Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/90

classes, from the highest to the lowest ; prove to them that you are trustworthy, and they will trust you and tell you all the truth. This is not only the best way, but the only way. For whatever information English officials as foreigners, can acquire is, and must be, obtained from the people themselves ; and it may be obtained from the right men, or from the wrong men. And in this matter the ordinary official is under great disadvantages, because as the local magnate and the dispenser of official favours, he is naturally surrounded by self-seekers, who do not deal in disagreeable truths. It is the interest of these men to flatter him, and, for their own protection, to keep him out of touch with the independent men of his district ; also to persuade him that these men are un friendly and even (vague and terrible word) "seditious." Many an official is thus brought into antagonism with the best men, and falls into the hands of the secret police, and the miserable class of spies and informers. Independent Indians of high character and public spirit are to be found in every province, and in every district ; but they must be sought out with care ; they do not willingly present themselves in official quarters, where they may be met with suspicion from the authorities, and insult from underlings. Now it was this class of high-minded men, in solid agreement throughout India, friends of India and England, whom Mr. Hume took as his advisers. They saw the danger looming ahead, " tremendous in the immediate future," from the misery of the masses, acted on by the bitter resentment of individuals among the educated class ; and they warned him that early action must be taken if disaster was to be averted. Accordingly, in answer to Sir Auckland, Mr. Hume admitted that there was a certain risk in the Congress agitation, that the experiment was quite new in India ; and that circumstances were not wholly favour-