A Division Of The Spoils (Raj Quartet 4) by Paul Scott Read Free Book Online Page A

niche he’s found that just fits him and no one else. I used to send him reports. I suppose theothers still do. But when I began to suspect that he was collating them, falsifying them, and sending them back to Whitehall as an account of the mission’s collective activities, I stopped. Childish, I suppose, but necessary, to flush him out or persuade him to flush
me
out. And, of course, I’ve nothing to report except a state of total chaos far worse than ever I encountered at home.’
    He opened his eyes again but only for as long as it took him to drink the rest of his rum and lime.
    ‘I used to think, Perron, that on the day we started handing the colonies back to the bloody natives we’d all be able to look the twentieth century in the face at last. But if India’s an example the only way we’ll be able to do that and stay sane is by wearing blinkers and dark glasses and forgetting such places actually exist, and leave them to stew in their own juice except during their inevitable periods of acute financial crisis when we’ll have to pour money into them to stop a chain reaction of bankruptcy bringing any half-civilized economy to its knees.’
    ‘What makes you think that, sir?’
    ‘For heavens’ sake, sergeant! You’ve been in India for what’s it, two years? It’s taken me no more than three months to write it off as a wasted asset, a place irrevocably ruined by the interaction of a conservative and tradition-bound population and an indolent, bone-headed and utterly uneducated administration, an elitist bureaucracy so out of touch with the social and economic thinking of even just the past hundred years that you honestly wonder where they’ve come from. Not England, surely?’
    ‘Perhaps it’s the enervating effect of the climate, sir.’
    ‘It’s nothing to do with the bloody climate. The fact is places like this have always been a magnet for our throw-backs. Reactionary, unco-operative bloody well expendable buggers from the upper and middle-classes who can’t and won’t pull their weight at home but prefer to throw it about in countries like this which they’ve always made sure would remain fit places for them to live in. They’ve succeeded only too well. The most sensible thing for us to do is get rid of it fast to the first bidder before it becomes an intolerable burden.’
    ‘Wouldn’t that be rather unfair, sir? Historically, we have a moral obligation, surely?’
    ‘I couldn’t disagree more. Moral obligation! What next? It’s disastrous
ever
to feel a moral obligation for other people’s mistakes.’
    It was in Perron’s mind to say that he’d always been under the impression that certain material benefits had flowed from the imperial possession, enriching Britain if not demonstrably impoverishing India (but somehow widening the gap in the two standards of living?) and that moral considerations could surely not be totally ignored by economists and accountants. But he thought it better not to aggravate Purvis who in any case would almost certainly be a member of the school of thought which held that the flow of benefit had petered out several years ago and a law of diminishing returns set in so that now the flow was operating in reverse. He compromised.
    ‘All the same, sir, and though I do appreciate what you say, I should hope to see the transfer of power accompanied by some indication of our continuing interest and concern.’
    ‘I’m sure you’ll be gratified then, sergeant. The demission will certainly be accompanied by such pious assurances. But they won’t mean what it will be hoped they’re thought to mean. Labour capitalism is no more generous than finance capitalism. Incidentally, we talk about transfer of power, demission of power, getting rid of it, whatever phrase you prefer, but that’s going to be easier talked about than done.’
    ‘Do you think so, sir? Some people say that once it’s appreciated that we sincerely mean to go the Indians will sink their