FOURTH PERIOD: RISE TO ASIATIC POWER.
1836-56.
§1. Russian advance checked by Nadir Shah, 1722-38. §2. First Cabul
war under Lord Auckland, 1838-42. §3. Lord Ellenborough, 1842-44:
return from Cabul and conquest of Sind. §4. War in Gwalior:
reduction of Sindia's army. §5. Lord Hardinge, 1845-48: Sikh rule
in the Punjab. §6. First Sikh war: Moodki, Ferozshahar, Aliwal, and
Sobraon. §7. Lord Dalhousie, 1848-56: Second Sikh war:
Chillianwalla and Goojerat: annexation of the Punjab. §8. British
rule: patriarchal government. §9. Second Burmese war, 1852:
annexation of Pegu. §10. Lord Dalhousie as an administrator: no
roads in India. §11. Trunk road, trunk railway, telegraphs, Ganges
canal. §12. Annexations of Nagpore, Satara, Jhansi, and Oudh. §13.
India Bill of 1853: new competitive Civil Service. §14. New
Legislative Council: Lord Macaulay and the Penal Code. §15.
Departure of Lord Dalhousie, 1856. §16. Lord Canning, 1856-62:
expedition to the Persian Gulf. §17. Mogul family at Delhi. §18.
Condition of Oudh.
[Sidenote: Lord Auckland, 1836-42: jealousy of Russia.]
Lord Auckland landed in Bengal at a grave political crisis. Great
Britain was growing jealous of Russia as regards India, and tact and
common sense were required, not to promote a war, but to prevent one.
Jealousy of Russia was a new sensation. Great Britain had been indignant
at the partition of Poland, but the two nations had become reconciled
during the wars against France and Napoleon. Later on Russia began to
extend her empire, and to menace Turkey on one side and Persia on the
other; and at last it dawned on the people of the British Isles that
unless there was a speedy understanding between British and Russian
diplomatists, the Cossack and the sepoy would cross swords on the banks
of the Oxus.
[Sidenote: Central Asia: Afghanistan and Turkistan.]
§1. Central Asia is a new world which has been slowly opening up to
European eyes. It includes the vast territories of Afghanistan and
Turkistan, which intervene between British India, Persia, Russia, and
China. It is a region of desert and mountain, ruined gardens and
dried-up springs--the relics of empires which flourished in the days of
the so-called Nimrod and Sennacherib, and the later days of the
fire-worshippers, but were brought to rack and ruin by the Tartars and
Turkomans in the armies of Chenghiz Khan and Timur.
[Sidenote: Cradle of India.]
The whole of this region, and, indeed, the whole of Central and Northern
Asia, has been the cradle of the people of India from the remotest
antiquity. Hindus and Mohammedans are all immigrants from beyond the
Indus. The Dravidian races, the pre-Aryan people, brought their devil
worship and noisy orgies from Northern Asia into Hindustan. Eventually
they were driven to Southern India by the Aryan people, who brought the
Vedic gods and hymns, the sacred hôma and the ministration of Rishis,
from Persia and Media into Northern India. The Rajputs, the Greeks, and
the Indo-Scythians of Hindustan, were all strangers from the north-west.
The Turks and Afghans, who invaded India during the Crusades, and the
Moguls, who established their empire in the days of the Tudors, were all
sojourners from the same remote region. Thus Russia is only following
the old instinct of Dravidians and Aryans, as she advances southward
from the steppes towards Persia and India. She expands on land just as
Great Britain expands on the sea.
[Sidenote: Russian advance to Persia, 1722.]
The marches of Tartar, Turk, Afghan, and Mogul belong to a distant
period. The march of Russia began in the first quarter of the eighteenth
century. Peter the Great had been humiliated by Turkey on the banks of
the Pruth, and looked to Persia for compensation. Persia was on the
brink of ruin. In 1722 the Afghans had advanced to Ispahan; and the Czar
and the Sultan prepared to divide her remaining territory. Turkey took
the western provinces, whilst Russia occupied the provinces along the
south of the Caspian. The Caspian was a base for an advance on India,
and had Peter lived he would have found his way to India. The road was
easy _viâ_ Meshed to Herat, and the Mogul empire would have fallen into
his hands like an over-ripe plum. The British at Calcutta were a little
hive of traders, who would have been helpless to resist a Russian
invasion. Most probably they would have preferred Russia to the Mogul,
and would have sent a deputation to the Russian camp to pray for the
protection of the Czar.
[Sidenote: Checkmated by Nadir Shah, 1727.]
But Peter the Great died in 1727, and Nadir Shah, the last of the "world
stormers," stepped in and snatched Persia from Russia. Nadir Shah was a
Turk of the noble tribe of Afshar; a brigand in his youth, but destined
to be as great a general as Cyrus or Napoleon. In 1727, the very year
that Peter the Great died, Nadir Shah joined the dethroned Shah of
Persia, drove the Afghans back to their own territories, and conquered
Khorassan as far as Herat. Eventually he imprisoned the Shah, and
usurped the throne of Persia. He compelled Turkey to retire from the
western provinces, and Russia to retire from the provinces on the
Caspian.
[Sidenote: Persian invasion of India, 1738-39.]
In 1738 Nadir Shah captured Candahar, invaded the Punjab, and entered
Delhi in triumph. His battalions of Persians and Turkomans, trained and
disciplined under picked officers, were irresistible against Afghans and
Moguls. He did not want to conquer India, but only to plunder it. He
carried off the treasures of Delhi, the spoil of Hindustan, and the
peacock of jewels which had blazed for a hundred years over the throne
of the Great Mogul. Thus, within twelve years of the death of Peter the
Great, the parade of jewels, which might have adorned the Kremlin,
became the prize of Nadir Shah.
[Sidenote: Nadir Shah and his Persian officers.]
Nadir Shah was the last of the line of Asiatic warriors that began with
Sargon and Cyrus, and culminated in Chenghiz Khan and Timur. He was
tall, powerful, and loud-voiced, with an eye of lightning, and an
expression that alternately terrified and charmed. He stood out head and
shoulders above his Persian officers, arrayed in a plain cloak lined
with black lambskin from Bokhara, a crimson turban, a richly-mounted
dagger in his belt, and a huge battleaxe of steel in his hand. He was
ever at work from morn till night, inspecting troops, administering
justice, dictating letters, or transacting business by word of mouth.
His fare was of the plainest boiled rice, with a little meat, bread,
cheese, radishes, and parched peas whilst his drink was butter-milk or
water. His officers were Asiatic dandies, clad in rich pelisses trimmed
with furs, smart vests with gold and silver lace, crimson hats with four
peaks, or arrayed in coats of mail with steel helmets and sharp pikes.
They scorned the frugal fare which satisfied their Turkish master. They
delighted in Persian dishes, such as pillaws stuffed with plums and
raisins, savoury stews, dainty bits of meat known as kabobs, together
with grape jelly, and confections; and they revelled in wine and strong
waters, to the horror of all strict Mohammedans.
[Sidenote: Russian advance: war declared, 1838.]
§2. A century passed away. Nadir Shah was forgotten, and Russia was
again menacing Persia and dabbling in the Caspian. In 1837 Persia was
besieging Herat under the pretence that it had formed part of the empire
of Nadir Shah; but Russia was in the background putting forth Persian
claims as a cat's-paw for seizing Herat. Great Britain, however, was
resolved that neither Persia nor Russia should take Herat from the
Afghans, to whom it had properly belonged ever since the death of Nadir
Shah. In October, 1838, Lord Auckland declared war to compel Persia to
retire from Herat. It was also determined to dethrone Dost Mohammed
Khan, the ruler of Afghanistan, because he had been carrying on a
suspicious intercourse with Russia, and to set up Shah Shuja in his
room, because he had been dethroned many years previously by Dost
Mohammed Khan, and was therefore the rightful ruler of Afghanistan.
Moreover Shah Shuja had been living many years in British territory
under British protection, and was therefore likely to prove a more
faithful ally against Russia, than Dost Mohammed Khan.
[Sidenote: Political mistakes.]
