Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/70

 grievances. But it was thought that the opportunity might be taken to obtain from candidates a promise to give attention to Indian affairs. This was the shrewd advice given by Mr. Reid, M.P. (now Lord Loreburn), in a letter addressed to Mr. Hume: "I would recommend you," he said, "to secure two or three men, as influential as you can, in as many constituencies as you can, and get them to write to the candidate, exacting no pledge as to the course of policy but a simple pledge to give attention to Indian affairs, and publish the correspondence in the local papers. Every candidate in the three kingdoms would pledge himself to so easy an obligation. One in ten would keep the pledge and thus give a nucleus of listeners in an Indian debate. The publication of the correspondence would make them afraid wholly to neglect business they had so publicly engaged to consider." The resources at the disposal of the informal Committee in England were not sufficient to carry out so large a scheme, but it may be noted that a limited pledge such as Mr. Reid proposed, was the basis of the Indian Parliamentary Committee, which afterwards did good work for many years in the House of Commons. In the same letter Mr. Reid gives Mr. Hume practical advice on two other points, as to coaching British members on Indian subjects; and as to getting a seat for an Indian in the House of Commons: "You must have coadjutors in Parliament. If you have a few men like yourself busy in England they will find friends inside the House. For there is a real desire in this country to act justly and generously as regards India. But members know nothing. You must have men of honour to inform them of facts. So many impostors and self-seekers are always ready to catch an M.P. to ventilate their grievances, that members are afraid to trust the in-