Dadabhai Naoroji's candidature at South Lambetli ;
and i\Ir. D. A. Khare moved and Mr. K. Nara-
yana Rao seconded Resohition XIX, thanking
Mr. G. K. riokhale and Lala Lajpat Rai for
their great services in EngLand. Mr. M. V. Joshi
then moved Resohition XX, appointing Mr. Gokhale
to be the Delegate of the Congress to urge the more
pressing proposals of the Congress on the authorities
in England. Mr. C. Vijiaraghavachari seconded, and
Sister Nivedita supported the Resolution, urging the
Congress to remember the birth of Nationality in
Europe, an impulse against the Napoleonic movement,
a century before ; now history Avas repeating itself,
and India must speak for the salvation of Europe,
for the English Empire must be Imperialism or
Nationality, Slavery of Nations or Freedom for the
]ieoples of the earth.

Resolution XXI appointed a Standing Committee
to promote the objects of the Congress throughout
the year. Resolution XXII re-appointed the Secre-
taries ; Resolution XXIII thanked Sir William
Wedderburn and tlie British Committee. Then
Mr. Yatindranath Choudhuri invited the next Con-
gress to Calcutta, the Congress gladly accepting.

Finally, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, in words
of deepest gratitude and admiration, voiced the
love and trust of India in the vote of thanks to
the President, endorsed by tumultuous applause ;



432 HOW INDIA WEOUQHT FOR FREEDOM

Mr. Surendranath Bannerji seconded, and Mr. Gokhale
very briefly replied. Thus had the Twenty-first
National Congress its ending.

RESOLUTIONS

Message of Welcome to Their Royal Highnesses
the Prince and Princess of Wales

I. Resolved — That this Congress, representing His Majesty's
Indian subjects of all races, creeds and communities, most humbly
and respectfiiUy oifers its loyal and dutiful welcome to Their Royal
Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales on the occasion of
their visit to India.

The Congress is deeply touched by the expressions of Their
Highnesses' sentiments of cordial good-will towards the people of
India, is confident that the personal knowledge gained during the
present tour will stimulate their kindly interest in the welfare of
its people, and it expresses the fervent hope that His Royal
Highness will be graciously pleased to submit, to His Majesty the
King-Emperor, the earnest prayer of this Congress that the
principles of the Queen's Proclamation be enforced in the
Government of this country.

(«) That the President do submit the above resolution to
His Royal Highness by wire.

Representation

II. Resoh'ed — That in the opinion of this Congress the time
has arrived for a further expansion and reform of the Supreme and
Provincial Legislative Councils, so that they may become more
representative of the people, and the non-official members thereof
may have a real voice in the Government of the country. The
Congress recommends an increase in the number of non-official and
elected members and the grant to them of the right of dividing the
Councils in financial matters coming before them ; the head of the
Government concerned possessing the power of veto.

IV. Resolved — That in the opinion of this Congress the time
has arrived when the people of India should be allowed a larger
voice in the ndiiiinistration and control of the affairs of their
country by :

(a) The bestowal on each of the Provinces of India the
franchise to return at least two members to the British House of
Commons.



THE TWENTY-FIEST CONGRESS 433

(b) The appointment of not less than three Indian gentlemen
of proved ability and experience as members of the Secretary of
State's Council.

(c) The appointment of two Indians as men\bers of the
Governor-General's Executive Council and of one Indian as a
member of the Executive Councils of Bombay and Madras.

Bxcise

III. Resolved — That (a) this Congress, while thanking the
Government of India for the appointment of a Committee to
enquire into Excise Administration in the sevei-al Provinces of the
country, regrets that its composition is exclusively ofScial, and that,
therefore, it cannot inspire full public confidence ;

(h) this Congress, concurring in the opinion of previous
Congresses, expresses its deliberate conviction that the recognition
of the principle of local option in practical administration and a
large reduction in the number of existing liquor-shops are conditions
precedent to any satisfactory reform in Excise Administration ;

(c) this Congress respectfully urges on the Government of
India the desirability of speedily carrying out the principal
proposals contained in Sir Fredrick Lely's memorandum of last
year on Excise Administration ;

(d) that the Congress begs to protest against the virtual
shelving, by the Government of India in its executive capacity, of
the Bengal Excise Bill, which has been welcomed as a sound and
progressive piece of temperance legislation.

