e final debates in the House of
Commons in which the opposition proved sterile in argument and weak in
numbers, and the Bill was passed through both Houses of Parliament in
time for the constitutional assent of the Crown to be given to it and
for the King-Emperor to address a solemn proclamation to the Viceroy,
Princes, and people of India on the eminently appropriate date of
Christmas Eve 1920. This Royal message of peace and goodwill set forth
in simple language both the purposes and the genesis of the Act:

I have watched with understanding and sympathy the growing desire
of my Indian people for representative institutions. Starting from
small beginnings, this ambition has steadily strengthened its hold
upon the intelligence of the country. It has pursued its course
along constitutional channels with sincerity and courage. It has
survived the discredit which at times and in places lawless men
sought to cast upon it by acts of violence committed under the
guise of patriotism. It has been stirred to more vigorous life by
the ideals for which the British Commonwealth fought in the Great
War, and it claims support in the part which India has taken in our
common struggles, anxieties, and victories.

In truth, the desire after political responsibility has its source
at the root of the British connection with India. It has sprung
inevitably from the deeper and wider studies of human thought and
history which that connection has opened to the Indian people.
Without it the work of the British in India would have been
incomplete. It was, therefore, with a wise judgment that the
beginnings of representative institutions were laid many years ago.
Their scope has been extended stage by stage until there now lies
before us a definite step on the road to responsible government.

The Act, which implemented all the principal recommendations of the
Montagu-Chelmsford Report, superseded within little more than fifty
years the Government of India Act of 1858, under which the Crown first
assumed direct responsibility for the government and administration of
India. The Royal message certainly did not exaggerate its significance.
Its actual provisions are indeed of less moment than its larger
implications and the spirit in which it will be interpreted and carried
into effect. For the right spirit to crown the new Constitution with
success