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196, Story of an Emigrant.
Mv exequatur not having arrived from London, I had to
obtain a special recognition from the viceroy as American
consul-general, after which my formal presentation took
place. The Marquis of Ripon was viceroy during my stay in
India. On presenting my credentials I had a lengthy
conversation with him, and learned to admire him from that
moment. From my memorandum book written on that day
1 quote the following:
"Lord Kipon is a plain, manly man, whose character, head, and heart
would have made him a great man even if he had been born in obscurity,
but now he ranks as one of the highest, and is one of the wealthiest of thr
English nobles. He said, among other things, to me: ’I like America and
her j>eople very much. I was there on a commission which tended to make
America and England better friends, and all such efforts are well worthy
all men (he referred to the Alabama treaty, in which as Earl de Gray he
was one ot the commissioners). With American and English ideas of liberty
is hard to understand how to rule India. I would educate the natives,’
said he, ’even if I believed that it would be dangerous to English power,
because it would be right to do so; but 1 don’t think it is dangerous. India has
always had a few very able and highly-educated men, while the millions
have l>ccn in utter ignorance and superstition, and such a condition is more
dangerous to English rule than if all are raised in the scale of knowledge.
My only object, and I think England’s, in India, is to benefit India. Our
schools and railroads are doing away with ignorance, and are fast destroy
ing the caste system. Considering the natives as enemies, we must put 011
a bold front and fear 110 danger, but be always on the guard.’ "
Afterward I became intimately acquainted with this truly
noble man, and was proud and happy to be counted by him
as one of his very few friends in India who stood by him
when the powerful Anglo-Indian bureaucracy turned against
him 011 account of his humane efforts to raise the natives
socially and politically. Unfortunately for India, she has
not had many British rulers like Lord Ripon, but most of
them, in conjunction with the office-holding class, rule
India, not for the good of India, but for their own interests.
Our B ntish li lends are certainlv entitled to crcdit for the
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