MOUNTSTUART ELPHINSTONE, 1779-1859.
ELPHINSTONE is chiefly famous for his work in Western India: to this day
his memory is revered in Bombay by Englishmen and Indians alike for his
nobility of character, his justice, and his encouragement of education.
Besides being a diplomatist and an administrator, he was an historian, and
his history of India has won for him a permanent place in literature. He
was practically the maker of South-West India, and as such
he takes rank as a Ruler of India. A sketch of
his career is practically a sketch of the overthrow of Mahratta supremacy,
and of the introduction of British rule in the Deccan.
He was one of the many distinguished men who helped to carry out the
policy designed by the master mind of the great Marquis Wellesley, and
among his contemporaries were such men as Metcalfe, Malcolm, and Munro.
One striking characteristic of this period of British-Indian history is
the extremely youthful age at which so many of
the men who were afterwards so famous in the annals of British India were
launched into active careers in India. Thus Malcolm obtained his cadetship
at the age of twelve, and landed at Madras before he was fourteen.
Metcalfe was a writer in Calcutta at the age of fifteen. Elphinstone was
only fifteen when he left home, and Munro was eighteen. It was an age of
adventure fitted to stimulate the energies of the young, and youth proved
no bar to their rapid advancement and promotion. Instances are not wanting
in the history of Eastern nations of practically young boys being invested
with responsibility and power: thus Baber was only twelve when he became
King of Ferghana, and Akbar became Emperor of India at the age of
eighteen.
Another characteristic that marks this generation of Anglo-Indian
officials was the union of bodily activity with great
intellectual accomplishments: they lived an open- air life, and were
equally at home in the camp, the hunting- field, and the Darbar, and owing
to the greater leisure they possessed they had greater facilities for
study, perhaps, than their successors: considering that they had been thus
launched into public life when most boys are still at school, and
considering, moreover, that the stock of learning they started with could
not, under the circumstances, have been large, it redounded all the more
to their credit that they should have become the scholars that most of
them did become. The record of Elphinstone's reading during one of his
long journeys, when he was only twenty- one, would have done credit to
that ' Prince of Readers, Lord Macaulay'. He generally travelled with two
camel- loads of books, so arranged that he could readily lay his hands on
any volume he wanted. His love of study did not prevent his being at the
same time distinguished for his soldierly qualities. The great Duke
himself, who saw him under fire at Argaum and at Assaye, remarked that he
had mistaken his vocation, and ought to have been a soldier. He was also
an administrator of no mean order, and his bearing at the native courts he
was accredited to, proved him to be possessed of rare diplomatic powers.
In him were all combined: 'The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's eye,
tongue, sword.' He became Governor of Bombay at the early age of
thirty-nine, and more than once, after his retirement, he refused the high
office of Governor-General of India.
Elphinstone came of distinguished ancestry: his
father, who had fought under Wolfe in Canada, and his uncles had all done
conspicuous public service. His brothers also held high office. Examples
of devotion in their country's service were not wanting, therefore, had
lie required such to stimulate his own devotion. As a boy, his ambition
had been to enter the Army, but lie was content to accept a writership on
the Bengal Establishment. He had to leave for India direct from his school
in London, and was thus unable, to his own great sorrow, to bid farewell
to his mother and sisters in their home in Scotland.
Sir John Shore was Governor-General when he landed in
India in 1796, after a voyage from England of eight months. His first
appointment was to Benares, which was the frontier station of Bengal to
the North-West at this period. His quiet career here was suddenly
interrupted by the rising against the English which was organized by the
deposed sovereign of Oudh, the Nawab Wazir Ali, who was living at Benares
at the time, under the surveillance of the British authorities. The
Resident, Mr. Cherry, was murdered, and Elphinstone himself had to flee
for his life. This affair led to his receiving his first diplomatic
mission, which was to find out how far certain natives of high rank at
Benares were implicated in the plot. It was at Benares, under the
influence of his chief, Mr. Davis, a noted Sanskrit scholar, that
Elphinstone seems to have acquired that taste for reading that became his
most congenial occupation in his leisure hours.
Having received an offer of the post of
assistant-secretary to the Resident at Puna, Elphinstone hesitated about
accepting the appointment until he had consulted Mr. Davis on the subject.
Mr. Davis's only reply was a quotation from the great World-Poet
Shakespeare: 'What pleasure, sir, find we in life to lock it from action
and adventure?' This quotation, which Elphinstone said ever after rang in
his ears, decided the matter: he accepted the appointment. He travelled to
his new station with another young civilian, in a very leisurely manner,
and by a long detour. The journey took them the better part of a year. In
passing through Orissa, which was then Mahratta territory, they could not
help noticing the change in the demeanour of the people from what it was
in British territory: they were not actually rude, but they showed no
respect. They would crowd round the encampment in the evening, and watch
the young Englishmen going through their exercises, which consisted of
throwing the spear, sword exercise, and firing at a mark with pistols. A
curious incident that occurred at Pun, when they were close to the Temple
of Jagannath, 'Lord of the World,' impressed their imagination; they met a
Faqir, who called the young men to him and said, 'Listen, when will you
take this country? This country needs you. The Hindus here are villains,
but you are true men, when will you take this country?' We answered,
'Never.' He replied, 'Yes, you will certainly take it.' Within a short two
years indeed the British did take the country, and the strange prophecy of
the Faqir was fulfilled. At Seringapatam, they were the guests of Colonel
Arthur Wellesley. They spent three months at the court of Haidarabad,
then, as now, the most magnificent court in India. The Resident was a
Major Kirkpatrick: he had married the Persian minister's daughter, and
Elphinstone describes him as an Orientalized Englishman. 'His manners were
affected, and his conversation most affected; he wore mustachios, and dyed
his fingers with henna, but in other respects he resembled an Englishman.
