During his long residence in England, his pro fessional connection with Messrs. Cama and Co., the first Parsee house of business established in this country did not damp his ardour for political service : it only quickened his eagerness to secure the redress of Indian grievances and to get the British demo cracy interested in India's vital needs. It was through his powerful presentation of the Indian case in Parliament, that the famous Welby Commission of 1886 was appointed to investigate Indian finance and expenditure. Very little by way of substantial reform was achieved through the various recommendations embodied in the Commission's report : in fact most of the recommendations covered elaborate side-issues of technique and method, and skilfully evaded the broad, main issues that required to be handled. But it will remain to Naoroji's perpetual credit, that he, in his capacity as Liberal M.P. (for Central Finsbury), did make a heroic attempt to move the authorities, in the face of powerful vested interests, to press in the right direction. Throughout his parliamentary career he was entirely engrossed in securing sympathy for and interest in the various schemes of reform, fully known to Congress reformers.
It was through his able and unyielding champion ship of Indian rights that the competition for the Indian Civil Service was, for the first time thrown open to Indians.
During his residence in England, he made many notable friendships with renowned publicists like Bradlaugh and Bright, and famous statesmen like Gladstone and the Duke of Argyll. His statements on Indian questions were couched in such dignified and accurate terms, that they compelled the sym pathy of friends and commanded the respect of opponents. He never appealed to the baser elements of human nature, but based his appeals or demands on facts, and then issued them to the generous impulses, the chivalrous instincts of his hearers, whatever their political persuasion. His faith in the triumph of the cause that he was espousing always remained unshaken, only reinforced by dangers that so often threatened, and deferred hopes.
It was mainly through the combined influence of Dadabhai Naoroji and of that of the unconquerable spirit of Charles Bradlaugh, that the famous House of Commons Resolution was passed in 1886, recom mending the holding of simultaneous examinations, for all branches of Imperial Services, both in England and India. It is true that this resolution was almost contemptuously set aside by Sir Stafford Northcote, then Secretary of State for India, but we can form some estimate of the magnetic power that was responsible at least for the passage of the historic resolution through the House of Commons, usually.
too preoccupied with the pressure of domestic con cerns, and especially irresponsive—and almost empty —on the day the East India estimates come up for discussion. We do not know whether during his parliamentary career or earlier he in any way influenced Mrs. Annie Besant's attitude towards India, especially as the latter was then so closely co-operating with Bradlaugh on various democratic platforms. In any case, it is obvious that the two frequently compared notes on Indian matters, and that the nomination of Dadabhai Naoroji as Honorary President of the Bombay branch of the Home 'Rule for India League, was the result of a genuine appreciation by Mrs. Besant of the sterling qualities of leadership found in such conspicuous measure in the earliest apostle of Home Rule for India.
Among the noble succession of Indian politicians and statesmen, it would be hard to find one so broad in his democratic outlook, and so solicitous for the well-being of the masses. Politics with Naoroji were never a fad or a hobby, but the most effective method of promoting the best interests of his country. Yet he was no sectarian or narrow-minded nationalist.
True, that he wanted Indians to rise to the full dignity of emancipated manhood, and was over powered with grief when he saw the Intelligentsia as " merely drawers of water and hewers of wood." But still his burning desire to promote Indian nationality was due to the still more potent con viction that only thus could she take an honourable place in the comity of nations.
Dadabhai Naoroji's private life was just as much above reproach as his public life was above the suspicion of self-interest, insincerity and com promise. It was his life-long conviction that absolute purity in personal life was essential to the efficient discharge of public duties and responsi bilities as patriot or nation-builder. This might sound rather puritanic in an age when moral sanctions are looked upon as of subsidiary importance, even by those plunged in the onerous duties of political life. Dadabhai considered a compromise, say on the temperance question as fatal and fatuous as surrender on the Horne Rule issue. His long and fully occupied life presents as perfect an embodiment as is humanly speaking possible of the principle that sanity of mind depends on the unimpaired vitality of the physique, and that intensive devotion to noble pursuits demands the surrender of lower standards and baser occupations.