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vol. title: Vol Four of The Theosophical Society of The Arya Samaj of Arya-wart vol. period: Sept 1878 – Sept 1879 pages in vol.: 350 |
The London Times publishes the following letter from Mr. C. C. Massey, under the heading “Espionage in India:”—
“I venture to trouble you with the following facts, thinking that they should be known to the English public, which has some interest in being informed of methods of government in India, and how, and with what wisdom, public money is there expended. Last February, there arrived at Bombay, from New York and London, a party consisting of American citizens and two English. They purposed to take up their residence in India with the chief object of studying the religious antiquities of that country. They were also members of a reformatory society recently established there by the energy of certain distinguished native scholars and philanthropists, who had conceived the idea of raising the people out of superstition and idolatry by spreading a knowledge of the purer religion of their ancestors, as disclosed in the Vedic Scriptures, in which some of their number were profoundly versed. Nothing could be more remote from their intentions or interests than political concerns; and, indeed, the leaders are attached to the English Government by the most mature conviction that it is the best one possible for India. Of the American party, one, Colonel H. S. Olcott, has occupied to my knowledge important public positions in the United States, held a commission from his Government to report upon commercial affairs in India, and was provided with a special recommendation, under the hand of the President, to the American Consuls in India and other States which he might have to visit. These documents I have myself seen. Nevertheless, this very innocent party had hardly landed at Bombay when a report, originating, it is believed, with an enemy (a native), whose character they have had occasion to expose, reached the police authorities to the effect that they were there for the purpose of spreading disaffection to the Government, and that one of them, a lady, who had become a citizen of the United States, was a Russian spy. I am at liberty to quote the following from a private letter of this lady, which will tell the rest of the story:—‘Our party was dogged by two European detectives and by native spies through our whole journey of 3,000 miles (through India). Our steps were followed, letters intercepted, native friends cross-questioned and bullied in the hope of finding something against us; mounted policemen followed us when we went to post letters. Of course, there being nothing to discover, nothing was discovered, but we were subjected to insult and annoyance, though Colonel Olcott frankly exhibited our American passports, went to see the political agents of every city, and explained our object to no less than five of these police commissioners. Immediately upon our reaching the Bombay terminus upon our return after a month’s journey, we drove to the American Consul’s, and he officially demanded an explanation. The answer is a pitiable and cowardly evasion. The Consul has carried the matter up to the Viceroy, as he is determined that his law-abiding countrymen shall either be free to travel where they like or a sufficient reason be given. Some of the correspondence between you and us may have been tampered with, as others have been. The present is sent under the Consul’s seal, and until the Viceroy has settled our matter your English letters should all come under cover to the care of the American Consul, and be registered. The Viceroy in a recent circular enjoined the utmost and strictest economy to all his subordinates; yet at least several thousand rupees have been spent in this dirty and stupid business of following us.’
“A letter to another friend remarks that the bare suggestion against any one of being an agent of Russian intrigue is enough to make all the officials of India lose their head.
“My letters from Colonel Olcott (through the Consulate) are in exact agreement with the above account, which I hope you will see fit to publish.”
Mr. Massey, who writes from the Athenæum Club, is, we believe, the gentleman who recently declared himself to be the recipient of the glove instantaneously transmitted from Bombay to London by Madame Blavatsky.
Says the Home and Colonial Mail (late Colonial Empire and Star of India) respecting Colonel Olcott, the Theosophosist:—“A paragraph recently appeared in the “Echoes from Abroad” column of the Colonial Empire and Star of India, reflecting upon the character of this American gentleman, who is at present in India, and it was copied into the Times of India and other Indian papers. We are anxious to assure Colonel Olcott that the substance of the paragraph in question was taken from the columns of an American paper, and inserted inadvertently. From the letter which Colonel Olcott has addressed to the Times of India, and from the assurances we have received from a gentleman of high position in London, we do not hesitate in expressing our belief that the statements made in the objectionable paragraph are entirely without foundation. We, therefore, take the earliest opportunity of assuring Colonel Olcott and those to whom it refers that we much regret its insertion.”
AND
Indian Advertiser.
SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1879.
