History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

CHAP, II.] INUNDATIONS IN FRANCE. IOI

“You have been kind enough to inform me that Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai, merchant of Bombay, had sent you a sum of £500 for the benefit of the victims of the inundations in France, and which you had directed Messrs. Rothschild to pay into my hands,

“T have read with lively interest the letter which Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai has addressed to you; and I congratulate myself in the name of my native country upon the cordial sentiments which the alliance of France and England has awakened, as well in your great colony as in the mother-country.

“Such generous proofs of sympathy call forth the entire gratitude of the French nation: and, in addition to the political alliance which unites the two Governments, such emanations of sympathy create new bonds of friendship between the two peoples at large.

“I beg you, my Lord, to be kind enough, in my name, and in that of my fellow-citizens, to thank Sir J amshedji Jijibhai for his assistance. Iam happy to pay this debt of gratitude to a gentleman who has received from your gracious Queen and from the Corporation such honourable distinction.”

Acts such as these undoubtedly create durable bonds of friendship between different nations.

Sir Jamshedji’s grateful countrymen were not, however, behindhand in recognising and publicly testifying their respect for the good qualities which distinguished this great man. In the month of June 1856 a public meeting, organised by the native population of Bombay, and cordially supported by the Europeans of the city, was held in the town-hall. The object of the demonstration was to vote a statue to the venerable knight, an honour then unprecedented in the history of India, Lord Elphinstone, the Governor of Bombay, who lent