Periodical Enquiries

V. Resolved- — That this Congress is of opinion that to enable
the Parliament to discharge more satisfactorily its responsibility in
regard to the Government of India, periodical Parliamentary en-
quiries into the condition of India should be revived, and the salary
of the Secretary of State for India should be placed on the British
estimates.

Public Service

VI. Resolved— (a) That, in the opinion of the Congress, the
principles and policy enunciated by the Government of India in
their Resolution, dated 24th May, 1904, on the subject of the
employment of Indians in the higher grades of the Public Service,
are inconsistent with those laid down in the Parliamentary Statute
of 1833 and the Proclamation of 1858 by the late Queen-Empress,
and this Congress enters its respectful but emphatic protest against
an attempt to explain away pledges solemnly given by the



434 HOW INDIA WROUGHT TOR FREEDOM

Sovereign and Parliament to tlie people of this country, and to
deviate from arrangements deliberately arrived at by the Govern-
ment after a careful examination of the whole question by a Public
Commission.

{h) That this Congress is of opinion tluit the true remedy
for many existing financial and administrative evils lies in the
wider employment of Indians in the higher branches of the
country's service ; and while concurring with previous Congresses
in urging that immediate effect should be given to the Resolution
of the House of Commons of 2nd June, 1893, in favour of holding
the competitive examinaticjns for the Civil Services simultaneously
in England and in India, this Congress places on record its firm
conviction that the only satisfactory solution of this question is to
be found in the re-organisation of the Indian Civil Service, which
should be reconstituted on a decentralised basis, its judicial
functions in the meantime being partly transferred to persons who
have been trained in the profession of law.

(c) That this Congress, concurring in the opinion of the last
Congress, deplores the abolition of the competitive test for the
Provincial Service. Past experience has amply established the fact
that a system of Government noniination degenerates, in the
special circumstances of this country, into a system of appointment
by official favour, and thus by bringing unfit men into the Service,
impairs the efficiency of the administration and, in addition,
unfairly discredits the fitness of Indians for high office. This
Congress, therefore, respectfully urges the Government of India to
restore the competitive test for the Provincial Service.

Finance

Vil. Ilesolved — That this Congress, while appreciating the
action of the Government of India in applying a portion of its
surplus revenues last March to sonic of the purposes recommended
by the Congress, is of opinion that the financial relief given by
it to the tax-payers of this country during the last three years has
been most inadequate, and tlic Congress regrets that advantage has
been taken of recent sur])luses to increase largely the military
expenditure of the country, raise the salaries of European officials
in several dejiartments and create a number of new posts for them.
The Congress urges that any sur])lus that may arise in the future
should, in the first place, be utilised for jnirposcs of remission of
taxation, and, secondly, be devoted to objects directly benefiting the
jieople, such as imparting scientific, industrial and agricultural
education, providing increased facilities of medical relief and
assisting Municipal and Local Boards with grants to undertake
urgently needed measures of sanitary reform, and the improvement
of means of communication in the interior.



THE TWENTY-FIRST CONGRESS 435

Military

VIII. Resolved — (a) That this Coiigress, while recording its
emphatic protest against any change which weakens the supremacy
of the Civil control over the Military authorities, is of opinion that
the necessary Civil control cannot be adequately exercised until and
unless the representatives of the tax-payers are placed in a position
to influence such _ jntrol.

(b) That ibis Congress earnestly rejDeats its protest against
the continued increase in the military expenditure, which is
unnecessary, unjust and beyond the caj.acity of the Indian people.

(r) That this Congress is distinctly of opinion that as the
militar}' expenditure of this country is determined, not by its own
military needs and requirements alone but also by the exigencies of
British supremacy and British policy in the East, it is only fair
that a proportionate share of such expenditure should he met out of
the British Exchequer and shared by the Enquire at large, instead of
the whole of such expenditure falling on a part of the Empire
which is the poorest and the least able to bear it.

(d) That in view of the changed position of affairs in Asia,
due to the recent war between Russia and Japan and the Anglo-
Japanese Treaty, this Congress earnestly urges that the large
expenditure of 10 millions sterling sanctioned last year for the Re-
organisation scheme be not now incurred, and the money be devoted
to an extension of education in all its branches and reduction of
the i-yofs burdens.

