Item 2 - Telegram from Lord Chelmsford to Edwin Montagu

Continues A2/1/8. O'Dwyer has declined for the present an offer of extra staff, and reports the Punjab situation better. In reply to specifice inquiries, O'Dwyer reports that (a) in rural areas disorderly elements are looting trains and damaging Government property; (b) there is no evidence yet that demobilised soldiers are prominent, though some may have joined disorderly bands; (c) attempts have been made to seduce Indian troops, but so far their attitude is staunch, and they are being used everywhere. Annie Besant was at Simla yesterday, and is reported to have stated in an interview with the Press Association that there is nothing in the Rowlatt Act to which a good citizen could object; she had opposed passive resistance because she believed it would lead to disregard of law and consequently to rioting and bloodshed; she condemned Gandhi; and she admitted the existence of revolutionary movements in some places, and considered it the duty of all leaders to help Government in the task of putting down violence. At Calcutta, moderates have issued a manifesto condemning the passive resistance movement. Roos-Keppel [Chief Commissioner of the North-West Frontier Province] reports organised attempts in Peshawar to work up Rowlatt agitation and Mohammedan feeling. Large demonstrations have been held there, but there has been no breach of peace. Refers to A2/3/4 [a telegram received by him from Montagu, but intended in fact for Sir George Lloyd] and states that they regard deportation at present from a broadly preventative standpoint, but admits that deportation of an individual can lead to serious temporary local outbreaks.

(Typed. Marked 'B'.)