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goodwill, this spirit of co-operation in the Secretariat, the counter- part of it was more or less wanting outside the official circle. The Press of Bengal, with exceptions here and there, was saturated with the spirit of Non-Co-operation, and was Extremist in its views and utterances. The reception accorded to us was cold and even hostile. The Reforms were mere moonshine. They meant nothing. We were described as officials and bureaucrats, associated with a machinery that was designed to perpetuate a fraud and to whitewash a delu- sion. In vain did we protest that we were not 'officials', or point to the clear wording of the Government of India Act. In vain did our actions belie this view. Unlike officials, we continued to hold political offices and to address public meetings. I remained Presi- dent of the Indian Association and for some time Chairman of the North Barrackpore Municipality. Only the other day I condemned the decision of the British Cabinet in connexion with the Kenya question, and warned the Government of India of its unwisdom. But ours was a voice crying in the wilderness, and to the last we continued to be the 'brown bureaucrats' of the Extremist Press. Facts and arguments would not appeal to those who, having eyes and ears, would neither see nor hear.

It was in an atmosphere of this kind that we started work. Burke has told us that conciliation is the sovereign remedy for public distempers. I tried to please and conciliate, but cannot say that I was very successful. When a fixed policy for a particular end is pursued by a party, they are usually deaf to arguments and entrea- ties. But these are the only weapons in the armoury of the public man. I employed them and I made a new departure. I appealed to the Press to help me in my work for the promotion of public health. I invited a conference of the members of the Press at the Town Hall in July, 1921. In opening its proceedings I said:

'This is the first time that a conference of this kind has been convened by the Government, to which the representatives of the Press have been invited to discuss the vital question of the sanitation of the province' and I added:

'It is an index of the democratic spirit which inspires the Government, of its solicitude to consult public opinion and approach its behests with attention and respect. It is your high mission, in the new conditions which have dawned in the land, to create, to regulate, and to lead and guide public opinion into useful and fructifying channels. I have invited you here to-day to fulfil this high mission of your vocation.'