In the presence of the Nizam, he behaved like a native of the country, and
with great propriety.'
On arriving at his destination, Elphinstone was
presented to the Peshwa. In a comparison of the meanness of the Peshwa's
court, as compared with the magnificence of the Nizam's court, he remarked
that none of the Mahratta chiefs were even like native gentlemen. He had
not yet learnt that this so called meanness was really a characteristic of
the simplicity that is so marked a feature of the true Mahratta gentleman,
especially in his dress and personal habits. The Mahratta temperament,
moreover, differs essentially from that of the Muharnmadan: he loves
power, it is true, but he cares not for the trappings of power or display.
About a year after Elphinstone's arrival at his post,
the second Mahratta War broke out. The Mahrattas were the only Native
Power that had steadily refused to recognize the British Government as the
paramount Power in India. When, therefore, the Peshwa of Puna, Baji Rao,
signed the Treaty of Bassein with the British, by which he agreed to have
no diplomatic relations with other Powers, except through them, the other
Mahratta princes considered this tantamount to a recognition of British
supremacy: this they refused to accept, and hence the war: apart from
this, they had long determined to try conclusions again with the British.
The campaign, once started, was soon completely successful; the operations
had been carried on in three different parts of the country: in Hindustan,
under Lord Lake; in the Deccan, under Sir Arthur Wellesley; and in Orissa.
Owing to the illness of Sir John Malcolm; Elphinstonc was deputed to
attend Sir Arthur Wellesley in a more or less undefined capacity as his
confidential secretary he acted chiefly as interpreter, an office which he
was very well capable of holding, owing to his great linguistic
attainments: he was a good Mahratti, Persian, and Hindustani scholar. He
was also the head of the intelligence department: he does not seem,
however, to have been very hard worked. The soldiering life, especially
with so distinguished an exponent of the art of war as Sir Arthur
Wellesley, was thoroughly to his taste. What he especially enjoyed was
'the combination of society, study, business, action, and adventure'.
Amongst the booty taken at Ahmadnagar had been an Arabic Prayer- Book, and
Elphinstone records how Sir Arthur Wellesley restored it to its owner, a
very famous Dervish, who had predicted the fall of the Fortress-City. Earl
Roberts, it may be noted, displayed a similar reverence for the religious
feelings of those he was fighting against, when he ordered the restoration
to their owners of all sacred books captured in the course of the Boer
War. Elphinstone rode by the general's side throughout the day of the
battle of Assaye; he and another member of the staff were the only two who
were not touched, though they seemed to have had some very narrow escapes.
Sir Arthur Wellesley displayed his usual coolness of bearing, and
Elphinstone noted how at one critical moment of the battle, he had
galloped close up to the enemy's line by mistake: three horses of the
party were knocked over': upon some one remarking, 'Sir, that is the
enemy's line,' the general replied, ' Is it? Ha, damme, so it is,' and
turned his horse. At the battle of Argaum, in Berar, Elphinstone again
rode by the general's side, and took part in the great cavalry charge. He
has thus recorded his experiences: 'The balls knocked up the dust under
our horses' feet, I had no narrow escapes this time, arid I felt quite
unconcerned, never winced, nor cared how the shot came about the worst
time. And all the while I was at pains to see how the people looked, and
every gentleman seemed at ease as much as if he were riding a-hunting.'
One of the most realistic descriptions of a cavalry charge in literature
occurs in that most realistic of M. Zola's novels, La Débücle it is almost
possible to hear the thunder of the horses' hoofs as they charge madly
across the plain. Elphinstone picked up a wounded Hindustani soldier on
the field of battle next morning; the man became his servant, and remained
in his service till he finally left India, a period of more than
twenty-five years. Elphinstone's graphic description of the storming of a
fort in which he took part is of special interest, as being the
description of a man who, a soldier at heart, was also a philosopher and
an historian: 'Our advance was silent, deliberate, and even solemn. When
we went on to the breach, I thought I was going to a great danger; but my
mind was so made up to it that I did not care for anything, the party
going to the storm put me in mind of the eighth and ninth verses of the
third book of the Iliad of Homer:"Forward advanced the Greeks, in silence
breathing threats, each passionately eager to outdo each other." And after
one gets over the breach, one is too busy and animated to think of
anything but how to get on.'
This campaign had been Elphinstone's opportunity: he
had proved his worth, and the road to rapid promotion was now made
comparatively easy for him. A word from Sir Arthur Wellesley to his
brother, the Marquis, and Elphinstone received the important appointment
of Resident at the court of the Bhonsla, which carried with it a salary of
three thousand rupees a month. He was only twenty-four at the time. It was
no easy task that he had thus entered upon, and he knew it from the first.
He realized that another struggle with the Mahrattas was impending, and
that all that could be done was to postpone the evil day. One of his
duties was to get intelligence as to what was going on at the Raja's
court: he knew that there were intrigues, but it was not in his nature to
meet intrigue with intrigue, and anything like what is significantly
called espionage was abhorrent to him. The difficulty was to get the
intelligence he wanted, and at the same time to avoid anything like secret
methods in obtaining it. The conclusion he finally came to is given in his
own words: 'I must never forget to be always and absolutely open; if I try
cunning management, I act contrary to my own character, and that of my
nation, and perhaps fail after all. My diplomatic motto ought to be: "Fair
and above-board in all my dealings, avoiding all dissimulation and
deceit."' Characteristically, he illustrates his remarks with a classical
quotation: 'He is as inimical to me as are the Gates of Hades, who hides
one thing in his thoughts, and utters another.' The success of
Elphinstone's diplomacy was especially gratifying to the Marquis
Wellesley, one of the features of whose system of training his young
civilians was their early initiation into the arts of diplomacy, and he
complimented him upon it.
