testimony, is felt by no one more than by the Governor-General's Private Secretary; nor by any Private Secretary has it been discharged with more unfailing punctuality than by him whom Lord Auckland had selected. He was bound to Lord Auckland by every tie which can attach, in public life, a man of aspiring nature to the statesman who has given him his first opportunity of distinguishing himself, and has bestowed on him his entire confidence. Loyalty being of the essence of his character, he identified himself with the views, the successes, and the disappointments of Lord Auckland with unquestioning ardour. So completely did he do this, that the gossip of Calcutta failed finally to distinguish between master and servant. The very excess of the Private Secretary's pleasure at his master's triumphs, the depth of his distress in the hour of his master's humiliation, were regarded in some quarters as presumption amounting to proof that the measures with which he so warmly identified himself must have been of his own inspiring. But Lord Auckland, better informed, retained his confidence in Mr. Colvin to the last day of his life, and fully returned the attachment with which he never ceased to be regarded by his former subordinate.
Here is a picture of Lord Auckland from the friendly hand of Charles Greville: —
'He was a man without shining qualities or showy accomplishments, austere and almost forbidding in his manner, silent and reserved in society, unpretending both in public and private life. Nevertheless he was universally popular
