of Government, involving an annual expenditure of over a crore of
rupees while the E.xchequer is in a condition of chronic embarrass-
ment.

(A) Tlie giving effect to the Report of tlie Parliamentary
meinbers of the India Office Committee on tlie subject of the Rules,



THE TENTH CONGRESS 203

Orders, and Practices in Indian Cantonments, with reg'ard to
prostitution and contagious disease, and the endorsing of their
conclusions :

(I) That the system and incidental practices described in that
Report, and the statutory riiles, so far as they authoi-ised or
permitted the same, did not accord with the plain meaning and
intention of the Resolution of the House of Commons of June 5th,
1888; and

(II) That the only effective method of jjreventing these
systematic malpractices is by express legislation.

Forest Administration

XVIII. Resolv-ed — That this Congress records its deep-felt
gratitude to the Government of India for its circular resolution
No. 22/F, published in the Supplement to The Gazette of India, dated
20th October, 1894, and its high appreciation of the generous prin-
ciple, which it enunciates, of subordinating fiscal interest to the
needs and agricultural interests of the ryot population in the
management of forests.

And would further repi'esent that in forests falling under
classes 3 and 4 of the said resolutions, fuel, grazing concessions,
fodder, small timber for building houses and making agricultural
implements, edible forest products, etc., may be granted free of
charge in all cases, under such restrictions as to quantity, etc., as
the Government may deeni proper ; and that wherever hardship
may be felt, under present conditions, the policy of the said
Resolution may be carried out with reference to existing Forest
areas, and the existing Reserve boundaries so adjusted as to leave
a sufficiently large margin to facilitate the enjoyment bj' the
agricultural population of their communal rights without molesta-
tion and annoyance by the minor subordinates of the Department.

Coercion of the Press

XIX. Resolved — That this Congress, being of opinion that the
Government of India Notification of 25th June, 1891, in the Foreign
Department, gagging the Press in territories under British admi-
nistration in Native States, is retrograde, arbitrary, and mischievous
in its nature, and opposed to sound statesmanship and to the
liberty of the people, most respectfully enters its emphatic protest
against the same and entreats its cancellation without delay.

Water-Cess

XX. Resolved — That this Congress views witJi apprehension
the arbitrary policy of the Government of India with regard to the
imposition of water-cess, introducing as it does a disturbing element
in taxation, and suggests that the imposition of the said cess be



204 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM

regulated by certain defined principles affording security to the
rights of landowners and of persons investing money in land.

South Africa

XXI. Eesolved — That this Congress earnestly entreats Her
Majesty's Government to grant the prayer of Her Majesty's Indian
subjects, resident in the South African Colonies, by vetoing the Bill
of the Colonial Government disenfranchising them.

Deputations

XXII. Resolved — That a deputation consisting of the following
gentlemen be appointed for the purpose of presenting Resolutions
numbered 1,2,3,6,7,8,9,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20 and 21 to
His Excellency Lord Elgin ; and that the British Committee of the
National Congress be requested to arrange a similar deputation to
wait upon the Secretary of State for India in London.

From Bengal and Behar -. — His Highness the Maharaja
Bahadur of Durbhanga, Sir Romesh Chandra Mitra, Kf., Hon Mr.
W. C. Bannerji, Hon. Mr. Surendranath Bannerji, Mr. J Ghosal,
Babu Saligrain Singh, Mr. Shuref-tid-din, Rai Jotendranath Chau-
dhuri and Babu Baikunthanath Sen.

From the Norfh-West Provinces-. — Hon. Raja Rampal Singh,
and Hon. Babu Charu Chandra Mitra.

From Oudh : — Sheikh Raja Hussein Khan, Mr. Hamid Ali
Khan and Babu Gokal Chand.

From the Panjah : — Sardar Dayal Singh Majithia, Mr. Kali
Prasanna Rai, Mr. Jussawala, Shaik Umar Bunksh, Lala Murlidhar
and Bakshi Jaishi Ram.

From Bojnhay. — Hon. Mr. P. M. Mehta, CLE.

From the Central Provinces : — Hon. Mr. G. M. Chitnavis and
Rai Bahadur C. Narainswami Naidu.

From Poona -. — Rao Bahadur V. M. Bhide, Mr. S. B. Bhate,
Mr. N. B. Mule and Mr. P. L. Nagpurkar.

