It is another Hindu ruler, the Rajah of Ratlam, who points out the close connexion, upon which I have had to lay repeated stress, between religious revivalism and sedition.  He recognizes that “Hindus, and for the matter of that all Oriental peoples, are swayed more by religion than by anything else.”  Government have hitherto adopted, and rightly adopted, the policy of allowing perfect freedom in the matter of religious beliefs, but as the seditionists are seeking to connect their anarchical movement with religion, and the political Sadhu is abroad, it is high time to change the policy of non-interference in so-called religious affairs.  The new religion which is now being preached, “with its worship of heroes like Shivaji and the doctrine of India for India alone,” deserves, this Hindu Prince boldly declares, to be treated as Thuggism and Suttee were treated, which both claimed the sanction of religion.  “It pains me,” he adds, “to write as above, but already religion has played a prominent part in this matter, and religious books were found in almost every search made for weapons and bombs.  The role of the priest or the Sadhu is most convenient, and rulers have bowed, and do bow, to religious preachers.  These people generally distort the real import of religious precepts, and thereby vitiate the public mind.  The founders are sly enough to flatter the Government by an occasional address breathing loyalty and friendship, but it is essential to check this religious propaganda.”

The rulers of the Native States are not content merely to profess loyalty and reprobate disaffection.  With the exception of the Gaekwar, whose reply, without striking any note of substantial dissent, is, marked, by a certain coolness that has won for him the applause of the Nationalist Press, they respond heartily to the Viceroy’s request for suggestions as to the most effective measures to cope with the evil.  Most of them put in the very forefront of their recommendations the necessity of checking the licence of the Indian Press, to which they attribute the main responsibility for the widening of the gulf between the rulers and the ruled.  And it should be remembered that these opinions were expressed some months before the Imperial Government and the Government of India decided to introduce the new Press Act.  The Nizam holds that newspapers publishing false allegations or exaggerated reports should be officially called upon “to print formal contradiction or correction as directed.”  For, in his Highness’s opinion, “it is no longer safe or desirable to treat with silent contempt any perverse statement which is publicly made, because the spread of education on the one hand has created a general interest in the news of the country, and a section of the Press, on the other hand, deliberately disseminates news calculated to promote enmity between Europeans and Indians, or to excite hatred of Government and its officers in the ignorant and credulous minds.”