and control may be taken up by those specially qualified to advise. But before doing so I would repeat that the demand for inquiry is made in no unfriendly spirit to the great Indian Civil Service—a service of noble traditions—a service which Lord William Bentinck pronounced to be superior to that of any country in the world. On the contrary, it would appear that an independent audit is required in justice to the Indian administration itself, as well as in the interest of the peoples of India and the people of England. The agents of our great Indian estate are probably the best agents, the most honest, enlightened, and laborious, that the world has ever seen. But that is no reason why the English nation should keep its eyes closed and neglect a manifest duty as master and trustee. Even if the management were a simple affair and invariably successful, still an account should be taken; for otherwise the good name of the administration is open to attack not only from genuine complaint, but also from railing accusation. Much more, however, is it necessary, when the estate is so vast and the interests so complex, that absolute success is impossible for poor human efforts. If after all our labour the bulk of the Indian population remains so perilously near the verge of subsistence that deaths by starvation can be counted by millions, we must with sorrow confess that we are but unprofitable servants; and the best worker in the Indian vineyard will not ask for himself a judgment more favourable than that which was inscribed on the tomb of Sir Henry Lawrence, 'He tried to do his duty.'
What machinery, then, is there for making an impartial, intelligent, and searching inquiry, in order that the Crown, with the Parliament representing its people, might know, by itself making the inquiry, how has been carried out the spirit of the Queen's Proclamation of twenty-five years ago, proclaiming with regard to our relation to the native races, governed by the Crown without Parliament and without people, that there are to be no race distinctions; that where there is fitness the employment of natives and Europeans is to be alike; that race is not to be a qualification or a disqualification; that, in the words of the Queen herself, 'our subjects, of whatever race or creed, be impartially admitted to offices in our service, the duties of which they may be qualified by their education, ability, and integrity duly to discharge'?[1]
- ↑ 'The broad policy was laid down by Parliament, so long ago as 1833, that no native shall, by reason of his religion, place of birth, or colour, be disabled from holding any office; and Her Majesty's gracious Proclamation in 1858 announced her will that, as far as may be, 'our subjects, of whatever race or creed, be impartially admitted to offices in our service, the duties of which they may be qualified by their education, ability, and integrity duly to discharge.'
'Since that period several of my predecessors in office, and especially Lord Halifax, Sir Stafford Northcote, the Duke of Argyll, and Lord Salisbury, have pressed upon the attention of the Government of India that the policy of Parliament, enforced as it was by the Royal Proclamation, was not to remain a dead letter, and