Certain incidents that occurred at court in
Elphinstone's time go to show that the Raja himself was of a less
truculent disposition than the men about him, who had been giving
Elphinstone so much trouble by their war proclivities. He has thus
recorded two such incidents: 'A servant on one occasion washed the Raja's
hands with scalding water, the courtiers were all for putting the man to
death: the Raja, however, forgave him. On another occasion, when the Raja
wanted water, he found the lotah, that is the brass vessel in common use,
filled with ghi: again the courtiers called out to have the man who had
brought it killed at once; and one of them, indeed, was on the point of
killing him; but the Raja said, "Let him go: it is easy to kill a man, but
not so easy to make another." 'And yet these very men, who were ready
enough to kill in order to satisfy a whim, were not prepared to do so to
satisfy the ends of justice: Elphinstone had asked the minister to execute
some men who had really deserved death as robbers and murderers, and the
minister had replied 'He knew the English put people to death for such
offences, but his Highness shuddered at the name of an execution.' But to
the Western imagination the workings of the Oriental mind ever appear
inconsistent and illogical. Elphinstone describes the answer as 'a mirror
of slavish ideas and Hindustani manners'.
Elphinstone had a fairly tranquil time of it at
Nagpur, varied occasionally by alarms from the Pindaris. He himself had a
narrow escape on one of his marches: some of his tent equipage and
followers were carried off, while straggling in the rear. The Pindaris
travelled with incredible swiftness; beaten off at one place, they would
appear somewhere else sixty miles off the same day: they thus succeeded in
ravaging wide tracts of territory within a very short space of time. The
native sports of hawking and coursing afforded him a means of relaxation
during this period, together with an occasional beat for pig and for
tigers; but reading formed his principal relaxation with Prospero he could
say :-
My Library Is Dukedom large enough.
In order to enjoy his favourite pursuit undisturbed he
built himself a bungalow some little distance out of Nagpur, and called it
'Falconer's Hall'. In one of his Minutes on Education, issued when he was
Governor of Bombay, he has recorded his opinion of classical poetry as a
valuable factor in education, in these terms: ' Other compositions may
fall into disuse and oblivion as knowledge increases with a people, but
not so their poetry: the standard works maintain their reputation
undiminished in every age : they form the models of composition, and the
fountains of classical language, and the writers of the rudest ages are
those who contribute the most to the delight and refinement of the most
improved of their posterity.' Classical poetry formed his favourite
reading in this retreat, but he found himself compelled to give up reading
Persian poetry, as it gave him, he said, ' the blue devils.' Had he known
Sanskrit, he would have found in the grand and sonorous cadence of the
language of its poetry something to stimulate his imagination, and to
contribute to his peace of mind quite as much as did Greek poetry, to
which he was obliged to return, when he found Persian poetry having a
depressing effect upon his mind.
After some four years spent in Nagpur, Elphinstone
took furlough in India for a year. On his way to Calcutta, he passed
through Chhota Nagpur, then a forest-clad and almost unexplored
hill-country: lie visited and had much conversation with the Chief of
Udaipur in that country on sport, and especially on the Gond methods of
killing tigers. The chiefs of this part of the country have not altered
much in this respect; they are still as great sportsmen as ever, and their
sons are initiated into the ' Sport of Kings at a very early age. He was
still young, as his remarks on hisenjoyment of the gay doings in the
capital evidence Such lots of women, and laughing and philandering, that I
was in Heaven.'
Soon after his return to Nagpur, Elphinstone received
orders to join the court of Scindia. The Maharaja was at the time moving
about the country with an enormous camp, somewhat after the manner of the
Mogul Emperors, whose camps were almost like towns on the march. He was
only about two months with Scindia, when he was ordered to Delhi to take
charge of an embassy that was to proceed to the court of the Amir of
Afghanistan.
At Delhi he met Metcalfe, who was starting on a
similar mission to the court of Ianjit Singh at Lahore. The danger that
seemed to threaten the British position in India at this period was an
invasion of India by Napoleon Buonaparte, who was now at the height of his
power, and was known to have designs on India: he is said even to have
chosen his route: it was to guard against this danger that Lord Minto
resolved to establish friendly relations with the several Powers holding
the keys of the North-Western Frontiers, as they then were. Besides the
missions of 'Metcalfe and Elphinstone, another under Malcolm was
dispatched to Persia: as well as missions on a smaller scale to Sindh and
Biluehistan. Elplminstone's mission was on a magnificent scale: he had a
staff of thirteen selected British officers. He found the Amir, Shah Shuja.,
at Peshawar, and soon discovered that his position was by no means so
secure as had been thought and, indeed, within a few weeks of his signing
a Treaty between himself and the British, he had been driven from his
throne, and had become an exile in the Punjab. He still, however, kept up
the show of royal magnificence, and much of the ceremonial traditional
with the court of the Amirs of Afghanistan. Elphinstone gives an amusing
picture of the ancient ceremonial ambassador to be introduced is brought
into court by two officers, who hold him firmly by the arms on coming in
sight of the king, who appears at a high window, the ambassador is made to
run forward for a certain distance, when lie stops for a moment and prays
for the king. He is then made to run forward again, and prays once more,
and after another run the king calls out "Khullat", a dress, which is
followed by the Turkish word, "Getshin," begone, from an Officer of State,
and the unfortunate ambassador is made to run out of the court, and sees
no more of the king, unless summoned to a private audience.' Needless to
say, Elphinstone did not conform to this ancient etiquette; he was
received with courtesy and dignity. He has recorded his impressions of the
Shah: 'It will scarcely be believed of an Eastern monarch how much he had
the manners of a gentleman, or how well he preserved his dignity, while he
seemed only anxious to please.' Elphinstono did not see more than the
borders of Afghanistan, but he acquired a good deal of information through
his usual practice of mixing and conversing with all classes of people: he
was especially charmed with the conversation of two Afghan gentlemen he
met, one of whom astonished him with his knowledge of European history and
politics, and the other by his taste for mathematics and his acquisition
of Sanskrit, which he was learning solely in order to discover the
treasures of Hindu learning. He was also pleased with the civility he and
his party received from the country people, who constantly pressed them to
partake of hospitality, and would take no refusal. In the light of the
various expeditions that have been forced on the British Government by the
raids of the border tribes round and about Peshawar on British territory
in these later days, it is interesting to record the remark of an Afghan
chief to Elphinstone on the characteristics of the people generally: 'We
are content with discord, we are content with alarms, we are content with
blood; but we will never be content with a master.' The British Government
has ever shown great patience in dealing with these border tribes, but
cannot be content with discord, or alarms, or bloodshed in its own
territories, and expeditions against them have from time to time been
inevitable. A proverb current among these people, which was recently
quoted by The Times, proves that they are the first to acknowledge the
justice of this: 'The patience of the British Government is as long as a
summer day, but its arm is as long as a winter night.' The mission was
eventually broken up at Delhi, and Elphinstone was ordered to Calcutta,
where he presented his report.
