THE INDIAN REFORM BILL.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") SIE,—I should recommend your correspondent "Father of Scottish I.C.S.'s" to go to India and study both sides of the Reform question, as the various students' meetings which he has attended in the British Isles appear to have shown him but one side of this mighty problem. Such personal experience might throw another light upon this subject for him, as it has been known to do for others—might even suggest that the day is actually dawning when, unless just consideration is shown to our (and I presume his) fellow-countrymen, India will be able to obtain even more than she requires in the matter of Home Rule! I regret so much that modesty, and want of space, prevent me here from replying to "Father of Scottish I.C.S.'s " request to draw up another Reform scheme, but I will consider his suggestion. Nobody who knows India expects her to "stand still "; they only desire that "Father of Scottish I.C.S.'s " suggested "leap in the dark" shall be made not when the moon is young and the night has still to be lived, but rather at her setting—just before the dawn in fact, and that is far, far ahead, as most of us know. This is only common justice, and will be readily understood by those who understand through personal experience how the majority of educated Indians—i.e., the Brahmins—will interpret Home Rule. If we are not making a success of India, what will the caste system of this faction do for her? Believe me, Sir, those who know the true trend of affairs in India stand apPalled at the present policy. Something will have to be done to brighten the drooping spirits of our own people in that land of exile, for on all sides one hears the cry : "What does Government care for us?" And the answer to that is—Nothing.—I am,
Sir, &c., M. 07.
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