From Berar -. — Rao Sahab Deorao Vinayek.

From Madras -. — Manivikram, Raja of Calicut, Hon. Mr. Sabapati
Mudaliar, Rai Bahadur P. Ananda Charlu and Mr. G. Subramania
Iyer.

Congress Work

XXIII. Resolved— TliMt a sum of lis. 60,000 be assigned for
the expenses of the British Committee and the cost of the Congress
publication, India, and that the several circles do contribute as
arranged, either now, or hereafter in Committee, for the year 189.5.



THE TENTH CONGRESS 205

Thanks of Congress

XXIV. Resolved — That this Coiigi-ess hereby tenders its most
grateful thanks to Sir W. Wedderburn and the other members of
the British Congress Committee for the services rendered by them
to India during the present year.

Formal

XXV. Eesolved — That this Congress reappoints Mr. A. 0.
Hume, C.B., to be its General Secretary for the ensuing year.

XXVI. Resolved — That the Eleventh Indian National
Congress do assemble on sucb day after Christmas Day, 1895, as
may be later determined tipon, at Poona.

Congress Constitution

XXVII. Resolved — That this Congress is of opinion that the
time has come when the Constitution of the Congress should be
settled, and rules and regulations laid down as to the number of
Delegates, their qualifications, the localities for assemblage, and
the like, and with this view the Congi-ess requests the Standing
Congress Committee of Poona to draw up draft rules and
circulate them among the different Standing Congress Committees
for their report ; these reports, together with the draft rules and
the report thereon to be laid before the next Congress for its
consideration.



CHAPTER XI



The second decade of the life of the National Congress
opened at Poona, the great capital city of Maha-
rashtra, on December 27, 1895, and it sat for three
days, December 27, 28 and 30, the 29th being omitted,
as a Sunday. No less than 1,584 delegates were pre-
sent, and there was a huge crowd of visitors. Tlie



Bombay (1,246), Sindh (11)


... 1,257


Berar, C. P.


... 131


N.W. P. and Oudh


... 24


Bengal


... 51


Pan jab


3


Madras


... 118




1,584



The proceedings of tlie Congress opened as usual
with the welcome address of the Chairman of the
Reception Committee, Rao Bahadur V. M. Bhide, a
noble and venerable man of seventy years of age,
who, after a word of welcome, asked Professor G. K.
Gokhale — " as I am a very old man " — to read his
speech. At Poona it was, he said, that Mr. A. 0.
Hume had first discussed the scheme of the Congress



THE ELEVENTH CONGRESS 207

with his Indian friends ; Poona had been first
chosen for its gathering, though the meeting had to
be transferred to Bombay ; and it was fitting that its
second ten years' cycle should begin there. The
speech was a particularly fine one, commencing with
a reminder that a hundred years before Poona had
been the centre of a Confederacy Avhich held together
the continent of India from the Himalayas to Cape
Comorin, from Dwaraka to Cuttack, and vindicating
India's Nationhood. Met there were they, he said,
to " do all that is in their power to build up the
great Indian Nation, which has been their aspiration
by day and dream by night, and which, if not fulfilled
before their eyes, will certainly be accomplished in the
near future ". It was for them to justify those hopes
and aspirations, " to realise the dream of a united
and federated India ". The Hon. Mr. Surendranath
Bannerji had been chosen as President, a man who
" joins in himself all that is good and enlightened in
young and in old India," holding "the foremost
place in the hearts of what may well be called the
hope and blossom of coming years — the hearts of
many thousands of students ".

The Hon. Mr. P. Ananda Charlu proposed.
Dr. K. N. Bahadurji seconded, and Mr. E. N.
Mudholkar supported the election of the Hon.
Mr. Surendranath Bannerji, and it was carried by
acclamation.

Mr. Surendranath Bannerji, after a few graceful
words of thanks, referred to a difference that had
arisen as to the Social Conference — put an end to by



208 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM

tlie tolerant and wise action of Mr. Justice Ranade —
and said that the Congress was not of one social
party rather than another :

It is the Cong'ress of United India, of Hindus and
Muhamraadaiis, of Christians, of Parsis and of Sikhs, of
those who would reform their social customs and those
who would not. Here we stand upon a common platform
— here we have all agreed to bury our social and religious
diiferences, and recognise the one common fact that being
subjects of the same Sovereign and living under the same
Governmejit and the same political institutions, we have
common rights and common grievances. And we have
called forth this Congress into existence with a view to
safeguard and extend our rights and redress our
grievances.