Elphinstone was next appointed Resident at the court
of Puna, an appointment which he took up without much enthusiasm; and he
looked forward to retirement at the end of it. He had already shown that
he was a diplomatist, he was now to show that he could be an administrator
as well, and one of the first rank. On his voyage from Calcutta to Bombay
by sea, he had Henry Martyn, the great missionary, as one of his fellow
travellers. He thus describes him: 'He is an excellent scholar, and one of
the mildest, cheerfullest, and pleasantest men I ever saw, who, though
extremely religious, talks on all subjects, sacred and profane, and laughs
and makes others laugh as heartily as he could do if he were an infidel.'
One of his first acts in his new appointment was to
intervene on behalf of the class of Jaghirdars, the hereditary nobles of
the Southern Mahratta country, who had received their grants of rent-free
lands from the Mogul Emperors. The claim of the Peshwa to their military
service was acknowledged, but they were guaranteed against further
exactions by a pledge of security from the British Government. The Chief
of Koihapur was at the same time recognized as an independent sovereign in
return for his surrender of a fort and harbour in the Konkan, which had
long been a nest of pirates. On one of his marches he came across an
extraordinary scene: 'A manservant of a Mahratta gentleman, in performance
of a vow for a child, was rolling along the road from Puna to Pandarpur:
he had been a month at it, and had become so expert that he went on
smoothly and without pausing, and kept rolling evenly along the middle of
the road over stones and everything; he travelled at the rate of eight
miles a day.' Those who have lived much in the country districts of India
are not unacquainted with similar instances of religious zeal: pilgrims
walking backwards from one shrine to another, others measuring their
length at every step along the road, may thus not uncommonly be met with.
He published his History of Kabul during this period of his career, a work
which cost him immense labour, and which still remains the standard
authority on Afghanistan. He led a very simple life, and his diet was
spare almost to austerity while his lunch consisted of a few sandwiches
and figs, and a glass of water, he often dined off a few potatoes, and a
glass or two of claret; he never neglected either his long ride in the
morning and his gymnastic exercises twice a day, or his private reading in
the afternoons; public business occupied his mornings.
With the appointment of Lord Moira, afterwards the
Marquis of Hastings, to the head of affairs, a more vigorous policy in
connexion with the Native States was inaugurated. The Governor-General
determined to crush the great predatory hordes of Pindaris that were the
primary cause of the suffering and anarchy prevailing over a very large
portion of the Deccan. They were largely encouraged and supported by the
Mahratta Princes; and there were not wanting signs that these princes
themselves were becoming restless, and anxious to try conclusions again
with the British. Elphinstone had organized an intelligence department of
his own, and knew all that was going on, even to the colour of the javelin
carried by the news-writers whom he found were being utilized to convey
correspondence between the several Mahratta courts from the head quarters
at Puna. Each court had its distinctive colour painted on the javelins
carried by its messengers it was a sort of livery and was recognized as
such by the officials of the several princes; similar javelins were used
by the bankers of the different cities in the Native States, but they were
for the most part painted in one colour. The system of news-writers is a
very ancient one in the East, and to this day there is not a family of any
eminence in India that has not its own service. Elphinstone describes the
precautions that he found it necessary to observe in connexion with all
official correspondence at this critical time: 'All correspondence had to
be written on the smallest slips of paper rolled up and conveyed in
quills, like Birliis.' The usual form in which tobacco is smoked in
Central India is a kind of tobacco-leafed cigarette, called a Birhi.
