Evening star., 1923-04-22
British to Have Clever
Envoy at Lausanne
By FRERERICK CUNLIFFE.owEN. c. B. E.

of Plassy, where he was severely
wounded. His promotion was rapid
in India. where he eventually was
appointed to the post of Governor of
thereupon returning to England in
the possession of an enormous for
tune.
His enemies. and he had many of
them, whose hostility was actuated
bold at the early age of sixteen, went
and domineering manner. impatient
of contra diction, led to an attack be-
ing made upon him in parliament, on
charges that he had been mixed up
in pecuniary transactions Of an ex-
tortionate character, through which
the Rajah Of Arcot. had been reduced
to complete ruin. Indeed, Pitts gov
ernment actually initiated proceed
ings against Sir Thomas in London
with the object of compelling him to
disgorSe. But the case was never
rried to a conclusion. either in par
Lament or in the law courts, and the
worthy baronet." as Burke always
called him, was left in the undisturbed
possession of the fruit that he had
shaken from the pagoda tree OF In
dia. For many years after his return
from India. Sir Thomas represented
Weymouth in the house of commons.
and was warm friend. both of
GainsborouRh and OF Romney, who
each of them painted portraits of him,
that are counted among their mas
terpieces. Sir Thomas's son and sue
cessor in his honors and estates, was
a captain of the 1st Foot Guards, and
served out in India as aide-de-camp
to Gen. Sir Hector Monroe at the
Battle Of Pondicherry in 1873. Hes
too. like his father. represented Wey-
mouth in the house Of commons,
after his return to England, and
broke his neck in the hunting field.
The late Sir Horace Rumbold, one
of the most brilliant members of tho
English diplomatic service, had to
wait, however, much longer than his
son and successor, the present and
ninth baronet. for promotion to the
rank of ambassador, which was de-
layed for a number OF years by an
the part OF royal governess, tho
injustice being only rectifled through
the personal interference Of Emma,
then Queen Regent of the Neither
lands, and Of Queen Victoria. While
minister at the Hague, the late Sir
Horace saw no less than Ave of his
juniors promoted over his head to
embassies. ResentinE what he re-
garded as a gross Of injustice, he set
to work in 1894, to make cautious
inquiries in London with the object
of discovering the reason of the
treatment to which he had been sub
jected. Ultimately he learned that
a story had been circulated at court
in England, and at the foreign office,
to the effect that he had. had vio-
lent alteration with one Of the royal
chamberlains at some court function
at the Hague, and had very nearly. II
not quite, come to blows. Assuming
the story to be true, 1t was naturally
considered that a diplomat possessed
of so little control of his temper, was
untitled for the role of ambassador.
The only foundation that there was
for this tale, according to Sir Horace,
was that some years previously he
had on one occasion left the railroad
station at Amsterdam and had given
up his ticket when he was told by
his footman that Lady Rumbold and
his youngest boy had come to meet
him. He tried to re-enter that plat
form to find them, but was roughly
seized by ticket collector. who.
when he shook him off, grossly, in