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JAMES THOMASON 
 
 TEMPLE 
 
JSonbon 
 
 HENRY FROWDE 
 
 Oxford University Press Warehouse 
 
 Amen Corner, E.G. 
 
 (Tlew ^orft 
 
 Macmillan & Co., 1X2 Fourth Avenue 
 
 [A// rights reserved^ 
 
^ 
 
 ^ 
 
JAMES THOMASON 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR RICHARD TEMPLE, Bart. 
 
 M.P.. G.C.S.I.. D.C.L.. LL.D. 
 
 FORMERLY LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF BENGAL AND 
 GOVERNOR OF BOMBAY 
 
 WITH PORTRAIT 
 
 O;»rforb 
 AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 . 1893 
 
Cxforb 
 
 PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY 
 
PEEFAOE 
 
 The Author desires to acknowledge cordially the 
 great assistance rendered to him in the preparation 
 of many parts of this work by Miss Lucy Clifford, 
 a granddaughter of James Thomason. 
 
 He is also grateful for the kind co-operation afforded 
 by Major-General George Hutchinson, R.E., C.B., 
 C.S.I., son of the Major Hutchinson mentioned in 
 Chapter V, of this memoir; and by Mr. William 
 Johnston of Cowhill, Dumfries, whose first wife was 
 Thomason's daughter. 
 
 The Author wishes to add that as this volume is 
 largely drawn from his personal recollections, and 
 gives prominence to the religious aspects of Mr. 
 Thomason's character, it differs somewhat in tone 
 and in scope from the more strictly historical retro- 
 spects in the biographies of the Rulers of India 
 
 207192 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 Series. The Author has had to satisfy his conscience 
 in his presentment of one whom he has long venerated 
 as a truly good and great man. His high estimate of 
 Mr. Thomason, and his religious treatment of the 
 subject, are based on his own intimate acquaintance 
 with Mr. Thomason's life : and alike for that hiofh 
 estimate and for the religious treatment of the 
 subject, the Author desires to take the undivided 
 responsibility. 
 
 R. T. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. Introduction .... 
 
 II. Parentage .... 
 
 III. Education .... 
 
 IV. Career in India . 
 
 V. Life as a District Officer » 
 
 VI. The North-Western Provinces 
 
 VII. The Lieutenant-Governor . 
 
 VIII. Private Life in Government House 
 
 IX. The Land Settlement . 
 
 X. Canals of Irrigation . 
 
 XI. Public Instruction and General Policy 
 
 XIL The End 
 
 FAGE3 
 
 9 
 
 -21 
 
 22 
 
 -3.^ 
 
 M 
 
 -42 
 
 43 
 
 -54 
 
 55 
 
 -7^ 
 
 74 
 
 -90 
 
 91- 
 
 118 
 
 119- 
 
 nr 
 
 i.->8- 
 
 161 
 
 162- 
 
 169 
 
 170- 
 
 I So 
 
 181- 
 
 208 
 
 NOTE 
 
 The orthography of proper names follows tlie system adopted hy 
 the Indian Government for the Imperial Gazetteer of India. That 
 system, while adhering to the popular spelling of very well-known 
 places, such as Punjab, Lucknow, &c., employs in all other cases 
 the vowels with the following uniform sounds : — 
 
 a, as in woman : a, as in father : i, as in pin : t, as in intr/gue : 
 0; as in cold : u, as in bull : u, as in rwral : e, as in gr^-y. 
 
JAMES TEOMASON 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Introduction 
 
 Of this memoir the early portion will be written 
 from authentic records, mostly public but partly 
 private, compared also with the recollections of 
 some who are still surviving. The latter portion 
 will be written largely from my own knowledge, 
 observation and evidence, verified too by some of 
 those who are informed as well as, or even better 
 than, myself. The subject of the memoir was, when I 
 first saw him during 1848, in the plenitude of fame, 
 influence and authority. He showed to me, a very 
 young man just entering upon life, the utmost kind- 
 ness in that year and in subsequent years. His 
 manner was at first sedate, as if he wished to penetrate 
 the disposition of those he met before proceeding 
 further with their acquaintance. As time went on he 
 relaxed, and his conversation would flow in a stream 
 of instruction, until I seemed to know his inner mind 
 
TO JAMES T HO MASON 
 
 regarding religion, politics, the public service, the 
 natives of India. His kindness, courtesy and atten- 
 tion brightened my rising career with rays of 
 hope. And now, after the lapse of forty years, 
 busy, eventful and distracted, the retrospect of his 
 conversation is among my most sunny memories, 
 and his figure stands out resplendently in the picture- 
 gallery of my recollections. 
 
 My portrait of him, then, will be drawn by the 
 hand of affection. But while endeavouring fully to 
 do justice to his virtues, talents and achievements, 
 I shall strive to delineate him with discrimination, 
 to depict him, not ideally, but actually as he was, 
 and to avoid ascribing to him qualities which indeed 
 great men might be supposed to possess, but which 
 he had no opportunity of displaying. For, on the 
 whole, he did not resemble many among the rulers 
 of India ; and in some respects his position in Anglo- 
 Indian history is almost unique. 
 
 James Thomason was born at Shelford, near 
 Cambridge, in 1804, and died in northern India, at 
 Bareilly, in 1853, amongst the people whom he had 
 governed. When a whole community was lamenting 
 his unexpected death in the zenith of fame and 
 authority, men felt that it was impossible by any 
 deliberate verdict to determine his place in history. 
 But now, after the lapse of more than a full generation, 
 it is possible to fix the position which he should 
 occupy in the Walhalla of Anglo-Indian worthies, 
 in the muster-roll of those who have ruled in India. 
 
INTRODUCTION 1 1 
 
 Upon a retrospect of all that happened before and 
 since his time, we may pronounce that in the civil 
 administration, on a vast stage during a period of 
 peace, he has never been surpassed in the annals of 
 the East, and was one of the most successful English- 
 men that have ever borne sway in India. 
 
 This definition of his merit and success is care- 
 fully limited. In order to arrive at an exact under- 
 standing of what he was in his surroundings and 
 circumstances, we may at the outset indicate what 
 he was not, and what he never became — or rather 
 what he had neither the chance nor the opportunity 
 of becoming. 
 
 For example, some rulers of India have been as 
 great in time of war as of peace, or even greater, have 
 encountered fearful emergencies, and have directed 
 the national forces with skill and energy. Some, 
 though brought up to the civil profession, have in 
 time of warlike trial shown that they would have 
 been fortunate had their lot been cast in the pro- 
 fession of arms. Some have been confronted with 
 troubles of special intensity — rebellion, pestilence, 
 famine— and their successes have been centred on 
 particular events. Some have had to deal with wild 
 tribes or w^ith newly-conquered races, and to or- 
 ganize administration with the strong right arm. 
 Some, with inborn genius, have originated measures 
 which after their time were carried into full effect 
 by others, and so bore abundant fruit ; their historic 
 claims being bound up w^ith these measures. Some, 
 
12 JAMES T HO MAS ON 
 
 by a combination of romantic and practical quali- 
 ties, or by deeds of signal nobility, have raised up 
 a mighty individuality as a household word among 
 Europeans and Natives. Some have run a great 
 career among Native States as diplomatists, and 
 as representatives of the British Paramount with 
 the Asiatic allies or vassals of the Empire. Some 
 by study and research have added largely to the sum 
 of European knowledge regarding Oriental laws, 
 languages, antiquities. All these classes have con- 
 tributed towa^rds the formation of the fabric of 
 British rule in India. 
 
 But to none of them did James Thomason 
 belong. Whether his genius was fitted for these 
 spheres, whether the bent of his mind was inclined 
 strongly in these directions, are questions which 
 need not be discussed. For he never was tried in 
 these respects. He was, in the very best sense 
 of the term, a man of peace. He was a great civil 
 governor in ordinary times — that, indeed, in the 
 highest degree ; but not more than that. He took 
 up, with comprehensive grasp and unerring insight, 
 various principles and measures of the utmost con- 
 sequence. Some of these, originated by others, had 
 been advocated or begun before his time, but had 
 not been carried to their legitimate conclusions. 
 He, however, elaborated them till they became fully 
 operative, till they produced all the good they were 
 capable of producing. Though not the inventor, he 
 identified himself with the inventions, and advanced 
 
INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 them to stages winch the inventors themselves would 
 hardly have hoped to attain. Others, so to speak, may 
 have rough-hewn the marble ; but he applied to it 
 the refinement of the sculptor's art, imparting grace^ 
 force, animation, dignity. He did all this, though 
 some of his measures were by himself originated. 
 He strove for, and actually won efficiency according 
 to the highest standard, and upon a scale so ample as 
 to be magnificent. His labours were fraught with 
 untold blessings to the generation living under his 
 rule, which benefits have been continued to their 
 immediate successors, and will be felt by future 
 generations. 
 
 Without any disparagement of the other careers 
 to which allusion has been made, which are, indeed, 
 most valuable and important, which strike the 
 senses, attract the sympathies, or appeal to the 
 imagination of mankind, it may be said that his 
 career was supremely useful. There may be patriotic 
 pride or national rejoicing on the acquisition of an 
 empire ; but in its train there follow duty and re- 
 sponsibility. It is easy to acknowledge the sacred 
 obligation ; but it is always hard, sometimes almost 
 insuperably difficult, to fulfil the same. No man in 
 India ever came nearer to this fulfilment than James 
 Thomason ; and very few have come so near as he. 
 When provinces have been conquered or annexed, their 
 pacification efiected, the civilizing system of British 
 rule introduced among them — all which demands 
 capacity, courage, fortitude on the part of rulers — there 
 
14 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 ever remains the less conspicuous, but still arduous 
 task of governing them well and wisely. Yet this 
 task must be discharged with some efficiency if they are 
 to prosper. If the enjoyment of liberty is precarious, 
 if rights are undefined, if property is unprotected, 
 if oppression in any large class of cases shall gain 
 the upper hand — they can neither grow in wealth 
 nor rise in the social scale. It is the certainty of 
 reaping the results of industry that supplies the main- 
 spring to energy. From that energy will arise the 
 happiness of innumerable homes. From such happi- 
 ness, again, there will accrue those material advantages 
 which foster education, stimulate mental ambition, 
 and lay the foundation of moral advancement. Such 
 progress will then open out the vista of still higher 
 good. These things may perhaps be reckoned among 
 the elements of sociology. They may be formulated 
 and urged with insistency ; but in Asiatic countries it 
 is hard to obtain them at all, even for a time, and 
 harder still to place them in a position of permanent 
 security. The ablest men among the British in India 
 are ever aspiring or pressing towards these ends ; but 
 the most successful among them would be the first to 
 admit deficiencies, shortcomings, backslidings. 
 
 Now James Thomason did undertake these weighty 
 matters with a determination and a faith that might 
 almost move mountains. Since his time the amplest re- 
 cognition has been accorded to principles and measures 
 for which he laboriously contended. To the cause of 
 improvement there have been devoted resources which 
 
INTRODUCTION 1 5 
 
 to him would have seemed fabulous, too bountiful to 
 be within the range of hope. Since his day the ameliora- 
 tion all round, the movements in every quarter, have 
 been immense. Nevertheless — in reference to the cir- 
 cumstances of his time, the limitation of the means 
 at his command, the sun'oundings amidst which he had 
 to lead his public life, the distractions which agitated 
 the body politic, the comparatively sluggish current of 
 opinion — his concentrated energy, his resolution tem- 
 pered like steel, his zeal glistening like gold in the 
 fire, are worthy to be contemplated by his country- 
 men. For every man who leaves our British shores 
 for a civil career in India we should pray that the 
 spirit of Thomason may be with him, and that his 
 bow may be strong as that of Thomason. 
 
 In his personal disposition the pervading charac- 
 teristic was Christian seriousness, combined with 
 catholic charity and gentleness, without the remotest 
 approach to narrowness or bigotry. His virtues 
 were entirely of the Christian type, and his moral 
 adornment partook of the Christian graces. Born and 
 bred in the doctrine and discipline of the Church of 
 England, he steadfastly adhered to that form of 
 w^orship. But he was broad in sympathy and tolerant 
 in sentiment. His religion was not obtruded on the 
 notice of men, but it was tacitly understood by all 
 who approached him. Emanating gently, it pene- 
 trated all around him. Its existence was known 
 throughout his widely-extended sphere. His ex- 
 ample, indirectly felt more than directly seen, was 
 
1 6 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 a power working for the good of others. Thus his 
 life was a pattern of how a Christian Governor ought 
 to live. 
 
 His character, founded upon the Rock of Ages, 
 naturally displayed calmness as a dominant quality ; 
 and in subordination to this were patience, modera- 
 tion of thought, and intellectual deliberation. His 
 kindness was not demonstrative, nor evoked with- 
 out consideration ; when awakened, it shone with 
 mild beams, but was directed effectively. Firm- 
 ness, energy and zeal served as bulwarks to his 
 character. For firmness, his mind was ordinarily 
 made up slowly, but when once fixed was impertur- 
 bable or even inflexible. His energy was not meteoric 
 nor ardent, but was unfailingly constant and per- 
 severingly strenuous. His zeal was as a slow fire, 
 but it burned unceasingly and inextinguishably. 
 There was innate dignity of soul in him, but it was 
 clothed in humility, and in unostentatious simplicity. 
 Though outwardly he was never enthusiastic, yet an 
 enthusiasm glowed within him, and it was the 
 enthusiasm of humanity. His character was composed, 
 so to speak, of two strata ; the first consisted of 
 enlightenment and sweetness, the second of resolution 
 and persistency. The two elements were joined 
 together by the bond of Christian faith. 
 
 Intellectually, the most prominent feature was 
 his capacity for mental toil, beyond the ordinary 
 standard even of great and able men. There was a 
 variety in his endowments, for he possessed those 
 
I NT ROD UCTION 1 7 
 
 perceptive faculties which usually make scientific 
 travellers or distinguished explorers. He could 
 discern and note external objects of all kinds with 
 surprising quickness and precision. He was 
 an adept in criticism, and with him the habit 
 of criticizing was unconquerable. His power of 
 reasoning, retentive memory, aptitude for some kinds 
 of physical science, would by themselves have entitled 
 him to hioh rank. Together with this talent for deal- 
 ing with things material, he possessed insight and 
 intuition regarding mental subjects and moral philo- 
 sophy, with much power of self-introspection. His 
 proficiency in some of the most difficult among the 
 classical languages of Asia proved that to whatever 
 branch of learning^ he might bend his mind, there he 
 would evince scholarship. Otherwise, in what is 
 known as general culture, though by no means 
 defective, he was not remarkable. In such a man 
 imagination could not be dormant, indeed in some 
 particular directions it was active ; but in its relation 
 to philosophy, poetry and art, he was not more than 
 ordinarily endowed. The son of one who preached 
 with eloquence, he had not inherited the oratorical 
 power of his father. But he always made simply and 
 well such official speeches as were required of him. 
 He had the pen of a ready writer, but he undertook 
 no literary work, and never essayed anything beyond 
 official composition, in which he was most skilled. 
 Though not a man of special genius or transcendent 
 gifts, yet he had a winning personality. Even if 
 
 ^ B 
 
i8 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 his movements were unobtrusive and his progress 
 tranquil, he was essentially a man of action. 
 
 His manner, in consonance with his general cha- 
 racter, was uniformly suave and urbane. But it 
 appeared reserved, or even cold, to those who were 
 not intimately acquainted with him, and they neces- 
 sarily formed the majority of the vast number with 
 whom a Governor comes in contact. A natural 
 quietude of temperament, and an unfaltering pre- 
 sence of mind, made some observers think him 
 constrained, while in truth he was only noting care- 
 fully what there was to be seen or heard. Perhaps 
 he had but a dim perception of popular arts, certainly 
 he had no thought for what is commonly known 
 as popularity. By habit as well as nature, he 
 had self-command and an evenly-balanced mind. 
 The annoyances incidental to a high station, the 
 strain and stress of public affairs, never agitated his 
 demeanour. Even the most tender anxieties for those 
 nearest him, would not break the surface of his calm, 
 nor betray him into any expression of his feelings. 
 
 But if his bearing did not arouse enthusiasm in 
 those who never saw very much of him, yet it cer- 
 tainly did with all who enjoyed his friendship, and 
 they were many. These knew the rich wealth of 
 goodness and virtue that lay behind that impassive 
 manner, and in such as they, no ruler in India ever 
 excited more enthusiastic sentiments. 
 
 His disposition was homely, and he was tenderly 
 affectionate in all domestic relations. Men regarded 
 
INTRODUCTION 19 
 
 him as the grave ruler in the seat of power ; but of 
 what was the gi-eat man inwardly thinking*? The 
 upper current of his thoughts sped swift and strong 
 towards national affairs ; the under current moved 
 noiselessly towards the wife gone before to heaven, 
 the motherless children in England, the Judgment 
 Throne before which he and his must one day stand. 
 
 His handwriting is characteristic, not bold nor 
 flowing, but regular and refined, strong as fibre, like 
 thin metal wire. In his private notes without number, 
 and his lengthy memoranda, not a word is slurred 
 over, every letter is formed, and no alteration is found 
 anywhere. 
 
 In frame he was spare and slim, but in stature he 
 was a head and shoulders above ordinary men. This 
 height was diminished in middle life by an accident 
 on horseback, which caused him to stoop slightly; 
 and, though not actually lame, he usually walked 
 with some support from a stick. He looked like 
 one who in youth had outgrown his strength, and 
 such unhappily proved to be the case. His health 
 seldom failed, but was never robust ; and his physique, 
 though far from weak, was not quite strong enough 
 for the arduous part he had to fulfil in life. His 
 habits were sufficiently active for his work, but he 
 was not addicted to field sports or to violent exercise 
 out of doors. Though not quite an equestrian, he rode 
 much at certain seasons, and he traversed repeatedly 
 on horseback the broad territories under his charge. 
 Despite some inevitable drawbacks, he had nervous 
 
 B 2 
 
20 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 force, brain-power and enduring fibre in an uncom- 
 mon degree. The countenance also betokened his 
 idiosyncrasy. His complexion, though not pale, was 
 far from ruddy ; the features were not marked but 
 bore an expression of serenity ; the mouth indicated 
 refinement and firmness ; the hair was flowing but 
 somewhat prematurely grey. The beaming, piercing, 
 yet benignant eyes, overshadowed by the massive 
 brow, and the expansive forehead as a ' lofty dome of 
 thought,' will never be forgotten by those who knew 
 him best and loved him most. 
 
 A beautiful portrait in words was drawn just sixty 
 years ago of James Thomason's parents (the Rev. 
 Thomas Thomason and his wife) by Charles Simeon, 
 and it may be quoted here : — 
 
 ' Were I to compare him with anything it would be with 
 the light on which a great diversity of rays are joined, but no 
 one more conspicuous than another. Towards God he was dis- 
 tinguished by a simplicity of mind and purpose, and towards 
 man by a placidity of manner and deportment. I never saw 
 anything of self blended with his actions. He seemed to 
 have one aim and end in all he did ; and what he did was 
 never by effort so much as by a habit. In fact, every day 
 with him, from morning till evening, was a kind of equable 
 course, something like that of the sun in a Cambridge atmo- 
 sphere. He gave a tempered light, never blazing forth with 
 unusual splendour, but diffusing to all around him a chastened 
 influence. Everything was done by him in its season, but in 
 so quiet a way as not to attract any particular attention. 
 There was an extraordinary resemblance between him and 
 Mrs. Thomason. Each executed a great deal every day; 
 though there was much business there was no bustle, no 
 
INTRODUCTION 21 
 
 parade. Each lived only for the Lord, and to glorify Him 
 seemed to be the one business of their lives. There was not 
 a work of benevolence within their reach but that they 
 engaged in it, just as if it had been a domestic duty.' 
 
 The likeness thus delineated of the father and 
 mother survived in their distinguished son, and the 
 description of them is so applicable to him that it 
 might almost serve as an epitaph in his memory. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Parentage 
 
 The parentage and family of James Thomason 
 are worthy of observation, because thereby the 
 evolution of his mental and moral qualities can 
 be discerned. 
 
 In the latter half of the eighteenth century Mr. and 
 Mrs. Thomason lived at Plymouth. He went on busi- 
 ness to the West Indies,, leaving his wife and infant 
 son at home. There he died, while his widow and 
 son, named Thomas, stayed in England. She re- 
 mained for some time a widow, taking care of her son ; 
 then she married Mi\ Dornford of Kent, and became 
 again a widow. Afterwards she took up her residence 
 at or near Cambridge, about the beginning of the 
 present century, and was counted among the many 
 friends of Charles Simeon, who was then at the very 
 height of his religious career. From the memoir of 
 Simeon it would appear that of all the ladies whom 
 he knew in the latter part of his life, none held 
 quite so high a place in his esteem and regard as Mrs. 
 Dornford. He used to speak of her as his sister in 
 Christ, even as his mother, though she was but a few 
 
PARENTAGE 23 
 
 years senior to himself. She died in 1835, when he 
 was approaching his encL About that time, a friend 
 sent a rich present of fruit from the Levant for her to 
 his care, and he replied to the donor — ' Alas ! our be- 
 loved friend has, for the last three months, been eating 
 of the fruit in Paradise.' There stands in the Chancel 
 of his own church, Holy Trinity in Cambridge, a tablet 
 which was placed there in her memory by him, and of 
 which the inscription may be reproduced, as it must 
 have been written by himself. 
 
 ' Sacred to the beloved memory of Esther, ReHct of Josiah 
 Dornford Esq., of Deptford Eoad, Kent. For more than 
 twenty years a devout and humble worshipper within these 
 walls. Living in the full enjoyment of Faith and Hope, and 
 exhibiting a bright pattern of every Christian grace. She 
 meekly bowed beneath the chastening hand of a merciful 
 Father and peacefully resigned her spirit Jan. 13th, 1835. 
 In the 82nd year of her age.' 
 
 The son Thomas Thomason, in due course, enters 
 Magdalene College, Cambridge, and after taking his 
 degree, obtains a Fellowship. Next he becomes a 
 Tutor at Queen's College, and is admitted to Holy 
 Orders. He forms with Charles Simeon, then much 
 occupied in parochial affairs, a friendship which 
 becomes strengthened with the holiest bonds. He 
 accepts under Simeon a curacy extending not only to 
 Holy Trinity parish, but to other parishes which 
 came under Simeon's cure. He has to resign his 
 position in Queen's College on his marriage in 1799 
 with Miss Fawcett of Scaleby Castle, the daughter of 
 
24 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 a clergyman in Cumberland. This lady occupied in 
 Simeon's regard a place second only to that of Mrs. 
 Dornford. To her he wrote that he should never lose 
 the brotherly feelings with which her society and 
 example had inspired him. 
 
 Among the cures which Simeon with his saintly 
 benevolence undertook, was that of three contiguous 
 villages a few miles out of Cambridge, named — 
 Stapleford, Great Shelford and Little Shelford. 
 Thomas Thomason took up his abode at Little Shelford, 
 in a well-wooded spot, and invited Simeon to resort 
 thither in summer time for change and quiet after the 
 work in Cambridge. Fortunately he has left a brief, 
 but concise description of the place : — 
 
 'A ver}" pleasant spot, where there are two bridges — close 
 to that is our mansion, with walks extending down to the 
 river — a more beautiful place I never saw ; it is the garden 
 of Cambridgeshire. Simeon's room is on the ground floor 
 which opens into the pleasure garden, where he can walk 
 privately. One door of Lis room opens into my study.' 
 
 The house still stands, and can be identified, but its 
 grounds exceed in beauty even the description given 
 by Thomas Thomason. The plain of the river Cam 
 lying to the south of Cambridge, though nowadays 
 well cultivated, is bare and naked to a degree very 
 unusual in England. In the midst of this plain, 
 there is a very slight depression causing the Cam to 
 form branches which rejoin the main stream as it were 
 with loops. There is thus a ' meeting of the waters,' ' 
 accounting for the two bridges. Former proprietors 
 
PARENTAGE 25 
 
 had wisely chosen this place for arboriculture. Every 
 tree known in England grows here with command- 
 ing height and umbrageous expansion. Thus Little 
 Shelford has become a continuous grove of im- 
 posing dimensions, rising up with sylvan majesty in 
 the champaign solitude. The. sycamore, the lime, 
 the plane, the acacia, the beech, the elm, the oak, 
 are arranged in groups, in double avenues, in 
 belts, or are growing singly. The ground-ivy 
 forms a thick green carpet, which in autumn is 
 overlaid with the fallen leaves in all their g-olden 
 colours. The water- of the Cam and its branches 
 glides silently with a deep metallic green, affording 
 artistic contrast to the foliage. Yet there is no excess 
 of thicket and under-growth to prevent the sunsets 
 being seen through the openings in the wood, as 
 throuorh windows. From the ao-e of the trees, it is 
 probable that the place must have looked almost as 
 well in Thomas Thomason's time as it looks to-day. 
 
 Here then was James Thomason, the statesman, 
 born on May 3rd, 1804. Hard by is the little church 
 with a suitable tower of the elder architecture, and 
 inside is a stone font, where the infant James must 
 have been baptized. 
 
 A few years later Little Shelford was destined to 
 receive a further distinction. Mr. Preston, one of 
 Simeon's coadjutors, set up a private school there. 
 Among his pupils were Thomas Babington Macaulay, 
 and the eldest son of William Wilberforce. Indeed, 
 Macaulay's boyish letters regarding his early studies 
 
26 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 were dated from this place ^. Mr. Preston remained 
 there till 1814, when he removed to Aspeden, as will 
 be explained hereafter. 
 
 For some years yet, Thomas Thomason was a 
 fellow-labourer with Simeon, and won in the affection 
 of that holy man, a place second only to that of 
 Henry Martyn. Probably Simeon regarded Mai-tyn 
 more than any man he ever met, but next after 
 him, he esteemed Thomas Thomason. There are more 
 letters extant of Simeon's addressed to Thomas 
 Thomason, and overflowing with affection, than to any 
 other of his many correspondents. Thomason's preach- 
 ing attracted the admiration of so eminent a judge 
 as Simeon, who declared that it abounded with 
 ' divine unction.' For some time, Henry Martyn was 
 joint curate with Thomason under Simeon, and then 
 accepted a chaplaincy under the East India Com- 
 pany, an acceptance which became memorable in 
 the annals of Christendom. This example powerfully 
 affected Thomason, who in 1808 became one of the 
 East India Company's Chaplains, and set sail for 
 Bengal, accompanied b}^ his wife and their son James, 
 then four years old. Among their fellow-passengers 
 were Mr. and Mrs.William Grant, who became specially 
 related to the Thomasons, as will be seen hereafter. 
 
 After some four months, in the usual course with 
 a prosperous voyage, the ship entered the Bay of 
 Bengal. Early in the morning she struck on a reef, 
 oflf the eastern coast of the Bay, and in a few 
 
 ^ See Lord Macaulatfs Life by Trevelyan, pp. 39 to 51. 
 
PARENTAGE 27 
 
 minutes was broken into pieces. Thomason himself 
 happened to be up and dressed ; he had just time to 
 rush into his cabin and bring his wife and his son 
 James on deck before the catastrophe. The ship's 
 officers behaved with coohiess and intrepidity ; despite 
 the loss of the first boat that was lowered, the second 
 boat was launched successfully on a rough sea with 
 squalls overhead. All the passengers and most of the 
 crew escaped from the vessel before she sank. She 
 was, according to the custom with Incliamen in those 
 days, sailing together with companion ships. Her 
 companions, however, were not at hand for the mo- 
 ment, though they ultimately proved to be within 
 reach. After three hours rowing and sailing in an 
 open boat, the shelterless passengers were met by 
 the ships. They soon arrived at Calcutta, destitute 
 of personal belongings and almost of clothing. But 
 this destitution only served to evoke that generous 
 and cordial hospitality for which the Anglo-Indian 
 community has ever been distinguished. Thomas 
 Thomason entered forthwith upon his duties as 
 Chaplain of the Church then known as the Old or 
 Mission Church, a name which it still bears. Thus, 
 the little boy James, the future statesman, made 
 his first landing in India after a narrow escape from 
 mortal peril. 
 
 During the voyage Thomas Thomason had prose- 
 cuted his Oriental studies. Soon after landing: in 
 India he became proficient in the Arabic, Persian, and 
 Urdu languages, attaining ultimately a high degree 
 
28 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 of scholarship. These attainments he devoted to the 
 translation of the Scriptures. Still his official work 
 was among the civil servants, the lawyers, the 
 merchants, the clerks of Calcutta ; with them he was 
 to pray, to them he was to preach. His congregations, 
 though occasionally large, were ordinarily limited in 
 number. But many of his new parishioners were 
 representative men. Nowadays the European com- 
 munity in Calcutta, with the ecclesiastical organiza- 
 tion, the parochial ministrations, the places of worship 
 belonging to various Christian bodies, the schools and 
 colleges, enjoj^s as many advantages as any community 
 anywhere. But in those days the situation was very 
 different, when both churches and clergy were few. 
 Under such circumstances a chaplain of persuasive 
 eloquence, of personal weight and moral authority, soon 
 became not only a shining light but also a factor of 
 some power in society. Such a part Thomason soon 
 began to fill. His oratory in the pulpit was effective 
 for its holy purpose. An address was presented to 
 him by his parishioners, proving how fully he had 
 caused them to remember his texts and the reasoning 
 by which he had enforced his precepts. Among his 
 hearers was the Earl of Moira, then Governor- General, 
 and he was chosen to accompany His Lordship on an 
 extended tour in northern India. He is now to visit, 
 in the infancy of British rule, the very Provinces 
 which his son, then a boy, was destined to govern. 
 There is a strange interest in noting the impression 
 which these Provinces made on the father in 1812, 
 
PARENTAGE 29 
 
 as contrasted with the high hopes with which they 
 inspired the son from 1843 to 1853. 
 
 Before starting from Calcutta, Thomas Thomason 
 had joined wibh other far-seeing and benevolent 
 persons in urging on the Governor-General in Council 
 the inauguration of some system of national instruc- 
 tion fox the natives of India. This was to be im- 
 parted in the several vernaculars of the country, 
 and was to have its literary foundation in the learned 
 lanofuao^es of the East. But it was to embrace Western 
 knowledge also, and the ideas of European civiliza- 
 tion. The superior portions of it were to extend to 
 instruction in English. It was to include higher 
 institutions, central and urban schools, and village 
 schools. It was to utilize all existing and indi- 
 genous resources of an elementary character^ and 
 to engraft on them such organization as European 
 experience might suggest. Considering the delays 
 and difficulties which retarded the introduction of an 
 educational system into India, as indeed into other 
 countries more advantageously situated, we may feel 
 refreshed by reading Thomas Thomason's recommen- 
 dations made nearly eighty years ago. As he ever 
 had in his thoughts the advancement of true religion, 
 he must have believed that sound secular instruction 
 would pave the way for religious teaching. In his 
 enterprising spirit, his fearless benevolence, his catholic 
 sympathies, this excellent chaplain showed himself 
 to be far in advance of the statesmen in India at that 
 time. He so far impressed the Governor-General 
 
30 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 with his ideas that he was commissioned to draw up 
 a general scheme for the education of the Natives. 
 It was for the sake of urging this plan that he was 
 desirous of accompanying His Lordship on this pro- 
 tracted march from Calcutta up the country. His 
 letters written during the journey are full of his 
 anxieties on this behalf. His sad heart might have 
 been comforted could he have foreknown that in the 
 next generation his son James would become the 
 father of elementary education. 
 
 During this vast tour of many hundred miles, 
 through the richest and most famous parts of 
 India, the only place that pleased him was Hardwar, 
 where the Ganges debouches from the Himalaya. 
 Arriving at Benares, he writes : — 
 
 ' I ventured to visit the shrine held so sacred. It was an 
 oppressive sight. The avenues to it are narrow, crowded 
 with Brdhmans and bulls. . . . The horrid din of Brahmans 
 and religious mendicants, and bulls, and beggars and bells 
 was too much to be endured. I hastened from the place, 
 as from Pandemonium, and thanked God for the Gospel.' 
 
 After a tedious voyage in boats up the Ganges 
 he reaches Allahabad, and then proceeds by daily 
 marches, sleeping in tents. His route lies through 
 the heart of Hindustan proper, and the Doab or 
 Mesopotamia of the Ganges and the Jumna. His 
 view of the country is not cheering ; he says : — 
 
 'Conceive an immense plain on which are scattered 
 thousands of villages ; a few principal towns without variety 
 
PARENTAGE 31 
 
 and a vast multitude of inhabitants ; when you have seen one 
 village or town you have seen all ; they are without any of 
 those marks of opulence, civilization, or elegance which delight 
 the English traveller.' 
 
 Ketuming tovsrards Calcutta, and dropping down 
 the Ganges in his boat, he presents some retrospect 
 of what he had seen, thus : — 
 
 * The ruins of Delhi are of surjDrising extent, reaching sixteen 
 miles or more, a sickening sight. Oh ! it made us sad to go 
 through the scene of awful desolation. Mosques, temples, 
 houses all in ruin, piles of stones, broken pillars, domes, 
 crumbling walls covered the place. The imperial city pre- 
 sents nothing but the palace to give an idea of its greatness, 
 and only appears grand from the magnificent wall. Within is 
 poverty and departed grandeur — all is going to decay. The 
 famous hall of audience remains, built of marble richly inlaid 
 with stones sufficiently beautiful to realize all our expectations. 
 We saw in the gardens the reigning prince, the poor repre- 
 sentative of Timur's house.' 
 
 We must admit that for such a man as Thomas 
 Thomason, these passages hardly evince the requisite 
 quality of imagination. There was much to distress 
 the gaze of a stranger, as he justly says. There 
 was squalor close to objects of the highest beauty. 
 Nevertheless, these very scenes have since that 
 time delighted European travellers, and furnished 
 countless subjects for the pencil and the brush. 
 At Benares if he had embarked in a pleasure-boat 
 at sunrise, and floated down the stream of the 
 Ganges past the long river-frontage of the classic city, 
 
32 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 when the Hindus with their many- coloured costumes 
 crowd the various flights of steps down to the water's 
 edge — he would have beheld one of the most enliven- 
 ing and characteristic spectacles to be seen on earth. 
 When wandering through the ruins of old Delhi, 
 he saw nothing save melancholy confusion ; but to 
 historians and poets the place speaks volumes. He 
 would have been roused from his depression 
 could he have known that under his son James, 
 in the next generation, these very Provinces 
 would be smiling in prosperity, with the first beams 
 of enlightenment breaking through the darkness of 
 centuries. 
 
 Returning to Calcutta he resumes charge of the 
 pastoral duties, to the joy of his European parishioners 
 there and of his native flock. But besides the im- 
 mediate cure of souls, he occupies himself intensely 
 and effectively with several institutions for the good 
 of India, the orphan asylum for European girls, the 
 Hindu College for the higher education of the natives, 
 the School Book Society, the Church Missionary 
 Society. He prosecutes also his Oriental labours for 
 the translation of the Scriptures into Arabic, Persian, 
 and Hindustani or Urdu : and begins in addition to 
 learn Bengali. By all this he followed the foot- 
 steps of Henry Martyn, into whose holy labours he 
 entered. In all his parochial ministrations, and in 
 respect to several of the institutions of a more general 
 character, he was much aided by his wife, who indeed 
 displayed a model of Christian womanhood before the 
 
PARENTAGE 33 
 
 women of India ^. This combination of employment 
 on his part was indeed extraordinary. Reverend 
 Missionaries have done as much as he did for Oriental 
 study and for Native education, but then they 
 had not the care of European congregations. 
 Reverend Chaplains have done as much as he 
 did for these congregations, but then they had 
 not also the affairs of missions nor the Oriental 
 studies to engross them. Take him all in all, he was 
 one of the best clergymen that the Church of England 
 produced during the early part of this century, he 
 was a power for good in the strange land where he 
 pitched his tent, and a beacon for his generation in 
 India. 
 
 ' See the account of her by J. W. Sherer, a very competent 
 authority, in Aymie Child, 1892. Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge. See also Sarjent's Life of Thomas Thomason : passim. 
 
 C 
 
CHAPTER III 
 Education 
 
 From the parental abode at Calcutta James 
 Thomason was sent to England at the age of ten. It 
 was unfortunate that he was kept in India so 
 long, for this doubtless caused him to shoot up like 
 a tropical plant to a height beyond his strength. 
 Arrived in England he was consigned to the care 
 of Simeon in loco parentis. He brought with 
 him, as a present from his parents to Simeon, a 
 miniature of Abdtil-Masih, the first Muhammadan 
 convert ; which picture is still to be seen at 
 Cambridge with Simeon's inscription. He was 
 received by Simeon and Mrs. Dornford with all the 
 tenderness that could be imagined for such an occasion. 
 Indeed, the genuine heartiness of Simeon's emotions, 
 on receiving his god-son, is quite refreshing. He 
 addresses the youth as ' Your loving father in man's 
 stead, your anxious father in God's stead.' 
 
 By this time Simeon, now fifty-four years old, had 
 attained that important position in the Church which 
 he held to the end of his life ^ His long-protracted 
 
 ^ See Carus' Life of Simeon (1847), chapter xvi. 
 
EDUCATION o^^y 
 
 trouble with his parishioners in the Holy Trinity parish 
 had subsided, and was nearing a happy end. He had 
 outlived prejudices and opposition in Cambridge at 
 least. He had been the means not only of obtaining 
 many pastors for English parishes, but also of sending 
 out to India clergymen who would act as chaplains 
 and would also support the cause of missions. He 
 had been helpful in the formation of several religious 
 societies, and had taken a leading part in the estab- 
 lishment of the Church Missionary Society. He 
 had more than once been chosen as select preacher 
 before the University in Great St. Mary's. His vast 
 work ' Horae Homileticae,' a complete repertory of 
 pulpit subjects and their treatment, is approaching 
 completion. He has begun to occupy his rooms in the 
 upper story of the Fellows' Building in King's College, 
 immediately over the lofty arch, and underneath 
 the leads of the roof where he used to walk for 
 meditation^. In these rooms he is destined to hold 
 many meetings year after year, open to all devout 
 comers and especially to undergraduates, for the sake 
 of mutual encouragement, and instruction in religion. 
 The "Cambridge which then presented itself to young 
 Thomason^s eyes, differed in aspect from the Cambridge 
 of to-day. The open space in front of King's College 
 and Chapel, the University Library, the Senate House 
 and Great St. Mary^s, which now delights visitors, 
 and is one of the finest urban scenes in the kingdom — 
 hardly existed at that time. Houses and other struc- 
 
 ^ See Moule's Memoir of Simeon (1892), chapter xiv. 
 
 C 2 
 
36 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 tures blocked up the Collegiate buildings and ren- 
 dered the main street continuously narrow. But if the 
 town was much less beautiful than it is now, the green 
 space extending from the Colleges to the Cam with 
 the avenues and groups of trees, must have had the 
 same varieties of sylvan splendour as those which 
 now astonish the spectator every spring and every 
 autumn. The avenue of trees stretching from the 
 Fellows' Building of King's College to the river, — down 
 which Simeon looked from his windows — no longer 
 exists. The Holy Trinity Church, in which James 
 Thomason attended his first service at Cambridge, must 
 have been then much as it is now ; except that the 
 interior is better cared for, and the old-fashioned pews 
 have been altered. But the fine old oaken pulpit, from 
 which Simeon preached many potent discourses, has 
 been removed. 
 
 While Simeon was pressing upon all around him 
 the awful importance of earnest and sincere religion^ 
 and by passionate efforts striving to make men 
 feel the truth as well as accept it, he assuredly did 
 not fail to inculcate the same principles upon James 
 Thomason, for whose guidance he had made himself 
 responsible. He was the greatest educator of that time. 
 He was a devoted member of the Church of England. 
 He had akeady preached his sermons before the 
 University on the excellence of the Liturgy. These 
 must have been in the hands of the young James. 
 In his preface to the ^ Horae Homileticae ' he declares 
 his anxiety to 'give to every portion of the Word of 
 
EDUCATION 37 
 
 God its full and proper force, without considering 
 whose scheme it favours, or what system it is likely to 
 advance.' Regarding the Book of Common Prayer, he 
 said, ' No other human work is so free from faults as 
 it is.' Again he wrote : — 
 
 * I wish to receive every truth precisely in the way, and 
 to the extent, that it is set forth in the inspired volume ; were 
 this the habit of all divines there would soon be an end to 
 all the controversies that have agitated and divided the 
 Church of Christ.' 
 
 These views entered into the mind of James 
 Thomason, and abode with him always. 
 
 In the series of sermons, preached by Simeon 
 before the University, on the Offices of the Holy Spirit, 
 there occurs the following passage. The doctrine it 
 contains must have been in Simeon's reflections for 
 many years. It must also have affected the ideas of 
 James Thomason, and inspired him with thoughts that 
 surged up in his soul during the last weeks of his life, 
 as will be seen hereafter. 
 
 ' The Spirit of God is promised to us to dwell in us as in 
 His Temple, and He is further to operate in us effectually 
 for all the ends and purposes of our salvation. His motions 
 may not unfitly be compared with the operations of the soul 
 in the human body. Without the soul the body cannot perform 
 any vital function whatever, but when that spiritual inhabitant 
 is present with us, and discharges its proper offices, we show 
 by the various exercises of our mind and body that it really 
 dwelleth in us. 
 
 ' Now, the Spirit of God performs in the soul an office 
 somewhat analogous to this — the soul by itself has respect 
 
38 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 only to things visible and temporal, but when filled by the 
 Spirit of God, it occupies itself about things invisible and 
 eternal. And precisely as the body needs the presence and 
 operation of the soul for the discharge of its offices in relation 
 to this world, so does the soul need the influences of the 
 Holy Spirit for the discharge of its duties with reference to 
 the world to come.' 
 
 These sermons and these passages deserve notice 
 here particularly, because theii' teaching moulded the 
 young mind of James Thomason. From them it 
 might be inferred, what indeed proved actually to 
 be the case, that he would grow up to be a good 
 Churchman, a follower of the Book of Common 
 Prayer, a religious man of broad sympathies and 
 charitable sentiments ; that he would be devoted to 
 missions to the heathen, and that he would ever strive 
 to attain spiritual-mindedness. 
 
