ABSTRACT
Indian politicians have often complained that though British officials worked zealously for the country they did not love or understand its people. British Governments in India were apt to consider the welfare rather than the feelings of Indians. This tendency became stronger in the twentieth century when political differences estranged the British officials from the Indian intelligentsia, though not from the rural population. The Cornwallis policy of deliberate exclusion of Indians from the upper levels of administration was abandoned, there was in practice little opportunity in the nineteenth century for Indians to occupy high administrative posts. When serious steps in the direction of self-government were taken, it was found that few of those who played a leading part in Indian politics were qualified by experience for great administrative posts in the state.
