The mountain and the mouse

ONCE again has the mountain been in labour and produced nothing better than the proverbial mouse. The first fruit of the Birkenhead-Reading conversations, from which so much had been expected in some quarters, is already before us, and it is as bitterly and as cruelly disappointing as anything could have been. The Government of India has just issued a Gazette Extraordinary announcing, with the previous sanction of the Secretary of State in Council, the suspension of the transfer of all transferred subjects in Bengal, with effect from 13th June, 1925, to 21st January 1927, that is, for the life of the present Bengal Legislative Council. The intention of the government to retransfer the transferred subjects to the Governor in Council had been advertised both officially and semi-officially in clear and unambiguous terms. In ordinary circumstances the action now taken would have caused no surprise, however strongly all those who believe in constitutional government and constitutional procedure and who have been expecting a rapid transition from the present transitory to a stable form of government in India might condemn it. What does make the action as profoundly surprising as it is undoubtedly regrettable is the somewhat new situation created by the invitation extended to Lord Reading to visit England and talk matters over with the Secretary of State. Even those who did not expect much from the conversations between the two officials did expect them to result in the discovery of a way out of the present impasse in Bengal other than a reversion to pure and undiluted autocracy.