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it. This is the first time that I hear of it.' I added 'You seem to know more about it than I do.' He gave me the particulars, so far as he knew them, and he asked me if I knew who Dhingra was. I said that from the name it was clear that was not a Bengalee; but it was difficult to say what part of India he came from. The reporter got precious little from me for copy, except a clear expression of my own personal opinion and the sense of abhorrence that all India would feel at the terrible crime. Soon after, reporters, one after another, began to pour into my room, to the infinite disguest of the liftman, who said to a friend, 'The suffragettes are bad enough'—Clements' Inn where I was residing was their headquarters—'but this Indian (meaning me) is worse. He gives us a lot of trouble.'

Reporters' visits continued till a late hour of the evening, and were supplemented by those of Indian students who came in large numbers, soliciting my advice as to what should be done; for the situation was one of the utmost gravity. It was an Indian student who had murdered a high English official, and a countryman of his own who had rushed to his rescue. The wantonness of the crime gave a shock to English public feeling and created wide-spread indignation. Unless prompt steps were taken by the Indian students to disavow the crime and repudiate it in the most explicit terms, public indignation would spread from the individual student who had committed the deed to the class, and Indian students generally would be tarred with the same brush. It was necessary to save the situation by prompt and decisive action. Mr. D. C. Ghose and Mr. H. M. Bose, who were then in England studying for the Bar, took the lead in organizing a demonstration of students, which we decided should take place at once. The rooms of the New Reform Club were secured, and the meeting was to be held on the following day with myself as President. Fortunately for the Indian students, I had been invited by some journalistic friends to lunch with them the same day at the National Liberal Club. The tragedy of the preceding night was naturally the subject of discussion, and it was. decided that I should write a letter to the Press, which—or, at any rate, a substantial summary of it—was to be published through the Press agency in every newspaper in the country. The letter was drafted and before evening it was despatched over my signature to all newpapers throughout the United Kingdom. Thus the first step was taken towards meeting a situation that threatened a crisis.

The meeting at the New Reform Club was held on the following day. The room in which it was held was not large in the Indian