"Bombay, April 20.--We have passed through the most anxious ten
days that India has known for half a century. We have further
anxious days in store, for although in Bombay conditions are
improving and Mr. Gandhi has publicly abandoned the passive
resistance movement, while men of weight are rallying to the
support of the Government, the situation in Northern India is
disquieting.
"We may pause to enquire into this widespread manifestation of
violence. How came it that passive resistance to the Rowlatt
Act--never likely to be applied to the greater part of India,
especially to Bombay, and nominally confined to the sale of
proscribed literature of doubtful legality, which was
waning--suddenly flamed into riot, arson, and murder at Delhi,
Ahmedabad, Viramgam, Amritsar, and other parts of the Punjab on
the prevention of Mr. Gandhi's entry into Delhi? All day on April
11 Bombay stood on the brink of a bloody riot, averted only by the
Governor, Sir George Lloyd's prudent statesmanship and the great
restraint of the police and military in face of grave provocation.
"The movement seems to have been twofold. In part it was the
expression of the prevailing ferment. India is no less affected
than other parts of the world by the social and intellectual
revolution of the war, by expectations based on the destruction of
German materialism and by ambitions for fuller partnership in the
British Empire.