430 SECTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS, 



In the first place, in those parts of the Empire where the question 

 of Indian emigration and settlement is controversial there should be 

 at once a perfectly frank discussion of the issues between India and the 

 Dominion or Colony concerned, and, if necessary, an inquiry by an 

 impartial tribunal, such as a Eoyal Commission. Much good, and 

 comparatively little harm, will come from a full and open examination 

 of both sides of the question, each party being given a chance of 

 appreciating the other's point of view, and the avenues to understanding 

 and compromise being explored on the spot. I am sure that anything 

 is better than the present long-distance bombardments between the 

 India Office and the Colonial Office, with the uneasy feeling that the 

 British Cabinet could stop the action if it wished. With all the facts 

 and all the sentiments and all the prejudices (if you like) before them, 

 a competent Royal Commission could suggest lines of negotiation, if 

 not a settlement, which would allay the growing acerbities of the situa- 

 tion. It may quite well be that, for emigrants into certain areas, the 

 status of citizenship must be deferred or limited or restricted numerically. 

 Circumstances exist in which such a step would be perfectly reason- 

 able, and if taken with India's consent would in nO' sen&e be derogatory 

 to her self-respect or to steady progress towards full achievement. 



In the second place, those of us who believe in Imperial Citizenship 

 as a force in the world's progress will do well to see to it that it is 

 preached among ourselves, not as a doctrine for the white races alone, 

 but as an evangel for all the higher strata of civilisation in our Common- 

 wealth. In this, as in so many other matters which are vital to human 

 harmony, we have always to be at the difficult task of trying to ' get 

 into the other man's skin.' We have to remember, and to convince 

 others, that where the status of our Imperial Citizenship is envied and 

 sought for it is a gift which should be ungrudgingly given if at all, for 

 it will surely bi'ing its own rewards. Of these, an increased loyalty is 

 only one ; there are others, more subtle and not less valuable — an upward 

 growth towards our Imperial standards, and a steady elimination of 

 such national weaknesses as are incompatible with our Imperial ideals. 

 These are worth some temporary sacrifice and discomfort on our part. 



In the third place, returning more particularly to India, we have a 

 mighty task of co-operative effort before us in that country. I am not 

 here to talk politics, but you will probably agree with me that, in her 

 new Constitution, and on the peculiar terms in which we have under- 

 taken its development, India has been placed in the perfectly unique 

 position of being invited to choose her own future, and of being assured 

 protection while she is engaged in working it out. There is a section 

 of Indian opinion — to whose reactionary doctrines I have already 

 referred — who profess the belief that India can move, without our aid, 

 towards her own national organisation. There is another section which, 

 if properly supported, will (I believe) in the end prevail. It looks to 

 us for assistance and co-operation in a problem for which its own 

 experience is not yet adequate. That problem is neither more nor less 

 than the fulfilment of those conditions for full Imperial Citizenship 

 which we were considering at the outset — just and uniform laws, a 

 public spirit which actively co-operates in their enforcement, a standard 



