A History of the Mahrattas v2.c59.59

v2.c59.59

¹ Authorities as in the preceding. [The author’s eulogy of Mountstuart Elphinstone is confirmed by Bishop Heber in his *Journey in India from Calcutta to Bombay*, &c., 1824-5 (2nd ed., 3 vols., 8vo, London, 1828). Besides improving the land communications between Bombay and the Deccan, Elphinstone made in 1823 the first official proposal for the establishment of steam-communication between Bombay and England, via the Red Sea, and renewed the suggestion in 1826. His services to the cause of Indian education were recognized after his retirement in 1827, when the Princes and chiefs of the Deccan and Konkan and the general public subscribed a large sum to found the well-known Elphinstone College in Bombay. He lived for more than thirty years after his retirement, and twice declined the appointment of Governor-General of India, and also that of permanent Under-Secretary of the Board of Control. A fine statue of him by Chantrey, erected in 1833, stands in the Town Hall, Bombay, and his bust adorns the Victoria and Albert Museum in the same city. The Indian view of his character and administration is set forth in the opening paragraph of an address presented to him on his final departure from Bombay, by Indians of all classes in the Bombay Presidency. It will be found at p. 199, vol. ii, of Colebrooke’s *Life of M. Elphinstone* (1844).]