Edwin Samuel Montagu

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Edwin Samuel Montagu (after 1929)

Edwin Samuel Montagu ( February 6, 1879 - November 15, 1924 ) was a British liberal politician .

Life

Montagu was born the second son and seventh child of Sir Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling . In 1906 he was elected to the House of Commons as a member of the Chesterton constituency (until 1918) . From 1915 he belonged to the enlarged cabinet in the rather insignificant position as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster , which he had to vacate for Winston Churchill , but returned to this office in 1916 as the successor to Herbert Samuel . From 1918 to 1922 he represented the Cambridgeshire constituency .

Between 1917 and 1922 he was State Secretary for India . During his tenure, the Government of India Act of 1919 came into force , which installed a complicated system of dual rule over the provinces of British India : he challenged the previous British dogma that Indians were incapable of self-government: he gave up in August 1917 Pressure from Indian nationalists in the British House of Commons known: British policy in the future will be directed towards "increasing participation of Indians in every branch of administration and towards the gradual development of institutions of self-government with the aim of realizing a responsible government system" in India as an integral part of the British Empire . ”The result of these considerations were the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms (named after the viceroy at the time , Lord Chelmsford ), which were based on the intention of giving up as little power as possible to the Indian side, but at the same time the Claims of the Indian N ationalists to counter something effective, created a complicated system of decentralization with a delimitation of the competences of the central government and the provincial governments. The existing legislative councils have been converted into a real parliament . The central parliament consisted of a Council of State (Upper House), a Central Legislative Assembly (Lower House), and the Chamber of Princes , which met once a year . In addition to elected members of parliament, there were also appointed members of parliament, but the elected were at least in the majority. The viceroy had a right of veto against the decisions of the central parliament . Central decisions, such as the military budget, which was geared towards the needs of British warfare in Burma , Afghanistan or Balochistan , continued to be made by the British House of Commons and the London Cabinet. Here Montagu took into account the concerns of the former viceroy and current Conservative Minister of War, Lord Curzon , who had objected to Montagu's proposed self-government and called for the common language of responsible government . The system of dyarchy anchored in the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms found its special expression in the division of administration into reserved subjects and transferred subjects : the reserved departments, which included police and property tax , were subordinate to the governor and his executive councils, which were part of parliament London were responsible. The assigned departments, which included education , health , public work and agriculture , were transferred to Indian provincial ministers, who were responsible to the partially elected provincial parliaments. The British provincial governors also had a right of veto over the decisions of these parliaments. To further complicate the system, Montagu and Chelmsford had devised a franchise whereby Muslims and Hindus formed separate constituencies. In a report on the next constitutional reform, Montagu frankly admitted this, along with the remark that the separate electorate was now the political property of the Muslims.

He was the second Jew to serve in the British Cabinet but was a strong opponent of Zionism , which he viewed as a pernicious political conviction. He was against the Balfour Declaration , which he considered anti-Semitic . He feared that by the time allowed in this Declaration possibility other than the UK at a later date nationality , doubts about the purchase integrity would awakened by Jews and their loyalty to their country and gave an impassioned speech against the declaration in the Cabinet . He managed to modify the clauses of the Balfour Declaration so that it was now assured that the establishment of a “national Jewish home in Palestine” would not be at the expense of the civil rights of Jews in other states. His cousin Herbert Samuel was a moderate Zionist who served as Palestine's first high commissioner .

family

Montagu married Venetia Stanley in 1915 . She had previously rejected Montague's proposal and is known for her extensive correspondence with Herbert Henry Asquith . There is a daughter from the marriage.

Web links

Commons : Edwin Samuel Montagu  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fischer world history. Volume 33: Modern Asia. 1969, p. 28.
  2. ^ Dietermar Rothermund: Jewel of the Crown - India under British colonial rule. In: Die Zeit-Lexikon Welt- und Kulturgeschichte. Volume 12: Age of Nationalism. ISBN 3-411-17602-4 , pp. 350f.
  3. Abba Eban: These are my people. 1970, ISBN 3-426-00367-8 , p. 284.