Turn of the Times

The archconservative, triple-chilled London Times has recently shown signs of a warming of the blood (TIME, Oct. 13). Last week this ancient defender of the British Raj and all its works not only criticized British policy in India. It also went on record in favor of extending to India more of that democracy which Britain is asking India to fight for. Said the Times:

"Disappointment at yesterday's announcement . . . that the Government of India could not . . . announce the release of Indian [political] prisoners will not be wholly dissipated by the implied promise of 'further careful consideration.' . . . Nothing could be lost and much more sympathy might be won by a determined and understanding effort to bring more of the Indian leaders . . . into a responsible share in the tasks of Government.

Direct participation in responsibility . . . is the only true basis of democracy. A policy designed to achieve this end would enhance British prestige throughout the Empire and the English-speaking world. More important still, it would discharge an obligation which this country owes to the Indian people, and to itself."

While the Government pondered this turn of the Times, India's 8,000 political prisoners stayed in jail and India was torn with political dissension:

Millions of Hindus follow gnarled little Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who favors pacifist isolationism, not as a means of hurting Britain's war effort, but in order to keep the Nationalist movement alive. Millions of other Hindus, including many members of Gandhi's own Indian National Congress party, watching Adolf Hitler's approach to India beyond the Caucasus and Japan's approach beyond Burma, are prepared to fight against the Axis--if Indian self-government seems likely. Other millions are already fighting hard, in factories and in Britain's Middle Eastern ranks. And many millions feel little concern about World War II or India's international relations in general. There is room for many climates of opinion, for many degrees of knowledge and ignorance among India's 380,000,000 souls.

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