A SHOR1' BIOGRAPHY OF 

BABU SURENDRANATH BANERJEA· 

IN the history of nations, as in agriculture, there are 
periods of fertility proalucing quite a crop of great men as 

well as times of sterility unrelieved by the appearance of a 

single man of geQius. The forties of the nineteenth century 
were one such per~d of fertility. It was this decade that 

gave to our country, as we have seen, Mr. W. C. Bonnerjee, 
Mr. Monmohan Ghose and his illustrious brother. It was 
this decade again that witnessed the birth of one of the 
greatest sons of India, who has set apart his life to the ser­
vice of his country and who may truly be entitled to the 
most honourable title of the old Roman Orator, " the father 
of bis country." 

Born tn 1848, Surendranath was junior to Mr. W. C. 
Bonnerjee by four years, and like him came of a respectable 
Brahman family at Taltala in Calcutta. His father was the 
famous Dr. Durgacharan Banerjea whose medical skill has 
passed into a by-word in Bengal. Educated at thte Doveton 
College, Surendranath graduated at the Calcutta t;niversity 
and started for England in 1868 to try for the Indian Civil 
Service, in company with two other youngmen, each of whom 
·, an honoured name in our country and one of whom has 
specially shed upon it a lustre for scholarship and patriotism. 

While in England Surendranath had the O{:)portunity 
of studying under men like Prof. Goldstucker an<l Samuel 
::\Iorley. In due time he' ~arne out successful at the Ci tl 
Service Examination, but the Commissioners refus~d to take 

him into service on the plea of his having passed the age 
limit. Surendranath was divine to the necessity of making 
a law court matter of it and then the Commissioners gave 

np th~ir contenti0n by e'1rolling him as a membt:>r 



") 

2 

service. On his return to India, Surendranath served for 
two years as an Assistant-Ma~&istrate at Sylhet, but he soon , 
had to resign the Service on account of some slight charges , 

brought against him by Government. There at once arose 

a storm of indignation all over the country and meetings ;' 
were held and articles were written in support of Surendra- : 
nath and accusing Government of gross injustice. But all 

• was of no avail. Surendranath had to ~go. But out of evil 

cometh good and Surendranath lost to the Civil Service 

became Surendra won for and dedicated to the Service of 
his Country. _. 

• 

Ever since that time Surendranath has devoted himself 

heart and soul to his country's cause. For a short time he 

worked as a Professor of English Literature in the Metro­

politan Institution of the ever-memorable Pandit Iswar 
Chandra Vidyasagar. In 1882 Surendranath started a school 
of his own in Calcutta, which gradually grew into the Ripon 

College-one of the best conducted :private Colleges in the 

metropolis, and in 1878 he undertook the Editorship of 

the Bengalee. In its columns in r883, he attacked Mr. 

Justice Norris for having wounded the feelings of the Hindus, 

by ordering, in a certain case, the family idol to be brought 

into open court It was followed by an arrest for contempt 
of court and although an apology was offered, he was sen-

tenced to be put into civil jail for. two months. He had 

a:ready established his renown for matchless oratory and 

the outburst of feeling which took place throughout the 

country on his imprisonment has never been witnessed. The 

whole country went mad over it and the incident only brought 

Surendranath and his country into closer relationship than 

ever. 

AmoPg the leaders of the Indian :\'"a tiona! Congress 

Surendranath stands foremost and it is to his personality that 

the movement owes its share of success. He twice adorned 

the chair vf its Pre:;ident 'l:d on both of these occasions 

his ~erances were u.·i•1ne. In the Legislative Council and 

I 

i.... 



( 3 ) 

on the ~Iunicipal Board, the talents and energy of Suren­

dranath were all employed in .the service of his country. 
During the Calcutta Municipal Bill agitation he worked 
with the ardour and zeal of a youngman and to-day as we 
pass along the current of Swades!tism, we feel everywhere 
the influence of the same personality all through its course. 

Old as he is, he is still as active as any youngman and 
• 

the fire of enthusiasm i\11d robust optimism with which he 
is endowed, carry everything before him. · The tenacity of 

purpose which ch;:racterises him made a distinguished journa­
list once change Iils name into "Surrender not," and the 
marvellous powers of well-reasoned oratory, with which 
nature has endowed him, has caused him to be compared 
with Cicero and Demosthenes. May he live long to work 
for the cause of his country to which he has devoted his 
life and to whose service he has dedicated his alL-Bengal 
Celebrities. 



CONTENTS . 
• 

ELECTION RuLES. AT THE KRISHNAGAR CoNFERE~CE 

SIR COMER PETHERAM MEETING 

AT THE MUNICIPAL MEETING IN CONNEXION WITH H. H. THE 

PAGE. 

I 

7 

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR'S SPEECH AT ENTALLY 12 .. 
FAMINE QUESTION AT T•E NATIONAL CoNGREss, 1896 24. 

REPLY TO MR. JACOB'S STATEMENT 35 

AMRAOTI CoNGREss, 1897 ... 57 
-~ 

ON THF; SEDITION BILL AT THE ToWN HALL, CALCUTTA 72 
ON THE CALCUTTA MUNICIPAL BILL 81 
DAccA CoNFERENCE.-ON PLAGUE MEASURES 125 

MADRA(CoNGRESS, 1898. WELCOME TO LORD CuRZON 136 

CoNsTITUTioN AND WoRKING OF THE CoNGREss 148 
LucKNOW CoNGREss, 1899. CALCUTTA MUNICIPAL AcT 154 

APPOINTMENT OF AN ENGLISH AGENCY ... 170 
PRESENTATION OF AN ADDRESS TO MR. R. C. DUTT IiJ 
OPENING CEREMONY OF THE BRADLAUGH HALL AL J~AHORE... 177 
LAHORE CONGRESS, 1900. EMPLOYMENT OF INDIANS IN 

MINOR CIVIL SERVICES... x8o 

CoNGREss AND I.oRD CuRZON. THANKS To H. E. THE 

VICEROY 190 
DEATH OF THE QUEEN. DEMONSTRATION BY THE PEOPLE, 204 

CALCUTTA CONGRESS, 1901. WIDER EMPLOYMENT OF NATIVES 

OF INDIA 207 

AHMEDABAD CoNGRESS, ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT 224 

ON SociAL REFORM, 1902 316 
ANSWER TO THE STUDENTS' ADDRESS 319 
To THE STUDENTS OF BERHAMPUJt 324 

MADRAS CONGRESS, 1903 330 

--ON THE UNIVERSITIES BILL 332 

BENGAL PROVINCIAL CoNFERENCE, JulJ' 1904 345 

ToWN HALL MEETING. IN CONNEXION WITH THE SCIENTIFIC 

AND INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION IN BENGAL 

RAMMOHAN ROY ANNIVERSARY 

357 
357 

' 



II CO~TENTS. 

Bo\rBAY Co~GREss, 1904. INDIANS AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE. 366 
.M ... HARSHl DAVENDRANATH TAGORE .:\fE~IORIAL MEETING.... 379 

THE STUDI;:NTS' UNION 384 

PARTITION OF BENGAL :-PROTtsT MEETING AT BHOWANIPUR 386 

SwADESHl MovEMENT. MEETING AT CoLUTOLA 389 

--MEETING AT KUMARTULI 392 

CoNGREss AT BENARES, 1905 393 

--THE PARTITION OF BENGAL 396 

PRIZE-DISTRIBUTION MEETING.. 406 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS TO ENTRANCE CANrl'IDATES 41 I 

IN MEMORY OF BABU JooENDRA CHANDRA BosE 416 

SWADESHISM, DEc. 1906 

CALCUTTA ...;oNGRESS, 1906 

CALCUTTA MUNICIPAL BILL, PART I, 

" " , PART II, 

.. 419 

430 

442 

447 



• 
BABU SURE~DRANATH BANERJEA'S SPEECH 

'oN THE ELECTION RULES AT· THE 

KRISHN AGUR CONFERENCE. 

Mr. President and G~ntlemen, 

BEFORE I proceed to deal with the Resolution which 
has been entruste~to me, I desire to refer to some observations 
which have been made by two of the preceeding speakers, in 

regard to the place which was assigned in the list of our 
business to the Resolution dealing with the despatch ofthe 
Indian contingent to Egypt. They complain that being an 
imperial question and this being a Provincial Conference, the 

first place should not have been .accorded to this Resolution. 
I desire to point out that the order of the Resolutions is n~ 
index on the part of_ the Conference of the comparative 
importance of the differPnt Resolutions in our programme. 
The order is merely a matter of arrangement, determined 
with reference to convenience in the. despatch of our business ;· 
and no more striking evidence in support of what I say can 
we have than this-that the Resolution which I am about to 
move though the last in the series is not inferior in point of 
importance to any of the Resolutions which have been laid 

before the C!.3nference. With this explanation which I trust 

will satisfy my friends who have raised the question, I pass 
on to the consideration of the Resolution which I have the 
honor to move. The terms of the Resolution are these: 

(Here reads the Resolution.) 

You are aware that one of the reforms upon which the 
Congress haq set its heart, which it insisted in season and out 

of season, was this reform of the Councils. \Vhen the 
Congress met for the first time in 188 5 it put this question 

in the forefront and formulatecl the lines Opon which, in its 

opinion, the reform should be carried out. It repeat~ tht: 



2 

demand at every meeting of the Congress and· continued 
the agitation both here and in ~ngland, until its efforts were 
crowned with success, and the Councils were reformed and · 
enlarged by the Indian Councils Act of 1892. That indeed 
was a halting measure of refonn which did not satisfy the 
country. \Ve accepted it only as the partial instalment of 
a great concession which wil-l. be made to us in the fullness 
of time. The amending statute did not ~ecognize the elective 
principle. Discretion in this respect was given to the 
Government of India, and the discussion \,.bich preceded the 
enactment of the statute left no doubt as to how that discre­
tion was to be used. Both Lord Salisbury and Mr. Gladstone 
fTom their places in Parliament declared that what was 
intended by the Act was to secure a living representation of 
the Indian peoples. How far that object has been attained will 
appear from one or two facts which with your permission I 
will Jay before the Conference. You have in Bengal a popula­

tion of seventy millions. This vast population is represented 
by six elected members, or if you take the whole Council, 
consisting of elected and non-elected members, by 20 mem­
bers. \Vhy, the pettiest . Municipality in the Province has a 
more adequate representation than that. The representation 

in our municipalities varies from h\·enty to thirty members of 

whom fuHy two-thirds are elected. 
Defective as the Act is, the manner of its working in 

Bengal has rendered it still more unsatisfactory. That it 
should be so need not excite our surprise, having regard to 
the genesis of the rules under which the Act is worked. These 
rules were issued by the Government of Sir Charles Elliott 
which is saying. a great deal. They were settled at a 
Conference of officials held at Belvedere, to which not a 
single non-official was invited. As for the rules themselves 

• 
they are open to the obvious objection that under a system 
of rotation, whole divisions are left unrepresented in the 

Council. You know what the system of rotation is. In I 893, 
wherf' the first elections were held, the Presidency, the 



( 3 . ) 

Rajshahi, the Patna and the Chittagong Divisions took part 
in the elections. All !he ot!ihers, including such important 

Divisions, as the Dacca and the Burdwan Divisions, were 
left out. In the elections of 1895, the Divisions which had 

taken part in the elections of I 893 were left out-the Divisions 

which had been left out in I 893, took part in the elections. 
Thus at each election, four divisions take part, the o,thers 

remain unrepresentecP. Ours is thus a partial representation. 