The declaration of war was a mistake. Persia had already taken the
alarm, and raised the siege of Herat. Dost Mohammed Khan may have been a
usurper, but he had been accepted by the Afghan people as their ruler,
and he was a man of undoubted capacity. If he had been properly treated
in 1836-37 he might have become as useful an ally to the British
government as he proved himself to be twenty years later. Shah Shuja, on
the other hand, whom the British wished to set up in his room, was a
weak and worthless prince, and it was doubtful at the time whether the
Afghan people would accept him as their ruler, especially if he were
forced upon them by the British government.
[Sidenote: First Afghan war, 1838-42.]
Thus began the first Cabul war. The British army was shut out from the
Punjab by Runjeet Singh, and compelled to take a circuitous route
through Sind. A bridge of boats was constructed to carry the army over
the Indus at Sukkur; but in those days Sind was a foreign territory, and
no reliance could be placed on its rulers. Indeed, had the British met
with a defeat in Afghanistan, the Amirs, or rulers of Sind, would
possibly have destroyed the bridge, and cut off their return to India.
[Sidenote: British advance to Cabul, 1839.]
In February, 1839, the British army crossed the river Indus, and
advanced along the Bolan Pass to Quetta, and thence to Candahar. Major
Rawlinson remained at Candahar as minister and envoy of Shah Shuja,
supported by a force under the command of General Nott. The main army,
under Sir John Keane, advanced northward, captured the important
fortress of Ghazni, and conducted Shah Shuja to Cabul, whilst Dost
Mohammed Khan fled away northward to Bokhara. Shah Shuja was placed on
the throne of Afghanistan, under the guidance of Sir William Macnaghten,
the minister and envoy at Cabul, protected by the British army under
Keane, who was subsequently created Baron Keane of Ghazni.[25]
[Sidenote: British successes, 1840.]
The year 1840 brought unexpected good fortune. Runjeet Singh died in
1839, and his successor opened the Punjab to the march of British
troops. Russia sent a counter expedition from Orenburg towards Khiva,
but it was stopped by snows and want of water, and compelled to return.
Shah Shuja, however, was only maintained on the throne at Cabul by
British arms and gold. The Afghans cared nothing for him. So long as
they received subsidies from the British authorities they remained
loyal, but there was no enthusiasm. The hill tribes, who occupied the
passes into the Punjab, were equally loyal so long as they received pay,
but otherwise might turn against the British at any time, and cut off
their return to India. The shopkeepers and bazaar dealers at Cabul were
satisfied, for they reaped a golden harvest from their British
customers. Towards the close of 1840 Dost Mohammed Khan returned to
Cabul and surrendered to Sir William Macnaghten. This was a stroke of
luck which for a brief space threw the destinies of Central Asia into
the hands of British rulers. The Dost was sent to Calcutta as a prisoner
but treated as a guest, and often played at chess at Government House.
Meanwhile British officers and officials fancied they were perfectly
safe, and were joined by their wives and families, who gladly exchanged
the depressing temperature of India for the cool climate of Cabul.
[Sidenote: Afghan disaffection, 1841.]
In 1841 the prospect was less charming. The subsidies were cut down and
there was general discontent. The Afghans were sick of Shah Shuja and
weary of British occupation, and there was a secret longing for a return
to the old life of riot and rapine. The wild hill tribes, who were
supposed to guard the passes leading to the Punjab, were still more
disaffected; but these matters were kept secret, and Sir William
Macnaghten and the other officials kept up a show of confidence, whilst
difficulties and dangers were hedging around them more and more closely
from day to day.
[Sidenote: British army in danger.]
At the same time the position of the British army was unsatisfactory. It
should have held the great fortress of Bala Hissar, which commanded the
whole city of Cabul, and could have put down any disturbance with the
utmost ease. But Shah Shuja was jealous of the presence of British
soldiers, and they were lodged in a cantonment three miles from the
city, with no defence beyond a low mud wall which horsemen could gallop
over. Lord Keane returned to India, and was succeeded in the command by
General Elphinstone, who was too old for the post. Still there was no
show of apprehension. Sir William Macnaghten lived with his family in a
house close to the cantonment. He was appointed Governor of Bombay, and
was to have been succeeded by Sir Alexander Burnes as minister and
envoy. Burnes lived in a house within the precincts of the city, and
thought himself as safe in Cabul as in Calcutta.
[Sidenote: Threatening outlook.]
As the year 1841 wore away, disappointments and anxieties began to tell
on Sir William Macnaghten. Shah Shuja was a useless burden, like the old
man of the sea on the shoulders of Sinbad. The hill tribes had closed
the passes between Cabul and Jellalabad, and in October Sir Robert Sale
was sent with a brigade to re-open communications. Sale fought his way
to Jellalabad, and there entrenched his troops and waited for
reinforcements.
[Sidenote: Outbreak and murder.]
On the 2nd November there was an outbreak in the city of Cabul. Burnes
barricaded his house, but was soon environed by an angry mob of Afghans.
He sent an urgent message to the British cantonment for a battalion of
infantry, and two field-pieces, which at that early hour could have
penetrated the city and effected his deliverance. But the danger was
underrated, and no force was sent lest it should offend Shah Shuja. That
same afternoon the gateway of the house was burnt down by the mob, and
Burnes and twenty-three others were brutally murdered.
[Sidenote: Afghan revolt.]
By this time the outbreak had culminated in an insurrection. The
population of the villages round about had joined the rioters, and
thousands of Afghans were hurrying into the city of Cabul in the hope of
plunder. Later in the afternoon two battalions of British infantry tried
to cut a way through the narrow streets and crowded bazaars, but found
the task beyond their power, and were compelled to return to the British
cantonment. Akbar Khan, the eldest son of Dost Mohammed, appeared at the
head of the insurrection; whilst Shah Shuja was shut up in the Bala
Hissar, helplessly waiting for the British to suppress the rebellion,
and deliver him from the fury of his subjects.
[Sidenote: Murder of Macnaghten.]
Sir William Macnaghten and General Elphinstone were paralysed by the
dangers and anxieties of their position. Provisions were running short
in the British cantonment; supplies were withheld by the people of
Cabul; and soldiers and sepoys were becoming demoralised. At last it was
decided to retreat to Jellalabad--the half-way house between Cabul and
Peshawar; and negotiations were opened with Akbar Khan for the supply of
provisions and carriage. The greed of the Afghans was insatiable. Akbar
Khan demanded vast sums as ransom, and the surrender of British officers
as hostages for the payment. On the 23rd December, 1841, there was a
final meeting between Sir William Macnaghten and the Afghan chiefs, and
the British minister and envoy was suddenly attacked and murdered by
Akbar Khan.
[Sidenote: British disaster in the Khyber, 1842.]
Notwithstanding the murder, negotiations were re-opened. In January,
1842, the British forces began to retreat from Cabul, followed by Akbar
Khan and a large army of Afghans. More money was demanded, and more
hostages were surrendered, including British ladies and children. Then
followed treacheries and massacres. The British army, numbering four
thousand troops and twelve thousand camp-followers, entered the Khyber
Pass beneath a heavy fall of snow. The hill tribes crowned the
precipitous heights on either side, and poured a murderous fire on the
retreating masses, whilst the soldiers of Akbar Khan joined in the
horrible work of murder and plunder. The whole of the surviving force
perished in the Khyber Pass with the exception of a surgeon named
Brydon, who escaped on a pony to Jellalabad, and lived to tell the tale
for more than thirty years afterwards.
[Sidenote: Eldred Pottinger.]
One British officer appears to have kept his head amidst all these
bewildering disasters. This was Captain Eldred Pottinger, a man who knew
how to lead Asiatics, and how to control them. He was inside Herat
throughout the siege, and by sheer pluck and fertility of resources kept
the enemy at bay until the siege was raised. He was one of the hostages
made over to Akbar Khan, and was sent with the others to a fortress in
the northern mountains. There he bribed the Afghan commandant with a
written promise of a future ransom. He hoisted the British flag over the
fortress, took possession of the surrounding country, collected the
revenue, called in supplies, and kept up the spirits of ladies and
children amidst the general depression and humiliation. Eventually the
prisoners were delivered from their enemies and restored to their
families and friends; but Eldred Pottinger died and was forgotten.
[Sidenote: Lord Ellenborough, 1842-44.]
§3. Before the tidings of disaster reached England, Lord Ellenborough
was appointed Governor-General of India, in succession to Lord Auckland.