Indians in British Colonies

IX. Resolved— That («) this Congress, while exjjressing its
sense of satisfaction at the passing by the Australian House of
representatives, of a Bill to amend the Law of Immigration so as to
avoid hurting the susceptibilities of the people of India, again
places on record its sense of deep regret that British Indians should
continue to be subjected to harassing and degrading restrictions
anfl denied the ordinary rights of British citizenship in His
Majesty's Colonies. The Congress particularly protests against the
enforcement by the British Government of disabilities on the
Indian settlers in the Transvaal and Orange River Crown Colonies,
Mliich were not enforced even under the old Boer rule, in spite of
declarations by His Majesty's Minister that the treatment of the
Indian subjects of the King-Emperor by the Boer Government
Mas one of the causes of the late war ;

(h) in view of the important part the Indian settlers have
played in the development of the Colonies, their admitted loyalty
and peaceful and industrious habits, their useful and self-sacriticing
services during the recent war, and, above all, the great constitution-
al imijortance of the pi-inciple of equal treatment of all citizens of



436 HOW INDIA WROUGHT TOR FREEDOM

the Empire anywhere in the King-'s Dominions, this Conpfress
respectfally, but strongly, urges the Government of India and HiH
Majesty's Grovernment to insist, by prohibiting, if necessary, the
emigration of indentured labour and adopting other retaliatory
measures, on the recognition of the status of Indian emigrants as
British citizens in all the Colonies.

Legal

X. Resolved— (a) That in the opinion of this Congress a com-
plete sepai-ating of Judicial from Executive functions must now be
carried out without further delay ; (b) that this Congress,
coucuiTiug with previous Congresses, urges that the Judicial
Service, in all parts of the country, should be recruited from the
Legal profession more largely than at present, as the system of
appointing Civilians without special legal training to high judicial
offices does not lead to satisfactory administration of justice in
the Muffasal.

Police

XI. Resolved — That this Congress, while noting with satisfac-
tion some useful reforms recommended by the Police Commission,
regrets that adequate measures have not been adopted to materially
imiDrove the efficiency and the honesty of the Police Service.

That this Congress records its conviction :

(1) That competitive examinations for the recruitment of
the Police Service in the higher grades should be thrown open to
all classes of British subjects instead of being contined to candidates
of British birth, and that such examinations should be held
simultaneously in England and in India.

(2) That educated Indians should be largely employed in
the higher grades in order to secure efficiency in work.

(3) That enlistment in the Provincial Service should be by
competitive examinations.

(4) And histly, that District Officers, who are the heads of
the Police, should be relieved of judicial work and of all control
over the Magistracy of the District.

Coercion

TJtr Partition of Bengal

XII. Resolved — -That this Congress records its emphatic
protest against the Partition of Bengal in the face of the strongest
opposition on the pnrt of the people of the Province.

That having rogai-d to the intense dissatisfaction felt by the
entire Bengali community at tlie dismemberment of their Province



THE TWENTY-FIEST CONGRESS 437

and their manifest disinclination to accept the Partition as an
accomplished fact, this Congress appeals to the Government of
India and to the Secretary of State to reverse or modify the
arrangements made in such a manner as to conciliate public opinion,
and allay the excitement and unrest manifest among large masses
of the people.

That thia Congress recommends the adoption of some arrange-
ment which would be consistent with administrative efficiency, and
would place the entire Bengali community under one undivided
administration either by the appointment of a Governor and Council,
or by the adoption of some other administrative arrangement that
may be thought desirable.

Repressive Measures

XIII. Resolved — That this Congress records its earnest and
emphatic protest against the repressive measures which have been
adopted by the authorities in Bengal after the people there had
been compelled to resort to the boycott of foreign goods as a last
protest, and perhaps the only constitutional and effective means
left to them of drawing the attention of the British public to the
action of the Government of India in persisting in their determina-
tion to partition Bengal, in utter disi-egard of the universal prayers
and protests of the people.



[See XVII, 6.]



Education



XIV. Resolved- — (a) That this Congress repeats its protest
against the present policy of the Government of India in respect
of High and Secondary education, as being one of officialising the
governing bodies of the Universities and restricting the spread of
education.

{h) That this Congress, while thanking the Government of
India for the special grants made this year to Primary and High
Education, again places on record its firm conviclion that the
material and moral interests of the country demand a much larger
expenditure than at present on all branches of education, and a
beginning in the direction of Free Primary Education.

