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At Oxford we were treated to a luncheon in the Library of All Souls' College. Lord Curzon, as Chancellor of the University, received us in the garden of the College, and afterwards presided and spoke at the lunch. There was nothing very striking in the function or in the speech. From Oxford we proceeded to Sheffield, where we were entertained by the Mayor, and were taken round the works of Messrs. Vickers, Maxim & Co., the world-famous manu- facturers of arms. To me, and, I imagine, to most of the delegates, it was a bewildering sight. We gazed, we wondered—that was all. At Sheffield the suggestion was made that I should speak. I demur- red, and preferred to hold myself in reserve for Manchester. I think I was right in this decision.

We arrived at Manchester on June 18. At the entrance to my hotel there were my Indian friends, headed by Mr. Dube, a resi- dent of Northern India, to welcome me. They garlanded me and decked me with flowers, while some of my colleagues of the Press Conference looked with no little curiosity on this novel sight. Among the spectators was Mr. Mackenzie, the correspondent of the Daily Mail. As I noticed him I said, 'This is what you called my coronation in the Daily Mail. This is what is usually done every day to honoured friends in India.' He laughed; and I entered the hotel, making over my flowery appendages to Sir Harry Brittain for presentation to Lady Brittain.

At Manchester I was selected to speak at a luncheon at the Town Hall presided over by the Lord Mayor. The Lord Mayor proposed the toast of 'The Imperial Press', coupling it with my name. I have taken the liberty of printing this speech in an appendix because in that speech I tried to voice, as effectively as I could, our aspirations for self-government as 'the cement of the Empire'. the strongest guarantec of Imperial unity, and the most powerful bulwark against the machinations of the enemies of England. We are now within measurable distance of the fulfilment of that for which I then ventured to plead. For the beginnings of responsible government have been inaugurated, which I hope, notwithstanding the clouds that now darkly frown, will, in the fulness of time, make India an equal partner in the British Commonwealth. In the last sentence of my peroration, I said:

'India in the enjoyment of the blessings of self-government, India prosperous, contented and happy, will be the most valuable asset of

the Empire, the strongest bulwark of Imperial unity. And the