disappear at once."[120]

A high French colonial official thus characterizes the Algerians and
other Moslem populations of French North Africa: "Our natives need to be
governed. They are big children, incapable of going alone. We should
guide them firmly, stand no nonsense from them, and crush intriguers and
agents of sedition. At the same time, we should protect them, direct
them paternally, and especially obtain influence over them by the
constant example of our moral superiority. Above all: no vain
humanitarian illusions, both in the interest of France and of the
natives themselves."[121]

Many observers, particularly colonial officials, have been disappointed
with the way Orientals have used experimental first steps in
self-government like Advisory Councils granted by the European rulers;
have used them, that is, to play politics and grasp for more power,
instead of devoting themselves to the duties assigned. As Lord Kitchener
said in his 1913 report on the state of Egypt: "Representative bodies
can only be safely developed when it is shown that they are capable of
performing adequately their present functions, and that there is good
hope that they could undertake still more important and arduous
responsibilities. If representative government, in its simplest form,
is found to be unworkable, there is little prospect of its becoming more
useful when its scope is extended. No government would be insane enough
to consider that, because an Advisory Council had proved itself unable
to carry out its functions in a reasonable and satisfactory manner, it
should therefore be given a larger measure of power and control."[122]

These nationalist agitations arise primarily among the native upper
classes and Western-educated elites, however successful they may be in
inflaming the ignorant masses, who are often quite contented with the
material benefits of enlightened European rule. This point is well
brought out by a leading American missionary in India, with a lifetime
of experience in that country, who wrote some years ago: "The common
people of India are, now, on the whole, more contented with their
government than they ever were before. It is the classes, rather, who
reveal the real spirit of discontent.... If the common people were let
alone by the agitators, there would not be a more loyal people on earth
than the people of India. But the educated classes are certainly
possessed of a new ambition, politically, and will n