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The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
xlvi
MEMOIR OF SIR HENRY YULE 1855-57.
The Government of India marked their approval of the
Embassy by an unusual concession. Each of the members of the
mission received a souvenir of the expedition. To Yule was given
a very beautiful and elaborately chased small bowl, of nearly
pure gold, bearing the signs of the Zodiac in relief.3J
On his return to Calcutta, Yule threw himself heart and soul
into the work of his new appointment in the Public Works
Department. The nature of his work, the novelty and variety
of the projects and problems with which this new branch of the
service had to deal, brought Yule into constant, and eventually
very intimate association with Lord Dalhousie, whom he accom-
panied on some of his tours of inspection. The two men
thoroughly appreciated each other, and, from first to last, Yule
experienced the greatest kindness from Lord Dalhousie. In this
intimacy, no doubt the fact of being what French soldiers callpays
added something to the warmth of their mutual regard : their fore-
fathers came from the same airt, and neither was unmindful of the
circumstance. It is much to be regretted that Yule preserved no
sketch of Lord Dalhousie,nor written record of his intercourse with
him, but the following lines show some part of what he thought :
At this time [1849] there appears upon the scene that vigorous
and masterful spirit, whose arrival to take up the government of
India had been greeted by events so inauspicious. No doubt
from the beginning the Governor-General was desirous to let it
be understood that although new to India he was, and meant to
be, master ; . . . Lord Dalhousie was by no means averse to
frank dissent, provided in the manner it was never forgotten that
he was Governor-General. Like his great predecessor Lord
Wellesley, he was jealous of all familiarity and resented it. . . .
The general sentiment of those who worked under that äva.E
av81963v was one of strong and admiring affection . . . and we
doubt if a Governor-General ever embarked on the Hoogly amid
deeper feeling than attended him who, shattered by sorrow and
regard and much sympathy), and was returned to her early in 1890, but is not named in the catalogue of Lady Susan's effects, sold at Edinburgh in 1898 after her death. At that sale the present writer had the satisfaction of securing for reverent preservation the watch used throughout his career by the great Marquess.
39 Now in the writer's possession. It was for many years on exhibition in the Edinburgh and South Kensington Museums,
.
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