Research for this article was made possible by grants from the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, An earlier verison was read at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London, and parts were included in a different form in a London Ph.D. thesis written under the supervision of Professor K. A. Ballhatchet. The following abbreviations are used in footnotes:

C.P. Chelmsford Papers (with volume number), MSS. Eur. E.264. India Office Library and Records, London [I.O.L.].

H.Poll. Home Department Political Proceedings (with number of proceeding and date). Where this citation includes ‘A.’, ‘B.’, ‘K.W.’ (Keep With) or ‘Dep.’ (Deposit), the record was consulted at the National Archives, New Delhi. Otherwise reference was made at the India Office Library and Records, London, where such proceedings are ‘A.’ series.

¹ Some Indians agreed. See Pal, B.C., The New Policy (Madras, 1918), pp. 50–3 for the acceptance of British control of the imperial government of India.Google Scholar

² Chelmsford, to Chamberlain, 25 August 1916, C.P.2.Google Scholar

³ See, for example, Danzig, R., ‘Common Ground: The Early Stages of the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms’, unpublished B.Litt. thesis (Oxford University, 06 1967), pp. 19–31, 93–102.Google Scholar

⁴ Chelmsford, to Willingdon, , 25 May and 15 July 1916, C.P.17.Google Scholar

⁵ Montagu, to Chelmsford, , 17 04 1919, C.P.4.Google Scholar

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⁸ Minute, 26 October 1917, Poll, H.. 572, October 1917.Google Scholar

⁹ Willingdon, , 14 January, and Robertson, 25 March 1917, to Chelmsford, C.P. 18; Chamberlain to Chelmsford, 12 July 1916, Chelmsford to Willingdon, 21 March 1917, C.P.2.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Meston to Chelmsford, 7 and 22 September, Chelmsford to Meston, 16 September 1916, Meston Papers, MSS. Eur. F. 136/1, I.O.L. For the Carmichael interview, see H. Poll. Dep. 22, December 1916.Google Scholar

¹¹ Note, 3 March 1917, Poll, H.. A. 299–313, K.W., July 1917.Google Scholar

¹² Note, 17 January 1917, ibid.

¹³ Chelmsford note, 1 February 1917 (with Meyer, 3 February, Hill, , 4 February, Nair, 5 February),Google Scholaribid.

¹⁴ Craddock, note, 23 November, and Chelmsford, 4 December 1916, H. Poll. Dep. 25, December 1916.Google Scholar See also ibid. 22.

¹⁵ Poll, H.. 300, July 1916; Secretary; Foreign and Political Dept., to Chelmsford, 20 July 1917, C.P.19.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Viceroy (Home Dept.) to Secretary of State, 12 August 1917, C.P.8; Poll, H.. 635, November 1917.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Home Dept. circular, 20 March, Poll, H.. 299, July 1917; H. Poll. Dep. 25, September 1917.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Note, 25 February 1917, Poll, H..A.299–313, K.W., July 1917.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Note, 29 March 1917, Ibid.

²⁰ Poll, H..Dep.8, September 1916, and 32, February 1918;Google ScholarPalande, N. R. (ed.), Source Material For a History of the Freedom Movement in India, Vol. II (1885–1920) (Bombay, 1958), pp. 243–4.Google Scholar

²¹ It prompted Muhammad Ali to write to congratulate Tilak, and withdraw his ‘grave misgivings’ about Tilak's political and social ‘catholicity’. The censor withheld the letter. Poll, H..Dep.53, November 1916.Google Scholar

²² Bombay letters, 5 April and 2 May 1917, Poll, H..291–294, July 1917.Google Scholar

²³ Poll, H..A.291–298, K.W., July 1917.Google Scholar

²⁴ Willingdon to Chelmsford, 27 June, 8 and 18 July 1916, C.P.17; Pentland, and Meston, 7 July, and Robertson, 15 July 1917, to Chelmsford, C.P.19; Poll, H.. 291–298 and 309–310, July 1917, See also Lowndes note, 16 June, Vincent, 19 June, and draft circular, 27 June 1917, H. Poll. A.310, & K.W., July 1917.Google Scholar

²⁵ Wilson, to Jenkins, Lawrence, 6 July and 10 August 1909, Wilson Papers, MSS. Eur.E.224, 2B and 3, I.O.L. See also , vols 8 and 13, passim.Google ScholarIbid.

