regiment now moved to Sabathu, where he began a series of papers in a local journal, the 'Delhi Gazette,' which, under the title of 'Letters of Brahminee Bull in India to his cousin John in England,' attracted a good deal of attention among the Anglo-Indian community. Henry Lawrence, then British resident at the court of Khatmandu, was especially struck with the bold political opinions and clear high-spirited style of the young subaltern; and Sir Hugh Gough, the commander-in-chief of the Indian army, with a sagacity not always shown in such cases, selected Edwardes as a member of his personal staff. The headquarters shortly afterwards taking the field for the first Punjab campaign, Edwardes was present as an aidede-camp to Sir Hugh at the bloody fights of Moodkee and Sobraon.

On the conclusion of the war he obtained his first civil employment. Henry Lawrence was posted at Lahore as resident British minister with the durbar, or council of regency, and in that capacity undertook the task, generous if premature, of teaching the races of the Punjab the art of self-government. Edwardes was made one of Lawrence's assistants on the request of the latter, and was deputed to carry out the undertaking in one of the outlying districts. It was early in 1847 when Edwardes began the reform of civil administration in Bunnoo (Banu, as now spelt by the Indian government), a transIndus valley bordering on the territory of the Afghans and mainly peopled by tribes connected with that nation. Backed by a small handy force of Sikh soldiers, he soon made his mark. The numerous fortresses scattered about the valley were demolished, roads were made, canals excavated, local feuds appeased. Fortunate so far, no doubt the young district officer owed as much to his own qualities as to opportunity; and his personal influence was soon acknowledged universally among the rough and wild, but simple, population. Similar victories of peace were at the same time being won by Abbott in Hazára, by Lumsden in the Yusafzai country, and by John Nicholson at Rawal Pindi. But the well-spring whence this knot of remarkable men derived their inspiration was undoubtedly Lawrence, and that spring was to be closed, for the moment, by his departure for Europe. His substitute was no match for Asiatic craft and intrigue. In April 1843 the unhappy mission of Patrick Alexander Vans Agnew [q. v.] and Anderson to Multan, ending in the murder of those two officers, by the orders or connivance of Mulraj, fired latent elements of combustion. Edwardes at once grappled with the conflagration. Spontaneously, with

out British aid or companionship, at first without either money or material, he raised a body of armed tribesmen, and rapidly formed a fairly disciplined and faithful force. Calling to his aid the nawab, or Muhamadan prince, of the neighbouring native state of Bahawalpur, he also established communications with the officer commanding for the durbar of Lahore, Colonel van Cortlandt. On 10 June he received full permission from Lahore to act on his own judgment and responsibility. On the 18th of the same month he routed the rebel troops at Kineyri, near Dehra Gházi Khán. On 3 July, having been joined by Lake, a neighbouring district officer, and further reinforced from Bahawalpur, he inflicted on the enemy a second defeat at Sadusám, in front of Multan. The Diwán Mulráj fell back upon the town and fort, and never left their shelter until General Whish, with the Bombay column, arrived and invested the place. Edwardes took an active part in the siege that followed, and on 22 Jan. 1849 became the medium of the beaten chief's surrender. The services and sufferings of Agnew and Anderson were commemorated by a monument erected by their colleagues, the surviving assistants,' and the inscription was from Edwardes's pen.

Edwardes's own share in these occurrences met with swift acknowledgment. H. Lawrence, who had long since returned to India, declared that since the days of Clive no man had done as Edwardes.' Young, alone, untrained in military science and unversed in active war, he had organised victory and rolled back rebellion. This was, indeed, the high-water mark of Edwardes's life and fortune. Distinguished as were some of his later deeds, it is on this, most of all, that his fame must ever rest. From Sir H. Gough and from the government of India he received prompt and hearty commendation. At the instance of the board of control the queen declared him a brevet major and a companion of the Bath, honours rarely, if ever, attained by any subaltern before, and the East India Company presented him with a gold medal, struck specially for the purpose, of which the mould was immediately destroyed. In January 1850 he returned to England, and there found himself the lion of the hour. He was warmly received in his native county of Shropshire. From the university of Oxford he received the degree of D.C.L. In London and at Liverpool he was publicly entertained, and exhibited on both occasions a gift of ready and graceful oratory. In July he married Emma, daughter of James Sidney of Richmond. Before the end of the year he brought out his book, 'A Year on the Punjab Frontier,' in

