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j^H^^y &^y */^^^^eJf 
 
 <2-t^ 
 
THE HONOURABLE 
 
 JAMES THOMASON 
 
 LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 
 N.-W. P., INDIA 
 
 1843-1853 A.D. 
 
 BY 
 
 Sir WILLIAM MUIR 
 
 K.C.S.I., LL.D., D.C.L., PH.D. 
 
 [CALCUTTA REVIEW, 1853. 
 
 
 1 I 
 
 1. Directions for Revenue Officers in the North- Western Provinces. 
 
 2. Calcutta Gazette Extraordinary , October 3, 1853. 
 
 3. A Sermon preached in St. Paul's Church, Agra, on occasion of 
 
 the death of the Honourable James Thomason, by the Rev. 
 T. V. French, M.A., Church Missionary in Agra. 
 
 EDINBURGH 
 
 T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET 
 
 1897 
 
.2 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Preface . 
 
 Thomason at Azimgurh 
 
 Lieut. -Governor at Agra 
 
 Camp Life 
 
 Revenue Administration 
 
 "Directions" . 
 
 Talukdars 
 
 Public Works . 
 
 Grand Trunk Road 
 
 Irrigation Works 
 
 Ganges Canal . 
 
 Roorkee College and Workshops 
 
 "Selections" and Publications 
 
 Education 
 
 Village Schools 
 
 Missions 
 
 Bishop French on Thomason 
 
 Tribute by Lord Dalhousie . 
 
 PAGB 
 
 9 
 23 
 28 
 29 
 38 
 39 
 46 
 49 
 53 
 54 
 57 
 65 
 73 
 77 
 80 
 92 
 97 
 98 
 
 £'16861 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Mr. Thomason was appointed Lieutenant-Governor 
 of the North-Western Provinces of India in 1843, and 
 administered that Government till his death in 1853. 
 The following account was published in the Calcutta 
 Review shortly after, with a view to lay before the public 
 the history of a great and good Administrator. And 
 now, though after two-score years, it may still be of 
 interest, not only for the noble example it gives to 
 our Indian authorities, but also as tracing the origin 
 of Institutions that owe their birth to Thomason. 
 
 As Secretary to the Agra Government during the 
 last two years of Mr. Thomason's life, I had the 
 special opportunity of close and confidential inter- 
 course with him both in public and private, in 
 camp as well as in his Agra home. It also chanced 
 that several years before, when Magistrate of Futteh- 
 pore, I had the privilege of attending upon him as 
 he marched through that District, and thus of learn- 
 ing his wise and kindly attitude towards the officials 
 and people about him in these his yearly tours. In 
 my diary of the day I find warm mention of the 
 gracious treatment of my family and myself on that 
 
 9 
 
JO /. ; : .; •;.-. - : . JPreface 
 
 occasion in the following passage, which I may quote 
 as illustrative of his camp life : — 
 
 11 He was very attentive, and came to see us kindly every evening. 
 On both Sundays he had public worship, when he read the prayers 
 and an excellent sermon. I used to ride with him half the stage, and 
 then mounting with him on his howda the other half. His con- 
 versation was very interesting. His views upon revenue matters 
 are so systematically arranged and so clearly developed that one 
 cannot converse with him without deriving great advantage." 
 
 He was so good as in 1847 to appoint me Secretary 
 of the Kevenue Board at Agra ; and thus residing at his 
 Headquarters, I was able to see much of him. But 
 it was not till 1852 that I was brought into more 
 close connection with him as Secretary to the 
 Government over which he presided. During the 
 cold season of 1852-53 I accompanied him on his 
 tour through the Allahabad and Benares Provinces as 
 far as Goruckpore, and thus also through his old 
 district of Jounpore where he had first learned to 
 know the people and gain his village experience, and 
 where the memories of domestic happiness evidently 
 touched him to the quick. It was then that I 
 gained the intimate knowledge of his administration 
 which I have here endeavoured to commemorate. 
 During the summer of 1853 he fell into weakly 
 health, and purposed in the autumn to profit by 
 the bracing air of Nynee Tal. On his journey he was 
 spending a few days with his daughter at Bareilly, 
 when his illness took a fatal turn, and I received 
 the sad intelligence of his death on my way to 
 meet him. ^Returning to Agra, it was one of my 
 
Preface 1 1 
 
 earliest endeavours, with his administration still fresh 
 in mind, to write the brief outline of it, which I 
 now republish. 
 
 A few years ago Sir Eichard Temple published a 
 biography of Mr. Thomason, and admirably has he 
 discharged the task. 1 But his object was to write the 
 life at large, rather than enter into the details of the 
 North-Western Provinces administration, as I have 
 here endeavoured. His book therefore in no way super- 
 sedes the present review, which I submit for the accept- 
 ance of those interested in the government of India. 
 
 The lesson it teaches is one for all engaged in any 
 kind of administrative work ; and for India, in that 
 respect it is unique. It leads all round. How ceaseless 
 was Thomason in studying the needs of the country, 
 searching out its wants and means of improvement 
 at every step, and perfecting all parts of his admini- 
 stration. How beautiful his intercourse with the 
 people. How instructive, as well for himself as for 
 the officers around him, the counsels he ever took with 
 them, whether on tour or in his home at Agra, To 
 this day we see the fruits of his wise directions. 
 Witness the scheme of Village schools ; the Eoorkee 
 workshops and the College which so aptly bears his 
 name, — a school of technical training for all India; 
 and chiefest of all, the Ganges Canal itself, — which, but 
 for him becoming a mere boat canal, has proved the 
 grandest work of irrigation the world has ever seen. 
 
 1 James Thomason, by Sir Richard Temple. Oxford : The Clarendon 
 Press, 1893. 
 
1 2 Preface 
 
 Examples these of the fertility of his genius bearing 
 
 fruit for the nation as the years roll on. 
 
 To show the feeling evoked by the death of 
 
 Thomason, I may embody in this Preface two passages 
 
 by writers well acquainted with him. In the review 
 
 of Lord Dalhousie's administration, written the year 
 
 following his death, we read : — 
 
 1 ' We have hitherto omitted all direct mention of one of the most 
 distressing events of the past year ; we allude of course to the death of 
 James Thomason, the honoured ruler of the North-Western Provinces. 
 This event . . . threw a gloom over the close of 1853. We have 
 lately had occasion to present in this Review a notice of the late 
 Lieut. -Governor's character and distinguished career ; and the time is 
 hardly yet come when those who loved his example in life can talk of 
 him with tongues that do not falter and eyes that do not fill. For his 
 nomination to the Government of Agra, we hold that the country 
 is under a debt to Lord Ellenborough, which may be a set-off to the 
 song of Somnath and to other eccentricities. The late Lieut. -Governor 
 had been nearly ten years in office. ... He died on the scene of his 
 labours amidst a people which he had benefited, with some beloved 
 relatives not absent from his dying couch ; and happy is the man, we 
 would say with all the solemnity that such a subject demands, who 
 crowns a life of such ability by such a Christian death." x 
 
 Again, the same year, in a review of the Directions 
 to Revenue, Officers, there is the following passage by 
 another writer which I may quote in full : — 
 
 ' • The volume which we have placed at the head of this paper is 
 one, but only one, of the legacies left by its gifted author to these 
 Provinces, for which he lived and died ; and in detailing the duties of 
 a Collector of Revenue, surely some notice of him who has taught by 
 his words these duties, is not out of place. 
 
 " When, in 1843, the post of Lieutenant-Governor fell unexpectedly 
 vacant, and the most fastidious of Governor-Generals, who possessed 
 the divining-rod of ability, and whose appointments were marked by a 
 wondrous prescience, — looked round for a person fit to hold the reins 
 at that crisis, the Foreign Secretary stood alone, the most distin- 
 
 1 Calcutta Review, Vol. XXII. p. 60. 
 
Preface 1 3 
 
 guished of his contemporaries. He may not have had the political 
 skill and vigour which characterised Hastings and Elphinstone ; . . . 
 not so great in public enthusiasm as Metcalfe, but in something 
 greater ; not so popular as Clerk, but more deserving to be loved ; he 
 has left us better than the frothy declamations of Napier, the songs of 
 triumph of Ellenborough, or the carnage-bought victories of Gough. 
 All around him was war, but he calmly worked out his schemes of 
 improvement, and showed that peace has her victories no less re- 
 nowned than those of war. 
 
 11 Some achieve greatness ; he was both good and great, an example 
 to the servants of Government, that great ability can be united to 
 purity and religion, that success in this world need not steel the heart 
 to the concerns of the next. To enumerate his actions would be to 
 notice every improvement for the last ten years in these Provinces, for 
 he could combine wisdom and sound views with the most intimate 
 detail. Amidst the glitter and tinsel of the modern great, it was 
 grateful to find something solid to rest on. He was greater because 
 untitled, and because undecorated he appears the more distinguished ; 
 . . . and when the question of the government of a great Dependency 
 was agitated in the Senate, his actions alone obtained universal praise ; 
 his administration alone stood the test of inquiry. 
 
 "In the midst of the applause he died. Ere the last echo of praise 
 had reached us, while a new proconsular wreath was weaving for his 
 honoured head, while another lustrum of usefulness and advantage 
 was opening out to him, to be followed, with God's blessing, by years 
 of happiness in his native land, he passed away. It was not to be ; 
 ... he was snatched away by one of those unaccountable dispensa- 
 tions, to which we can only bow in silence, and believe that the 
 mission entrusted to him had been accomplished. And so sudden was 
 his death, that the functions of government for a time stood suspended, 
 the good ship started from her track as the rudder fell suddenly from 
 the hand of the experienced steersman. 
 
 ' ' Let no masses of stone, or useless mausoleum, be raised to com- 
 memorate so good and simple-minded a man ; let the testimonial be, 
 like his own character, practical, unostentatious, and beneficent to 
 the people whom he loved so well. It may do for lordlings to be 
 recorded on kindred blocks of unprofitable masonry, by the pre- 
 sumptuous column, or the unmeaning obelisk. Let this man live 
 among us, as lives a worthy rival in a sister Presidency. Let us learn 
 to connect the moral improvement of the people with the names of 
 Elphinstone and Thomason. " * 
 
 1 Calcutta Review, Vol. XXIII. p. 160. Article V., Directions to 
 Revenue Officers, by James Thomason, Lieut. -Governor, Nov. 1, 1849. 
 
1 4 Preface 
 
 In his biography of Thomason, Sir Eichard Temple 
 was good enough to quote the passage from my 
 review, in which I sum up my estimate of Thomason's 
 character ; 1 and then he adds the following passage 
 from a letter I had recently addressed to him on the 
 subject : — 
 
 " Looking back after so long a period, Sir William 
 now writes : — 
 
 " ' When I wrote this description of Thomason in 1853, the close rela- 
 tion in which I had just lived with him as my Chief and guide of my 
 life as his Secretary, might be supposed to have unduly magnified him 
 in my eyes. Yet in the long interval that has since elapsed, and the 
 large acquaintance I have had with Statesmen both in India and at 
 home, I can truly say that my conception of his virtues and com- 
 manding position as a wise and illustrious Governor, as well as an 
 exemplary Christian and faithful Friend, has only been heightened by 
 the lapse of time, and that I regard him as the best of Rulers it has 
 been my lot to be associated with. ' " 2 
 
 And with this I close what has been to me a 
 labour of love, as well as a mark of dutiful regard for 
 the memory of one to whom I look back as my early 
 Friend and Guide. 
 
 W. M. 
 Edinburgh, 1897. 
 
 1 See below, p. 88. 
 
 - James Thomason, by Sir Richard Temple, p. 193. 
 
THE 
 
 HONOURABLE JAMES THOMASON 
 
 Late Lieut. -Governor of the North- Western 
 Provinces of the Bengal Presidency 
 
 From the " Calcutta Review" 1853. Sixth Article. 
 
 1. Directions for Revenue Officers in the North- Western Provinces of the 
 
 Bengal Presidency, regarding the Settlement and Collection of the 
 Land Revenue, and the other duties connected therewith. Promul- 
 gated under the authority of the Honourable the Lieutenant- 
 Governor. Agra, November 1, 1849. Second edition, Calcutta, 
 1850. 
 
 2. Calcutta Gazette Extraordinary, October 3, 1853 (on Mr. Thomason's 
 
 death). 
 
 3. A Sermon preached in St. Paul's Church, Agra, on occasion, of the 
 
 death of the Honourable James Thomason, Lieutenant-Governor 
 of the North- Western Provinces. By the Rev. T. V. French, 
 M.A. , late Fellow of University College, Oxford, and Church 
 Missionary in Agra. October 2, a.d. mdcccliii. Published 
 at the request of the Churchwardens of St. Paul's, and of other 
 friends. Agra. 
 
 A great man has passed from among us — a man 
 ennobled, not by any one act of transcendent genius, 
 or feat of moral daring, but by the far rarer merit of 
 a long series of distinguished actions, all successfully 
 
 15 
 
1 6 James Thomason 
 
 beting u^on'tnelikpfp'kifess and well-being of millions 
 of'oiir'ppefeiee.-iSu^-an one was James Thomason, 
 the late Lieutenant-Governor of the North -Western 
 Provinces of the Bengal Presidency. 
 
 It is not our intention to give an elaborate 
 biographical notice of the deceased Statesman, or to 
 attempt to assign his place in the history of India. 
 The scene of his life is but close and recent ; it 
 admits not of the mellowed tints imparted by dis- 
 tance ; and without these, the lineaments of biography 
 are too sharp to be attractive, too brightly coloured 
 to secure the verdict of impartiality. Still, as 
 Eeviewers of all that concerns the welfare of India, 
 we cannot decline the task of briefly tracing the 
 progress of Mr. Thomason's career, and presenting a 
 hasty sketch of the administration by which he has 
 achieved a name second to none in the array of India's 
 Civil Governors. 
 
 James Thomason was born at Shelford, in the 
 vicinity of Cambridge, on the 3rd of May 1804; but 
 he was yet in early childhood when his father, the 
 Rev. T. Thomason, relinquished the parochial charge 
 of that delightful spot, and devoted himself to mini- 
 sterial labour in India. Towards the close of 1808 he 
 arrived in India with his family, but not before he 
 had experienced, at the Sandheads, the fearful perils 
 of shipwreck. The Travers went to pieces on a reef 
 within sight of land, and Mr. Thomason, with his wife 
 and children, half-naked, drenched and affrighted, 
 escaped with difficulty and danger, in the ship's boats 
 
Under Simeons Charge ij 
 
 to the Earl of Spencer, which providentially was near 
 at hand. 1 
 
 The remainder of James Thomason's childhood was 
 passed with his parents in Calcutta. In 1 8 1 4, at the 
 age of ten, he was sent to England. There he was 
 fortunate in being welcomed with all the warmth of 
 a parent, by the great and good Mr. Simeon, who had 
 been the constant friend and frequent guest of his 
 father and mother at Shelford. The eager affection 
 with which he received his youthful charge makes us 
 love all the more the venerable Simeon, though one 
 smiles at his almost maternal care and inexperienced 
 anxiety. He assures his father that " flannels will be 
 ready to put on at a moment," and communicates to 
 his mother the alarm he felt at finding him one day 
 out fishing. The sober conclusion to which he comes, 
 that even after this he did not repent his charge, is 
 characteristic and amusing : — 
 
 " Be assured that if I were indeed his father, I could not feel much 
 more for him than I do. He was imprudently fishing by the riverside, 
 without hat or coat or waistcoat. Hearing only that he was fishing 
 with little James Farish, I went full of anxiety to find him ; and 
 finding him in such a situation, it was almost a dagger to my heart. 
 But no evil occurred. I began to feel how great a matter I had under- 
 taken ; but I do not repent, and I trust I shall never give you cause 
 to repent." — Life, p. 398. 
 
 It is curious to observe that the inquiring nature of 
 his mind, which continued to be one of the distinctive 
 characteristics of Mr. Thomason's later days, was that 
 which at this early period first impressed Simeon. 
 
 1 See the account of this event. — Life of Thomason, J>.„142, and Life^l 
 of Simeon, p. 260. ' 
 
1 8 James Thomason 
 
 " In liveliness and sweetness of disposition," he writes 
 in his first letter, " and in tenderness of spirit, he far 
 exceeds my most sanguine expectations. What was said 
 
 by of his inquisitiveness (his spirit of inquiry I 
 
 mean) was delightfully verified all along the road. . . . 
 Many of his questions were such as a man, a traveller 
 of sound sense and judgment, would have asked, and led 
 to explanations which it was the delight of my heart 
 to give." * And again, to his mother (though here the 
 first clause finds no correspondent feature in after life) : 
 " He is, as you say, a little idle ; but very sensible and 
 acute in his questions." 2 
 
 Simeon shortly after put him to a private school at 
 Aspenden, twenty-two miles from Cambridge, where 
 he appears to have remained about four years. At 
 I the age of fourteen he was transferred for two or 
 three years to the care of Mr. (now Archdeacon) 
 Hodson, at Stansted. In both seminaries he signalised 
 himself by gaining prizes. 
 
 In 1821, when sixteen or seventeen years of age, 
 he went to Haileybury College. Here we have 
 another characteristic view of the simplicity of 
 Simeon's solicitude, in his anxious and solemn 
 remonstrance at the monthly college report being 
 on one occasion rendered as " regular and cor- 
 rect," instead of " quite regular and correct " ; the 
 difference turning out to be caused by the neglect 
 of some college formality of no consequence what- 
 
 1 Life of Simeon, p. 394. 2 Idem, p. 397. 
 
At College 19 
 
 ever. 1 Mr. Thomason, in after life, used to relate the 
 incident with a smile. 
 
 At Haileybury he distinguished himself by most 
 exemplary assiduity, and carried off many prizes and 
 medals. 2 In 1822 Simeon writes to his father : " On 
 the 23rd May I intend to go to see him receive his 
 last prizes ; and on the 1st of June, I hope, your 
 mother and I shall sail with him, as I did with you, 
 . . . as far as the pilot goes." 3 On the 19th Sep- 
 tember he landed in India. In June 1823 he was 
 reported qualified for the public service, but was 
 allowed to continue in the college to prosecute the 
 study of Mohammedan Law. In December of the 
 same year we find him appointed Assistant Eegistrar 
 to the Sudder Court at Calcutta. About the same 
 time Simeon writes to his father : " I delight to hear 
 such blessed tidings of my beloved James. Give my 
 kindest love to him. We bear him in sweet remem- 
 brance, and most affectionately long for his welfare in 
 every possible way." 4 
 
 It was, indeed, one of the greatest privileges we can 
 imagine, to have been, in the season of youth, for eight 
 years under the immediate charge of the apostolical 
 Simeon. His simplicity of character, and earnestness 
 of purpose, fitted him eminently to be an influential 
 guide, as well as an attractive pattern, for a young 
 
 1 Life, of Simeon, p. 556. 
 
 2 Among the subjects for which prizes were awarded, the following 
 occur, some of them repeatedly : — Mathematics, Political Economy, 
 Lam, Classical Literature, History. 
 
 3 Life of Simeon, p. 562. * Idem, p. 589. 
 
20 James Thomason 
 
 man ; while his cheerful temperament and buoyant 
 spirits exhibited religion in the most inviting 
 aspect. Whether owing to this influence or not, 
 it is certain that James Thomason was, throughout 
 his life, guided by the same depth of religious senti- 
 ment and the same catholicity of principle, as animated 
 Simeon. 
 
