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Art. V.—Memoir of the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2011

Edward Colebrooke
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Extract

The subject of this Memoir was born in the year 1779. He was the fourth son of the eleventh Lord Elphinstone, by Anna, daughter of Lord Buthven. The Elphinstone family is one of great antiquity in Scotland, and many of its members took a considerable part in the political events of their times. It maybe sufficient, as connected with the present sketch, to mention that Mr. Elphinstone's father was a General Officer in the British army, was for some time Governor of Edinburgh Castle, and sat for several Parliaments as one of the representative peers of Scotland; also, that several of his relations were connected about the middle of the last century with the trade and settlements in the East. Mr. Elphinstone's uncle, Mr. Fullerton Elphinstone, was, for many years, a Director of the East India Company; and to this circumstance we may attribute the destination of Mr. Elphinstone, and one of his brothers, to the Civil Service of India.

Type
Original Communications
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 18 , January 1861 , pp. 221 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1861

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References

page 223 note 1 Since this was written, I have received Borne amusing details bn this subject from Mr. Elphinstone's early friend, Mr. John Russell, of Edinburgh:—

“Mr. Elphinstone's father, Lord Elphinstone, then an officer in the army, was, at the time I first knew his son, the Governor of Edinburgh Castle, where he resided with his family in the Governor's house. This must have been about, or some time after, the breaking out of the French Revolution; at least it must have been some time after our first engagements with the French at sea, for there were then confined in the castle a great number of French prisoners, some of whom made a little support to themselves by manufacturing snuff boxes and little toys of wood. From being intimate with Mountstuart, I was frequently with him in the castle, and our great amusement was to traffic with the prisoners for their wares, and perhaps practise our small French which we were then learning at school, and talking to them. This led to their singing French songs to us, which we learnt from them; and, as they were zealous republicans, their songs were all to that tune. Nothing amused Mountstuart so much as going about the castle singing these songs, which consisted inter alia of the ‘Marseillaise,’ ‘ça ira,’ ‘Leg Aristocrates à la lanterne,’ and the other democratic songs then in vogue in France. The old officers looked askance at this outrage on their loyal feelings, and Mountstuart, if he had not been the Governor's son, would probably have been checked in a way he would not have liked; but I do not recollect of anything more than possibly a private reprimand having been inflicted. He was at all times a very lively sprightly boy, with a light figure, and curly golden locks, and very good-looking. He left Edinburgh very early after that, and I did not of course see him again till his return from India, when we renewed our former acquaintance.”

page 234 note 1 Mr. Kaye. in his History of Affghanistan, says, that Lord Minto censured, in a Minute recorded in Council, the lavish scale of expenditure in this embassy, as also in that of Malcolm to Persia. As Mr. Elphinstone, in the opening paragraph to his narrative, takes credit for the scale of magnificence of that preparation, it is in the highest degree improbable that he exceeded the direct or implied sanction of the Government. The following are the expressions used by him:— “As the Court of Cabul was known to be haughty, and supposed to entertain a mean opinion of the European nations, it was determined that the mission should be in a style of great magnificence, and suitable preparations were made at Delhi for the equipment.” I am informed by Sir R. Houston, in illustration of Mr. Elphinstone's carelessness about money, that he “had difficulty in persuading him to claim a large sum due to him by the Government, which was withheld owing to the neglect of others; but I brought home all the papers connected with the subject, and with his uncle's assistance, recovered a part of it. This refers to his mission to Cabul, by wliich he was a considerable loser, from his own delicacy, preferring to expend his private funds to fighting with public officers.” Mr. Elphinstone's pride of character must have been wounded by the charges of extravagance brought against him, and this may partly account for the delicacy here alluded to.

page 239 note 1 There is a slight but interesting reference to this meeting in Sir James Mackintosh's published Memoirs. He describes “the fine understanding aiid modest manners” of the young ambassador; chronicles their meetings, and gives the subject of one at least of their conversations, in which these distinguished men discussed, in common with Sir John Malcolm, the importance to the British empire of its Indian possessions; but as Sir James is careful only to report his own opinions, there is little in the notice that bears upon the present memoir.

page 243 note 1 Lieutenant-General Briggs, in a memorandum from which I shall have occasion to quote more than once, refers to the period of Mr. Elphinstone's arrival at Poona, as Resident, in the following remarks: “The Resident was aware that the Peshwa, instead of aiding the Duke of Wellington, as he was bound by treaty to do, during the campaign of 1803, 1804, and 1805, had systematically played into the hands of the enemy, and had even assumed charge of the estates of some of the Jagheerdars who were in attendance on the Duke: the latter, in one of his letters addressed to Sir B. Close, commenced it by saying, “Bajee Rao will never do; he has broken the Treaty of Bassein (if I recollect right) on seven different occasions:” and he then proceeds to give the instances. This letter which I have seeu in the Duke's own hand was dated after the battle of Assaye.”

page 258 note 1 I am assured by Major-General Briggs that he disbelieved them to the last.

page 260 note 1 The Manhattan in Captain Ford's battalion deserted, but this force belonged to the Peshwa's own contingent. It is mentioned by Grant Duff, with pride, that not a single sepoy of the regular service left his colours.

page 260 note 2 Colonel Burr, in his Report, says that the Resident sent a requisition to him to move out and attack the Marrhattas.

page 265 note 1 This anecdote was communicated to me by Mr. John Warden.

page 291 note 1 This desire to excel in everything that was manly which we have referred to, was carried at this period of his life to a degree that bordered on eccentricity. In his horror of luxury, he made exertions to dispense with what he thought superfluous articles of clothing, and this practice must have contributed to injure his otherwise strong constitution. For several months he attempted to dispense with the luxury of a bed. The relation to whom he mentioned this asked him, with simplicity, the reason for such conduct. “Because I was a fool!” was the immediate reply.

page 314 note 1 I had no occasion to make any appeal, as the Government appointed a Commission soon after these letters wore written.

page 318 note 1 In a subsequent letter he expressed a doubt whether he had not asserted himself too broadly that we had never applied the rule about adoption to sovereign states. “My doubt,” he afterwards explained, “was whether in our innumerable engagements to dependant chiefs the word sovereign might not possibly have been applied to some of them, so as to make it unsafe to assert that we had never interfered as superior in succession to princes to whom we had given that title.”

page 329 note 1 It was proposed in the Act of 1833, that four nominations of writers should be made for every appointment to the Indian Civil Service. The Act was never carried out.

page 330 note 1 Several lines afterwards erased followed the above.

page 333 note 1 The Minute on the effect of the Education of the Natives on the Army, which had been lately republished.