which he described his adventures, not without due mention of Lake and Cortlandt, and the Prince of Bahawalpur. In the spring of 1851 he returned to India, and on arrival found a new sphere of civil duty in the deputycommissionership of the newly created British district of Jullunder (Jalandhar). In February 1853 he was transferred to Hazára, at the western foot of the Cashmere hills, leaving Jullunder with warm praise from his local chief, Donald McLeod, and expressions of regret from the people for whom he had worked nearly two years. McLeod, a trained administrator, selected from the civil service of the north-west provinces for the commissionership, was a man likely to judge soundly, and he reported that Edwardes was the best officer with whom he had ever come in contact.

In his new post a still harder task awaited Edwardes. The Hazára hills and valleys had been ruled by James Abbott, one of the most memorable of the singular group of men who served in the Punjab at that period. He was what H. Lawrence called 'a true knighterrant,' always known among the wild highlanders of Hazára as 'uncle,' and the man who, as Edwardes wrote, had brought the district from utter desolation to a smiling prosperity.' Edwardes only remained long enough to found a central cantonment, which he named 'Abbottábád,' in honour of his predecessor, and then, in the month of October, removed to Peshawur, promoted to the difficult and dangerous post of commissioner in succession to the murdered Mackeson. 'In the whole range of Indian charges,' so wrote the governor-general, Dalhousie, in privately informing Edwardes of his appointment, I know none which is more arduous than the commissionership of Peshawur. You

hold the outpost of Indian empire. Your past career and your personal qualities and abilities give me assurance that I have chosen well.' For the commissioner in the transIndus was far more than a mere prefect. In him, besides the ordinary duties of a commissioner of division, were vested the control of the lawless mountaineers who had bidden defiance to the Moghul emperors in their day of power. And to this were further added the political relations of the British government with the amir of Afghanistán, who was still smarting from past injuries, and whose territories marched with the division for sixty rough miles.

In the discharge of the political part of his duties at Peshawur Edwardes was led to suggest to the government the propriety of a treaty with the amir, and Dalhousie was prepared to give him a free hand for the purpose.

But Sir John Lawrence was the chief at Lahore, and his mind was never one that jumped at novelties. On his hesitation becoming known in Calcutta the governorgeneral proposed that Edwardes, while conducting the negotiations with the court of Cabul, should correspond with himself, directly and without the correspondence being transmitted, as routine and propriety alike required, through the office of the chief. Edwardes declined to avail himself of this flattering irregularity; the letters were duly sent backwards and forwards through Lawrence's office, and there can be little doubt that both the arbitrary ruler at Calcutta and the ardent representative at Peshawur lived to see the benefit of the cautious intermediary. A strict non-interference clause was ultimately introduced into the agreement, and the amir, Dost Muhamad, remained faithful to its engagements under all subsequent trials. Lawrence came, years after, to be himself governor-general, and the policy of non-intervention was continued, only to be once interrupted, down to the days of Lord Dufferin. The circumstances are equally creditable to Lawrence and to Edwardes, and did not serve to ruffle for a moment the friendliness of their mutual relations. 'All the merit of the affair,' so Lawrence wrote to Edwardes, 'whatever it may be, is yours.'

Edwardes was entirely at one with Lawrence as to the question of frontier defence. When the treaty had been concluded, Edwardes wrote to a friend: 'After the doubts and lessons of the [past] . . . I have myself arrived at the conclusion that our true military position is on our own side of the passes, just where an army must debouch upon the plain.' From this conclusion he never afterwards deviated. He remained convinced that the best protection of British Indian interests on the frontier was 'a strong, independent, and friendly Afghanistan,' and that there was a distinct feeling among the people of that country that the Russians are not as trustworthy as the English.' But he held this conviction without any ill-temper towards Russia, believing that the British government should come to as friendly an understanding as possible with that of the czar. In 1856 the Afghan ruler came down to Peshawur on Edwardes's suggestion, and' there executed a supplementary treaty in view of approaching hostilities between the Indian government and the shah of Persia. Shortly after came the great revolt in Upper India, and Edwardes's foresight in helping to make a friend of Dost Muhamad was abundantly justified; all through the revolt of the sepoy army the Afghans remained silent, and even

