The Duke of Argyll has appointed Sir Louis Mallet a
Member of the Indian Council. Sir Louis is, perhaps, the ablest and best instructed permanent official ever employed at the Board of Trade, and may be of the highest assistance to the India Office; but if the Duke fancies, as it would appear he does from Mr. Grant Duff's letter to various Chambers of Commerce, that the mer- cantile community will be contented with the appointment, he misunderstands their idea altogether. They did not want a com- mercial statesman added to the Council, but a representative of commerce, which Sir Louis Mallet is not. He is an official, not a merchant, and will seek the good government of India, not the prosperity of the Manchester cotton trade. The Duke of Argyll may think the former the nobler object of the two, and we quite agree with him, but it is scarcely fair to suggest that his choice will secure both. Manchester is a great deal too 'cute to be contented so.
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