The Government of India and Annie Besant

Modern Asian Studies

Volumn 10, Issue 1, 1976, Pages 107-130

  Robb, Peter ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 84974198990     PISSN: 0026749X     EISSN: 14698099     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0026749X0001338X     Document Type: Article

References (85)

1. Some Indians agreed. See B.C. Pal, The New Policy (Madras, 1918), pp. 50-3 for the acceptance of British control of the imperial government of India.
2. Chelmsford to Chamberlain, 25 August 1916, C.P.2.
3. See, for example, R. Danzig, ‘Common Ground: The Early Stages of the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms', unpublished B. Litt. thesis (Oxford University, June 1967), Pp. ‘9-31, 93-102.
4. Chelmsford to Willingdon, 25 May and 15 July 1916, C.P.17.
5. Montagu to Chelmsford, 17 April 1919, C.P.4.
6. D. Rothermund, ‘Constitutional Reforms versus National Agitation in India, 1900-1950', Journal of Asian Studies, XXI (1961-62), 505-6.
7. D. A. Low, ‘The Government of India and the First Non-cooperation Movement, 1920-1922', Ibid. XXIV (1965-66), 241, 247.
8. Minute, 26 October 1917, H. Poll. 572, October 1917.
9. Willingdon, 14 January, and Robertson, 25 March 1917, to Chelmsford, C.P. 18; Chamberlain to Chelmsford, 12 July 1916, Chelmsford to Willingdon, 21 March 1917, C.P.2.
10. Meston to Chelmsford, 7 and 22 September, Chelmsford to Meston, 16 September 1916, Meston Papers, MSS. Eur. F. 136/1, I.O.L. For the Carmichael interview, see H. Poll. Dep. 22, December 1916.
11. Note, 3 March 1917, H. Poll. A. 299-313, K.W. July 1917.
12. Note, 17 January 1917, ibid.
13. Chelmsford note, 1 February 1917 (with Meyer, 3 February, Hill, 4 February, Nair, 5 February), ibid.
14. Craddock note, 23 November, and Chelmsford, 4 December 1916, H. Poll. Dep. 25, December 1916. See also ibid. 22.
15. H. Poll. 300, July 1916; Secretary, Foreign and Political Dept. to Chelmsford, 20 July 1917, C.P. 19.
16. Viceroy (Home Dept.) to Secretary of State, 12 August 1917, C.P.8; H. Poll. 635, November 1917.
17. Home Dept. circular, 20 March, H. Poll. 299, July 1917; H. Poll. Dep. 25, September 1917.
18. Note, 25 February 1917, H. Poll.A.299-313, K.W. July 1917.
19. Note, 29 March 1917, ibid.
20. H. Poll. Dep. 8, September 1916, and 32, February 1918; N.R. Palande (ed.), Source Material For a History of the Freedom Movement in India, Vol. II (1885-1920) (Bombay, 1958), pp. 243-4.
21. It prompted Muhammad Ali to write to congratulate Tilak, and withdraw his ‘grave misgivings' about Tilak's political and social ‘catholicity'. The censor withheld the letter. H. Poll. Dep. 53, November 1916.
22. Bombay letters, 5 April and 2 May 1917, H. Poll.291-294, July 1917.
23. H. Poll.A.291-298, K.W. July 1917.
24. Willingdon to Chelmsford, 27 June, 8 and 18 July 1916, C.P.17; Pentland, and Meston, 7 July, and Robertson, 15 July 1917, to Chelmsford, C.P. 19; H. Poll.291-298 and 309-310, July 1917. See also Lowndes note, 16 June, Vincent, 19 June, and draft circular, 27 June 1917, H. Poll. A.310, & K.W. July 1917.
25. Wilson to Lawrence Jenkins, 6 July and 10 August 1909, Wilson Papers, MSS. Eur.E.224, 2B and 3, I.O.L. See also Ibid. vols 8 and 13, passim.
26. Joint resolution, 28-29 July 1917, H. Poll.638, November 1917.
27. Viceroy (Home Dept.) to Secretary of State, 18 May and 12 October 1917, C.P.8.
28. Chelmsford to Willingdon, 15 and 24 July 1916, C.P.17, and 21 January 1917, C.P. 18.
29. Chelmsford to Chamberlain, 16 June and 24 July 1917, C.P.3.
30. Home Dept. letter, 28 February 1916, H. Poll. A.454-457, February 1916. See also H. Poll. 133, January 1917, and 86-106, August 1917.
31. Viceroy (Home Dept.) to Secretary of State, 12 August, 1917, C.P.8. Compare Hardinge to Chamberlain, 12 November 1915, Hardinge Papers 121: ‘I shall… quietly deal with her by internment under the Defence of India Act' (quoted by Danzig, ‘Common Ground', p. 33). See also H. Poll.A.299-310, June 1916, including Craddock note, 18 May 1916, that Madras were following the ‘stock' and ‘unsound' argument about not creating martyrs, and that they should be written to.
