Hakim, Hakim 
 Mahomed Yasin and Mirza Mahomed Ismail, B.A., B.L., 
 spoke against the Congress, after which resolutions were 
 passed condemning the Congress and approving of the 
 United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
XXVI APPENDIX. 
 
 42. Anjuman-i- Ahbab, Bombay. — In reply to a letter 
 of the Secretary of the United Indian Patriotic Association, 
 the Secretary of this Anjuman, Khan Bahadur Gholam 
 Mahomed Munshi, wrote to say that a meeting of this 
 Anjuman was held on August 4th, to oppose the National 
 Congress. This meeting was convened by Shamsul Ulama 
 Kazi Sharif Abdul Latif ; Mirza Hosain Khan, Solicitor ; 
 Mahomed Hosain Hakim, Barrister ; Esa Ben Khalifa, 
 and the Secretary of the Anjuman. A very large number 
 of Muhammadans of Bombay were present. 
 
 43. Anjuman Islamia, Peshawar, Punjab. — A meet- 
 ing of this Anjuman was held on October 14th : the Con- 
 gress agitator, Mr. Bhimji, was also present. The follow- 
 ing Sirdars of Pathan tribes were present : — Kazi Abdul 
 Kadir, President ; Kazi Syed Ahmed Khan, CLE., Vice- 
 President ; Kazi Tila Mahomed Khan, Secretary ; Jelal- 
 ud-din Khan, Under-Secretary ; Arbab Mahomed Hosain 
 Khan ; Khan Bahadur Ibrahim Khan, Yusafzai ; Arbab 
 Farid Khan ; Arbab Fateh Khan ; Arbab Mahomed Khan 
 of Sumla ; Kazi Abdul Wahid, Manager of Budruddin 
 and Co. ; Haji Arbab Gholam Hyder Khan ; Kazi Amin 
 Jan ; Kazi Agha Jan ; Kazi Moghal Jan ; Haji Mahomed 
 Khan ; Syed Mir x^hmed Shah, &c, &c. 
 
 After several speeches — Mr. Bhimji also being allowed 
 to have his say — the following resolutions were passed : — 
 
 (1). That this Muhammadan meeting has no kind of 
 sympathy or agreement with these people who are travel- 
 ling about lecturing in favour of the National Congress. 
 
 (2). That this meeting offers its thanks to those 
 Anjumans of Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, the North-West 
 Provinces and the Punjab, which have at a most expedient 
 time warned Muhammadans against the misfortunes that 
 would befall them from joining the Congress ; and that 
 this meeting agrees with the opinions of those Anju- 
 mans. 
 
AFPENDIX. XXVll 
 
 (3). That ifany Muhammadan of Peshawar be induced 
 by deceitful methods to join the Congress, and thereby 
 bring dishonour on the Muhammadan nation, he must be 
 understood to be in no sense a representative of the 
 Muhammadans of Peshawar, but must be regarded as one 
 who has exiled himself from the pale of Islam. 
 
 44. Anjuman Islamia, Lucknozv, Oudh. — This Anju- 
 man is opposed to the National Congress. On October 14th 
 a meeting was held, at which it was resolved that the 
 Secretary of the United Indian Patriotic Association be 
 informed in writing that the Anjuman agrees with the 
 objects of the United Indian Patriotic Association, and has 
 great pleasure in joining it. 
 
 45. A njuman-i-Movey-i-dul Islam, Saharanpur, North* 
 Western Provinces. — This Anjuman held a meeting on 
 October 26th, at which the following Rule was added to the 
 Rules of the Anjuman : — 
 
 "That this Anjuman, after full consideration, is opposed 
 to the National Congress, which it regards as prejudicial, to 
 the interests of the whole people of India, and extremely 
 prejudicial for Muhammadans." 
 
 46. Sind Branch Central National Muhammadan 
 Association, Karachi, Sind. — A general meeting of this 
 Association was held at Karachi on October 28th, after 
 consultation with the several sub- branches in the Province. 
 Several speeches were made, of which the leading one 
 was from Khan Bahadur Hasan- AH EfTendi, President 
 of the Association. The following resolutions were 
 passed : — 
 
 (1). That the Central National Muhammadan Asso- 
 ciation, Sind Branch, considers the aims and objects of the 
 Indian National Congress, if carried out, will vitally injure 
 Muhammadan interests. 
 
