The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-22 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 22 1840

SIR CHARLES FORBES, BART.
Our obituary had to record yesterday the demise
of Sir Charles Forbes, who expired, after a short
illness, at his house in Fitzroy-square, on 'Tuesday
night, the 20th inst., in the 76th year of his age.
Sir Charles has been for more than forty years head
of the first mercantile and financial house in India,
that of Forbes and Co., of Bombay, and his name
stood in the highest repute in the commercial world
for ability, foresight, and rectitude of character.
As a member of the House of Commons for more
than twenty years, he enjoyed the respect and esteem
of men of all parties, for his love of justice, his kindly
feelings towards the suffering or oppressed, and for
the plain, straightforward honesty with which his
opinions were expressed and his votes were invariably
given. A Tory in the strictest sense of the word, he
never allowed his political creed to cloud his fine
judgment end keen sense of right and wrong, and his
manly spirit was readily engaged in favour of the poor,
weak, or persecuted.
Connected from early youth with India, and de-
voted to the welfare of its people, from principle as
well as from feeling, erery faculty of his nature was
enlisted in behalf of a country where he had spent
the happiest years of his life, and in which a large
portion of his noble fortune had been most honourably
acquired. In Parliament and in the Proprietors'
Court of the East India Company his advocacy of
" justice for India" was ardent, untiring, uncom-
promising, and regardless of all personal considera
tions but the rights of the people of his adoption.
And well they appreciated such devoted attachment.
From one end of Hindostan to the other—by the
Parsee, the iiindoo, the Moslem, by men of all creeds
and rank:—his name was beloved, and his character
deeply reverenced. On retiring from India he was
presented by the natives with a magnificent service
of plate, and 27 years after his departure from Bom-
bay a large sum of money (about 0,0001.) was sub-
scribed for the erection of a statue to their friend and
benefactor—the first instance on record of the people
of India raising a statue to any one unconnected with
the civil or military service of the country. The
chisel of Chantrey has admirablyrepresented the com-
manding form, lofty bearing, and massive, benevolent
features of the deceased, and this record of gratitude,
at whose feet votive offerings of flowers are presented
by the natives, now stands in the town•hall of Bombay,
between the statues of Mountstuart Elphinstone and
Sir John Malcolm.
The address of the natives of India respecting the
statue deserves a record—
.. TO SIR CHARLES FORBES, BART.
"Dear and respected Sir,—We have long cherished
the desire of publicly recording the sentiments of respect
and esteem universally entertained towards you by the
native community of India, and of evincing the admira-
tion and del p gratitude with which we have beheld your
unc( acing efforts to promote the interests of this country
and the moral and political improvement of its people.
" Twenty seven years have now elapsed since you
parted from us, but so vivid are all your recollections
and so great is the interest you take in all that concerns
India and the welfare of its inhabitants, that it would
seem almost as if you were still present amongst us,
directly participating, as you formerly did, in all our
anxious cares for the amelioration of our condition and
the extension of tour social; privileges. This feature of
your character is highly honourable to you, as it is a
rare and remarkable one, for our experience has fully
shown us that but few men, however estimable, retain a
recollection of their Eastern friends when they have re-
turned to their native country. New connexions, new
friends, new ties, break the links of their regard; and if
they do not forget us, they cease to take that warm
interest in our affairs which we had hoped for and anti-
cipated. To this common failing of humanity your
conduct has ever formed a distinguished exception; time
and absence, instead of lessening your regard for the
natives of India, appear to have the effect of increasing it.
"To your steady and uncompromising advocacy of
oar cause we feel that we in a great measure owe the
important civil rights of sitting as jurymen and acting
as her Majesty's justices of the peace. It is felt and
acknowledged by all, that unless you had stood forward
as you did, many years would have elapsed before these
important concessions would have been yielded to us.
Our individual character and capability for appreciating
such high distinctions of social life, if not altogether
disbelieved, was at least reluctantly acknowledged by
those authorities who have the control of our destinies
in England, and the prejudices existing on the subject
could only bo overcome by such exertions as your zealous
interest in our cause, your personal knowledge of us,
and we may add, your peculiarly prominent position as
an acknowledged and unvarying friend of India, enabled
you to afford.

