the rates were restored to a point below that of 1869, the limit of exemption being also raised. Temple showed firmness in a critical time, and preserved the direct tax, while in the management of provincial assignments and in discussions about a gold standard and state insurance he left valuable suggestions for his successors. During his tenure of the office of financial member he married on 28 Jan. 1871 his second wife, Mary Augusta, daughter of Charles R. Lindsay of the chief court in the Punjab, a lady of great personal attractions and intellectual gifts.
From charge of the finances of India, Temple was sent in January 1874 to conduct the campaign against famine in Behar which embarrassed and almost overtaxed the powers of the government of Bengal. He averted a catastrophe by his personal energy in providing transport and supplying food for the famished, but his expenditure was on too liberal a scale — a mistake which he avoided in later years. Having performed this task, he was lieutenant-governor of Bengal from 9 April 1874 to 8 Jan. 1877. His term of office was uneventful, but his literary and administrative activity was proved by the minutes which he penned and printed. He was made a baronet in 1876, and at the close of the year, owing to the grave anxiety felt by Lord Lytton [q. v.] in regard to the severe famine prevailing in southern India, he was appointed special commissioner to inspect and suggest measures of relief to the governments concerned. Although the scale of expenditure was less lavish than in Bengal, the operations entailed an expenditure and a remission of taxes aggregating eleven millions sterling. Having completed his task. Temple proceeded to Bombay and took over charge of the government from Sir Philip Wodehouse [q. v. Suppl. I] on 30 April 1877. He was promoted G.C.S.I., and was created C.I.E. when that order was instituted on 1 Jan. 1878.
At Bombay he was assisted in the government by a council of three members, and, as he admitted, he found a progressive administration in excellent order. But there was work to be done for which a single head was needed, and Temple provided the driving power. The despatch of Indian troops to Malta in 1878, and the Afghan war which followed, 1878-80, involving the employment of 65,000 British and 135,000 native troops. required strenuous exertions. Sailing ships had to be adapted for the work of transports, and stores despatched in the former case, while in the latter the Kandahar force was supplied from Bombay, and the railway aligned and constructed after careful inspection of various routes. Temple was equal to the occasion, and received the thanks of government. On the civil administration he left his mark not only by improving the port of Bombay but also by extensive, indeed almost excessive, additions to the forest area. His frequent tours and conferences with the local officials soon made him familiar with the special conditions of the presidency. But his thoughts had constantly of late been turned towards England, and calculating on the probable fall of Lord Beaconsfield's government he, without awaiting the arrival of his successor. Sir James Fergusson [q. v.], hurried home on 13 March 1880, to stand for parliament. Disappointment awaited him. Contesting East Worcestershire in the conservative interest, he was defeated. Thereupon he took to literature, producing 'India in 1880,' of which a third edition was published in 1881, 'a vivid picture of the condition of India as he left it' {Quarterly Review, No. 303). This was followed by 'Men and Events of My Time' (1882) and several contributions to reviews and magazines, some of which were republished in 'Oriental Experience' (1883) and others as 'Cosmopolitan Essays' (1886). He gratified his insatiable desire for travel and his taste for painting by the publication of 'Palestine Illustrated' (1888), and performed a pious duty to his three chief patrons by writing monographs on 'James Thomason' (1893) for the Clarendon press series of Rulers of India, and 'John, Lord Lawrence' (1889) for Macmillan's 'English Men of Action,' and by delivering a panegyric on 'Bartle Frere' at the Mansion House (1884). The universities conferred upon him the hon. degrees of D.C.L., 1880 (Oxford), LL.D., 1883 (Cambridge), and LL.D., 1884 (M'Gill University, Montreal), when he visited Canada as president of the section of economic science and statistics of the British Association. But he longed for a more active part in affairs, and in 1884 he joined the London school board, of which he remained a member till 1894, serving as vice-chairman for four years and for many years a£
