28 HAPPY INDIA 



position to whom he can tell all his difficulties and 

 all the difficulties of the people under his control, 

 and to whom he can make suggestions, to whom he 

 can point with pride to the good things that he has 

 done, to whom he can mention with sorrow the 

 good things that he has not been able to accomplish. 

 This would be of great assistance and encourage- 

 ment to him. 



It is not absolutely necessary to limit the number 

 of members of Parliament to ten, there might be 

 twenty go every year, but they must not tour in 

 India in large companies ; two is sufficient or at 

 most three, so that one interpreter can serve for 

 the party, and the residents or other officials they 

 interview can talk to them all at once. They can 

 speak not merely to British officials, but to native 

 officials and to the husbandmen in the fields, and 

 the artificers and manufacturers of all kinds. They 

 could visit the courts of law, the gaols and the 

 hospitals. 



But each year there should go a fresh party of 

 members of Parliament, until the British Parliament 

 has learnt something about India and has learnt 

 to understand the vast responsibilities which Great 

 Britain assumed when in the year 1858 it took from 

 the East India Company the government of its great 

 territory. 



Whether or not the deposition of the East India 

 Company from control was wise I will not say, but 

 it is a matter of history that so long as the Company 

 was in control, members of the British Parliament 



