Conference will be " free." -More decisive than the Report
in determining the nature of the Bill may be the recommendations of the Conference itself. Let us not, however, play with the fancy that the Conference will be able to convince the British Government or guide Parliament helpfully unless it is strictly businesslike. The Simon Report holds the field, and even if it were wrong-headed and ungenerous in intention—which we do not admit it to be—it would still be the obvious and most convenient starting-point for discussion, Anything in it that needs displacing must yield to some alternative proposal which can be proved better and more practical. We wish that all Indians could appreciate, what is the simple truth, that in this country there is a volume of sympathy with the Indian desire for nat ionhood such as has never existed before and which would have seemed incredible a few years ago to men with an Ultimate knowledge of politics. We are confident, therefore, that there will be an extremely " forthcoming r" spirit here. What is still required must come in its due share from those who will represent India at the Conference—an earliest and scientific search for constructive improve- ments of the original scheme. A " free " Conference implies that the Government will enter the discussions with an open mind. Every idea will be admitted ; none
will be excluded.
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