Allan Octavian Hume, C.B./Appendix IV
APPENDIX IV
The news of the death of Mr. Hume called forth a remarkable expression of grief from Indians in all parts of the Empire. At a public meeting held in Westminster the Hon. Mr. Gokhale referred to Mr. Hume as " one of those men who appeared from time to time in this world, under the dispensation of a wise Providence, to help forward the onward march of humanity, whose voice sounded like a trumpet-call, waking up whole peoples from the slumber of ages, and whose title to an honoured place in the history of nations no man could possibly challenge. Mr. Hume loved India passionately, as every one who knew him could testify, and he loved justice and freedom also passionately. Thus it was that, after the close of a distinguished official career, he came forward to devote his great gifts to guiding India along the path of justice and freedom and self-respect. He came forward to teach Indians to walk nobly along the path of nationhood."
Mr. D. E. Wacha, Joint General Secretary of the Indian National Congress, wrote in the Indian Review that in Mr. Hume "Indians instinctively recognized a commanding personality. To those who had come into close contact and intimacy with him it was manifest that he was an Agamem- non and Nestor rolled into one — such were his force of character, his sagacity and his determined will. His was a unique advocacy inspired by the noblest and most righteous thoughts. He alone knew how to charm, how to strengthen, and how to teach. He is gone, but not without teaching us that though we have no wings to soar, we have feet to scale and climb, more and more by slow degrees the cloudy summits of our times."
Mr. Surendranath Banerjea, in the course of a speech made at Calcutta, said that "Mr. Hume worked in sickness and in health for the political advancement of the people of India with a self-sacrificing zeal and a single-mindedness of purpose which will enshrine his memory in the affections of the people, and will entitle him to the deepest gratitude of the most distant generations of Indians. His name will stand forth in the golden records of Indian history as one of the great builders of Indian national life and one of the truest promoters of Indian national union. ... In the muster roll of distinguished Enghshmen who had laid broad the foundation of the British rule in India and had enthroned themselves in the hearts of the people, Allan Hume would occupy a prominent position. Mr. Hume, in the golden record of Indian history, stood as a successor and Hneal descendant of the Metcalfes and Bentincks, and the great band of mis- sionary philanthropists who had sown the seeds of their educational progress, seeds which to-day under the beautiful laws of evolution were bearing such splendid fruits."
Dr. Rash Behari Ghose, speaking at the same meeting, expressed his confidence that " when the voice of blind passion and vulgar strife is hushed, the name of Allan Hume will find a conspicuous place in the roll of those good servants of England who are imperial in the true sense of the term ; for the true imperialist is not the man who shouts the loudest about the imperial destiny of England, but the man who is conscious of the great trust which has been laid on England and which a great and righteous nation alone can discharge. . . . Hume's tomb is the whole of India and his most lasting memorial will be found not in marble or bronze, but in the hearts of those for whom he lived and died."
The Hon. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, speaking at Allahabad, said that " Mr. Hume inspired, elevated and educated those who came under his influence by the noble- ness of his nature, his world-wide sympathies, his profound earnestness, his selfless, ceaseless devotion to the cause which he believed to be good and which he espoused, and by his unshakable faith that right and justice would eventually triumph. He was truly a great soul— one of the noblest Englishmen ever born. He was one of those benefactors of mankind who came to initiate movements of great poten- tiality for the good of their fellow-men. Mr. Hume com- bined in him the large-hearted love of freedom, of justice and of equality of treatment between man and man. He hated oppression and wrong-doing, and sincerely and earnestly desired the good of all his fellow-men."
The Hon. R. N. Mudholkear, speaking at Amraoti, said, " Misunderstood, misrepresented and reviled by short- sighted or perverse men, he was one of the most potent friends of British rule, a veritable pillar of strength to it. Directing the mind and energies of the thinking portion of the Indian community into the channels of constitutional agitation, he and his co-workers effectually minimized the chance of its flow into unsafe and dangerous courses, while his intense humanity and abiding sympathy for the Indian people deepened their faith in British justice. He was more than a far-sighted and noble Briton or a friend and bene- factor of India. He was a saint, one of those beings sent now and then to the earth to rouse men to a due recog- nition of the higher and brighter side of human nature. In him India has lost a guide, a teacher, a leader, whose every word and every act was instinct with wisdom and deep affection ; England a loyal, high-minded and far-seeing son ; the Empire a statesman-like citizen, and the human race an ardent striver after great ideals."
While the leaders of Indian public opinion referred td|| Mr. Hume's services in terms of unqualified affection and admiration, the Indian newspapers paid warm tribute to the departed leader. The Bengalee of Calcutta wrote that to Mr. Hume belonged "the credit of organizing the scat- tered elements of public life and focusing them in an institution which was to cement the public spirit of the country, to build and stimulate national life. The first Congress that met in Bombay in 1885 was a small gathering of leading men, of which Allan Hume was the guiding spirit, but it was the parent of the great National Congress which in the course of the last quarter of a century has revolution- ized the poHtical aspect of the country. To-day from the heart of educated India there will go forth a great wail of sorrow at the death of one who helped forward, such as few EngHshmen have done in the lifetime of this generation, the political interests of the people of India."
