مذكرة عن السيرة المهنية للسير توماس إدوارد روجرز [و‎‎٥‎٨] (١١٨/١١٥)

few members of the ICS and IPS called to work in Delhi or some
provincial captial of distinguished cultural background. Even there
our deliberate stance of relative isolation closed down contact with
outstanding people to narrow limits. Hence my satisfaction that, though
I never lost confidence in the worth of the work we did in India, for all the
limitation of^ our aims and imperfection of our achievements, my work in
Karachi gave me the chance of seeing the leadership of Pakistan in operation.
Any who had doubted liberal England's view that the subcontinent had long had the
capacity for self-government could appreciate that when problems are
great and urgent Macaulay's words say it all: "No nation can be perfectly
well-governed till it is competent to govern itself."
In the autumn of 1948 the Foreign Office revived their offer of appointment
to me because another candidate who declined wished to change his mind —
an example of fair play useful for my own dealings with Pakistani
job-seekers. I consulted Mohammad Ali who said I could rely on security
of tenure in Pakistan and a good career. I still wished to serve on for as long
as I could be useful and myself welcome. My only reserve was that an
Englishman staying on, especially for district work, might feel he would
not enjoy the confidence of the ordinary citizen as fully as one of his
own countrymen.
After talking again to Mohammad Ali and much thought I decided to fly
home as requested by the Foreign Office and see how it all looked from
London. This time, but not without regrets and doubts at changing careers,
I accepted the offer. I thought my languages (French, German, Persian and
some Arabic) and my four years in the Persian Gulf together with my rather
restless temperament fitted me to be a gypsy diplomat better than a rather