The Citizen of India

1. Common Interests. Every schoolboy in India who has made such progress in his studies as to be able to read this book will be in a position to understand the two following simple statements. The first is, that the ties which ought to unite men as citizens of one and the same country need not be broken, or even strained, by the mere fact that they profess different religious creeds, or adopt different modes of life. The second is, that the unity of a society composed of various classes can best be promoted by enlarging their knowledge and the sympathy of each class with its neighbours, and by studying their privileges and duties as citizens of a common country. Men who live together in the same land must constantly work for, and with, each other. They have in fact common interests, and if any one should ask what is meant by common interests, he cannot do better than think of his own body. Nearly four hundred years before the beginning of the Christian era a wise man of Greece explained the subject in these terms. "The best ordered state," said Socrates, "is that in which the

greatest number of men use the expressions- this is mine' or 'this is not mine '-in the same way and in reference to the same object." He went on to illustrate his argument by the following example-" If only the finger of a man is hurt, then the whole frame, drawn towards the soul as a centre and forming a united kingdom under one ruler, feels the hurt and sympathizes with it; and we all say that the man has a pain in his finger." The man with all his members takes the part, and feels the hurt, of any member affected. That which is true of a single man is true also of a community of men living in one country under one ruler, or, as it is often called, the "body politic." If one village suffers, the province should feel the pain in its village; or if the province suffers, the country should suffer with it. The interests of one class are the interests of all, and the best ordered empire is that in which the greatest number of citizens sympathize with each other.

2. Elements of Union in India. Just as the members of the body perform different duties, and are in form and other respects unlike each other, although they all minister to the common safety and well-being of the body, so a living unity of heart and mind in a great population can exist side by side with differences. of creed and habits. In European countries there is a very keen sense of personal liberty and of freedom of conscience, which tends to draw not merely large classes, but also families and individuals, apart from their near neighbours. The tendency to separation is, however, corrected by a national respect for law and a general feeling of patriotism. In India these binding influences of law and love of country were not in

ELEMENTS OF UNION IN INDIA.

former days cultivated. But, on the other hand, the inhabitants have from time immemorial possessed certain traits of character and customs, conducive to union, which western countries have lacked. Personal devotion to a chief, obedience to the father of a family, a strong sense of religion, and village communities have in the past laid in India a foundation for useful citizenship. The people have long since felt in the family circle, in the religious sect, or in village life, the practical advantages of common action. To a large extent men have been accustomed to look beyond themselves, and to feel that they are members of a wider circle than that of their own separate families. The village and the caste system have thus introduced into the daily life of the country an idea of co-operation, and a feeling that, if one caste of labourers supplies one want of the village or the nation, its wants should be supplied in turn by other castes. The spirit of mutual helpfulness, and the sense, shared by all classes, of dependence upon government and a higher providence, are influences which even to-day tend to draw the people of India towards each other. On the other hand, the very system of family, caste, and creed which has fostered them, is sometimes apt to restrict the operation of these influences to a narrow circle. The natives of India are famed for their charity, but their charity is more confined within the caste or the sect than is the case in Europe. The citizen ought to have a wider range of duties and privileges than any class or sect of the community can have. As the family is merged in the village, so the village is merged in the province, and the province in the empire, and by citizenship we

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