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man, Lord Chelmsford, who was then Viceroy, said: 'I hope some day to see India hold a position of equality among the sister nations of which the British Empire is composed. In this respect I earnestly invite your co-operation.' Here was a forecast of the message that was to follow and was to be delivered from the floor of the House of Commons in August, 1917. The temper of the administration was changing; and we were on the threshold of great happenings.

It was at such a time that Lord Ronaldshay became Governor of Bengal. He succeeded a ruler of great popularity, whose exten- sion of office the people of Bengal would have welcomed. Indeed, there was a talk of presenting a petition to that effect. There was certainly a considerable body of feeling behind it. Lord Carmichael was a Radical of an advanced type, with genuine sympathy for Indian aspirations, of which he gave clear proof in his evidence before the Joint Parliamentary Committee. He was prepared, he said, to go beyond the Montagu-Chelmsford Report if the Viceroy and the Secretary of State approved. He was not remarkable for administrative vigour, and even while presiding at meetings of the Legislative Council, his periods of somnolence were not infrequent, though it must be admitted that Council speeches, in those days, and even now, delivered as they are for the most part from typed manuscripts, have a profoundly soporific effect upon the audience.

Soon after Lord Carmichael's arrival in Bengal in April, 1912, I remember to have discussed with him at Darjeeling the affairs of the Calcutta Municipality, with a view to the amendment of the Act. Mr. Payne, so well known as Chairman of the Calcutta Cor- poration, was appointed on special duty, but nothing was done during Lord Carmichael's term of office. A Bill was introduced in 1917, but was withdrawn, and the Act was not amended till 1923. However that may have been, Lord Carmichael's personality had a profoundly soothing effect on Bengal politics, at a time when they were more or less disturbed. He was the personal friend of almost every man of note in Bengal, and they were charmed with his courage, and candour, and his sympathy with Indian aspirations. He combined the shrewdness of the Scotchman with his love of freedom. I remember his telling somebody, 'I am not sure I would not be doing what some of these Extremists are up to if I were a Bengalee.' Frank talk like this on the part of the Governor of a province disarmed opposition, won the hearts of his visitors and