From Lord Lytton [Footnote: Governor-General of India.]
Government House, Simla, April 29th.
My dear Mr. Reeve,—I think you in nowise overestimate the value of Meadows Taylor's life and work in India, and I cordially recognise the exceptional claims of the two ladies, on whose behalf you have written to me, to the grant which I regret to hear they require. Their case is rather a difficult one to deal with, owing to the fact that nearly the whole work of Meadows Taylor's life was performed, not in the service of the Government of India, but in that of the Nizam's Government; and we are precluded, by rules as inflexible as the laws of the Medes and Persians, from granting public money to the distressed survivors of our own public servants on purely compassionate grounds. In my own opinion, however, the claim of these ladies may be fairly admitted on other grounds furnished by their father's eminence, not only as a literary man, but also as an administrator, and the fact that his work, though not performed in the service of the Government of India, has been, and is, in various ways, unquestionably beneficial to India. I am glad to say that I have obtained the concurrence of my council in this view of the case, and we propose to grant 100£. a year to each of these ladies from the Indian revenues. Our proposal, however, cannot be acted on without the sanction of the Secretary of State, to whom it will probably be submitted by this mail; and, as it is of a financial character, I think Lord Staplehurst [Footnote: Viscount Cranbrook is meant. The patent of his peerage was not dated till May 4th; but it had been previously understood, and telegraphed to India, that he would take his title from Staplehurst.] cannot deal with it except through his council. It is therefore fortunate that you have secured their suffrages, for at present it seems to be the invariable practice of the 'wise men of the East' at the India Office to reject every proposal, however trivial or however important, which emanates from the Government of India.
Yours, my dear Mr. Reeve, very faithfully,
LYTTON.
Endorsed—The pension was granted on June 30th.
From the Comte de Paris Château d'Eu, May 11th.
… I am glad to see that the hope of peace is stronger. A war between England and Russia would be the greatest catastrophe that could fall upon the world at present; it would be the cause of incalculable ruin everywhere. Since the wars of 1866 and 1870 the maintenance of the peace of Europe depends solely upon the relations between England and Russia. To France the preservation of peace is of the deepest interest, for the day it is broken she may expect to see her own frontiers threatened by Germany, either directly or by the moral subjection of Holland, Switzerland, and Belgium. We wish no evil either to England or to Russia; but, above all things, we wish that these two Powers should live in harmony.
Here the Journal has:—
May 13th.—Returned to town.