politics it is the complete democratic constitution of Britain that
looms before India's leaders. Britons can view with sympathy the rise of
the national feeling as the natural and inevitable fruit of contact with
Britain and of education in the language of freedom, and even although
the new problems of Indian statesmanship may call forth all the powers
of British statesmen. Like a young man conscious of noble lineage and of
great intellectual power, New India, brought up under Britain's care, is
loudly asserting that she can now take over the management of the
continent which Britain has unified and made what it is.

Where the "National Congress" and the Congress ideas have sprung from is
manifest when she first presents herself upon the Indian stage. As her
first president she has a distinguished barrister of Calcutta, Mr. W.C.
Bonnerjee, of brahman caste by birth, but out of caste altogether
because of frequent visits to Britain. Patriot though he is--nay,
rather, as a true patriot, he has broken and cast away the shackles of
caste. His English education is manifest when he opens his lips, for in
India there is no more complete master of the English language, and very
few greater masters will be found even in Britain. Further, as her first
General Secretary and general moving spirit, the first Congress has a
Scotchman, Mr. A.O. Hume, commonly known as the "Father of the
Congress." His leading of the Congress we can understand when we know
that he is the son of the celebrated reformer and member of Parliament,
the late Dr. Joseph Hume.

[Sidenote: Representative Government.]

Several of the claims of the Congress have been conceded in whole or in
part. Since the first meeting in 1885, elected members have been added
to the Legislative Councils in the three chief provinces, Bengal,