the limit of taxation had been reached, while on the other hand additional funds were urgently required to remedy defects in our administration, and to provide roads, irrigation, schools, &c. On the one hand we incurred odium by employing a horde of ill-paid native subordinates who spread over the country like an army of locusts. On the other hand, if we sought to pay them better, and thus secure a better class of public servants, we incurred fresh odium while wringing the necessary funds from the over-driven ryot. All this was plain enough. And both Lord Lawrence and Lord Mayo took important steps to relieve the official strain by measures of decentralisation and municipal extension which have answered admirably; Lord Lawrence pointing out as early as 1864 that the people of India 'are perfectly capable of administering their own local affairs.' But it was reserved for Lord Ripon to deal effectually with the ever more pressing danger, both political and financial, and to do so in a way eminently satisfactory to the conservative instincts of the Hindoo race. By his cautious yet comprehensive scheme of local self-government he has gone to the root of the whole matter, restoring life to the ancient village and municipal institutions, under which, with due guidance, the real needs of the people can be supplied, cheaply and without oppression, by and through the people themselves. No greater mistake can be made than to suppose that anything novel or newfangled is being introduced. The object is not to import a foreign exotic, but to revive and strengthen a plant of home growth, stunted by ill usage and weakened, but firmly rooted in ancient custom and in the habits of the people. Philosophers and historians have always dwelt lovingly on the Indian village community as the natural political unit, and as the best type of rural life; self-contained, industrious, peace-loving, conservative in the best sense of the word. Upon this basis we must build. And we may hope some day to see the village communities throughout India not only restored to their ancient independence and prosperity, but further developed in their aspirations and public usefulness, furnishing a firm foundation upon which a great and a prosperous empire may safely rest.
I shall hope in a subsequent paper briefly to notice the directions in which, during the three years of his past government, Lord Ripon has been taking practical steps towards carrying out the best principles of our administration which have often been laid down.
The Viceroy is supposed to be a romantic statesman. But the policy he has pursued has been, as already said, in accordance with the instructions of successive Secretaries of State, with the Acts and policy of successive Parliaments, and with the proclamation of the Queen on assuming the government of India.
