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Road To Freedom

The British Raj in Black and White

The early Europeans who came to India in search of fortunes were overawed by "Oriental Splendour" and meekly waited upon Mughal emperors, while seeking trade concessions. When the British gained a firm foothold in Bengal, scholars like William Jones studied Sanskrit works and discovered the depth of Indian culture which they came to admire. However, as British power increased, the British became contemptuous of the conquered people. On his arrival in India, Governor-General Marquess of Hastings credited the people of India with 'no higher intellect than a dog and an elephant or a monkey might be supposed capable of attaining'.
Prof T.G.P. Spear noted with concern that "the attitude of the average Englishman changed from one of disapproval �into one of contempt for an inferior and conquered people." This attitude of Englishmen was due to a sense of racial superiority. "A cherished conviction which was shared by every Englishman in India, from the highest to the lowest," wrote Wilfred Blunt, "was that he belongs to the race whom God has destined to govern and subdue." This superiority complex was the extension of the feeling of superiority of the white race over the black which swept the whole of Europe during the nineteenth century.
This attitude was reflected in the way the British officials behaved in India causing untold misery to the people.
Like the black populations of Africa and the southern states of the USA, Indians had to put up with insult and injury at the hands of the whites.
Wilfred Blunt recalls an incident in Patna when he was being seen off by Nawab Vilayet Ali Khan accompanied by 30 leading citizens. "There was neither obstruction, nor noise, nor crowding," writes Blunt. "But the presence of 'natives' on the platform became suddenly distasteful to an English passenger in the adjoining compartment. Thrusting his head out of the window he began to abuse them and bid them off, and when they did not move, struck at them with his stick and threatened the old Nawab especially with it if he came within his reach. �the railway officials and police treated it as a matter of small importance, and did their best to screen the offender."
When Blunt narrated the Patna incident to his Indian friends in Bombay he was informed that every native in Bombay had been subjected to such incidents! Mr. Mandalik, a government pleader told Blunt that on one occasion he was thrown out of the railway carriage between Benaras and Allahabad because a white passenger objected to an Indian sharing his compartment.
Later Blunt received letters from his friends in Patna. "I beg to assure you," one of them wrote, "that the incident was not (an only) one of its kind, but such treatment is becoming general� Alas! we are hated for no other reason but because we have a dark colour, because we put on a national dress and because we are a conquered race ... Allow me to say that it will be difficult for England to hold India long if such a state of feeling is allowed to progress without any check."

Salaam, Sahib

January 1, 1809. At about 4 o'clock Raja Rammohan Roy was passing through Bhagalpur. The Raja was being carried in a palanquin. As the door of the palanquin was shut, the Raja did not see Sir Hamilton, the District Collector passing by. The Collector was furious at being ignored by a native. He shouted at the palanquin bearers. When the Raja got out of the palanquin to see what the commotion was about, he was greeted by the choicest of abuses. The Raja had to pacify the irate Collector by saluting the official as demanded, and tender an apology.
On his return to Calcutta the Raja sent a petition to Lord Minto the Governor-General protesting against the rude behaviour of the Collector.
Routledge in his book "English Rule and Native Opinion in India," refers to Englishmen pushing through crowds of people as through a herd of cattle.
Sir Henry Cotton writes: "It is but too common an outrage to assault respectable residents of the country because when passing on the road they have not dismounted from their horses in token of their inferiority. I have known a case in which an unfortunate old man died from the effects of blows so received."

Indians Not Allowed

In cities and towns, Indians dressed in European attire were treated with greater respect by government officials. In the Patna Railway station incident, for instance, the aggrieved citizens told Blunt that had they been in western dress, they would perhaps not have been treated with such contempt.
While Indians in western attire were not required to take off their footwear while entering a government office to meet officials, Indians in native attire had to take off theirs.
There were many clubs meant exclusively for Europeans. English-educated Indians, some of whom were members of the best clubs in London could not meet their English friends at snobbish clubs like Bombay's Yacht Club because Indians were not allowed entry. These Indians who had interacted with Englishmen in England on equal terms resented being treated like second class citizens in their own country. The humiliation they faced on the social front turned many of them against the British.

Body Blows

The cases of assault on Indians by Europeans were ever on the increase. In 1900 more than 200 cases were reported, out of which more than 75 were brutal attacks on punkha coolies by European soldiers.
The Barahanagar Patrika Samachar reports the case of Inspector Smith of Dumdum Police Station who tore off the beard of a cart-puller for refusing him the use of his cart which had already been hired by an Indian.
Lord Curzon noted with concern that "the number of cases of violent collision between Europeans and natives was increasing with a rapidity that appeared to me to be dangerous and menacing� I found also that� inclination of the Europeans�was in favour of glossing over and palliating rather than of exposing and punishing these crimes."
He wrote : "I know that as long as Europeans�rule� Indians, incidents of�violence will occur and that the white man will tend to side with the white skin against the dark, �it is the duty of statesmanship to arrest these dangerous symptoms and to prevent them from attaining dimensions that might even threaten the existence of our rule in the future."

A Daniel Come to Judgement

Some members of the judiciary tried to rise above racial prejudices while dispensing justice. Sessions Judge Pennel for example, refused to take note of the colour of the guilty when he awarded punishment.
In 1899, a constable called Narsingh was severely beaten up by Corbett, the Police Superintendent of Chhapra district in Bengal. Narsingh's crime was that he refused to do forced labour for the district engineer, a friend of the Police Superintendent. Narsingh refused to leave the service despite being asked by Corbett to do so. Narsingh was prosecuted and the magistrate, under pressure from above, sentenced Narsingh to two months' imprisonment.
When Narsingh preferred an appeal before the district and sessions judge, Pennel, the learned judge admitted the appeal with these observations:
"Assaults by Europeans upon natives are unfortunately not uncommon. They are not likely to cease until the disappearance of real or supposed racial superiority."
The judgement created a commotion among officials and Pennel was transferred to Noakhali by telegram.
Pennel once remarked : "In this country the only people who will come forward to give evidence against officers are those who do not mind their houses being burnt, their shops looted, their relations turned out of government employment, themselves and members of their families dragged up on false charges and sent to jail."
In another case of murder, Pennel held the accused guilty and sentenced him to death. In this connection Pennel had the Police Superintendent, Raily arrested because he had tried to secure the release of the murderer by giving false evidence.
While people hailed Pennel's judgement calling him Dharmavatar, a Daniel, the government took a serious view of the arrest of the police superintendent.
The High Court suspended Pennel and telegraphically ordered the release of Raily on bail. When Pennel left for Calcutta, a 15,000-strong crowd silently accompanied him from his residence to the railway station. To the people of Bengal, Judge Pennel was a hero.

Road To Freedom

The British Raj in Black and White

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