The negotiations with the imprisoned leaders of Congress are still
going on and there are grounds for reasonable hope in the report that Sir Tej Bahadru Sepru and Mr. Jayakar transmitted to the Viceroy a letter authorizing them to discuss the situation in terms of realities. We cannot but welcome every tendency on
this side to do likewise. On Friday, August 15th, the Times published an admirable letter from the editor of a commercial paper in Calcutta showing that either the ideas of political pre-eminence cherished by traditional British administrators in India must go by the board or British trade there will be ruined. The choice thus presented—it is the letter of a realist—goes far to explain the general support of the business community for Lord Irwin's policy. A reaction, however, is observable among certain business men in Calcutta. In the Times of Wednesday there was a letter from Lord Lytton, which must rank as the most important contribution on this side to a proper understanding of the function of the Round Table Conference. We commend to everyone this statement of " the facts' of the present Indian situation."
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