It need not be so. In Madras and the North-\Vestern 

Provinces a diffqent system prevails. The municipalities 
and the District Boards are grouped into four divisions. 
Thus in Madras, we have the municipalities of the northern 

and those of the southern division, each group retuniing a 

member to the Legislative Council at each election. The 
District Boards are similarly classified into two 'divisions. All 
the District Boards and Municipalities thus take part at each 

election. None are excluded. All are represented. The 
representation is not, like ours, partial and incomplete. 

1 
Not 

the smallest inconvenience has ever arisen from this arrange­

ment. There never has been any complaint of any kind. 

There never has been ~ tie, while thorc ugh representaticn 

has been secured so far as practicable under the existing rules. 

The only possible objection to the adoption of the system 

which prevails in M:tdras and North-Western Provinces i which 
my friend Babu Ambika Charan Mazumdar reminds me is 
also the system followed in Bombay) is, what was so tem­

perately put forward by the Statesman newspaper, that it 
,offers less scope for the play of local interest. This however 

is an inconvenience which the Governments of Madras and 

of the North- \Vestern Provinces have not felt. And if it is 

ever felt, it can be easily removed. All that the Government 

has got to do is to appoint a person possessed of local know­
ledge for any Bill which may require such knowledge. The 

Government has almost a free hand in the matter of appointing 

members of Council. Out of twenty members of the Bengal 

Council, only six are el ~cted, fourteen are nominated., The 



4 

Government therefore can have no practical difficulty in 
providing for local knowledge when the consideration in 
Council of any proposed measure of law may need it. 

The Government is now re-considering the rules for the 
election of members to the local Legislative Council, not 
indeed with a view to satisfy the demands of public opinion, 
but to remove a serious administrative difficulty. The 
District Board elections for the Dac& Division and the 
Bhagulpur Division threatened to end in a fiasco. There 
was a tie in connection with both the elecppns. The tie in 

regard to the election by the DistriCt Boards of the Dacca 
Division was got over by the public-spirited withdrawal of 
Raja Surja Kanta Acharyya Chowdhury from the field which 

had the effect of securing the return of our distinguished 
President to the Council. [Babu Matilal Ghose :-"You 
should have also mentioned Babu Ambika Charan Mozumcler's 
firmness in the matter." The speaker ;-1 did not 
mention Babu Ambika Charn Mozumdar's name for 
personal reasons."] At Bhagulpur however the situa­
tion became critical. The rival candidates stuck fast 
to their guns. Neither of them would withdraw. The 
Government came to the rescue. It cut the Gordi"an knot by 
appointing the Maharaja of Gidhour to represent the Bhagul­
pore Division in the Council, although he did not even stand 
as a candidate for election. That was a grave scandal. It 
was felt as such by the country. How to prevent the recur­
rence of a scandal like this, by avoiding the. possibility of a 
tie in future, is the question which is now being considered 

by the Government. The Government proposes to meet 
the difficulty by adding to the number of votes possessed by 
the District Boards and by making the number of votes uneven. 
Your proposal is precisely the same, with this difference that 
I claim for it that it is natural, while the systet:n proposed by 
the Government is artificial. You add to the number. of 
votes by adding to the number of your constituencies. The 

Govecmment proposes to. add to .the f\lJ!llber of votes py 



giving plurality uf 
upon their income. 

5 ) 

\·otcs to tltc District Buards, based 
We say, •et all the District Boards be 

divided into two electoral groups of an uneven number, each 

District Board having one vote as now. Our system is simple 

and is free from the complications which attends the 
Government system. It moves ajong the line of least re­

sistance. \Vhat is still more important. it effectually 
prevents the possibilPty of ·a tie in connection with the 
District Board elections. The Government prQposes two 
scales. I am afr~~d having regard to the lateness of the 
hour, I am precluded from entering into details. Vpdcr the 
first scale proposed by the Government, the chances of a 

tie are not avoided. Under the second scale, a slight 

alteration in the income of any District Board may upset the 
calculations of the Government and a tie may be inevitable. 
But the plan you recom·mend will operate with mathematical 
precision, and a tie can never occu.r. 

So much with regard to the administrative difficulty. 
But I venture to recommend your proposal for the favourable 
consideration of Government upon higher . grounds of 

statesmanship. Every constituency in and connected with 
Calcutta takes part in each election. Every constituency 
outside the Mahratta ditch is disfranchised for a season. 
The Calcutta University, the Calcutta Corporation, the 

Calcutta Trades Association, the Calcutta Chamber of 
Commerce all return a member to the local Council at each 
election. But the great divisions, outside the Presidency 
town, such as the Presidency Division, the Dacca Division 
and others, containing large populations and representing 
vast interests can return a number only periodically. ·This 
is an invidious destinction which involves a slur upon the 
moffusil, a(!ainst which this Conference desires to record 

its respectful but firm protest. Our proposal, if accepted, 
does away with this distinction. 

The next part of your Resolution has reference to a 

mdtter of great importance, in regard to which I appr('Jlend 



( 6 ) 

there will be little or no difference of opinion. \\'e re­

commend that there should • be as may voting delegates 
as there are votes. Take the case of the Howrah 
Municipality. It has eight votes. We say that instead 
of one delegate being elected, having eight votes, eight 
delegates should be elected, each having only one vote and 

no more. The advantages of such a system are obvious. It 

would provide a safeguard against cflquism, and reduce to 

a minimum the evils of canvassing ; for it is a more difficult 
matter to go about and solicit the votes .{)fa large than of 
a small constituency. The next part of your Resolution 
says that zemindars and the Mahomedan community should 
be invested with the right of electing their own member. 
At present the Government appoints the members for these 
comll!unities. The Maharaja of Durbhanga represents the 
the zemindars in the Bengal Council, and there could be 
no worthier representative of land-holders of Bengal. But 

the Maharaja would have felt his position stronger if he 
was the elected of the people rather than the nominee of 
Government. The Mahomedan community would also 
like to appoint their own member. The Government 
would do well to relieve itself of this responsibility. As 
for allowing the Zemindars to elect their own member 
why this was done in 1884. The Government of Lord 

Ripon invited the Zeminder Associations to send a member 
of their own to the Supreme Legislative Council on the 
occasion of the discussion of the Rent Bill. Kristo Dass 
Pal was returned by the zemindars as their member, and 

after his lamented death, the honor was conferred upun Raja 
Piyari Mohan Mookerjee. \Ve ask the Government in 
1896 to repeat an experiment, which it had tried in 1884. 
It is an emin<:ntly conservative proposal. As for the 
Mohomedan community, they have got their recognized 
.\ssociations ; and these Associations, subject to such rules 

as the Governm~nt may frame, may be asked to nominate 

a member to represent the community. I do not see what 



7 

possible difficulty there could be to the acceptance of this 
proposal. It would be a graceful concession which would 
not in any way embarrass the Government, but would be 
received with gratitude by those concerned. 

In this matter, there could be no antagonism of interest 
between the Government and the community. We are 
all interested in seeirg that the Parliamentary statute is 
carried out, and that the purposes of a wise and beneficent 
legislation are not-frustrated. Sir Alexanaer Mackenzie 
has been describet-1 to be a beneficent conservative. He is 

a conservative of the type of Burke, with the instincts of 
a genuine statesman. He must recognize the fact that 
change is necessary for the purposes of conservation, and 
the change in the rules which we recommend would give 
fuller effect to a Parliamentary enactment, would broaden 

• the basis of representation in this country, strengthen his 
own Council, help forward the purposes of good Government, 
and entitle him to the lasting gratitude of the people. 
Therefore we feel the less hesitation in recommending the 
Resolution which I have the honour to move, to the 
acceptance of the Government and the community. 

BABU SURENDRANATH BANERJEA'S SPEECH 

AT THE SIR COMER PETHERAM MEETING. 

Sir,- I have great pleasure in supporting this Resolution. 

Speaking for myself, and speaking only for myself, I should 
have preferred a public meeting of the general community 
to a public meeting of friends and admirers. Pardon me 
if I Yenture to say that a public meeting of friends and 
admirers involves a contradictiom in terms. However 

that may be, such is the unanimity of public sentiment on 
the subject-the general sense of admiration felt for the 

many excellent qualities of head and heart which distin!J,uish 



Sir Comer Patheram -the universal regret at his approaching 
departure, such in short is the• volume and intensity of the 
public sentiment which underlies this movement, that I have 
no hesitation in saying that a public meeting, and a public 
meeting alone would do justice-adequate justice-to the 

requirements of the situation .. But·· at the same time, Sir, 
J recognize the great ·truth that the law of compromise-

o 
compromise not divorced from morality, but inseparably 
associated with· it-is the essence of public business. In this 
unhappy world we cannot get everything •that we want, and 
we have to adapt ourselves to the exigencies of our situation. 
If under the circumstances a public meeting was impossible 
we had to be satisfied with the next best thing, viz, a 
meeting of friends and admirers. But the friends are so 
numerous, so influential, so representive in their character, 
occupying such commanding positions in society that t am 
glad to be able to say that this meeting of friends has 
assumed· the proportions and the magnitude of a great 

public demonstration. I rejoice to be able to bear my part 
and share in it for a reason which I am sure will appeal 
to the sympathies of all who are listening to me and of 
that wider public beyond the sound of my voice. Here 
are gathered together the leaders of all sections of our 
community, animated by a common sentiment of respect 
and admiration for a distinguished officer of the Goverment 
who is about to lay down the responsibilities of his high posi­
tion. A demonstration like this has a deeper significance than 
the immediate object which has brought it about. It serves 
to unite together, by the ties of a common citizenship in 
the performance of common civic duties, the representatives 
of different sections of our somewhat heterogenous 

community, upon whose sympathy and good-will towards 
each other depend the best interests of the country. No 
matter what may be our religious differences, no matter 

what may be the character and complexion of our peculiar 

soeial usages, no matter whether we are Hindus, Mahomedans 



( 9 ) 

or Christians, a demonstration like this brings home to our 
minds the truth that we are the subjects of the same 
sovereign, living under the same Government and the 

same political institutions, attached by the ties of a common 
duty and allegiant:e to that throne, whose permanence and 
stability in this country is the guarantee of civilized rule for 

two hundred millio~s of human beings. It is because a 
meeting like this is calculated to foster good feelings 
between our leading men that I \velcome it and am glad 
to be here. I carP only express the hope that these feelings 
of amity and concord may grow and deepen for the sake 
of our mutual interests and the benefit of our common 

empire. There is yet another consideration why I rejoice 
to be able to bear the testimony of my grati~ude · to the 
retiring Chief Justice. I am a journalist, and belong to 
a class of the community who are supposed to have developed 

an extraordinary aptitude for finding· fault, especially with 
the high officers of Government, No doubt as journalists, 
it is our duty to criticize and to remonstrate, and sometimes 
even to find fault : for in the felicitous language of Sir 
\Villiam Hunter the native Press constitute Her Majesty's 
Opposition in India. But the attitude of the Indian Press 
in regard to this demonstration is significant. It is an 
attitude of sympathy. It affords evidence that we can 

criticize with discrimination, that we can praise where 
praise is due, and that we· are always prepared to renqer 
unto C;:esar the things that are C;:esar's, and unto God the 

things that are God's. And who ~ver better deserved prai~e 

than the retiring Chief Justice? Amid the conflict of rival 
interests, amid the fierce war of hostile passions which are 
calculated to disturb the serene course of justice, Sir Comer 
Petheram maintained the balance evenly, and so comported 

himself in his high position as to have won in an unstintcd 

measure the gratitude of a united community. Long and 
distinguished is the muster-roll of these illustrious men 
who from time to time have held the high of!i~e of •chief 

