Sir Rabindra Nath Tagore sends to press a copy of the letter which he has written to a literary friend in England. In the course of the letter he writes: In your letter you seem puzzled at my conduct in sending a message of sympathy to Mrs. Besant. I am afraid, compared with your own troubles, it may appear to you too small but yet sufferings have not lost their keenness for us and moral problems still remain as the gravest of all problems in all parts of the world. Constant conflict between the growing demand of the educated community of India for a substantial share in the administration of their country and the spirit of hostility on the part of the Government has given rise among considerable number of our young men to methods of violence bred of despair and distrust. This has been met by the Government by a thorough policy of repression. In Bengal itself hundreds of men are interned without trial, great number in unhealthy surroundings, in jails and in solitary cells, in few cases driving them to insanity or suicide. The misery that is carried into numerous households is deep and widespread. What I consider to be the worst outcome of this irresponsible policy is spread of contagion of hatred against everything western in minds which were free from it. In this crisis the only European who has shared our sorrow incurring anger and derision of her countrymen is Mrs. Annie Besant.
