CHAPTER XVII
CHASTENING OF HERBERT SPENCER - BRITISH
POLICY - CONTEST FOR A BARE BONE-
PRESENT POLITICAL SITUATION
1.1 ERBERT SPENCER (Principles of Sociology, P. 584; D. A. & Co., 1897) delivers himself, rather intemperately, I think, as follows:
" If, in our days, the name ' birds of prey and of passage,' which Burke gave to the English in India at the time of Warren Hasting's trial, when auditors wept at the account of the cruelties committed, is not applicable as it was then; yet the policy of unscrupulous aggrandisement continues. As remarked by an Indian officer, Deputy Surgeon-General Paske, all our conquests and annexations are made from base and selfish motives alone. Major Raverty, of the Bombay army, condemns ' the rage shown of late years for seizing what does not and never did belong to us, because the people happen to be weak and very poorly armed, while we are strong and provided with the most excellent weapons.' Resistance to an intruding sportsman or a bullying explorer, or disobedience to a resident, or even refusal to furnish transport-coolies, serves as sufficient excuse for attack, conquest, and annexation. Everywhere the usual succession runs thus: Missionaries, envoys to native rulers, concessions made by them, quarrels with them, invasions of them, appropriations of their territory. First men are
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