for the first time. The Secretary of State and the
Government now said that the highest posts must
" for all time to come be held by Europeans ". That
meant

that the present arrangement sliould be perpetuated
and is, in fact, an attempt to keep us always under as a
subject race. Gentlemen, is it not plainly our duty as
men not to allow this barefaced attempt to succeed P . . .
Let our opponents put themselves into our position, and
then say what they would feel. I believe thej' will allow
that it is not wrong to love one's country. I believe
they will allow that it is not wrong to have a high ideal
for one's country. And then I believe they will allow
that it is not wrong for us to be dissatisfied with our
present condition. Well, gentlemen, the pledges of equal
treatment whicli England has given us have supplied us
with a high and worthy ideal for our Nation ; and if these
pledges are repudiated, one of the strongest claims of
British rule to ovir attachment will disappear.

Mr. Gokhale was followed by Mr. Ghulam Ahmed
Khan and Mr. Seymour Keay, who remarked that
the Blue Book had " not a hint or whisper in it of
any admission that the natives of India have even
the faintest right to live on their own soil, much
less that they have any preferential claim over the
other subjects of the British Empire to administer in
their own countr}' ". The Resolution was then
carried unanimously.

The Hon. Mr. N. Subba Rao moved Resolution VII
on the recruitment for the Judicial Service, and com-
plained of the system which made men judges with-
out any sufficient training in law. These gentlemen



192 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM

then supplied some of the Judges of the High
Court, SO that " litigation has become a question of
gambling, and no one can be sure, notwithstanding
he has a good case, that that would be the view
which would prevail in the Courts ". Mr. K. G. Natu
seconded, Mr. A. R. Krishna Iyer supported, and the
Resolution was carried.

Resolution YIII on the Medical Service was moved
by Dr. Bahadurji, who proved by definite figures
and facts the gross injustice done by tlie privileged
position of the members of the I. M.S. to the Sub-
ordinate Medical Service, though some of the latter
had passed higher educational tests than the men
of the I.M.S. The latter rose from Rs. 500 to
Rs. 2,500, while the former rose from Rs, 100 to
Rs. 200. He also urged :

Then there are two other enlistments for the sub-
ordinate service — one military and the other civil — tlie
former being open to Christians only. But see what
difference the element of religion makes in the treatment
accorded to the two classes. John, the Christian, and
Pandu, the non-Christian, both seek admission to tlieii'
respective services. John, the Christian, need not know-
more than the High School fourth standard, reading,
writing, and sum.s, but Pandu, the non-Christian, must
pass a much higher test. They both go through tlie
same professional course and examination. If anjtln'ng,
i^andu has to undergo a severer examination. John, the
Christian, then begins as a Military Apothecary, and
works under the regimental Surgeons. His salary
ranges from Rs. 50 to Rs. 450. He may, however, he
promoted to the uncovenanted grade and given even
Rs. 750 by being found a post in the Civil Depart-
ment. His new designation is Assistant Surgeon,
I. M.S., and he rises from tlie rank of Lieutenant to that of



THE TENTH CONGEE SS 193

Major. But Pandu, the non-Christian, begins as a Hospital
Assistant and dies a Hospital Assistant. His work is as
vast as it is responsible. He practises medicine, sui^orery
and midwifery. He it is who really dispels the ignor-
ance and prejudice of the masses in regard to the western
system of medicine. He treats a thousand times more cases
in a month than the highest officer of a hospital does in a
year. On his judgment, intelligence and integrity depend
the lives of his fellow citizens in the Muffasal, questions
of life and death turning upon the nature of his evidence
in medico-legal cases. But, alas ! the respectability and
responsibility of this most important servant of the State
are in an inverse ratio, and that too in very abnormal
proportions. One feels almost ashamed to say that the
non-Christian Paudu, who does such responsible and
excellent work for the Go\'ernment is paid no higher
salary than is paid to a senior punk a- walla in the
hospital, or a cook or a coachman. The scale of his^
pay is Rs. 16 to Rs. 80 odd.

The Resolution was seconded by Rai Bahadur
P. Ananda Charlu, supported by Dr. M. G. Desmukh
and carried.

The last Resolution of the day was No. IX, on^
Legislative Councils, proposed by Pandit Madan.
Mohan Malaviya^ seconded by Bakshi Jaislii Ram,
supported by three others and carried.

