DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.34827#0360
344 Yf/h q/" cn. xrm.
It is quite impossible to get any help in this country. I sup-
pose Dow's materials, in addition to what he drew from Bernier
and other European travellers, may have been summaries taken
down from his moonshee. From what I recollect of some pas-
sages, such as Shah Jehan's interview with Noor Jehan, I should
think Ossian Macpherson must have found a good portion of the
material in his own head. After all I have said of the value of
your time, I believe I shall still be selhsh enough to avail my-
self of your permission to send you my introduction. It is
finished, all hut the cutting down and compressing, which,
before I gave up thoughts of a history, I had reserved for part
of next season's Tvork. Yours most sincerely,
' M. ELPHINSTONE.'
The only entry in his journal in the course of the year
1835 relating to the subject which was now uppermost in his
mind is the following :—
' ALupmst 20.—In the views I have taken of Indian history
I have overlooked the noblest to which a writer on that subject
could attend. The most desirable course for events in that
country to take is that European opinions and knowledge
should spread until the nation becomes capable of founding a
government of its own, on principles of which Europe has
long had the exclusive possession. Should such a time arrive,
the most interesting subject to the Indians, such as they will
then be, and to all the world to which they will then become
of interest, will be the progress of improvement and of liberal
ideas among them. A history of little other merit, which shall
preserve the otherwise perishable record of that progress, will
be read with the deepest interest in India, and with attention
elsewhere.
' It is perhaps too early for anything like a history of the
change of Indian opinion; but many circumstances, which will
be hereafter of importance, are only recorded in newspapers and
ephemeral productions, and many signs of the change are not
recorded at all. A perusal of the newspapers, of the writings
of Ram Mohun Roy and his sect, and information derived from
It is quite impossible to get any help in this country. I sup-
pose Dow's materials, in addition to what he drew from Bernier
and other European travellers, may have been summaries taken
down from his moonshee. From what I recollect of some pas-
sages, such as Shah Jehan's interview with Noor Jehan, I should
think Ossian Macpherson must have found a good portion of the
material in his own head. After all I have said of the value of
your time, I believe I shall still be selhsh enough to avail my-
self of your permission to send you my introduction. It is
finished, all hut the cutting down and compressing, which,
before I gave up thoughts of a history, I had reserved for part
of next season's Tvork. Yours most sincerely,
' M. ELPHINSTONE.'
The only entry in his journal in the course of the year
1835 relating to the subject which was now uppermost in his
mind is the following :—
' ALupmst 20.—In the views I have taken of Indian history
I have overlooked the noblest to which a writer on that subject
could attend. The most desirable course for events in that
country to take is that European opinions and knowledge
should spread until the nation becomes capable of founding a
government of its own, on principles of which Europe has
long had the exclusive possession. Should such a time arrive,
the most interesting subject to the Indians, such as they will
then be, and to all the world to which they will then become
of interest, will be the progress of improvement and of liberal
ideas among them. A history of little other merit, which shall
preserve the otherwise perishable record of that progress, will
be read with the deepest interest in India, and with attention
elsewhere.
' It is perhaps too early for anything like a history of the
change of Indian opinion; but many circumstances, which will
be hereafter of importance, are only recorded in newspapers and
ephemeral productions, and many signs of the change are not
recorded at all. A perusal of the newspapers, of the writings
of Ram Mohun Roy and his sect, and information derived from