INDIAN FAMINES - Institute for Social and Economic Change

112 A FEW GENERAL CRITICISMS.
ishment, be extremely cautious in forming our
opinions. and we should be averse to accepting
as truth everything which any single writer
has to say on the subject. No doubt, almost
all criticism has some value if it is independent,
for it gives the true and honest convictions
of a mind; but this is of more use to
those criticised than to a public seeking information.
On the other hand, criticism by a body stands
a good chance of being fair and just-whereas
that of an individual, or set of individuals, may
or may not be one-sided; the latter is, moreover,
unpalatable, and as such, unless in very
skilful hands, is more apt to do harm than
good, and for this reason it should be brought
into playas little as possible.
In this and in the two following chapters I
propose to examine the action of the Government
in the present famine, and to discuss
what I may call the support given to the State
by the Anglo-Indian press on the one side, and
the criticisms of one or more newspaper correspondents
on the other.
A general in command of an expedition is a