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Ghose was placed in charge of the Civil Service Memorial to Parliament, and was deputed to England as the representative of the Indian Association.

Mr. Lalmohan Ghose’s work may be said to open a new chapter in our history, in the potentialities it disclosed of what might be done by Indian deputations to England. He set to work with resolute energy, and he received valuable help from Mr. Chesson, Secretary of the Aborigines Protection Society, and from Sir David Wedderburn, brother of Sir William Wedderburn, who is perhaps less known to the present generation than his distinguished brother, though he was one of the earliest to suggest representative government for India, and I had the honour of corresponding with him on the subject. A great meeting was held at Willis’s Rooms under the presidency of John Bright. Mr. Ghose spoke with a power and eloquence that excited the admiration of ail, and evoked the warmest tribute from the President.

The effect of that meeting was instantaneous. Within twenty-four hours of it, there were laid on the table of the House of Commons, the Rules creating what was subsequently known as the Statutory Civil Service. Under the Parliamentary Statute of 1870, the Government of India were empowered, subject to rules that were to be framed, to make direct appointments of natives of India of proved merit and ability to the Covenanted Civil Service. For over seven years the Government of India had slept over the matter. But so great was the impression created by the demonstration at Willis’s Rooms, having behind it the sentiment of united India, that the Rules, which were only four in number and had been delayed for seven years, were published within twenty-four hours of that meeting.

Thus the deputation of an Indian to England voicing India’s grievances was attended with an unexpected measure of success; and the experiment was in future years tried again and again, confirming the wisdom and foresight of those who had conceived the idea and carried it out. Indeed, Mr. Lalmohan Ghose was, soon after his return to India, again deputed to England by the Indian Association. It was during his stay on this occasion that he stood as a candidate for Parliamentary election in the Liberal interest; and if it were not for the Irish vote that went against him, almost at the last moment, he would have been entitled to the high distinction reserved for India’s Grand Old Man, Mr. Dadabhai