The crisis arrived at last in connexion with a man named Trimbakji I)anglia,
one of the favourites of Baji Rao lie had been a menial servant whom Baji
lao had raised to the rank of a minister. This man had barbarously
murdered an envoy from the Baroda State who was travelling under a
safe-conduct from the British Government. Elphinstone demanded his
surrender, and the Peshwa had only acceded to the demand after Elphinstone
had moved up a strong body of troops. rllrilnbakji was imprisoned in a
fort, and a European guard placed in charge. He managed to escape, and a
romantic story is attached to the manner of his escape. A Mahratta groom
took service with an officer of the garrison, and while daily walking his
master's horse UI) and down under the windows of the fort, used to recite
a chant : the English sentry of course could not understand the tenor of
it the prisoner learnt from it that arrangements were in progress for his
escape. When all was ready, a hole was dug through the wall, and Trimbakji
escaped, and took refuge among the mountains of the Western Ghats. A
Mahratta ballad, which is still sung by wandering bards who may be met
with all over the Deccan, tells, with picturesque additions, the romantic
story. Trimbakji was subsequently recaptured, but only after the close of
the war, of which lie was a primary cause, and was again imprisoned this
time at the Chunar Fort on the Ganges. Some years afterwards lie was
visited by Bishop Heber, who has thus versified the chant of the Maliratta
groom:
Behind the bush the bowmen hide, The horse beneath the tree Where
shall I find a Knight will ride The jungle paths with me? There are
five and fifty coursers there, And four and fifty men When the
fifty-fifth shall mount his steed, The Deccan thrives again.
With Trinibakji's escape, in the autumn of 1816, the crisis again became
acute. Elphinstone was informed that the Peshwa was collecting forces at a
Temple of Mahadeo, the National Deity of the Mahrattas, somewhere in the
hills, and he also received the still more disquieting information that a
general rising was in contemplation. While addressing remonstrances to the
Peshwa, Elphinstone went on with his military preparations, as he felt
that at any moment disturbances might break out: indeed, they very nearly
did break out on the very night of the day on which the Peshwa had
apparently submitted to Elphinstone's demands. He was playing cards when
an officer reported that Puna was full of armed men and that the Peshwa
was in full Darbar discussing with his nobles the question of immediate
war. For a moment the idea was conceived of attacking the city at once
from the British cantonments but fortunately his usual coolness did not
forsake Elphinstone: he decided to wait for the morning. The Pesliwa, it
transpired, could not summon up courage to give the signal for attack, and
so the danger passed, but temporarily only. Elphinstone, however, realized
that the time for action had arrived, and he resolved to issue his
ultimatum, without waiting for a reply to the dispatches he had sent to
Calcutta on the situation. His personal courage at this crisis may be
illustrated from the fact that he visited the Peshwa in person the night
before he issued his ultimatum, knowing full well the risk he was running
in doing so. But he could not help liking Baji Rao, with all his faults,
and he has thus recorded his feelings on the occasion. 'I thought it
possible that in these extremities he might seize me for a hostage, and
carry me off to Singarh, but he seemed not to have the most distant
thought that way: with all his crimes and all his perfidy, I shall be
sorry if Baji Rao throws away his sovereignty.' The Peshwa accepted the
ultimatum, and agreed to surrender three important forts, as securities
for the capture of Trimbakji within a month. Meanwhile the expected
dispatches from the Governor-General arrived : these imposed still harder
terms. A new Treaty was to be signed, the Peshwa was to renounce all claim
to the titular headship of the Mahratta Confederacy, and to acknowledge
his entire dependence upon the British Government: he was further required
to surrender territory for the maintenance of the subsidiary force, and to
acknowledge on the face of the Treaty his belief in Trirnbakji's guilt.
These humiliating conditions, however, were to be insisted oil in the
event of the Peshwa taking no active measures for the arrest of Trimbakji.
The Peshwa would do nothing in this direction, and so Elphinstone had no
alternative but to force the Treaty upon him. The Peshwa signed it, but
both parties to it were fully aware that only the military superiority of
the British would secure its fulfilment, and that that military
superiority would very shortly be put to the test. It was to be shown once
for all who were to be the supreme Power in India, the Mahrattas, or the
British.
The war that ensued is known in history as the third
Mahratta War. It was the great Pindari Hunt, as Elphinstone called it,
which had been organized by the Marquis of Hastings for the final
suppression of these predatory hordes, that eventually brought the British
into collision with the Mahrattas. And the war owes its real importance to
the part played in it by the Pesllwa, the Raja of Nagpur, and Holkar of
Indore. Malcolm had been specially deputed by the Governor-General to
visit these princes, that he might have the opportunity of consulting the
Residents at their courts, and of reassuring the minds of the princes. He
thus visited the court of the Peshwa, and he seems to have placed more
confidence in his protestations of fidelity than Elphinstonc had done: he
even went so far as to reverse much of the latter's policy. Elphinstone,
though he doubted the wisdom of Malcolm's acts, loyally supported him, as
he knew he was acting under superior orders. Events proved that
Elphinstone was right, and Malcolm wrong in his estimate of the Peshswa's
character. Within two months of Malcolm's departure from Puna the crisis
arrived. The Peshiwa began ostentatiously to prepare for war, and
Elphinstone was obliged to order back to Puna the British forces which had
been sent away by Malcolm; he had the cantonments removed to the high
ground overlooking the city of Puna. With his usual courage, he remained
at the Residency, though he was well aware of the plot formed by some of
the Peshwa's followers for his assassination. The Peshwa then openly
demanded the withdrawal of the British troops; Elphinstone sent him a
pacific message, saying that he was still anxious for peace, but that, if
the Mahratta forces advanced, he would attack them. The Peshwa's reply was
to move his troops out in the direction of the new cantonments: this of
course meant war. Elphinstone had barely time to escape from the Residency
simply 'with the clothes on his back' before the whole of it was in a
blaze. All his personal effects, including his valuable library, were
burnt. The battle that ensued, known as the battle of Kirki, resulted in
the dispersal of the Mahratta army. The Peshwa fled from his capital,
which he was never destined to see again. Desultory fighting still went on
for some five months. One incident occurred during this period which
Elphinstone has described as 'a strong incitement never to despair': this
was the heroic stand made by a small body of Sepoys under a few British
officers at a place called Koregaum, against the whole Mahratta army. The
incident is thus described: 'The detachment had been marching all night
when it found itself face to face with the enemy; Baji Rao himself with
his sardars sat on a hill two miles off to watch the battle; it lasted
throughout the whole day and part of the next night; and just as the
situation seemed most desperate, the Mahratta army drew off, alarmed at
the approach of a British general with the main body of the British army.'
