ample, his letters, both private and official, so detailed and consecutive, as to form in themselves an almost complete record of his administration. When Sir John Strachey was obliged to relinquish the task of writing the history, it seemed best to make such selections from these documents, and so to connect them in chronological order, as to constitute a narrative in Lord Lytton's own words of the events with which he was concerned. At At my mother's request I undertook to carry out this scheme. Where letters, minutes, and despatches required to be supplemented it was possible to supply the connecting links from the official records at the India Office, of which free use has been made. When the preliminary work was accomplished of sifting the materials and selecting the portions which seemed most adequately to tell the story, I sought the assistance of several of my father's colleagues in the Indian Government in whom I knew he had placed confidence, and for whom he felt a personal friendship. From all those to whom I appealed I have received the most generous and effective help, not only in the way of advice and criticism, but also of substantive contribution. Sir Alfred Lyall has given me leave to quote from his published writings on the events detailed in this book, and in those chapters which relate to my father's frontier policy and negotiations with Afghanistan I have had the benefit of his intimate knowledge of all the circumstances. To Sir Charles Elliott and Sir Stuart Bayley I owe the three chapters on Internal Administration, and material assistance in the chapter dealing with the famine of 1877. My gratitude to those who have thus helped me may be best expressed by the conviction that but for them the present work would never have been published, and that it owes to them whatever may be of value in the book apart from my father's own writings. The narrative is presented to the public as a contribution rather to history than biography. It does not deal with my father's personal life in India, but with his opinions and acts with regard to the public questions which came before him during the years in which he held the greatest post in the service of the Crown that can fall to an Englishman. On the other hand, the method adopted in presenting the narrative necessarily tends to emphasize the aspects of it which are personal to Lord Lytton, and may possibly seem in a measure to subordinate the part played by others. I think it only right, therefore, to say that nothing could be more foreign to his wishes and feelings. His language, by letters and word of mouth, always abounded in expressions of admiration for those who shared with him the responsibilities and labours of office, and his gratitude kept pace with his praise. I trust it will be acknowledged that the impartial tone of this book has been studiously preserved, in the earnest desire not to revive the virulent party bitterness which perverted so much of the criticism on a Lord Lytton's policy eighteen years ago, and which to this day has prevented it from receiving any measure of fair play. The present narrative gives to the public, for the first time, the true inner history of an administration which has been greatly criticised, yet little understood. It is hoped that a knowledge of the authentic facts may lead to a calm and just appreciation of an Englishman who, as he always regarded above all other objects the welfare of his country, devoted to that end in his various offices the services of his whole working life. BETTY BALFOUR |