SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis contains a discussion of the organization, ideas and methods of the Indian nationalists from 1897 to 1905, the response of the Government to the nationalists, and the policies of the Government which were opposed by the nationalists. It covers the final two years of Lord Elgin's Viceroyalty and the whole of Lord Curzon's Viceroyalty. In 1897 India suffered severe famine and plague. The famine confirmed the nationalists in their view that India's population was growing poorer as the result of high revenue assessments and the drain of wealth to Europe. The persistency of claims to this effect led British officials to initiate inquiries into both the land revenue system and the expenditure of Indian revenue in England. The measures used to combat plague in Western India were deeply resented. In Poona members of a conspiratorial organization murdered a British plague official. The Government did not find the last of the murderers until 1899. In the meantime officials decided that without tighter control over education and the press, political disaffection was likely to spread. Accordingly, measures were adopted providing for stricter supervision of education and a summary procedure of action against seditious newspapers. The plague threatened the commerce of Bengal and the Indian Municipal Commissioners of Calcutta, who were U. held responsible for the insanitary condition of that city, were relieved of their control of the municipality in the hope of checking the plague. The Indian National Congress movement was suffering from internal divisions, inactivity, and falling popularity. But the Japanese victories over Russia and the partition of Bengal unexpectedly revived it. In the agitation against the partition, new sections of the population became involved in politics and new methods were used. This thesis is based on contemporary newspapers, periodicals, and tracts, and on Government records and the private papers of several officials, including those of Lord Elgin (Viceroy 1894-98), Lord Hamilton (Secretary of State I895-I903) and Lord Curzon (Viceroy 1899-1905).