The Peshwa finally surrendered to Malcolm. Elphinstone had meanwhile been
protecting the city of Puna from the vengeance of his own Sepoys, thus, as
he remarked, 'maintaining our general reputation and conciliating
friends.' At the close of the campaign Elphinstone issued a proclamation
to the people of the Deccan, in which he recited the story of the perfidy
of the Peshwa, which had compelled the British to drive him from his
throne, and he stated that a portion of his territory would be reserved
for the Raja of Sattara. Mr. Canning, in moving a vote of thanks to the
Marquis of Hastings and the Army, after the conclusion of the war, paid a
special tribute to Elphinstone's services: 'On that, and not on that
occasion only, but on many others in the course of this singular campaign,
Mr. Elphinstone displayed talents and resources which would have rendered
him no mean general in a country where generals are of no mean excellence
and reputation.'
Elphinstone was appointed Commissioner of the Deccan
early in 1818; and pending the complete restoration of civil authority he
had the pleasing task of formally restoring the young Raja of Sattara to
the throne of Sivaji. The Marquis of Hastings had left it to Elphinstone
whether to give a sovereignty or simply a jaghir, or grant of rent-free
lands; Elphinstone had chosen to make a king. He did not regret his
choice; the young prince had many good qualities which attracted
Elphinstone, and he formed a good opinion both of his business capacity
and of his character in these early days. The young prince, moreover,
showed himself eager to requite the good will shown him. Elphinstone gives
a pleasing picture of his daily routine: 'He had invited me to visit him
in his private office; he produced his civil and criminal register, and
his minute of revenue demands, collections, and balances for the last
quarter, and began explaining the state of his country as eagerly as a
young collector; he always sits in his court of justice, and conducts his
business with the utmost regularity; he has his country in excellent
order, and everything, to his roads and aqueducts, in a style that would
do credit to a European. The furniture in his private sitting-room is
extremely simple; it contains a single table covered with green velvet, at
which the descendant of Sivaji sits and writes letters, as well as a
journal of his transactions, with his own hand. He gave me at parting the
celebrated Bagh Nakh, or tiger's claws, with which Sivaji had slain Afzul
Khan.' His conduct in the hunting-field one day especially struck
Elphinstone, who thus records it: 'A young gentleman just in front of me
had a bad fall, and lay for dead. When I got off, I found a horseman
dismounted and supporting his head, and, to my surprise, it was the Raja
who had let his horse go, and run to his assistance.'
In his settlement of the new country, Elphinstone
thought it his first duty to preserve as much as possible of the existing
system of administration as the best for the circumstances, and for the
time, though not ideally the best. He knew that British Courts of Law and
Regulations would ultimately have to he introduced, but he was desirous of
postponing their introduction, and of developing in the meantime all that
could be discovered of good in the native institutions. He used to tell a
story to illustrate the dread which British Courts of Law and Regulations
used to inspire in the early days of the introduction of British rule in a
newly acquired Province, and before the people had grown familiarized with
British justice and impartiality: ' When the North-'West was first
annexed, the inhabitants of a newly occupied village were encountered in
full flight: asked if Lord Lake was coming, they replied, "No, the Adalat
is coining."' The Adalat was the British Tribunal, now represented by the
Civil Courts. The task that Elphinstone had before him was the twofold one
of conciliation and inquiry. Like his two great contemporaries, Munro and
Malcolm, the leading principles of his administration were sympathy and a
general recognition of native prejudices and native aspirations. He ever
kept before himself the duty of investigating thoroughly the indigenous
institutions, and the importance of introducing as few changes as
possible.
Much tact was necessary on Elphinstone's part in
dealing with the different classes in the country, to enable him to arrive
at a satisfactory settlement. He had already shown that he had no
intention of disregarding Mahratta sentiment, so far as the way had been
prepared by the cessation of organized opposition on the part of the
people; at the same time he knew that he could not expect the contented
acquiescence of all in the new state of affairs. The cultivators had
indeed accepted the position with their usual phlegm, but there were
plenty of men, who had been officials under the old régime, who were ready
to use their influence against active contentment on their part.