 Arriving in London during August, 1814, he goes 
 for a month's visit to various friends of Simeon's. 
 Early in the following month, September, he is taken 
 to school at Aspeden (or Aspenden) in Hertford- 
 shire. The coach from Cambridge to London has, 
 among other passengers, a trio consisting of Simeon, 
 Mrs. Dornford and the boy James, her grandson, as 
 far as Buntingford, in Hertfordshire, twenty-two miles 
 distant. Alighting there, they would be met by 
 Mr. Preston and conducted across the beautiful 
 grounds to Aspeden Hall. There they find a pala- 
 tial building, originally of Tudor architecture, re- 
 constructed during the last century in the Italian 
 
EDUCATION 39 
 
 style, with a great court-yard, a noble hall and two 
 spacious wings. Simeon is struck with the magni- 
 ficence of the house. The boy is led with his 
 grandmother to his own room, and is there solemnly 
 dedicated by Simeon to the Lord. The establishment 
 is arranged for a limited number of boys. Mr. Preston, 
 already mentioned in the last preceding chapter at 
 Little Shelford, has now taken a certain number of 
 pupils at Aspeden, mostly sons of Simeon's friends. 
 Among these are William, eldest son of William 
 Wilberforce, Thomas Babington the son of Zachary 
 Macaulay, young Vaughan who afterwards won re- 
 nown as a preacher in Brighton, young Maiden who 
 became a well-known classical professor ^. Macaulay 's 
 youthful letters, showing how his mind began 
 to grasp the principles of literature and politics, are 
 written from Aspeden Hall. The place was vacated 
 when Mr. Preston obtained preferment to a living in 
 •1825, and remained empty till 1852, when it was pulled 
 down, and a pretty house in the Italian style was 
 built on its site. But pictures of the former house are 
 extant, and some of the oaken panellings of the old 
 hall are attached to the new. The undulating grounds 
 may be seen, where young James with his distin- 
 guished school- fellows once roamed ; the Westminster 
 pond, so called from being exactly of the same pro- 
 portions as Westminster Hall, and overshadowed by 
 lime trees — the grand groups of chestnuts — the steep, 
 though round-shaped and grassy hillock, down which 
 
 ^ See Cussan's History of Hertfordshire, p. 96. 
 
40 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 the boys used to glide rapidly in sledges ^. The old 
 church is to be visited, and the ancient Lady-chapel, 
 with two large pews, in one of which James Thomason 
 would sit with the Preston family, while in the other 
 might be sitting young Wilberforce, young Macaulay 
 and others. In the chancel is the altar-rail, where 
 James must have knelt to receive his first Communion. 
 After staying here about four years, he is transferred 
 to the care of Mr. (afterwards Archdeacon) Hodson at 
 Stansted in Sussex, near the border of Hampshire. 
 He loses the companionship of Macaulay who had 
 gone to Cambridge, but he gains that of Wilberforce's 
 second son, Samuel, the future Bishop. Mr. Hodson 
 was at that time Chaplain to Mr. Lewis Way who 
 worked hard, together with Simeon, for the conver- 
 sion of the Jews. Mr. Way lived at Stansted Hall 
 situated in a spacious park, and Simeon was a frequent 
 guest. This house, dating back to the fifteenth 
 century, was reconstructed at the end of the 
 seventeenth century, by a noble family, in the 
 style of the period from James II to Queen Anne. 
 Its elegant character both inside and outside remains 
 unchanged. It was in the hands of more than one 
 noble family, and from its records appears to have 
 been honoured by several royal visits. Mr. Hodson 
 and his distinguished pupils dwelt in a neighbouring 
 house, but they must have been constantly in the 
 park, with its oak forests and its noble avenue of 
 
 ^ The present proprietor of Aspeden Hall was himself in one of 
 the sledges. 
 
EDUCATION 41 
 
 beech, inhaling the sea breezes from the coast near 
 Emsworth. They worshipped too in the old chapeP 
 inside the park, which Mr. Way had recently restored 
 in almost a Jewish style, with an outer court and with 
 the old and new covenants inscribed on marble tablets. 
 
 It was not possible for Simeon, who had only his 
 Fellow's rooms at King's College, to receive his god- 
 son at Cambridge. But James spent much of his 
 holidays with his grandmother, Mrs. Dornford, there. 
 He certainly went with Simeon on one of the several 
 tours that were made in Scotland, and probably also 
 on the Continent of Europe once when evangelizing 
 efforts regarding the Jews were being made. 
 
 Having obtained from the Directors of the East 
 India Company an appointment as writer, that is, as 
 a member of their Covenanted Civil Service in Bengal, 
 James entered their College at Haileybury, near 
 Hertford, in a picturesque and salubrious situation, 
 with a professorial staff of the highest order, and 
 a curriculum embracing not only all the subjects 
 ordinarily taken in English colleges, but also several 
 Oriental languages and some course of Indian history. 
 He distinguished himself, not only in literary sub- 
 jects, but also in mathematics and political economy. 
 The college course of two years completed, he sailed to 
 rejoin his parents in India. He was accompanied, as 
 they had been on their sailing for India, by Simeon 
 until the ship was being left by the pilot at sea. 
 He arrived at Calcutta in Sept. 1822, being a little over 
 
 * See Life of Bishop Wilberforce (Ashwell), vol. i. ch. i. p. 5. 
 
42 JAMES T HO MASON 
 
 eighteen years of age. According to the ideas of the 
 present generation he was pressed into the arena 
 of life too fast. Moreover, out of the then total of 
 his years, the first ten had been already spent in 
 India, and the last eight only in England. These 
 latter had, indeed, like so many precious talents, been 
 put to such exceeding good use, that his somewhat 
 premature entry into Anglo-Indian life did not aflfect 
 his mental and moral growth. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Career in India 
 
 In the year 1822, when James Thomason landed in 
 India as a servant of the East India Company, the 
 long proconsulate of the Marquess of Hastings was 
 about to give place to that of the Earl of Amherst. 
 He was doubtless able to remember the India of his 
 childhood, which he had quitted some eight years 
 previously. But all this while a transition stage was 
 in progress. In 1808, when Thomas Thomason the 
 father reached Calcutta, the Empire had not been fully 
 established. Calcutta was the chief centre of authority, 
 but had not yet grown to the status of a real metropolis. 
 But in 1822, when James Thomason the son arrived as 
 a civil servant,, the Indian Empire, though not so fully 
 developed as it is now, was yet in essentials established. 
 The Bengal Presidency stretched uninterruptedly from 
 the mouth of the Htjghli to the north-west frontier 
 beyond Delhi, 1 500 miles distant. Nothing separated 
 her from the other two Presidencies except either 
 British territory or Native States, the allies and feuda- 
 toiies of the East India Company. The Pax Romana 
 or Britannica had been for the most part settled. The 
 
44 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 proverb that not a shot could be fired in anger from 
 Cape Comorin to the Himalaya, without British per- 
 mission, was nearly though not quite entirely realized. 
 Meanwhile Calcutta, as the seat of imperial authority, 
 was justly asserting its metropolitan position. Such 
 a status naturally reflected itself on the external 
 aspect of the city. The fine architecture of the 
 Government house, built by the Marquess Wellesley, 
 had set an example to private persons and to local 
 magnates, whether official or commercial or pro- 
 fessional. Beyond Fort William there expanded the 
 green plain bearing the Mughal name of Mydan. 
 Round the north end of this expanse there stretched 
 a line of houses somewhat palatial in dimensions and 
 design, which caused Calcutta to be styled the city 
 of palaces. The manners of Anglo-Indian society 
 had been, at the beginning of the century, so quaint 
 and old-fashioned that contemporary accounts of 
 them astonish the modern reader. But by this 
 time society had cast off its provincial style, and 
 had begun to assume the airs which befit imperial 
 surroundings. The junction points of highways in 
 the city were still thronged with palanquins calling 
 for fares, corresponding to the carriage stands in the 
 cities of Europe to-day. But along the banks of the 
 broad Hughli, with the fortifications on one side 
 the river, and the villas with their richly wooded 
 grounds of Garden Reach on the other side, there 
 rolled daily strings of carriages and lines of vehicles, 
 with equipages and liveries of many hues and devices, 
 
CAREER IN INDIA 45 
 
 when the Anglo-Indians and their families inhaled the 
 hreeze at eventide. 
 
 Although James Thomason found India almost an 
 empire and died leaving it fully such, yet during his 
 thirty- one years' service he saw changes of magni- 
 tude. When he arrived, India was indeed mainly 
 British, with one large exception, and that consisted 
 of the entire basin of the Indus and its tribu- 
 taries, which was still in Native hands. But in his 
 time the upper part of this region, the Punjab, 
 and the lower part or Sind, were both conquered 
 and annexed. One war, that of Afghanistan, 
 was indeed waged with chequered fortunes. But 
 of it nothing was actually seen within India 
 itself. Some lesser wars occurred there and on 
 the coast of Burma, but these did not seriously 
 agitate the empire. Apart from the warlike work 
 in the country of the Indus, the operations in 
 India were essentially of a peaceful and progressive 
 character, suitable to James Thomason's taste and 
 genius. He saw the British government relieved 
 of the pressure from arms, politics, self-defence, un- 
 avoidable aggrandizement, then using its leisure and 
 freedom for attending to works of peace, and arousing 
 itself to a sense of the responsibilities it had .under- 
 taken. He noticed how the government, feeUng itself 
 the undisputed master, would dare to deal with evils, 
 or to undertake reforms, that were beyond its power 
 in the days when British ascendency was struggling 
 with many competitors. Thus he witnessed inhuman 
 
46 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 rites prohibited, bg-rbarous customs abolished, mis- 
 sionary work liberated from all restrictions, national 
 instruction not only in Eastern but in Western 
 knowledge set on foot, the rational freedom of the 
 press secured, transit duties and their impediments 
 upon inland trade removed, property in land re- 
 cognized and vested in the mass of the rural people, 
 and irrigation begun on a scale grand enough to 
 enable them to cope with drought and famine. 
 This general category exhausts, perhaps, all the 
 principal improvements of his progressive time which 
 may be regarded as the first generation of civil 
 progress in India. Even this category, however, is 
 limited, and those who think of the improvements 
 which have been or are being made in the country, 
 and which find no place in our narrative, can measure 
 the vast advance during the generation immediately 
 after him. 
 
 All this while he knew no other master than the 
 East India Company, whose servant he remained to 
 the end: for at the time of his death that imperial 
 corporation, though really approaching an unforeseen 
 termination, was still in the zenith of success and 
 usefulness. 
 
 He was destined to see no less than six Governors 
 General after entering the public service. At his 
 early age he would not be brought much into contact 
 with the first of these, the Earl of Amherst. But he 
 could not fail to notice with admiration the next, 
 namely, Lord William Bentinck, in whose secretariat 
 
CAREER IN INDIA 47 
 
 he served more than once, and from whose reforming 
 mind he doubtless drew inspiration. He would 
 not see much of the immediate successor, Lord 
 Auckland, with whose pre-occupations in Afghanistan 
 he felt little concern. As will be presently shown, 
 he was intimately acquainted with Lord Ellen- 
 borough. He was greatly pleased with Lord Hardinge, 
 from whom, during the scanty leisure afforded by 
 warlike events, he obtained sanction for some of his 
 most important projects. With the last of the six, 
 the Marquess of Dalhousie, he also cultivated friend- 
 ship, and died under his regime. 
 
 As he stepped from the East Indiaman to the 
 strand of the Htighli, he was young and extremely 
 tall, with abundant brown hair, fair complexion, 
 grey-blue eyes and regular features ;. the general 
 type being Anglo-Saxon. He had a modest 
 demeanour and winning manners, with an aspect 
 which the Natives would ascribe to high caste. 
 When to this were added a thoroughly sound educa- 
 tion, intellectual endowments, and a paternal name 
 most favourably and honourably known in Calcutta — 
 discerning persons could foresee that he would rise 
 rapidly in life, and that many a powerful hand would 
 be stretched forth to help him in mounting the steps 
 of the ladder. 
 
 Thus he landed at Calcutta on September 19th, 
 iSiz^^as a Covenanted Civil Servant on the Bengal 
 establishment. He found his family in Calcutta ; 
 his father being at the post of sacred duty, and his 
 
4^ JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 mother being a suitable help-mate, a veritable Dorcas 
 in good works. He had to spend a short time in the 
 College of Fort William studying the Oriental lan- 
 guages, and then was attached to the judicial branch 
 of the administration. In 1825, his mother's health 
 failed and his father accompanied her on a sea- 
 voyage towards England. Mrs. Thomason died at sea, 
 leaving the widower to proceed home alone. There is 
 extant a touching letter from the father to the son on 
 this bereavement. Soon afterwards James also fell 
 ill in India, and proceeded to England on leave. He 
 travelled in the North of England and in Scotland as 
 far as Edinburgh in company with his sister Eliza 
 (afterwards Mrs. Hutchinson). During this journey 
 he wrote several letters to his little sister Frances, 
 (afterwards Mrs. Montgomery) then at Balham in 
 Surrey. These letters indicate a lightness of spirit, 
 and an exhilarating playfulness of which the outer 
 world hardly deemed him capable. Then he joined 
 his father at Cheltenham, and there became engaged 
 to Miss Grant with whom he had been long acquainted, 
 and who was about proceeding to join her family in 
 India. After sojourning in England his father married 
 again and returned to Calcutta. Meanwhile the son also 
 had returned to Calcutta and met his father and step- 
 mother on their landing. They proceeded up country, 
 that is. on to the interior of Bengal, as James was about 
 to be married to Maynard Eliza, above mentioned, 
 one of the daughters of Mr. William Grant of the 
 Covenanted Civil Service, stationed at Maldah. This 
 
CAREER IN INDIA ' 49 
 
 Mr. Grant belonged to the Grants of Elchies near Elgin \ 
 and was related to the Charles Grant who had been 
 an early leader of missionary effort, and among the 
 founders of the Church Missionary Society, — also to 
 the Charles Grant who became Lord Glenelg. He had 
 both musical and pictorial talent. The marriage took 
 place at Maldah, in the lower Gangetic valley, on 
 February 19th, 1829. Thomas Thomason the father, 
 though in bad health, officiated as clergyman at the 
 ceremony, as appears from the expressions in a letter : 
 ' After going so far to unite my son and daughter in 
 marriage, I feared to be removed from them before the 
 ceremony was performed.' The sick pastor hastened 
 back to Calcutta for medical advice, and learned that 
 he was affected by a dangerous disease, namely, water 
 on the chest. He immediately sailed for England, 
 but accomplished his voyage as far as the Mauritius 
 only, where he died during June, 1839; having on 
 his death-bed sent the following message to Simeon : 
 * Say I feel unworthy of the great love he has at all 
 times honoured me with. Oh ! may his bow abide in 
 strength.' 
 
 James Thomason receives at Calcutta the tidings 
 of his bereavement. He addresses to his orphan 
 sister Frances, still at school at Balham in Surrey, a 
 beautiful letter regarding the traditions bequeathed 
 to them by their father and mother. He wi'ites : — 
 
 * That we ever had such a father is a mercy for which we 
 
 * To this stock belonged Sir Robert Grant, the author of several 
 hymns well known for their beauty. 
 
 D 
 
50 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 can never be sufficiently thankful ; that we have lost him is 
 sorrow to us, but joy to him. Happy indeed is their case 
 to whom death is the cause of joy ! You have had a mother 
 and a father who were infinitely more happy in their deaths 
 than they ever could be in their lives. . . . You have a 
 mother's example before you, a brighter one you will look 
 for in vain ... Be your mother's daughter in all the graces 
 of the Christian character . . . You have read Cowper's lines 
 on seeing his mother's picture, and remember those beautiful 
 verses : — 
 
 " But higher far my proud pretensions rise, 
 The son of parents passed into the skies." ' 
 
 He assumes the guardianship of her in the gentlest 
 terms, begs her to look to him as if he were her father, 
 and assures her of a welcome to his home in India as 
 soon as she shall be old enough to come. Three 
 years later he writes at some length regarding her 
 cabin in the coming voyage, enjoining her to make 
 the cabin, what he ever found it to be, a place of 
 delightful retirement — for she will have much to reflect 
 upon regarding her entrance into society in a strange 
 land. The considerate thoughtfulness of his advice, 
 as conveyed to her in several letters, is indeed note- 
 worthy, as emanating from one who was intensely 
 pre-occupied by work in an alien language amidst an 
 eastern people. 
 
 By 1829 he had, as a young man of the highest 
 promise, gained extraordinary distinction in some of 
 the most arduous paths of learning. The Bengal 
 Presidency was not then, as now, divided into several 
 Lieutenant-Governorships — but the whole of the vast 
 
CAREER IN INDIA 51 
 
 Presidency, consisting of Bengal proper, the North- 
 western Provinces and other territories, was governed 
 directly by the Governor- General and his Council. For 
 this Presidency there was a Court styled Sadar or the 
 chief appellate tribunal, with several European Judges. 
 It was the central repository of Native law. To 
 this Court young Thomason was appointed Registrar. 
 In the course of five years he acquired such proficiency 
 in Muhammadan law, that by his own request he was 
 publicly examined. Among his examiners were 
 Ouseley, who bore a name famous in Oriental learning, 
 and William Hay Macnaghten, who himself composed 
 abstracts of Muhammadan and Hindu law, and who 
 afterwards was signalized by his ill-fated though 
 honourable end in the first Afghan War. They re- 
 ported that he showed 'intense application and 
 extraordinary talent.' He read before the native 
 law-ofiicers a passage from the Hedaya or sacred 
 law, in Arabic, and explained to them its meaning in 
 Persian. His studies were further extended to Hindu 
 law, and for that he had to learn Sanskrit. Pro- 
 ficiency like his, in two such different and indeed 
 opposite languages as Arabic and Sanskrit, is almost 
 unique in Anglo-Indian records. 
 
 After this distinguished service under the Sadar 
 or Chief Court, he was appointed to act for a time as 
 Judge in the Jungle Mahals or districts. This was 
 great promotion for so young a man ; but then, as the 
 name implies, the climate was bad and doubtless 
 caused the sickness that drove him to Enofland in 
 
 D % 
 
52 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 1827. Returning from his sojourn in England with 
 restored health, he became Secretary to Government in 
 1830, and remained in that position, enviable as it was 
 for a comparatively young officer of under ten years' 
 standing, till 1832. Then he took the decisive step 
 in his official life, for reasons honourable to him and 
 practical in their nature. He obtained the appoint- 
 ment of Magistrate and Collector of Azamgarh in 
 the Upper Provinces. This change governed the 
 remainder of his career. When he left the Secretariat 
 the President of the Council, Sir Charles Metcalfe, 
 afterwards the celebrated Lord Metcalfe, communicated 
 to him publicly the thanks of the Government. 
 
 The transfer might not at ffi'st sight appear ad- 
 vantageous to him. He was to relinquish a dignified 
 and lucrative position at the capital, in contact with 
 the official chiefs and political leaders of the day, 
 in the centre of every social interest which the 
 headquarters of a great country could affbrd,with every 
 attractive advantage that his family could enjoy. All 
 this he was to exchange for hard work and severe 
 routine in a remote district of the interior, as a collector 
 of revenue, as a director of police, as a sitting magis- 
 trate, and this too without any gain in emolument. 
 But the reasons which actuated him were years after- 
 wards expressed thus by an excellent authority ^ : — 
 
 ' It is not in the Secretarial bureau alone, or in the private 
 study, that administrative capacity is to be gained. The 
 
 ^ Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Muir, Calcutta Review, December, 
 1853, vol. xxi. 
 
CAREER IN INDIA 53 
 
 views of enlightened officers may thus be thoroughly mastered, 
 and valuable notes and memoranda may be multiplied. But 
 no study will supply the place of personal experience ; and so 
 long as an officer has not himself mixed with the jDeople, and 
 come into immediate contact with them, as their District 
 Officer, his opinions cannot, projDerly sjDeaking, be called his 
 own, since they are grounded, not upon pergonal observation, 
 but upon the reports of others.' 
 
 In Thomason's view the cardinal matter is this, that 
 the European officer should be accustomed to walk 
 alone in his responsibility and to stand on his own 
 basis; should see, think and act for himself and be 
 answerable for the result. For anyone who has 
 passed through this ordeal, the Secretariat of the 
 Government is a most favourable sphere. His 
 practical knowledge is utilized by the Government, 
 his ideas expand, his qualities become appreciated by 
 the dispensers of fortune. But for one who begins 
 life as Under-Secretary, and so rises to be Secretary, 
 without having gone thi'ough the practical ordeal, the 
 Secretariat is an unfavourable sphere. He becomes 
 skilful in interpreting and expressing the thoughts of 
 others. But after all, the thoughts are not his, and he is 
 not responsible for the consequence if they are carried 
 into effect. And there is always a fear lest men, who 
 have passed brilliantly through the serene air of the 
 Secretariat, should fail if transported into the lower 
 atmospheric strata, with all the troublous gusts of 
 practical life. This was just the danger and this the 
 temptation, to which the career of Thomason was 
 
54 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 exposed after its auspicious beginning. Therefore 
 lie resolved to embark on a fresh enterprise and 
 to plunge into the stream with all its eddies and 
 currents. 
 
 According to the then modes and means of loco- 
 motion, Azamgarh was far removed from Calcutta. 
 The distance, five hundred miles, may not seem long 
 to-day by railway, but at that time it was very tedious 
 by pinnace, by river steamer, by palanquin. Geo- 
 graphically the district may be described as lying 
 near the north bank of the Ganges to the east of 
 Benares. It adjoined the western border of Behar, 
 and was one of the most easterly of the districts 
 included in what were then known as the Upper 
 Provinces. In after years Thomason wrote of it thus 
 to his children, '^It was to me a field of victory, 
 where such repute and status as I had in the service 
 was founded,' but he added ' how far short have I fallen 
 in the fulfilment of God's will.' 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Life as a District Officer 
 
 We are now to follow James Thomason for several 
 years, 1832 to 1837, in his life as a District Officer 
 at Azamgarh. In the high station to which he 
 afterwards rose, he doubtless looked back on that 
 epoch as his golden age. He then had his wife and 
 children with him. When he marched about in tents 
 during the cold season, she sang to him airs from 
 Handel and took the harp with her to beguile his 
 evenings with music. 
 
 A most competent witness thus wrote of him : — 
 
 ' To his residence at Azamgarh he always reverted with 
 delight : and as he visited it in his annual tours, the memory 
 of domestic happiness and official usefulness could be traced 
 in the glistening eye and the mingled sympathies which 
 lighted up his countenance or cast a shadow across it \' 
 
 Later on he had to draw up a report for his superiors 
 to which he prefixed the following description of the 
 district : — 
 
 'It is hounded on the west by the Oudh territories, 
 on the north by the river Gogra and district of Gorakh- 
 
 * William Muir, Calcutta Review, vol. xxi. p. 478. 
 
56 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 pur, and on the south and east by the river of Benares. 
 The country is generally low, with water near the surface, 
 and abounding in large jheels or lakes. It is traversed 
 from west to east by several rivers or streams, all of which 
 take their rise from lakes situated either in the district itself 
 or in Oudh, at a short distance to the west, between the 
 Gogra and the Gumti, and fall into the Ganges. Two of 
 these are navigable during the rains, whilst the others are 
 never navigable ; but are highly valued for the irrigation 
 which they extensively supply. The soil is generally fertile 
 and peculiarly adapted for the cultivation of the sugar-cane.' 
 
 ' The chief natural products of the district are sugar, 
 indigo, and opium. Comparatively little grain is grown in 
 the district, seldom sufficient for the support of the whole 
 population, which is partly dependent upon importation from 
 the neighbouring district of GorakhjDur, or from Behai', or 
 the Western Provinces. The river Gogra is the general 
 channel for these importations. Grain markets are estab- 
 lished all along the course of this stream, and the suj)plies 
 are thence poured in, as necessary, to all the manufacturing 
 towns in the district. Sugar is the staple produce. It is 
 cultivated throughout the district, and always yields a high 
 rent.' 
 
 Such was the district on which he entered at a 
 critical moment in its local history, for the Thirty 
 Years' Settlement was being introduced. He found 
 that the lands of the whole district were being 
 surveyed parish by parish, with a professional and 
 scientific survey after the English method, and field 
 by field with a rough cadastral survey after the native 
 Indian system ; that upon these measurements the land 
 
LIFE AS A DISTRICT OFFICER 57 
 
 revenue was being assessed for a term of thirty years ; 
 that property on the land having thus been recog- 
 nized as belonging to a vast number of virtual 
 proprietors, a Record of Rights had been undertaken 
 which was to serve as a complete registration of all 
 landed tenures. This special work of the Settlement 
 was apart from the ordinary and regular work of 
 the District, but he was appointed Settlement Officer 
 as well as District Officer. He was now quite in his 
 element ; he could thinks enquire, learn to his heart's 
 content ; all such processes, however, were already 
 familiar to him. But there were new functions by 
 him as yet untried ; for he could begin to act, 
 to organize, to command. He could also do that for 
 which he must have already felt an innate genius ; 
 having informed himself first, he could instruct and 
 educate others. He had several European Covenanted 
 officers under him. His native officials were numerous 
 in all grades ; he officially educated them, and care- 
 fully brought them forward. With the agricultural 
 affairs and the landed interests, his Settlement work 
 brought him into the closest touch. His daily work, 
 as administrator-general, lay with the magistracy, 
 the police, the prisons, — the municipalities, such as 
 they then were in their infancy, — the public health 
 and sanitation, the local funds and the lesser works 
 of improvement. He noticed the then existing germs 
 of indigenous education. He probed to the very 
 bottom the relations of the District Officer towards 
 his work and his people. In his own person, and 
 
58 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 with his own hands, he grappled with the realities 
 of the business. Though he was usually bland and 
 benign, yet there are cases which show that, if his 
 lawful authority were resisted, he would enforce 
 it with vigour. Interest in his charge deepened 
 year by year, till he came to regard himself as 
 the thrifty and resourceful steward of an improvable 
 domain. He saw the people not only as they appear 
 in public offices and courts of justice, but also as 
 they are in their villages and in their humble calhngs 
 at home. He learnt to respect their susceptibilities, to 
 feel for their anxieties and to recognize the difficulties 
 with which they are but too often environed. While 
 vigilant against wrongfulness concealed under plau- 
 sible masks, he was aware of the insinuations with 
 which natives are sometimes prone to poison the 
 mind of European authority against their neighbours. 
 Few Europeans in power have ever judged natives 
 so considerately or made allowances for them so 
 generously as he. During his rides, drives and walks 
 he would try to catch the tone and feel the pulse of 
 the people. At his headquarters, while living in the 
 official residence, his recreation in the cool hours of 
 the morning or the evening — before or after the indoor 
 business of the day — was to inspect the city or the 
 station, and to devise material improvements. For 
 nearly half the year he would quit his headquarters and 
 march in tents about the district. While riding through 
 the fields, halting amidst the homesteads, lounging in 
 the shade of a spreading tree, or in the vestibule of 
 
LIFE AS A DISTRICT OFFICER 59 
 
 his tent, he saw the natives more unreservedly than 
 he could see them at his headquarters, when sur- 
 rounded by his staff and subordinates. 
 
 It was the Settlement branch which gave him most 
 opportunity for profound enquiry into the past history 
 of the tribes and families. His Report, already men- 
 tioned, proves that, on this his earliest occasion for 
 enquiry, he caught sight of, and kept steadily in 
 view, the proprietary rights inherent in the sons of 
 the soil. After showing how in an age long past, 
 high-bred invaders had dispossessed the humble 
 aborigines, he states : — 
 
 ' These invasions of the Rajputs are the foundation of the 
 existing proprietary right in the land. Different tribes 
 located themselves in different spots. The stocks were 
 numerous. . . . But it is not to be supposed that stocks 
 regularly multijDlied. Violent changes constantly took place; 
 tribes were swept away by the incursions of foreigners or by 
 the aggressions of their neighbours. . . . The occasional in- 
 cursions and supremacy of the Musalman are strongly marked 
 in different parts of the country.' 
 
 He presents graphic particulars of feuds, fights, 
 raids, forays, and border disputes — of the fortunes 
 which befell lordly houses, feudal families, and in- 
 dustrious homes — all full of local interest. He states 
 ' these historic facts to illustrate the mode in which 
 the proprietary right was generally exercised and 
 transferred,'' and concludes his analysis thus : — 
 
 *I have endeavoured to show the origin of private 
 proprietary right in the land and the forms under which it 
 
6o JAMES THOMASON 
 
 is at present exercised. I will proceed next to classify these 
 forms and to point out the principal features which charac- 
 terize them. The proprietary right may rest either in a 
 single individual or in a community of people. The com- 
 munity may divide amongst themselves the profits of the 
 estate, either according to their ancestral shares or according 
 to some arbitrary rule having reference to the quantity of land 
 which each member cultivates.' 
 
 These quotations serve as a key to the policy which 
 he pursued afterwards, when governing the whole 
 country. 
 
 After discussing the various categories into which 
 the tenures group themselves, he turns to tenant 
 right, and divides 
 
 'The non-proprietary cultivators into (i) those having an 
 hereditary and transferable right to hold their land at a fixed 
 rate, (2) those having a right of occupancy at a fixed rate 
 either for a certain term or during their own lives, (3) tenants 
 at will.* 
 
 This Report was received with marked approbation 
 by the governing authorities. Fourteen years later 
 (1851) the Court of Directors in London wrote of it : 
 ' This document possesses a more than ordinary interest, 
 involving a scientific and discriminating enquiry into 
 the diverse and intricate landed tenures.' 
 
 It has been truly said that his administration of 
 the Azamgarh district was ' the miniature ' of his 
 government of the North- Western Provinces. He 
 had now acquired that self-reliance which was to 
 sustain him hereafter with a strength that nothing 
 
LIFE AS A DISTRICT OFFICER 6\ 
 
 else could impart. As a Governor he will be endowed 
 with an advantage which Governors do not always 
 enjoy, in that he will call upon others to do only that 
 of which he understands the doing, because he has 
 himself done it. 
 
 During these years he found opportunities to march 
 through the neighbouring Native State of Oudh. 
 Though observant of its faults and shortcomings, 
 he hesitated to pronounce against it in unmeasured 
 terms, and was chary in accepting Native reports of 
 an adverse character, lest they should be given partly 
 in order to flatter him by a comparison favourable to 
 British rule. Herein he showed cautious discrimina- 
 tion, as well as generosity in judgment, respecting 
 Native princes and chiefs. 
 
 At this time (1836) the Upper Provinces had been 
 formed into a separate Government^ with the name 
 of the North- Western Provinces, under a Lieutenant- 
 Governor, Sir Charles (afterwards Lord) Metcalfe, with 
 his headquarters at Agra. Early in 1837 Thomason 
 was appointed Secretary to the Agra Government. 
 
 During his life at Azamgarh, his wife had been 
 continuously with him, and their children were now 
 seven in number ^. On the eighth anniversary of their 
 marriage, 1836, he indites to her a passage couched 
 in language of grace and beauty. Inter alia, he 
 writes, ' seven years of uninterrupted happiness are 
 
 ^ Of these several will be mentioned in the succeeding chapters. 
 One only is surviving, General Charles Simeon Thomason, of the 
 Royal Engineers, now residing at Naini Tal, in northern India. 
 
62 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 a blessing denied to many.' Further on he proceeds : ' If 
 there has been laid up a plenteous store of faith in 
 God's word, the impulse we now receive will carry 
 us through the gloomier portion of our course 
 that yet remains to be run.' 
 
 Despite the avocations of them both, her domestic 
 cares, and his official duties, there had been a thorough 
 companionship between them. Her bringing up, like 
 his, had been earnestly religious. They read together 
 passages from divines or other writers upon religion. 
 He used to copy these passages with his own hand 
 into a manuscript book, carefully indexed for her to 
 study, and many of the passages had been suggested 
 by her. For example, Keble's ' Christian Year' having 
 recently appeared the beautiful morning hymn was 
 transcribed ; so also were Coleridge's lines on the 
 Mother and her Child ; several passages from Sir 
 Matthew Hale, and from divines of the olden time, 
 as Tillotson, Hooker, Hooper, Fuller, Leighton, Jeremy 
 Taylor, one or two translations from Fenelon, and 
 extracts from other authors, exclusively on religious 
 subjects. About this time, on the occasion of his 
 birthday, he writes in this book of hers some 
 reflections of his own, from which one or two 
 sentences may be quoted, as they illustrate his mode 
 of thinking. 
 
 * It is a solemn thought that as life advances and ties 
 multiply which bind the anxious soul to earth, so does the 
 time hasten on when all these ties must be dissolved, when 
 the spirit must part from all the objects of its care and 
 
LIFE AS A DISTRICT OFFICER 63 
 
 solicitude upon earth, and present itself before its Judge to 
 render an account of the manner in which it has acquitted 
 itself of the duties devolved upon it. . . . In the hour of 
 health, in the day of prosperity, in the sunshine of happiness, 
 the provision must be made. The season of perplexity, of 
 sorrow and anguish will arrive. We have to prepare not for 
 possible contingency, but for positive certainty.' 
 
 In all this there is something unconsciously pro- 
 phetic. At a time which was the happiest of their 
 lives, he and his wife make mental provision for 
 misfortune. They both know that the closest ties 
 must sooner or later be sundered, though neither 
 foresees that for them the severance is to come soon. 
 Indeed, it is difficult, within a reasonable compass, 
 to do justice to this manuscript book, which well 
 illustrates the God-fearing, humble and diligent dis- 
 position of two persons who had all the temptations 
 of worldly success to distract them. 
 
 Here he receives his sister Frances, who has been 
 noticed in the last preceding chapter, on her arrival 
 from England, having written to her, ' my heart beats 
 in happy expectation of seeing you amongst us.' 
 He gives her in marriage to Mr. (afterwards Sir 
 Robert) Montgomery of the Civil Service ^. After 
 the wedding is over he writes that he will no longer 
 think of her ' as the trembling blushing bride, but 
 as the matron — the companion of her husband in 
 his wandering — the staff on which he rests in his 
 
 1 Ql 
 
 She died at Allahabad in 1842. He married in 1845 Ellen, 
 daughter of W. Lambert, Esq., of Surrey. He died in 1888 ; she is 
 still surviving. 
 
64 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 sorrow — the object on which he fixes his regards in 
 his happiness.' His letters to her abound with allu- 
 sions to the blessings of his own happy house, to 
 the greetings with which his family acclaim him on 
 his return from camp, to the pealing of their laughter 
 in the shady grove. As he is about to quit the 
 district for a higher post he writes, * Hurrah, hurrah, 
 hurrah, for old Azamgarh ! ' 
 
 Leaving Azamgarh for Agra, he is accompanied by 
 his wife and children, or their little flock, as she calls 
 them. Though their journey is, according to her 
 account, managed with every comfort or luxury, yet 
 fever and even small-pox cross their path. Arrived 
 at Agra, she forgets these passing troubles at the sight 
 of her children recovering, and begins to look around 
 her. The ruins, as regards both form and colour, 
 strike her, as they have always struck new-comers 
 from the Lower Provinces. She has an eye for 
 artistic effect, having inherited that faculty from 
 her father. She is amazed at the marble of the Taj, 
 and the gorgeous variety of inlaid stones. Altogether 
 her view of their new home is cheerful ; but the cheer- 
 fulness is for a moment interrupted by an accident 
 to her husband from his horse falling while he is 
 inspecting the ruins in company with his young son 
 James. This mishap causes a permanent injury to 
 the left leg, and renders him slightly lame. How- 
 ever he soon recovers up to a certain point, and 
 writes — ' Wife well — children smiling — what more can 
 I expect ? ' His high standing in the service is a 
 
LIFE AS A DISTRICT OFFICER 6^ 
 
 source of pride to her, but her happiness is short- 
 lived. The following year, 1838, she begins to show 
 signs of a disease affecting the chest. Late in the 
 summer of that year he takes her to Simla ; then 
 a Himalayan station beginning to be established. It 
 is here that he first perceives the peril which threatens 
 to leave their young family motherless. 
 
 The following spring, 1839, he decides to send her 
 home, and the children with her. He obtains leave 
 from the Agra Government to go with them as far as 
 Calcutta, where they are to meet his sister Eliza 
 and her husband Major Hutchinson of the Bengal 
 Engineers. Thence they are to proceed all together 
 in an Indiaman round the Cape of Good Hope to 
 England. From Agra he arranges a voyage, tedious 
 but suitably calm for his sick wife, down the Ganges in 
 a spacious boat. She whiles away the hours by read- 
 ing the manuscript book with its devotional passages 
 already mentioned. Arriving at Calcutta and meet- 
 ing the Hutchinsons, who afford the best of escort for 
 the voyage, she might it was hoped proceed, and he 
 might return to Agra as his leave would soon expire. 
 But she is so prostrated that he cannot bear to let her go 
 on without him. Therefore he obtains leave to proceed 
 with the ship so far as the Cape of Good Hope, thence 
 to return to Calcutta, for that was the then limit 
 of the East India Company's authority in respect 
 of leave to its officers. He takes this opportunity 
 in the hope that she will improve before reaching 
 the Cape. Arriving there, however, he sees her no 
 
 E 
 
66 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 better, but on the contrary worse. Officially he is 
 bound to return to India, and allow her to proceed 
 on the voyage to England, especially as she can be 
 attended to by his sister and her husband, who fortu- 
 nately are on board ^. Personally he is anxious to 
 accompany her to England : but he can do so only by 
 proceeding without leave, and so breaking the rules of 
 the service, which infraction, almost unheard of, would 
 cause forfeiture of appointment in India, and perhaps 
 even loss of his place in the service of the East India 
 Company. Such considerations must have been 
 cogent with him, in respect to his responsibilities as 
 the bread-winner of a young family. Yet he runs 
 the risk and proceeds with his sick wife, in the belief 
 that he is sacrificing his career, and forfeiting his 
 place in the Indian Service, with the doubtful prospect 
 of earning a livelihood for himself and his family 
 how he can, and where he may. Landing on the 
 bank of the Thames, he proceeds with her to 
 Blackheath, and alights at the house of his sister 
 Esther, Mrs. Stephen ^. Staying there for a while she 
 is able to drive quietly in a pony carriage and to 
 join the circle in the evening. She inscribes in a 
 friend's album Keble's lines in the ' Lyra Apostolica ' 
 on the text — ' Whither I go thou canst not follow Me 
 now.' These lines she seems to consider suitable to 
 her present state as 'a pilgrim pale with Paul's sad 
 
 
 
 ^ Happily Mrs. Hutchinson is still sui'viving, and from her 
 account is derived this part of the narrative. 
 
 * Widow of Major Stephen, related to Sir James Stephen. 
 
BRIEF SOJOURN IN ENGLAND 67 
 
 girdle bound.' Then her husband places her in South- 
 wick Street, near Oxford Square, London, in the trust 
 either that the progress of the disease may be checked, 
 or that the end may by gentle care be long delayed, 
 even if recovery be never attained — hoping perhaps 
 against hope, as men are wont to be sanguine re- 
 garding those who are nearest to them. After that he 
 betakes himself to the Court of Directors and throws 
 his case on their clemency, in reference to the distressful 
 necessity under which he has been labouring. They 
 decide that he shall be relieved from the forfeiture to 
 which the breaking of his leave had rendered him 
 liable, and that he shall be restored to their service. 
 But he must return to India immediately. 
 
 His wife on parting entrusts to him two of her un- 
 married sisters, whom he takes with him to join their 
 relations in India ; while the remaining sister stays in 
 charge of her ^. By this time the overland route 
 through Egypt has been established. 
 
 On his departure, she and her sister remained in 
 Southwick Street. As the autumn advanced, and 
 winter approached, her chest complaint became aggra- 
 vated. The anguish alleviated, she was able to speak 
 much, and then was seen the power of Religion in the 
 supreme moment. She would remember what the 
 poor have to bear in similar trials, and would contrast 
 her own comforts and luxuries, as she called them, 
 
 ^ Isabella Grant, who married her cousin and is still surviving as 
 Mrs. Grant of Wester Tambreck, Strathspey. From her is derived 
 this part of the narrative. 
 
 E ^ 
 
68 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 with their hardships, as a reason for cheerful patience 
 on her own part. She evinced all the sweetness and 
 fortitude that spring from faith. Speaking of her 
 husband she said, ' Ours was an ideal happiness. You 
 do not know what he has been to me ; he is my all ^.' 
 Her mind at ease regarding the future arrangements 
 for the children, she asked that the sixth chapter 
 of Galatians ^ might be read to her. She heard with 
 dying ear of the ' Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by 
 whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the 
 world.' Next she begged that the fifth chapter of 
 Corinthians II might be read, and was still able 
 to hear that, ' we are confident and willing to 
 be absent from the body, and be present with the 
 Lord.' As the end drew nigh, the seventh chapter of 
 Revelation was read ; the tenth verse was reached, 
 and while the words ' our God which sltteih upon the 
 throne and the Lamb,' were being pronounced, there 
 came a sudden pressure of her hand, and then stillness 
 for ever. 
 
 She is buried in the churchyard of Charlton near 
 Woolwich, on an eminence characteristic of Kentish 
 scenery, and overlooking Greenwich Park with the 
 Thames. The ridge is now built over with houses, 
 and the noble elm-grove of those days has disap- 
 peared. It is close to Blackheath, and Thomason, 
 when recently staying there, doubtless saw the shady 
 
 •^ This is recorded by her sister. 
 
 ^ It will be seen hereafter that Thomason on his death-bed asked 
 that this chapter might be read to him because it had been read to 
 her on this occasion. 
 
RETURN TO INDIA 69 
 
 spot. On her tombstone is the inscription that ' sur- 
 rounded by everything that could make life dear 
 to her, she was enabled to resign all that she might 
 be found with Christ.' Close by is buried Spencer 
 Perceval the Prime Minister, who was killed in 1812. 
 
 The tidings of death reach her husband in Bombay. 
 On the voyage out he had written several letters to 
 the children as well as to the mother ; these are full 
 of playful and cheery descriptions of places and people, 
 suitable to the entertainment of the young ; he had seen 
 Athens and the isles of Greece on his way to Egypt ; 
 he wishes he could but take a peep at the domestic 
 hearth which had been set up in Southwick Street. 
 But now he writes to the motherless family in terms 
 the most pathetic, yet the most judicious, showing 
 a perfect knowledge regarding the disposition of each 
 one of them. He reverts to the manuscript book 
 which was begun at Azamgarh, fills up the blank 
 leaves with additional entries, and specially marks 
 those entries which had been suggested by his late 
 wife. Then he sends this book for the instruction of 
 the children, so that they may know ' the passages on 
 religious subjects, to which the parents had in their 
 joint lifetime most attended.' 
 
 He has to control from a distance the education 
 of his young family, who are placed under the care of 
 his sister Esther. His private letters, still extant, 
 written month after month in the midst of arduous 
 work, abound with thoughtful suggestions. He 
 addresses many letters to the children themselves, 
 
70 JAMES T HO MASON 
 
 telling them to ' gather' in imagination round his chair, 
 and hear his words. To one he writes that he used 
 to be ^ quite overcome by her clinging affection while 
 she was with him, and that her wailing on his 
 departure still rings in his ears.' He is, in the first 
 instance, cheered by the society of his two sisters-in- 
 law. But he says that by his bereavement 'the 
 home has been shattered — never to be set up again 
 in its integrity ; ' and in one sense this prediction 
 proves true. His household will be stately and well 
 ordered, but will never know any mistress until 
 his daughters shall have grown up in England and 
 come to join him in India. 
 
 Starting from Bombay with his late wife's two 
 sisters as already mentioned, he travels by palanquin 
 at the rate of thirty miles a day to Allahabad, some 
 600 miles distant. The party start in the lightest 
 marching order as regards luggage, still they require 
 upwards of seventy men to be collected at intervals 
 of twenty miles all the way, including torch-bearers 
 for the nocturnal journey. This wearisome travel 
 leads him over the bold and rugged scenery of the 
 Western Ghat mountains, across the cotton-fields of 
 Berar and Nagpur, through the forests of the Satpura 
 range, across the Narbada to Jabalpur, and on to 
 Allahabad, where he is received by his sister Frances, 
 and his brother-in-law Montgomery. 
 
