The Government are entirely zealous and in earnest, acting in thorough good faith, in the desire to press forward these proposals.  I may tell you that our Bill is now quite ready.  I shall introduce it at the first minute after the Address is over, and, when it reaches the Commons, it will be pressed forward with all the force and resolution that Parliamentary conditions permit.  These are not mere pious opinions or academic reforms; they are proposals that are to take Parliamentary shape at the earliest possible moment; and after taking Parliamentary shape, no time will, I know, be lost in India in bringing them as rapidly as possible into practical operation.

Now the first point Mr. Ameer Ali made was upon the unfairness to the members of the Mahomedan community, caused by reckoning in the Hindu census a large multitude of men who are not entitled to be there.  I submit that it is not very easy—­and I have gone into the question very carefully—­to divide these lower castes and to classify them.  Statisticians would be charged with putting too many into either one or the other division, wherever you choose to draw the line.  I know the force of the argument, and am willing to attach to it whatever weight it deserves.  I wish some of my friends in this country would study the figures of what are called the lower castes, because they would then see the enormous difficulty and absurdity of applying to India the same principles that are excellent guides to us Westerns who have been bred on the pure milk of the Benthamite word—­one man one vote and every man a vote.  That dream, by the way, is not quite realised even in this country; but the idea of insisting on a principle of that sort is irrational to anybody who reflects on this multiplicity and variety of race and castes.

Then there is the question of the joint electorate—­what is called the mixed electoral college.  I was very glad to read this paragraph in the paper that you were good enough to send to me.  You recognise the very principle that was at the back of our minds, when we came to the conclusion about mixed electoral college.  You say:—­“In common with other well-wishers of India, the Committee look forward to a time when the development of a true spirit of compromise, or the fusion of the races, may make principles indicated by his Lordship capable of practical application without sacrificing the interests of any of the nationalities, or giving political ascendency to one to the disadvantage of the others.  But the Committee venture to think that, however ready the country may be for constitutional reforms, the interests of the two great communities of India must be considered and dealt with separately.”  Therefore, to begin with, the difference between us in principle about the joint electorate is only this:  we are guilty of nothing worse than that we were premature, in the views of these gentlemen—­we were impatient idealists.  You say to me, “It is very fine; we hope it will all come true; but you