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A NATION IN MAKING

that Indians of proved merit and capacity would be appointed to the Civil Service under rules to be framed for the purpose. It took half a dozen years to frame as many rules, and even after that you proceeded at snail- pace to comply with the requirements of the statute.

The Lieutenant-Governor: But you are now a power both here and in England. You have organized Indian public opinion, and you have a British Committee in London to represent your interests.

Mr. Banerjea Despite all that, Indian opinion is impotent in the coun- sels of the Government. Our rights are dependent upon sufferance, and our privileges are more or less a matter of grace and favour.

This conversation took place in 1893. When I had an interview with Lord MacDonnell in London in 1909, he had, as it appeared to me, partly modified his views and was inclined to support simultaneous examinations. That was after the Curzon-Wyllie murder, and he was of opinion that it was unwise to encourage the steady flow of Indian students into England, and that both the examinations for calls to the Bar and for the Indian Civil Service should be held simultaneously in India as well as in England.

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