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An Old Man's Dream

An Old Man's Dream

A.O. Hume loved the country where he served as a civil servant and at the same time he was proud of the democratic traditions of the country of his birth, England. Though a liberal himself he was part of an administrative system which refused to grant citizens the rights which his countrymen back at home held sacred.
In his open letter to the graduates of Calcutta University, Hume had written: "Whether in an individual or the nation, all vital progress must spring from within, the real work must ever be done by the people of the country themselves."
While Hume was happy that leaders from all parts of India had responded to his call to form the Indian National Congress, he was far from happy with the progress the party had made in the first few years.
This is evident from a pamphlet he issued in 1888 in which he urged the people of India to work for a representative government. "I appeal to all who call India home," Hume wrote "...I appeal to all, high and low, gentle and simple, ignorant and learned, rich and poor... You will now, one and all, alike for your own sakes and the sakes of those millions who are being crushed beneath the existing despotic system, boldly...throw in your lot, heart and soul with us ; this is my hope, my belief, my prayer; this is an old man's hope; and if I can only live to see this realised, I shall die content and happy!"
By 1892, the old man was getting impatient. His frustration showed in the circular letter he wrote to his colleagues in the Congress on 16th February, 1892.
"A very large number of you seem almost as behind as the government," went the letter, "...you do not ... realise that the existing system of administration is not only ill-adapted to the wants of the country, is not only pauperizing the people ..but is inevitably preparing the way for one of the most terrible cataclysms, in the history of the world."
Hume felt that a violent backlash was inevitable and when that happened the government would not be able to protect itself or the people.
Hume's circular letter, instead of galvanizing Congress leaders into action, frightened them into silence! The chairman of the Allahabad Congress Standing Committee urged Hume to withdraw the letter, confessing that "a considerable number of men in our ranks will feel nervous at the publication of the letter".
Phirozeshah Mehta, the Lion of Bombay, asked the Bombay Standing Committee to decline to circulate Hume's letter.


When it appeared that no Indian leader would stand by Hume in his hour of crisis, support came from Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Writing in the Mahratta, Tilak described the Bombay Standing Committee's action to disown Hume's letter as hasty and showing a lack of courage.
"Whatever we may think of Mr. Hume and his circular," Tilak concluded, "nothing will induce the Congress Party to disown a man, who is justly regarded as the Father of the Indian National Congress."
In 1894, Hume bade farewell to India and left for England. In the farewell speech he gave in Bombay Hume said: "Let nothing discourage you... many years may pass during which apparently you gain no single inch...may... even lose ground... but...work on ceaselessly, and India shall one day reap a glorious harvest of your labours... hammer, hammer, hammer—never relaxing your efforts...you can work at high pressure for a week, but to run at low pressure, uniformly and unwearyingly for a year... is the very first requisite for political success."
Hume continued to work relentlessly for India's cause in England until his death in 1912.

Awake

Sons of Ind, why sit ye idle,
Wait ye for some Deva's aid?
Buckle to, be up and doing!
Nations by themselves are made!

Are ye Serfs or are ye Freemen,
Ye that grovel in the shade?
In your own hands restir the issues!
By themselves are nations made!

Ye are taxed, what voice in spending
Have ye when the tax is paid?
Up! Protest! Right triumphs ever!
Nations by themselves are made!

What avail your wealth, your learning,
Empty titles, sordid trade?
True self-rule were worth them all!
Nations by themselves are made!

Are ye dazed, or are ye children,
Thee, that crouch, supine, afraid?
Will your childhood last for ever?
By themselves are nations made!

Ask no help from Heaven or Hell!
In yourselves alone seek aid!
He that wills, and dares, has all;
Nations by themselves are made!

Sons of Ind, be up and doing,
let your course be by none stayed;
Lo! the Dawn is in the East;
By themselves are nations made!
— A poem by A.O. Hume

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