 Mr. Thomason remained attached to the Sudder 
 Court, as Assistant Eegistrar, till 1826, when we find 
 him appointed to officiate as Judge of the Jungle 
 Mehals. In the same year he submitted to an 
 examination in the College of Fort William as to 
 proficiency in Mohammedan Law, which he had been 
 prosecuting more or less since he was reported qualified 
 for service. The examiners pronounced the highest 
 eulogium on the " intense application and extra- 
 ordinary talent" brought by him to bear upon the 
 subject ; 1 and the Government conferred upon him an 
 honorary grant of 3000 rupees. In the following 
 year, 13th February 1827, he was obliged, by severe 
 indisposition, to seek a restoration of health in a 
 
 1 The following is an extract from the Calcutta Gazette of 28th July 
 1826 :— 
 
 ' ' From the studious habits and tried abilities of Mr. Thomason, we 
 were led to expect the display of extraordinary attainments. We 
 assigned, therefore, to that gentleman the performance of exercises 
 proportionally arduous ; and it affords us sincere gratification to state 
 that our estimate, high as it was, of his acquirements, fell short of the 
 reality. When we say that the translations were made with the 
 utmost fidelity, accuracy, and despatch, we bear but inadequate testi- 
 mony to his merits. In the course of three or four hours, Mr. 
 Thomason not only performed what was required of him, but he found 
 leisure also to make judicious annotations on abstruse passages, thereby 
 
Early Service in India 21 
 
 voyage to England, where he joined his father then 
 also on a temporary visit at home. 
 
 Within two years he returned to India, and in 
 1829 was reattached to the Sudder Court, as Deputy 
 Eegistrar and Preparer of Eeports. Shortly after we 
 find him officiating as Judge and Magistrate of the 
 suburbs of Calcutta, and Superintendent of the 
 Allipore Jail. In 1830, he was appointed to act as 
 Deputy Secretary to Government in the Territorial 
 department ; and in the beginning of 1831, per- 
 manently posted to the same office in the Judicial 
 and Eevenue departments. While thus in a position 
 most favourable for gaining an insight into the general 
 working of our Government, it may be gathered that 
 his attention was first attracted to the subject of 
 education, for we find him in the same year appointed 
 a member of the General Committee of Public Instruc- 
 tion. He had also devoted himself laboriously to the 
 mastery of the Hindoo, as well as the Mohammedan 
 sources of law ; and interleaved copies of Menu and of 
 the Hedaya, with carefully recorded notes of difficult 
 
 furnishing satisfactory proof, that to the capacity of consulting original 
 legal authorities, he has added a considerable knowledge of the law 
 itself. Mr. Thomason read a passage of the Hedaya in the presence of 
 the law officers of the Sudder Dawanny Adalut, to whom he explained 
 the meaning in the Persian language, and who expressed themselves 
 in the highest degree gratified by the learning and acumen which he 
 displayed." 
 
 The report is signed by Macnaghten, Riddell, and Ousely ; and in 
 consequence of it, although the giving of honorary premia had been 
 discontinued by order of the Court of Directors, yet, as it was shown 
 that he had been at the study before the prohibition was made, he 
 received the grant of Rs. 3000. 
 
22 fames Thomason 
 
 or curious points, attest the intelligence and the 
 assiduity with which he pursued the study. 1 It is not 
 often that we find a combined attention thus success- 
 fully turned at once to Arabic and to Sanscrit 
 literature. 
 
 But it is not in the Secretarial bureau alone, or in 
 the private study, that administrative capacity is to 
 be gained. It is not enough that the red tape be 
 ever and anon untied, bundles of correspondence read 
 and digested, and the busy pen daily employed in 
 carefully expressed and nimbly recorded despatches. 
 It is true that the views of enlightened officers, ably 
 employed in active duty, may thus be thoroughly 
 mastered, and valuable notes and memoranda may be 
 multiplied till the Secretariat shelves groan beneath 
 them. But no study will supply the place of 'personal 
 experience ; and so long as an officer has not himself 
 mixed with the people, and come into immediate 
 contact with them as their District Officer, his 
 opinions cannot, properly speaking, be called his 
 own, since they are grounded, not upon personal 
 observation, but upon the reports and experience of 
 others. 
 
 It was fortunate therefore for himself — more for- 
 tunate for the country at large — that Mr. Thomason 
 did not long continue in Calcutta. On the 18 th 
 of September 1832, he was appointed Magistrate 
 and Collector of Azimgurh, a large and populous 
 
 1 These copies are now in the library of the College at Agra, to which 
 he bequeathed the greater portion of his books. 
 
Magistrate and Collector of Azimgurh 23 
 
 district 1 in the Benares division, bordering upon 
 Oudh. 
 
 The Vice-President in Council, Sir Charles Met- 
 calfe, had been so impressed with " the marked ability 
 and efficiency " of his official conduct (for during the 
 absence of Mr. Macnaghten he appears to have had 
 the sole charge of the Secretariat), that with the con- 
 currence of Mr. Eoss, he publicly communicated to 
 him, on his departure, the cordial approbation and 
 thanks of the Government. 2 
 
 A small portion of his charge, comprised in one 
 Pergunnah, had been permanently assessed on the 
 principles of the Bengal settlement : the remainder 
 stood upon the same unsettled basis as the rest of the 
 North- Western Provinces. The Eevenue Survey was 
 about to be introduced into the district; preliminary 
 to that, the boundaries of every village had to be 
 denned, and disputes adjusted ; then was to follow the 
 Eevenue Settlement and Eecord of Eights, framed 
 under Eegulations VII. of 1822 and IX. of 1833, on 
 the principles laid down by the great and lamented 
 Eobert Merttins Bird. Here was a noble sphere for 
 the acquisition of knowledge and experience ; for de- 
 vising expedients to facilitate the rapid and correct 
 disposal of public business ; and for examining how 
 the series of Acts, which issue from the Council Board 
 
 1 Azimgurh contains 2516 square miles, and lias a population of 
 1,653,251 souls, so that the number of persons falls at the enormous 
 rate of 657 to the square mile. 
 
 2 Letter from Mr. J. R. Colvin, Deputy Secretary, dated 5th 
 February 1833. 
 
24 James Thomason 
 
 or the Governor, and of which the outer and upper 
 features are often alone observable from the Secretariat 
 chair, affect the people in the sober realities of every- 
 day life, — when, through a variety of intervening 
 media, they at last reach down into actual contact 
 with them. Here, too, were golden opportunities 
 for exercising command both upon the Native and 
 European mind, and for testing the influence pos- 
 sessed over others in swaying their opinions and 
 guiding their actions. 
 
 Upon all these objects, the busy mind of Thomason 
 was ceaselessly engaged. Instructions were drawn 
 up, with diligent thoughtfulness, for the guidance of 
 his Covenanted assistants in the conduct of the in- 
 dependent charges assigned to each ; and as the 
 Settlement drew on, carefully framed rules for the 
 adjustment of disputes and other matters, were laid 
 down for his Tehseeldars and European staff. Upon 
 these, he sought to elicit the suggestions and remarks 
 of his head Assistants ; such criticisms, both in writing 
 and in personal conference, he was forward to invite 
 and to take into ready consideration. But an opinion 
 or rule once carefully arrived at, had always been the 
 result of such mature and sound deliberation that, 
 however much contested, it was rarely abandoned. 
 The general interests of his charge engaged also his 
 constant attention. We find him, for instance, ob- 
 jecting in his private capacity, to the Legislative 
 Council against a proposed enactment for investing 
 the Magistrate with power to determine the com- 
 
Magistrate and Collector of Azimgurh 25 
 
 pensation due, under certain circumstances, by land- 
 holders to indigo planters, and protesting that it would 
 be a stigma upon our judicial system ; 1 again, we meet 
 with an indignant note upon an unjust civil decree 
 passed by a native functionary : and with an elaborate 
 memorandum on the rights of under-tenants, for the 
 support of which he furnishes directions to his 
 assistants. These all display the practised hand of 
 the Secretary, guided by the now practical mind, and 
 closely observing eye, of the Magistrate and Collector. 2 
 His administration of Azimgurh, contained, in fact, 
 the miniature features of his later Government of 
 the North-Western Provinces. He was singularly 
 fortunate in his Assistants, and he was not slow in 
 recognising their merits, and according to them his 
 confidence. It was indeed a rare combination of 
 circumstances which brought Eobert Montgomery 
 and Henry Carre Tucker under the magisterial 
 authority of James Thomason. The period he spent 
 in this charge was between four and five years ; but in 
 that time, he not only made and reported a Eevenue 
 settlement, which gave satisfaction both to the Govern- 
 ment and the people, 3 but gained more in knowledge 
 
 1 Letter dated 5th December 1835. 
 
 2 It is curious to observe, that now, as in after days, his main 
 attention was devoted to the duties of Collector, and that he dis- 
 burdened himself, as much as he possibly could, of all magisterial 
 business. 
 
 3 This Settlement Report was printed in the Journal of the Asiatic 
 Society in 1837. The Sudder Board of Revenue, in reporting the 
 result to the Government, stated "their sense of obligation to Mr. 
 Thomason, who had heartily entered into their views, perfectly com- 
 
26 James Thomason 
 
 of the country, and in the art of governing, than is 
 commonly attained during a lifetime. To his resi- 
 dence at Azimgurh, he always reverted with delight ; 
 and as he visited it in his annual tours, the memory 
 of domestic happiness, and official usefulness, could 
 be traced in the glistening eye, and the mingled 
 sympathies, which lighted up his countenance, or cast 
 a shadow across it. 
 
 The demands of the State at last broke up the 
 domestic hearth (never again to be permanently re- 
 built), and the friendly social circle, of Azimgurh. 
 The District Officer was now ripe for higher employ- 
 ment; and in March 1837 he was, in the most 
 flattering manner, selected by Sir Charles Metcalfe, 
 then Lieut. -Governor, to officiate as Secretary to the 
 Government of the North- Western Provinces, in the 
 Judicial and Eevenue departments. 1 Within a year, 
 however, he was compelled, by severe domestic affliction, 
 to proceed to Europe, from whence he returned in the 
 
 prehended their plans, and carried them into execution with great 
 skill and judgment." The assessment, like that of all the earlier 
 settlements, was higher than the standard later adopted ; but the 
 record of rights was very carefully attended to, as well as the interests 
 in subordinate tenures ; and the fairness of his proceedings has been 
 justified by the great prosperity of the district, and the increase of 
 cultivation. 
 
 1 In the letter offering him this appointment, Sir Charles placed 
 three posts at his disposal — a contemplated office of Commissioner or 
 Superintendent of Settlements ; an officiating Commissionership in the 
 regular line ; the officiating Secretaryship. 
 
 In the previous year Sir Charles had addressed a letter compliment- 
 ing him highly on his administration of Azimgurh, offering him the 
 contemplated Judgeship of that station, and even desiring to make 
 
Sudder Board and Foreign Secretary 27 
 
 beginning of 1840. He was shortly after appointed 
 permanently to the post which he had vacated. 
 
 In this Secretariat office, he served in all about two 
 years and a half, and added further to his experience 
 by an intimate official connection with Sir Charles 
 Metcalfe, Mr. Eobertson, and Lord Auckland who for 
 some time administered the Government of Agra. The 
 busy duties of Secretary did not prevent his turning 
 attention to subjects of general interest. He inquired 
 carefully into the nature and effect of the transit dues 
 in the Saugor territories, and advocated their abolition 
 (a measure which, mainly through his endeavours, was 
 eventually carried by the Governor-General in 1847); 
 while his ability on educational subjects was recognised 
 by his appointment as Visitor to superintend the Agra 
 and the Delhi Colleges. 
 
 Towards the close of 1841 he was nominated an 
 Extra Member of the Sudder Board of Eevenue, and 
 succeeded to the permanent post, in succession to Mr. 
 K. Merttins Bird. In this responsible position, his 
 versatile mind found no lack of subjects of command- 
 ing interest ; and as he journeyed about the land, 
 examining with his own eye the records of the Settle- 
 ment, which was now on the eve of completion, the 
 present writer well remembers the intuitive glance 
 
 him at once the Judge, Magistrate, and Collector of the Zillah. 
 Mr. Thomason, however, preferred to continue simply as Collector, 
 that he might finish his settlement, and at the same time expressed 
 his opinion to be now against the combination (which he would seem 
 at some former period to have favoured) of the office of Judge with 
 that of District Officer. 
 
28 James Thomason 
 
 that singled out the weaker portions of the work, and 
 the sagacity and kindness with which remedies were 
 suggested. 
 
 While Thomason held this post at Allahabad, Lord 
 Ellenborough formed his acquaintance, and recognised 
 his merits. He appointed him a member of the 
 famous Finance Committee ; and soon after (about the 
 close of 1842) selected him for an office of equal 
 emolument to the one he held, but of greater renown, 
 that of Foreign Secretary to the Government of India. 
 In this capacity he accompanied Lord Ellenborough to 
 the North-West, and finally returned with him to 
 Calcutta. The following year, that nobleman, with 
 full experience of his eminent abilities, nominated him 
 Lieut.-Governor of the North-Western Provinces ; and 
 on the 12th December 1843, the Honourable James 
 Thomason assumed the Government. 
 
 As Lieut.-Governor, the chief seat of Mr. Thomason's 
 residence was Agra ; but excepting the first year of 
 his appointment, and 1848-49 (when military opera- 
 tions rendered carriage scarce and valuable), he spent 
 every winter living under canvas, and marching through 
 some portion of his territories. He also passed at 
 Simlah the summer seasons of four years, during which, 
 what with his tour and sojourn in the Hills, Agra did 
 not see much of her chief. 1 But it was ill-health 
 
 1 Those summers were 1847, 1849, 1850, and 1851. It was his 
 intention to have spent the hot season of 1854 at Nynee Tal, the 
 mountain retreat of Rohilkund and Kemaoon. 
 
Lietit.-Governor, N.-JV. P. 29 
 
 on one occasion, and the convenience of proximity 
 to the Governor-General on the others, that led him 
 to Simlah ; for he rather preferred to remain at 
 Agra, where, besides other advantages, his library 
 and records presented greater facility of reference. 
 
 The eight annual progresses accomplished during 
 his administration were so laid out, that most of the 
 districts were, after regular periods, visited no less 
 than three times. The arrangements of the coming 
 march were usually concluded two or three months 
 before its commencement ; and so exact were the 
 details, and adhered to with such punctuality, that the 
 time of his arrival at any stage could be depended on 
 by every officer with almost perfect certainty. The 
 progress of the camp might be delayed by inclement 
 weather for one or two days, but the loss would easily 
 be made up by forced marches, and punctuality again 
 restored. 
 
 One great secret of Thomason's successful adminis- 
 tration was the improvement of the opportunities 
 afforded by these annual tours. As he rode along, 
 attended by his staff and some of the officers of 
 the district, by the Commissioner of the division (if 
 sufficiently young and agile for horse exercise), and 
 possibly by some adventurous Junior Member of the 
 Board of Eevenue, you would see a cavalcade approach. 
 It is the Magistrate and Assistant of the new district 
 on which you are entering, followed by the Tehseeldar 
 and a few other officials. After greetings exchanged, 
 for the two parties have not met since the last 
 
30 James Thomason 
 
 triennial progress, the officers of the last district take 
 their leave, and the Lieut. -Governor continues his 
 progress. A few miles ahead, the white battlements of 
 a bridge are perceived through the mango-groves ; and 
 as the party approaches, they find themselves thread- 
 ing the narrow roadway of a high embankment, 
 pierced here and there with bridges for the drainage 
 of the lovely lowlands, which on either side stretch 
 far away into the distance. Midway is the silvery 
 track of the main stream winding along the centre of 
 the plain and spanned as you pass by many noble 
 arches, which render its passage, formerly a difficult 
 and sometimes dangerous work, now of easy accom- 
 plishment at all seasons of the year. The minor 
 works are here and there minutely inspected, and the 
 position and safety of the embankment discussed with 
 the Commissioner and the Engineer of the Division, 
 both of whom, as arranged on the previous tour, have 
 given the Magistrate counsel and aid. Arrived at the 
 central bridge, the party descend to the stream ; and 
 here, at the motion of the Magistrate, the head mason 
 of the establishment, to whose faithfulness and in- 
 genuity the finish and solidity of the structure are 
 mainly due, steps forward. The merits of the build- 
 ing, the causes of occasional failure, the remedies 
 applied, the chances of future stability or dilapidation, 
 are thoroughly examined. Each of the agents in the 
 work, not forgetting the artizan, receives his meed of 
 praise, and is encouraged to future exertion by the 
 approving word and smile of the Chief. 
 
Camp Life 31 
 
 The cavalcade passes on to the suburbs of a populous 
 town ; the winding streets of its closely built wards 
 have already been surveyed and mapped by the Eoad 
 Engineer, for the Grand Trunk line passes through it, 
 and the Lieut.-Governor thinks that the safety of life 
 and limb, in the swift and constant traffic, requires a 
 wider space and a less crooked course than the bazaar 
 presents. The anxious shopkeepers look on with 
 dismay, but the interests of the few must bend to 
 those of the many, and this sharp angle, and that 
 narrow passage, are doomed to crumble before the 
 necessities of the State. 
 
 A little onwards is a vacant space ; and here a 
 Native gentleman, who has lately joined the party, 
 comes forward. On this spot he proposes to build 
 a Caravanserai, but he requires some immunities from 
 the Government, which the Magistrate hesitates to 
 recommend. The quick eye of the Lieut.-Governor 
 recognises the appropriateness of the spot and the 
 advantages of the plan. The privileges are conceded, 
 and the next progress witnesses a spacious and sub- 
 stantial building for the shelter and comfort of the 
 crowding passengers. 
 
 The Tehseelie school, filled with eager and intelligent 
 faces, is now visited. The kind and benignant smile 
 removes the awe with which the Euler is regarded; 
 and the teacher is cheered, and the boys stimulated, 
 in their respective tasks, by seasonable advice and 
 hearty encouragement. 
 
 Here a newly-erected Tehseeldaree engages atten- 
 
32 James Thomason 
 
 tion; there the police-houses on the Grand Trunk 
 road, which, with the regularity of mile-stones (but 
 only half as frequent), ever and anon strike the eye of 
 the carriage inmate, while they give security and 
 assurance to the foot-traveller. Farther on lies a 
 refractory village, lately the scene of uproar and con- 
 fusion : the records of its rights and liabilities have 
 now been adjusted, and the prosperity shining over its 
 cultivated fields gives assurance to the Lieut. -Governor 
 that satisfaction has been afforded. 
 
 The way now winds around ravines, and passes up 
 and down over the high and difficult banks of a deep- 
 lying stream. Here is met the Superintendent of the 
 district roads, a quondam Serjeant who points out the 
 track he has surveyed under the Magistrate's orders. 
 The Lieut.-Governor suspects a course of intercepted 
 drainage, and suggests another line, along which the 
 watershed appears to run. On the next tour the 
 same locality is hardly to be recognised in the wide 
 and gradual descent to the well-bridged river. 
 
