ABSTRACT

The Vernacular Press Act and the Arms Act had been bitterly resented by educated Indians, and the deadlock over the Ilbert Bill had deepened that resentment. Leading Indians felt the need of a more comprehensive political organisation than any of the existing associations, and, accordingly, the Indian Association convened the first all-India conference in Calcutta from 28th to 30th December 1883. An appeal could scarcely fail to secure a response, and in 1884 leading men from the various provinces joined A. O. Hume in forming the Indian National Union, the only important function of which was to usher in the first Indian National Congress at Bombay in 1885. The manifesto stated that indirectly the conference would form a germ of a national parliament. Hume’s original intention had been for the Congress to discuss social rather than political matters, the latter being left to the existing associations in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras.