Rulers of India: The Earl of Mayo Part 3

Nor had Lord Mayo's Parliamentary appearances been sufficiently commanding in the eyes of the English Press to secure him from personal criticism. With the exception of a very few speeches on India, China, and Australia, he had confined himself entirely to Irish business. He had displayed no great amount either of interest or of knowledge in the current subjects of English politics. His one speciality was Ireland, and it was a specialty which at that time neither attracted the sympathy nor won the applause of the English public. Indeed, except on rare occasions, {66} an Irish debate was then an affair of empty benches--pretty much as an Indian debate, except at moments of special excitement, is at present. The statesman who had filled the chief Parliamentary office for Ireland on each occasion that his party came into power during twenty years, was less known to the English public than many a young speaker sitting for his first time on the Treasury benches.

A tempest of clamour accordingly arose in the Press, and spent its fury with equal force on Lord Mayo's colleagues and on himself. Some of the criticisms of those days read, by the light of later experience, as truly astonishing products of English party spirit. It is only fair to add, that the very papers which were most bitter against his appointment afterwards came forward most heartily in his praise. In that outburst of the English sense of justice which followed his death, our national journal of humour stood first in its generous acknowledgment of his real desert, as it had led the dropping fire of raillery three years before:--

'We took his gauge, as did the common fool, By Report's shallow valuing appraised, When from the Irish Secretary's stool To the great Indian throne we saw him raised.

'They gauged him better, those who knew him best; They read, beneath that bright and blithesome cheer, The Statesman's wide and watchful eye, the breast Unwarped by favour and unwrung by fear.

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'The wit to choose, the will to do, the right; All the more potent for the cheerful mood That made the irksome yoke of duty light, Helping to smooth the rough, refine the rude.

'Nor for this cheeriness less strenuous shown, All ear, all eye, he swayed his mighty realm; Till through its length and breadth a presence known, Felt as a living hand upon the helm.

'All men spoke well of him, as most men thought, Here as in India, and his friends were proud; It seemed as if no enmity he wrought, But moved love-girt, at home or in the crowd.

'If true regret and true respect have balm For hearts that more than public loss must mourn, They join to crown this forehead, cold and calm, With laurel well won as was ever worn;

'Only the greener that 'twas late to grow, And that by sudden blight its leaves are shed; Then with thy honoured freight, sail sad and slow, O ship, that bears him to his kindred dead.'[11]

[Footnote 11: _Punch_, February 24, 1872.]

Lord Mayo felt the hostility of the Liberal journals the more keenly, as in Irish matters (his real business in life) he had been half a Liberal himself. But as usual his vexation was less for himself than for the Ministry which stood publicly responsible for the appointment. 'I am sorely hurt,' he wrote to Sir Stafford Northcote, 'at the way in which the Press are abusing my appointment. I care little for myself, but I am not without apprehension that these attacks {68} may damage the Government, and injure my influence if ever I arrive in India. I am made uneasy, but not daunted.' Again: 'I did not accept this great office without long and anxious consideration. I leave with a good confidence, and hope that I may realise the expectations of my friends. I was prepared for hostile criticism, but I thought that my long public service might have saved me from the personal abuse which has been showered upon me. I bear no resentment, and only pray that I may be enabled ere long to show my abusers that they were wrong.'

Rancour or revenge never for a moment found lodgment in that well-poised mind. In October, 1868, while quivering under partisan attacks, he dictated the following words in his Will:--'I desire that nothing may be published at my death which is calculated to wound or to annoy any living being--even those who have endeavoured by slander and malignity to injure and insult me.' 'Splendid as is the post,' he said to his const.i.tuents at c.o.c.kermouth, 'and difficult as will be my duties, I go forth in full confidence and hope that G.o.d will give me such strength and wisdom as will enable me to direct the Government of India in the interests, and for the well-being, of the millions committed to our care. In the performance of the great task I ask for no favour. Let me be judged according to my acts. And I know that efforts honestly made for the maintenance of our national honour, for the spread of civilisation, and {69} the preservation of peace, will always command the sympathy and support of my countrymen.'

During this trying time Lord Mayo derived much comfort from the stedfast friendliness of Mr. Disraeli. Afterwards, when looking back from the calm level of accomplished success which he reached in India, his memory retained no sense of bitterness towards his opponents, but simply a feeling of grat.i.tude for the unwavering courage and constancy of his leader. Mr. Disraeli had chosen his man, and he supported him in the face of an unfounded but a very inconvenient out-cry.

