4 JANUARY 1930, Page 6

A singularly ironical comment on this speech was afforded by

the daily scenes at the Congress Car* where impassive onlookers watched the curiously excited antics of the Congress Volunteers. These Volunteers, singing a revolutionary song to the air of "The Wearing o' the Green," were unable to keep order for the ordinary demonstrations of the Congress. The camp was protected from the outside by the police. Although Mr. Gandhi's resolution was carried triumphantly, it became known that there had been considerable opposition to it in the Committee. Nor was • the knowledge of this dissension the only cause of anxiety among the Congress leaders. News kept coming in from Madras of the resentment of the National Liberal Federation against the proceedings of the Congress ; and the Congress leaders were in anxious suspense about the policy of the Sikh Conference which was being held at Lahore simultaneously with the National Congress. When we write the decision of the Sikhs is not known, but if there is any truth in rumour the price of their co-operation with the Congress is so high as to be contemptuous.