Page:James Thomason (Temple).djvu/141

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PRIVATE LIFE IN GOVERNMENT HOUSE
133

his almost tender appreciation of the efforts of others, if in what he thought a right direction.

'Thomason's views were large and unprejudiced, and he could see good in the intentions and aims of persons of whose opinions he did not altogether approve.

'He inherited from his father a warm adherence to earnest views in religious matters, combined with an indifference to the attractions of the world, as such ; and this fact renders it the more remarkable — that his sympathies should have been so ready and his allowances so generously conceded. The son of one who was largely mixed up with missionary exertions, his good wishes and his purse were at the call of those engaged in evangelizing projects. But, as Lieutenant-Governor, he was exceedingly scrupulous in avoiding any public measure which might bear the aspect of proselytism. Some of the disappointed or the undiscerning were anxious at times to fasten on him a charge of sectarian narrowness. But if they had known him better, they would have admitted that, whilst claiming for himself personally the exercise of his own views, he fully recognized that his official position required a larger atmosphere, and a consideration of different lines of proceeding, believed to point to the same end.

'There was no officer doing his duty, with a good heart and steady perseverance, who did not, sooner or later, receive encouragement from the head of affairs. ...

'He had a very abiding sense of working for England. He held a strong belief that the justification of our presence in the East depended on the use of our power to open out the advantages of Western civilization to India, without unheedingly or abruptly running counter to the usages, or even the prejudices, of the people of the country. And he had a dream not only that England would one day recognize him as a right-minded statesman in the sphere where his lot had been cast — which may still be the case — but that she