Lord Mayo, whether as Irish Secretary or as Indian Viceroy, was himself the very type and embodiment of this loyalty to subordinates.

He conscientiously judged his men by their actual work, silently putting aside the praise or dispraise of persons not competent to speak, and penetrating his officers with a belief that, so long as they merited his support, no outside influences or complications would ever lead to its being withdrawn. On a somewhat crucial occasion he quietly said: 'I once asked Mr. Disraeli whether newspaper abuse was injurious to a public man. He answered: "It may r.e.t.a.r.d the advancement of a young man, starting in life and untried.

But it is harmless after a man has become known; and if unjust, it is in the long-run beneficial."'

In October he ran over to Ireland, and wandered in pathetic silence among the scenes of his boyhood. The day before he left these scenes for ever, he chose {70} a shady spot in a quiet little churchyard on his Kildare estates, and begged that, if he never returned, he might be brought home and laid there. '13th October,' says the brief entry in his Journal--'Left Palmerstown amid tears and wailing, much leave-taking and great sorrow.'

On Wednesday, the 11th November, 1868, Lord Mayo looked for his last time on the Dover cliffs, and reached Paris the same night. The delicious repose of the voyage to India lay before him; his time was still his own, and he resolved to see everything on the way that could shed light on his new duties. Among other matters, the neglected state of the Indian Records had been pressed upon him at the India Office, and in a then recently published work. With the richest and most lifelike materials for making known the facts of their rule, the English in India still lie at the mercy of every European defamer. Their history--that great story of tenderness to pre-existing rights, and of an ever-growing sense of responsibility to the people--is told as a mere romance of military prowess and government by the sword. When Chief Secretary for Ireland, Lord Mayo had introduced and pa.s.sed the Act on which the whole Irish Record Department subsists. To that end he had personally studied the method adopted in England, and deputed his friend, Sir Bernard Burke, to report on the French system.

His attention being now directed to the neglected state of the Indian Records, and the necessity for some plan for conserving them and rendering them {71} available for historical research, he resolved to examine this Department in Paris with his own eyes. 'Went to the Archives,' says his diary of the 14th November, 'and was received by the Director, who showed us all through the rooms. They are in magnificent order, and are situated in the old Hotel Soubise, with a museum of curious letters and doc.u.ments for the amus.e.m.e.nt of the public, divided into the different epochs of the Ancient Kings, the Middle Ages, the Republic, the Empire, and the Monarchy after the peace. The republican doc.u.ments are kept in _cartons_ which now number upwards of sixty thousand. The arrangement is simple, and access easy. There is a reading-room for the public down-stairs, but small, and the facilities given do not appear to be very great. It is within the power of the Director to refuse access to any doc.u.ment, if he sees fit. There is an enormous safe for the most valuable doc.u.ments, such as Napoleon's Will, and the last letters of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette; also a secret drawer containing letters of some of the kings of France, which are not allowed to be seen by any one.

There does not seem to be any calendaring going on for the purposes of publication, beyond facsimiles of curious doc.u.ments.'

The feeling of rest, which is the unspeakable charm of the Indian voyage to a busy man, soon descended on Lord Mayo. He found every hotel good, and his whole route beautiful, as the fragmentary entries in his diary attest. On his railway journey through {72} France he stopped at St. Michel to see an eminent engineer who had Indian experience of a valuable kind. With the help of a special train, he carefully examined the works for the Mont Cenis tunnel then in progress. Her Majesty's ship _Psyche_ conveyed the Viceroy-elect and his suite from Brindisi to Alexandria, with a pleasant break in the harbour of Argostali in Cephalonia, which he describes in his diary as 'very pretty, land-locked on all sides, and large enough to hold the whole English fleet.'

In Egypt he received every attention which the Pasha could bestow upon an honoured guest. His diary amusingly relates how he very nearly tumbled off the loosely-girthed saddle of the 'fiery little Arab belonging to the Minister of War,' on which he rode to the Pyramids. Another of the party 'was not so fortunate, for as soon as he got on, his horse turned round sharp and he rolled off on the road, but was not hurt.' But sight-seeing occupied only a small part of Lord Mayo's stay in Europe. His diary is full of observations, derived from the most competent engineer officers and civil administrators, as to the condition of Egypt and the great public works then in progress. He inspected the unfinished Suez Ca.n.a.l with great patience, and many pages of his diary are devoted to recording his impressions, with criticisms on what he saw and heard. The Indian Government steamer _Feroze_ lay waiting for him at Suez.