The President then earnestly besought the
delegates, to shape a Constitution for the Congress.
In 1887 the Congress appointed a Committee to
consider what rules, if any, should be framed. They
reported, and a Resolution was passed to circulate
the suggested rules to the Standing Congress Com-
mittees who were to work on them and report to the
next Congress of 1888. That was passed in Madras,
and nothing was done till the Congress returned to
Madras in 1894, although at Lahore, in 1893, a wish
for a Constitution was expressed. In 1894, the Stand-
ing Committee at Poona was requested to draw up and
circulate rules ; they drew them up, at the last
moment, and sent them round, but there were no
reports from the other Standing Committees. Let
them form a Committee to frame rules and report on
the last day, not circulating them to the Committee :
" That is the old plea for inaction. We shall not



THE ELEVENTH CONGEESS 209

have any rules at all if we are to repeat the hapless
experiment of former years."

Turning to National aifairs,- the President pointed
out the utter inadequacy of the Councils Act of
1892 ; for instance, Bengal, with a population of 70
millions, had 7 elected members. The right of inter-
pellation had been usefully exercised. The members
were allowed to talk about the Budget, but might not
move any resolution thereon. He then discussed the
tremendous increase of the military expenditure due
to the frontier and other wars carried on by the
Government. The whole policy was both wrong and
ruinous. " Let me tell the Government of India, in your
name, that the true scientific frontier against Russian
invasion does not lie in some remote inaccessible
mountain, which has yet to be discovered, nor is it to
be found in the House of Commons, as some one said;
but it lies deep in the heart of a loyal and contented
people."

Having considered other points of expenditure and
the woeful poverty of the people, the President touched
on import duties, the exchange compensation allowance,
the question of industries, and the then sitting Royal
Commission to enquire into Indian expenditure. He
spoke bitterly of the exchision of Indians from the
higher branches of the Services, especially the Army,
" this ostracism of a whole people, " and quoted Sir
Henry Lawrence : " If Asiatics and Africans can
obtain honourable position in the armies of Russia,
and France, surely Indians, after a tried service
of a century under England's banner, are entitled
18



210 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM

to the same boon, nay, justice." He reviewed
many other matters in the field of Indian politics,
and urged that they should be made party questions in
the English Parliament. After expressing gratitude
for the improvements so far made, the President
concluded :

Nevertheless we feel that much yet remains to be
done, and the impetus must come from Pjno-land. To
England we look for inspiration and guidance. To
England we look for sympathy in the struggle. From
England must come the crowning mandate which will
enfranchise our peoples. England is our political guide
and our moral preceptor in the exalted sphere of political
duty. English history has taught us those principles of
freedom which we cherish Math our life-blood. We have
been fed upon the strong food of English constitutional
freedom. We have been taught to admire the eloquence
and genius of the great masters of English political
philosophy. We have been brought face to face with the
struggles and the triumphs of the English people in their
stately march towards constitutional freedom. Where
will you find better models of courage, devotion, and
sacrifice ; not in Rome, not in Greece, not even in France
in the stormy days of the Revolution — courage tempered
by caution, enthusiasm leavened by sobriety, partisanship
softened by a large-hearted charity — all subordinated to the
one pi'edominating sense of love of country and love of God.
. . . The noblest heritage which we can leave to our children
and our children's children is the heritage of enlarged
rights, safeguarded by the loyal devotion and the fervent
enthusiasm of an emancipated people. Let us so work
with confidence in each other, with unwavering loyalty to
the British connection, that we may accomplish this great
object within a measurable distance of time. Then will
the Congress have fulfilled its mission — justified the hopes
of those who founded it, and who worked for it — not,
indeed, by the supersession of British rule in India, but
bv broadening its basis, liberalising its spirit, ennoliling



