Is there a quote that expresses Mill's opposition to Indian democracy?

Upvote:2

Mills' ideas of "toleration, liberty, and experiments in living" were grounded in the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th century, in which the "rule of reason" swept Europe, but not (yet) other parts of the world. This, in turn, was grounded in the moral superiority of science (the industrial revolution) and law (the social contract and rule of law.

The unspoken subtext is that Mills' philosophy applied to those people who accepted the fundamental of the Enlightenment, and not others. As pointed out by another poster, Ne Mo, the Hindus of the 19th century were "more disposed to shelter a criminal than to apprehend him" did not follow the "rule of law or Enlightenment principles generally. They were then and thereby "disqualified" from enjoying the freedoms that Mills preached. By the 20th century, however, the Indians made a strong case for democracy in their country, and their record (post 1947) indeed proves that they were capable of it.

Upvote:10

Yes, he was. The book you're looking for is Considerations on Representative Government.

[A] people must be considered unfit for more than a limited and qualified freedom who will not co-operate actively with the law and the public authorities in the repression of evil-doers. A people who are more disposed to shelter a criminal than to apprehend him; who, like the Hindoos, will perjure themselves to screen the man who has robbed them, rather than take trouble or expose themselves to vindictiveness by giving evidence against him.

Mill thought that European countries had to teach their supposedly ignorant colonial subjects how to behave before they could be trusted with elections. Even Marxists, at this point, thought that Europe was the centre of the universe. While this doesn't mitigate any blame attached to Mill, the above quote is more important for what it tells us about the general 19th century European view of non Europeans than for what it says about Mill.

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