 The encampment happens to be pitched within a 
 few miles of the Ganges Canal. In the cool of the 
 evening, the party issue forth, on elephants and on 
 horseback, and make for a bridge where a fall and 
 a series of locks are under preparation. The heaps of 
 kunker rock, intended to break the descent of the 
 waters, the position and construction of the locks, the 
 character of the masonry, all pass under the narrow 
 inspection of the Lieut.-Governor, who observes per- 
 haps that the neighbouring houses crowd too closely 
 
Camp Life $$ 
 
 on the allotted margin, and directs the enclosure of a 
 larger space. 
 
 The Station, a heavily populated cantonment, is 
 reached, of which the drainage has long been a 
 reproach, and the bane of the fine European soldiery 
 there cantoned. The canal now passes in the vicinity : 
 can its agency, or the neighbouring Eevenue Survey, 
 be brought to bear upon a remedy ? The Station 
 Officers, the Executive Engineer, the Eoad Engineer, 
 the Canal and the Civil Officers, all meet to discuss 
 the question : a plan is digested, and put in train by 
 the Lieut. -Governor himself. 
 
 The new buildings and improvements in the Native 
 city are inspected. The Dispensary is visited, and its 
 records examined ; the Apprentices are questioned ; 
 the Surgeon is encouraged to enlarge his charitable 
 designs, and the Sub-Assistant is stimulated to pro- 
 secute with redoubled diligence and kindness his 
 beneficent profession. 
 
 Such is but a specimen of the advantages of local 
 inspection and personal supervision, in imparting 
 influence, shape, and precision to the commands of 
 Government, and inspiring the whole subordinate 
 agency with life, intelligence, and energy. The out- 
 of-door labour, however, formed but a trifling fraction 
 of the operations. All reports of the district, through- 
 out the past year or two, involving doubtful points or 
 principles of unusual importance, were reserved for the 
 occasion, and are now brought forward to be disposed 
 of, discussed, or reconsidered. Difficult cases, in 
 3 
 
34 James Thomason 
 
 which the District Officer was embarrassed by per- 
 plexities, or weighty matters in which the Commis- 
 sioner hesitated to act before knowing the views of 
 his Chief, are now submitted for the advice or the 
 decision of the Lieut.-Governor. Further, such points 
 as inquiry or conversation suggested to Mr. Thomason 
 himself as requiring special aid, supervision, or ex- 
 planation, are brought forward, and the documents 
 bearing on them promptly produced. All these are 
 carefully studied, and the questions discussed, where 
 necessary, with the District Officer and his subordinates, 
 the Commissioner, the Judge, or, as the case might 
 be, with the Executive Engineer or the Civil Sur- 
 geon. The results of each important deliberation 
 were generally embodied in a minute, or despatch, by 
 which, while the constituted channels of business 
 were respected, authority was specially conveyed, and 
 provision, where necessary, forthwith made, for the 
 prompt execution of the determined line of conduct. 
 An incidental advantage, but one of peculiar value, 
 was the acquaintance imparted by such intimate con- 
 verse, with the qualifications and abilities of every 
 officer subordinate to the Government. Thomason 
 possessed a rare power of discriminating character, 
 and no opportunity was so favourable for exercising 
 it, as to find a man in the midst of his daily work. 
 With unexpected rapidity, the Lieut.-Governor would 
 perceive the weak point of a case or line of procedure ; 
 and the officer, if not thoroughly master of his work, 
 would find himself foiled by one whom he counted 
 
Despatch of Business 35 
 
 upon as a stranger to his business, but who turned out 
 to be more thoroughly acquainted with its details than 
 himself. The earnest worker, and the aspiring sub- 
 ordinate, were recognised and encouraged. The former 
 would be incited to prosecute, with redoubled energy, 
 some occupation of his own devising, or one for which 
 his Chief perceived in him a peculiar aptitude and 
 taste : here the reins would be loosened, and a generous 
 spur given to the willing labourer. To the latter, 
 some special sphere of industry or research would be 
 suggested — perhaps, the inquiry into an interesting 
 custom or tenure brought to notice in the circuit : he 
 would be invited probably to embody his investigation 
 when completed, and state his views and conclusions, 
 in a written form ; and the impulse thus given to 
 talent and application, would prove perhaps the start- 
 ing-point of a useful, if not distinguished, career. 
 
 At home or in the camp, in the Hills or at Agra, 
 the same continuous course of unwearying labour was 
 pursued by Thomason. The daily influx of reports 
 was usually disposed of promptly upon their receipt. 
 Such despatches as needed consideration, were reserved 
 for the early hours of the succeeding day, or other 
 leisure time. The rapidity with which these were 
 mastered — no important part of the correspondence, 
 however long or intricate, escaping his keen eye — and 
 the promptitude with which appropriate orders, often 
 involving detailed and extended arrangements, were 
 issued, could not fail to impress every functionary in 
 
36 James Thomason 
 
 the vicinity with a profound conviction of his great 
 administrative talent. The most diverse subjects, 
 from a riot to a district survey, from a revenue settle- 
 ment to the details of a bridge, a jail, or a road, were 
 handled with equal facility. The embryo idea of a 
 useful scheme, perhaps almost unconsciously expressed, 
 would immediately be caught up, and if capable of 
 practical development, fashioned into mature existence. 
 Independently, too, of suggestions from without, there 
 was a creative power within, spontaneously originating 
 new measures and designs, with a fertility of invention 
 that betokened a mind ever restless, and active for 
 the good of the Government. Endowed with such 
 powerful and versatile talents, Thomason yet sought 
 assiduously for the opinion and advice of others 
 wherever available. A great portion of his day was 
 spent in official interviews with officers, civil and 
 military, connected in any way with the advancement 
 of his administration. Social visits and parties of 
 ceremony were equally turned, as occasion offered, to 
 the same great object ; and he used to remark, that 
 the busy employment of such opportunities was one of 
 the most important parts of his duty. Though he 
 invited discussion, sought for the views of others, and 
 desired that his own should be subjected to the 
 severest criticism, and although he weighed most 
 dispassionately the arguments adduced from whatever 
 quarter, yet it was seldom, indeed, that he found 
 occasion to alter a conviction or a conclusion once 
 deliberately formed. Whenever he did so, he was 
 
Recognition of Merit yj 
 
 forward to make the due acknowledgment ; for no 
 man ever grudged less to avow himself indebted to 
 others ; and the labours of his subordinates were all 
 the more unsparingly entered upon, because, whatever 
 value they bore, the Lieut.-Governor was the first to 
 perceive and to reward; such generous appreciation, 
 accorded by one who ever exhibited a lively interest 
 in the success and the welfare of his subordinates, 
 elicited from them a grateful response ; and he re- 
 ceived, in consequence, that ready and devoted service 
 — the fruit of a loving and admiring spirit — which is 
 incomparably more valuable than the forced obedience 
 of fear and constraint. 
 
 It is no wonder, that with such powers of discern- 
 ment, with so great an aptitude for business, with 
 such a command over the services and affections of 
 his subordinate officers, and such complete devotion 
 to his Government, the administration flourished 
 under his hands. No wonder that the indolent were 
 stimulated to exertion, the able and energetic prompted 
 to additional effort, and the careless driven by shame, 
 if not by apprehension, to industry and reform. 
 Praise indeed would often carry with it a higher 
 reward than promotion (albeit the two bore ever a 
 close connection) ; while animadversion and reprimand 
 were frequently accompanied by a moral stigma that 
 stung more pungently than actual degradation. 
 
 We propose now to examine with some detail certain 
 of the chief proceedings by which Mr. Thomason 
 rendered his administration so worthy of admiration. 
 
3 8 James Thomason 
 
 The Eevenue Department is that to which his 
 attention was earliest turned, and from which it was 
 never averted. About the time he assumed the 
 Government, the Circular Orders of the Sudder Board 
 of Eevenue (for the broad principles, liberal views, 
 and lucid instructions of which, we are mainly in- 
 debted to the lamented K. Merttins Bird) fell out of 
 print, and the want began to be felt. Instead of 
 issuing a new edition, it occurred to Mr. Thomason to 
 compile a fresh set of directions which, supplying 
 what was deficient in the Board's rules, should exhibit 
 the whole duty of a Eevenue Officer, and the principles 
 on which our system is founded. 1 The publication, 
 consisting originally of three parts, commenced in 
 1844, and the whole was completed in 1848. Of 
 each part there were at first printed "a few trial 
 copies, struck off for private circulation, in order " (as 
 it was his constant object) " to elicit opinions on the 
 
 1 In the preface to this work, after referring to the Regulations and 
 Acts of Government in its legislative capacity and the orders issued 
 in its executive capacity, the rules and constructions of the Sudder 
 Court, of the Revenue Board, the Accountant, and the Civil Auditor, 
 the Lieut. -Governor proceeds : — 
 
 "The object of the present work is to collect together, from these 
 different sources, all that bears on the Revenue Administration of the 
 North-West Provinces, to arrange it methodically, and to place it 
 authoritatively before the officers employed in the department, with 
 such additional remarks and directions, as may suffice to explain the 
 mutual relation and dependence of the several parts of the system." 
 
 So, after enumerating the four printed Circulars of the Sudder 
 Board of Revenue, he adds : — 
 
 "These orders were clear and succinct, and were found to be of the 
 greatest benefit in facilitating the transaction of public business. 
 They were, however, in their nature, incomplete, for they did not 
 
"Directions" to Revemce Officers 39 
 
 important subjects " discussed. 1 They were eventually 
 published under the title of Directions to Settlement 
 Officers and the Directions to Collectors, as conveying, in 
 an authoritative manner, the views and instructions 
 of the Government. Both were subsequently re- 
 published together, 2 with an elaborate introduction 
 (to which Mr. Thomason appended his own name), 
 descriptive of the " Land Eevenue Administration 
 prevalent in the North -Western Provinces of Hindu- 
 stan." It is there held, that though symptoms of 
 proprietary right may exist under Native governments, 
 yet they are seldom recognised, and are really super- 
 seded by the right of the State, which, taking all that 
 it can and leaving no certain profit, deprives the 
 private title of any recognisable, or at any rate of any 
 marketable, value. Our system, by limiting the 
 demand of the Government, has virtually created a 
 property in the soil. Various phases of right are 
 found to exist, or have grown up under us. The 
 
 treat systematically the subjects to which they had reference, but 
 were only a digest, under convenient heads, of orders which had from 
 time to time been issued to meet exigencies as they arose. In process 
 of time, also, some of the rules were abrogated or modified. When, 
 therefore, a new edition of these Circular Orders was required, it was 
 evident that extensive additions and modifications would be necessary 
 to adapt them to the existing state of things, and it was ultimately 
 determined to reconstruct the whole in the present form, embodying 
 in the work such of the orders as remained in force, or throwing them 
 into the appendices." — Directions to Revenue Officers, Preface, p. 4. 
 
 1 " Preliminary Notice" to one of the Trial Copies. 
 
 2 Under the title, Directions to Revenue Officers, etc., in 1850. See 
 title prefixed to this Article. Several editions of an Urdu translation 
 of both parts separately, and of the whole treatise together, have also 
 issued from the press. 
 
40 James Thomason 
 
 Government itself ; the whole body of the cultivators ; 
 a portion of that body ; the head man of the village ; 
 or a middleman; may any one of them possess the 
 exclusive right of managing the township, or some 
 portion of that right. Hence the necessity of not 
 simply fixing the Government demand, but of ascer- 
 taining by whom, in what capacity, and with what 
 rights and responsibilities, the revenue so limited is 
 to be paid. This cannot be effected by ordinarily 
 constituted Courts, for the endless shades of right are 
 not susceptible of any but the most general legislative 
 provision ; and each case must therefore be separately 
 inquired into and adjusted by a commission specially 
 endowed with an authority at once judicial and dis- 
 cretionary. Such is the Court of the settlement officer. 
 In the Treatise which follows this disquisition, the 
 rules to be observed in the formation of settlements 
 are carefully laid down. They differ chiefly from 
 those of the Sudder Board in a more elaborate and 
 philosophical definition of the rights of those connected 
 with the soil, and more detailed directions for their 
 ascertainment and record. 
 
 The second treatise, or the Directions to Collectors, 
 embraces all the variety of duty which devolves on 
 that most important, but ill-named, class of function- 
 aries. It opens with general instructions for the 
 employment and considerate treatment of Subordinates ; 
 it proceeds to lay down valuable rules for the punctual 
 realisation of the Eevenue, for limiting interference by 
 Government and thus obliging the people as much as 
 
Revenue Instructions 41 
 
 possible to self -management ; and in case of unavoid- 
 able interference, for exercising it so as least to harass, 
 and most to benefit, those concerned. 
 
 The following extracts show with what care Mr. 
 Thomason inculcated kindness towards the native 
 officials : — 
 
 " Every effort should also be used to render the performance 
 of their duties as little as possible burdensome to them. The 
 officer, who keeps them long in attendance at his house, or who 
 requires that they perform their ordinary duties in court in a 
 painful standing position, cannot derive from them that degree 
 of assistance which would otherwise be rendered. He should so 
 dispose his own time, and make his official arrangements, as may 
 conduce to their comfort, and make their work light. The 
 practice of frequently imposing fines for trivial offences cannot 
 be too strongly deprecated. It affords an excuse for dishonesty, 
 and for that cause often fails to have any effect. Errors of 
 judgment should never be so punished, and corrupt or dishonest 
 actions deserve a very different punishment, and cannot be thus 
 either appropriately or beneficially noticed. In cases of neglect 
 or disobedience of orders, the imposition of a fine may be salutary, 
 but it should be moderate in amount — the offence should be un- 
 doubted, and generally the first transgression of the kind can 
 more appropriately be noticed by recorded reproof and warning." 
 
 And again — 
 
 " Great care should be taken to maintain the respectability of 
 the Tehseeldars. They should be selected with discrimination, 
 and after inquiry into the goodness of their character, as well 
 as their official capacity. They should always be received and 
 treated with consideration, and confidentially consulted, as far 
 as conveniently practicable, on all subjects connected with the 
 districts entrusted to their charge. Eeproof or censure, when 
 necessary, should be given privately rather than publicly ; and, 
 so long as they are allowed to retain office, they should be 
 treated with the confidence and respect which is due to their 
 high station. The occasions are very rare, in which the im- 
 position of a fine upon a Tehseeldar is advisable or even justi- 
 fiable." — Directions to Collectors, pp. 187-189. 
 
 Of the remaining portion of this invaluable treatise, 
 
42 James Thomason 
 
 we shall refer only to the third section, which en- 
 forces the system for registration of landed property. 
 A former paper in this Review l has explained, in 
 considerable detail, the minute record both of pro- 
 prietary and tenant right, which it was one great 
 object of the revenue settlement to form. The first 
 design of the section is to show in what manner this 
 record can be amended and perpetuated, so as to 
 be constantly correspondent with the daily mutation 
 of possession and of right. The anatomy of the 
 Collector's record-room, and the practical directions 
 for every step, from the papers of the Village 
 Accountant, to the archives of the Collector's office, 
 betray the eye and the hand itself familiar with 
 every operation described. But the most important 
 instructions are those which exhibit how the too 
 frequent defect of record at settlement can now be 
 remedied. For those who possess any acquaintance 
 with the subject, the following paragraphs will show 
 the style and spirit, with which able officers were 
 invited to enter upon an arduous undertaking : — 
 
 " 245. It would be vain to suppose that all which is necessary 
 has already been done. The original record, formed at the time of 
 settlement, was often erroneous and imperfect, and it could not be 
 otherwise. At the time of settlement the system was new and 
 imperfectly organised ; the persons selected for its performance were 
 not always the best qualified ; and the work was necessarily per- 
 formed with far more rapidity than was compatible with accuracy. 
 The mass of the people were ignorant, and unable to comprehend the 
 object or nature of the proceedings, or the bearing on their position 
 
 1 See Article IV. in No. XXIV. of the Calcutta licvicw, on the 
 Settlement of the North-Western Provinces. 
 
Revenue Instructions 43 
 
 of the settlement, and they were moreover suspicious of any measures 
 connected with the assessment of their lands. Under these circum- 
 stances, it is surprising that so much was done, and well done, at the 
 time of settlement. There is far more reason to take courage from 
 the great progress already made, than to despair at the magnitude 
 of what still remains to be done. 
 
 " 246. Let us suppose an intelligent officer appointed to the 
 charge of a district, where he is likely to remain for some years. 
 He is acquainted with the system of registration, and convinced of 
 the importance and practicability of maintaining it. On coming, 
 however, to refer to his settlement records in cases that casually 
 occur, he finds them imperfect or erroneous. He concludes that 
 registers resting on such a basis must be defective, and he determines 
 to apply himself in earnest to the correction of the errors. It is the 
 design of the present treatise to aid him in such an undertaking, 
 and to show that it is not difficult at any time to make a fresh 
 commencement, and to attain that degree of accuracy, which it was 
 designed to ensure at the time of settlement. 
 
 "247. He will find the necessary powers conferred upon him by 
 resolution of the Government, dated September 12, 1848, which is 
 given in the Appendix, No. XXV. In this resolution are defined 
 the limits within which the powers are to be exercised, and the 
 precautions to be observed in the conduct of the investigations. In 
 order to obtain the full support of his superiors in the Revenue 
 Department, it will be necessary for him to show that he is aware of 
 the nature and extent of the work that is before him, and of the 
 method in which it should be performed. 
 
 "248. His first efforts should be directed to the instruction of 
 his Sudder Omlah, and of both the pergunnah and village officers, in 
 the system of record and registration prescribed by the Government. 
 Great facilities have been lately afforded for the instruction of all 
 classes of people in the peculiarities of the system, by publishing 
 treatises on the subject in the vernacular languages, and by the 
 series of elementary school-books in Urdu and Hindi which are 
 designed to lead the pupils to this very subject, viz., the com- 
 prehension of the putwarris' papers. The revenue system, when 
 rightly understood and properly worked, affords the greatest stimulus 
 to the general education of the people. Indeed it cannot be ex- 
 pected that the registration of rights will ever become perfect, till 
 the people are sufficiently educated to understand it, and to watch 
 over its execution. There is reason, however, to apprehend, that 
 with all the means of information that are now available, a consider- 
 able time will elapse before it can be taken for granted that even 
 
44 James Thomason 
 
 the higher and better paid class of officers, such as Serishtadars, 
 Tehseeldars, and Canoongoes, are sufficiently familiar with the system, 
 to enable them to judge whether the record of a mouzah has been 
 accurately formed, or to cause its correction where it may be faulty. 
 
 "249. When the Collector is satisfied that the agents, whom 
 he is to employ, possess the requisite degree of knowledge, he will 
 endeavour to ascertain through their means how far the existing 
 records are defective. Lists should be prepared of those mouzahs, 
 in which it is most necessary to amend, or wholly to recast the record. 
 Some will probably be found, in which remeasurement of the lands, 
 and the formation of an entirely new misl is urgently required. 
 
 " 250. Several opportunities will occur, when remeasurement and 
 recasting of the whole records is necessary, and can be enforced, such 
 as the division of an estate, or its being held kham for a balance. 
 These opportunities should be seized, and the remedy applied. There 
 are other cases where disputes of the people, or partial injury to the 
 estate, will render the people willing to remeasure the estate, and 
 recast the papers at their own cost. These are likely to be the cases 
 in which such a process is the most necessary. Every effort should 
 be used to carry it on, so as to be least expensive to the people, and 
 so as to expose them to the least annoyance. Pains should also be 
 taken to explain to the people the benefit they will derive from the 
 measure, and the uses to which it may be put. The field work 
 should be prosecuted as much as possible in the cold weather, when 
 the Collector can give it his personal superintendence. If he can- 
 not himself be near to control and supervise, a properly qualified 
 subordinate officer should have the duty entrusted to him. 
 