²⁶ Joint resolution, 28–29 July 1917, Poll, H..638, November 1917.Google Scholar

²⁷ Viceroy (Home Dept.) to Secretary of State, 18 May and 12 October 1917, C.P.8.Google Scholar

²⁸ Chelmsford, to Willingdon, , 15 and 24 July 1916, C.P.17, and 21 January 1917, C.P.18.Google Scholar

²⁹ Chelmsford, to Chamberlain, , 16 June and 24 July 1917, C.P.3.Google Scholar

³⁰ Home Dept. letter, 28 February 1916, Poll, H.. A.454–457, February 1916. See also H. Poll.133, January 1917, and 86–106, August 1917.Google Scholar

³¹ Viceroy (Home Dept.) to Secretary of State, 12 August, 1917, C.P.8. Compare Hardinge to Chamberlain, 12 November 1915, Hardinge Papers 121: ‘I shall… quietly deal with her by internment under the Defence of India Act’ (quoted by Danzig, ‘Common Ground’, p. 33). See also Poll, H..A.299–310, June 1916, including Craddock note, 18 May 1916, that Madras were following the ‘stock’ and ‘unsound’ argument about not creating martyrs, and that they should be written to.Google Scholar

³² See ‘The Law on Samitis’, New India, 15 June 1917. There are 249 pages of notes, almost all excerpts from New India, with H. Poll.A.36–53, October 1916; and further cuttings from February to May 1917 with Poll, H.. Dep.62, June 1917. Chelmsford called for full reports in December 1916; see H. Poll.Dep.25, December 1916. See also below, note 34.Google Scholar

³³ Note, 16 July 1917, Poll, H..A.86–106, K.W., August 1917.Google Scholar

³⁴ Poll, H..90–106, August, and 6 and 51, November 1917; Chelmsford to Chamberlain, 22 June 1917, C.P.3, and to Pentland, 1 August, and Pentland to Chelmsford, 23 July 1917, C.P.19;Google ScholarBesant, Annie (ed.), Under Sentence of Death (Madras, 1916).Google Scholar

³⁵ Chelmsford, to Chamberlain, , 28 June, and to Montagu, 19 July 1919, C.P.3.Google Scholar

³⁶ Boulay, Du, 16 July, and Vincent, 23 July 1917, H. Poll.A.86–106, K.W., August 1917.Google Scholar

³⁷ There had been a public outcry in India (see below, note 58), and questions had ‘overwhelmed’ Chamberlain in Britain (Chamberlain, to Chelmsford, , 5 July 1917, C.P.3); yet the India government continued to support the Madras decision.Google Scholar

³⁸ See Viceroy, , 18 June, and Viceroy (Home Dept.) to Secretary of State, 12 August 1917, C.P.19.Google Scholar

³⁹ O'Dwyer, 8 May 1917, H. Poll.A.291–292, K.W., July 1917. Pentland predicted that postwar reforms would ‘fall far short’ of Home Rule, and threatened to act against Home Rulers’ ‘unwise and dangerous methods and extravagant aims’:Google Scholar see ibid., 299–313. See also Willingdon's equally uncompromising stand, to Chelmsford, 21 June 1918, C.P.20.

