The Indian National Congress in the Memoirs of the British missionary G. Lunn

Nikitin Dmitrii PhD in History Leading Bibliographer, National Research Tomsk State University 634050, Russia, Tomskaya oblast', g. Tomsk, ul. Lenina, 36 nikitds33@gmail.com Other publications by this author

The establishment of British rule in India entailed fundamental changes in the life of traditional Indian society, which affected not only its economic structure and political structure, but also the spiritual sphere. The Protestant movement of Revivalism, which spread widely in Great Britain at the end of the XVIII – first decades of the XIX century, contributed to the intensification of missionary activity, and India became one of its important areas.

By the end of the XIX century. in the south of the subcontinent, in the Madras presidency, the majority of Christians adhered to Catholicism (572.3 thousand people according to the census of 1891 ^{[1, p. 75]}), the number of adherents of the Church of England and various Methodist organizations (such as the Wesleyan Mission and others ^{[2, p. 33]}) was growing rapidly – Thus, the number of Anglicans from 1881 to 1891 increased by 186.7%, members of the Wesleyan Mission – by 93.2%, congregationalists – by 83% ^{[1, p. 75]}. An important feature was that their number increased at the expense of Indians (95.4% in 1891 ^{[1, p. 70]}), and not Europeans. However, relative to the population of the presidency, Christians were an insignificant minority (865.5 thousand people out of 35.6 million) ^{[1, p. 12, 75]}.

Despite its small number, the Christian community of South India developed rapidly in socio-political terms. In 1885-1886, 52% of Christian boys attended schools, second only to the traditionally influential Brahmins in this region ^{[1, p. 70]}. Christians occupied socially important positions, which allowed them to exist in conditions of inter-communal competition. At the same time, in the 1880s, which became a time of awakening of national consciousness and the active emergence of community associations, Christians had not yet formed their own organization and often tended to patriotic Hindu societies - in particular, the Madras Mahajana Sabha. The Sabha was founded in 1884; a year later its members – G. Subramanya Ayyar, P. Ananda Charlu, M. Viraraghavacharyar, P. Rangaya Naidu – became delegates of the First Indian National Congress (INC). Thus, Christians close to the Sabha also took an active part in public life. The first session of the INC was attended by P. P. Pillai, a landowner from Tinnevelli, who spoke in support of one of the resolutions ^{[3, p. 31-32]}; Christians also participated in the work of subsequent Congresses.

The emergence of the INC has become a notable event in the socio-political life of the country. Europeans and Americans who lived in India or traveled there also sought to get acquainted with this new phenomenon, evaluate its prospects, express their agreement with its goals or doubt about them. The leaders of Christian churches were no exception, who were attracted by the congressional agitation for restricting the sale of alcohol. In particular, in the early years of the Congress, the missionaries of J. Cobban ^{[4, p. 44]}, T. Evans ^{[4, p. 45-47]}, J. Scott ^{[5, p. 225]}; preacher R. Hume analyzed the INC experience in the American press ^[6].

Henry Simpson Lunn (1859-1939), a well–known religious and public figure who served as a missionary in India in 1887-1888, also took a great interest in the activities of the Congress. Lunn's twelve letters from India, published in book form in 1890 ^[7], and his notes on the INC in the English press contain valuable memories of public life in South India, noticeably revived during the reign of liberal viceroys Ripon and Dufferin, and the first years of the Congress. In addition, Lann's later memoirs ^{[8, 9]} allow us to trace how his idea of the Congress changed over the years.

Born into a religious family, Lannes was no stranger to missionary ideas from a young age. In 1880, while traveling to Cairo, he met a Presbyterian missionary from India, who urged him to devote his life to ministry, and "this conversation subsequently changed the whole direction of life" Lannes ^{[8, p. 25]}. While studying at the Methodist Theological College (1881-1883), he received an offer to begin missionary work in India, but his departure was postponed for several years, which Lunn devoted to studying at Dublin University. Here, among other things, Lunn took part in the Irish home rule movement and had the opportunity to make a political career, but preferred missionary service, deciding that "work for India was above any political ambitions" ^{[8, p. 25]}.

