A.—4

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personal note, not being employed in the service of the Government, never having taken a share in the administration of public affairs, I consider it my particular good fortune to sit alongside with statesmen who have for generations moulded the destinies and fashioned the fortunes of their kind ; but the Maharao of Cutch and I cannot fail to remember that the position we occupy here is not comparable by and means to the position occupied by our colleagues from the Dominions. They are called here by virtue of their being Prime Ministers. We come by nomination from our Government. We realize that that marks a great difference in our status, although not in the privileges to which we have been admitted at these meetings. We hope that next year, or the year after, our successors, who will take our places here, will come by a better right. The person who represents in the place of His Highness more than one-third of British territory in India will probably be chosen by the Chamber of Princes by election, and the man who takes my place may likewise be elected by the Central Legislature of the land. We have not yet acquired full Dominion status, but we realize we are planted firmly on the road to the acquisition of that status. Progress of India's Constitution. The Government of India Act of 1919 forms a great landmark in the growth of Indian Constitution. There is nothing in our previous history with which it can be compared, either in importance or in magnitude. The Princes' Chamber, which is going to play a great part in the evolution of India, does not form an integral part within the law of our Constitution. The Constitution proper of British India, inaugurated by His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught not long ago, has shown a sense of responsibility and loyalty to the Empire which, in my judgment, is second to none of the Parliaments within the Empire. The new Councils have worked better than we expected under the wise and sleepless watch of the Secretary of State for India. The reforms of a political character that have just been started in India are doing great work in placing us alongside the other parts of the British Empire. I must say that we have our troubles. Non-co-operation has only to be mentioned to bring to your mind an idea of the perils in which he have to live. I am happy to say that Lord Reading, our new Viceroy, may be trusted fully, as recent experience has proved, to deal with this great danger. Interest of Indian Moslems in Turkish Empire. There are many subjects to which the Dominion Prime Ministers have alluded, to which also, perhaps, I may be expected, on behalf of my colleagues and myself, to say a few words, but I will forbear. There are two topics of high domestic importance to which perhaps this meeting will permit me to allude, as they will not take up much time. The first question to which I will draw your attention is one in which the deepest feelings of my Mohammedan fellow-countrymen are engaged. I will not say much on that topic, as all the issues are at present in full vividness in your minds. On the Maharao of Cutch and myself, who are Hindoos, there rests a very peculiar duty of voicing the feelings of our Moslem fellow-subjects on this occasion. I will only venture on this remark —that in any arrangements that may be made for the future of the Turkish Empire, statesmen of the United Kingdom will have to remember that they must show as much chivalry and tenderness as may be expected from a mighty victor. I have no manner of doubt in my own mind that you will be actuated by these considerations, which are always present to those who have inherited the great traditions of British prowess and the still greater traditions of British sportsmanship. Status of Indians in Dominions. There is another subject of great importance which I must mention —that is the status enjoyed by Indians in the Dominions of the British Empire. In noble words you described this Empire, sir, as a confederation of races into which willing and free peoples had been admitted —willing and free peoples ; consent is incongruous with inequality of races, and freedom necessarily implies admission of all people to the rights to citizenship without reservation. In impressive and far-seeing