be called upon for a decision before the middle of next Session.  One step we have taken to which I attach the greatest importance.  Two Indians have for the first time been appointed to be members of the Council of India sitting at Whitehall.  I appointed these two gentlemen, not only to advise the Secretary of State in Council, not only to help to keep him in touch with Indian opinion and Indian interests, but as a marked and conspicuous proof on the highest scale, by placing them on this important and ruling body, that we no longer mean to keep Indians at arm’s length or shut the door of the Council Chamber of the paramount power against them.  Let me press this important point upon you.

The root of the unrest, discontent, and sedition, so far as I can make out after constant communication with those who have better chances of knowing the problem at first hand, than I could have had—­the root of the matter is racial and social not political.  That being so, it is of a kind that is the very hardest to reach.  You can reach political sentiment.  This goes deeper.  Racial dislike is a dislike not of political domination, but of racial domination; and my object in making that conspicuous change in the constitution of the Council of India which advises the Secretary of State for India, was to do something, and if rightly understood and interpreted to do a great deal, to teach all English officers and governors in India, from the youngest Competition wallah who arrives there, that in the eyes of the ruling Government at home, the Indian is perfectly worthy of a place, be it small or great, in the counsels of those who make and carry on the laws and the administration of the community to which he belongs.  We stand by this position not in words alone; we have shown it in act and shall show it further.

There is one more difficulty—­there are two difficulties—­and I must ask you for a couple of minutes.  I only need name them—­famine and plague.  At this moment, when you have thought and argued out all these political things, the Government of India still remains a grim business.  If there are no rains this month, the spectre of famine seems to be approaching, and nobody can blame us for that.  Nobody expects the Viceroy and the Secretary of State to play the part of Elijah on Mount Carmel, who prayed and saw a little cloud like a man’s hand, until the heavens became black with winds and cloud, and there was a great rain.  That is beyond the reach of Government.  All we can say is that never before was the Government in all its branches and members found more ready than it is now, to do the very best to face the prospect.  Large suspensions of revenue and rent will be granted, allowances will be made to distressed cultivators.  No stone will be left unturned.  The plague figures are terrible enough.  At this season plague mortality is generally quiescent; but this year, even if the last three months of it show no rise, the plague mortality will still be the