The times., 1898-08-08

founded on the Hindu tongue as spoken
in the court at Delhi. and interuixed
with Persian and Arabic words
The caste-syStem and the villags-sys-
TEN are two Of the most striking peeu-
narities of the Hindu social order. A
village in India is rather like what is
called a township IN the United States.
There is always a head man. whe settles
all difficulties and acts as governor;
there are always a village priest. reg
istrar. an astrologer. barber. a school,
master, musician and other pub,ic func-
tionaries- The dynasty Of the k.nSd IN
may change; the village does not The
same plot Of ground Is occupied by the
same family generation after generation
And under this Com9a-at veiy simple
form of government some 20oCo3.O0 IN
habitarts of India live There are more
than three times as many people in this
tefI-irs country as n the whole ex2anse
of the UE-ted States Under The cd rule
OF native kings the country was split up
into various states each Il wa0m had
rs native king or its war; rs tribes with
their chiefs Each ruler was absolute
monarch over as much territory as he
ccH,d hold BY tae sword Under rhe
prese-2- system Of government the vari-
Gus minor officials Of the civil se-vtce
are responsible % the governor II the
pr0v.-ce: the gOverr-- = me province is
responsible 10 the vtcsrcy. and the VICE
roy is responsible only 10 The Queen
The viceroy's We take5 prCce1lCce Z
all jhs n-lcI~anzes aad rene=s. AID uhe
wives. Of all the s.-vaCts C the Queen,
civil or military. in India She is seC0nI
only ID Queen Victoria herself
That is the position which Mrs. George
CurzOn nee Mary Letter. is 10 ho.d- And
her husband rules over a country one
half as large and more than three times
as pOpulous as her native land rs re-
spOnsibiiity is, from one point Of view.
considerably greater than hat Of our
President in ordinary times OF peace: Tor
he is ruler. not for four yeas. but for
an indefinite period ranging fr3m two
70 seven years He has no political party
at mis- back to supper. him If ne takes
the wrong policy. lie has 20 deaI NOT
with a population OF intelligence .oyaI
10 the government. mainly OF the same
nationality. with the same traditions. re-
liSion and social custom. but with a com
oination Of all sorts OF racial and r-iig--
ious elements There is continual fric-
uOn between the Hindus ard the li0h5-u-
medans; and il is not safe to place .a-
tive Hindu official in a district TO which
he Is strange. unles you know the ante
cedents Of both the official and the dis
trict- Otherwise there viii be immediate
uprisings. riots and lOoting expeditions
In half dozen places AT once
But the government of India itself js
not all which coufrOnes the vicerey
He must be on the lookout for interua-
uonal complications outside India Rms
sla menaces England's Oriental posses
slons on the north; Germany on the
east The position of v.cerOy OF India
Is no sfnecure- And il has happened nov,
and then in the history Of EnEIand's
colonial possessions that the very men
who knew their ground most thoroughly.
and who saved large slices of the empire
by acting promptly when delays would
have been fatal. have suffered for their
alleged presumption in assuming 10
know more about the situation than the
foreign office In the government OF In
dia. take it all in all. England has es-
sayed TO solve one of the toughest prob
lens which was ever presented 10 a
European nation.
Mr.. George CurZOn will have the good
wishes of all Americans in his career
as viceroy. if only because he has made
an American woman his wife There
may also be note Of sympathy in their
congratulations. since this nation is
about 10 attempt the less difficult but
wholly novel task of governing the Phil
ippine Islands.