Mr. Gandhi and the Viceroy At the Indian end the
decision to summon the Indian National Congress for July 14th (a date not without significant associations) is a fact of obvious importance. When Congress meets the question of the future of civil disobedience will have to be faced in earnest. Support for the movement is obviously weakening and the moder- ates could probably bring the whole thing to an end if any way could be found of doing that without giving the decision the aspect of complete surrender. Nothing more desirable could be imagined, and if the Government gets the reality—the end of the civil disobedience cam- paign—it can well afford to facilitate the essential face-saving process on the part of the Congress leaders. The atmosphere in India is steadily improving, and the improvement can still be stimulated considerably. The moment is clearly ripe for the release-of the comparatively few remaining -political prisoners, most of whose sen- tences are near expiring in any case. The prospect of an interview between the Viceroy and Mr. Gandhi is now being openly discussed. It would be all to the good if they met—before the Congress session opens—and the conversation ought to be both without prejudice and without preliminary conditions on either side. If Sir John Simon can meet M. Litvinoff, Lord Willingdon can most properly meet Mr. Gandhi.
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