Christian missions in the Telugu country - Uecf.net

THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 49
to the extent of leaving to themselves no more than
enough to live on. If security were granted, the nature
of the paramount power became a matter of absolute
indifference. This greatly facilitated the British absorp-
tion of India. The people were distracted by the
insecurity engendered by the warring sections within
the country. The British appeared to be the strongest
of the contending powers and, therefore, promised more
security than any other. To the vast masses of the
people all politics were comprised in the question : What
would make it easier for them to plough, to sow, and
to reap ?
But if this explains the easiness of the British
conquest of India, it also explains, in part, the present
ferment in India. What the villager supremely desired
was to be let alone to pursue the small round of village
life. That is just what has not been done. In ways
little dreamed of when first the British power assumed
the responsibility of keeping the peace of the country,
that life has been profoundly disturbed. It could not
but be so. Our ideal of national life is of a totally
different order to the Indian villager's. Our adminis-
tration does interfere with the village commonwealth in
vital ways. The effective seat of government is no
longer in the village, but outside it and far removed
from it. The police bring the irresistible strength of
the distant Government into contact with the meanest
villager. Worst of all, a new commercial system has
let loose forces which undermine the whole economical
stability of the vUlage. The corn which, by the custom
of old days, should have been divided among all the