Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/117

  of the revolt of 1857 he urged upon the government the duty of publicly supporting the propagation of the gospel in India by projects which were generally condemned at the time, and which are now all but forgotten. This part of Edwardes's public life has been thus summed up by a generally sympathetic writer: 'In his scheme for governing India on christian principles and his subsequent addresses to London audiences the brilliant commissioner of Peshawur betrayed a curious lack of sound statesmanship, an unchristian contempt for that form of justice which aims at treating others as we would be treated ourselves. In this respect he differed widely from John Lawrence, whose fervent piety was largely tempered by his stern love of justice and his sturdy common sense' (, India under Victoria, 1886).

The epithet of the historian is well chosen. Edwardes was brilliant rather than large-minded. Gay, buoyant, self-relying, he carried the minds of other men with him on most occasions of his life. But his work had something temporary about it. He established few doctrines, and founded no school. On the general frontier question, indeed, his knowledge and experience saved him from rash counsels. But even here his policy was not new, having been founded by Elphinstone and affirmed by later statesmen. Where Edwardes was more of an originator he was less of a success; his extreme zeal for mission work in Afghanistan, for instance, can hardly be said to have been endorsed by events.

It is as a man of action that he deserves unstinted praise. He had a natural military genius, independent of professional training, and a strength of will and talent for administration, which stood in no need of technical instruction. If he was thrown into the world before he had completed his education, he was compensated by being surrounded at an early age by highly formative conditions. Under these he developed his great qualities, and finished his training in the wide school of experience. If untouched by the spirit of the age in Europe, he was all the more qualified for the mastery of Asiatics. With his success and his shortcomings, in his acquirements no less than in his limitations, he is a typical figure in a class to whom the nation owes a debt of gratitude. With the dashing spirit of the cavalier the early Punjab officer united something of the earnestness of the Ironside, but the very qualities which aided them in their rapid rise perhaps hindered them in after life. They were, for the most part, content to see other men build on their foundations.



EDWARDS, ARTHUR (d. 1743), major, for many years the archaeological ally of Dr. Stukeley and Lord Winchilsea (, Lit. Anecd. xi. 772), was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 17 Nov. 1725 ([Gough], List of Members of Soc. Antiq. 4to, 1798, p. 4). He died first major of the second troop of horse guards in Grosvenor Street, London, 22 June 1743 (Gent, Mag. xiii. 389; affidavit appended to will). His will of 11 June 1738 was proved at London 13 July 1743, a second grant being made 7 Nov. 1745 (registered in P. C. C, 230, Boycott). Therein he refers to his family merely as 'my brothers and sisters, the children of my father.' The fire of 23 Oct. 1731, by which the Cotton Library was so seriously injured, induced Edwards to make the munificent gift of 7,000l. to the trustees 'to erect and build such a house as may be most likely to presence that library as much as can be from all accidents.' Owing, however, to the protraction of a life interest in the legacy, it did not become available until other arrangements had made its application to building purposes needless (, Memoirs of libraries, i. 434, 460). It was consequently, in pursuance of the testator's contingent instructions, appropriated to the purchase of 'such manuscripts, books of antiquities, ancient coins, medals, and other curiosities as might be worthy to increase and inlarge the said Cotton Library.' Edwards also bequeathed about two thousand volumes of printed books and their cases; also, his 'pictures of King George the 1st, the Czar Peter, Oliver Cromwell, and Cosimo di Medicis the 1st, with his secretary, Bartolomeo Concini &hellip; to be placed in the aforesaid library.'



EDWARDS, BRYAN (1743–1800), West India merchant, was born at Westbury, Wiltshire, on 21 May 1743. His father inherited a small estate, valued at about 100l. a year, and to support his large family endeavoured to add to his income by dealings in corn and malt. This attempt did not prove successful, and at his death in 1756 his wife and six children were left, in poverty. Fortunately for his children's sake the widow had two rich brothers in the West Indies, and one of them, Zachary Bayly of Jamaica, took