The main work of the Conference may be to reconcile
the Indian proposals with Lord Irwin's. We are not among those who think that there is much risk in consent- ing to an introduction of the principle of autonomy at the Centre. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. When it came to business the " responsible " Indian Departments would need all the help they could get. Political evolution, like all other forms of evolution, moves slowly. There is no real danger in letting the name be in advance of the fact. The name by which things are called happens to be extremely important in India. We Englishmen look more to the fact than to the name, but among Indians the reverse process is popular. Failure to recognize this is the highway to unnecessary dangers— dangers ironically accepted in the supposed interests of safety.
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