The Washington herald., 1908-01-12
Government Shares White
hall with King Edward.
SCENE OF EARLY SPLENDORs
Walls Hung with Paintings by Ru-
bens and Van Dyck, and in the
Sixteenth Century the Old Palace
Rang with the Merriment of the
Gay King Charles and His Friends.
BY Ex-ATTAcHE.
Copyright. 1905. by the Brentwood Company A

rights Tesenedl
Whitehall. which has been recently
much in the public eye, in connection
with the wonderful restoration of the
Rubens paintings that adorn the ceilings
OF lingo Jones banqueting house, is
name known from one end of the civ
ilized world to the other as the seat of a
considerable portion of the central gov
ernment of the British empire. The ad-
miralty and the war Office. the depart
ments Of agriculture and Of education. the
home office, the India Office, the local
government board, the priyy council Of
fee. the government board Of trade, and
the treasury, are all situated In White
hall, And so. too. are the foreign office
and the colonial department, since Down
ing street, which is given as their ad
dress. forms part and parcel of White
hall.
Considerably over S00,0O0,0OO of more or
less dusky natives of Hindustan are sub
ject TO directions that are issued from
Whitehall, and that reach them through
the agency of the highly ornamental
viceroy at Calcutta Every man-of-war
of England's superb navy. no matter in
what quarter Of the world it may happen
to be cruising. moves in obedience to COM
mands sent out from Whitehall. and even
those great colonial dependencies Of the
British crown that pride themselves on
their possession of self-government. such
as the Dominion of Canada and the
commonwealth OF Australia. are com
PEELED in all more important matters 70
defer TO the views Of Whitehall. In fact.
royal prOClamations and great papers OF
state bearing the sign manual of the
monarch, are dated from "Our Palace Of
Whitehall, although the latter has
ceased TO exist as such.
It is no exaggeration. therefore. to as
sert that there IS a species Of magic in
the name, which IS indissolubly assoclat-
ed with the grandeur Of that empire.
upon which, as on that OF Charles V Of
Germany and Spain, the sun never sets.
While the name of Whitehall is there
fore familiar TO every one of sufficient
education 70 keep himself acquainted
with the current events Of his time. and
who has even the most elementary
knowledge Of history there are compare
lively few American travellers who have
until now taken the trouble 10 investi-
gate this hub Of the British universe.
They visit the Tower of London, the
British and South Kensingt0n museums,
the National Art Gallery. the Houses Of
Parliament. Westminster Abbey, and St
Paul's Cathedral.
But somehow or another Whitehall has
Tot thus far appealed TO them. And
while they are acquainted with the an
nails of all the institutions that / have
just enumerated, they know little or
nothing about the story Of Whitehall
beyond the fact that from one 'of the
windows of the banQueting house de-
signed by InigO Jones. and which is all
that remains of the old metropolitan pal
ace of England's rulers, the unhappy
Charles l issued forth TO lose his head on
the scaff0ld on January 80. 1919.
They are even In doubt as 10 what WIN
dow 1t was from which he emerged on
that fateful morning, and are ignorant as
to the side of the building on which the
scaffold was erected, and George Russell
in his Collections and RecOllections, -
relates how when Tory politician
brought his young hopeful 10 Lord
Beaconsfeld shortly before the latter's
death. in order that the lad might receive
from him some word of advice 10 treas
ure throughout his subsequent life, Dis
raeli solemnly addressed the boy as fol-
lows
MY dear young friend, your good papa
has asked me 10 give you a word of
counsel which may be of service to you
when you come 10 mans estate. Never
ask who wrote the Letters of Junius,' or
on which side of Whitehall Charles l
was beheaded. If you do either you will
be considered a bore. and that is-well.
something too dreadful for you at your
tender years to conceive