Elphinstone did his best to relieve this class from the excessive demands
they had been accustomed to, and especially to do away with that engine of
exaction, the farming system. There was not much difficulty experienced
with the more important class of the landed proprietors, the greater
Jaghirdars: Elphinstone had at an earlier period interested himself in
establishing their status on a satisfactory footing; he had, however, to
bring special tact to bear upon one member of this class, whom he
described as a man 'possessing a narrow and crooked understanding, a
litigious spirit, and a capricious temper'; it says much for Elphinstone's
conciliatory powers that his talk with him completely restored his good
humour, and made him apparently cordially satisfied. The case of the
lesser Jaghirdars, however, caused him much thought and anxiety; he
wished, as far as he could, to preserve their status as an upper class
intermediate between the cultivators and the officials, and to prevent
their decay, though he saw that in most cases this was inevitable. He
succeeded in obtaining many privileges for this class, which they
specially valued one of these was their exemption from the ordinary
procedure of the Civil Courts, and making them subject in criminal matters
to the jurisdiction of the collector, in his capacity as political agent,
after previous references to the commissioner. The most difficult class of
all whom Elphinstone had to deal with were the Mahratta Brahnians. From
having been the recognized depositaries of learning they had become
practically mendicants, living on the bounty of the Peshwa, who used to
distribute amongst them £50,000 a year. In a country where mendicancy is
recognized as one of the honourable professions, this had not diminished
their old influence in the country. Elphinstone described them as being
generally discontented and only restrained by fear from being treasonable;
of course there were exceptions, and Elphinstone was able to say: There
are among them many instances of decent and respectable lives, and
although they are generally subtle and insincere, I have met with some
upon whom I could depend for sound and candid opinions.' Conspicuous
generosity marked Elphinstone's treatment of this class he publicly
proclaimed that they would be allowed quiet possession of their lands and
pecuniary allowances, and he distributed liberal alms amongst them. And
yet it was from this class that the only serious attempt came to over-
throw British rule. Elphinstone discovered that they had formed a plot to
massacre all Europeans, to seize all hill forts, and to get possession of
the person of the young Raja of Sattara. He showed them then that he could
be as righteously stern as he had been conspicuously generous he had the
leading conspirators blown from guns. Of this mode of execution
Elphinstone said: 'It contained two valuable elements of capital
punishment: it is painless to the criminal and terrible to the beholder.'
The then Governor of Bombay suggested that Elphinstone should get an
indemnity for his act from the Supreme Government; to this his
characteristic reply was: 'If I have done wrong, I deserve to be punished:
if I have done right, I do not require an indemnity.'
In his inquiries into police matters, he was very
favourably impressed with the indigenous system of village watch and ward.
Much responsibility attached to the office of village watchman: he
required to be a man of much acuteness of character, with keen powers of
inquisitiveness and observation, for one of his duties was to know the
character of every man in the village. In the department of criminal
justice, Elphinstone found a state of things prevailing which he could
only describe as beggaring description: there was no recognized code of
law, and no prescribed form of trial ; all the revenue officers had
judicial powers; punishments were left more or less to the caprice of the
officials, with the natural result that some were too dreadful to be
inflicted, and others were too trifling to be deterrent'. Elphinstone took
care to introduce his reforms with scrupulous regard, as far as possible,
to native sentiment and prejudices. With the exception of capital
punishment, all criminal jurisdiction was vested in the collector;
Elphinstone also made several suggestions on the subject of imprisonment,
many of which formed a model for future action. In the department of civil
justice, Elphinstone found no regular judicial officers, except in the
great towns, where an official styled 'President of Equity', tried cases
in the name of the Peshwa. The old primitive system of the Panchayat, or
Council of Five Members', was, however, in full force in all the country
districts. He recognized the respect for the authority of this Council as
one of the fundamental principles that held Hindu society together; he
mentions an old proverb in illustration of this: 'Panchayat men
Parameshwar,' 'The Lord is in the Council of Five.' Its special advantage
to him lay in the consideration that the interest of the people was
enlisted in ascertaining and protecting their own rights, while
litigiousness was not encouraged. He did his best therefore to preserve
this old institution while ridding it of some of its objectionable
features; he arranged that an appeal should be to the collector from a
decision of the Council, but only in a case of gross corruption or
injustice: the object of this appeal being rather to watch over the purity
of the court than to amend its decisions.
After lie had held office as Commissioner of the Deccan
for rather more than a year, Elphinstone received the higher appointment
of Governor of Bombay. This appointment was the tribute which the British
Government paid to the exceptional ability lie had displayed during his
career in India; a similar tribute was paid to Munro, who became Governor
of Madras, and to Malcolm, who succeeded Elphinstone in the Governorship
of Bombay. The new Province that Elphinstone had been administering was,
moreover, about to be incorporated in the Presidency of Bombay, and it was
considered desirable to have the benefit of his experience while the
incorporation was taking effect, and a new and larger Presidency being
created. Elphinstone bade farewell to the Deccan in these terms: 'I feel a
sort of respect, as well as attachment, for this fine picturesque country,
which I am leaving for the fiat and crowded roads of Bombay, and I cannot
but think with affectionate regret of the romantic scenes and manly sports
of the Deccan.' He characteristically concluded with a classical quotation
from the Idylls of Theocritus :-
Oh ! farewell to wolves, and jackals, and bears, Ye
denizens wild of the jungles and hills, In brake, and in grove, in the
forests' deep shade A herdsman and huntsman, no more shall I roam.
Oh Ye springs and ye rivers a long farewell.
Bishop Heber, that acute observer of men and things,
has left on record his impressions of Elphinstone as Governor of Bombay:
'No Government in India pays so much attention to schools and public
institutions for education in none are the taxes lighter, and in the
administration of justice to the natives in their own languages, in the
establishment of Panchayats, in the degree in which lie employs the
natives in official situations, and the countenance and familiarity he
extends to all the natives of rank who approach him, ho seems to have
reduced to practice almost all the reforms which had struck me as most
required in the system of government in those Provinces of our Eastern
Empire which I had previously visited. All other public men had their
enemies and their friends, but of Mr. Elpliinstone everybody spoke
highly.' During his eight years' rule he visited every part of his large
charge twice. The British districts gave him but little trouble. During
his tours in the Native States lie did his best to minimize some of the
inevitable hardships incidental to the inauguration of a reign of law and
order, succeeding a more or less free and independent regime under which
every man did what was right in his own eyes. He was glad to find,
however, that on the whole the introduction of the British Courts of
Justice was not unpopular with the people generally. To make them more
popular, he had Guzerati substituted for Persian in the courts of the
extreme west of his Province, where Guzerati was the vernacular of the
people, and by removing the Civil Court from Bombay to Surat he rendered
it easier for the people to settle their civil disputes.
