Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1863-12-29
Curious Fatality Of ONCE.
tFrom the Philadelphia Press1

p0SSesS0rS OF all DuC sovereign power Ill
India. In the last sixteen years (1847 to
1863, three British noblemen have success
lively been Viceroys of India, and have
fallen beneath the terrible responsibility of
their high station, and the enervating eff
fects of the climate. When Lord Dalhousie
was appointed in 1847, he was only thirty
five years old, and up to that time had never
been seriously i'll for two days. Under his
administration the Punjaub was annexed,
the rulers of Burmah sent an embassy to his
court at Calcutta, the Ameer Of Cabal sued
for British friendship, and the Khan of
Khokan entreated him to send soldiers to
drill his troops. When he was only eight
cen months in Office, he was advanced on
the peerage from an earldom to marquis
ate, having previously been made Knight of
the Thistle. At the end Of eight years. rule,
he resigned his high office, and returned to
England. Even then he was comparatively
young man, and, at the age of forty-five,
with great business experience, unusual
scholarship, considerable ability as q par
liamentary speaker, and high reputation as
asuccessful administrator, it was prophesied
that he would soon obtain high station in
the Cabinet. Already, on the death Of We'll
lmgton, he had been appointed Lord War
den of the Cinque Ports. But, as it appear
ed, he returned home to die. He had, lost
his wife in India and this greatly depressed
his spirits. He was unable to take any part
in public life. He fingered until 1860, when
death relieved him from care and pain. He
was succeeded in the Cinque Ports by Lord
Palmerston, and his earldom and estates by
Lord Panmure-the Secretary of War who,
during the Crimean war, telegraphed the
Commander-in-Chief there, to " Remember
Dowb"-meaning certain protege Of his
own, named Dowbiggen, whose advance
ment he desired. Lord Canning, the imme-
diate successor of Lord Dalhousie, was the
eldest surviving son of George Canning, the
enlightened British statesman who broke
up the Holy Alliance, and gave his country
the first impulse towards decidedly liberal
politics in her foreign relations. 1t was
singular enough that in 1921. when Canning
was called to succeed Castlereagh as For-
eign Minister of England, he had accepted
the Viceroyalty of India; its splendid emol-
uments tempting him. In July, 1855, Lord
Canning, who had previously been Cabi-
net Minister under Peel and Lord Aberdeen,
accepted the Indian Viceroyalty. The lead
ing events of his reign are historical; they
include the rise and the suppression Of the
great Indian revolt. The bravery of the
army, comparatively weak in number, but
headed by such gallant men as Havelock
and Lawrence, Outram and Colin Campbell,
backed by the sagacity and firmness Of Lord
Canning, efiectually put down the rebellion.
The VicerOy was made G. G. B., and obtain
ed step in the peerage. After remaining
less than six years in India, he returned
home broken in spirit, for his wife had per-
ished under the fatal influence Of the eli
mate, and broken in health from the same
cause, combined with the arduous labors of
his office. He died soon after his return,
leaving no child to inherit his title and prop
erty, but bequeathing the latter to one of
his nephews, the second son of the Marquis
of Clanricarde. The Earl of Elgin was ap-
years ago.. He had previously been Cover
nor of jamaica, Governor General of Brit
ish North America, twice Ambassador to
China, and had been a Cabinet Minister in
1S59-60. A shrewd, clear-headed, well-in-
formed, active business man, he had been
long in the public service, always doing
his work well. During the great Indian
revolt of 1857 he took the, responsibility
of sending large reinforcement q of
British troops from China to Calcutta,
and there is no doubt that this timely
aid helped to put down the rebellion. At
the time of his becoming Viceroy of Iudia
he was only in his fiftieth year, his consti-
tuition was robust, his frame was massive,
ldUlIo JcluptIdJt, ilu HIS CdpdClIy lUT
work enormous. But India has been fatal
to him, as to his immediate predecessors.
A telegram from Calcutta reports his death
from heart disease. These three men-Dal-
hQpsie, Canning and Elgine, were equal in
years; had each won hOnors for high schol-
arship at the same University; had respec-
I lively filled high offices before entrusted
with almost royal sway over Hindostan
and her dependencies, and had severally
q been invested with the greatest prize in
public life that the British Sovereign has to
bestow. The three friends, it is known,
were richer In honors and intellect than in
lands or cash. The salary of the Indian
Viceroy is 100000 per ,annum; but indie
pendent of this, his lawful means of making
money are so numerous and great that he
is expected, ifhe servcouthis full six years,
to return home with princely fortune.
Dalhousie's Indian accumulation went, with
his family estates and titles, to cousin
possessed by his nephew. Lord EIgin leaves
four sons, the eldest of whom (Lord Bruce,
by courtesy succeeds to the family titles,
and it is not improbable that, in considera-
tion of his fathers services, his earldom will
be changed for marquisate. The estates
in Fifeshire (Which have been held by this
line since the time of King Robert Bruce,
from whom this family are lineally descehd-
cd) have not only been cleared of debt un-
der the late peers careful management, but
enlarged by recent purchase. The late
Lord Elgin was saving man, all his life,
and preserved to the last the habits of econ
omy which necessity compelled him to
adopt on succeeding to an old Scottish
peepage and greatly encountered estates.-
From the circumstances, which we have
OF