2 



10) 

Justice of Bengal. There have been abler men, more 

distinguished lawyers, more \rigorous administrators than 
Sir Comer Petheram. But point out to me any one 
among the most distinguished of his predecessors who 
within living memory has elicited a tithe of that public 
respect and gratitude which follows Sir Comer Petheram 
in his retirement. \Vhat is the secret? It is easily told. 

0 
It is admirably told in that eloquent address in which I 

see the Roman hand of my friend Mr. Apcar. It is a 

secret which any one who runs may read. Sir Comer 
Petheram maintained the high traditions of the English 
Bench-he exhibited in the performance of his duties that 
independence of character which is the crowning attribute 
of English Judges, tempered by a large hearted sympathy 
and kindliness of feeling which half reconciled the severity 
of the la\\' to those who suffered most from it. The High 
Court is the palladium of our rights-the bulwark of 
p.::>pular privileges-the sanctuary of the weak and the 
oppressed. Persecuted and harassed by an unscrupulous 
Police, convicted by Magistrates who at each stage are 
exposed to check and interference at the hands of executive 
authority, it is to the High Court that our people in their 
distress turn for safety, for protection and for justice ; and 
they do not appeal to the High Court in vain. I have 
not the smallest hesitation in saying·-I shall not be guilty 
of any exaggeration if I say it -that it is the one institution 
in the land which more than any other draws to itself the 
largest measure of public confedence and respect. To 
have been the Chief Justice of such a court is no mean 

honour. To have been the Chief Justice of such a court 
and to have discharged the duties of Chief Justice with 
the full approbation of a united community is a distinction 
of which any servant of the Crown might well be proud. 
It is ·a distinction \vhich belongs to Sir Comer Petheram. 
The pDsition of Chief Justice of the High Court of Bengal 

is onecof unique dignity and responsibility. Let it be said 



( IT ) 

to the lasting credit of Sir Comer Petheram that he performed 
his duties with·· honor. to hin1self and with satisfaction to 
the public. He maintained the high Court in the undiminished 
possession of its ancient traditions and confirmed it in 
the puhlic regard. This is a service of no mean importance. 
One who does it is entitled to be called a public benefactor. 

Sir Comer Patheram may have done no more than what . . 
was his duty, but we have been benefitted, and \Ve are 
·grateful to him for it. They say-it is a calumny-a thrice­

exploded calumn?-that the word gratitude does not occur 
in the Indian dialects --although these dialects derive their 
vocabulary from the inexhaustible resources of one of the 

most copious languages which have ever formed the speech 
of man, the mother of all languages, the language of the 
gods in the words of our Aryan ancestors. However that 
may be whether we have the word or not. the sentiment 
is there, deep-seated in our heart of hearts, and in obedience 
to that overwhelming impulse, we are here to render to 

' the retiring Chief Justice the homage of our hearts. We 
wish him god-speed. We wish him health and happiness 
and prosperity and many years of useful life in his retirement. 
Above all, we rely upon him for help in that struggle in 
which we are engaged to rid the judicial system of this 
country of all executive control and interference. The 
proposal is admitted to be a just one. It has been described 
as a counsel of perfection. Lord George Hamilton, speaking 
from his place in the House of Commons, in connection 
with the recent debate upon the Indian budget, observed 
that the Government of India were taking steps in that 
direction. \Vhat those steps are we have yet to know. Sir 

Richard Garth, late Chief Justice, is nobly working in the 
same field. We appeal to Sir Comer Petheram to associate 
himself with Sir Richard Garth in this matter, to remember 
us, as we shall remember him with gratitude, to feel an 
interest in the well-being of that country with which he 

bas so long and so intimately been associated, and a.bove 



12 

all to help forward the progress of that reform which by 
placing the judicial system of-the country upo!1 a sound and 
statisfactory basis will not only add to the ·happiness of 
the people, but will also contribute to the stability of 
British rule ; for the truth cannot be too often repeated or 
too emphatically proclaimed, that this vast, this stupendous, 
this majestic fabric of Empire depends for its permanence 
not so much upon its inexhaustible t~ilitary resources, as 
upon the love, the gratitude, the willing allegiance of its· 
multitudinous population, united to the ~ritish connection 
by the deep and profound conviction that it is a connection 

sanctified by Divine Providence and consecrated by the 
eternal principles ofuniversal justice. 

AT THE MC'~ICIPAL MEETI~G I~ CO~NEC­
TION WITH H. H. THE LIEUTENANT­

GOVERNOR'S SPEECH AT E~TALLY. 

Sir,-I have the honour to move the first Resolution. The 
terms of the Resolution are as follows :-(Here reads the 
Resolution.) In moving this Resolution I desire to guard 
myself against a misconception which the circumstances of 
the case may give rise to. The wisdom of holding this 

meeting has been doubted in some quarters,, and our attitude 

~as been misconstrued. I desire to say on my own behalf 
and I may add on behalf of those who have signed the requisi­
tion, that our attitude is not one of defiance but of defence­
it is an attitude of explanation and of vindication. We are 

all here animated by a common sentiment of dutiful allegiance 
to the honoured Head of the Government of these Provinces 
-by the belief-in my case I will add, the assured conviction 

that when we have stated our case as it ought to be stated, 
and have laid before His Honour the facts and arguments as 
they ought to be laid, and when upon the basis of those facts 

we .-:ppeal to him for justice and fair play, thep. we are sure 



I 3 ) 

His Honour with an Englishman's instinct will accord to us a 
sympathetic response. In that"' hope and confidence we have 
convened . this meeting. In that .._hope ·and confidence 
we desire to approach His Honor with' the appeal that 
His Honour will be pleased to reconsider his judgment, 
at least so much of it as inv)\ves a censure of the Municipality. 
Our case is so strong-it is so overwhelmingly convincing-

, . 
that we have only to state it to carry horne conviction to every 
unprejudiced mind and to dissipate the misconceptions which 
have gathered round His Hm1or's speech. We fully recognize 
our position in relation to the Government. It is a position 
of subordination strictly safe-guarded under limitatiot1s 
imposed by the law. In one sense we are an arm of the 
administration. · An important bl·anch of public affairs has 
been entrusted to our care. But at the same time we cannot 
forget that we are also the representatives of the people. We 
are here, because our constituents have sent us here. They 
can make and unmake us. Their confidence is ·to us the 
breath of our nostrils. Their approbation, next to :the 

1 approbation of our own consciences, is the highest reward we 
can aspire to. But when our administration has been arraigned 

in the way it has been arraigned by the Head of the 
Local Government, then we incur the imminent risk of 
losing the confidence of our constituents unless we are able 
to vindicate our administration and justify it in their eyes. 
Duty to them and ourselves-duty .to the public and the 
Government . alike-renders it necessary that we should enter 
upon a formal and public defence of our administration. 
Such, however, is our faith in the justice of our 'Case that we 
feel that we may rely with absolute confidence! upon the 
approving judgment of public opinion. The Resolution says 
that we have been condemned by His Honor-condemned 

unheard -condemned under circumstances which make the 

condemnation unmerited and inappropriate to the occasion. 

Have we been condemned or not? I heard Mr. Farr say 

that he was not aware that we had been condemned b" the 



( 14 

Lieutenant-Governor. I am sorry that Mr. Farr and his 
friends have left the meeting• before they had heard all that 
we had to say. If we have not been condemned, such a meeting 
as this would be utterly out of place, and I should be 
offering an insult, a deliberate affront to your understanding, 
were I to ask you to accept the Resolution which I have the 
honor to move. Sir, as I listened to the speech of His Honor 

0 

when it \vas delivered, as I read it in the newspapers in print, 
it seemed to me, as it must have seemed to all of you, that it 
involved a scathing unqualified condemnation of the Com­
missioners. Since then however an explanation has been 
offered. The Hon'ble Mr. Risley, writing on behalf of His 
Honor the Lieutenant-Governor in a communication addressed 
to the Medical Board,has explained that His Honor has a per­

fectly open mind on the question of responsibily and that it is 
a mistake to suppose that he intended that the executive were 
blameless in the matter of the sanitary shortcomings ofCalcutta, 
and that the Commissioners alone were to blame. For my 

part, I am not prepared to accept the inference which underlies 
these remarks. I am not prepared and you are not prepared to 
accept the distinction which is sought to be made here between 
the Commissioners and their Executive. The Commissioners 
and the Executive form integral parts, inseparable elements 
of the Corporation. To condemn the Executive is to condemn 
the Commissioners. To condemn the Executive is to say 
that the Commissioners have been remiss in their supervision 
of their work. Nay more, we are not prepared to permit an 
extraneous authority-however exalted that authority might 
be-to interpose between ourselves and our employees and 
apportion the measure of responsibility between us. Nothing 
could be more demoralizing to the Executive, more utterly 
subversive of official discipline. It has never been a part of 
the traditions of the Corporation to regard the executive as 
separate from the Commissioners in the matter of responsi­
bility. In the dark days of the Corporation when a Commis­
sion.was appointed, the Executive under the guidance of 



( 15 

Sir Henry Harrison cordially co-operated with the Commis­
sioners in defending the men:tced interests of Corporation. 
I hope we are not going to depart from those traditions. I 

hope those traditions have not become matters of ancient 
history. I hope, Sir; you as the Head of the Executive will 
by your vote to-day once again affirm the principle that your 
honour or dishonour means our honour or dishonour. 

Thus, then, notwittstanding the explanation which has 
been offered, we are driven to the conclusion that we ha,·e 
been condemned. The Resolution says that the condemn~tion 
passed upon the Commissioners was unmerited and inappro­
priate to the occasion and that it was passed without affording 
them the opportunity of explanation or defence. The 

Lieutenant-Governor was the guest of the. Commissioners. 