 Keturning to Agra early in 1 840, he reverts to his 
 appointment as Secretary to the Government of the 
 North- Western Provinces. He takes a house of which 
 
LIFE AT AGRA 71 
 
 he writes — remembering the joyous circle that once 
 surrounded him — that he is 'to be the sole inhabitant.' 
 He has to fill it with the furniture which he and 
 they had left behind them just a year previously. 
 But the sight of this furniture brings sadness : ' The 
 same chairs on which we sat, the same tables round 
 which we clustered, the same pictures on which we 
 gazed, the bookshelves, even the footstools the same. 
 What is the principle which makes one cling so 
 tenaciously to objects that cannot but inflict pain"? I 
 would not for any sum part with one article, and yet 
 can I look upon them, and be otherwise than sad ? ' 
 
 He finds that Sir Charles Metcalfe had retired 
 at the end of 1837, that Lord Auckland, though 
 Governor-General, had assumed for a while the 
 direct administration of these Provinces, and that after- 
 wards Mr. Robertson had been appointed Lieutenant- 
 Governor. He served in the Agra Secretariat till the 
 close of 1 84 1, when he became a Member of the Revenue 
 Board in succession to Robert Merttins Bird ; and it 
 was a red-letter day in the calendar of northern India 
 when these two eminent persons met at the Board's 
 headquarters, at Allahabad. 
 
 His intercourse indeed with Bird, which had long 
 been intimate, was at this time noteworthy as 
 supplying a special example to the public service. He 
 writes thus in a private letter at Agra : — ■ 
 
 ' Mr. Bird stayed with me nearly a week. I enjoyed his 
 visit greatly, and I trust it was for the good of both. I 
 never found him so instructive or communicative on those 
 
7il JAMES THOMASON 
 
 subjects, which regard another world. We had much most 
 interesting conversation, and endeavoured more especially to 
 consider how we should carry out our Christian principles 
 into our daily walk as public servants. It is an important 
 subject, on which as each year passes we should more earnestly 
 reflect.' 
 
 When starting from Agra, with its peerless archi- 
 tecture, for Allahabad, which was comparatively 
 plain, but was Montgomery's station — Thomason 
 writes to his children. He wishes to impress them 
 with the superiority of moral loveliness over the 
 beauties of nature and of art. So he says, — ' What are 
 the marble structures, the swelling domes against the 
 azure sky, the imperial ruins to me, as compared with 
 my brother-in-law's hearth and the juvenile circle 
 that surrounds it.' 
 
 In the beginning of 1842, he was at Calcutta, 
 and witnessed the arrival of Lord Ellenborough as 
 Governor- General. He was immediately sent for by 
 His Lordship, who spoke to him in the most kind and 
 complimentary terms, and had evidently heard of his 
 fame. He was afterwards appointed Foreign Secretary, 
 and so filled an ofiice held to be one of the most digni- 
 fied and interesting in the country, being commonly 
 called ' the blue ribbon ' of the Indian service. He wrote 
 privately : — ' My attitude is one of a disciple, and my 
 business is to give currency to the thoughts of others 
 rather than to express my own.' Again he wrote : — 
 'Lord Ellenborough is exceedingly affable and con- 
 siderate to me. He allows me the fullest access and 
 unreserved communication.' His semi-official corre- 
 
LIFE AT AGRA 73 
 
 spondence with the Governor-General is still extant, 
 and shows how fully he enjoyed the confidence of his 
 Chief. 
 
 In the spring of 1842, his sister Frances (Mrs. 
 Montgomery, who was adorned with all the matronly 
 graces of her mother and sisters) died at Allahabad of 
 small-pox. The twelfth chapter of Hebrews was read 
 at her bedside — 'we are compassed by so great a cloud 
 of witnesses ' — and he prayed with her. Later in the 
 year, while on a journey, he writes to Montgomery : — 
 
 ' I thought of you yesterday when our Church directed the 
 attention of all her followers to the 2otli Psalm — "the Lord 
 hear thee in the day of trouble — send thee help from the 
 sanctuary." ' 
 
 Towards the close of 1843 he was, after the retire- 
 ment of Mr. Eobertson, appointed to be Lieutenant- 
 Governor of the North- Western Provinces, by Lord 
 Ellenborough, who on this account deserves the public 
 gratitude. He was a young man for so high an office as 
 this, being thirty -nine years of age and having twenty 
 years' service. He proceeded from Calcutta to Agra in 
 November and found that Mr. (afterwards Sir George) 
 Clerk, who was then in charge, would not make over 
 the government till early in December. He employed 
 the interval profitably in visiting the sites of the 
 proposed Canal works on the Ganges near Hardwar. 
 In the language of the Gazette, the Honourable James 
 Thomason assumed charge of the Government of the 
 North- Western Provinces as Lieutenant-Governor on 
 Dec. 12, 1843. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 The Noeth- Western Peovinces 
 
 To geographers the North- Western Provinces of 
 to-daj, as forming a component part of the Indian 
 Empire, differ considerably from the North- Western 
 Provinces of Thoraason's time. At that time they 
 comprised the Delhi territory, that is, the territorial 
 appanage lying to the west of Delhi, the imperial 
 city. In them were included the Narbada territories, 
 meaning the beautiful valley of the Narbada Ij^ing 
 between the mountainous ranges of the Vindhya 
 and the Satpura. But they did not include the 
 valuable territory of Oudh, which was still a Native 
 kingdom. Since that time, however, Oudh as a 
 British province has been added to them ; while the 
 Delhi territory and the Narbada territories have been 
 taken away ; the former having been incorporated in 
 the Punjab, the latter in the Central Provinces. It 
 will suffice here to take a bird's-eye view of the 
 North-Western Provinces as they were in 1843, and 
 as Thomason saw them when entering on his new 
 duties as Lieutenant-Governor. 
 
 These Provinces still formed part of the Bengal Presi- 
 
THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES 75 
 
 dency, though in respect of the civil administration 
 they had in 1835 been cut off from Bengal, and had 
 been placed under a separate government of their own. 
 Sir Charles (afterwards Lord) Metcalfe was appointed 
 the first Lieutenant-Governor with his capital at Agra. 
 Before the Mughal Empire the seat of Moslem power 
 was never at Agra, but always at Delhi. It was 
 Akbar the Great who founded this Mughal Empire and 
 set up his throne at Agra. It was chosen to be the 
 first British Capital of the North- West Provinces, 
 but some thirty-five years ago the headquarters were 
 transferred to Allahabad. 
 
 Thomason now found himself placed over territories 
 extending from the 21st to the 23rd degree of north 
 latitude, and from the 77th to the 88th degree of east 
 longitude, including about 100,000 square miles : with 
 a population of about twenty-two millions : the aver- 
 age density being 220 to the square mile ; the southern 
 tracts being sparsely populated, while the middle por- 
 tion, or immediate valley of the Ganges, was densely 
 peopled. If he did not foresee he may have hoped that 
 the population would multiply under the regime to be 
 established by him : certainly the twenty-two mil- 
 lions of his time have to-day grown to more than 
 thirty millions. 
 
 The kingdom of Oudh, a Native State, ran into the 
 heart of these Provinces like a great wedge. Imperial 
 Delhi, with its territory then belonging to these 
 Provinces, stretched far westwards towards the 
 river Sutlej. A hilly tract to the south across the 
 
76 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 Vindhya mountains, and the Narbada valley to the 
 Satpura mountains, belonged to these Provinces as 
 a sort of adjunct. On the north was the Himalayan 
 region of Kumaun and Garhwal. Irrespective of the 
 Vindhyan tract, and the Himalayan district, both 
 mountainous, the main and central portion of these 
 Provinces, under Thomason's government, may be 
 geographically described as the plain of Hindustan 
 or the upper basin of the Ganges. 
 
 Of all the names in Indian geography Hindustan 
 is the most famous. In it were established the head- 
 quarters of the Mughal Empire, and thus it became 
 the Empress Province of India. During the middle 
 ages, the name Hindustan came to be applied by 
 many to India itself. In the present century it 
 has been limited correctly to the upper basin 
 of the Ganges, as contradistinguished from the lower 
 basin in Behar and Bengal. Even with this limita- 
 tion it was, on Thomason's accession to the govern- 
 ment, the most important territory in India, though 
 during recent years it may in romantic interest 
 have yielded to the Punjab. It contained Delhi 
 and Agra, cities among the most beautiful in India, 
 even in Asia ; the classic of some among the loftiest 
 triumphs achieved by Moslem arms and policy, — 
 Hardwar, the classic spot where the Ganges as a 
 young giant debouches from the Himalayas into 
 the wide plains, and where Hindu pilgrims swarm 
 periodically to bathe — Benares, the venerated centre 
 of Hindu faith and learning. 
 
THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES 77 
 
 Thus the eyes of Thomason, as he entered upon his 
 new charge, would be greeted by an amazing variety 
 of scenery. Beginning at the extreme north-east he 
 finds primaeval forests, ancient and widespread ing 
 groves, impenetrable thickets, and rank marshy vege- 
 tation requiring drainage. Proceeding westwards he 
 traverses the Doab, or Mesopotamia of the Ganges and 
 the Jumna ; the broadest sheet of cultivation in all 
 India, and the great wheat-producing tract. This cham- 
 paign is in summer one dreary expanse of drab and 
 yellow ochre tints^, studded continuously with villages 
 of the same hues, and dotted here and there with trees 
 or groves. In the winter it puts on, so to speak, a garb 
 of verdure from the rising crops. Advancing still 
 westwards and crossing the Jumna, past the wealth 
 and prosperity of Delhi the new, in juxtaposition with 
 the long extended ruins of Delhi the old, he enters upon 
 the Delhi territory till he approaches the Sutlej. Here 
 he sees naught but a landscape blank and naked, with 
 undulations low and endless, destitute of vegetation 
 and broken only by red sandstone cropping up over the 
 surface of the land. Turning northwards, he crosses 
 the ill-omened Terai, or belt of malarious jungle, which 
 guards the base of the Himalaya. Ascending the 
 mountains, he reaches an elevated plateau where the 
 northern horizon is bounded by a line of snow-clad 
 giants rearing their heads 24,000 feet above sea level. 
 Again crossing the centre of the country just described, 
 on and on towards the southern limit, he perceives 
 the Narbada, sometimes tumbling in broad cascades 
 
78 JAMES T HO MASON 
 
 and at one point flowing gently for some miles 
 through cliffs and walls of white marble. 
 
 He finds the climate to be as varied as the scenery. 
 In Kumaun the air of Himalayan altitudes is like that 
 of Tyrol in Europe. To the south, in the region of 
 the Vindhya and Satpura mountains, the heat is 
 mitigated and the winter season is charming. In 
 the eastern part of Hindustan the atmosphere and 
 the ground are moist, somewhat resembling Bengal. 
 In the western part, the case is not only diff*er- 
 ent, but opposite. There is a proverb of the sky 
 as brass, the earth as iron, and the breeze as a blast 
 from the furnace. Here he will realize its truth, for 
 this is the place of all others to which it is most 
 applicable. Fortunately for human endurance, 
 these conditions are of short duration. The rains, 
 periodically descending, cause the earth instantly to 
 deck itself with a verdant carpet. The change is 
 pleasurable to the sensations of mankind, though the 
 physical effect becomes depressing. Then follows a 
 cool autumn, the presage of the bracing winter, or the 
 ' cold weather ' in Anglo-Indian phrase. The tempered 
 radiance of sunlight, the unfailing blue of the sky, the 
 breeze blowing over the rising vegetation, the grateful 
 shade of the groves at mid-day, the lengthening 
 shadows in the golden sunset, the sudden cold after 
 nightfall, the frosty nights, the biting rigour of the air 
 at sunrise, the health-giving dryness of the equable 
 temperature, almost unvarying for several months 
 consecutively — render the climate of Hindustan in 
 
THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES 79 
 
 winter one of the very finest anywhere for British 
 physique. 
 
 The ancient history of Hindustan comprises most 
 of the religious and political developments of the 
 Hindu race. Its modern history shows it to have 
 been, in warlike phrase, 'the cock -pit' of India — 
 owing to the strategic vantage-grounds which it 
 offered, to the unfortunate facility with which it 
 could be over-run, and to the resources in men, 
 money, produce and supplies which it afforded for 
 armed occupation. It thus became the unhappy 
 hunting-ground for every conqueror or devastator; 
 even for every plunderer and marauder who had 
 sufiicient force. Its inhabitants though disorganized 
 were not unwarlike, and would never yield them- 
 selves and their possessions to the victor without 
 many a blow struck in defence. It was over- 
 spread by the several Moslem dynasties, whose 
 power radiated from Delhi. Then it fell under 
 the established sway of the House of Babar for 
 two centuries, and was the headquarter Province of 
 the Sovereigns who, under the generic name of the 
 Great Mughal, dazzled even the eyes of mediaeval 
 Europe. It ceased for a while to be the theatre of 
 wars ; no more battle-pieces were acted on its stage. 
 But it became periodically the scene of the stately 
 marches which the Great Mughal used to undertake 
 in the cold season, to keep his courtiers out of 
 intrigues, and to exercise his unwieldy hordes of 
 armed men. The imperial procession stalked through 
 
8o JAMES THOMASON 
 
 the land, as a pageant, carrying in its train a move- 
 able city, from one halting-place to another, to be 
 set up under canvas in each camping ground. 
 
 For half a century during the reign of Akbar, the 
 first and greatest of the Great Mughals, the country 
 had enjoyed the best administration ever known in 
 India under native rule, within historic times. 
 Repression of armed injustice, enforcement of equit- 
 able procedure, toleration in religion, discouragement 
 of persecuting bigotry, vindication of individual 
 liberty under the bans and prohibitions of custom, 
 moderation in the demand and collection of the land 
 revenue, respect for the proprietary right of the 
 people in the soil — caused the reign of Akbar to be 
 surrounded with a halo that ought not to be dimmed 
 even by the lapse of time. His guide, philosopher 
 and friend, was Abul Fazl the Moslem, a name which 
 stands second only to his own as regards nobility 
 of conduct. But his great minister was a Hindu, 
 namely Todar Mall, whose survey of village lands all 
 over the country, whose assessment of the land tax, 
 and whose registry of rights and interests are to this 
 day remembered. After Akbar's death, this beneficent 
 system went on for a while under his son Jahangir. 
 But it fell off" during Jahangir' s reign, and still more 
 under that of his son Shah Jahan. It was restored 
 partially for a time under his son Aurangzeb. 
 
 When Aurangzeb, the last of the effectively powerful 
 though not the last of the titular Great Mughals, died 
 at the very beginning of the eighteenth century, 
 
THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES 8i 
 
 Hindustan became once more the arena of armed 
 violence. Soon the Marathas arose, worse than any 
 despoilers hitherto known. After waging some 
 deadly struggles with Persian and Afghan invaders, 
 they succeeded in making Delhi a portion of their 
 short-lived dominion in India. But the Moslem 
 ruler of Oudh, and the Rohillas of Rohilkhand 
 maintained independence for a time. Lastly the 
 British East India Company appeared on the scene 
 of action. 
 
 As the result of three decisive battles, at Buxar in 
 1763, at Delhi in 1803, at Fatehgarh in 1805, and the 
 storming of the Aligarh arsenal in 1 803, the East India 
 Company became the mistress of Hindustan and its 
 dependencies. These territories were consolidated 
 under the designation of the Ceded and Conquered 
 Provinces in 1806. Some further additions were yet 
 destined to be made ; for in 1816 the war with Nepal 
 ended by the cession of the Himala^^an tract of Ku- 
 maun and Garhwal ; the Pindari War in 1 8 1 8 caused the 
 accession of the Narbada valley; and in 1832 the 
 Delhi territory, already under the control, was brought 
 under the direct administration of the British. 
 
 The aborigines of Hindustan had, many centuries 
 previously, given place for the most part to Aryan 
 immigrants from Central Asia, who became noted 
 in history as the Hindus, divided into the weU- 
 known castes. Remnants of the aborigines survived 
 everywhere as the lower castes ; otherwise terri- 
 torially and socially the tribes of pure origin, the 
 
 F 
 
82 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 priestly Brahman, the chivalrous Rajput, the clerkly 
 Kayasth, held the field for the most part. Side by side 
 with them were lesser castes, such as the brave and 
 industrious Jats, and the predatory though reclaimable 
 Gujars. Here and there, too, the Moslems still clung 
 to the soil. The Brahman soldiery, who were com- 
 monly called Hindustani, did not generally come from 
 Hindustan, but rather from Oudh. 
 
 These various wars and inroads were indeed enough 
 to lay waste or permanently desolate Hindustan ; 
 but fortunately such was not the result. Though 
 the outlying portions were so maimed and injured 
 as to be much less cultivated and inhabited than 
 they are nowadays ; yet in the middle region between 
 the Ganges and the Jumna, the dominant interest, that 
 of agriculture, was sustained by ' The Village Commu- 
 nities.' This famous institution still attracts the atten- 
 tion of political philosophers in Europe, and a complete 
 literature has grown up around it. A community of 
 this description consisted of large bodies of share- 
 holders, all descended from a common ancestor holding 
 the lands of their parish or township in commonalty or 
 severalty, with a defensive union among themselves ; 
 jointly responsible for the land tax demanded from 
 their township by the ruling power, and electing their 
 representatives to deal on their behalf with the officers 
 of the Government. These Communities were to 
 be found throughout the country, and a goodly part, 
 though not the whole, of the lands were in theii* keep- 
 ing. All Britons remember cases where splendid and 
 
THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES 83 
 
 gallant cavalry would advance against steady and 
 sturdy infantry. The infantry would form themselves 
 into squares, the artillerymen would for the instant 
 leave their guns and betake themselves to the interior 
 of the nearest square. The storm of cavalry sweeps 
 on in vain and retires beaten ; the infantry remains 
 unbroken ; the artillerymen return to their guns, and 
 serve them again&t the retreating foe. The effect of 
 the Village Community in time of trouble or trial 
 was precisely similar. Seeing the invader approach, 
 the Community would close its ranks, gather its house- 
 hold goods together, hide or bury its precious records 
 and papers with its little stores and treasure. The work 
 in the fields might be suspended for a while, the 
 blackmail or the contribution required by the op- 
 pressor would be forthcoming, and he would ultimately 
 go forth to fresh pastures. At first sight everything 
 might seem to be swept into confusion. But no ; the 
 organization of the Community has remained intact ; 
 its representatives resume their functions ; every 
 shareholder knows his share, if there be any doubt he 
 can refer to the records that have been preserved ; he 
 goes back to his accustomed place, rehabilitates his 
 holding, restores his harried fields ; and soon order 
 follows on the passing interregnum of disorder. 
 
 This peculiar institution is important in this 
 memoir because Thomason as Governor upheld it 
 with all his might. Sir Charles Metcalfe also re- 
 corded his opinion on the same side in a passage of 
 remarkable force. It may be well to reproduce some 
 
 F 1 
 
84 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 sentences of Metcalfe's here, on which Thomason used 
 to rely, bearing the date of November, 1 830 : — 
 
 ' The village communities are little republics, having nearly 
 everything that they want within themselves, and almost 
 independent of any foreign relations. They seem to last 
 where nothing else lasts. Dynasty after dynasty tumbles 
 down ; revolution succeeds to revolution ; Hindoo, Patau, 
 Mogul, Mahratta, Sikh, English, are all masters in turn ; but 
 the village communities remain the same. In times of 
 trouble they arm and fortify themselves : a hostile army 
 passes through the country : the village communities collect 
 their cattle within their walls, and let the enemy pass un- 
 provoked. If jDlunder and devastation be directed against 
 themselves and the force employed be irresistible, they flee 
 to friendly villages at a distance ; but when the storm has 
 passed over they return, and resume their occupations. If a 
 country remain for a series of years the scene of continued 
 pillage and massacre so that the villages cannot be inhabited, 
 the scattered villagers nevertheless return whenever the 
 j)Ower of peaceable possession revives. A generation may 
 pass away, but the succeeding generation will return. The 
 sons will take the places of their fathers ; the same site for 
 the village, the same positions for the houses, the same lands, 
 will be reoccupied by the descendants of those who were 
 driven out when the village was depopulated ; and it is not 
 a trifling matter that will drive them out, for they will often 
 maintain their post through times of disturbance and con- 
 vulsion, and acquire strength sufiicient to resist pillage and 
 oppression with success. 
 
 This union of the village communities, each one forming 
 a separate little state in itself, has, I conceive, contributed 
 more than any other cause to the preservation of the people 
 of India through all the revolutions and changes which they 
 
THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES 8.5 
 
 have suffered. It is in a high degree conducive to their 
 happiness, and to the enjoyment of a great portion of freedom 
 and independence.' 
 
 Notwithstanding the advantages offered by the 
 system of Village Communities, the early British ad- 
 ministrators in Hindustan were less successful probably 
 than their brethren in some other parts of India. 
 Temporary settlements of the revenue were made in 
 a perfunctory manner; the land tax was collected 
 without proper information of the rights and liabili- 
 ties of individuals. Originally there was one super- 
 vising Board of Revenue at Calcutta for the whole 
 Bengal Presidency, but afterwards a separate Board 
 was allowed for the Upper Provinces. The first man 
 who really tried to effect a reform in these Provinces 
 was Holt Mackenzie in 1822: and he procured the 
 passing of a law which was the precursor of the laws 
 afterwards embodied as the magna charta of the rural 
 people. The next step was taken in 1833 by the 
 Governor- General, Lord William Bentinck, in a con- 
 clave held at Allahabad, on which occasion proceed- 
 ings, legislative and executive, were determined, 
 ending in the measure afterwards known to history 
 as the Settlement of the North-Western Provinces. 
 
 The task thus undertaken was immense, beyond 
 any of that nature which had been essayed pre- 
 viously in India. The principal points of the country, 
 containing more than seventy thousand square 
 miles, were to be fixed with absolute precision 
 by the Grand Trigonometrical Survey. A scientific 
 
86 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 survey was to be professionally made for every 
 one of the 5o,coo parishes or townships in the area, 
 to show all the physical features with the acreage 
 of cultivated and waste land. This was to be fol- 
 lowed up by a cadastral survey of every field with 
 its acreage measurement, after the native fashion, 
 and with full particulars of its soil, culture and 
 capabilities. Upon the data thus obtained, and after 
 consideration of all the agricultural information that 
 could reasonably be desired, together with the cir- 
 cumstances and history of the inhabitants, — the land 
 tax was to be assessed and fixed on each parish or 
 township for a term of thirty years, so moderately 
 and equitably as to leave to the tax-payers and 
 proprietors a margin sufficient to make their property 
 valuable ; on the understanding, too, that within the 
 term they would have the full benefit of all improve- 
 ments. The taxation thus to be assessed amounted to 
 about four millions sterling annually ^ ; the rural 
 population concerned or afiected was about twenty 
 millions of souls in number. To all this was to be 
 added a registration of landed tenures with a record 
 of all rights and interests in land. 
 
 The man on whom the chief command of this vast 
 operation devolved was Bird, already mentioned as 
 Member of the Revenue Board. It is needful to advert 
 to him here, because he was the forerunner into whose 
 labours Thomason entered ; the pioneer, the originator, 
 
 ^ Taken at the value of two shillings to the rupee, as it was 
 always assumed and as it was at that time. 
 
THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES 87 
 
 the inventor, whose work Thomason took up, carried 
 on to its conclusion, and rendered fully effective. Of 
 Thomason, as of other eminent men, it may be said : — 
 
 Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona multi. 
 
 Among these the greatest, the fortissinius, was un- 
 doubtedly Bird ; he was a born leader of men, and 
 in his day there was no civil officer in northern India 
 equal to him in reputation. By the students of social 
 history in India he is known to have been one of the 
 most capable workers that the East India Company's 
 Service ever produced. One specific notice of him is 
 forthcoming, written by a really competent witness \ 
 and it may well be quoted here. 
 
 ' On Robert Merttins Bird devolved the task of directing, 
 for many years, all revenue operations, especially those of the 
 new Settlement. He indeed was a man of no common order. 
 
 ' A mind, capable of dealing equally with minute details 
 and general principles; stores of information collected by 
 unusual powers of memory and observation ; cheerful spirits 
 and unfailing health ; together with a robust energy, the 
 " vigor animi^ ingentihus negotiis par ; " these were his 
 qualifications for the great work which then lay before him. 
 On that work he impressed his own stamp, and gave it all 
 its form and feature. Discordant ideas and conflicting 
 theories soon disappeared before the influence of one con- 
 trolling intellect. Allowed to select his own instruments, he 
 
 * Calcutta Review, vol. xii. p. 433. The writer was John Thornton, 
 Chief Secretary to Thomason's Government. He had served under 
 Bird. 
 
88 JAMES THOMASON^ 
 
 usually chose young men, as being less encumbered and 
 more manageable than their seniors, and less likely to be 
 imbued with prejudices derived from the dark ages of our 
 earlier administration. With these young officers he kept up 
 constant private intercourse, and thus instilled into them his 
 own views, and animated them by his own hearty tempera- 
 ment. Where he reposed his confidence, he did so without 
 reserve. He received the opinions of those employed under 
 him with respect ; looked after their interests, defended their 
 proceedings, and fought their battles as if they had been his 
 own. The result was that in eight years after the enactment 
 of Regulation IX. of 1833, he was able to report to the 
 Government that the Settlement, with some immaterial ex- 
 ceptions, was completed ; and that he was at liberty to return 
 to that native land, from which he had been thirty-three years 
 separated.' 
 
 There is something pathetic in the closing para- 
 graph of his final report in the beginning of 1842. 
 After stating the contrast between that date and 
 1 830 in ' the administration of the land revenue — the 
 condition of the agricultural population — the feeling 
 of the people — the toil, effort, and anxious care with 
 which this change has been effected ; ' — he concludes 
 thus, ' I am now about to quit the service, and my 
 only desire is that the good which has been effected 
 may be maintained.' He is evidently apprehensive, 
 but his forebodings would have vanished could he 
 have foreseen that in Thomason's hands the work 
 would be even more than maintained, till it reached 
 its complete fulfilment. 
 
 In this Settlement, while the tax-payers were to 
 
THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES 89 
 
 have the full benefit of all improvement within the 
 term, it was felt that in the event of severe drought or 
 calamity of season, or other extraordinary misfortune, 
 the Government must share the loss with the people, 
 and that remissions of revenue in such cases must be 
 allowed. Hardly had Merttins Bird completed the 
 Settlement in the Provinces, when this principle was 
 put to an extreme test. The summer rainfall of 1836 
 almost totally failed in the central and western tracts 
 of these territories. Thereby the harvest of that 
 autumn was ruined, and the sowings for the ensuing 
 spring harvest rendered impossible. The horror of 
 the situation can be realized only by those who know 
 what the earth in that region is after the glaring sun 
 and scorching winds of spring and early summer, and 
 what it becomes if the normal rains of midsummer 
 fail to descend. Some ten to fifteen millions of the 
 population were more or less grievously affected ; 
 dreadful distress and widespread mortality ensued ; 
 many grain riots and agrarian disturbances occurred. 
 Extensive relief was undertaken by the Government , 
 and by charitable agencies. About one million 
 persons were employed in relief works. The total 
 cost of these humane operations amounted to nearly 
 half a million sterling. The effect on the land tax 
 which had just been fixed by the Settlement was still 
 more o-rave, for about a million sterlinof of revenue was 
 remitted that year. The rainfall of the following year 
 restored plenty, but the effects of the famine on the 
 people were felt for some time. Out of this evil 
 
90 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 some notable good was educed, namely this, that the 
 attention of the Government was forcibly drawn to the 
 necessity of providing artificial irrigation with canal 
 works on a commensurate scale. This became one of 
 the cardinal points in the policy which Thomason 
 pursued as Lieut c-nant-Governor. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 The Lieutenant-Governor 
 
 The Honourable James Thomason, as Lieutenant- 
 Governor, assumed charge of the government of the 
 North- Western Provinces from Mr. (afterwards Sir 
 George) Clerk, in December, 1843. The constitution 
 of these Provinces as a Lieutenant-Governorship in 
 1835, was the first instance of the kind that had 
 occurred in British India. The territories, being in the 
 Bengal Presidency, were technically under the govern- 
 ment of the Governor-General in Council, whose 
 deputy for actual administration was the Lieutenant- 
 Governor. The Governors of the two Presidencies, 
 Madras and Bombay, being appointed by the East 
 India Directors with the assent of the Crown, were 
 indeed under the supreme authority of the Governor- 
 General, but they were not subordinate to him 
 quite in the same way as the Lieutenant-Governor 
 who had been appointed by him. Nevertheless, the 
 position of the Lieutenant-Governor was sufficiently 
 secure to sustain that independence of thought and 
 of opinion which is essential to the conduct of large 
 affairs. In the first place, almost the entire patronage 
 of the civil government was entrusted to him. But 
 
92 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 for nearly all the important offices, the choice 
 must be made from among the Covenanted Civil 
 Servants. The function here was not so much that 
 of patronage as of jealously watched selection. There 
 was indeed a goodly number of appointments open 
 to military officers, to Europeans belonging to what 
 was then styled the Uncovenanted Service, and to 
 Natives of India — in all which cases the power of 
 appointing did in some degree resemble patronage. 
 Below these^ in the lesser appointments, which were 
 very numerous and which were open to the Natives, 
 the patronage was vested in the local officers, generally 
 Covenanted Civil Servants — subject always to the 
 control of the Lieutenant-Governor. 
 
 His government was almost entirely civil ; it had 
 nothing to do with the troops stationed within its 
 territory, or with cantonments, or with forts. The 
 public works, comprising the trunk roads, canals and 
 other large works of irrigation, were not under him, 
 but were managed by a body styled the Military Board. 
 Such were the primitive arrangements of that day for 
 the department of public works, which was indeed in 
 its infancy. Railways and electric telegraphs had not 
 as yet been thought of practically. There was no local 
 legislature in these Provinces. Indeed, the idea of 
 legislative councils had not been formed for any part 
 of India. Legislation had been conceived only as a 
 branch of the executive government of India, and was 
 conducted not at all in public, but in camera or inside 
 the cabinet. Nevertheless, there were laws thus framed 
 
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 93 
 
 by the Governor-General in Council and styled Regula- 
 tions. They were binding on the Lieutenant-Governor 
 for these Provinces in the main. But they did not apply 
 to his Himalayan district of Kumaun nor to the Nar- 
 bada territories described in the last chapter, which 
 were consequently styled non-regulation districts. The 
 Courts of Justice, both civil and criminal, were in 
 their action and decisions independent of him. Still 
 he possessed indirectly much influence in the judicial 
 department, because with him lay the appointment and 
 removal, the leave and furlough, of all judges, under 
 the rules of the service. 
 
 Even with these several limitations, the sphere of 
 the Lieutenant-Governor was vast. He had the nomi- 
 nation, or the control over the nomination, to all civil 
 appointments, whether administrative or judicial — 
 the command of the magistracy in all its executive 
 work, of the police, of the prisons. — the supervision 
 of municipalities, of local funds and miscellaneous 
 improvements, of the public health and sanitation, 
 of national education such as there then was, of 
 the post-ofSce which had not yet been erected into 
 an imperial department, — and the administration of 
 the revenues. 
 
 The principal head of revenue consisted o^the land 
 tax. The administration of it, as sketched in the last 
 preceding chapter, overshadowed in importance all 
 other branches of the civil government. The tax itself 
 touched closely, almost vitally, the welfare of every 
 individual in a vast body of peasant proprietors, 
 
94 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 who occupied by far the greater part of the country. 
 Now, to this subject Thomason bent his whole 
 mind. Its prime importance has been recognized by 
 every civil government in India. The task has been 
 prosecuted by a long line of illustrious adminis- 
 trators ; all of whom have discharged it effectively, 
 and many have performed it excellently. On the 
 whole, without disparagement of them, we may say 
 that Thomason was the most accomplished adminis- 
 trator of the Land Revenue that has ever been seen 
 in India. In a national race, where so many eminent 
 persons have so nobly striven, as in this, the ultimate 
 winner can win only with a slight advantage ; and 
 thus it is with Thomason. He did best that which 
 a great number of able men have done well, and this 
 is an encomium of the highest order — palmiaim qui 
 ^meruit ferat. 
 
 For the management of all these affairs he found an 
 organization ready to hand. The unit of social life 
 was the village, meaning the collection of houses or 
 cottages and the surrounding area, corresponding to an 
 English parish. A large number of villages, several 
 thousand, would be grouped into a district corre- 
 sponding to an English county — except that the district, 
 having an average population from a million to a 
 million-and-a-half, was larger than a county. Over 
 each district was placed a high official, always Euro- 
 pean, styled Magistrate and Collector ; who had charge 
 of everything in all branches save the judicial branch ; 
 and who practically was administrator-general. There 
 
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 95 
 
 were about thirty-six of these districts in the regu- 
 lation Provinces, exclusive of the non-regulation 
 territories already mentioned. Then each group of 
 districts was formed into a province, and was placed 
 under a still higher officer, styled Commissioner, 
 who superintended the Magistrates and Collectors, 
 and who locally represented the Lieutenant-Governor; 
 there were six of these Commissioners in the Pro- 
 vinces. Lastly, removed from Allahabad to Agra, 
 was the Board of Revenue, consisting of two or more 
 members. 
 
 In his high estate he would primarily think of the 
 masses of the Native population. Now, sympathy with 
 the Natives has ever characterised the Civil Service 
 of India. But this sympathy has been evinced in 
 various ways by different persons. Some have mixed 
 so familiarly with the people as to become versed in 
 their colloquial vernacular, riding, hunting, walking 
 with them in the glaring sunshine, sitting with them 
 under the shade of trees, conversing with them in the 
 cool air of evening or round the watch-fires at night. 
 Such men have acquired genuine popularity with the 
 Natives. Others, without going quite so far as this, 
 have by a hearty, genial, good-humoured manner, 
 together with personal knowledge of local traits and 
 idiosyncrasies, attracted popular regard. Some have 
 happily had occasion by saving life, or mitigating 
 pestilence, or by other deeds of signal beneficence, 
 to raise up a monument to themselves in the Native 
 heart. Some again, by teaching and exhorting, almost 
 
96 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 equivalent to ministration, have won affectionate 
 veneration from the people among whom they moved 
 and had their being. These ways are calculated to 
 evoke enthusiasm in various degrees ; but they 
 never were quite the ways of Thomason, nor were 
 they akin to his natural temperament. His manner 
 was the same with Natives as with his own country- 
 men ; suave, bland, courteous, calm, somewhat unde- 
 monstrative and reserved. His fame among the people 
 must have been great, and the better informed classes 
 knew him to be their steadfast friend. Individual 
 Natives, with lasting gratitude, looked upon him, in 
 their own phrase, as the embodiment of benignity 
 and justice. All nationalities were aware of his cease- 
 less and philanthropic efforts for the general welfare. 
 But the Natives in the mass hardly had a vivid per- 
 ception of him as a living personality, around which 
 their regards could cluster, towards which their sensi- 
 bilities could be drawn. They probably regarded 
 him rather as a benevolent power placed up aloft 
 to watch over the fortunes of the country. Neverthe- 
 less, beneath this placid exterior there glowed within 
 him, like vestal fire pure and perpetuaJ, a zeal for the 
 welfare of the Native population. Some rulers have 
 been more or less distracted by political anxieties, by 
 grave emergencies, by events absorbing all available 
 stores of energy ; but fortunately he had time uninter- 
 rupted and leisure unbroken for cares and avocations 
 purely civil. He was able to think daily from morn to 
 eve on what could or should be done for improving and 
 
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 97 
 
 elevating the condition of the Natives both mentally 
 and physically. He firmly believed in the possibility 
 of such improvement among all classes, but especially 
 among the lower-middle and the poorer sections of 
 the community. Regarding the latter, he sympathized 
 with their lowly lot, he felt for their griefs, losses and 
 distresses, he rejoiced in their humble joys and their 
 modest prosperity. He was anxious to mitigate their 
 hardships, to render them happier in their homes, to 
 lead them on in the path of peace and pleasantness. 
 He would be the helper of the helpless, the supporter 
 of the weak, the protector of the oppressed. He could 
 put his finger with unerring precision on every one 
 of their faults. But he recollected the temptations 
 which had for aojes beset them. He recoOTized their 
 merits and especially their domestic virtues. He knew 
 indeed that the truest improvement must spring from 
 the people themselves. He thought that crime and 
 other popular faults sometimes arose from uninten- 
 tional misgovernment, fiscal, executive, or judicial 
 As a district officer he had often warned his superiors 
 of this. As a superior he would give the same warning 
 to his district officers. But he believed that good 
 government would produce that disposition in the 
 people which leads to self-help and self-improvement. 
 So he resolved that, by putting his shoulder to the 
 wheel and his hand to the plough, he would, if life were 
 spared to him for a few years, leave his people better 
 far than he found them in wealth and circumstances, in 
 wisdom and understanding. In forming such deter- 
 
 G 
 
98 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 mination, in profoundly reflecting on the means of 
 carrying it out, in patiently and perseveringly prose- 
 cuting it, he has been rarely equalled, and never 
 surpassed, by any ruler of India. 
 
 For such a policy, fitting instruments must be either 
 found by him ready to hand or else laboriously made. 
 He could find few such among the Natives them- 
 selves, as they then were in these Provinces ; for the 
 misfortunes which during several generations over- 
 spread this country, like destructive inundations, had 
 wrecked and ruined most men of the better classes. 
 In the absence of any public instruction there were 
 few Natives of any modern training ; such men he 
 hoped indeed to educate and train, but the result could 
 not be obtained yet awhile. Meanwhile he would 
 promote the official training of the European adminis- 
 trators, and would induce them to educate their 
 Native subordinates. 
 
 Next after education, one way, he knew, to secure 
 probity and integrity in Native Officials was to im- 
 prove their status, emoluments and promotion. In 
 connexion with this, he promulgated for them a 
 generous scheme of superannuation in order to afibrd 
 them an assured prospect in the decline of life. 
 
 His own experience had taught him that of all 
 officials the most important were the European Magis- 
 trates and Collectors, or district officers. As they were 
 highly placed men of excellent stamp, with an 
 abiding sense of duty and a laudable ambition, they 
 afibrded the best material, so to speak, for organi- 
 
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 99 
 
 zation, and he resolved that they should if possible 
 be trained to the highest point of efficiency. As 
 he had, when himself a district officer, carefully in- 
 structed all his subordinates, European and Native, 
 obeying always his superiors, so he would now in- 
 struct all the district officers who had come under 
 subordination to him. He justly hoped that, by his 
 practical acquaintance with all details of the work, he 
 would induce them to value his guidance, not only 
 from the necessity of official obedience, but from a 
 sense of loyal obligation. He held that the most 
 important part of their duties related to the land 
 revenue and the various matters connected there- 
 with ; which duties were divided into two groups, 
 the first relating to the collection of the land re- 
 venue, the second relating to the assessment of the 
 land tax and the registration of landed tenures, — all 
 which bore the generic name of Settlement. He would 
 thoroughly instruct them in each of these main 
 groups separately. His instruction was not to consist 
 merely of isolated directions or of orders issued from 
 time to time ; it was to be combined, classified and 
 codified. There were highly qualified Secretaries, of 
 whose talents and knowledge he fully availed himself 
 in a hundi'ed ways. But this work of consolidated 
 instruction he would personally undertake. Ac- 
 cordingly he prepared, mostly with his own hand, two 
 concise though weighty manuals, one entitled ' Direc- 
 tions to Collectors,' the other ' Directions to Settlement 
 Officers.' By these publications he fully set forth 
 
 G '2, 
 
100 JAMES T HO MASON 
 
 the whole duty of the Officers on the broadest principles 
 and in the minutest details. Moreover he inculcated 
 on them at every turn those maxims which lay nearest 
 his own heart ; regarding considerateness and kindness 
 towards the Natives, the guardianship of their interests, 
 the vindication of their rights. The aptitude for toil 
 thus evinced by him was wonderful, when all the 
 while he had the business of a Government to conduct. 
 Even if other Governors anywhere in India could 
 have found the time for such a task, few would 
 have had the eyesight, the skilled workmanship, the 
 literary practice. By these two manuals — which were 
 infinitely useful in their time, lasted for many years, 
 are still valuable, and have formed the foundation 
 for further and newer codes — he erected monuments 
 of official industry, in respect of which no Euler of 
 India has equalled him. Of all concerns the one 
 which most nearly affects the Indian population is the 
 land revenue ; and in regard to this he was the most 
 accomplished professor and the ablest instructor that 
 has yet been seen. 
 
 These Instructions, too, in both branches, he began 
 to embody with his own hand in a Revenue Code, 
 which was left unfinished at his death, and as a piece 
 of legislative drafting is masterly. 
 
 Certainly his Instructions were announced to be not 
 mere treatises, but manuals for guidance. Yet they 
 were criticized by some as being ' too argumentative 
 and not peremptory enough.' He replied, however, 
 that some discretion must always be left to his officers, 
 
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR lOl 
 
 and that he must explain the principles on which such 
 discretion should be exercised. And he added : ' I 
 like better to address myself to the reason of 
 my fellow-servants, than simply to their sense of 
 obedience.' 
 
 At that time there were serving under him many 
 men who have subsequently become famous as rulers, 
 and who were really brought up in the great official 
 school of the North-Western Provinces. Foremost 
 among these was John (afterwards Lord) Lawrence, 
 who thoroughly agreed with Thomason's principles 
 and ideas. Next was Sir Kobert Montgomery, men- 
 tioned in chapter V, who afterwards succeeded 
 Lawrence as Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab. 
 Another was Sir William Muir, who afterwards be- 
 came Lieutenant-Governor, then Finance Minister of 
 India, and is now Principal of the University of 
 Edinburgh. Others may be mentioned, Sir George 
 EdmonstonC; Sir Donald Macleod, Sir John Strachey, 
 Sir Henry Davies, Sir George Campbell, Sir John 
 Morris, all men of the ruling class by virtue of merit 
 and capacity. To these might be added the names 
 of some who have been distinguished in the cabinet, 
 or in arduous service, or in literature, such as Henry 
 Carre Tucker, John Thornton, Edward Thornton, 
 George Barnes, Charles Raikes, Robert Needham 
 Cust. 
 
 When in 1849 the administration of the Punjab was 
 freshly formed under the Lawrences, many of the best 
 and most rising men under Thomason were taken by 
 
I02 JAMES T HO MASON 
 
 Lord Dalhousie for the new Province. Foremost 
 among these was Montgomery, already mentioned. 
 They all carried with them the traditions and the 
 practice of the North- Western Provinces. Then, sub- 
 ject to local exceptions, the Instructions by Thomason 
 were prescribed by the Lawrences for the general 
 guidance of all their officers. To that extent, un- 
 doubtedly, his administration did become a pattern 
 for the Punjab. In private letters to Montgomery 
 he writes thus of his departed henchmen: 'It has 
 been a heavy tax. Nineteen men of the best blood! 
 I feel very weak after so much depletion. But 
 the remaining blood will circulate more quickly and 
 healthily — so we shall soon get over it.' Further 
 he makes enquiries, with all his usual thoughtfulness, 
 regarding the goodwill of the upper classes and of the 
 people generally in the recently annexed territories 
 towards their new rulers ; particularly adverts to the 
 Village Communities ; and suggests caution with for- 
 bearance in the introduction of the British system 
 before the upper, the middle and the humble classes 
 shall have had time to realize the change in their 
 political destiny. 
 
