HAPPY INDIA 27 



were lower. That indeed would be a glorious boast 

 and one which I think is quite possible of fulfilment 

 if the British nation would take any kindly and 

 generous interest in the great Indian Empire. 



Never before in the history of the world has a 

 country containing three hundred and nineteen 

 million civilised people with ancient and glorious 

 histories going back thousands of years been sub- 

 jected to the control of a nation of forty-seven 

 millions living at a distance of seven thousand 

 miles. It is obviously the solemn duty of the British 

 nation to give its instant and serious attention to 

 this great matter and to insist that the honour and 

 glory and dignity of the British nation shall not be 

 smudged because a certain Government department 

 desires to be left alone in the government of our 

 dependency. 



I would suggest that as a beginning at least ten 

 members of the House of Commons every year 

 should visit India, dividing themselves into five 

 separate parties, and should travel about to every 

 district and see the resident Governors and 

 Commissioners and talk to them about the affairs 

 of their people. These Commissioners would be 

 glad to know that members of the British Parliament 

 were taking an interest in their work, and would 

 give all the information in their power. They are 

 for the most part good men, and wish to do good to 

 all the people under their care. Think of the resident 

 Commissioner in some rarely visited part of India 

 who never sees any independent Englishman of 