The Amritza Bazar Patrika referred to Mr. Hume's char- acter as pure and unblemished, rarely to be found in any other country in the world. He served India without any thought of reward.
The Indian Mirror wrote that the '* awakening of what is known as the national life of India was due pre-eminently to Allan Hume and his colleagues in the earlier days. It was they who stimulated public spirit and taught the people of India to seek their political salvation by constitutional political work. Advance on the lines of orderly and peaceful self- development was the first article of their political creed. In doubt and difficulty they stood by India like the valiant crew of an ocean liner, cheering and encouraging by hopeful and wise counsel."
A Mohammedan journal (Comrade) wrote that Mr. Hume " was one of those few high-souled Indian Civil Service men who devoted their life to selfless service for the people of this country and fearlessly championed the cause of its social and political regeneration at the ready sacrifice of official preferments and honours. But though denied official recognition, Mr. Hume's philanthropic activities for the uplifting of Indians gained for him a warm corner in Indian hearts. So firm was his hold on the confidence of the Indian masses that even in the dark days of the Mutiny their thorough reliance on his justice and kindness was never shaken. Such a life should be a model for our modern Anglo-Indian officers."
The Leader of Allahabad wrote : " The sorrow and grief of the hundreds of millions who inhabit this vast and great and ancient land for the venerable departed can be given no adequate expression. An Englishman and a member of the Indian Civil Service, Mr. Hume, with a freedom from pre- judice rare as it was glorious, founded the Indian National Congress, an organization of which no Indian can be too proud. If a new life is visible in India to-day, if the Indians have a national self-consciousness which was non-existent before the year of the first Congress, if their national self- respect is higher, if the esteem in which they are held by the civilized world is greater than it was, if with determination and self-confidence they look forward to the day when their country will have responsible government such as is enjoyed by the self-governing dominions of the Empire ; the credit for all this is to no small extent due to the Congress that was founded by Mr. Hume and therefore to Mr. Hume himself. The names of Allan Hume and William Wedderburn will be inseparably associated for ever in the Indian mind as the two worshippable men who laid aside every consideration of self and of race in order to strive nobly and work actively for the regeneration of an ancient land now low in the con- federacy of nations but with a rich promise of coming into her own by dint of unselfish exertion persisted in notwith- standing failure, in the simple faith in God that no good cause can fail."
The Lahore Tribune said Mr. Hume " corresponded with all public men in India and spent money freely in promoting the cause of the Indian National Congress. He wrote lead- ing articles for newspapers, corresponded with the highest officials, carried on controversies, wrote pamphlets, and was tireless in his industry. He was by no means in robust health, but nothing deterred him for a moment from the work he had undertaken to do. If any man had a mission it was Mr. Hume. He had the fervour of a prophet and the enthusiasm of a fanatic held well under control by the practical insight of a statesman. And his selflessness was sublime. A man who might have become a Lieutenant- Governor was content to work silently for the people among whom he had lived so long. Now that he has been called to his rest we can only, in language all too feeble, express our undying gratitude for all that he did for us and our country with an earnestness of devotion and nobility of purpose which have scarcely any parallel."
The Punjahee said "his name was truly a household word, pronounced with love and veneration by the young and old. Though an official and a Mutiny veteran, he was known to the millions of Indians only as the originator of the sentiment of Indian nationality. . . . Fancy this ex-Secretary to the Government of India gathering up the scattered forces of Indians and promoting a national movement among them at a time when the echoes of the Ilbert Bill controversy had hardly died in the Himalayan fastness ! He worked with a stout heart through all the discouraging and disconcerting circumstances. Never did he once quail before the huge mass of inertia that confronted him at every step."
The Hindu, of Madras, ranked Mr. Hume as the first of the noble band of Englishmen who after their retirement to England, keep a warm heart for India and Indians. "During the thirty-three years he came into contact with the Indian people he had conceived such a love for them that he could not bring himself to what most of his countrymen do by retiring to England and forgetting the country to which they owe so much And of all those who, by their untiring industry, winning persuasion, and steadfast work, brought the institution into being, successfully steered it through difficulties of every kind and watched its growth vigilantly and with anxiety, Mr. Hume's name will ever be remembered with the warmest affection and gratitude."
The Indian Patriot regarded Mr. Hume as a " father " of the Indian people, as well as the " father " of the Congress. " If the happiness of his life was ever disturbed it was mostly on account of his earnest solicitude for India and Indians. We owe to him our love and gratitude in a measure that few other men can claim, and it behoves us to demonstrate both in the most fitting manner possible. We must erect monuments of our love and gratitude to the great man, not only in one place, but in as many places as possible, so that posterity may see how we honoured the memory of a man who, though differing in race, made himself one of us, identifying himself completely with us and with all our aims for a better state and greater contentment."