The Commissioners were his hosts. He was their honoured 
guest. For the guest to turn round upon his hosts and 
to censure them is a proceeding which will not recommend 
itself to the approval of right-thinking men. Then again 
what was the occasion which had brought the Lieutenant­
Governor to Entally ? He had come to open the new 
Drainage works-to preside at a function which associated 

with the inauguration of the most important sanitary work 
of the generation. It will occur to most people that such 
an occasion was singularly inopportune for censuring the 
Commissioners for their alleged neglect of the sanitation of 
Calcutta. The function itself wa~ the most striking 

refutation of the charge. Even the Pioneer newspaper, 
the accredited organ of the official hierarchy, condemned the 
speech as being unsuitable to the occasion on which it was 
delivered. But we further complain that we have been 

condemned unheard. The Lieutenant-Governor based his 
remarks upon the Report of the Sanitary Inspectors ; but 
the Report was never sent to the Commisi!ioriers for 
explanation. It is an eternal principle of ju.21ice that no man 

shall be condemned unheard. Is the .eorporation alone to 
be singled out for exceptional :treatment ? The vcriest 

26000 
§ JAN lS S 



( 16 

murderer caught red-handed in the act, reeking with the 
blood of his innocent victim, rs allowed, such is the humanity 
of the law, the opportunity of explanation and defence. But 
this great Corporation, the greatest representative body in 
India, with a record which would bear fa,·ourable comparison 
with the record of any similar body in any other part of the 

world, is denied this privilege. And by whom ? The Head 
0 

of the Local Government. And who is the Head of the 
Local Government ? The distinguished administrator who 
was late Secretary to Lord Ripon'~ Government-a 
Government that placed the system of Local Self-Government 
in India upon a firm and durable basis and covered itself with 
ever-lasting honour and glory. I am constrained to say-I say 
it with all reluctance-but I must say it-in the words of 

the greatest of English poets that vve are fallen upon evil 
times and upon evil tongues, and by darkness and danger 
compassed round. But, Sir, \Ve also complain that His 
Honour's speech, was based upon a grave misapprehension 
of the facts of the case. The third Resolution in charge of 
my friend deals with the mistakes of fact bearing upon the 

conservancy of the town. I will not trespass into my 

friend's province. But there are mistakes of fact not covered 
by the tl).ird Resolution, and to some of these I desire to call 
your attention. We have been set down as a set of talkers 
wasting our time in talk. The charge of loquacity has been 

laid to our doors. With reference to this charge, I will say 
this that speech is governing the politics of the civilized 
world .. I hope and trust that within a measurable distance of 
time it will govern the politics of the Indian Continent. Govern­
ment by speech is the order of the day. ~ot even the omnipo­
tence of autocracy will avail to arrest or postpone the slow, 
the steady, the triumphant development of these forces, work­
ing noiselessly in the bosom of society, which are hastening 
forward the accomplishment of this great end. However 

that may be, is it true that we make speeches for the sake of 

speoch-making--that we talk more than we should ? Is 



I7 ) 

it the case that we are "an armoury of talk," to use the· words 
of a late distinguished Secretary to the Government of . . . 
Bengal ? Those who are most familiar with the working of 
the Corporation are 'the best judges in this matter. In this 
case the saying is' not true that· the spectators see more of 
the· game than the 'actual players. The spectators must 
see less for they have to rely upon hearsay evidence. 
In· modern Indian 1!ist;)ry, there is no name more honour­

ed than that of Krista Das Pal, there never was a mem­
ber of this body ,\·ho rendered greater services to. the 
Corpof·ation and the to\vn, or whose uttera'nces are entitled to 

more weight. Speaking in I 88 I of the elected 'municipality, 
then in its early years, he observed :-

' An exal}1ination of the Municipal debates in the past 
and present will, we doubt not, satisfy the most fastidious 
person that there is less talk now than before. It is 
superfluous for us to say that public questions cannot 

be decided without talk, long or small, and that the character 
of the talk in public bodies is to a great extent regulated 
by the information possessed and the earnestness of 
conv_ictions entertained by different speakers. Life itself 
is a long talk. If the world consisted only of mutes, then 
~ociety would hardly exist. In all the walking moments 
of life man spends much of his time in talk, whether for 

business, instruction or pleasure. Public life in the civilized 

worl~ means a war of words.' 

But Kristo Das Pal was himself a greater talker. The 

most accomplised debater of his time, he might be presumed 
to be partial to speech-making. Further he laboured under 
serious disability that· he was not an official, and to some 
minds, pre.sent company . of course always excepted, official 
testimony has the force and validity of gospel truth. There­
fore let me pass from· un-official to official testimony, and the 

testimony, which I am ab:mt to quote will be that of 
perhaps the most distinguished civilian who has ever held 



18 

the office of Chairman. Thus spoke Sir Henry Harrison in 

1887 :-
When large questions of principle came up for final 

discussion in general meeting, it could not but be expected 

that the men of leisure, who naturally took an interest in 

the work which they had helped to complete, would also 
naturally be prepared to discuss at length the questions which 
were under consideration ; but the me11 of business would not 
like to sit for two or three hours to discuss them. It was 
unreasonable to suppose that this could be otherwise, and 

when European gentleman did take all" interest in such 
matters, they themselves fell into the habit of making as 
long speeches as native gentlemen. Some of the longest 

speeches he had ever listened to were made by European 

gentlemen in debates in which they were taking a great 
interest. 

But 18g6 is not 1887, and that may make a difference. 
Let me therefore come to more recent times and quote a 
more modern authority. Let me quote the words of the late 

lamented Mr. Lee whose early death was such a heavy loss 
to the Corporation and the town :-

Less frequently now than of old, because the outside 
public is better acquainted with the facts, but still occasionally, 

we hear insinuations that much time is wasted in this hall 

by long speeches from the Municipal Commissioners. No 
charge. could be further from the mark. In all my experience 
-and that has covered full three years-1 have seldom 
listened to a speech that has not been useful and to the 
point. I can hardly recall a single instance in which I 
have made reflection that the speaker was throwing no new 
light on his subject, and was simply speaking to make a 
speech. The facts, indeed, are conclusive. In the course 
ofthe year you hold some thirty General meetings. All 
the proceedings of every committee meeting, of which some 
250 are held in the course of the year, come before you in 

this hall for review. A single Committee will frequently 



19 ) 

deal with 20 or more separate matters, and you have on 
the average to review proceedings of such Committees at each 
single meeting in this hall, so that you dispose of sometimes 
120, seldom less than forty items of business at a sitting. 

How long do you take over it ? As a. rule between one and 
two hours ! Who could say with fairness that that is 
excessive ? How many similar deliberative bodies in the 
world are there that • would dispose of the work in less 

time? The general rule that we endeavour to observe is not 
to speak without special knowledge and clear opinion, and 

then to express tmr thoughts in language as brief as we 
can make it. 

These words possess a pathetic interest for us ; for they 
were the last words addressed by Mr. Lee to this Corporation 
-they form part of his valedictory address delivered on the 

23rd March 1893. 
From opinions let us pass on to the consideration of 

the facts of the case ; and in this connection, I desire to 
congratulate my" friend, Babu Nolin Behary Sircar, upon 
the admirable statement which he has drawn up, traversing 
the various points raised in His Honor's speech. We find 

from the table in Babu Nolin Behary Sircar's statement 

that in 1894-95 there were 239 items of business brought 
up before the Commissioners. Out of them 191 items were 
disposed of without discussion. There were 38 items in 
which short speeches were made, and there were only 10 

items which gave rise to long debates. In 1895-96, there 
were 328. items of business .which were brought before- the 
Commissioners, and so many as 249 items of· business 
disposed of without any discussion. Further we find that 

in 1894-95 the attendance of Commissioners at a meeting 
was forty on an average, of whom only six spoke, 34 giving 
"silent, sensible votes." In 1895-96, the average attendance 
of Commissioners at each meeting was 41, of whom only 7 
spoke on an average, 34 giving "silent, sensible votes.'' 

This charge has again and again been brought and as 
• 



20 

often refuted. Falsehood dies hard. It is a hydra-headed 
monster, which rears its he:.td as often as you slay it. You 
have slain the monster this time. You may not be too sure 
that you will not have to· repeat the operation. . Then S~r 
our constitution has been assailed. For our constitution. we 
are not responsible. We do the bes~ with it. It has been 
observed by Sir Alexander Mackenzie that the municipal 

constitution of Calcutta is derived en bloc from the most 
0 

. advanced models in England, and that it has been determined 
without reference to the totally different circumstances of an 
Oriental· city and a mixed community.. The statement 
involves a serious misapprehension of facts. Point out to me 
the Town-Council or Municipality in England the members 
of which are partly elected and partly nominated. Point 
out to me the Town-Council or Municipality in England the 
Mayor of which is nominated by the Government.- Point 

out to me the Town Council or Municipality in England 
which is subjected to the same measure of control to which 

we are subjected at the hands of the Executive Government. 
Then again it is not the case that the varied and diversified 
interests of an orientaJ city and of a mixed community were 
not sufficiently borne in mind in framing the constitution. 

Read the debates which took place in Council in r 876 when 
the constitution was framed, and again in f888 \Vhen it came 
on for review (I will not tire your patience by quoting extracts) 
and you will find that the illustrious men who framed the 
constitution and these who remodelled it, men like Sir Stuart 

Hogg and Sir Henry Harrison, paid special attention to the 
representation of the varied interests of our community, and 
took the necessary precautions to secure that end. But after 
all is our constitution so bad? It has been pronounced to be 
a success by distinguished men of the eminence of the late 
Mr. Colman Macaulay and others. A tree is judged by its 

fruits, Look at the achievements of the elected Municipality. 

The solvency of the Municipality secured upon a, finn and 
durable ba~is, the increased and increasing credit of the 



' ( 21 ) 

Corporation tintil that cre:iit is as good as that of the Govern­
ment of India, the magnificent works of sanitation which have 
changed the face Calcutta un\il it has become a sanitarium 
for all · B'!ngal-these are the enduring- memorials of the 
wisdom, the judgment, the sagacity and public spirit of the 
much-maligned elected Commissioners.: of Calcutta. I shoultl 
like t::J know wh:1t dep:trtment unde.r·the. dire~t control of the 
Government could show such satisfactory results. You com-

• plain of the over-crowding of Calcutta. To what is it due, may 
I ask ? Peopl~ from the moffusil flock to Calcutta as to a 

sanitarium from their malaria-stricken homes. Within the 
last twenty: years the price of land in Calcutta has been 

trebled. Has the vol.ume of your trade increased threefold ? 

~ o. What then is the explanation ? The demand for land 
has steadily increased owing to the increasing h~althiness of 
Calcutta. Why the elected commissioners during the time 

they have been in offi::e have spent nearly two crores and 
fifty lakhs of rupees upon works of permanent utility ; the 
J ustic~s spent only a crore and eighty laks during the time 
they administered the affairs of Calcutta. 

