Ulster Bull

As if such an announcement were the most natural thing in the world, the Government of Northern Ireland issued this communique last week in Belfast :

"The King, on recommendation of R. B. Bennett, Prime Minister of Canada, offered the Governor Generalship of that Dominion to the Duke of Abercorn, but the Duke felt he should remain in Ulster to complete his second term of office and therefore could not see his way to accept this appointment."

To English sticklers for good form this was a most outrageous Irish bull. Had not His Majesty eventually appointed the 9th Earl of Bessborough to be Governor General of Canada (TIME, Feb. 16)? To brand Bessborough publicly as a second choice, to reveal blandly that the Duke of Abercorn has turned Canada down, preferring to remain Governor of Northern Ireland--"that," sputtered the Liberal London Star last week, "is one of those things which are 'not done.' We cannot recall an indiscretion of parallel magnitude in connection with a command from royalty. ... In Court circles . . . this gross discourtesy . . . to the Crown . . . has not passed unnoticed. . . ."

Meanwhile Canadian correspondents in England were giving their second-choice Governor General, a friendly American "once over."

Ponsonby, the Earl of Bessborough's family name, is pronounced, they reported, "Punsunby."

The chief interest of the Earl, they ascertained, is in organizing and performing amateur theatricals--although, as is well known, his name as a director is on the stationery of some 35 corporations. He organized some years ago an amateur theatrical company for which he built a theatre at Stansted Park, his estate. His favorite role--and the Canadians reported that "he has a commanding presence"--is the title role in Shakespeare's Henry IV. Educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was called to the Bar in 1903, is a onetime lieutenant in the Bucks Yeomanry.

Canadians also produced these statistics:

1) Lord Bessborough is the fourth Irish peer to become Governor General of Canada, his predecessors having been Viscount Monck (1867-68), the Earl of Dufferin (1872-78) and the Marquess of Lansdowne (1883-88).

2) Roberte, Countess of Bessborough, will be the first daughter of a Frenchman to become the chatelaine of Rideau Hall, Canada's "White House."

Addendum: "As Mile Roberte de Neuflize she was well known as the only daughter and heiress of that great Parisian banker, the late Baron Jean de Neuflize, Regent of the Bank of France, and head of one of the most socially distinguished Protestant families in France."

3) Being only 50, Lord Bessborough is the youngest man ever to become Canadian Governor General. His only son and heir, Viscount Duncannon, is 17. His only daughter, Moyra Blanche Madeleine, is twelve.

To Canadian and other correspondents last week, Lord Bessborough said: "I can conceive of no greater honor than to represent the King in Canada and to be recommended for that post by the Prime Minister of Canada. I look forward with the utmost eagerness to an early arrival in Canada with Lady Bessborough."

It soon appeared that His Majesty was not really vexed at loyal Ulster. While attending a linen show in London last week, he said: "Every shirt I wear comes from Belfast. I am very particular about that."

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