Page:Imperialdictiona02eadi Brandeis.pdf/263

ELP he died in Broad Street, Carnaby Market, London, February 28, 1785.—E. W.  ELPHINSTONE,, a younger son of John, eleventh Lord Elphinstone in the peerage of Scotland, was born in 1779. At the age of eighteen he entered the civil service of the East India Company on the Bengal establishment, and shortly afterwards became attaché to the political resident at the court of the Peishwah. When the duke of Wellington visited that court early in the present century, he noticed the ability of young Elphinstone, and appointed him his aid-de-camp, in which capacity he was present at the battle of Assaye. He afterwards became resident at Nagpore (1806), and was subsequently sent as envoy to Cabul. The story of his mission in this capacity is told by him in a volume of which it has been truly said by a recent historian, that after the lapse of forty years, it is "still the delight of Anglo-Indian readers, and that future generations of writers and cadets will turn to its pages with undiminished interest." Having negotiated an alliance with Shah Soojah, Elphinstone returned to Calcutta, and shortly afterwards was appointed resident at the court of the Peishwah, who then held dominion as the chief of the Mahratta confederacy at Poonah. Towards the close of 1817, that treacherous potentate, whose allegiance had long been doubtful, threw off the mask and appeared in arms as the enemy of the British rule. The crisis was one well calculated to try the abilities and resources of the resident to the uttermost. The Mahratta troops attacked and burnt down the residency. Elphinstone, who had served in arms at Assaye, was not slow to order the British troops to march down and to attack the Mahrattas; and as the general in command was seized with a sudden fit during the action, the civilian fought the battle of Kirkee, and won and wore the medal for that action. The Peishwah fled, and after a few more blows, was forced to yield; his territories were declared to be forfeited, and Elphinstone was appointed by Lord Hastings to administer them on their annexation to the British empire. In this capacity he showed a remarkable ability and address, and administrative talents of the highest order; and in spite of their hostility to the British name, he won the love and respect of all the inhabitants of the conquered country. He governed and administered it for its interests, not for his own; he upheld the aristocracy in their possessions, and confirmed the titles of private landholders whom he found in possession, and pensioned such as had claims on his compassion, by reason of their sufferings and losses. Having thus proved himself an Indian statesman of the first class, he was preferred to several of his seniors, and, in one sense, more distinguished contemporaries, when the government of Bombay became vacant in 1820. The seven years during which he held this post were years of comparative peace, and he devoted them to the codification of the law. To quote the words of a contemporary writer—"The Elphinstone code, which now became law, might well be compared, for its brevity, completeness, clearness, and its enlightened provisions, to the code Napoleon," in imitation of which its leaves were coloured. The education of the upper classes was commenced, and the just administration of the law enforced. In 1827 he resigned the governorship of Bombay into the hands of his friend and successor, the late Sir John Malcolm; retired from the service upon a pension; and returned to England, where he spent the remainder of his life in literary labour, in dignified ease and retirement, between his chambers in the Albany and his country seat under the Surrey hills. Not long after his return to England he gave to the world his "History of India"—2 vols., 8vo, Murray—a work which treats elaborately of the Mahometan period, and is the standard book of reference on all subjects connected with that era. Twice the governor-generalship of India was offered to his acceptance, together with a peerage, a seat in the privy council, and other civil honours; but he declined them one and all. He was created an honorary D.C.L. of Oxford in 1833; but he never even sought to enter parliament, nor did he stoop to the ordinary means by which even men of note contrive to keep their names before the world. Himself a scholar, and one of no ordinary kind, at his retired country house he kept up the acquaintance of the learned men of the age, and enjoyed with equal relish the pleasures of European and of Eastern literature. Statesmen of every school were glad to have an opportunity of conversing with him there, and of taking counsel from his lips, as the highest of authorities on Indian questions; so that though he was for many years lost to the public view, he was still silently and secretly influencing the course of events. He was the last of that little knot of Indian statesmen whose names are associated in history with those of the two Wellesleys. If he had not the robust energy of Malcolm, or the resolute ambition of Metcalfe, he had a mind of a higher order than either of them. He combined in an extraordinary manner the finest literary taste with a capacity for public business, which would easily have raised him to the highest position if he had chosen to give it full scope for exercise. Satisfied, however, with a moderate instalment of both fame and fortune, he retired from public life in the full vigour of his years, and contented himself with watching from a distance the progress of events in which, had it pleased him, he might have taken the foremost part. He died at his country seat in Limpsfield, Surrey, on the 21st of November, 1859, at the ripe age of eighty years. He lived and died unmarried. It is not a little singular that his nephew, Lord Elphinstone, who died at the age of fifty-three in 1860, held also for a long period the governorship of Bombay.—E. W.  ELPHINSTONE,, a celebrated Scottish prelate and statesman, was born in Glasgow in 1431, and was connected with the noble family whose name he bore. He was educated at the grammar-school and university of his native city, and at the age of twenty obtained the degree of A.M. Having entered into holy orders, he officiated as priest of St. Michael's church, in St. Enoch's Gate (now Trongate) for four years. He then repaired to Paris, where he devoted himself so zealously to the study of civil and canon law, that he was appointed professor of that branch of learning, first at Paris, and afterwards at Orleans. After remaining nine years in France, he was persuaded to return home by Bishop Muirhead, who appointed him parson of Glasgow and official of the diocese. In the same year Elphinstone was chosen rector of the university. He was then nominated official of Lothian by Schevez, bishop of St. Andrews, and subsequently was summoned to parliament, and appointed by James III. one of the lords of his privy council. In this situation his great talents and address speedily attracted notice, and he was sent as a member of an embassy to France, where he was loaded with presents by Louis XI. as a mark of his esteem and confidence. On his return to Scotland in 1479 he was made archdeacon of Argyle, and was soon after elected bishop of Ross. In 1483 he was promoted to the see of Aberdeen, and in the following year he was nominated, along with a number of the leading nobles, to meet with commissioners from England for the purpose of settling some dispute between the two countries. Their conferences led to the conclusion of a peace which was to last for three years from September, 1484, to September, 1487. He was subsequently sent on various similar missions to England, and proved himself a most skilful negotiator. In the disputes which arose between James III. and his nobles, Bishop Elphinstone steadfastly adhered to the cause of his sovereign, and was rewarded for his loyalty and faithful services by his appointment to the office of lord high-chancellor of Scotland. On the death of the unfortunate James at the battle of Sauchie, Elphinstone retired to his diocese, and zealously devoted himself to the discharge of his episcopal duties. He reformed various abuses which had sprung up among his clergy, and composed a book of canons for their use. In 1488 he was sent on an embassy to the Emperor Maximilian, to ask his daughter Margaret in marriage for the young king. His mission was unsuccessful, as, before he could reach the imperial court, the lady had been promised in marriage to the heir of the Spanish throne. But on his way home the bishop concluded an advantageous treaty of peace between Scotland and the States of Holland. In 1492 he was appointed lord privy seal in the room of Bishop Hepburn. The country being now at peace, the public-sprited prelate availed himself of the favourable juncture to promote the progress of learning among his countrymen. He persuaded the king to solicit from Pope Alexander authority for the erection of a university in Aberdeen. The bishop's influence with the pope procured a ready compliance with this request, and a bull to that effect was sent in 1494. It was not, however, till the year 1506 that the college (now called King's college) was erected on the models of Paris and Bologna. By the united efforts of the king and the bishop, an ample endowment was provided for both professors and students. Bishop Elphinstone also contributed to the erection and embellishment of the cathedral of his diocese, erected at his own expense a stone bridge over the Dee, and 