aptly learned
many of the lessons taught them by the rulers. The best acquired of all
these lessons is that of the power of agitation and of the efficacy among
the Anglo-Saxon race of the cry for human rights. The only difficulty is
that one might suppose, from the language of some of these men that
England has not yet conceded to worthy Indians any of those political
privileges which every Anglo-Saxon citizen demands for himself. As a
matter of fact, we see in the municipalities of that land a form of
popular government such as even not all western countries enjoy. The power
of the franchise, in the election of municipal commissioners, is vested in
all those who are possessed of the least amount of property. Even women
enjoy the franchise; and it is a curious fact that the natives of South
India have recently protested in the newspapers against the granting of
this power to women, because, they say, the power is exercised only by
"dancing girls" and other public characters. To those who watch carefully
the working of this right of municipal franchise and see how easily and
speedily the natives have adopted all the vices and tricks of the system,
it does not by any means seem an unmixed good. And the hardest critics of
the system that I have met have been intelligent and loyal Indians who
believe that this meed of self-government is fraught with evil. The
District Boards also are composed almost entirely of native gentlemen, and
they have large powers in the administration of the internal affairs of
the land. Moreover these municipal and local bodies, together, elect
members for provincial legislative bodies where they enjoy recently
enlarged powers for interpellating the government--a power which, by
excessive use or abuse, they may soon forfeit.

To all this must be added the freedom of the press, which also has
recently been abused by the dissemination of disloyal and seditious
sentiments, but which adds immensely to the powers of the people.

Then the "National Congress" is a peculiar institution which, while it
gives scope to the political aspirations of many natives, adds, by its
very existence, to the lustre of the British Raj in the land. Just imagine
for a moment the existence of such a Congress under Russian rule! It is
true that this Congress, which meets annually in some great city of the
land, has no connection with government or legislative bodies and has only
that power and influence which inhere in its