द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

336 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
back, Indians have been able to move about in their own
country without losing their self-respect. Even in the colleges
in Calcutta, British members of the staff would often be
guilty of insulting behaviour towards Indian students and the
fact that to-day such cases are not frequent, is because Indian
students also made use of physical force in upholding their
self-respect.
This then is the psychology behind the revolutionary
movement; but a further explanation is necessary to show
why Bengal has, comparatively speaking, become its strong-
hold. The trouble began with Macaulay. When he was out
in India as a member of the Government, Macaulay wrote a
scathing denunciation of the Bengalis and called them a race
of cowards. That calumny went deep into the hearts of the
Bengali people. Simultaneously the Government took the
step of excluding the Bengalis from the army on the ground
that they were not sufficiently warlike or brave. The climax
came when the Grand Moghul, Lord Curzon of Kedleston,
attempted to crush the Bengalis by partitioning their province.
The people at first retorted with the help of Swadeshi and
boycott. But when brute force was used—as at Barisal in
1906—to break up peaceful processions and meetings, the
people felt that peaceful methods would not suffice. In sheer
despair, young men took to the bomb and the revolver.
The effect was immediate. The behaviour of the Britisher
began to improve. The impression gained ground that for
the first time the Bengali was being respected by the Britisher.
Many of the revolutionaries were hanged but they were able
to demonstrate that the race to which they belonged was not
a race of cowards. They were therefore regarded as martyrs
in many a Bengali home and they had the silent homage of
the Bengali race.
On this soil and in this manner has grown up the revolu-
tionary movement in Bengal. What is the remedy for it?
Two courses are open to the Government—firstly, to demon-
strate to the people that for winning political freedom it is not
necessary to resort to revolutionary methods and secondly,
to give individual revolutionaries a chance of serving their
country along peaceful and constructive lines. With regard