Selection From the India Office Correspondence of Robert Cecil, Third Marquis of Salisbury, 1866-1867 and 1874-1878

“Dr. Paul Brumpton’s edited selection of Salisbury’s private letters, dating from his two periods as Secretary of State for India and addressed mainly to the viceroys with whom he had to work, with its substantial introduction … promises to contribute most usefully to a deeper understanding of both Salisbury’s own developing career and the conduct of imperial affairs. Among the issues that loom large in this selection are the management of India’s famines, agricultural development, political negotiations with India’s princely rulers, and relations with Afghanistan.” – Andrew Porter, Rhodes Professor of Imperial History, King’s College London

“It is admirably edited and introduced, so that the context of the letters is amply revealed. Special importance attaches to the letters as reflecting the attitudes and policy preferences of the man who would become the major imperial statesman of the Victorian era. The letters cover the internal administration of the Raj and the role of India in imperial defence. This is the first such documentary collection to appear. It is an indispensable resource for scholars and institutions concerned with the history of British India and, indeed, the Empire at large.” – Robin J. Moore

“… a worthwhile addition to the sources in print for the career of a future foreign secretary and prime minister, and for the Indian empire in his time. The material should help to counteract persistent myths about the man and the British in nineteenth-century India. Salisbury was no reactionary: he understood very well the inevitable consequences of the westernization he promoted…. The range and penetration of the inquiries and suggestions with which he plied viceroys, presidency governors and others is quite remarkable….. They touch on every aspect of Indian life under the Raj at the height of its power after the Mutiny of 1857-9, but his solicitude for the peasant masses is particularly striking.” – Dr. David Steele