Mehta, Sir Pherozshah : Pherozshah Merwānji (1845-1915): B.A. 1864: called to the bar 1868; Municipal Commissioner of Bombay Corporation 1873, & its Chairman 1884-5: Additional Member of the Legislative Council of the Governor of Bombay: presided over the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress in 1890: employed by the Govt. as prosecutor in the Bāpat Case in 1895 but resigned on realising the Case was indeed foisted by the Resident & Dewan of Baroda: elected representative of the non-official members of the Bombay Legislative Council to the Governor-General’s Legislative Council: awarded C.I.E. in 1895 & K.C.I.E. in 1904: admitted in 1907 by Morley to his Advisory Council of Notables: founded The Bombay Chronicle 1913. [Buckland & other sources]
... the Subjects Committee because Sir Pherozshah Mehta would not know where he could get his broadcloth, if it were passed! The nation was not to resolve on helping forward its commercial independence, because Sir Pherozshah Mehta preferred broadcloth to any other wear. And now the people of Bombay are not to educate themselves on national lines because Sir Pherozshah Mehta does not know what a nation means... temperament and manner of expression. "The State? I am the State!" cried Louis XIV. "The country? I am the country!" cries Sir Pherozshah Mehta or Pundit Madan Mohan Malaviya or Mr. Krishnaswamy Aiyar, as the case may be. Only, as his personality is more robust, so is Sir Pherozshah's dictatorial arrogance more public, open and contemptuous than that of his compeers in less favoured Provinces. If the popular... and Conference, will Sir Pherozshah inform us what are the true relations? If the Conference does not exist in order to carry forward the national programme with whatever additions the Province may find necessary for its own purposes, does it then exist only in order to record the decrees and opinions of a few Provincial leaders? The second plea was that Sir Pherozshah Mehta could not understand ...
... Watcha's office yesterday to consider and give effect to it. Sir Pherozshah Mehta, resplendent with eternal youth, took the chair. After some discussion the proposal was passed and declared, on the spot, a fundamental law of the Congress constitution. It was decided, however, that the Bombay Committee alone should enjoy the power, Sir Pherozshah pointing out that Bombay was the only safe, loyal and moderate... amendment to the effect that Madras and the United Provinces might also be given the power, under proper safeguards and restrictions, was overwhelmingly defeated, the majority being composed of Sir Pherozshah Mehta and the minority of all the other members present. It was next proposed that Mr. B. G. Tilak should be the first person declared disqualified from becoming a Congress delegate. A member present... moderate city in India and would remain so as long as he (Sir Pherozshah) was its uncrowned King. It was suggested, but timidly and in an awestruck whisper, that even Sir Pherozshah might not live for ever but the great man answered, " L'état? c'est moi " and " après moi le déluge " (The State? I am the State, and after me the deluge). As no one present happened to know French, this argument was considered ...
... meeting is announced not at Nagpur where the members might have gone into the matter on the spot and arranged a working compromise, but in Bombay and at Sir Pherozshah Mehta's bungalow, as if the Committee and the Congress itself were Sir Pherozshah's personal movable property; and instead of calling for a report of the Reception Committee or taking cognisance of the fact that there were citizens of... 16-November-1907 The decision of the All-India Congress Committee, holding its session appropriately enough not in any place of meeting suitable to its character as a public body but in "Sir Pherozshah Mehta's bungalow", has put the crown on one of the most discreditable intrigues of which even Bombay Loyalism is capable. We held our peace about the real meaning of the Nagpur affair so long as there... Bahadurs and Government pets and tame patriots with the official collar round their necks, where there was no fear of Mr. Tilak's nomination becoming even a remote possibility and Sir Page 740 Pherozshah Mehta might safely hope to retrieve the crushing blow his dictatorship had received at Calcutta. The Congress cabal had, unfortunately for themselves, reckoned without the fiery energy and ...
