pression in the statute book, The reception of the proposals in India has been in accordance with precedent. Even Indian, iberals have shown a disposition to declare that an inadequate "advance" is being made. They probably do not go so far as to refuse to contemplate ce-opera.ion in working the new scheme. They have, however, to safeguard themselves against the charge of being blind upholddts of the Government's policy, for otherwise their formidable opponents in the Indian National Congress Perty will make further political capital at their expense. Moreover, view of the fierce agitation ws tked up in England by—certain Conservative malcontents, the [Indian Liberats may rightly feet that too ready an endorsement of the Bill on their part would merely encourage concessions to the forces of reaction, So outside observers have, Just now, little guide them in assessing the scope of the measure which, in effect, transforms the present exyerimental constitution in India into a definite expression of the policy of establishing responsible government in British India—the coal laid down tu the famous deciaration of 1917—and, moreover, seeks to associate the Indian States for the first time in the development of representative institut'ens throughout the whole of the Indian Empire.
Yet, in the light of the imoertance "of Indis's destiny to the world at large and, particularly, to the Asiatic continent, it seems desirable to attempt in the plainest possible language and without trespassing too much on the vocabulary of the technical expert, to expound some of the realities of this remarkable essay in_constitution-building. Here, in China, a draft constitution is in existe ence. It still has to find formal expression in the day-to-day routine of administrative tricts, Here, in China, the principles of democratic self-government nave found acceptance; they have still to be worked out in their practical application to the life of the people and to the association of the people with the Governny ut, On that ground alone a study of the broad lines of the Indian proposals is of no little interest to China. Tu one important restcct the task of China is far harder than that now confronted India. The Chinese Government has to build up a new constitution on the shattered framework "i a discarded system. The Govnment of India will have mere. to extend and develop a constituson already created and to build fon the sound foundation of a Tong-established administration gradually adapting itself by progressive stages to the requirements of representative institutions. But whereas, in China, in spite of an ethnological and linguistic complexity, a general homogeneity of inces
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.