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384  under the Indian Councils Act of 1909. He replied that he had had no opportunity of personally observing them at work. But what he had read and heard made him feel that they were, on the whole, a great success. He went on to say that he was profoundly impressed with the calibre of the many Indians with whom he had come in contact. They were distinguishing themselves in many lines of activity—administrative, political, industrial, and commercial. He believed that Indian industries were capable of great expansion, and that Indians were destined to play a great part in developing them.

I called Lord Ronaldshay's attention to a statement that was appearing in Indian papers to the effect that he believed that Indians did not respect the sanctity of truth. He hotly repudiated the suggestion that he ever accused Indians of this. He was aware of the passage in his writings to which reference was made, and as usual it was an isolated phrase cut away from its context. He said that if it was read in conjunction with what preceded it, any fair-minded person would realize that he was referring solely to the difficulties of travel in uncivilized Asia—the difficulties that he had experienced with his muleteers, etc., when travelling in Central Asia; their habit of promising to bring ponies on a certain day and then not doing so for perhaps two or three days afterwards, and so on. I asked Lord Ronaldshay if he could show me the passage, which he did. The sentence to which objection was taken read:

"... Finally, East and West Asia alike vie with one another in proclaiming the existence of that strange and mysterious law by which it appears to have been decreed that among the peoples of the West alone shall the sanctity of Truth meet with respect or recognition." A Wandering Student in the Far East. Vol I., p. 11. Thereupon I told his Lordship that I, for one, did not wonder that complaint was made, for he spoke of "East and West Asia alike". I said that the statement was much too broad—and this he could not deny. I gathered that ten years later he has seen the wisdom of qualifying his statements, and using words that express precisely what he means.

My final question to Lord Ronaldshay was: "May I say in my report of these interviews that you have great belief in India's potentiality and in the capacity of Indians, and look forward to helping India's evolution?"

The Governor-designate of Bengal smiled and said "Yes."



Without losing a moment Gobindalal plunged in, swam, dived down and brought her up to the surface. He then bore her out of the water and placed her on the landing. Outwardly she showed no signs of life, for she was quite unconscious, and there was a full suspension of her breath.

With the assistance of the man, however, who had the care of the garden Gobindalal removed her to a room in the garden-house and laid her on a couch. Her eyes were closed, the wet seeming to impart a much darker hue to the hairy arches above. Her fair gentle brow which now showed no signs of shame or fear, bespoke yet, as it seemed, some sorrow in her heart. This evening as she lay stretched on the couch before him, the light shining fitfully upon her, she looked so bewitchingbewitchingly [sic] fascinating in Gobindalal's eye that he loved her. The beautiful and delicate cast of her face, the round supple limbs soaked in water, the long dishevelled hair hanging down in clusters at the bed's head, from which water was dripping—these made a deep impression on Gobindalal's mind. He felt such pity for her that he could hardly keep the tears out of his eyes. "O God," said he, "why didst Thou give her beauty if