ABSTRACT
The Indian National Congress in its earlier efforts was dominated by men trained in British political principles, who demanded the gradual application to India of the doctrines which had triumphed in the United Kingdom. The prosecution, though deprecated by Gokhale and Morley, was manifestly essential if any regard were to be had to law. The action of the government for the time checked extremist action, and the same result was effected by the Maniktollah conspiracy case, where fifteen of the Bengali agitators were found guilty of conspiracy to wage war. The reforms of 1909 failed in their object, if that was to check the propaganda for self-government. But they had the merit of securing improvement in legislative measures, not so much through actual proposals by Indian members as through the circulation of Bills for suggestions and the use of committees to examine in detail their proposals.