pression of the revolt of 1857 he urged upon the government the duty of publicly supporting the propagation of the gospel in India by projects which were generally condemned at the time, and which are now all but forgotten. This part of Edwardes's public life has been thus summed up by a generally sympathetic writer: In his scheme for governing India on christian principles and his subsequent addresses to London audiences the brilliant commissioner of Peshawur betrayed a curious lack of sound statesmanship, an unchristian contempt for that form of justice which aims at treating others as we would be treated ourselves. In this respect he differed widely from John Lawrence, whose fervent piety was largely tempered by his stern love of justice and his sturdy common sense' (TROTTER, India under Victoria, 1886). The epithet of the historian is well chosen. Edwardes was brilliant rather than largeminded. Gay, buoyant, self-relying, he carried the minds of other men with him on most occasions of his life. But his work had something temporary about it. He established few doctrines, and founded no school. On the general frontier question, indeed, his knowledge and experience saved him from rash counsels. But even here his policy was not new, having been founded by Elphinstone and affirmed by later statesmen. Where Edwardes was more of an originator he was less of a success; his extreme zeal for mission work in Afghanistan, for instance, can hardly be said to have been endorsed by events.

It is as a man of action that he deserves unstinted praise. He had a natural military genius, independent of professional training, and a strength of will and talent for administration, which stood in no need of technical instruction. If he was thrown into the world before he had completed his education, he was compensated by being surrounded at an early age by highly formative conditions. Under these he developed his great qualities, and finished his training in the wide school of experience. If untouched by the spirit of the age in Europe, he was all the more qualified for the mastery of Asiatics. With his success and his shortcomings, in his acquirements no less than in his limitations, he is a typical figure in a class to whom the nation owes a debt of gratitude. With the dashing spirit of the cavalier the early Punjab officer united something of the earnestness of the Ironside, but the very qualities which aided them in their rapid rise perhaps hindered them in after life. They were, for the most part, content to see other men build on their foundations.

[The best materials for the study of Edwardes's life and character are furnished by his widow

Memorials of the Life and Letters of Majorgeneral Sir H. Edwardes, K.C.B., &c., London, 1886. For the general history of the time the works cited above may be consulted; also the Histories of the Sepoy Mutiny of Malleson, Kaye, and Holmes; with Mr. Bosworth Smith's Life of John Lawrence and Edwardes and Merivale's Life of Henry Lawrence.] H. G. K.

EDWARDS, ARTHUR (d. 1743), major, for many years the archæological ally of Dr. Stukeley and Lord Winchilsea (NICHOLS, Lit. Anecd. xi. 772), was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 17 Nov. 1725 ([GOUGH], List of Members of Soc. Antiq. 4to, 1798, p. 4). He died first major of the second troop of horse guards in Grosvenor Street, London, 22 June 1743 (Gent. Mag. xiii. 389; affidavit appended to will). His will of 11 June 1738 was proved at London 13 July 1743, a second grant being made 7 Nov. 1745 (registered in P. C. C., 230, Boycott). Therein he refers to his family merely as my brothers and sisters, the children of my father.' The fire of 23 Oct. 1731, by which the Cotton Library was so seriously injured, induced Edwards to make the munificent gift of 7,000l. to the trustees 'to erect and build such a house as may be most likely to preserve that library as much as can be from all accidents.' Owing, however, to the protraction of a life interest in the legacy, it did not become available until other arrangements had made its application to building purposes needless (EDWARDS, Memoirs of Libraries, i. 434, 460). It was consequently, in pursuance of the testator's contingent instructions, appropriated to the purchase of such manuscripts, books of antiquities, ancient coins, medals, and other curiosities as might be worthy to increase and inlarge the said Cotton Library.' Edwards also bequeathed about two thousand volumes of printed books and their cases; also, his 'pictures of King George the 1st, the Czar Peter, Oliver Cromwell, and Cosimo di Medicis the 1st, with his secretary, Bartolomeo Concini to be placed in the aforesaid library.' [Authorities as above.]

