Page:James Thomason (Temple).djvu/108

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JAMES THOMASON

the whole duty of the Officers on the broadest principles and in the minutest details. Moreover he inculcated on them at every turn those maxims which lay nearest his own heart; regarding considerateness and kindness towards the Natives, the guardianship of their interests, the vindication of their rights. The aptitude for toil thus evinced by him was wonderful, when all the while he had the business of a Government to conduct. Even if other Governors anywhere in India could have found the time for such a task, few would have had the eyesight, the skilled workmanship, the literary practice. By these two manuals — which were infinitely useful in their time, lasted for many years, are still valuable, and have formed the foundation for further and newer codes — he erected monuments of official industry, in respect of which no Ruler of India has equalled him. Of all concerns the one which most nearly affects the Indian population is the land revenue; and in regard to this he was the most accomplished professor and the ablest instructor that has yet been seen.

These Instructions, too, in both branches, he began to embody with his own hand in a Revenue Code, which was left unfinished at his death, and as a piece of legislative drafting is masterly.

Certainly his Instructions were announced to be not mere treatises, but manuals for guidance. Yet they were criticized by some as being 'too argumentative and not peremptory enough.' He replied, however, that some discretion must always be left to his officers,