... Karmayogin No. 14, 25 September 1909 Karmayogin No. 14, 25 September 1909 Karmayogin Facts and Opinions The Convention President The nomination of Sir Pherozshah Mehta as the President of the three men's Convention at Lahore is not an event that is of any direct interest to Nationalists. Just as the three tailors of Tooley Street represented themselves as... discouraging circumstances, the Indian National Congress. It is of small importance to us whom these three gentlemen elect as their President. The nomination was indeed a foregone conclusion. Sir Pherozshah Mehta, having got rid of his Nationalist adversaries, now rules the Convention with as absolute a sway as he ruled the Corporation before the European element combined against him and showed that... to forego attendance, and, for all practical purposes, these gentlemen are the Moderate party in Bengal. If the Bengal leaders do go to Lahore, they are certain to obey meekly the dictates of Sir Pherozshah Mehta; for there is not one of them who has sufficient strength of character to stand up to the roarings of the Bombay lion. They were in the habit of obeying him even when he had no official authority ...
... Karmayogin No. 24, 18 December 1909 Karmayogin No. 24, 18 December 1909 Karmayogin Facts and Opinions Sir Pherozshah's Resignation The resignation of Sir Pherozshah Mehta took all India by surprise. It was as much a cause of astonishment to his faithful friends and henchmen as to the outside world. The speculation and bewilderment have been increased... resignation of Sir Pherozshah makes it easier for the Bengal Moderates to attend the Lahore Congress, and that may not have been absent from the thoughts of the master tactician. But we never thought that Sir Pherozshah would care so much for the co-operation of the Bengalis as to allow Srijut Surendranath to be President, as certain sanguine gentlemen in Bengal seem to have expected. Failing Sir Pherozshah... multitude of reasons have been severally alleged for this sudden move in the game by ingenious speculators, but they seem mostly to be figments of the imagination. It was an ingenious guess that Sir Pherozshah has been appointed, as a reward for his great services to the Government, on the India Council and could, therefore, take no farther part in party politics. But until the appointment, if real, ...
... creation of Sir Pherozshah Mehta who will leave no stone unturned to save his offspring when the Convention Committee meets at Allahabad; it will be seen whether the fear of Sir Pherozshah Mehta or the fear of the country is strongest in the hearts of the Moderate leaders. They are still, it seems, undecided as to their course, a dangerous condition of mind since the powerful will of Sir Pherozshah is likely ...
... movement or distrustful of it to check the pace and bring back the nation's energies into the old grooves, have only helped to increase the vehemence of the National desire to move forward. When Sir Pherozshah Mehta juggled the Congress into Surat, he thought he was preparing a death-blow for Nationalism: he was only preparing the way for a Nationalist awakening in Gujerat. Nationalism depends for its success... Kathis and Rajputs, the strong raw human material of her northern and southern hills, are so many elements of strength which Nationalism must seize and weld into a great national force. Even if Sir Pherozshah Mehta overwhelms us with numbers at Surat, even if we cannot carry a single proposition in the Congress Pandal, yet if we can give this great impulse to Gujerat and organize our scattered forces for... swiftly to the level of the more advanced races, is by throwing themselves whole-heartedly into the full tide of Nationalism, and we do not know that we ought not to thank Page 796 Sir Pherozshah for giving us a unique chance to light the fire in Gujerat. The Gujeratis have only recently been touched by the tide of political life. Largely split up into Native States large and small and ...
... of young men in the mofussil centres and the campaign against the Nationalist Press does not relax. The official explanation given by the Englishman is that the Extremists have collapsed, Sir Pherozshah Mehta is once more master of the situation, the Moderate party has come suddenly by its own Page 757 and the Government recognising its own victory and the victory of its friends, is willing... any temporary and isolated step which will not affect their prestige or their authority. The difficulty is that with the exception of the Loyalist section of the Moderate party led by men like Sir Pherozshah Mehta, no one would be satisfied with apparent concessions sufficient only to meet the claims of the wealthier upper ten of the educated community to titles, honour and position; the more advanced... escaped the attack made upon them. The Page 759 bureaucracy may well hope that the back of the movement is broken and relax their legal thumbscrew, at least until they have seen what Sir Pherozshah can do at Surat. Any fresh development of Nationalism they are prepared to meet by ruthless repression. Wherever they see it spreading itself by open propaganda, they will forthwith apply the Gagging ...
