imself useful, and to adopt
any appliance which can be turned to account.

"I think it highly probable that Mr. Nicholls may be to blame, because I
have seldom known a quarrel in which both parties were not to blame. But
I see no evidence that he is so. Nor do I see any evidence which tends
to prove that Mr. Nicholls leads the Local Committee by the nose. The
Local Committee appear to have acted with perfect propriety, and
I cannot consent to treat them in the manner recommended by Mr.
Sutherland. If we appoint the Colonel to be a member of their body,
we shall in effect pass a most severe censure on their proceedings. I
dislike the suggestion of putting military men on the Committee as
a check on the civilians. Hitherto we have never, to the best of my
belief, been troubled by any such idle jealousies. I would appoint the
fittest men without caring to what branch of the service they belonged,
or whether they belonged to the service at all." [This, and the
following extracts, are taken from a volume of Macaulay's Minutes, "now
first collected from Records in the Department of Public instruction, by
H. Woodrow, Esq., M.A., Inspector of Schools at Calcutta, and formerly
Fellow of Caius College, Cambridge." The collection was published in
India.]

Exception had been taken to an applicant for a mastership, on the ground
that he had been a preacher with a strong turn for proselytising.

"Mr. ---- seems to be so little concerned about proselytising, that he
does not even know how to spell the word; a circumstance which, if I did
not suppose it to be a slip of the pen, I should think a more serious
objection than the 'Reverend' which formerly stood before his name. I am
quite content with his assurances."

In default of better, Macaulay was always for employing the tools
which came to hand. A warm and consistent advocate of appointment by
competitive examination, wherever a field for competition existed, he
was no pedantic slave to a theory. In the dearth of schoolmasters, which
is a feature in every infant educational system, he refused to reject
a candidate who mistook "Argos for Corinth," and backed the claims of
aspirants of respectable character who could "read, write, and work a
sum."

"By all means accept the King of Oude's present; though, to be sure,
more detestable maps were never seen. One would think that the revenues
of Oude, and the treasures of Saadut Ali, might have borne the expense
of producing somethin