nt's answer to this campaign of sedition and assassination
was of course stern repression. The native press was muzzled, the
agitators imprisoned or executed, and the hands of the authorities were
strengthened by punitive legislation. In fact, so infuriated was the
European community by the murders and outrages committed by the
nationalists that many Englishmen urged the withdrawal of such political
privileges as did exist, the limiting of Western education, and the
establishment of extreme autocratic rule. These angry counsels were at
once caught up by the nationalists, resulted in fresh outrages, and were
answered by more punishment and fresh menaces. Thus the extremists on
both sides lashed each other to hotter fury and worsened the situation.
For several years India seethed with an unrest which jailings, hangings,
and deportations did little to allay.

Presently, however, things took at least a temporary turn for the
better. The extremists were, after all, a small minority, and cool
heads, both British and Indian, were seeking a way out of the _impasse_.
Conservative Indian leaders like Mr. Gokhale condemned terrorism, and
besought their countrymen to seek the realization of their aspirations
by peaceful means. On the other hand, liberal-minded Englishmen, while
refusing to be stampeded, sought a programme of conciliation. Indian
affairs were then in the hands of the eminent Liberal statesman John
Morley, and the fruit of his labours was the Indian Councils Act of
1909. The act was a distinct departure from the hitherto almost
unlimited absolutism of British rule in India. It gave the Indian
opposition greatly increased opportunities for advice, criticism, and
debate, and it initiated a restricted scheme of elections to the
legislative bodies which it established. The salutary effect of these
concessions was soon apparent. The moderate nationalist elements, while
not wholly satisfied, accepted the act as an earnest of subsequent
concessions and as a proof of British good-will. The terrorism and
seditious plottings of the extremists, while not stamped out, were held
in check and driven underground. King George's visit to India in 1911
evoked a wave of loyal enthusiasm which swept the peninsula and augured
well for the future.

The year 1911 was the high-water mark of this era of appeasement
following the storms of 1905-9. The years after 1911 witnessed a gradual
recrudescence of discontent as the first effect of the