Showing 76290 results

India Office, Whitehall, S.W.1.—Encloses a copy of some of the material he is supplying to the Prime Minister for his speech tomorrow.

(Carbon copy.)

10 Downing Street, Whitehall, S.W.1.—Asks to see a copy of the telegram that Cabinet instructed Montagu to send to the Viceroy on the subject of law and order in India [A3/34/3].

Asks for suggestions as to what he should say at the forthcoming Commons debate on India. Refers to Reading’s official telegram about the debate in Assembly on the military budget, and asks whether he intends to decline to take a vote.

(Typed. Used for transmission.)

India Office.—In view of Gandhi’s decision to call off civil disobedience, he is not surprised that the Government of India has decided to postpone his arrest, but the result will probably increase the Secretary of State [Montagu]’s difficulties with the House of Commons. It can be argued that the respite will allow the non-co-operators to become better organised; but on the other hand many in India believe that the movement has only been sustained by the opportunity given to them by the Prince of Wales’s visit to organise hartals and provoke a reaction from Government, and that the discredit which has now accrued to them and the dissipation of their funds may cause them to lose ground. In either case, he does not think this a good moment to undertake what may be a serious struggle, if it can be postponed. ‘The Empire has too many unsolved difficulties which cumulatively may be too much for its strength. All its other principal difficulties aggravate and complicate the Indian one, and they ought to be got rid of in the proper order. … To my mind that order should be, Ireland, Egypt or Turkey, India.’

The debate in the Commons has revealed a hardening in British opinion on Indian affairs. ‘There is an uneasy feeling, possibly strengthened from Ireland, that our Empire is slipping away.’ Unless the Government are able to reassure the public, they will lose their policy. There are similar difficulties with regard to affairs in Kenya. Montagu’s reply to the notification of Gandhi’s non-arrest was drafted in consultation with Chamberlain and the Prime Minister, and they emphasised that Gandhi should not be allowed merely to postpone challenges whenever his arrest became imminent. He believes his speech in the Commons was a success, but he has lost the support of the Northcliffe newspapers.

(Typed, with handwritten alterations. Used for transmission.)

War Office, Whitehall, S.W.—The Secretary of State wants the two telegrams marked A and B [A3/46/6 and A3/46/10] circulated to the Cabinet and the King.

Chapeltown Barracks, Leeds.—Is unable to come on Friday or Saturday, as he is going to Alderley with Major Gillson and his wife.

Announces Montagu’s appointment as Under-Secretary of State for India.

Concerning the gift by J R M Butler of A F Butler's desk to Girton.

Programme with Question for Debate with J. R. M. Butler listed, and menu. Verso signed by participants, including U.S. President Taft.

Suggests that a woman's place is in the home and that this is divinely ordained.

Correspondence of general political nature including letter of congratulations on maiden speech, letters re preservation of Thaxted windmill and future of Bishop's Stortford School, letter from Winston Churchill in reply to one from RAB sympathising with his illness, copy letter to Samuel Hoare re Indian Constitution

(See the general note on this file.)