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244

APPENDICES

II

SOME OPINIONS ABOUT BRITISH INDIA

Industrial Ruin of India. Gokhale. “ When we come to this question of India’s Industrial domination by England, we come to what may be described as the most deplorable result of British rule in this country. In other matters there are things on the credit side and things on the debit side. . . . But when you come to the industrial field, you will find that the results have been disastrous. You find very little here on the credit side and nearly all the entries on the debit side. Now this is a serious statement to make, but I think it can be sub-stantiated.”

India a Mere Possession. Gokhale. “ India formed the largest part of the Empire, but was governed as a mere possession of the British people. Three features showed that it had no part or lot in the Empire. In the first place, the people were kept disarmed; it was thought to be dangerous to allow them to carry arms. Secondly, they had absolutely no voice in the government of their own country; they were expressly disqualified from holding certain high offices, and practically excluded from others. Lastly, they were not allowed a share in the privileges of the Empire in any portion outside British India, except a limited one in the United Kingdom itself.”—Mr. Gokhale.

Masses Starved. Sir C. A. Elliott. “I do not hesitate to say that half our agricultural population never know from year’s end to year’s end what it is to have their hunger fully satisfied.”—Sir C. A. Elliott, onetime Lieut.-Governor of Bengal.

Sir W. W. Hunter. In 1880. “ There remain forty millions of people who go through life on insufficient food.”— Sir W. W. Hunter.

William Digby. In 1893. The Pioneer sums up Mr. Grierson’s facts regarding the various sections of the