*Liberal Worlds: James Bryce and the Democratic Intellect*
Points clés
- •Bryce a critiqué l’Indian Civil Service comme étant travailleur mais manquant d’imagination et de sympathie pour les réalités de l’Inde.
- •Il a affirmé que l’attitude envers les indigènes s’était dégradée après le Ilbert Bill, surtout au Bengale, et que les Européens se comportaient souvent avec arrogance.
- •L’article indique que le livre de H.S. Jones traite aussi du travail de Bryce en faveur de l’Arménie.
- •Bryce a défendu l’éducation libérale et a participé aux débats sur les humanités.
- •Bryce a servi comme ambassadeur aux États-Unis, ce qui lui a donné un aperçu direct de la vie politique américaine.
Un très bon livre, et voici un extrait qui touche directement à une conversation que je viens d’avoir :
He [Bryce] regretted the low quality of the Indian Civil Service: they were hard-working and motivated by a desire to promote the welfare of the Indian people, but ‘rather wanting in imagination and sympathy, less inspired by the extraordinary and unprecedented phenomena of the country than might have been expected.’ He went on: “Since the unhappy so-called Ilbert Bill there has been a marked change in the attitude of Europeans to natives, especially in Bengal; and the natives complain bitterly that the civilians as well as the military \u0026 the planters, treat them with arrogance \u0026 make them feel their social inferiority as well as political subordination.” He continued by saying that all he had seen made him certain that he had made the right decision in not pursuing a career in the Indian Civil Service.
He [Bryce] regretted the low quality of the Indian Civil Service: they were hard-working and motivated by a desire to promote the welfare of the Indian people, but ‘rather wanting in imagination and sympathy, less inspired by the extraordinary and unprecedented phenomena of the country than might have been expected.’ He went on: “Since the unhappy so-called Ilbert Bill there has been a marked change in the attitude of Europeans to natives, especially in Bengal; and the natives complain bitterly that the civilians as well as the military \u0026 the planters, treat them with arrogance \u0026 make them feel their social inferiority as well as political subordination.” He continued by saying that all he had seen made him certain that he had made the right decision in not pursuing a career in the Indian Civil Service.
L’auteur est H.S. Jones, et j’ai aussi beaucoup appris sur le travail de Bryce en faveur de l’Arménie, un sujet que je ne connaissais pas du tout. Je suis un grand admirateur de The American Commonwealth de Bryce comme analyse de la démocratie, même si, bien sûr, je ne suis pas d’accord avec tous les détails. Bryce fut aussi un précurseur du NIMBY, déjà à l’époque, et joua un rôle important dans les débats sur les humanités, défendant en substance l’éducation libérale. Il fut également ambassadeur aux États-Unis. Son long ouvrage, peut-être trop long, Modern Democracies, est dans ma file Kindle à lire.
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