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opinion to the internments but it made them rather less unaccept- able than before.

Here it may not be out of place to refer to the debate that took place in the Imperial Legislative Council, in connexion with the Rowlatt Act. It was a coercive measure that was a departure from the ordinary criminal law of the land, and evoked wide-spread opposition, which found its echo in the Council Chamber. Mr. Srini- vasa Shastri, Dr. Tej Bahadur Sapru and myself were invited to an informal conference to discuss the matter with the Home Member, Sir William Vincent. We were all opposed to the Bill. Sir William agreed to make it temporary, but still we could not see our way to supporting it. In the Council I strongly opposed the Bill and warned the Government of the serious step it was about to take and of the intense agitation which it was bound to provoke. But our protest was of no avail. The Bill was passed into law; but it remained a dead letter, its provisions never being given effect. Our prophecy, however, was literally fulfilled. The Rowlatt Act was the parent of the Non-Co-operation movement.

The despatch of August 25, 1911, was a memorable one. It was a landmark in our annals. It recommended the modification of the Partition of Bengal, but it did something more. It promised the boon of provincial autonomy; and in all our subsequent Provincial Conferences special emphasis was laid on this pledge, and its speedy fulfilment was urged. In the Legislative Council I raised this point. The discussion was about the budget, and I pressed for the financial independence of the provinces as a part of the scheme of provincial autonomy. The view was challenged by Sir William Meyer, the Finance Minister, who said that I was 'an impatient idealist'. I retorted by replying that I certainly was an idealist, but not of the impatient or of the unpractical order, and that many of my ideals had been fulfilled, or were on the high road to consummation. In a conversation with Lord Hardinge, who was then Viceroy and was the author of the despatch, he said, 'Mr. Banerjea, you will have provincial autonomy in ten years' time.' We had indeed the begin- nings of it much earlier.

In the elections of 1916, I lost my seat in the Imperial Legislative Council. Mr. Bhupendra Nath Basu and Mr. Sitanath Roy were the successful candidates. I reverted once again to the normal public life, outside the Council, that had been mine for the last forty years. The war had broken out in 1914, and an appeal was made for recruitment to the people of Bengal. I went about from