In February, 1842, he touched at Madras, and heard of the destruction of
the British army in the Khyber Pass. Meanwhile an avenging army, under
the command of General Pollock, was marching to the relief of Sale, who
was closely besieged at Jellalabad by an Afghan army under Akbar Khan.
The British garrison at Jellalabad had defended the place with the
utmost resolution, and before the arrival of General Pollock, Akbar Khan
had been compelled to raise the siege.
[Sidenote: Candahar.]
Up to this time nothing was known of General Nott at Candahar. The fact
was that he and Major Rawlinson were holding out against overwhelming
odds, as Elphinstone and Macnaghten ought to have done at Cabul. History
teaches that such a surrender as that of Macnaghten to Akbar Khan too
often means "massacre." It meant "massacre" at Patna, in the days of Mir
Kasim, and during the sepoy mutiny of 1857 it bore the same meaning at
Jhansi and Cawnpore.
[Sidenote: Close of the Afghan war, 1842.]
General Pollock advanced westward from Jellalabad, whilst General Nott
advanced northward from Candahar. Both armies met at Cabul. Shah Shuja
had been murdered, and Akbar Khan had fled away to the northward. All
the British hostages, including the ladies and children, reached Cabul
in safety. Dost Mohammed Khan was set free at Calcutta, and returned to
Cabul and recovered his throne. Thus the first Cabul war was brought to
a close, and for some years the Afghans were ignored.
[Sidenote: Outside troubles.]
The disasters of 1841-42 led to disturbances in Asiatic states outside
British territory. The Amirs of Sind were tempted to violate their
treaty obligations. In 1843 they were defeated by Sir Charles Napier in
the battles of Meanee and Hyderabad, and their territories were
eventually incorporated with the Bombay Presidency. There was also some
excitement in Nipal and Burma; but British prestige was restored by the
victories of Pollock, Nott, and Napier, and the disorders soon died
away. Meanwhile, the British government was drawn into a war with China;
but relations with China have not as yet been brought to bear upon
British rule in India.
[Sidenote: Gwalior affairs, 1843.]
§4. In 1843 Lord Ellenborough interfered in the affairs of Gwalior. The
ruling prince, who was known by the hereditary name of Sindia, had died
without leaving any son, real or adopted. He had been a weak and
incapable ruler, and had permitted the army of Gwalior to grow too
powerful for the state, and to swallow up two-thirds of the public
revenue.
[Sidenote: Overgrown army, 1843.]
The disbandment of the army was necessary, not only for the well-being
of Gwalior, but for the security of the British government. It numbered
40,000 men and 200 guns. Meanwhile, the Sikh army in the Punjab had
grown more dangerous. It consisted of some 60,000 men, well provided
with artillery, who had been drilled and trained by French officers. It
was no longer under the control of a strong ruler like Runjeet Singh,
and at any moment might cross the Sutlej into British territory. Under
such circumstances a junction of the Sikh army with the army of Gwalior
would have raised a terrible storm in Hindustan.
[Sidenote: Revolt, 1843.]
The death of Sindia rendered some action necessary. He had left a widow
who was only twelve years of age. This girl, however, was permitted to
adopt a small boy of eight, and a minister was appointed, under the
sanction of Lord Ellenborough, to conduct the administration of Gwalior
during the minority. Shortly afterwards the girl dismissed the minister
from his post, and he was fool enough to accept the dismissal. The girl
then appointed a minister of her own, and won over the army by large
distributions of money, in open defiance of the paramount power. The
consequence was that disturbances broke out in Gwalior, and many persons
were killed.
[Sidenote: Settlement, 1843.]
Lord Ellenborough proceeded to Agra, and ordered the British army to
advance to Gwalior under Sir Hugh Gough. Two battles were fought on the
same day, the 29th of December, 1843, one body of the Gwalior army
being defeated at Maharajpore, and another at Punniar. Lord Ellenborough
then carried out the necessary reforms. The army of Gwalior was reduced
from 40,000 men to 9,000, and the number of guns from 200 to thirty-two.
A subsidiary force was created of sepoys, trained and commanded by
British officers, which was afterwards known as the Gwalior Contingent.
The government was taken out of the hands of the girl-widow, and
entrusted to a council of regency, consisting of six nobles of Gwalior,
who acted under the advice of the British Resident until the adopted
prince attained his majority.
[Sidenote: Lord Ellenborough recalled, 1844.]
In June, 1844, Lord Ellenborough was recalled by the Court of Directors.
It was urged that he was too fond of war, but it was whispered that he
had given mortal offence by promoting military officers to posts
previously occupied by civilians. The question raised some controversy
at the time, as the recall was opposed by Sir Robert Peel and the Duke
of Wellington; but it has long ceased to be of importance, and may be
dropped into oblivion.
[Sidenote: Sir Henry Hardinge, 1845-48.]
§5. Sir Henry Hardinge succeeded Lord Ellenborough as Governor-General.
At this period the Punjab was a political volcano, and the Sikh army was
a menace to Hindustan.
[Sidenote: Rise of the Sikhs, 1400-1500.]
The Sikhs were religious fanatics, dating back to the fifteenth century.
Their founder was a prophet, or Guru, named Nanuk Guru, who was at once
priest and king. The object of the Guru was to reconcile the Hindu
religion with the Mohammedan by teaching that there was but one God, one
Supreme Spirit, and that the Vishnu of Hinduism and the Allah of Islam
were one and the same deity. The church of Nanuk was a platform of
comprehension. A brotherhood was formed, known as Sikhs, and all its
members were declared to be equal in the eyes of God and His Guru,
whatever might be their individual caste, wealth, or position.
[Sidenote: Sikh religion.]
The Sikh religion was in reality a revival of a Buddhism recognising
deity. Nanuk Guru bears a striking resemblance to Gotama Buddha. He was
born in 1460 of the royal race of Kshatriyas, the modern Rajputs, or
"sons of Rajas." He taught that goodness in thought and deed was
especially pleasing to God. He denounced the distinctions of caste, and
preached universal charity and toleration. He was followed by a line of
nine Gurus, who taught the same doctrines and formed an apostolic
succession, inspired by God, and worshipped as incarnations or avatars
of deity. The city of Amritsar, the "pool of immortality," became the
sacred city of the Sikhs, and every year formed a centre of Sikh
gatherings like those of the Hebrews at Jerusalem and those of
Mohammedans at Mecca.
[Sidenote: Persecutions of Aurangzeb.]
The new faith was eagerly accepted by Hindus, especially those of the
lower castes, but Mohammedans stood aloof from the heresy. The stern
Aurangzeb, who reigned as Great Mogul from the days of Oliver Cromwell
to those of Queen Anne, persecuted the Sikhs with relentless ferocity,
and the ninth Guru was beheaded in the imperial palace of Delhi in the
presence of Aurangzeb and his courtiers.
[Sidenote: Guru Govind: the Khalsa.]
Under Guru Govind, the tenth and last of the old Sikh pontiffs, the
Sikhs were transformed by persecution from a brotherhood of saints into
an army of warriors. Guru Govind stands out as the real founder of the
Sikh Khalsa or "saved ones." He set apart five faithful disciples,
namely, a Brahman, a Rajput, and three Sudras, to form a Khalsa, and to
be a model for all other Khalsas. He consecrated them by sprinkling holy
water; he gave to each the name of Singh, or "lion warrior," but he gave
to the whole five collectively the name of Khalsa; and he solemnly
promised that wherever a Khalsa was gathered together, he, their Guru,
would be in the midst of them.
[Sidenote: Army of the Khalsa.]
Henceforth the Sikhs were known as the "Army of God and the Khalsa." The
constitution was changed. Guru Govind was taken prisoner by the Moguls
and executed, and his successors lost their spiritual prestige. The
Sikhs were divided into twelve misls or clans, each having its own chief
or Sirdar; but the Sirdars changed with the times. Some took the field
at the head of their sons and vassals, zealous only for God and the
Khalsa. Others were mere freebooters, who led bodies of irregular horse
to devastate and plunder. Others again formed a brotherhood of fanatics
known as Akalis, who called themselves soldiers of God, and were
distinguished by steel bracelets and dark-blue dresses and turbans.
[Sidenote: Runjeet Singh, 1800-39.]
