The New Leader Book Page
The New Leader Books Page Jefferson—A Modern Man Bf HlH'f tAMfO'D fAKKtS IMS LlFM AND SELECTED WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. Edited by AdAenne koch and William Pedon. Tht Modern Library. 730...
...that the growth of science and reason and the growth of human freedom, equality and self-government are indissolubly associated with each other...
...It seems incredible thst such aa anthology should never have appeared before...
...but what they had to say was expressed in terminology which has now lost much of its meaning...
...but it is mainly due to a growing realisation'that of*sll the great figures in American history, there is no one who has more to say to the modern world...
...Page 34, Brailsford...
...One could not ask for a more penetrating and succinct statement of the meaning of the present war and of the whole crisis of modern civilization...
...Hoyland...
...If he were a shade cooler in his love for mankind in genera), he would hsve told s story that would leave the reader befogged...
...96 rent: TJIE recent revival of interest in Jefferson, as shown in the publication or announcement of a number of biographies, critical studies and ^ collections of his writings, may have been partly stimulated by the bicentenary of his birth Last year...
...That form we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion...
...An sccount of Gsndhi't fight sgalntt Untouchability it givsn...
...It could not havs wrestled either with the resistance of the interests in England or with the obstruction of ancient' customs snd reactionary classes in Indian society . . . These rulers never lead...
...but it is only through his private correspondence that one can fully grasp the power and versatility of his mind and the passion for the elevation of the human race which animated everything he said and did...
...Invited to com- , ment on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, he replied as follows: "May it be to the world, what I believe it will be (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all), the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under' which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government...
...His public papers express his more formalised political doctrines...
...They have not known him because he has never been properly presented to them...
...The chapter on catte it one of the most penetrating expositions of the subject this reviewer -list seen, for herein are ttt forth the reasons ths caste system hat lived through the centuries, snd whet its vsluet to the life of India hsve been, as well as its ir-relevance in modern life...
...Concealed points of view cause th* reader to be befogged In the case of a country such as India from which so little news reaches America from the mouths of the people themselves...
...John Day Co...
...The "bureaucracy accepted the comfortable assumption that India was to serve at a colonial state for the raising of rsw materials...
...Lord Roberts, said: "However well educated and clever a native (Indian) may be and however brave he may have proved himself, I believe that no rank which we can bestow upon him would cause him to be considered as an equal by the British officer...
...Mrs...
...In the last letter which he ever wrote, Jefferson made a statement which summarizes both the ideals which animated ¦ him throughout his own public esreer and the essential meaning and spirit of American civilization...
...they stand out as embodiments of different aspects of the American spirit...
...and that the successful establishment and growth of democracy in the United States (or in any other country) are an example to other countries (and must therefore represent a hope to the common people everywhere and a threat to tyranny everywhere...
...Now that the famine in India is ths most important factor in current life, the chapter on famines of the patt takes on special significance...
...AM A UODAK SUBJECT INDIA...
...TlIIS gentle, warm book describes th* deep abiding currents of lifa in India in brief and clearly written chapters...
...Chapters on the student life of today, on religion, the British System, snd the Congress Parly are written in the tempered mood of an experienced English liberal...
...Brailsford, an Englisman, does not belong to the group of Englishmen whose spokesmen...
...The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them- legitimately, by the grace of (Jod...
...Dc, Parkea ia Professor of History st New York University.] Indian Omnibus • y HANOI...
...On the question of whether Britain has dona well by India, Brailsford says in part that the Indian Civil Service it composed of hard-working, able, conscientious and incorruptible officials, but that they believe that the business of government it limited to maintaining order and administering justice...
...THE INDIAN CRISIS...
...It lacked the creative Imagination that would have planned upon grand continental scale and the dynamic will that might have carried its plans against inertis and opposition...
...the time has come when Indis't leaders must rule...
...The facts and incidents the author gives, and his interpretation, put him down at a protagonist of the dignity and worth of men without reference to the place of their birth...
...The author condenses the conquest of India into a few brief pages, and passes on to each of the issues about which Britain and India disagree—Gandhi, the Muslims, the Princes, etc., giving both the British and Indian claims...
...All eyes are opened, and opening, to the rights of man...
...Thus incisively does Brailsford go to the root of India's estrangement with Britain, and place the blame where it belongs...
...Why end how Britain and India sre estranged: these sre the questions this book answers with -directness, and it gives the answers of both parties...
...None of his biographies adequately conveys either the extraordinary breadth of his interests or the essential quality of his personality...
...Jfa ggure in the American past has lost so little by the passage of time...
...730 payee...
...The new reader on Indian subjects will find thst with'this book he will move smoothly snd estily into an understanding of a country few write about as well as Mr...
...2.60...
...He can be known only through his own writings, end particularly through his ratters...
...By John S. Hoy land...
...Men like Franklin, Washington and Lincoln sre remembered chiefly for their personalities...
...Here for the Irat time, in one convenient volume, are hie aatobiegraph-ieal writings, his Notes oa Virginia, a judicious selection of his public papers, and nearly foar hundred pages ef his letters...
...A footnote tellt that in the ditastrous famine-year of 1897, ?10 million worth of grain wst exported...
...Snd these have hitherto been available only in the twenty volumes of the Memorial Edition or in manuscript collections...
...Jefferson alone spoke words which are as iresn and as relevant today as when they were first uttered...
...Emerson, .Tboreau and Whitman were important as influences in the growth of American civilization...
...This they have done, and done well...
...but they hsve never really known him...
...Modak la with the Indie section . of the Bast snd Weet Association...
...The appearance of an admirably | chosen selection from Jefferson's ¦ writings, made by two authorities on the sabject and published in a form aad at a price which make the book accessible to the general reader, ia therefore a notable public service...
...The American people have always 'honored Jefferson...
...This passage of less than one hundred and forty words expresses three ideas: that any social system in which one class* or race can oppress another is unreasonable and unnatural, and can be maintained otily by the inculcation of ignorance and superstition...
...Health, education, industrial development, improvement of the standard of living is little part of their strict duty...
...Poverty is to them s fact to be accepted, rather than a problem to be solved...
...the day when India would demand European (English) institutions of government...
...The author has lived with Indians, snd understands the fsctors that mske the life of Indisns...
...The author of this book belongs, rather, to the group of Englishmen for whom Lord Macaulsy spoke, saying that the proudest day in English history would be...
...By H. N. Brailtford...
Vol. 27 • January 1944 • No. 27
