All surviving political writings and speeches from 1890 to 1908 including articles originally published in the nationalist newspaper 'Bande Mataram'.
All surviving political writings and speeches from 1890 to 1908. The two volumes consist primarily of 353 articles originally published in the nationalist newspaper 'Bande Mataram' between August 1906 and May 1908. Also included are political articles written by Sri Aurobindo before the start of 'Bande Mataram', speeches delivered by him between 1907 and 1908, articles from his manuscripts of that period that were not published in his lifetime, and an interview of 1908. Many of these writings were not prepared by Sri Aurobindo for publication; several were left in an unfinished state.
The Bengalee yesterday made its pronouncement on the Risley Circular which closes with the following remarks. "If the Government persist in their present career of folly, one of two things must happen. Either the official university will be absolutely supplanted by a comprehensive system of national education or, if that consummation cannot be easily realised, generations of young men will turn their energies and attention to active and practical, as distinguished from academic pursuits. We are not sure that either way the country will be a loser. And we know
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of no third alternative. One thing that we cannot think of is meek acquiescence. The country will not submit either to this resolution or to any other like it."
There is a certain note of weakness in the conditional way in which this is presented, which somewhat spoils the effect of the declaration. We cannot understand why we should wait to see whether the Government persist in their present career of folly. The policy of the Government in this educational matter is manifestly a deliberate policy undertaken with a definite object and there is no reason to suppose that they will not persist in it. This habit of waiting on the actions of the bureaucracy rests on a weak and mistaken principle. The victory both in war and politics rests with the side which can reply to attack by taking up the aggressive; a continual defence and waiting on the enemy's movements is weakening and demoralising. And why should a comprehensive system of National Education and the turning of young men to active and practical pursuits be mutually exclusive? Surely, increasing attention to technical, commercial and scientific instruction is a necessary part of any sound system of National Education. It is gratifying, however, to find that there is no intention of submitting to this resolution or any other like it. The bureaucracy in their frantic attempts to crush Nationalism, are doing their best to make anything but thoroughgoing Nationalism impossible.
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