 (2). That the Association is strongly opposed to the 
 Congress. 
 
XXV111 APPENDIX. 
 
 (3). That the Association sympathises with the aims 
 of the United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 47. Anjuman Hami-i- Islam, Nagpur, Coitral Prov- 
 inces. — The inaugural meeting of this Anjuman was held on 
 October 28th in the Sadar Bazar, old mosque, two hundred 
 people being present. The following resolutions were 
 passed : — 
 
 (1). That this Anjuman, after full consideration and 
 discussion of the aims and objects of the so-called Nation- 
 al Congress, is of opinion that the movements of the 
 Congress are revolutionary and prejudicial to the Moslem 
 community ; that the voice of the Congress is not the voice 
 of the Nation; that its demands are premature, and the 
 grievances which it alleges, imaginary. This meeting 
 therefore protests against all its movements, and refuses to 
 co-operate with it in any of its undertakings. 
 
 (Carried with one dissentient voice, that of a self- 
 elected delegate to the Madras Congress). 
 
 (2). That this Anjuman has held its inaugural meet- 
 ing to-day with two objects — (1) for the glory of freedom 
 of India in a general way ; and (2) for the welfare and pros- 
 perity of the Muhammadan community in particular; and 
 with a view to give full effect to these resolutions, earnestly 
 recommends that this Anjuman, without further delay, 
 should incorporate itself with, and record its cordial sym- 
 pathy with the objects and deliberations of the United 
 Indian Patriotic Association. 
 (Carried unanimously). 
 
 (3). That this Anjuman affirms that should any 
 Muhammadan of Nagpur join or associate himself in any 
 way with any Congress meetings to be held at Nagpur, or 
 allow himself to be appointed as a delegate to the Allah- 
 abad Congress, he will be considered as representing himself 
 alone, and as a renegade from the Moslem community. 
 (Carried unanimously). 
 
APPENDIX. xxix 
 
 (4). That a copy of the resolutions passed by this 
 Anjuman be communicated to the Anjuman Nasar-ul- 
 Islam, and other similar Anjumans in each province, and 
 that those Anjumans be requested, with the help of simi- 
 lar bodies, to adopt such measures as they consider best 
 calculated to give effect to these resolutions. 
 
 (Carried unanimously). 
 
 (5). That this Anjuman does humbly offer its dutiful 
 and loyal gratitude to Her Most Gracious Majesty the 
 Queen-Empress for her benign Government, and heartily 
 \vishes her a long life, and happy reign over the great 
 British Empire. 
 
 (Carried unanimously). 
 
 48. Hugh District National Muhammadan Associa- 
 tion, Bengal. — The following letter, dated November 14th, 
 has been received from the Secretary of this Association 
 by the Hon'ble Secretary of the United Indian Patriotic 
 Association : — 
 
 (1). " With reference to your Urdu circular and sub- 
 sequent correspondences, I have the honour to inform you 
 that the Hugh District National Muhammadan Association 
 has at last agreed to join with the expressions of its Parent 
 Association in showing every sympathy with the objects 
 of the United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 (2). " I have further to state that the Hindu members 
 of this Association do not agree with their Moslem brethren 
 in para. I of this letter." 
 
 49. Anjuman Umumeiya Islamia, Dinapore, Bengal. — 
 On August 21st a meeting of this Anjuman was held, at 
 which about 1,200 people were present. All present, both 
 those who were members of the Anjuman and those who 
 were not, unanimously agreed with the objects of the 
 United Indian Patriotic Association. They all cried out in 
 Arabic — Iqtadaito bihazal Imam : (" We will follow it as 
 we do our priest in the mosque at prayers " ). 
 
XXX APPENDIX. 
 