 While all this instruction was imparted by him to 
 his own districts, Thomason knew that as chief in- 
 structor he must personally visit every district, and the 
 principal places in its interior. The only means of 
 effecting this visitation was for him, in Anglo-Indian 
 phrase, to march. The term ' march ' is adopted from 
 the army by civilians in India, and it means the same 
 
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 103 
 
 process, — and when we say that he marched for several 
 months consecutively in almost every year, it is meant 
 that he and his retinue rode daily from ten to fifteen 
 miles, just as troops would march from one encamp- 
 ment to another, dwelling in tents. The first year of 
 his appointment, in 1843, he did not march, because 
 he assumed charge at Agra shortly before Christmas 
 in that year, that is, in the midst of the marching 
 season ; moreover there was war impending in the 
 adjacent territories of Gwalior. Again he refrained 
 from marching during the winter of 1848-9, because 
 at that time the second Punjab war was in vigorous 
 progress beyond his frontier. The resources of mili- 
 tary transport were drawn from his territories, and 
 strings of carts with draught bullocks, stretching over 
 an immense length of roadway, were being despatched 
 by his officers to the seat of hostilities. His camp for 
 marching would also need many carts with bullocks, 
 and as the transport ha,d become scarce, he deemed 
 it considerate towards the Natives to refrain from 
 further requisitions of this kind. These two winters 
 excepted, 1843-4, and 1848-9, he set out for the 
 march every year of his incumbency, and he lived to 
 accomplish eight of these annual tours. He thus 
 managred to ride thi-ough the various districts under 
 his government about three times, after regular in- 
 tervals. The dimensions of this achievement may be 
 understood from the fact that from his frontier west- 
 ward of Delhi to that at Gorakhpur, at the base 
 of the eastern Himalaya, the distance amounted to 
 
104 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 six hundred miles from west to east, and four 
 'hundred from north to south. His winter's tour 
 was planned some months beforehand, and the ap- 
 proximate dates of arrival were notified to the 
 local authorities. For the convenience of all con- 
 cerned, he adhered to the proposed arrangements 
 with amazing punctuality, subject only to a day's 
 delay here and there, owing to the wintry showers 
 which casually pour down to refresh the rising 
 crops. 
 
 Though his camp was as plain and simple as it 
 could possibly be for a man of his exalted station, 
 yet the array of tents with the spread of canvas 
 was unavoidably imposing; while it was striking 
 in picturesque effect, and the clean white freshness 
 of the movable domicils was pleasantly restful to 
 the eye. The Indian climate renders it necessary 
 that the tents should be lofty, airy and spacious ; 
 in no country of the world has tent-making been 
 so handsomely undertaken as in British India ; 
 each member of his staft' and each of his secre- 
 taries had to be provided with one tent or even 
 more. These were pitched in two long rows on 
 the camping ground, as in a street of canvas, 
 and at one extremity were his own tents. His 
 reception tent closed the end of the street ; it was 
 a fine long apartment of extensive dimensions, its 
 shelving roof being supported by a row of poles. 
 It was kept for his social entertainments at the 
 civil and military stations through which he passed, 
 
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 105 
 
 for the reception of the natives on ceremonial 
 occasions, and for the meetings of his officers. In 
 the early da} s of British rule the progress of the 
 highest authorities on the march was often like a 
 procession, many miles in len^h, of elephants, camels, 
 horses, carriages, wagons, carts, draught animals, 
 trappings and paraphernalia innumerable ; his march 
 was far simpler, still it comprised long lines of trans- 
 port for the tents, the baggage, the camp furniture, and 
 the selected records. 
 
 The refreshment of spirit and the physical in- 
 vigoration, afforded by these tours, baffle description. 
 For the march the start is at sunrise or even 
 a little earlier, at an hour called ' gun-fire ' ; and the 
 halt is in the early forenoon. Just before and after 
 the appearance of the sun over the cloudless horizon, 
 the cold is sharp and biting. During the day the 
 sun in the pale-blue sky may strike with his vertical 
 rays. Some degree of heat may be felt inside the 
 tents during the mid-day hours if the camp be standing 
 on open shelterless ground. But this effect is mitigated 
 if it be pitched in any of those umbrageous groves 
 of mangoes or other trees frequently found in many 
 districts. Under any circumstances the dry air, the 
 still drier ground, the fresh breeze sweeping over 
 the young verdure of the rising c;:ops, are delightful 
 and salubrious. The afternoon invites to short 
 excursions in the neighbourhood. The shades of 
 eventide are accompanied by a rapid accession of cold, 
 and the chilly temperature, often followed by frost, 
 
lo6 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 demands that the tents be artificially heated by 
 stoves, and that bonfires for the camp-followers be 
 lighted outside. 
 
 Lovelier even than the days were the nights, 
 whether star- lit or moon-lit. Those grateful associa- 
 tions, which cluster round the harvest-moon in 
 England, are in northern India devoted to the moon 
 of November. To the natives this moon tells of one 
 harvest safely garnered and another crop successfully 
 sown, of the rainy season having been fully vouch- 
 safed, and everything set in tune for the coming 
 agricultural year. The beauty of its illumination 
 befits the graciousness of its message. Not in the 
 Isles of Greece, nor on the shores of the Mediterra- 
 nean, had Thomason beheld such moonlight as that 
 which he enjoyed November after November in 
 Hindustan. 
 
 After the week's routine of his camp, there was 
 always a halt for the Sabbath. He had ever enforced 
 the prohibition against prosecuting any public works 
 on that day, in order that the Christian character 
 of the Government might be vindicated before the 
 people. He would himself set a pattern in his own 
 encampment. So on the Sabbath morn all was 
 hushed and quiet, not only in the street of tents, 
 but also in the surroundings, which on other days 
 resounded with the hum and bustle of movement. 
 For this one day man and beast — the men of several 
 creeds and races, the animals of many species — 
 were in repose. But in the forenoon, midway in the 
 
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 107 
 
 street of tents, the camp gong would begin to toll 
 as a Church bell, and at the appointed hour, the 
 European officers and their families, the guests, the 
 Native Christians in the camp, would all assemble in 
 the long reception-tent, and there, in the absence of a 
 clergyman, Thomason himself would read the Services 
 of the Church for the day ^. 
 
 For the marching routes, the main or trunk road 
 from Benares to Delhi would be either macadamized 
 or in the course of becoming so. But apart from this 
 great artery, the subsidiary lines, like the veins in the 
 system, would be nothing more than the soil smoothed 
 or levelled. The rivers, such as the Ganges at Benares 
 and Allahabad, the Jumna at Agra and Delhi, are now 
 spanned by railway viaducts ; but in those days the 
 only crossing consisted of temporary bridges of boats, 
 or pontoons thrown across the stream, and maintained 
 merely for the winter months, when the waters would 
 be low. 
 
 On the line of march the daily change of scene 
 prevents monotony being felt even in those districts, 
 which from their flatness would ordinarily be deemed 
 monotonous. The heart or centre of these Provinces, 
 the ' Doab ' or Mesopotamia of the Ganges and the 
 Jumna, is an even expanse. For two hundred miles 
 and more this uniformly fertile, highly cultivated and 
 densely peopled tract would by some travellers be 
 
 ^ The discourses which he used to read were taken from the 
 Parochial Sermons by the Rtjv. E. Cooper, Rector of Yoxall, 
 Staflordshire. 
 
lo8 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 reerarded as dull from its sameness. Eut Thomason 
 -would be thinking of all the objects which at every 
 moment met his eye in relation to the common 
 life, the daily round, the trivial task, of the native 
 population. He would be scanning the roadway and 
 its material, the police stations, the fields and their 
 boundaries, the soil and agriculture, the wayfarers, 
 the traffic, the means of rural and mercantile transport. 
 He had in Bengal been used to see bamboo cottages 
 with thatched roofs festooned by creepers. But now 
 he perceives nought save flat-roofed houses of baked 
 earth, plain even to ugliness. Still these were the 
 homes of his people, and the comfort of their interior 
 would be near to his thoughts. Elsewhere the 
 country is more attractive, and occasionally attains 
 the acme of attractiveness for a mind like his. 
 From the confluence of the two venerated and classic 
 rivers at Allahabad, eastwards, things of beauty on 
 the banks of the united Gangetic stream would present 
 themselves till he reached Benares. In that unique 
 abode of Hindu faith and learning he might feel, as his 
 father once felt, repulsion at the scenes in and about 
 the temples ; but he could not fail to marvel at the long 
 river-frontage of the much- thronged city. Moving 
 north-eastwards, he would revisit his own Azamgarh, 
 fraught with memories of homely happiness and of 
 high enterprise undertaken with the ardour of early 
 manhood. He will exchange countless greetings with 
 the natives, who would evince all the genial tact 
 of their race in recalling themselves to the remem- 
 
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 109 
 
 brance of Europeans with whom they had formerly 
 been acquainted. Beyond that he would traverse 
 Gorakhpur, till he sighted the belt of jungle that 
 fringes the base of the Himalaya. Reverting to 
 the western portion of his territories, he would cross 
 the Ganges into Rohilkhand, where the country at 
 once becomes more diversified and the races of men 
 more interesting. He would not at this winter-tide 
 proceed northwards to Kumaun, for there the alpine 
 character of the country forbids marching in state. 
 But he would assuredly turn westwards to Hardwar 
 to study the head-works of that system of irrigation 
 canals which, then inchoate, was destined to become 
 the finest of its kind in the world. Proceedinof 
 homewards to his headquarters at Agra, he would 
 pass through the Delhi territory and also halt at 
 the imperial city. With historic imagination he 
 would realize the fate of successive dynasties, leaving 
 their mark one after another on the land of their 
 adoption by structures which, though in decay or 
 ruin, still serve to discriminate each epoch from the 
 others. These noble relics seem to have once had a 
 depressing effect on his father, then wrapt in the con- 
 templation of things sacred. But to the son they 
 are infinitely suggestive of ideas relating to the social 
 evolution from century to century of the people now 
 under his charge. He causes surveys to be made so 
 that the steps and stages of their history may be better 
 understood, and particularly that the old water-courses, 
 canals and fountains may be discerned. It is indeed 
 
no JAMES THOMASON 
 
 the suggestiveness of ruins that makes him eager to 
 search for them in all parts of his territories. Before 
 reaching Agra he would traverse Mathra-Brindaban, 
 a tract of all tracts the most classic in Hindu 
 mythology. 
 
 One mainspring of his success was the use he made 
 of the opportunities afforded by these tours for pro- 
 moting the physical development of the country, 
 improving the social status of its inhabitants, and 
 becoming acquainted with the merits or the faults of 
 the public servants in all grades. He was gifted 
 by nature with an eye for noting the contour and 
 configuration of lands or localities. Had he not 
 been a civilian ruler, he might have been a great 
 surveyor, pioneer, or hydraulic engineer. Restricted 
 as were his powers in regard to the greater public 
 works, he had yet the command of the countless local 
 improvements, and the lesser works scattered through- 
 out the country. The guidance, the impulse, the 
 origination, the rectification, which he afforded to all 
 these affairs during his marches, were of untold value. 
 These, too, were the opportunities for the Natives 
 to urge their grievances before him face to face ; 
 and for him to gather the drift of Native opinion 
 or sentiment. From these meetings some formal, 
 some social, some casual or accidental, he would learn 
 how to recommend reform of the laws or of the 
 executive regulations. These, too, were the occasions 
 for his noticing the indigenous institutions of the 
 country, some time-honoured and incorporated into 
 
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR iii 
 
 the British system, others falling into desuetude or 
 becoming mere memories of the past. Among these 
 relics he specially studied those which related to 
 education, from the highest to the most elementary 
 grade ; and no European has ever excelled him in 
 the sympathetic and skilful examination of village- 
 schools in the vernacular. In these several ways 
 he became imbued with that confidence which can 
 spring from ocular evidence alone, and acquired a 
 living faith in what was wanted and what was 
 practicable for the welfare of the land and the 
 people. 
 
 Further, he thus obtained an insight into the 
 character and qualities of his officers in all grades. 
 He saw their works in situ, witnessing their successes 
 or their failures, their projects and their performances. 
 He thus discovered with unerring perspicacity how 
 to put the right man into the right place and to avoid 
 putting him into the wrong place. In this, which is 
 perhaps the most essential part of a ruler's duties in 
 India, he acquired a painstaking proficiency that has 
 never been exceeded. In a private letter he once 
 wrote that he had six good appointments vacant 
 and six officers wanting appointments, but unluckily 
 the men did not suit the places. This point was set 
 forth immediately after his death by a most competent 
 witness ^. 
 
 ^ Sir William Muir, who was Secretary to the Government at 
 Agra. See Calcutta Review, Dec, 1853. 
 
J 12, JAMES T HO MASON 
 
 ' Mr. Thomason possessed a rare power of discriminating 
 character, and no opportunity was so favourable for exercising 
 it, as to find a man in the midst of his daily work. With 
 unexpected rapidity, the Lieut.-Governor would perceive 
 the weak point of a case or line of procedure ; and the officer, 
 if not thoroughly master of his work, would find himself 
 foiled by one whom he counted upon as a stranger to his 
 business, but who turned out to be more thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with its details than himself. The earnest worker, 
 and the aspiring subordinate, were recognized and encouraged. 
 The former would be incited to prosecute, with redoubled 
 energy, some occupation of his own devising ; and the impulse 
 thus given to talent and application, would prove perhaps 
 the starting-point of a useful, if not distinguished career. To 
 the latter, some special sphere of industry or research would 
 be suggested. 
 
 ' Such generous appreciation, accorded by one who ever 
 exhibited a lively interest in the success and the welfare of 
 his subordinates, elicited from them a grateful response ; and 
 he received, in consequence, that ready and devoted service — 
 the fruit of a loving and admitting spirit — which is incom- 
 parably more valuable than the forced obedience of fear and 
 constraint.' 
 
 Now, the importance of travelling through the 
 country — seeing things with his own eyes, hearing what 
 people say with his own ears, — has been recognized by 
 every ruler in India, and the recognition has always 
 borne fruit in practice. In other words, that which 
 Thomason did most fully, has been done more or less 
 by all Anglo-Indian governors. But he accomplished it 
 more completely, more systematically, more effectually 
 than any of them. Here again, he did best that which 
 
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 113 
 
 many eminent persons have striven to do well. But 
 he possessed facilities in this respect which have never 
 fallen to the lot of anyone else, and the opportunities, 
 of which he admirably availed himself, have not been 
 enjoyed equally by any other ruler of India. The 
 term of incumbency for a Governor and Lieutenant- 
 Governor has for a long time past been limited to five 
 years ; but he was under no such limitation, having 
 held his high office for ten years when he died ; and 
 apparently he might have retained it indefinitely if so 
 minded. On this ground alone, then, it is impossible 
 for other rulers to study their provinces as he studied 
 his. Some rulers, too, have often had capital cities 
 like the Presidency towns, of vast magnitude, which by 
 themselves absorb much thouo^ht that miojht otherwise 
 be given to the interior of the country ; but he had 
 no such capital of consequence to rivet his attention. 
 Some rulers, again, have been distracted by war, or 
 frontier difficulties, or other emergencies, or internal 
 calamities ; fortunately he was spared from such dis- 
 turbance. Consequently very few have been enabled 
 to give such unremitting care, for so continuous and 
 lengthened a term, to the work of visitation as he 
 gave. Thus no historic competitors have ever had 
 quite the chance of equalling him, but even if they 
 had, it is hardly conceivable that they would or could 
 have outstripped him. 
 
 During all these years his headquarters were at 
 Agra, where he found the early summer to be such as 
 to render the place one of the hottest abodes on earth. 
 
114 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 In the latter part of the sumraer he would feel relief 
 from the periodical rains. An interval of tolerable 
 weather in the autumn would present itself, during 
 which he might visit the relics of Mughal glory that 
 are scattered round this veritable tomb of the richest 
 empire that was ever established by Moslem arms. As 
 Delhi is a sister capital of Agra, he might almost have 
 considered the fallen empire as broken into two frag- 
 ments, of which one lay entombed at Delhi, but the 
 larger one at Agra. He would note the country seat 
 and hunting ground of Akbar the Great at Fatehpur 
 Sikri, where the Moslem Emperor held the nightly 
 debates on eclectic religion ; the tomb of that puissant 
 Emperor at Sikandra, graven with a hundred names of 
 the Deity ; the lovely though majestic proportions and 
 the glistening marble of the Taj Mausoleum, mirrored 
 in the stream of the Jumna ; the red sand-stone fortress 
 overhanging the river; the peerless mosque of marble; 
 and the lattice- window where the dying emperor Shah 
 Jahan was placed to take his last look at the Taj. 
 
 For the whole or a part of several summers he 
 sojourned at Agra. But during other summers he 
 had the advantage of avoiding the hottest months by 
 spending the time at Simla, where all his corre- 
 spondence followed him. This place was beyond his 
 jurisdiction, being at first on the North- West Frontier 
 before the Punjab wars, and afterwards reckoned 
 among the Punjab dependencies. It is now a fine 
 alpine settlement and the summer resort of the 
 Empire ; in those days it was a rising station amidst 
 
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 115 
 
 oak forests and rhododendrons, with a look-out on 
 the snowy range. He might have ascended the hill 
 over the Dehra Ddn valley or sojourned on the plateau 
 of Kumaun, both of which places were in his juris- 
 diction, and are equal to Simla in climate. To his 
 tired eye the Himalayan scenery is restful. He 
 describes to his young daughter in England the view 
 from his study window ; there is an opening in the 
 clouds which enshroud the mountains ; through that 
 he gazes on the distant plains 8000 feet below him ; 
 they are basking in the sunshine which lights up the 
 Sutlej and its feeders like golden streaks. He visited 
 the Mission station of Kotgarh on the upper Sutlej 
 and ascended the lofty mountain of Hattu. But 
 he acknowledged in private letters that he could not 
 shake off the sad associations of Simla in reference 
 to his domestic bereavement. He rightly resorted 
 thither in order to be with the Governor-General. 
 Certainly it was thus that he acquired a just 
 influence over the mind of Lord Dalhousie. 
 
 In the spring of 1849, ^-fter arranging the transfer 
 of his best officers to the Punjab, he proceeds to Simla. 
 His health at this time is far from strong, weaker in- 
 deed than he ever allowed the public to suppose. He 
 alludes to the arduous work of pacification then pro- 
 ceeding in the Punjab, and says that excitement such 
 as that would crush the strena[th he then had. At 
 times he feels as if he could meet his end 'without 
 regret.' He writes, 'the longer one lives, the less 
 reason one has to shrink from the aspect of death ' 
 
 H % 
 
Il6 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 — and again, 'I am fastened to the post by a chain 
 for several years, unless meanwhile the chain shall 
 snap.' But with a rally he declares that he will 
 brace himself with all his remaining energies for the 
 government of his own Provinces. And the resistless 
 movement of progress is displayed by him before 
 a world that little knows the suffering he has to 
 endure. 
 
 Towards the end of 1851 he visits the Punjab, 
 marching as far as Lahore. There he meets his old 
 official friends, and above all he sees Montgomery in 
 the full tide of success. On his way back to his own 
 Provinces he sends Montgomery a memento with some 
 touching words — ' if such be God's good will we may 
 meet again on earth — but that will little matter so 
 long as we can look with certainty to another ultimate 
 meeting, unalloyed by sin and sorrow, unclouded by 
 the apprehension of its termination.' In fact the pair- 
 ing at Lahore was final, for these two loving brothers 
 never met again. 
 
 Thus the bark of the Government year after year, 
 his hand being on the helm, moved through the 
 troublesome waves of events with a steadiness seldom 
 vouchsafed to Governments in India. Probably no 
 Government has ev^r enjoyed such an even tenour 
 in its ways as his. No ruler of India has ever under- 
 stood better than he how to lubricate the machinery 
 of administration, its wheels, its joints, its motive 
 powers. Immense was the number of short letters, 
 private or demi-official, brief and pointed but kindly 
 
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 117 
 
 and courteous, which he wrote with his own hand 
 to his officers of all grades, regarding measures 
 which they had been officially instructed to execute. 
 To each letter there would be appended at the end 
 a few words of a friendly and confidential character, 
 to make the recipient put his heart into the work. 
 In many cases these concluding words were treasured 
 up by those to whom they were addressed. 
 
 Without any disparagement of the Civil Service 
 as it was in 1843, it must be admitted that his 
 nomination to the Lieutenant-Governorship was re- 
 ceived with some surprise by many, especially those 
 of the senior grades who had served in these Provinces 
 from the beginning of their careers. He was con- 
 sidered to be a favourite of official fortune, a talented 
 young man of conspicuous qualities, calculated to 
 attract the notice of the Governor- General in Council. 
 He had, indeed, gone through the drudgery, as well 
 as borne the honour, of a District Officer's life for 
 several years. Still, after a brief apprenticeship, 
 he had rapidly advanced to several high posts, almost 
 as if by flight from height to height, and then by 
 the favour of the Governor- General had been straight- 
 way appointed Lieutenant-Governor. He himself 
 wrote privately, ' I may meet with detraction 
 and shall have to overcome prejudices. . . . But 
 the God who has placed me there (Agra) will enable 
 me to do my duty — or if He shall see fit to discredit 
 me or remove me from the sphere. He can also give me 
 submission to His will.' He added ' Sir Matthew Hale 
 
Ii8 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 justly says, "reputation is a brittle thing which the 
 devil aims to hit in a special manner." ' So he would 
 not allow himself to feel ' any morbid sensitiveness^ to 
 criticism. Personally and socially he found himself 
 ' most cordially received.' But for a few years he 
 hardly obtained from some of the elder officers, men of 
 what would then have been called the old school, an 
 adoption of his policy ex animo, though they duly 
 rendered official obedience. He had really to work, as 
 he himself would say, through the younger men. The 
 new-comers, the recently appointed officers, the fresh- 
 men, so to speak, in the great official college, became his 
 zealous disciples. But as public life advances with 
 rapid strides in India, the younger men soon became 
 the seniors and the leaders ; so by degrees he found 
 himself possessing influence over all alike. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 Private Life in Government House 
 
 Besides the public career described in the last pre- 
 ceding chapter, Thomason had to lead a private and 
 individual life in the Government House. He attended 
 to everything in its place and in its season. He 
 would care for duty all round, official, social, domestic, 
 not permitting any one branch to interfere with or 
 hide another. 
 
 The day of his assuming charge of the Government, 
 December 12th (1843), was Montgomery's birthday, 
 and he takes this occasion of writing to his brother-in- 
 law, who was then in England. He begins by citing 
 two texts from Proverbs : ' for the Lord giveth wisdom ; 
 out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understand- 
 ing ' — ' trust in the Lord with all thine heart ; and 
 lean not unto thine own understanding.' He declares 
 his need of wisdom from above, as well as humility, 
 ' on this great occasion and stirring crisis ' of his life. 
 After some remarks on the warlike events just then 
 impending at Gwalior — with which his recent experi- 
 ence as Foreign Secretary rendered him familiar — he 
 concludes by adverting to what was now his own 
 
I20 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 Agra. He says that 'the place is pleasant : ' but who 
 would not see it couleur de rose on a bright, sharp, 
 bracing December day, and in all the first blush of 
 excitement from the new dignity ? ' 
 
 After he is settled in the Government House, his 
 domestic temperament re-asserts itself. He writes 
 that his palace is dreary to him, though crowded with 
 ofiicial friends and bright with social gatherings. 
 He feels ' alone in the crowd.' He misses ' her voice 
 which is hushed for ever, and the circle of children ' 
 which will never be re-assembled as he knew it. 
 Again alluding to his wife full seven years after her 
 death, he says — ' Sometimes I think, what would I give 
 for one of those smiles that used to chase away all 
 care ' — but he adds — ' What is a man worth if he has 
 no stronger reliance than on a fellow-creature like him- 
 self? ' Seeing the happy homes of others he says that 
 ' a chord is touched.' To near relations he from time 
 to time laments his domestic void, but believes that 
 it will never be filled. 
 
 He dreaded lest the elation, inseparable from his 
 advancement, should arouse personal vanity. ' Never,' 
 he writes, ' was a greater snare invented for weak and 
 sinful men than praise and prosperity.' Again he 
 says — ' In the time of our wealth and success. Good 
 Lord, deliver us ! ' Yet he will be grateful — ' 'tis a 
 sorry jade which improves not by good treatment — 
 but can only be roused by whip and spur.' Further, 
 he will strive after a frame of mind which ' prosperity 
 cannot elevate nor adversity depress.' Referring to 
 
PRIVA TE LIFE IN GO VERNMENT HO USE 1 2 1 
 
 the death of a friend from an accident on horseback, 
 exactly like the one which befell himself ten years 
 before in the same neighbourhood, he exclaims — ' God 
 spared me, but he is killed, — Be still, and know that 
 I am God.' 
 
 In every public or national juncture he flies to 
 Religion instantly. He writes that ' faith in God is 
 the foundation of all true heroism.' Thus strength- 
 • ened, he addresses himself to affairs with confidence 
 and self-possession. In 1848 the revolutions, which 
 overspread Europe, disturbed opinion in India. He 
 refers to the Psalm — ' say unto God how terrible are 
 thy works ; through the greatness of thy power shall 
 thine enemies submit themselves unto thee ! \ which 
 text he had cited on hearing of the Kabul disaster 
 ten years previously. At this time, 1848, his Pro- 
 vinces were denuded of troops for the war in the 
 Punjab, and some fanatical plots were being hatched. 
 But he made preparations to counteract them with 
 the utmost vigilance and activity. Believing that 
 emeutes and uprisings are often traceable to some 
 remediable discontent — he would, after suppressing the 
 disturbance, patiently remove the causes that might 
 provoke a recurrence of it. Though merciful to all 
 pardonable offences, he would treat inexcusable wrong 
 with strict severity and energetic promptitude. 
 
 In taking a survey of his own position, he looked 
 much to opinion in England. In his youthful years 
 at Cambridge, he had been accustomed to observe elo- 
 quence in argument operating upon general opinion. 
 
J 22 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 He knew that many good people at home thought, 
 felt and prayed for India, and he gave the British 
 public credit for having this sentiment diffused more 
 widely perhaps than it really was. He held that 
 when our arms and policy had done their best, the 
 longer and more exacting task remained of governing 
 the countries that had been conquered or annexed. A 
 passage may be cited from a private letter of his, ad- 
 dressed to a lady in England, in 1849 just after the* 
 second Punjab War:— 
 
 * India will now be less a subject of interest in England 
 than it has lately been. The mischances or the exploits of 
 war dazzle or charm the multitude, but it is in the quiet 
 operations of peace, which ensue from such a turmoil, that 
 constancy, perseverance, circumspection and diligence are 
 called forth. That is the quiet and unostentatious labour, 
 but also the high and respon«;ible duty, to which we are now 
 called to address ourselves, with regard to this great country, 
 which God has placed in our hands. For its right per- 
 formance we no less require the best wishes and prayers of 
 our fellow-countrymen, than for protection in the day of 
 battle or for deliverance from a threatening enemy. Do not 
 therefore think that because we less prominently figure in the 
 public eye, the Christian duty of supplication and intercession 
 may be safely laid aside.' 
 
 At Agra he was provided with a Government House, 
 not palatial and perhaps hardly in accordance with 
 Oriental notions of proconsular state, nevertheless, 
 commodious and sufficient, with large halls for the 
 reception of European officers and Native chiefs. 
 He was punctilious only in regulating his own con- 
 
PRIVA TE LIFE IN GO VERNMENT HO USE 1 23 
 
 duct with courtesy towards others. His considerate- 
 ness regarding the comfort and convenience of those 
 around him was unfailing. He was constantly diffus- 
 ing graceful kindnesses in all directions. While 
 residing here in summer he seized the occasion for a 
 kind of hospitality which was in that day, and per- 
 haps still is, practised by high officials in most parts 
 of India, but which he practised to a degree rarely 
 attained. European officers who came to join his 
 government, or to serve under him in any capacity, 
 would be invited to stay with him for a few days. 
 The men thus invited had full opportunity of learning 
 his views and of exchanging ideas with him, the 
 result naturally being that they became attached to 
 his policy and imbued with his principles. He had 
 much fluency in conversation, and his thoughts would 
 be gently distilled like the dew. Young men, almost 
 youths, just arrived from England would be impressed 
 by his gracious kindness in a strange land, and fell at 
 once under the spell of his influence. Many officers, 
 who themselves have afterwards risen to fame and 
 power, would acknowledge that they first drew their 
 inspiration from these hospitalities at Agra. 
 
 In the hot season there was hardly any amusement 
 indoors or out of doors save one, namely the swimming 
 bath, the breadth and capacity of which^ under the roof 
 of the Government House, would astonish new comers 
 from Europe. The boisterousness of aquatic exercises 
 made the spirits of men rise high, despite the depressing 
 heat. Thomason himself, though like the Romans of 
 
124 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 old a great bather and well practised in the exercise of 
 the swimming bath, did not join in any public display ; 
 nor did he go out in the mornings on horseback, which 
 omission was to be regretted. After working from early 
 morn till eve, he would start for an excursion in a 
 carriaore with four horses. The hot winds of the day 
 subsiding at sunset caused the glowing atmosphere to 
 be still and close. So he would direct the postilions 
 to drive rapidly in order that he might inhale such 
 breeze as could thus be obtained. 
 
 The fortnightly mail from England affords a tonic 
 to the nervous tension and recreation to his care-worn 
 mind. This post happily differs from the daily posts ; 
 it is laden for him with chequered news, but the joy 
 and hope prevail over the tender anxieties. 
 
 He writes to his daughter that he carries about 
 with him in his pocket a little red book, given him 
 by her departed mother, marked with the birthdays 
 of the children and containing a text of Scripture 
 for every day in the year. He asks her to obtain one 
 like it for herself. Indeed, he is most diligent in 
 writing to his children as they grow up in England. 
 The lenfjth as well as the number of these letters is 
 amazing ; many have been lost, but enough of them 
 are preserved to show that the total (written during the 
 busiest years of his Government) must have been 
 more than an octavo volume in bulk. Most of those 
 now extant have fine passages, and some, as com- 
 positions, are beautiful throughout. The substance of 
 the letters is religious, but they abound with practical 
 
PRIVATE LIFE IN GOVERNMENT HOUSE 125 
 
 directions for the training of thought and habit. He 
 frankly declares that the duty of instructing his 
 children in the highest things is the best discipline 
 for himself — he dreads to think what he might have 
 been, as a solitary man, without this responsibility 
 which he affectionately discharges. The little da- 
 guerreotypes as they arrive ' look love ' at him. His 
 daughter is to play the harp, she is to collect her 
 mother's music, especially the pieces from Handel 
 which for him are fraught with the ' fondest associa- 
 tions.' He enquires about the telescope and the shell- 
 cabinet, with a little lecture on conchology and ' star- 
 gazing.' With the softer culture he mingles some 
 spirit-stirring utterances respecting his high functions 
 — his 'measures being successful' — 'prosperity ad- 
 vancing' — 'the mind of the people awakening' — his 
 own ' efforts ' — and even his ' triumphs.' There is 
 infinite variety in the letters ; in one respect only is 
 there sameness, namely, the all-pervading affection. 
 
 It has been mentioned in chapter V that at Azam- 
 garh he kept a manuscript book, in which were written 
 by his own hand extracts from authors on religious 
 subjects. In 1845 he begins a similar book for his 
 second daughter Elizabeth, generally called Bessie, 
 and completes it as a present for her sixteenth birth- 
 day in 1 850. This book contains 1 80 closely written 
 pages. It is, like the former one, chiefly filled with pas- 
 sages from the earlier English divines, but includes 
 extracts from St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Bernard ; 
 and translations from Pascal, Massillon, Fenelon. 
 
125 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 In 1850 his eldest daughter Maynard, generally 
 known as Maynie, j oins him from England ^. He 
 writes : ' To me she is the greatest comfort that can be 
 • — I cannot say how delightful a companion I find her.' 
 
 On her arrival he institutes a new book like that 
 just described. Especially intended for her use, it 
 was commenced at her suggestion in June of that 
 year, and was kept up to the very close of his life. 
 The authors, whom he continues reading daily (as 
 he had read in earlier years), belong mostly to the 
 elder time, such as Hooker, Jeremy Taylor, Beveridge, 
 Thomas a Kempis, Leighton, George Herbert, Quarles, 
 Pollock, Nelson, Evelyn. Extracts are made also from 
 some contemporary writers ; for example, Keble, in his 
 'Christian Year,' — Tennyson's 'In Memoriam,' — Long- 
 fellow's verses about the reality and earnestness of 
 life — The 'Lyra Innocentium' — and in prose Henry 
 Melvill the Principal of Haileybury College, and Daniel 
 Wilson the Bishop of Calcutta. 
 
 From this manuscript book two short passages 
 may be cited by way of illustration. They run thus, 
 as he transcribed them in the last year of his life : — 
 
 The Domestic Palace. 
 
 ' Let the foundation of thy affection he virtue, then make 
 the building as rich and as glorious as thou canst : if the 
 foundation he beauty or wealth, and the building virtue, the 
 foundation is too weak for the building; and it will fall. 
 
 ^ She married in 1852 Dr. John Hay, Surgeon in the Bengal Army. 
 
PRIVA TE LIFE IN GO VERNMENT HO USE i 2 7 
 
 Happy is he, the palace of whose affection is founded upon 
 virtue, walled with riches, glazed with beauty, and roofed 
 with honour.' 
 
 QUARLES' Enchiridion. 
 
 (about the year 1600.) 
 Camp Allahabad, 
 
 Jan. 23, 1853. 
 
 Eeligion. 
 
 ' The brightest realization of the idea of religion, of the 
 sacrifice of self, consists in carrying out in the life the vow 
 made in the aid of worship. The divinely high or good 
 work is life in faith, the fulfilment of the high or humble 
 vocation, which every one may have assigned him, whether it 
 be the prince's or the philosopher's, the clergyman's or the 
 shoemaker's.' 
 
 BUNSEN'S Eij)jiohjtus 1. 
 Agra, 
 
 May 8, 1853. 
 
 In the two manuscript books together, thus given 
 to his daughters, there are passages transcribed from 
 full one hundred authors. This indicates a wide 
 range of reading on sacred subjects, by a man so 
 intensely occupied in secular affairs as he was. More 
 noteworthy memorials of him and his inner mind 
 cannot be had than these little volumes. 
 
 There is preserved a copy of the 'Lyra Apostolica,' 
 wherein he has been careful, after due ascertainment, 
 to write the names of the anonymous contributors, 
 Newman, Keble, and others. 
 
 * See Life, o/Bunsen, vol. ii. p. 287. 
 
128 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 He fed his thoughts on the rich pathos of the 
 Letters by Rutherford the Scotch mediaeval divine, 
 which gave him the consolation they had already 
 given to several generations. 
 
 When Maynie completes the second decade of her 
 young life, he writes : — 
 
 ' The completion of a decade, and that the most important 
 of all, when the child springs into the woman . . . Youth 
 with its golden opportunities, its rich advantages, its precious 
 seed-time, has passed away ; henceforward we mu&t look fcr 
 the fruit of the seed that has been sown. The impress we 
 have ourselves received must be communicated to others.' 
 
 After some sentences in the same strain, he defines 
 his own convictions, thus : — 
 
 ' God the Father is ready to look down upon us in tender- 
 ness and love. God the Son presents His imputed righteous- 
 ness as a sufficient safeguard from all evil. God the Holy 
 Ghost is at hand to cleanse and sanctify us — with this 
 threefold assurance we may walk confidently forward, im- 
 measurably strong even in our weakness.' 
 
 These sentences of his own composition afford a fair 
 idea of his didactic style, which may be thought to 
 have some beauty as well as simplicity. The fact 
 of such a record being made by such a man, amidst 
 avocations so distracting as his, attests the power 
 of religion over mundane influences. 
 
 He would be the more anxious to display the 
 practical effect of Christianity on human conduct, 
 
PRIVA TE LIFE IN GO VERNMENT HO USE 1 29 
 
 because he was precluded from supporting his religion 
 by secular power. He regarded those of his country- 
 men, who might be under his authority, as representa- 
 tive men, and he was conscious with due humility that 
 his station rendered him the most representative of 
 them all. While avoiding the encouragement of 
 particular forms of religious opinion among his officers, 
 he would impress upon all alike the importance of 
 their displaying a Christian standard in their life and 
 conversation. Though temperate, considerate and 
 even charitable in his judgments on private con- 
 duct, he yet was stern to rebuke, and if neces- 
 sary to repress, whatever might be wrong in this 
 respect. 
 
 For himself, he acted on his profession as a member 
 of the Church of England ; as one who loyally adhered 
 to her doctrine and discipline, accepting her ordi- 
 nances, offices, liturgy and articles, as set forth in the 
 Book of Common Prayer. But he felt a tolerant 
 friendliness for Protestant communities generally. 
 Indeed for him the thing of things was the Bible, 
 to read, understand and obey. While hopeful that 
 the progress of Christianity among the Natives might 
 receive impulse from the good example set b}^ 
 Christians, he deemed that nothing could be done 
 advantageously by Government to propagate Chris- 
 tianity. He would not allow any religious teach- 
 ing to be introduced into the Government Schools. 
 But he held that the fact of public servants, himself 
 at the head, being precluded from officially aiding 
 
 I 
 
130 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 Christianity, increased the obligation that lay upon 
 them all to do their best in their private capacities 
 for this end. He even avowed that though bound 
 to provide seminaries where no reference was made 
 to Christianity, yet in his private capacity he would 
 give his money and his sympathy to Missionary 
 Colleges, where another element in education (meaning 
 Christianity), essential to the highest interests of 
 mankind, was imparted. Thus he was a hearty sup- 
 porter of Missions of all Protestant denominations, 
 naturally those of his own Church first. Hereditary 
 association attached him especially to the Church 
 Missionary Society ; and that Society had by this 
 time established its well-appointed and effective mis- 
 sions at Benares and at Agra. He encouraged the 
 American missionaries who were working at Allah- 
 abad, Fatehgarh, and a Church Mission which was 
 beginning at Meerut. The well-known Orphanage 
 at Sikandra (Akbar's tomb) near Agra, was in its 
 full career of usefulness ; thither had been collected 
 the famishing orphans cast adrift without friends or 
 relations by the famine of 1837, to be brought up 
 under Christian auspices ; to these Native Christians 
 he gave his countenance and made them feel their 
 fellowship with him in Christ. He occasionally 
 attended their church services in the vernacular, and 
 translated a part of the Psalms into elegant Hindu- 
 stani for their use. 
 
 He contributed to the support of Missions liberally 
 though unostentatiously. He was a friend to the 
 
PRIVA TE LIFE IN GO VERNMENT HO USE 1 3 1 
 
 Missionaries, and one^ eminent among them, who had 
 gra, testified thus regarding 
 
 laboured at Agra, testified thus regarding him : — 
 
 ' Having watched patiently and attentively the course of 
 Indian Missions and partaken much in the hopes and fears 
 which they have alternately awakened, he was sensibly 
 affected with the report of anything which seemed to make 
 against the progress of the truth ; would suggest new plans, 
 and point to fresh directions in which the Christian effort of 
 each labourer engaged in the work might extend itself. 
 
 ' In us who were strengthened and encouraged by observing 
 in him the marks of the Lord Jesus, I believe that the 
 remembrance of him will live, and will not readily be effaced. 
 Many a distressed and afflicted one can bear witness to the 
 timely help he rendered . . . unknown to any but his Father 
 who seetli in secret. His unassuming, reverent and prayerful 
 demeanour was a blessed example to us in this house of 
 prayer ^, of which he was so regular an attendant.' 
 
 Notwithstanding his strictness and sedateness, he 
 could be genial and unconventional. He begins a 
 letter of condolence in this wise — ' Well, my dear, the 
 table cloth is just removed, the last sip of wine tasted, 
 even the coffee finished. So let me draw my chair 
 nearer to your side and have a little chat.' Again, 
 alluding to a prescribed time for mourning, he writes : 
 ' It is after all only a conventional period for the 
 
 ^ Thomas Valpy French, afterwards Bishop of Lahore. A sermon 
 to the like effect was preached at the same time, 1853, by Arch- 
 deacon Pratt in Calcutta. 
 
 - St. Paul's Church, Agra. 
 
 T 2 
 
132 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 exhibition of sorrow ; why should the limit be fixed at 
 the revolution of the world round the sun, rather than 
 of the moon round the world"? How trifling these 
 things appear, except as they bear on the one great 
 object of our lives, namely our eternal state.' 
 
 In private charity he was generous, but with 
 discrimination. Of all the deserving charities which 
 existed, or were set on foot in his Provinces, 
 not one was left without his subscription. His 
 munificence embraced churches, colleges, schools, 
 medical dispensaries, orphanages, and the like. He 
 set aside a tithe of his large official income for good 
 works, but this limit was often exceeded. 
 
 While following the dictates of this charity, and 
 maintaining the outward dignity of his high station, 
 not extravagantly but handsomely — he yet by affec- 
 tionate care succeeded in making a moderate provision 
 for each one of his five surviving children. 
 
 The following account has been recorded by Mr. 
 John Walter Sherer, late of the Bengal Civil Service, 
 who was for several years Assistant Secretary to the 
 Government at Agra : — 
 
 'Waiting once in Sir Robert Montgomery's study in 
 Cornwall Gardens, London, I observed over the fire-place a 
 portrait of Mr. Thomason. Sir Robert entered. I said 
 pointing up, " I have never found his equal." He replied 
 with emphasis — " Nor I — ever." He, like myself (as he 
 kindly explained), was not at the time thinking of 
 Thomason's achievements, — but of the peculiar genuineness 
 of the man ; — his devotion to duty, his abnegation of self ; 
 
PRIVATE LIFE IN GOVERNMENT HOUSE 133 
 
 his almost tender appreciation of the efforts of others, if in 
 what he thought a right direction. 
 
 * Thomason's views were large and unprejudiced, and he 
 could see good in the intentions and aims of persons of whose 
 opinions he did not altogether approve. 
 
 ' He inherited from his father a warm adherence to earnest 
 views in religious matters, combined with an indifference to 
 the attractions of the world, as such ; and this fact renders it 
 the more remarkable — that his sympathies should have been 
 so ready and his allowances so generously conceded. The son 
 of one who was largely mixed up with missionary exertions, 
 his good wishes and his purse were at the call of those engaged 
 in evangelizing projects. But, as Lieutenant-Governor, he was 
 exceedingly scrupulous in avoiding any public measure which 
 might bear the aspect of proselytism. Some of the dis- 
 appointed or the undiscerning were anxious at times to 
 fasten on him a charge of sectarian narrowness. But if they 
 had known him better, they would have admitted that, whilst 
 claiming for himself personally the exercise of his own views, 
 he fully recognized that his official position required a 
 larger atmosphere, and a consideration of different lines of 
 proceeding, believed to point to the same end. 
 
 'There was no officer doing his duty, with a good heart 
 and fcteady perseverance, who did not, sooner or later, receive 
 encouragement from the head of affairs. 
 
