The End of the Indian Controversy On Thursday, November 7th,
the Indian debate in the House of Commons put the controversy about the Viceroy's statement in its right perspective. Mr. Baldwin, though asking necessary questions about the Government's failure to consult the Simon Commission, showed from the first sentence of his speech that he was determined that the united front of all parties towards India should be maintained. What might almost be called the calculated irrelevance of the historical sketch in which he described the races of the great Anglo-Aryan stock as parting at the place of their origin only to be brought together again by a British Parliament, was a masterpiece. Not even the angry wrangle between Mr. Wedgwood Bean and Mr. Lloyd George could disturb the serenity which Mr. Baldwin created. And Sir John Simon's speech pledging the Commission loyally to carry on was also excellent. If this debate did not end the controversy it was indisputably ended by a correspondence between the Prime Minister and Mr. Baldwin which was published in the papers of Tuesday. The Prime Minister in his letter categorically declared that the Viceroy's statement implied no change whatever in British policy,
Previous page
