'A Grandfather's Tale: Memoirs being mainly concerned with service in the Indian Army and the Indian Political Service in India and the Persian Gulf from 1932-1947' [‎47v] (94/118)

difficult to deal with than the Irish! Then, to make amends, he assured Pelly
that even if he were Irish as long as he was doing "a fine job^ of work for
the British Raj"(sic) he need not worry. The whole episode, which happened
while I was waiting my turn to bid the old man farewell, struck me as highly
comic, especially as Alexander had just come hot foot from giving away on a
plate a large portion of what the World yet contains of the said British
Raj!”
’’Next morning at 8.30 a.m. we saw Alexander and his party off in tneir
Dakota en route for Baghdad and thence to Malta and the U.K. A few hours later,
at noon, arrived Lord Pethwick Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and their party
of some sixteen odd. We took them all back to the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. for light refreshments,
and also to give the Sheikh an opportunity of calling on the Secretary of
State, Lord Pethwick Lawrence”.
’’The latter, to my amazement, is even more senile and decayed than his
photographs would suggest, and truly lives up to his nickname of ’’Lord
Pathetic”. It is simply incredible to me that any Government could descend to
having such an old dodderer in the Cabinet, let alone allow him to nead such
an extremely vital mission to India."
"Sir Stafford Cripps was charming, and has obviously borne the heat and
burden of the negotiations, with Alexander as comic relief and "Pathetic”
occasionally waking up from his doze to say "Yes, Yes" at the right or wrong
moment. I have always realized that Sir Stafford had an exceptionally fine
brain but had no idea that his "off the record" manners were so extremely
pleasant. The rest of the party, ranging from a Permanent Deputy Under
secretary, India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. (Croft) to a C.I.D. Detective, were quite agreeable
with the sole exception of an ill-mannered, dirty and unshaven young squirt
named ’Major’ W who is the Labour M.P. for some misguided constituency”.
"Lord P. L. had only an hour to spare, and we saw them all off again
in their Sunderland Flying Boat at about 1 p.m..”
The five women in the party were in Jane's special charge (as both
Galloway and Pelly were then still bachelors), and they were, I think,
relieved to have a female at hand to look after them. When everyone arrived
Jane was at the top of the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. stairs to receive them, on the upper floor,
and when they left she stood there bowing graciously as they all, from Lord
P. L. down to the lady’s maid, said ’Goodbye and thank you'. She had felt,
she said afterwards, rather like Queen Mary at the head of a receiving line,
but she did not look it. She was then just twenty-seven.
It was soon after these visits, I think, that I remarked that if the
plan to quit India in such indecent haste went through, Great Britain would
wake up one morning to find itself just a miserable little island in the
North Sea that no one cared a damn about. To my intense regret that prophecy
has to a large extent proved true, though one keeps on hoping that sometime
or other the tide will turn and we shall regain our proper place in the world.