6o8 INDIA 



er discovered; but the actual murderers of Mr. Jackson were promptly tried and execu- 

 ted, though one of the conspirators (Savarkar), by escaping for the moment from a 

 British steamer to the quay at Marseilles, furnished occasion for a reference to the 

 international tribunal at the Hague, which decided against his extradition to France. 

 It was also in 1909 that London was startled on July 26. by the assassination of Sir W. 

 Curzon Wyllie and a Parsi doctor at the Imperial Institute. The murderer, a student 

 from -the Punjab, was duly hanged on July 27th. It may be emphasised that most 

 of the anarchical crimes were committed by youths of imperfect education and morbid 

 temperament. In January 1910, a Mahommedan superintendent of police was shot in 

 a corridor of the Calcutta High Court while the final appeal in the Alipur bomb case was 

 being heard; and in the same month an attempt was detected to tamper with the 

 fidelity of a native regiment in garrison at Calcutta. Subsequently, despite an iso- 

 lated outrage here and there, however, the spirit of conciliation overcame the 

 demon of " unrest." An Indian member had been admitted to the executive council or 

 cabinet of the Viceroy, and elected members sat on all the legislative councils. In 

 February 1910, the government found themselves justified in releasing the nine persons 

 who had been " deported," or imprisoned without any charge, two years before at a 

 time when Bengal was honey-combed with samitis or secret societies. At the end of the 

 year a further stage of conciliation was reached when Sir W. Wedderburn, a retired 

 Bombay civilian of the highest character, went out to India to be president of the 

 National Congress held at Allahabad, and to promote good will between Hindus and 

 Mahommedans. 



The New Viceroy. With the arrival of the newly created Baron Hardinge of Pens- 

 hurst (b. 1858) as Viceroy, in November 1910, it was everywhere tacitly recognised that 

 a new chapter had opened in the political history of India, though no one dared to fore- 

 tell the Royal visit and its marvellous results. Lord Hardinge had from 1906 been, as 

 Sir Charles Hardinge, at the head of the Foreign Office in London, and intimately asso- 

 ciated with King Edward (see E. B. viii, 999b) ; and in succeeding Lord Minto, who had 

 been personally popular with all classes, he brought a varied official experience to bear 

 on the problems of Indian government. Though 1911 was marked by one serious 

 political crime, the murder of Mr. R. W. D. Ashe, a Madras magistrate, on June igth, 

 events proved that the end of an anxious period was in sight. Nor need this verdict 

 be upset by the deplorable outrage on Lord Hardinge himself at the end of 1912, when 

 on December 22 a bomb was thrown at the Viceroy as he entered Delhi in state, injur- 

 ing him somewhat severely and killing an attendant. The occurrence of such a crime 

 is serious enough, no doubt, but represents the spent force of pure anarchism and not 

 any widespread movement. 



The Royal Visit. The Royal visit to India, announced in the speech from the 

 throne on February 6, 1911, is known to have been undertaken on the King's own 

 initiative, in spite of some not unnatural warnings. Never before, since Angevin times, 

 had an English sovereign left his own realm for a state progress through his dominions 

 beyond the sea. From first to last its success exceeded anticipation, being marred by no 

 untoward incident. The P.&O. S.S. "Medina" was chosen for the Royal yacht and 

 manned with a crew from the navy. She sailed on November nth, and the first Indian port 

 at which she touched was Aden, where the King and Queen landed. Bombay was 

 reached on December 2d, and here three days were spent, the King and Queen sleeping 

 on the "Medina." The chief public functions were a welcome on the Apollo Bandar, where 

 a Saracenic archway and a pavilion had been erected; a procession through the streets of 

 the city, and a children's fete. On the night of December sth they departed from Bom- 

 bay by the recently opened railway through Central India and Rajputana, arriving at 

 Delhi on the morning of December yth. Here ten days were crowded with ceremonial 

 duties: first a procession from the Fort through the city to the Durbar camp; then the 

 reception of ruling chiefs, whose visits were returned by the Viceroy; the laying of the 

 foundation of the All India memorial to King Edward; the presentation of colours to 

 British and Indian regiments; and a review of 50,000 troops. The culminating scene 



