o so again but for the British Government. Our
attitude is based, not on 'faith' alone, but on the instinct of
self-preservation."[124]

Many Mohammedans as well as Hindus feel that India is not ripe for
self-government, and that the relaxing of British authority now, or in
the immediate future, would be a grave disaster for India itself. The
Moslem loyalists reprobate the nationalist agitation for the reasons
expressed by one of their representative men, S. Khuda Bukhsh, who
remarks: "Rightly or wrongly, I have always kept aloof from modern
Indian politics, and I have always held that we should devote more
attention to social problems and intellectual advancement and less to
politics, which, in our present condition, is an unmixed evil. I am
firmly persuaded that we would consult our interest better by leaving
politics severely alone.... It is not a handful of men armed with the
learning and culture of the West, but it is the masses that must feel,
understand, and take an intelligent interest in their own affairs. The
infinitesimal educated minority do not constitute the population of
India. It is the masses, therefore, that must be trained, educated,
brought to the level of unassailable uprightness and devotion to their
country. This goal is yet far beyond measurable reach, but until we
attain it our hopes will be a chimera, and our efforts futile and
illusory. Even the educated minority have scarcely cast off the
swaddling-clothes of political infancy, or have risen above the
illusions of power and the ambitions of fortune. We have yet to learn
austerity of principle and rectitude of conduct. Nor can we hope to
raise the standard of private and public morality so long as we continue
to subordinate the interest of our community and country to our
own."[125]

Such pronouncements as these from considerable portions of the native
population give pause even to those liberal English students of Indian
affairs who are convinced of the theoretical desirability of Indian home
rule. As one of these, Edwyn Bevan, says: "When Indian Nationalists ask
for freedom, they mean autonomy; they want to get rid of the foreigner.
Our answer as given in the reforms is:[126] 'Yes, autonomy you shall
have, but on one condition--that you have democracy as well. We will
give up the control as soon as there is an Indian people which can
control its native rulers; we will not give up the control to an Indian
oligarchy.' This is the root of the