 'He had a very abiding sense of working for England. 
 He held a strong belief that the justification of our presence 
 in the East depended on the use of our power to open out 
 the advantages of Western civilization to India, without 
 unheedingly or abruptly running counter to the usages, 
 or even the prejudices, of the people of the country. And he 
 had a dream not only that England would one day recognize 
 him as a right-minded statesman in the sphere where his lot 
 had been cast — which may still be the case — but that she 
 
134 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 was even then following his career with interest. One 
 evening in the carriage, he said, " I love to believe the dear 
 old country approves our work out here." 
 
 ' He never neglected what society might naturally expect 
 from his position. He gave excellent balls ; and in the 
 equipments of daily life he was very careful to keep up all 
 the appearances suitable to his office. His carriages and 
 horses were excellent, and in his Private Secretary and 
 Aide-de-Camp, Captain Minchin, he had a capital manager, 
 and one who contrived that Government House dinners 
 should have an easy pre-eminence over private entertaining. 
 
 ' In his public speeches the matter was well arranged and 
 fluency fully secured. His manners were particularly easy, 
 from the entire absence of self-consciousness. When Lord 
 Dalhousie visited Agra, the expression of his face and his 
 gestures were watched with interest, because the Governor- 
 General was understood to have mastered deportment to the 
 extent of being able to indicate by his bow, to a nicety, the 
 degree of notice he deemed it appropriate to bestow. But we 
 all thought afterwards that the self-possession of the great 
 Proconsul was not more striking than the simplicity of our 
 own Chief. For Mr. Thomason was exactly his good old 
 personality, and having no pretences and nothing to hide, was 
 perfectly unembarrassed, and reached without knowing it 
 the perfection the other had acquired. 
 
 ' Mr. Thomason was hardly a man of what is called 
 " culture," though he appreciated it in others. His time 
 was too oocupied to admit of much general reading, and 
 he had no special turn for any of the arts. Humour had 
 unfailing attractions for him ; he said once " my greatest 
 treat is one of Dickens' novels." 
 
 ' He was a man of much personal courage. Though 
 experiencing great difficulty in riding from his lameness, he 
 would mount a spirited horse, and with the aid of providence 
 
PRIVATE LIFE IN GOVERNMENT HOUSE 135 
 
 gallop in safety the morning's stage on his winter tours. 
 And though by no means atldicted to physical exercise, he 
 taught himself swimming late in life, and delighted in 
 diving and other caprices of the bath. 
 
 ' There was nothing of the recluse about him in his public 
 functions, but the man himself was doubtless to be discovered 
 rather in his private apartment, interviewing specialists or 
 indeed any one with a task in hand. He would often be turn- 
 ing the pages of the Book his father had reverenced, and he 
 himself had found a standby in all troubles. The Overland 
 Mail was a perennial joy. I recall that one night Dr. A. 
 and I were driving with him, but as we Avere leaving the 
 grounds the postilions pulled up on seeing the messenger 
 with the English post. In one minute, before we could beg 
 him to turn back, he was out of the vehicle and disappearing 
 through the shrubs to read his letters in his own room. " Go 
 for your drive," he shouted, and we found ourselves in the 
 road with a carriage and four, and outriders, and our raison 
 d'etre suddenly extinguished.' 
 
 There is a novel entitled * The Rose and the Lotus,' 
 written by Bessie, though her name does not appear 
 on the title-page. This book is well worth reading, 
 because the father of the heroine ' Mr. Malcolm ' is 
 really Thomason drawn from life. Even the lesser traits 
 and lineaments are all sketched from nature. The 
 reception of the heroine in her father's camp is a 
 counterpart of the actual reception of the authoress by 
 Thomason, as proved by one of her own letters. The 
 portraiture may be likened, not to a finished oil- 
 painting, but to a light water-colour, with faint outline 
 and delicate hues, nevertheless bearing an exquisite 
 resemblance to the original. The tender cherishins: 
 
 t 
 
136 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 of his dead wife's memory, the preservation of the 
 mementos which belonged to her, the judicious advice 
 to his daughters on their entering life, the attention 
 to public business, strenuous but serene, the biblical 
 allusions in private conversation, the transcribing of 
 extracts from works on divinity in a memorandum 
 book, the considerate terms used regarding the Natives, 
 the devotion to missionary effort, the historic lore, 
 the fondness for searching out ruins, the tall and 
 spirit-like form, the calm and lofty soul — are all to be 
 found in this portrait. The presentiments of failing 
 health and possibly approaching death are just those 
 which Thomason must have uttered. Several parts of 
 the book, then, are to be accepted as an account 
 of his inner character, depicted by the accomplished 
 hand of his own daughter, who was constantly 
 with him to the last. The same book contains a 
 lovely description of the Taj at Agra by this gifted 
 lady, emulating that given by her mother in 1837. 
 She also represents in graphic terms the beauties of 
 Naini Tal, that being the place whither her father 
 was proceeding when arrested by death. She was 
 married there, and when penning this gay word- 
 picture, little thought it would be her fate to die 
 there also ^. 
 
 ^ She married William Johnston, of the Bengal Civil Service, at 
 Naini Tal in 1854, and died at Naini Tal also, in 1864. Her other 
 novel, entitled Gifts and Graces, has a character Mr. Neville, who, 
 although he resides in England, is a counterpart of Thomason, and 
 this part of the book affords collateral testimony from his own 
 daughter. 
 
PRIVATE LIFE IN GOVERNMENT HOUSE 137 
 
 The lamented Laureate, just before his death, wrote 
 a short poem entitled 'Akbar's Dream.' This is the 
 Akbar mentioned in chapter VI, and the scene is 
 laid near Agra. The purport is that the Emperor, 
 having established a righteous rule ,in the very 
 Provinces which we are discussing, foresaw that it 
 would be upset by his successors, but would thereafter 
 be restored by a conquering race from the West. 
 The Emperor says :— 
 
 * Well, I dreamed 
 That stoiie by stone I reared a sacred fane, 
 A temple, neither Pagod, Mosque, nor Church, 
 But loftier, simpler, always open doored 
 To every breath from heaven; and Truth and Peace 
 And Love and Justice came and dwelt therein.' 
 
 The Emperor is then struck by the Angel of Death, 
 and dying perceives that his successors are loosening 
 his fair work stone by stone. Yet he sees that : — 
 
 'From out the sunset poured an alien race 
 Who fitted stone to stone again, and Truth, 
 Peace, Love, and Justice came and dwelt therein.' 
 
 Now the spirit of Akbar's sway in these Provinces, 
 though suppressed by long misrule, did still survive 
 to be awakened into a purer life by British power, in 
 the hands of several administrators among whom 
 Thomason was the foremost. Thus the vision which 
 the English Poet attributes to Akbar, does exactly 
 represent the future that was destined to be realized 
 under Thomason and his brethren. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 The Land Settlement 
 
 Throughout Thomason's life and administration, 
 certain principles of civil policy, like guiding stars, 
 were ever kept in sight ; these have been alluded 
 to more than once^, and must now be more directly 
 noticed. 
 
 His first and last thoughts were devoted to the 
 establishment of property in land, and to the recog- 
 nition of the proprietary rights of the people in their 
 holdings. In his Provinces (as in most other parts of 
 India) the landed interest is overwhelmingly great ; 
 indeed the people might be described by a generic 
 term, as those who live by the land. This great 
 interest came under the cognizance of his govern- 
 ment to a degree unknown in Western countries. In 
 English-speaking nations we hear of Land Bureaux, 
 Land Commissions, Agricultural Departments, and the 
 like ; but all such institutions taken together would 
 not represent the functions of the Land Revenue 
 Department, as it existed under him. 
 
 As already seen, he found that the land tax had been 
 fixed for thirty years, in every one of the forty thou- 
 
THE LAND SETTLEMENT 139 
 
 sand villages or parishes in the Provinces ; and that 
 the assessment had been so equitable and moderate as to 
 leave a considerable margin to the peasant proprietors. 
 Conjointly with this cardinal operation there had been 
 undertaken a registration of title and a ' Record of 
 Rights.' The idea of this record was grand, a Dooms- 
 day book and Magna Charta combined. It had not 
 been carried into effect with completeness, but a begin- 
 ninor had been made throuo-hout the Provinces. In fact 
 the record was the best that could be prepared under a 
 certain limited time, a rough or preliminary one in 
 some tracts, a more advanced one in other tracts ; 
 at all events . a basis or starting-point everywhere. 
 Theoretically the correct and accurate preparation of 
 the Register or Record, at the time of the Settlement, 
 might seem feasible, but practically it was not. The 
 tenures, always minute and complex, had been brought 
 into confusion by wars and revolutions. Native 
 society was in a transition state. Accuracy could 
 not be obtained without the co-operation of the people, 
 and to real enquiry they had never been accustomed. 
 Consequently the great Record, though good in some 
 respects, was inevitably imperfect. 
 
 Now Thomason resolved that in due process of time 
 this Record should be rectified bit by bit, till it was 
 rendered almost perfect ; that first the European 
 Officers should be instructed how to rectify it, and 
 that the Native proprietors should be educated by 
 degrees to aid in the rectification. Such was the 
 broad design which he pursued until something near 
 
140 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 perfect success was attained. And this constitutes one 
 of the chief reasons for his posthumous renown. 
 
 In his manual of ' Directions to Collectors,' already 
 mentioned in chapter VII, he writes : — 
 
 ' In the early days of British rule in the North- Western 
 Provinces it was thought that the decision of all questions of 
 individual right might be left to the operation of the ordinary 
 Courts of Justice. Experience, however, has proved the con- 
 trary. The Natives of the country were unaccustomed to 
 examine questions regarding rights of property with a view 
 to their classification. It is surprising even to this day how 
 ill informed Native gentlemen are on the subject (1849). But 
 still less were they able then (1803 to 1833) to appreciate 
 the change that had been effected in the old village institutions 
 by engrafting on them the modes of procedure adopted by 
 the British Government. The English functionaries, on the 
 other hand, understood their own rules but had no leisure to 
 study the old institutions of the country. Injustice and con- 
 fusion necessarily ensued. Designing men usurped rights 
 which did not belong to them, and blunders of all possible 
 kinds were committed by those who ought to have protected the 
 rights of the weaker parties. In such confusion the litigation 
 increased, till the whole machinery of the judicial adminis- 
 tration was choked, and it became necessary to take active 
 measures to introduce order and certainty where hitherto 
 confusion and uncertainty only had reigned. Hence resulted 
 the system of Record which was introduced in 1822. There 
 are some who still look with despair on the magnitude and 
 difficulty of this undertaking. They see the country divided 
 into small properties, which are held on jDeculiar tenures 
 differing one from the other. They are aware of the general 
 ignorance and are brought into intercourse with the most 
 designing, crafty and unprincipled of the mass. There is no 
 
THE LAND SETTLEMENT 141 
 
 desire to underrate these difficulties. But it is impossible 
 now to withdraw from the course which has been com- 
 menced. The intention has been wisely disclaimed of making 
 any revolution in the disposition of property. It has been 
 decided to determine what are the existing rights and to up- 
 hold them. Great progress has been made in the performance. 
 But it would be vain to suppose that all which is necessary 
 has been already done. The original record formed at the 
 time of Settlement was often erroneous and imperfect ; indeed 
 it could not be otherwise. The system was new, the mass of 
 the people were unable to comprehend the object and nature 
 of the proceedings, and were moreover suspicious of any 
 measures connected with the assessment of their lands. Under 
 these circumstances it is surprising that so much was done, 
 and so well done, at the time of Settlement. There is far 
 more reason to take courage from the great progress already 
 made, than to despair at the magnitude of what still remains 
 to be done.' 
 
 Now, with some condensation, this is Thomason's 
 account of his policy in his own words ; and the very 
 spirit of the man, the working of his mind, his style 
 and method, are all apparent. Then there is found 
 an important paragraph, by which he impresses his 
 precepts on those concerned : — 
 
 * Let us suppose an intelligent officer appointed to the 
 charge of a district where he is likely to remain some years. 
 He is acquainted with the system of registration, and con- 
 vinced of the importance and practicability of maintaining it. 
 On coming, however, to refer to his Settlement records in cases 
 that casually occur, he finds them imperfect or erroneous. 
 He concludes that registers resting on such a basis must be 
 defective, and he determines to apply himself in earnest to 
 
142 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 the correction of the errors. It is the design of the present 
 treatise to aid him in such an undertaking, and to show that 
 it is not difficult at any time to make a fresh commencement, 
 and to attain that degree of accuracy which it was designed 
 to ensure at the time of Settlement.' 
 
 He then proceeds to give minute directions to his 
 many District Officers for the rectification of the 
 Record of Rights. Moreover he takes good care that 
 these directions are carried out, not hastily nor spas- 
 modically, but cautiously and steadily, locality by 
 locality, tract by tract, village by village, till in the 
 course of years the whole thing is virtually done 
 throughout his widely extended Provinces. 
 
 He is particular in urging his European Officers, 
 after having instructed themselves, to instruct their 
 Native subordinates, and then the Natives generally. 
 Thereon he expresses a sentiment which was very 
 near to his heart : — 
 
 ' The Revenue system, when rightly understood and properly 
 worked, affords the greatest stimulus to the general education 
 of the people. Indeed it cannot be expected that the regis- 
 tration of rights will ever become perfect till the people are 
 sufficiently educated to understand it, and to watch over its 
 execution.' 
 
 This Record related, as he himself phrased it, to the 
 rights of the people in the land. This property, 
 rightfully and virtually possessed by masses of men 
 in his Provinces, had he thought been over-ridden, 
 trampled under foot, blurred, defaced, obscured, almost 
 
THE LAND SETTLEMENT 143 
 
 stamped out, but never extinguished, in all the troubles 
 that had swept over the Upper Ganges Valley. To his 
 mind, the British Government was in duty bound to 
 preserve this property wherever it was found to be still 
 existing, not to re-create it where it had been lost, but 
 to conserve and even develope its existence whore it 
 was still living, even though the vital spark might 
 be faint. But then he noticed that the value of this 
 property must depend on the determination of the land 
 tax. By immemorial law and custom the ruling power 
 was entitled to a share in the produce of cultivation, 
 and there was nothing, save the will of that power, 
 to regulate the proportion of the produce represented 
 by such share, which he termed ' the Government 
 demand,' He felt that if this share should be fixed 
 too high, and if the State demand should become 
 excessive or uncertain or capricious, then the property 
 would be depreciated or almost valueless ; if on the 
 other hand, the demand should be temperately and 
 equitably regulated, then the property would be a living 
 thing of actual and enjoyable value. It would be his 
 first duty to search out this property everywhere, for 
 the sake of his people, to bring it into full operation, to 
 hedge it round with reasonable security. For that object 
 the Settlement, with the assessment of the land tax for 
 thirty years, had been fixed throughout the country, 
 well and justly as he believed. He still had the power, 
 not indeed to enhance, but to reduce the assessment, 
 and he would not suffer the demand anywhere to be 
 such as to injure the property in land. 
 
144 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 So one of his strongest titles to permanent re- 
 membrance is this, that he was among the foremost 
 of those who systematized, cherished, secured and 
 rendered effective the property of the Natives in the 
 land of northern India. It is well, however, that his 
 position in this momentous matter should be set forth 
 by his own dicta. The treatises of his authorship were 
 not merely those of an author well informed, but came 
 from an authority addressing readers who were all 
 bound to obey him, and many of whom looked up to 
 him as a guide, philosopher and friend. 
 
 Almost his first words to Settlement Officers are 
 these: — 
 
 ' It is the true interest of the Government to limit the 
 demand to what is just, so as to create a valuable property 
 in the land and encourage its improvement. In order 
 further to encourage this improvement it is necessary to 
 determine the persons to whom all the benefits belong, 
 which arise out of the limitation of the demand on the land. 
 To perform these operations is to make a Settlement. Under 
 ordinary circumstances, the prosperity of the country depends 
 on this being justly and perfectly done. 
 
 * There are evidently two distinct operations in the for- 
 mation of a Settlement. The one is fiscal, the determination 
 of the Government demand — the other is judicial, the 
 formation of the record of rights. Ordinarily the two 
 operations are performed at the same time, and there are 
 many reasons which render such an arrangement very 
 desirable. But if, from any cause, the judicial part was 
 omitted when the fiscal was performed, there is no reason 
 why the former should not be subsequently carried into 
 execution.' 
 
THE LAND SETTLEMENT 145 
 
 Further on he enforces the same doctrine in these 
 words : — 
 
 ' Whoever may be in theory the proprietor of land in India, 
 the absence of all actual restriction on the supreme power, 
 in the determination of the amount of its demand, left all 
 property in the land virtually dependent on its will. An 
 estate assessed above its productive power is worthless, and 
 must cease to produce anything to the proprietor unless the 
 demand is relaxed. So long as the worth of the land is left, 
 from year to year, dependent on the pleasure of the Govern- 
 ment, its value must be uncertain and cannot be great. But 
 when the Government limits its demand to a reasonable 
 amount, and fixes that amount for a term of years, a market- 
 able property is thereby created, and it becomes of much 
 importance that the person be named in whose favour this 
 property is recognized or created.' 
 
 He supports this principle in several passages thus : — 
 
 ' The assessment (of the land tax) having determined the 
 value of the property in land, it then becomes necessary to 
 declare the right possessed in that property. The object of 
 this investigation is not to create new rights but to define 
 those which exist.' 
 
 Then he proceeds to say : — 
 
 ' It is first requisite to point out what is meant by pro- 
 prietary right, and what is to be considered the test of such 
 right.' 
 
 After presenting several definitions, applicable to 
 complex or obscure cases, he concludes thus : — 
 
 'In ordinary cases there is no difficulty. The common 
 voice of the country assigns the proprietary right to a person 
 
 K 
 
146 JAMES T HO MASON 
 
 or a number of persons who for years paid tlie Government 
 demand, provided for the cultivation of the land, enjoyed 
 all its products, and transferred it to others at pleasure. 
 The payment of the Government revenue is in ordinary cases 
 so immediately the result of proprietary right, that the latter 
 is often held to be included in the mention of the former . . . 
 But the proprietary right may have been overborne, and it 
 may be difficult to determine with whom it rests . . . 
 Where no proj)rietary right exists or has ever been exercised, 
 it rests with the Government to decide whether they will 
 retain it in their own hands, confer it on any class of persons 
 already connected with the Government, or grant it or sell 
 it to strangers. The Government have, however, always shown 
 themselves ready to confer the proprietary right on any 
 persons possessing a preferential claim, though it may not 
 amount to an absolute right.' 
 
 Simultaneously he guards the rights of tenants 
 cultivating under the peasant proprietors, or under 
 the village communities, or under larger land-owners. 
 These men, he finds, may have a title to cultivate with 
 fixed rents, or have occupancy tenures, not liable to 
 enhancement of rent save by decree of Court, or hold 
 a hereditary position descending from father to 
 son. Whatever their status might be, he treats it 
 as a property though of an inferior degree. The 
 securing of tenant-right was indeed a cardinal 
 point in his policy; and the position of occupancy 
 cultivators, as settled by him, became afterwards the 
 basis of several legislative enactments in northern 
 India. 
 
 It will be remembered that all these instructions 
 are addressed by him to the Settlement Officers. He 
 
THE LAND SETTLEMENT [47 
 
 follows up the principle of property in his instructions 
 to the Collectors of Land Revenue. He begins by 
 saying that : — 
 
 ' By the British Government, contracts for the land revenue 
 have been universally formed on avowedly easy terms, for 
 perj)etuity or for periods of years, and the proprietors have 
 been allowed to appropriate to their own use all the surplus 
 that they can derive from the land over and above the 
 stipulated sum. The Government demand has therefore 
 become a tax on rent.' 
 
 Towards the end of the Instructions^ in reference 
 to the Record Office, he reminds the Collectors that 
 this office was formed so far back as 1803, that is, 
 in the very dawn of British rule in these Pro- 
 vinces : — 
 
 ' With a view to the future security of the dues of Govern- 
 ment, and of rights and property of individuals ... As the 
 office, thus constituted, is designed for the good of the com- 
 munity at large, all the arrangements regarding it should be 
 such as to afford the freest access to the documents it 
 contains.' 
 
 Not content with all these declarations he reiterates 
 theii' substance in a Preface to the general edition of the 
 Instructions, re-published in 1849. After explaining 
 that the assessment of the land tax, now complete 
 throughout the Provinces, ' has been so made as to 
 leave a fair surplus profit over and above the net 
 produce of the land/ he states : — 
 
 * It is determined who are the persons entitled to receive 
 this surplus profit. The right thus determined is declared 
 
 K 2 
 
148 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 to be heritable and transferable. The persons entitled to it 
 are declared the proprietors of the land/ 
 
 He again expounds the relation of the Government 
 towards the proprietor of the soil : — 
 
 'The eecognitiox of a pkopeietary Right in the Land. 
 
 ' Undoubtedly traces are often to be found of the existence 
 and exercise of a proprietary right in the land on the 
 part of individuals. But so long as tlie Sovereign was 
 entitled to a portion of the produce of all land, and there 
 was no fixed limit to that portion, j)ractically the Sovereign 
 was so far owner of the land as to be able to exclude all 
 other jDersons from enjoying any portion of the net produce, 
 The first step therefore towards the creation of a private 
 proprietary right in land was to place such a limit on the 
 demand of the Government, as would leave to the proprietors 
 a profit, which would constitute a valuable property. This 
 is effected by providing that the assessment shall be a 
 moderate portion of the net j)roduce at the time of settle- 
 ment.' 
 
 In the Preface of the codified Instructions to which 
 he had appended his own name, he declares that : — 
 
 * This work is designed not for the information of the 
 general reader, but for the direction of the public ofiicer in 
 the discharore of his duties.' 
 
 By this he means that these instructions are delivered 
 ex catliedrd^ and are to be obeyed in spirit as well 
 as in letter. They are addressed by him to his officers 
 and to his people, between whom and him there is the 
 
THE LAND SETTLEMENT 149 
 
 bond of mutual understanding, common experience, 
 and companionship in labour. Thus for ten years he 
 exerted power which was almost as great morally as 
 it was officially. That power he put forth for the 
 vindication of this vast property in land, belonging 
 not to the million only but to several millions of men. 
 The principle has been better understood and followed 
 since his time than it was before or during his day ; 
 and others besides him have contended for the same 
 object. But on the whole it may be said that no 
 Briton in India ever battled for this principle more 
 opportunely and effectually, or ever carried it out 
 more authoritatively and practically, than he. For 
 this cause alone (irrespective of other causes) the 
 Natives of India ought to hold his name in ever- 
 lasting remembrance. 
 
 But as the people gradually perceived the value of 
 the proprietary right, disputes regarding the interests 
 of individuals, always more or less rife, began to 
 multiply ; and he knew that if these could not be settled 
 by his executive officers, recourse must in the last 
 resort be had to the Civil Courts. He was naturally 
 anxious to avoid this ultlmia ratio if possible, and to 
 encourage the revenue authorities to adjust such 
 matters on the spot. He would have this adjustment 
 made when the Record of Rights was prepared for the 
 first time. If not efiected on that occasion, it was to 
 be undertaken afterwards when the Record came to 
 be revised and rectified. These informal tribunals 
 with their rustic surroundings were about this time 
 
150 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 (1849) picturesquely described by a most competent 
 witness ^ : — 
 
 * We see the white camp rising in the long aisles of the 
 ancient mango grove. ... As the day advances the wide- 
 spread shade begins to be peopled with living figures. Group 
 after group of villagers arrive in their best and whitest 
 dresses ; and a hum of voices succeeds to the stillness. The 
 carpet is then spread in the open air ; the chair is set ; 
 litigants and spectators take their seats on the ground in 
 orderly ranks ; silence is proclaimed, and the rural court is 
 opened. As case after case is brought forward, the very 
 demeanour of the parties, and of the crowds around, seems 
 to point out on which side justice lies. All are free to come 
 and go, with little trouble, and at no expense. No need of 
 lengthened pleadings. A few simple questions bring out the 
 matter of the suit, and the grounds on which it rests. Scores 
 of witnesses are ready on the spot, alike unsummoned and 
 untutored. No need of the Koran, or Ganges water. The 
 love of truth is strong, even in an Indian breast, when 
 preserved from counteracting influences ; still more so, then, 
 when the sanction of public opinion assists and protects the 
 rightful cause. In such a court Abraham sat, when arbi- 
 trating among his simple-minded herdsmen. In such a court 
 was justice everywhere administered in the childhood of the 
 human race.' 
 
 While thus giving effect to this property in land, 
 Thomason necessarily came in contact with the Village 
 Communities, already mentioned in chapter VI. He 
 considered these to be bodies of proprietors and they 
 
 ^ Article in Calaitta Beview, vol. xvi. p. 467, by John Thornton, 
 for some years Secretary to Government under Thomason. 
 
THE LAND SETTLEMENT 151 
 
 held in partnership their estates, composed of villages, 
 more correctly of townships or parishes. Their 
 peculiarity consisted in the partnership, originally 
 described in Persian phrase, which he translated into 
 English as coparcenary; adopting, apparently, Black- 
 stone's definition, which indeed exactly meets the 
 case : — 
 
 ' All the coparceners together make but one heir, and 
 have but one estate among them.' 
 
 He found that the assessment of the land tax had 
 been made for the whole township en bloc, and that 
 the engagement for paying the revenue had been 
 concluded not with each partner individually for his 
 share, but with the entire Community for the whole 
 estate. Thence he inferred that the responsibility, 
 for defraying the charge, rested not with individual 
 coparceners, but the coparcenary body as a whole. 
 This he termed 'joint responsibility,' and accordingly 
 the Community would be liable for the default of 
 anyone among its members. In other words, if any 
 sharer failed to pay his quota of the revenue, the 
 Community must pay, and then take over, or make 
 other arrangements for, his share. It was for the 
 Community to determine by agreement the shares, the 
 interests and the quotas of its members in the general 
 burden. But the Government demand was upon 
 the Community, and the liability was in common. 
 To this plan Thomason steadfastly adhered, because 
 it was fraught with advantages not othei*wise attain- 
 
1^2 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 able. While he exercised all his considerateness in 
 mitigating hardships, yet difficulties must have arisen 
 among some of the Village Communities in the en- 
 forcement of their joint responsibility for the default 
 of weak brethren ; so much so, that by opponents the 
 system was stigmatized as one of 'compulsory joint- 
 stockeries,' it being proverbially easy to give to 
 any plan an unfavourable name. This went so far 
 that in 3 848 the Board of Revenue made some repre- 
 sentation on the subject to his Government, which 
 caused him to pen a memorable reply. He cites 
 in extenso the passage from Metcalfe which has 
 already been quoted in chapter VI, and then subjoins 
 his own view in these words, written in September, 
 1 848 :— 
 
 * Unless the joint resj^onsibility be merely nominal it must 
 ordinarily be maintained. It is a principle maintained by 
 all former Governments. It is one, the justice of which the 
 people never dispute, and it is one of whicli distinct traces 
 have been left in many of the customs which prevail in the 
 Village Communities. It greatly promotes self-government, 
 and renders unnecessary that constant interference with the 
 affairs of individual cultivators on the part of the Govern- 
 ment Officers, which must otherwise exist — it saves them 
 from much expense which would otherwise fall uj)on them, 
 and it facilitates their union for many purposes of municipal 
 economy, which could not otherwise be effected. The efforts 
 of the prosperous and industrious members of a Community 
 will often be directed to stimulate the idle, to assist the- 
 unfortunate, and to give additional value to the labours of their 
 thrifty brethren. Property being minutely divided, and each 
 proprietor clinging with the greatest tenacity to his patrimony. 
 
THE LAND SETTLEMENT 153 
 
 it would be difficult to devise a Civil institution better calcu- 
 lated to add to the happiness and prosperity of the people/ 
 
 Respecting these arrangements, he bore in mind 
 that those co-partners, who objected to this joint 
 responsibility, were entitled by law to escape there- 
 from by claiming that their shares should be partitioned 
 off; but so attached were the co-partners in the mass 
 to their Village system that such partition was hardly 
 ever claimed. 
 
 Further, the system of joint responsibility in the 
 village had, he thought, one particular advantage in 
 this wise. It prevented the land of any among the 
 brethren being sold to a stranger for default in pay- 
 ment of the Land Revenue. The sale of land by 
 authority, on any account whatever, was, he knew, 
 alien to the practice, if not to the principle, followed 
 bv Indian nations. Nevertheless, a civilized Western 
 Government must needs introduce the sale of land for 
 debt, on plain principles of reason. If land were liable 
 for anything, it must be so for the Land Revenue 
 assessed on it, and be sold for unpaid arrears in the last 
 resort, even though the purchaser might be a stranger. 
 He, like all other Governors, had to execute this law 
 in extreme instances, failing all other means of recover- 
 ing the revenue. But the trouble would be averted 
 in the villages where joint responsibility prevailed, 
 because there the share of the defaulting brother 
 would be bought in by the brethren. They would 
 pay up the amount due from him, and take over his 
 fields, which would remain in the family or in the 
 
154 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 cousinhood, all the same. And this process was styled 
 the right of Pre-emption. 
 
 In connexion with the Village System Thomason 
 greatly improved the status of those Native Officials 
 who held their offices by hereditary tenure. Among 
 these the chief were the Village Accountant and the 
 District Notary^. It was the business of the Village 
 Accountant to keep all the books, papers, and accounts 
 of the Village Community, in respect to the Land 
 Revenue. He had copies of the Settlement records 
 including the Record of Rights, already described, for 
 his village, and he registered the changes in possession 
 as they occurred from year to year, the transfers 
 of all sorts, and the succession from father to son. 
 Then he had to send annually copies of his Record 
 of Rights, with the necessary rectifications by reason 
 of death, transfer, mortgage, to the District Notary, 
 who became the custodian of the records for his 
 division or group of villages. Thus Thomason pro- 
 vided for the accurate and complete maintenance of 
 the Registration of Landed Tenures, as a permanent 
 and effective institution, so that the benefits of the 
 Settlement, regarding property in land, might be 
 assured to the people. 
 
 One particular part of his policy had reference to 
 a class of large landowners known as Talukdars. 
 This matter provoked disputation at the time, and the 
 question would arise in this wise. As already seen 
 
 ^ Called in the Vernacular ' Patwari ' and ' Kanungo ' respec- 
 tively. 
 
THE LAND SETTLEMENT 155 
 
 the land was originally owned by a mass of Peasant 
 Proprietors. These men used to pay the land tax to 
 the Government Officers. But not unfrequently the 
 Native governments would contract for the land reve- 
 nue in whole villages, or in groups of villages, with 
 feudal chiefs. In such a case the chief had the right 
 of collectiug the revenue, instead of the Government, 
 from the proprietors of the land. The proceeds of 
 such collection, after payment of the stipulated sum 
 to the Government, constituted his profit. So far his 
 position was clear ; but that did not affect the 
 position of the proprietors, which remained just the 
 same as it had been under the Government, before 
 the assignment of the land tax to him. Now this 
 state of things, originally equitable, became liable to 
 abuse. If the Talukdar was strong and despotic, if 
 the times were troublous and warlike, and if the 
 Native government was feeble and inefficient, the 
 proprietors were often elbowed out of their proprietary 
 position. The Talukdar grew into a superior pro- 
 prietor, the land tax in his hands was turned into rent, 
 which he collected, and out of which he paid the 
 revenue, retaining the remainder in his own hands. 
 Then the original proprietors sank to the position of 
 inferior proprietors, or of tenants with occupancy 
 rights. This process was in a transition state when 
 British rule was introduced. In some cases it had 
 been accomplished beyond hope of retrieval, that is, 
 the proprietors had for a long time been subjugated, 
 and the Talukdar had securely established himself as 
 
Jo6 JAMES T HO MASON 
 
 landlord. In that event the British authorities had to 
 recognize the facts found in existence. In some cases 
 the sturdy proprietors, by means of their organization 
 in the Village Communities, successfully resisted the 
 Talukdar all through the times of trouble, and were 
 able to rebut before the British authorities his claim 
 to superior proprietorship. But in many cases the 
 issue had been doubtful ; the Talukdar had persistently 
 asserted himself; the proprietors had struggled against 
 him, and were able to contend that their proprietary 
 right, though often down-trodden, had been neither 
 extirpated nor extinguished. In these instances there 
 was manifestly room for difference of opinion, accord- 
 ing as the Government might, upon a review of the 
 history of the circumstances and the equity of the 
 case, incline towards the side either of the Talukdar 
 or of the original proprietors. Thomason considered 
 that the right lay with the original proprietors, except 
 where they had in former times lost their proprie- 
 tary position. If the Talukdar were acknowledged 
 as superior proprietor, then the Revenue Settle- 
 ment, already described, would be made with him. 
 He would pay the land tax to Government, and 
 reimburse himself with profit by what he could 
 collect from the inferior proprietors, or the occupancy 
 tenants, as they might chance to be at the time ; and 
 it only remained to secure such subordinate rights as 
 might still be preserved to these people. But if the 
 original proprietors were adjudged to be still such, 
 then the settlement was made with them, and thev 
 
THE LAND SETTLEMENT 157 
 
 paid the land tax direct to Government ; while to the 
 Talukdar there would be allowed by Government a 
 certain percentage of the land revenue, reckoned to 
 be in lieu of the profits he used to get from his 
 assignment of the revenue after the defrayal of his 
 charges. 
 
 * 
 
 Thomason first learnt this lesson at Azamgarh, 
 before 1840. Next, in 1841, he urged it upon the 
 Governor- General in Council and the Court of 
 Dii-ectors. After his appointment as Lieutenant- 
 Governor in 1843, ^^® ^^ ^i^ earliest private letters 
 to the Governor-General, Lord Ellenborough, bore this 
 very burden. By 1844 he had carried his main con- 
 tention, but he addressed the Governor-General in 
 Council, with a view of reducing the allowance 
 payable to the Taluk dars from 22 to 10 per cent, on 
 the land revenue, after the death of present in- 
 cumbents. This measure was referred to the Court 
 of Directors in London, who ultimately sanctioned 
 Thomason' s proposals with a proviso only, that they 
 should not take effect during the currency of the then 
 Settlement^ that is, till about the year 1870. The 
 Court's despatch did not reach India till after his 
 death. 
 
 The Talukdars, though their pecuniary interests 
 had been well cared for, found a restraint imposed on 
 their power to dominate the Village Communities in 
 their districts. Being on that account displeased, 
 they were capable of making their voices heard, not 
 only within these Provinces; but in Calcutta also, 
 
158 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 perhaps even as far as Leadenhall Street in London. 
 They also had the sympathizing advocacy of some 
 eminent persons in the Civil Service itself. It may 
 be well, therefore, to place Thomason's opinion beyond 
 the reach of misapprehension by citing some opening 
 paragraphs from his official letter to the Governor- 
 General (Lord EUenborough), which was certainly 
 drafted by his own hand, and contains a lucid state- 
 ment of a very controversial matter. He writes : — 
 
 ' A Taluka is a large estate, consisting of many villages, 
 or, as they would be called in English, parishes. 
 
 'These villages had originally separate proprietors, who 
 paid their revenue direct to the Government treasury. 
 
 ' The Native Government in former times made over by 
 patent, to a person called the Talukdar, its right over these 
 villages, holding him responsible for the whole revenue, and 
 allowing him a certain percentage, with other privileges, to 
 compensate him for the risk and labour of collection. 
 
 ' The wealth and influence thus acquired by the Tdlukdar 
 often made him, in fact, independent; so long as he paid 
 regularly the sum demanded from him, he was allowed to 
 manage the estate as he pleased. Provision was not made 
 for protecting the rights of the village proprietors, though 
 no one questioned the existence and inviolability of those 
 rights. 
 
 'When the country came under British rule, engagements 
 for payment of the Government Revenue were taken from 
 these Talukddrs, and they were called Zamindars, no notice 
 being taken of the village proprietors. 
 
 'The Talukddrs, previously to the introduction of British 
 rule, had often endeavoured to eject the village proprietors, 
 iind to appropriate the villages to themselves, and had some- 
 
THE LAND SETTLEMENT 159 
 
 times succeeded in their object. After the introduction of 
 our rule, they continued to effect the same designs through 
 their influence, and by means of the Courts of Law, in which 
 the real merits of the case were little understood. 
 
 * At length when Regulation VII. 1822 was enacted, to 
 lay down the method in which the revised Settlement was 
 to be conducted, legal provision was made for meeting these 
 cases. 
 
 * A class of estates was recognized in which there might be 
 separate heritable and transferable properties, viz. that of 
 the superior or Talukdar, and that of the inferior or village 
 proprietor. 
 
 ' The Officers conducting Settlements were ordered judi- 
 cially to ascertain where such separate properties existed, to 
 define the amount of the net profits of the estates to which 
 each party was entitled, and then to take the orders of the 
 Government as to which of the two parties should be admitted 
 to engage direct with the Government, and on what terms.' 
 
 In no afFaii* has his policy been so much contro- 
 verted by opponents as in this. From his point of 
 view the question may be thus summarized. The 
 matter was not one of policy to be settled by terri- 
 torial considerations, but one of justice to be deter- 
 mined by judicial enquiry. Often the decision was 
 clear ; in some cases the Talukdar proved that some- 
 how he had acquired the proprietary status from the 
 Village Community, so the judgment was in his 
 favour ; in other cases the Community proved that 
 despite him they had kept their status, so the judg- 
 ment was in their favour. But often the decision 
 was dubious ; the Talukdar had evidence to show 
 his acquisition of the status, the Community had 
 
i6o JAMES THO MASON 
 
 evidence to show their retention of it ; so between the 
 two there was doubt. Now, to which of these was 
 the benefit of this doubt to be given? inasmuch as 
 that would just decide the balance. Some authorities, 
 for demonstrable reasons, would give this benefit to 
 the Talukdar ; others would, for reasons equally 
 demonstrable, give it to the Village Community. 
 Thomason would consider this ancient Community 
 entitled to the benefit of this doubt ; and the wide 
 controversy is narrowed to that point. Impartial and 
 well-informed History must decide whether he was 
 right or not — securus judicabit orhis. 
 
 He had to steer through a narrow strait, so to speak, 
 of contention, with a threatening rock on either side. 
 One rock was the danger of lowering the territorial 
 aristocracy as a national and social force, the other 
 rock was the danger of subverting the rights of the 
 proprietary classes. Of this latter danger he certainly 
 kept his administration clear. Whether he kept it 
 equally clear of the other danger relating to the Native 
 aristocracy, will be a question decided difi'erently 
 by those who incline either to the territorial or to 
 the proprietary view ; by those who belong either to 
 one party or to the other ; for in India, as in other 
 countries, schools of opinion exist in respect of 
 Oriental policy. Some would say that he was specially 
 a friend to the middle and humbler classes when 
 their interests clashed with those of the upper classes. 
 Such a supposition, however, did him but scant justice, 
 for he was a man of all-embracing sj^mpathy. He 
 
THE LAND SETTLEMENT 16 1 
 
 would strive by training and education to raise men 
 in the social scale, and so acquire fresh ornaments for 
 Native society. He would recognize fully all terri- 
 torial classes or individuals who had retained a 
 rightful position. He was ever stirring them to 
 actions worthy of their rank. He awarded to them 
 the meed and guerdon of honour, whenever they did 
 deeds of public usefulness. But he would not make 
 over to them, nor permit them to appropriate, the 
 rights and property of others in the land ; and when 
 the controversy reached that point he would put his 
 foot down upon the line. He would not then be 
 deterred by threatenings of political discontent ; but 
 would say fiat juHtitia as between two important 
 classes of our Native fellow-subjects. 
 
 By some of those who differed from him he has 
 been called an innovator. But really there was no 
 spirit of innovation in him, though his mind was ever 
 bent on progress and improvement. On the contrary, 
 his instinct was to conserve ; to adopt old institutions, 
 and if possible to render them available for present 
 use, to take the aritiquae viae as his starting-point, and 
 by conciliatory proceedings to draw men gradually 
 into the groove of advancement. He used to say to 
 an intimate friend — Henry Carre Tucker — ' support 
 old institutions and do not distract the people by 
 attempting a new one.' To his daughter he once 
 wrote ' It is in the old family servants that I glory.' 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 Canals of Irrigation 
 
 One subject which dwelt in Thomason's thoughts 
 was that of irrigation by canals, and in no matter 
 was his influence more marked than in this. 
 
 It must ever be remembered that, as explained 
 in chapter VII, he was not in command of the 
 Public Works department, as Civil Governors of 
 India now are, and as they naturally should be. 
 He had no Engineer officer of rank to act as his pro- 
 fessional adviser. Nevertheless, he played an active 
 and personal part in these affairs, such as few Governors 
 have ever undertaken. He had a natural bent and 
 talent for civil engineering. If providence had not 
 made him a Governor, he might have been a great 
 civil engineer. Cramped and enfeebled by the then 
 system, he had by his own skill and labour to meet 
 the requirements of the public welfare. The manner 
 in which he did this, under grievous disadvantage, 
 constitutes one of his claims to honour. 
 
 First and foremost his thoughts were turned 
 towards artificial irrigation. The terrific drought of 
 1836-7, mentioned in chapter VI, did not reach his 
 
CANALS OF IRRIGATION 163 
 
 district, Azamgarh ; but he probably saw sometliing 
 of its consequences, and at all events was fully 
 cognizant of its horrors. As Secretary to the Gover- 
 nor-General in Council, and to the newly formed 
 Government of the North-Western Provinces, he 
 had much preliminary information regarding the 
 projects for the greater canals in these Provinces, 
 and the lesser canals existing or projected. He hoped 
 by these means, at least, to mitigate misery, should 
 drought recur. On taking in hand the reins of 
 Government for himself, he at once entered on this 
 business, beginning with the lesser canals. He ar- 
 ranged for irrigation in the ' Great Dry Tract ' 
 (ominous name) between the river Sutlej and the 
 sandy dunes that form the watershed of the Ganges 
 and the Indus. But this was to be done with popular 
 help, and for that he insisted on security of tenure. 
 His minute sets forth, ' men will not undertake to im- 
 prove the land until we assure every man of his right.' 
 He caused the old works, especially those on both 
 banks of the Jumna near Delhi, constructed by former 
 Native Governments, to be restored, enlarged, utilized. 
 His quick eye, however, discovered that Native canals 
 were unscientifically laid out, and were seldom con- 
 ducted along the most favourable lines of country. 
 Therefore he planned new works in various localities, 
 often with very insufficient professional assistance, and 
 by self-help he secured progress as well as initiation. 
 During his life-time there Avere extant memoranda in 
 his own hand regarding these canals, which, if now 
 
 L 2 
 
164 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 produced, would be monuments of his personal 
 assiduity. His principal efforts, however, were put 
 forth for the sake of the Ganges Canal. 
 
