Why should I change my mind our mind-because
I change my sky? Why should I and the few hundred Englishmen
in my service become unreasonable, prejudiced fossils, while you
and your newer friends alone remain bright and open-minded?
You surely don't fancy civilians are members of a Primrose
League?"
"Of course not, but the mere position of an English official gives
him a point of view which cannot but bias his mind on this
question." Pagett moved his knee up and down a little uneasily as
he spoke.
"That sounds plausible enough, but, like more plausible notions on
Indian matters, I believe it's a mistake. You'll find when you come
to consult the unofficial Briton that our fault, as a class--I speak of
the civilian now-is rather to magnify the progress that has been
made toward liberal institutions. It is of English origin, such as it
is, and the stress of our work since the Mutiny--only thirty years
ago--has been in that direction. No, I think you will get no fairer or
more dispassionate view of the Congress business than such men
as I can give you. But I may as well say at once that those who
know most of India, from the inside, are inclined to wonder at the
noise our scarcely begun experiment makes in England."
"But surely the gathering together of Congress delegates is of itself
a new thing."
"There's nothing new under the sun When Europe was a jungle
half Asia flocked to the canonical conferences of Buddhism; and
for centuries the people have gathered at Pun, Hurdwar, Trimbak,
and Benares in immense numbers.
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