ABSTRACT
‘Rally the Moderates’ had been the watchword of Morley and Minto. So was it of Montagu and Chelmsford. It was not so much the clamour of the radicals as the friendly pressure of the moderate and sober elements in India which had persuaded the authorities to make the declaration of August 20, 1917. The Montagu-Chelmsford reform proposals were also framed in close consultation with the leading Moderates within the Congress. Some of the latter, such as S. P. Sinha, B. N. Basu and S. Nair, were already in the inner councils of the Government. Others, like Srinivasa Sastri, T. B. Sapru, 1 C. Y. Chintamani 2 and C. H. Setalvad, 3 were taken by Montagu into his confidence and told of the proposed scheme of reforms. 4 They were evidently not pleased with the scheme, for they felt that it did not go far enough and would not satisfy the country. But they were all profoundly impressed with Montagu’s personality, his honesty, earnestness and sincerity of purpose. They found him extremely sympathetic and determined to do his very best for India. And, above all, they were made to recognize the immense difficulties under which the Secretary of State was labouring—a coalition government in England, the danger of encountering opposition from Curzon and Milner in the Cabinet, the known antipathy of the Government of India to any weakening of central authority, and the already pronounced hostility of the civil services and Anglo-India circles, both in England and India, to any 149sweeping reforms. The Moderates were, in effect, told to be realistic and not to look at the shortcomings of the first instalment, but to ask ‘whether it led assuredly to self-government’. 1 Reasonable and loyal as the Moderates were, they decided to make the most of whatever was attainable under the circumstances and, in any case, not to let the Secretary of State down, for, if they were only half-converted to his scheme, they had become full converts to Montagu himself. 2