32. See ‘The Law on Samitis', New India, 15 June 1917. There are 249 pages of notes, almost all excerpts from New India, with H. Poll.A.36-53, October 1916; and further cuttings from February to May 1917 with H. Poll. Dep. 62, June 1917. Chelmsford called for full reports in December 1916; see H. Poll. Dep. 25, December 1916. See also below, note 34.
33. Note, 16 July 1917, H. Poll.A.86-106, K.W. August 1917.
34. H. Poll.90-106, August, and 6 and 51, November 1917; Chelmsford to Chamberlain, 22 June 1917, C.P.3, and to Pentland, 1 August, and Pentland to Chelmsford, 23 July 1917, C.P.19; Annie Besant (ed.), Under Sentence of Death (Madras, 1916).
35. Chelmsford to Chamberlain, 28 June, and to Montagu, 19 July 1919, C.P.3.
36. Du Boulay, 16 July, and Vincent, 23 July 1917, H. PoII.A.86-106, K.W. August 1917.
37. There had been a public outcry in India (see below, note 58), and questions had ‘overwhelmed' Chamberlain in Britain (Chamberlain to Chelmsford, 5 July 1917, C.P.3); yet the India government continued to support the Madras decision.
38. See Viceroy, 18 June, and Viceroy (Home Dept.) to Secretary of State, 12 August 1917, C.P.19.
39. O'Dwyer, 8 May 1917, H. Poll.A.291-292, K.W.July 1917. Pentland predicted that postwar reforms would ‘fall far short' of Home Rule, and threatened to act against Home Rulers' ‘unwise and dangerous methods and extravagant aims': see Ibid. 299-313. See also Willingdon's equally uncompromising stand, to Chelmsford, 21 June 1918, C.P.20.
40. Viceroy to Secretary of State, 11 and 18 June 1917, C.P.8.
41. H. Poll. Dep. 48, September 1917.
42. New India, 15 June 1917, reprinted in ‘To my Brothers and Sisters in India', Home Rule for India League, British Auxiliary, pamphlet No. 12, H. Poll. Dep. 14, March 1918.
43. See Chelmsford to Chamberlain, 7 July 1916, C.P.2; H. Poll.363, May 1919; Willingdon to Montagu, 13 May 1919, Montagu Papers, MSS. Eur.D.523/19, I.O.L.
44. Meston to Chelmsford, 20 June, 7 and 25 July 1917, and Viceroy to LieutenantGovernor, United Provinces, 22 June 1917, Meston Papers, 1.
45. See Secretary of State to Viceroy, 16 August 1917, C.P.8; H. Poll.310-313, 316, 318-323, 327-331, September 1917, and 57, 60-69, 72, 80, February 1918.
46. H. Poll.316, September 1917, and 133, January 1918; Secretary of State to Viceroy, 31 August 1917, C.P.8.
47. See Govt. Madras to Viceroy, 4 September, Viceroy to Secretary of State, 5 September, Pentland to Chelmsford, 15 and 17 September, Chelmsford to Pentland
48. September 1917, C.P.8; Chelmsford to Chamberlain, 8 September 1917, C.P.15, and to Pentland, 14 September 1917, C.P.18; H. Poll.14, September 1917, and 131, 133; January 1918.
49. Secretary of State to Viceroy, 31 August 1917, C.P.8, to Govt. Madras, and Bombay, 2 September 1917, C.P. 19. See also Chelmsford to O'Dwyer, 23 September 1917, C.P.19; H. Poll. 134, January 1918.
50. Vincent to Maffey, 26 October 1917, C.P. 19.
51. H. F. Owen, ‘Toward Nation-wide Agitation and Organisation: the Home Rule Leagues, 1915-1918', in D. A. Low (ed.), Soundings in Modern South Asian History (London, 1968), p. 177. (My emphasis.)
52. Montagu to Willingdon, 3 August and 9 September 1920, Montagu Papers, 16; Secretary of State to Viceroy, 5 October 1917, C.P.8. See the denial also in E. S. Montagu, An Indian Diary, ed. Venetia Montagu (London, 1930), p. 96. Similarly, in releasing deportees in 1910, after pressure from Morley, Minto had argued that they had to be released some time, and that release would have a good effect, for example on the newly-elected Council. (Note, 22 February 1910, Wilson Papers, 13.)
53. Viceroy to Secretary of State, 9 and 17 September, 9 and 24 October, and (Home Dept.) 12 August, and Chelmsford to Pentland, 14 September 1917, C.P.8; Chelmsford to Montagu, 22 September 1917, C.P.3.
54. Chelmsford to Chamberlain, 6 June and 6 October 1916, C.P.2.