 "251. It is most probable that he will thus, in the course of a 
 short time, by address and management, be able to correct all the 
 records which most need correction, without any expense whatever 
 to the State. Each such new record will afford, as it were, a fresh 
 start to the entries in the malgoozaree and pergunnah register 
 regarding the mouzahs, and to the whole of the putwarris' papers. 
 The operation will in fact consist in the formation of a new set of 
 putwarris' papers, based on the judicially ascertained state of property 
 in the village at the time, and not deduced from the record of a 
 former year, as is ordinarily the case. The opportunity will not have 
 been lost of instructing the putwarris in the discharge of their duties, 
 and of pointing out to the people how much their welfare depends on 
 themselves understanding the putwarris' accounts, and being careful 
 to ensure their accuracy. If the people do not seem willing at first 
 to remeasure their estates and correct their records at their own 
 expense, it may be necessary to apply to superior authority for 
 
Revenue Administration 45 
 
 permission to aid the work on the part of the Government, by 
 charging, in the contingent bill, a part or the whole of the expense 
 in some mouzahs, where the people are the poorest, or the most 
 averse to the proceeding. It has been found in some districts that 
 the putwarris may be instructed with little difficulty to measure the 
 land, prepare field maps, and perform all the work of experienced 
 ameens." 
 
 The resolution of Government, referred to in the 
 247 th paragraph, confers upon all Collectors and Deputy 
 Collectors in these provinces, the power of " complet- 
 ing the record of rights in land, which should have 
 been made at the time of settlement, and to correct 
 the existing record, whenever it is found at variance 
 with fact." This involves the exercise, under Eegula- 
 tions VII. of 1822, and IX. of 1833, of a large 
 discretion ; and where exercised with the care and 
 caution here inculcated by the Lieut. -Governor, there is 
 no reason to believe that results other than the most 
 beneficial have followed. Yet the indiscriminate 
 appointment to the duty of all Collectors and Deputy 
 Collectors, irrespective of their fitness and capacity for 
 it, has led, it may be feared, to the too summary, and 
 sometimes careless exercise of powers, which involve 
 deeply important questions of property and possession. 
 
 During the last year of his administration, Mr. 
 Thomason put every effort in force to introduce into 
 his jurisdiction the system so admirably devised and 
 matured in the Punjab, by which village Putwarris 
 are enabled, with rude implements, and yet with a 
 degree of scientific accuracy, to survey their boundaries, 
 and protract their fields upon scale. He at once per- 
 ceived the vast advantages of the scheme in providing 
 
46 James Thomason 
 
 a simple and uncostly machinery, by which the records 
 might not only be cured of the defects of the original 
 survey and settlement, but made effectually to keep 
 pace with the busy changes of time. He regarded this 
 as an important step also in native education, and 
 endeavoured to connect it with the system of village 
 schools under Mr. H. S. Eeid's care. We have here 
 a fine instance at the close of his career, of readiness 
 to recognise means contrived by others, and of 
 superiority to prejudice in casting aside the older 
 system which had grown up under his own hands, 
 and heartily and thankfully adopting the new. 
 
 There is but one other point in his Eevenue 
 Administration, to which we shall specifically refer : 
 it is the position of TaluMars, that is, of persons 
 claiming one or more villages, or a large tract of 
 villages, in virtue of a superior right by conquest, by 
 submission of the people, or by imperial grant. The 
 claim is frequently contested by the village residents 
 under the title of Zemindars, Biswahdars, or Mo- 
 cuddums. The utmost variety of opinion has divided 
 the Eevenue authorities as to which of these parties is 
 best entitled to be acknowledged proprietor. It was 
 at last ruled, with the concurrence of the Sudder 
 Court, that it is possible for two species of proprietary 
 right, differing essentially in kind, to co-exist in the 
 same village, — that of Talukdar as superior, that of 
 Biswahdar or Mocuddum as inferior. The law leaves 
 it in the discretion of the executive power to decide 
 with which, among any number of proprietors, the 
 
Talukdars 47 
 
 Settlement (involving the management of the estate) 
 shall be made. Those who leant to the Talukdar, 
 recognised him as either sole Zemindar, or as the 
 manager with the Biswahdars holding dependently of 
 him : — those again who leant to the Biswahdars, 
 either installed them in exclusive proprietary right, 
 or acknowledging the title of the superior, set him 
 aside with a money allowance, and concluded all the 
 fiscal arrangements direct with the inferior proprietors. 
 Thomason belonged to the latter class ; and as his 
 earnest spirit never suffered him to indulge in half 
 measures, but led him to follow out his principles to 
 their extreme limit of appliance, it was held by some 
 (who sided with neither of the extreme parties), that 
 in anxiety to do justice to the claims of the Biswah- 
 dars, he was backward to acknowledge the just rights, 
 or fulfil the reasonable expectations, of the Talukdars. 
 This bias may be perceived in his decision, embodied 
 in an elaborate minute recorded early in his govern- 
 ment, by which the standard of remuneration to ex- 
 cluded Talukdars was to be reduced, after the death of 
 incumbents, from 22^ per cent, to 10 per cent, upon 
 the Government Juma. 1 Similar principles guided 
 
 1 The minute is dated the 17th January 1844. The question was 
 long before the Court of Directors, whose decision Thomason awaited, 
 though with full persuasion of the justice of the act, yet with some 
 doubt as to the result. The Court eventually disallowed the reduction 
 during the currency of the settlement, wherever it was not borne out 
 by express stipulation, but decreed that it should thereafter take 
 effect. 
 
 It is remarkable that this order arrived only a few weeks after Mr. 
 Thomason's demise. 
 
48 James Thomason 
 
 him in the settlement of resumed rent-free lands, in 
 which the claims of the resident community, wherever 
 supported by any vestige of proprietary possession, 
 were preferred to the exclusion of the Maafidars. But 
 in this instance, we have little sympathy with the 
 excluded party, for the former Government in con- 
 ferring the Maafi tenure of lands already occupied, 
 could evidently dispose of its own right alone to the 
 imperial share of the produce, and not of any further 
 interests which remained, or ought to have remained, 
 unaffected by the grant. 
 
 Time would fail, if we were to refer in any detail 
 to the excellences of Thomason's Eevenue Administra- 
 tion — to some of the most striking despatches, for 
 instance, in which he provided for an equable and 
 moderate assessment ; for an efficient distribution of 
 establishments ; for the convenient adjustment of in- 
 termingled boundaries and jurisdiction ; for the due 
 enforcement of the Customs revenue (which under 
 him reached an unwonted prosperity) ; for the prepara- 
 tion of district maps, English and Vernacular, showing 
 all the village boundaries ; for perfecting the system 
 of proprietory records, and rendering them accessible 
 to the public ; for the survey and disposal of waste 
 lands ; for the settlement of disputed rights ; for 
 encouraging industry and the investment of capital 
 by the conferment of a good title where none existed ; 
 for the improvement and elevation, in fine, of each 
 branch of that complicated machinery, through which 
 the Indian Collector touches the people. It will 
 
Public Works 49 
 
 readily be imagined from what has been said, that his 
 administration was vigorous and singularly successful ; 
 that while it descended to the minutest detail, it 
 equally grasped the most comprehensive results ; and 
 that not only its current concerns were conducted on 
 a liberal and sagacious policy, but that the provident 
 eye of the Lieut. -Governor, seeing in advance of the 
 present, laid down a mass of enlightened principles ; 
 — principles which, if duly observed, cannot fail to 
 guide in the future, and to extend the blessings of his 
 administration far beyond its immediate influence. 1 
 
 The Department of Public Works is the next 
 we shall refer to, as peculiarly prominent under 
 Thomason's Government. Endowed with a taste for 
 mathematics, and with an engineering eye, he assumed 
 a more decided authoritative part in all public works 
 undertaken or proposed, than an unprofessional person 
 
 1 For some years he had been engaged upon a "Revenue Code," 
 embracing the principles and procedure enunciated in the Directions, 
 and followed in our present system of revenue administration. He 
 had advanced a considerable way upon this work, when he was 
 obliged by other occupations to abandon it. It is replete with sound 
 principles, and the dictates of much experience and judgment. 
 
 Mr. Thomason's fame, as a Revenue Administrator, was recognised 
 and done homage to, without the bounds of his own Government. 
 He was consulted by the Administrators of other territories, whose 
 condition widely differed from the North- Western Provinces ; and 
 from whatever quarter, whether from Arracan, from Madras, or from 
 the Punjab, inquiries came, they received the same prompt attention 
 and ingenious solution. Some detailed and careful reasoning, founded 
 upon a reference of this description from Salem, a district in Madras, 
 shows that if he had been spared he would have gone to that 
 Presidency, ready and able to cope with the difficult revenue ques- 
 tions which perplex the Government. 
 4 
 
So James Thomason 
 
 would in general be warranted to take. Towards the 
 remodelling of the Department of Public Works, 
 which, instead of the dilatory and feeble machinery of 
 a Board, should give him the prompt counsel and ener- 
 getic supervision of an able Chief Engineer in immediate 
 connection at once with himself and with all the works 
 in progress, he wistfully looked as a great onward 
 step, both for the improvement of the country and for 
 relieving the Administration of a professional responsi- 
 bility hardly attaching to its position. He was not 
 spared to see that change ; for even yet it only looms 
 in the distance, though we trust its realisation draws 
 speedily near. 1 Deprived of a professional and re- 
 sponsible counsellor, Thomason did not shrink from 
 assuming the exercise of immediate and independent 
 action wherever necessary. His admirable skill was 
 manifest in the most intuitive perception of the 
 
 1 In a despatch to the Government of India, dated the 7th June 
 1847, urging the appointment of a Chief Engineer, with reference to 
 Lord Hardinge's sanction of an unlimited expenditure for the Ganges 
 Canal, Mr. Thomason thus describes his position as Lieut. -Governor : — 
 
 " The necessary effect of the present state of things, is that in the 
 superintendence of many public works, the Lieut. -Governor is thrown 
 entirely on his own resources. Works involving much engineering 
 skill are at present under construction in Rohilkhund, in Agra, in 
 Nimar, as well as all over the country, under the Magistrates and 
 Local Committees ; and in forming an opinion upon these, the Lieut. - 
 Governor is forced to depend upon his own knowledge, or the casual 
 assistance which personal friends ungrudgingly afford. But he has no 
 fixed responsible adviser, to whom he could at all times authoritatively 
 refer, and on whose judgment he could implicitly rely." 
 
 No doubt the strong, but just, statement of the case contained in 
 this address, was effectual in bringing the subject to the favourable 
 notice it is now receiving from a liberal administration. 
 
Public Works 51 
 
 practicability and usefulness, or otherwise, of any 
 project laid before him. After a deliberate survey 
 of the plans and proposals, he promptly admitted or 
 rejected the scheme. If acknowledged to be useful, 
 and yet perhaps immature and uncertain in its details, 
 directions would be given for further inquiry and 
 development ; the papers, if sufficiently important, 
 would be published, and discussion invited ; x or the 
 whole project would be thrown into the hands of 
 some one of undoubted capacity, either to work into 
 shape or to carry into effect. To every officer 
 connected with the civil administration of the North- 
 West Provinces, numerous instances will occur of 
 important works brought to a successful issue by such 
 happy management. He particularly watched over 
 the proceedings of the Koad and Ferry Fund Com- 
 mittees, and liberally fostered every useful scheme 
 they devised. His own fertile and ceaselessly-working 
 mind not unfrequently itself originated conceptions, 
 which were either at once carried out, or commended 
 to the attention and inquiries of the local officers. 
 Thus during the past year, he projected two roads, 
 one joining Pilibheet with Agra by a line running 
 
 1 By way of illustration we may refer to a Rex>ort on the High Road 
 between Mhow and Saugor, lately issued from the Agra Press, with 
 correspondence regarding a raised, but not metalled, track proposed 
 by Capt. Lake. The Lieut. -Governor's remarks, embodied in the 
 concluding letter from the Agra Government, dated the 25th August 
 1853, will furnish a specimen of the usual and everyday orders 
 elicited by proposals of this description. The support of the proposed 
 line by tolls, and the necessity of obtaining the co-operation of native 
 states, are prominently noticed. 
 
52 James Thomason 
 
 through Bareilly and Budaon, the other uniting the 
 Saugor territories with the Doab, via Kallinjer in the 
 Banda district ; — so as to open up to fertile but ill- 
 accessible tracts, a new and large drain for their 
 commodities. 1 To the Bombay and Agra road, though 
 cramped by limited resources, he devoted a minute 
 attention ; and one of his latest acts was to secure the 
 approval of the Supreme Government to a scheme, by 
 which, at increased expense, it will be rendered greatly 
 more effective. His proposals also regarding the 
 Mirzapore Deccan road, were carefully matured, and 
 if carried out, would place it (though at a great 
 expenditure) almost upon the footing of the Grand 
 Trunk line. He took much interest in the opening 
 of a good approach over the Sewalick range to Dera 
 and Mussoorie, and both by public aid and private 
 suggestion, sought to forward the undertaking. These 
 are mentioned but as specimens : to enumerate all the 
 important works which he originated or materially 
 aided, would swell this article beyond all reasonable 
 bounds. 
 
 The Grand Trunk Road, however, demands some 
 
 1 The second instance here mentioned, presents a characteristic 
 example of the mode in which Mr. Thomason treasured up, for years, 
 the embryo of a likely scheme, till the time had arrived for its 
 execution. The idea of the Jubbulpore road through Banda was 
 started by Lieut. Briggs of the Engineer Corps, and communicated to 
 Mr. Thomason in a private note, written in 1848. The public finances, 
 or other considerations, prevented the immediate adoption of the 
 project ; but the letter was carefully treasured, and now that 
 obstacles to its completion were removed, was printed and circulated 
 to all the authorities concerned, with a despatch inviting suggestions 
 for the promotion of the design. 
 
The Grand Trunk Road 53 
 
 special remarks. Its excellent condition is mainly 
 owing to the arrangements for constant supervision 
 enforced by the late Lieut. -Governor. Under his 
 sanction, small bungalows have been erected at short 
 distances for the shelter of the Overseers ; with- 
 out which, frequent visits and effectual control over 
 the native workmen, during the severity of the hot 
 and rainy seasons, would have been impossible. His 
 liberal policy provided a wide margin to the line, both 
 for its own works, and the protection of the land- 
 holders from encroachment. Serious difficulty occurs 
 in procuring Kunhur or metal, from lands owned by 
 private individuals ; and here the operations of the 
 Engineers were facilitated by his wise and consistent 
 counsels. In widening the roads and bridges, in 
 straightening and enlarging the passage through 
 crowded towns and bazaars, as well as in various minor 
 arrangements for the accommodation of the trains of 
 waggons and carriages which move upon it, he had of 
 late instituted many marked improvements. 
 
 But the chief advance consists in the admirable 
 protective measures, which enable the thousands of 
 travellers to pass in security along this road, under 
 the guardianship of a regular patrol, stationed every 
 two miles at police posts. 1 Encamping grounds for 
 the accommodation of troops marching on the line 
 
 1 One of his late acts was to organise from the Ferry Funds (which 
 he regarded as legitimately applicable to the guarding of the main 
 roads), a large augmentation of the chowkidari force upon the Grand 
 Trunk line. The despatch containing this order, with detailed 
 instructions regarding the chowkidars, was printed and circulated. 
 
54 James Thomason 
 
 have also been set aside and marked off at convenient 
 distances ; and storehouses of wood and provisions 
 erected on the spot. 1 Thus not only the troops them- 
 selves march with greater comfort, but the advent of 
 a Eegiment is not now (what we can recollect it within 
 the last ten or twelve years to have been) a signal to 
 the Tehseeldari myrmidons for extortion and oppres- 
 sion, enabling them to levy subsidies of grain, and to 
 fell the cherished trees of the people, under pretence 
 of supplying the troops with firewood and provisions. 
 Eobert Montgomery has much of the credit of 
 maturing the scheme, and Lieut. -Colonel Steel, C.B. 
 (one of the most willing of Thomason's working staff), 
 has ably carried it out ; but both needed the guiding 
 hand of their master. 2 Where the system is worked 
 with any degree of attention, it is hardly possible that 
 oppression of the kind alluded to can again occur. 
 
 To Works of Irrigation, where engineering skill is 
 employed directly to enhance the productive value of 
 
 1 The encamping grounds, it has been Thomason's especial care to 
 have set apart in every line by which troops are accustomed to march, 
 and their advantages are patent as a simple expedient at once for 
 convenience, and for preventing encroachment on private lands and 
 fields. The storehouses, however, can only be put in full operation, 
 where the demand is sufficient to encourage speculators to contract for 
 the recp^isite supplies. 
 
 - Although the rules of the Supreme Government have all along 
 been most stringent for the full payment of all carriage, provisions, 
 wood, etc., required by troops, it was notorious that they were in great 
 measure unheeded ; and, indeed, so long as good arrangements on the 
 part of the Civil Officers are not in force, one can hardly blame the 
 half-famished sepoy, jaded by a long and weary march, for carrying 
 off summarily the means of satisfying his hunger. We have seen the 
 
Irrigation Works 55 
 
 the soil, the comfort of the people, and their security 
 from the ravages of famine, Thomason devoted, as it 
 behoved an Indian Governor, an unusual share of his 
 attention. Among his miscellaneous projects, we 
 may allude to the survey of the environs of Delhi, 
 organised with the object of reviving the ancient 
 embankments of which traces still remain, as well 
 as of procuring a record of archaeological interest, 
 regarding the venerable capital of India. His efforts 
 for draining the adjacent extensive swamp of 
 Nujjufgurh, were, in the face of great difficulties, un- 
 remitting ; and though not yet entirely successful, 
 have still received reward in the rich crops now 
 covering the soil which has been laid bare by the 
 escape of a portion of the waters. The operations in 
 Ajmere have been explained to the public, both of 
 England and of India, in Colonel Dixon's Sketch of 
 Mairwara, 1 a work which owes its origin to the same 
 suggestive mind that aided and forwarded the 
 admirable measures there recorded. In an opposite 
 direction, among the forests of the Eohilkhund Terai, 
 
 stores of wood, the scene of a regular storm, carried away without the 
 thought of payment, to the sad dismay of the unfortunate supplier. 
 The natural consequence was, that the loss fell eventually on the 
 surrounding villages. Such practices are now unknown. 
 
 To make the wise rules of the Government of India universally 
 known, both for the warning of the military and encouragement of the 
 Civil officials, Thomason compiled with great care all the orders and 
 rules bearing on the subject, and published them under the title, 
 Selected orders, Civil and Military, regarding March of Troops, the 
 Mode of supplying them with Carriage, Provisions, etc., published by 
 order of the Honourable Lieut. -Governor, N.-W. P., Agra, 1849. 
 
