Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/141

 escape, and effectually to curb the liberty of the subject.

The Viceroy, being a statesman appointed from home, is the one powerful figure that is in a position to offer resistance, if so minded, to the coercion of the permanent departments. But he will not be so minded if he is tainted with the imperialistic spirit, or if he has not the 1 necessary courage and ability. In any case the task of resistance is a hard one, as shown by what befell Lord Canning, Lord Mayo, and Lord Ripon ; for the Viceroy stands almost alone among his Councillors, who for the ^ most part have themselves been the heads of depart- Iments; while in England he must count on secret hos- tility, instead of support, from the India Office, which is recruited from the ruling official clique at Simla. The two notable episodes of Mr. Hume's career at the Simla Secretariat, which have been already related, were 'connected with two Viceroys of very different character- istics, and these episodes illustrate forcibly the sinister power of bureaucratic influences. In the one case Lord Mayo's strong personal recommendation in favour of an Agricultural Bureau, with Mr. Hume at its head, was rejected owing to the combined opposition of officials at Simla and Whitehall ; while in the other case official hostility, with the sympathetic help of Lord Lytton, was able, without cause shown or even alleged, to oust Mr. Hume from a high office, for which admittedly he had special qualifications. The usual history of Viceroys and Governor-Generals has been this : when they have sought to hold the balance evenly, they have suffered obloquy and defeat ; when their sympathies have been racial and imperialistic, the occasion has been utilized to fortify and extend the domination of the European bureaucracy.

The causes from which these evils spring are deep-