FAREWELL TO LORD MINTO.

[The following is the full-text of the speech delivered by the Hon'ble Mr. Gokhale at a farewell entertainment given to Lord Minto by the citizens of Bombay in December 1910 :-]

Ladies and Gentlemen,-The Entertainment Committee has done me great honour by asking me to propose on this occasion the health of Their Excellencies Lord and Lady Minto. It has been my privilege to represent this presidency on the Viceroy's Legislative Council during all the time that Lord Minto has been at the head of the Indian administration. I may, therefore, claim special opportunities to have watched at -close quarters the great work that he has done for us, even more than the work, the spirit in which he had laboured to accomplish that work. To this work and spirit some very eloquent tributes have been paid during the last few days, and I don't think there is much left unsaid which now requires to be said. I will not, therefore, detain you any longer, but I wish to say just one or two things. The first thing that I would like to say is that that though during the last two years of His Excellency's administration, the atmosphere was quieter and the feeling easier, still there is no doubt that during the first three years the situation was very dark and very anxious indeed and even when it was the darkest and most anxious and even when the clouds were thickest, we all felt that we had at the head of the administration a ruler whose sympathies were frankly generous towards our reasonable and legitimate aspirations and whom we could trust. (Cheers.) I venture to think that this was a factor of considerable importance in the situation. Another I would like to say is that during the five years it has fallen to His Excellency's lot to make many speeches and in view of the great provocation that was caused to His Excellency there would have been ample excuse for the use of harsh language, yet not one word had fallen from His Excellency which can be

resented as unjust or which could leave a stain behind it.. (Hear, hear.) I think this is a most significant tribute to the qualities which have made His Excellency's career a great success. His Excellency has played a historic part in the administration of the country and everybody recognises that he has done his best to deepen and broaden the foundation of the administrative fabric. The people of this country, whatever their faults, are not wanting in feelings of gratitude, and I assure you that his name will be cherished with affection and admiration for a long time to come. And in the loving memory of the people another name will be included-that of Her Excellency Lady Minto-(Cheers) who has been by his side through the times of storm and stress, and who in her own sphere has done so much for the advancement of the women of India. (Applause.) India parts with Lord and Lady Minto with unfeigned regret, and we wish them long life and prosperity.. (Applause.)

PRESENTATION TO LADY WEDDERBURN.

[The following speech was delivered by the Hon'ble Mr. Gokhale at Lady Schwann's "At Home on July 4, 1912, specially arranged for presenting to Lady Wedderburn a beautiful necklace of Indian work, set in diamonds and pearls, with a pendant of enamelled lotus-leaves, surrounded by precious stones :-]

Ladies and Gentlemen,--Sir William's official life had been spent in the Bombay Presidency, and, though his work after retirement was for all India, Bombay naturally took a special pride in it. When, therefore, it was definitely settled that he was coming out to India to preside over the Allahabad Congress, a committee of many prominent citizens was formed in Bombay to take steps to express our admiration and affection for him in a suitable manner; and the committee resolved that the expression should take the form of a farewell entertainment to be given in Bombay on the eve of Sir William's departure from India. Unfortunately, the strain of incessant work, which it was found impossible to avoid, told on Sir William's health, and on his going to Calcutta from Allahabad it was thought best that he should sail back to Europe from Calcutta direct, instead of returning to Bombay. The committee in Bombay, who had collected a sum of four thousand rupees for the entertainment, were naturally very much disappointed at this decision, but they had to acquiesce in it as there was no help. They then decided to devote the money to sending to Lady Wedderburn a souvenir of Sir William's matchless services to India, of his last visit undertaken at such risk, and of the anxious time through which Lady Wedderburn had to go on our account, as was clear not only from her letters, but from what we learnt from the nurse. When Sir William came to know of this intention of the committee he wrote to Mr. Wacha, one of the secretaries, begging him not to spend more than a very small amount on

the souvenir, and urging that the bulk of the money should be made over to the fund which had been started in Bombay for the promotion of village sanitation as a memorial to Miss Florence Nightingale. The committee, while unwilling to be diverted from its purpose, could not disregard Sir William's wishes entirely. And so it was finally resolved to contribute one thousand rupees out of the money to the Miss Nightingale Fund and devote the rest of the amount to the souvenir which is a necklace of Indian design and Indian workmanship- the work having been executed at Bangalore-with the Indian lotus-flower in the centre. As I was coming this summer to England the committee very kindly desired me to act on its behalf and make the presentation. This is what the secretaries wrote to me before I left India :-"Dear Mr. Gokhale,--As you are proceeding to Europe, and will be in London for some time, we have the pleasure to request you to be so good as to kindly agree to present to Lady Wedderburn, on behalf of the members of the Sir William Wedderburn Bombay Reception Committee, December, 1910, the necklace of brilliants which the committee unanimously voted to be presented to her as a souvenir to Sir William's last visit to Bombay and as a sincere token of the very high esteem, admiration and affection in which Sir William is universally held in this City and Presidency, and of the gratitude we all feel for the great and invaluable services he has rendered to India during a lifetime devoted entirely to her service." In accordance with this wish of the committee it is my privilege now to present this necklace to Lady Wedderburn. Long may she and Sir William be spared-objects of affection, gratitude and reverence to the countless millions of India!

Ladies and gentlemen, I stated at the outset of my remarks, that for certain special reasons, Congress leaders in India were anxious, in 1910, to get Sir William Wedderburn to preside over that year's Congress, and I think I should explain briefly what those reasons were. The year 1910 marked the definite closing of one chapter and the opening of another and a brighter one in the history of India. The far-reaching scheme of reforms announced at

the end of 1908, was brought into operation during 1909, and the first elections to the new Councils took place at the beginning of 1910. It was an important juncture, and the foremost need of the situation was that all classes of the community-officials and non-officials, Hindus and Mahomedans, and different sections of the Progressive partyshould join in a common effort to make the new order of things a success. Old misunderstandings had to be put aside; old quarrels healed before the country could enter successfully on the new era which undoubtedly was in sight. For some time before the introduction of the reforms a steady alienation of feeling had gone on between the officals and the people in India-an alienation which culminated in the bitterness that characterised the opening years of the new century. The Hindus and Mahomedans, too, who had long lived amicably side by side in the country, had come to be divided widely by a sharp and somewhat sudden antagonism as regards the share which the Mahomedan community was to have in the new privileges. And, owing to the occurrences at the Surat Congress in 1907, a serious split had taken place in the ranks of Congressmen in the country, bringing in its train those disastrous consequences which disunion never fails to produce. All these differences were bound to hamper the working of the reform scheme, and no task was therefore more vitally necessary in 1910 than that of earnestly addressing a plea of conciliation all round to the different interests or sections concerned. And Congress leaders felt that from their side, no one could urge such a plea with more authority or with greater effect than Sir William Wedderburn. It was, therefore, as a great conciliator that Sir William was invited that year to go out to India. And the address which he delivered from the chair of the Congress showed how fully he realised the requirements of the situation and how whole-heartedly he entered on this mission of conciliation. The keynote of the address was triple conciliation-conciliation between the officials and the people, between Hindus and Mahomedans, and between Congressmen and those who had seceded from the Congress. With the authority of an old official and of a devoted friend of Indian aspirations, he appealed to officials