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responsible. The extraordinary feature of the meeting was that, not the members of the Executive Council who passed the order, but the Ministers who did not, were summoned to retire. Such was the even-handed justice done to Ministers in India charged with great affairs of State.

The instance affords illustration of the mentality of some of those who have so glibly condemned diarchy in Bengal, and of the atmosphere in which it was condemned. To me it seems that it is the old cry in a new garb raised by some of the Extremists, 'Down with the Reforms!' The old cry would now have failen flat. It was necessary in the interests of the game to refurbish and rehabilitate it. The resignation of some Ministers in different parts of India and their evidence added to its weight. Let me not be misunderstood. I do not for one moment mean to assert that diarchy is an ideal system, or that it is anything but a temporary expedient. I do not know sufficient of the condition of things in the other provinces, but I claim for Bengal that diarchy has done useful work and would probably have done more if we had not suffered from financial stringency.

I would refer to the Calcutta Municipal Act, which has demo- cratized the municipal constitution of Calcutta. Apart from its merits, even from the Swarajist point of view it must be a good Act, for they have largely availed themselves of it, not indeed with a view to destroying, but to working it. Their acceptance of office under it is evidence of their approval of the measure. I wonder with what consistency or even show of fairness they can condemn diarchy, the system that gave them this Act. The very men who are loud in their professions of dislike and hatred for the Government have occupied positions which are departments of that Government and subject to that Government's control. I hold that it would not be consistent with the facts of the case to say that diarchy has failed in Bengal as far as its own legitimate business is concerned.

Let us probe the matter a little further. What about the various administrative measures, for the Indianization of the Services in Bengal, that have been inaugurated under a diarchical Government? What about the reduction of Indian Medical Service appointments in Bengal from forty-two to twenty-four? What about the impetus to the establishment of medical schools in the mofussil, and to the study of Ayurvedic medicine? What about the advance in Local Self-government in every department under the diarchy? Lastly,