 1 See a review of this work in Calcutta Preview, No. XXX., Art. IX. 
 
56 James Thomason 
 
 and within sight of the snowy Himalayas, the ener- 
 getic proceedings of Captain Jones for draining the 
 marshy lands of that exuberant but neglected tract, 
 and turning its precious but hitherto wasted streams 
 to the purposes of irrigation, were watched and 
 directed with equal care. 1 
 
 The Nugeena Canal in Bijnore, and the canals of 
 the Dera Doon, no less than their greater and more 
 important rivals, the Eastern and Western Jumna 
 Canals, engaged his lively interest. He was ever on 
 the watch for suggestions to improve their efficiency ; 2 
 and it is but within a few months, that his advocacy 
 secured the approval of the Governor-General and the 
 Court of Directors to a scheme upon a grand scale for 
 straightening, at the expense of above a lakh and a 
 
 1 See Calcutta Review, No. IX., Art. III. 
 
 2 A running memorandum of the progress of each work in repaying 
 its outlay, was regularly kept up among his private memoranda. 
 
 During the past year, Mr. Thomason officially called the attention 
 of Colonel Cautley to some valuable suggestions made privately by 
 him more than five years before. We quote from this despatch, as it 
 is another striking instance of the care with which schemes once 
 started were treasured up, and reserved for the proper opportunity : — 
 
 "The project of a new canal from the Song River is a promising 
 one. But there is another project of drawing water from the Buldi 
 River, above the Sansadarra, which once engaged attention, but has 
 apparently now been lost sight of. The notice of this project is 
 contained in a private note from yourself, dated March 9th, 1848. It 
 has been carefully kept for many years, and is now placed on record 
 to preserve it from oblivion. " Colonel Cautley is then requested to 
 have both worked out, and estimates framed, so that the report might 
 be printed, ' ' and remain for execution, when money and agency are 
 forthcoming." His attention is also called to further suggestions 
 made in a pamphlet published also under Thomason's authority — Notes 
 and Memoranda on the Water Courses in the Dera Doon, by Captain 
 Cautley, 1845. 
 
The Ganges Canal 57 
 
 half of rupees, the tortuous course of a portion of the 
 Eastern Jumna Canal, thus greatly adding to its effici- 
 ency, and diminishing the cost of its maintenance. 1 
 
 Eegarding these subjects, and indeed upon all 
 engineering questions, Thomason placed a well- 
 deserved and unlimited confidence in Lieut. -Colonel 
 Cautley, the Superintendent of Canals in the North- 
 West Provinces and Director of that great work, 
 the Ganges Canal, which is the creation of his own 
 genius. If interested in the comparatively puny 
 aqueducts above alluded to, it may well be imagined 
 that this truly imperial undertaking called forth the 
 full tide of the late Lieut. -Governor's solicitude. 
 Deeply persuaded of its vast importance, both in 
 adding to the resources of the kingdom, and amelior- 
 ating throughout an immense extent of country, the 
 horror of those famines to which the North-West 
 Provinces, from their uncertain climate, must be 
 constantly liable, he acted upon the principle that all 
 lesser interests may well bend before this object of 
 paramount necessity. It was not that he aided 
 either in devising or in perfecting any of the 
 engineering details ; the merit of originating the 
 
 1 As a first step towards carrying through this great work, the 
 Superintendent was invited to mature the design and to prepare a 
 report upon it, in a popular form, comprehensible by unprofessional 
 readers. Permanency and publicity were given to the result of this 
 suggestion, under the following title — Notes on the Levels of the 
 Eastern Jumna Canal, explanatory of a Project for completing the 
 Regulation of the Slope of the Canal bed. 1st May 1852, Agra. 
 By Lieut. W. E. Morton, Superintendent of the Eastern Jumna 
 Canals. 
 
58 James Thomason 
 
 grand conception, and of developing its various parts, 
 belongs to Colonel Cautley,and to him alone. But to 
 Thomason does belong the credit, which of itself 
 would have rendered his administration famous, of 
 grasping the idea in all its largeness and importance, 
 and of representing the object, and advocating the 
 claims of the work in so powerful a manner (at the 
 time when a stinted expenditure would have starved 
 into insignificance the noble design, and a mistaken 
 policy have reduced it to a mere boat canal), that the 
 Government were persuaded to remove the restrictions 
 imposed by Lord Ellenborough, the merits of the 
 undertaking were fully recognised, and Colonel Cautley 
 allowed a discretionary command of means without 
 bound or restriction. 
 
 The Ganges Canal is so closely connected with the 
 administration now under review, and its approaching 
 opening invests it with so much present attraction, 
 that our readers will probably not be unwilling to 
 possess a short abstract of its history. 
 
 On the 23rd of May 1838, Colonel Cautley sub- 
 mitted to the Government of the North-West 
 Provinces, a series of levels taken by him a year or 
 two before, with a view to test the possibility of 
 pouring, for purposes of irrigation, a flood of water 
 from the Ganges below Hurdwar into the Kali Nuddi 
 at Bolundshuhur. Though this was reported to be 
 impracticable, yet the idea of the Ganges Canal had 
 dawned upon his mind, and he solicited authority to 
 carry on his investigations for supplying water to the 
 
The Ganges Canal 59 
 
 " Mozuffernugger, Sirdana, and Meerut districts." 1 
 The reply, written by Thomason, under Lord Auck- 
 land's authority, states that "His Lordship is not 
 prepared to expect much success in any attempt to 
 draw a canal from the right bank of the Ganges. If, 
 however, the object could be attained, the public 
 benefit would be very great. It appears from Captain 
 Cautley's letter that the question can easily be set 
 at rest, and it is highly desirable that it should be so 
 without delay." The Military Board were accord- 
 ingly instructed to give Captain Cautley a small 
 establishment to prosecute his inquiries. 
 
 In 1840, Thomason, again at the Secretariat post, 
 expressed to Captain Cautley, the Honourable Mr. 
 Kobertson's gratification at the result of his investiga- 
 tions, which were printed for general information. 
 In 1841, Mr. Kobertson recorded an enlightened and 
 elaborate minute respecting the importance of the 
 projected canal, " the practicability of which had, 
 
 1 A little sketch accompanies and illustrates this report, and in it a 
 pencil dotted line, marked in Colonel Cautley's writing, the "probable 
 direction of head" to pass by Roorkee, exhibits the singular sagacity 
 of that distinguished Engineer, in seeing as it were, where other men 
 conjecture and calculate. 
 
 It is curious to observe, that in the reply of Government another 
 object for which the establishment was also granted, is regarded as a 
 much more likely and promising scheme, viz., a proposal to draw olf 
 Rajbuhas (or minor water-courses) from the chief rivers in the Upper 
 Doab. These inquiries seem to have originated in a scheme of 
 Captain Debude for irrigating from the Hindun and Kali Nuddi, but 
 it was Colonel John Colvin, C.B., the Superintendent of Canals 
 preceding Colonel Cautley, who left the idea of a canal from the 
 Ganges as a legacy to his successor. — Preface to Col. Cautley's Report 
 on the Central Doab Canal, 12th May 1840, 
 
60 fames Thomason 
 
 through Captain Cautley's unwearied zeal and talent, 
 been satisfactorily established," and submitted to 
 Lord Auckland repeated addresses, pressing the 
 undertaking upon the Government. In the prepara- 
 tion of these, Thomason doubtless assisted. 
 
 On the 1st September 1841, the Court of 
 Directors, upon a review of the whole question, 
 and guided by the recommendation of the Indian 
 Government, accorded their liberal sanction to the 
 project, estimated at above a million sterling ; and 
 Captain Cautley with vigour commenced the work. 
 But a change soon came over the spirit of the 
 Government; for upon the 29th April 1842, Lord 
 Ellenborough, from the military bureau, directed the 
 suspension of existing arrangements, on account of 
 financial and other considerations; and, if this were 
 capable of misconstruction, two months later (21st 
 June 1842), he issued positive orders from the Civil 
 department, that pending " a further test to the 
 scientific and financial calculations on which the 
 scheme was based, all further expenditure was to 
 be discontinued." It was represented, however, by 
 the Agra Government, that to close at once all the 
 progressing operations, would be to involve the State 
 in a serious loss ; and the Governor-General therefore 
 consented (September 1842) that existing works 
 might be carried on, but at the paltry expenditure 
 of two lakhs in the year. 
 
 Things continued on this unsatisfactory footing 
 till the beginning of 1844, Captain Cautley being 
 
The Ganges Canal 61 
 
 obliged, from the want of subordinate agency, to 
 conduct with his own hands the drudgery of 
 surveying levels and such like work. It was one 
 of Thomason's earliest acts as Lieut.-Governor to 
 remonstrate strongly (February 1844) against this 
 most uneconomical and extravagant misuse of the 
 Director's time and talents — a waste of directing 
 energy, which no private Company, acting simply 
 for their own benefit, would have incurred. The 
 scanty aid conceded by Lord Ellenborough in reply, 
 was given grudgingly, and accompanied by the 
 following strange misconception : — " It is," His 
 Lordship said, " with the view of making a canal of 
 Navigation, that the project has been sanctioned, and that 
 sums for constructing it have been granted. Irrigation 
 is to be a secondary object, towards which, after the first 
 object has been effected, the surplus ivaters are to be 
 applied. His lordship desires that this may be con- 
 tinually held in view!' It is well that this Noble- 
 man had already neutralised these false views by the 
 appointment, as his Lieutenant, of an officer who 
 would not shrink from exposing their fallacy ; else 
 the Ganges Canal, for the chief end of its existence, 
 might have sunk into utter inefficiency. 
 
 But Thomason perceived the critical position, and 
 addressed himself with determination to do battle 
 for the Canal. He visited the works, and after 
 becoming thoroughly acquainted with their state, 
 and the folly of prosecuting them in the present 
 sluggish fashion, he promptly addressed the Governor- 
 
62 James Thomason 
 
 General (April 1844), and boldly pleaded the issue 
 whether His Lordship's limit could be justified upon 
 any grounds, either of sound policy, of economy, 
 or of humanity. Hitherto this limit had not done 
 much injury, for in the beginning of a great design, 
 it is long before a sufficient supply of artisans and 
 labourers can be procured. Now, however, " the 
 fame of the work had spread " : carpenters, masons, 
 artificers, labourers, had congregated from the most 
 distant quarters — Oudh, Bhuttee, Marwara, etc. If 
 the restriction be maintained, these must go away, 
 " and the conductors of the work be discredited." 
 Viewed in a political aspect, " the national reputation 
 was pledged to its success." The many thousands 
 assembled at the Hurdwar fair had seen the State 
 " embarked in the gigantic undertaking " of turning the 
 Ganges into the Doab ; and if the Government were 
 baffled in the work, the prestige of our power and 
 credit would be shaken. 1 Again, the Government 
 was bound by motives of humanity not to delay a 
 work certified as an effectual means of saving a great 
 tract of land from famine ; yet the present sluggish 
 rate would not complete this work within thirty or 
 forty years to come, during the whole of which period 
 
 1 This was a view which had evidently taken much hold of his 
 mind ; for at the close of the following year, in reply to inquiries 
 from the Court of Directors, he writes : — 
 
 "In the face of the whole Hindu population, assembled at the 
 great Koomb" (or duodecennial) "fair, the British nation stood 
 pledged to this great work, gigantic in itself, but invested with 
 peculiar importance in the eyes of our subjects from its connection 
 with their sacred river, and favourite place of pilgrimage." 
 
The Ganges Canal 63 
 
 the country would be abandoned to the inroads of 
 drought and all its unmitigated horrors. 1 Mere 
 economy demanded loudly that the operations should 
 be expedited, in order that the expense of costly super- 
 vision might be saved. The petty two lakhs expended 
 on it were no more than the annual net income 
 received direct from the Jumna Canals. " Hitherto 
 the Government have advanced nothing towards the 
 Ganges Canal from the general resources of the State. 
 Notwithstanding the proof daily before their eyes of 
 the benefits arising from canals, they have just done 
 sufficient to commit themselves to the undertaking, 
 but have shrunk from embarking in it with that zeal 
 and determination which will bring its benefits 
 within their reach." The Governor-General, who 
 could lavish his thousands upon the Somnath gates, 
 and " the favourite sweetmeat " of the Sepoys, was 
 moved by this potent reasoning to grant the petty 
 subsidy of a single lakh more for one year ! 
 
 But the masterly State paper, of which we have 
 given a sketch, was to receive a worthier treatment 
 
 1 Shortly after this despatch, Mr. Thomason addressed the Military 
 Board on another aspect of this question. Sound policy demanded 
 that the works should be substantial and secure, and the superintend- 
 ence most effective ; for after a canal had once come into full play, 
 and had caused in its vicinity a vast increase of population, 
 corresponding with the increased productiveness of the soil, the 
 failure of water arising from any oversight or blunder of the 
 Engineers, must involve the unsuspecting people in all the horrors 
 of an artificial famine. (21st May 1844.) This is a most serious 
 aspect of the case, and proves the urgent necessity of the works being 
 efficiently officered, both as respects the number and qualifications of 
 the supervisors. 
 
64 James Thomason 
 
 from more discriminating hands. In 1845, it is true, 
 Lord Hardinge postponed the more vigorous prosecu- 
 tion of the work, but he did so simply from sanatory 
 considerations, in expectation of the report of a com- 
 mittee appointed to investigate the effect of canal 
 irrigation upon the healthiness of the adjacent country. 
 The Sutlej campaign called away Major Baker (who 
 occupied the place of Major Cautley while in England) 
 both from this committee and the canal. But the 
 glorious success of our arms had no sooner freed Lord 
 Hardinge from the cares of the field, than he nobly 
 compensated for all the inaction, illiberality, and error 
 that had preceded. 
 
 In March 1847, Lord Hardinge visited the 
 stupendous works of the Solani aqueduct, and having 
 thoroughly entered into all the Lieut.-Governor's 
 sentiments, shortly after recorded a minute which re- 
 flects honour on His Lordship's name. He abandoned 
 Navigation except as a subsidiary object, enunciated 
 the principle that Irrigation was the grand design, 
 before which every thing must bend, and declared 
 himself ready to authorise the twenty lakhs a year, 
 named by Major Baker, — nay to sanction "as large 
 a sum for future years as the Director could expend 
 with a due regard to economy." }. 
 
 The battle was now won. Minor lets and 
 hindrances were easily overcome. 2 In 1850 the 
 
 1 Minute by Lord Hardinge, dated 20th April 1847. 
 
 2 About the close of 1847, both the Court of Directors and the 
 Governor-General (Lord Hardinge), in view of the mighty proceedings 
 in progress, expressed some hesitation ; but it was readily removed 
 
The Ganges Canal 65 
 
 enhanced estimate of above a million and a half ster- 
 ling was cheerfully passed by the Honourable Court. 
 And thus, under the liberal policy of the enlightened 
 nobleman now presiding over the Government of 
 India, and under the careful patronage of his Lieut. - 
 Governor who at every check or difficulty was ready 
 to advocate before his Chief the claims of the canal, 
 or to solve perplexities by his suggestions, the 
 magnificent work has progressed apace till the 
 present day, when, on the verge of completion, the 
 guiding and protecting hand, scarcely now required 
 more, has been suddenly removed. Thomason was 
 to have been present at the formal opening of the 
 Canal in the ensuing spring : but his work was done. 
 And Colonel Cautley cannot but feel that the spirit 
 which imparted life, energy and success to his great 
 design, has departed, just as the Canal in millions 
 of rivulets was about to pour across the vast plain 
 of the Doab its vivifying flood of luxuriance and 
 plenty. 
 
 While Thomason was only the advocate and helper 
 of the Ganges Canal, he was the originator of the 
 Engineering College at Koorkee. 
 
 From the first deeply he was impressed with the 
 
 by the powerful representations of the Lieut. -Governor. The revised 
 estimate, ungrudgingly passed by the Court of Directors, in their 
 despatch dated the 2nd June 1852, amounts to the enormous sum of 
 R,s. 1,55,48,100. Mr. Thomason used constantly to keep running 
 accounts of the advancing expenditure among his private memo- 
 randa. 
 
66 James Thomas on 
 
 necessity of providing, for the multitude of Public 
 works throughout the country, a staff of Native 
 engineers, possessing both professional knowledge and 
 experience. In the beginning of 1845, he projected 
 a scheme by which the most advanced pupils of the 
 Agra and Delhi Colleges, or other candidates, might, 
 under the guidance of Lieut. Baird Smith, and amid 
 the works of the Eastern Jumna Canal, add to their 
 theoretical attainments a sound practical acquaintance 
 with engineering. When the details were matured, 
 the Lieut. -Governor obtained, but not without repeated 
 appeals, permission to extend " by way of experiment," 
 the benefits of the proposal to three or four qualified 
 youths. 1 Upon this was grounded the Notification of 
 the 9th October 1845, constituting "a class of officers, 
 to be denominated Sub-Assistant Executive Engineers" 
 The plan was found to work so well, that their 
 number was soon increased from four to twenty. 2 
 
 After Lord Hardinge had resolved on the vigorous 
 prosecution of the Ganges Canal, Thomason at once 
 perceived how this great undertaking might itself 
 prove the nursery of such an engineering body as he 
 longed to raise up from amongst the indigenous 
 materials of the country. He lost no time in de- 
 veloping the idea, and on the 23rd September 1847 
 
 1 The project was in danger of being shelved along with a proposition 
 of the Educational Department in Bengal for the encouragement of 
 Civil Engineering amongst the natives. But Thomason vindicated the 
 special claims and advantages of the North -Western Provinces as a 
 Civil Engineering School. 
 
 2 On the 22nd December 1846. 
 
Engineering College 6 J 
 
 laid his proposal before the Supreme Government. 1 
 He dwelt at great length on the requirements of the 
 country; — surveys, irrigation, application of water 
 power, navigation, roads, bridges, railways, — objects 
 these for all of which it was impossible to provide 
 sufficient engineering skill. He then appealed to the 
 Government to avail itself of the present opportunity 
 to form a Native class : — 
 
 " The establishment now forming at Roorkee, near the Solani 
 aqueduct on the Ganges Canal, affords peculiar facilities for 
 instructing Civil Engineers. There are large workshops, and 
 extensive and most important structures in course of formation. 
 There are also a library and a modelroom. Above all a number 
 of scientific and experienced Engineer Officers are constantly 
 assembled on the spot, or occasionally resorting thither. 
 
 "These officers, however, all have their appropriate and 
 engrossing duties to perform, and cannot give time for that 
 careful and systematic instruction which is necessary for the 
 formation of an expert Civil Engineer. 
 
 "On these accounts the Lieut.- Governor would propose the 
 establishment at Roorkee of an Institution for the education of 
 Civil Engineers, which should be immediately under the direc- 
 tion of the Local Government in the Educational Depart- 
 ment." 
 
 In conformity with this proposal, which was 
 
 1 Colonel Cautley had apprehended the same idea so early as 1843, 
 when, applying for a large number of well-educated and skilful 
 artificers, he added that " they will not only be useful in themselves, 
 but, will establish a school for the ultimate supply of efficient wotk- 
 men to the whole line of the canal." What is here proposed for the 
 Canal, Thomason organised for the whole of Hindustan. 
 
 The same letter suggests the further idea of workshops, etc., 
 likewise followed out by Thomason. "We shall require numerous 
 workshops, storerooms, etc., at Roorkee, which place I intend to 
 establish the headquarters of the Ganges Canal" : — he proceeds to 
 recount the plans of workshops, modelrooms, etc., which his busy 
 and practical mind had already designed. — Letter dated October 4, 
 1843. 
 
