edure Code,' the 'Contract Act,' and the
'Evidence Code.' I hope, says Fitzjames to Sir W. W. Hunter, that you
will be able to make people understand 'how wise and honest and brave he
was, and what freshness, vigour, and flexibility of mind he brought to
bear upon a vast number of new and difficult subjects.' On January 24,
1870, Lord Mayo left Calcutta in H.M.S. 'Glasgow' to visit, among other
places, the convict settlement at the Andaman Islands. He landed there
on February 8, and while getting into his boat to return was murdered by
a convict. The body was brought back to Calcutta on February 19, where
it lay in state for two days at Government House, before being sent for
burial to his native country. In one of his last letters to his mother,
Fitzjames gives an account of the ceremonies at Calcutta, which
incidentally illustrates, I think, more forcibly than anything else, the
impression produced upon him by India generally. I shall therefore give
most of it, omitting a few comparatively irrelevant details. I will only
observe that nobody had less taste for public performances of this kind
in general--a fact which shows the strength of his feelings on this
particular occasion.

'I never expected,' he writes (February 23, 1872), 'to be impressed by a
mere ceremonial; but there were some things almost oppressive from their
reality and solemnity.... The coffin was brought up on a gun-carriage.
It was of enormous size and weight, (near two tons, I believe). The
gun-carriage, drawn by twelve artillery horses, made a strangely
impressive hearse. It looked so solid, so businesslike, so simple, and
so free from all the plumes and staves and rubbish of undertakers. About
thirty picked sailors from the "Daphne" and "Glasgow" walked behind and
by the side; all dressed in clean white trousers and jerseys, and
looking like giants, as indeed they were. They were intensely fond of
Lord Mayo, who had won their hearts by the interest he took in them and
in the little things they got up to amuse him.... He passed the last
evening of his life sitting with Lady Mayo on the bridge of the
"Glasgow," and laughing at their entertainment with the greatest
cordiality. They wanted to be allowed to carry the coffin on their own
shoulders; they said they were ready and willing to do it, and I believe
they would have been able, ready, and willing to do anything that
strength and skill and pluck could do. Behind them walked the
procession, which