G. G.

EDWARDS, BRYAN (1743-1800), West India merchant, was born at Westbury, Wiltshire, on 21 May 1743. His father inherited a small estate, valued at about 1007. a year, and to support his large family endeavoured to add to his income by dealings in corn and malt. This attempt did not prove successful, and at his death in 1756 his wife and six children were left in poverty. Fortunately for his children's sake the widow had two rich brothers in the West Indies, and one of them, Zachary Bayly of Jamaica, took

the family under his protection. Edwards had been placed at the school of William Foot, a dissenting minister of Bristol, and a good instructor, though forbidden to teach his pupil Latin and Greek; but after his father's death the boy was removed to a French boarding-school in the same city, where he learnt the French language, and, having access to a circulating library, acquired a passion for books. In 1759 his younger uncle returned to England, and took his nephew to live with him in London. The pair quickly disagreed, and after an experience of a few months Bryan was shipped off to Jamaica to his other uncle, a man of kinder disposition and more enlightened mind, who engaged for the nephew's sake a clergyman to dwell in the family, from whom he learnt 'small Latin and less Greek,' but from whose instruction and example he gained a taste for composition. The nephew was admitted to a share, and after a few years succeeded to the entirety of his uncle's business, and is also said to have been left in 1773 heir to the great property of a Mr. Hume of Jamaica. Through Edwards's fostering care the business continued to prosper, and his talents secured for him a leading position in the colonial assembly, where he attacked the restrictions placed by the government on trade with the United States. He returned to his native country for a time, and in 1782 contested the representation of Chichester in the independent interest against the Duke of Richmond's nominee. At the poll he was defeated by eight votes (239 to 247), and although he attempted to gain the seat by a petition in the commons and by an action in the court of king's bench, he abstained from prosecuting the petition to an issue, and lost his action. In the beginning of 1787 he repaired again to the West Indies, and dwelt there until the autumn of 1792, when he settled permanently in England as a West India merchant, and established a bank at Southampton. In 1794 he contested its representation with the son of its patron, and after a severe contest was rejected by the electors; but at the general election in 1796 he was elected, through the influence of the Eliots, as member for the Cornish borough of Grampound. By Mr. Speaker Abbot the new member was described as 'a heavy-looking man,' using language very awkward and inelegant;' but Wilberforce, with more candour, acknowledged that he found in Edwards, who supported the slave trade with certain restrictions, a powerful opponent of slave trade abolition." He had long suffered from illhealth, and did not live through this parliament, but died at his house at the Polygon,

Southampton, on 15 or 16 July 1800, and was buried in a vault under the church of All Saints, Southampton. He married Maria, younger daughter of Thomas Phipps of Brook House, Westbury, and left an only son, Hume Edwards, to inherit his vast wealth.

The chief work of Edwards was 'The History of the British Colonies in the West Indies.' Two volumes of this work, containing much information on the slave trade, were published in 1793, and in the same year an impression was issued at Dublin. The second edition appeared in 1794, when the owners of the first issue were enabled by a separate publication, entitled 'List of Maps and Plates for the History of the British Colonies in the West Indies,' to complete their copies by the purchase of the maps, plates, &c. which were contained in the improved edi-tion. Not long after he had compiled this work he conceived the idea of writing a general account of all the settlements in the West Indies, but with especial attention to the French colonies. He visited St. Domingo shortly after the revolt of the negroes in 1791, and, although disappointed in his comprehensive scheme, published in 1797 An Historical Survey of the French Colony in the Island of St. Domingo,' which was reproduced in 1807, together with an account of the Maroon Negroes in Jamaica, and a History of the War in the West Indies, by Bryan Edwards. Also a tour through Barbadoes, St.Vincent, &c., by Sir William Young, bart.' This volume, which was left unfinished through the author's death, and to which was prefixed A Sketch of the Life of the Author, written by himself a short time before his death,' was also issued as a third volume to the original

6

History of the British Colonies,' and the whole work was at the same time reissued in three volumes with the date of 1801. The fifth edition was passed through the press in 1819. The complete work was translated into German, some parts were rendered into Spanish, and the history of St. Domingo was translated into French. Though the history was generally popular, and was highly praised by such competent critics as McCulloch, the opinions of the author did not meet with universal acceptance. The history of St. Domingo condemned the treatment which its negroes received from the settlers, and reflected severely on the conduct of its French inhabitants towards the English who came there after 1791, and for his views on these matters Edwards was attacked in a voluminous letter addressed to him in 1797 in both French and English by Colonel Venault de Charmilly. The modified continuance of slavery which Edwards advocated in these