SELECTIONS

FROM THE

PAPERS OF LORD METCALFE;

LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA, GOVERNOR OF JAMAICA,

AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF CANADA.

EDITED BY

JOHN WILLIAM KAYE,

99 66

LIFE OF LORD METCALFE," THE HISTORY OF THE WAR IN

AFGHANISTAN," &c.

LONDON:

SMITH, ELDER, AND CO., 65, CORNHILL.

BOMBAY: SMITH, TAYLOR, AND CO.

MDCCCLV.

PREFACE.

I BELIEVE that, in offering the present volume to the public, I am rendering an acceptable service, not only to those who have been, who are, or who prospectively may be, connected with the affairs of our Indian and Colonial dependencies, but to all who have a common interest in good government and the administrative efficiency of the empire. But I am especially anxious that it should be regarded as nothing more than a fasciculus of Selections, for which the Editor alone is responsible, from the numerous public and private papers, left behind him by the late Lord Metcalfe. Bearing in mind that these papers are the growth of forty years of incessant official activity, the reader will not expect to find within the compass of a single volume more than certain specimens or illustrations, conveying, it is hoped, a just idea of the character of the writer's public life and the tenor of his opinions, but only a faint one of the extent of his activity and the magnitude of his labors.

I have divided the papers into three parts, illustrative of the three great epochs of Lord Metcalfe's career: firstly, his earlier official life in India before he became a member of the Supreme Government; secondly, the period during which he sate as a member of that Government; and thirdly, the space of time embraced by his Jamaica and Canada administrations. Under each of these heads will be found a considerable number and variety of papers, indicating the writer's opinions on all, or