Presently he becomes too lazy to keep up his diary, and he dismisses the seven days from Suez to Aden in {73} as many lines. At Aden he woke up again, and tried to master the facts regarding this first out-post of the Indian Empire. Many pages are devoted to summarising the results of his inspection of that Station, as a military fortress and as a great coaling depot for England's commerce in the East.

He thus ends his long and exhaustive review of the situation. It must be remembered that his words were written twenty-two years ago (1868), and that many of his suggestions became, under his influence, accomplished facts.

'The conclusions I have come to regarding Aden are,'--[_N.B._--many searching and adverse criticisms on individual works are here omitted.]

'(1) That the military defences may be considered as non-existent against an attack from armour-plated ships, or even ordinary vessels carrying heavy guns.

'(2) That, except as against native tribes and land forces unsupplied with siege artillery, it is not a fortress at all.

'(3) That the cheapest and most effective mode of defence would probably be by iron-plated monitors carrying heavy guns, with some heavy guns placed in sand batteries or on Moncrieff gun-carriages.

'(4) That, as a very large development of trade and consequent increase of the population are certain to occur, the question of the water-supply must be immediately faced.

'(5) That the position of Little Aden ought to be acquired with the least possible delay.

{74} '(6) That a railway, the materials for which are almost on the spot, should be made from the Cantonment and Isthmus position to Steamer Point. This would render the defence of Aden possible by a comparatively small number of troops.

'(7) That, as the Suez Ca.n.a.l promises to be completed so soon, and as it is impossible to estimate the effect it will have in bringing large numbers of armed European steamers to these waters, there is no time for delay; and if Aden is to be maintained at all, an adequate defence and a sufficient supply of water ought to be provided at once. It might, however, be sufficient for the present to consider only the defences of Steamer Point, the coal-stores, and the entrance to the harbour; and it would be easy to cut off that portion of the position from the remainder. There would then be no inducement to a hostile power to attack the Cantonment and the Isthmus position, which without the coal-depots have no commercial or political importance.'

I would again remind the reader that these words were written twenty-two years ago. Much has been done since then in the directions indicated.

The next ten days were pa.s.sed upon the Indian Ocean, from Aden to Bombay, and have left no memorials behind. Lord Mayo spent the time in reading books about India, and discussing Indian questions with Lord Napier of Magdala, who accompanied him on the voyage.

'Off Bombay, Sat.u.r.day 19th December, 1868,' says {75} his diary. 'At twelve o'clock we sighted land, and after wavering about a good deal, made the red revolving light and took a pilot on board. Heard for the first time about the change of Ministry, which was a matter of great astonishment, as it never occurred to me that Disraeli would have found it impossible to meet Parliament.'

It is scarcely needful to say that Mr. Gladstone and the Liberal Ministry declined to take advantage of the party clamour against Lord Mayo's appointment, and duly gave effect to their predecessor's nomination.

On the 20th December, 1868, Lord Mayo landed in state at Bombay as the guest of the Governor. During the next ten days he inspected everything which was of public interest in Bombay, from the House of Correction, the Central Jail at Jiranda, the dock-yards, cotton-presses, barracks, and the Vehar Water-works, to a small regimental school in the Native Infantry lines, the Munic.i.p.al Market, and the sewage out-flow. He also gave interviews to people of every cla.s.s, from the High Priest of the Parsis ('a fine old man,' as his diary records, 'who was presented with a large gold medal by Her Majesty for his loyalty during the disturbances') to the Inspector of Cotton Frauds. His remarks upon the defences of Bombay, the octroi duty, and the great expense of the military buildings, form the starting-point of subsequent important action in these matters during his Viceroyalty. On his visit to the rock-temples of Elephanta, while mentioning the disgust of one of his companions 'on finding the {76} cave occupied by some drunken British soldiers, and an American party, one of whom was playing on a banjo,' he also records: 'This day enabled me to form an estimate of the works, military and naval, in the harbour of Bombay.'

On the 30th December, Lord Mayo and his suite left Bombay and sailed down the coast to inspect the harbours of Karwar and Beypur. From Beypur he crossed India by railway to Madras, where in addition to his inspection of public inst.i.tutions, he had a morning's hunting, another morning at the races, and the ceaseless evening festivities of Government House. He was constantly at work, from very early morning till late at night. His diary of the 3rd January ends the day thus:--'Had a long talk after dinner on public works and irrigation with the heads of those departments. They brought their plans and maps, showing how completely dotted over with tanks the greater part of the Madras Presidency is.' But, indeed, every page has such notices as the following:--'Had a conversation with Colonel Wilson on the proceedings and movements of the Karnatic Family.' 'Had a long talk with Mr. Arbuthnot on the decentralisation of finance, the officering of the police, and the position of the Native army.'

