THE "BRITISH WEEKLY" AND LORD MORLEY ON LORD CURZON.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR?' J SIR,--In the last issue of the British Weekly, in an article headed "Are Nonconformists Bengalees P" Lord Curzon is described as a man whose " talents are not much above mediocrity," a puny and defeated despot," "insolent, over- bearing, intolerable." When he became Viceroy of India " his assumption, his egotism, his despotism, became egregious."
"Not only did Lord Curzon fail as a statesman, he failed as a man." "He accelerated by a hundred years the resentment and rebellion against the English rule." Lord Curzon is accused of treating Nonconformists as the older Nabobs and Lord Curzon himself treated the Bengalees. These are merely samples of the stuff that the article contains. This religious journal even surpasses its great hero—Mr. Lloyd George—in his abuse of Lord Curzon.
Now if the question were asked whether the reverend
editor of the British Weekly, Sir Robertson Nicoll, or Lord Morley, the Radical Secretary for India, is the higher
authority on Lord Curzon's administration of the affairs of India during his term of office, no rational man could hesitate as to the answer. And here is what Lord Morley said on that question in a speech delivered on February 23rd, 1909 :—
"You will never send to India, and you have never sent to India, a Viceroy his superior, if, indeed, his equal in force of mind, in unsparing, remorseless industry, in passionate and devoted interest in all that concerns the well-being of India. With an imagination fired by the grandeur of the political problem India presents, you never sent a man more eminently successful than when you sent Lord Curzon."
If the writer of this article knew what he was writing about, he would be aware, as you pointed out at the time, that Lord Curzon resigned his great office because he chose to stand by one of the great principles of the English Constitution.
My sympathies are naturally with Nonconformists and true Liberalism. But I am of opinion that they can be upheld without doing violence to truth, honesty, and fair play.—
I am, Sir, &c., AN IRISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER.
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