Duke of Wellington and of Wynne, president of the board of control, and at the cost of a pension, by which Lushington's friends let it be understood that his candidature might be bought off, Malcolm persisted in seeking the post. The contest became one between the court of directors and the crown, and it continued until September, when it was decided against Malcolm. His restless ambition (discouraged as it was by Wellington, who found his friend in general somewhat over-confident as to his own merits) now prompted him to aim at a seat either on the board of directors or in the House of Commons. But in December 1826 Elphinstone's intention to retire from the governorship of Bombay became known, and Malcolm, having in view the likelihood of being acting governor-general should Lord Amherst resign the governor-generalship, accepted the appointment. He then formulated a scheme for placing the administration of Central India also under the governor of Bombay, but the scheme was not accepted, and to his chagrin he was obliged to sail in July 1827 without this extension of his powers.
He employed the leisure of the voyage in writing his ‘Life of Clive’ on week-days and on Sundays worked at a metrical paraphrase of some of the Psalms, which he published on his arrival in Bombay. He reached India 26 Oct. 1827, and on 1 Nov. took charge of the government. He early became involved in disputes with the supreme court of Bombay, which he thought was encroaching upon the authority of government. By the deaths of other judges Sir John Peter Grant became for the time being the sole judge of that court, and between him and Malcolm the quarrel speedily became personal. It came to a head in connection with the case of Moroo Ragonath. The supreme court asserted a jurisdiction beyond the limits of the island and factories of Bombay, and claimed the right to issue a writ of habeas corpus in Ragonath's case against Pandoorung Ramchunder, a ‘privileged sirdar’ within the government of Bombay, who was protected by the British government. Malcolm considered that such a claim vitally impugned the authority of the company, and on 3 Oct. 1828 delivered to Sir John Grant a letter of protest, signed by himself and all the members of the council, which intimated that they had stayed all further proceedings in Ragonath's case, and ordered no returns to be made to similar writs of habeas corpus in future. Sir John Grant lost his temper and wrote a hot letter in reply. The court announced that it would ignore the orders of the government, and acted upon the announcement. The quarrel became scandalous, although it was referred for decision both to the supreme government of India and to the crown. Malcolm used his authority to forbid any servant of government from discussing the question in the public press. Sir Thomas Bradford [q. v.], commander-in-chief, who had signed the letter of protest of 3 Oct., now began to veer towards Grant's side, and to contemplate lending him military assistance to enforce the authority of his tipstaves and writs of attachment. Malcolm made up his mind in that event to seize the person of the commander-in-chief, and deport him from India. In February 1829 Grant issued a writ of attachment against Pandoorung Ramchunder, and addressed it for execution to the governor-in-council. The governor declined to have anything to do with it. Grant thereupon, by way of protest, closed his court. This was done on 1 April. Malcolm replied on the 7th with a proclamation announcing that, as Grant had abandoned his function of protecting the persons and property of the inhabitants of Bombay, the government itself would do its best to supply the deficiency. But at this juncture the home government decided to appoint to the vacancies in the supreme court two judges who shared neither Grant's views nor his indiscretion. This Lord Ellenborough, president of the board of control, intimated to Malcolm in a vivacious letter, dated 21 Feb. 1829, in which he said that now Grant would be ‘like a wild elephant led away between two tame ones,’ and under control. Malcolm, perhaps with calculated carelessness, allowed this biting letter to get into the ‘Bengal Hurkaru,’ and the publication, when it reached England in the following year, became a considerable source of annoyance to Lord Ellenborough. The opinion of the privy council was taken on the subject of the claims of the supreme court of Bombay. It was adverse to the claims, and eventually the quarrel was composed. This was the most important event of Malcolm's term of office. He made tours within and sometimes without the presidency, visited Baroda, Kattywar, and Cutch in 1829, and was principally occupied in continuing Elphinstone's policy of retrenchment in the government services. He constructed roads, and in November 1830 opened that over the Bhore Ghaut; and he encouraged steam communication with Egypt. His last act was to compose a vast ‘Farewell Minute,’ printed in an appendix to his ‘Government of India.’ In spite of the unpopularity which is the fate of a thrifty administrator a marble statue of him by Chantrey was erected by public subscription in the
