deliberations and
resolutions. It is also true that up to the present it has given itself
largely to the criticism and abuse of government. By this it has alienated
some of its best friends. Still, even as a public censor it has doubtless
done good, and offers to the discontented a wholesome vent for pent up
feelings. It is also a remarkable gathering in its numbers of cultured men
and illustrates one of the wonders which Great Britain has accomplished in
that land. To think, that out of the babel of Indian tongues there should
gather together in one place annually some 5,000 native gentlemen to
discuss questions of State, and to criticise one of the most modern of
governments in the pure English accents of Addison or of Macaulay! What a
wonderful object lesson of progress this!

Nor is Great Britain as remiss or as selfish as many would lead us to
believe in the distribution of the loaves of office. There are only
122,661 male Britishers in that land (including the army)--one to every
2,500 of the population. Of these, only 750 are found in the higher
offices of government. In the Provincial Services 2,449 natives are
employed in high judicial and administrative posts. It is a significant
fact that out of 114,150 appointments, carrying Rs.(4) 1,000 annually,
ninety-seven per cent, are in the hands of natives. To all offices, below
that of the Governor of the Province, natives are eligible. As Judges of
the High Court and as Members of the legislative bodies not a few Indians
are found; as they are also in the Indian Civil Service which was so long
exclusively filled by Anglo-Indians. It hardly appears how England can
hold that great land to herself, as a member of her empire, with fewer of
her own citizens than are now found at the helm. Nor does it yet appear
that a strong, efficient and acceptable government can be maintained there
by a large reduction of this force. I use the word "acceptable" advisedly;
and it is certainly the business of Great Britain to discover and consult
the wishes of the people--not of the hungry office seekers--in this matter.
After many years of observation and of living among the people, I am
convinced that nine-tenths of them are prepared any day to vote in favour
of the relative increase, and not the decrease, of the European official
force. The people have found them to be just and honest; they know that
they can be depended upon to administer justice with an even hand and that
they are