The Government is still hunting with a candle for a
Viceroy of India. Lord Cromer, the best man possible, has, it is said, been offered the appointment, but has refused it on private grounds, and the renewed rumour as to Lord Herschel' is pro- bably as baseless as before. Lord Brassey is a. favourite with some papers, apparently because he is going on a visit to Calcutta ; and others mention Lord Carrington, who is unequal to such a responsibility. The only other name at all prominent is that of Lord Elgin, doubtless because this Cabinet thinks the hereditary claim a. bad one ; and no one mentions Lord Stanraore, who would undoubtedly be competent, and who voted for the Home-rule Bill, The Government will probably end by selecting some "dark horse," and we can only hope that he will be under forty, that he will know his own mind, and that he will possess the sum—about 40,000—which a Viceroy has to pay on entry for his predecessor's wines, equipages, Simla furniture, and other appurtenances of his state. In Indian Viceroyalty going a-begging is a novel spectacle.
Previous page