Out of these discordant elements Runjeet Singh created his famous army
of the Khalsa. By consummate tact he stirred up the old enthusiasm of
the Sikh soldiery, whilst employing French officers to drill and command
them. He added Cashmere and Peshawar to his dominions, and was known as
the "Lion of Lahore." His depravity is indescribable; his court at
Lahore was a sink of iniquity, like the cities of the plain; but,
knowing the real source of his power, he gloried in the title of
"Commander-in-Chief of the Army of God and the Khalsa." When he died, in
1839, four queens and seven slaves were buried alive with his remains.
[Sidenote: Hopeless anarchy.]
Between 1839 and 1845 the Punjab was sinking into hopeless anarchy.
There was a deadly conflict between Sikhs and Rajputs. Plots and murders
followed in rapid succession. Princes, ministers, and generals were
carried off in turns by assassination or massacre. Meanwhile the
treasures of Runjeet Singh were squandered in wild debauchery, or
lavished on the army. There was a British envoy at Lahore, but he could
do nothing. On one important occasion he reported that every minister of
state had been drunk for several days. On another occasion he entered
the council-hall unexpectedly, and found the prime minister figuring in
the guise of a dancing-girl amidst the applause of his colleagues. An
infant, named Dhuleep Singh, said to be the son of Runjeet Singh, was
the nominal sovereign; but the queen-mother, a woman of low origin, and
her minister and paramour, were the rulers of the country.
[Sidenote: Army supreme.]
By this time the army of the Khalsa were masters of the state--the
prætorian guards of the Punjab. It was dangerous to the Sikh government,
and was only kept quiet by money and concessions. It demanded more pay,
and got it. The French officers fled for their lives. The Sikh officers
were compelled to obey certain little Khalsas, which by this time had
come to be elected by the soldiery in every corps, and were supposed to
be animated by the invisible but presiding spirit of Guru Govind. The
army was bent on sacking the capital and slaughtering all who stood in
their way, whilst the Akalis, the fanatical soldiers of God, were
burning to purge the court at Lahore of its iniquities.
[Sidenote: Non-intervention.]
The Sikh rulers implored the British government to protect them against
the army of the Khalsa; but non-intervention was still the ruling
policy, and the British government refused to interfere. Meanwhile the
dangers of Sikh invasion had been minimised by the reduction of the army
of Gwalior, and the British government underrated the strength of the
Sikh army. Amidst the general lull the crash came. The ministers were
afraid of a reign of terror at Lahore, and sent the army of the Khalsa
across the river Sutlej to plunder the cities of Hindustan.
[Sidenote: Sikh invasion, November, 1845.]
§6. The British government was taken utterly by surprise. There was no
warning whatever, and the enemy was estimated to number 100,000 men with
150 large guns. Ferozpore, the frontier station of the British army on
the north-west, was held by a British force of 10,000 men. The Sikhs
might have overwhelmed Ferozpore, and marched on to Delhi and Agra
before the main army could have taken the field. Fortunately for the
British the Sikh generals were cowards and traitors, thinking of nothing
but themselves. The British force at Ferozpore moved out and offered
them battle, but they shrank from a collision. They divided the Sikh
army into two bodies: one stopped to watch Ferozpore, whilst the other
entrenched a camp a few miles off at Ferozshahar.
[Sidenote: Moodki, December.]
Sir Henry Hardinge and Sir Hugh Gough were soon moving to the frontier
with a British army. On the 18th of December a battle was fought at
Moodki. The Sikh general fled at the outset, but the Sikh soldiers
opened fire with a rapidity and precision which for a while staggered
the British. At last the British gained a victory, but it was not
decisive.
[Sidenote: Ferozshahar.]
Two days after Moodki, the British attacked the Sikh force at
Ferozshahar. They met with a resistance which they never expected. The
Sikhs were again deserted by their general, but fought with the reckless
bravery of zealots; and Sir Hugh Gough charged up to the muzzles of
their guns with cold steel before he could carry their batteries. Night
came on, and the firing ceased. During the darkness there was an uproar
in the enemy's camp, and it turned out that the Sikh soldiers were
plundering their own treasury--the military chest which their general
had left behind in his hasty flight from the field. Next morning the
battle was renewed, but the Sikhs had lost their enthusiasm, and were
soon in full retreat to the Sutlej.
[Sidenote: Aliwal and Sobraon, 1846.]
Early in 1846 the Sikh army recrossed the Sutlej by a bridge of boats.
Sir Harry Smith defeated one force at Aliwal, but the main army of the
Khalsa was strongly entrenched at Sobraon. In February Hardinge and
Gough advanced to storm the entrenchment. Then followed the hardest and
bloodiest battle which the British had hitherto fought in India. The
Sikhs fought with the desperation of despair, but were slowly beaten
back by the fiery resolution of the British. At last they retreated to
the Sutlej, and thousands were drowned in the river. Their general had
fled on the morning of the battle, and had broken down the bridge to
prevent their return to the Punjab.
[Sidenote: Mixed government, Sikh and British.]
Thus ended the first Sikh war. The British army marched in triumph to
Lahore, and Sir Henry Hardinge, now Lord Hardinge, began to settle the
future government of the Punjab. He was unwilling to annex the country,
for the British nation was already jealous of the territorial
possessions of the East India Company. He dared not withdraw the British
army lest the army of the Khalsa should spring again into life and sweep
away the Sikh _régime_. He tried a compromise. He recognised the infant,
the queen-mother and her minister, as _de facto_ rulers of the Punjab.
He reduced the army of the Khalsa to a third of its former strength. He
annexed the frontier province on the north, known as the Julinder Doab,
and he demanded a subsidy of a million and a-half sterling towards the
expenses of the war.
[Sidenote: Sale of Cashmere.]
The money was not to be had. Out of twelve millions sterling that were
found in the Lahore treasury after the death of Runjeet Singh, only half
a million remained. The difficulty was overcome by the Viceroy of
Cashmere, a Rajput named Golab Singh, who held the province in
subordination to the Sikh government. He offered one million sterling,
provided the British government recognised him as Maharaja of Cashmere,
independent of Lahore. The bargain was struck, and Cashmere was sold to
Golab Singh.
[Sidenote: Council of Regency.]
Still it was impossible for the British to withdraw from the Punjab
without bringing on a second war. Before the end of 1846 the
queen-mother was found to be utterly unfit to rule, whilst her minister
was stirring up the people of Cashmere to revolt against the Maharaja.
The minister was removed from his post. Eight of the leading Sirdars at
Lahore were formed into a council of regency, under the direction of
Sir Henry Lawrence, the British Resident at Lahore; and it was
determined that a small British force should remain in the Punjab until
the infant Dhuleep Singh attained his majority.
[Sidenote: Lord Dalhousie, 1848-56.]
§7. Two years passed away. In 1848 Lord Hardinge was succeeded by Lord
Dalhousie, and returned to England accompanied by Sir Henry Lawrence.
Sir Frederic Currie, a Bengal civilian, was Resident at Lahore, and the
Punjab was to all appearance quiet. About this time the Sikh governor of
Multan, named Mulraj, quarrelled with the council of regency at Lahore,
and resigned his post in disgust. Two Englishmen, Mr. Vans Agnew and a
Lieutenant Anderson, were sent to Multan with a Sikh escort to take
overcharge.
[Sidenote: Revolt at Multan, April, 1848: murder of two Englishmen.]
Multan is situated on the river Chenab, about 200 miles to the
south-west of Lahore. The two Englishmen reached the place in April, and
took up their quarters at a mosque in the suburbs. Mulraj paid them a
visit, and there was some disagreement about the accounts, but the two
Englishmen went over the fortress with Mulraj, and all three left the
place together on horseback. At that moment the two Englishmen were
felled from their horses. Mulraj galloped away into the country, and the
two Englishmen were carried away to the mosque and brutally murdered.
Mulraj returned to the fortress, and issued a proclamation calling on
the people of all religions to revolt against British supremacy.
[Sidenote: Revolt of Shere Singh.]
The Sikh and British authorities at Lahore treated the outbreak as an
isolated rebellion. Lieutenant Herbert Edwardes, a rising officer,
marched an irregular force against Multan; but though he defeated the
rebels, he could not capture the fortress. A Sikh noble, named Shere
Singh, marched from Lahore to co-operate with Edwardes, and a British
force under General Whish was also sent in a like direction. It turned
out, however, that Shere Singh was negotiating with the rebels inside
the fortress, whilst swearing fidelity to the British authorities
outside. When the British guns had opened fire, and the capture of the
fortress was a mere question of hours, Shere Singh suddenly beat the
drum of the Khalsa, proclaimed a religious war against the British, and
started for the north with the whole of his men as fast as their long
Sikh legs could carry them. Whish saw that pursuit was hopeless, and
could only entrench his troops and wait for reinforcements whilst
keeping watch on Multan.