68 James Thomas on 
 
 warmly supported by the Governor - General, the 
 College was opened on the 1st of January 1848, for 
 the instruction both of Natives and of European 
 soldiers, and Non-commissioned Officers. 
 
 In 1851, persuaded of the success of his scheme, 
 and fortified by the support of the Committee upon 
 the system of Public Works, 1 and of Sir Charles 
 Napier, 2 Thomason projected a vast enlargement of 
 the original plan, so as to include not only greater 
 numbers of Natives and Soldiers, but likewise Com- 
 missioned Officers, both of the Koyal and Company's 
 services ; the establishment of a Depot and Workshop 
 for the repair of surveying and other scientific instru- 
 ments ; 3 a Museum of Economic Geology, an Observa- 
 tory, a Printing establishment, and other appurtenances 
 to render the Institution effective. These propositions 
 were printed by His Honour in a brochure and sub- 
 mitted to the Governor - General, who accorded to 
 them his hearty support. On the 2nd June 1852 
 the Court of Directors communicated their sanction, 
 
 1 See their report dated 5th March 1851. 
 
 2 "The suggestion," writes Thomason, " of admitting to the College 
 Commissioned Officers of both services, is due to His Excellency 
 General Sir Charles Napier, in communication with whom the present 
 scheme has been drawn out." Its groundwork is the same as that of 
 the Senior department of the Military College at Sandhurst, adapted 
 to the Indian Army. — Address to the Government of India, dated 28^ 
 August 1850.— See also page 17 of the Account of Roorlcee. 
 
 3 This is a desideratum of more importance than at first sight might 
 appear, in a country where there are no private establishments in 
 which such instruments might be repaired. Their injury or disorder 
 is now a continual obstacle to the advance of scientific inquiry and 
 tuition. 
 
Roorkee College and Workshops 69 
 
 and the whole scheme is now being carried into 
 effect. 
 
 The influence which these establishments will have 
 in the enlightenment of India and development of her 
 resources, in the progress of civilisation and scientific 
 inquiry, and in the advancement of the Officers and 
 Soldiers of our army, cannot be over-estimated ; and the 
 credit of the whole belongs to Thomason. He naturally 
 regarded the Institution with a peculiar interest, and 
 watched over it with a sort of parental solicitude and 
 pride. The extensive quadrangle, 1 now being erected to 
 complete the enlarged design, was to have been opened 
 by him at the close of the following year, thus consti- 
 tuting, as it were, the last public act of his official career. 
 
 To the Judicial and Criminal Department of his 
 Government, the attention of Thomason was less 
 directed than to the rest of his duties. We cannot 
 point in it, as we can in almost every other, to any 
 large measure of reform (excepting, perhaps, the 
 Grand Trunk Eoad police), involving either present 
 great results, or the germ of future improvement. 
 This was partly owing to the nature of the subject, 
 which did not involve the abstract principles with 
 which he delighted to work, or any national institu- 
 tions on which his conservative mind loved to engraft 
 his forward movements. At one point, where those 
 institutions were approached, they trammelled, rather 
 
 1 See the elevation and ground-plan at page 20 of the Account of 
 Roorkee, 
 
yo James Thomason 
 
 than assisted, his views. The Chowkidar (watchman) 
 must belong to the Village, Community: he must be 
 remunerated by a small holding of the village lands : 
 he must be the servant of the Zemindar : salary paid 
 in cash direct from Government, would loosen the 
 Zemindar's hold upon him ; while a close surveillance 
 of his proceedings would interfere with the independent 
 action of the village institution. Perhaps such may 
 be a specimen of the reasons for which he shrank 
 from a reform of our Police system. 
 
 But it was impossible for a mind like his of whom 
 we write, to preside over the Judicial Administration 
 of the country, without introducing many improve- 
 ments and infusing a vigour into all its movements. 
 The distribution of his agency was, for the most part, 
 admirable ; 1 the same prompt and searching orders 
 were daily issued as in the Eevenue Department. A 
 careful amendment of local jurisdiction was effected 
 
 1 In judging of this question, it must be remembered that the 
 Covenanted agency was not of his own choosing. His task was to 
 make the arrangement of them best suited for the good of the country. 
 If sometimes Officers who had proved inefficient in the magisterial and 
 revenue charge of a District were readily advanced to the Judicial 
 Bench, it must be remembered that the same points which impair a 
 Magistrate's usefulness (as want of promptitude and personal activity) 
 do not, in an equal degree, affect a Judge, and that the hesitancy 
 which often accompanies a high deliberative faculty, is directly 
 prejudicial to the energetic management of a district. Nevertheless, 
 it is possible that Thomason's leaning towards the Revenue Depart- 
 ment may have induced him to favour it, upon, the whole, with 
 better officers than the Judicial. 
 
 It has been asserted in some of the public prints, that Mr. 
 Thomason had a bias to promote men of a strong religious principle. 
 No doubt, a consistent profession of religion had its weight, among 
 
Judicial Department 71 
 
 wherever ill arrangement or intermixture impeded 
 the administration of justice ; and the subordinate 
 agency was revised for the more efficient discharge of 
 its duty. The Police divisions were frequently en- 
 larged, and from the saving effected by reduction in 
 number, the salary of the Police officers was propor- 
 tionally increased. The district Daks were fostered 
 by him. The management of the Jails throughout 
 the country was improved ; and the Central Prison at 
 Agra, under Inspectors judiciously selected and guided 
 by the Lieut. -Governor, has made an advance in prison 
 discipline hitherto unknown in India. 
 
 A special and important feature of the administra- 
 tion is the extensive employment of Eevenue officers 
 in Police and Judicial posts. The Tehseeldars have, 
 in many districts, been invested with the power of 
 Daroga, and from their known respectability and 
 character, have imparted a new stamp of credit and 
 
 other qualities, in his estimate of a man's character ; as profligacy or 
 dishonesty had its share also. But as far as official requirements are 
 concerned, we deny that a profession of religion or the reverse was an 
 element which he took into consideration, in the distribution of patron- 
 age. High and honourable principle was the point he looked to, and 
 wherever he found that, the only question with him for debate was the 
 qualification of the candidates and their respective fitness for office. 
 It is impossible that any unprejudiced man acquainted with the 
 society of Agra, and with the chief appointments held there within 
 the last half-dozen years, could for a moment entertain the charge. 
 As Thomason regarded no part of his duty more onerous and un- 
 pleasant than the distribution of patronage, so we are assured that 
 there was none which he exercised with a greater deliberation, or 
 endeavoured to discharge with a more single eye to the welfare of the 
 State, or a sterner conscientiousness and disregard of private friend- 
 ship, feeling, and partiality. 
 
72 James Thomason 
 
 confidence to the police proceedings. So every 
 Deputy Collector is constituted likewise a Deputy 
 Magistrate, and numerous Tehseeldars throughout the 
 country have been installed in the same commanding 
 position. The movement is undoubtedly in the right 
 direction ; but the conferment of magisterial powers 
 has, probably, been too indiscriminate, and without a 
 sufficient guarantee of character, or of the knowledge 
 required for the discharge of such grave functions, 
 affecting everywhere the social body. The point is 
 urged with the greater confidence, because the neces- 
 sity for a test of efficiency had already been conceded 
 in the case of Covenanted Assistants, and there is 
 no reason to stop its application there. A second 
 objection is, that the new functions bring with them 
 no increase of emolument, although they vastly add 
 to the labour and responsibility, as well as to the 
 dignity, of the officer holding them. In one district 
 we have a Deputy Collector with the small and unim- 
 portant powers of an Assistant; in the adjoining 
 district, his brother Deputy has special powers, 
 involving authority of greater magnitude ; in a third, 
 he is a full Magistrate, and can not only imprison any 
 of Her Majesty's dusky subjects for three years, but 
 visit every Englishman who commits a trespass with 
 a fine of 500 rupees, or in default thereof with two 
 months' imprisonment. In one Pergunnah we have a 
 Tehseeldar employed solely in the quiet duties of a 
 Eevenue Collector ; in the next he may have any of 
 the magisterial powers we have just enumerated. 
 
Publications J 3 
 
 Yet all are paid alike, without the slightest reference 
 to their varied responsibilities. Surely this is inex- 
 pedient, if it be not unfair, and for a great Govern- 
 ment unbecoming. The officer possessing the higher 
 powers may be (and sometimes actually has been) 
 remanded for neglect or misdemeanour to a lower 
 grade of authority, yet no diminution of emolument 
 ensues. Great devotion to his office may be followed 
 by promotion to the higher grade, yet no increase of 
 salary is gained. The Service thus loses at once the 
 stimulus to exertion, and the salutary dread of loss 
 and degradation ; whil@y both officers and people are 
 taught to regard, without estimation or respect, a 
 power and office which it^ought to be our great effort 
 to invest with dignity and with influence. Such a 
 course cannot fail of an injurious effect upon the 
 Government itself. 
 
 In one respect the government of Thomason has 
 greatly benefited the Criminal and Judicial Depart- 
 ment in common with every other, viz., by the Publi- 
 cations, which under his authority were issued from the 
 press. Of these may be noticed the Memoir on the Stat- 
 istics of the North- Western Provinces, by A. Shakespear, 
 Esq., C.S., 1848 ; containing, in a condensed form, the 
 most minute information as to the area, revenues, 
 and population of each pergunnah and district. The 
 results of a second Census, made also under the 
 careful and minute instructions of the Lieutenant- 
 Governor, on the last day of 1852, have since been 
 
74 James Thomason 
 
 published ; 1 and contain the most valuable and 
 accurate returns yet obtained in India. 
 
 In the first year of his government, Thomason 
 forwarded to every Magistrate and Collector an 
 invitation to throw together all the statistical and 
 general information he could obtain regarding his 
 jurisdiction, to be printed in a volume illustrated by 
 maps and statements. Such a publication, he thought, 
 would " form an official history of each district, and 
 contain all that would enable the public officers of 
 Government to understand the peculiarities of the 
 district, and conduct of the administration." Minute 
 directions were given how to arrange the various 
 matter, — statistical, historical, geographical, economical, 
 educational, — regarding the current tenures, rise and 
 fall of families, operation of special measures or 
 laws, effect of the revenue and judicial systems, etc. 
 Few officers have had the energy and skill to work out 
 the plan ; 2 but the Statistical Report of Cawnpore, by 
 
 1 See Agra Gazette of 18th October 1853. The details of this 
 census are now in the press in a volume, by Mr. G. J. Christian, 
 Secretary to the Sudder Board of Revenue, through the agency 
 of which Board the -work was carried out. The instructions for this 
 Census were drawn up by Thomason himself with great pains, and 
 no precaution was omitted for securing perfect accuracy. The whole 
 was accomplished on the night of the 31st of December, and the result 
 was carefully tested by the district officers and their subordinates. 
 
 2 Only four have been yet published : — 
 
 Statistical Report of the District of Cawnpore. By R. Montgomery, Esq. , 
 
 C.S., 1849. 
 Statistical Report of the District of Goorgaon. By Alexander Fraser, 
 
 Esq., C.S., 1849. 
 Statistical Report of the District of Futtehpore. By C. W. Kinloch, 
 
 Esq., C.S., 1852, 
 
Publications 75 
 
 Mr. Montgomery, illustrates the wisdom of the design, 
 and the usefulness of such a treatise for advancing 
 and facilitating, in every department, the administra- 
 tion of a district. We earnestly hope that the 
 conception will not be lost sight of till we are 
 furnished with a similar guide and official companion 
 for every district in the provinces. 
 
 In other departments we may notice the Settlement 
 Mist (1847), which forms a specimen of the papers 
 required from first to last in the settlement of each of 
 the prevailing classes of tenure, with a counterpart in 
 English (also 1847): The Accountant's Manual, by C. 
 Allen, Esq., 1847 ; The Civil Auditor's Manual, by T. 
 K. Loyd, Esq., 1851 ; Statistics of Indigenous Educa- 
 tion, by E. Thornton, Esq., 1850; and Comparative 
 Tables of District Establishments in the North- Western 
 Provinces, by A. Shakespear, Esq., C.S., 1853. 1 These 
 were the immediate results of the instruction or 
 suggestion of the Lieut. -Governor, and have proved, 
 
 Statistical Report of the Districts of Kemaon and Ghirhwal. By J. H. 
 
 Batten, Esq., C.S., 1851. 
 A Report for Budaon, by Mr. Court, is, we believe, now in the press, 
 and others, more or less answering the objects in view, have been 
 prepared for Agra and Furruckabad. 
 
 1 This work contains a vast fund of official information. The 
 districts and offices are classed according to their comparative 
 difficulty and amount of business : then the salaries and cost of 
 management in each compartment are compared for each district 
 throughout the provinces. Wherever an office is under-officered, or 
 underpaid, the fact cannot fail to be brought to light, and complaints 
 of the overworked Amlah, formerly resting too much on the hap- 
 hazard opinion of the recommending officer, can now be easily tested 
 by the reasonable grounds of comparison with similar business and 
 establishments elsewhere. 
 
J 6 James Thomason 
 
 and will long continue to prove, of special use to the 
 public service. It would too greatly extend this 
 article to enumerate the many other issues of 
 a less formal and elaborate nature; but there is 
 one which we must not pass over. Thomason 
 constantly met with valuable information and sugges- 
 tions in miscellaneous reports, or scattered here and 
 there throughout a wide correspondence ; such papers 
 had hitherto remained too often unnoticed and un- 
 known, engulfed in the indiscriminate reservoir of all 
 that is good, bad, and indifferent — the Secretariat 
 Eecord Eoom. It occurred to him that, though not 
 worthy of separate publication, these yet might be 
 thrown together, and published from time to time as 
 Selections from the Records of the Government. This 
 work, maintained to the present day, has given a 
 permanent and public form to a vast variety of 
 most useful and suggestive papers on all official 
 subjects — revenue, police, judicial, engineering, statis- 
 tical; and its practical usefulness has been recog- 
 nised by the adoption of the same idea, though not 
 precisely on the same principle, by the other Indian 
 Governments. 1 
 
 1 Almost all the papers that have issued under the name of 
 "Selections" from the other Governments have been complete and 
 formal reports, which, under any circumstances, would have been 
 published by the Government of the North -Western Provinces 
 separately, without reference to its selections, which were intended for 
 extracts, miscellaneous papers, and scraps otherwise liable to fall 
 into oblivion. Thomason generally indicated with his own hand 
 the papers or extracts which he desired to publish in this 
 series. 
 
Education yy 
 
 We must hasten to conclude this already too 
 extended sketch by a notice of Thomason's proceedings 
 in the Educational Department. As respected Col- " 
 leges and Station Schools, the chief tendency of his 
 proceedings was to abolish the latter and to strengthen 
 the former. He found the funds at his disposal inade- 
 quate to provide efficiently for both, and he wisely 
 resolved that, instead of a number of ill-officered and 
 unsatisfactory institutions at Stations scattered over 
 the country, the Government should have a few large 
 and superior Colleges at convenient distances, accessible 
 to each great division of the province. It was also his 
 hope that, wherever Stations were thus abandoned, the 
 field would be occupied in a more efficient manner by 
 private effort, indigenous as well as foreign. 1 
 
 1 His sentiments on this subject, and their happy fulfilment with 
 respect to one at least of the seminaries thus given up, are expressed 
 in the following extract of an address made by the Lieutenant- 
 Governor at the examination of the College of the American Presby- 
 terian Mission, Allahabad, in December 1852 : — 
 
 " He said that the examination had been listened to with pleasure 
 by all the auditors, but that to himself the display was peculiarly 
 gratifying, because he saw before him the realisation of all those 
 anticipations which he had previously formed regarding the Insti- 
 tution. A few years ago, there was a Government school maintained 
 in Allahabad. It was well endowed by the Government ; it was 
 countenanced and encouraged by all the high officers of Government 
 then at the place. But he judged that that, as well as other similar 
 institutions, did not bring a benefit to the State commensurate with 
 the charge they entailed upon it. He felt that they came into 
 competition with other schools which would probably be maintained 
 by private individuals without any cost to the State, and that they so 
 far discouraged, rather than promoted, the general cause of education. 
 He therefore abolished those schools, and concentrated the efforts of 
 Government on the improvement of the colleges maintained in our 
 cities, where there was ample room for many educational establish- 
 
7& James Tkomason 
 
 In the management of these Colleges, Thomason took 
 a constant interest, and, when presiding at their public 
 examinations, seldom failed to deliver some pertinent 
 remarks on the bearing of our educational measures, 
 and the manner in which his young audience should 
 improve their opportunities. The original views and 
 erudite labours of Dr. Ballantyne received from him 
 a discriminating and powerful support. He acknow- 
 ledged the claims which the large section of the 
 nation devoted to the study of Sanscrit, possess upon 
 the State to recognise and foster whatever is true 
 and exalted in their literature ; and he had a lively 
 persuasion that when once European learning and 
 philosophy should be presented to the Brahminical 
 mind in a comprehensible and attractive, because 
 indigenous dress, the influence of the learned Pundits 
 upon the people at large would produce results of 
 prodigious moment. He did not neglect the objec- 
 tions which a misapprehension of the Benares system 
 has in some quarters created ; but, on the contrary, 
 encouraged the discussion of its merits among those 
 best qualified to judge. Once convinced, however, of 
 
 ments. He that day witnessed the result of this measure in 
 Allahabad. The number of pupils in the Allahabad Government 
 School was under 100, whilst there were 327 boys on the list of the 
 Mission School. Many of these boys had attained a high proficiency 
 in secular learning, and they also received that which the Government 
 abstained upon principle (and he considered justly) from imparting— 
 sound and diligent instruction in the truths of Christianity." On 
 this happy result he congratulated the authorities of the College, and 
 paid a high and well-merited compliment to the successful and 
 disinterested labours of the Mission from America. 
 
Schools and Colleges 79 
 
 the justness of Dr. Ballantyne's position, he yielded 
 him, despite of narrow-minded or utilitarian opposers, 
 an unflinching support, to which, on the opening of 
 that magnificent structure — the Benares College — 
 raised under his administration, he gave a public and 
 unqualified expression. 1 
 
 1 The sentences in which Thomason alluded in the opening of the 
 College to Dr. Ballantyne's labours are important, and deserve to be 
 here extracted : — 
 
 1 ' Dr. Ballantyne assumed charge of the College in the beginning of 
 1846, and avowed as his object the formation of a class of Pundits, 
 who, skilled in all that is taught in native schools, should also have 
 their minds so tinctured with European habits of feeling, as to be 
 pre-eminent among their countrymen. In order to accomplish this 
 object, he first himself mastered the Hindu Philosophy, and he 
 ascertained how much of truth there was in it, and where error 
 commenced. He, at the same time, made available to his Pundit 
 pupils the work of European philosophers, and showed, by treatises of 
 his own composition, how, advancing from the premises of Hindu 
 philosophy, the correct conclusions of European philosophy might be 
 attained. In following this course, he acted in consonance with the 
 whole character of our administration in this country. We have not 
 swept over the country like a torrent, destroying all that it found, and 
 leaving nothing but what itself deposited. Our course has rather 
 been that of a gently swelling inundation, which leaves the former 
 surface undisturbed, and spreads over it a richer mould from which 
 the vegetation may derive a new verdure, and the landscape possess a 
 beauty which was unknown before. 
 
