62 REFORMED COUNCIL SESSION, 1910 



They are terribly in earnest and devour with 

 avidity any remarks illustrative of the House of 

 Commons methods, for a Parliament is their ideal, 

 a Parliament they mean, d la tongue, to get, and 

 a Parliament in the end they will possess; always 

 assuming that British India remains British 

 India. 



It is early days for me to formulate even a 

 purely private opinion, but I have already learnt 

 that as a general rule the most unreliable opinion 

 is that of men who have passed most of their lives 

 in India. They seem unable to appreciate to 

 their full extent the vital, incessant, and very 

 rapid changes which are taking place in India. 

 The early impressions they received appear to 

 dominate their views. 



In British India there has been up to now a 

 slow period of evolution; from Wellesley's small 

 supreme Council to the Charter Act of 1833, 

 followed by the Charter Act of 1853, to the Council 

 Acts of 1861 and 1892, up to the Act of 1909 con- 

 stituting the present " Reformed Council." 



We shall have to face a great acceleration in the 

 future. " The growth of Education is bearing 

 fruit. Important classes of the population are 

 learning to realise their own position, to estimate 

 for themselves their own intellectual capacities, and 

 to compare their claims for an equality of citizen- 

 ship with those of a ruling race " (Minto). 



The present reforms have not opened the flood- 

 gates, but they have let out a fairly strong flow 

 of water, and more will force its way through. 



Torn asunder from all my Western interests, 

 the Indian problem has become an obsession. It 



