The Savannah morning news., 1903-09-06
BY BASSETT STAlNES.
Copyright, 1903, by T. C. Mcclure

andra visited Ireland the other day
they were warmly greeted; but the
crowds cheered just as heartily for
Lord and Lady Dudley, who plotted the
King and Queen around Dublin. And
with good reason. Lord Dudley is the
man who is making peace between
England and Ireland.
He is the most popular Viceroy
Ireland has ever had is the verdict
of an Irish Nationalist member of
Parliament. "Viceroy after viceroy
have come here with the notion that
they are the heads of an English gar
rison 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
have allowed themselves to be swath-
ed like mummies in red tape, and then
they have wondered why their ad-
ministration was a failure.
Worrying tho officials.
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 automa-
ton as his predecessors had done.
But he politely declined, saying, in
effect
I'm going among the people to
find out things for myself. 1 won't do
anything blindfolded. When l come
their merits. 1 am going to make a
tour thro ugh Ireland in my automo-
bile
"'Alone?" the officials gasped. 1t
is madness, 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.
80 they did. That automobile triL
was a triumphal progress. Lord an6
Dady Dudley 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 q
good chance of being mobbed.
How Lord Dudley Got to Know.
often they would, stop their auto
mobile at a PEASANTS cottage, peg
glass of milk, and chat for hours Will
the family. Lord Dudley would ge
| the husbands views about politics dnC
| 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 reviving 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 acquaintance, for they
knew the landlords views already.
They gathered information from the
blacksmith, the village tradesman, the
rural constable, the postman and the
cottager. Lord Dudley would sit ur
OF nights, drinking whisky with the
parish priest and getting to know the
truth about Ireland as no Lord Lieu
tenant ever knew it before. He would
even dance with the country girls at
the crossroads on Sundays, and go
around the cottages expressing learned
opinions as to the value OF the family
pig. When he returned to Dublin he
had made hosts of friends everywhere,
ana tnere was hardly phase of Irish
lie with which he was unfamiliar,
Policy of Pence.
Then" continued the sneaker "he
Mortified the officials by bursting all
the bonds of red tape and rejecting
their schemes for more coercion. In
a hundred different directions he in
ltlated a peace-making policy which
eliminated eventually in the great
Irish land purchase bill. Most won
derful of all, he-a great landlord
went among his friends, the Irish land
lords, and talked to them like a Dutch
uncle until he convinced them that it
was folly to remain in open warfare
with their own tenants.
George Wyndham, the Irish Secre-
tary, has aided this policy of peace,
and so have others; but we Irishmen
are convinced that the credit is main
ly due to King Edward 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 at the
head of affairs, there is not likely to
be any serious trouble in Ireland"
Lord Dudley, the great peacemaker,
is remarkable man in many ways
He is one of the richest peers in Great
Britain. He has no need of his salary
of 100000 year as Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland. Indeed, the cost of MAIN
tanning his viceregal position far ex-
ceeds that sum. His collieries in the
BLACK Country" alone return him over
100000 year, and he also owns large
deposits of minerals in Staffordshire
and Worcestershire, large iron works,
big agricultural estates in various parts
of England and plantations in Jamaica
and other West Indian islands.
At first sight nobody would take him
for the thoughtful statesman and clev-
err administrator he has proved HIM
self to be. He is just a jolly, buff,
good-natured country squire to all APP
pearances-the typical NJ. +. H. whose
principal worry is the health of his
horses and hounds. There Is, indeed,
no better sportsman in England. His
word is law in the Jockey Club, the
Ranelaugh Club and the Royal Yacht
Squadron-three of the most exclusive
sporting clubs in the world.
An Excellent Mayor.
Yet this wealthy peer, who has all
the money and titles a man can wish
for and every inducement to live life
of idle luxury, works as hard at the
difficult trade of government as any
politician.
In 1895 he was elected Mayor of Dud-
ley a grimy colliery town from which
he takes his title. He proved himself