 1 ' There is every reason why a similar course should be pursued in 
 philosophy and literature. We have not found the people of this country 
 an ignorant or simple race. They were possessed of a system of philo- 
 sophy which we could not ignore. Some persons, in the pride of 
 political superiority, may affect to despise it ; but it has roused the 
 curiosity and excited the wonder of the learned in all countries of 
 Europe. Dr, Ballantyne's publications enable the most superficial 
 reader to discover that it possesses a depth of thought, a precision of 
 expression, and a subtlety of argument which are amongst God's 
 choicest gifts to His creatures. These may be misused, but they may 
 be also reclaimed, and devoted to the highest purposes." — Speech 
 delivered at the opening of the Benares College on the Wth January 1853. 
 
80 James Thomason 
 
 But the measure which bears the peculiar stamp 
 of Thomason's mind, and which, perhaps more than 
 any other hitherto devised, will tend to the enlighten- 
 ment and welfare of India, is the system established 
 by him for encouraging the Vernacular and Indi- 
 genous Schools of the country. 
 
 In 1845, the Lieut.-Governor forwarded to every 
 Magistrate and Collector in the Provinces a circular 
 order, in which, while they were generally charged 
 with fostering the Village schools, instructions were 
 given to ascertain and report the extent to which 
 such institutions imparted education to the people. 
 These directions, grounded on the plan pursued by 
 Mr. Adam in Bengal, were, like all others emanating 
 from Thomason's pen, so clear and practical, that 
 within two or three years, a complete return of the 
 whole educational institutions in the country was 
 obtained. 1 
 
 In 1846, the Lieut.-Governor addressed the 
 Supreme Government, stating as the result of these 
 inquiries, that, " on an average, less than 5 per cent, 
 of the youths who are of an age to attend school, 
 obtain any instruction, and that instruction which 
 they do receive is of a very imperfect kind." He 
 
 1 The first return received was published; "Report on the Indi- 
 genous Education in Futtehpore, by William Muir, Esq., 1846." The 
 whole of the reports were subsequently abstracted in an able resume of 
 the proceedings by Mr. R. Thornton, Esq. : — Memoir of the Statistics 
 of Indigenous Education in the North- Western Provinces. In this 
 volume will be found copies of the principal despatches, of which we 
 are here obliged to give necessarily but a limited account. 
 
Village Schools 81 
 
 proposed, therefore, at a cost of from two to four 
 lakhs a year, to grant an endowment in land, for 
 the support of a school in every considerable village 
 throughout the country. 1 The Court of Directors, 
 while concurring in the necessity for more extended 
 means of district education, justly objected to 
 endowments in land, as likely to become hereditary 
 and inefficient. Such a system would, indeed, have 
 proved cumbrous and unmanageable; it would prob- 
 ably have tended to perpetuate the drowsiness and 
 errors of the native method, without any effective 
 
 1 The following is a general outline of the proposal : — 
 
 "Statistical inquiries, which have now extended over a great part 
 of the country, show that the people are extremely ignorant, and 
 that existing provisions for the education of the rising generation are 
 very defective. On an average, less than 5 per cent, of the youth 
 who are of an age to attend schools, obtain any instruction, and that 
 instruction, which they do receive, is of a very imperfect kind. 
 
 "The people are at the same time poor and unable to support 
 schoolmasters by their own unaided efforts. It therefore becomes 
 the duty of the Government to give them such assistance as may be 
 best calculated to draw forth their own exertions. 
 
 "The proposed scheme contemplates the endowment of a school in 
 every village of a certain size, the Government giving up its revenue 
 from the land, which constitutes the endowment, on assurance that 
 the zemindars have appropriated the land for the purpose of main- 
 taining a schoolmaster. 
 
 1 ' This system is most in consonance with the customs and feelings 
 of the people. The schoolmaster will become a recognised village 
 servant, elected and supported in a manner consonant with the usage 
 of the village community. 
 
 "An endowment in land is preferable to a money payment, because 
 it gives greater respectability of station than a pecuniary stipend 
 much exceeding the rent of the land, and because it connects the 
 schoolmaster with the community in a way which renders his services 
 more acceptable to them than if he were the paid servant of the 
 Government." 
 6 
 
82 James Thomason 
 
 provision for the prospective introduction of enlighten- 
 ment and energy ; and it could only have been the 
 strong attachment of Thomason to the "Village 
 Communities" of the North-West, that led him to 
 its advocacy. 
 
 In 1848, the Lieut.-Governor, taking advantage 
 of the Honourable Court's expressed willingness to 
 afford assistance, submitted another plan, in which 
 endowments, either of land or money, were aban- 
 doned, and a system for stimulating indigenous 
 schools by "advice, assistance, encouragement, and 
 example," was substituted. Before the close of the 
 year, the sanction of the Court was received to his 
 experimental proposal (supported by the Governor- 
 General), that the scheme should be tried in a circle 
 of eight districts around Agra, at a yearly expense 
 of Rs. 50,000. The principles of the measure will 
 best be understood from the following extract of 
 orders issued on the 9 th of February 1850: — 
 
 RESOLUTION. 
 
 " Inquiries, which have been lately instituted in order to ascertain 
 the state of education throughout these provinces, show that the 
 greatest ignorance prevails amongst the people, and that there are no 
 adequate means at work for affording them instruction. The means 
 of learning are scanty, and the instruction which is given is of the 
 rudest and least practical character. 
 
 "The present scheme contemplates the employment of an agency, 
 which shall rouse the people to a sense of the evils resulting from 
 ignorance, which shall stimulate them to exertions on their own part 
 to remove this ignorance, which shall furnish them with qualified 
 teachers and appropriate books, and which shall afford rewards and 
 encouragement to the most deserving teachers and pupils. 
 
 "The means of effecting this object will be sought in that feature 
 
Village Schools 83 
 
 of the existing revenue system, which provides for the annual regis- 
 tration of all landed property throughout the country. 
 
 "It is well known that the land is minutely divided amongst the 
 people. There are few of the agricultural classes who are not 
 possessed of some rights of property in the soil. In order to explain 
 and protect these rights, a system of registration has been devised, 
 which is based on the survey, made at the time of settlement, and 
 which annually shows the state of the property. It is necessary for 
 the correctness of this register, that those, whose rights it records, 
 should be able to consult it and to ascertain the nature of the entries 
 affecting themselves. This involves a knowledge of reading and 
 writing, of the simple rules of arithmetic, and of land measurement. 
 
 "The means are thus afforded for setting before the people the 
 practical bearing of learning on the safety of those rights in land, 
 which they most highly prize ; and it is hoped that when the powers 
 of the mind have once been excited into action, the pupils may often 
 be induced to advance further, and to persevere till they reach a 
 higher state of intellectual cultivation. 
 
 1 ' The agency by which it is hoped to effect this purpose will be 
 thus constituted. 
 
 "There will be a Government village school at the headquarters 
 of every Tehseeldar. In every two or more Tehseeldaris there will be 
 a Pergunnah Visitor. Over these a Zillah Visitor in each district, 
 and over all a Visitor General for the whole of the provinces. 
 
 "The Government village school at each Tehseeldari will be 
 conducted by a schoolmaster, who will receive from Government a 
 salary of from ten to twenty rupees per mensem, besides such fees as 
 he may collect from his scholars. The course of instruction in this 
 school will consist of reading and writing the vernacular languages, 
 both Urdu and Hindi, accounts and the mensuration of land 
 according to the native system. To these will be added such 
 instruction in geography, history, geometry, or other general sub- 
 jects, conveyed through the medium of the vernacular language, as 
 the people may be willing to receive. Care will be taken to prevent 
 these schools from becoming rivals of the indigenous schools main- 
 tained by the Natives themselves. This will be effected by making 
 the terms of admission higher than are usually demanded in village 
 schools, and by allowing free admissions only on recommendations 
 given by village schoolmasters, who may be on the Visitor's lists. 
 
 1 ' The Pergunnah Visitors will receive salaries varying from twenty 
 to forty rupees a month. It will be their duty to visit all the towns 
 and principal villages in their jurisdictions, and to ascertain what 
 means of instruction are available to the people. Where there is no 
 
84 James Thomason 
 
 village school, they will explain to the people the advantages that 
 would result from the institution of a school ; they will offer their 
 assistance in finding a qualified teacher, and in providing books, etc. 
 Where schools are found in existence, they will ascertain the nature 
 of the instruction and the number of scholars, and they will offer 
 their assistance to the person conducting the school. If this offer is 
 accepted, the school will be entered on their lists, the boys will be 
 examined, and the more advanced scholars noted, improvements in 
 the course or mode of instruction will be recommended, and such 
 books as may be required will be procured. Prizes will be proposed 
 for the most deserving of the teachers or scholars, and the power of 
 granting free admissions to the Tehseeldari school be recorded. 
 
 "It will be observed that this scheme contemplates drawing forth 
 the energies of the people for their own improvement, rather than 
 actually supplying to them the means of instruction at the cost of 
 the Government. Persuasion, assistance, and encouragement are the 
 means to be principally employed. The greatest consideration is to 
 be shown for the feelings and prejudices of the people, and no inter- 
 ference is ever to be exercised, where it is not desired by those who 
 conduct the institution. The success of the scheme will chiefly 
 appear in the number and character of the indigenous schools, which 
 may be established. The poor may be persuaded to combine for the 
 support of a teacher ; the rich may be encouraged to support schools 
 for their poorer neighbours, and all the schools that are established 
 may be assisted, improved, and brought forward. 
 
 "These operations must be conducted in concert with the revenue 
 authorities, and must obtain their cordial assistance. The agency 
 which is now called into action may be made most valuable in 
 ensuring the proper training of putwarris, and in ascertaining the 
 qualifications of candidates or nominees for that office. Certificates 
 of qualification from some of the persons employed in the department 
 may be made necessary for advancement to the post of village 
 putwarri and also to many other appointments, such as those of 
 peon, chupprassi or burkundauze, as well as to those higher offices, 
 where literary attainments are more evidently essential." 
 
 Thus, while the scheme aims at encouraging the 
 people to multiply their own schools, it provides 
 in every small division one Tehseelie school, as an 
 example of right teaching and a nursery of good 
 teachers, and it brings to bear upon the Native 
 
Village Schools 85 
 
 institutions a machinery which, by imparting advice, 
 supervision, and good school-books, will tend to their 
 gradual improvement and elevation. These efforts 
 have been welcomed by the people; for the great 
 value of the plan is that it makes them work with 
 us for their own improvement. It is their own 
 schools that we are, with their own consent, 
 endeavouring to raise. Hence it is that they 
 willingly receive our teachers, cheerfully accept our 
 suggestions and assistance, and purchase with avidity 
 the useful school-books, which are being prepared 
 with a laborious devotion by Mr. Henry Stewart 
 Eeid and his subordinates, and are brought, by the 
 arrangements of the Government, to the very doors 
 of the purchasers. Instead, therefore, of planting 
 amongst them foreign schools, uncongenial to their 
 tastes, and the object of an unconquerable prejudice, 
 — schools that would never take root or germinate in 
 the rare vicinities in which our funds would enable us 
 to open them, — we bring to the cause a legion of 
 assisting Seminaries in every quarter of the land ; 
 and, almost unconsciously to themselves, bear along 
 the Nation in the march of intellect, and raise them 
 in the scale of moral life. 
 
 The actual result has proved to be no less satis- 
 factory than the anticipation. Although, at so early 
 a period it is hardly fair to expect any sensible effect 
 in a measure, which to affect the large masses of the 
 country must necessarily work with a slow and 
 permeating influence, yet a marked advance has 
 
86 James Thomas on 
 
 already been made, as the returns noted below from 
 Mr. Beid's carefully prepared tables will prove. 1 
 While the numbers have materially increased, the 
 quality of the instruction has greatly improved, and 
 inflated Persian and rude illiterate Hindi are being 
 
 
 Schools. 
 
 Scholars. 
 
 1850 (probably imperfect) . 
 
 . 2014 
 
 17,169 
 
 1850-51 .... 
 
 . 3127 
 
 28,636 
 
 1851-52 .... 
 
 . 3329 
 
 31,843 
 
 1852-53 .... 
 
 . 3469 
 
 36,884 
 
 Dr. Mouat, an impartial and most capable witness, has reported in 
 terms of unqualified praise regarding the system. Of the examination 
 of the school at Allyghur, where '* some hundreds " of pupils were 
 collected by Mr. Reid from the district for inspection, he writes : — 
 
 "During my long connection with education in India, and 
 familiarity with the attainments and appearance of the pupils of all 
 castes and classes, I never witnessed a more gratifying and interesting 
 scene." 
 
 Of the general system he thus speaks : "It will be at once apparent 
 that the scheme and manner of working it meet with my entire 
 approval ; it is no small praise of a great plan of national education, 
 which has barely completed the third year of its existence, to record 
 that it has not only fully and fairly attained the object for which it was 
 designed, as far as its limited trial will admit of, but has actually already 
 outrun its own means of extension, for want of books and instruments 
 of a higher order than those now in use. In the second year of its 
 trial in the experimental districts sanctioned, it has raised the number 
 of boys receiving a sound elementary education from 17,000 to 30,000, 
 has thrown into the schools between 30,000 and 40,000 school-books 
 of a better class than those heretofore in use, and has given such an 
 impulse to the cause of vernacular education as cannot fail, in a very 
 few years, to produce the fruits that invariably result from a spread 
 of knowledge in the right direction." 
 
 It has become possible by this system to introduce the literary test 
 for the lowest servants of Government, contemplated in the last para- 
 graph of the resolution quoted above. This was done in the eight 
 experimental districts, in the resolution of the 8th June 1852, which 
 prescribes an examination in reading, writing, and accounts, for 
 putwarris, burkundauzes, chupprassies, and all the officials of the 
 Government. This is a proceeding in the right direction for moving 
 the people and raising the masses from below. 
 
Popular Education Sy 
 
 steadily forsaken for our simple Urdu school-books 
 and their invaluable stores of knowledge. The sales 
 of school-books alone would show that a system 
 has at last been discovered, suited to the habits and 
 wishes of the people, and rapidly becoming popular 
 and established among them. 
 
 Persuaded by these happy results of the success 
 of his scheme, the Lieut.-Governor, within two months 
 of his death, laid its progress in detail before the 
 Government of India, and solicited sanction to extend 
 it over the whole North- West Provinces, at an annual 
 expenditure of two lakhs of rupees. On a review of 
 the proceedings, the Governor-General, — ever ready 
 cordially to appreciate any measure for the advance- 
 ment of India, and vigorously carry it into effect, — 
 not only approved the extension of the plan through- 
 out these Provinces, but its introduction also into 
 Bengal and the Punjab. The Eesolution in which 
 this is embodied contains the following beautiful and 
 touching tribute to the Founder of a system which 
 " experience has shown to be capable of producing 
 such rich and early fruit " ; — 
 
 " And while I cannot refrain," His Lordship writes, 
 " from recording anew in this place my deep regret 
 that the ear which would have heard this welcome 
 sanction given, with so much joy, is now dull in 
 death, I desire at the same time to add the expression 
 of my feeling, that even though Mr. Thomason had 
 left no other memorial of his public life behind him, 
 
88 James Thomas on 
 
 this system of general Vernacular education, which is 
 all his own, would have sufficed to build up for him 
 a noble and abiding monument of his earthly career." 
 
 So high a testimony, from such a quarter, renders 
 unnecessary any further eulogium of the scheme from 
 the Keviewer's pen. 
 
 Here we close our review of Thomason's official 
 character. It may well be inquired what secret 
 charm it was, which lent to almost every department 
 of his administration so distinguishing an efficiency 
 and greatness. It was not brilliant genius ; for his 
 faculties, though powerful and elevated, were not 
 transcendent ; it was not the gift of eloquence ; nor 
 anything unusually persuasive either in speech or 
 writing. The capacities of his well-regulated mind, 
 schooled into their utmost efficiency, performed 
 wonderful things ; but those capacities in themselves 
 were in few respects greater than are often met with 
 in undistinguished characters. There was indeed a 
 rare power of deliberation and judgment, an unusual 
 faculty of discernment and research, a keen discrimi- 
 nation of truth from error. Yet these were mainly 
 the result of studious habit, and earnest purpose. 
 And herein, in our judgment, lies the grand praise of 
 the late administration. It was by labouk that it 
 was perfected — conscientious, unceasing, daily labour ; 
 by a wakeful anxiety that knew no respite ; by a 
 severity of thought, ever busy and ever prolific in the 
 devising of new arrangements, and the perfecting of 
 old. Yet his mind was so beautifully balanced that 
 
Christicm Principles 89 
 
 this unwearied work and never - ceasing tension 
 produced (as in most men it could hardly fail 
 to have done) no irregularity of action, and no 
 fretful or impatient advance. All was even, serene, 
 powerful. 
 
 Sternly as Thomason held, in his position of Lieut. - 
 Governor, to the axiom, that the introduction of 
 religious teaching by the Government was not only 
 inexpedient but unjustifiable, 1 he could yet see, as the 
 goal of his measures, both Collegiate and Indigenous, 
 the eventful conversion of the people to Christianity. 
 Scrupulous to the last degree in his official measures, 
 he yet never feared to avow this desire and persuasion 
 privately, and even sometimes, in an unoffensive 
 form, at the public examinations of the Government 
 Colleges. At the latter he has been heard to say, 
 that although bound in his official position to provide 
 seminaries where no reference was made to Christianity, 
 yet in a private capacity, his influence, his money, 
 and his efforts were directed towards imparting else- 
 where another element in education, essential to the 
 
 1 He declined to admit the books of the Calcutta Christian School 
 Book Society into the Depot of the Curator of Government School 
 Books, or to allow the Government shops and colporteurs to exhibit 
 religious works along with their stock of school-books, lest he should 
 prove to be holding out false colours ; enticing the people by the 
 profession of strict religious neutrality, while in reality favouring 
 Christianity at the expense of other religions. If some may not be 
 able entirely to sympathise with this rigid justice, let them remember 
 that it only adds lustre to the public avowals in favour of Christianity, 
 which, in consistence with his principles, he did make, and enhances 
 the value of his private efforts. 
 
90 James Thomason 
 
 well-being and highest interests of the people. 1 The 
 following extract from his speech at the opening of 
 the Benares College sufficiently establishes his views 
 in this respect : — 
 
 "We are here met together this day, men of different races and of 
 different creeds. If any one section of this assembly had met to 
 dedicate such a building as this to the education of their young in 
 their own peculiar tenets, they would have given a religious sanction 
 to the act, and would have consecrated the deed by the ceremonial of 
 their faith. But this we cannot do. Unhappily, human opinions, 
 on the subject of religion, are so irreconcilable, that we cannot concur 
 in any one act of worship. The more necessary it is, then, that each 
 man, in his own breast, should offer up his prayer to the God whom 
 he worships, 2 that here morality may be rightly taught, and that here 
 truth, in all its majesty, may prevail. This aspiration may have a 
 different meaning, according to the wishes or belief of the person who 
 forms it ; but with many it will point to a new state of things, when 
 a higher Philosophy and a purer Faith will pervade this land, not 
 enforced by the arbitrary decrees of a persecuting government, not 
 hypocritically professed to meet the wishes of a proselytising govern- 
 ment, but, whilst the Government is just and impartial, cordially 
 adopted by a willing people, yielding to the irresistible arguments 
 placed before them. Nor is it unreasonable to expect that such a 
 
 1 Such, for example, were the sentiments expressed at an examina- 
 tion of the Agra College, when a kindly reference was made to the 
 new Missionary College just established there. 
 
