The Gladstonian Liberal, John Morley (1838-1923), opposed imperialism and supported Irish Home Rule. But he had a dim view of India’s aspirations for freedom. ‘There is, I know,’ wrote Morley, ‘a school of thought who say that we might wisely walk out of India and that Indians can manage their own affairs better than we can. Anyone who pictures for himself the anarchy, the bloody chaos that would follow, might shrink from that sinister decision.’ Disapproving of reformist enlargements to Indian franchise and representation, he rebuked the ‘reformers’ with searing words : ‘When across the dark distances you hear the sullen roar and scream of carnage and confusion, your hearts will reproach you with what you have done.’
Quoting these two observations of Morley’s in an essay on the man, Winston S. Churchill wrote (in his Great Contemporaries), ominously : ‘Only time can show whether his fears were groundless.’