The President announced the sad and unexpected
death of the Maharaja of Mysore, just before the
Congress adjourned, and on the following day,
December 29th, the first business done was the
passing in silence of a resolution of grief for his loss.

The last day of the Congress was, as usual, crowd-
ed, no less than 18 resolutions being crushed into it.
The Hon. Mr. Setalvad proposed Resolution XI, the
extension of trial by jury, the restoring of finality ta
17



194 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM

the verdicts given by juries as before 1872, and the
removal of the Government's power to appeal against
a^cquittals — that scandalous peculiarity of Indian law.
Mr. K. N. Desmukh seconded, and Mr. AmbikaCharan
Mozumdar made a splendid and argumentative speech
in support, full of facts. The effect, he said finally,
of the law was to divide the population into two
castes, European Brahmanas and Indian Shudras,
and after pointing out that the place where a murder
was committed decided whether the accused
should " be dealt with as a true citizen or as
bondsman," he finished with a passionate appeal :

Sir, we are judged without evidence, and condemned
without trial ! Alas, we seem to be nobody's care. Even
the Viceroy, whom we loyally welcome as a hereditary
ruler, in his anxiety to accentuate the invidious distinction
of colour, has lost no time in issuing on his own motion
"Confidential circulars to protect the rights of those who
virtually need no protection. But though the people have
been long crying for help in this and other connections,
the Gods are asleep, and thei*e is no response to their call.
Is the race of British philanthropists extinct ? And have
the mighty builders of this vast Empire left no heritage
•of broad and noble ideals of justice for their successors ?
We are not appealing to Jews or Cossacks, but to those
for wdiom they proudly say Milton wrote and Sydney died,
and for whom the Magna Carta was obtained ; and, in
leaking our present appeal, we are asking not only for the
protection of our life, liberty, and property, but also for
the vindication of the honour and dignity of the great
British Constitution.

The Resolution was carried.

Resolution XII, the familiar separation of Judicial
and Executive functions, was moved, seconded, support-
ed and carrit^d, and once more the status of a High



THE TENTH CONGRESS 195

Court was claimed for the Panjab (No. XIII). No. XIV
was on Military Expenditure, and was moved and
seconded by two powerful speakers — the Hon. Mr.
C. Sankaran Nair and Mr. D. E. W^acha. Being
carried, it was followed by Resolution XY on Educa-
tion, and then came the Omnibus, driven this time
by Pandit Bishan Narayana Dhar. Four other
speakers were the horses drawing it to victory.

Resolution XVII protested against the further
powers conferred on magistrates as most arbitrary,
dangerous and unwise, and was carried after two
short speeches by Messrs. R. N. Mudholkar and
M. B. Namjoshi. Resolution XVIII thanked the
Government of India for its circular in October 1894,
declaring that fiscal interests must be subordinated
to the needs of the ryots in the management of
forests, a good result of the three preceding Sessions
of the Congress.

A Government of India Notification of June, 1891,
depriving the Press of liberty in territories under
British administration in Feudatory States, formed
the subject of the next Resolution (No. XIX), moved
by Mr. P. Ramachandra Pillai, one of the delegates
from Secunderabad, a place affected by the Notifica-
tion, which ran as follows :

Whereas some misapprehension has hitherto existed
as to the regulations in force in territory under the
administration of the Governor- General in Council, but
beyond the limits of British India, with reference to
newspapers published within such territory, the GJoAernor-
General in Council has been pleased to make the followino-
order :



196 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM

1. ISTo newspaper or other printed work, whether
periodical or other, containing- public news or comments
on public news shall, without the written permission for
the time being in force of the Political Agent, be edited,
printed, or published, after the 1st day of August 1891,
in any local area administered by the Governor- General
in Council but not forming part of British India.

2. If after the day aforesaid any person shall without
such permission as aforesaid edit, print, or publish any
such newspaper or other work as afoi'esaid in any such
local area as aforesaid the Political Agent may by order
in writing ;

(a) require him to leave such local area within
seven days from the date of such order ;

(b) and prohibit him from re-entering such local
area without the written permission of the Political Agent.

