LORD CURZON AND LORD KITCHENER.
WE shall have something to say further on about the substance of the controversy between Lord Kitchener and Lord Curzon, but we must say first that the Commander-in-Chief's Minute and. the Viceroy's reply ought never to have been published. We quite under- stand the provocation ; but both those great officers of State ought to have remembered public interests, and to have endured the pain of being silent as they would have endured any personal misfortune. The temptation, as we have said, no doubt was strong, and has been yielded to before, though not, perhaps, upon so serious an occasion. India has no Parliament, and is not governed in the last resort by local opinion ; but nevertheless the opinion of the Army, and of the fifteen hundred gentlemen who as " civilians " or as "soldiers in civil employ" really administer that amazing continent, presses heavily upon the minds of the small group who actually rule. They cannot bear to be misunderstood, misreported, or mis- represented by those who are to carry out their orders, and who are nearly as competent as themselves ; and when the occasion is important enough for "reference home" they will run serious professional risks rather than leave their views obscure. This feeling is the stronger because the Indian bureaucracy, as their chiefs well know, is passionately desirous of the good govern- ment of India, and is nearly as much divided as to the best methods of securing it as the parties are at home. When, therefore, the Commander-in-Chief-- who, be it remembered, commands two hundred thousand men—thinks himself misrepresented, he " insists " on his original proposals being published, the Viceroy feels as if silence were a confession of wrongdoing, and the rejoinders and surrejoinders almost necessarily grow acrid. Lord Kitchener is not by nature a sayer of smooth things, and Lord Curzon was trained in the House of Commons.
Nevertheless, though one recognises the extenuating circumstances, both the controversialists are worthy of Serious blame. The Minutes should not have been pub- lished. It is not well that three hundred millions of half- civilised men, with a free Press of their own, mostly satirical, should perceive that those who govern them are liable to such accesses of temper, should see that the unity of the governing power can be destroyed even for the time, and should be invited. to perceive that the military element in the State has been to a great extent released from control. It is even worse that the feud which is always latent between the civilian and. the military elements in the Imperial Service should. be sharpened, and as it were justified, by an open quarrel between the heads of the two Departments. There was no overpowering necessity for such a public exhibition of ill-humour. Lord Kitchener had Just won his great controversy, to the injury of the future of India as we think, but doubtless to his own great contentment, and he should have tested on his laurels, and. not have tried to jump on his opponent. Lord Curzon, on the other hand, was going home, and at home it has evidently been the general desire to tell him that, although defeated in the great controversy, there is no intention of spoiling his career. The Press has extolled his services, the Premier praises him, Mr. Brodrick moans over him, and the King's letter in its unusual warmth of appreciation almost suggests that his Majesty's personal opinion was on his side. There is 'nothing except his health to prevent his holding high office in the Cabinet of the next Conservative Adminis- tration. He could, moreover, have stated his own case either in Parliament, where he is sure of a seat, or in the Quarter/y Review. In such circumstances, it was surely open to the Viceroy to decline controversy, as on a. matter settled by supreme fiat. No one would have thought that ha fled from discussion, and his reticence would have invested him with a new dignity, and would have been quoted in eyery dispute among great, Colonial officials as gr precedent. It is nonsense to say that in a democratic community secrecy is never desirable. The great principles of successful government are not altered. by its forms, and as a matter of fact the American Government keeps its secrets better than most of the Monarchies.
There is one very serious fact embedded in 'these Minutes. They show that Lord Curzon is convinced that the decision of the Home Government does really transfer nearly all actual power over the Army from the civil Government to the Commander-in-Chief, so neaily that the Military Supply Member will, in his judgment, net have two hours' work a day. Lord Kitchener doe", indeed, protest that his proposals for carrying out the decision of the Home Government have been exaggerated in their effects ; but Lord Curzon adheres definitely to his view, and practically bases his resignation upon its accuracy. It comes, therefore to this : that in the judgment of a Viceroy of unusual experience in the working of his great offioe the Home Government has made the Commander-iri- Chief too independent, so independent, in fact, that it is no longer possible for the Viceroy to consider the civil Govern- ment supreme over all Departments of the Indian Empire. That is a most serious change, a revolution, in truth, and one which we do not hesitate to say ought not to have been made without the previous consent of Parliament. It is not as if there were any hurry. The existing system may be "inept," or "cumbrous," or "illogical," or deserving of any other criticism, but under it the Viceroys have in more than a century of battle con- verted. a trading settlement into one of the mightiest and most extensive Empires that ever existed, even in Asia. We do not, of course, say that the system could not have been improved, and entirely repudiate the idea expressed by several contemporaries that the Cabinet desire both in India, and at home to set up a military Government. They wished, we believe, to correct an imperfect organisation for the Indian Army, and thought that the presence of so great a soldier as Lord. Kitchener gave them an admirable opportunity. They did not, in fact, understand, though Lord Curzon did, the far-reaching character of the change they were approving, and allowed the Viceroy to resign out of pure inability to perceive what it was that so greatly disturbed the civil Government of India. But the absence of insight in rulers as to the effect of their orders is of all causes that which most certainly enfeebles Empires, and destroys confidence in the ability of those rulers to govern. It is quite clear throughout this lamentable quarrel that Lord Curzon at all events believes that this insight has been wanting in his superiors. He may be wrong, but his earnest resistance should at least have induced the Government to welcome discussion in Parliament before they made up their minds. They have broken up an ancient system, Justified by a century of success. They have compelled a Viceroy of whom they express decided approval to resign. And they have distinctly weakened the general confidence in the sagacity and self-command of the greatest soldier at their disposal. These may be their misfortunes, not their fault, but a Government from which its ablest colleagues and servants are always flying is not a strong Government.
Previous page
