The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-01-05
A CURzON DINNER
Notable Farewell Party at The
Hotel Cecil.
WAS AN EXCLUSIVE AFFAIR
The ViCeroys Tribute to His Wife.
A Distinguished Company.
Friends Together.

LONDON.-The farewell dinner TO
Lord and Lady Curzon at Hotel Cecil
resembled a Continental or American
occasion rather than the customary
cold British banquet, by the extreme
warmth and intimacy of the proceed
ings, from which the press was rigor-
ously excluded. The siXty-five hosts
were, without exception, close personal
friends 1t was in fact a gathering of
a certain very distinguished set of
London society, all comparatively
young people of rank and talent, who
for years have constituted a social i'm
lperium in imperio. The room was de-
corated with red, white and blue in
candescent lights. The hosts occupied
seven tables set star-wise, Lord Cur
zon at the head of one apex of the star
and Lady Curzon opposite him at the
other apex. Lord CurZon had on his
right the Duchess of Devonshire, next
TO whom was Mr.. Asquith; on the left
was the Duke of Portland, next to
whom sat Mrs. Henry White. On
Lady Curzon'S right sat Mr.. A. j. Bal
four and the Duchess of Marlborough;
at her left, Lord Elcho and Mrs. AS
quith. Lady Randolph Churchill sat
next to ST. John Broderick, the new
Under Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs. Mr.. Henry White sat next to
the Duchess of Portland.
Lord Curzon, who never fails to rise
on such an occasion, made a charming
and intimate speech, full of good
natured raillery. Among a score of
sparkling and touching remarks he
modestly remarked himself as lacking
all the proper qualities of Viceroy,
but paid an affectionate tribute to 1.-The
men with womens hearts and the wo-
men with mems heads" who had been
his friends. He declared that it was
no occasion to speak of international
alliances, and would, therefore, only
say that for him forever the American
flag would be call stars and no
stripes"
Whenever he mentioned his wife he
said MARY and l." and concluded by
these words: 1--WE petition you, we
conjure you, nay, We exercise our new
prerogative and we command you, to
come out and see u.s.
George Wyndham, brilliant young
|aristocrat, politician, and litterateur,
the newly-appointed Under Secretary
of State for War, recited five stanzas
of a farewell poem he had written, the
colloquial and familiar character of
which indicated the note of the even
ing. One stanza contained a grace
full allusion of Lady CurZon, address
ing her as:
The lady whom none of us knew
Eight years ago, but whom now,
thanks to you,
We have all of us known and adored.
The final stanza of this affectionate
valedictory ran as follows:
So go in and win. What's five years
but luStre
To shine round a name, that already
shines bright,
Then come back and we'll greet you
and go such a buster
As never was seen; no, not even to-
night.
Come back in five years with your
sheaves of new fame,
You'll find your new friends, and you'll
find them the same,
AS now, when you gladden. their
sight.
All the hosts attached their auto
graphs to a large menu card, and the
| company was duly photographed by
| fiashlight. Lady Curzon drove straight
| from the banquet to the Paddington
station to join the steamer Plymouth.
| Lord CurZon meets her at MarSeilles
a week hence. No Viceregal pair ever
| left England with more cordial,
more socially brilliant, farewell.
| Lord Curzon has exhibited hundreds
of eminent qualities, but never yet has
he had to occupy single-handed posi-
ton of such infinite responsibility and
to grapple with a multiplicity Of such
difficult problems. Everybody, how
ever, pays tribute TO his courageous
and modest attitude, and all who
know him express the utmost confid
ence that he will return in 1903 covered
with new laurels.