to the Mussalman sentiment so far as I am aware. Mussalman and Hindus have, as a whole, lost faith in British justice and honour. The report of the majority of the Hunter Committee, your Excellency's despatch thereon and Mr. Montagu's reply have only aggravated the distrust.
The Only Course.
In these circumstances the only course open to one like me is either in despair to sever all connection with British rule or, if I still retained faith in the inherent superiority of the British constitution to all others at present in vogue, to adopt such means as will rectify the wrong done and thus restore confidence. I have not lost faith in such superiority and I am not without hope that somehow or other justice will yet be rendered, if we show the requisite capacity for suffering. Indeed my conception of that constitution is that it helps only those who are ready to help themselves. I don't believe that it protects the weak. It gives free scope to the strong to maintain their strength, and develop it. The weak under it go to the wall.
It is then, because I believe in the British constitution, that I have advised my Mussalman friends to withdraw their support from your Excellency's Government and the Hindus to join them should the peace terms not be revised in accordance with the solemen pledges of ministers and the Muslim sentiment. Three courses were open to the Mahommedans in order to mark their emphatic disapproval of the utter injustice to which His Majesty's ministers have become a party, if they have not actually been the prime perpetrators of it. They are:
1. To resort to violence.
2. To advise emigration on a wholesale scale.
3. Not to be a party to the injustice by ceasing to co-operate with the Government.
