Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. It may be added, that, before his departure the Geographical Society of Bombay elected him an Honorary Office-Bearer for life, "in testimony of their appreciation of his services to the cause of Geographical Science." Though Dr. Burnes rarely appeared before the world as an author, his tastes were eminently refined and literary, and his mind abundantly stored with general knowledge. The account of his visit to the Court of Hyderabad sufficiently shows what might have been looked for from his pen had he found leisure or inclination to write for publication. He ever took an active share in the promotion of all intellectual pursuits, and was one of the most elegant and most attractive members of general society in Western India. Fond of company, in which he was always the favourite, and where he eminently shone, he was the person most generally fixed upon to preside at public meetings and do the honours where entertainments were given to distinguished strangers or members of the community; and his address, on the occasion of a public dinner being given to Sir H. Pottinger on his way from China, was so marked for elegance and aptitude, as to be reprinted in all the leading journals of Europe. The eminent official position he so long enjoyed in the service, to which he was an honour, was always employed by him in endeavouring to advance merit and promote unpretending worth-to assist the necessitous and soothe those heats and irritations which will occasionally arise in the best regulated communities, and which tend so grievously to impair the comfort of public men and to interfere with the interests of the service. As a private friend he was ever warm, constant, and sincere in his attachments. Though generally to be met with in every scene of harmless merriment, gaiety, or festivity, no man more frequently approached the couch of sickness or chamber of suffering-none could strive more to soothe the pangs of sorrow or anguish of affliction. He left India almost without an enemy, and with scarcely an acquaintance who was not also an admirer and a friend. In G. O., by the Right Hon. the Governor-in-Council (19th Nov., 1849), allowing him to retire, * his eminently As Physician-General of the Bombay Army. * useful services were brought forward, announcing that his services extended beyond the line of his own profession; and the same zealous devotion to the public interests was apparent in those which "distinguished him throughout his meritorious career in the medical department." Since 1850, Dr. Burnes chiefly resided in London, making occasional visits to his native town of Montrose. He was a magistrate for the counties of Middlesex and Forfar. With regard to his native county, Lord Brougham had inscribed his name in the roll of Justices-a remarkable compliment, at a time when no new commission was issued, to a visitor from India, who possessed no property in the shire. The compliment had been continued since the accession of Her Majesty. In 1851, he drew up an elegant little work, entitled "Notes on his Name and Family," printed for private circulation. On the title-page figures the crest which he obtained from the Herald Office, in allusion to the devotion to their country shown by his two brothers. Out of a mural crown-the rim inscribed CABOOL-a demi-eagle is displayed transfixed by a javelin; and round the whole is the appropriate motto: OB PATRIAM VULNERA PASSI. In addition to being an able writer,† Dr. Burnes was an eloquent and impressive speaker; but, on his return home, he seldom appeared in public. At the influential meeting held on the 5th of March, 1861, to do honour to that distinguished soldier and statesman, Sir James Outram, he made a most eloquent speech, from which I take the following remarks on the career of the Bayard of the East: "I am possibly in a somewhat different position from other speakers, inasmuch as I have passed the best days of my life in the same public service with him, and in daily observation of him. And having watched his career throughout the truthfulness of his character and indomitable courage, that early brought him into notice the energy and tenderness with which he brought to God and man, while yet a youth, the wild Bheels of the jungle (in my opinion the noblest of his achievements)-his wondrous pursuit of the Afghan Ameer, Dost Mahomed, and perilous escape afterwards from Khelat through hostile tribes to Here ends abridgement of "Memoir." + [See Appendix II.] * the sea-coast-the heroic part he took in the defence of the Hyderabad Residency-with the other varied incidents of his stirring life, all showing abnegation of self, with an uncompromising resolve to do his duty-up to the time he startled Europe, though not so much India, by his magnanimity in making place for an illustrious comrade -an act which reminds us of some of those recorded of the great Condé-(cheers)—and completed his military exploits at Lucknow to enter the Supreme Council-I look upon him as the model of the high-minded public servant, whether soldier or statesman the man whom parents may urge their sons to follow, the chevalier sans peur et sans reproche, as happily applied to him by Sir Charles Napier, and as so completely realising the classical descriptions just given by a new and eloquent historian of another great warrior and statesman, Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, that the words might be inscribed on the pedestal of his statue-UNTIRING, UNCOMPLAINING, THOUGHTFUL OF OTHERS, PRODIGAL OF SELF, GENEROUS, MODEST, BRAVE.'" (Much cheering.) * The death of Dr. Burnes' eldest son, occasioned by a noble act of self-devotement during the Indian mutiny, brought him no common sorrow. The doctor was twice married his brother, Alexander, never. And there was every prospect of our hero's attaining "a green old age," when he sickened and diedt at Manchester, on the 19th of September, 1862, regretted by all who knew him. "After life's fitful fever, He who was perhaps, reader, "thine own friend, and thy father's friend." Like all that is mortal, he had his faults: he was, throughout his career, too fond of distinction (by some considered a virtue); his zeal for a friend or relative, a few may think, occasionally led him too far in the business; but, take him for all in all, he was a noble specimen of humanity. And, while I pay this imperfect tribute to * [See also Appendix III.-Sir James Outram.] + From the effects of disease of long standing, contracted in India. his memory, with his intelligent features beaming from a portrait before me, I think of those he endeavoured to serve, recalling to mind the beautiful poem with the line -so applicable towards the close of every year— "Who has not lost a friend?" ADDENDA. DR. BURNES AS A MASON. SOME able men, who knew him well, especially in Bombay, are inclined to think that Dr. Burnes was most distinguished as a Mason. He certainly shone as a bright, particular star, among the brethren of the "mystic tie;" and no where did he seem more in his element than when-to use the words of his kinsman the poet-" honoured with supreme command," he "presided o'er the sons of light." Masonry with him, as with too many, was not a mere name. He put his whole soul into the business, and thoroughly believed in its Godlike nature to produce good fellowship among men. If his brother, Sir Alexander, may be styled the most wonderful traveller, Dr. James' has an equal right to be considered the most energetic and brilliant Mason that ever came to India. But in whatever he undertook, the subject of the foregoing sketch proved himself to be an able and well-read man, although, from the nature of his profession debarred from the same opportunities, not so distinguished as his brother. The following passage displays no ordinary ability. It is from a speech on the "India Question," delivered at the Court of Proprieters of India Stock, 27th January, 1858 :— A NATIVE OF INDIA.-THE SEPOYS. "A native of India has no notion of political rights; his forefathers had none, and he cannot comprehend their being yielded to him except from a cowardly terror of himself. Such concessions, in fact, are diametrically opposed to his conception of the dignity and authority of a ruler. 'Born to be controlled, Slave of the forward and the bold,' what he requires from England is a well-chosen, vigorous, and benignant Governor General, armed with ample power to enforce authority, protect person and property, and administer justice promptly and efficiently to the people, and to handle Sepoys on the principle laid down by the poet ;— 'Tender-handed stroke the nettle, And it stings you for your pains; And the rogues obey you well.' "Ere long these mutinies will pass away, leaving behind them, with all their horrid recollections, a not unprofitable lesson. Nations, like men, are subject to frenzy and delirium, and within the memory of some living, the most refined and civilised people upon earth were perpetrating upon each other the most cruel atrocities. The Prætorian Guards, the Janissaries, the Mamelukes, the Sepoys, are all reproductions of the same bloody history, the natural development which follows from rude and mercenary armies gaining a knowledge of their own power. But with this knowledge the Sepoys have also learned this great lesson, that if brute force was with them for a season, the intellect that commands force and power was with England." |