 50. Anjuman Islamia, Gurdaspur, Punjab. — The Hin- 
 dus held a National Congress meeting at Gurdaspur on 
 the occasion of the visit of Mr. Bhimji, and appointed two 
 Muhammadans — Nabi Baksh and Ali Mahomed — as dele- 
 gates; the latter is not a Punjabi, but an inhabitant of Bur- 
 man. The Muhammadans of Gurdaspur then called a 
 general meeting of this Anjuman on November 4th, at 
 which Nabi Baksh was also present. The Secretary of the 
 Anjuman, Mahomed Shams-ud-din, then asked all present if 
 the Muhammadans of Gurdaspur had appointed Nabi Baksh 
 as their delegate. They all cried out — " No ; we have nc* 
 sympathy with the Congress." The President then asked 
 Nabi Baksh why, when no Muhammadan of Gurdaspur 
 had appointed him as a delegate, he was going to join the 
 Congress as their representative. He replied that he went 
 to represent himself alone, and did not call himself a dele- 
 gate of the Muhammadans ; but as the condition of the Mu- 
 hammadans had gone from bad to worse, and the Muham- 
 madans did not follow the laws of the Prophet, and were 
 Musalmans only in name, he had no trust in Muhammad- 
 ans, who called the National Congress a bad thing. Other 
 people then made speeches, and one speaker said to Nabi 
 Baksh that if the condition of the Muhammadans was 
 bad, he ought to try to help them, and when he would 
 render no assistance at such a time, he must be regarded 
 as a renegade from Islam. The following resolution was 
 then passed : — 
 
 " That the Anjuman Islamia of Gurdaspur has no kind 
 of sympathy with the objects of the National Congress, 
 and that Sheikh Nabi Baksh and Ali Mahomed are the 
 representatives of no Muhammadans, but are self-constitut- 
 ed delegates, and that a copy of the proceedings be sent to 
 the Secretary of the United Indian Patriotic Association." 
 
 51. Anjuman Islamia, Vizagapatam, Madras. — A 
 meeting of this Anjuman was held on October 28th, at 
 
APPENDIX. XXXI 
 
 which it was agreed that all members of the Anjuman 
 were against the National Congress, and sympathised with 
 the United Indian Patriotic Association. 
 
 52. Anjuman Islam ia, Roorkee, North-Western Prov- 
 inces. — A meeting of this Anjuman was held in the 
 evening of November 17th, at Piran Kaliar, four miles out 
 of Roorkee, at the tomb of the great Saint Ala-ud-din 
 Sabir. It is said that nearly 15,000 people were present. 
 The President of this meeting was Utifat Ahmed, the 
 great Dervish of Radauli. It was decided that the Mu- 
 hammadans should have nothing to do with the National 
 Congress, and should carry their opposition to it to the 
 utmost possible extreme. 
 
 53. Anjuman Nasir-ul- Islam, Nagpur, Central Prov- 
 inces. — The members of this Anjuman and of the Anju- 
 man Islamia, Nagpur, held a united meeting at which 500 
 persons were present. In this meeting some Congress- 
 wallas were present. After many speeches the following 
 resolution was passed by a majority of votes : — 
 
 " That the Association is opposed to the Congress, and 
 if any Musalman of Nagpur should join the Congress, he 
 should not be regarded as a delegate of the Muhammadans, 
 but should be considered his own delegate." 
 

 XXXII APPENDIX. 
 
 PUBLIC MEETINGS OF HINDUS AND MUHAMMADANS 
 
 HELD TO CONDEMN 
 
 THE NATIONAL CONGRESS. 
 
 A SHORT account of some of the public meetings that 
 have been held in different parts of India is here given. 
 The list is far from complete. Many meetings took place 
 before any attempt was made to keep a record. And many 
 meetings have probably since been held, accounts of 
 which have escaped our observation. But the list, it is 
 believed, contains an account of the most important meet- 
 ings, and is sufficient to show that, even in the small 
 fraction of the community which in India takes any in- 
 terest in political matters, opinion is by no means c so 
 unanimous in favour of the proposals of the National 
 Congress as its supporters affirm. — Ed. 
 
 MEETING AT ALLAHABAD, N.-W. P., FEBRUARY 27TH, 1888. 
 A very large meeting was held at Allahabad against 
 the National Congress. Three thousand Muhammadans— 
 Sunnis and Shias — were present. Hafiz Maulvi Mahomed 
 Husain, who is a very highly respected priest, and who be- 
 longs to the very old and celebrated family of the Saint 
 Shah Hujjat-ul-lah, was the President of this meeting. 
 The President, Fazl-ul-lah, B.A., Mahomed Azim-ud-din, 
 Mobarik Hosain, Syed Zakir Hosain, Syed Mahdi Hosain, 
 Shaukat Ali, Syed Mahomed Nuh, Shaikh Akbar Hosain, 
 Abdul Ghafar, Abdur Razzak, Mazhar Hosain, and Maulvi 
 Mahomed Ibrahim, made speeches against the National 
 Congress. It was unanimously agreed that the proposals 
 of the National Congress would bring misfortunes to the 
 country at large, and especially to Muhammadans, and that 
 the Muhammadans have no sympathy with the National 
 Congress, and should have none. 
 
