• THE LATE SIR COURTENAY ILBERT.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—Of the many Englishmen who have contributed to build up the stately fabric of Indian law, none has better claim to the grateful remembrance of Indians and of friends of India than Sir Courtenay Peregrine Ilbert, who recently passed from our midst full of years and honour. May I venture to trespass on your indulgence and say, as one who has been privileged to be associated with him in his Indian work, a few words on this aspect of his life ? By a malign fate his name is likely to be linked with Indian history in our text-books as that of the author of the "Ilbert Bill." In point of fact he was not concerned with the inception of that untimely and abortive measure, "built in the eclipse and rigged with curses dark," though as a member of the executive Govern- ment he shared responsibility for it with colleagues whose long residence in the country should have made them better acquainted with the mood of the Anglo-Indian community. Before he reached India, extension of jurisdiction over European British subjects to Indian magistrates and judges had been discussed and the principle accepted. The Bill first saw the daylight as an unimportant bit of departmental legislation, its potential consequences were absurdly exagger- ated in a wild campaign against the Indianizing tendencies of Lord Ripon's government, and it is safe to say that the political advance which it was supposed to register would be regarded with disdain by Indian reformers of to-day.
Fortunately Sir Courtenay Ilbert's work for India had more solid merits than this. As Law Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council he brought to bear on the legal and juridical problems which India abundantly offers a singularly subtle and well-equipped mind, exceptional gifts of clear exposition and rapid and scholarly drafting, and a wide acquaintance with the theory and practice of modern political systems. He made no secret of his leanings in home affairs to the radicalism of the Dilke and Chamberlain party, or of his inclination to promote, with due regard to time and circumstance, the constitutional advancement of India. But he was too sane and too intelligent to ignore the limitations of oriental communities or to seek to trans- plant the full-grown institutions of western democracy in the impoverished soil of India. He had the entire con- fidence of Lord Ripon and of his successor, Lord Dufferin, and in the Executive Council exercised an active and salutary influence on the general policy of the administration.
It was natural to him to sympathize genuinely with the aspirations—in those days very limited—of educated Indians, and he showed this in many practical ways, from taking part as vice-chancellor in the proceedings of the Calcutta University to befriending stray Indians who sought to visit or study in Europe. In his own special department he did much to improve the form and contents of the Indian Statute Book, and played an important part in the shaping of several measures vitally affecting the interests of large masses of the community. By far the most important of these was the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885. It was a measure of great complexity and difficulty, which profoundly affected and permanently regulated the interests of landlords tenure- holders and tenants throughout the great province of Bengal, which as then constituted comprised a population of some seventy millions. These interests were of enormous extent and infinite variety. The Permanent Settlement effected by Lord Cornwallis had failed to define them accurately and had not provided machinery for recording them. Subsequent legislation had been timid and inadequate. The situation had become dangerous and legislation imperative. A Com- mission appointed by the Bengal Government had explored the subject and a Bill based on their recommendations had been prepared.
In ordinary circumstances legislation of this kind would
be undertaken by the Local Government in its own pro- vincial council. But in this case the Government of India decided that the magnitude of the subject and its intrinsic difficulties called for legislation in the Imperial Council. On Mr. Ilbert, as he then was, devolved the burden of recasting the Bill, steering it through Select Committee and carrying it in the Legislative Council. It was a great adventure for a lawyer fresh from England. The issues were buried beneath masses ef technical and highly controversial writing, every position
was contested by ardent and well-instructed champions of zemindar, ryot and irndigc- planter,- from their respective standpoints, and at every step the - impartial inquirer found himself in the shifting quicksands of historical right,. ancient prescription, and present usage. The Law Member had able allies in the Revenue Member, Sir S. C. Bayley, and in Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick, but they themselves would have been the first to admit that the Bill in every clause, as it emerged from the ordeal of the Select Committee, bore the impress of Mr. Ilbert's ability, grasp of principles and of details, fairness of mind, and brilliant draftsmanship. The Act has well stood the test of time. While preserving the legitimate rights of landlords it gave security of tenure and fair rents to the great body of cultivators, or as they are styled, "the settled ryots." It substituted order and settled law for the darkness and confusion in which the two parties had hitherto dwelt. It has been of inestimable benefit to many hundred thousand humble tillers of the soil. It has formed a model for similar legislation in other provinces. If Ilbert's connexion with India had totally ceased on his quitting office to return to England in 1886, he would still have a good claim to the
permanent good will and gratitude of the Indian people.
But it is his peculiar merit that he did not forget India or cease to labour for her. During thirty-five years of sub- sequent official work in England, amidst the distractions of politics, society and literature, he found time to rescue the statutory law of Great Britain relating to India from the chaos into which it had fallen, and to construct from the confused heap of enactments extending over more than a hundred years an intelligible digest of the Indian constitution. His monumental work, The Government of India, represents the labour of a life-time. The historical sketch of British Indian history from the point of view of the law-maker with which it opens, is of unique value to serious students and forms the best introduction to a knowledge of the Indian administrative system. The Digest itself was adopted as the-basis of the consolidated statute in which the Montagu- Chelmsford reforms were eventually incorporated, thereby giving to India the advantages of a written constitution, complete within the compass of a single law. He naturally took a very keen interest in the reform scheme and gave great help to the India Office in preparing the necessary legislation. He was on the whole favourable to the reforms, though he recognized that they were of the nature of a venture with inconvenient possibilities. His considered judgment on them will be found in three Rhodes lectures on the New Constitution of India, which he delivered at University College, University of London, in the session of 1921-22.
Needless to say he was readily accessible to Indians visiting this country. His courtesy and his kindly interest in the welfare of their country will be remembered by many who sought his counsel and benefited by his advice. If disinterested service has a claim on gratitude, Sir Courtenay Ilbert's name is secure of a place in the select roll of Englishmen who have spent themselves for India.—I am, Sir, &e., The Athenaeum. T. W. H.
Previous page
