India, its administration & progress / Sir John Strachey.

  • John Strachey
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: India, its administration & progress / Sir John Strachey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    507/552 page 477
    Enough has been said to show the condition of many of the Native States of India not long ago, and to illustrate the fact that even now the cases are not rare in which the interference of our Government becomes unavoidable. Happily, matters are now far better than they were, and States, the condition of which formerly deserved the strongest condemnation, are now fairly well administered. The improvement has been especi- ally marked under the vigorous rule of Lord Curzon. The British Government now fully recognises the re- sponsibilities which rest upon it as the paramount power in India. Its supervision is exercised in a far more reasonable manner than was formerly the case. It can no longer be said, as Sir Henry Lawrence said many years ago, that if ever there was a device for ensuring maladministration, it was that of a Native ruler backed up by British bayonets, and directed by a British Resident. Owing to the continued efforts of our Government in encouraging and providing means for their better education, many of the Native chiefs have become more enlightened and more alive to their duties towards their people. The example of the increasing prosperity and wealth of the people living under our Government has had powerful effects. The improved means of communication, and especially the extension of railways, have brought about great changes throughout India, and the people themselves in the Native States are no longer as helpless and silent as they once were ; they are becoming alive to the fact that in the last resort they can appeal to the British Government for protection against oppression. There are not many positions in which a man has larger powers for good than that of the enlightened ruler of a Native State. He is protected by the British
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