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ELPHINSTONE, MOUNTSTUART (1779-1859)
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See also:ELPHINSTONE, MOUNTSTUART (1779-1859) , See also:Indian states-See also:man and historian, See also:fourth son of the 11th See also:Baron Elphinstone in the See also:peerage of See also:Scotland, was See also:born in 1779. Having received an See also:appointment in the See also:civil service of the See also:East See also:India See also:Company, of which one of his uncles was a director, he reached See also:Calcutta in the beginning of 1796. After filling several sub-See also:ordinate posts, he was appointed in 1801 assistant to the See also:British See also:resident at See also:Poona, at the See also:court of the See also:peshwa, the most powerful of the Mahratta princes. Here he obtained his first opportunity of distinction, being attached in the capacity of diplomatist to the See also:mission of See also:Sir See also:Arthur See also:Wellesley to the See also:Mahrattas. When, on the failure of negotiations, See also:war See also:broke out, Elphinstone, though a civilian, acted as virtual aide-de-See also:camp to See also:General Wellesley. He was See also:present at the See also:battle of See also:Assaye, and displayed such courage and knowledge of See also:tactics throughout the whole See also:campaign that Wellesley told him he had mistaken his profession, and that he ought to have been a soldier. In 1804, when the war closed, he was appointed British resident at See also:Nagpur. Here, the times being uneventful and his duties See also:light, he occupied much of his leisure in See also:reading classical and general literature, and acquired those studious habits which clung to him throughout See also:life. In 1808 he was'appointed the first British See also:envoy to the court of See also:Kabul, with the See also:object of securing a friendly See also:alliance with the Afghans; but this proved of little value, because Shah Shuja was driven from the See also:throne by his See also:brother before it could be ratified. The most valuable permanent result of the See also:embassy was the See also:literary See also:fruit it See also:bore several years afterwards in Elphinstone's See also:great See also:work on Kabul. After spending about a See also:year in Calcutta arranging the See also:report of his mission, Elphinstone was appointed in 1811 to the important and difficult See also:post of resident at Poona. The difficulty arose from the general complication of Mahratta politics, and especially from the weak and treacherous See also:character of the peshwa, which Elphinstone rightly read from the first. While the See also:mask of friendship was kept up Elphinstone carried out the only suitable policy, that of vigilant quiescence, with admirable tact and See also:patience; when in 1817 the mask was thrown aside and the peshwa ventured to declare war, the See also:English resident proved for the second See also:time the truth of Wellesley's assertion that he was born a soldier. Though his own See also:account of his See also:share in the campaign is characteristically modest, one can gather from it that the success of the British troops was chiefly owing to his assuming the command at an important crisis during the battle of See also:Kirkee. The peshwa being driven from his throne, his territories were annexed co the British dominions, and Elphinstone was uomir ated See also:commissioner to administer them. He discharged the responsible task with rare See also:judgment and ability. In 1819 he was appointed See also:lieutenant-See also:governor of Bombay and held this post till 1827, his See also:principal achievement being the compilation of the " Elphinstone See also:code." He may fairly be regarded as the founder of the See also:system of See also:state See also:education in India, and he probably did more than any other Indian See also:administrator to further every likely See also:scheme for the promotion of native education. His connexion with the Bombay See also:presidency was appropriately commemorated in the endowment of the Elphinstone See also:College by the native communities, and in the erection of a See also:marble statue by the See also:European inhabitants. Returning to See also:England in 1829, after an See also:interval of two years' travel, Elphinstone retained in his retirement and enfeebled See also:health an important See also:influence on public affairs. He twice refused the offer of the governor-generalship of India. See also:Long before his return he had made his reputation as an author by his Account of the See also:Kingdom of Cabul and its Dependencies in See also:Persia and India (1815). Soon after his arrival in England he commenced the preparation of a work of wider See also:scope, a See also:history.of India, which was published in 1841. It embraces the See also:Hindu and See also:Mahommedan periods, and is still a work of high authority. He died on the loth of See also:November 1859. See J. S. See also:Cotton, Mountstuart Elphinstone ("Rulers of India" See also:series), (1892); T. E. See also:Colebrooke, Life of Mountstuart Elphinstone (1884); and G. W. See also:Forrest, See also:Official Writings of Mountstuart Elphinstone(1884). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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