The fact that we are to have simultaneously a new
Viceroy and a new Secretary of State for India is, we note, spoken of with some anxiety. It is an anxiety which we do not share, for both Lord Crewe and Lord Hardinge are men of ripe experience in the conduct of public affairs, and they will be well supported by the permanent officials at the India Office. Lord Crewe is essentially a man of steady judgment, and he is not in the least likely to make blunders or to start upon any sensational Indian policy. What India wants is some man who will understand that at a juncture like the present what is most needed is a statesman who will, as the sailors say, "carry on." Mr. Lewis Harcourt is also a man who does not make blunders out of ignorance or f"lly, and we see no reason why he should not prove a good Colonial Minister. He is admitted on all hands to have the gift of diplomacy, and that is a gift of great importance in dealing with the sell-governing nationa of the Empire.
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