lutroiluctioii xix. 



appears to think that he can dispose of his European and 

 Indian opponents by asking them where is their elaborate 

 alternative to the Home Rule scheme they condemn. 

 Speaking for Europeans, we frankly reply, nowhere. 

 Not on us is the onus of producing comprehensive and 

 detailed schemes of political reconstruction, for it is not 

 we but the Home Rulers who demand radical changes in 

 the whole existing system. Like our Indian friends, we 

 are well enough aware that there is need of reform at 

 various points in that system, but we flatly deny, as they 

 also do, that the entire system needs to be recast. It is 

 open to the Home Ruler to argue that we are far too 

 complacent over any drawbacks the system may possess, 

 or that it may be obsolete and in need of adjustment. He 

 is entitled to make out such case against it as he can. But 

 he has no right whatever to declare us out of court because 

 we Europeans, believing the system to be in the main 

 sound, and for the rest capable of improvement without 

 general reconstruction, refrain from producing a scheme 

 comparable in ambition and extent to that of the Home 

 Rulers." 



I am quite sure that such a policy, whether adopted 

 over here, in India or elsewhere within the Empire, can 

 do no good to those who make use of it, but is likely to 

 cause considerable friction, and will certainly delay the 

 introduction of any system of reform, no matter how badly 

 a change may be needed. 



As the public when attending meetings do not go about 

 with a rival plan tucked away in their pockets, this sort of 

 big stick attitude towards the voters of the United 

 Kingdom is not likely to benefit those who have organized 

 the meeting and it certainly is not a course that 1 would 

 recommend anyone to pursue until they were quite 

 certain that the proposed policy for developing the 

 Empire's resources meets the following requirements : — 



