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14

Two Clouded Years

Evidence before the Welby Commission—British public addressed on Indian questions—my return to India: elected to the Bengal Council—the Congress of 1897: case of the Natu brothers—famine, plague, and deportations—Lord Curzon assumes office—the Madras Congress: Mr. Ananda Mohan Bose.

In 1897, I was invited to give evidence before the Welby Commission appointed to enquire into Indian Expenditure and the adjustment of the financial relations between England and India. Lord Welby was President of the Commission, and among the members were Sir William Wedderburn, Mr. W. S. Caine, and Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji. I was invited as the Indian witness from Bengal, the other witnesses from India being Mr. Gokhale and Sir Dinshaw Wacha from Bombay, and Mr. G. Subramanya Iyer from Madras.[1]

I made up my mind to accept the invitation and began to prepare myself for my examination; and here I must record my grateful acknowledgments to the Bengal Secretariat and to the memory of the late Sir Herbert Risley, then in charge of the Financial Department, for the help I received. I believe Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the Lieutenant-Governor, was doubtful as to whether I should be able to stand the test of a severe cross-examination in Finance; but I made up my mind to do my best, and I did not, I think, fare badly. I got up the details of provincial finance and the system of provincial contracts after careful study; and the labour I bestowed and the pains that I then took were helpful to me in my work as a member of the Legislative Council.

I arrived in London early in May and found that my friends had already been examined. I had to prepare a memorandum for submission to the Commission upon which I was to be examined by them. The preparation of the memorandum took me about a fortnight; and it was hard and strenuous work. I used to begin work at ten o'clock in the morning after breakfast and stop at about five o'clock, with a short interval for lunch, which I often had in my own room. The memorandum has been printed by the British Committee of the Indian National Congress along with

  1. ↑ See Appendix B.
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