3. If any such order as is mentioned in the last fore-
going paragraph be disobeyed, the offender shall be
liable to forcible expulsion from such local area in pur-
suance of an order to be made in writing by the Political
Agent.

It may be noted that at the present time (Septem-
ber, 1915) Sir Hugh Daly, Resident in Bangalore,
has, under this, stopped an English paper which has
existed there for many years. Mr. G. Subramania
Iyer, then Editor of The Hindu, seconded, and the
Resolution was carried.

Resolution XX brought up the consideration of the
Water-cess, varying in amount at the will of the
Government, and urged that it shouhl be levied on
some fixed principle. It was effectively moved by
Mr. G. Venkataratnam, seconded by Mr V. V.
Avadhani, supported by Mr, S. B. Sankaram and
carried.



THE TENTH CONGEESS 197

A protest Resolution (iSTo. XXI) against the
disfranchisement of Indians in S. Africa — the first of
many protests, was moved from the Chair and carried.
Resohition XXII nominated a deputation to Lord
Elgin, the Viceroy, and Mr. Fowler, the Secretary of
State, to present to them some of the Congress
resolutions. Resolutions XXIII and XXIV, on the
grant to the British Committee and conveying the
thanks of the Congress for their work ; Resolution
XXV, re-appointing Mr. A. 0. Hume as General
Secretary; Resolution XXVI, fixing the next meeting
of the Congress at Poona, were carried. The
President then moved an important Resolution (No.
XXVII) for shaping a Constitution for the Congress,
and requested the Standing Congress Committee of
Poona to draft and circulate draft rules among the
remaining Standing Committees for report, the whole
to be considered by the next Congress.

A vote of thanks was then passed to the President,
and with his brief reply the Tenth Congress closed.

RESOLUTIONS

Excise Duty

I. Resolved -

(a) That this Congress respectfully enters its emjjhatic pro-
test against the injustice and impolicy of imposing excise duty on
Cottons manufactured in British India, as such excise is calculated
to cripple seriously the infant Mill Industry of this counti-y.

(b) That this Congress puts on record its firm conviction
that in proposing this excise the interests of India have been sacri-
ficed to those of Lancashire, and it strongly deprecates any such
surrender of Indian interests by the Secretary of State.

(c) That in case the Excise Bill becomes law this Congress
earnestly prays that the Government of India will without delay
seek the sanction of the Secretary of State to exercise the powers



198 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM

which the Bill confera on Government to exempt all Cottons from
" twenties " to " twenty-fours " from the operation of the Act.

(d) That the President be authorised to telegraph the above
Resolution to the Goveimment of India and to the Secretary of State.

Permanent Settlement

II. Resolved —

(a) That this Congjress desires to express the profound
alarm which has been created by the action of Government in inter-
fering with the existing Permanent Settlement in Bengal and
Behar (in the matter of Survey and other cesses) and with the
terms of sanads of permanently settled estates in Madras ; and,
deeming such interference with solemn pledges a national calamity,
hereby pledges itself to oppose in all possible legitimate ways all
such re-actionary attacks on Permanent Settlements and their
holders, and resolves to petition Parliament in that behalf,

(b) That this Congress regrets extremely that the Govern-
ment of India have not only failed to carry out the pledges (given by
the Secretary of State in his despatches of 1862 and 1865) for Per-
manent Settlement in the Provinces in which it does not exist, but
have also failed to give effect to the policy of granting modified
fixity nf tenure and 'immunity from enhancements laid down in
1882 and 1884 by the Government of India and approved by the
Secretary of State ; and this Congress hereby entreats the Govern-
ment of India to grant a modified fixity of tenure and immunity
from enhancement of land-tax for a sufficiently long period of not
less than sixty years, so as to secui-e to landholders the full benefits
of their own improvements.

Poverty

III. Resolved — That this Congress, concurring in the views
set forth in previous Congresses, affirms :

That fully fifty millions of the poj)ulation, a number yearly
increasing, are dragging out a miserable existence on the verge of
starvation, and that, in every decade, several millions actually
perish by starvation.

And humbly urges, imce mure, that imniediate steps bo taken
to remedy this calamitous st;ite of affairs.

India Council

IV. Resolved — That this Congress considers the Abolition of the
Council of the Secretary of State for India, as at present constituted,
the necessary ])reliminary to all other reforms ; and suggests that in
its place a Standing Committee of Members of the Hou.se of
Commons be a])]K)int('d.



