The Washington herald., 1911-08-24
CURZON STILL MAY CLIMB.

in the House Of Lords. was his Just due.
bell-Bannerman wasn't In love with the
prancing pro-consul, who represented all
that was aristocratic in Britain and all
that was Departmental in India It Is
easy to believe that the Radical prime
minister who relieved the Duke Of Cam
bridge of the commander in -chiefship aft
er he had held supreme command forty
years rather enjoyed snubbing Lord Cur
zon. So keenly did Lord Curzon feel It
that he reminded Sir Henry Campbell
Zimmerman Of his remissness. The Rad
ical premier. however, refused to give
Lord Curzon place in the upper cham
Der. Lord Curzon at forty-five years of
age. full Of ambition and experience, was
In a position which was CALLING. Barred
the Commons by royal obligations, kept
out Of the Lords by his own peerage,
snubbed by a Radical prime minister,
left lonely by the sad death Of Lady
Curzon, with no particular backing from
the country in his "tiff' with Kitchener,
his lordship in very truth suffered from
the tnsolence OF ONCE"
To add to his chagrin, Lord Curzon
was being offered a cordial welcome as a
candidate for the Commons almost every
day. Moreover. the Queen was dead.
King Edward might have had no objec-
ton to Lord Curzon's appearance in the
lower house. But Just then an incident
happened which made such an occur
renee an impossibfIity. Lord Geschen
died in December, 1906, and the chancel-
lorshiIA Of Oxford became vacant. Lord
Curzon was asked to succeed him. He
was, Of course, the only man for the job.
Lord Curzon was elected by a large
majority. but became the first chancellor
Of Oxford who had not a seat in the
House OF Lords for the past 800 years
Except the two Cromwells). The Oxford
honor finally ended Lord Curzon's hope
of ever again entering rne Commons.
And the Radical premier still refused to
make him a peer OF Parliament But at
last an accident happened which gave
Lord Curzon his chance. Lord KiImaine.
one Of Ireland's twenty-eight elected
peers. threw himself from hotel window
In Paris and was killed. Lord Curzozn
suggested himself for the vacancy. It Is
difficult to suppose anybody else suggest
ed him, for he had absolutely no con-
nectton with ireland, and even the title
or his Irish peerage was derived from
Kedleston, his fathers place in Derby
shire.
Lord Curzon never was troubled with
undue modesty, and he grasped at the
chance. He was we'll backed by Lord
Lansdowne. who. although not one of the
elected representative peers, leads the
irish peerage by virtue of his position as
a large landowner In Ireland and as the
twenty-sixth Baron Of Kerry. So Lord
Cufzon was elected, and at last achieved
his ambition of a seat in the Lords. His
election was frankly indecent, and does
him no credit. for his chief competitor
was Lord Ashtown, a real Irish peer
who had had police protection for years
and only escaped being blown to pieces
by having accidentally fallen asleep on a
sofa In the wrong room. Lord Ashtown
was. however, elected an Irish repre-
sentative peer three years later
Lord Curzon got his seat in the Lords
by back door in the peerage. Mr.. AS
quith, the next Radical prime minister,
also refused any promotion to Lord Cur
zon, and it is only now. at the corona
ton. on the recommendation Of Lord
Lansdowne. that his viceroyalty is re-
warded by an earldom of the United
Kingdom. However. by a curious peer
age anomaly, It is as an Irish represen-
tative peer that Lord Curzon sits In the
House of Lords
But ,withal 1 have always considered
Lord Curzon shamefully treated In In
dia he vigorously upheld the ideals of
British craftsmanship. He was Just but
he was generous, and he was ever ready
to meet criticism. merited' or unmerited.
He was our excellent viceroy, and his
trouble with Lord Kitchener to-day is
being judged quite differently from what
1t was in those days. for the field mar
shars uncompromising fealty to the mill
tary has cost him the friendship of the
crowd of political hacks and even of So
chief OF the staff. When one recalls the
crowd Of political hacks and even So
cial scallawags that have been knighted,
baroneted and ermined in the past five
years one can conclude only that a gross
er instance Of a country's neglect Of a
brilliant official than that OF Lord Cur
zon it would be difficult to find.
FLANEUR.
Copyright, 1911. by Court Gossip syndicate)