Indian pictures and problems . province, and ofthe disloyalty that was being openly preached. We cannot understand it, they said, * and ifthe country belonged to us we should know howto deal with it; it would not take us Rajput and the Mahratta and the Sikh knowtheir Bengali Babu by heart. They feel, more-over, that if the same methods of agitation wereadopted in Native States, or in other provincesfurther removed from Calcutta, the treatmentmeted out to offenders would be exemplary, andtheir shrift short indeed. Yet in these loyal com-munities there is also change to be noted, assign
Indian pictures and problems . province, and ofthe disloyalty that was being openly preached. We cannot understand it, they said, * and ifthe country belonged to us we should know howto deal with it; it would not take us Rajput and the Mahratta and the Sikh knowtheir Bengali Babu by heart. They feel, more-over, that if the same methods of agitation wereadopted in Native States, or in other provincesfurther removed from Calcutta, the treatmentmeted out to offenders would be exemplary, andtheir shrift short indeed. Yet in these loyal com-munities there is also change to be noted, assignificant in its way as the altered attitude to-wards the supreme Government which I havementioned. In this case it concerns the Indiancivilians who leave home as young men to ad-minister vast tracts of territory in the name of theSi7ka7\ The work that they do is of the verybest—clean, courageous, yet at times disheartening,for they no longer feel that they have a free hand to do the best for the districts assigned to them. 26. SIR PERTAB SINGHMaharajah of Idar THE VICEREGAL POSITION Time was when the Settlement Officer (let us say)was more than father or mother to the districtunder his control. His word was law, and sacredlaw at that. There was no ill-will borne to himby the unsuccessful plaintiff in a suit which hadbeen decided by him, for it was known that theverdict had been given by an upright judge. Inthose days, guided by the same immutable senseof justice as to-day, he could remit revenue orreduce assessments in lean years to enable thepoor cultivator to make both ends meet, and hisreward was the lifelong gratitude and faithfulservice of the agricultural classes. Such servicethe older civil servant accepted as of right, know-ing that it testified to a peaceable and contentedpopulation. But the younger man feels boundto point out that his judgments and concessionsare prompted by his sense of duty, that personalbounty of heart is out of the question; and whenthe re
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