The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-05-30

opium-quickened memory of the Bengal
babu the chance to climb by parrot-rote to
small but responsible government employ
me1t, though at the same time ii imposes
a salutary check upon preferment by exam
ination papers alone. But the. evil was
growing, and the present viceroy suddenly
! handled the matter with characteristic
abruptness.
To an outsider it looked as if the Indian
universities were to be chastised with scor-
pions.
The good old times when man learned a
grammar by heart and passed in Latin
without writing three lines of prose seem
to be tottering.
The new scheme which bears the mark
of the viceroy sprawling all over it, sweeps
away the old comfortable position of the
older universities of Calcutta, Bombay and
Madras. No longer are they to collect and
examine the pupils of educational instltu-
lions over which they mad no control ana
in which they had not the faintest inter-
est. All universities alike are for the future
to be teaching foundations.
Secondly, the residential colleges or hotels
are TO be reorganized, extended and placed
directly under the supervision of the uni
Versity.
Thirdly, textbooks are in future to be
! of a length that will render their learning
by heart impossible.
The value of the changes may not seem
great but they go TO the root OF education
, in India, though any imitation of Elton or
oxford seems perhaps to promise less than
the viceroy anticipates.
recent biography of the viceroy laid
great stress upon his personal unpopularity.
1t is difficult to see why.
HAS MADE MISTAKES.
1t is true that Lord Curzon has made
mistakes due to his temperament His
attitude towards the ruling chiefs on more
| than one occasion has not been happy.
| Nor was his attempt to extinguish the
! governorships of Bombay and Madras any
| more satisfactory. He has admitted some
: of his iSjudgmentS; others are not of
permanent nature
| 1t is only from the standpoint of his
future usefulness that it is worth while
| to mention this side of his personality al
| all. The lack of personal magnetism is nc
| irreparable void. 1t would be easy to point
| TO other examples within the past twenty
years who have come late to their kingdom
of influence, and SenSitivenesS, the best
| instructor in this school, has not been de-
| MED him. He is a man and an influence OF
which we shall stand in need, and by the
| standards of English appreciation, which
| are somewhat less personal than those OF
| India, his best work remains yet to be
| tried.
Almost as unimportant as his popularity
| is his performance of social duties-ter
years afterwards who remembers either OF
any man?
| Still, if ii be worth mentioning, it should
| be said that in this he has been unusually
good. and, to be frankly consistent in the
! matter, the debt that he and India owe
| to Lady Curzon is enormous One cannot
| eliminate the personal importance of the
| lady-sahib as easily as that of her hus-
| band.
One thing deserves notice. Lord Curzon
is not really very strong man physically.
| Under the stricteSt orders of his doctor
| much of his work has been done lying on
| his back, and his insomnia is proverbial
And, in spite of this. his industry has been
! almost Superhuman.
F.; Ten years from now will hardly be toe
I soon TO see what the results of much OF
, his policy have been. Internally, the la
| bors of a single governor general can hard.
| ly cause much change. or. indeed any
change or a permanent nature-though we
/ should not overlook the creation of the
| northwest frontier province, perhaps LORD
/ Curzon's boldest and most far-reachne
= stroke. But the succeeding Viceroy finds
| his hands unfettered, and the services with.
| in the somewhat narrow limits of his pow.
| ers willing or obliged TO take a new cue
| from him. Externally, however, one MAY
/ hope that much has been settled, and set.
| tied for good. Problems rem ain, but the
| ground has been cleared and 1T least one
| DOGGY laid.
| Upon the question of his successor much
| depends. The present viceroy has drawn
| within his reach much more than a less
| vigorous intellect could deal with, more
| perhaps, that he could himself grasp were
| he to stay on. 1t is safe to prophesy thai
| the next governor general, whoever he may
be, will find 1t wise and necessary to rediS
| tribute the augmenting load of work, and
| thus at a stroke annul the ultimate pin
ciple of much of Lord Curzon's interna
| policy. On the other hand there will re-
| main precedent, valuable or. disastrous &C
! cording to the man in Office for persona
initiative and Intervention on the part Of
| the viceroy at his discretion in almont al
| branches of Indian activity.
But this decentralization will constitute
! no criticism of the present regime. 1t will
| be merely a recognition of Lord CurZon'.
| unusual talents and constitutional activity
| And now without attempting compari
! sons as invidiouS mountaineering, on,
may close this rapid survey by an unqual
| flied assertion of the viceroys futur,
] value to the larger empire