⁴⁰ Viceroy to Secretary of State, 11 and 18 June 1917, C.P.8.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Poll, H..Dep.48, September 1917.Google Scholar

⁴² New India, 15 June 1917, reprinted in ‘To my Brothers and Sisters in India’, Home Rule for India League, British Auxiliary, pamphlet No.12, Poll, H..Dep.14, March 1918.Google Scholar

⁴³ See Chelmsford to Chamberlain, 7 July 1916, C.P.2; Poll, H..363, May 1919; Willingdon to Montagu, 13 May 1919, Montagu Papers, MSS.Eur.D.523/19, I.O.L.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Meston, to Chelmsford, , 20 June, 7 and 25 July 1917, and Viceroy to Lieutenant-Governor, United Provinces, 22 June 1917, Meston Papers, 1.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ See Secretary of State to Viceroy, 16 August 1917, C.P.8; Poll, H..310–313, 316, 318–323, 327–331, September 1917, and 57, 60–69, 72, 80, February 1918.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Poll, H..316, September 1917, and 133, January 1918; Secretary of State to Viceroy, 31 August 1917, C.P.8.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ See Govt. Madras to Viceroy, 4 September, Viceroy to Secretary of State, 5 September, Pentland to Chelmsford, 15 and 17 September, Chelmsford to Pentland, 16 September 1917, C.P.8; Chelmsford to Chamberlain, 8 September 1917, C.P.15, and to Pentland, 14 September 1917, C.P.18; Poll, H..14, September 1917, and 131, 133, January 1918.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Secretary of State to Viceroy, 31 August 1917, C.P.8, to Govt. Madras, and Bombay, 2 September 1917, C.P.19. See also Chelmsford to O'Dwyer, 23 September 1917, C.P.19; Poll, H..134, January 1918.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Vincent, to Maffey, , 26 October 1917, C.P.19.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Owen, H. F., ‘Toward Nation-wide Agitation and Organisation: the Home Rule Leagues, 1915–1918’, in Low, D. A. (ed.), Soundings in Modern South Asian History (London, 1968), p. 177. (My emphasis.)Google Scholar

⁵¹ Montagu, to Willingdon, , 3 August and 9 September 1920, Montagu Papers, 16; Secretary of State to Viceroy, 5 October 1917, C.P.8.Google Scholar See the denial also in Montagu, E. S., An Indian Diary, ed. Montagu, Venetia (London, 1930), p. 96. Similarly, in releasing deportees in 1910, after pressure from Morley, Minto had argued that they had to be released some time, and that release would have a good effect, for example on the newly-elected Council. (Note, 22 February 1910, Wilson Papers, 13.)Google Scholar

⁵² Viceroy to Secretary of State, 9 and 17 September, 9 and 24 October, and (Home Dept.) 12 August, and Chelmsford, to Pentland, , 14 September 1917, C.P.8; Chelmsford to Montagu, 22 September 1917, C.P.3.Google Scholar

⁵³ Chelmsford, to Chamberlain, , 6 July and 6 October 1916, C.P.2.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Chelmsford, to Montagu, 22 September 1917, C.P.3, and to O'Dwyer, 23 September 1917, C.P.19. See also Home Dept. to Govt. Madras, 10 December 1917, Poll, H..134, January 1918.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Chelmsford, to Montagu, , 8 August 1917, C.P.3.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ See Speeches by Lord Chelmsford, Vol. I (Simla, 1919), pp. 389–93;Google ScholarChelmsford, to Montagu, , 19 July and 28 August 1917, C.P.3.Google Scholar Later, Stanley Reed described Chelmsford as ‘fou with the report; he could think of little else the moment current business was put aside’ (Reed, , The India I Knew 1897–1947 (London, 1952), p. 189).Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Viceroy to Secretary of State, 5 and 17 September, and Chelmsford, to Pentland, , 14 September 1917, C.P.8.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Meston, to Chelmsford, , 20 June 1917, C.P.18.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ See the views of Ronaldshay, , Sinha, and the editor of the Nayak newspaperGoogle Scholar, Poll, H..634, November 1917; Ronaldshay to Montagu, 24 July 1919, Montagu Papers, 29; Viceroy to Secretary of State, 18 August 1917, C.P.8.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Note, 1 September, Poll, H..331, September 1917.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Note, 30 August, Poll, H..A.305–332, K.W., September 1917.Google Scholar