 2 This phrase has occasioned misapprehension in some quarters, as 
 if Mr. Thomason had conceded to his idolatrous audience, that the 
 various gods they worshipped were really the hearers of prayer. 
 Whatever interpretation the words are capable of, it is certain that 
 they were simply used with reference to the aspiration which the 
 speaker desired that all, then present, not excluding the Hindus and 
 Mohammedans, should raise to the Great Being, whom, one and all, by 
 an intuitive perception of the heart, feel to be supreme, should pray 
 that He would bless the institution, and render it an instrument for 
 His own glory and man's good. 
 
 After the criticisms appeared, Mr. Thomason was known to have 
 expressed much regret that he had not framed the expression in a 
 manner incapable of misconstruction. But the criticisms were in 
 themselves hypercritical. 
 
Christian Anticipations of the Future 91 
 
 change may take place. We cannot forget that to such a change we 
 owe the present happy state of things in our own country ; and, even 
 in this country, changes of the same nature have taken place. It is 
 but a few days ago that our friend, Major Kittoe, who is as distin- 
 guished for antiquarian research as he is for the architectural skill he 
 has shown in this edifice, led a party to view the neighbouring ruins 
 around Sarnath. He there showed us the undoubted remains of 
 another and a different system which once prevailed in this land. He 
 showed us its temples, its colleges, its hospitals, and its tombs, now 
 perished and long buried under the earth. A few centuries have so 
 utterly destroyed it, that it is now only known in this part of the 
 country, from the obscure allusions of Chinese travellers, the scarcely 
 legible inscriptions on broken sculptures, and the imperfect traditions 
 of a despised sect. And now there flourishes here, on the banks of the 
 Ganges, another system, still vigorous, but already on the wane. And 
 that system may pass away, and give place to Another and a Better 
 one. From this place may this system spread throughout ; nor is it 
 vain to hope that the building in which we are assembled may be 
 one instrument in the mighty change. When it is so, the highest 
 aspirations of those who first designed and mainly promoted its 
 erection will be fully realised. 
 
 "Such is the assured hope and expectation of many here assembled, 
 and there is a large section of the remainder who share in the 
 expectation, but cannot bring themselves at present to adopt it as 
 their hope. But no undue means will here be employed to effect the 
 end. No religious system will here be exclusively taught. This is a 
 common arena, on which all can assemble, and where the common 
 element of truth can be impartially acquired. Let all to whom the 
 cause of Truth is sacred, co-operate in promoting the objects of this 
 building. To withdraw from the field will but show that they are 
 conscious of the weakness of their cause." 
 
 Beyond the mere social and intellectual elevation, 
 anticipated from his system of indigenous Village 
 education, Thomason believed that it was the truest 
 foundation on which to build our efforts for the 
 spiritual regeneration of the country. 1 Sound and 
 
 1 One great beauty of the system is its power of development and 
 adaptation to the advancing circumstances of the country. It would 
 adjust itself as readily (which the land endowment would not have 
 done) to a Christianised tract of villages, as it now does to the most 
 
92 James Thomason 
 
 enlightened secular tuition is, indeed, the most sub- 
 stantial fulcrum upon which the Christian lever can 
 be brought to work ; and the most enlightened of 
 our Missionaries concur in holding the improved 
 Village schools to be the pioneers of their own 
 labours. 
 
 Of Missionary institutions he was the warm advo- 
 cate, the ready helper, 1 and the munificent patron. 
 Every evangelical denomination scattered throughout 
 the Provinces received his substantial assistance ; 
 although, wherever a Mission of his own Church 
 existed, he considered it to be entitled to his peculiar 
 if not exclusive assistance. His charity was not, 
 however, confined to missionary objects : — no case of 
 benevolence, no cry of real distress, nor any public 
 endeavour for the Social welfare within the length 
 and breadth of the North-West Provinces, if well 
 supported (for he was discriminating in his charity), 
 missed his liberal aid. Colleges, schools, dispensaries, 
 churches, charities — whatever in fact tended to ameli- 
 orate or to elevate the social life of the people, 
 either native or European, was liberally aided. His 
 
 bigoted and intolerant Hindu and Mohammedan ones. Christian and 
 Missionary schools share Mr. H. S. Reid's favours equally with Village 
 indigenous ones. The scheme is in fact an aid to all spontaneous 
 effort which has secular education for one of its main objects ; and thus 
 it resembles the solution of the educational difficulty now recognised 
 in England. 
 
 1 At a former period he afforded personal aid to their labours, by 
 preparing a revised translation of the Psalms. The version is still in 
 use. It is distinguished by its elegance, but the style is too high and 
 difficult for the comprehension of the mass of the people. 
 
Modest, Beneficent and Noble 93 
 
 almsgiving eminently responded (wherever that was 
 possible) to the direction of being done in secret. 
 None but his chosen almoners knew of some of his 
 most liberal and spontaneous acts ; and wherever 
 publicity was unavoidable, the courteous modesty of 
 the donor only enhanced the value of the gift. A 
 tenth portion of his income was carefully appropriated 
 to bond fide charities ; but the largeness of the heart, 
 and the depth of his sympathy for debased and suffer- 
 ing humanity, were ever prompting him to overleap 
 the limit ; and, notwithstanding the large scale of his 
 income, and his inexpensive habits, he died (and in his 
 last hours felt it to be a satisfaction that he was 
 dying) a man of small fortune. 
 
 A certain amount of outward dignity, he believed 
 that his position called for; and (looking upon his 
 high allowances as fixed by this consideration) he 
 made a point of conscience to maintain it. But the 
 love of display found no place in his heart : pomp and 
 show he regarded with indifference, and he was 
 markedly distinguished by an unostentatious bearing. 
 Though given to no false self-depreciation, and hold- 
 ing that manly front which a just self-respect requires, 
 still his humility and modesty were conspicuous in 
 every action. A serene and cheerful benevolence ever 
 beamed from his countenance ; his frame was spare, 
 and his figure unusually tall, slightly stooped, but his 
 carriage was nevertheless eminently suited to the 
 nobility of his mind ; and his features (not perhaps in 
 themselves striking) were so lighted up with intellect 
 
94 James Thomason 
 
 and benignity as to win the most casual stranger, and 
 diffuse light and love amongst his immediate circle. 
 His temperament was naturally cold, his manner 
 distant, and his demeanour constrained ; still such 
 was the force of the counter-elements, that warmth, 
 ease, and kindness were the prevailing characteristics, 
 which even a short acquaintance would discover. His 
 temper was calm and unruffled by provocation. 
 Though the bent of his mind was to follow out 
 favourite principles to an extreme (some perhaps 
 thought an unjustifiable) limit, he was yet singularly 
 tolerant of difference of opinion where no axiom of 
 morality was involved ; and views the most discordant 
 with his own were always heard with kindness, and 
 combated patiently, but with a wonderful fertility of 
 argument. His religious sentiments were pure from 
 the modern and prevalent tincture of Pharisaism, and 
 " in strict accordance with the large and scriptural 
 views of the blessed Eeformers and Martyrs of our 
 Church " ; 1 still, with a moderation rare in our day, 
 he cherished, esteemed, and loved the good of every 
 Denomination, even where the most extreme and 
 opposing principles were strenuously held. His feel- 
 ings were always under a stern command, and he 
 would to a very careful looker-on appear unmoved 
 and unconcerned, at times when the most lively and 
 
 1 Sermon preached by the Venerable Archdeacon Pratt, at the 
 Cathedral, Calcutta, on the 16th October 1853. This Sermon con- 
 tained some passages powerfully descriptive of Thomason's char- 
 acter ; a personal intimacy enabling the preacher to draw from the 
 life. 
 
Christian Life 95 
 
 intense emotions were busy within his breast. In 
 private friendships, his attachments were steady, un- 
 selfish, unreserved ; but a common faith added a 
 peculiar depth and strength to the bond. His 
 domestic affections were amongst the strongest and 
 most pervading that we have ever witnessed ; and if 
 we could tear away the curtain from the delicacy of 
 private life, the exquisite tenderness of a father's love 
 would add the brightest touch to the portraiture of 
 a character the most perfect and the most attractive 
 it has been our lot to know. Duty, sincerity, love, 
 were the watchwords of his life ; the one idea which 
 formed his spring of action — the good of others. 
 
 And the key to all this was a Christian faith. He 
 believed the Bible to be the Word of God ; and there- 
 fore took it for the daily and the hourly guide of his 
 life. A simple faith in Christ, as his Divine Eedeemer, 
 was followed by an unquestioning devotion to His 
 service. Hence followed love to men, and earnest 
 endeavour for their welfare. These motive powers 
 (concealed it may be from the outward observer) 
 were deeply seated in his soul, and imparted a con- 
 sistent and energetic action to the whole machinery 
 of his life. However engrossing the claims of the 
 State, those of his God were paramount : and it was 
 just by a daily subjection of heart to the principles of 
 the Gospel, and by honouring supremely the claims of 
 his Maker, that he was enabled so efficiently to dis- 
 charge his duty toward his earthly Master and his 
 Sovereign. 
 
96 James Thomas on 
 
 We quote (from the Sermon noticed at the head of 
 this review) the following account of Mr. Thomason's 
 Christian life by the Eev. T. V. French, 1 with the more 
 pleasure, because, while eminently qualified to form a 
 judgment, the independent position and devoted life 
 of the Preacher place his opinion beyond the suspicion 
 of any partial influence : — 
 
 * ' In such a sense we believe the words of our text 2 were specially- 
 appropriate to him who is gone from us. His public character can 
 only enter into our consideration here, so far as it was influenced by 
 his private character as a Christian. The influence which this exer- 
 cised was uniform, and pervaded his whole course of action. There 
 are few who would not bear witness readily to the simplicity and 
 singleness of heart with which he set God's glory before him, as the 
 steady and undeviating object of his life. From the conscientious 
 discharge of his duties to the State, he never separated the sense of 
 accountability to One higher than the State : not acting as though 
 there were two masters to be served, two rules of action, two principles 
 of guidance to be followed, two irreconcilable duties to be performed. 
 Rather acknowledging but one source and fountainhead of duty, 
 beside which, and apart from which, there could be no outgoings of 
 it ; it was his study, while having regard to the lesser aspects in which 
 subjects might be viewed, to view them not the less in their religious 
 bearing, and to trace them up to their connection with the highest of 
 all duties. Doubtless the great secret of this line of conduct may be 
 found here ; that he was accustomed, in every important and difficult 
 matter, to have recourse to God in prayer for direction and guidance. 
 With a mind thus composed, and as before God, arriving at a decision, 
 he had the strongest ground of assurance which man can have, that 
 his work would be prospered and rewarded : that confidence which 
 produces steadiness of action, firmness of purpose, and can patiently 
 abide difficulties and delays. Very edifying it was to observe the 
 guardedness with which he walked ; and the fear which he expressed, 
 lest the incessant calls of duty should check the growth of spiritual 
 life in his soul. In the enlargement of Christ's kingdom, and making 
 
 1 Afterwards Bishop of Lahore. 
 
 2 "From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the 
 marks of the Lord Jesus"; 17th verse of Galatians vi., a chapter 
 which the dying statesman desired to be read in his hearing. 
 
Bishop French's Testimony 97 
 
 known His pure and saving truth to the heathen around us, he always 
 expressed a lively and heartfelt interest, which he extended even to 
 the individual cases and circumstances of any in whose heart a desire 
 had been awakened for the reception of Christianity. He seemed fully 
 persuaded of the happy and blessed effects which would be wrought on 
 the Hindu mind and character by embracing our Holy Faith. I have 
 a vivid impression left on my own mind of the bright and animated 
 expression of countenance with which he detailed to me, some months 
 ago, the circumstances of two important conversions which had taken 
 place in Delhi : tidings of which he had just received. Having watched 
 patiently and attentively the course of Christian missions, and par- 
 taken much in the hopes and fears which they have alternately 
 awakened, he was sensibly affected with the report of anything which 
 seemed to make against the progress of the truth : was fully alive to 
 difficulties : would suggest new plans ; and point to fresh directions 
 in which the Christian effort of each labourer engaged in the work 
 might extend itself. One of those brought up in the Orphan Institu- 
 tion at Secundra was most touchingly describing to me (since the 
 tidings of his death were received) how he would, in bygone years, 
 come over to the Mission premises there, gather the children around 
 him, and, seating himself in the middle of them, would question them 
 in the simple Bible Histories they had prepared, and spend much 
 pains in the explanation of them ; so that his visits were always 
 welcomed and talked of amongst them. He would speak feelingly of 
 the state of the native servants in his employ, and of the earnest 
 desire he had to bring them within reach of direct Christian in- 
 struction. 
 
 1 ' The strength of his religious convictions was not independent of a 
 mature consideration of all the main difficulties that were urged against 
 the Christian religion. He spoke as one who had seriously reflected 
 upon them : allowed them all their due weight : but found that pre- 
 ponderating evidence in support of the faith once delivered to the 
 Saints, which led him, with advancing years, to glory increasingly in 
 bearing about with him the marks of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 " In us, who were strengthened and encouraged by observing those 
 marks, I believe the remembrance of him will live, and will not readily 
 be effaced. Many a distressed and afflicted one can bear witness to 
 the timely help he rendered, often unsolicited, and even diligently 
 seeking out the objects of it, unknown to any but his Father who 
 ' seeth in secret.' His unassuming, reverent, prayerful demeanour, 
 which was a blessed example to us in the House of prayer of which he 
 was so regular an attendant, helping to quicken us in our devotions, 
 involuntarily reproving the wandering eye and heart in those who were 
 
gS James Thomason 
 
 his fellow- worshippers ; 1 the remembrance of serious counsel suggested 
 as occasion offered ; the recollection of an influence calmly and 
 uniformly exerted over those amongst whom he went in and out, to 
 their spiritual and temporal good : — these are hallowed memorials, 
 which will stay with us, I believe, and recall to us the image of one, 
 who was as a ruler, that which he was as a man ; one whom Christian 
 principles swayed to Christian practice." 
 
 Such is the man (and it is one of the hopeful 
 symptoms of our age) whom the public has united to 
 honour. Witness after witness has borne testimony 
 before the Legislature of Britain, to the pre-eminent 
 virtues of his Administration : the Press has conspired 
 to denominate his, " the model Government." The 
 praises of the Honourable Court, and of the Governor- 
 General under whom he acted, have been freely and 
 frequently accorded. And when at last the State 
 was deprived by death of its able servant, an Extra- 
 ordinary Gazette, encircled by the ensigns of mourn- 
 ing, announced the fact to India : — 
 
 "Fort William— Home Department. 
 " The 3rd October 1853. 
 
 "Notification. — The Most Noble the Governor- General of 
 India in Council is deeply grieved to announce the decease 
 of the Honourable James Thomason, the Lieut.-Governor of the 
 North-Western Provinces. 
 
 1 Most Civil Officers in the North- Western Provinces will long 
 remember how, on the appointed weekly halt (for he always prized and 
 carefully observed the Sunday, wholly casting aside the cares of State, 
 substituting the records of Christianity for the weary files of official 
 labour, and devoting himself to his family and the special duties of 
 the day), the bell of the Camp would sound forth an invitation to the 
 public tent, where, in a manner impressive and earnest, the service of 
 the Church was performed by the Lieut. -Governor himself. 
 
Tribute by Lord Dalhousie 99 
 
 "The Lieut. -Governor has long since earned for himself a 
 name, which ranks him high among the most distinguished 
 servants of the Honourable East Indian Company. 
 
 "Conspicuous ability, devotion to the public service, and a 
 conscientious discharge of every duty, have marked each step 
 of his honourable course : while his surpassing administrative 
 capacity, his extensive knowledge of affairs, his clear judgment, 
 his benevolence of character and suavity of demeanour, have 
 adorned and exalted the high position which he was wisely 
 selected to fill. 
 
 " The Governor-General in Council deplores his loss with a 
 sorrow deep and unfeigned, — with sorrow aggravated by the 
 regret that his career should have thus been untimely closed, 
 when all had hoped that opportunities for extended usefulness 
 were still before him, and that fresh honour might be added to 
 his name. 
 
 "The Most Noble the Governor-General in Council directs 
 that the Flag shall be lowered half-mast high, and that seventeen 
 minute guns 1 shall be fired at the respective seats of Govern- 
 ment in India so soon as the present Notification shall have 
 been there received. 
 
 " By order of the Governor- General of India in Council. 
 
 "Geo. Plowden, 
 " Offg. Secy, to the Govt, of India." 
 
 The Governor-General has also, in terms most 
 gratifying to the friends of the deceased statesman, 
 proposed to the Court of Directors to found at the 
 Koorkee College (which, the object of his fostering 
 care during life, may well perpetuate his name after 
 death), a Scholarship commemorative of the ability 
 
 1 It has been said in some quarters that minute guns corresponding 
 in number with the age of the deceased should have been fired : but 
 this is a mistake. At the funeral of Military and Civil Officers, the 
 minute guns are strictly limited, by Royal Warrant, to the number the 
 deceased was entitled to as a salute. The Governor-General paid a 
 peculiar tribute to the memory of the Lieut. -Governor, in directing 
 this honour to be shown at each of the seats of Government. 
 
ioo James Thomason 
 
 and virtues of Mr. Thomason. All honour to the 
 Most Noble Marquess, for the just and generous 
 praise he has so freely accorded. It will not be 
 viewed as one of the least of the praises of his 
 administration, thus to have appreciated, and honour- 
 ably acknowledged, the merits of one who rendered 
 such distinguished service to his Government. 
 
 So high indeed was the estimate of the Governor- 
 General, that we believe he had pressed upon the 
 Government of Britain and the Court of Directors the 
 appointment of Thomason, as the fittest man, to the 
 Government of Madras. And it is a singular con- 
 firmation of the wisdom of the advice, that before it 
 could have been received at home, the appointment 
 so recommended had been actually made. Thus did 
 Thomason retire from this earthly scene, honoured 
 in death as in life, by his Noble Master, by the 
 Honourable Court, and by the Government of his 
 native land. 
 
 And if, as we believe f rom Ho ly Writ, the spirits 
 of just men made perfect are inheritors of "glory, 
 honour, and immortality," may we not anticipate that 
 a nobler work, and a more enviable recompense than 
 that of an earthly Sovereign, await him at another 
 and a sublimer Court? Thither, trusting to his 
 Saviour's merits, he dared with confidence to approach; 
 for he was heard at the last to say, that though 
 unworthy and deficient, "he was not afraid to die." 
 And there, we cannot doubt, with nobler faculties, 
 and an inconceivably vaster sphere of action, he but 
 
End of a Noble Life 101 
 
 continues the service of that Great Master, for whom, 
 upon earth, he delighted to labour, and rejoices in a 
 glory and a reward before which his terrestrial dis- 
 tinctions, like the minor luminaries at the Sun's 
 approach, wane and vanish. 
 
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