The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-01 00:00:00

THE LATE HON. NOTINT.STU.LIZT

ELPRINSTONE.

TO THE EDITOfi OF THE TIMES

inzton re-

Sir,—Soon after the Mike of
turned from India he wrcte to his comra:ie, ;sir
John Malcolm, expressing his. surprise that the
many able public officers he had known and valued
in that country should be so little esteemed. in Eng-
land: I hope you will pardon my saying that your
notice of the illustrious man whose name I have
placed at the head of this letter is an example of
the accuracy of the great Duke's observa-
tion. Living, as I am, in the country, far from
books of reference and public records, I cannot pre-
tend to do more than throw together the few fol-
lowing remarks on the deceased, which may serve
as the foundation on which an abler pen may base
one of those charming biographical sketches which,
as each great man of our country passes away,
adorn your pages.
A great man is lost. Mountstuart Elphinstone
was to the generality of the public men of Europe
as gold is to pinehbeek ; but he had a soul which
could rise above the honours of this world—which
could decline the peerage, and all the decorations
which bedaubt statecraft in Europe ; and when his
work was done he could " accept his position," and
pass the evening of his life in his liorary, sur-
rounded by his "silent •friends;" and so it has
come to pass that the British public might be left
to believe that he was no more than a person who
had " acquired considerable literary reputation for
his work on Cabul."
I had the honour and pleasure, when a very
young man, of being selected by him as an under
secretary to his Government, in which capacity I
was atone time in daily intercourse with him,- and
lived in his family, and I hope, therefore, I shall be
considered the less intrusive in addressing you.
Mr. Elphinstone joined the Bengal Civil Service
at the age of 18, and -was very early art attache to
the Political Resident at the Court of the Pesh-
wah (Nana's adoptive father) when the Duke of
Wellington visited it, at the beginning of this cen-
tury. His eagle eye saw at a glance the promise
which Elphinstone offered of his future greatness,
and he was soon after attached to the Duke's suite,
and acted as his aide-de-camp at the battle of As-
saye. He was afterwards Resident at Nagpore,
Envoy to Cabul, and, in 1816, when the Marquis of
Hastings took the command of the armies of the
three presidencies against the confederated Mahrat-
tah Powers, of which the l'eshwah was the chief,
Mr. Elphinstone was the British representative at
his Court, and penetrated the inmost soul of that
worthy sire of Nana Sahib, althoug,h he had suc-
ceeded in making Sir John Malcolm believe that he
was a faithful ally Of the English. In the course of
a few weeks Elphinstone's opinion of our ally was
painfully verified to him by being burnt out of his
own ambassadorial dwelling by tho emissaries of this
friend, and he reached the British camp with no-
thing except the horse he rode and the clothes he
wore.

He forthwith ordered the British commander to
march down and attack the Mahrattas. This act
was criticised es a trespass on the soldier's part, but
he- was a soldier of no mean order, and knew that it
was our only chance against an army large enough,
if they had been cannibals, to coneurne the British
band at a meal, and the result wes the victory of
Kirkee. During the action the British -commander
was struck with paralysis, and, judging frofn the
fact that when her Majesty bestowed a medal for
this victory one was awarded to Mr. Elphinstone
(the only decoration he ever had, because the only
one he could not have refused with ;race), we may
believe those who told us that Mr. Elphinstone
commanded on that day.
The result of the war of which the battle of
Kirkee was the commencement consolidated that
Indian British empire which has lately so nearly
crumbled in our hands; and Moan tstuart
Elphin-
stone was nominated the sob British Commissioner
for the settlement of the Peshwah's territories ; and
he is, perhaps, the only man in the whole range of I
history who has'been the chief instrument in sub.
verting a Government arid substituting a foreign
yoke For the rule of one who was to his subjects
High Priest as well as King (the Peshwah was a
Brahmin, and his capital essentially a Brahmin
city). Nevertheless, he won the love and respect of
all the inhabitants of that conquered country, but
he governed it for itself, and with due regard to the
rights and privileges and with magnanimity for
the feelings of the people at his feet. He upheld
the aristocracy in their possessions ; he confirmed
the titles of private landholders whom he found in
possession ; and he pensioned others who had
claims on his compassion 115 r their sufferings and
losses, I served many years in that country, and
never yet met the man who, having a claini on Bri-
tish justice or British compassion, had not received
it at the hands of Mountstuart Elphinstone. I will
not darken my present sketch by describing how
this social fabric, on which, humanly speaking, the
British Government would have stood fast till En-
gland should have lost her supremacy In the world,

