THE NECESSITY FOR A CHANGE 237
a victory. If you do not succeed, you are without resource ; for conciliation failing, force remains, but force failing, no further hope of reconciliation is left. Power and authority are sometimes bought by kindness, but they can never be begged as alms by ah impoverished and defeated violence. A further objection to force is, that you impair the object by your very endeavours to preserve it. The thing you fought for (to wit the loyalty of the people) is not the thing which you recover, but depreciated, sunk, wasted and consumed in the contest ……”
Government by consent was indeed long ago accepted by the Indian Executive as a principle of political wisdom, and the changes introduced from time to time in the constitution of the Indian Legislature were avowedly for the purpose of making it reflect the popular will. The result for a time was an astonishing degree of accord between the Indian Executive and the Indian Legislature ; so much so that the regime of lettre de cachet and the Bastille had the sanction of the majority of the Indian legislature. But all this government by consent or conciliation was a camouflage. On the other hand, an analysis of the changes introduced from time to time into the constitution of the Indian Legislature clearly shows that the motive behind these changes was to make it an impotent body or a willing tool in the hands of the Executive. A Legislature as distinct from the Executive was first’ inaugurated in 1853. [2] But in 1861 [3] the constitution of the Legislature then established was altered. The ground urged was that that Legislature was not a body representative of the Indian people. [4] Its members were drawn from the official class representing the several Provincial Governments. In order to make the Legislature representative of the people, the Act of
1861 directed that it should be composed of nominated members chosen by the Governor-General from among the public, of course on the advice of the Executive. Again, by the Act of 1892 the Governor-General was directed to nominate such persons to the Legislature as were selected by public bodies in the country.
1 Up to 1833 the Executive was also the Legislature. In 1833 a law member was added to the Executive Council, whose duties were confined to merely giving assistance to the Executive Council in the matter of making laws. By the Act of
1853 he was merged into the Executive Council.
2 16 and 17 Victoria, c. 95.
3 24 and 25 Victoria, c. 67.
4 By the Act of 1853 the Supreme Legislature was composed of nominated members comprising two Judges of the High Court of Bengal and four nominated officials representative of the Bengal, Madras, Bombay and N.W.P. governments in addition to the members of the Executive Council of the Government of India.