⁶² Chelmsford, to Montagu, , 22 September 1917, C.P.3.Google Scholar

⁶³ Viceroy to Govt. Madras, 2 September, and Chelmsford, to O'Dwyer, , 23 September 1917, C.P.19. Note also the care taken in reporting press reactions to the release, see Viceroy (Home Dept.) to Secretary of State, 15 September 1917, C.P.8.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Poll, H..14, September 1917; Vincent note, 2 September 1917, H. Poll.A.305–332, K.W., September 1917.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Chelmsford to Montagu, 22 September 1917 (with O'Dwyer speeches, 13 and 26 September), C.P.3.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ O'Dwyer, statement, 19 September 1917,; Chelmsford, to O'Dwyer, , 14 September 1917, C.P.19Google Scholaribid..

⁶⁷ Chelmsford, to Montagu, , 5 October 1917, C.P.3, and to Chamberlain, 14 December 1917, C.P.15, and see to Dawson (The Times), 17 November 1918, C.P.15.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ See O'Dwyer, to Chelmsford, , 20–21 and 23 September, Chelmsford, to O'Dwyer, 23 September 1917 (unsent but shown), C.P.19. Also, see above, note 65; and Malaviya to Chelmsford, 26 September 1917, C.P.19.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Holderness, to Chamberlain, , 3 November 1917, Austen Chamberlain Papers, University of Birmingham Library, AC12/109;Google Scholar Ronaldshay to Chamberlain, (?) September, ibid., AC12/206; Chamberlain to Chelmsford, 14 October, ibid., AC18/3/19, and 28 November, AC18/3/4; Chelmsford to Chamberlain, 14 December 1917, ibid., AC18/3/5. See also Sethbridge to Chamberlain, 22 June 1918, ibid., AC21/5/16.

⁷⁰ Poll, H..Dep.2, November 1917.Google Scholar

⁷¹ O'Dwyer, to Chelmsford, , 20–21 September 1917, C.P.19.Google Scholar

⁷² Chelmsford, to O'Dwyer, , 23 September 1917, C.P.19.Google Scholar

⁷³ Chelmsford, to Willingdon, , 8 November 1917, C.P.19.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ See O'Dwyer minute, 10 January, Craddock, 17 January 1918, and Gait, 11 December 1917, Home Dept. Public Proceedings 592, 594 and 595, October 1918.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ Chelmsford, to Chamberlain, , 17 May 1918, C.P.15.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ Chelmsford, to Montagu, 5 October 1917, C.P.3.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ See, for example, Besant to Private Secretary, Viceroy, 27 and 27 September, and Maffey to Besant, 2, 9, 10 and 21 October 1917, C.P.19 (about the Ali brothers); Poll, H..Dep.55, July 1918 (Chelmsford noting ‘Leave it alone’ when asked about proscribing the pamphlet, ‘An Abominable Plot’); H. Poll. Dep.48, May 1918. C.R. Cleveland of the C.I.D. remained hostile to Besant; see Cleveland to Maffey, 18 October 1917 (supported by Willingdon to Chelmsford, 28 October), C.P.19, and H. Poll.B.184, February 1918.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ Marris note, 13 June, and Vincent, , 16 June 1919, Poll, H.. Dep.56, August 1916; see also H. Poll.A.452–453, August 1919.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ Poll, H..A.341–354, K.W., February 1921 (notes, June 1920).Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Poll, H..29–33, May 1918.Google Scholar

⁸¹ Chelmsford, to Willingdon, , 8 November 1917, C.P.19. Once Bombay had lifted their ban, the Central Provinces were asked to follow; see Poll, H..61–62, February 1918.Google Scholar

⁸² Chelmsford, to Carmichael, , 24 March 1917, C.P.18.Google Scholar

⁸³ I have discussed this in my ‘The Government of India under Lord Chelmsford 1916–1921’, unpublished Ph.D. thesis (London, 1971), pp. 89–94 and 168–205.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ See ibid., pp. 126–39 & 150–5.

⁸⁵ See above, notes 61 and 62.