It is too late in the day to criticize the constitution. It 
has stood the stress of twenty long years. It has been 

pronounced to be a success by high authority. It has pro­
duced the magnificen ~ results to which I have referred. It 
has secure::! the financial solvency of the Corporation 
and has .. improved its credit. Time destroys all shams 
and impositions. If ours was a bastard constitution un­
suited to the exigencies of the situation, it would have 
long ago gone the way of all things. I am obliged to say 
that never was there a grosser misconception than what 

pervades this part of the speech of His Honor Lieutenant­
Governor. 

Then, sir, it has been obs€rved that our executive is 
weak and can be easily upset. The sugg-estion is that we 
interfere unnecessarily with the executive. Sir, I appeal to 
you as the Head of the executive-! would like to appeal to 

• 



( 22 ) 

Mr. Hughes as the head of the spending department of the 
Corporation-whether you have found any difficulty in getting 
on with the Commissioners-! should like to know whether 
any Chairman, any Health Officer, save and except Dr. 
Simpson, has ever experienced any difficulty in this respect. If 

Dr. Simpson had all his own way, I very much fear C;J.lcutta 
would have been declared a plague-stricken city quarantine 
regulations would have been enforced 11 the trade of Calcutta 
ruined, and the Municipality reduced to bankruptcy. 

One word more, before I conclude. His Honor has been 
pleased to observe that as regards many of· us our individual 
stake in the town is small, that we represent ourselves in the 
first instance, and a mass of heterogenous interests in the 
second. We cannot very well help representing ourselves. 
That we represent ourselves and that we represent a mass of 
heterogenous interests (by which I understand the interests 
C'f our constituents, who are Hindus and Mahomedans) may 
be our misfortune, but is certainly not our fault. But I deny 
altogether that we have little or no stake in the town. I will 
venture to say that we have much greater stake than the birds 
of passage who come here to shake the pagoda tree and run 
away with our gold. We have a small stake in the town ! 
Why the dust of our home-steads is consecrated by the ashes 
of our sires. Calcutta is the home of our ancestors-it is the 
home of our wives, our mothers and our daughters-it is 
the destined home of our children and our children's 
children. If ever th.e plague were to break out here-may 
God avert such a calamity-where would the birds of passage 
be? We shall however continue to cling to the habitations 
of our ancestors with fond and devoted affection. Nothing 
in history, nothing in fable exceeds, the love and devotion 

which the Hindu feels for his homestead. It is the centre 
of all his joys.,.-round it gather the noblest and the tender­
est of his domestic associations. They cannot indeed be 
transformed into gold-what gold can measure them ! But 

are sentimental considerations of no weight in the concerns of 



( 23 ) 

life-are they to count as a feather in the balance in dealing 
with a people who are largely governed by sentiment? I 
will not detain you any longer. •1 trust our vote to-day will be 
a unanimous vote. This Corporation recognizes no distinction 
of race-no difference between official and non~officials,between 
the Commissioners and the executive. Here we are all members 
of a common body, animated by a common sentiment and 
a comJUon desire to • maintain untarnished· the honor the 
reputation and the dignity of this great Corporation which it 
is our privilege to serve. We remember with pride that when 
the Corporation was assailed. by popular clamour and placed 
on its trial, Europeans and Indians, the Executive and the 
Commissioners stood shoulde,r to shoulder, firmly knitted 
together as one body, resolved to defend the menaced inte.r~ 

ests of the Corporation. Are we now going to prove false to 
our traditions? No mistake we are in the midst of a grave 
cris_is, as grave as any one which has ever occurred in the 
history ofthe Corporation; for only the other day-I think 
it was on Saturday last, -His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor 
observed from his place in Council that a considerable 
amendment of the Calcutta Municipal. Act might be expected. 
I do not take it in the light of a threat, but as the serious 
pronouncement of a deliberate opinion on the part of a 
responsible statesman. H~wever that may be, I will say this 
on my own behalf, and I will venture to add on your behalf, 
that so long as we are members of this Corporation, so long 
as we are entrusted with the municipal administration of this 
city, so long as the safe guarding of the constitution under 

which we work is in our hands, so long we shall manfully 
endeavour to perform our duties, undaunted by the frowns 
and unseduced by the smiles of power. In order that we may 
thus perform our duties, and in a manner that will redound to 
our own credit and to the benefit of the Corporation, the most 
perfect accord, the most cordial unanimity should subsist 
between us. In this as in other matters, united we stand, 
divided we fall. 



BABC SCRE~Dl·L\~ ATH H:\~ERJEA'S Sl>EECH 
0~ 'fHE FAMI~E QCESTIO:N' AT THE 

NATIO:N'AL • COXGRESS .. 

I have the honor to move the I 2th resolution which 

runs in these terms :-( Here reads the Resolution.) 
I desire to accord to you my most grateful acknow­

ledgments for the cordial welcome which you have given 
me. I need all the sympathy and !eUpport of this great 
Con;:-ress to enable me to perform the mournful task which 
has devolved upon me~the saddest which has ever fallen 
to the lot of any man (cheers). · To day 've meet under the 
shadow of a great~I will not say-an unprecedented 
calamity-for unfortunately our history is full of it-but 
a calamity which has not overtaken us since the birth of 
the Congress. I do not wish it to be understood for one 
moment that there is any necessary connection between 
the Congress and the famine. But this I do mean to urge 
both on your behalf, and I may add, on my . own behalf, 
that if the Government had accepted the policy which has 
been formu~ated from this ·platform-which has been 
enunciated times without number,-a policy of justice and 
beneficence, tempered by economy-these famines would 
have become matters of ancient history, and the world 
would have been spared the perusal l)f thuse harrowing 
tales of starvation, if not of death, which constitute a 
a discredit to any civilised administration (Loud che:!rs). 
A great French authority, the father of modern Zoclogy, 
the illustrious Cuvier, has somewhere remarked in his 
works that famines are impossible in this age. So they 
are .in European countries ; but not in this fabled land of 
wealth, the gorgeous Ind ~f . the poet, possessed of the 
fatal gift of beauty and of wealth, the granary of the East, 

the garden of Asia (cheers). Here famines; are matters 
of every day incident~they are permanent factors in our 
history which the Gover'nment of the country is bound to 

take note of. They occut with the periodicity of the seasons, 
• 



25 ) 

and when thy occur my countrymen perish by millions. 
The history of British India is the history of famines. 
Rejecting for a moment all cm~siderations of ancient history 

and coming down to more modern times, we find there 

was a famine in r866, and famine in 1873-74, a famine in 
1877-78, and last but not least the famine of 1896. Unlike 
the famine of 1866 which was confined to Orissa, unlike 
the famine of I873-N which was confined to Behar, unlike 
the famine of 1877-78 which decimated Madras, the famine 
of I 89'5 is universal, all-embracing, holding in its death-grip 
the vast InJi:m continent, with its multitudinous population 

~Loud che:!rs). It may vary in different parts of the country 
in the measure of its intensity, but it is felt all over the 

Indian continent. Perhaps it is most severely felt in the 
Central Prov-inces,-perhap:; in the Central Provinces the 

arrangements to meet it are the most defective. An 

English writer-a spectator-disinterested nonofficial Eng-lish­
man-to whom we owe the tribute of our gratitude (hear­
hear)-an English eye-witness, writing in the columns of 
the Pioneer and describing the famine of the Central 
Provinces has used language which fills me with unutterable' .. 
pain. People starving-the miserable wretches dropping on the 
road-side, dropping in the jungles, in their homes, in the poor­
houses,dying by hundreds, dying by thousands-these are the 
words of that witness. Yet Lord Elgin was able to felicitate 
himself upon the prosperous condition of the Central 
Provinces up to the gates of Jubbalpur, (cries of Shame)­
and to observe that there was only the probability of a 
famine occurring in a portion of that Province. I think 

I· speak the sense of this great Congress when I say that 
\Ve all here,-Congress men or no Congress men-we are 
all animated by a common sentiment of dutiful allegiance 
to the honoured head of the Government of India. As 

the representative of our Sovereign we owe him the homage 
of our hearts. But we owe even him a higher homage­
the homage of truth-the obligation--the paramount obligation 

• 
A 



( 

\ 26 

-irupv,.,c;u upu .. ._.,., '-'; _ ;ery consideration of duty and sen­
timent alike, when we approach the footsteps of the 

viceregal throne to lay before• Hi,; Excellency the truth-the 

whole truth and nothing but the truth (Loud cheers.) The 

simple, plain, unvarnished, unalloyed truth compels us to 
say that His Excellency has made a deplorable blunder in 
the view he has taken-that his optimistic view of the situation 
may be fruitful of the most disastrous results. I am not going • 
to pit the opinion of any one, however high and distinguished 
he may be, against the authority of the Viceroy of India. 

The opnion of Lord Elgin must over-ride all conflicting views ; 
but I hold in my hand a statement for which I am indebted 
to the A mrita Ha:::ar Patrika which has done admirable 
service in this connection which tells its own eloquent tale 

upon the state of things as they prevail in the Central 
Provinces. From opinion then let us pass on to facts-and 
what is the testimony of facts ? I want your undivided 
attention for a moment as I go through this dreadful record of 
suffering and mortality. In January 1894 the death rate at 

Jubbalpore per thousand was 25·07-that is the normal rate. 
In September 1896 two years later what do you think was 

• the death-rate ? It was 97'38 four times the death rate of 
January I 894. That is as regards J ubbalpore. Let us travel 
onwards-let us come to Sangor. In Sangor the death rate 
was 48·69 per thousand in I 894. In September last what 
do you think was the death rate? 96·93. Just treble of 

what it was in 1894. In Damoh in September 1894 the 
rate was 44·40. In September 1896 what do you think was 

the mortality? I38'07 (Shame, Shame.) Shame is not the 
word. It is a matter of grave discredit that these deaths 
should take place, and yet any ruler with any sense of 

responsibility should congratulate himself upon the prosper-
. ous condition of the country which reveals this frightful 

record. In Seoni the rate was 25'44 in August 1894, 

but in August 1896 the death rate was 88·r ; and now I 

come to the last .of the districts mentioned in that article of 
• 



( 27 ) 

my friend to which I have referred. In Mandla the death 

rate was 36·56 in August 1894 and 140"30 in August last­
that is to say more than four times what it w~s in the same 

month in r894. I ask could there be a sadder or a more 

striking refutation of the optimistic view taken by His 
Excllcncy the Viceroy or a more complete vindication of 
the po.;ition taken up by the independent eyewitness to 

whom I have referred i I have yet more convincing proofs 

than what are furnished by the inexorable logic of figures. 

