India Under British Rule from the Foundation of the East India Company

by James Talboys Wheeler

CHAPTER IV.—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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 1,000l. 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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Status of the "king" at Delhi.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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