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and independent authority. The majority of the representatives of the rate-payers in the Corporation was still maintained; but it was left for Lord Curzon, after the Bill had passed the Select Committee stage, to issue the crowning mandate that was to officialize the Corporation, directing the reduction of the elected members, and placing them numerically on the same footing as the nominated element. This, coupled with the fact that the president was an official, gave a standing majority to the official element. Thus was the officialization of the Corporation completed.

As a protest against this arbitrary action on the part of the Government of Lord Curzon, twenty-eight Commissioners, includ- ing all the men of light and leading, tendered their resignation. Sir John Woodburn, the Lieutenant-Governor, threatened to resign, but as a matter of fact held on to his office. The Bill was introduced in 1897; it was passed in 1899; and it became the law of the land on April 1, 1900.

I was a member of the Select Committee; and for three months, and from day to day, we were hard at work until we submitted our Report. The Council held daily sittings for over a fortnight to consider the report and the amendments that were moved. The sittings of the Council often extended from 11 A.M. to 5 P.M., with an interval for lunch. For many years I was a member of the Council, but I never had such hard work to go through. It reminded me of the time when I was competing for the Indian Civil Service. Often I would be at work till one o'clock at night, preparing myself for the work of the Council, which was to meet at eleven o'clock on the following day. After the work and the excitement were over, there came the reaction, and I was prostrated by an attack of brain- fever, one of the severest illnesses from which I have ever suffered. The last day of the debate, when the Bill was passed by the Council, was September 27. It was the anniversary of the death of the great Raja Ram Mohun Roy. As I was ascending the steps on my way to the Council Chamber, an invitation to attend the anniversary meeting was put into my hands. It raised in me the saddest emotions; and for the last time, in opposing the Bill, I said:

'Just as I was coming to this Council this morning, I received a letter, which reminded me that to-day was the anniversary of the death of Raja Ram Mohun Roy. It seems to me to be most fitting that the anniversary of the death of the greatest Bengalee of modern times should correspond

with the date which will be remembered by future generations of Bengalees