APPENDIX. XXXUl 
 
 MEETING AT LUCKNOW, MAY 6th, 1888. 
 ON May 6th, an enormous open-air mass-meeting of 
 Muhammadans was held in the Kaisar Bagh at Lucknow. 
 Munshi Imtiaz All presided. The shop-keepers shut their 
 shops and the Muhammadan carriage-drivers drove people 
 to the meeting free of charge. It is estimated that the 
 attendance was 20,000. The meeting condemned the 
 National Congress in the strongest terms. The meeting was 
 divided into five sections, and addressed simultaneously 
 by five speakers. No such Muhammadan meeting on 
 politics has ever been known in India. At the close of 
 the speeches the whole assembly united in the afternoon 
 prayers, enjoined by the Muhammadan religion. 
 
 MEETING AT BARAON, ZILA ALLAHABAD, N.-W. P., 
 
 JULY 19TH, 1888. 
 
 The President of this meeting was Babu Mahabir 
 Narain Singh, Talukdar of Baraon. Two thousand people 
 were present, including many zemindars and influential men. 
 The President, Bhairo Singh Varma, Pandit Ram Dat 
 Singh, and Syed Madad Ali, Khan Bahadur, made speeches 
 against the proposals of the National Congress, and the 
 following resolutions were unanimously passed : — 
 
 (1). That this meeting does not sympathise with 
 the National Congress. 
 
 (2). Inasmuch as the supporters of the Congress are 
 travelling about in various places deceiving the people, 
 that this meeting should appoint some people who should 
 visit different places and point out the evils of the 
 National Congress, because if any civil war take place, no 
 trace of the Bengalis will be found, and the whole brunt 
 of the misfortune will fall on Hindu Rajputs and Muham- 
 madan Pathans. 
 
 Babu Mahabir Pershad said he would defray all the 
 expenses incurred in this work from his own pocket. 
 
XXXIV APPENDIX. 
 
 MEETING AT BENARES, N.-W. P., JULY 23RD, 1888. 
 
 HisHighness the Maharaja of Benares, G.C.S.T., 
 called this meeting in the Town Hall. Two hundred and 
 fifty influential men and great Pandits of Benares were 
 present. Raja Shiva Pershad read a lecture by the 
 Maharaja, which, on account of weakness, he was unable 
 to read himself. 
 
 MEETING AT BENARES, N.-W. P., JULY 28TH, 1888. 
 
 THE learned Pandits of Benares summoned this 
 meeting. Pandit Raja Ram Shastri, a celebrated scholar, 
 and Pandit Chunaman Rao Dhar, made speeches against 
 the National Congress, and criticised its aims and its 
 writings, and said that there was no necessity for the 
 Congress agitation, and proved from the Puranas, the 
 sacred books of the Hindus, that the agitation was most 
 unjustifiable. 
 
 MEETING AT BOMBAY, AUGUST 4TH, 1888. 
 
 A LARGE meeting of Muhammadans was held at 
 Bombay on this date, presided over by His Highness Agha 
 Akbar Shah, and including respectable members of all the 
 sections of the Muhammadan community at Bombay. 
 The Kazi of the city, Shamsul Ulama Kazi Abdul Latif, 
 was present. The meeting decided that the Muhammadans 
 of Bombay should hold aloof from the Congress. This 
 meeting was extremely important, inasmuch as the Presi- 
 dent of the last National Congress was a Muhammadan of 
 Bombay, and it was popularly supposed that the Bombay 
 Muhammadans sympathised with the movement. Subse- 
 quently a small meeting of the Anjuman Islamia was held, 
 at which about 20 persons were present, which decided to 
 send delegates to the next National Congress. 
 
APPENDIX. XXXV 
 
 MEETING AT KARCHANA, ALLAHABAD, N.-W. P., 
 AUGUST 6th, 1888. 
 
 This meeting was held at the house of Babu Beni 
 Pershad Singh, Talukdar. More than 1,000 people belong- 
 ing to both nations — Hindus and Muhammadans — were 
 present. Many speeches were made, and finally it was 
 resolved that the meeting was opposed to the National 
 Congress, and would exercise as strenuous an opposition 
 to it as possible. 
 
