Written by a professional civil servant, this work reflects the uppermost concerns of the British government and administration in India at the beginning of the twentieth century.The India national Congress had already been born. The British government had no direct and intimate knowledge of the mood of the people because the British administrators hardly ever mixed with the people of the country on a footing of friendship and equality and, therefore, had no means of evaluating the popular feelings and the seething ideas of the time.

And, moreover, the security of the British empire had to rest on the foundation of security of property. This meant that without the loyalty and support of the native feudatory states and the propertied and landed interests in the British administered India, British rule was not at all safe. This weakness was taken advantage of by the Indian propertied classes. In such a context what should the British do? What kind of reforms were necessary for the safety of the British rule? These are the questions that are discussed in the work. And they are questions of interest to modern historians, political scientists and public administrators.