Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/144

 favourable judgments on their own past achievements, and those of their friends.

Such is the condition of affairs with which India: reformers have to deal. A great opportunity is afforded by the appointment of the Royal Commission on the public service ; and it is hoped that Congress leaders will make the most of the occasion, tracing the defects of the present system, and placing before the Commission a well-considered scheme, showing the changes needed to make the Indian administration conformable to the best interests of the Indian people. Decentralization on a popular basis is the cardinal principle for the reform of the public service, and Lord Ripon's policy of local self- government should be carried out to its legitimate conclusions. Over-centralization must therefore be attacked in all its ramifications, as it affects the village and district organizations on the one hand, and as it affects the supreme Executive on the other. Fortunately the evils of the present system have already been recognized emphatically by the highest authorities ; and in 1909 Lord Morley appointed a Royal Commission to examine into the " great mischief of over-centralization," and to enquire how ^^this great mischief might be alleviated." The reference was admirable, and excellent results would have followed, if the Commission had possessed the element of judicial impartiality. But in the composition of the Commission there was no such element. A grievous mistake was made in the selection of the Commissioners, all of whom belonged to the class directly interested in maintaining the existing system.