(c) That in the opinion of this Congress the recommenda-
tions of the Committee on Industrial Education shoidd be promptly
carried out by the Government for the better pi-ovision of Technical
Education to the youth of the country. The Congress especially
urges the Government to order an Industrial Survey as recommended
by the Committee, and as suggested by the Government of India
itself in its Home Department Resolution No. 199, dated 18th June,
1888, as a necessary pi-elirainary to the introduction of an
organised system of TeGhnical education in the several Provinces.

35



4B8 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM

(d) That at least one central fuUy-eqiiippecl Polytechnic
Institute should be established in the countiy with minor technical
schools and colleges in the different Provinces.

Poverty

XV. Eosolved — That this Congress deplores fresh outbreaks
of famine in several j^arts of the country, and holding that the
fi-eijuent occurrences of famines are due to the great poverty of the
people, which forces large numbers of them to throw themselves on
State help at the first touch of scarcity, it again urges the G-ovem-
ment of India and the Secretary of State to institute a detailed
enquiry into the economic 'condition of a few typical villages in
different parts of India.

(1 ) This Congress is of opinion that the property of an agri-
cultural country like India cannot be secured without a definite
limitation of the State demand on land, such as was proposed b}''
Lord Canning in 1862, or by Lord Ripon in 1882.

(2) It regrets tliat Lord Curzon, in his Land Eesolution of
1902, failed to recognise any such limitation, and declined to accept
the suggestions of the Eight Hon. Sir Eichard Garth and other
memorialists.

(3) It holds that a reasonable and definite restriction of the
State-demand, and not the restriction on tenants' rights, such as
has found favour in recent j'ears, is the true remedy for the growing
imijoverishment of the agricultural population.

Quarantine at Bombay

XVI. Eesolved — That having regard to the fact that there is
ten days international quarantine in existence at Kamran, this
Congress holds that the quarantine of five days imposed at the
port of Bombay upon the Musalman pilgrims before embarking
for Jedda is unnecessary and vexatious, and produces a feeling of
discontent ; this Congress, therefore, prays that the quarantine
imposed at Bombay be entirely abolished.

Provincial Grievances

XVII. Eesolved — Tliat ttiis Congress, coiicurritig wirh previous
Congresses, strongly urges —

(1) The constituti(m of the Par.jal) into a Eeguhition Province.

(2) The expaiision and reform of the Panjab Legislative
Council in accordance with the Indian Council Act of 1892.

(3) The establishment of a Chartered High Court of Judica-
ture in the Punjab.



THE TWENTY-llEST CONGEESS 439

(4) The Enactment of Legislation for Berar by the Supreme
Legislative Council and not by Executive order of the Governor-
General in Council.

(5) The restoration, to the people of the Central Provinces
of the right to elect their representative on the Supreme Legislative
Council instead of his being nominated by the Government.

(6) The cancellation of the Government of India Notification
of 2.5th June, 1891, in the Foreign Department, gagging the Press in
territories under British administration in Native States as being
serious infi-ingenient of the liberty of the Press in those tracts.

India and the General Election

XVIIL Resolved — That this Congress desires to accord its
most cordial sujaport to the candidature of Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji
for North Lambeth, and appeals to the electors of that constituency
to return him to Parliament.

Thanks of Congress

XIX. Eesolved — That this Congress desires to record its sense
of high ap]ireciation of the manner in which the Hon. Mr. G. K.
Gokhale, C. I. E , and Lala Lajpat Rai discharged the onerous duties
imposed on them in England.

XXIII, Resolved — That this Congress desires to convey to Sir
William Wedderburn, Bart., and the other members of the British
Committee, its most grateful thanks for their disinterested services
in the cause of India's political advancement.

Appointment of the Hon, Mr. Gokhale as
Delegate to England

XX. Resolved — That in view of the importance of urging the
more pressing proposals of the Congress on the attention of the
authorities in England at the present juncture, the Congress
appoints its President, the Hon. Mr. Gopal Krishna Gokhale,
CLE , as its delegate, and deputes him to proceed to England for
this purpose.

Congress Work

XXI. Resolved — That a Standing Committee of the Congress
be appointed to promote the objects of the Congress and to take
such steps diu-ing the year as may be necessary to give efEect to the
Resolutions of the Congress.

