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company, small though it was, Americans, Canadians, and Irish; and among Indians was Mr. Bepin Chunder Pal. Mr. Stead appeared in the room with a whip in his hand, which, I presume, was typical of the axe that was to fall in two minutes' time, and he wanted my dying message to the British public on behalf of the motherland. I must say that I was not prepared, even from the dramatic point of view, for so awful a doom and so solemn and historic a message. There was, however, no escape from the position. The whip was there. It was in the hands of one of the most inflexible of men, who knew how to wield it, either to rouse the sympathy or evoke the indignation of his fellows. I addressed myself to the task as best I could, not indeed without a shuddering fear, but behind it there was the sanguine hope of enlisting the sympathies and the active co-operation of those who guide and control the public opinion of large sections of their countrymen.

The appeal made to me to utter a dying message to the British public on behalf of my motherland stirred all that was most sensi- tive in me, and I threw myself heart and soul into it. The whip was the outer symbol; love was the inspiring principle; and the love of the great Englishman for India's freedom awakened in me a deep and sympathetic response, which I think was shared by my audience. I can do nothing better than quote it in his own words; for it will serve the double purpose of a faithful record of my message and all that transpired, and of a memorial of love for India and her people on the part of a great and philanthropic English- man:

'If you were under sentence of death, Mr. Banerjea, and the headsman's axe was to fall in two minutes, what is the message which you would wish to address to the British public as the last words you were able to utter on behalf of your motherland?'

Without a moment's hesitation Mr. Banerjea replied:

'I would say this: (1) Modify the Partition of Bengal; (2) Release the deported patriots and repeal the Act which annuls Habeas Corpus in Bengal; (3) Amnesty all the political prisoners; (4) Give the people of India con- trol of their own taxes; and (5) Grant India a constitution on the Cana- dian model. That is what I would say, and, having said that, I would go to my doom.'

'Good', said he. 'Now let us come to particulars. I thought you wanted the repeal of the Partition?'

'I wish that repeal were possible, but I recognize that Lord Morley,

having been challenged perhaps prematurely for an expression of opinion,