gress programme he would be brief. The moderation and resemblances of the proposals spoke for themselves to any one who would give them fair and kindly consideration. (Hear, hear.) But the Congress did not come before the Government with a cast-iron programme. Their wish was to make known to the Government the needs of the people, and to help the Government in ministering to those needs. (Hear, hear.) According to their view the welfare of India would be best secured by following the policy of Lord Lawrence (cheers), who was known as the "Saviour of India," and of the Marquis of Ripon (loud cheers), who was called the "Conqueror of India," because he had conquered the hearts of the Indian people. In this Jubilee year they did well to wish success and prosperity to the Indian National Congress, believing as they did that its labours had for their sole object the safety, honour, and welfare of Her Majesty and her dominions. (Loud eheers.)

APPEAL FOR FORBEARANCE AND EN

QUIRY.

Sir W. Wedderburn rose (17th Feb. 1898,) to move the following amendment to be added to the Address at the end :-" And we humbly pray that your Majesty, looking to the miseries patiently endured by the Indian people from famine, plague, poverty, and other afflictions during the past year, will graciously direct that special forbearance be shown towards them, and that careful enquiry be made into their present condition in order to restore confidence among the suffering masses, and thus prepare the way for healing measures tending to bring back peace and prosperity."

He said that the occurrences beyond the North West frontier had received full discussion, but it appeared to him that the internal condition of India was at present a matter of even graver anxiety. He thought that for the present the external question had been settled-not by the arguments of orators, but by the logic of facts. The people of this country now knew, and the Government themselves knew, that the policy of aggression and of disregard of the rights of others, had been a disastrous failure. (Hear, hear.) When he listened to the glowing periods of the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and his ingenious eulogy of the forward policy, and compared it with the bloodshed and ruin which had resulted, it made him think of Dead Sea fruit-beautiful outside, but dust and ashes to the teeth.. A policy not founded on righteousness was a mere whited sepulchre-fair without, but within filled with dead men's bones and all uncleanness. He proposed to deal only with the internal affairs of India, and he only referred to frontier matters for one reason. That was because he thought it necessary to draw attention to one point of Russian policy, a point which had not been dwelt on in the debate, but which had a direct bearing on the internal condition of India. The point was this, that in all their schemes for

The

an attack upon India the Russians depended mainly upon help from within. Their only real hope of success, was that while the "thin red line" confronted them on the border, there would be a rising of the population behind, which would cut us off from our base, and overwhelm us by its mere weight. On the other hand, if the people of India were prepared to support the British Government, as they did even in the darkest times of the Mutiny, they would form our ultimate line of defence, a line of defence which could not be broken down. (Hear, hear.) feeling and attitude of the people might be our greatest danger, or it might be our greatest safety. In former times they heard a great deal about the "key of India." At one time it was supposed to be at Herat, for some time, he thought, at Merv, then in London, then at Kandahar. But it was at none of these places, far less at Chitral or at Malakand. The "key of India" was to be found in the contentment and prosperity of the people of India. (Cheers.) That key had been securely held by the Marquis of Ripon when he was Viceroy of India, and it would be an ill day for this country and for India when that key was let drop or thrown away from heedlessness or misunderstanding. Let them not deceive themselves. This was a question of the very existence of our Indian Empire. But he .did not wish to appeal to fears. He desired rather to appeal to the justice and prudence, and humanity of the Government and of that House. During the past year almost every possible calamity had befallen the Indian people-famine, plague, war and earthquake. Unfortunately also their sufferings were aggravated by the very measures taken for their relief. These measures, such as plague segregation, were necessary and well-intentioned, but they involved fresh hardships by invading domestic privacy, which to Orientals was almost dearer than life itself. The people were thus distracted, and almost driven to despair. Under these circumstaances words and acts of sympathy were

sorely needed, to soothe the minds of the people, and encourage them to bear up under their afflictions. (Cheers) Anger against them and severity were quite out of place. He therefore deeply regretted that severe measures of repression had been adopted by the authorities, and that still more stringent measures were being prepared. This severity was a new departure of a serious kind, and he would beseech the Government to pause,to give the people another chance. In any case he would ask them to bear in mind the sufferings of the people, and not to exercise more severity than was absolutely unavoidable. With the permission of the House he would read a few lines from a letter he had just received from an old friend of his, a retired Indian judge, who after a long and distinguished career, was devoting the remainder of his days to works of religion and charity. This was what he said of the condition of the people, speaking not in anger but in sorrow: "The times here are very dark. The people have suffered fearfully. Above all, the Government has changed its character. It is not the same British Government which I have known all my life and which I served so long. I do not know how long this will last. But mark the words of an old man-this will do no good to your rule or to India. Not even during the Mutiny were things so bad as they have been in the Deccan during the last year." These were the words of a faithful servant and friend of the British Government, and he (Sir William) believed that they were strictly true. (Hear, hear.) These measures of repression, directed against freedom of speech and the liberty of the Press, would do no good to our rule in India. They chiefly affected the educated classes, and the motive for imposing them arose from a complete misunderstanding of the feelings and objects of those classes. If the House would bear with him he would point out certain facts within his personal knowledge, going to prove two propositions: Ist. That the educated

elasses were firmly attached to British rule by the solid. conviction that with it was bound up the only hope of a happy future for India; and 2nd. That the repressive measures were a mistake because they struck at our best friends and that a policy of sympathy and forbearance was both safe and beneficial. The hon. member for West Edinburgh had pointed out how difficult it was for the Secretary of State for India to learn the real facts and to maintain an impartial control, especially in question where official interests were directly concerned. Recently in a very important matter, relating to the attitude of the wild frontier tribes, the noble lord had been misled by his official informants. He had been assured that these tribe welcomed the military occupation of the mountain strongholds. He now knew that this was a delusion which had resulted in much disasters. Would the noble lord not take warning from this unhappy experience. (Hear, hear.) The central fact with reference to the tribes beyond the frontier was their passionate love of independence. The central fact with reference to the educated classes in India was their solid attachment to British rule. (Cheers.) To think otherwise, to suppose that the educated classes desired to upset, or even to weaken British rule, was a delusion; and to act upon this delusion by attacks upon these classes must inevitably lead to very unhappy results. Educated Indians were very intelligent-no one doubted that—and they knew perfectly well that India could not stand alone, and that the only alternative to British rule was Russian rule, or the still worse fate of anarchy. They therefore clung to British rule; they had adopted it as there national government; and there only desire was to make it strong in the approval and affection of the people. If they criticised Government measures it was because they wished to let the Government know the feelings of the people, and to warn it if there was danger ahead. (Hear, hear.) A foreign Government must always be acting with insufficient knowledge. They were,