Sketches of social life in IndiaBuckland, C. T. (Charles Thomas)
History
Sketches of social life in India
Buckland, C. T. (Charles Thomas)
British -- India -- Social life and customs; India -- Social life and customs
business. But the servant was sufficiently clever to make outsiders
believe that he had great influence with his master, and the time came
when he gracefully retired from his master’s service, and went home to
his native village to figure as a landed proprietor, with a herd of
several hundred head of cattle! Well might Cicero warn the proprætor of
Asia Minor against putting too much confidence in his own domestics, or
in permitting them to abuse the show of his authority.
We next come to the civilian in his public office, where by the
necessity of the case he is surrounded and assisted by native
subordinates of various ranks and degrees of authority. These native
subordinates are to the English civilian in India somewhat in the same
position as the permanent clerks in an English Government Office to the
temporary ministerial secretary. The civilian changes office only too
frequently. He is transferred from one district to another. To-day he is
an assistant at Dacca, to-morrow he is joint-magistrate at Patna. The
next day he is collector at Calcutta. But wherever he goes he finds
himself introduced to a set of grave, white-robed native officers, from
whom he must try to learn much of what has gone before, and through whom
he must conduct the business of the office in which he presides. Many of
these men have no want of ability or experience. They have received some
education, and now-a-days are more or less conversant with the English
language. But their salaries are small, and though they are much higher
than the salaries of former times, they are still insufficient to meet
the ever-increasing wants of modern civilisation and expenditure. Each
of these men will do his best to ingratiate himself with his civilian
superior. They try to help him in all his difficulties, and are ready to
devote themselves to the execution of all his orders. Hence it very
naturally follows that their superior takes a lively interest in them
and welcomes their aid; but it also very frequently follows that some of
them succeed in gaining a greater amount of favour than their fellows.
Not unfrequently one man becomes his master’s special favourite and
adviser. The sahib learns to see everything through his favourite’s
spectacles, and to be guided, however unconsciously, by his suggestions
and promptings. The result is inevitable. Those who have failed to gain
favour combine and intrigue against the favourite—but their machinations
fail. There is however, a Nemesis in store. The civilian is transferred,
and another officer takes his place. The old favourite makes a struggle
to maintain his position and authority with the new man, but probably in
vain. The mere fact that he was a favourite with Mr. A—— is sufficient
to discredit him with Mr. B——; and it sometimes, on the other hand,
happens that the native officer whose influence with Mr. A—— was supreme
finds himself utterly indisposed and unwilling to render the same
allegiance to Mr. B——, however much Mr.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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