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everything that he wrote on the policy to be pursued towards Tippoo and the Mahrattas, on the question of subsidiary forces, and generally on the political prospects and requirements of British rule in India up to the date of its consolidation by the war with the Mahrattas in 1817 and 1818.

Notwithstanding the vast changes which have taken place in India during the sixty-two years which have elapsed since Munro died, it cannot be said that his views and opinions as to the principles which should be observed in the administration of our great dependency are in any way obsolete. On the contrary, it may be affirmed with perfect truth that at the present time there is, if anything, a greater need, than there has been at any previous period, for keeping in view the policy enjoined by Munro, especially on the important question of the treatment of our native Indian fellow-subjects. To all who read this Memoir it will be apparent how liberal, and how greatly in advance of the views commonly entertained, not only by his contemporaries, but by many of those who came after him, are the opinions which Munro held as to the degree in which the natives of India should be associated with their English rulers in the government of their country. At the same time, it will be equally clear that Munro would have been the last man to sanction any measure, however popular, and however much in accordance with the prevailing sentiment of the day, which could possibly tend to impair British supremacy. His famous dictum, that the tenure with which we hold our power never 'has been, and never can be, the liberties of the people,' is alone sufficient to prove how stoutly he would have combated some of the measures which, either for the purposes of party politics, or in deference to ignorant and foolish sentiment, have been, and are being, pressed by English statesmen and by some Anglo-Indian administrators.

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I have quoted on page 153 the language used by the Duke of Argyll in connection with the Act of 1870. Not less worthy of being cited in support of Munro's opinions is the following remarkable passage, which occurs in a paper written by the late Lord Lawrence shortly after the suppression of the Mutiny :

'Placed as we are, widely separated from the consti'tutional Governments of England or America, our Govern'ment is established, as all Governments should be, for the 'good of the people; but while in their case the popular 'will is generally taken as the criterion of the public good, 'that is not always the case in India. We are not elected 'or placed in power by the people. We are here by our 'moral superiority, by the force of circumstances, and by 'the will of Providence. These alone constitute our 'Charter of Government in India, and in doing the best we can for the people, we are bound by our conscience, 'not by theirs.'

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A. J. ARBUTHNOT.

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