A Nation in Making/Appendix B

A NOTE ON MY COLLEAGUES ON THE WELBY COMMISSION (see p. 150).

The names of my colleagues, who were witnesses before the Com- mission, will pass into the history of their times. Gopal Krishna Gokhale was one of the greatest political leaders of his generation, a true-born statesman in the front rank of Indian public men. A leader of the Moderate party, his premature death was a heavy loss to the country. Mr. G. Subramanya Iyer was one of the makers of modern Madras. He too died early, mourned by his province and by his countrymen in other parts of India. In 1914, I had the melancholy satisfaction of unveiling his portrait, which was subscribed by the people of Madras as a token of their affection and gratitude. Of Sir Dinshaw Wacha, who is happily still amongst us, no one can speak without admiration for his personal worth and public character. His long life has been dedicated to the service of the motherland, and in the evening of his career, he draws to himself in an unstinted measure, the love and esteem of all who know him. He was one of the founders of the Congress, attended its first meeting in Bombay in 1885, and throughout served it with unsurpassed devotion and fidelity. He has since seceded from the Congress, with the rest of the Moderate party, but his services to that body will be cherished by his grateful countrymen, when the heat and the dust of the present controversies shall have been allayed.