 MEETING AT BARAON, ZILA ALLAHABAD, N.-W. P., 
 AUGUST 12TH, 1888. 
 
 The President of this meeting was Babu Mahabir 
 Narain Singh. 
 
 The President, Thakur Bhairo Singh, Thakur Shiva 
 Pershad, Thakur Barja Baksh Singh, and Thakur Raghu- 
 nath Narain Singh, made speeches against the National 
 Congress. A permanent Anti-Congress Committee was 
 formed, consisting of many Hindus and Muhammadans 
 with Patrons, President, and Vice-Presidents as given 
 below : — 
 
 Patrons : 
 
 Raja Bhivanda Singh, Bahadur, Raja of Bijcpur. 
 
 Raja Partab Singh, Bahadur, Raja of Mandha. 
 
 Raja Banspat Singh, Bahadur, Raja of Kishengarh. 
 
 President : 
 Babu Mahabir Pershad Narain Singh. 
 
 Vice-Presidents : 
 Koer Ram Singh, Bahadur. 
 Lai Chatterpatti Singh. 
 Maulvi Abdul Aziz. 
 
XXXVI APPENDIX. 
 
 MEETING AT MAINPURI, N.-W. P., AUGUST 14TH, 1888. 
 
 ON this day a large Anti-Congress meeting, consisting 
 of the leading gentlemen of the town, mostly Rajputs and 
 Muhammadans, was held at Mainpuri. Maharaja Ram 
 Partab Singh, Bahadur, Raja of Mainpuri, presided. After 
 a short speech by the Chairman, the Hon'ble Sir Syed 
 Ahmed's speech delivered at Meerut was read and heard 
 with cheers, and the following resolutions were passed : — 
 
 (1). The meeting has no sympathy with the Con- 
 gress. 
 
 (2). The gentlemen who presented themselves at the 
 Madras Congress were not delegates of the people. 
 
 MEETING AT GORAKHPUR, N.-W. P., AUGUST 21ST, 1888. 
 
 On this day a meeting was held in the Mission High 
 School, Gorakhpur. His Highness Maharaja Koomar Lai 
 Khadja Bahadur of Majhowli, presided. Rao Chintaman 
 and Rao Bal Krishna addressed the meeting, and the 
 following resolution was passed : — 
 
 "That we should not associate with the Congress." 
 
 MEETING AT SHAHJEHANPUR, N.-W. P., AUGUST 
 30TH, 1888. 
 
 A GREAT meeting of Muhammadans was held on this 
 date at Shahjehanpur. All men of influence and Pathans 
 of every clan inhabiting the country were present. Ahmed 
 Hasan Khan was President. Maulvi Mahomed Ismail, 
 Mahomed Habib-ul-lah Khan, and Munshi Dost Mahomed 
 Khan made speeches, and showed that the proposals of the 
 Congress were not only prejudicial to the Muhammadans, 
 but were dangerous for the country at large. The following 
 resolutions were passed : — 
 
 (1). That the Muhammadans of Shahjehanpur regard 
 the objects of the National Congress as a deadly poison for 
 their community, and that therefore they neither have now 
 
APPENDIX. XXXVll 
 
 nor will have in future any kind of sympathy with the 
 Congress. 
 
 (2). That no person should attend the approaching 
 Congress at Allahabad as a delegate of the Muham- 
 madans of Shahjehanpur, and if any person should pretend 
 to do so, he should be regarded as the delegate of himself 
 alone, and ashaving no connection with the Muhammadans 
 of Shahjehanpur. 
 
 MEETING AT LUCKNOW, SEPTEMBER, 2ND, 1888. 
 THE Princes of Lucknow belonging to the old Royal 
 Family of Oudh, and all the men of high position, were 
 present at this meeting. Among those present were the 
 following:— Nawab Mirza Mahdi AH, Khan Bahadur; 
 Prince Mirza Mahomed Taqi, Khan Bahadur, nephew of 
 the late King of Oudh ; Prince Mirza Masud Qadr of the old 
 Royal House of Delhi; Nawab Faghfur Mirza, Bahadur; 
 Nawab Saif-ud-Daulah, Bahadur ; Nawab Mahomed Jafir 
 Ali, Khan Bahadur ; Nawab Shah Mirza, Bahadur ; Nawab 
 Mahomed Baqr Ali, Khan Bahadur; Nawab Sultan Bakht, 
 Bahadur ; Mirza Agha Ali, Khan Bahadur ; Munshi Maho- 
 med Imtiaz Ali, Rai Bahadur; Pandit Sri Kishen ; Munshi 
 Newal Kishore, C. I. E., and others. 
 
