The morning journal-courier., 1908-01-16

ton, for those who rule in his name Some of the oldest and most experi- enced Indian administrators have pro- posed plan to the home government by means of which this adoration of royalty on the part of the Hindus and many other peoples of India may be come force in the maintenance of English rule and the preservation of law and order.
 It is suggested by these students of the situation at very close range that the next viceroy should be member of the royal family, as near to the king as possible, and that his allowance for entertainment purposes should be so large as to make revival of the mag nificent days of Beaconsfield and Lord Lytton possible. Prince Arthur of Connaught, who acquitted himself so well when sent to Japan in 1906 on the delicate Garter mission is mention ed for the difficult post, but neither MT. Morley nor the other powers that preside over the Indian office have as yet reached a decision on question which is not urgent so long as it ap- pears that Lord Minto is meeting with fair success in coping with the extra ordinary difficulties by which ne is confronted.
 In a situation like the present it would be strange indeed if the mem bers of the civil administration, which is being subjected to such severe test should entirely escape criticism. Can did critics are to the fore who sey that while the present civil servants are not responsible for the present diff culties, they are by no means as com petent to deal with the questions which arise as were their predecessors of two generations ago, when the East India company ruled the land. They point out, and the justice of thu critic ism is not denied, that in the days of the Anglo Indians who haze achieved immortality in the pages of Thack- cray man went out to India for fife there was a complete severance of home ties. and when he returned, if he ever did, to his native place, he was as much a stranger to Ergll3h life and society as would be q visitor from Mars.
 Englishwomen were rare birds in those days Few admins 'rators of provinces had families to remain in the country, with the result that the Indian civil servant lived absolutely in the midst of the people he was called upon to govern. The result was, ob- viously and undeniably, that he ac- quired a knowledge of the life and the aspirations of the natives to which his successor of to-day cannot, CT at least does not, aspire.
 To-day the English administrator in India Is a stranger in a st'anga land He is bird of passage surrounded by a migratory set of officials and fellow countrymen ln l women, by whom he is separated from the people he is called to rule as effectually as though the Indian ocean flowed between Again, his leaves are frequent, and the journey home so rapid and inexpen sive in comparison to what it was a generation ago that a man often runs home to spend merely week in Lon don or to witness d cricket ma.,h or a horse race in which he is particular. | ly interested. The result of all this Is that in too many cases the administra- tor; upon whom depends th. happiness and the well-being of millions of Asi. atics, lives in a world which is essen. tially English and often narrowly in. sular. He does not really live in In. dia, he merely camps out there, ;ot often studying the steamer ls.s raths, more than he does the native charac.