DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6523#0271
in ; but in the ordinary life of the Club, in the daily-
meetings of the Club, are there any Englishmen ?
You know there are not; cosmopolitan in name but,
to use an offensive term, " native " in practice. No,
these things make hatred. They make bitter indig-
nation, none the less bitter because it is silent. Oh !
it is said; there is a " habit of subordination to
Europeans," and so a man is never able to speak out.
It is not very pleasant for those who respect Indians
to hear it said that all manhood goes from the Indian
when he has been an official, and has the habit of sub-
ordination to European superiors. I heard the phrase
the other day, and I shall never forget it; for it
means that under present conditions the Indian loses
all sense of dignity and self-respect, and becomes a
serf in reality although a free man in name. I do not
myself believe that that is true, but if the English
believe it, it is ill both for England and for India.
Friends, it is better for all that these things should
be said out openly, for they are whispered every-
where where Indians meet together. Better that a
person in a white body should say them out frankly,
where all may hear them, in order that they may be
changed. For I believe that the colour bar and
all it implies are largely due to thoughtlessness, to
silly pride, to the pride of race, which has grown mad
in a country where there is no public opinion to check
it. And yet these very people who show it—not the
best and the highest of the English here—if you only
meetings of the Club, are there any Englishmen ?
You know there are not; cosmopolitan in name but,
to use an offensive term, " native " in practice. No,
these things make hatred. They make bitter indig-
nation, none the less bitter because it is silent. Oh !
it is said; there is a " habit of subordination to
Europeans," and so a man is never able to speak out.
It is not very pleasant for those who respect Indians
to hear it said that all manhood goes from the Indian
when he has been an official, and has the habit of sub-
ordination to European superiors. I heard the phrase
the other day, and I shall never forget it; for it
means that under present conditions the Indian loses
all sense of dignity and self-respect, and becomes a
serf in reality although a free man in name. I do not
myself believe that that is true, but if the English
believe it, it is ill both for England and for India.
Friends, it is better for all that these things should
be said out openly, for they are whispered every-
where where Indians meet together. Better that a
person in a white body should say them out frankly,
where all may hear them, in order that they may be
changed. For I believe that the colour bar and
all it implies are largely due to thoughtlessness, to
silly pride, to the pride of race, which has grown mad
in a country where there is no public opinion to check
it. And yet these very people who show it—not the
best and the highest of the English here—if you only