THE ELEVENTH CONCJREvSS 211

its character, and placing- it upon the unchangeable
foundations o£ a nation's affections. It is not severance
that we look forward to — but unification, permanent
embodiment as an ii:itegral part of that great Empire
which has given the rest of the world the models
of free institutions — that is what we aim at. But per-
manence means assimilation, incorporation, equal
rights, equal privileges. Permanence is incompatible
with any form of military despotism, which is a temporary
makeshift adapted to a temporary purpose. England is
the august mother of free Nations. Slie has covered the
world with free States. Places, hitherto the chosen abode
of barbarism, are now the home of freedom. Wherever
floats the flag of Pjngland, there free (xovernments have
been established. We ajipeal to England gradually to
change the character of her rule in India, to liberalise it,
to shift its foundations, to adapt it to the newly-developed
enviroianents of the country and the people, so that, in
the fulness of time, India may find its place in the great
confederacy of free States, English in their origin, English
in their character, English in their institutions, rejoicing
in their pei-manent and indissoluble union with England,
a glory to the mother-country, and an honour to the
human race. Then will England have fulfilled her great
mission in the East, accomplished her high destiny among
Nations, repaid the long-standing debt which the West
owes to the East, and covered herself with imperishal)le
renown and everlasting glory.

The speecli was an e.xceptionally tine one, both for
matter and manner, keeping throughout a high level
of sustained eloquence, and it was enthusiastically
cheered. The Subjects Committee was approved, and
the Congress adjoui'ned.

On the second day, Mr. Ghosal moved, and
Mr. Jaishi Ram seconded Resolution I, which ordered
that the draft rules framed l)y the Poona Council
should he circulated, with instructions to i-eport to



212 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM

the General Secretary and Standing Counsel three
months before the next Congress, and it was carried
unanimously.

Mr. Baikunthanath Sen moved Kesolution II, stating
the opinion that the enquiry on Expenditure could not
be satisfactory unless evidence were given other than
official and Anglo-Indian, The value of the Commis-
sion did not lie in tlie examining of accounts, but in
an enquiry into the policy, which was at the root of the
expenditure. This view was supported by the
seconder, the Hon. Mr. Jambulingam Mudaliar, who
pointed out that enquiry should be made into the
enormous Home (Foreign) Charges, and the purchase
of all stores in England, instead of developing
manufactures here ; also into the trans-frontier
warfare and the scientific boundary search. Why
should the enquiry be heard in camera, like an
indecent divorce suit ? there was nothing private
about it. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya spoke of the
joy with which India had welcomed direct Govern-
ment by the Crown, believing that the transfer meant
a share in free institutions and an improvement of
the condition of the people. But the bureaucracy
which ruled them forced them to doubt if they were
right in their joy. Far more attention was paid to
India, thei-e was a keener desire to see that no
injustice was done, and the interests of the people
were mcn-e considered, before the Crown took over the
Government. When the East India Company applied
for the renewal of their charter every 20 years,
a Parliamentary Committee enquired into their



THE ELEVENTH CONGRESS 213

administration and reforms were made. But since the
Crown took things over, there had been no such
enquir3^ They said to England :

If you do not think us fit to govern ourselves ; if you
think we cannot understand our own finances, and say what
we can and what we cannot spend, considering what our
means are ; if you think you are better judges of it, pray
devote a little time and attention to the consideration of
these matters. If you cannot find time to do so, permit us,
pray, to do it. Why make us suffer by reason of your
inability to attend to our concerns, and by preventing
us from attending to them, from doing what we are most
anxious to do, not only in our own interests Init in the
interests of the Government as well P

The eloquent speaker concluded :

I ask English gentlemen, I ask the people of fhigland,
to seriously consider the position in which India is placed.
That position is simply this. Educated Indians,
repi'esenting the cultured intelligence of the countrj',
have been praying for an enquiry, a full and fair enquiry,
into the administration of this country during the last
fort\' years. We have impeached that administration on
almost every conceivable ground. We charge the
Government of England, with having saddled us with an
unnecessarily costly expenditure on the Civil Service of
India ; we charge them with having forced upon us a
crushingly heavy military expenditure ; we charge them
with indulging in a great Avaste of India's money beyond
the borders of India ; we charge them with Avant of
fairness in their dealings Avith India in the matter of
the Home Charges ; nay more, we charge them — the
Government of India, the GoAernment of England and
the people of England with them — with being responsible,
by reason of their neglect to adequately perform their
duty towards India, for the loss of millions of liA^es Avhich
are lost in eA^ery decade from starvation, largely the
result of OA-er-taxation and inefficient administration.



214 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM

We charge the people of England, because as some one
has said,

Hear him, ye senates, liear tliis trutli sublime,
He who allows oppression shares the crime.

