it was hard to lay down any laws for them. Sir William Birdwood quoted Military Law Instructions to show that under the King's Regulations it was not necessary that a Magistrate's permission should be obtained before fire-arms were used. His Excellency compared the Military Law Instructions with the provisions of the Bill and said that it would result in transferring responsibility from one who knew to one who did not know, that provisions for giving a warning already existed, that it was doubtful if the mover of the Bill had thought out the legitimate conclusions of his provisions and that it would not be right to tie the hands of the man on whom final responsibility lay by rendering him liable to prosecution without sanction. The Bill was taken into consideration and, after certain amendments had been made, it was passed without a division. On the 15th September, Mr. Ramadas Pantulu brought up this Bill before the Council of State. The motion that the Bill be taken into consideration was opposed by Mr. Crerar and His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief on behalf of the Government. Sir Maneckji Dadabhoy declined to be a party to any legislation which would curb the ordinary statutory powers for the maintenance and preservation of law and order. Mr. P. C. Dutt also opposed the motion and said that the House could not do a worse disservice to the country than by passing it. Mr. Ramadas Pantulu's motion was negatived without a division.

The end of this session was also the end of the life of the first Council of State and His Excellency the Viceroy marked the importance of the occasion by personally addressing the House and bidding it farewell. His Excellency reminded those who had followed the fortunes of the Government of India Act, 1919, from the time of its introduction in the House of Commons, that as originally planned the Council of State was intended to be a body in which the Government of India would be assured of a majority, for it was to consist of the Governor General and 56 members, of whom 28 might be official. Had this conception prevailed, it would have enabled His Excellency to take part in the deliberations of the House. But the Joint Committee on the Bill had revised the proposal and "reconstituted" it. As His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught, in his speech at the inauguration of the Indian Legislature had emphasised, the intention of Parliament was "to create a true senate, a body of elder statesmen endowed with mature knowledge, experience of the world and consequent

sobriety of judgment. Its functions will be to exercise a revising but not an overriding influence for caution and moderation, and to review and to adjust the acts of the larger Chamber." As finally constituted the Council consisted of 60 members, of whom 33 were elected, and of the nominated, not more than 20 were to be officials. Of the nominated members, the representative of Berar was for all practical purposes an elected member, and the number of officials had been reduced as low as 17. "I cite these facts for the purpose ", said His Excellency, "of showing that as the discussions on the form of the new constitution developed, it was decided that the Government of India should surrender its majority and trust the Council of State, and further that after the constitution of the Council of State was finally settled by Parliament, the Governor General advanced again on the path of trust by refraining from nominating the full number of officials. allowed by the Act and nominating non-officials in their places." It had been a source of great gratification to His Excellency and to his Government that this policy of trust had been amply justified and at the same time the nominated non-officials had not, His Excellency observed, sacrificed their opinions to their position.

"The division lists of this Council" continued His Excellency, "furnished an abiding record that the nominated nonofficials have not hesitated to vote against Government at the dictates of their reason or their conscience. On the other hand, they have not shrunk from shouldering the burden of temporary unpopularity which too often is incurred by those who, undisturbed by waves of passion and prejudice, have applied a calm and sober judgment and have voted with Government when they were convinced that the higher interests of the country required it, when they were satisfied that these interests were being faithfully served by Government. The nominated non-official members have, in fact, exercised their functions with the same sense of independence and responsibility as the elected members of the Chamber, and I can therefore, in what I am about to say regarding the work of the Council of State as a whole, deal with all the non-official members of this Council as forming one body of men with firm principles and broad outlook,

keenly alive to the responsibilities of their position as members of a Second Chamber in which they command an overwhelming majority."

In the measures which had come before the Council His Excellency said it had "shown alike qualities of fearlessness and sobriety." Whilst you have been loath to interfere with measures which did not involve any vital principles, you have not hesitated to reject measures which in your calm and considered judgment and according to your conscience threatened the foundations of good government and would not truly serve the best interests of India You have performed these difficult functions (of a. Second Chamber) with a due sense of responsibility and have brought your judgment to bear upon the problems that confronted you with the sole desire to serve your country to the best of your ability." Looking back upon the history of the Indian Legislature during the past four and a half years, His Excellency noticed that there had been a large measure of agreement between the component bodies, a result which was as creditable to the one Chamber as to the other. There had no doubt been differences, often concerning practical measures which were discussed on their merits, and these had usually been found capable of adjustment. It was mainly on questions of finance and of the constitution that the Chambers had found themselves in disagreement. Referring to the resolution on the Reforms Inquiry Committee Report which had been accepted by the Council of State, His Excellency said that it would be duly considered by his Government together with the amendment which had been carried by the Legislative Assembly. "The conclusions of the Indian Legislature," said His Excellency, "must be considered as a whole, attributing due weight to that part which proceeds from the Council of State, and I believe, represents no inconsiderable proportion of the intelligent and stable elements in the country." Concluding his speech His Excellency bade farewell to the Council in the following words:

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In times of special difficulty, as times of transition must necessarily be, you have rendered a high service to your country by fulfilling to the best of your judgment. the responsible röle assigned to you by the Constitution. You have dealt with the important affairs which

have come before you according to your conscience and in a spirit of good sense and moderation. As I understand your views, you stand for progress and the political advancement of India as rapidly as can be achieved with due regard to the dictates of prudence and wisdom and the special conditions appertaining to India. It is upon these broad-based foundations that you desire to construct the road to advance and to erect the superstructure destined to crown the efforts for the greater contentment and happiness of the Indian people. In the knowledge that you have throughout acted in full accordance with these ideals and have been animated by a lofty sense of duty and a steadfast determination to advance the interests of India, I regretfully bid you farewell and cordially wish you all happiness."

CHAPTER III.

The Autumn Recess.

The foregoing description of the Simla Session shows its work being conducted on the whole in a peaceful atmosphere. Even the discussion on Pandit Motilal Nehru's amendment to the official Resolution on the Muddiman Report had very little of the acerbity which marked the similar discussion during the Delhi Session of 1924, out of which, as we have seen, arose the enquiry undertaken by the Muddiman Committee. Those who were present at both debates could not help contrasting the painfully tense atmosphere of February 1924 with the far friendlier spirit of September 1925. Then, too, during the Simla Session of 1925, there were so many things in which the Government, the Independents and the Swarajists were at one, so many of the Government's measures and so much of their action were so obviously conceived in the best interests of India, her people, and her industries, that not even their hardiest opponents could denounce them. In the first chapter we noticed certain signs of incipient disunity in the Swaraj party. Even inside the party, and still more clearly, outside it, in the electorates, a growing dissatisfaction with its ancient wrecking policy was beginning to show. Therefore, the Swarajists in the Assembly could no longer pursue a policy of opposition to Government for opposition's sake. They were constrained to take some part in the work of the House and throughout the whole session their leader shared the work of the Indian Sandhurst Committee, whilst his followers sat on many of the Committees of the House itself. In fact, by the end of the Simla Session it looked as though the Swarajists, at the next meeting of the Assembly would be occupying the position of an ordinary constitutional opposition. However, between September 17th, 1925, and January 20th, 1926, there occurred certain developments which were to exercise a profound influence on the whole political situation. Most of the importance of the Autumn Recess is to be sought in these developments and, unfortunately, in the still growing strain on Hindu-Muslim relations, which showed itself not so much in overt action or in actual communal rioting-although there were