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experience. was falsified by a popular demonstration held within a mile of his residence in the South Suburban School. But how changed is all this now! And how rapid and sudden has been the transformation! It seems as if a whirlwind has swept over the pre- vailing temper of local public opinion, dissipating its old colourings and transforming it beyond recognition. The idol of yesterday is the demon of to-day, ruthlessly trodden in the dust. His great merits and eminent services - his vindication of the capacity of our people in an untrodden path of administrative work - are all forgotten and effaced from the public memory; and, in an electoral contest with a Swarajist candidate for his seat in the Bengal Legislative Council, he was defeated, apparently for no other reason than that he had recently accepted a Ministerial portfolio in the newly constituted Government of Bengal.

To work the Reforms and to be a member of the Government is, in the estimation of the Swarajists, an unforgivable sin. Logically, therefore, to be a member of the Legislative Council must be sinful, though perhaps the degree of criminality may be a shade less; for the Legislative Council is a part of the machinery of Government, and the member is a limb of that machinery. But neither logic nor common sense, not even the ordinary considerations of patriotic expediency, dominate the counsels of Swarajism. They are out to destroy the Reforms, and they must hound the ministers out of office. Without ministers the transferred subjects could not be administered, there would be a deadlock, and the Reforms would be wrecked. But that does not mean that there would be no Government. It may mean a reversion to the old bureaucratic system, untempered by even a partially popular Government. The Swarajists, however, believe that it would mean the immediate grant of full responsible government under the overwhelming pressure of an irresistible compulsion. A recent debate in the House of Lords and the whole trend of British public opinion should suffice to dispel this delusion.

Mr. Surendranath Mullick having resigned in order to accept a ministerial office, I had to appoint his successor, as I was still Minister in charge of Local Self-government. It was a matter of some difficulty, as the appointment was for only a few months. There were the claims of Mr. C. C. Chatterjee, Deputy Chairman, a tried and experienced officer, quite familiar with all the details of municipal administration. As the appointment was really a temporary one, I should, if I followed the office precedent, have