In this respect the Council of India, as the Council of the Secretary of State is called, has in no way taken the place of the Court of Directors. . . . The Council of the Governor-General, on the other hand, has large power and heavy responsibilities imposed upon it by law. It will be an evil day for India when the Members of this Council fail to discharge the duty thus appertaining to them."1 Sir Andrew Clarke was also unable to recognise any justification for a departure from the policy on which the Tariff Act of 1875 was based.2 But all these strong protests were made in vain. \{ The Governor-General of India has the power to act against the opinion of the majority of his Councillors in certain cases; and Lord Lytton somewhat strained this power to exempt from import duty "all imported cotton goods containing no yarn finer than 30 s." The only Members of his Council who supported him in this undignified surrender were Sir John Strachey and Sir Edwin Johnson.3 It is needless to add that the Secretary of State approved of the action of Lord Lytton. General Richard Strachey supported the Secretary of State, as his brother, Sir John Strachey, had supported the Viceroy. Five other members also approved of the action taken. On the other hand, seven members, including Sir Frederic Halliday, Sir Robert Montgomery, Sir William Muir, and Sir Erskine Perry, dissented from the Secretary of State. The import duty on coarse cotton goods had been surrendered by Lord Lytton against the opinion of the majority of his Councillors. The surrender was approved by Lord Salisbury against the opinion of the majority of the members of his Council. We have passed beyond the limits of this Book in 1 Minute, dated March 15, 1879. 2 Minute of same date. 3 Letter to the Secretary of State, dated March 13, 1879. Despatch, dated July 7, 1879. referring to the events of 1879, which properly falls within the limits of the succeeding Book. We have done so in order to give the reader a connected account of the fiscal controversy which went on from 1874 to 1879. The circumstances under which the import duty was surrendered are a curious comment on the last clause of the Resolution of the House of Commons. That clause desired the repeal of the duty "so soon as the financial condition of India will permit." The duty was actually repealed when Southern India had not yet recovered from the Madras famine of 1877; when Northern India was still suffering from the famine of 1878; when new cesses on land had recently been added to the Land Revenue; when the Famine Insurance Fund created by special taxes had disappeared; when the estimated budget showed a deficit; and when troubles and a vast expenditure in Afghanistan, brought about in quest of a scientific frontier, were impending. If the House of Commons exerted an undue pressure on India by passing its Resolution in 1877, the Indian Government was guilty of a weak betrayal of trust in carrying out that Resolution in 1879. It may be safely asserted that no Viceroy who has ever ruled India would have sacrificed the revenues of India at such a moment except Lord Lytton; and no financier who has ever held the post of Finance Minister in India would have advised and supported such a sacrifice except Sir John Strachey. This mean sacrifice to party politics did not even secure a party triumph. The Conservatives were defeated at the general election of 1880. CHAPTER I LYTTON AND RIPON WE now enter upon the last period of the Victorian Age. The close of Mr. Gladstone's first administration in 1874 is the date, if any single date can be given, for that gradual change in men's sentiments, opinions, and aspirations, which has been called a Conservative Reaction in Great Britain. The rapid advance of the Great Powers of the world aroused new jealousies and awakened new ambitions. A great Western Republic, united once more after a Civil War, was supreme in one half of the world, and claimed an increasing share in the politics and commerce of the other half. A united Germany had arisen with the strength of a giant from the fields of Sadowa and Sedan, and dominated over the counsels of Europe. France too was rising after her defeat, and was seeking compensation in Asia and in Africa. And Russia had torn up the Black Sea Treaty, and continued her unresisted march eastwards. A feeling of unrest filled the minds of Englishmen. Domestic reforms no longer called forth the same enthusiasm as a desire for expansion. The advance of Russia towards India must. be checked. England's supremacy in Asia must be maintained. The Continent of Africa was still open, and unexplored regions awaited the British conqueror. A closer union with the Colonies would restore British influence, and would enable England to present a united front to the world. All over the globe there was need for a vigorous foreign policy—a policy of expansion and of conquest to maintain England's position among |