Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 | Page 7

and
habits of thought with them to their distant homes.

Englishmen are less imitative than most Europeans in this sense--that
they are less disposed to apply the administrative and political systems
of their own country to the government of backward populations; but in
spite of their relatively high degree of political elasticity, they cannot
shake themselves altogether free from political conventionalities.
Moreover, the experienced minority is constantly being pressed by the
inexperienced majority in the direction of imitation. Knowing the
somewhat excessive degree of adulation which some sections of the
British public are disposed to pay to their special idol, Lord Dufferin, in
1883, was almost apologetic to his countrymen for abstaining from an
act of political folly. He pleaded strenuously for delay in the
introduction of parliamentary institutions into Egypt, on the ground that
our attempts "to mitigate predominant absolutism" in India had been
slow, hesitating, and tentative. He brought poetic metaphor to his aid.
He deprecated paying too much attention to the "murmuring leaves," in
other words, imagining that the establishment of a Chamber of
Notables implied constitutional freedom, and he exhorted his
countrymen "to seek for the roots," that is to say, to allow each
Egyptian village to elect its own mayor (Sheikh).
It cannot be too clearly understood that whether we deal with the roots,
or the trunk, or the branches, or the leaves, free institutions in the full
sense of the term must for generations to come be wholly unsuitable to
countries such as India and Egypt. If the use of a metaphor, though of a
less polished type, be allowed, it may be said that it will probably never
be possible to make a Western silk purse out of an Eastern sow's ear; at
all events, if the impossibility of the task be called in question, it should
be recognised that the process of manufacture will be extremely
lengthy and tedious.
But it is often urged that, although no rational person would wish to
advocate the premature creation of ultra-liberal institutions in backward
countries, at the same time that for several reasons it is desirable to
move gradually in this direction. The adoption of this method is, it is
said, the only way to remedy the evils attendant on a system of personal
government in an extreme form; it enables us to learn the views of the
natives of the country, even although we may not accord to the latter

full power of deciding whether or not those views should be put in
practice; lastly, it constitutes a means of political education, through the
agency of which the subject race will gradually acquire the qualities
necessary to autonomy.
The force of these arguments cannot be denied, but there should be no
delusion as to the weight which should be attached to them. It has been
very truly remarked by a writer, who has dealt with the idiosyncrasies
of a singularly versatile nation, whose genius presented in every respect
a marked contrast to that of Eastern races, that from the dawn of history
Eastern politics have been "stricken with a fatal simplicity."[13] Do not
let us for one moment imagine that the fatally simple idea of despotic
rule will readily give way to the far more complex conception of
ordered liberty. The transformation, if it ever takes place at all, will
probably be the work, not of generations, but of centuries.
So limited is the stock of political ideas in the world that some
modified copy of parliamentary institutions is, without doubt, the only
method which has yet been invented for mitigating the evils attendant
on the personal system of government. But it is a method which is
thoroughly uncongenial to Oriental habits of thought. It may be
doubted whether, by the adoption of this exotic system, we gain any
real insight into native aspirations and opinions. As to the educational
process, the experience of India is not very encouraging. The good
government of most Indian towns depends to this day mainly, not on
the Municipal Commissioners, who are generally natives, but on the
influence of the President, who is usually an Englishman.
A further consideration in connection with this point is also of some
importance. It is that British officials in Eastern countries should be
encouraged by all possible means to learn the views and the
requirements of the native population. The establishment of mock
parliaments tends rather in the opposite direction, for the official on the
spot sees through the mockery and is not infrequently disposed to
abandon any attempt to ascertain real native opinion, through disgust at
the unreality, crudity, or folly of the views set forth by the putative
representatives of native society.

For these reasons it is important that, in our well-intentioned
endeavours to impregnate the Oriental mind with our insular habits of