THE TENTH CONGRESS 199

Finance

V. Resolved — That this Congress, while thanking Her
Majesty's Government for the promise they have made to appoint a
Select Committee of Members of Parliament to enquire into the
financial expenditure of India, regards an enquiry with so limited a
scope as inadequate, and is of opinion that if the enquiry is to bear
any practical fruit it must include an enquiry into the ability of the
Indian people to bear their existing financial biu-dens, and into the
financial relations between India and the United Kingdom.

XIV. Resolved — That having regard to the fact that the
embarrassed condition of the finances of the country has been
giving cause for grave anxiety for some years past, this Congress
records its firni conviction that the only remedy for the present
state of things is a material curtailment in the expenditure on the
Army Services and other Military Expenditure, Home Charges, and
the cost of Civil Administration, and in view of the proposed
appointment of a Parliamentary Committee to investigate the
subject, this Congress strongly recommends that the Standing
Congress Committees of the several Presidencies and Provinces
should, so far as practicable, make arrangements to send to England
at least one well-qualified delegate from each Presidency or Province
to urge such reduction before the Committee.

Public Service

VI. Resolved —

(a) That this Congress expresses its deep sense of disappoint-
ment at the despatch of the Secretary of State supporting the views
of the Government of India on the question of Simultaneous Exam-
inations, and this Congress hereby places on record its respectful
but firm protest against the despatch, as, among other things,
introducing a new principle inconsistent with the Charter Act of
1833 and the Proclamation of the Queen of 1st November 1858 (the
solemn pledges contained in which the Secretary of State and the
Government of India now seek to repudiate) by creating a disability
founded upon race, for the despatch lays down that a minimum of
European officials in the Covenanted Service is indispensable.

(b) That in the opinion of this Congress the creation of the-
Provincial Service is no satisfactory or permanent solution of the'
problem, as this Service, constituted as it is at present, falls short,
of the legitimate aspirations of the people, and the interests of the-
subordinate Service will not sufi'er by the concession of Simultaneous:
Examinations.

(c) That no attempt has been made to make out a case
against the holding of Simultaneous Examinations for the recruit-
ment of the Engineering, Forest, Telegraph and the higher Police



200 HOW INDIA WEOUGHT FOR FREEDOM

Service Exaniinatious, and the Congress regrets to notice that the
despatches of the Secretary of State, the Government of India, and
the various local Governments are absolutely si'ent with regard to
this aspect of the Resolution of the House of Commons.

(d) That this Congress resijectfully urges on Her Majesty's
Oovernment that the Resolution of the House of Commons of 2nd
June, 1893, on the question of Simultaneous Examinations should
be speedily carried out as an act of justice to the Indian people.

Liegal

VII. Resolved — That this Congress views with great
•dissatisfaction the system of recruiting the higher Judicial Service
of the coimtry, and is of oijinion that provision should be made for
proper Judicial training being given to persons who are appointed
to the post of District and Sessions Judge, and that the higher
Judicial Service in Bengal, the N.W.P. and Oudh, Bombay and
Madras, and the Judicial Service generally in other parts of the
country, should be more largely recruited from the legal profession
than is now the case.

XI. Resolved —

(a) That, in the opinion of this Congress, the time has now
arrived when the system of trial by Jury may be safely extended,
in cases triable by Sessions Courts, to many parts of the country
where it is not at present in force.

(b) That, in the opinion of this Congress, the innovation
made in 1872 in the system of trial by Jury, depriving the verdicts
of Juries of all finality, has pro%^ed injurious to the country, and
that the powers, then, for the first time, vested in Sessions Judges
and High Courts, of setting aside verdicts of acquittal, should be at
once withdrawn.

(c) That in the opinion of this Congress it is extremely
desirable that the power at present vested in Government to appeal
against acquittals be taken away.