 Nowadays the Ganges Canal, as Sifait accompli, is 
 one of the wonders — it might be depicted as one 
 of the beauties and glories — of the world. In its 
 special line it has not been equalled by anything 
 ancient or modern anywhere. Within twenty miles 
 from its head at Hard war to Rtirki, are to be found 
 more hydraulic works of magnitude and difficulty 
 than in any similar place on the earth. The total 
 length of the main trunks amounts to nearly a 
 thousand miles, that of the branches to two thousand. 
 The canal itself over a hundred feet broad, its banks 
 fringed and lined with shady avenues, affords a 
 spectacle as noble as it is picturesque. By this 
 channel the waters of the Upper Ganges are carried 
 off to fertilize the Indian Mesopotamia, that is, the 
 country between the Ganges and the Jumna. It irri- 
 gates some two millions of acres. In the heart and 
 centre of these Provinces it bars the way against the 
 ffaunt famine that once stalked without hindrance 
 through the land. On the whole it is one of the chief 
 ornaments and monuments of British rule in India. 
 But those who admire the grand achievement to-day, 
 little think, perhaps, of the day of small beginnings, 
 as it was in Thomason's time. The organization of 
 the project, its elaboration, its completion rested with 
 Sir Proby Cautley, the Engineer, who indeed stands 
 very high among the benefactors of northern India. 
 
CANALS OF IRRIGATION 165 
 
 But had he stood alone he probably would have failed 
 for a long while, and might not have lived to see the 
 work done. The Government of India was at first 
 sceptical as to the feasibility, and the financial results, 
 of the project. The knowledge of the ground, its 
 contour and capabilities, was imperfect. The concep- 
 tion actually was that navigation should be the first 
 object, and irrigation quite secondary. At one time a 
 suspension of the work was ordered, at another progress 
 was allowed, but with very scanty resources. It is 
 not too much to say that had the Engineer found no 
 friend at the official court, no ally in the governing 
 body, he must have succumbed to the adverse in- 
 fiuences at work. But in the nick of time Thomason 
 came to the helm of affairs, and his first care was to do 
 V)attle for the canal. The authority most regarded at 
 that juncture was the Governor-General, Lord Ellen- 
 borough. He might listen to Thomason, the new 
 Lieutenant-Governor, who was his own nominee. Ac- 
 cordingly Thomason indited the most strongly argued, 
 the most earnest, almost impassioned despatch he ever 
 penned, pleading, appealing, for this canal. Thereby he 
 obtained a partial, though still very insufficient, con- 
 cession ; and perhaps the political difliiculties of that 
 time were obstacles. His private letters show the 
 anxiety which beset and perplexed him on this account. 
 But he was more fortunate with the next Governor- 
 General, Lord Hardinge, whom he had the honour 
 of receiving at Agra, and who after the victorious 
 termination of the first Punjab war, visited the canal 
 
i66 JAMES T HO MASON 
 
 works. He then at last obtained from the Governor- 
 General an adequate financial provision for the 
 work, and thenceforth Cautley sailed with a favouring 
 breeze into the haven of ultimate completion. 
 
 Then, being always an educationist, Thomason 
 originated a project of his own. Seeing that there 
 would be a large demand for engineer subordinates 
 in the irrigation department, he resolved to train 
 Natives accordingly. For this purpose he established 
 at Rurki, most suitably situated near the head-works 
 of the great canal, a College of Civil Engineering for 
 Natives ; in which arrangement European non-com- 
 missioned officers and other Europeans were afterwards 
 included. Subsequently the institution was enlarged 
 by him, and raised in quality for the reception of 
 commissioned officers, until it became a technical 
 college of a high order. Thus he took the first step 
 on behalf of technical education in northern India. 
 
 The Rtirki College is now a structure of imposing 
 dimensions and architectural beauty, in keeping with 
 the high scientific culture for which it is maintained. 
 Its educational resources, its apparatus, its laboratories 
 and workshops, its alumni of varied creeds and colour, 
 its students of many ranks and grades, passing in 
 and out of its courses — all render it one among the 
 technical institutions of the British Empire certainly, 
 and perhaps also of the world. Its situation was 
 interesting from proximity to the Himalaya, but was 
 important, because hard by were the most arduous 
 works in the whole course of the canal. Here, under 
 
CANALS OF IRRIGATION 167 
 
 the eyes of the students, were the finest models for 
 that profession which they were about to enter. But 
 when Thomason arrived, this College was actually 
 a blank. Stone had to be set upon stone, student 
 had to be added to student, the great operation had 
 to be begun in the humblest way. and to be prosecuted 
 with the most cautious steps. The first Principal was 
 Lieutenant (now General) W. Maclagan, of the Royal. 
 Bengal Engineers. He has prepared for this memoir 
 the following sketch : — 
 
 ' For the Ganges Canal, the Grand Trunk Road and other 
 public works, trained men, Europeans and Natives, were 
 wanted. As a small beginning, Mr. Thomason sent three 
 very capable and successful Native students of the Agra 
 College to be employed under the English engineers of the 
 Ganges Canal, then engaged on the extensive head-works at 
 Hardvvar. But as this plan could not within any reasonable 
 time supply the men required, he proposed the establishment 
 of an Engineering College, to train English and Native 
 engineers and subordinates. The proposal received the 
 hearty approval of the Governor-General, Lord Hardinge. 
 The prospectus was issued in a gazette order dated 25th 
 November, 1847. The work of instruction commenced (in 
 tents in the first instance) on the ist January, 1848, and 
 six months later the College opened in its own buildings. 
 As soon as the students could be carried through the required 
 courses of instruction, it began to supply assistant engineers, 
 overseers, sub-overseers, surveyors, and draftsmen, for the 
 Public Works department. 
 
 ' Mr. Thomason wished to make the College the means of 
 aiding and stimulating the work of the village schools. The 
 Principal was made also a Visitor of Schools for three 
 
i68 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 adjoining districts, with the view of helping the masters to 
 understand the object of the College, and to prepare boys ^r 
 admission to it. The most numerous demands were for 
 Native students of tliis class, to be surveyors and overseers. 
 
 ' The idea of the College rose from the Ganges Canal. To 
 a man like Thomason, who could bring to the examination 
 of engineering projects a large amount of accurate technical 
 knowledge, such an undertaking could not fail to be of the 
 highest interest. It was designed to convey from the 
 Ganges, and to spread abroad over thirsty lands, a supply 
 of water enough for an area of 2500 square miles, a 
 splendid provision against uncertain seasons, which it might 
 well delight him to think of. He knew what irrigation 
 canals could do, and he could look forward with confidence 
 to the future of this great work. Within his own province 
 there were canals from the Jumna, on both sides of the river, 
 made by the Muhammadan predecessors of the English 
 Rulers of India. And very precious they were, with all 
 their imperfections. 
 
 ' The greatest of the works on the Ganges Canal was the 
 aqueduct to carry the great canal stream across the wide sandy 
 channel of the Solani river, — a channel at one time absolutely 
 dry, at another cairying an impetuous mountain torrent. 
 This aqueduct is near the village of Rtirki, twenty miles 
 from the head of the canal at Hardwar. This place was 
 made the headquarters of the canal. Here the central work- 
 shops and foundry were set up. And here Mr. Thomason 
 decided also to plant his Engineering College. The works in 
 progress on the canal, the preparation of materials on a very 
 large scale, and the workshop operations, would furnish 
 useful practical lessons to the College students for years, not 
 ceasing with completion of the works. 
 
 ' After three years, it was resolved to enlarge the College, — 
 to form a new class for commissioned officers of the army (in 
 
CANALS OF IRRIGATION 169 
 
 accordance with the suggestion of the Commander-in-Oiief, 
 Sir Charles Napier), to add a jmnting press, also a geological 
 museum, a professional library, and a depot of surveying and 
 mathematical instruments, — and for these purposes to erect 
 new buildings. 
 
 ' Mr. Thomason wrote a detailed minute, dated October 3, 
 1 851, explanatory of the past working of the College, and of 
 his projDosals for its extension. At the beginning of his 
 printed copy he wrote : " This pamj)hlet was compiled by 
 myself, and much of the information it contains was drawn 
 from private scmrces. The completion of the plan which Is 
 here sketched out may perhaps devolve upon others, and I 
 am desirous that some record remain of the data on which 
 T found my conclusions. In this interleaved copy will be 
 found references to the private notes and other sources from 
 which the materials were drawn.'' The occasion came for 
 this memorandum to serve its purjiose, and his plans for the 
 College were carried out in every particular.' 
 
 In 1872, that is twenty years after its establish- 
 ment, Sir William Muir visited the College as 
 Lieutenant-Governor, and addressed the students. 
 After reminding them that Thomason had had em- 
 bodied in his prospectus a sketch of the building as it 
 was to be, he adds : — 
 
 ' It was one of my earliest acts as his Secretary to affix 
 my name to the prospectus, with the intimation that it had 
 l)een cordially sanctioned by the Court of Directors. In 
 looking back to the origin of the College, we may well do s-o 
 with an ever affectionate remembrance of its Founder.' 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 Public Instruction and General Policy 
 
 Public instruction of the higher kinds was found by 
 Thomason to have been fairly well set on foot in his 
 Provinces, in fact excellent colleges existed at Benares, 
 Bareilly, Delhi, Agra^. and elsewhere; and evidently 
 there would be no difficulty in founding middle-class 
 schools in the principal towns. He rightly anticipated 
 that superior institutions would be best established by 
 private effort, to which grants-in-aid from the State 
 miirht be accorded. The real desideratum for him was 
 to establish schools in the villages for the mass of the 
 people who lived by the land, under a system of what 
 would be called nowadays elementary education. 
 
 He had inherited, as has been shown in chapter II, 
 from his father, a love for education generally, whether 
 superior or elementary. No man understood better 
 than he the adaptation of Western knowledge to the 
 Native mind. No man was more highly qualified than 
 he to lead the Natives on in the way of learning, through 
 their own classical languages. Nevertheless, he saw 
 
 ' He bequeathed to the Agra College his Oriental books, annotated 
 by himself. 
 
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION AND POLICY 171 
 
 that this kind of education would come of itself fast 
 enough. The real crux was, as it still is, to indoctri- 
 nate the rural masses with some sense of the value 
 of ordinary knowledge for the success of their own 
 affairs. This knowledge could only be imparted 
 throuorh the Vernacular Lanoruaores. Thus it is that 
 Vernacular and Elementary education came to be 
 synonymous terms. This knowledge could never be 
 diffused except through the active agency of the 
 Government. The rural people, consisting chiefly 
 of peasant proprietors, and clever enough in what 
 may be called mental arithmetic, were almost wholly 
 unable to read and write. There was no law em- 
 powering authority to compel the attendance of 
 children at school. Still it was hoped that many, 
 though not all, of the parents could be induced to 
 send their children to school to receive rudimentary 
 education. 
 
 It has ali'eady been shown in previous chapters that 
 Thomason looked to the Registration of Landed 
 Tenures and the Record of Proprietary Rights, as 
 strong incentives to education amidst the rural com- 
 munity. He thought, that unless the peasant pro- 
 prietors should learn to read the entries regarding 
 their own lands, they could never be fully sure that 
 the record, with the changes occurring from year to 
 year, was fully kept up. He found that this task of 
 elementary education had not yet been attempted in 
 his Provinces. Perhaps it had been regarded as 
 hopeless, but he recognized it as one of the first 
 
172 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 duties of the Government. Universality of educa- 
 tion in Provinces with forty thousand villages and 
 four millions of peasant proprietors (inclusive of their 
 families), might be beyond his means. But his Govern- 
 ment would make a real beginning in every part of 
 the country, which would serve as a veritable example, 
 and might lead to indefinite extension. He there- 
 upon formed a scheme, and carried it out effectually 
 in a number of selected districts. With this actual 
 and visible success as his warrant, he obtained the 
 sanction of the Governor-General in Council to try 
 the plan in all districts throughout his Provinces. 
 These educational proceedings of his affected the mind, 
 not only of the Governor- General in Council, but also 
 of the other Governments throughout India ; and 
 gave an impulse to public instruction in the whole 
 empire. Certainly he was the father of elementary 
 education in northern India, and here again is one 
 among the chief trophies of his career. 
 
 So much progress has subsequently been made 
 regarding Public Instruction in India, that the dead 
 weight under which Thomason laboured, the prejudice 
 and inertia with which he contended, may seem mar- 
 vellous. But all that enhances our estimate of his 
 prescience far in advance of his time. He met, too, 
 with opposition from some of his best friends. They 
 held that any such educational scheme as this ought 
 to be accompanied by Christian teaching — and that 
 without this teaching, the scheme would be worse 
 than useless. He gave much the same reply as his. 
 
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION AND POLICY 173 
 
 father would have given thirty years previously, to 
 the effect that he was bound to enlio-hten the 
 people, although he was precluded, as a Governor, 
 from teaching Christianity. 
 
 In [846 he promulgated the result of educational 
 enquiries throughout the country, which proved that 
 ' less than five per cent, of the youths who are of an 
 age to attend school obtain any instruction, and the 
 instruction which they do receive is of a very im- 
 perfect kind.' Thereon he framed a scheme, which 
 scheme provided for the examining of all indigenous 
 schools by Government Inspectors, the instituting of 
 scholarships for the most deserving of theii- pupils, the 
 maintenance of several State schools in the interior 
 of every district to serve as models. Naturally 
 it was desirable to have a school in every village ; 
 but if that were impracticable, he would have at 
 least one for each group of neighbouring villages, so 
 that instruction might be obtainable within a reason- 
 able distance, and within reach of every village. His 
 own language was as follows : ^The object is to stimu- 
 late the people to exertions on their own part to re- 
 move ignorance ; the means of effecting this object 
 may be sought in that feature of the Revenue System 
 which provides for the annual registration of landed 
 property '. . .' This scheme contemplates drawing forth 
 the energies of the people for their own improvement, 
 rather than actually supplying to them the means of 
 instruction at the cost of Government. Persuasion, 
 assistance, and encouragement are the means to be 
 
174 JAMES T HO MASON 
 
 principally supplied.' These words are noteworthy, 
 as showing a tentative method and gentle guidance in 
 a man so energetic in action and so firm in resolution 
 as he. 
 
 He expressed himself similarly in a private letter 
 thus : — 
 
 ' I want to do something in a manner consonant with 
 Native institutions and ideas, and also to induce the people 
 to work with me, and exert themselves in the cause.' 
 
 Besides education, which would elevate the rural 
 people morally, he attended to all kind of physical 
 improvement. His care for every imaginable work 
 of public utility was exerted without any respite. ' 
 
 In respect to road-making, as his Provinces lay far 
 inland, he was ever sketching new lines to connect 
 them with neighbouring territories in all directions, 
 and displayed ingenuity in providing resources whereby 
 some beginning, at least, might be made. The Grand 
 Trunk Road, from Calcutta towards the North- 
 West frontier, traversed two-thirds of his Provinces ; 
 though partly made and bridged, it had to be 
 macadamized, and in that respect he was of great 
 assistance. But further he would ensure the comfort 
 and security of this channel of communication, this 
 artery of commerce as he loved to call it. So he 
 caused the watch and ward to be strengthened all along 
 the line, police-stations to be placed at frequent in- 
 tervals, caravanserais and rest-houses to be erected at 
 suitable stages, with store-houses for fuel and other 
 supplies, for the accommodation of travellers. The 
 
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION AND POLICY 175 
 
 importance of all this is now superseded by the rail- 
 ways ; but the travellers of to-day can hardly imagine 
 what convenience was afforded to the public of that day 
 by his civilized management of the Grand Trunk Road. 
 Even more direct and absolute was his authority 
 over the local and provincial works scattered through- 
 out the Provinces. The resources of local taxation were 
 but limited, nevertheless funds of various sorts were 
 found in existence or were formed, and they were 
 by him carefully husbanded. His financial power of 
 supplementing these funds from the treasury was 
 also restricted, still he would ever find some way of 
 helping. Thus he contrived to amass a considerable 
 sum annually for carrying out local improvements. 
 His primary duty was to supervise, but more than 
 this, he actively stimulated and promoted, not only 
 encouraging the local ofiicers, but also framing 
 designs, and striking out new plans. Here his ex- 
 perience of district life at Azamgarh stood him in 
 good stead. But he was able to do for his district 
 officers in their day, much more than had ever been 
 done for him in his day. He managed to leave 
 in most parts of every district some traces of an 
 improving hand ; roads and ferries here, schools 
 and benevolent institutions there, and buildings every- 
 where. He would cause embankments to be formed 
 in countless localities, in order to catch the rain-water 
 and form tanks for irrigation. He would initiate 
 drainage to reclaim the sub-Himalayan swamps. He 
 sanctioned advances of money from the Treasury to be 
 
176 JAMES T HO MASON 
 
 made to the peasant proprietors for enabling them to 
 undertake these various improvements ; and all such 
 loans were honourably repaid. The district officers, 
 officially styled Magistrates and Collectors, have at 
 all times and in all places throughout India, regarded 
 themselves as the patriarchs of their districts and as 
 the stewards for the improvement of their national 
 estates. But never before had this idea been so 
 firmly grasped by any Civil Governor as by Thoma- 
 son, by none so fully carried into effiict. 
 
 His police arrangements on the Grand Trunk Road 
 have been already mentioned. This constabulary 
 belonged to what may be called the regular force; 
 besides this, however, there was the watch and ward 
 in every village, existing from time immemorial ; 
 and he improved the status and emoluments of these 
 watchmen when the Settlements, ah-eady described, 
 were made with the Village Communities, in the cer- 
 tainty that thereby the efficiency and trustworthiness 
 of this rural constabulary would be augmented. He 
 also paid due attention to prison discipline, the question 
 of indoor labour as against outdoor labour was in his 
 time mooted. The sanitation of all the district jails 
 was greatly advanced, and under him was established 
 at Agra a great central prison which for many years 
 served as a model to northern India. 
 
 The public health was probably never out of his 
 thoughts during any day in the year. Medical 
 schools and colleges had not yet begun to exist in 
 northern India, still he obtained many trained Natives 
 
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION AND POLICY 177 
 
 from the Calcutta Medical College, and for some he 
 procured a training in his own Provinces. Thus he 
 was enabled to give a great impetus to medical 
 dispensaries both for indoor and outdoor patients. 
 New institutions of this kind were set up in the 
 interior of the country. This had been done else- 
 where before, but still a fresh start was made with 
 systematic energy. Similarly great progress was 
 made with vaccination, although the results were 
 disappointing as regards the prevention of small-pox, 
 because the people could not be induced to adopt 
 universally these preventive measures. Nevertheless 
 this prevention was undertaken with marked success 
 in Kumaun. That mountainous region had for genera- 
 tions been the hot-bed of a peculiar plague and 
 of small-poXj which were dreaded by the inhabitants 
 as their worst scourges. The tract being confined 
 within mountain barriers^ a cordon could be formed, 
 within which vaccination and other preventive mea- 
 sures would be universal. Soon the mountaineers 
 became more and more free from these ravages, till at 
 length they enjoyed complete immunity. All this 
 was begun and largely carried out in Thomason's 
 time. In later years, so firmly did these mountaineers 
 beheve their deliverance from the plague and the 
 small-pox, their malignant deities, to be due to pre- 
 ventive measures including vaccination, that any 
 failure in the arrangements would be resented, and 
 might even lead to grave agitation. These proceedings 
 at Kumaun have subsequently been pointed to as 
 
 M 
 
178 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 affording a signal instance of success perfected in a 
 sphere of beneficence. 
 
 His own notions of administrative result are thus 
 recorded in a private letter, written after a visit to 
 Ajmere, a detached British district of his, down south 
 amidst the Native States of Kajputana. 
 
 'Merwdrd is one of our proudest triumphs. The Mers 
 were a wild, ferocious race of plunderers inhabiting that part of 
 the Ardvalli Eange which stretches from Ajmere to Udipur. 
 No neighbouring State could conquer them, they lived on the 
 plunder of the adjacent plains. In the course of about twenty- 
 five years these people have been changed into a race of well- 
 behaved, peaceful and industrious cultivators, themselves the 
 conservators instead of the disturbers of the public peace. 
 Their hills were covered with impenetrable jungle, but now 
 every valley is full of the richest cultivation. The means by 
 which this has been accomplished were simply these. We 
 first thrashed them soundly, then raised a battalion amongst 
 them (to afford employment); and then by a conciliating, 
 just and moderate rule, secured their confidence. Their 
 industry has been stimulated by the construction of numerous 
 solid masonry embankments, which hold up large supplies of 
 water, and afford them the certain means of irrigation and 
 cultivation.' 
 
 The inland Customs were protected by a cordon of 
 several hundred miles between the southern border of 
 these Provinces and the main group of Native States. 
 The tariff had comprised scores of articles ; and the 
 reduction of this number had been pressed by Mr. 
 (afterwards Sir Charles) Trevelyan. The matter was 
 taken up by Lord Ellenborough in 1843, when 
 
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION AND POLICY 179 
 
 Thomason as his Secretary drafted the Regulation 
 XIV of that year, which was a complete customs 
 reform, striking oflf shackles from trade and limiting 
 the dutiable articles to a very small number, the 
 chief article being the salt made in the Native States. 
 Thomason himself, as Lieutenant-Governor, tended 
 the measure with fatherly care. The year after his 
 death, 1854, Mr. M. Hickie, the best witness, thus 
 testified : — 
 
 • 
 
 * The lamented Lieutenant-Governor evinced for the Cus- 
 toms Department a solicitude which had never been equally 
 shown before, and gave it his support to the last.' 
 
 As a coping stone to all his proceedings, Thomason 
 established a Statistical Department, and periodically 
 published state papers of general interest, in the hope 
 of informing public opinion in respect to his measures. 
 Indeed, he gave an impulse to statistical science in 
 northern India, stronger than anything previously 
 known. 
 
 The impression which his personality and policy 
 together might make upon some critical observers from 
 the outside, may be illustrated by two quotations from 
 the diaries of Sir Charles Napier in 1 849 and in 1 850. 
 On November 4th, Sir Charles, then Commander-in- 
 Chief, writes at Agra : — 
 
 'Received here by the Lieutenant-Governor Thomason with 
 a kindness of manner which marks this very distinguished 
 member of the Civil Service. Of him I have heard and seen 
 enough to convince me that he is one of the very few I have 
 
 M % 
 
l8o JAMES T HO MASON 
 
 met who take really great views for this noble empire, and 
 who has a head to execute great conceptions/ 
 
 The following August Sir Charles writes thus: — 
 
 'About the military police the Lieutenant-Governor told me 
 that he was against their formation, because he saw that they 
 would be done away with again : for the same reason, namely 
 the mischief of change, he opposed Lord Hardinge in abolish- 
 ing them. He is an able and good man, but wants to polish 
 and clean without change/ 
 
 As the apex of a pyramid and the pinnacle to a 
 political structure, Thomason regarded loyalty to the 
 Sovereign. In 1851 he seems to have cast a poetic 
 glance towards 1858, when the Empire passed from 
 the East Lidia Company to the Crown direct. In the 
 former year be wrote thus to a young daughter : — 
 
 ' The Queen. Loyalty in any form is delightful. I am sure 
 it is the safeguard of our country. It is natural that you 
 should wish to see her august person. We expect the people 
 of India to be attached to the Government, that is, the East 
 India Company. But the thing is impossible. No Oriental 
 people ever yet loved an abstract idea. One must have a 
 personal embodiment of the ruling power. That it is which 
 called forth the enthusiasm of you and your brother, and 
 which acts with extraordinary power on the minds of your 
 fellow-subjects/ 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 The End 
 
 The nan-ative has now reached the year 1853, the 
 year fateful to Thomason. It might at first sight 
 be thought that the shadow of his death, looming 
 near us, hangs as a dark cloud on the horizon. But 
 the premature close of such a life as his should rather 
 be likened to a sunset when the orb of light, having 
 run the appointed course here, seems to dip below 
 our horizon towards a brighter existence beyond. 
 
 In the North- Western Provinces he had reached, 
 in 1853, ^^^ culminating point of authority and in- 
 fluence after just ten years of government since 1843, 
 and had succeeded in carrying out his policy. 
 
 The property of the people in their lands had 
 been securely established. The Record of Rights, 
 with the registration of tenures and interests in the 
 soil, of all kinds and degrees, whether pertaining to 
 owners or cultivators, to landlords or tenants, had, he 
 might fairly believe, been at length completed ; and all 
 its multifarious details had been deposited in the public 
 record- offices of the various districts with provision 
 
1 82 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 for yearly rectification according to personal changes. 
 The constitution of those Village Communities, which 
 he loved so well, had been vindicated and upheld. 
 The spectacle of extending cultivation, of expanding 
 trade, of growing population, of increasing domestic 
 comfort in town and country, greeted his observation. 
 The system of irrigation, by canals and other means, 
 which he had persistently recommended to the 
 Governor- General in Council, had been sanctioned, 
 and was far advanced. The development of trunk- 
 roads, the arrangements for the safety, convenience, 
 and accommodation of the internal traffic, both of 
 passengers and goods, had been carried out to his 
 satisfaction. The countless works of provincial and 
 local improvement, by which no locality in these 
 broad regions was left untouched, had amazingly 
 prospered under his immediate eye ; and a potent 
 impetus had been given to municipal life everywhere. 
 Though fairly well pleased with the progress of superior 
 and intermediate education, he felt that elementary 
 education was still in its infancy; but a substantial 
 foundation on broad lines had been laid, with a cer- 
 tainty of the super-structure being reared. 
 
 The opening of the Ganges Canal had been fixed for 
 an early date in 1854, and he was to preside at that 
 historic ceremony, as being the man who of all others 
 had most ably advocated the principle of irrigation, 
 had been the guiding genius of the scheme and 
 the sustaining fulcrum to Sir Proby Cautley, the 
 engineer and author of the project. Men naturally 
 
THE END 183 
 
 hoped that he would live long enough to see the classic 
 stream flow into its new channel. 
 
 In the early days of this year (1853) ^® opened 
 with due ceremony the buildings erected for the 
 College at Benares. His speech ^ on that occasion was 
 one of the latest, if not the very last, of his public 
 utterances. Some passages in it may be quoted as, 
 perhaps, his parting words. Casting his thoughts 
 back to the Cambridge of his youthful recollections, 
 with all her beautiful structures, he says : — 
 
 ' We feel the necessity of affording, to the ordinary course 
 of daily tuition, every assistance which can be derived to 
 it from extraneous circumstances. Amongst these is the 
 natural effect, upon the mind, of architectural beauty. 
 Those who recollect the influence exercised on the minds of 
 persons in our own country by the buildings in which our 
 Colleges and Schools are placed, will not be disposed to 
 underrate this effect.' 
 
 Next, after recounting how to the teaching of 
 Hindu philosophy in Sanskrit had been added ' the 
 correct conclusions of European philosophy,' he 
 proceeds thus : — 
 
 ' We have not swept over the country like a torrent, destroy- 
 ing all that is found, and leaving nothing but what itself depo- 
 sited. Our course has rather been that of a- gently swelling 
 inundation, w^hich leaves the former surface undisturbed, and 
 spreads over it a richer mould from which the vegetation 
 may derive a new verdure, and the landscape possess a 
 
 * A printed copy of it is extant in the Library of the India Office 
 in London. 
 
184 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 beauty which was unknown before. Such has been our 
 course in the Civil Administration. We examined the existing 
 systems — retained whatever of them we found to be right 
 and just, and then engrafted on this basis new maxims 
 derived from our own institutions. And thus we have 
 succeeded in forming a system, which is generally admitted 
 to have been easy in its oj)eration, and happy in its effect. 
 There is every reason why a similar course should be pursued 
 in philosophy and literature. We have not found the people 
 of this country an ignorant or simple race. They were 
 possessed of a system of philosophy which we could not 
 ignore. Some persons, in the pride of political superiority, 
 may affect to despise it, but it has roused the curiosity and 
 excited the wonder of the learned in all countries of Europe. 
 ' Dr. Ballantyne's publications enable the most superficial 
 reader to discover that it possesses a depth of thought, a 
 precision of expression, and a subtlety of argument, which 
 are amongst God's choicest gifts to his creatures. These may 
 be misused, but they may also be reclaimed, and devoted to 
 the highest purposes. There is no obstacle to the success of 
 this effect, but its innate difficulty. Admitting, however, 
 that it is a desirable end to attain, no difficulty ought to 
 prevent its accomplishment.' 
 
 Hereby he indicates a conviction that religious 
 truth must ultimately prevail. But he makes further 
 allusion to religion in these terms : — 
 
 ' We are here met together this day, men of different races 
 and creeds. If any one section of this assembly had met 
 to dedicate such a building as this to the education of their 
 youth in their own peculiar tenets, they would have given 
 a religious sanction to the act, and would have consecrated 
 the deed by a ceremonial of their faith. But this we can- 
 not do. Unhappily, human opinions, on the subject of 
 
THE END 185 
 
 religion, are so irreconcilable that we cannot concur in any 
 one act of worship. The more necessaiy it is, then, that each 
 man, in his own breast, should offer up his prayer to the god 
 whom he worships, that here morality may be rightly taught, 
 and that here truth, in all its majesty, may prevail. This 
 aspiration may have a different meaning, according to the 
 wishes or belief of the person who forms it ; but with many 
 it will point to a new state of things, when a higher philosophy 
 and a purer faith will pervade this land, not enforced by the 
 arbitrary decrees of a persecuting government, not hypo- 
 critically professed to meet the wishes of a proselytizing 
 government, but cordially adojDted by a willing people, yielding 
 to the irresistible arguments placed before them.' 
 
 The catholic charity which breathes through this 
 passage, and its truly Christian purport, are clear 
 enough. Nevertheless, some well-meaning persons 
 objected to his phrase 'each man in his own breast 
 should offer up his prayer to the god whom he wor- 
 ships,' as if he, the Christian Governor addressing 
 a non- Christian audience, had conceded that the 
 heathen gods might be hearers of prayer. This was 
 a misinterpretation of the passage, but with his usual 
 candour he said that had this been foreseen, he 
 would have so framed the expression as to obviate 
 misunderstanding. 
 
 Thus glancing over past labours, he doubtless sighed 
 to himself 'Nunc dimittis.' For he must have had 
 some knowledge that the authorities in England con- 
 templated transferring him to another sphere. The 
 Court of Directors, later in the year, nominated him to 
 the Governorship of the Madras Presidency. Such a 
 
1 85 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 step, unanimously taken by a number of men, must have 
 been the result of previous consultation among them- 
 selves. They certainly had communicated with the 
 Governor- General on the subject, and they had to 
 obtain the approval of Her Majesty's Government to 
 their nomination of him. 
 
 Kespecting him the following proceedings took place 
 in England : — 
 
 At a Court of Directors, 
 
 14th Se23tember, 1853. 
 
 Kesolved by the ballot unanimously that James Thomason 
 Esquire, at present Lieutenant-Governor of the North- West 
 Provinces, be appointed Governor of Madras. 
 
 India Board, 
 28th September, 1853. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I have the satisfaction to inform you that Her Majesty 
 
 has been graciously pleased to signify her approbation of the 
 
 appointment of James Thomason Esquire, at present Lieut.- 
 
 Governor of the North- Western Provinces, to the office of 
 
 Governor of Fort St. George. 
 
 I have, &c., 
 
 [sd] C. WOOD. 
 The Chairs. 
 
 Victoria by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, to 
 all to whom these presents shall come, greeting. 
 
 Whereas our Commissioners for the affairs of India have 
 represented unto us that the Court of Directors of the East 
 India Company have nominated our trusty and well-beloved 
 James Thomason Esquire to the office of Governor of the 
 Presidency of Fort St. George in the East Indies, and 
 Governor of Fort St. George, now we, taking the same into 
 
THE END 187 
 
 onr Eoyal consideration, do hereby, in virtue of the powers 
 in us vested by law, signify our approbation of the ap- 
 pointment of the said James Thomason to the said office 
 accordingly. 
 
 Given at our Court at Balmoral this 27 th day of September, 
 in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty 
 three, and in the sixteenth/year of our Eeign. 
 
 By H. M. Command. 
 
 A melancholy interest attaches to these proceedings, 
 for when the Court nominated him he was, though 
 far from well in health, still in the exercise of his 
 public functions. But before the approbation of the 
 Crown could be obtained he was dangerously stricken 
 with sickness. When the Royal Warrant was being 
 signed, he lay on his death-bed, and his hours had to 
 their last minute mounted. But at that juncture, 
 before the establishment of the electric telegraph, the 
 authorities in England knew not of his sickness, nor 
 did he know of his appointment. 
 
 So he died on the 27th of September 1853, after only 
 thirty hours of serious illness, with the heavy loading of 
 his State harness still upon him, while the ink was 
 hardly dry on the last despatches signed by his Secre- 
 taries, and while the winged posts were carrying his 
 latest orders to all parts of his extensive Provinces. 
 
 After his death, the Government of India issued this 
 notification : — 
 
 Fort William — Home Department, 
 3rd October, 1853. 
 
 Notification. — The lifost Noble the Governor-General of 
 India in Council is deeply grieved to announce the decease of 
 
1 88 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 the Honourable James Thomason, the Lieut.-Governor of the 
 North- Western Provinces. The Lieut.-Governor has long since 
 earned for himself a name, which ranks him high among the 
 most distinguished servants of the Honourable East India 
 Company. 
 
 Conspicuous ability, devotion to the public service, and a 
 conscientious discharge of every duty, have marked each step 
 of his honourable course ; whilst his surpassing administrative 
 capacity, liis extensive knowledge of affairs, his clear judgment, 
 his benevolence of character and suavity of demeanour, have 
 adorned and exalted the high position which he was wisely 
 selected to fill. 
 
 The Governor- General in Council deplores his loss with a 
 sorrow deep and unfeigned — with sorrow aggravated by the 
 regret that his career should have been thus untimely closed, 
 when all had hoped that opportunities for extended usefulness 
 were still before him, and that fresh honour might be added 
 to his name. 
 
 The Most Noble the Governor-General in Council directs 
 that the flag shall be lowered half mast high, and that 
 seventeen minute guns shall be fired at the respective seats 
 of government in India, so soon as the present notification 
 shall have been there received. 
 
 By Order of the Governor-General of India in Council. 
 
 The Governor-General was Lord Dalhousie, who, 
 as mentioned in chapter VII, became well acquainted 
 with him during a sojourn of more than one season at 
 Simla. 
 
 When communicating the expected sanction to 
 his scheme for vernacular or elementary education, 
 the Governor-General pays this tribute to his 
 efforts : — 
 
THE END ; 189 
 
 * And wliile I cannot refrain from recording anew in this 
 place my deep regret that the ear which would have heard 
 this welcome sanction given, with so much joy, is now dull 
 in death, I desire at the same time to add the expression of 
 my feeling, that even though Mr. Thomason had left no 
 other memorial of his public life behind him, this system of 
 general vernacular education, which is all his own, would 
 have sufficed to build up for him a noble and abiding 
 monument of his earthly career/ 
 
 The Governor-General in Council then recommended 
 to the Court of Directors in London that a Scholarship 
 should be founded in memory of Thomason at the 
 College of Civil Engineering at Ktirki, which has 
 already been described, in order ' to keep alive among 
 future generations of public servants the influence of 
 his great example.' This is represented to the Court 
 as 'an appropriate memorial of one of the best and 
 ablest men it has ever counted in the distinguished 
 body of its public servants.' The Court, while 
 approving this proposal, considered that ' the oppor- 
 tunity should be taken of connecting his memory 
 with the Rurki College in a more emphatic manner, 
 and that an institution of such peculiar importance 
 to India, and of a character so entirely novel in 
 that country, should bear the name of its founder.' 
 They accordingly directed that the College should 
 henceforth be designated the ' Thomason College of 
 Civil Engineering at Rurki.' 
 
 Further, the Court of Directors bore this testimony, 
 on receiving the official news of his death : — 
 
190 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 'Mr. Thomason had obtained distinction in tlie several 
 stages of his official progress ; and as Lieutenant-Governor 
 of the North-Western Provinces, during a period of nine 
 years, he exhibited all the qualities of an accomplished and 
 successful administrator. He omitted no research, and spared 
 no pains to make himself master of every subject that came 
 before him, however minute or however comprehensive. 
 His decisions, founded on results so obtained, were clearly, 
 concisely and impressively delivered. He inculcated and 
 maintained discipline in the public service by the discernment 
 with which he observed and rewarded merit, by a rare union 
 of conciliation and firmness, by uniform kindness and courtesy 
 to those below him, and by his own marked example of 
 deference to superior authority. In his administration of 
 the territorial revenue, an efficient watchfulness over the 
 just interests of the State was always tempered by a benevolent 
 care for the well-being of the agricultural community. We 
 are persuaded that all classes who lived under his government, 
 from the highest public servant to the cultivator of the soil, 
 must participate in the sorrow which we feel for his loss.' 
 
 Apart from official commendation of him in the 
 highest quarters, it is of interest to note the best non- 
 official opinion at that time. The leading newspaper 
 then in the country was ' The Friend of India,' estab- 
 lished by Marshman and published at Serampur, 
 near Calcutta. The following extract is from an 
 obituary notice which appeared on the 13th of 
 October, 1853 : — 
 
 *It is not in a barren record of incidents that the bio- 
 graphy of such a man as Mr. Thomason consists. It is rather 
 in a minute detail of the process by which he contrived to 
 brace up the administration, till it became the model 
 
THE END 191 
 
 Government of Asia, and while rendering it strong to the 
 point of despotism, retained the affection of the people who 
 obeyed it. 
 
 * While carrying out a plan for the irrigation of an 
 immense territory, reforming the prison discipline, or de- 
 bating the possibility of constructing railways by the State, 
 he never forgot that the success of a centralized government 
 depends upon smaller arrangements. He would walk into 
 the record room of a collectorate, take down a bundle of 
 vernacular proceedings, detect at a glance if they had been 
 properly arranged, and remark upon the orders passed by 
 the collector. He w^ould enter a medical dispensary, examine 
 the book of cases, gladden the heart of the Native surgeon 
 by a few pertinent remarks, and perhaps set him thinking 
 on the properties of a drug, procurable in the bazaar, and 
 relied upon by the Native physicians, but unknown to 
 English physicians. He would question a Native revenue 
 officer about the condition of his villages, and remark upon 
 the effect of a hail-storm which had lately occurred in some 
 village under his control. Every officer was aware that with 
 him generalities were of no avail, that the Governor knew 
 more of his district than he did himself, and that his own 
 best policy was to point out deficiencies.' 
 
 Amonor survivinor witnesses is Mr. Robert Needham 
 Oust, late of the Civil Service. His remembrance has 
 been recorded thus : — 
 
 'I made the acquaintance of Mr. James Thomason when 
 he was Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign 
 Department in 1 843. I was his guest at Agra in Government 
 House in June, 1844, and there I became aware of his remark- 
 able character, and conceived that love and respect for him, 
 which exist to this day. I was struck by his holy demeanour, 
 his teachings on revenue matters, his conversation about 
 
192 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 canals, popular education, and Christian missions. In 1845 
 he was in his camp, and I accompanied him in his march 
 through the Cis-Sutlej States. As at Agra, so in camp, I 
 was deeply impressed with his mild wisdom and interesting 
 conversation. On my return from England in 1852 I was 
 placed at his disposal, and I went up to Agra to stay with 
 him. I had gained in knowledge and experience since 
 1844, and could more fully appreciate his administrative 
 wisdom and sweet character. 
 
 ' Among the many great Indian Statesmen, with whom 
 during my twenty-five years in India I came into contact, I 
 place him very high indeed. He was devoid of personal ambi- 
 tion. He had no special gift of eloquence, and never published 
 any literary work. But he systematized the E>evenue system 
 of the North- West Provinces, and improved every branch 
 of the administration. He also set the example to the newly 
 conquered province of the Punjab, which was managed from 
 the first by his favourite subalterns, Lawrence, Montgomery, 
 Macleod, Barnes, Edward Thornton, who were in their full 
 maturity, and by a succession of younger men, who had 
 learnt their lesson from him, had been the recipients of his 
 friendly notice, and made his holy life their great example. 
 In 1888 I dedicated to his memory a volume of my notes on 
 Missionary Subjects, as one " who taught me my lesson." ' 
 
 The following description was written very shortly 
 after his death by William Muir, afterwards Sir WiUiam, 
 who had intimate acquaintance with him, official and 
 private, had been his principal Secretary since 1851, 
 and who himself became subsequently Lieutenant- 
 Governor, and is now Principal of the University of 
 Edinburgh ^. 
 
 ^ See CaZcMfta i?enewj, December, 1853. 
 
THE END 193 
 
 ' We may well enquire what secret charm it was which 
 lent to almost every department of his administration so 
 distinguishing an efficiency and greatness. . . . There was. 
 indeed^ in him a rare power of deliberation and judgment, an 
 unusual fiicalty of discernment and research. Yet, these 
 were mainly the result of studious habit, and earnest 
 purpose. It was by labour that everything was perfected — 
 conscientious, unceasing, daily labour ; by a wakeful anxiety 
 that knew no respite ; by a severity of thought, ever busy 
 and ever prolific in tlie devising of new arrangements, and 
 the perfecting of old. Yet his mind was so beautifully 
 balanced, that this unwearied work and never-ceasing tension 
 produced no irregularity of action, and no fretful or impatient 
 advance. All was even, serene, powerful.' 
 
 Looking back after so long a period, Sir William 
 now writes : — 
 
 'When I wrote this description of Thomason in 1853, 
 the close relation in which I had lived with him as my 
 Chief, and Guide of my life as his Secretary, might be 
 supposed to have unduly magnified him in my eyes. Yet in 
 the long interval that has since elapsed and the large ac- 
 quaintance I have had with Statesmen both in India and 
 at home, I can truly say that my conception of his virtues 
 and commanding position as a wise and illustrious Governor 
 as well as an exemplary Christian, and faithful friend, 
 has only been heightened by the lapse of time, and that I 
 regard him as the best of Rulers it has been my lot to be 
 associated with.' 
 
 It is hard to describe the blank that his death 
 suddenly left in his own Provinces. Striking and 
 pathetic were the words that burst from the lips, or 
 flowed from the pens, of God-fearing friends and 
 
 N 
 
194 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 officers — ' the mighty fallen ' — ' the chariot of Israel 
 and the horsemen thereof — ' the overwhelming wave 
 of dismay ' — 'the lightning has struck a cedar ' — 'the 
 sainted ruler ' — ' in the midst of worldly state One 
 has said, friend, come up higher/ Some civil servants 
 even wore mourning crape for several weeks. In- 
 expressibly deeper was the grief of the three children 
 gathered for a brief while under the friendly roof of 
 Dr. Murray at Agi-a. the daughter suddenly left alone 
 in the new world which she had but recently entered, 
 the young son just come to find the paternal home 
 turned into a house of mourning, the elder son deprived 
 of guidance in the opening of his career. What must 
 they have felt on re-entering the Government House, 
 quitted but three weeks before, to gather up the writ- 
 ings, the books, the pictures, the familiar mementos 
 of the departed. With what tears must she have read 
 again the preface to the manuscript book which was 
 to be for her ' a silent but powerful monitor when the 
 hand can no longer write nor the mouth speak.' 
 
 Later on there sounded the echo of national 
 mourning when in the following spring the Ganges 
 water was led into its new channel, and the thoughts 
 of those standing around the scene were turned in 
 reerret and sorrow to the Ruler, who had not been 
 spared to see the dtsire of his eyes and the success 
 for which he had long travailed. 
 
 The following account is given by Mr. John Walter 
 Sherer, who was then Assistant Secretary to the 
 Government at Agra : — 
 
THE END 195 
 
 ' The news of his unexpected death spread consternation 
 at Agra. Tlie despatches had been communicated to me and 
 men crowded in to ask " Can it be possible ? " One old 
 judicial officer, who had been placed over the Government 
 Press, entered abruptly and exclaimed " Tell me, it is not 
 true." The reply was " Too true, I fear." 
 