In mid-November 1887, Lunn and his family arrived in Madras. India struck him not only with its cheapness and cultural differences, but also with the attitude of the British towards the Indians. He noted: It is considered very bad form to treat the natives as beings similar to themselves; it seems that any Anglo-Indian, seeing that we are carrying a native in our carriage ..., would consider that we have gone mad" ^{[7, p. 4]}. Lannes believed that such an attitude it stimulates "national pride of the worst type" and only "a conscious return to the great Christian principles of equality, justice and humility will allow any Englishman to maintain the right attitude towards the natives" ^{[7, p. 5]}.

In early December, Lunn met N. Subramanyam, a Madras barrister, one of the members of the Mahajan Sabha, "a very educated and well–mannered man" ^{[7, p. 10]}. Lunn recalled about this meeting: "I found out that Subramaniam is a prominent member of the National Congress, who has already held two meetings and is due to hold the third in Madras on the 26th. The purpose of the Congress is to stimulate national sentiment throughout India, which is currently a conglomerate of very different peoples held together only by the bonds of the English crown. The Congress is, as far as possible, elective and represents the whole of India, and its founders hope that gradually the Government will give it administrative powers and turn it into a legitimate parliament. There is one big difference between this movement and the Irish national movement. Bitterness and hatred towards England, so characteristic of the Irish movement, are almost completely absent here" ^{[7, p. 11]}. It is characteristic that in the memoirs published in 1918, Lann specifically notes that "bitterness and hatred" were absent "at that time" – in the second half of the 1880s, when the nascent movement was not yet radical in nature ^{[8, p. 61]}. Subramanyam introduced Lann to local leaders of the congressional movement – in particular, G. Subramanya Ayyar (editor of the Hindu newspaper) and P. Anand Charlu. Interested in the movement, Lannes "read everything possible about the two past congresses" ^{[7, p. 14]} in order to clarify its weaknesses and strengths in discussions with congressional figures. The weaknesses, according to Lann, were the lack of an orderly system of electing delegates to the INC session (they were elected at rallies and meetings of patriotic associations), the inability of the Congress to solve complex social problems of Indian life, since representatives of different strata of society defended various ways to solve them. Finally, Lunn believed that there were no common interests in Congress "other than those stemming from the spirit of opposition to centralized government" ^{[7, p. 15]}. The strength of the INC, however, consisted in the "bonds of camaraderie" and the development of national identity, the involvement of Indians in public affairs and the tendency to spread Western ideas, which, according to Lannes, contributed to the eradication of the caste system.

At the end of December 1887, Lunn accepted the invitation of N. Subramanyam to attend the session of the INC in Madras. At the request of the English Pall Mall Gazette, he agreed to write an essay about the Congress and attended its meetings as a representative of the press. The INC session seemed to Lannes "a wonderful meeting" ^{[7, p. 32]}. He noted that the meeting was attended by representatives of various peoples inhabiting India. A special place among those present was occupied by "Bengali babus", who represented "the most cultured and Europeanized part of the Congress" ^{[7, p. 32]}. A characteristic feature of the Bengali representatives was the European style of dress, while the delegates from Punjab and the North-Western provinces were dressed "in a truly Oriental style" ^{[8, p. 64]}.

Among the speeches at the session, Lannu most remembered the speech of Surendranath Banerjee, a prominent Bengali figure of the national movement, in support of the resolution on the need to expand and reform the Council under the Governor-General and provincial legislative councils. Lunn wrote: "I have never heard a more expressive speech ... [Banerjee] aroused great enthusiasm in Congress when he said ... that age-old dreams are about to come true" ^{[7, p. 33]}. Comparing the speeches at the session with the debates in the British Parliament, Lunn came to the conclusion that the abilities of the delegates of the Congress and their command of the English language could surprise the English audience. At the same time, sometimes Lannes' opinion about INC resolutions sometimes differed from the congressional view of them. During the third day of the sessions, N. Subramanyam spoke in support of the resolution on the separation of judicial and executive functions combined by officials of the colonial administration ^{[10, p. 105-108]}. In the period from 1886 to 1911, this resolution was adopted eighteen times in one form or another ^{[11, p. 502-505]} and represented one of the main requirements of the INC in the first decades of its existence, however, in the notes on the Congress, Lunn did not attach much importance to it, calling it "a resolution of a purely administrative nature" ^{[7, p. 33]}.

