inclined to admire are almost exclusively to be found among the fighting races, such an indictment is of a very damning character. In England one does not see why it should have any weight. Only three in every hundred of the inhabitants of these islands takes any share in the defence of his country. Thus ninety-seven per cent. of those who feel so superior to the Babu are in practical patriotism on precisely the same footing. Hence, however reasonable may be the scorn of the Anglo-Indian for the man of peace, there is no excuse at home for such a sentiment, and seeing that our national ambitions are essentially commercial, and that our national complacency is essentially domestic, it would be more in keeping with those characters that we should cease to disdain the Bengali for a disinclination, which we share, to fight the nation's battles, and remember him as a man whose business capacity, apart from initiative, is at least equal to our own-a capacity which has to-day a very serious share in the welfare of India and as a and as a man whose domestic virtues are far more exacting and more. extensively diffused than any which we should dare to formulate.

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE PARTITION OF BENGAL

ONE of the points on which we have had at home. very little information is the extent to which our hold on the East has been affected by the recent victories of an Asiatic Power. "Not at all," is the almost invariable reply of the British official; but, when one began to study the question from the other side, his answer furnished fresh proof of his alienation from native India. The successes of Japan have stirred into something like flame an ambition which without them would have probably continued precariously to smoulder. In the speeches of native orators, in the essays of native writers, one is struck by the continual reference to the achievements of Japan as an incentive to a renewed striving after national entity. Now the very mention of such a thing by a subject nation may savour of disloyalty, and is understood in that sense out here; but such an interpretation is out of keeping with the character and history of the Bengali. His ardours have all and always been to express himself and not to compress others; and the only heroism he understands

is that of the soul,

He has never dreamed of

military glory and never will, and he knows well that, could he succeed in loosening Britain's hold on India, the earliest consequence would be the plundering of Bengal. All his interests are thus attached to the continuance of our rule, for, recognising that India must have a foreign master, he knows of none who could be preferred to us. His desire is thus to be a part instead of a dependency of the Empire, to be given a work on which he can spend his energies and his ambition, to feel himself identified with a great cause. At present his relation to England is that of the fat green aphis to the ants which stable him for milk. He shares the advantages of the community, but has none of its adventure, none of its responsibilities, none of its pride. He craves something more satisfying, and, roughly and briefly, this is how he would have it obtained.

First, by a reform of the Legislative Councils, the appointment of Indians to the Secretary of State's Council and to the Executive Councils in India, and by giving Indians an increasing share in the administration and control of their own affairs.

Secondly, by an improvement in the methods of administration, the separation of judicial from executive functions, and the reform of the police.

Thirdly, by a readjustment of financial arrangements—including a reduction of military chargesto lessen the burdens of the taxpayer.

Fourthly, by an extension of primary education, facilities for industrial and technical instruction, improved sanitation, and, by a radical scheme to arrest the increasing indebtedness of the peasantry, to achieve some improvement in the condition of the mass of the people.

Now, none of these suggestions are so extreme that they can be considered beyond the scope of discussion, while many of them represent aspirations with which it would be hard to quarrel. The appointment of Indians to the Secretary of State's Council would supply to its deliberations a point of view which might not otherwise be available, would bring to India the satisfaction of a voice in the final discussion of its affairs, and would introduce the Indian members to influences which might enlarge and modify their opinions. The Legal Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council might very profitably be an Indian; and a place might be found on it for a further native representative without a portfolio. There is also much to be said for the creation of Advisory Boards, which heads of districts would be obliged to consult in important matters of administration before taking action, since in this way would be bridged the increasing interval between the administration and the people, which is responsible on both sides for serious misunderstandings. Nor can there be any theoretical objection to the

separation of judicial and executive functions. A district magistrate may be often prosecutor in the cases he has to decide, for he is head of the police as well as head of the magistracy, a position only tolerable in quite undeveloped communities, and an insult to the intelligence of many parts of India.

The complete detachment of judicial and executive offices should be the aim of every administration, since, apart from the inevitable irregularity of procedure, the judicial mind requires a particular and continuous cultivation, and it is by no means unusual in India for untrained British magistrates to find themselves intellectually at the mercy of skilled native pleaders. A further anomaly of the present system is the combination of the executive and judicial functions in the lower branches of the Civil Service and their division in the higher, and the subordination of the judicial to the executive after the division has occurred. So that an indifferent magistrate may look forward to more important preferment than the most learned judge: a method not calculated to bring home to the simple the supremacy of law.

The time must come when in India, as at home, the judicial branch of the Civil Service shall be recruited entirely from the legal profession, and those who urge that consummation may be premature but cannot be called unreasonable.