What the Parties Forget.

There is one vital fact which the parties are apt to forget in the heat of controversy.  They imagine that the split is necessitated by their anxiety to improve the opportunity that the Reform scheme has brought with it. It is that opportunity which is in danger of being partially, if not largely, lost by the course they are following. We apprehend no ultimate loss to the country itself. This ancient country of ours has survived so many vicissitudes that it may well be expected to survive one more. Nor do we apprehend any ultimate loss to the cause of Indian unity. The forces that tend towards cohesion are so many and so strong that no temporary cause can permanently divide us. If Hindus and Mahomedans have become one under the pressure of forces which neither could resist, there is every reason to hope that the “moderates” and “extremists” will likewise become one before long. The real danger is that the opportunity which has just offered itself may not last long, and, if allowed to pass unutilised, may not occur again for some time.