 This meeting was held at the house of Nawab Mirza 
 Mahdi Ali, who was President. After several speeches the 
 following resolution was unanimously passed : — 
 
 " That this meeting refuses to send delegates to any 
 meeting of the National Congress, and that any one claim- 
 ing to represent the higher and middle classes of the native 
 community of Lucknow at any meeting of the Congress, 
 must be taken to represent himself alone." 
 
 MEETING AT LUDHIANA, PUNJAB, SEPTEMBER 22ND, 1888. 
 A MUHAMMADAN Anti-Congress meeting was held 
 on this day at Ludhiana, to record total disapproval of the 
 National Congress. 
 
XXXV1U APPENDIX. 
 
 MEETING AT BASTI, N.-W. P., SEPTEMBER 23RD, 1888. 
 
 A MEETING was held on this date at Basti. Basti is a 
 small zila (district), but 200 people were present. Maulvi 
 Abdus Sami made a speech against the National Congress. 
 The following resolutions were passed : — 
 
 (1). That this meeting is entirely opposed to the 
 National Congress. 
 
 (2). That this meeting should send no delegates to the 
 National Congress. 
 
 MEETING OF THE CHIEF PRIESTS OF DELHI, 
 SEPTEMBER 23RD, 1888. 
 
 A GREAT meeting of all the Maul vis of Delhi, of all sects 
 of Muhammadans — Sunni, Shiah, Hanafi,and Ahl-i-Hadis 
 (formerly known as Wahabis) — took place on this date in 
 the Fatehpuri mosque. Five thousand Muhammadans were 
 present. Prince Suleiman Shah, of the family of the old 
 Emperors of India, was in the chair. Maulvi Nazir Hosain, 
 a man of enormous influence throughout the whole of India, 
 the head of the Ahl-i-Hadis, and one of the most learned 
 men alive in India, was present. Maulvi Abdul Haq, a very 
 celebrated Maulvi of the Hanafi sect, was also present and 
 made a speech, in which he opposed the National Congress, 
 and said that it was extremely harmful for Muhammadans. 
 He proposed the following resolution : — 
 
 " That the Muhammadans of Delhi are entirely oppos- 
 ed to the proposals of the Congress." 
 
 Maulvi Nazir Hosain seconded this resolution, and 
 afterwards offered up a prayer to God to preserve the 
 Muhammadans from the evil effects of this Congress. 
 
 Hahz Aziz-ud-din then made a speech and proposed 
 the following resolution : — 
 
 " That the Muhammadans of Delhi are fully loyal to 
 the English Government." 
 
 Hakim Gholam Raja Khan seconded this, and it was 
 carried. 
 
APPENDIX. XXXIX 
 
 MEETING AT MUTTRA, N.-W. P., SEPTEMBER 24TH, 1888. 
 
 A MEETING was held here to-day in the Municipal Hall, 
 at which about one thousand Muhammadans and Hindus 
 were present. Maulvi Syed Farid-ud-din Shah, RaTs of 
 Agra, and Mahomed Abdul Hadi, Pleader and Municipal 
 Commissioner, addressed the assembly at some length 
 denouncing the National Congress, and a resolution was 
 passed declaring that those present at the meeting should 
 have nothing to do with that movement. 
 
 MEETING AT DELHI, OCTOBER 5TH, 1888. 
 
