Page:Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards to Burma.djvu/39

 State. But it would be irrational and ungrateful, in selecting some names from the roll of honour, to forget the obscure civilians whose fame is confined to the scene of their toil and there is conserved to this day in the traditions of the country side. They had their rewards even in their work. The area of cultivation had not been extended so far as to drive the tiger or game almost as noble beyond reach, and it was still an aphorism with the civilians in Lord Amherst's day that the best work was done when the district officer went amongst the people with his gun on his shoulder. Sport was more than a recreation; it was the means of gaining the confidence of the people and learning the truth about their affairs. The selfish adventurers whose notion of duty was to accumulate a fortune in the shortest time, and hurry back to England to spend it in the purchase of rotten boroughs and huge estates, had ceased to be a recognizable class. The age of the Nabobs had given place to the age of the patriotic, enthusiastic administrators. There were men in high places in Lord Cornwallis's time of singular capacity and perfect integrity; if he had not found such allies he could not have cleansed the Augean stables. But in 1823 devotion and ability had become the rule. The work had trained the workmen.

There were giants in the land when Lord Amherst took his seat at the Calcutta Council Board. The scholarlike Elphinstone; the accomplished Metcalfe; Sir John Malcolm, with his keen and indefatigable