John Morley

And you can’t, and what is more, you ought not to, destroy all these in a moment.

No man wants so much sympathy,” he said, “as the chancellor of the exchequer, no man gets so little.

He is like an ancient soldier wounded in the back.

But splendidly designed as was his work from the point of view of efficiency, he still left in India a state of things, when we look back upon it, that could not be held a satisfactory crowning of a brilliant and ambitious career.

I am as much for efficiency as the noble Lord, but I do not believe--and this is the difference between him and myself--that you can now have true, solid, endurable efficiency without what are called political concessions.

It is our business to give to those who represent Her Majesty in India ample information as to what we believe to be sound principles of Government: and it is, of course, the function of this House to comment upon any case in which we may…

The wording of the recommendation in my despatch was, as I soon discovered, ambiguous--a grievous defect, of which I make bold to hope I am not very often in public business guilty.

But, to the best of my belief, under any construction the plan of Hindus and Mahomedans voting together, in a mixed and composite electorate, would have secured to the Mahomedan electors, wherever they were so minded, the chance of…

I do not think it was a bad plan, but it is no use, if you are making an earnest attempt in good faith at a general pacification, to let parental fondness for a clause interrupt that good process by sitting obstinately tight.

Only let us not forget that the difference between Mahomedanism and Hinduism is not a mere difference of articles of religious faith or dogma.

It is a difference in life, in tradition, in history, in all the social things as well as articles of belief, that constitute a community.

Do not let us forget that, in talking of Hindus and Mahomedans, we are dealing with, and are brought face to face with, vast historic issues.

We are dealing with the very mightiest forces that through all the centuries and ages have moulded the fortunes of great States and the destinies of countless millions of mankind.

Thoughts of that kind, my Lords, are what give to Indian politics and to Indian work extraordinary fascination, though at the same time they impose the weight of an extraordinary burden.

I hope the noble Marquess will do me the justice to remember that in these plans I have gone beyond the Government of India, in resolving that a permanent official majority shall remain in the Viceroy's Council.

I believe you cannot find any individual native gentleman who is enjoying general confidence, who would be able to give advice and assistance to the Governor-General in Council.

The question is whether there is no one of the 300 millions of the population of India, who is competent to be the officially-constituted adviser of the Governor-General in Council in the administration of Indian affairs.

You make an Indian a judge of the High Court, and Indians have even been acting Chief Justices.

As to capacity, who can deny that they have distinguished themselves as administrators of native States, where a very full demand is made on their resources, intellectual and moral?

I do not say there is no force in them, but there are deeper questions at issue to which both I and the Governor-General attach the greatest importance.

An Indian Minister is rather isolated in the public eye, amid the press and bustle of the political energies, perplexities, interests, and partisan passions that stir and concentrate attention on our own home affairs.

Yet let me assure you that there is no ordinary compensation for that isolation in the breast of an Indian Minister.

He finds the richest compensation in the enormous magnitude and endless variety of all the vast field of interests, present and still more future, that are committed to his temporary charge.

Though his charge may be temporary, I should think every Secretary of State remembers that even in that fugitive span he may either do some good or, if he is unhappy, he may do much harm.

I would use my best endeavours to make these States independent in matters of administration.