... whole nation is inspired by one spirit and one idea. The Bengalee thinks there is substantially such an unity between, say, Sir Pherozshah Mehta, Srijut Surendranath Banerji and Srijut Bipin Chandra Pal; but we have our doubts. Surendra wants Colonial Self-government, Pherozshah would be hugely pleased with something infinitely less; Bipin Chandra wants absolute autonomy. Where is the unity? If Colonial... invariably joined heartily in Loyalist attempts to suppress the voice of Nationalism in the Congress. They were, we are convinced, consenting parties to the unconstitutional political trickery by which Sir Pherozshah transferred the meeting place of the Congress to one of his own pocket boroughs. Again we ask, on what ground can we meet for heartily united action? We have our work to do and cannot wait for ...
... sign a creed which violates their conscience will be resisted. There can be no farther weakening on that point, and if the Moderates demand that we shall lay down our principles on the altar to Sir Pherozshah Mehta before they will admit fellowship with us then farther negotiations are useless. Disunion must take its course. The Spirit of the Negotiations Both the Bengalee and the Amrita Bazar... the other hand the Bengalee is quite mistaken in thinking that what the Nationalists seek is admission to the Convention or that they feel themselves under any necessity to go cap in hand to Sir Pherozshah Mehta and Mr. Gokhale. On the contrary they distinctly state that the Convention is not the Congress, but they recognise that as a mere matter of convenience the reparation of its errors by the Convention... holding a meeting to send delegates to the Three Men's Congress at Lahore. There is no such condition underlying the negotiations. At Hughly Sj. Surendranath expressly reserved his liberty to attend Sir Pherozshah's Congress and there is no reason why he should not do so if he thinks that his duty or his best policy. Nor do the Nationalists ask the Bengal Moderates to refrain, though they will naturally put ...
... the peculiar difficulties of the situation, and advise His Highness in a wise and fruitful manner. Yours sincerely Aravind. A. Ghose Secretary P.S. His Highness wishes you to consult Mr Pherozshah Mehta very confidentially on the point, paying him his fees, as to what action he would advise the Maharaja to take. A. A. G. H.E. R. V. Dhamnaskar Dewan Saheb Baroda Re Govt answer to... Autobiographical Notes To the Dewan, on the Government's Reply to the Letter on the Curzon Circular Confidential Gulmarg Aug 14. 1903. My dear Sir, In reference to the answer of the Government of India to our protest dated the 2d May, 1903, His Highness directs me to write that you must think over the whole matter and consider what is to be ...
... merely by the prestige and personal influence of the small secret Junta of influential men who lead it, not by any settled convictions or intelligent policy. The personalities of Mr. Gokhale and Sir Pherozshah Mehta in Bombay, of Sj. Surendranath Banerji and Sj. Bhupendranath Bose in Bengal, of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya in the United Provinces, of Mr. Krishnaswamy Aiyar in Madras constitute Moderatism... but still with a somewhat reluctant acquiescence by their party. But the public mind has now been too deeply stirred for the leaders to ignore the opinion of the country. The resignation by Sir Pherozshah Mehta of his Presidentship of the Lahore Convention following so soon after the publication of the Regulations, the speech of Mr. Gokhale at the Deccan Sabha and the manifesto issued by the Calcutta... clauses of the Moderate Convention's Constitution remain, this drawing together is not possible, or, if it were possible, could not be sincere and effective. Those clauses are a sign and pledge of the Mehta-Morley Page 360 alliance and ratify the policy of which Mr. Gokhale's Poona speech was the expression, the policy of rallying the Moderates to the Government's support and crushing the ...