On the 6th January, he again embarked on the _Feroze_, this time for Calcutta, after a brilliant but exhausting visit. On his voyage his diary records on the 8th January:--'Paid the penalty of my imprudence and over-exertion at Madras, being attacked {77} sharply by fever this morning.' The sea-breezes were, however, a potent medicine.

There was no look of feebleness about Lord Mayo, when on the 12th January, 1869, he landed at Calcutta, under the salute from the Fort, and with 'G.o.d Save the Queen' playing, as he drove through the lines of troops, and amid the vast mult.i.tude which formed a living lane along the whole way from the river-bank to Government House.

The reception of a new Viceroy on the s.p.a.cious flight of steps at Government House, and the handing over charge of the Indian Empire which immediately follows, forms an imposing spectacle. On this occasion it had a pathos of its own. At the top of the stairs was the wearied veteran Viceroy, Sir John Lawrence, wearing his splendid harness for the last day; his face blanched and his tall figure shrunken by forty years of Indian service; but his head erect, and his eye still bright with the fire which had burst forth so gloriously in India's supreme hour of need. Around him stood the tried counsellors with whom he had gone through life, a silent calm semicircle in suits of blue and gold, lit up by a few scarlet uniforms. At the bottom, the new Governor-General jumped lightly out of the carriage, amid the saluting of troops and glitter of arms; his large athletic form in the easiest of summer costumes, with a little coloured neck-tie, and a face red with health and sunshine.

As Lord Mayo came up the tall flight of stairs with {78} a springy step, Sir John Lawrence, with a visible feebleness, made the customary three paces forward to the edge of the landing-place to receive him. I was among the group of officers who followed them into the Council Chamber; and as we went, a friend compared the scene to an even more memorable one on these same stairs. The toilworn statesman, who had done more than any other single Englishman to save India in 1857, was now handing it over to an untried successor; and thirteen years before, Lord Dalhousie, the stern ruler who did more than any other Englishman to build up that Empire, had come to the same act of demission on the same spot, with a face still more deeply ploughed by disease and care, a mind and body more weary, and bearing within him the death which he was about to pay as the price of great services to his country.

In the Chamber, Sir John Lawrence and his Council took their usual seats at the table, the chief secretaries stood round, a crowd of officers filled the room, and the pictured faces of the Englishmen who had won and kept India in times past looked down from the walls.

The clerk read out the oaths in a clear voice, and Lord Mayo a.s.sented. At the same moment the Viceroy's band burst forth with 'G.o.d Save the Queen' in the garden below, a great shout came in from the people outside, the fort thundered out its royal salute, and the 196 millions of British India had pa.s.sed under a new ruler.

In the evening, at a State dinner given by Sir {79} John Lawrence, Lord Mayo appeared in his viceregal uniform, the picture of radiant health. His winning courtesy charmed and disarmed more than one official who had come with the idea, derived from the attacks in the English partisan newspapers, that he would be unfavourably impressed by the new Governor-General. As Lord Mayo moved about in his genial strength, people said that at any rate Mr. Disraeli had sent out a man who would stand hard work.

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CHAPTER III

THE ACTUAL PROCESS OF VICEREGAL GOVERNMENT

Lord Mayo took his oaths as Viceroy on the 12th January, 1869. The same evening he set to work with characteristic prompt.i.tude to learn from his predecessor what personal duties were expected of him, and by what methods he could discharge them most effectively, and with the strictest economy of time.

The mechanism of the Supreme Government of India consists of a Cabinet with the Governor-General as absolute President. The weakness of that Government in the last century, down to the time of Lord Cornwallis, arose from the fact that the Governor-General was not absolute within his Cabinet, but merely _primus inter pares_, with a single vote which counted no more than the vote of any other member, except in the case of an equal division, when he had the casting-vote. This attempt at government by a majority was the secret of much of the misrule which has left so deep a stain on the East India Company's first years of administration in Bengal. {81} Sir Philip Francis and his brother Councillors appointed by the Regulating Act of 1773, brought the system to a dead-lock. The hard task then laid upon Warren Hastings was not only government by a majority, but government in the teeth of a hostile majority. It is to the credit of Lord Cornwallis that before accepting the office of Governor-General in 1786, he insisted that the Governor-General should really have power to rule.