[Sidenote: Army of the Khalsa.]
The hot weather was coming on, British advance was delayed, and the
British authorities at Lahore were discovering that a second Sikh war
was inevitable. The queen-mother was organising a general confederacy
against the British government, but her intrigues were found out in
time, and she was sent to Benares to repent at leisure. Rebel chiefs
were plotting in all directions to get rid of the British government,
and bring back the old days of anarchy and plunder. Later in the year
many villages were found empty. The able-bodied men had gone off to join
rebel chiefs, and fight once more for God and the Khalsa; and no one
remained behind but the halt and the lame, the women and the children.
[Sidenote: Afghans occupy Peshawar.]
To crown all, Dost Mohammed, Khan of Cabul, had joined the rebel Sikhs.
As a Mohammedan he must have hated the Sikhs and their religion,
especially as Runjeet Singh had wrested the important valley of Peshawar
from Afghan dominion. But he saw his opportunity to recover Peshawar. He
overran the valley and captured the fortress of Attock; and he
determined that whatever might happen, he would hold Peshawar for the
future against Sikh or Englishman.
[Sidenote: Gough's advance, 1848.]
In November, 1848, the British army, under Lord Gough, entered the "land
of the five rivers." On the 13th of January he approached the army of
Shere Singh, which was strongly entrenched at Chillianwalla on the left
bank of the Jhelum--the Hydaspes of the Greeks--and probably not far
from the spot where Alexander routed the Rajput army of Porus. The Sikh
army was hidden from view by a dense jungle. Lord Gough ordered a
reconnoitre; he proposed to give his army a night's rest, and to begin
the battle next morning.
[Sidenote: Chillianwalla, 13th January, 1849.]
Shere Singh upset this arrangement. He did not care to fight the British
army after a night's rest, and after his position had been reconnoitred.
He stirred up the Irish blood of Lord Gough by opening a fire on the
British camp. The impetuous general returned the fire, and ordered an
advance. For a brief interval nothing was to be heard but the roar of
artillery, whilst the battle was hidden from view by smoke and jungle.
Presently the British guns were silenced by the advance of infantry, and
soon afterwards the sharp rattle of musketry told that the conflict had
begun. But the battle of Chillianwalla was disastrous. The Sikh
artillery continued to roar after the British artillery was silenced. A
brigade of British infantry was beaten back. A cavalry brigade was
repulsed with a loss of guns. At last, the ringing cheer of British
infantry told that the day was gained, but it was dearly purchased with
the loss of 2,400 officers and men. The Sikhs were driven from their
position, but they entrenched themselves still more strongly on better
ground only three miles off. Had there been a forward movement on the
following morning, the doubtful success of the 13th of January might
have been converted into a decisive victory.
[Sidenote: Fall of Multan, 22nd January.]
On the 22nd of January Mulraj surrendered the fortress of Multan to
General Whish. This enabled Whish to bring his forces to the help of
Lord Gough. Later on Shere Singh began a march to Lahore, but was
stopped by Gough and Whish at Goojerat on the right bank of the Chenab.
[Sidenote: Goojerat, 21st February.]
The battle of Goojerat was fought on the 21st of February, 1849. It was
known as "the battle of the guns," for there was no premature advance of
infantry or cavalry, as at Chillianwalla. For two hours and a-half the
Sikh army was pounded with British shot and shell, and then, and not
till then, a charge of bayonets and a rush of cavalry completed the
destruction of the army of the Khalsa. The victory at Goojerat saved the
reputation of Lord Gough. Sir Charles Napier had been sent out to
supersede him as commander-in-chief, on account of the losses at
Chillianwalla; but before Napier could reach India the war was over, and
Chillianwalla was condoned, although it could not be forgotten. The
Punjab was once more prostrate at the feet of the British, and the
Afghans were driven out of Peshawar.
[Sidenote: Annexation of the Punjab, 1849.]
The mixed government of Sikhs and British had failed in the Punjab,
under Sir Henry Lawrence and Sir Frederic Currie, as it had failed in
Bengal nearly a century before under Clive and his successors. Lord
Dalhousie decided, and to all appearance rightly, that annexation was
the only chance of salvation for the Punjab. So the weak and helpless
relics of the family of Runjeet Singh were pensioned off by the
conquerors, and his kingdom was incorporated with the British empire,
and formed into a province under British rule.
[Sidenote: British rule in the Punjab.]
§8. The administration of the Punjab was, in the first instance, placed
under a Board of three members. But the Board did not work smoothly, and
Lord Dalhousie objected to Boards, and preferred fixing responsibilities
on individuals. Accordingly Mr. John Lawrence, a younger brother of Sir
Henry Lawrence, was appointed sole ruler of the Punjab under the title
of chief commissioner. It will be seen hereafter that John Lawrence was
destined to leave his mark in history; to become Governor-General of
India, and finally to take his seat in the House of Lords. The Punjab
was delivered from the grinding exactions of Sikh officials, and brought
under the just and impartial rule of British officers. Within the space
of less than a decade, the kingdom of Runjeet Singh, which had been
distracted by wars and disorders worse than those of England under the
Heptarchy, was brought under the civilised and European administration
of the nineteenth century.
[Sidenote: Non-Regulation.]
The Punjab was parcelled out into divisions and districts, like the
Bengal and North-West Provinces. It was not, however, brought under the
"Regulations," which had the force of laws in Bengal, Madras, Bombay,
and the North-West Provinces. For some years it was known as a
non-Regulation province; in other words, British administration in the
Punjab was carried on according to the spirit of the Regulations, and
on the same lines as the administration of the North-West Provinces, but
a large margin of latitude and discretion was allowed to the chief
commissioner, and he was empowered to issue his own instructions and
orders, which might sometimes be out of harmony with the Regulations.
[Sidenote: Patriarchal government.]
The result was that a so-called patriarchal rule prevailed in the
Punjab, which was admirably adapted to the transition state of the "land
of five rivers." British officers laboured to govern the country, and to
administer justice amongst a mixed population of Sikhs, Mohammedans, and
Hindus, according to local circumstances and usages, rather than
according to the strict letter of the law which had prevailed for
generations in Regulation provinces.
[Sidenote: District officers.]
Under the non-Regulation system the duties of magistrate, collector, and
civil and sessions judge were discharged by a single officer, who was
known as the deputy-commissioner. The deputy-commissioner was thus not
only the head of the civil administration of his district, but the
magistrate and judge. Below him were certain grades of assistant
commissioners, whose duties were of a similarly comprehensive character.
Half of these grades were taken from the ranks of the Indian civil
service, and the other half from British officers in the Indian army.
Below them were grades of uncovenanted officers, European and Asiatic,
known as extra assistant commissioners, who corresponded more or less
with the class of deputy-collectors created by Lord William Bentinck.
[Sidenote: Commissioners.]
The commissioners of divisions controlled the administration of the
districts under their charge after the manner of commissioners in
Bengal, Bombay, and the North-West Provinces. They also heard appeals
from the courts of deputy-commissioners. Another officer, known as the
"financial commissioner," controlled the expenditure of the entire
province, in subordination to the chief commissioner.
[Sidenote: Judicial commissioner: Punjab code.]
There was no Supreme Court, and no Sudder Court, in the Punjab. In those
patriarchal days a single officer, known as the "judicial commissioner,"
controlled all the law courts in the province, and was the last court of
appeal. Meanwhile a code of laws was drawn up, under the directions of
the chief commissioner, by his secretary, Mr. (now Sir Richard) Temple.
Since then Sir Richard Temple has filled high positions in India, which
were only second in importance to those occupied by his illustrious
master.
[Sidenote: Land settlement: village system.]
The land settlement in the Punjab was carried out on the same lines as
that in the North-West Provinces. Proprietary rights of village
communities, joint or otherwise, were recognised as far as possible. The
village system was perhaps as perfect in the Punjab as in any other part
of India, but for years the rights of village proprietors had been
ignored or stamped out under Sikh rule. The revenue collectors of
Runjeet Singh cared nothing for proprietary right, nor indeed for any
law or usage which debarred them from exacting as much revenue as
possible from the cultivators of the land.