... Calcutta in deference to the weight of public opinion, so we accepted the Colonial self-government resolution as the opinion of the majority and are no more bound to subscribe to it personally than Sir Pherozshah Mehta is bound to subscribe to the Boycott. The four resolutions merely framed a compromise between the two political schools, not a declaration of Nationalist faith. As for Bengal, it is well-known... and frankness of action. Convention Voyagers We understand that some seven or eight faithful hearts are meditating the journey to Lahore to assist Mr. Madan Mohan Malaviya in carrying out Sir Pherozshah's orders. We wish them a good voyage and a speedy repentance. One wonders, by the way, where the delegates of the Convention are going to start up from at the last moment. We watch in vain for the ...
... Our contemporary, the Punjabee , has in its last issue a balanced and carefully impartial comment on the Congress trouble and the action of the All-India Congress Committee, or rather of Sir Pherozshah Mehta in the exercise of his role of Congress Lion and Dictator. There is one remark of our contemporary's, however, which seems to us unfair to the Nationalist party and with which therefore we feel ...
... public procedure and to hold our own Congress at Nagpur, or to go in force to Surat and, if we could not swamp the Congress, at least to show that into whatever farthest nook or corner of India Sir Pherozshah Mehta might fly for refuge, he could not get rid of the presence of Nationalism, to fling ourselves at once on Gujerat and organize Nationalism there, so that the Loyalist's chosen haven of refuge ...
... the Chaff 23-April-1908 The result of the Convention meeting at Allahabad is now certain and it seems that after a brief struggle Sir Pherozshah has prevailed. We have done much for reunion, and have striven in vain. The personality of Sir Pherozshah Mehta and the votes of his Bombay henchmen have overborne the feeble patriotism and wavering will of the Bengal Moderates and their Punjab supporters ...
... themselves with the Moderates on the same platform the Loyalists are enabled to exercise an influence on public opinion which would otherwise not be accorded to them. The gospel according to Sir Pherozshah Mehta would not have such power for harm if it were not allowed to represent itself as one and the same with the gospel according to Mr. Gokhale. What then are the original ideas from which the ...
... alliance between coercive conciliation and an Indian progressive party previous to the Surat Congress,—an alliance not then declared, but sufficiently proved by the conduct and utterances of Sir Pherozshah Mehta and Mr. Gokhale then and after. It is evident, therefore, that if we accepted the Moderate constitution apart from its utter illegality, we should be consenting to our own exclusion by an electoral... conscientious belief, to recognise an unconstitutional constitution and to leave the four resolutions to the chances of a Moderate Subjects Committee and the possible prohibition of their amendments by a Mehta or Malaviya. The Nationalist members of the Committee rejected these impossible demands and submitted proposals of their own on each of the three main points at issue. They consented to accept the ...
... we believe, set flowing such a tide of Nationalism as neither bureaucrats nor Bombay Loyalists are prepared to believe possible." That was a reference to the followers of Pherozeshah Mehta. "When Sir Pherozshah Mehta juggled the Congress into Surat, he thought he was preparing a death-blow for Nationalism : he was only preparing the way for a Nationalist awakening in Gujerat." Arabindo Babu urged the... From the station Dr. Munje and others escorted Sri Aurobindo and Shyam Sundar to the Raghubir Theatre. There Sri. Aurobindo delivered an address to the packed house. And whom did he see there ? Sir Moropant Joshi, one of those who had taken the oath of the revolutionary society 'Lotus and Dagger' in England, but now become a Moderate I "On my way to Surat Congress we had stopped at Nagpur. My lecture ...
... only to exist but to make itself felt. This is a right we have not refused to the Moderate party when we were in the majority; if they refuse it to us, then the talk of unity must cease and Sir Pherozshah Mehta and Mr. Gokhale must have their way. This is the position from the Nationalist point of view. We hope that the largeness of the sacrifice made will not, in view of the slightness of the chance ...