In his later memoirs, Lunn described the INC session of 1887 more sparingly, but recalled that this event made a strong impression on him ^{[9, p. 23]}. The existence of the Congress, in his opinion, became possible thanks to English rule, and in the future the INC could become a powerful force "for the good or for the evil of India" ^{[7, p. 33]}. These conclusions were also included in an article for the Pall Mall Gazette, where Lunn told the English reader about the history of the past sessions and the agenda of the 1887 meeting ^[12]. The article received a positive response from Dadabhai Naoroji, one of the founders of the Congress and a veteran of the national movement ^{[7, p. 48]}.

With the end of the session, the British missionary's interest in Indian politics did not fade. This was largely facilitated by meetings with Indian Christian delegates of the INC - in particular, one of the leading Bengali lawyers K. C. Banerjee. In January 1888, Lunn lectured in the cities of South India on the Congress, in April he attended as chairman a meeting of the debate club of the Madras Christian College on the issue "which was vigorously discussed at the National Congress" ^{[7, p. 86]} – on the access of Indians to the highest army posts. The demand for the Indianization of the army, the creation of military educational institutions and the repeal of the law on weapons was one of the main ones in the first decades of the INC's existence, so the debate on this issue aroused great interest – Lunn recalled that about eighty people gathered for the debate, and during the discussion that lasted over two hours, the supporters of the INC won ^{[7, p. 86]}.

In addition, Lunn continued to cover INC's activities in the press. In July 1888, his article appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette about the publication in London and Madras of a report on the December session of the Congress ^[13], later published in the Indian press ^[14]. 1888 was the time of the formation of the anti-congressional opposition, and this fact did not go unnoticed by Lannes. He wrote that the Anglo-Indian newspaper "Pionir" (Allahabad) "stirred up the spirit of strife" between Hindus and Muslims, but believed that the opposition could not speak on behalf of all Muslims in India, since the number of the latter at the sessions of the Congress increases annually ^[13]. The Congress, according to Lunn, has proved its viability and has become a factor in Indian political life that any British cabinet will have to reckon with.

At the same time, despite his sympathies with the INC, Lunn also wrote that the activities of nationalists sometimes hindered the fulfillment of his missionary duties. In June 1888, he described an incident that occurred with a Christian school in the city of Nannilam. According to Lannes, the school displeased local brahmins, and they invited a well-known lawyer and delegate of several sessions of the INC, Saminatha Ayyar, to hold a rally calling on the residents of the city to establish a national school instead. It was created and "emptied" the missionary school "a month before the government inspection" ^{[7, p. 106]}. In this regard, Lannes recalled that the incident was rather unpleasant, but such a "growth of the spirit of independence on the part of the natives" ^{[7, p. 107]} did not cause him regrets. The mission school was subsequently decided to be transformed into an elementary school for the lower castes and untouchables, and Lunn warmly supported this decision.

In November 1888, Henry Lunn left India. A month later, the Pall Mall Gazette wrote that he "convincingly demonstrated the fact that a man of his temperament cannot withstand temperatures of ninety degrees in the shade, in the morning, at noon and at night" ^[15]. The Indian experience significantly influenced the life of the young missionary – upon his return to England, he became one of the initiators of a large-scale discussion about the need to reform Methodist missions in India, but no longer maintained ties with the INC. Nevertheless, his notes on the era of the formation of the Congress are an interesting example of the views of a resident of the metropolis on new trends in the socio-political life of the colonies. Lunn, like many liberal contemporaries, considered the emergence of the INC as a consequence of the progress that was made possible in India solely thanks to British rule, and believed that the colonial administration should listen to the opinion of the Indian intelligentsia, including its Christian representatives, who played a prominent role in the formation of the national movement in South Asia.