[Sidenote: North-West Provinces.]
Meanwhile the land settlement of the North-West Provinces, which had
been modified by Lord William Bentinck, was brought to a close under the
supervision of Mr. Thomason, the Lieutenant-Governor. It was based on
the principle of recognising, defining, and recording all existing
rights of proprietors of every kind and sort, from those of hereditary
chiefs and landlords, down to village proprietors, joint or otherwise.
The settlement included a full record of the rights of all proprietors
in every village. Every field was measured and mapped; every house was
entered on a list. All shares in the land, and all joint and separate
liabilities for revenue, were registered. The customs of the village
were recorded, and formed a manual of village law. Finally, details of
all lawsuits under the settlement officers were preserved, and formed a
history of the village settlement. This system was carried out in the
Punjab and other new provinces of British India. In Bengal, however, it
is stopped by the zemindari system; whilst in Madras village rights are
equal under the ryotwari system.
[Sidenote: Second Burmese war, 1852.]
§9. In 1852 a second Burmese war was forced upon Lord Dalhousie. A
treaty of commerce and friendship had been concluded with the king of
Burma at the end of the first war, but of late years it had been grossly
violated. Burmese officials had condemned British sea captains to fine
and imprisonment on false charges, and British merchants residing at
Rangoon were preparing to abandon their property and leave Burmese
territory unless they were protected by their own government.
[Sidenote: Arrogant officials.]
Commodore Lambert was sent to Rangoon to investigate complaints. He was
treated by the Burmese officials with such insolence and arrogance that
negotiations were impossible. Eventually he seized a Burmese ship by way
of reprisal, but engaged to restore it on receipt of something like
1,000_l._ as nominal compensation for British sufferers. In reply the
Burmese fired on the commodore's steamer, and the firing was promptly
returned. From that moment war was inevitable.
[Sidenote: Annexation of Pegu.]
A British expedition under General Godwin reached Rangoon. The Shway
Dagohn pagoda, the great cathedral of Buddhism in Burma, was taken by
storm; and then all fighting was over. The court of Ava was powerless
and paralysed. It could not resist British forces, and simply left the
British authorities to do as they pleased. Upper Burma was abandoned to
the king, and the rich valley of Pegu, and port of Rangoon, were added
to the British empire; and eventually the three divisions of Pegu,
Arakan, and Tenasserim were formed into the province of British Burma.
[Sidenote: New frontiers of British Empire.]
The annexation of the Punjab and Burma are the crowning events of the
nineteenth century. Lord Wellesley had delivered India from Tippu, and
established the paramount power of the East India Company over the Mogul
viceroys and the Mahratta princes. Lord Hastings had converted Nipal
into a staunch ally, and stamped out the predatory powers of Central
India. Lord Dalhousie annexed the empire of Runjeet Singh, excepting
Cashmere, and the empire of the Alompras, excepting Upper Burma, and
thus laid down frontiers which remained unchanged for an entire
generation.[26]
[Sidenote: Lord Dalhousie as an administrator. Progressive policy.]
§10. But Lord Dalhousie left his mark in history as an administrator
rather than as a conqueror. Having annexed the Punjab and Pegu, he threw
his whole soul into the administration. The Punjab was soon traversed
with roads like a Roman province, and one magnificent and difficult road
was completed from Lahore to Peshawar. Rangoon was cleared of malarious
jungle, and planned out in streets and roads like a European city. The
working of British administration in the new provinces has been most
successful. Lord Dalhousie not only delivered the population from
oppression and violence, but introduced order, liberty, and law, such as
prevails in no Oriental country outside the British pale from the
Atlantic Ocean to the Chinese Seas. Lord Dalhousie may have petted the
Punjab and Pegu at the expense of Madras and Bombay, but he was never
unmindful of the interests of the Anglo-Indian empire. He is the first
Governor-General who laboured for the benefit of India in the interests
of the British nation, as well as in those of the East India Company.
[Sidenote: Public works of the East India Company.]
Public works in India before the advent of Lord Dalhousie had chiefly
consisted of military and civil buildings, such as barracks, arsenals,
jails, and hospitals. The Company, however, was the landlord of India,
and the bulk of the people were its tenants; it had therefore sought to
improve the condition of its tenants after the manner of landlords. It
encouraged the cultivation of tea, coffee, and cotton. It restored
choked-up channels, which had been dug by Mohammedan Sultans of former
days for watering their palaces, gardens, and hunting grounds; and it
converted them into canals for irrigating a large acreage in the
North-West Provinces. Such was the origin of the Western and Eastern
Jumna canals, which were constructed in the days of Lord William
Bentinck and Lord Auckland. Each canal received the water from the upper
stream on the slope of the Himalayas, and irrigated the high lands which
were above the level of the lower stream. Above all, the Company
sanctioned the Ganges canal which was purely a British undertaking,
constructed for navigation as well as for irrigation.
[Sidenote: Northern India: old caravan routes.]
But India was without roads. Rough caravan routes traversed Northern
India in the seventeenth century, and European travellers landing at
Surat could find their way to Ajmere, Agra, and Delhi. From Delhi again
there was a caravan route through the Punjab and Afghanistan to Persia
and Turkistan. But in the eighteenth century all were closed. Rajput
rebels and outlaws stopped all travelling between Surat and Agra; the
Jhat brigands of Bhurtpore stopped it between Bengal and Delhi; and
Sikhs and Afghans cut off all trade with Persia and Turkistan.
[Sidenote: Water-ways.]
In Northern India the ordinary route from Calcutta to the north-west was
by water. The rivers Jumna and Ganges flow from the Himalayas in a
south-easterly direction until they meet at Allahabad in the centre of
Hindustan. The Jumna flows past Delhi and Agra; the Ganges flows past
Cawnpore; and after meeting at Allahabad, the two rivers flow in one
united stream past Benares, Patna, Monghyr, and Calcutta, until they
reach the Bay of Bengal. But travelling up country against the stream
was always tedious, and a journey which formerly occupied months by
water, now only occupies the same number of days by rail.
[Sidenote: Deccan: no traffic.]
In the Deccan the routes were much worse. There was no traffic between
Bombay and the Mahratta country until 1831, when Sir John Malcolm opened
a cart-road through the western Ghats, and thus broke through the
mountain wall which cut off Bombay from the interior. In the Nizam's
country there were no roads except a rough route between Hyderabad and
the seaport at Masulipatam, which was cursed by every British Resident
from the days of Clive and Verelst down to very modern times.
[Sidenote: Southern India: palanquins.]
In Southern India there were neither caravan routes nor waterways of any
moment. Hindu Rajas never opened out the country like the Mohammedans of
Northern India. Hindu infantry and light Mahratta horsemen required no
roads; and Rajas and other Hindu grandees were carried in palanquins.
Europeans travelled in palanquins down to the present generation, and
were in no fear of robbers. Ladies and children were borne along through
jungles and over rivers; leopards and tigers were kept off at night by
lighted torches; and the sure feet of the half-naked coolies carried
travellers safely over rocky heights and troubled waters.
[Sidenote: Macadamised roads.]
Mr. Thomason, who was Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Provinces
from 1843 to 1853, was the first Bengal administrator who constructed
macadamised roads. His object was to connect the large cities under his
jurisdiction, but the work once begun soon advanced apace. A trunk road
was commenced between Calcutta and Delhi, and in 1850 mail carts ran for
the first time between the two capitals of Northern India. The
annexation of the Punjab gave a further impetus to road-making, and
Calcutta and Delhi were soon brought into communication with Lahore and
Peshawar.
[Sidenote: Proposed railways.]
Meanwhile railways had created a furor. Promoters in the British Isles
were anxious to construct railways in India at the expense of the East
India Company, but the idea did not recommend itself to the men who had
the largest experience of India. There was a natural reluctance to
accept schemes by which speculators might profit at the Company's
expense, whilst the gain to the people of India would be doubtful. It
was currently believed, by men who had spent the best part of their
lives in the country, that Hindus would never travel by railway; that
they would trudge on foot, and carry their families and goods in carts
and cars, as they had done in the days of Porus and Megasthenes.