 ' His countenance fell. " Then my career is ended " he 
 cried, and without a further word departed. 
 
 ' Yes, Mr. Thomason was dead. The loss was ours not his. 
 He had, to use Sadi's words, so lived that when the drum 
 beat in the struggling light for striking the tent, he was 
 ready for the march. 
 
 ' A high-minded gentleman had disappeared, far-seeing, 
 capable, industrious, not to be baffled by difficulties. 
 
 ' But more : — he was an enthusiast, — an idealist — his heart 
 was warm, his affections were sincere and constant, his friend- 
 ship was not lightly bestowed, but tender and trusting where 
 he gave it. 
 
 ' And because he possessed these latter characteristics, — he 
 was beloved ! ' 
 
 A meeting of the principal inhabitants, European 
 and Native, was convened at Agra in the Metcalfe 
 Hall. His career was eulogized by many speakers 
 with the natural eloquence that wells up from full 
 hearts, and steps were taken to establish a permanent 
 memorial. 
 
 The Natives of northern India had not yet learnt 
 the practice of public demonstration, and their senti- 
 ments regarding the void caused by his death may 
 have been hard to gauge ; but they have ever noticed 
 the personal characteristics of their European rulers 
 far more intently than is commonly imagined. And 
 
 N 2 
 
196 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 though the masses, for whom he had so jealously 
 worked, knew him chiefly by common fame as a 
 mighty and beneficent ruler, nevertheless there were 
 large classes who in their own phrase said that by his 
 death they had ' lost a father.' Many individuals 
 amonff them cherished a regretful sorrow for him to 
 
 o o 
 
 their lives' end. 
 
 Next after his own Provinces, his death caused the 
 greatest sensation in the Punjab, where he was 
 specially admired and respected by John Lawrence, 
 where he had been looked upon by the Lawrence 
 school as a master of the administrative art, where 
 the principal civil servants had served under him, 
 and where many of the junior civilians might almost 
 be called his disciples. Robert Montgomery, who was 
 second in command there, felt for him a love passing 
 the love of brethren. He exclaimed — ' Would that I 
 could in any way repay all that Thomason has done for 
 me ! ' And Montgomery was a man whose afiections 
 would be engaged only by some strong cause. He 
 himself rose to greatness, and evinced cool intrepidity 
 in the face of public peril. 
 
 The subjoined note, on the meeting called in the 
 Punjab, is furnished by Sir Henry Davies ^, who was 
 present on the occasion: — 
 
 ' The news of Mr. Thomason's death was received in the 
 Punjab with great regret. Most of the senior civilians had 
 served under him in the North- West Provinces, and were 
 
 ' He was afterwards Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, and has 
 been a Member of the Council of India in London. 
 
THE END 197 
 
 instrumental in introducing into the newly annexed terri- 
 tories, with some modifications, the system of administration 
 then brought to maturity. Many of the junior officers were 
 personally known to him, as it was his custom to invite them 
 to stay witn him on their first joining their appointments 
 after leaving Calcutta. In a previous year he had extended 
 his cold weather tour Jto the Punjab, and had evinced a warm 
 interest in its administrative progress, more especially in the 
 settlement of the land revenue, then in hand, which was in a 
 great degree founded on his own views and directions. There 
 was, therefore, something more than a mere recognition of the 
 high qualities of the deceased Governor in the public meeting 
 immediately held at Amritsar, under the presidency of Mr. 
 (afterwards Sir George) Edmonstone, and in the resolution 
 arrived at, to create some permanent memorial of his public 
 
 career.' 
 
 It only remains to describe the passing, the ending 
 of Thomason's life. 
 
 The summer of 1853 he spends at Agra, his head- 
 quarters. His eldest son, James, is of age and has 
 arrived ; he says that at the sight of the young man's 
 successful entrance on a public career ' he feels like 
 the father who hears a son make his first speech in 
 the senate, or preach his first sermon from the pulpit, 
 or conduct his first case in court.' He calls to mind 
 how 'his father had taken him to his arms in 1822, 
 and had thereafter been spared for seven years of life 
 — he now, in his turn, takes his son — will he be spared 
 for seven years % ' 
 
 His "eldest daughter, Maynie, is married — but the 
 second, Bessie, has been expected to come and fill the 
 
198 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 place of hostess in Government House — he looks 
 across the festive table at her place, and ' thanks the 
 God, Who had bereaved him of his wife, for having 
 blessed him with the daughter,' — still, after fourteen 
 years, lamenting the bereavement. She has in January, 
 1853, joined ^^^ camp with all its imposing cu'cum- 
 stances on the Ganges bank, radiant with hopes that 
 were, after nine short months, to be dashed and 
 shivered. 
 
 On May 4, 1853, he is forty-nine years old. 
 Writing to Montgomery, he alludes in cheerful strain 
 to '■ entering the Jubilee year of one's life. How 
 must the retrospect humble one, and the prospect stir 
 one up to greater diligence and devotion to God's 
 service.' He adds, ' By this time next year I may 
 have all my five children around me in India.' Of 
 the seven, the ' little flock ' spoken of by the mother, 
 two had died, three were in India, one (Charles) was in 
 England, and one was coming out ^. So he hoped that 
 at length, fifteen years after his irreparable loss, the 
 family circle, though bereft of its graceful head, would 
 yet be re-united. But this happiness was not to be 
 vouchsafed to him. 
 
 During the summer of this year the heat was intense 
 and the rainfall late in coming. As the season wore 
 
 ^ This one was William, who landed at Calcutta later in the year, 
 only to learn that the father he had come to meet was dead. He 
 subsequently entered into Holy Orders in England, held a parish 
 in Lincolnshire, and died in 1870. Some of his sermons are extant, 
 suited indeed to a rural congregation, but breathing the spirit and 
 informed with the style of his grandfather Thomas Thomason. 
 
THE END 199 
 
 on he became enfeebled and indisposed. About the 
 jst of August he consulted Dr. Murray, one of the 
 ablest physicians in northern India, who found him 
 to be affe/^.ted by a low fever, without any marked 
 symptom, and without any specific ailment or other 
 complication. As he did not improve under treatment, 
 he was advised by Murray to proceed immediately to 
 the Himalaya, as the only means of shaking off the 
 febrile affection ; and as the time went on still with- 
 out improvement, this advice was repeated with in- 
 creasing urgency. He replied that his work rendered 
 this inconvenient for the present, that he had arranged 
 to visit the Himalaya late in September and that 
 he did not wish to leave his headquarters sooner, 
 unless Murray could say that there was immediate 
 danger to his health. As this could not exactly 
 be said, he deferred his departure for a while and 
 adhered to his arrangements. Had he followed 
 the medical advice, there would have been a chance 
 for the prolongation of his life. But he worked 
 on during the heat at Agra, and early in Sep- 
 tember he decided to visit his daughter Maynie, at 
 Bareilly, where her husband, Dr. Hay \ was Civil 
 Surgeon, taking that station on his way to the 
 Himalaya. As yet no alarm was felt either by him- 
 self or his family circle, consisting of his son James. 
 
 ^ Ho was killed in Bareilly at the post of duty during the Mutiny, 
 May, 1857. After his death Mrs Hay married, in i860, Surgeon- 
 Major J. J. Clifford of H. M. 9th Lancers, and died in 1868, in 
 Lincolnshire. 
 
300 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 then in the Covenanted Civil Service, and of his 
 second and unmarried daughter Bessie. 
 
 In fact he is nearing the portal of that eternity 
 which he had reverently yet hopefully foreshadowed 
 to himself in almost every letter of consequence written 
 to his nearest relatives during many years past. 
 But, like other rulers, conscious of the great issues 
 that depended upon him, and loth to rouse public 
 alarm, he hesitates to admit that he is ill. He says 
 nothing of this in a letter to Montgomery of 25th 
 August. He mentions his plans for the tour in the 
 coming winter, and his engagement at Rurki for the 
 Ganges Canal in the spring. This is fated to be his 
 last letter to the brother best beloved. 
 
 All this while, heat and weakness notwithstanding, 
 he had been writing out with his own hand extracts 
 from religious works in the manuscript book already 
 mentioned, which he had begun at the suggestion of 
 his daughter Maynie. As the season advances these 
 entries seem to increase, as if his soul felt itself being 
 gradually dissociated from affairs of state, and turning 
 towards the things that are beyond mortal vision. 
 The last Sunday but two before he started was the 
 28th of August. On that day he wrote out no less 
 than four passages, entering them in different parts of 
 the book, on the high subject of spiritual-mindedness ; 
 the extracts being all from Owen's work on this 
 subject. The passages are too long to cite, but a 
 very few sentences from each of them may be 
 given, in order to show the tenor of his thoughts. 
 
THE END 201 
 
 ' There is no lawful calling in life that absolutely excludes 
 spiritual-mindedness from them engaged in it ; nor is there 
 any that doth necessarily include it. Men may be in the 
 meanest employments, and be possessed of the grace, and 
 others may be in the best and highest, and nevertheless be 
 destitute thereof.' 
 
 ' He that can bring into this treasure only the mites of 
 broken desires and ejaculated prayers, so they be his best, 
 shall not come behind them who cast into it out of their 
 greater abundance of skill and ability.' 
 
 ' When the soul labours for communion with God, but 
 rushes into confused thoughts, yet if the Christian looks to 
 God for relief, his mourning will be accepted.' 
 
 ' Unskilful men may cast away rough, unwrought diamonds, 
 not knowing to what a polishing would bring them, so men 
 unskilful in the mysteries of godliness, do not perceive there 
 can be any glory in rough, unwrought grace, ignoiant of that 
 lustre and beauty which the polishing of the Heavenly hand 
 will give unto it/ 
 
 It will be remembered that spiritual-mindedness 
 formed a particular part of the teaching which as a 
 youth at Cambridge he had received from Simeon. 
 
 He started early in September for Bareilly, accom- 
 panied by Bessie, but James ^ remained behind at 
 Agra on duty. This place is the capital of E-ohil- 
 khand, on the other side of the Ganges from Agi'a, and 
 distant less than 150 miles. By the travelling of 
 
 ^ A Civil Servant of high promise, who had inherited much 
 of the paternal talent and disposition, with a prospect of emulat- 
 ing his father's career had he lived. He was killed during the 
 mutinous outbreak at Muhamdi in Oudh, May 1857. His old Master 
 at Rugby, afterwards Bishop Cotton, placed a tablet in his memory 
 in the Cathedral at Calcutta. 
 
202 JAMES THO MASON 
 
 that time, the journey occupied three days, or rather 
 three nights, for he rested during the heat of the 
 day in a staging house, and travelled in a palanquin 
 borne by men as bearers during the cool of the 
 night. His weakness immediately appeared in the 
 distress caused by the jolting of the palanquin, and 
 the second of the three nights was passed by him 
 in discomfort. Reaching Bareilly on the 1 6th of Sep- 
 tember he alighted at his daughter's house, receiving 
 the best possible care from his son-in-law. After his 
 arrival, he was more than ordinarily fatigued, and 
 instead of receiving, as was his wont, officers and 
 visitors who came to pay their respects (according to 
 custom when a Governor visits a station), he re- 
 mained in his rooms for several days with books and 
 papers, despatching current business, in correspondence 
 as usual with his Secretaries. 
 
 There is extant a description of his own health 
 given at this time by himself in a letter to Mr. Henry 
 Carre Tucker, of the 20th of September. 
 
 ' I came over here in hopes of benefit, but have not as yet 
 been successful. The journey completely prostrated me, and 
 I have been obliged hitherto to deny myself to all visitors, 
 and to give up all business that I can possibly avoid. I have 
 no specific illness but loss of appetite, loss of strength, loss of 
 power for any exertion whatever, symptoms of the frailty of 
 the tabernacle in which we dwell. We know that it must be 
 dissolved, how, or how soon we do not know. Let us be sure 
 that we have another building, not made with hands, ready to 
 
 receive us.' 
 
THE END 203 
 
 He then decided to visit Naini Tal, a beautiful 
 health-resort, recently established, on the margin of a 
 lake embosomed amidst woods and mountains in the 
 Himalayan ranges overlooking Rohilkhand. He had 
 fixed the 28th for his departure thither, little thinking 
 that his life was not to last till then ; and he had actu- 
 ally despatched his Chief Secretary, William Muir, to 
 Muradabad to meet him on the way from Bareilly to 
 Naini Tal. By Sunday, the 25th, he had somewhat 
 rallied, and was so far improved as to debate whether he 
 would not attend church ; but after some hesitation he 
 refrained from going out. Dr. Hay and Bessie went 
 to afternoon church, while he stayed at home with 
 Maynie. He read aloud to her the Service for the 
 day ; neither of them apprehended that this was the last 
 time he would ever recite the sacred passages. That 
 evening at tea-time he seemed quite cheerful to both 
 his daughters, wishing them good-night with all 
 his usual affection, and without any idea that this 
 was the last time of his bidding them an ordinary 
 farewell. 
 
 He retires to rest as usual, but somewhat befoi'e 
 midnight is seized with violent and acute trouble 
 internally, which, in reference to the region of the pain, 
 is pronounced to be colic. He receives every pos- 
 sible aid from Hay during the night, and towards the 
 morning becomes composed. But the pain departing 
 leaves some deadly mischief behind it, so he is ex- 
 hausted, prostrated and unable to take nourishment. 
 Soon after eight o'clock he sends for Bessie and asks 
 
204 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 her to read to him some of the many letters that had 
 come by that morning's post, which she does. But 
 his strangely altered aspect and feeble, almost inarticu- 
 late, utterance alarm her. After a while, at his request, 
 she reads to him the 25th and 26th chapters of Isaiah. 
 Doubtless he chose these chapters because he recollected 
 the texts contained in them, as applicable to himself, 
 lying sick unto death in India, and he hears them again 
 in these supreme hours of his life — ' the heat in a dry 
 place, even the heat with the shadow of a cloud ' — ' he 
 will swallow up death in victory ' — ' thou wilt keep 
 him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee ' — 
 ' the dead shall live, together with my dead body shall 
 they arise.' Then he lapses into a half-slumber for 
 some hours. Awaking he is found to be dangerously 
 weak, still unable to take nourishment, and appre- 
 hensive of any movement lest it should resuscitate 
 the agony of the previous night. Great and increas- 
 ing trouble ensues upon every effort he makes to 
 speak. Considering all this, Hay calls in a second 
 medical man, and they both pronounce him to be 
 in a critical and precarious condition ; this aggra- 
 vates the fears that had been oppressing his daughters 
 all day. When bed- time arrives he does not receive 
 them to wish them good-night. Soon afterwards 
 Hay perceives a further change, arouses them with a 
 hurried intimation that their father is sinking, and 
 takes them to his bed-side about an hour before 
 midnight. Seeing them enter at this unusual hour, 
 he asks Hay, ' Have you summoned them ? ' and the 
 
THE END 205 
 
 answer is, ' Yes/ He at once says : ' Then you must 
 think me in a bad way — tell me your real opinion of 
 my case, for I am not afraid to die.' Hay tells him 
 that his condition is most precarious, and that if he 
 continues losing strength and unable to take any 
 nourishment, he cannot long survive. He is un- 
 willing that his daughters should sit up with him, 
 and begs them to go to bed with the promise that Hay 
 shall call them if any further change for the worse 
 should be perceptible. Soon they are summoned again, 
 but they can scarce believe that the summons is to a 
 death-bed. His countenance has become more natural 
 in its expression, his manner serene, his voice stronger 
 and his utterance undisturbed. He first gives them a 
 few directions regarding personal and family affairs, in 
 a precise and collected manner. He takes one of their 
 hands in each of his own and says, ' John (Hay) must 
 know best — but I do not feel so ill — God's will be 
 done.' On being informed that the clergyman is 
 absent on leave, he expresses his regret that the Holy 
 Communion cannot be administered. He then bids 
 Bessie read to him the last chapter of Galatians, tell- 
 ing her and Maynie that their mother had laid this 
 chapter much to heart. Evidently his memory had re- 
 verted to the reading of this chapter to his wife, at her 
 own request, just before death. The passage is read, 
 and he hears once more the well-remembered texts — 
 ' God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, 
 that also shall he reap ' — ' he that soweth to the Spirit 
 shall of the Spirit also reap life everlasting' — 'Jesus 
 
2o6 JAMES THOMAS ON 
 
 Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me, and 1 
 unto the world ' — ' I bear in my body the marks of the 
 Lord Jesus.' These are the last passages from the 
 Word of God which he hears on earth. Presently he 
 says with entire peacefulness : ' I have passed an un- 
 worthy life, but I do not trust in my own righteous- 
 ness — God is very gracious/ Yet again he seeks for 
 comfort, and asks Bessie to repeat the first verses of 
 Keble's hymn for the twenty-fourth Sunday after 
 Trinity, which he had transcribed for her during his 
 sojourn at Simla, and now feels to be attuned in 
 harmony with his own mind, so he hears : — 
 
 Whv should we faint and fear to live alone 
 Since all alone, so Heav'n has willed, we die ; 
 
 Each in his hidden sphere of joy or woe 
 Our hermit spirits dwell and range apart ; 
 
 And well it is for us our God should feel 
 Alone our secret throbbings — so our prayer 
 May readier spring to Heaven. 
 
 These are the last lines of human poetry that fall 
 upon his ear. He bids them all his final farewell, 
 desiring them now to leave him, so that he may be 
 alone at the end. His closing words to Bessie ^ — 
 now to become an orphan — are to commend her to 
 the care of her brother James, absent at Agra. 
 
 His daughters departed, he is alone with Hay, to 
 whom he makes only one request, that his funeral 
 
 ^ On her own death-bed at Naini Tal, eleven years later, she 
 evinced the sweet fortitude learnt from her father, and declared 
 her assurance of rejoining him. 
 
THE END 207 
 
 shall be private. Then he causes Hay to read the 
 Order in the Prayer Book for the Visitation of the 
 Sick. After the articles of faith, as therein pre- 
 scribed, have been rehearsed, he answers ' All this 
 I steadfastly believe,' in a voice so clear and decided 
 that it can be heard outside his room. These are 
 the last words that he utters, in the early hours 
 after midnight. He has full possession of his facul- 
 ties, and seems to be free from distress. His eyes 
 glance to notice everything around, while Hay keeps 
 a solitary vigil by the bed-side. Soon the pains of 
 death begin to get hold upon him. He is athirst, 
 and half-articulately asks, or rather makes signs, for 
 water. He breathes laboriously, the respirations are 
 more and more lengthened till they are like long- 
 drawn sighs. Near dawn they subside, growing 
 gentler and gentler, so that Hay can scarcely dis- 
 tinguish the moment when they cease, as the spirit 
 passes. 
 
 In India, at this season, burial takes place soon after 
 death ; this is the morning of Tuesda}^ (27th September), 
 and the funeral is fixed for the evening of the following 
 day (28th) with the simplicity befitting the man, but 
 with a long line of mourners, and troops of sorrowing 
 friends. From the house the coffin is conveyed in a 
 hearse drawn by artillery horses to the Church. It 
 is set there, while the Chaplain (from a neighbouring 
 station) reads the Burial Service ; the pall-bearers 
 being four Civil Servants on the one side, and four 
 Military Officers on the other. Thence six Native 
 
208 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 Christian drummers from the jRegiment carry it to the 
 grave in the Church enclosure. In the East the closing 
 stages of human life are startling in their shortness. 
 There have been but six hours of acute illness, twenty- 
 four of sinking, thirty-six hours of interval between 
 decease and burial ; in all sixty-six hours from com- 
 parative convalescence to the very grave. For the 
 survivors, this dread celerity of events deepens the 
 gloom of the chasm that has been riven by death. 
 
 Dying in the Mauritius, more than twenty years 
 before, Thomas Thomason the father, alluding to 
 human life, its course and end, its race and goal, 
 humbly said : ' This is a dark valley, but there's light 
 at the end.' More truly may it be said of him, as of 
 James Thomason the son dying in northern India, 
 that there was light all the way. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abdt5^l-Masih, miniature of, sent 
 to Simeon, 34. 
 
 Abul Fazl, the Moslem, guide, 
 philosopher and friend of Akbar, 
 80. 
 
 Agra, James Thomason appoin- 
 ted Secretary to Government 
 at, 61 : James Thomason's de- 
 scription of his house at, 71 : 
 Capital of theMughals, 75 : Tho- 
 mason's headquarters during 
 his tours, 1 1 3 : College for higher 
 education at, 170. 
 
 Akbar, founder of the Mughal 
 Empire, 75 : sets up his throne 
 at Agra, 75 : his good rule, 80 
 his minister Todar Mall, 80 
 ' Dream of,' by Tennyson, quoted 
 
 ALfcARH, storming of the Arsenal 
 at, 81. 
 
 Allahabad, James Thomason 
 visits his sister Mrs. Mont- 
 gomery at, 70 : headquarters 
 of the N.W. Provinces, 75 : 
 conclave held in 1833 at, 85 : 
 American missionaries at, 130. 
 
 Amherst, Earl of, Governor- 
 General in James Thomason's 
 time, 46. 
 
 Aqueduct of the Ganges canal 
 near Kiirki, 168. 
 
 Arabic, Thomas Thomason's 
 proficiency in, 27. 
 
 AsPEDEN School, or Aspenden, 
 
 38, 39- 
 Auckland, Lord, Governor-Gen- 
 
 eral in James Thomason's time, 
 
 47. 
 
 Aurangzeb, the last of the effec- 
 tively powerful, though not the 
 lastof the titular Great Mughals, 
 80. 
 
 AzAMGARH, James Thomason ap- 
 pointed Magistrate and Collector 
 of, 52 : his description of, 55, 56 : 
 its products, 56. 
 
 Balham, James Thomason's sister 
 at, 48, 49. 
 
 Bareilly, James Thomason died 
 at, 10: college for higher edu- 
 cation at, 170. 
 
 Barnes, George, served under 
 Thomason, loi. 
 
 Benares, described by Eev. T. 
 Thomason, 30 : college for higher 
 education at, 170, 183. 
 
 Bengal Presidency, its dimen- 
 sions, 43, 50, 51. 
 
 Bentinck, Lord William, Gover- 
 nor-General, in James Thoma- 
 son's time, 46 : the Settlement 
 of the N.-W. Provinces in 1833, 
 
 Bird, Robert Merttins, Member 
 of Revenue Board, 71 : his inter- 
 course with James Thomason, 
 71, 72 : work in connexion with 
 Grand Trigonometrical Survey, 
 85 : Settlement of the Provinces, 
 86-89. 
 
 Bljahman, the priestly caste of 
 ancient India, 82 : Brahman 
 
210 
 
 INDEX 
 
 soldiery came from Oudh rather 
 than Hindustfin, 82. 
 BuxAR, battle of, 81. 
 
 Calcutta, James Thomason ar- 
 rives as a child at, 27 : Mission 
 Church at, 2 7 : James Thomason 
 arrives in 1822 at, 41, 43, 47 : 
 Medical College at, 177. 
 
 Cam, river, 24. 
 
 Cambridge, 23, 24, 35, 36. 
 
 Campbell, Sir George, served 
 under Thomason, loi. 
 
 Canal Works in the 'Great Dry 
 Tract.,' 163 : on the Jumna, 163 : 
 on the Ganges at Hardwcir, 73, 
 164. 
 
 Cautley, Sir Proby, engineer of 
 the Ganges Canal, 164. 
 
 Ceded and Conquered Provinces, 
 81. 
 
 Charlton, James Thomason's wife 
 buried at, 68. 
 
 Church Missionary Society, 32, 
 
 35' 130- 
 Clerk, Mr. (afterwards Sir George) 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor of North- 
 western Provinces, 73. 
 
 College, Hindu, for higher 
 education of natives, 32 : En- 
 gineering, at Riirki, 166 : for 
 higher education at Benares, 
 Bareilly, Delhi, Agra, &c., 170: 
 Medical, at Calcutta, 177, 
 
 Court of Directors, appointed 
 Thomason Governor of the 
 Madras Presidency in 1853, 
 185 : but before he received the 
 
 ' intimation he died, 187 : their 
 testimony of him, 189. 
 
 Courts of Justice, independent 
 in action and decision of 
 Lieuteiiant-Governor, 93. 
 
 CusT, Robert Needham, served 
 under Thomason, loi, quoted, 
 191, 192. 
 
 Customs, inland, protected, 178. 
 
 Dalhousie, Marquess of, Gover- 
 
 nor-General in James Thoma- 
 son's time, 47, 188. 
 
 Davies, Sir Henry, served under 
 Thomason, loi : describes the 
 reception in the Punjab of the 
 news of Thomason's death, 196. 
 
 Delhi, described by the Rev. 
 Thomas Thomason, 31 : taken 
 by the Marathds, 81 : battle at, 
 81 : brought under the British 
 rule in 1832, 81 : college for 
 higher education at, 1 70. 
 
 ' Directions to Collectors,' 
 published by James Thomason 
 to help District Officers to ad- 
 minister the land revenue, 99, 
 140-148. 
 
 ' Directions to Settlement 
 Officers,' by James Thomason. 
 99, 144-146. 
 
 DoAB, tract in the heart of N.-W. 
 Provinces, 107. 
 
 DoRNFORD, Mrs., James Thoma- 
 son's grandmother, friend of 
 Simeon's, 22 : died in 1835, 23: 
 inscription to her memory by 
 Simeon, 23. 
 
 East India Company, Henry 
 Martyn Chaplain of, 26 : ap- 
 points James Thomason a mem- 
 ber of their Covenanted Civil 
 Service in Bengal, 41 : important 
 offices filled by members of, 92 : 
 surrenders the Empire to the 
 Crown in 1858, 180. 
 
 Edmonstone, Sir George, served 
 under Thomason, 10 1. 
 
 Elementary Education, i 71-173. 
 
 Ellenborough, Lord, Governor- 
 General in James Thomason's 
 time, 47, 72 : land revenue, 157 : 
 customs reform, 178, 179. 
 
 Engineering College at Rurki, 
 166-169 : visited by Sir William 
 Muir, 169. 
 
 Eatehgarh, battle of, 81 : 
 American Missionaries at, 1 30. 
 
INDEX 
 
 2! 1 
 
 Fatehpl'r Sikri, country seat of 
 
 Akbav, 1 1 4. 
 Fawcett, Miss, of Scale by Castle, 
 
 marries Thomas Thoinason, 23. 
 Foreign Secretary to Goveru- 
 
 ment of India, James Tnomasou 
 
 appointed, 72. 
 FoKT William, College of, James 
 
 Thoniason studied at, ^.b. 
 ' Friend of India,' leading- newp- 
 
 paper established by INIarshman 
 
 and published at Serampur, 
 
 190: extract from, 190-191. 
 
 Ganges, Canal works near Hard- 
 war, 73. 
 
 Government House, Thouiason's 
 life at, 119-135. 
 
 Government Schools, religious 
 teaching not allowed in, 129. 
 
 Grand Trunk Road, 167, 176. 
 
 Grand Trigonometrical Survey, 
 
 85. 
 Grant, Mr. and Mrs., parents of 
 
 James Thomason's wife, 26, 48, 
 
 49. 
 
 Grant, Miss, married James 
 Thomason, 48, 49. 
 
 Grant, Charles, one of the 
 founders of tlie Church Mis- 
 sionary Society, 49. 
 
 Grant, Charles, afterwards Lord 
 Glenelg, 49. 
 
 Grant, Mrs. Isabella, 67. 
 
 Great Shelford, see Shelpord. 
 
 GUJARS, a predatory c;iste, 82. 
 
 GWALIOR, impending war at, 119. 
 
 Haileybury College, James 
 Thoinason enters, 41. 
 
 Hale, Sir Matthew, quoted, 117- 
 118. 
 
 Hardinge, Lord, Governor- 
 General in James Thomason's 
 time, 47 : visited Ganges Canal 
 works, 165. 
 
 Hardwar, Canal works on the 
 Ganges near, 73, 164. 
 
 Hay, Dr. John, married Thoma- 
 son's daughter Maynard and 
 
 O 
 
 lived at Baieilly, where Thoma- 
 son died, 199, 202, 203. 
 
 HiCKlE, Mr. M., quoted, 179. 
 
 Hindustan, the Empress Province 
 of India, 76 : its cliuiat-", 78 : 
 ancient history of, 79-82 : 
 under the reign of the Mughals, 
 80, 81 : under the East India 
 Company, 81. 
 
 Hodson, Mr., (afterwards Arch- 
 deacon) receives James Thoma- 
 son at Stansted, 40. 
 
 ' HoRAE HoMiLETiCAE,' Simeoii's 
 great work, 35, 36-37. 
 
 Hi6ghli, described, 44, 45. 
 
 Hutchinson, Mrs., James Thoma- 
 son's sister Eliza, 48. 
 
 Irrigation by canals, 163-169: in 
 the 'Great Dry Tract,' 163 : on 
 the Jumna, 163 : Ganges canal, 
 164. 
 
 Jahangir, Akbar's son, 80. 
 Jats, industrious cultivators, 82. 
 Jews, Simeon's evangelizing eftbrts 
 
 regarding the, 41. 
 J ohnston, William, married 
 
 James Thomason's daughter 
 
 Elizabeth, 136 (footnote"). 
 Joint Responsibility, 151. 
 Jumna, irrigation works on the, 
 
 163. 
 Jungle Mahals or districts, 
 
 James Thomason appointed 
 
 judge in, 51. 
 
 Kayasth, the writer caste of 
 
 Hindustan, 82. 
 King's College, Cambridge, 
 
 35-36. 
 KuMAUN, non-regulation district, 
 
 93 : sanitation in, 177. 
 
 Land Tax, the administration of, 
 
 93, 138-160. 
 Land Revenue, 94-100. 
 Lawrence, John (afterwards 
 
 Lord), served under James 
 
212 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Thomason, loi : admired and 
 respected Thomason, 196. 
 Little Shelford, see Shelford. 
 
 Macaulay, Thomas Babington, 
 
 25. 39. 40- 
 
 Mackenzie, Holt, attempts re- 
 forms in 1822, 85. 
 
 Maclagan, General, his account 
 of Rurki, 167. 
 
 Macleop, Sir Donald, served 
 under Thomason, 101. 
 
 Macnaghten, William Hay, 
 examined James Thomason in 
 Muhammadan Law, 51. 
 
 Madras Presidency, Thomason 
 appointed Governor in 1853, 
 but died before he received the 
 intimation, 185-187. 
 
 Magdalene College, Cambridge, 
 
 23- 
 Magistrate and Collector of 
 
 Azamgarh, work of, 52-64. 
 
 Maldah, James Thomason mar- 
 ried at, 49. 
 
 Manuscript Book, quotations 
 from James Thomason's, 62, 
 126-128, 201. 
 
 Marathas, rise of the, 81 : took 
 Delhi, 81. 
 
 ' Marches,' Thomason's tours 
 through the provinces, 102-110. 
 
 Marshman, established 'The 
 Friend of India,' 190. 
 
 Martyn, Henry, 26. 
 
 Mathra-Brindaban, classic tract 
 in Hindu mythology, no. 
 
 Mauritius, Thomas Thomason 
 died at, 49, 208. 
 
 Medical College at Calcutta, 177. 
 
 Meerut, Church Mission at, 130. 
 
 Mers of Merwara, described in a 
 privateletter of Thomason's, 1 78. 
 
 Metcalfe Hall, meeting con- 
 vened at Agra on Thomason's 
 death to establish a memorial, 
 
 195- 
 Metcalfe, Sir Charles, afterwards 
 
 Lord, expresses the thanks of 
 
 government publicly to James 
 
 Thomason when he left the 
 Secretariat, 52 : Lieutenant- 
 Governor at Ac^ra, 61, 75: 
 retires in 1837, 7^ • upheld the 
 Village Communities, 83, 84. 
 
 Military Board, managed the 
 public works, 92. 
 
 Mission Church, or Old Church, 
 at Calcutta, 27. 
 
 Missionaries, at Allahabad, 
 Fatehgarh, and Meerut, 130: 
 Thomason's support of, 132. 
 
 MoiRA, Earl of. Governor- General, 
 28. 
 
 Montgomery, Mrs. James Tho- 
 mason's sister Frances, 48 : 
 died, 73. 
 
 Montgomery, Sir Robert, served 
 under Thomason, loi : after- 
 wards Lieutenant-Governor of 
 the Punjab, loi, 102 : his love 
 for Thomason, 196. 
 
 Morris, Sir John, served under 
 Thomason, loi. 
 
 Mughal Empire, founded by 
 Akbar, 75 : throne set up at 
 Agra, 75. 
 
 Muir, Sir William, served under 
 Thomason, loi : now Principal 
 of University of Edinburgh, 
 loi : quoted, iii (footnote), 
 112: describes Thomason, 192, 
 
 193. 
 Murray, Dr., at Agra, 194, 199. 
 
 Naini Tal, James Thomason's 
 daughter Bessie married at, 
 136 : died at, 206 (footnote). 
 
 Napier, Sir Charles, quoted, his 
 description of Thomason, 179, 
 180. 
 
 Narbada, part of the N.-W. 
 Provinces, non-regulation dis- 
 trict, 93. 
 
 Nepal, war with, 81. 
 
 North - Western Provinces, 
 James Thomason appointed 
 Lieutenant-Governor of, 73 : 
 provinces described, 74-79, 
 91-118: settlement, 138-161: 
 
INDEX 
 
 213 
 
 irrigation of, 162-169: public 
 instruction and policy in, 170- 
 T79. 
 
 Oddh, James Thomason's march 
 through, 61 : not included in 
 N.-W. Provinces, 74: Oudh as 
 a native State, 75- 
 
 OusELEY, examined James Thoma- 
 son in Muhammadan Law, 51. 
 
 PiNDAUi War in 1818, 81. 
 Preston, Rev. Mr., coadjutor of 
 
 Simeon's, 25 : removed to 
 
 Aspeden, 26, 38 : appointed to 
 
 a living in 1825, 39. 
 Proprietary Right described by 
 
 James Thomason, 59, 60, 145- 
 
 148. 
 Punjab annexed, 45 : v?ar in 
 
 Punjab, 103, 121 : visited by 
 
 Thomason in 1851, 116. 
 
 Queen, The, Thomason mentions 
 
 in a private letter, 180. 
 Queen's College, Cambridge, 23. 
 
 Raikes, Charles, served under 
 Thomason, loi. 
 
 Rajputs, invasions of the, in 
 Azamgarh, the foundation of 
 the existing proprietary right, 
 59 : the chivalrous caste, 82. 
 
 Regulations, laws framed by the 
 Governor-General in Council 
 called, 93. 
 
 RevenueBoard, JamesThomason 
 became Member of, 71. 
 
 Revenue Code, begun by James 
 Thomason but left unfinished at 
 his death, 100, 139. 
 
 Robertson, Mr., Lieutenant- 
 Governor, 71 : retired, 73. 
 
 ' Rose and the Lotus,' the, by 
 Thomason's daughter Elizabeth, 
 mentioned, 135. 
 
 Rurkt, Engineering College at, 
 166-169 : aqueduct of the Gan- 
 ges Canal near, 168 : afterwards 
 called ' Thomason College of 
 Civil Engineering at Rurki,' 189. 
 
 Sadar Court, 51. 
 
 Scaleby Castle, 23. 
 
 Scholarship, in memory of Tho- 
 mason, proposed at Rurki, 189. 
 
 School-Book Society, 32. 
 
 Schools, elementary, 1 71-173. 
 
 Secretary to Government, 
 James Thomason became, 52. 
 
 Serampur, ' The Friend of India,' 
 published at, 190. 
 
 Settlement, Thirty Years being 
 introduced when James Tho- 
 mason went to Azamgarh, 56 : 
 special work of the Settlement, 
 57-60: Land, 138-161. 
 
 Shah Jahan, son of Jahangir, 80. 
 
 Shelford, James Thomason born 
 at, 10, 25 : described, 24-26. 
 
 Sherer, J. W., 33 (footnote), his 
 account of Thomason, 132-135, 
 
 195- 
 SiKANDRA, tomb of Akbar at, 114, 
 
 130; Orphanage at, 130. 
 
 Simeon, Charles, describes James 
 Thomason's parents, 20, 21: 
 family friend of the Thomason's 
 near Cambridge, 22, 23 : employs 
 curate of Shelford, 24 : fellow- 
 labourer with Thomas Thomason, 
 26 : receives James Thomason 
 on his being sent as a child to 
 England, 34: Church Missionary 
 Society, 35 : Simeon's rooms 
 in King's College, 35 : * Horae 
 Homileticae,' his great work, 
 35 : his teaching, 36-38 : takes 
 James Thomason to school, 38, 
 39 : works for the conversion of 
 the Jews, 40 : Simeon's tours 
 in Scotland, 41 : evangelizing 
 efforts, 41. 
 
 Simla, a Himalayan station to 
 which James Thomason takes 
 his wife, 65 : his summer resort, 
 114: described by him, 115. 
 
 SiND, annexed, 45. 
 
 SouTHwiCK Street, London, Jame'< 
 Thomason's wife died at, 67, 68. 
 
 Stansted Hall, 40. 
 
 Stapleford, one of Simeon's 
 curacies, 24. 
 
214 
 
 I.VDEX 
 
 State Schools, 173. 
 
 Statistical Department, estab- 
 lished, 179. 
 
 Stephen. Mrs., James Thomason'a 
 sister Esther, 66. 
 
 Strachey, Sir John, served under 
 Tliomason, loi. 
 
 Taj Mausoleum, 114. ' 
 
 Taluka, describeil, 158. 
 
 Talukdars, position of, 154-160. 
 
 Thirty Years Settlement being 
 introduced when James Thoma- 
 son went to Azamgarh, 56. 
 
 Thomason, James, born at Shei- 
 ford, 1804, 10, 25 : died at 
 Bareilly, 1853, 10 : a man of 
 peace, 12 : his pervading char- 
 acteristic was Christian serious- 
 ness, 15 : his capacity for mental 
 toil, 16, 17: his manner, iS : 
 described by Simeon, 20, 21 : 
 parentage, 20-33 : his first land- 
 ing as a child in India, 27 : 
 sent to England at age of 10, 
 34 ; received by Simeon and Mrs. 
 Dornford, 34, 35 : school-day> 
 at Aspeden, 38 : schoolfellow of 
 William Wilberforce, Thomas B. 
 Macaulay,Vaughanand Maiden, 
 39 : goes toStansted,40 : received 
 appointment as a Writer from the 
 Directors of the East India 
 Company, 41 : entered Hailey- 
 bury, 41 : sailed to India, 41 : 
 landed in India, 1822, 43, 47 : 
 India mainly British, 45 : Punjab 
 and Sind annexed, 45 : Afghan 
 war, 45 : served in Lord William 
 Bentinck's secretariat, 46-47 : 
 intimate acquaintance with Lord 
 EUenborough, 47 : studied at 
 the College of "Fort William, 
 48 : being ill, goes to England 
 on leave, 48 : engaged to Miss 
 Grant, 48 : nian-ied at Maldah 
 1829, 49: death of his father, 
 49 : becomes guardian to his 
 little sister, 50 : appointed 
 
 Registrar to the Sadar Court, 5 r : 
 publicly examined in Muhan*- 
 madan Law, 51 : appointed 
 judge in the Jungle Mahals, 
 51 : goes to England, 1827, 52 : 
 made Secretary to Government, 
 1830,52: appointed Magistrat>^ 
 and Collector of Azamgarh, 52 : 
 his life as a district officer, 55- 
 64 : in 1837 appointed Secretary 
 to the A^ra Government, 61 : 
 goes to England with his wife who 
 is ill, 66 : returns to India, 67 : 
 death of his wife, 68 : life at 
 Agra, 71 : Member of Revenue 
 Board, 71 : his intercourse with 
 Bird, 71-72 : goes to Allahabad, 
 72 : at Calcutta in 1842, when 
 Lord EUenborough arrives, 72 : 
 appointed Foreign Secretary, 
 72 : death of his sister, 73 : 
 Lieutenant-Governor of the 
 N.-W. Provinces, 73, 91-118 : 
 history of Hindustan, 79-82 : the 
 Village Communities, 82-85, 
 150-160. Settlement of N.-W. 
 Provinces, 85-90 : Land Re- 
 venue, 94-102: his 'Marches,' 
 102-113: headquarters at 
 Agra, li.% 114: goes to Simla, 
 115: visits the Punjab, 116: 
 his private life in Government 
 House, 1 1 9-1 35: his descrip- 
 tion of his Government House 
 at Agra, 119-120, 123: his 
 Provinces denuded of troops, 
 plots hatched, 121: pre- 
 parations to counteract them, 
 121: letter quoted, 122 : swim- 
 ming bath at Government 
 House, 123: quotations from 
 his manuscript books, 126-128 : 
 his religious sentiments, 129- 
 132 : interest in Missicms and 
 Missionaries, 130: described in 
 an account by J. W. Sherer, 
 132-135 : heroes in his daugh- 
 ter's novel, founded on Thoma- 
 son 's own character, 135, 136 : 
 The Land Settlement, 1 38-161 : 
 
INDEX 
 
 215 
 
 his instructions to Officers and 
 Collectors, 140-148 : Taluk- 
 tlars, 154-160: Canals of Irri- 
 gation, 162-169: irrigation iti 
 the 'Great Drv Tract,* 16^^: 
 works on the Jumna, 163 : 
 works at Ei'irki, Ganges Canal, 
 164: Rurki College, 166-169 : 
 public instruction and general 
 policy, 170-180: colleges at 
 Benares, Delhi, Bareilly and 
 Agra, 170: elementary edu- 
 cation, 171-174: physical im- 
 provement, 174-176: public 
 health, 176-178: Statistical 
 Department established, 179: 
 Sir Charles Napier, quoted, 179 : 
 Thomason's views on loyally, 
 1 80 : opened college at Benares 
 in 1853, 183-185 : nominated 
 Governor of Madras Presidency, 
 185, 187, but died before news 
 reached him, 187: Scholarship 
 founded at Kux-ki in Thomason's 
 memory, 189-190 : obituary 
 notice in ' The Friend of India,' 
 190-191 : other obituary notices, 
 191-197 : closing scenes of his 
 life described, 197-207: his 
 death, 207, funeral, 207. 
 
 Thomason, Mrs. James, her life 
 and death, 61-69. 
 
 Thomason, Maynard, daughter of 
 James Thomason (Mrs. Hay), 
 126, 199. 
 
 Thomason, Elizabeth, daughter 
 of James Thomason, author of 
 the ' Rose and the Lotus,' 135 : 
 •Gifts and Graces,' 136: mar- 
 ried, 136 : died, 206. 
 
 Thomason, General Charles Sim- 
 eon, of Royal Engineers, men- 
 tioned, 61 (footnote 1). 
 
 Thomason, James, the younger, 
 199, 201. 
 
 Thomason, Thomas, James' father, 
 described by Simeon, 20 : his 
 early life, 23 : his wife, 23 : goes 
 
 to Shelford, 24 : invites Simeon, 
 24 : James born at Shelford, 25 : 
 fellow-labourer with Simeon, 
 26 : joint curate with Henry 
 Martyn, 26 : sails for Bengal, 
 26: studies Arabic, Persian and 
 Urdu, 27, 28 : leaves Calcutta, 
 29 : his tour to Northern India, 
 30, 31 : returns to Calcutta, 32 : 
 interests himself in institutions 
 for the good of India, 32 : mar- 
 ries his son at Maid ah, 49 : 
 dies at the Mauritius, 49, 208. 
 
