The Future Government of India

The announcement in the Despatch when considered in the clear light of the events of the past seven years is in fact no more than the placing of the cupola on the edifice of the Reform Scheme raised under the stress of memorable circumstances as the authors of the Despatch were themselves ready to admit. [...] In the planning and the execution of this most memorable of all functiops in the history of ancient and imperial Delhi—signalising the triumphs of peace under Britain no less than the glories of her valour and the achievements of her diplmacy—the magnanimous solicitude of the Sovereign the sagacity and courage of his Ministers and Viceroy the weight of public opinion and the common sense of [...] It is easy to establish the subordination of the GovernoGeneral in Council to the secretary of State but it is difficult to reconcile the threefold absurdity of his position as the working agent of another aM a trustee in charge of a dependency and as the personal reprsentative of the Sovereign for the time being. [...] The member in charge could neither meet the reflection which this resentment conveyed nor answer the questions that were categorically put to him in the course of the debate ; as to whether it was true that the Government of India was not consulted before Lord Inchcape was appointed and that it had no share in determining the scope of the inquiry ; and whether the report of the president of the [...] For merely political purposes it is enough to distiguish the principle involved in these contracts of indenture from the details of the process of recruiment the treatment of the labourers the moral degradation and the political complications to which they lead and to confine ourselves to the responsibility attaching to the Government of India in this matter.