ers, when they were under discussion in an
Imperial Conference, was a step in the right direction. But
disappointment was felt that while other countries were represented by
responsible Ministers, the representation in India's case was of the
Government, of a Government irresponsible to her, and not the
representative of herself. No fault was found with the choice itself,
but only with the non-representative character of the chosen, for they
were selected by the Government, and not by the elected members of the
Supreme Council. This defect in the resolution moved by the Hon. Khan
Bahadur M.M. Shafi on October 2, 1915, was pointed out by the Hon. Mr.
Surendranath Bannerji. He said:

My Lord, in view of a situation so full of hope and promise, it
seems to me that my friend's Resolution does not go far enough.
He pleads for _official_ representation at the Imperial
Conference: he does not plead for _popular_ representation. He
urges that an address be presented to His Majesty's Government,
through the Secretary of State for India, for official
representation at the Imperial Council. My Lord, official
representation may mean little or nothing. It may indeed be
attended with some risk; for I am sorry to have to say--but say
it I must--that our officials do not always see eye to eye with
us as regards many great public questions which affect this
country; and indeed their views, judged from our standpoint,
may sometimes seem adverse to our interests. At the same time,
my Lord, I recognise the fact that the Imperial Conference is
an assemblage of officials pure and simple, consisting of
Ministers of the United Kingdom and of the self-governing
Colonies. But, my Lord, there is an essential difference
between them and ourselves. In their case, the Ministers are
the elect of the people, their organ and their voice,
answerable to them for their conduct and their proceedings. In
our case, our officials are public servants in name, but in
reality they are the masters of the public. The situation may
improve, and I trust it will, under the liberalising influence
of your Excellency's beneficent administration; but we must
take things as they are, and not indulge in building castles in
the air, which may vanish "like the baseless fabric of a
vision."

It was said to be an epoch-making event that "Ind