Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/115

 with resources sufficient to take effective action when- ever a crisis occurs. At present in England the friends of progress are in power. For a time the sea is calm, and the wind is fair. But who can tell how long this will last ? Is any one so simple as to suppose that the Imperialistic Party is dead, because for the moment it is ^* hushed in grim repose " ? Owing to the complications of home and foreign affairs, the fate of all Ministries in this country hangs on a thread. Sooner or later there must be a change ; and power will come into the hands of those out of sympathy with Indian aspirations. Surely the people of India have not already forgotten what they suffered under the Party of retrogression, of race and class prejudice, of aggression abroad and repression at home I Are they content to await passively the repetition of the same experiences ? What the Indian people have to realize is, that action in favour of Indian aspirations does not spring spontaneously front the ordinary operation of British institutions, but has ever been the result of persistent and laborious personal effort on the part of outside reformers working, both in India and England, on the lines indicated by Mr. Hume. If from time to time an advance has been achieved, it is due to the sympathy of the British demo- cracy, acting under the propulsion of independent reformers. No reform has ever been initiated by the leaders of the Indian bureaucracy. On the contrary, the class interests which hold the lever of power at Simla and at the India Office, are continuously workingto strengthen the official position. Not only have they always done their best to prevent new concessions, but when oppor- tunity has offered, they have taken away the privileges inherited from a former generation of reformers — the liberty of the Press, the right of public meeting, muni- cipal self-government, the independence of the Univer- sities. These ill-starred measures of reaction, combined