Apr. 18.
It is dangerous to, judge of a man's place in. history until the time comes for history to be written, Lord Irwin, on succeed. dug: to the Viceroyalty of India, replaced one who, before he entered upon his five-year term, had already achieved greatness in the World, India could apparently, add ttle to Lord cading's reputation. Yet those who realize how patiently.and sagaciously the Marquis of Reading weaned Indian political thought from the arid creed of non-cooperation, how he restored Indian financial credit, how he established a sound " Frontier policy and how he vindicated the essential interdependence British India and Indian Indi will insist that he left India even greater man than when he arrived. Lord Irwin came just five years ago, a young man, almost unknown outside the circle of students of political affairs, He had encounter the difficult, time of testing the Gonstitution—as prescribed by the Government of India Act. He had to face the acute malaise born, in the main, of the growing pains of democratic consciousness. He had to feel the full effects of the impact of world-economic depression the Indian masses. His task was calculated to probe the capacity of the most experienced V statesman; it offered to the untried man a: formidable problem. In the-event, Lord Irwin lays down the reins of office acclaimed in India with an unanimity unparalleled in the history of British administration of that country. It has fallen the lot of some Viceross' to depart with the praise Indians ringing. in their ears; more have gone assured of the esteem of their own country. men. Lord Irwin has achieved the almost singular distinction of being "able to say that, although "he "has carried the logical consequences of British pledges to the limit of generous expression, and, in so doing, has secured the support of the most advanced elements in Indian nationalism, he has strengthened rather than forfeited the confidence of his fellow-countrymen in India and, still more significantly, of the powerful order of Indian Princes.
This fact in itself should have inspired caution in the minds of those in England who—mis-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.