" Reverting to the earliest period of our connexion
with you, we are proud to acknowledge its beneficial
influence on all that relates to our worldly prosperity
and the prosperity of this island. Your penetration,
intelligence, and enterprise as a merchant, afforded a
stimulating example to commercial undertakings which
was previously unknown in Bombay, and which, being
followed by others, has been productive of the bcst
effects in developing the capabilities and resources of the
country. At a period when natives were held less
entitled than they now are to the courtesies of European
society, your condescending kindness and friendly treat•
ment on all occasions of personal intercourse effected
much, in your person, to attach them to European cha
ratter and customs, and paved the way for many social
advantages which they now enjoy, and for which we and
our posterity must even feel grateful.
" To the existing generation your virtues and their
obligations are well known. Tho old are acquainted
"vial them from experience, and the young have learned
them from grateful report. This, however, is not sutli•
cient, and we should be wanting in duty to ourselves, did
we not take steps to perpetuate i❑ the most lasting form
the sentiments entertained by us. With the3e feelings,
it is solicited by us, thit you will afford to Sir Francis
Chantrey, or any other eminent artist whom you may
appoint., such sittings as may enable him to execute a
statue, which it is our wish to have erected in some con-
spicuous place in Bombay, so that our children and our
children's children may have before them the image of
him who was the friend of their fathers and the unwearied
advocate of all that tended to benefit India and the people
of her soil.

" With every sentiment of respect, we beg to 6ubscribe
ourselves, dear and respected Sir, your most obliged and
grateful servants,

41 CURAIN.ICEIUND RUTTONJEE,
TARACII (IND VA SSA NJEE,
" And 1,040 Principal Native and ether
Inhabitants of Bombay."
But it was in his private charities that the character
of Sir Charles Forbes was peculiarly manifested ; their
extent throughout along life was probably unparalleled;
they were distributed without reference to any other
consikleration than the necessities of the recipients, and
in a manner best calculated to soothe and cheer the
unfortunate. The afflicted never solicited Sir Charles
Forbes in vain ; the appeals made to him might be
those of simulated distress, but he frequently observed
he would rather be deceived any number of times than
reject the claims of one real sufferer. And so unos-
tentatious waa his charity that almost literally the
right hand knew not what the left had bestowed.
One more paint, out of many, deserves notice in the
character of this truly good man—one of whose last
acts was the appropriation of a very large sum of money
to procure for the natives of Bombay a plentiful
supply of pure water in all seasons—the liberality of
his mind was as remarkable as the benevolence of his
heart; he was ever disposed to look favourably on the
faults of others—to extend his sympathy to those who
were suffering even from their own errors—to respect
and esteem goodness in others, and to think most
humbly of himself.

SOCIETY Of ARTS.
Last night a meeting of the society was held; Mr.
Webster in the chair. A paper from Mr. Smith, on
the subject of floating breakwaters and lighthouses,
was read, and models of the invention exhibited. Ito
principle consists in breaking the force of the waves
by elasticity, instead of, as in the case of stone break-
waters, by the mass of inert resistance. The advan-
tage of the plan consists in the saving of expense,
which, if the material used were wrought iron (as
preferred by the inventor), would be only one-
twentieth part of that of stone, and if timber, one.
fiftieth. The method is by securing the breakwater
at bottom to screw piles (if raised on a hard bottom),
or atmospheric piles (if raised on a quicksand), and at
top to iron chains, the ends of which are fastened to
gil s driven into the bottom, thus allowing the fabric
to sway to and fro with the shock of the waves. In
the construction of light-houses, the little turret
or box containing the light is placed on a circular
framework of beams or rods, converging inwards.
so as to meet nearly in a point at the bottom, which
is secured by the screw pile; this framework being
likewise supported by an outer system of beams or
rods, inclined like the stays of a mast, and moving
easily with the bias of the surges. The fabric would
of course be stationary when the sea is quiescent,
rolling like a ship when blowing, but even in the
heaviest gales the inclination would not exceed a few
feet. Wrought iron was recommended from its
capability of resisting the effects of the sea water, as
shown by the guns of the Edgar, which had been
immersed for nearly 300 years, whilst the corrosion
inch
deep. not penetrated more than a quarter of an
deep. Tile diameter of the rods might be three inches,
which would give a strength equalling ;that of the
thickest and heaviest cables in use in the British navy.
several members expressed their admiration of the
invention as one of the most beautiful contrivances
ever brought under the notice of the society, and the
chairman expressed the obligations of the meeting to
Mr. Smith for directing attention to so important a
subject.

M. Arban, an aeronaut of some celebrity, made,
a short time ago, a balloon ascent from Barcelona, but
nothing was heard of him substquently. The Inter-
national, of Bayonne, now announces that bis corpse has
just been discovered on the coast, near Rosas, but no
details of his death are given. The French Consul
provided for his funeral. M. Arban is the aeronaut
who lately crossed the Alps in his balloon.
A. rupture in the friendship of sensitive and refined
natures is generally serious in its consequences. Coarse
stones, when fractured may be cemented again, precious
ones nerer,—Eliza Cook's Journal.