has been shaken and disfigured by what has bean
called the "Resumption Policy"—the annexation
policy—the confirming of real._ rights, &e.; but
which might be stigaintised by epithets which
would make both ears tingle. These things have,
in their turn, under the auspice:; of liar gracious
Majesty, passed away—as I hope, fur ever—and
England is once mere !,overning India four itself.
Mr. Elphinstone in 1820 became Governor of
Bombay, to which Presidency the Pcshwah's
country was attached, and during the seven years
heruled Western Indiathe Elphinstone code became
law, which, for its brevity, its completeness, its
clearness, itsenlightenedpsovisions, might be com-
pared to the Code Napoleon—in imitation of which
it 3 le yes were coloured. The.cducation of the u.-
per classes was commenced, and, on the principles
he advocated, has extended itself so far and wide
that we have now a body of educated natives whose
abilities and acquirements must be secured in our
service and in our defence, or they will soon become
a dangerous weapon against us. But at this part

in• Mr-. Elphinstone's carcer I wallet Bishop Heber

speak :-
-" I could not leave Bombay without regret. I had
enjoyed in the unremitting kindness, the splendid
hospitality, and 'agreeable conversation of Mr.
Elphinstone the greatestpleasure of the kind which
I have ever enjoyed either in India or Europe. Mr.
Elphinstone is in every respect an extraordinary
man, possessing great activity of body and mind,
remarkable talent for and application to publid busi-
ness, a love of literature and a degree of almost
universal information such as I have met with in
xo other person similarly situated, and manners and
conversation: of the most amiable and interesting
character. While he has seen more of India and
the adjoining countries than any man now living,
and has llpen engaged in active political and some-
time military duties since the age of 18, he has
found time not only to cultivate the languages of
Hindostan and Persia, but to preserve and extend
his acquaintance with the Graek and Latin classics.
with the French and Italian, with all the elder and
more distinguished English writers, and with the
current and popular literature of the day, both in
poetry, history, politics, and political economy.
With these remarkable accomplishments, and not-
, withstanding a temperance amounting to rigid ab-
stinence, he is fond of society, and it is a common
subject of surprise with his friends at what hours of
the day or night he finds time for the acquisition of
knowledge. His policy, so far as India is concerned,
appeared to me peculiarly wise and liberal, and he
is evidently attached to and thinks well of the
country and its inhabitants. His public mea-
sures in their general tendency evince a wish to
improve their present condition. No Govern-
ment in India pays so much attention to schools
and public institutions for education. In none are
the taxes lighter, and in the administration of jus-
tice to the natives in their own lan"uages, in the
establishment of Punchayetes, in file degree in
which he employs the natives in official situations,
and the countenance and familiarity which he ex-
tends to all the natives of rank who approach him,
he seems to have reduced to practice almost all the'
reforms which had struck me as most required in
the system of government pursued in those pro-
vinces of our Eastern empire which I hid previously
visited. His popularity (though to such a feeling
there may be individual exceotions) appears little
less remarkable than his talents and acquirements ;
and I was struck by the remark I once heard, that
all other public men had their enemies and their
friendS. their admirers and their aspersers ; but
that of Mr. Elphinstone everybody spoke
Of his munificence (for his liberality- amounts highly.
this) I had heard much, and knew some instances
myself. With regard to the free press I was
aurious to know the motives of apprehension which
induced. Mr. Illphinstone to be so decidedly opposed
to it in 1 his country. In discussing the topic he
was always open nod candid, acknowledged that.
the d. atv.rs ascribed to a free press in India had
been exalverated, but spoke of the exceeding in-
conve: l'.ence, and even danger, which arose from
the dist 'llion and dissension which political discus-
sion pi, tduced among the European (Avers at the
diff 1-er .t stations, the emaarrassment occasioned to
(Toyer] jll nt 1-)y the exposure and canvass or all
their measures by the _Lentuli and Grachi of a
newspt iper, and
his preference of decided and
virrorou -s to half measures where ;my restrictive
measuri is at all were necessary. I coufcis that his
opinion • and experience are the strongest presump-
tions w hich I have yet met with in favour of the
censors: hip. A charge has been brought against
Mr. RI phinstone by the indiscreet zeal of an
amiable but not well judging man, the Field
Officer i if Cavalry,' who published his Indian travels
that ' h e is devoid of religion, and blinded to all
spiritua 1 :truth.' I can only say that I saw no