Mr. Montagu, at a dinner to Lord Shiba oil Friday
week' made the grudging admission that the new Indian reform scheme would, after all, probably invoke communal repre- sentation. He described it as au " unfortunate expedient," but added that everything else, theoretical and practical, must ho sacrificed to obtaining representative Legislative Councils." The concession does not reconcile us in the least. to Mr. Montagu's unfortunate scheme, but it shows that the Secretary for India, is at last beginning to realize that India is not simply a larger Britain inhabited by dark-skinned people, and that the methods of election which suit us will not necessarily suit the many and varied Indian races. To any one who knew India it was obvious from the first that without communal representation
the silent masses, unversed in the arta of modem politics, would have very few to speak for them in the Councils against the in- genious Brahmins who seek to rule over them. Mr. Montagu's tardy acceptance of this truth is promising so far as it goes.
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