 A VERY important meeting of the Muhammadans 
 against the National Congress was held in the Town Hall. 
 About 2,000 Muhammadans were present. Prince Mirza 
 Suleiman Shah, of the family of the Moghal Emperors, was 
 President. The following gentlemen were present : — Prince 
 Mahomed Iqbal Shah, Nawab Bashir-ud-din Ahmed Khan, 
 Khan Bahadur Hadi Hosain Khan, Khan Bahadur 
 Mahomed Nizam-ud-dinKhan, Mahomed Inayetur Rahman, 
 Nawab Mahomed Ibrahim Ali Khan, Nawab Sharf-ud-din 
 Ahmed Khan, Mahomed Ikram-ul-lah Khan, Bhaya 
 Shamshere Bahadur, Haji Syed Mahomed, Imam of the 
 Imperial Mosque of Delhi, Shamsul Ulama Khan 
 Bahadur, Munshi Zaka-ul-lah, Munshi Nazir Ahmed, 
 Maulvi Karim Bakhsh, Syed Sultan Mirza, Hafiz Aziz- 
 ud-din, Maulvi Inayet Ahmed, Nawab Ahmed Ali Khan, 
 Nawab Shuja-ud-din Ahmed Khan, Hakim Mahomed 
 Gholam Raza Khan, Hakim Mahomed Wasil Khan, 
 Shaikh Hafiz-ul-lah, Maulvi Altaf Hosain (a famous 
 poet), Shahzada Mirza Mahomed Ashraf, and others. 
 
 Maulvi Nazir Ahmed delivered a very effective 
 lecture against the Congress, and pointed out the b2d 
 results that would follow from it for the Muhammadans 
 
xl APPENDIX. 
 
 and for the country. The following resolutions were then 
 passed : — 
 
 (i). Proposed by Mahomed Ikram-ul-lah Khan and 
 seconded by Munshi Zaka-ul-lah, late Professor at the 
 Muir College, Allahabad — " That inasmuch as the objects 
 of the National Congress are harmful to the country gene- 
 rally, and to the Muhammadans in particular, this meeting 
 has no sympathy with the Congress." 
 
 (2). Proposed by Mahomed Inayetur Rahman Khan 
 and seconded by Hakim Gholam Raza Khan — " That be- 
 cause the well-wishers of our nation and of the country have, 
 after full consideration, established the United Indian 
 Patriotic Association, this meeting expresses its full sym- 
 pathy with the objects of that Association." 
 
 (3). Proposed by Hafiz Aziz-ud-din and seconded 
 by Shaikh Hafiz-ul-lah — " That for the reasons mentioned 
 in resolution (2) a branch of the United Indian Patriotic 
 Association be established in Delhi." 
 
 (4). Proposed by Shahzada Mirza Mahomed Ashraf 
 and seconded by Khan Bahadur Mahomed Nizam-ud-din — 
 " That if any Muhammadans of Delhi join the National 
 Congress, they should be regarded as representing them- 
 selves alone, and should not be considered as delegates or 
 representatives of the Muhammadans of Delhi." 
 
 MEETING AT SAHARANPUR, N.-W. P., OCTOBER 5TH, 1888. 
 A MEETING was held in the big mosque after the 
 Friday prayers, and about 5,000 people were present. 
 Maulvi Abdul Ghani and Hafiz Fakr-ud-din, Imam of 
 the mosque, pointed out the evils of the National Congress 
 before the commencement of prayers. The 5,000 Muham- 
 madans who were present agreed that they were opposed to 
 the National Congress, and that no one ought to sympathise 
 with it. 
 
APPENDIX. x li 
 
 MEETING AT JAUNPUR, N.-W. P., OCTOBER 6th, 1888. 
 At an influential and well-attended meeting held on 
 the evening of October 6th, Raja Hari Har Dat Dube, 
 Bahadur, of Jaunpur, delivered a lecture against the 
 National Congress, which, he said, had greatly increased 
 the enmity between the Hindus and Muhammadans, and 
 with regard to which the Government should take early 
 steps with a view to stop such agitations. There were 
 present :— Maulvi Abdul Majid, Barrister-at-Law ; Maulvi 
 Mahomed Ibrahim Khan, Bahadur ; Maulvis Mahomed 
 Jan, Basit Ali and Kazi Mahomed Khalil, Honorary Magis- 
 trates ; Raja Shankar Dat, Bahadur ; Maulvi Mahomed 
 Syed Khan, Rais ; Maulvi Syed Mahomed of Kheta-Sarai ; 
 Mufties Zainulabdin, Hyder Hosain and Ata Hosain 
 of Mufti-mohalla; Dr. Sastewar Roy; Babus Cham 
 Chandar, Damodar Das, and Parsotan Das ; Syed Zahid 
 Hosain and Kazi Azizuddin Ahmed, Deputy Collectors ; 
 Syed Habib-ul-lah, C. S. ; Pandit Shankar Lai, Tehsil- 
 dar, and many other respectable Raises, Vakils, and 
 Zemindars. 
 
