Asiatic Quarterly Review (Full Title: The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review, and Oriental and Colonial Record): Volume XIII, No. 26 [‎459v] (43/238)

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Lord Canning and Lord Milner.
fame. The much-abused Viceroy may be pictured in the
words of Bunyan : “ They saw a man clothed all in white ;
and two men, Prejudice and Illwill, continually casting dirt
upon him. Now, behold, the dirt whatsoever they cast at
him, would in a little time fall off again, and his garment
would look as clear as if no dirt had been cast thereat.”
The man and his methods stand out in bold contrast to
Lord Milner from first to last as I intend to show; and it
detracts nothing from the greatness of Canning to remark
that his views were supported and often anticipated by the
splendid body of Civil Servants on whom he had to depend.
These were men of a different stamp to the magnates of
Rhodesia and Johannesburg. Forbidden by law to trade or
speculate, they were single-minded in character, straight
forward in conduct. Holding high positions, in their prime
of life, they kept their heads and temper; and, being
fearless, they had no desire to be cruel, as Mr. Keane
proves in that book of his called “ Fifty-Seven,” so full of
examples to our younger Civil Servants. Let those who have
sneered at the hunted Boers remember that many of these
Anglo-Indians had an abiding faith in God, which they
took no pains to hide. That excellent officer, Mr. Henry
Carre Tucker, the Commissioner of Benares, wrote in reply
to the Governor-General that the stand-by of his little band
in those dreadful times was 2 Samuel xxii., a fine use of holy
texts like these : “The Lord is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer,” “ The sorrows of hell compassed me
about . the snares of death prevented me. In my distress
I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God.” Nor was
his trust in vain. Cool and brave, he used to ride about
with his daughter in the most exposed places ; and when
peace came back he might have boasted with David •
“ Thou hast given me the necks of mine enemies that
I might destroy them that hate me.” But revenge was no
motive of his. He tried to save innocent natives from that
wild justice ; and he urged Lord Canning to confer powers
of life and death on the Civil Servants as being better judges