XII. Resolved — That this Congress having till now vainly
appealed for many successive years to the Government of India,
and also to the Secretary of State, to remove one of the gravest
<3efects in the system of administration and one fraught with
"incalculable oppression to all classes of people throughout the
country, and having noted with satisfaction the admission of the
■evil by two former Secretaries of State (Lord Kimberley and Lord
Cross), and being of opinion that the reform is thoroughly
practicable, as has been shown by Messrs. R. D. Dutt, M. M. Ghose
•and P. M. Mehta, entreats the Government of India to direct the
immediate appointment in each Province of a Committee (one-half
■at least of whose members shall be non-official natives of India,



THE TENTH CONGRESS 201

qualified by education and experience in the workings of various
Courts to deal with the question) to prej)are a scheme for the
complete separation of all Judicial and Executive functions in their
own Province with as little additional cost to the State as may be
practicable, and the submission of such schemes, with the opinions
of the several Governments thereon, at an early date.

XIII. Resolved — That this Congress reaffirms the opinion of
the preceding Congress that the time has now come to raise the
status of the Chief Coui-t of the Panjab to that of a Chartered
High Court in the interests of the administration of justice in this
Province.

XVII. Resolved — That this Congress hereby empowers its
President to convey to the Government of India its opinion that
the powers proposed to be conferred on District Magistrates by
amendments and additions to section 15 of Police Act V of 1861, with
respect to the levy of the costs of punitive police and of granting
compensation, are of a most arbitrary, dangerous, and unprecedented
character.

Medical Service

VIII. Resolved—

(a) That this Congress is of opinion that the present
constitution of the Higher Civil Medical Service is anomal-
ous, indefensible in principle, injurious in its working, and un-
necessarily costly ; that the time has arrived when in the interests
of Public Medical Education, and the advancement of Medical
Service and of scientific work in the country, as also in the cause of
economic administration, the Civil Medical Service of India should
be reconstructed on the basis of such Service in other civilised
countries, wholly detached from and independent of the Military
Service.

(b) That the very unsatisfactory position and prospects of
Members of the Subordinate Civil Medical Service (Assistant-
Surgeons and Civil Hospital Assistants) comjjared with members of
similar standing in other departments of the Public Service, require
thorough investigation and redress, and prays that Government will
grant for the purpose an open enquiry by a mixed Commission of
official and non-official members.

(c) That whilst this Congress views with satisfaction the
desire of the Imperial Government to reorganise the Chemical
Analyser's department with a view to its administration as an inde-
pendent scientific department, it earnestly hopes that Government
will not fail to recognise the responsible and meritorious work of
Assistants, or as they in reality are. Government Chemical Analy-
sers, and place them on the footing of Specialists.



202 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM

Legislative Councils and Rules

IX. Resolved —

(o) That this Congress, in concurrence with the preceding
Congresses, considers that the creation of a Legislative Council for
the Pi-ovince of the Panjab is an absolute necessity for the good
Government of that Province, and having regard to the fact that a
Legislative Council has been created for the N. W. Provinces,
urges that no time be lost in creating such a Council for the Panjab.

(b) That this Congress, in concurrence with the preceding
Congress, is of opinion that the Rules now in force under the Indian
Councils Act of 1892 are materially defective, and prays that His
Excellency the Viceroy in Council will be pleased to have fresh
Rules framed in a liberal spirit, with a view to a better working of
the Act and suited to the conditions and requirements of each
Province.

Vote of Sympathy

X. Resolved — That this Congress wishes to express its re-
spectful condolence and sympathy with the Roj^al Family of Mysore
in their recent sad and sudden bereavement, and at the same time
to testify to its deep sense of the loss M-hich has been sustained in
the death of the Maharaja of Mysore, not only by the State over
which he ruled with such wisdom, ability and beneficence, but also
by all the Indian peoples, to whom his constitutional reign was at
once a vindication of their political capacity, an example for their
active emulation, and an earnest of their future political liberties.

Elducation

XV. Resolved — That this Congress is emjihatically of opinion
that it is inexpedient in the pi-esent state of Education in the country
that Government grants for Higher Education should in any way be
withdrawn, and, concurring with previous Congresses, affirms in the
most emphatic manner the importance of increasing public
expenditure on all branches of Education and the expediency of
establishing Tcclmical Schools and Colleges.

Confirmation of Previous Resolutions

XVI. Resolved — That this Congress concurs with its predecessors
in strongly advocating —j)revious (a) — (i)

(j) The discontinuance of the Exchange Compensation
allowance granted to undomiciled European and Eurasian employees