11 AUGUST 1923, Page 23

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS.

The New Constitution of India. By Sir Courtenay Ilbert and Lord Meston. (University of London Press. 5s. not.)

This volume of Rhodes Lectures, given at University College a year ago, concerns the Montagu-Chelmsford constitu- tion which the native Indian politicians are busily trying to destroy. Sir Courtenay Ilbert describes it dispassionately but not without sympathy. Lord Meston, who has been Mr. Montagu's leading advocate, defends the new constitution whole-heartedly, though he admits that " the anti-democratic forces in life are probably more abundant in India than in any other great country that has ever launched an attack upon them," and that many years must pass before " this new and many-hued Dominion " will be fit to stand alone. '