PLEDGES TO INDIA
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—I thank you for complying with the request contained • in my letter which appeared in your issue of October 29th. But may I point out that the preamble to the Government of India Act (1919), which you quote, nowhere unconditionally committed Great Britain to establish responsible ,government in India at any defined date, and in no sense did it bind Parliament "to provide for responsibility at the centre" in the legislation now impending ; though that is what was clearly suggested in your issue of October 22nd.
The precise terms, what the preamble actually did was to Jay down as the future Indian policy of Great Britain the gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government in British India as an integral part of the Empire ; the time and manner of each advance being expressly reserved for the determination of Parliament, whose future action it was also explicitly declared must be guided by the co-operation received and the sense of responsibility displayed by Indians. Furthermore, as I have already pointed out, Section 86A of the Act definitely contemplated the possibility of a modifi- cation or even restriction of responsible government ten years after its enactment.
To extract from the preamble a pledge such as you suggest is, surely, in view of the above considerations a mischievous distortion of facts ; and not the less so seeing that the con- ditions prescribed by Parliament have not been satisfied ; for of political co-operation or of a sense of responsibility there has been scant display during the last decade in India, [All that was stated in our issue of October 15th (not 22nd) was that Great Britain had been pledged since 1919 to responsi- bility at the centre. That is entirely true. As to whether the conditions prescribed by Parliament have been satisfied, the House of Commons, by approving the Round Table Conference White Paper last December, definitely authorized the further advance towards responsible government.— ED. Spectator.]
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