 A branch of the United Patriotic Association was 
 formed, and the following Raises accepted membership :— 
 Raja Hari Har Dube, Bahadur, President ; Raja Shankar 
 Dat ; Maulvi Mahomed Ibrahim Khan, Bahadur ; Maulvi 
 Mahomed Syed Khan ; Maulvi Mobarak Hosain ; Maulvi 
 Basit Ali ; Maulvi Mahomed Jamil ; Mufties Zainulabdin, 
 Hyder Hosain and Ata Hosain ; Maulvi Mahomed Hanif ; 
 Maulvi Farid-ul-Haq ; Syed Ali Hosain ; Babu Damodar 
 Das ; Maulvi Mahomed Ali of Machhlishahr ; Maulvi 
 Mahomed Salem and other gentlemen with Maulvi Syed 
 Mahmud, a very intelligent Pleader, as Secretary. 
 
 Maulvi Syed Kaim Ali, Rais of Kheta-Sarai, offered 
 a donation of Rs. 50 towards the Association. 
 
 After the above proceedings the following resolution 
 was passed : — 
 
xli-i APPENDIX. 
 
 (i). The Hindus and Muhammadans of Jaunpur shall 
 not send any delegate to the Allahabad meeting of the 
 Congress. If any one goes there he will not be our 
 representative. (Proposed by Raja Hari Har Dat, Bahadur, 
 and seconded by Mufti Hyder Hosain). 
 
 Maulvi Abdul Majid then thanked the Raja for the 
 good lecture he delivered and for the courage he showed in 
 denouncing the Congress so candidly. Three hundred 
 copies of a pamphlet by Maulvi Ahmed-ul-lah, Government 
 pensioner, and several copies of a poem by Mr. Safdar 
 Hosain against the National Congress, were distributed 
 to those present. 
 
 MEETING AT ETAWAH, N.-W. P., ON NOVEMBER 2ND, 1888. 
 A MEETING of the Anti-National Congress party was 
 held here on 2nd November, 1888, in the Imambara of 
 Nawab Mehdi AH, who was President. Haji Mumtaz AH 
 Khan, Honorary Magistrate, and all the Muhammadan 
 gentlemen of Etawah, were present. Several speeches were 
 made, and the following resolutions were unanimously 
 passed : — " First, that the Muhammadans of Etawah 
 are entirely opposed to the objects of the National 
 Congress ; and second, that they sympathise with the aims 
 of the United Indian Patriotic Association." 
 
 MEETING AT DACCA, NOVEMBER iith, 1888. 
 An open-air meeting of Muhammadans was held at 
 Dacca at 3 P. m., on the above-mentioned date. It was 
 attended by about 2,000 persons. All the gentry of the 
 city were present. Delegates came from Mymensingh 
 and other districts. Several letters of sympathy were re- 
 ceived from the districts of Eastern Bengal. Munshi 
 Gholam Mustafa, one of the leading gentlemen of the city, 
 
APPENDIX. xliii 
 
 whose name the other party had used without his authori- 
 ty as a staunch supporter of the Congress, presided, and 
 declared that he had no connection with the Congress, 
 and that his name had been used against his will. The 
 following resolutions were unanimously passed with much 
 enthusiasm : — 
 
 (i). That no Indian should join the Congress. 
 
 (2). That no Muhammadan should join the Congress. 
 
 (3). That the Muhammadans named by the Hindus 
 as their delegates are not the delegates of the Dacca 
 Muhammadans. The Dacca Muhammadans have not 
 elected them, and have no connection with them. 
 
 MEETING AT LUCKNOW, NOVEMBER 22ND, 1SS8. 
 
 A GREAT meeting of the aristocracy of Oudh was held 
 at Lucknow on November 2?nd, having been convened 
 by the British Indian Association of the Oudh Talukdars. 
 It was decided to form a new Anti-Congress Association, 
 named the Indian Loyal Association, with His Highness 
 the Maharaja of Benares as Patron of the new Associa- 
 tion and the Hon'ble Maharaja Partab Narain Singh as 
 President. A resolution was also carried condemning the 
 Congress, and saying that if any Hindu or Muhammadan 
 of these Provinces should attend the National Congress, 
 he should not be considered as a delegate from these 
 Provinces. Many very influential men, Hindu and Mu- 
 hammadan, were present. 
 
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