LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
SIR RICHARD STRACHEY.
[TO THE EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR."]
Six,—The two famous brothers whose names are so closely associated in the memory of all Anglo-Indians, who between them occupied at different times almost every important office in that country, exercising for nearly twenty years a dominant influence over the remoulding of almost every branch of the Administration, and over almost every step in the develop- ment of sound principles of government, have not been long divided in death. It is less than two months ago that you permitted me to attempt an appreciation of the life and character of Sir John Strachey, and now that the elder brother has followed him so soon, I venture to offer what must be an inadequate tribute to the great achievements of Sir Richard Strachey. It cannot be an adequate tribute, for one of the most remarkable things about him was the varied and many-sided character of his gifts. Beginning as a brilliant soldier in the Sikh War, he rose to the summit of his profession as an engineer in the construction of • irrigation canals and railways, and in defining the policy which should govern the programme of their extension. He held a leading position as a man of science in respect of botany, meteorology, geology, and geography ; and towards the close of his Indian career he showed qualities of the highest statesmanship in dealing with the questions of famine policy, and with the problems of finance and exchange, when the fall in the price of silver threatened to plunge India into an abyss which would engulph the whole of the growth of her revenues. I doubt if any one exists who is competent to deal with all the various and complex facets of Such a mind, and•I at least can only speak on what came under my own observation during the time when I was fortunate enough to be brought into close connexion with him.
When the first Indian Famine Commission was appointed In 1878, with Sir Richard Strachey as President, I became its secretary, and during two years, one of which was spent in making inquiries in India, the other in drawing up the Report in England, I was in intimate communication with him. He bad long been deeply interested in the subject, and in the famine of 1868-69 had drawn up for his brother a paper which Sir John, who was then Magistrate and Collector of Mora- dabad, fully adopted, and which embodied the rudiments of the main lines of policy which the Commission's Report more fully developed. The system which it laid down as to the proper measures for famine relief has been tested by the two severe famines of 1897-98 and 1899-1900, and has in the main held its ground. The recommendations as to administrative changes, the creation of the Agricultural Department, the greater activity of the Forest Department (a Department in the creation of which he had taken a leading part), the prose- cution of public works for the protection of the country against drought, and the encouragement of diversity of occupations have been or are still being carried out, and have been productive of immense good to the country.
The only other occasion on which I was brought into • immediate contact with him was in 1890, when be went out to India on taking up the chairmanship of the East India Railway, and was my guest for nearly a month in Calcutta. I was then the member of Lord Lansdowne's Council in charge of public. works ; and as all matters connected with the railway passed through my Department, there were many questions in which it was useful that we should be in thorough accord. What happened then may be worth recording now in view of the present revival of schemes for nationalising the British railways, and the discussion whether they would thrive as well under State control as under the management of a company. The East India Railway had been under company management of the most obsolete and wooden description. Under General Strachey (as he then was) the management became to all intents and purposes that of a State railway. He made a clean sweep of the four chief officials, and took from my Department a new general manager, traffic manager, chief engineer, and locomotive superintendent, all men of the highest ability, and trained on the State railways. Under the impulse given by Sir Richard, and transmitted through them, the East India Railway made at once a wonderful start, and has increased in activity and prosperity from that time onward.
It is an interesting subject for reflection to consider how much India owes to the constitutional delicacy and ill-health of some of her greatest men. Most of her officers are so strenuously absorbed in the tremendous and interesting volume of their daily work that they can hardly allow themselves leisure to stand aside from the grinding of the machine in order to think. Sir John Strachey's constant illness' made him incapable of slaving at the routine of administrative duties, and laid him aside to ponder and work out the profound principles of general policy which were his distinctive output. Sir W. W. Hunter's weak health prevented him from being efficient as a District Officer, but enabled him to enrich the world with the delightful works in which he pre- sented Indian history in a form interesting to the English public. Something of the same kind may be said of Sir Henry Lawrence, and of some men still living whose literary or philosophic eminence is widely recognised. No one would connect Sir Richard's keen and fiery temperament with disease; but it was to a time when he was incapacitated from his canal work by malarial fever that he owed his opportunity for burgeoning out into the studies of botany and geography in the Himalayas, which led to his honours as President of the Geographical Society and as F.R.S. Perhaps the time is ' coming when the increased spread of education, courage, and integrity among the Indians may enable them to take over most of the " deadly grind" of routine and detail, and leave the superior class of English officials freer to acquire more knowledge of Oriental policy and of the statesmanship which " is needed to master the new problems of Indian society.—
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