The debate brought up Sir Henry Fowler, who, observing
($that India ought never to be a party question, made a really remarkable speech in defence of the home administration of Indian affairs. He mentioned, what most men have for- gotten, that the Council of India, composed entirely of leading administrators, Judges, and men of business, never rises. It is compelled by law to sit every week, and through its Com- mittees it minutely "overhauls" everything that occurs in India. So far from neglecting grievances, its first business is their redress, as it is also that of the Secretary of State. As to the late period of the Session at which the Indian Budget is presented, the accounts must by law be on the table by May 15th, and if the House wishes for the Budget early it has only to signify its wish. As for neglect by the House of Commons, the House has constructed the Govern- ment of India on a system different from that of every other dependency in order to avoid perpetual interference; but every great subject is debated, and the Secretary of State is perpetually questioned upon every kind of affair. Sir Henry Fowler might have added if he had liked that almost every improvement in India worthy to be described as great, from the abolition of the commercial monopoly to the throwing open of the Civil Service, has been urged on the Government by the House of Commons. The speech, as a whole, was a most remarkable example of the solidarite of English states- men and the freedom of British careers, under which a Wolverhampton lawyer can become a successful Great Mogul.
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