§ 5. Sir GEORGE TOUCHEasked the Secretary of State for India whether, in connection with the Order in Council of the Governor of Madras prohibiting Mrs. Besant, the president, and Mr. Armdale and Mr. Wadia, two other members of the Theosophical Society, from taking part in any meetings or publishing any writings, placing their correspondence under censorship, and limiting their residence to certain specified areas, excluding Madras, where the headquarters of the Theosophical Society are situated, he and the Government of India have considered the practicability of discriminating between political agitation and activities which require restriction and writings and teachings on theosophy and religion and of so dealing with the two classes of separate activities as to permit Mrs. Besant and her associates to carry on their work in connection with the Theosophical Society while abstaining from political agitation?
8. Mr. EDMUND HARVEYasked the Secretary of State for India whether he has received any protest as to the action of the Government of Madras in prohibiting Mrs. Besant from attending any meeting, delivering any lecture or speech, or publishing any writings, and in placing her correspondence under censorship and confining her place of residence to certain districts; and whether he will take steps to secure a revision of the Order of the Governor in Council, by which these restrictions are imposed?
§ Mr. CHAMBERLAINYes, Sir. The authorities in India are, like myself, anxious to make this discrimination, as to the possibility of which I made special inquiry, and the Madras Government offered to relax their Orders so far as purely religious or theosophical writings or teachings are concerned. I understand that this concession has been refused by the parties to whom it was offered on the ground, inter alia, that it was impossible to distinguish between their theosophical and religious writings on the one hand and their political agitation on the other. Mrs. Besant's communication was, I am informed, violently worded and emphasised the unity of the Theosophical Society with the political aims of other organisations. I see no reason to intervene further in this matter, in which, as I have already explained, the Madras Government is exercising powers vested in it by law.
§ Mr. SNOWDENAre we to understand from the use of the words "political agitation" in the reply, that it is an offence in India if it is conducted by constitutional means?
§ Mr. CHAMBERLAINNo, Sir.
§ Mr. SNOWDENWill the right hon. Gentleman give this House particulars of the charges against Mrs. Besant and her colleagues, stating wherein they have conducted an agitation in an unconstitutional way?
§ Mr. CHAMBERLAINI have not myself yet received particulars from the Madras Government or from the Government of India. The only communications I have had have been telegraphic communications, the substance of which I have already communicated to the House.
§ Mr. SNOWDENThat being so, why has the right hon. Gentleman associated himself in this House with the action of the Government of Madras?
§ Mr. CHAMBERLAINBecause the Government of India and the Government of Madras are responsible for the preservation of law and order and the security of persons and property in that country, and I have confidence in the discretion with which they exercise the powers with which they have been invested.
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELWill my right hon. Friend consider, when the dispatches have been received by mail, whether it will be practicable to lay on the Table of the House any Papers which will give the reasons for the action taken, and describe precisely what the action was?
§ Mr. CHAMBERLAINYes, Sir; I will certainly consider that. I will make no promise as to laying Papers, but I will certainly consider it.
§ Mr. KINGHas the right hon. Gentleman not had example enough in connection with Mesopotamia not to trust too implicitly in the Indian Government? Has he not suffered himself from that very thing?