Allan Octavian Hume
(D) 1879 to 1882. His Removal from the Secretariat.
In its obituary notice The Times refers to the circumstances under which Mr. Hume left the Secretariat of the Government of India in 1879 ; and it is there stated that his removal was caused by a conflict with a member of the Government, in which he was "in the wrong." No particulars are given as to the merits of this conflict, which was the turning point in Mr. Hume's official career. In a memoir it is important to clear up a matter of this sort ; and fortunately among Mr. Hume's private papers I have found letters and extracts which throw much light on this episode, and show that a cardinal principle, affecting the duties of his office, was involved in what Mr. Hume has called his summary ejection from the Secretariat. To those unacquainted with the working of the bureaucratic system in India, it may not be apparent how severe was the blow thus inflicted. But it must be borne in mind how extraordinarily influential and desirable is the position of a Secretary to Government, who is presumed to be an expert in his own department, who has the first say in all matters coming before the Executive Government, and who has constant access to the Viceroy. He is thus part and parcel of the Supreme Executive, which determines policy, and gives orders from the cool heights of Simla to the rank and file of the service in the plains below. Now what were the reasons given for Mr. Hume's expulsion from this official paradise ? The only reason that I find in the papers is contained in a letter from Lord Lytton's Private Secretary of 17 June 1879, where it is stated that the decision '*was based entirely on the consideration of what was most desirable in the interests of the public
