Indian Speeches by John Morley

(LONDON. JULY 1908)

GENTLEMEN, -- I have first of all to thank you for what I understand is a rare honour -- and an honour it assuredly is -- of being invited to be your guest to-night. The position of a Secretary of State in the presence of the Indian Civil Service is not an entirely simple one. You, Gentlemen, who are still in the Service, and the veterans I see around me who have been in that great Service, naturally and properly look first of all, and almost altogether, upon India. A Secretary of State has to look also upon Great Britain and upon Parliament -- and that is not always a perfectly easy situation to adjust. I forget who it was that said about the rulers of India in India: -- "It is no easy thing for a man to keep his watch in two longitudes at once at the same time. " That is the case of the Secretary of State. It is not the business of the Secretary of State to look exclusively at India, though I will confess to you for myself that during the moderately short time I have held my present office, I have kept my eye upon India constantly, steadfastly, and with every desire to learn the whole truth upon every situation as it arose.