The Colombo Declaration - India Correspondent Mark D'Arcy
Editors note: Read The Viscount Trevelyan's full speech in this week's supplementary booklet
The Viscount Trevelyan has been a controversial character ever since the Black-North coalition came to power. His latest move has been possibly his most controversial though. This Wednesday he gave an address to an invited audience at the newly completed coastal defences at the Port of Colombo. The location itself is already a potent symbol - it was decided by the India administration that resources were to be redirected from Burma to Ceylon over mounting fears of the Anglo-Dutch treaty. Now complete the fortress overlooks the bustling port and promises to protect British shipping whatever happens in Indonesia.
The speech begins with an address to the India Railways Union, a number of senior leaders of the union had been invited to the talk. The talk praised their perseverance and hard work in creating the world's greatest railway network, the implications later became clear. The message being presented out of Colombo is one of solidarity with the unionists back in Europe now falling under the oppression of the Westminster government.
This led in neatly to the main thrust of the speech. Trevelyan spoke about the importance of widening horizons. Most of the rest of the speech was in praise of the good work done in the school system and the Colonial Administration's continuing dedication to expanding this service to all children throughout India. On the surface the speech was a honest endorsement of a policy that is seeing success and making the lives of Indian people better.
However reading between the lines the true message of the speech was not hard to see. Trevelyan has been building an image as defender of Whitehall and the House of Lords for years now and has found himself clashing with Commons frequently on issues of the Empire and especially the Anglo-Dutch treaty. But the subtle message of the Colombo declaration is perhaps his most belligerent statement yet. He has opened the doors to political exiles from Britian.
Trevelyan made the odd comment paraphrasing John Locke and even chose to use the phrase Freedom of Conscience at one point. From his other works we can assume that Trevelyan isn't talking about religious freedoms but rather political freedom. Ever since the Night of the Crowns Hounds people have been attempting to leave Britain. Trevelyan is trying to welcome them to India.
Further comments later in the speech specifically in his congratulations of the Iranian and Australian teams in the sporting competitions held in the area, show that he is well considering India's own foreign relations.
Had he done this a year ago then it would have been considered disastrous and he would likely have been quickly removed from his position however in the past year the political landscape has changed vastly. Ever since the Anglo-Dutch treaty was proposed Trevelyan has seen himself gaining the support of Whitehall and Lords. His commitment to the Indian Education act sees him also extremely popular in many parts of India amongst the locals and senior figures in the Indian army and throughout the Colonial Office are all firmly in his camp. The time for Westminster to be able to put a stop to this easily has now long since past.