[Sidenote: Lord Dalhousie, a new type of Indian statesman.]
§11. Lord Dalhousie was the type of British administrators of the modern
school. He had served two years' apprenticeship in Great Britain as
President of the Board of Trade under Sir Robert Peel, and he was
especially familiar with the construction of British roads and railways.
In India he opened the great trunk road from Calcutta to Delhi, and post
carriages, known as "dak gharies," soon superseded the old river
"budgerows." Other metalled roads were begun in Madras and Bombay. Still
one thing was wanting. Calcutta was united to all the great capitals of
Northern India--Allahabad, Agra, and Delhi--but Bombay and Madras were
as far off as ever from both Northern India and each other.
[Sidenote: Trunk railway lines.]
Railways would remedy the evil, and Lord Dalhousie was bent on
introducing them. He planned a trunk system which in the present day
unites the three Presidencies, and connects them with the north-west
frontier. He induced railway companies to undertake the construction, by
giving a government guarantee of five per cent. interest per annum on
the outlay; and before he left India three experimental lines were
already in progress, namely, one from Calcutta, a second from Bombay,
and a third from Madras. Such was the origin of the three great railways
of India, namely, the "East Indian," which runs through Northern India;
the "Great Indian Peninsula," which runs through the Deccan; and the
"Madras railway," which runs through Southern India.
[Sidenote: Telegraph system, 1853-55.]
Between 1853 and 1855 the telegraph system was constructed, which
electrified Europeans and awakened the Asiatics from the torpor of ages.
Madras and Bombay could talk with all the great cities of Northern
India, and Rangoon was placed in telegraphic communication with Lahore
and Peshawar. Unfortunately there was only one line of wires from
Allahabad to Delhi, and when the wires were cut by the sepoy mutineers
of 1857, communication was cut off. This incident, however, belongs to
the _régime_ of Lord Dalhousie's successor.
[Sidenote: Ganges canal, 1854.]
In 1854 the Ganges canal, the greatest work of irrigation ever
accomplished, was completed by Sir Proby Cautley and opened by Lord
Dalhousie. The British nation has never realised this grand undertaking
of the old East India Company. It receives the water on the lower slope
of the Himalayas, and runs along the Doab, or high lands between the
Jumna and Ganges, throwing out distributaries at intervals. About eighty
miles to the south-east of Delhi it separates into two branches, one
flowing into the Ganges at Cawnpore, and the other flowing into the
Jumna near Etawah. The whole length of the canal and branches for
navigation is 614 miles; the length of the distributaries for irrigation
is 3,111 miles.
[Sidenote: Annexation policy.]
§12. Lord Dalhousie was so convinced of the superiority of British
administration, that he considered every opportunity should be taken for
bringing the territories of feudatory princes under British rule.
Hitherto it had been the policy of the East India Company to perpetuate
the dynasties of its feudatories. If a feudatory prince was without a
son, he was advised by the British Resident to adopt one. But Hindu
princes shrink from the idea of adopting a son. It is often as difficult
to persuade a Raja to adopt as it used to be to persuade Englishmen to
make wills. He puts it off with some vague intention of marrying another
wife, which he is permitted to do under Hindu law when the first wife is
barren. Accordingly Hindu princes often die without leaving any son
whatever, real or adopted. Under such circumstances the widow was
permitted to adopt a boy, and the East India Company permitted this boy
to succeed to the principality.
[Sidenote: Question of adoption.]
Adoption, however, is purely a religious ceremonial. It is the outcome
of the religious belief of the Hindus that when a man dies his soul goes
to a sort of purgatory until his sins are washed away; and that during
this interval it is the duty of a son, real or adopted, to offer cakes
and water to refresh the soul in question. The East India Company
accepted the adoption as giving a claim to the principality, because it
settled the succession when a natural heir was wanting. Lord Dalhousie
decided that the adoption gave no claim to the principality, but only to
the personal property of the deceased feudatory, because he was anxious
to bring the territory under British administration.
[Sidenote: Satara and Nagpore.]
The Court of Directors refused to accept the views of Lord Dalhousie in
the case of "protected allies," such as Sindia, Holkar, and the princes
of Rajputana. But they accepted his views as regards "dependent
principalities," such as Satara and Nagpore, which had been created, or
artificially resuscitated, by the Marquis of Hastings, and in which the
Hindu rulers had turned out very badly. Accordingly, Nagpore and Satara
became British territory, and were brought under British administration.
[Sidenote: Jhansi in Bundelkund.]
A chiefship in Bundelkund, known as Jhansi, was also annexed to the
British empire. The chiefs and princes of Bundelkund were situated far
away to the south of the river Jumna. They were cut off by hills and
jungles from the civilising influences of British rule, and retained
much of the lawlessness and anarchy of the eighteenth century. The chief
of Jhansi died without leaving any heir, real or adopted. The widow was
allowed to adopt a son for the offering of cakes and water, but not
allowed to adopt a successor to the principality, and the territory
accordingly lapsed to the British government, and was brought under
British administration. The widow was very angry. She had expected to
rule Jhansi as queen regent; but a Hindu lady brought up in the
seclusion of a zenana cannot always be trusted with the irresponsible
powers of a despot. She yielded to her fate, but it will be seen
hereafter that she bottled up her wrath and waited for revenge.
[Sidenote: Obsolete controversy.]
Since Lord Dalhousie's time the controversy as regards adoption has
become obsolete. The right of adopting a son, who should not only offer
cakes and water to the soul of the deceased, but succeed him in the
government of the principality, has been distinctly recognised by the
British government. Meanwhile the aspect of the question has entirely
changed. In the days of Lord Dalhousie few, if any, of the Indian
feudatories of the British government showed any signs of progress. In
the present day the heirs to principalities are taught in schools and
colleges, and are learning something of India and the great world around
them by the help of railways and telegraphs. It is therefore to be hoped
that a day may yet dawn when British systems of administration may be
worked in every feudatory state in India by trained Asiatic officials.
[Sidenote: Exceptional annexation of Oudh.]
Last of all, Lord Dalhousie annexed the Mohammedan kingdom of Oudh to
the British empire. This was an exceptional measure, having nothing
whatever to do with the Hindu usage of adoption. The Nawab of Oudh had
assumed the title of "king," but had degenerated under British
protection into an Oriental ruler of the worst possible type. His
kingdom was parcelled out amongst a landed aristocracy, known as
talukdars, who were half landlords and half revenue collectors, like the
zemindars of Bengal. Every talukdar of position had a fortress of his
own, with a garrison and guns. He collected rents from the ryots, but
paid little or no revenue to the king's officers, unless compelled by
force of arms. The king lived secluded in his palaces at Lucknow,
surrounded by greedy and corrupt officials, immersed in Oriental
pleasures, ignorant of what was going on outside his capital, yet
maintaining a rabble army, which was either in mutiny for want of pay,
or plundering the villages for bare necessaries. A British Resident was
appointed to Lucknow, but he could only interfere by way of advice,
remonstrance, or warning. A British force was stationed in Oudh, under
the direction of the Resident, but only for the maintenance of the
public peace, and not for interference in the administration. Deposition
of the king would have done no manner of good, for there was not a
prince of the family capable of governing the country in his room. It
was thus impossible to maintain the dynasty without sacrificing the
interests of ten millions of population whom the British government was
bound to protect. At last, in 1856, the territory of Oudh was annexed to
the British empire, and brought under British administration.
[Sidenote: India Bill of 1853; new Civil Service.]
§13. In 1853 the last charter of the East India Company, which had been
granted in 1833 for a term of twenty years, was brought to a close.
Parliament refused to renew the charter, but declined as yet to abolish
the Company, and meanwhile carried out some constitutional changes. It
placed the Indian civil service on a national basis, by abolishing the
system of nomination by the Court of Directors, and introducing the
system of competitive examinations, which was eventually thrown open to
all British subjects--Asiatic as well as European.
[Sidenote: New Legislative Council.]
In like manner Parliament broadened the supreme government of India by
creating a new legislative council. The Governor-General in Council
continued to exercise supreme control over the executive. At the same
time this executive council was formed into a legislative council by the
addition of representative members; namely, the chief justice and one
puisne judge of the Supreme Court at Calcutta, and one representative
member from each of the four presidencies, namely, Madras, Bombay,
Bengal, and the North-West Provinces.
