MOUNTSTUART ELPHINSTONE
CHAPTER I
Introduction
On the long roll of civil servants of the East India Company, no name possesses a greater charm than that of Mountstuart Elphinstone. As diplomatist and administrator, he exercised a decisive influence upon the fate of Western India, at the critical epoch when British order had to be substituted for Maráthá turbulence: his memory is still revered in Bombay—by English and natives alike—for nobility of character, justice, and encouragement of education: his History of India has won for him a permanent place in literature. Elphinstone's long life witnessed almost the entire drama of British conquest. Born in 1779, when Warren Hastings was still Governor-General, he went out to India in 1796, before Tipu had been finally subdued. In 1803, he rode by the side of the future Duke of Wellington at his first great victory. At the maturity of his powers he foiled the
