George Nathaniel Curzon was a man of considerable intellect and ambition, combined with a degree of energy and application which were all the more remarkable given that he suffered throughout his life from a spinal deformity which gave him continuous pain and often incapacitated him. His correspondence was prodigious and his output of books, articles and speeches extensive, while the official documents that he produced reveal his close attention to even minor aspects of his responsibilities. Some of his speeches and articles were concerned with British political affairs, and other articles...