ng a political unit, was itself a new idea. We may
say that it was made possible in 1835, when an Act of Legislature was
passed declaring the press free. In 1823 an English editor had been
deported from Calcutta for free criticism of the authorities, but after
1835 it was legal not merely to think but to speak on public questions.
Before we pass on, we note the strange inverted sequence of events which
may attend on fostered liberty. The right to criticise was bestowed
before any right to be represented in the Legislature or Executive was
enjoyed. In this freedom to criticise the acts of Government, the India
of to-day is far ahead of countries like Germany and Russia.

[Sidenote: Government exists for the good of the governed.]

The new idea of citizenship, thus made possible by a free press, is
largely the outcome of three great influences. Christian philanthropic
ideas, disseminated both by precept and example, could not but be
producing some sense of brotherhood, and what Burke calls a "civil
society." Then again, the free and often democratic spirit of English
literature was being imbibed by thousands; and in the third place,
through the newspapers, English and vernacular, the people were being
brought into actual contact with the political life of Great Britain.
Due particularly to the first of these influences, the noblest of the
new Indian political ideas is that tacitly assumed in many of the native
criticisms of the British Government in India--high tribute as well as
criticism--that Government exists for the good of the governed, and
indeed responsible for the welfare of the masses. The British Government
is indeed an amazing network covering the whole continent, ministering
life, like the network of the blood-vessels in our frame. At least, its
apologists declare it _to be doing so_, and its native critics declare
that it _ought to_. The native press, for example, is prompt to direct
the attention of the Government to famine and to summon the Government
to its duty. In India a noble idea of the Commonwealth and its proper
government has thus come into being. Likewise, it ought to be added,
except in times of political excitement, and in the case of professional
politicians, it is generally acknowledged that the conception of the
British Government in India is noble, and that many officers of
Government are truly the servants of the people. It is not suggested
that the policy or the methods should be radicall