If the English Parliament, if the people of England,
who have solemnly taken upon themselves the duty of
governing India, by reason of their neglect to do that
duty properly, allow any loss of life to occur in India
Avhich they could prevent, they are surely answerable be-
fore God and man for that loss of life. In the face of
such an impeachment, does it become the great English
people and the English Parliament to give us a lame
Commission, to enquire imperfectly into one bi'anch only
of this administration ? Would it not become them rather
to stand up, like true Englishmen, and say: " We shall
face all these various charges, and either prove them to be
untrue, or admit that they are true and make amends for
them." The charges are not of a light nature nor are
they lightly made, and if the English people do not care
to enquire into them in the interests of their Empire, if
they care not to do so in the interests of suffering
humanity, if they do it not, even as a matter of duty, let
them do it at least for the sake of the honour of England,
which, I liope and trust, is still dear to every
Englishman.

The Resolution was then carried.

Finance was still to the fore, and Resolution III
dealt with Civil and Military expenditure. If the
Commission would not go into policy, the Congress
would, and Mr. Waclia pointed out that Sir
James Westland had seriously misrepresented the
facts by saying that the increase was due to the ex-
change, and that General Sir Henry Brackenbury had
joined him by saying that, out of 62 lakhs of increase,
57.^ were due to the fall in exchange. Mr. Wacha



THE ELEVENTH CONGRESS 215

gave the official figures, proving the inaccuracy of
the statement beyond possibility of dispute.'

Munshi Shaik Hussain seconded, Mr. S. K. Nair
and Dr. K. N. Bahadurji supported, and The Resolu-
tion was carried unanimously.

Resolution IV, the perennial separation of Judicial
and Executive functions, was moved, this year by
Mr. Mano Mohan Grhose. He added to the arsenal a
statement by Mr, James, a Commissioner, in which he
said that the union was " the mainstay of the British
power in India " — a sorry confession. The Hon.
Mr. C. Setalwad seconded, four other delegates
supported, and it was carried.

Mr. W. C. Bannerji, in proposing the extension of
the Jury system (Resolution V), made a new point in
urging that a judge, translating in his mind the
vernacular of a rustic witness, was too engrossed with
the language to properly attend to the witness ;
Indian jurymen, understanding the language, would
watch the demeanour of witnesses and would distin-
guish truthful speech from false. He feared that the
strange changes which were being introduced into
criminal procedure would shake the faith of the people
in the administration of justice. Mr. Venkatasubba.
Iyer seconded, and Mr. Venkatrao Gutikar, in sup-
porting, pointed to the practical identity between the
Panchayat and the Jury, and the Marathi proverb :
" The Five are the Voice of God." Sir Thomas Munro,
in 1825, noted that the jury system was likely to suc-
ceed in India, because the Indians were accustomed
to sit on Panchayats, and were " in general sufficiently



216 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM

expert in examining and weighing evidence ". The
Resolution was carried, after three more speeches.

Mr. Seymour Keay, in an able and fiery speech,
moved Resolution VI, on the gagging of the Press at
the will of the Resident in Indian States (see Noti-
fication in Chapter X). In the State of Hyderabad
several presses had been ruined, and in that State,
bigger than the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, there was " not even a rag of an English
newspaper published ". Mr. Ramachandra Pillai
from Secunderabad seconded, and Mr. V. V. Modak
spoke of Avhat had occurred in Mysore, and Mr. A. L.
Desai in Kathiawar. The Resokition was passed.

Mr. Kalicharan Bannerji, with great courage,
brought up Simultaneous Examinations once again
(Resolution VII), complaining that the deafness of the
■Government reminded him of the Bengali bogey,
^' khaun khutla," the cutter off of ears, only it
was the Government whose ears were cut off. Three
•other speakers foHowed and the Resolution Avas passed.

The last Resolution on this day was the eighth,
declaring that if England continued to use Indians
in trans-frontier expeditions England should share
the expense. This indubitably just proposal was
moved by Mr. H. A. Wadia, in a ver}^ vigorous and
sensible speech, condemning the "forward polic}'"
■advocated by Lord Roberts, Mr. Curzon and the
brothers Younghusband. It was evil in policy and
illegal in practice, for no right existed to use Her
Majesty's forces beyond the frontiers, without the
sancrion of Parliament. Asia Avas SAvept off the



THE ELEVENTH CONGRESS 217

surface of the globe, and Europe was advancing North