Indian Civil Service as a profession by Vincent Arthur Smith-1903

The Indian Civil Service is very different. It is a compact, organised body consisting of about nine hundred specially selected and highly-trained officers, with duties and privileges defined by statute. The highest official in India, the Viceroy, is not ordinarily a member of the Service, nor, on the other hand, is a single clerk included in its ranks. The Indian 'civilian,' the man lawfully entitled to write the letters C. S. or I. C. S. after his name, may in the course of his service be many things successively, or all at once, but, whatever he may be or become, he can never, even in his most junior and 'griffin' days, be a clerk.