Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-26
CONTINUED From First pase)

1
his lone shoulders. His anxieties airs
! sometimes mortal.
Said the novelist diplomat, Lord Lyl-
! ton, whom Disraeli elevated to the vice.
| regal throne half a century ago: IT
| devoted my life to India and everybody
sbused me. I come here The was then
Ambassador n Paris) do nothing and
am praised to the skies"
The Marques Curzon OF KedleSton,
the magnificent nobleman who had two
terms OF the viceroyalty at the Begin
| ming OF this century-and VINO was so
enamored Of forms and ceremonies that
! he had his own butler at the foreign
ONCE when he was foreign secretary.
and once ordered a fire made up thus,
| 'Footman, throw fuel on the flannel
Curzon, of all men, ought to have en-
! joyed the pomp and panoply of the
| viceregal office. But he records that,
once he was at his desk at 10 am, he
never left 1t, excepting for brief meal
or public function or a drive, until
2 o'clock the following morning. over
the viceregal throne" he lamented,
hangs not only canopy of broidere6
gold, but mist of human tears"
Give, the great soldier who began
the conquest Of India for England, was
driven by persecution on his return
home to commit suicide. Warren Hast =
I
eral, who spread British dominion over
the northern and central provinces and
founded British rule in India, came
home broken in health after Is tremer-
dous years-and was promptly i'm
peached by his political enemies.
Worn Out at As.
Lord Dalhousie, who, despite contin-
ual Ill health and the loss of an adored
wife, held on for seven critical years,
added four ancient sovereignties ard
$4,000, 600 OF annual revenue to the
territorial rent roll of the East India
Co. and consolidated the rule which
Hastings had founded-Dalhousie re-
turned nome poor man, broken in
health and died, worn out at as.
wellesley, another great viceroy, was
| recalled and narrowly escaped impeach-
ment. Several others over the last
hundred years have had to resign 10
escape the ignominy of dismissal owing
10 political maneuvers at home. One
was assassinated; three died on the lob.
Lord Irwin resembles at points that
Lord Canning who as governor general
saw the long-drawn agony of the mu-
Tiny drag its bloody trail across the
upper provinces in the Sos. He had A
| conscience. He had also inflexible
principles. Il will not" he declared,
govern In anger. will be mer-
ciful without weakness" The town hall
OF Calcutta rang with denunciations
ana demands for his recall He refused
sIner 70 resign or to yield to the popu-
lar cIamor for policy of revenge.
Pleasures Are Continued.
The normal life of Government House
and the capital ran on undisturbed. He
gave dinner parties, balls, as though
India were not in danger of being lost
TO the British crown. The Oriental must
not perceive signs of worry in the ex-
alted regions where the governor gen.
eral dwelt in legendary calm.
AT the end OF four years he was ready
expired in his arms. He held ON. In
the Summer Of his sixth year of ONCE
ne handed over to his successor and
sailed for home. He landed in Nav.
In June they bore his mortal remains
up the nave of Westminster Abbey.
Now the tom-tomS of the imperialists
peat in Whitehall and in Calcutta. De-
bates have been raging in both houses
OF Parliament in London around the
Viceroy's declaration. Irwin remains
calm in his palace in old Delhi. He al
ways held that the grant of q constitu-
ton to India under the MontaRu-
Chelmsford reforms implied the eventual
grant OF fun dominion status. and that
the governing race must perish before
goes back upon its implied sacred
pledge; and by his declaration he has
satisfied his conscience.
| He goes on with his job. He receives
the raJaS OF the semi-autonomous states,
the petty chiefs of the frontier the party
leaders from the political focus points OF
British India. He carries on his enor-
nous correspondence with provincial
governors and heads Of administration
He writes his weekly private letter to
his ofhcial chief, the secretary Of state
Tor India, back at the India Office in
Whitehall. He pulls all the threads
which, II a viceroy so wishes-and Is
shrewd and tactful-carry his influence
and authority into every corner Of vast
and teeming India.
His Duty Is First.
So long as he is doing what he con-
ceiveS to be his duty, Lord Irwin does
not care for any one or anything. That
largely explains why his friend and adj
mirer, Stanley Baldwin, picked him to
be viceroy In succession to the brilliant,
self-n1ade jew lawyer politician, Rufus
Isaacs. now Earl of Reading.
Lord Irwin was the Hon. Edward
Wood, son and heir of Viscount Halifax,
a pillar of the Episcopal Church land
that is all that can be said about him
Of general INTEREST,". The question of q
livelihood never worrisd him. He was
well on already when q wealthy aunt
died and left him gigantic fortune, q
| historic castle and thousands of acres
of the richest land In England.
He was 20 when he quietly entered
Parliament, less as q matter of allibi-
ton than as a matter of duty. II being
! the tradition for the eldest son Of an
English peer to occupy a seat in the
lower chamber If he can get in without
a rough and rude electoral fight-as he
usually can IN a rural constituency
which he holds in the hollow of his
hand.
He fought in the Egyptian campaign,
but did not do anything of a spectacular
character. Then he had a minor min
isterial post under winston Churchill.
When Lloyd George was pulled down by
the crusted conservatives and the regime
of the brilliant coalition brains was over,
Edward Wood was taken into the Bald
win cabinet, first as minister of educa-
ton and subsequently as minister Of
agriculture.
Remote From the Crowd.
He shrank from the mechanism Of
publicity and the methods Of achieving
celebrity and popularity. He viewed the
lines of public life with distaste. A
| little old-fashioned. Remote from the
jazz age and crowd. He had never
been to a night club, smart restau-
rant, leg show. He had never danced
fox trot. He belonged to the heredi-
tary English countryside and talked to
farmers in their own tongue. Baldwin,
third generation descendant of an in
dustrial magnate who had taken to the
country life-Baldwin, with his pigs
and his pipe-naturally admired him.
Save that he was the tallest man in
the House Of Commons, a staunch
! churchman and one of the Cecil clan
| those ubiquitous CecilS, whose most cell