[Sidenote: Constitutional germ.]
§14. The legislative council was opened in 1854. It was the first germ
of representative government in India. Lord Dalhousie introduced
parliamentary forms, and the debates were conducted with a spirit which
recommended them to the attention of the Indian public, official and
non-official, Asiatic and European. The Governor-General and executive
council exercised a veto on the introduction of bills. But four Indian
civilians represented the governments of four presidencies, and the
judges of the Supreme Court represented, more or less, the interests of
the public outside official circles. Moreover, although the Asiatic
populations had no voice in the debates, they were enabled to express
their objections in the form of petitions, which were duly considered by
the committees of the council on the several bills. In a word, the
legislative council of India, imperfect as it may have been, was an
advance in the development of constitutional government of India, and
will accordingly be brought under review in the concluding chapter.
[Sidenote: Macaulay and the Penal Code.]
The new legislative council brought to light Lord Macaulay's draft of a
Penal Code, which had been shelved for nearly twenty years. The delay,
however, had not been without its advantages. Mr. (now Sir Barnes)
Peacock, took charge of the bill under which the Code became law, and
subjected its clauses to a careful revision. Moreover, the
representative civilians from the four presidencies, and two judges of
the Supreme Court at Calcutta, had opportunities for discussing any or
every clause from local and imperial points of view, which could
scarcely fail to adapt the Penal Code to all parts of British India.
[Sidenote: Characteristics of the Code.]
The Penal Code had evidently been drafted in Lord Macaulay's best style.
It was eminently clear and concise, free from redundancies and
repetitions, and singularly happy in the definitions of offences and law
terms. It embodies illustrations, as well as explanations, of every
conceivable offence known to criminal law. Consequently, no educated
individual, Asiatic or European, who refers to the Penal Code, can
possibly make any mistake as regards the criminal law in British India.
It did not, however, take effect until 1860. Meanwhile events transpired
which opened up an entirely new era in the progress of Great Britain as
an Asiatic power.
[Sidenote: Lord Dalhousie leaves India, 1856.]
§15. In 1856 Lord Dalhousie left India for ever. He had alarmed
Anglo-Indians of the old school by his energetic promotion of moral and
material progress without regard to the ignorance or prejudices of the
Asiatic populations; but besides his grander measures, he carried out a
thousand and one smaller reforms which to this day are felt and
appreciated by Asiatics as well as by Europeans. It was Lord Dalhousie
who introduced cheap postage; who caused Calcutta to be lit with gas;
who purified the south-west breezes of fever and malaria by clearing the
jungles of the Sunderbunds; who sat by the cradle of the new legislative
council of 1854, and thus nourished the earliest germ of representative
government which British rule had planted in India. In a word, Lord
Dalhousie prepared the way for that great measure which will be told in
a future chapter, namely, the transfer of the government of India from
the East India Company to the British Crown.
[Sidenote: Lord Canning 1856-62. War with Persia, 1856-7.]
§16. Lord Canning succeeded Lord Dalhousie in 1856. To all outward
appearance there was no cause for alarm in any part of India. Persia had
again laid siege to Herat, as she had done in 1837; but the British
government had come to an understanding with old Dost Mohammed of Cabul,
and had given him money and arms. A mission was sent to Candahar under
Major (now Sir Peter) Lumsden. A British expedition was sent to the
Persian Gulf under Sir James Outram, and captured Bushire. Eventually
Persia withdrew her pretensions as regards Herat, and peace was
concluded in March, 1857.
[Sidenote: Status of the "king" at Delhi.]
[Sidenote: Proposed removal from Delhi.]
Meanwhile the status of the so-called king of Delhi, the relic of the
Great Mogul, was under consideration. For more than half a century the
family had lived in a palace at Delhi on a yearly pension from the
British government. There was much marrying and giving in marriage, and
the palace was a hive of princes and princesses without any apparent
occupation save that of petitioning for increased pensions. Lord
Ellenborough contemplated removing the family from Delhi, but the
measure was postponed. At last Lord Dalhousie took action. The so-called
king was very old, and could not live many years. Lord Dalhousie
recognised a grandson as successor to the pageant throne, on the
condition that when the old king died, the whole family should clear out
of Delhi and take up their abode in a royal residence some miles off,
known as the Kutub.
[Sidenote: Palace intrigues.]
This design was frustrated. The old king had married a young wife, and
she had a son, and she determined that her son should be king. The
grandson, who had been recognised by Lord Dalhousie, died suddenly; it
was said that she had poisoned him. Lord Canning ignored her son, and
recognised a brother of the dead prince as heir to the title, on the
same conditions. Henceforth the queen, like the princess of Jhansi,
bottled up her wrath and waited for revenge.
[Sidenote: Land settlement in Oudh.]
Lord Canning, however, was somewhat uneasy about Oudh. A British
administration had been introduced under a chief commissioner, with
commissioners of divisions and deputy commissioners of districts, but
nothing was done to reconcile the talukdars in the provinces to the
change of rule. On the contrary, a land settlement was introduced
corresponding to that which had been effected in the North-West
Provinces. But half a century had elapsed since the acquisition of the
North-West Provinces. Meanwhile the talukdars of Oudh had ceased to be
mere middle men, and had grown into landed proprietors; whilst the
rights of village proprietors, individual or joint, had been ignored or
stamped out by the new landlords.
[Sidenote: Disaffection of talukdars.]
The early British administrators settled the revenue direct with the
villagers, and told the talukdars that their claims to proprietorship,
if they had any, would be considered hereafter, or might be settled in
the law courts. Under such cool treatment the talukdars of Oudh might
well be disaffected towards their new British rulers. Rightly or
wrongly, by long possession, or by recent usurpation, they had become
_de facto_ landlords, and under the new system they saw their estates
transferred to their tenants. Early in 1857, however, Sir Henry Lawrence
was appointed chief commissioner of Oudh, and he was expected to
reconcile all parties.
[Sidenote: Imagined wrongs of Oudh villagers.]
Strange to say, the villagers of Oudh, who had profited so much by the
new land settlement, had a secret grievance of their own which no one
seems to have suspected. They held their lands on better terms than
their fathers or grandfathers, but many families had lost position in
the eyes of their neighbours. For generations Oudh had been the chief
recruiting ground for the Asiatic soldiery of the Bengal army; and under
Mohammedan rule every sepoy was the great man of his family, and indeed
the patron of his native village. If any villager had a grievance, he
applied to the sepoy, and the sepoy applied to his British officer, and
his petition was forwarded to the British Resident at Lucknow; and the
Mohammedan court was too anxious to please the Resident to make any
difficulty about redressing wrongs so strongly supported, whatever might
have been the abstract merits of the case. When, however, the king was
replaced by a chief commissioner, the sepoy was referred to a British
court for justice, and was no better off than his neighbours. This loss
of privilege and prestige rankled in the heart of sepoys from Oudh, and
they began to look upon annexation as a wrong done to themselves,
although they had not, and could not have, any sympathies for the
deposed king.
[Sidenote: Coming catastrophe.]
Such was the state of affairs in India when the storm of 1857 was about
to burst upon Hindustan, which was to shake British power in Northern
India to its very foundations, and sweep away the East India Company for
ever. The outbreak was hardly felt in the older presidencies of Bengal,
Madras, or Bombay, nor in the Punjab or Pegu, nor in Nagpore or Satara,
the provinces recently annexed without conquest, nor, with few
exceptions, in the feudatory states under British suzerainty. The main
fury of the storm was spent on Oudh and the North-West Provinces; and
the significance of this localisation will appear in the after history.
FOOTNOTES:
[25] The capture of Ghazni was mainly due to the cool intrepidity of the
late Sir Henry Durand, then a lieutenant in the Bengal Engineers.
[26] As these pages are passing through the press Upper Burma has been
annexed to the British empire. In 1870 the author was sent by the
British government on a semi-political mission to Mandalay and Bhamo. In
those days the reigning king respected British supremacy, and British
representatives were maintained at the capital and the frontier. These
political ties were subsequently loosened, and annexation became a state
necessity. Like most of the Buddhist kings of Burma, Theebaw was a
professed water drinker, but much given to strong liquors, in which
state he committed the most revolting cruelties. Similar horrors are
related of the old kings of Burma in the author's _Short History of
India, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Burma_, chap. xv.