I have got before me a packet which was handed to me by 

my friends, the Editor of the A mrz"ta Ba::m· Patrika, just 

as I entered this room-a packet giving photographs of 

the emaciated, death-stricken figures starving in the poor 

houses of Jubbulpore. I dare not open this packet for your 

inspection. The very sight of these photographs would 
convince you of the gravity of the situation. (The speaker 
then handed some of the photographs to the delegates). That 

is the state of things in the Central Provinces. \Vhat has 
been the result of the optimistic view Wl1ich the Viceroy has 

taken in res-ard to the state of affairs in the Central Provinces 

and generally in regard to the whole question of famine ? 

The Secretary of State at the instance of the Government of 
India will not accept the offers of help which have been 

made by the I.-ord Mayor of London and also by the 

manufacturers of Lancashire, to whom the grateful ac­

knowledgments of the Congress and of the nation are due for 

this proferred help 'at this time of our sorest need (Loud 

cheers). People are dropping on the road-side, in the 

jungles, in their homes, in the poor houses, dying by hundreds 

and by thousands. The Government will not save them, 

nor will it accept the proffered hand of help that is out­

stretched to :iave them. Is it because ifthe English people 

found that their pockets were touched they would like to 

know the reason why ? T s it because if the English people 

had to pay, they would make enquiries-unpleasant en­

quiries-with regard to the condition of the people and 
• 



( 2R 

the circumstances of the Government ? Is it because the 
English people would ask why in this Ci.JUntry more than in 
any other, these famines so frequently occurred ? Very 
unpleasant questions these ~1r. Chairman, and the local 
authorities would naturally be anxious that they should not 
be asked by the real masters of India. In Bengal we are 
also suffering from the pinch of famine. In Behar the 
scarcity is most severely felt, but there. the Government has 
got the help of the great territorial magnates, the foremost 
of whom is His Highness the Maharaja of Durbhanga, 
(three cheers for the Maharaja of Durbhanga.) I think I 
express the sense of this meeting when I say that we all 
rejoice that His Highness is better, and we all hope. that he 
may Ion::_; be spared to carry on his patriotic labours and 
set an example of patriotic duty to the aristocracy of Bengal. 
(Loud cheers.) Ladies and gentlemen, the situation in 
Bengal is somewhat complicated by another consideration. 
\Ve are suffering from scarcity of water. \Ve suffered from it 
last year and we are confronted with that calamity in an acuter 
form in the year to come. Of course the Government is 

prepared with a remedy. The Government is ready with 
a Bill which is the usual remedy in such cases. \Ve have a 

Bill in this connection, and what does that Bill provide ? A 
new tax ; but the pill is gilded for us. It is to be a per­
missive measure of taxation. Not only that, it is to be 
associated with a further expansion of the principle of local 

self-government. The power of taxation is to be entrusted 
to village unions-the primary centres oflocal self-government. 
Might I be permitted to ask the Government-I am full of 
gratitude to the Government for its sympathy with local 
self-government-whether it might not extend the principle in 

relation to the existin;; forms of taxation-and why it should 
be necessary to impose a new tax to initiate still further into 
the mysteries of local self-government? At any rate our 
countrymen have a legitimate grievance in this matter. They 

say-and the newspapers echo the sentiment-we pay the 
• 



( 29 ) 

road cess, the road cess should be devoted to the purposes of 
tank-digging; why should we be burdened with another tax 
when the Government has frittered away the proceeds of the 

road cess ? Be that as it may, the Government of Sir 

Alexander Mackenzie is fully alive to the gravity of the 

situation. Relief works have been started at some places ; 
a complete system of relief organisation has also been 
sketched out. For aiL this we are grateful to the Government 

of Sir Alexander Mackenzie. 
You say in your Resolution that the provision of the 

Famine Cude are inadequate as regards wages and as regat:ds 

the relief afforded, and oppressive as regards the mectsure of 
the task-work exacted from the people. \Veil gentlemen 
some of you may have studied the Code. There is a 

remarkable provision in that Code. A full time labourer, 
working with his system reduced by starvation, is to get 

how much do you think ? Six pice, not even two annas. 
He may get another piece if the Commissioner of the 
Division should so recommend it. (Shame) I really think 

it is a matter of shame. What do our prisoners get ? I 

was in prison myself on one occasion, and I know something 

about it, although I confess I was not subjected to prison 

diet. (Loud laughter.) My personal experience will not 

indeed help me, but as a visitor of the most important prison in 

this Province I kno\1· something about prison diet. The 
prisoner's diet would come up to about two annas per day ; 

the famine stricken-labourer gets only six pice. If I had to 

make a choice I would go and I steal and get myself locked 

in prison in order that I might get more food than what is 

available at the relief vvorks and I must say that the Govern­

ment offers by such a provision as this a powerful incentive 

to the commission of crime. That of course is a matter with 

whir:h the Local Government cannot deal : that is a matter 

in regard to \\·hich thi.;; Congress may express its opinion but 

it is only the Government of India which can apply the reme­

dy. However that may be, there can be no doubt that .. 



30 ) 

the triumphs of famine organization are to be found in the 
~- W. P. and I think I express the sense of this Congress 
when I say that our most gntteful acknowledgments are due 
to Sir Antony MacDonnell for his sympathetic policy in re­
lation to the famine (Loud cheers.) The blessings oi 
Heaven will descend•upon a ruler who has been instrumental 
in saving the lives of his subjects. (Loud cheers.) It is to 
be hoped that other local Governments will imitate the 

• 
example set by Sir Antony MacDonnell, and I may be 
permitted also to express a further hope that the Government 
of India may have its viewJ largely !evened by the beneficent 
policy of the Lieutenant Governor of the North Western 
Provinces (cheers.) Sir you express in this resolution your 

great concern at the outbreak of famine. 
Well Sir, a great authority, no less a personage than the 

Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces, has told us 

that famines are visitations of l'roviJence-they are the 
judgments of the Almighty. That indeed is mere truism ; 

it is a safe pronouncement to make ; it does not exhibit much 
wisdom on the part of the individual who makes it, nor does 

he incur the risk of !using the reputation for wisdom if he 
ever posse3sed any. (Laughter.) But I think we might 
ask the Chief Commissioner to climb down a little from the 

region of mysticism to the re,;;ion of pure knowledge ; we 
might ask him to descend from those ethereal heights where 
we move under the urrcertain inspiration of faith to mundane 
concerns where reason is our guide, and we might be per­
mitted to ask him the question why in India more than in 
any other country famines occur,these visitations of Providence 
take place ? Is it because the sins of our people have so 
accumulated, that they appeal trumpet-tongued to the 
Almighty for vengeance, or is it. because the blunders of our 
rulers have become so great and so pressing, that the Divine 
mandate v.:orking through the sure and unerring processes of 
nature visits us with these punishments? I know· not what 

may be the solution of this mystery, but this I do affirm on 
• 



31 ) 

your behalf that we ascribe this famine and similar famines 

to the great and deplorable poverty of our people, a poverty 
accentuated by over:.taxation• and over-assessment, and 

brought on by the extravagance of one of the most reckless 
governments that the world has ever seen. I will not enter 

into the question of Indian poverty, I went into it very fully 
last year. You know perfectly well that fully 40 millions of 
,our people live upon .one meal a day ; you know also that 
we have to pay an exorbitant rate of taxatir:m upon our ~mall 

incomes, the Indian tax-payer paying a tax of eight per' cent 
upon an average income per head of 27 Rs. a year while the 

English tax-payer pays a tax of 7 per cent upon an average 
income per head of £33 a year. I find it has been denied 
that the position of the peasant~y has distinctly deteriorated 

under British rule. It is said that the wages of labour have risen 
enormously, and that this rise represents a corresponding mea­

sure of increase in the happiness of the people. I dispute this 
proposition altogether. My contention is that notwithstanding 
the abnormal rise in the wages of labour, the condition of 

the labourer at the present moment is much wor~e than it 
was in the time of Akbar, and I am prepared with facts and 
figures to support the view which I hold. The facts which 
I am about to lay before you are taken from Mr. P. N. Bose's 
admirable work on Hindu Civilisation. 

The following table gives the wages of some labourers 

during the reign of Akbar :-

Rs. A. P. 
Carpenters 0 2 9 3/5 to 0 0 9 3/5 
Bricklayers 0 4 4/5 to 0 I 2 2/5 
Bam boo-cutters 0 0 9 3/5 
Thatchers 0 2 2/5 
Water-carriers o 2 2(5 to o o 9 315 

The following are the average prices of some of the 

commonest articles of consumption during the same reign :­

Rs. A. P. 

Wheat per maund . . . o 4 9 3/5 • 



( 32 

per mauttd Rs. A. P. 
Lentils 

" 0 4 9 3, 5 
Barley 

" 0 3 2 2 5 
Millet , 0 2 4 4 5 
Sathi rice 

" 0 8 0 

Zirhi rice , 0 0 

Moth Dal , 0 4 9 3 5 
Wheat flour (coarse) , •... 0 6 0 

Mung Dal , 0 7 2 2 5 
Ghee , 2 10 0 
Oil 

" 2 0 0 
Milk , 0 10 0 
Brown Sugar , I (j 4 
Salt , 0 6 4 4/5 
Onions 

" 
0 2 4 4'• I) 

Turmeric 
" 0 4 0 

Stlahati cloth, per yard 
" 0 I 7 1/5 

Blankets, coarse per piece , o 4 o 
The monthly dietetic requirements of a flour eating 

average adult labourer would be:::..__ 

Flour 
Dal 
Ghee 
Salt 

Seers. 

25 
5 

Total. .. 

Rs. A. P. 

0 3 9 
0 0 7 I/2 

0 0 I/5 
0 0 2 4/5 

0 5 7 4/5 
Upon this table Mr. Bose makes the following pertinent 

observations :-
" Making allowance for condiments and other little thin~s 

an adult labourer could live comfortably during the reign of 
Akbar on six annas per month. Taking his family to consist 
of five members (himself, his wife, and three children,) he 

alone being the earning member, we may take one rupee and 
four annas to cm-er his monthly expenses on account of food' 
for the whole family. An average unskilled labourer, like a 

wate,.r-carrier, in Akbar's time would earn one rupee and 



( 33 ) 

fourteen annas per month. Thus he would have left a margin 

of ten annas to spend on clothing and luxuries,---a large 

amount considering the purchlsing power of the rupee at the 

time." 

::'IJ ow I put it to you, gentlemen, is it possible for an 

ordinary labourer in this nineteenth century under the pro­

tection of British rule and enjoying the blessings of British 
administration-is it. possible for him to lay by even ten 
annas of the present currency as a reserve against bad times ? 

And yet the British Government plumes itself upon being 

the champion of the interests of the toiling masses of India 

and \vill not allow us to represent them or say one word on 

their behalf. What becomes of this boasted vaunt by the light 

of the facts I hav:e read to you? This poverty was inevitable, 

for we know that our industries have all been extinguished. 

