Near the Cathedral, about the centre of the old Green, is situated Elphinstone Circle, a block of commercial buildings which would do credit to any European capital. They sur round a small garden which has the glory of colour that nature lavishes on shrub and flower in the East. Here is a statue to the Marquis Cornwallis, who, as the inscription informs us, died at Ghazipur, on October 5, 1805. The Indian climate proved too much for a constitution already shattered by the anxieties and vexations of his Irish ad ministration, and the difficult and delicate task of conducting the negotiations which led to the peace of Amiens. " A peace that will not dishonour the country," wrote Corn wallis ; an expression afterwards happily converted into " peace with honour " by one who knew how to borrow. Cornwallis had not the genius of Hastings, or of Wellesley ; but he was a man of sterling integrity, and his death was regarded in India as a public misfortune, on account of his whole previous administration having been imbued with the spirit of justice and moderation. At a public meeting of the British inhabitants of Bombay it was resolved to erect a statue to the late Marquis. James Mackintosh, the " Man of Promise," at the time Recorder of Bombay, wrote to Flaxman :—" As one of the committee appointed for that purpose, I naturally turned my thoughts towards you, for reasons which it might be indelicate to mention to you, and which it must be unnecessary to state to any one else. It is enough to say that I feel very great solicitude to leave to our most distant successors, whoever they may be, not only a memorial of the honour in which we hold virtue, but an example of the progress of Art in England in the beginning of the nineteenth century. The neighbouring subterranean temples of Elephanta, Canari, and Carli con tain, perhaps, the most ancient sculptures in the world. Twenty or thirty centuries hence, some native, whose name is now unknown, may compare these works of barbaric toil with the finished productions of the genius and taste of an English artist. Without your help I do not think that the comparison would be fair or the contrast com plete." After this delicate flattery, Mackintosh proceeds to state that the statue is to be of the natural size, or larger than life, with such basso-relievos and subordinate figures as the artist might judge most characteristic and ornamental. " I need not tell you that the character of Marquis Cornwallis was more respectable than dazzling. I am persuaded that you will find pleasure in employing an art, too often the flatterer of tyranny, to give lustre to the virtues most use ful to mankind. Prudence, moderation, integrity, pacific spirit, clemency, were very remarkable qualities in Marquis Cornwallis's character. Perhaps his establishment of a system of secure landed property in Bengal—and extended over India—might furnish some hints to your genius. It was a noble measure of paternal legislation, though I know not whether it could be represented in marble." The Permanent Settlement in Bengal is hardly a theme to fire an artist's imagination, or a subject capable of being represented in marble except in the form of boundary pillars. Flaxman, however, refused to undertake the work, and the statue was executed by Bacon. In the garden there is another statue by the same sculptor, erected by the merchants of Bombay to the honour of the Pro-Consul whose intrepid intellect and lofty ambition consolidated the Empire which the daring genius of Hastings founded ; of whom his illustrious brother said :—" Had he been but a younger son he would have been the greatest man in Eu rope." The clean-cut and decisive features of the Marquis of Wellesley are rendered with considerable skill. His slight and wiry figure rests on a massive marble pedestal, with finely modelled male and female figures in front, and a life sized lion and tiger behind. The merchants of the East India Company could not appreciate Wellesley's vigorous and far-seeing policy, and they recalled him. Thirty years after, when his despatches, which combine comprehensive and elevated views with so much circumspection and dignity, were published, the Court of Directors assured him, by a unanimous resolution, " that in their judgment he had been animated throughout his administration by an ardent zeal to promote the well-being of India, and to uphold the interest and honour of the British Empire ; and that they looked back to the eventful and brilliant period of his ad ministration with feelings common to their countrymen."
They also voted him a grant of £20,000, and ordered his statue to be placed in the India Office. But this tardy recognition of his services did not satisfy the great Marquis, and his closing years were embittered because the Ministry would not create him Duke of Hindustan, the only title which would gratify his Imperial soul.
Leaving the garden, we come to a stately flight of steps leading to the Town Hall, which mainly owes its existence to the enthusiasm and exertion of James Mackintosh. He was anxious that a building should be erected " for the reception of the statues of Marquis Cornwallis and Mr. Pitt, and of any future monuments of British Art which public gratitude may bring to Bombay," and " for the accommoda tion of the Literary Society, and the reception of their valuable and increasing library." Soon after his arrival James Mackintosh held, under his own roof, the first meeting of the Literary Society of Bombay. Jonathan Duncan was present, not as a Governor of Bombay, but as a scholar who had made his mark by contributing some important papers to the Bengal Asiatic Society ; General Nicolls, the Commander-in-chief, a man of science, who had devoted much time to the meteorology of the island ; Boden, the Quartermaster-General, and subsequent founder of the Boden Professorship at Oxford ; and Edward Moore, the author of The Hindu Pantheon, a work of considerable research. The President, in an eloquent address, stated the subjects which he trusted the members would pursue in India, because so much could be found in the land which could be got in no other country : metallurgy, mineralogy, botany and economics were the subjects which he specially brought forward to the notice of the members. The history of the Bombay Asiatic Society is a record of brilliant success. It has done the work for which it was founded -" the investigation and encouragement of Oriental Arts, Science, and Literature." In 1827 the Society adopted the proposal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland for a union between the two Institutions, and the Literary Society of Bombay became the Bombay branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
One of the first objects that engaged the attention of the Society was the foundation of a Public Library. Early in 18o5 a bargain was concluded for the purchase of an exten sive collection of books which had been gathered together by several medical gentlemen of Bombay. Under the wise administration of Sir James Mackintosh, the library grew, and when he returned to England he sent out, at the request of the Society, a collection of the standard books of the day, and the principal publications as they appeared. It is due to the wide reading and sound literary taste of the author of Vindicia Gallica that the library of the Bombay Asiatic Society is so rich in the literature of the eighteenth century. The Society has also had frequent gifts of rare and valuable Oriental publications from the Bombay Government and the Government of India, and the library has grown up to be a goodly collection of thirty thousand volumes. Savants who visit India will receive at Bombay a warm and generous welcome from a learned Society, devoted to spreading through the land a spirit of philosophical inquiry and literary research, and owning a library rich in books of solid worth.
Retracing our steps from the Town Hall, we pass the Cathedral, and driving through Church Street we come to a spacious Platz, with a handsome fountain. The name commemorates the services of a great ruler, who, during his five years' tenure of office, changed an Indian city into one of the finest capitals of the Empire. Bartle Frere was appointed Governor of Bombay at the comparatively early age of forty-seven. " God grant you," wrote Lord Canning, " health and strength to do your work in your own noble spirit ! " He did it, in spite of much opposition, in his own imperial spirit ; and no Governor, except Mount stuart Elphinstone, did more to improve the condition of the people, or to increase the prosperity of the great Presi dency entrusted to his charge. He won the respect of those he ruled by his courageous temperament, and their affection by his strong human sympathies. Man that is born of woman hath his faults ; but with all his minor blemishes and infirmities, a high rank must be assigned to Bartle Frere among the great statesmen who served the East India Company.