Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-20
GAYETY IN CALCUTTA
Social Entertainments OF Holt
day Week,
THE VICEROY'S LEVEE
PROGRAM FOLLOWED AT THE
VICE QUEENS DRAWING ROOM.
Description of the Government House,
Which is One of the Finest
Palaces in the World.
THE VICEROY'S LEVEE
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS. .

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald.
CALCUTTA, March 10, 1904.
The best time for stranger to visit Cal
outta is during holiday week, for then the
social season is inaugurated by levee
given by the viceroy a drawing room py
the vice queen and a grand state ball. The
annual races are held that week also, In
GLIDING the great sporting event Of the
year, which is contest for cup offered
by the viceroy, a military parade and re-
view and various other ceremonies and fes-
tivities attract people from every part of
the empire. The native princes naturally
take this opportunity to visit the capital
and pay their respects to the representative
OF imperial power, while every Englishman
in the civil and military service, and those
of social or sporting proclivities in private
life take their vacations at this time ana
spend the Christmas and New Year holi-
days with Calcutta friends.
Moreover, the fact that all these people
go attracts the tourists who happen to be
in India at the time, for it gives them an
opportunity to see the social features of In
dian life. Hence, we rushed across the EN-
crease the crowd and the enthusiasm Every
hotel, boarding house and club was crowd
ed, every family had guests; cots and beds
were placed in offices AND wherever else
they could be accommodated. Tents were
spread on the lawn of the government
house for the benefit of government officials
coming in from the provinces and on the
parade grounds at the fort for soldier Wis
itors. The grounds surrounding the club
houses looked like military camps, and six.
,tc yllln
the hotel where we were stopping to ac-
commodate the overflow.
Good hotels are needed everywhere in In
dia, as l have several times suggested, and
nowhere so much as in: Calcutta The gov
eminent the people and all concerned ought
to be ashamed of their lack of enterprise
in this direction, and everybody admits II
without bluShng. While it is Of course pos
sible for people to survive the present con-
ditions, they are nevertheless a national
disgrace. Calcutta is a city of more than a
million Inhabitants. Among its residents
are many millionaires and other wealthy
men. 1t is frequently called the city or
palaces" and many of the private resi-
dences in the foreign quarter are imposing
and costly. Hence, there is no excuse but
indifference and lack of public spirit.
The Government House.
The government house, which is the resi-
dence of the viceroy, is one of the finest
palaces in the world, and in architectural
beauty extent and grandeur surpasses
many of the royal residences of Europe.
None of The many palaces in England and
the other European capitals is better
adapted for entertaining or has more stately
audience chambers, reception rooms. ban
quet halls and ball rooms. 1t is truly an i'm
perial residence and was erected more than
hundred years ago by Lord Wellesley,
who had an exalted appreciation of the po-
OFT; han iad md , - N fa6 n
the ceremonies. formalitieS and etiquette of
the British court. The government house
stands in the center of a beautiful garden
of seven acres and is now completely sur
rounded and almost hidden by groups of
noble trees. 1t Is an enlarged copy of kedle-
stone Hall, DerbyShire, and consists of a
central group of state apartments crowned
with a dome and connected with four wings
of galleries.
The throne room is splendid apartment
and the seat OF the mighty is the ancient
throne of Tipu, one OF the southern mahara-
jas who, during the latter part of the
century, gave the British a great
deal OF trouble until he was deprived of his
power. The banquet hall, the council cham
Der, the ball rooms and q series of drawing
rooms are nearly all of the same size and
are decorated in white and gold, and each
is larger than the east room in the White
House at Washington. Tie ceilings are sup
ported by rows of marble columns with
gilded capitals, and are frescoed by famous
artists. The floors are of polished teak
wood; the walls are paneled with brocade
and tapestries, and are hung with historical
pictures, including fuil-length portraits of
all the viceroys from the time of Warren
Hastings, the kings and queens of England
and many of the most famous native rulers
OF marble busts Of the Caesars, which, with
q portrait of Louis XIV and several elabor-
ate crystal chandeliers. were loot of the
war of 1888, when they were captured from
which carving y = q
ent from the Emperor OF France to the
NyZam of Hyderabad.
The palace cost $3.50 600 and the furniture
$3.50 900 more than a hundred years ago at
a time when money would go three times as
far as 1t does today. Lord Wellesley had
lofty ideas. and when the merchants of the
East India Company expressed their dis
approval of this expenditure he told them
that India should be governed from pal
ace and not from counting house, with the
ideas of prince and not those of retail
dealer in muslin and indigo"
The Viceroy's Social Entertainments.
Great stories are told of the receptions,
lovees and balls that were given in the
days of the East India Company. but they
could not have been more brilliant than
those of today. The government house
has never been occupied by viceroy more
capable of assuming the dignities and per-
the duties of that office than Lord
Curzon. and no more beautiful. graceful
or popular woman ever sat upon the vice
queens throne than Mary Letter CurZon.
No period in Indian history has ever been
more brilliant. more progressive or more
than the present; no admins
tration Of the government has ever given
wider satisfaction from any point of view,
and certainly the social functions presided
over by Lord and Lady CurZon were never
SUI passed. They live in truly royal style,
surrounded by the ceremonies and the pomp
that pertains TO kings. and it Is part of
the administrative policy, because the 300-
900 600 people subject to the viceroy's au-
thority are very iInpressionable, and meas
ure power and sometimes justice and right
by appearances. Lord ard Lady Curzon
never leave the palace without an escort
of those giant soldiers from the Sikh tribe,
Who wear a dazzling uniform of red, tur-
bans as big as bushel baskets, and sit their
horses like centaurs. They carry long
spears and are otherwise armed with native
weapons. Within the palace the same for
mality is preserved, except in the private
apartments of the viceroy. where certain
hours of every day the doors are closed
against official cares and responsibilities,
and Lord and Lady CurZon can spend
few hours with their two little girls like
ordinary people.
The palace is managed by controller
general who has 100 servants under him.
and a stable of forty, and relieves Lady
CurZon from the cares Of the household.
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