LETTER XVII. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, 

 SIMLA, AND I.C.S. 



CALCUTTA, February 5th, 1912. 



I HAVE just returned from a week's visit to Ran- 

 goon and find your letter in which you ask me 

 " what the Government of India is like." The 

 Government of India is like but one thing else 

 in the world, and that is the Government of 

 the Church of Rome. The Viceroy is a sort of 

 Pope, a mixture of regal and law-giving holiest 

 of the holy; but the real ruler of India is the 

 Secretary of State the prototype of the Secretary 

 of the Propaganda. Then come the Cardinals 

 that is to say, the Members of Council. The 

 latter, like the former, may be divided into three 

 classes: the indifferent, the acquiescent, and the 

 militant. A strong Viceroy gathers his Council 

 together, makes the best of what is best in it, and 

 if his tenure synchronises with that of a pliant 

 Secretary of State, governs India, just as occa- 

 sionally a Pope has governed the Church of Rome. 

 If, however, a Viceroy is a weak specimen of 

 humanity and his tenure synchronises with that of 

 a masterful Secretary of State, the whole Govern- 

 ment is centred in the Secretary of the Propa- 

 ganda. 



Wholesale changes in the position of the Viceroy 

 will in time become inevitable, but so long as the 



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