You and I
are inclined to put the cart before the horse, and to forget that it is
the man that is elemental, not the book.
'The corn and the cattle are all my care, And the rest is the will of
God.'
Why should such folk look up from their immemorially appointed
round of duty and interests to meddle with the unknown and fuss
with voting-papers. How would you, atop of all your interests care
to conduct even one-tenth of your life according to the manners
and customs of the Papuans, let's say? That's what it comes to."
"But if they won't take the trouble to vote, why do you anticipate
that Mohammedans, proprietors, and the rest would be crushed by
majorities of them?"
Again Pagett disregarded the closing sentence.
"Because, though the landholders would not move a finger on any
purely political question, they could be raised in dangerous
excitement by religious hatreds. Already the first note of this has
been sounded by the people who are trying to get up an agitation
on the cow-killing question, and every year there is trouble over
the Mohammedan Muharrum processions.
"But who looks after the popular rights, being thus unrepresented?"
"The Government of Hcr Majesty the Queen, Empress of India, in
which, if the Congress promoters are to be believed, the people
have an implicit trust; for the Congress circular, specially prepared
for rustic comprehension, says the movement is 'for the remission
of tax, the advancement of Hindnstan, and the strengthening of the
British Govemment.
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