He loved India (wrote the Wednesday Review) as no other British statesman has loved her, and he had his reward in the willing homage of a vast population. " Who can forget the enthusiasm which he roused among the people when he visited this country nineteen years ago ! His tour was a triumphal progress, and showed what even a single English- man could do to bind the people of India closer to England and deepen their attachment to British rule. What made Mr. Hume's advice so valuable was his candour, and he never cared to whitewash in a spirit of mistaken kindness the shortcomings of the people for whom he worked."
"One of the greatest Anglo-Indians of the last century," was the opinion of the Madras Standard. " But for his parental care, his unceasing interest, his extraordinary exertions, his timely advice and admonitions, and his great self-sacrifice, the Indian National Congress might not have steered clear of the shoals and rocks that beset its career. To the last he remained at the helm, faithful and true, and unshaken in his belief in its strength and usefulness. He looked forward to the formation of an Indian nation, happy, contented, and manly, and a tower of strength to the British Empire. And, we have no doubt, he died with the supreme satisfaction that a mortal can have of his life's great work being fairly on the road to fruition."
The Mahratta, of Poona, said that Hume's memory would "be cherished in India not so much for his official career as for the work that he did after retirement in rearing a national Indian institution — the Congress. No one else could be said to have done so much as he did to foster that nursling in those days."
The Gujarati thought that "Providence meant to preserve his life for a great political mission, and it will be admitted on all hands that Mr. Hume did nobly fulfil the mission that had been assigned to him. Even a man Uke Sir WilHam Wedderburn, with all the gentle virtues of a God-fearing Christian and high-souled Englishman, has not escaped de- nunciation at the hands of some of his own countrymen. It is no wonder that Mr. A. O. Hume, with his more passionate temperament and irrepressible enthusiasm, called down upon his devoted head still more fierce denunciations and even abuse at the hands of the very same critics. But he never swerved from the path he had chalked out for himself."
The Hindi Punch wrote that the Political Rishi of modern Bharat Land had taken his samddhi — the last farewell — leaving his favourite child, now a grown-up and healthy handmaid, in the service of this country. " He watched and tended the child in the cradle. He witnessed with joy the baby's toddlings. He has seen the gradual growth of the maid, and he leaves her to-day wise and strong to blow the piercing conch-shell and arouse Britannia and to beg for just rights. li is no fighting suffragette who weeps to-day for her great and good father, but a gentle spirit that roams about teaching great truths and demanding great and oft- promised rights in the interests of the Mother-country. All honour to the noble parent ! India mourns the passing of a great man, and that man has an abiding haven in the expansive and grateful heart of the Motherland. "
Finally, the Beharee held that at his grave Indians must sink all their differences, and with a feeling of enduring grati- tude to him knit themselves into a united body, common heirs to a common heritage, bound together by fealty to his love of our common Motherland. " The spirit of Mr. Hume will lov- ingly hover over the Congress gathering of 1912 ; and nothing, not even the brightest and the best monument we can raise to his great and beneficent memory, will be half as pleasing to him as the union of his political heirs in maintaining the integrity and greatness of the organization which India owes to him as the greatest consequence of the British advent and occupation of the country."
Public meetings were held at all the principal cities and towns, such as Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Allahabad, Cawn- pore, Benares, Nagpur, Bankipore, Poona, Amraoti, Yeotmal, Lucknow, Rai Bareli, Mainpuri, Meerut, Etawah, Gorakhpur, Cuddapah, Bezwada, Berhampore, Nandyal, Trichinopoly, Bapatla, and many other places. The resolutions adopted were similar in form and character, as may be judged from the telegram forwarded to Sir W. Wedderburn by the Secretaries of the Indian National Congress, which reads as follows : —
"Indians deeply mourn the death of Allan Hume. In him the country has lost its most sincere and sympathetic friend, the Uke of whom it may never see again, and the Congress its most beloved and esteemed founder. With unexampled energy, great perseverance and unfaltering faith he had striven amidst good report and evil to promote the social and political welfare of the people and had lived to see the firstfruits of his noble and unceasing efforts. Though it is impossible that Indians can ever repay the debt of obligation they owe to him for his righteous and dis- interested service, the name of Mr. Hume will be remembered with affection and gratitude by generations to come as that of a sterling Englishman of deep and abiding sympathy with their most cherished aspirations."
The twenty-seventh Session of the Indian National Congress, held at Bankipore on December 26, 27, and 28, 1912, adopted a resolution recording "its sense of profound sorrow at the death of Allan Octavian Hume, C.B., father and founder of the Congress, to whose lifelong services, rendered at rare self-sacrifice, India feels deep and lasting gratitude, and in whose death the cause of Indian progress and reform sustained irreparable loss."