The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-06
DUDLEY Is IRELAND'S IDOL
MOST POPULAR VICEROY THE EN-
ERALD ISLE HAS EVER HAD.
''The Peaceninker" IL His Title Among
sonsI Interest I'm the People.

When King Edward and Queen Alexandra
visited Ireland they were warmly greeted;
but the crowds cheered just as heartily for
Lord and Lady Dudley, who piloted the
King and Queen around Dublin. And with
good reason. Lord Dudley is the man who
is making peace between England and Ire
land.
"He is the most popular viceroy Ireland
has ever had" is the verdict of an Irish
Nationalist member of Parliament. Vice
roy after viceroy have come here with the
notion that they are the heads of an Eng
gllsh garrison in a hostile country. They
have stayed in Dublin Castle, surrounded
by old-fashioned. prejudiced officials. and
have learned nothing about the people or
the country except through official reports
and minutes. They nave allowed them
selves to be swathed like mummies in red
tape, and then they nave wondered why
their administration was a failure.
mot so Lord Dudley. AS soon as he
was made lord lieutenant and took up the
reins OF government in Dublin the officials
swarmed around him and expected him to
simply %. X all their proposals like an
automaton, as his predecessors had done.
But he politely declined, saying. in effect:
I'm going among the people to find
out things for myself. L won't do anything
blind-folded. When l come back I'll con-
slider your schemes on their merits. 1 am
going To make a tour through Ireland in
my automobile
Alone? the officials gasped. 1t is mad
ness, my Lord. You will be assassinated.
mo. not alone. Lady Dudley is going
with me-
I'm vain the officials implored him to give
up the idea. He said that he was going
among the people as a friend. and he was
sure they would receive him as one.
A TRIUMPHAL TOUR.
$50 they did. That automobile trip was
a triumphal progress. Lord and Lady Dud-
ley both possess the golden art OF making
friends. They made themselves so popular
that anybody who had even insulted them,
much less harmed them, would have run a
good chance of being mobbed.
Often they would stop their automobile
at a peasants cottage. beg a glass of milk,
and chat for hours with the family. Lord
Dudley would get the husbands views
about politics and the land question, while
Lady Dudley would find out from the wife
all about the woman's side of Irish life
and the need for r~eviying the lace-making
craft and other old Industries which would
give employment to the girls.
They didn't go to the big country houses
of their acquaintances. for they knew the
landlords views already. They gathered
information from the blacksmith, the VIII
laSe tradesman. the rural constable, the
postman and the cottager. Lord Dudley
would sit up of nights with the parish
=
Ireland as no lord lieutenant ever knew it
before. He would even dance with the
country girls at the crossroads and go
around the cottages. When he returned to
Dublin he made hosts of friends everywhere
and there was hardly 4 phase OF Irish life
with which he was unfamilier.
A POLICY OF PEACE.
Then continued the speaker, "he hor-
rihed the officials by bursting all the bonds
Of red tape and rejecting their schemes for
more coercion. In a hundred different di-
rections he initiated a p~eace-making policy
which eliminated eventually in the great
Irish land purchase bill. Most wonder
full of all, he-a great landlord-.went among
his friends, the Irish landlords. and talked
to them until he convinced them that il
was folly to remain in open warfare with
their own tenants.
George Wyndham. the Irish secretary.
has aided this policy of peace, and so have
others; but We Irishmen are convinced
that the credit is mainly due to King Ed
ward and the lord lieutenant. We believe
that the King, who is an intimate personal
friend of Lord Dudley. inspired his appoint
ment and backed up his policy from first to
last One thing is certain. While Lord
Dudley remains ut the head of affairs, there
is not likely to be any serious trouble in
Ireland"
Lord Dudley. the great peacemaker. is a
remarkable man in many ways. He is one
OF the richest peers i'm Great Britain. He
has no need of his salary of 1900 a year
as lord lieutenant of Ireland. Indeed, the
cost OF maintaining his viceregal position
far exceeds that sum. His collieries In the
BLACK Country alone return him over
$4,000 q year. ami he also owns large