Baaghi

Below is the text of famous writing, On Compromise, by Lord John Morley of UK. I just found it in my collection of pdf documents gathered from various online & offline sources. Thought it is important to share it with today’s young of this country, whose founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah once prescribed this reading to the youth of his era. Jinnah was great admirer of Lord Morley, who, besides being a liberal intellectual & statesman, was a literary writer as well. His writings on Burke, Byron etc. He was an anti-imperialist, but advocated fierce tackling of native resistance against the state in India, which he called conspiracy and sedition.

Morley became Secretary of State to India in 1906 and made an important contribution to Indian politics by introducing his reforms of 1909, commonly known as Minto-Morley reforms. Because of his continuous efforts, British India got some share of Indian nationals (the rich ones) in the decision making. After Minto-Morley reforms of 1909, the Legislative Council of India got two seats for Indians, for the first time. Jinnah got benefitted by getting elected to one of these seats in 1910. But Jinnah’s appreciation of Lord Morley can’t be attributed to his election. It goes back to late 19th century when Jinnah was in UK and had the opportunity to listen to thinkers like Morley and his hero William Gladstone.

At one occasion during his active political life, Jinnah advised the youngsters of the time to read the works of Morley, especially the below posted On Compromise. Hope it proves interesting reading for today’s youth, especially the passionate and ‘all-knowing’ youngsters from Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf. I hope Imran Khan also reads it. Reading is what all of us desperately need.