'Mr. Thomason had obtained distinction in the several stages of his official progress; and as Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces, during a period of nine years, he exhibited all the qualities of an accomplished and successful administrator. He omitted no research, and spared no pains to make himself master of every subject that came before him, however minute or however comprehensive. His decisions, founded on results so obtained, were clearly, concisely and impressively delivered. He inculcated and maintained discipline in the public service by the discernment with which he observed and rewarded merit, by a rare union of conciliation and firmness, by uniform kindness and courtesy to those below him, and by his own marked example of deference to superior authority. In his administration of the territorial revenue, an efficient watchfulness over the just interests of the State was always tempered by a benevolent care for the well-being of the agricultural community. We are persuaded that all classes who lived under his government, from the highest public servant to the cultivator of the soil, must participate in the sorrow which we feel for his loss.'
Apart from official commendation of him in the highest quarters, it is of interest to note the best non-official opinion at that time. The leading newspaper then in the country was 'The Friend of India,' established by Marshman and published at Serampur, near Calcutta. The following extract is from an obituary notice which appeared on the 13th of October, 1853: —
'It is not in a barren record of incidents that the biography of such a man as Mr. Thomason consists. It is rather in a minute detail of the process by which he contrived to brace up the administration, till it became the model
