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the force and suddenness of a revelation to an Oriental people who knew no more binding obligation than the mandate of immemorial usage and of venerable tradition. The story is told in a biography, the authority of which has not been challenged, of one of the most brilliant representatives of early English culture in Bengal, the late Rev. Krishna Mohan Banerjee, throwing the refuse of a meal of forbidden food, on which he had fed himself, into the house of a neighbouring Brahmin. Everything English was good—even the drinking of brandy was a virtue; everything not English was to be viewed with suspicion. It was obvious that this was a passing phase of the youthful mind of Bengal; and that this temperament had concealed in it the seeds of its own decay and eventual extinction. In due time came the reaction, and with a sudden rush. And from the adoration of all things .Western, we are now in the whirlpool of a movement that would recall us back to our ancient civilization, and our time-honoured ways and customs, untempered by the impact of the ages that have rolled by and the forces of modern life, now so supremely operative in shaping the destinies of man- kind. Will this movement succeed? I have grave doubts; for such a movement is against the eternal verities of things and that divine law of progress which the Unseen Hand of an Invisible Power has inscribed on every page of human history. But, whether the move- ment succeeds or not, the reaction against pro-British tendencies was partly the creation of the British Government itself, for no British Government can be wholly un-British in its traditions. In India, it has given pledges and promises, generous and beneficent, and has founded institutions with great potentialities of self-rule. In 1833, the Charter Act removed all disqualifications as regards the eligibility of Indians to high office. But the Charter Act re- mained practically a dead letter. In 1858, the Queen's Proclama- tion made merit the sole test of qualification. Here again the pledges and promises made remained substantially unredeemed. Local Self-government was conceded in 1882; but the restrictions im- posed, about which Lord Morley as Secretary of State complained, largely nullified the boon. Then came Lord Curzon and his un- popular measures, the Official Secrets Act, the Universities Act, and, last but not least, the Partition of Bengal. All these created a strong revulsion of feeling. The methods of government followed in the new province intensified the growing sentiment and the culminating point was reached by the dispersal of the Barisal Con- ference in 1906. If I were asked to point to a single occasion as