Page:The Marquess of Dalhousie.djvu/26

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18
DALHOUSIE'S WORK IN INDIA

of his death. I have carefully studied the works of that period, from the worthless masses of invective and panegyric, to the eloquent writings of Sir John William Kaye and Sir Edwin Arnold on the one side, and the calm expositions of Sir Charles Jackson and the Duke of Argyll on the other. I have compared their statements and conclusions with the Minutes and Despatches of Lord Dalhousie himself; with the voluminous State-papers and correspondence in the Parliamentary Blue Books; and with the miscellaneous materials now afforded by the biographies of Lord Dalhousie's contemporaries in India, especially by Bosworth Smith's most admirable Life of Lord Lawrence, and the lives of Sir Herbert Edwardes, Sir Henry Lawrence, Sir James Outram, and Sir Charles Napier. The result, while not justifying a final veredict as to the far-reaching consequences of Lord Dalhousie's rule, will enable us to obtain a clear and impartial view not only of his measures, but of the considerations which regulated his policy, and of the motives which guided the man.