personal causes, but inherent in the very system of diarchy.

But we all know that the Bill, being a Government measure, has a practically fixed destiny, and that by Christmas it will be an accomplished fact, the incalculable chances of Fate being set aside. What, then, should be the policy of all Indians and lovers of India? It is in no sense the prerogative of this paper to dictate or even suggest what the Indian National Congress may or ought to decide. But there are plain facts and alternative courses open to the consideration of every thoughtful and interested mind. It may be that the Bill may be amended by the Houses of Parliament so that it is immensely better than we now foresee. If so, well and good; if wishes were horses, beggars would be riders. The more likely thing is that the Bill will go through much as it is, and in that case it is indisputable that the 1919 Indian National Congress will be the most important one that has ever met, and that its decisions will determine the course of Indian policy for a generation. That the political genius and prestige of Mr. Tilak, Pandit Motilal Nehru, Mr. M. K. Gandhi, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, and of all the other great Indian leaders may work

together fruitfully to one grand end will be the heartfelt desire of every well wisher and admirer of India. Faced with an unsatisfactory Act, Indian political leaders may think of the parable in Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice." The wooers of Portia had to make a choice between a gold, a silver, and a leaden casket. The golden one bore the inscription, "Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire." The Prince of Morocco, who opened it, found inside a Death's head and the scroll, whose message began, "All that glistens is not gold." So will it be with those who take the Act at the face value which the Coalition Parliament inscribes upon it. They will be the dupes, but the Congress will certainly not be of this school of thought and accept the golden promises enshrining the Death's head. The silver casket bore the motto, "Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire." The Prince of Arragon, whose choice it was, found inside the portrait of an idiot. This might well symbolise those politicians in India whose consistent inconsistency is to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds, at one moment in with the Government and proclaiming their moderation, at another loudly asserting that they are as extreme as the extremist, and that, in spite of their

statesmanlike qualities of negotiation, diplomacy, and what not, no one can better them in a crisis. "Some there be that shadows kiss, Such have but a shadow's bliss," were the words inside the silver casket, and they aptly describe the Yea-and-Nay Party, despised by none more than by the Government itself. It was Bassanio who proved the successful wooer by opening the leaden casket.

Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath," said the label on this casket. The leaden casket of democracy does indeed make the demand of constant hazard and utter selfsurrender; and this will certainly be the choice of the Indian National Congress. The gold of Governmental gifts, the specious silveriness of calculated zig-zag courses, will be unattractive in its eyes, compared with the dull, unattractive leaden casket containing the fulfilment of its democratic and far-reaching policy. The dupes and the self-seekers may fall away. The truehearted workers will remain and ever secede until the goal of real self-government be reached. Even many of the better disposed of the waverers will return, we believe, to the old Congress flag.

The placing of the "little thing" upon the Statute Books of Great Britain is no particularly

proud achievement for the Mother of Parliaments to boast of. Its hurried passage before the Report of either the Currency or the Punjab Commissioners is rather clever. Its anticipation of the second may make it precede an outburst of national wrath. Its priority to the first may dodge awkward financial questionings. It is obvious that the Bill in its present measure of concession goes just about as far as the commercial and financial interests will sanction. The minimum of self-determination means the maximum of capitalistic exploitation.

May the Indian National Congress prosper in all its decisions! And when they are taken, may it remember that the next step is to send over enlightenment as to India's wishes to the great British people, who, not unmindful of India's glorious record, would be glad to do justice if only the truth were not withheld from their eyes. The Rubicon again has to be crossed by an Indian Cæsar; the Imperial City must know of its purport. -November 28, 1919.

F

VIII

THE CONGRESS DEPUTATION

ON December 26, 1919 the last remaining members of the Delegation of the Indian National Congress left London for India. The occasion is therefore not an unfitting one upon which to review the general results of the Delegation's activities.

In personnel it comprised twelve members, viz., Mr. B. G. Tilak, Dewan Madhava Rao, the Hon. Mr. G. S. Khaparde, the Hon. Mr. V. J. Patel, Mr. Hasan Imam, Mr. N. C. Kelkar, Mr. B. G. Horniman, Mr. A. R. Iyengar, Dr. Mehta, Mr. B. C. Pal, Dr. Sathaye, and Mr. Chenchiah.

During the stay of the Deputation a fourfold work was accomplished. The British Committee of the Congress was reorganised upon the defined and constitutional basis; the Congress Policy with regard to the Government of India Bill was pressed by every legitimate political means upon Parliament and the Joint Select Committee; the case for Indian Home Rule and the truth (as far as was then known) upon the Punjab reprisals was widely disseminated by a national campaign; and efforts were made to reconcile the various Indian Deputations and politicians who had come over contemporane