Page:Earl Canning.djvu/195

Rh and fortified by standing orders suggestive of Parliamentary procedure, the presence of a considerable number of members exercising no other duties but those of legislation, and the practice of holding debates in public — developed an inconvenient tendency to independence. A recognised 'Opposition' assumes that its members are prepared to be responsible for the result of their policy and to enforce it if they get the chance. But in India the opponents of the Government cannot assume its responsibility or even share it. The Government is bound to defend the country, to maintain order, and to provide against national insolvency. No one can relieve it of this obligation. The Governor-General, and the Secretary of State behind him, must, in the last resort, determine how these objects can be best secured. The legislative members of the Governor-General's Council, moreover, could only in a very limited sense be regarded as representative. They were nominees of the Government, chosen on the ground of supposed familiarity with certain local areas and administrative topics. These obvious considerations had sometimes been forgotten. Precautions were now taken against such forgetfulness. The legislative power of the Council was diminished by distributing it among separate legislatures. With this object the powers, of which the Madras and Bombay Governments had been stripped in 1833, were restored to them, and a safety-valve for the local energy of Bengal, the North-Western Provinces, and Oudh was provided by authorising the Government of India