Evening star., 1923-07-31
British Control i'm India Today
Stronger Than in Days of Cromer

, house of parliament in point or serv-
Ice, but, likewise, the oldest living
statesman of cabinet rank. for he
served as a lord of the admiralty un-
der the premiership of Earl RUSSELL
during the American war of secession.
He is still hale and hearty. and in
tends to attain the century mark be
fore he gives up work and goes to his
last rest. His father lived to he !,
eighty-four, and his uncle, Viscount
Eversley. was so keen, to the very
last. about outdoor sports that he
bought a new pair of guns when he
was ninety-two. Lord Eversley is
likewise the senior member of the
Athenaeum Club The last occasion
on which he crossed the Atlantic was
six weeks before the great war. when,
at the age of eighty-two or more, he
came to America for the purpose Of
visiting his old friend, the late Jo-
seph H. Choate.
At one time his name-not that of
Lord Eversley. but of George Shaw Z
Lefevre, which he bore before his ele-'
vatfon to the peerage-was very well
known and popular in this country.
| This was due to a couple of speeches
which he delivered in the house Of
Commons, now some sixty years or
more ago. The first was his maiden
speech. 1t concerned the escape Of
the Alabama from the MerSey during
the civil war, and he was so vigorous
in denouncing the gross carelessness
of the English officials intrusted with
the duty of OBTAINING the Confederate
| later. Great Britain would have TO
pay very heavily for her neglect. that
his remarks received widespread at
tention on this side of the Atlantic
On the occasion of his second ora
torical effort in the house of COM
! mons he happened to be the first of a
series of speakers on the subject of
England's relations with the United
States. advocating friendlier atti-
tude ana urging the necessity of Cul-
tivating American good will. The late
Cyrus Field was in the gallery of the
house of commons and had arranged
that the entire speeches should be ca
| bled in eXtense to New York, feat.
never until that time attempted.
Through some unforeseen accident to
the cable all telegraphic communica-
ton between the new and the old
world was suddenly interrupted at
vre's speech had passed, in toto, safe
| ly over the wires. Thus it was that
| on the following day his utterances
| figured quite alone in the American
press concerning the subject before
parliament, namely, the Improvement
! of relations between the two great
English speaking countries, and he
thereby acquired a reputation for
side Of the ocean which was in no
sense of the word warranted by his
political standing at that time in
England.
Later on he became a more impor-
tant figure in English public life, was
the principal lieutenant of John
Bright when the latter was minister
of commerce and was afterward, in
turn, minister Of public works, post
master general and president of the
local hoard haipcr
ually raised to seat in the house of
lords by way of consoling him for his
exclusion from the administration of
Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman on
the return of the liberals to power in
1905. On receiving his peerage he
took the title of Lord Eversley.
which had been previously borne by
that famous kinsman of his. who re-
mains on record as the best, and GER /.
tainly tthe most handsome. speakerS
who has ever presided over the de- =
Hberations of the house of commons.
That peer took his title from the par
shire country seat. Heckheld Court.
was situated and of which his friend
and neighbor, Canon Charles Kings
ley. was the rector.
1t is necessary to mention this in
order to explain an odd verse in one
of kingsley's poems. Kingsley was
passipnately fond of fishing in the
chalk streams of Eversley and, for,
his fishing. he loved southwest &
wind, so productive of rain, a windy
which brought him sounds from the
neighboring military camp at Alder
shot, sounds from the railroad line
and sounds of the clock striking at
Reckfeld Court, the home of his good
friend, Lord Eversley., These well
come. sounds he could hear when
there was d southwest wind. The,
verse. runs as follows: -
Oh, blessed drums Of Aldershot,
Oh, blessed, blessed, southwest train,
Oh, blessed, blessed, speakers clock,
All prophesying rain.
No one would know what was
meant by this verse, unless informed
that IL referred to the clock of Heck
| field Court, the country seat of the
first Lord Eversley, speaker of the
house OF commons. and that the traipM
I was the one which passes on thu
London and Southwestern railroad,s
nearby, or that the drums of the
great military camp at Aldershot
| could be heard at Eversley- when the
wind was In q certain direction.