want to emerge out of the slough in which you have long remained sunk, it will not do for you to insist on a rigid adherence to caste. Modern civilisation has accepted greater equality for all as its watchword, as against privilege and exclusiveness, which were the root-ideas of the old world. And the larger humanity of these days requires that we should acknowledge its claims by seeking the amelioration of the helpless condition of our downtrodden countrymen.

Finally, gentlemen, this is a question of National Self-interest. How can we possibly realise our national aspirations, how can our country ever hope to take her place among the nations of the world, if we allow large number of our countrymen to remain sunk in ignorance, barbarism, and degradation? Unless these men are gradually raised to a higher level, morally and intellectually, how can they possibly understand our thoughts or share our hopes or co-operate with us in our efforts? Can you not realize that so far as the work of national elevation is concerned, the energy, which these classes might be expected to represent, is simply unavailable to us? I understand that that great thinker and observer-Swami Vivekananda -held this view very strongly. I think that there is not much hope for us as a nation unless the help of all classes, including those that are known as low castes, is forthcoming for the work that lies before us. Moreover, is it, I may ask, consistent with our own self-respect that these men should be kept out of our houses and shut out from all social intercourse as long as they remain within the pale of Hinduism, whereas the moment they put on a coat and a hat and a pair of trousers and call themselves Christians, we are prepared to shake hands with them and look upon them as quite respectable? No sensible man will say that this is a satisfactory state of things. Of course, no one expects that these classes will be lifted up at once morally and intellectually to a position of equality with their more-favoured countrymen.

This work is bound to be slow and can only be achieved by strenuous exertions for giving them education and

finding for them honourable employment in life. And, gentlemen, it seems to me that, in the present state of India, no work can be higher or holier than this. I think if there is one question of social reform more than another that should stir the enthusiasm of our educated young men and inspire them with an unselfish purpose, it is this question of the degraded condition of our low castes. Cannot a few men- five per cent., four per cent., three, two, even one per cent.-of the hundreds and hundreds of graduates that the University turns out every year, take it upon themselves to dedicate their lives to this sacred work of the elevation of low castes? My appeal is not to the old or the middle aged-the grooves of their lives are fixedbut I think I may well address such an appeal to the young members of our community-to those who have not yet decided upon their future course and who entertain the noble aspiration of devoting to a worthy cause the education which they have received. What the country needs most at the present moment is a spirit of self-sacrifice on the part of our educated young men, and they may take it from me that they cannot spend their lives in a better cause than raising the moral and intellectual level of these unhappy low castes and promoting their general well-being.

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OUR POLITICAL SITUATION.

[On Monday, the 25th July 1904, the public of Madras assembled in large numbers at the Pachaiyappa's Hall to give a public welcome to the Hon'ble Mr. Gokhale. The hall, however, was overcrowded and several thousands could find no accommodation within. The meeting was, therefore, held in the spacious maidan opposite the College. Dewan Bahadur K. Krishnaswami Row, C.I.E., Retired Dewan of Travan core, the Chairman of the Meeting, referred in graceful terms to the Hon'ble Mr. Gokhale's services to the people. Mr. Gokhale made this speech in reply -]

Mr. President and Gentlemen,- It is difficult for me to find words to convey in any adequate manner my sense of the overwhelming kindness with which you have received me this afternoon. I hope there may arise no circumstances which may ever lead you to regret the welcomethe generous welcome-that you have accorded to me to day; and, for my part, I shall only say this, that the recollection of this kindness will not easily fade from my memory. Gentlemen, in a vast concourse like this, it is hopeless to expect that my words will reach every one of you. I will, however, try to say what I have to say in as brief a manner as possible so as not to detain you long in any case. You are, perhaps, aware that I have come to Madras in my capacity as Joint Secretary of the Indian National Congress. It was in this city of Madras that I was appointed to this office last December. Unfortunately pressure of duties elsewhere prevented my coming to Madras at the time when my appointment was made. But perhaps it was as well, seeing that the weather at that time did not permit the men who came from different parts of the country to have anything like a large interchange of ideas. Well, I have come now to have that interchange of ideas and compare notes with friends here; and my only regret is that I am unable, owing to the shortness of the

time at my disposal, to visit those centres of political activity in the mofussil to which I have been so kindly invited and which I myself would be very glad to go and see. However, I hope that it is for me only a pleasure postponed and that circumstances will permit my making a somewhat extended tour of this Presidency sometime next year.

Gentlemen, I have now been for about twenty years in public life, I mean such public life as we have in this country, and this means that I have been able to follow the fortunes of the National Congress from its very start, because this is the twentieth year since that institution first came into existence. During the last few years I have also had special opportunities to become acquainted with the trend of thought and events in various parts of India, and one thing I have noticed which there is no mistaking. In many of our papers, in the utterances of many of our leading men, in the discussions that take place, in the freedom of private conversation, you find everywhere that the predominant note in regard to political agitation, is one of despair. It seems that a kind of despondency is setting over the national mind. People have already begun to ask openly the question, what has the Congress done during the nineteen years that it has been in existence. Some others alter the form of the question and ask, is it possible for the Congress to achieve anything substantial, if its work is continued on the lines on which it has been carried on so far? There are some who go even further and try to urge on us the practical futility of political agitation such as that in which we are engaged. They say that the history of the world furnishes no instance in which such an agitation has ever brought any privileges to those who agitated, and they advise us that it would be the part of wisdom on our part to give up political agitation and devote our energies, such as they are, to the industrial development of the country. Thus, whatever you may think of these views, one thing is clear, that our leading workers, many of them, not all, are gradually, but steadily, losing faith in our political agitation. Now, if there were any real justification for this feeling of despair,

the outlook would be dark indeed. But is there any real justification? That is the question that I would like to put to you, just as that is the question that I very often put to myself whenever a feeling of despair tends to assail me. The whole position requires to be examined calmly and dispassionately. And for that purpose you have to ask yourselves two or three questions. You may first of all ask yourselves what were the thoughts and ideas of those who began this political work? What were the hopes and aspirations that were close to their hearts? Then you have to ask yourselves what were the conditions under which this work was undertaken by them? What are the conditions under which this work has to be done now, and whether there has been any change or alteration of late in these conditions? These are the questions which you must put to yourself if you are anxious to examine the situation correctly. With regard to the first question as to what were the thoughts and ideas of those who started this work, and what were the hopes and aspirations that lay close to their heart, the answer is, I believe, not far to seek. Those men first of all wanted to act as interpretors between the rulers and the ruled, to explain, on the one hand, to the people the intentions of the Government, and to represent, on the other, to the rulers the grievances of the people. This was the first part of political agitation, and it is being performed on the whole not badly, though of course there is considerable room for improvement. But more than this, they wanted to work for the triumph of those larger principles on which our hopes for the future of our country are based. It was their aspiration that the disabilities under which we labour at present might become less and less, and that in the fulness of time we should have the full rights of that British citizenship to which we have been admitted only in name at present. This was the second, and in one sense the higher, part of our political agitation. It is in connection with this that the principal difficulties of the position arise, and the judgments that are so often pronounced about the success or failure, of political agitation are also mostly in reference to these. Now, gentlemen, let us turn to the second question. What were the conditions under which the proposed work