 Thornton, Edward, served under 
 Thomason, 101. 
 
 Thornton, John, 87. 
 
 ToDAR Mall, Hindu Minister of 
 Akbar's, 80. 
 
 Trevelyan, Mr. (afterwards Sir 
 Charles), pressed the reduction 
 of Customs, 178. 
 
 Trinity, Holy, Simeon's Church 
 in Cambridge, 23, 35. 
 
 Tucker, Mr. H. Carre, served 
 under Thomason, loi, extract 
 of letter from Thomason to, 202. 
 
 Uncovenanted Service, appoint- 
 ments open to Europeans belong- 
 ing to, 92. 
 
 Urdu, Thomas Thomason's pro- 
 ficiency in, 27. 
 
 Vernacular Education, 171. 
 ' Village Communities,' The, 82- 
 85, 152-160. 
 
 Walhalla of Anglo-Indian 
 worthies, position of James 
 Thomason in the, 10. 
 
 Way, Mr. Lewis, 40. 
 
 West Indies, James Thomason's 
 grandfather went to, 22. 
 
 Wilberforce, William, 25,39. 
 
 Wilberforce, Samuel, 40. 
 
 ZamI NDARS,originallyland revenue 
 collectors, 158. 
 
 the end. 
 
RULERS OP INDIA: 
 
 THE CLARENDON PRESS SERIES OF INDIAN 
 HISTORICAL RETROSPECTS. 
 Edited by Sir W. W. Hunter, K.C.S.I., CLE. 
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 — clear, succinct, and manly. Sir W. W. Hunter is in sympathy with 
 his subject, and does full justice to Mayo's strong, genuine nature. 
 Without exaggeration and in a direct, unaSected style, as befits his 
 theme, he brings the man and his work vividly before us.' — The 
 Glasgoic Serald. 
 
 'All the knowledge acquired by personal association, familiarity with 
 administrative details of the Indian Government, and a strong grasp of 
 the vast problems to be dealt with, is utilised in this presentation of 
 Lord Mayo's personality and career. Sir W. Hunter, however, never 
 overloads his pages, and the outlines of the sketch are clear and firm.' 
 • — The Manchester Express. 
 
 ' This is another of the " Rulers of India " series, and it will be hard 
 to beat. . . . Sir William Hunter's perception and expression are here at 
 their very best.' — The Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 'The latest addition to the "Rulers of India" series yields to none of 
 its predecessors in attractiveness, vigour, and artistic portraiture. . . . 
 The final chapter must either be copied verbally and literally — which 
 the space at our disposal will not permit — or be left to the sorrowful 
 perusal of the reader. The man is not to be envied who can read it with 
 dry eyes.' — Allen's Indian Mail. 
 
 ' The little volume which has just been brought out is a study of Lord 
 Mayo's career by one who knew all about it and was in full sympathy 
 with it. . . . Some of these chapters are full of spirit and fire. The 
 closing passages, the picture of the Viceroy's assassination, cannot fail 
 to make any reader hold his breath. We know what is going to 
 happen, but we are thrilled as if we did not know it, and were still 
 held in suspense. The event itself was so terribly tragic that any 
 oi-dinary description might seem feeble and laggard. But in this 
 volume we are made to feel as we must have felt if we had been on 
 the spot and seen the murderer " fastened like a tiger " on the back of 
 the Viceroy.' — Daily News, Leading Article. 
 
©pinions of ti)z pre^^ 
 
 ON 
 
 MR. W. S.SETON-K ARR'S * CORN WALLIS.' 
 
 'This new volume of the "Rulers of India " series keeps up to the 
 high standard set by the author of " The Marquess of Dalhousie." For 
 dealing with the salient passages in Lord Cornwallis's Indian career no 
 one could have been better qualified than the whilom foreign secretary 
 to Lord Lawrence.' — The Atlienceiim. 
 
 ' Lord Cornwallis has been very properly included in the list of those 
 "Rulers of India" whose biographies are calculated to illustrate the 
 past growth and present development of the English administration in 
 that country. His name is connected witli several great measures, 
 which more, perhaps, than any others have given a special colour to our 
 rule, have influenced the course of subsequent legislation, and have made 
 the Civil Service what it at present is. He completed the administrative 
 fabric of which Warren Hastings, in the midst of unexampled difficulties 
 and vicissitudes, had laid the foundation.' — The Saturday Revieiv. 
 
 ' We hope that the volumes on the " Rulers of India " which are 
 being published by the Clarendon Press are carefully read by a large 
 section of the public. There is a dense wall of ignorance still standing 
 between the average Englishman and the greatest dependency of the 
 Crown ; although we can scarcely hope to see it broken dov^n altogether, 
 some of these admirable biographies cannot fail to lower it a little. . . . 
 Mr. Seton-Karr has succeeded in the task, and he has not only pre- 
 sented a large mass of information, but he has brought it together in an 
 attractive form. . . . We strongly recommend the book to all who wish 
 to enlarge the area of their knowledge with reference to India.' — New 
 York Herald. 
 
 'The "Rulers of India" series. This outcome of the Clarendon 
 Press grows in value as it proceeds. The account of Cornwallis is from 
 the pen of Mr. W. Seton-Karr, who was formerly Foreign Secretary to 
 the Government of India, and whose acquaintance with Eastern affairs 
 has been of obvious service to him in the compilation of this useful 
 manual.' — The Globe. 
 
 ' One might almost say that the history of our great Indian Empire 
 might be read with comparative ease in the excellent " Rulers of India 
 Series," published at the Clarendon Press at Oxford. ... Of Cornwallis 
 it might be said he transformed the East India Company's servants 
 from merchants to administrators, and determined to place them above 
 jobbery, which he despised.' — The Independent. 
 
 * We have already expressed our sense of the value and timeliness of 
 the series of Indian historical retrospects now issuing, under the editor- 
 ship of Sir W. W. Hunter, from the Clarendon Press. It is somewhat 
 less than fair to say of Mr. Seton-Karr's monograph upon Cornwallis 
 that it reaches the high standard of literary workmanship which that 
 series has maintained. . . . His accurate and lucid summary of the necessi- 
 ties which dictated Comwallis's policy, and the methods by which he 
 initiated and, to a great extent, eifected, the transformation of our rule 
 in India from the lines of an Oriental despotism to those with which we 
 are now familiar, is as attractive as it is instructive.' — The Literary 
 World. 
 
SDpinionsi of tfte lpre0!5 
 
 ON 
 
 COLONEL MALLESON'S *DUPLEIX.' 
 
 ' In the character of Dupleix there was the element of greatness 
 that contact with India seems to have generated in so many European 
 minds, French as well as English, and a broad capacity for govern- 
 ment, which, if suffered to have full play, might have ended in giving 
 the whole of Southern India to France. Even as it was, Colonel 
 Malleaon shows how narrowly the prize slipped from French grasp. 
 In 1783 the Treaty of Versailles arrived just in time t'^ save the 
 British power from extinction.' — Times. 
 
 ' One of the best of Sir W. Hunter s interesting and valuable series. 
 Colonel Malleson writes out of the fulness of familiarity, moving with 
 ease over a field which he had long ago surveyed in every nook and 
 corner. To do a small book as well as this on Dupleix has been done, 
 will be recognised by competent judges as no small achievement. 
 When one considers the bulk of the material out of which the little 
 volume has been distilled, one can still better appreciate the labour 
 and dexterity involved in the performance.' — Academy. 
 
 ' A most compact and effective history of the French in India in a 
 little handbook of 180 pages.' — Nonconformist. 
 
 'Well arranged, lucid and eminently readable, an excellent addition 
 to a most useful series.' — Record. 
 
 COLONEL MALLESON'S 'AKBAR.' 
 
 ' Colonel Malleson's interesting monograph on Akbar in the "Rulers 
 of India" (Clarendon Press) should more than satisfy the general 
 reader. Colonel Malleson traces the origin and foundation of the 
 Mughal Empire ; and, as an introduction to the history of Muhamma- 
 dan India, the book leaves nothing to be desired.' — St. Jameses Gazette. 
 
 * This volume will, no doubt, be welcomed, even by experts in 
 Indian history, in the light of a new, clear, and terse rendering of an 
 old, but not worn-out theme. It is a worthy and valuable addition 
 to Sir W. Hunter s promising series.' — AthencBum, 
 
 * Colonel Malleson has broken ground new to the general reader. 
 The story of Akbar is briefly but clearly told, with an account of what 
 he was and what he did, and how he found and how he left India. . . . 
 The native chronicles of the reign are many, and from theu) it is still 
 possible, as Colonel Malleson has shown, to construct a living portrait 
 of this great and mighty potentate.' — Scots Observer. 
 
 'The brilliant historian of the Indian Mutiny has been assigned in 
 this volume of the series an important epoch and a strong personality 
 for critical study, and he has admirably fulfilled his task. . . . Alike in 
 dress and style, this volume is a fit companion for its predecessor.' — 
 Manchester Guardian. 
 
aDpinions of tfte l|9res0 
 
 ON 
 
 CAPTAIU TROTTER'S 'WARREN HASTINGS.' 
 
 ' The publication, recently noticed in this place, of the " Letters, 
 Despatches, and other State Papers preserved in tlie Foreign Depart- 
 ment (if the Government of India, 177 2-1 785," has thrown entirely new 
 light from the most authentic sources on the whole history of Warren 
 Hastings and his government of India. Captain L. J. Trotter's 
 Wakken Hastings, a volume of the " Rulers of India" series, edited 
 by Sir W. Hunter (Oxford, at the Clarendon Press), is accordingly 
 neither ino|)portune nor devoid of an adequate raisou cCetre. " The 
 present volume," says a brief preface, " endeavours to exhibit for the 
 first time the actual work of that great Governor-Geneial, as reviewed 
 from the firm stand-point of the original records now made available to 
 the students of Indian history." Captain Trotter is well known a.s a 
 competent and attractive writer on Indian history, and this is not the 
 first time that Warren Hastings has supplied him with a theme.' — 
 The Times. 
 
 * He has put his best work into this memoir . . . Captain Trotter's 
 memoir is more valuable [than Sir A. Lyall's] from a strictly historical 
 point of view. It contains more of the history of the period, and it 
 embraces the very latest information that casts light on Hastings' re- 
 markable career . . . His work too is of distinct literary merit, and is 
 worthy of a theme than which British history presents none nobler. 
 It is a distinct gain to the British race to be enabled, as it now may, 
 to count the great Governor-General among those heroes for whom 
 it need not blush.' — Scotsman. 
 
 ' Captain Trotter has done his work well, and his volume deserves 
 to stand with that on Dalhousie by Sir William Hunter. Higher 
 praise it would be hard to give it.' — New York Herald. 
 
 ' This is an able book, written with candour and discrimination.' — 
 Leeds Mercury. 
 
 * Captain Trotter has done full justice to the fascinating story of the 
 splendid achievements of a great Englishman.' — Manchester Guardian. 
 
 * This neat little volume contains a brief but admirable biography of 
 the first Governor-General of India. The author has been fortunate in 
 having had access to State papers which cover the period of the 
 entire rule of VVarren Hastings.' — The Newcastle Chronicle. 
 
 o 
 
 * In preparing this sketch for " The Rulers of India," Captain 
 Trotter has had the advantage of consulting the " Letters, Despatches, 
 and other State Papers preserved in the Foreign Department of the 
 Government of India, 1772-85," a period which covers the entire 
 administration of WaiTen Hastings. The present volume, therefore, 
 may truly claim that it " exhibits for the first time the actual work of 
 the great Governor-General, as reviewed from the firm stand-point of 
 original records." It is a book which all must peruse who desire to 
 be " up to'date " on the subject.' — The Globe. 
 
©pinions of tfje ipte00 
 
 ON 
 
 TISCOTOT HAEDII&E'S 'LOEL HARDIlf&E.' 
 
 ' An exception to the rule that biographies ought not to be entrusted 
 to near relatives. Lord Hardinge, a scholar and an artist, has given 
 us an accurate record of his father's long and distinguished services. 
 There is no filial exaggeration. The author has dealt with some con- 
 troversial matters with skill, and has managed to combine truth witli 
 tact and regard for the feelings of others.' — The Saturday Revieiv. 
 
 'This interesting life reveals the first Lord Hardinge as a brave, 
 just, able man, the very soul of honour, admired and trusted equally 
 by friends and political opponents. The biographer . . . has produced a 
 most engaging volume, which is enriched by many private and official 
 documents that have not before seen the light.' — The Anti-Jacobin. 
 
 ' Lord Hardinge has accomplished a grateful, no doubt, but, from 
 the abundance of material and delicacy of certain matters, a very 
 difiScult task in a workmanlike manner, marked by restraint and 
 lucidity.'— r^e Fall Mall Gazette. 
 
 * His son and biogi'apher has done his work with a true appreciation 
 of proportion, and has added substantially to our knowledge of the 
 Sutlej Campaign.' — Vanity Fair. 
 
 *The present Lord Hardinge is in some respects exceptionally well 
 qualified to tell the tale of the eventful four years of his father's 
 Grovernor-Generalship.' — The Times. 
 
 * It contains a full account of everything of importance in Lord 
 Hardinge's military and political career ; it is ai-ranged ... so as to 
 bring into special prominence his government of India ; and it gives a 
 lifelike and striking picture of the man.' — Academy. 
 
 * The style is clear, the treatment dispassionate, and the total result 
 a manual which does credit to the interesting series in which it figures.' 
 —The Globe. 
 
 The concise and vivid account which the son has given of his 
 father's career will interest many readers.' — The Morning Post. 
 
 ' Eminently readable for everybody. The history is given succinctly, 
 and the unpublished letters quoted are of real value.' — The Colonies 
 and India. 
 
 ' Compiled from public documents, family papers, and letters, this 
 brief biography gives the reader a clear idea of what Hardinge was, 
 both as a soldier and as an administrator.' — The Manchester Examiner. 
 
 * An admirable sketch.' — The New York Serald. 
 
 ' The Memoir is well and concisely written, and is accompanied by 
 an excellent likeness after the portrait by Sir Francis Grant.' — The 
 Queen. 
 
flDpinions of tfje Press 
 
 ON 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL SIR OWEN BURNE'S 
 'CLYDE AND STRATHNAIRN.' 
 
 * In " Clyde and Strathnaim," a contribution to Sir William Hunter's 
 excellent " Knlers of India" series (Oxford, at the Clarendon Press), 
 Sir Owen Burne gives a lucid sketch of the military history of the 
 Indian Mutiny and it3 suppression by the two great soldiers who give 
 their names to his book. The space is limited for so large a theme, but 
 Sir Owen Burne skilfully adjusts his treatment to his limits, and rarely 
 violates the conditions of proportion imposed upon him.' . . . ' Sir Owen 
 Burne does not confine himself exclusively to the military narrative. 
 He gives a brief sketch of the rise and progress of the Mutiny, and 
 devotes a chapter to the Reconstruction which followed its suppression.' 
 ... * — well written, well proportioned, and eminently worthy of the 
 series to which it belongs.' — The Times. 
 
 'Sir Owen Burne who, by association, experience, and relations with 
 one of these generals, is well qualified for the task, writes with know- 
 ledge, perspicuity, and fairness.' — Saturday/ Review. 
 
 * As a brief record of a momentous epoch in India this little book is 
 a remarkable piece of clear, concise, and interesting writing.' — The 
 Colonies and India. 
 
 *Sir Owen Burne has written this book carefully, brightly, and 
 with excellent judgment, and we in India cannot read such a book 
 without feeling that he has powerfully aided the accomplished editor 
 of the series in a truly patriotic enterprise.' — Bomhay Gazette. 
 
 'The volume on "Clyde and Strathnairn " has just appeared and 
 proves to be a really valuable addition to the series. Considering its 
 size and the extent of ground it covers it is one of the best books about 
 the Indian Mutiny of which we know.' — Englishman. 
 
 ' Sir Owen Burne, who has written the latest volume for Sir William 
 Hunter's "Rulers of India" series, is better qualified than any living 
 person to narrate, from a military standpoint, the story of the suppres- 
 sion of the Indian Mutiny.' — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 *Sir Owen Burne's book on "Clyde and Strathnairn" is worthy to 
 rank with the best in the admirable series to which it belongs.' — - 
 Manchester Examiner. 
 
 * The book is admirably written ; and there is probably no better 
 sketch, equally brief, of the stirring events with which it deals.' 
 Scotsman. § 
 
 * Sir Owen Burne, from the part he played in the Indian Mutiny, and 
 from his long connexion with the Government of India, and from the 
 fact that he was military secretary of Lord Strathnairn i oth in India 
 and in Ireland, is well quaKfied for the task which he has undertaken.' — 
 The Athenceum. 
 
©pinions of tbe Pres0 
 
 ON 
 
 ME. KEENE'S 'MAIHAYA EAO SIITDHIA.' 
 
 ' The life of such a man should be interesting to all those who have en- 
 tered, however remotely, into the inheritance of his labours: and Mr. Keene 
 is well qualified, both by his knowledge of Indian history and his literary 
 dexterity in its treatment, to do justice to his subject/ — The Times. 
 
 ' Mr. Keene has the enormous advantage, not enjoyed by every 
 producer of a book, of knowing intimately the topic he has taken up. 
 He has compressed into these 203 pages an immense amount of informa- 
 tion, drawn from the best sources, and presented with much neatness and 
 effect . . . Such a life was worth tracing in connection with the general 
 history of the times ; and that is the task which Mr. Keene has so well 
 fulfilled in this concise, yet attractive, little volume.' — The Globe. 
 
 ' In this brief monograph Mr. Keene goes over the ground already tra- 
 versed by him in his " Fall of the Moghul Empire." But the particular 
 work which gives Sindhia his place in Indian history ... is here made 
 more clearly manifest,while the book deals almost as much in general his- 
 tory as in biography . . It is valuable as bringing out the originality as well 
 as the greatness of the unacknowledged ruler of Hindustan . . . The book 
 is interesting . .. and forms a valuable addition to the series.' — Scotsman. 
 
 ' Mr. Keene tells the story with knowledge and impartiality, and also 
 with sufficient graphic power to make it thoroughly readable. The 
 recognition of Sindhia in the "Rulers" series is just and graceful, 
 and it cannot fail to give satisfaction to the educated classes of our 
 Indian fellow-subjects.' — North British Daily Mail. 
 
 ' This is probably the most romantic volume in the whole series, and 
 the Sindhia's difference in attitude towai'ds De Boigne and Warren 
 Hastings is very interestingly stated. The history of the foundation of 
 our Indian Empire receives much elucidation from this admirable 
 volume.' — Liverpool Mercury. 
 
 ' Mr. H.G. Keene, C.I.E., M. A., has added a very acceptable volume to 
 the popular half-crown series of works on former potentates in England's 
 vast Indian dependency . . . From the signal defeat of the Marathas at 
 Panipat, in 176 1, in which engagement Sindhia, after fighting valiantly, 
 very nearly lost his life, until his death in 1 794, his varying fortunes are 
 traced. The important afiairs in which he figured so prominently, as also 
 the intrigues and machinations that were directed against him, are re- 
 corded, whilst the desirable effect of his policy in assuaging the fierce 
 passions and civilising the habits of the people is depicted. The volume 
 bears incontestable proofs of the expenditure of considerable research 
 by the author, and sustains the reputation he had already acquired 
 by his " Sketch of the History of Hindustan." ' — Freeman s Journal. 
 
 * Among the eighteen rulers of India included in the scheme of Sir 
 William Hunter only five are natives of India, and of these the great 
 Madhoji Sindhia is, with the exception of Akbar, the most illustrious. 
 Mr. H. G. Keene, a well-known and skilful writer on Indian questions, 
 is fortunate in his subject, for the career of the greatest bearer of the 
 historic name of Sindhia covered the exciting period from the capture 
 of Delhi, the Imperial capital, by tlie Persian Nadir Shah, to the occu- 
 pation of the same city by Lord Lake. . . . Mr. Keene gives a lucid 
 desci-iption of his subsequent policy, especially towards the English 
 when he was brought face to face with Warren Hastings. The conclu- 
 sion of his hostility to us was the real beginning of his own political 
 career in India,' — The Daily Graphic. 
 
©pinions of tibc lPre0s; 
 
 ON 
 
 SIR HENRY CUNNINGHAM'S *EARL 
 
 CANNING.' 
 
 "The life of Earl Canning, the Viceroy of the Indian Mutiny, affords 
 an excellent subject for a biographer who knows his business, and 
 therefore we need hardly say that " Earl Canning," by Sir H. S. 
 Cunningham, K.C.I.E., is an admirable contribution to the series of 
 the "Rulers of India" edited by Sir W. W. Hunter (Oxford, at the 
 Clarendon Press). Sir Henry Cunningham's rare literary skill and his 
 knowledge of Indian life and affairs are not now displayed for the first 
 time, and he has enjoyed exceptional advantages in dealing with his 
 present subject. Lord Granville, Canning's contemporary at school 
 and colleague in public life and one of his oldest friends, furnished his 
 biographer with notes of his recollections of the early life of his friend. 
 Sir Henry Cunningham has also been allowed access to the Diary of 
 Canning's private secretary, to the Journal of his military secretary, 
 and to an interesting correspondence between the Governor-General 
 and his great lieutenant. Lord Lawrence. Of these exceptional ad- 
 vantages he has made excellent use, and the result is a biography 
 second in interest to none in the series to which it belongs.' — The Times. 
 
 * Sir Henry Cunningham's "Earl Canning " is a model monogi-aph. 
 The writer knows India, as well as Indian history, well ; and his story 
 has a vividness which none but an Anglo-Indian could so well have 
 imparted to it. It has also the advantage of being founded to a large 
 extent on hitherto unused material.' — The Globe. 
 
 ' Sir H. S. Cunningham has succeeded in writing the history of a 
 critical period in so fair and dispassionate a manner as to make it 
 almost a matter of astonishment that the motives which he has so 
 clearly grasped should ever have been misinterpreted, and the results 
 which he indicates so grossly misjudged. Nor is the excellence of his 
 work less conspicuous from the literary than from the political and 
 historical point of view. The style is clear and vivid, the language 
 well chosen and vigorous, the disposition of details and accessories 
 striking and artistic, and, indeed, under whatever aspect the work be 
 considered, it reaches the high standard of workmanship which, from 
 the outset, has been a distinguishing feature of the series.' — Glasgow 
 Herald. 
 
 ' Sir H. S. Cunningham was fortunate, in a literary sense, in the 
 particular Viceroy and period of Indian history allotted to his pen in 
 the important and valuable series of biographical volumes on " Rulers 
 of India," being published at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, under the 
 editorship of Sir William Wilson Hunter. In HJarl Canning, first 
 Viceroy of India, Sir H. S. Cunningham had a subject sufficiently 
 inspiring to all who admire honour, courage, patience, wisdom, all the 
 virtues and qualities which go to the building up of the character of an 
 ideal English gentleman ; while the episode of the Mutiny, culminating 
 in the fall of Lucknow, lends itself to the more picturesque and 
 graphic description. Sir H. S. Cunningham has treated his subject ade- 
 quately. In vivid language he paints his word-pictures, and with calm 
 judicial analysis he also proves himself an able critic of the actualities, 
 causes, and results of the outbreak, also a temperate, just appreciator 
 of the character and policy of Earl Canning.' — The Court Journal. 
 
 P 2 
 
iaDpmion0 of tU Pre00 
 
 ON 
 
 MR. DEMETRIUS BOULGER'S ' LORD 
 T^ILLIAM BENTINCK; 
 
 'The '' Rulers of India" series has received a valuable addition in 
 the biography of the late Lord William Bentinck. The subject of this 
 interesting memoir was a soldier as well as a statesman. He was 
 mainly instrumental in bringing about the adoption of the overland 
 route and in convincing the people of India that a main factor in Eng- 
 lish policy was a disinterested desire for their welfare. Lord VVilliau)'s 
 despatches and minutes, several of which are textually reproduced in 
 Mr. Boulger's praiseworthy little book, display considerable literary 
 skill and are one and all State papers of signal worth.' — Daily 2'ele- 
 graph. 
 
 ' Mr. Boulger is no novice in dealing with Oriental history and 
 Oriental affairs, and in the career of Lord William Bentinck he has 
 found a theme very much to his taste, which he treats with adequate 
 knowledge and literary skill.' — The Times. 
 
 ' His frontier policy was conciliatory, but full of foresight. His minute 
 on the subject of Afghanistan and the advance of Russia in Asia may 
 be read with advantage to-day, nearly sixty years after it was written. 
 Similarly, his observations on the armies of India have lost by no means 
 all of their force, and Mr. Boulger has done a public service in printing 
 the document.' — Daily News. 
 
 ' How all this was effected has been clearly and forcibly set forth by 
 Mr. Boulger. Though concisely written, his memoir omits nothing 
 really essential to a thorough understanding and just appreciation of 
 Bentinck's work, and of the results which flowed from it, even after he 
 had ceased to be at the head of Indian affairs. Mr. Boulger's estimate 
 of the statesman is eminently fair and dispassionate, based on a 
 thorough knowledge of his administration in all its details. Altogether 
 the little work is a valuable addition to a most useful series.' — Glasgoio 
 Merald. 
 
 ' Mr. Boulger writer clearly and well, and his volume finds an ac- 
 cepted place in the very useful and informing series which Sir William 
 Wilson Hunter is editing so ably.' — Independent. 
 
 * Lord William Bentinck occupies a distinct place among Indian 
 Governors- General. His rule maybe regarded as the commencement of 
 an epoch. Mr. Boulger has not to tell a stirring story of war and conquest, 
 but the record of Lord William Bentinck's domestic reforms, by which he 
 began the regeneration of India, is as deeply interesting and certainly 
 as well worth studying as any chapter of preceding Indian history. 
 Mr. Boulger lias produced an excellent brief history of the period, and 
 a capital life of the Governor-General. The volume is one of the series 
 of " Rulers of India," and none of them is better worthy of perusal.' — 
 The Scotsman. 
 
 * Mr. Boulger, it should be added, has done his work with care and 
 judgment.' — Globe, 
 
flDpiniong of t&e Pre00 
 
 ON 
 
 SIR LEPEL GRIFFIN'S ' RANJIT SINGH.' 
 
 * Sir Lepel GriflBn treats his topic with thorough mastery, and his 
 account of the famous Mah^rjCjjC and his times is, consequently, one of 
 the most valuable as well as interesting volumes of the series of which 
 it forms apart.' — The Globe. 
 
 * We can thoroughly praise Sir Lepel Griffin's work as an accurate 
 and appreciative account of the beginnings and growth of the Sikh 
 religion and of the temporal power founded upon it by a strong and 
 remorseless chieftain.' — The Times. 
 
 ' One of the best books recently published on any Indian question.' — 
 T7ie Manchester Guardian. 
 
 * The reading public has here the essence of all that is worth know- 
 ing about the period.' — The Glasgow Evening News. 
 
 ' From first to last it is a model of what such a work should be, and 
 a classic. The book is one of the most interesting historical sketches 
 ever given to the public, and illustrated throughout by a unique 
 acquaintance with the subject, and exquisite point.' — The St. Stephens 
 Review. 
 
 ' Sir Lepel has done justice to one of the most interesting and pic- 
 turesque episodes of Indian history. In every respect, but perhaps 
 most of all from the point of view of the general reader who does not 
 wholly subordinate enjoyment to instruction, the volume is a most 
 acceptable addition to the series.' — The Glasgow Herald. 
 
 ' The monograph could not have been entrusted to more capable 
 hands than those of Sir Lepel Griffin, who spent his official life in the 
 Punjaub, and is an expert in all the knowledge appertaining to a 
 thorough acquaintance, practical and bookish, with that province. This 
 is an excellent sketch of Eanjit Singh, his people, and his short-lived 
 kingdom.' — The Scotsman. 
 
 ' At once the shortest and best history of the rise and fall of the 
 Sikh monarchy.' — The North British Daily Mail. 
 
 ' An excellent piece of work — candid, discriminating, and well- 
 balanced.' — The Yorkshire Fast. 
 
 ' Not only a biography of the Napoleon of the East, but a luminous 
 picture of his country ; the chapter on Sikh Theocracy being a notable 
 example of compact thought. For grasp of subject, careful treatment, 
 and charm of narration, this volume is second to none in the series. It 
 may fairly be said to " speak volumes," and possesses an exceptional 
 value as being by our chief authority on Punjab matters.' — The Liver- 
 pool Mercury. 
 
 ' The career of no Indian ruler since the Moghul Aurungzebe and 
 the Mahratta Sivaji presents a finer subject for the historian; and it 
 would be difficult to find a writer better qualified than Sir Lepel Griffin 
 to deal with such a subject.' — The St. James's Gazette. 
 
 * A truly masterly account of Eanjit Singh and the short-lived Sikh 
 monarchy of Lahore.' — The World. 
 
 *■ The sketch is in every respect a masterly one, and proves its author 
 to be capable of producing something on a larger scale that would be 
 unsurpassed among histories of our great dependency.' — The Literary 
 World. 
 
 P3 
 
Dpimon0 of tfte Ptes0 
 
 ON 
 
 MR. J. S. COTTONS * MOUNTSTUART 
 ELPHINSTONE.' 
 
 ' Sir William Hunter, the editor of the series to which this book 
 belongs, was happily inspired when he entrusted the Life of Elphin- 
 stone, one of the most scholarly of Indian rulers, to Mr. Cotton, who, 
 himself a scholar of merit and repute, is brought by the nature of his 
 daily avocations into close and constant relations with scholars. . . . We 
 live in an age in which none but specialists can afford to give more time 
 to the memoirs of even the most distinguished Anglo-Indians than will 
 be occupied by reading Mr. Cotton's two hundred pages. He has per- 
 formed his task with great skill and good sense. This is just the kind 
 of Life of himself which the wise, kindly, high-souled man, who is the 
 subject of it, would read with pleasure in the Elysian Fields.' — Sir M. 
 E. Grant Duff, in The Academy. 
 
 * To so inspiring a theme few writers are better qualified to do ample 
 justice than the author of "The Decennial Statement of the Moral and 
 Material Progress and Condition of India." Sir T. Colebrooke's larger 
 biography of Elphin stone appeals mainly to Indian specialists, but 
 Mr. Cotton's slighter sketch is admirably adapted to satisfy the growing 
 demand for a knowledge of Indian history and of the personalities of 
 Anglo-Indian statesmen which Sir William Hunter has done so much 
 to create.' — The Times. 
 
 * This is the story of a brilliant life, brilliantly told. Mr. Cotton has 
 a crisp style, a wide knowledge of Indian history, and a strong sympathy 
 for his hero.' — The Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 ' Mr. Cotton's " Life of Mountstuart Elphinstone " is one of the most 
 readable of the valuable volumes that have appeared in the series of 
 " Rulers of India." Mr. Cotton has avoided tediousness by the con- 
 densation of matter, and has secured the interest and close attention of 
 his reader by a bright and nimble style which carries him along with 
 quite exhilarating rapidity, yet without skipping the really salient 
 features of the period.' — The Scotsman. 
 
 *Mr. Cotton has evidently performed a congenial task in writing 
 this excellent little biography, for he has produced a volume so pleasant 
 to read that it can scarcely be the result of labour against the grain. 
 He has given us an account of the public career of a man who, though 
 he declined the post of Governor-General, well deserves to rank among 
 the ablest " Rulers of India," and of those literary pursuits which occu- 
 pied Elphinstone's spare time during his period of oflBce, and bore good 
 and abiding fruit both in his despatches and his historical work.' — The 
 Journal of Education. 
 
 'The author has evidently taken great pains to make the book what 
 a monograph of the kind ought to be; and those who are familiar with 
 Anglo-Indian history during the early part of the current century will 
 appreciate the praise we offer when we say that he has succeeded in 
 making it worthy of its subject.' — The World. 
 
 ' A masterpiece of skilful and sympathetic workmanship. . . . Such 
 a life could scarcely be told without exciting interest : told as it is by 
 Mr. Cotton, it combines all the qualities of that oft-abused word — fas- 
 cination.' — The Queen. 
 
©pinions of tU Pre0!5 
 
 ON 
 
 ME. MORSE STEPHEIS' 'AIBUQTJERQUE.' 
 
 * Mr. Stephens' able and instructive monograph . . . We may commend 
 Mr. Morse Stephens' volume, both as an adequate summary of an 
 important period in the history of the relations between Asia and 
 Europe, and as a suggestive treatment of the problem of why Portugal 
 failed and England succeeded in founding an Indian Empu-e.' — lite 
 Times. 
 
 * Mr. H. Morse Stephens has made a very readable book out of the 
 foundation of the Portuguese power in India. According to the 
 practice of the series to which it belongs it is called a life of Affonso de 
 Albuquerque, but the Governor is only the central and most important 
 figure in a brief history of the Portuguese in the East down to the time 
 when the Dutch and English intruded on their preserves ... A plea- 
 santly-written and trustworthy book on an interesting man and time.* 
 — The Saturday Review. 
 
 ' It is ever with a sense of pleasure that the experienced critic sees 
 upon a title-page the name of Mr. Morse Stephens. He is always clear 
 and cogent, ever a profound master of his subject. . . . Albuquerque 
 had more, perhaps, than the average defects of his qualities, but he 
 was a great man, and his career has all the charm of a romance com- 
 bined with a lesson in thoroughness. Mr. Stephens has never done 
 better work than in this book, though in extent it will hold but a small 
 space in comparison with his other works. — The Daily Chronicle. 
 
 ' Mr, Morse Stephens' Albuquerque is a solid piece of work, well put 
 together, and full of interest.' — The Athenceum. 
 
 * Mr. Morse Stephens' studies in Indian and Portuguese history have 
 thoroughly well qualified him for approaching the subject . . . He has 
 presented the facts of Albuquerqiae's career, and sketched the events 
 marking the rule of his predecessor Almeida, and of his immediate 
 successors in the Governorship and Viceroyalty of India in a compact, 
 lucid, and deeply interesting form.' — The Scotsman. 
 
 * The story is told by Mr. Stephens with his usual ability and care, 
 and the book as a whole may be recommended as one of the most 
 interesting in a very interesting series.' — The Manchester Guardian. 
 
 * An admirable monograph on AfFonso de Albuquerque.' — The Rock. 
 
 * This is an interesting series, but it has no more readable volume 
 than that which deals with the broad-minded, tenacious Albuquerque.' 
 — The Yorkshire Post. 
 
 * Sir William Hunter is again exceptionally fortunate in being able 
 to enlist so distinguished a specialist as Mr. H. Morse Stephens . . . The 
 accomplished author of the ' Story of Portugal ' has been fully equal to 
 his high reputation in this monograph, and within the space of some two 
 hundred pages Mr. Stephens furnishes a bright and interesting sketch 
 of the rise of the Portuguese power in India.' — The English Mail, 
 
aDpinion0 of ttt Pte05 
 
 ON 
 
 SIR CHARLES AITCHISOK'S LORD LAWRENCE. 
 
 'Sir Charles Aitchison in the admirable li'tle monograph he has 
 contributed to the " Rulers of India Series " brings to his task profound 
 knowledge, mature judgment, and great literary skill. Hence his 
 biography is an admirable piece of work eminently worthy of the 
 excellent series in which it appears.' — Times. 
 
 * No man knows the policy, principles, and character of John 
 Lawrence better than Sir Charles Aitchison. The salient features 
 and vital principles of his work as a ruler, first in the Punjab, and 
 afterwards as Viceroy, are set forth with remarkable clearness.' — 
 Scotsman. 
 
 'The chapter on Afghan affairs is instructive reading.' — Literary 
 World. 
 
 ' Nobody more thoroughly qualified than Sir Charles Aitchison could 
 have been chosen to write that sketch of the career of Lord Lawrence, 
 without which the series devoted to India could not be considered 
 complete.' — Glasgoio JSerald. 
 
 ' No one could have given the facts of Lawrence's life or estimated 
 their weight and importance more clearly or more truly.' — Manchester 
 Guardian. 
 
 ' A book of really first-rate interest.' — Freeman's Journal. 
 
 * The admirable " Rulers of India " series gains another good volume 
 in this sketch of the Indian career of Lord Lawrence. Sir Charles 
 Aitchison writes a graphic and brilliant account of the suppression of 
 the mutiny in the Punjab and the capture of Delhi — the saving of Upper 
 India by Lawrence.' — North British Daily Mail. 
 
 * It is one of the volumes that deserves to be specially studied by 
 those who wish to learn how our great Indian Empire was rescued.' — 
 Manchester Courier. 
 
 ' Sir Charles Aitchison writes a worthy and eminently readable volume. 
 The book will be among the most popular of the series.' — Some News. 
 
 * A most admirable sketch of the great work done by Sir John 
 Lawrence, who not only ruled India, but saved it.' — Manchester 
 Examiner. 
 
 ' Sir Charles Aitchison's narrative is uniformly marked by directness, 
 order, clearness, and grasp ; it throws additional light into certain 
 nooks of Indian affairs ; and it leaves upon the mind a very vivid 
 and complete impression of Lord Lawrence's vigorous, resourceful, 
 discerning, and valiant personality.' — Newcastle Daily Chronicle. 
 
 ' Sir Charles Aitchison has accomplished his task with exceptional 
 skill.' — English Mail. 
 
 * Sir Charles knows the Punjab thoroughly, and has made this little 
 book all the more interesting by his account of the Punjab under John 
 Lawrence and his subordinates.' — Yorkshire Post. 
 
 ' The book is one that every student of Eastern affairs will possess as 
 a matter of course ; it is of such great general interest that it deserves 
 a wide circle of readers outside its pcsition as one of the " Rulers " 
 series.' — Bradford Observer, 
 
SDpmiong of tf)e lpre00 
 
 ON 
 
 MAJOR ROSS OF BLADENSBURG'S 
 'MARQUESS OP HASTINGS.' 
 
 ' Major Ross of Bladensburg treats his subject skilfully and attrac- 
 tively, and li:s biography of Lord Hastings worthily sustains the high 
 reputation of the Series in which it appears.' — The Times. 
 
 ' This monograph is entitled to rank with the best of the Series, the 
 compiler having dealt capably and even brilliantly with his materials.' 
 — English Mail. 
 
 'Instinct with interest.' — Glasgoiv Evening News. 
 
 * As readable as it is instructive.' — Globe. 
 
 * Major Ross of Bladensburg has contributed a brief, clear, and 
 vigorously written life of the Marquess of Hastings.' — Scotsman. 
 
 ' Major Ross does justice to the energ)', public spirit, and prescience 
 which Lord Hastings displayed.' — Leeds Mercury. 
 
 * A truly admirable monograph.' — Glasgoiv Herald. 
 
 * Major Ross has done bis work admirably, and bids fair to be one of 
 the best writers the Army of our day has given to the country. ... A 
 most acceptable and entrancing little volume.' — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 * A most interesting sketch of an eventful career.' — Liverpool 
 Mercury. 
 
 ' Major Ross has done his work exceedingly well and given us a vivid 
 picture of a great administrator. He shows us Hastings both as a 
 soldier and diplomatist, and the book may be studied with advantage 
 by all who have any interest in our Indian Empire. We have nothing 
 but the heartiest commendation for a most interesting book, which, we 
 trust, will be as widely read as it deserves.' — Court Circular. 
 
 *It is a volume that merits the highest praise. Major Ross of 
 Bladensburg has represented Lord Hastings and his work in India 
 in the right light, faithfully described the country as it was, and in 
 a masterly manner makes one realize how important was the period 
 covered by this volume.' — Manchester Courier. 
 
 ' Admirably illustrates the conditions and character of our rule in 
 India. The story is told in a vigorous and lucid narrative.' — Record. 
 
 * A careful and scholarly memoir.' — People. 
 
 * This excellent monograph ought not to be overlooked by any one 
 who would fully learn the history of British rule in India.' — Manchester 
 Examiner. 
 
 * Major Ross of Bladensburg writes with ease and clearness, and he 
 gives the history of Lord Hastings' administration with care and 
 insight.' — Netvcastle Leader. 
 
Uniform with the ' Rulers of India ' Series, 3s. 6d. 
 
 A BRIEF HISTORY OP THE INDIAN 
 
 PEOPLES. 
 
 Standard Edition (Twentieth), revised to 1892. 
 Seventy-eighth Thousand. 
 
 This Edition incorporates the suggestions received by the author 
 from Directors of Public Instruction and other educational authorities 
 in India; its statistics are brought down to the Census of 1891 ; and 
 its narrative, to 1892. The work has received the emphatic approval 
 of the organ of the English School Boards, and has been translated 
 into five languages. It is largely employed for educational purposes in 
 Europe and America and as a text-book prescribed by the University 
 of Calcutta for its Entrance Examination from 1886 to 1891. 
 
 * "A Brief History of the Indian Peoples," by W. W. Hunter, pre- 
 sents a sort of bird's-eye view both of India and of its people from the 
 earliest dawn of historical records .... A work of authority and of 
 original value.' — The Daily News (London). 
 
 ' Dr. Hunter may be said to have presented a compact epitome of the 
 results of his researches into the early history of India ; a subject upon 
 which his knowledge is at once exceptionally wide and exceedingly 
 thorough.' — The Scotsman. 
 
 ' Within the compass of some 250 pages we know of no history of the 
 people of India so concise, so interesting, and so useful for educational 
 purposes as this.' — The School Board Chronicle (London). 
 
 ' For its size and subject there is not a better written or more trust- 
 worthy history in existence.' — The Journal of Education. 
 
 ' So thoroughly revised as to entitle it to separate notice.' — The Times. 
 
 * Dr. Hunter's history, if brief, is comprehensive. It is a storehouse 
 of facts marshalled in a masterly style ; and presented, as history 
 should be, without the slightest suspicion of prejudice or suggestion of 
 partisanship. Dr. Hunter observes a style of severe simplicity, which 
 is the secret of an impressive presentation of details.' — The Daily 
 Review (Edinburgh). 
 
 ' By far the best manual of Indian History that has hitherto been 
 published, and quite equal to any of the Historical Series for Schools 
 edited by Dr. Freeman. We trust that it will soon be read in all the 
 schools in this Presidency.' — The Times of India. 
 
 Extract from a criticism by Edward Giles, Esq., Inspector of Schools, 
 Northern Division, Bombay Presidency: — 'What we require is a 
 book which shall be accurate as to facts, but not overloaded with 
 them ; written in a style which shall interest, attract, and guide un- 
 cultivated readers ; and short, because it must be sold at a reasonable 
 price. These conditions have never, in my opinion, been realized 
 previous to the introduction of this book.' 
 
 ' The publication of the Hon. W. W. Hunter's " School History of 
 India " is an event in literary history.' — Reis & Rayyet (Calcutta). 
 
 ' He has succeeded in writing a history of India, not only in such a 
 way that it will be read, but also in a way which we hope will lead 
 young Englishmen and young natives of India to think more kindly 
 of each other. The Calcutta University has done wisely in prescribing 
 this brief history as a text-book for the Entrance Examination.' — The 
 Hindoo Patriot (Calcutta). 
 
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