That the following gentlemen be appointed members of the
Standing Committee for the year 1906 :

(1) Hon. Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, K.C.I.E. (Bombay).

(2) Hon. Daji Abaji Khare (Bombay).



440 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM

(3) G. Subramania Iyer Esq. (Madras).

(4^ Hon. Nawab Syed Muhammad (Madras).

(.5) Surendranath Bannorji, Esq (Calcutta).

(6) A. Choudhuri Esq. (Calcutta).

(7) Maulvi Abdul Kasim (Burdwan).

(8) S. Siuha Esq. (Bankipur).

(9) Hon. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya (Allahabad).

(10) Munshi Ganga Prasad Varma (Lucknow).

(11) Lala Lajpat Rai (Lahore).

(12) Lala Harkishan Lai (Lahore).

(13) Rao Bahadur R. N. Mudholkar (Amraoti) ;') ^^ S e c r e-

/■,A\^^^Mir 1, -L^ /r» 1 ^ i > taries of the

(14) D. E. Wacha Esq. (Bombay) ; and t r- ,v,r,,;ffoc
/t,-\ TT •^r /-I Tr /^ 1 1 1 /^ T T^ /T> s > Committee.

(15) Hon. Mr. G. K Gokhale, CLE. (Poena). J

Formal

XXII. Resolved — That this Congress re-appoints A. 0. Hume
Esq., C.B., to be General Secretary, and D. E. Wacha Esq. and the
Hon. Mr. G. K. Gokhale, O.I.E., to be Joint General Secretaries
for the ensuing year.

XXIV. Resolved — That the Twenty-second Indian National
Congress do assemble, on such day after Christmas Day, 1906, as
may later be determined on at Calcutta-.



I



CHAPTER XXII

Never before nor since 1906, has the Congress seen
such a gathering as that which assembled at Calcutta
on the 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th of December in that
memorable year. A huge Pavilion was erected by
the Russa Road, Bhowanipur, seating 16,000 persons,
with wide passages that gave standing room to
another 4,000 ; Bengal had been roused from end to
end, all India sympathised with her wrongs, and
1,663 delegates came to show their love. They came
from :



Bengal












. 686


U. P. ...












. 187


Panjab

C. P. (90), Berar (60),
(1), Secunderabad (6)
Bombay
Madras


Jaipi
, Bar


"^ ay,

) galore


Indoi
(2).


. 139
e

. 160
. 262
. 221


Burma












8
1,663



Only once has this number been overtopped, in
the memorable Congress of 3889, to which Charles
Bradlaugh came, and never have the delegates been
so evenly distributed as on this occasion.



442 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM

The welcome given to the President-elect and
past Presidents, as they came on to the platform with
the Chairman of the Reception Committee, Dr. Rash
Behari Ghosh, rang out from 20,000 throats, and
when silence was obtained, Mr. Narendranath Sen,
the patriot Editor of The Indian Mirror, opened the
proceedings with a prayer, and two men choirs and a
tliird of 30 young girls, sang National songs. Then
Dr. Rash Behari Ghosh welcomed the delegates, and
spoke with deep sorrow in that the year had robbed
Bengal of two of her best beloved, W. C. Bannerji
and Ananda Mohan Bose, leaders sorely needed now,
compassed as they were with dangers and darkness.
They had been afflicted by floods and famine, but
far worse were the political perils around them.
Lord Curzon had found India compai-atively content-
ed, and had left her fermenting with unrest, and hi.s
parting gift Avas the Partition of " a Province, for
which he had always dissembled his love ".

The Partition of Beng-al was followed by Russian
methods of Government, with this difference, that the
ofHcials who devised them wero Englishmen, while the
Russian official is at least the countryman of those whom
he governs or misgoverns. The singing of national songs
and even the cry of " Bande Mataram " were forl)idden
under severe penalties. This ordinance was fittingly
succeeded by the prosecution of schoolboys, the quarter-
ing of military and punitive police, the prohibition and
forcible dispersion of public meetings, and these high-
handed proceedings attained their crown and completion
in the tragedy at Barisal, when the Provincial Conference
was dispersed by the Police, who wantonly broke the
peace in order, I imagine, to keep the peace. Now,
though we are a thorouglily loyal people and our loyalty



THE TWENTT-SECOND CONGRESS 443

is not to be easily shaken because it is founded on a more
solid basis than mere sentiment, I have no hesitation in