Why should I change my mind--our mind--because
I change my sky? Why should I and the few hundred Englishmen in my service
become unreasonable, prejudiced fossils, while you and your newer friends
alone remain bright and open-minded? You surely don't fancy civilians are
members of a Primrose League?"
"Of course not, but the mere position of an English official gives him a point
of view which cannot but bias his mind on this question." Pagett moved his
knee up and down a little uneasily as he spoke.
"That sounds plausible enough, but, like more plausible notions on Indian
matters, I believe it's a mistake. You'll find when you come to consult the
unofficial Briton that our fault, as a class--I speak of the civilian now--is
rather to magnify the progress that has been made toward liberal institutions.
It is of English origin, such as it is, and the stress of our work since the
Mutiny--only thirty years ago--has been in that direction. No, I think you
will get no fairer or more dispassionate view of the Congress business than
such men as I can give you. But I may as well say at once that those who know
most of India, from the inside, are inclined to wonder at the noise our
scarcely begun experiment makes in England.
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