Lord William Beresford, V.C., Some Memories of a Famous Sportsman, Soldier and WitMenzies, Stuart, Mrs.
History
Lord William Beresford, V.C., Some Memories of a Famous Sportsman, Soldier and Wit
Menzies, Stuart, Mrs.
Beresford, William Leslie de la Poer, Lord, 1847-1900
Now there is a gorgeous thing in pavilions, as will be seen by the
photograph, but I do not feel any ambition to go there, liking the
memory of Annandale as it was in earlier times too well to have any
desires for buildings comfortable or otherwise, in that historic
little corner. After a race meeting there was a general scramble up
the hillside again to dress for dinner and the evening’s amusements,
of which there were plenty; Lord William took care of that;
theatricals, dances, concerts, Christy Minstrel performances, and at
times quite classic and dignified oratorios, besides endless private
parties and social gatherings.
Government House has to fulfil its obligations, and give a certain
number of dances and parties, so has the Commander-in-Chief and the
Governor of the North-West Provinces, this being one of the things
they are out there for. Some live up to the letter of the law, so
to speak, others are full of hospitality and private enterprise,
especially those with young people of their own out there with them.
On August 6th there were great rejoicings, a son being born to Lord
Lytton, who was away in the hills at the time in connection with
his work. Lady Lytton, in a letter speaking of the many kindnesses
of their A.D.C., says: “Lord William rode twenty-six miles to Fagoo
with letters (to Lord Lytton), and brought me back the answers
and congratulations the same evening,” which is just the kindly
sympathetic thing he would do.
The work and responsibility attached to the life of a Viceroy
is great and anxious. It is well that he should have sympathetic
workers under him who will relieve him, as much as possible, of all
unnecessary worries and anxieties. Lord William felt this keenly, and
all the Viceroys he served under expressed their gratitude for his
never-failing thoughtfulness and unselfish devotion.
When it is realised that this one man, with his handful of
councillors, keeps in touch with 207,000,000 Brahmins, 9,000,000
Buddhists, 62,000,000 Mohammedans, 2,000,000 Sikhs, 1,300,000
Janns, 94,000 Zoroastrians (Parsees) and 8,000 Jews, not counting
the 8,000,000 of the aboriginal tribes whose religion I do not
know, considers all their grievances, studies carefully all their
superstitions and traditional etiquettes, managing to keep all more
or less happy, it seems a superhuman task.
That such comparative contentment reigns is eloquent of the amount of
thought and care devoted to the smallest detail of government. Lord
Lytton came to the country knowing little of it or its people, but
quickly made a study of both, and was deeply interested.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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