Page:The Indian Civil Service as a profession.djvu/29

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As a Profession
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recommend the Indian Civil Service to spirited young Irishmen on higher grounds. I venture to recommend it, not merely because, on the whole, it pays much better than most professions, but because it offers to an able and ambitious young man an honourable and manly career, giving full scope for the exercise of the strongest character and the highest intellectual power, and holding out promise of eminent distinction. The most valuable prizes and the most honourable distinctions of the Service are freely open to all qualified competitors; and a man needs no family or social influence to carry him to the highest pinnacle of official rank—the Lieutenant-Governorship of a great province.[1] The history of Indian administration is filled with proofs of this proposition; and the recent experience of two Irishmen, who have won their present high positions solely by

  1. It is not likely that a member of the Civil Service will ever again be appointed Viceroy. Lord Lawrence is the last example of a 'civilian 'Viceroy and Governor-General (1864-68).