The resignation of Sir J. B. Fuller, the Lieutenant-Governor of
the new province of Eastern Bengal, which was announced early last week, has created much feeling in India. It is difficult to get at the truth of the matter, for Sir J. B. Fuller voluntarily tendered his resignation, and it may be that he considered that one who had been associated intimately with the recent controversy was not the best man to allay discontent; but the action of the Government of India has been adversely criticised, and, in the words of the Times of Tuesday, "it was the character of the Government for im- partiality which was at stake rather than the excellence of Sir J. B. Fuller's administration." The Mohammedans, who are the poorer class, and represent two-thirds of the population, regard the retiring Lieutenant-Governor as a martyr in their cause, and in a country which notoriously does not worship the setting sun the mass meeting of thirty thousand people to deplore the resignation must be regarded as highly signifi- cant. The Hindu agitators are likely to draw the moral that it pays to agitate, and we are beginning to see a vigorous renewal of the Swadeshi movement and the agitation against partition. It is impossible, as we have said, to be certain that Sir J. B. Fuller acted wisely at all times, but it is regrettable that his resignation should leave the impression that the Government has yielded to ignorant clamour. We trust that Mr. Morley will give the affair his serious attention.
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