On Monday Lord Curzon of Kedleston delivered a discur- sive
speech at the Royal Societies' Club upon the continent which he is after this year to rule. He maintained, like Lord Beaconsfield, the dangerous doctrine that the pivot of the British Empire is India, and not the two little islands in the North Sea, that our future destiny will lie in Asia, and that one day "Asiatic sympathies and knowledge will not be the hobby of a few but the interest of the entire nation." We think exactly the contrary. India is a great possession, and, for ourselves, we feel the keenest interest in Asia ; but the pivot of British power is the prosperity of Britain, which has often been affected by a night's debating, and if ever the many rule India instead of the few the Empire there will disappear. After regulation compliments to British officers, Lord Curzon declared that the saving grace of humour belonged to Orientals as well as to ourselves—quite true, and much too often forgotten—and then proceeded to hint that five years is much too short a term for a Viceroy. We agree heartily, if he is successful, but India is too full of risks to allow us to wait till an incompetent Viceroy has grown into a com- petent one. If Lord Curzon can govern as Lord Cromer has governed Egypt, we hope his term of office will be a pro- tracted one ; but if he is to govern like Lord Lytton, who had a ray of genius in him but no administrative force, the quicker he is home again the better.
Previous page
