system of India put together. What a demand for metals that meant. Similarly agricultural India, if prosperous, would require immense quantities of chemicals for manure, and machinery for irrigation. Indeed it might be said that there was nothing which the factories asd workshops of Great Britain produced that India would not gladly buy, to the great benefit of all concerned. (Applause.) Summing up, the lecturer said that the spirit of the British nation, in dealing with India should be that of the Queen's Proclamation of 1858, a very noble document, which the Indians regarded as the sheet anchor of their hope. This is what Her Gracious Majesty then said to Her Indian people :-" We hold ourselves bound to the natives of our Indian territories by the same obligations of duty which bind us to all our other subjects, and these obligations, by the blessing of Almighty God, we shall faithfully and conscientiously fulfil. In their prosperity will be our strength, in their contentment our security, and in their gratitude our best reward." (Applause.)

THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS.

Prior to his departure to Bombay to preside at the Fifth National Congress Sir William Wedderburn, Bart., was ftertained at a luncheon at the National Liberal Club by Mr. George Yule, the President of the Fourth National Congress. In acknowledging the toast proposed in his favour Sir William spoke as follows:

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,

I thank you sincerely for the hearty way in which you have received this toast. I feel much your kindness to myself, but above all, I value your presence here to-day as a mark of your warm sympathy with the suffering millions of India. This great Liberal Club represents the vanguard of the army of progress, and I welcome those hearty cheers, because I regard them as a token that you are determined that justice shall be done, and that the great trust of England towards India shall be duly discharged. This trust which has to be discharged is no light one. The vast masses of India are altogether unrepresented; they have no voice in the management of their own affairs. Indeed, the two hundred millions of our Indian fellow-citizens all put together have not as much direct power in the management of Indian affairs as one single British elector. ('Shame'). These poor people are in the hollow of your hand, and the people of this country are really directly responsible for their lives, for their progress, both material and social, and for their happiness. And when we look to the past I fear it cannot be said that this trust has been satisfactorily fulfilled. (Hear, hear). Perhaps we may claim that the sins of the people of England have been those of omission rather than of commission. Whenever the people of England have interfered with Indian affairs it has been an interference for good, it has been

an interference that confers some substantial boon, or to bring to justice some great official offender; and I think it will be to the everlasting credit of the English name that the English people have always desired that India should share with them all the privileges, the freedom, and progress which we ourselves possess. (Hear, hear.) That has been their desire, but it is not enough that they should mean well. We know what becomes of good intentions-(laughter)—especially if those good intentions are not fulfilled. It must be said that we have committed one great sin of omission, and that is that we do not look to the trust ourselves, but we have blindly and wrongfully handed over that trust to our official agents in India. I say that we have done that blindly and wrongfully, because the professional interests of our official agents in India are in direct antagonism to the interests of those whom we are bound to protect. In all countries we know that the interests of the people—that is, of the taxpayers-are not identical with the interests of the officials, that is, the tax-eaters. In India this is especially the case. The interests of the people in India are peace, economy, and reform. (Hear, hear.) And every one of these things is distasteful to the military clique which reigns at Simla. Wars like that of Burmah mean the provision of good things; they bring annexation with titles and promotion, governorships, and distinctions. Again, how can you expect officials to love economy, which means reduction of their own salaries? (Laughter.) And how can we expect them to vote for reform, which means simply the restriction of the unlimited power which they now enjoy? It is, therefore, quite certain that we cannot expect from them great activity in the direction of peace, economy, and reform. I would not blame this class of feeling from only professional instincts; what I blame is the system which gives to that class uncontrolled power. (Cheers.) In England we find it practically impossible to con

trol the great spending department-(hear, hear)—although nominally, at least, we are the masters. What can we expect when positions are exactly reversed, when the great spending departments are the absolute masters, and where the taxpayer is only the man whose duty it is to pay the taxes that are demanded from him? Of course, we cannot expect to have a rule which will be hurtful to the professional prospects of those who administer the affairs of India. We may say, of course, there is a check in this country upon the doings of the officials of India. But what does that check consist of ? I say there is practically no control whatever over the officials of India. It is no doubt true that from official decisions there does lie an appeal to the India Office, but the Secretary of State, as we know, knows nothing about it; and we also know that his Council is recruited from the innermost clique of those very officials against whom the complaints from India come. I say, therefore, that the appeal to the Secretary of State in Council is worse than no appeal at all. And then we may say the House of Commons will exercise control. We all know what they do in that way; they give, at the fag end of the Session, about half a-day to the consideration of the whole affairs of that great Empire. (Shame.') If such is the case, what is the result of this uncontrolled administration of India? I think the results are just those natural results we should expect from such a state of things. We find a grinding taxation and extreme poverty of the people. I will not be certain as to the exact figures, but it is estimated that the average income of the Indian tax-payer is about three half-pence a day. That does not give material for much taxation, one might say; but the taxation in proportion to income in India is about double what it is in this rich country of England. ('Shame.') Take, for example, the case of salt, which, for a vegetarian people is a practical necessity of life. The duty upon salt is twenty times the cost

of production, which acts as a most cruel poll-tax upon the very poorest classes of the population. And again, as to poverty, we know how excessively poor they are. It is estimated that one-fifth of the population, or something like forty millions of the people, practically go through life without knowing what it is to have their hunger satisfied. They all live so terribly near the verge of sustenance that one bad year, one failure of the periodical rains, brings wholesale famine over great provinces. At the last great famine in Madras and Bombay there were officially reported five million deaths from hunger, mostly poor, industrious peasantry and their wives and children. It is almost impossible to conceive what that means; but it means that a population was destroyed larger than that of London, and larger than that of Ireland. Well, gentlemen, what is the remedy that we have to adopt in dealing with this great problem of India? Hitherto the great difficulty has been that the people of India have been dumb, and that we have no means of finding out where the shoe pinches. But now at least they have found their voice. (Hear, hear.) They have found a voice from the great and good boons that they have received from the British people. They have found a voice because we have given them a free press, free public meetings, and, what they value more than all else, we have given them higher education. (Hear, hear.) They have now found a voice, and through the Indian National Congress they are now addressing the people of England, and they are telling them how India may be made prosperous and contented, and they are telling them that a just and conciliatory policy may consolidate for many years to come the foundations of British Rule. (Hear, hear.) In expressing my thanks to you I hope you will also allow me to express our best thanks to our host and chairman. (Loud cheers.) I express also my thanks for the kind. references he has made to me, and for the good wishes

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