geographical but the political and imperial centre— ot' the British Empire His travels in Asia for the purpose of acquiring information at first hand were all carried out within the limit of time in which he held a seat in the House of Commons, and they resulted in the publication of three important works, i.e., •• Russia in Central Asia," published in 1889 ; “ Persia and the Persian Question." 1892 ; and “ Problems of the Far East," 1894. In 1895 lie received the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. Although he had travelled extensively, and had been recognised in the House of Commons as one of the coming men, it was nut until he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in 1895, under the Salisbury Administration, that Lord Curzon held a very prominent position in the Home Govern¬ment. In his position at the Foreign Office he showed qualities of eloquence, debating power, and of argument which have hardly been sur-passed in tile career of any man of his standing.
In 1895 Lord Curzon married Mary, a daughter of the late Mr. L. Z. Leiter. a well-known millionaire of Chicago, who for some years previous to Iter marriage had lived at Washington where, as an intimate friend of the wife of the then President of the United States, Grover Cleveland, she had become a most important factor in the sociat life of the City. The marriage took place in April, 1895. and the newly-made wife quickly identified herself with her husband’s work, dis¬played a marked interest in his literary labours, and stimulated his ambition by the exercise of a healthy and inspiring influence. Her beautiful home in London was fast becoming a rendezvous for the leaders of the Conservative party, when her husband was appointed Viceroy and Governor- General of India, and shortly afterwards raised to the Peerage, with the title of Lord Curzon of Kedleston.
Lord Curzon assumed control of the Indian Administration in January, 1899. He came to India imbued with the idea that iu the great experiments being carried out in this country lay the true test of Dominion, the real touch¬stone of our Imperial greatness. He was firmly of the opinion that courage and sympathy were the chief qualities needed in dealing with Indian problem*, and that it was better to have ideals and fail to reach them, than never to have ideals at all. Me came to India as a rising politician who had supplemented wide and solid studies of Asiatic politics bv extensive travel. His high credentials of statecraft, his interesting, and, from a political point of view, slightly romantic career, his you tit, and above all, his oft-expressed love for India, and sympathy with her people and their aspirations, all combined to give Lord Curzon’s welcome to India an enthusias¬tic cordiality which had been absent in the case of many of his predecessors. During the years that he was Viceroy, Lord Curzon investigated with unabated zeal and energy the endless ques¬tions that present themselves to the responsible ruler of 300,000.000 people. He put new life and vigour into the great machine of Govern¬ment and with a firm belief in himself, and iti rhe mighty empire which he governed, he discerned the dangers and difficulties of India’s position, as they exist within and without her frontiers. Lord Curzon never extenuated the difficulties which confronted the Government in India, but he always showed himself confident that with forethought and decision they may be overcome. No British statesman in our day has realised the nature of the transformation that has been wrought in the changing politics of Asia in their recent years, or has appreciated more fully the effects it is calculated to produce upon the internal and external position of India. And a notable lea tore of Lord Cwrzon’s Administration has been the vigour with which he grappled with and attempted to settle outstanding questions which weaker Viceroys had allowed to remain open. Like other great men, Lord Curzon has had his detractors, but when his work in India passes into history, and is reviewed on that basis, his personal idiosyncrasies will be subordinated to his firmness, his energy, and the thoroughness with which he has raised the already high standard of Indian administration, and the singleness of purpose and independence of mind that have given him so no¬table a place in the long line of Governor-Generals. 'I’he chief features of that administration are dealt with in the pages devoted to historical survey.
In the military controversy, which resulted in Lord Curzon *s resignation of the Viceroy ally of India, his Lordship’s views had on his side the whole of the Civil Services in India, the unani¬mous weight of non-official English opinion in this country, an overpowering preponderance of Indian opinion and the support of the majority of the Indian Army. His Lordship made it clear, iu his parting speech at the Byculla Club, Bombay, that his action was not due to a personal quarrel or that it was based on personal grounds. •* 1 resigned,’’ he explained, "for a great principle, or rather for two great principles, firstly, the hitherto uncontested, the essential and, iu the long run, the indestructible, subordination of Military to Civil authority in the administration of ail well-conducted states, and, secondly, the payment of due and becoming regard to Indian autho¬rity;’’ adding significantly, ‘‘the principles have not vanished though they have momentarily dis¬appeared. They will re-appear and that before very long." Lord Curzon left India on the tilth November 1905, having attempted and accom¬plished much during his seven years of good and conscientious work.
