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headed amongst them. He had, indeed, the gift of an historic imagination, as evidenced by his fine novels, but it was an imagina- tion chastened by his grasp of the inwardness of things. Writing to me from Baroda, where he was Prime Minister at the time, he said—and the letter appears in his life by Mr. J. N. Gupta of the Indian Civil Service—: 'What a wonderful revolution we have seen within the lifetime of a generation. What a change - what a noble part you have played in leading that change.' 'We have witnessed in our times' said Romesh Chunder Dutt a wonderful change.' It assumes the form and complexion of a bloodless revolution.

This is no exaggeration of language, but the bare truth; and contemporary history bears it out. Looking at the political side, what do we find? In 1875, when I began my public life, our local bodies were devoid of the popular element. With the exception of four municipalities in Bengal—their number now is 116—the members were all nominated by the Government, and so was the chairman, their executive head. The Legislative Councils were in the same position. The members were all nominees of the Govern- ment. On the executive Government, which determined the policy and the measures of the administration, there were no Indian re- presentatives, nominated or elected. There was only a handful of Indians in the Indian Civil Service which is the corps d'élite governing the country. Indian opinion was weak, hardly vocal. The pulsations of national life were not felt. The great Indian continent consisted of innumerable units, disintegrated, without coherence or consistency, without unity of purpose or aim; speaking with differ- ent voices, wrangling, quarrelling, contending, with their energies dissipated amid a conflict of views and a Babel of tongues.

Now contrast this picture with what we see before us. In Bengal, as in other provinces, the local bodies are constituted on a popular basis; the constitution of the Calcutta Corporation, the greatest in the Indian Empire, is democratic. The Legislative Councils are all organized on popular lines, with a predominance of the popular element. On the Executive Councils there is a fair representation of the Indian element which has a potential voice in the government of the country; and, lastly, the beginnings of Parliamentary institu- tions have been introduced in the provinces with the definite pledge that full responsible government is in sight. The Indianization of the services is proceeding apace. There may be, and indeed there are, complaints as to the pace, but the idea that India is for the