232

INDIA

and Bombay, being appointed by the Crown, are usually
men of high social standing in England (occasionally even
of higher rank than the Governor-General himself), whilst
Lieutenant-Governors and Commissioners are almost invariably
 selected from the ranks of Indian officials. These
governors may almost be regarded as the last surviving
relics of an epoch in India which is rapidly passing away
under improved conditions of internal communication.
Although Bengal, once the leading Presidency, has subsided
 to a provincial level, much of its ancient prestige
still clings to it. Of the four army corps into which the
army of India is divided, one is still called by the name of
‘“ Bengal,” although it is doubtful whether there is a single
Bengali recruit in its ranks, nor are its chief military
stations to be found within the boundaries of the province.
It is only lately that the
great ruling class of India
—the Indian Civil Service
—has ceased to be distinguished
 in three great
divisions as belonging to
Bengal, Madras, or Bombay,
 and probably some
little time yet will pass ere
Englishmen in England
cease to regard India (like
Gaulf'of old) as “divided
into three parts.”
—Area of Native States. Besides, and apart
from, the provinces of
British India, there are nearly 600,000 square miles of territory
 included in the native states—states which’are governed
by their own rulers subject to certain definite'control exercised
 by the supreme Government. These will be dealt
with separately. At present we will define as concisely as
possible the nature of that supreme Government in India—
a Government which is the most astonishing, and in many
respects the most successful administrative machine that
the world has ever known,

Fic. 7.