Sir,—Madam Blavatsky sends a communication to the Hindu Prakash written in peculiar English in which she complains, “that with an hospitality and consistency worthy of a better cause she has been hailed by every class of Society as a secret emissary of the Russian Government, “A spy” to call things by their proper names.” It is not often that spies fall into such good hands, we hardly think that a suspected spy in Russia would be treated with any lavish hospitality, except in such a manner as a cat sometimes plays with a mouse. The lady has our sympathies. She suffers for her country. She suffers in consequence of that evil reputation which the Court of St. Petersburg has acquired of extending its power and influence in all directions by means concealed to ordinary observation. As to Prince Ramchundra Ballajee, he is doubtless some Bengallee Babu on his travels who is playing off some practical jokes by passing himself off on the unsophisticated Russians as a Raja. The aspirations of the genus Babu are not soon satisfied but possibly having succeeded for some time in playing the role of an Indian Prince at an European Court might have reached the limit of his ambition.
Hierophant Olcott writes home from Bombay that the Parsee women use no pins in dressing. How does he know?
AND
Indian Advertiser.
SATURDAY, JULY 12, 1879.
A letter from Mr. Massey—the promising young barrister who, having mastered the mystery of the fourth dimension in space, believes in the supersession of both Matter and Time—has been going the round of the Indian Press in which he denounces the espionage which it is alleged the Indian authorities have directed against Madame Blavatsky and Major Olcott during their sojourn in this country. In commenting on this letter the Englishman makes, or appears to make the following point:—
Though the Bombay police are no less distinguished for gullibility than for high handedness, we find it difficult to believe that their action in the matter was prompted by the suspicion that Madame Blavatsky was a Russian spy. Possibly they may have thought that, with dacoity and incendiarism raging in the Dekkan, the dissemination of socialist principles, under such illustrious auspices as those of an American Colonel with credentials from his Government, and a Russian Countess, was peculiarly inopportune.
Seeing that last week we had to remark on an instance of “gullibility” displayed by the Bombay detectives at Poona or the credulity of their backers, we are not quite free to object to the epithets hurled at the Bombay police by our Calcutta contemporary. But we dare say the Force is able to take care of itself, though Sir Frank Souter is at the Neilgherries. Our remarks on the Englishman’s shot is that it has not hit the bull’s eye this time. We are not aware that either the gallant Major or the distinguished Countess received the remotest attention from the Police whilst in this City of the free. We have always understood it was during their tour in Hindustan and upper India that their steps were dogged by police spies—but these were not Bombay police. In referring to this topic three weeks ago, we pointed, incidentally, to the Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office being responsible for this exceedingly silly proceeding regarding the knot of harmless enthusiasts of whom Major Olcott is chief. And we spoke of it as in accordance with “the usual puerile and suspicious notions prevalent amongst Bengal officials.” So let the Englishman mend its instance, and then we can endorse all it says in the article from which we have quoted. Certainly we are glad to take occasion to second what our contemporary says in condemning the demoralising practice of tampering with epistolary correspondence. If Mr. Monteith’s department has stooped to this pernicious device in connection with Major Olcott’s party, we trust that the American Consul-General will insist on having the whole of these miserable tricks exposed. That postal espionage was largely practised in connection with news-letters from Afghanistan is too well known; but it is high time we knew who or what department is responsible for that pestilent impertinence. We trust the Englishman will follow up the trace.
Editor's notes
- ↑ The London Times publishes... by unknown author, Times of India, The, Wednesday, July 2, 1879
- ↑ Says the Home and Colonial Mail... by unknown author, Times of India, The, Wednesday, July 2, 1879
- ↑ Sir,—Madam Blavatsky sends... by unknown author (signed as N.), Bombay Review and Indian Advertiser, Saturday, July 5, 1879
- ↑ Uncaptioned illustration. by unknown author
- ↑ Hierophant Olcott writes home... by unknown author, Telegram, New York, Tuesday, July 22, 1879
- ↑ A letter from Mr. Massey... by unknown author, Bombay Review and Indian Advertiser, Saturday, July 12, 1879. Several passages are underlined by hand. The writer has not been identified.