ble barrier to the progress of the people toward independence.
The unity of the Mohammedans of India, who are only one-fifth of the
population, is in healthful contrast to the myriad caste divisions and
social barriers which separate Hindus one from another. One must be
compelled to deny the sincerity of many who claim that this people is
a nation which prides itself upon its patriotism, so long as the caste
system dominates them and their ideas. The only tie which binds
together these people is the spirit of opposition to this foreign
government. Among the classes and the masses there is absolutely no
coherence or unity of sentiment in any line of constructive activity.
So that in the matter of self-government they would prove themselves
to be sadly incompetent.

IV

The action of the Indian government, in view of the present situation,
has been the subject of criticism. Anglo-Indians feel that the Viceroy
and his Council have, for some reason or other, been too deliberate in
their action. For two years things have been going from bad to worse.
When, recently, Sir Bampfylde Fuller, the Lieutenant-Governor of East
Bengal, took prompt and vigorous action to suppress the uprising in
his Province, which was the centre of trouble, the Indian government
declined to support him. He therefore resigned, and India lost one of
the men who are the most competent to deal wisely and well with
sedition-mongers. The State may have thought, and was probably right
in thinking, that while the Bengal Babu is capable of unlimited noise,
he has a mortal aversion to converting his noise into action. So the
government preferred patiently to endure odium rather than suppress
the movement.

It was different in the Panjaub, whose people are less talkative, but
are more given to action. These warrior tribes were being rapidly
disaffected by political agitators; and they doubtless had definite
grievances of their own to agitate them. The time came when government
was compelled to do something to suppress the rising tide of feeling.
It decided to act upon a law of nearly a century ago, and deported two
of the leaders of the movement. They were at once sent to Burma, where
they were held in surveillance for six months and then released. This
action of the State was effective; for it quieted the people and
nipped what promised to be a rebellion, in the bud. But it raised a
storm of denunciation from all the Hindu papers, which spoke of it as
a