A CABINET SECRET 117 



method. It may in certain conditions enable 

 a Secretary to intrigue against his Chief, and it 

 offers him the great temptation to indulge in 

 wholesale agreement with the Viceroy, on whom 

 his advancement depends. 



Nothing but the conspicuous loyalty of the 

 Indian Civil Servant has obviated a break-up of a 

 machinery which combines in a Viceroy the dual 

 functions of a Sovereign and a Prime Minister, 

 and enables a permanent official to influence him, 

 should he wish to do so, against the Minister in 

 charge of the Department concerned. 



Personally, I readily confess I never experienced 

 a shadow of a difficulty. My Secretaries to 

 Government and myself were as one. 



I well remember the first time I became possessed 

 of a Cabinet secret at Home. 



There was some trouble just then in the Cabinet. 

 The Government was admittedly somewhat 

 " dicky," and the interchange of Cabinet boxes 

 was fast and furious. 



There was also racing at Newmarket, and Har- 

 tington rarely allowed anything to interfere with 

 Newmarket and to Newmarket he went. 



Next morning Cabinet boxes half filled his room. 



In those days Cabinet Ministers did not discuss 

 Cabinet questions with women in the hearing of 

 servants, and Cabinet secrets were secrets, and we, 

 figuratively speaking, double-locked the door and 

 pulled down the blinds before proceeding with due 

 solemnity to open boxes. 



Inside one was half a sheet of notepaper from 

 Lord Granville, known to his colleagues as Pussy. 



So far as I could judge, Granville's great value 



