believe he has even entered into amicable relations with neighbouring potentates. He will pass from his home of Kedleston in Derbyshire to the exact reproduction of Kedleston in Government House, Calcutta. We all hope that in his time India may enjoy a prosperity which has of late been denied to her, and that immunity from war and famine and pestilence may be the blessed prerogative of Lord Curzon's Viceroyalty. I have only one word more to say before I sit down, and it is this—I think we all must have in our minds, at least some of us must have in our minds, some immortal words on the occasion of this gathering so interesting and even so thrilling. Do you all remember the beginning of the tragedy of "Macbeth"? The first witch says: "When shall we three meet again, In thunder, lightning, or in rain ?” The second witch replies : "When the hurly-burly's done, When the battle's lost and won." Surely these significant words must be present to us to-night. You are sending out three eminent men on three vitally important missions to different parts of the Empire. Two of them, at any rate, go for periods of five years, and we must think even in this moment of triumph and of joy of the period of their return, "When shall we three meet again?" That must be in their minds too; but this at least we may be sure of: if we are here present, or some of us, to greet them on their return when the hurly-burly's done and when the battle is not lost for we exclude that-when the battle is won, they will have a tale of stewardship which is nobly undertaken and triumphantly achieved, one which has helped to weld the Empire which we all have it at heart to maintain, one which will redound to their own credit, and which will do if even but a little-for there is so much to be added to-to add to the glory and the credit of our mother Eton. I propose the health of Lord Minto, Lord Curzon, and the Rev. J. E. C. Welldon. When Lord Rosebery, on October 30th, 1894, went to Bristol to unveil the statue of Burke (see page 4), the city seized the opportunity to make him a Freeman. In saying "Thank you" for the honour and the accompanying silver casket, Lord Rosebery (with distinct appropriateness) sang the praises of Civic as constrasted with Parliamentary life. He had himself at that time been Prime Minister a little more than six months; he has recently become an Epsom Urban District Councillor. The resultant pump can only be a matter of time. THE HAPPY TOWN COUN CILLOR I AM not a member of the House of Commons, and I never have been a member of the House of Commons; but I confess when I attempt to imagine what that existence can be I am bound to say that in every respect, so far as I can judge, a business man, a man who is fond of his home and of the life of home, and who wishes to see something tangible accomplished by his own work and his own exertions, would infinitely prefer the career of a municipal councillor to that of a member of the House of Commons. You smile, but what, after all, is the career of a member of the House of Commons as judged by the life outside? After an election of an agonising character he may or may not be elected to |