Quote of the Day!

Back here I wrote about Imperial Nostalgia and had a little to say about the Amritsar massacre, its condemnation by Montagu and the defence of General Dyer's actions by a wide cross-section of British and Anglo-Indian public and political opinion.

Today I came across this quote, citied in John Newsinger's book "The Blood Never Dried: A People's History of the British Empire":

"You may say what you like about not holding India by the sword, but you have held it by the sword for 100 years and when you give up the sword you will be turned out. You must keep the sword ready to hand and in case of trouble or rebellion use it relentlessly. Montagu calls it terrorism, so it is and in dealing with natives of all classes you have to use terrorism whether you like it or not."

This statement was made by General Rawlinson, the commander in chief in India, in 1920.

IZ