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public meetings in the south of England and Wales, wrote thus in the official report submitted by him to the British Committee of the Indian National Congress:

'At all the meetings the demand was that Mr. Banerjea should visit them again; and I would point out to you the great advantage the movement would gain by his presence, as that alone would ensure overflowing audi- ences in the towns already visited. I would strongly urge the importance of this fact upon your Committee, as I have already urged it upon Mr. Banerjea himself as well as Mr. Hume; and in confirmation of this I would remind you that, immediately after the Cardiff meeting, Mr. R. N. Hall on behalf of the South Wales Liberal Federation, of which he is the secretary, entreated Mr. Banerjea to revisit Cardiff before leaving for India, to address a meeting of the representatives of the constituencies in South Wales in the largest hall in Cardiff, at which he promised there would be an audience of several thousands of persons to hear the claims of India. I will make a similar promise for Plymouth.'

Unfortunately, a deputation to England on the scale of 1890, backed by the organization and the resources then at our disposal, was never repeated, though the results achieved by that Deputation were unique in the history of the Congress movement. We addressed meetings in many of the great towns of England, Wales and Scot- land, and the Deputation fittingly finished its labours with an interview with Mr. Gladstone, at which the impression was left on our minds that he would speak at the second reading of Lord Cross's Bill on the Expansion of the Councils and support the elective principle. Our anticipation proved true. For on the occasion of the second reading of the Bill, Mr. Gladstone urged that what should be conceded was a real and living representation of the people of India. The elective principle as such was not indeed conceded, but a definite advance towards it was made. Under regulations framed by the Government under the Parliamentary Statute of 1892, municipalities and district boards were permitted to return members to the local Councils, subject to confirmation by Government, and the non-official members of provincial Councils were allowed the privilege of returning members to the Imperial Legislative Council. The right of asking questions was conceded, and the annual discussion of the Budget was allowed. Thus the first notable step towards securing representative government was taken, and mainly through the efforts of the Congress and the Deputation of the Congress. The Act of 1892 was still further liberalized by the Statute of 1909, but the