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See also: earl of See also: Elgin (1811-1863), See also: British statesman, eldest son of the 7th earl by his second See also: marriage, was See also: born in 1811, and succeeded to the See also: peerage as 8th earl of Elgin and 12th of Kincardine in 1841
.
He was educated at See also: Eton and at Christ See also: Church,
See also: Oxford, where he had as companions and rivals his younger predecessors in the office of governor-general of See also: India, Dalhousie and Canning
.
He began his official career in 1842 at the age of See also: thirty, as governor of See also: Jamaica
.
During an administration of four years he succeeded in winning the respect of all classes
.
He improved the condition of the negroes and See also: con-ciliated the planters by working through them
.
In 1846 See also: Lord See also: Grey appointed him governor-general of See also: Canada
.
Son-in-See also: law of the popular earl of Durham, he was well received by the colonists, and he set himself deliberately to carry out the Durham policy
.
In this his See also: frank and genial See also: manners aided him power-fully
.
His assent to the See also: local measure for indemnifying those who had suffered in the troubles of 1837 led the See also: mob of See also: Montreal to pelt his See also: carriage for the rewarding of rebels for See also: rebellion, as Mr Gladstone described it
.
But long before his eight years' See also: term of service expired he was the most popular See also: man in Canada
.
His relations with the See also: United States, his hearty support of the self-See also: government and defence of the colony, and his See also: settlement of the See also: free-See also: trade and See also: fishery questions, led to his being raised in 1849 to the British peerage as Baron Elgin
.
Soon after his return to See also: England in 1854, Lord Palmerston offered him a seat in the See also: cabinet as chancellor of the duchy of See also: Lancaster, which he declined
.
But when, in 1856 the seizure of the " Arrow " by See also: Commissioner Yeh plunged England into war with See also: China, he at once accepted the See also: appointment of See also: special See also: envoy with the expedition
.
On reaching Point de See also: Galle he was met by a force summoned from Bombay to See also: Calcutta by the See also: news of the See also: sepoy See also: mutiny at See also: Meerut on the 11th of May
.
His first idea, that the somewhat meagre intelligence would justify most energetic See also: action in China, was at once changed when urgent letters from Lord Canning reached him at Singapore, the next See also: port, on the 3rd of See also: June
.
H.M.S
.
" Shannon " was at once sent on to Calcutta with the troops' destined for China, and Lord Elgin himself followed it, when gloomier letters from India reached him
.
The arrival of the " Shannon " gave new See also: life to the handful of See also: white men fighting for
See also: civilization against fearful odds, and before the reinforcements from England arrived the back of the mutiny had been broken
.
Nor was the position in China seriously affected by the want of the troops
.
Lord Elgin sent in his See also: ultimatum to Commissioner Yeh at See also: Canton on the same See also: day, the 12th of See also: December, that he learned the See also: relief of See also: Lucknow, and he soon after sent Yeh a prisoner to Calcutta
.
By See also: July 1858, after months of See also: Chinese deception, he was able to leave the Gulf of Pechili with the emperor's assent to the Treaty of See also: Tientsin
.
Subsequently he visited See also: Japan, and obtained less considerable concessions from its government in the Treaty of Yeddo
.
It is true that the negotiations were confined to the really subordinate Tycoon or Shogun, but that visit proved the beginning of British influence in the most progressive country of See also: Asia
.
Unfortunately, the Chinese difficulty was not yet at an end
.
After tedious disputes with the tariff commissioners as to the opium duty, and a visit to the upperSee also: waters of the Yang-tzse, Lord Elgin had reached England in May 1859
.
But when his See also: brother and the allied forces attempted to proceed to See also: Peking with the ratified treaty, they were fired on from the Taku forts at the mouth of the Peiho
.
The Chinese had resolved to try the See also: fortune of war once more, and Lord See also: Russell again sent out Lord Elgin as ambassador extraordinary to demand an See also: apology for the attack, the execution of the treaty, and an indemnity for the military and See also: naval See also: expenditure
.
See also: Sir Robert See also: Napier (afterwards Lord Napier of See also: Magdala) and Sir Hope See also: Grant; with the French, so effectuallyrouted the Tatar troops and sacked the Summer Palace that by the 24th of
See also: October r86o a See also: convention was concluded which was " entirely satisfactory to Her Majesty's government." Lord Elgin had not been a See also: month at home when Lord Palmerston selected him to be See also: viceroy and governor-general of India
.
He had now attained the See also: object of his honourable ambition, after the office had been filled in most critical times by his juniors and old See also: college companions, the See also: marquis of Dalhousie and Earl Canning
.
He succeeded a statesman who had done much to reorganize the whole administration of India, shattered as it had been by the mutiny
.
But, as the first viceroy directly appointed by the See also: Crown, and as subject to the secretary of See also: state for India, Lord Elgin at once gave up all Lord Canning had fought for, in the co-See also: ordinate independence, or rather the stimulating responsibility, of the governor-general, which had prevailed from the days of See also: Clive and See also: Warren Hastings
.
On the other See also: hand, he loyally carried out the wise and equitable policy of his predecessor towards our feudatories with a firmness and a dignity that in the See also: case of See also: Holkar and See also: Udaipur had a See also: good effect
.
He did his best to check the aggression of the Dutch in See also: Sumatra, which was contrary to treaty, and he supported Dost Mahommed in See also: Kabul until that aged See also: warrior entered the then neutral and disputed territory of See also: Herat
.
Determined to maintain inviolate the integrity of our own See also: north-west frontier, Lord Elgin assembled a See also: camp of exercise at See also: Lahore, and marched a force to the See also: Peshawar border to punish those branches of the Yusufzai tribe who had violated the engagements of 1858
.
It was in the midst of this " little war " that he died
.
Soon after his arrival at Calcutta, he had projected the usual tour to See also: Simla, to be followed by an inspection of the See also: Punjab and its warlike ring-fence of Pathans
.
He even contemplated the summoning of the central legislative council at Lahore . After passing the summer of 1863 in the cool retreat of Peterhoff, Simla, Lord Elgin began aSee also: march across the hills from Simla to
See also: Sialkot by the upper valleys of the See also: Beas, the See also: Ravi and the See also: Chenab, chiefly to decide the two allied questions of See also: tea cultivation and trade routes to See also: Kashgar and See also: Tibet, The climbing up to the Rotung Pass (13,000 ft.) which separates the Beas valley from that of the Chenab, and the See also: crossing of the frail twig See also: bridge across the Chundra torrent, prostrated him by the See also: time he had descended into the smiling See also: English-like See also: Kangra valley
.
Thence he wrote his last letter to Sir See also: Charles
See also: Wood, still full of hope and not free from anxiety as to the Sittana expedition
.
At the lovely See also: hill station of
See also: Dharmsala, " the place of piety," he died of fatty degeneration of See also: heart on the loth of See also: November 1863
.
For his whole career see Letters and See also: Journals of See also: James, Eighth Earl of Elgin, edited by Walrond, but corrected by his brother-in-law, Dean
See also: Stanley; for the China See also: missions see Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's See also: Mission to China and Japan, by Laurence See also: Oliphant, his private secretary; for the brief See also: Indian administration see the Friend of India for 1862-1863
.
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