India - - Bombay last week was full of the
pageantry of welcome and farewell. On Sunday-the Viceroyalty changed hands and Lord Irwin sailed for England. No truer friend to Irelia or more loyal servant of her King-Emperor has fiver left her shores. His five years of office have been years of crisis, fraught with more than ordinary anxiety. Lord Irwin may well look back on them with pride. It is in large part due to him that India to-day faces with hope, if not with confidence, the gigantic task of reconstruction which must precede self-government. In so far as his achievements have been concrete, India's condition is still such that to-morrow or the day after may see much of his work undone. It is for the spirit and methods of his statesmanship, not, alas, for its specific results, that we can predict for him a certain place in history. Fanatics in India have accused- him of re- pression ; a section of his own countrymen, without the excuse of fanaticism, in some cases without even sincerity, have charged him with weakness. Posterity, with a truer perspective, will recognise in him the founder of a great new tradition in imperial administration. His fiftieth birthday was the occasion of graceful exchange of messages between him and the King-Emperor, whom he has represented so faithfully.