55. Chelmsford to Montagu, 22 September 1917, C.P.3, and to O'Dwyer, 23 September 1917, C.P. 19. See also Home Dept. to Govt. Madras, 10 December 1917, H. Poll. 134, January 1918.
56. Chelmsford to Montagu, 8 August 1917, C.P.3.
57. See Speeches by Lord Chelmsford, Vol. 1 (Simla, 1919), pp. 389-93; Chelmsford to Montagu, 19 July and 28 August 1917, C.P.3. Later, Stanley Reed described Chelmsford as fou with the report; he could think of little else the moment current business was put aside' (Reed, The India I Knew 1897-1947 (London, 1952), p. 189).
58. Viceroy to Secretary of State, 5 and 17 September, and Chelmsford to Pentland
59. September 1917, C.P.8.
60. Meston to Chelmsford, 20 June 1917, C.P.18.
61. See the views of Ronaldshay, Sinha and the editor of the Mayak newspaper, H. Poll.634, November 1917; Ronaldshay to Montagu, 24 July 1919, Montagu Papers, 29; Viceroy to Secretary of State, 18 August 1917, C.P.8.
62. Note, 1 September, H. Poll.331, September 1917.
63. Note, 30 August, H. Poll.A.305-332, K.W. September 1917.
64. Chelmsford to Montagu, 22 September 1917, C.P.3.
65. Viceroy to Govt. Madras, 2 September, and Chelmsford to O'Dwyer, 23 September 1917, C.P. 19. Note also the care taken in reporting press reactions to the release, see Viceroy (Home Dept.) to Secretary of State, 15 September 1917, C.P.8.
66. H. Poll.14, September 1917; Vincent note, 2 September 1917, H.P011.A.305-332, K.W. September 1917.
67. Chelmsford to Montagu, 22 September 1917 (with O'Dwyer speeches, 13 and 26 September), C.P.3. O'Dwyer statement, 19 September 1917, ibid.; Chelmsford to O'Dwyer, 14 September 1917, C.P. 19.
68. Chelmsford to Montagu, 5 October 1917, C.P.3, and to Chamberlain, 14 December 1917, C.P.15, and see to Dawson (The Times), 17 November 1918, C.P.15.
69. See O'Dwyer to Chelmsford, 20-21 and 23 September, Chelmsford to O'Dwyer
70. September 1917 (unsent but shown), C.P.19. Also, see above, note 65; and Malaviya to Chelmsford, 26 September 1917, C.P.19. Holderness to Chamberlain, 3 November 1917, Austen Chamberlain Papers, University of Birmingham Library, AC 12/109; Ronaldshay to Chamberlain,(?) September, Ibid. AC12/206; Chamberlain to Chelmsford, 14 October, Ibid. AC18/3/19, and 28 November, AC18/3/4; Chelmsford to Chamberlain, 14 December 1917, Ibid. AC18/3/5. See also Sethbridge to Chamberlain, 22 June 1918, Ibid. AC21/5/16. H. Poll. Dep. 2, November 1917.
71. O'Dwyer to Chelmsford, 20-21 September 1917, C.P.19.
72. Chelmsford to O'Dwyer, 23 September 1917, C.P.19.
73. Chelmsford to Willingdon, 8 November 1917, C.P. 19.
74. See O'Dwyer minute, 10 January, Craddock, 17 January 1918, and Gait, 11 December 1917, Home Dept. Public Proceedings 592, 594 and 595, October 1918.
75. Chelmsford to Chamberlain, 17 May 1918, C.P.15.
76. Chelmsford to Montagu 5 October 1917, C.P.3.
77. See, for example, Besant to Private Secretary, Viceroy, 27 and 27 September, and Maffey to Besant, 2, 9, 10 and 21 October 1917, C.P. 19 (about the Ali brothers); H. Poll. Dep. 55, July 1918 (Chelmsford noting ‘Leave it alone' when asked about proscribing the pamphlet, ‘An Abominable Plot'); H. Poll. Dep. 48, May 1918. C.R. Cleveland of the C.I.D. remained hostile to Besant; see Cleveland to Maffey, 18 October 1917 (supported by Willinedon to Chelmsford, 28 October), C.P.19, and H. Poll.B.184, February 1918.
78. Marris note, 13 June, and Vincent, 16 June 1919, H. Poll. Dep. 56, August 1916; see also H. Poll.A.452-453, August 1919.
79. H. Poll.A.341-354, K.W. February 1921 (notes, June 1920).
80. H. Poll.29-33, May 1918.
81. Chelmsford to Willingdon, 8 November 1917, C.P.19. Once Bombay had lifted their ban, the Central Provinces were asked to follow; see H. Poll.61-62, February 1918.
82. Chelmsford to Carmichael, 24 March 1917, C.P. 18.
83. I have discussed this in my ‘The Government of India under Lord Chelmsford 1916-1921', unpublished Ph.D. thesis (London, 1971), pp. 89-94 and 168-205.
84. See Ibid. pp. 126-39 & 150-5.
85. See above, notes 61 and 62.