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foundations of representative government had been well and truly laid by the previous Statute.

I have so far said nothing about the members of the Deputa- tion; but I feel no hesitation in alluding to the work of honoured colleagues whose services, I fear, have not been sufficiently recognized. Mr. Allen Hume, the father of the Indian National Congress, was with us throughout the campaign. As a member of the Civil Service, he had spent his life in desk-work and had few opportunities of public speaking. But when he spoke at our meetings in England, he showed the capacity and resourcefulness of a practised debater. I well remember the crushing reply he gave to a critic of the Congress who had urged at the Birmingham meeting that social reform must precede political reform, and that the Congress must wait for the fulfilment of its programme till social evolution had achieved its work in India. The son of a great father (Joseph Hume), his association with us inspired confidence.

Mr. Mudholkar joined us after we had begun our work. But he threw himself heart and soul into it. His mastery of facts, his clear presentment, and his intense earnestness made a deep impression upon British audiences. Mr. Syed Ali Imam, afterwards Sir Ali Imam, was with us at Plymouth. He had then just been called to the Bar. His cold, clear vein of rationalism was even then con- spicuous, and has helped to bring him back, through many deviations, to the fold of the Congress. Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji and Sir William Wedderburn occasionally helped us with their presence and their speeches. Mr. Eardley Norton was another member of the Deputation. He joined us late but did good service. On the occasion of the debate at the Oxford Union he moved the Congress Resolution, That the House views with regret the non-recognition of the elective principle in the Bill now before the House of Commons'.

That debate was a memorable one. The Oxford Union is a stronghold of Conservatism. It was here that Mr. Gladstone made his first mark as a debater; and it was under the influences of his Alma Mater that he became the rising hope of the unbending Tories' in the early part of his great career. We entered the debating hall of the Union, Mr. Hume, Mr. Norton and myself, with the almost certain belief that the motion would be lost in that gathering of young Conservatives. I met there Mr. Wilson, then a Professor in the Presidency College and one of the founders of the Calcutta University Institute. I felt sure from what I knew of his political