845.00/1417: Telegram
The Officer in Charge at New Delhi (Merrell) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:03 p.m.]
578. If Government hoped that publication of Congress documents would produce in this country a typhoon of indignation against the Congress, it must be highly chagrined to find that it has only succeeded in producing a boomerang and in lowering itself still further in Indian public esteem at a moment when constructive statesmanship is the crying need of the hour.
The following is an extract from telegram received from the Consul at Bombay:
“Reports continue to reach me of the intensity of anti-British feeling throughout Bombay area. Shortages and high prices of foodstuffs and kerosene are contributing factors to this anti-British sentiment. If a civil disobedience campaign develops, these unfortunate economic factors will make start much worse. I must again point out that depth and intensity of anti-British feeling in western India can scarcely be overemphasized.” (Reference my 523, July 28, noon,28 for situation in Bengal.)
Please telegraph whether recent statements of Gandhi and Nehru on publication of Congress documents and their speeches yesterday to All India Congress Committee have been published in American press. There is reason to think that some of the statements are being shortcircuited in London.
- Not printed.↩