won, and through him that frowns descended. I have heard some who came away from his presence complain that when he bowed, he did not bow low enough; and some, that he held his head a little too high.' (It was in those years that he got the sobriquet of 'King John,' which he retained through the rest of his life.) 'But I never heard any one complain that he had been beguiled with honied words, or with promises which were not to be performed. I never heard any one impugn his honour, his fairness, his integrity, his resolution to do what was right and just in every case and under all circumstances.'
Lord Auckland spoke for himself. On February 28, he adopted the unusual course of recording a Minute, which he desired should be transmitted to the Court of Directors, 'upon the services rendered to me, and through me to the State' by his Private Secretary. The Governor-General's Private Secretary holds an employment, he added, of very great labour, of very delicate duties, and of implicit confidence, in all that regards even the most important and secret interests of the State.
'Mr. Colvin,' he went on, 'has worked, I may say rather with me than under me, during six years. He has had, as he deserved, my entire confidence. He brought to his duties an extensive and accurate knowledge of the interests of India, of its history, and of the details of its administration. This knowledge has been greatly increased, particularly in regard to our political relations; and if the merit of having brought forward from time to time subjects of difficulty with clearness and regularity before the Council should ever be ascribed to me, it could not be so with justice unless acknowledgement were also made, as I am ready to make it,
