Black Cloud

(British Commonwealth of Nations)

Two events of great significance occurred, last week, in connection with the Indian Empire:

1) Earl Reading, Viceroy and Governor General of India, arrived in England on leave of absence to confer with the Secretary of State for India, Lord Birkenhead. It is the first time in history that a Viceroy has left India during his term of office.

2) General Sir William Birdwood, the famous commander of the Anzac (Australian-New Zealand Army Corps) Division in the War, was transferred from command of the Northern Army, promoted to the rank of Field Marshal and appointed Commander-in-Chief in India. It is the first time in history that an officer has been promoted to the supreme military rank on appointment as the military head of British India.

Rightly or wrongly, these events were taken to indicate a change of British policy in India; but more probably they indicated a black cloud, the harbinger of trouble.

For many weeks, the Presidency of Bombay has echoed the demands of the people, particularly of the Parsis,* for British justice. The echo is a reverberation of the nautch (dancing) girl affair: A nautch girl, member of the Maharaja of Indore's harem, escaped from Indore, a sovereign Hindu state, following the murder of her baby, and sought the protection of a wealthy Parsi merchant of Bombay. This was a supreme affront to the Maharaja's "izzet" (caste honor). He held out every inducement to the girl to return, but she preferred her merchant and counted on the additional protection of British police authorities. But, one evening, while she was riding in an automobile with the Parsi, they were attacked by some of the Maharaja's high officials--his Adjutant General killed the merchant in cold blood. In an ensuing fight with some British officers, the band was routed, leaving one of their party a prisoner; but before they escaped, they succeeded in severely wounding one British officer and disfiguring the girl by slashing her face.

Subsequent evidence proved that the officials had acted upon the Maharaja's orders; and the people (presumably the Muhammadans and Parsis) of Bombay were loud in their demands for his punishment as well as that of the perpetrators of the crimes.

It was reasoned, therefore, that an example would be made of the Maharaja and that he would be dethroned (as was his father, in 1903, by Lord Curzon) in favor of his 14-year-old son. The difficulties in the way of doing this are enormous. On the one hand, there is a large section of Hindu opinion to be reckoned with; and on the other, the Hindus and all India have again to be reminded that British justice takes into account nautch girls and low-caste merchants. Undoubtedly, the Maharaja must go. Rufus Daniel Isaacs (Lord Reading) was born in London a little more than 64 years ago, son of a Jewish merchant. After an education in London, Brussels, Hanover, he joined the London Stock Exchange, but quickly gave that up for Law.

In 1904, he began his political career as Liberal M. P. for Reading; and under Premier Asquith (now Lord Oxford), became first Solicitor General with a knighthood, then Attorney General with a seat in the Cabinet--the first Attorney General to be so honored.

From 1912 onward, his career has been a succession of brilliant advances. In 1913, he succeeded Lord Alverstone as Lord Chief Justice; and at the outbreak of the War, he advised several financial measures, notably the issue of one-pound notes. Three times he was selected as British representative to the U. S.: 1915, as Sir Rufus Isaacs, head of the Anglo-French Loan Mission; 1917, as Viscount Reading, Special Envoy; 1918, as Earl Reading, Special Ambassador.

In 1921, this brilliant Jew was chosen from among a host of hereditary British statesmen to represent the Emperor in India, the highest and most responsible administrative position which the Crown has to offer. During his term of office, he has had to contend with Gandhi, Das and other nationalist leaders; and, in spite of being entirely out of sympathy with the Montague-Chelmsford reforms (progressive Indianization and autonomy within the Commonwealth), he has proved himself a patient, able and sagacious pilot in one of the most threatening storms that have beset the ship of India.

*The Parsis are Indian Zoroastrians (the religion of the Magi).