47 8 ENGLISH POLITICAL HISTORY 



in future Delhi would replace Calcutta as the Capital, and that Lord Curzon's partition 

 of Bengal, which had led to so much contention but which not long since had been 

 described even by ministers in Parliament as res judicala, would be annulled, Bengal 

 becoming a presidency, Behar, Chota Nagpur and Orissa being placed under a lieuten-r 

 ant-governor, and Assam being restored to a chief-commissionership. Not a word of 

 this impending coup d'etat had leaked out, though now the despatches of the Indian 

 Government recommending it (August 25, IQU) and of the Secretary of State sanction- 

 ing it (November i) were published. Without making any communication to Parlia- 

 ment, and without giving any opportunity for discussion for when once royally an- 

 nounced in this way, the step, by common consent of all parties in England, was irrev- 

 ocable, however much it might be criticised an English Radical Ministry had 

 deliberately utilised the King-Emperor's position and prestige to carry out a great 

 autocratic act of State policy, which otherwise certainly could not have been accom- 

 plished without considerable friction. So far as concerned the restoration of Delhi, the 

 ancient centre of the Mahommedan Empire, as the capital, the announcement was 

 undoubtedly an appropriate and effective accompaniment of the inauguration of a new 

 Emperor, a dramatic exhibition of monarchical will; and it was made in a magnificent 

 spirit, characteristic of Oriental ideas. Nobody outside the inner ring of the King's 

 advisers, not even among important Anglo-Indian officials, had guessed at such a pro- 

 posal; yet it had obvious advantages, both sentimental and administrative. Besides 

 gratifying the Mahommedans and others to whom Delhi had immemorial associations 

 with Indian Imperialism, whereas Calcutta represented rather the traditions of " John 

 Company," it not only moved the seat of government away from the rather disturbing 

 influences of Bengal politics, but also provided a central railway position, from which 

 the annual migration to Simla in the hot weather could be made more conveniently and 

 at half the cost. This latter point, combined with profit from the enhanced value of 

 land available for building sites, could be off-set against the lavish outlay (estimated 

 at 4,000,000) required to bring the new capital into existence. Bengal and the Hindus 

 meanwhile were consoled for the removal of the Indian Government from Calcutta by 

 the rearrangements made in partial satisfaction at all events of the opposition to Lord 

 Curzon's partition of the province. From a political point of view this was the part of 

 the announcement specially open to criticism, and to Lord Curzon himself it came 

 as a personal rebuff of the bitterest kind; but though the opposing views were well 

 expressed by him and others in subsequent debates in Parliament, the deed was done; 

 in India the King's word had settled it. No single act of Government in the history 

 of the British constitutional monarchy had ever exhibited so promptly the latent 

 resources of the Throne as an extra-parliamentary factor in Imperial administration. 

 That a Radical Ministry, supposed to stand for " democratic " methods and the 

 responsibility of the House of Commons, should have had resort to the machinery of 

 autocracy, was surprising, however, to a good many of their democratic supporters. 



By a curious coincidence, just at the time of the Indian Durbar, the P. & O. liner 



" Delhi," with the Princess Royal (the King's sister), her husband the Duke of Fife, 



and their daughters, Princesses Alexandra and Maud, on board, was wrecked 



f ?Z* i J < in a gale off Cape Spartel on the Morocco Coast (December i3th) and 



the Duke of 



Fife. became a total loss; and the boat m which the Royal passengers were taken 



to shore was upset in the surf, so that they had a somewhat trying experi- 

 ence. It was hoped that the party had escaped with nothing worse than a wetting and 

 a shock, but after going on to Egypt, whither they were bound for the Princess Royal's 

 health, the Duke of Fife fell seriously ill with pneumonia and he died at Assuan on 

 January agth. His elder daughter now became Duchess of Fife in her own right. He 

 and the Duke of Argyll (husband of the King's aunt, Princess Louise) had been made 

 Knights of the Garter at the Coronation; and his death removed from the Royal circle 

 a Scottish noble of high character and patriotism, esteemed by all who knew him. 



In any survey of contemporary English history it is only proper to dwell first on mat- 

 ters directly connected with the Crown and Royal Family, because of the interest 