\Ve are told sometimes by sympathising friends in a somewhat 

patronising way that ours is an agricultural country. I should 

like to ask our friends this question.-Did the English and 

the French, the Dutch and the Portuguese come here in the last 

century for our raw produce, or for our manufactured goods­

our silks, our muslins, our shawls, our brass utensils ? What 

has become of them? Vanished into the inane-they have 

disappeared into thin air. England has done great things for 
India,· England has conferred upon us inestimable blessing 

for which we are truly grateful ; but England is directly 

respoi1sible for the collapse of our industries ; England has 
made us industrially helpless. (cheers.) Ours rulers profess 

to be free traders. It is free trade when it suits their interes"ts. 

It is protection when it benefits them. You know we export 

large quantities of our gold and silver manufactured articles 

to England. They levy a heavy duty upon the importation 

of those articles into England. Is this free trade? I think 

not. But when England exports the self-same articles into 

India no im pc>rt duties .are levied u pDn them ! I am myself 

a free· trader. The Liberal party I believe are wedded· to 

the principles of f1'ee trade. There never was a greater advocate 
• 



34 

of the doctrines uf free trade than John Stuart Mill, and what 

d:>es he say with reference to the development of the nascent 

inJustries of a 'country? He.lays down the principles that 

. the infant industries of a country must be safe6uarded by 

protective duties. Of course you pay a great deal for the 

time being but the prosperity and material wealth which follow 

in the train of industries thus fostered and developed will 
more than compensate for the tempiOlrary loss you might 

thus incur. If India was a self-governing country I have not 

the slightest doubt that we should have imposed heavy duties 

for the protection of our nascent industries. 
Gentlemen, I do not know that I should be justified in 

taking up more of your time. You say in this resolution­

and I re-echo your sentiment,.;-that the Go.vcrnment should 

husband the resource,.; of the country. Economy and 

retrenchment haYe been the watch-wards of the Congress ; 

but hitherto ours has been a voice crying in the wilderness. 

It is now to be hoped-thanks to the labours of the Royal 

Commission--that economy will form a prominent feature 

of the administrations. I desire to remind the Government, 

in the presence of this great famine, of its supreme duty to 
husband the resources of the country. It is a serious obli­
gation imposed upon the Govemment-an obligation rendered 

paramount by the consideration that these famines are' due to 

the policy of extravagance fullowed by the Government in 
the past. ::\ o Government not even the strongest or the 

most omnipotent can for any length of time defy or break 

with impunity the moral and economic laws that govern 

human affairs. Injustice never wanders far, but comes home 

to the perpetrators thereof. But I must say I have great 
confidence in the Government of India ; in its wisdom and 

in its sense of justice. The Government s slow to move, but 

when it does move, it moves along the lines of beneficence 

and progress. You know the difficulties of the Irish problem ; 

you know how those difficulties arose. The words "to late" 

are written upon every line of England's policy in relation_to 
• 



( 35 ) 

Ireland. Let not those words be inscribed on the portals of 
Government House in Calcutta. These famines are the 
reminders of nature to warn go~ernments to mend their ways. 

If they do not mend direful must be the consequence. 
Bankruptcy, financial ruin, irretrievable collapse and ali their 

attendant evil must follow. \Ve in the Congress are the 

unofficial advisers of the Government. \Ve appeal to Govern­

ment to protect our it:dustries; husband our resources so that 

these famines may become matters of the past and a new era 

of plenty and prosperity may dawn upon this land. A Gov­
ernment which helps to produce a consumation so de,·outly 

to be wished for will be entitled to the blessin;:;s of God and 

the gratitude of a nation (Loud and prolonged cheering.) 

BABU SURE~DRA~ATH BA~ERJEA'S REPLY 

TO MR. JACOB'S STATEMENT. 

THE PUBLIC SERVICES 

I desire to submit the following observations in connec~ 

tion with that part of Mr. Jacob's statement' dated the 21st 

July (1907) which affects the Services:-

1 note that Mr. Jacob does not call in question the facts. 

and fi~ures which the other Indian witnesses and myse}f 

have adduced. His contention is that much has been clone 

within the last 20 years, and more will be done within the 

next few years. Our contention is that although ten years 
have elapsed since the Public Service Commission have made 

their report, yet in several important departments, such as 

the Public \Yorks, the Forest, the Telegraph, the l)ost Office, 

the Survey, the Customs, the Opiurp, and the Polic;e very 

little progress has been made towards giving effect to the 

recommendations of the Commission, and no serious effort 
has been made in that direction. \Vith :VIr. Jacob's criticisms. 

as affecting each of these deiJarttnwts, l will deal in detail 

under their respective head8. .But when he refers to the 

• 



statement which I made, and from which I do not withdraw, 

viz, that we regard the Indian Government as a progressive 

Government, but that we d~ not consider the progress made 

as adequate to meet the requirements of the country, it is only 

right anci proper that I should point out that the statement 
is to be taken only in a general sense, and applicable to each 
department ; for there are departments in which instead of 
progress there has been retrogression a.s regards the employ­
ment of the people of the country in the highest offices. 
Take for instance the :vledical Department, in regard to 

which Mr. Jacob is discreetly silent. In this department, 

within the last twenty years our countrymen have lost ground. 
I will reproduce here an extract from my evidence which 

entirely bears out this view of the matter and which has been 

challenged by Mr. Jacob :-
In 1877 there were 67 commissioned medical officers of 

whom 5 were Indians. There were in addition to the above, 

28 uncovenanted medical officers. Of these 7 were apothecaries 
(all Europeans) and 3 were Indians. In 1887 there were 62 

commisioned medical of-ficers, of whom only 6 were Indians. 

There were 29 uncovenanted medical officers of whom only 

4 were natives of India, the other 25 were Europeans and 

Eurasians (I 3 apothecaries and 12 non-military medical-men). 

There were 142 Assistant .Surgeons. In 1897 there were 

66 comp1issioned medical officers of whom only 4 were 

Indians. Thus practically the number of commissioned 

officers on the Bengal establishment who were natives of 

India remained stationary for a period extending over 20 

years from 1877 to 1897. In fact the number in 1897 was 
slightly less. In 1897 there were 36 unconvenanted civil 
medical officers, of whom only 4 were Indians, the rest were 

Europeans and Eurasians, 25 were apothecaries and 7 non­

military Europeans. *"' * It will thus be seen that while 
the number of apothecaries holding the higher appointments 

has increased by over 300 per cent, the number of natives of 

India employed has actually decreas·~d . 
• 



( 37 ) 

It is also worthy of note that :VIr. Jacob has nothing to 

say with regard to the Customs Department, although it so 

happens that with one exccptior1 the superior appointments 

111 the Customs Department in Calcutta are filled by 

Europeans, and it is a department for which according to 
the testimony of Sir Charles Trevelyan, natives of India are 

specially qualified. 

THE PUBLIC ~ERVICE COMMISSION REPORT. 

As I have said our complaint is that in regard to several 

of the great departments of the State little or nothing has 

been done towards giving effect to the recommendations of 

the Public ·Service Commission. Mr. Jacob's explanation is 

that we have to wait for vacancies occurring. I cannot admit 

that this is a full explanation. Vacancies have occurred in 

the office of Under-Secretary to the Government in Bengal 

more than once; yet not a single native of India has ever 

been appointed Under-Secretary to Government, although 
in Sir Eshley Eden's time (r8n-r882) a Beng'ali gentleman 

(Babu Rajendranath Mitter) acted with credit as Assistant 

Secretary to Government. Vacancies have more than once 

occurred in the office of Accountant-General of Bengal, yet 

not a single native of India has been appointed Acc.)unt­

General, although there are several natives of India who 

have acted with credit as .Deputy Comptrollers General and 

Deputy Accountants-General. Both these are appointments 

ro which natives of lnc·ia under the recommendations of the 

Public Service Commission are eligible. A reduction in the 

number of new recruits every year would tend to the more 

speedy carrying out ·of the proposals of the Public Service 

Commission. I may here notice that in Bengal, with one 

exception (that of :\ir. U. C. Batabyal) not a single member 

of the Provincial Service has been appointed under the 

recommendations of the Public Service Commission to any 

office hitherto reserved for members of the Covenanted 

Service, and even l\1r. Batabyal is not really a member of the 

Provincial Service. He ·was a member of the Statutory 
• 



Service, but elected to belong tu the Pruvincial Service. I 

m::>re tha11 once called attention to this matter in Council, 

and I was told in reply that the prior claims of the Statutory 

Service must first be satisfied, before the claims of the 
Provincial Service can be dealt with. In the North-Western 

Prov,inces however, where they had a Statutory Service 
similar to what we had in Bengal, several members of the 

Provincial Service hold appointments hitherto reserved for 

the Civil Service. \Vhy the members of the Provincial Service 

in Ben.;al should be placed in a worse position is wha,t I 

cannot understand. And here I must refer to an inaccuracy 

in Mr. Jacob's statement of a sufficiently important character 

to call for notice. At page 23 in commenting upon his 

table, Mr. Jacob's remarks:-'' Besides the appoinments 

shown above are actually listed fo~ the Provincial Service, 
members of that Service are eligible for higher posts such 

as High Court Judgeships, Commissionerships and those of 
members of the Board of Revenue." Membership of the 

Board of Revenue is one of the highest executive ap­

pointments under the Government. It is only next in 

importanc~ to a Lieutenant-Governorship, carrying a higher 

.salary than that of a High C,mrt Judge. \In Bengal the 

salary is so,ooo Rs. a year.) Now it is not the case, as 

stated by Mr. Jacob, that a membership of the Board of 

Revenue is one of the offices to which a member of the 

Provincial Service is eligible. The Public Service Commission 

indeed made the recommendation but the Government of 

India declined to accept this part of the recommendation of 

the Commission, and Sir A.ndrew Scobie, a member of the 
Commission, was a member of that ·Government. I quote 

from pargraph 13 of the despatch of the Government of India 

(No 58 of 1888 dated Simla the gth October r888): 

" In the first place we are of opinion that it . is not 

advisable to execlude from the schedule one member of the 

Board of Revenue in Madras, Bengal, and the .:\. \V. Pro­

vinces and Oudh, and the Financial Commissioner of the 

• 



39 ) 

Punjab. From our views upon this point our · Hon'ble 

colleague Sir Charles Aitchison de,;ires to dissent, for the 

reasons given on page 74 of the keport." 

"THE BULK OF THE EXECUTIVE AND JUDICIAL 

DEPARTMENTS MUST BE ENGLISHMEi-i." 

Mr. Jacob labours, as it seems to me, under a more 

serious misapprehension when he says that the Public Service 

Commission laid great stres:.; l!pon the fact that "the bulk 
of the Executive and Judicial Departments must be 

Englishmen " trained in English principles. This is certainly 

not the recommendation of the Public Service Commission. 

The gist of their recommendations may be summarized as 

follows: 
That indigenous agency should be more largely employed 

in the public service, that the recoupment of the official st;:,ff 

in England should be curtailed and advantage taken of 
qualified agency obtainable in India. In other words, the 

Provincial Service recruited in India should be the backbone 
of the administrative agency, subject to European supervision 

and control. "Considerations of policy and economy alike 
require," observed the Commission in their Report," "that so 

far as is consistent with the ends of good Government, the 

recruitment of the official staff in England should be 

curtailed and advantage taken of qualified agency obtainable 
in India." 

