The Indian Assembly has demanded an extension of the Montagu-Chelmsford
reforms.. This is not astonish- ing, but it is very significant. The impulse towards self-government may, in the first place, have been sup- plied by the Indians themselves, but in practice the present reforms were taken up by the British Government in 1919, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the whole responsibility for them will ultimately rest with the Secretary of State and the resident officials. The Indians should, in all fairness, admit the good will a the Administration, and realize their difficulties during this critical period. Lord Peel has made a measured reply to the Assembly's hasty demand, in the most liberal tradition of Imperial statesmanship : he hints at no with- drawal from the recent concessions, but urges the advis- ability of allowing them to proceed with their natural momentum. A Royal Commission on the Indian public services has just been appointed, and, if one can judge from the manner in which both the Assembly and the Council of State received the announcement, native opinion is against it. Indians seem to think that, by ignoring the capacity of the Indian Government to conduct inquiries into its own affairs, Whitehall has committed an arbitrary blunder which will embitter racial feeling.
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