Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/148

 plexity, delicacy, and hazards" of our obligations towards India. The measures above suggested would do some- thing towards giving Parliament the knowledge and opportunity needed to fulfil its duties as trustee for the Indian people.

It was, I think, Thomas Carlyle who said that old age was " dark and unlovely." But this was not so with Mr. Hume. Even under physical suffering, there were for him elements of brightness and beauty. For his mind to him a kingdom was : up to the last he was actively engaged in the scientific pursuits which were always his special joy; and his eyes were privileged to see, though in the dim distance, the salvation of India. To use his own expression, he had a " great and endur- ing Hope " for the future of India ; and he said that if he could only live to see that Hope realized, he would " die content and happy." His labours are now bearing rich fruit, and it has been a consolation to his sorrowing friends that, before he passed away, he had the assurance that a happier day was dawning for the people that he loved so well.

On the 31st of July 191 2, in his eighty-fourth year, Allan Octavian Hume passed peacefully away. His funeral at Brookwood Cemetery was simple ; and the words on his monument were few. But far away, among the millions of India, there was deep sorrow. In telegrams, in letters, and in Resolutions at public meetings, the feel- ings of the people throughout the land were expressed in touching language. Some of these are given in Appendix IV. No one could have had mourners more multitudinous, or more sincere. For his name and his good deeds were known in the remotest villages of