Again when discussing their proposals regarding the 

formation of an Imperial Service, the Commission observe:­

"Under this arrangement the Covenanted Civil Service 

reduced to a corps d'eiite and its members limited to what 

is necessary to fill the chief adminstrative appointments of 

the Government and such a number of smaller appointments 

as will ensure a complete course of training for junior 
civilians, will continue as hitherto to be recruited by open 

competition in England only " &c. (page 68 of the Public 

Service Commission Report). Thus so far from lying stress 

upon the fact that ''the bulk of the Executive and Judicial 



Departments must be Englishmen," the Public Service 

Commission recommend .. the limiting of the recruitment 

in En;;land to such a strength as is required to fill the highest 
and even the upper ranks of the service," so that "an 

opportunity of advancement to places of trust and responsi­
bility is afforded to those whose scruples debar them from 

competition in England") page 50, Public Service Commission 

Report). The Commission did not indeed recommend that 

the bulk_ of Executive and Judicial appointments should be 

held by Englishmen. Their recommendations involved the 
reservation of about one-sixth of the appointments hitherto 
held exclusively by members of the Civil Service for the 

Pro\·incial Service ; and my contention is that in the executive 
and judicial departments, the ruling de?artments as ;\-fr. 
Jacob puts it, their recommendations have only been partially 
carried out, and in the special departments to which I shall 
presently refer, they have been, if not totally ignored, even 

less partially given effect to. 

THE SPECIAL DEPARTMENTS. 

And yet in connection with these Special Departments 

Mr. Jacob observes in his evidence:-" Of course in other 

Departments which are not concerned with the Government 

of the country you may say such as the Public \Vqrks 

Department and the Accounts Department and others, a 
very much larger proportion of natives can be employed 

even in the higher grades and will be so employed." As a 
matter of fact they are not so employed. As a matter of 
fact the exclusion of natives of India from the higher offices 
in the special departments (as I have already shown from 

the figures I have quoted in my evidence) is even more 
complete. The House of Commons in their Resolution of 

the znd June r893 laid down:-" That all open competitive 
examinations heretofore held in England alone for appoint­
ments to the Civil Services of India shall henceforth be held 

simultaneously both in India and England, such examinations 

in .both countries being identical in their nature and all who 



( 41 

compete being finally classed in one list according to merit.'' 
It will thus be seen that the House of Commons by the 
above Resolution affirmed the •principle of holding simult­

aneous examinations, not only with regard to the Indian 
Civil Service, but with regard to all Civil Services. The 
Examinations for the higher offices in the Forest service, 
the Telegraph service, the Public \Vorks Department, the 
Police Department are now held in England and in England 
alone. Whatever political reasons there may exist for not 

holding simultaneous examiqations for the Indian Civil 
Service (and Indian public opinion firmly holds that no such 
reasons exist) it cannot be urged with the shadow of a reason 
that there are any political grounds for not holding simult­
aneous examinations for recruitment to the higher offices 
in the special departments. It will be seen on a reference 
to the "Blue-book presented to both Houses of Parliament 
in 1894, containing papers relating to the question of holding 
simultaneous examinations in India and England" that 
these despatches deal exclusively with the question ofholding 
simultaneous examinations for the Indian Civil Service, and 
that not a single Local Government nor even the. Supreme 
Government recorded any opinion adverse to the proposal 
for holding simultaneous examinations for the minor Civil 
Services. There is no official opinion on record against it. 
There is the Resolution of the House of Commons in favour 
of it. There are no political considerations against it. Mr. 
Jacob, the mouth-piece of the Government, himself says that 
natives of India can and will be largely employed in these de­

partments. Under the circumstances I would respectfully press 
the view which I have ventured to put forward in favour of. 
holding simultaneous examinations in India and England 
for recruitment to the Special Departments, for the favourable 

consideration of the .Commission. There can be no practical 
difficulty in the way of holding such examinations. For the 

London University till recently held its examinations in 

Calcutta, Bombay and other centres. In his Budget speech 
6 • 



Lord George Hamilton referred to the nece~sity of encourag­
ing technical eduction in India, as a means of developing 

the wealth of the country an~ of ameliorating the poverty of 
the masses. I have no hesitation in saying that the holding 
of examinations in India for the selection of probationers for 
the special departments which require technical knowledge 

will give a great impetus to technical education in India. The 
colleges will then make arrangements for these examinations. 
The youth of the country will be drawn by the prospect of 
high office towards the study of those technical sciences 
necessary for these examinations. 

I now pass on to consider :\1r. Jacob's observations under 
each ~pecial department. 

Orn.::\r DEr.\RntENT 

It would seem from ;\'lr. Jacob's statement that the 
Government of India has delined to accept the recommenda­

tion of the Public Service Commission in favour of the 
adoption of" the principle of equality of treatment of all 
classes of Her Majesty's subjects in regard to their appoint­
ment to offices in this department," the reason assigned being 
that natives ha\'C so recently been introduced into the higher 
appointments in the Opium Department that it is not deemed 
advisable at present to increase their employment. Natives 
of India haYe been employed in the higher appointments in 
this Department since r886. Thus for more than ten years 

their fitness has been tried, and surely the Government 
ought to be in a position to say whether they are qualified 
or not for the higher offices in this department. But surely 
if natives of India have been found qualified for some of the 
highest executive and judicial offices (such as those of 
District Magistrate, High Court Judge) it would be almost 

too absurd to hold that they cannot be trusted to discharge 

with ability the duties of 
in the Opium Department. 

me1~dation of the Public 

• 

some of the higher appointments 
After all, what does th'e recom­

Service Commissioner come up 



( 43 

to? Equality of tre:1tm':':nt am~ng all classes of Her Ma­
jesty's subjects is what they advocate. In other words, 
natives of India shall be placea on the same footing with 
Europeans and Eurasians if they have the requisite qualifica­
tions-that their race shall be no bar to their employment in 
the higher offices in the Opium Department. Let the Govem­
ment of India fix the qualifications, intellectual, moral and 
physical,and let all be equally allowed to compete, irrespective 
of race. That is obviously the sense of the Public Service Com­
mission recommendation, but apparently the Government of 
India would keep up the present state of things, make 

race a disqualification,and would on no account allow more than 
one out· of the four yearly recruits to be a native of India. 
The Government of India would find it very difficult to 
justify this policy before public opinion. In this Department 
alone, the recommendations of the Public Service Commission 
have been bodily rejected by the Government of India, for 
reasons with which the .public are unacquainted. 

FOREST SERVICE 

Ten years ago the Public Service Commission recom­
mended the formation of a Provincial Service in connection 
with the Forest Department-the Imperial branch of the 

Forest Service being in the words of the Public Service 
Commission "limited to the number of officers necessary to 
fill the superior controlling appointments and such proportion 

of the Assistant Conservators' posts as will ensure a complete 
training of the junior officers" It will thus be seen that the 

Provincial Service was to be the back-bone of forest admi­
nistratio':l. Ten years have now elapsed, and yet the Provin­
cial Branch which is to play such an important part in the 
arrangements for the wi?er employment of the children of 

the soil in the forest Department has not yet been formed. 
The Indian public have a right to complain that it has not yet 
been formed ; but so it is with regard to most schemes for the 
wider employment of the people in the hi6her offices of state . 

• 



44 

\Ve do not know when this Provincial branch of the Forest 
Service will be formed. We have waited ten years, and we 
do not know how long we •will have to wait. All this is in 
corroboration of my remark that the Goverment of India 
ought to move much faster than it does. If I may be per­
mitted to say so without disrespect, I will venture to add that 
Mr. Jacob's remarks under this and other heads of the 
Public Services are made not so much in respect of things 
as they are, but in respect of things as they will be. They 
are undertakings given on behalf of the Government. I am 
bound to say that we have had painful experience of these 
promises in the past. The Duke of Argyle speaking as 
Secretary of State observed:-'' We have not kept on 

promises to the people of India. " Lord Lytton speaking as 
Vicery of India observed:-" The promises of the Queen (as 
contained in the Proclamation) remain inadequately redeem­
ed." The Indian public can only hope that Mr. Jacob's 
promises made on behalf of the Government will be more 

speedily realized. 

POSTAL DEPARTMENT 

In regard to the Postal Department, Mr. Jacob's obser­
vations apply to what will happen eventually. The gist of 
my contention is not assailed, viz, that notwithstanding the 
orders ot the Government of India of 1879 and the distinct 
finding of the Public Service Commission that " in this 
Department opportunities have been afforded to natives to· 
sh,ow their fitness for superior offices and for posts of the 
highest responsibility "-the bulk of the higher appointments 
in the Department are still held by Europeans. I need not 
repeat the figures which I have already given and which 
entirely bear out my position. 

POLICE 

In the Indian Civil Service somewhat less than 
one-sixth or 16 per cent. of the appointments are held 
by natives of India. In the Police in Bengal less than 

• 



( 45 

7 per cent. of the superior appointments are held by natives; 
and the Civil Service governs the country. The District Ma­
gistrate who is a member of th~ Civil Service, governs the 
country; the District ::viagistrate who is a member of the Civil 
Service controls the District Superintendent, the official 
head of the Di'strict Police. Mr. Jacob admits the irri­
tating and. invidious distinction to which I called at­
tention in my evidence, viz, that from the competitive 
examinations held in London for recruitment to the high- . 
er offices in the Police, natives of India are excluded, for 
no other reason than because they are natives. Their race 

( 

constitutes their disability, contrary to the clear and distinct 
pledges contained in the Queen's Proclamation, which laid 
down that merit and not race was to be the sole test of 

qualification. Mr. Jacob says that the Local Governments 
are free to promote native Inspectors to the higher ranks in 

the Police service. I protested against one system of 
appointing old and worn-out Inspectors as District Superin­
tendents of Police. I desire respectfully to renew my protest. 
The circumstance has a bearing upon the advancement of 
natives of India in the Police service which is not to be over~ 

looked. Under the 55 years' rule, every unconvenated 
servant o£ Government must retire ·from service at the age 
of 55, unless•extension is giv6n to him. Such extension is 
ordinarily given for once, and seldom exceeds five years. The 
result of these old men being promoted to the office of 
District Superintendent is that they never rise to the higher 
grades. The system has thus contributed to keep the native 
District Superintendents in the lower grades. Promoted 
for the most part by seniority, there has not been a single 
native of India who has ever been a first grade District 

Superintendent of Police in Bengal. The present system of 

recruitment therefore distinctly interferes with the advance­
ment of natives of India to the higher grades in the Police 

department. 

• 



\ 
) 

THE EDVCATIOX DEPARnlENT 

I desire in the first instance to correct a mistake of fact 
in Mr. Jacob's statement: Mr. Jacob says that under the 
scheme now introduced the local rec