His proficiency in the college of Fort William attracted the notice of the Marquess Wellesley , then go- vernor-general of India, who, in order to train a class of civil servants adapted for the government of a great empire, formed what was termed the " Governor-Generals Office," in which were placed the most promising young men in the service of the East India Company, where, under the eye of Lord Wellesley, they were trained and prepared for high positions In a letter written to the Marquess Wellesley in 1836, Sir Charles Metcalfe, gratefully attributes his success in life to the counsels of Lord Wellesley, and to his own endeavours to follow the example set by his lordship.

Mr Metcalfe first dis- tinguished himself as resident at the court of Scindiah, one of the Mahratta chieftains, and at a critical period, when his very life was threatened, evinced the firmness which characterized his after life.

During the Mahratta war of 1803 to 1805, Mr Metcalfe was attached in a civil capacity to the army of Lord Lake, and his lordship having, in a moment of irritation, let fall some hasty expressions respecting " men who would not fight, and were in the way of others," the young civilian vindicated his personal courage by taking an active part in several contests, and particularly at the battle and siege of Deeg, where, carried away by en- thusiasm, and armed only with a walking- stick, he headed an attacking party of the British troops in their assault on the city.

In successive years Mr Metcalfe passed through different grades of office, and was employed as resident, or representative of the British government at the courts of Scindiah, of the Great Mogul at Delhi, the in of the Deccan, and at Lahore, on a Mxvial mission to Kiiiijrrt Sing.

He alao tilled tin- arduous office of chief secretary eminent, and in 1827 became a mem- ber of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and retained his seat for seven years, two years leyond the usual period In 1831 Sir Charles Metcalfe (who had succeeded to a baronetcy on the death of his father) was appointed lieutenant-governor of the Ajrra and the North-west provinces of India ; and in the same year, on the retirement of Lord William Bcntitick, he was named acting governor-general, the highest office which a civil servant of the East India Company can hold in Bengal; the crown having adopted the suggestion of Lord Wcllesley, that the office of governor-general should not be held by any servant of the East India Company.