MR. WINSTON CHURCHILL

IF the Pioneer’s statement that Mr. Winston Churchill has been appointed to succeed Lord Chelmsford turns out to be correct, then, for the first time in British Indian history, India will have as her Viceroy a statesman of the very first rank in British politics. It is, indeed, undeniable that at the present time there is no man in England with the undoubted exceptions of Mr. Lloyd George and the doubtful exception of Mr. Asquith who holds a higher or more commanding position in the public life of his country than does this distinguished statesman who was years ago hailed by Mr. Stead as the coming man in England. At that time the race was between Mr. Lloyd George himself and Mr. Churchill, and Mr. Stead evidently thought Mr. Churchill would earlier ascent to the height than his competitor from Wales. In this one particular the anticipation of Mr. Stead has been falsified. Mr. Churchill not only has not become Premier, but there is no immediate or even early chance of his rising to that position. But in all other respects, the prophecy has been fulfilled to the letter. Mr. Churchill has for years occupied official positions next in importance only to the Premiership, and in the Cabinet, in Parliament, as well as in the country he has been one of the few men whom the Premier himself has had to seriously reckon with. The popular impression, indeed, is that he is the one man in the Cabinet of whom Mr. Lloyd George is jealous, and it would be no matter for surprise if his appointment as Viceroy was itself seriously interpreted as a proof of this jealousy, of the Premier’s unwillingness to brook a rival in the kingship of Brentford. Such interpretation would not, however, be quite just to Mr. Lloyd George, and it is certain that Mr. Churchill would not have accepted the office of Viceroy if he had seen any early chance of succeeding to the Premiership.