... and his final consummation is natural and laudable. But our object in writing is not so much to praise Mr. Aiyar as to suggest to the Government that, if they would similarly promote Sir Pherozshah Mehta, they would be rewarding a loyal champion and at the same time conferring a boon on the country. Farther, if only done in time, it might save the Convention from going to pieces. The Dying... irritation, heart-burning, a sullen gloom and a growing resolve to assert and organise their separate existence and work for their own hand are the first results of the separatist policy. How far Sir Pherozshah and his valiant band will be able to fight this growing discontent, remains to be seen. It is quite possible that the pro-Mahomedanism of the Reform Scheme may lead to a Hindu upheaval all over... unanimously condemned as unfair and partial. The only section of Hindus in its favour is the dwindling minority which follows the great Twin Brethren of Bombay; and the support given by Mr. Gokhale and Sir Pherozshah to the separate representation idea is likely to cost them their influence with the moderate Hindu community everywhere outside the narrow radius of their personal influence. A third section rejoicing ...
... in method. The new party is agreed on a policy of self-help and the organisation at least of passive resistance. The old party is agreed upon nothing except the sacred right of petitioning. Sir Pherozshah Mehta and the Bombay Moderates would confine our politics within those holy limits. Pundit Madan Mohan and the United Provinces Moderates are willing to add a moderate and inoffensive spice of self-help ...
... been arranged. There is a talk, we learn from the Friend of India, of an extraordinary All-India Congress at which Mr. Gokhale and some other delegates will meet in Bombay under the aegis of Sir Pherozshah Mehta to protest against these new settled facts. All this will not help us and we must find out our own salvation. We shall devote the next few days to expressing our own opinion of the possibilities ...
... first Servant of India as a brand plucked from the burning and compliment him on being the only righteous and right-thinking man among Indian politicians,—which is after all a little hard on Sir Pherozshah Mehta and Mr. Harkissen Lal. But in the same report that enshrines Mr. Chandavarkar's semi-official rhetoric, we have it that the Commissioner of Police and his deputy were present to support the ...
... The hand which we held out, has been rejected. The policy of Lord Morley has been to rally the Moderates and coerce the Nationalists; the policy of the Moderate party led by Mr. Gokhale and Sir Pherozshah Mehta has been to play into the hands of that policy and give it free course and a chance of success. This alliance has failed of its object; the beggarly reward the Moderates have received, has been ...
... the people. This startling result of the Reforms may not seem at first credible, but if our argument is carefully followed, it will establish itself. No doubt, one or two men like Mr. Gokhale, Sir Pherozshah Mehta Page 323 or Dr. Rash Behari Ghose will be admitted by permission, but that privilege we had on better terms under the old system. Let us pass to the Bengal Councils and establish ...
... very few words and remain stiff, simply saying, "I don't agree." Once Surendranath Banerji wanted to annex the Extremist Party and invited us to the U.P. Moderate Conference to fight against Sir Pherozshah Mehta. But there was a clause that no association that was not of two or three years' standing could send delegates to the Conference. Ours was a new party. So we could not go. But Banerji said, "We ...
... principle carried to its extreme conclusions, and it is not surprising that phrases so trenchant and absolute should have given rise to some misunderstanding. It was even charged against us by Sir Pherozshah Mehta and other robust exponents of the opposition-cum-co-operation theory that we were advocating non-resistance and submission to political wrong and injustice! Much water has flowed under the bridges ...
... body in which all opinions can meet and work together for the good of the country. Such a combination would soon reduce Sir Pherozshah's Rump Congress to the lifeless and meagre phantasm which it must in any case become with the lapse of time and the open development of the Mehta-Morley alliance. But to create another Rump Congress on the Nationalist side would be to confound confusion yet worse without ...
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