Press criticism could be as embarrassing to a Ruler in
those days as in these, but Government had its own way of dealing with any
editor who over-stepped the limits of what was considered legitimate
criticism. The Press was not the free and independent agent it now is; and
Elphinstone found it necessary to deport the editor of a local paper in
consequence of his strictures on the judges of the High Court. Prestige
has always gone for much in the East; and the maintenance of British
prestige, and especially the prestige of British Courts of Justice, was
almost a matter of life and death in those early days of the establishment
of British rule; and Elphinstone considered his action fully justified by
these considerations.
One subject that Elphinstono had always had at heart
was the preparation of a complete digest of Hindu Civil Law, based partly
upon the written books and partly upon existing customs. It proved a task
beyond even his great powers and knowledge; and none knew the real
difficulties better than himself, as a letter ho wrote to a celebrated
jurist shows 'The written law was that of the Hindus, always vague and
iitiknown to the bulk of the people, often absurd, and still oftener
entirely disused. The unwritten law was composed of the maxims that occur
to people of common sense in a country not remarkably enlightened,
modified by Hindu law and Hindu opinion, and constantly influenced by the
direct lawful interference of the prince, who was the fountain of all law,
and by the weight of rank, and wealth, and interest. Besides, what we call
Hindu law applies to the Brah mans only ;each caste has separate laws
andcustoms of its own, and even these vary according to the part of the
country in which the different portions of a caste are settled.' The task
was entrusted to a committee, and it must have appeared from the very
outset a hopeless one. Notwithstanding, immense labour was expended on the
work, and a vast mass of information collected and embodied in reports a
Sanskrit work on inheritance was, moreover, translated; eventually,
however, the scheme in its entirety was dropped when Elphinstone left
Bombay.
Elphinstone was a great advocate for the admission of
Indians to high office, and he looked forward to the time when Indians
would be found eligible for the Council of the Governor-General. Though
his schemes did not come to fruition during his tenure of office, still
under the liberal policy that has actuated successive Rulers of India,
most of them did before his death : the path of distinction has been
gradually opened, until at the present day Indians are found in the
highest offices, and drawing salaries far greater than Elphinstone ever
dreamed of; and not only are they found in the Council of the
Governor-General, but in that of the Secretary of State for India in
England itself, and immediately under the aegis of the British Parliament.
In Elphinstone's time education was the great
difficulty: he wrote several minutes on the subject, and most of the
schemes he propounded have been put into operation since his day. He has
been called the founder of that system of instruction both in the
Vernacular and in English that has given the Bombay Presidency the high
place it holds among the other Provinces of the Indian Empire. He saw
clearly that in education lay the best hope of arneliorating the condition
of the people of India, both materially and morally. The problem that has
taxed the minds of all Rulers of India, how best to promote morality and
to find the teaching of morality a place in any scheme of general
education for the people, also presented itself to his mind; and he looked
at the subject from the point of view of a philosopher. While realizing
that morality must finally rest upon the sanctions of religion, he also
realized how impossible it was for a British Government to be otherwise
than neutral in the sphere of religion. His own idea of how the problem
might possibly be solved is given in an extract from one of his Minutes on
Education: 'It would be better to call the prejudices of the Hindus to our
aid in reforming them, and to control their vices by the ties of religion,
which are stronger than those of law. By maintaining and purifying their
present tenets, at the same time that we enlighten their understandings,
we shall bring them nearer to that standard of perfection at which all
concur in desiring that they should arrive.' He suggested the printing and
cheap distributing of Hindu tales inculcating sound morals, and also
religious books tending more directly to the same end. It will be seen
that he had Hindus only in his mind; the reason is not far to seek.
Muhammadans, who have a recognized Canon of Scripture, have always cared
for the education of their children in the religious tenets of their
fathers. Hindus, who have no such recognized Canon, have not been in times
past so careful in this direction. It is of interest, therefore, to note
that in more recent years there has been a decided movement amongst them
for having their Sons at school taught the faith of their fathers.
Textbooks, such as Elphinstone recommended, have been prepared, some on
orthodox lines, others on theosophical lines, and are in use in not a few
schools in different parts of India. At the same time, it must not be
forgotten that morality has always been taught indirectly in Hindu
families. The traditions and tales interspersed in their great epics, the
Mahabharata and Ramayana, with which the minds and imaginations of
children are stirred from their infancy, all inculcate a high ethical
standard, and practically form the basis of their moral education.
After an unbroken service of thirty years, Elpliinstone felt that his work
was done: in 1826, therefore, he resigned office. Of the addresses that
poured in, as usual with a departing Governor, the one that Elphinstone
most valued was the Indian address announcing the foundation of the
Elphinstone Institution in his honour. This
address concluded with these words 'Having beheld with admiration for so
long a period the affable and encouraging manners, the freedom from
prejudice, the consideration at all times evinced for the interests and
welfare of the people of this country, the regard shown to their ancient
customs and laws, the constant endeavours to extend amongst them the
inestimable advantages of intellectual and moral improvement, the
commanding abilities applied to ensure permanent amelioration in the
condition of all classes, and to promote their prosperity on the soundest
principles, by which your private and public conduct has been so
pre-eminently distinguished, we are led to consider the influence of the
British Government as the most important and desirable blessing which the
Superior Being could have bestowed upon our native land.'
With this recognition of the benign rule of the British Government, due to
a highly-gifted and exceptional man having made himself the personal
embodiment of that benign mule, this sketch now concludes.
Mountstuart
Elphinstone and the Making of South Western India
By J. S. Cotton (1896)
Selections from the
Minutes and Other Official Writings
Of the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone, Governor of
Bombay
By George W. Forrest (1884) |