[1857-1858 A.D.]

portion of the war. In all these proceedings, also, were to be recognised the masterly intellect and military skill of Sir Colin Campbell, who directed each movement, and who, for his able services, was raised to the peerage with the title of Lord Clyde. The progress towards a general pacification was likewise promoted by the transference of the government of India to the British crown, and the natives were induced to reverence a sovereign power, more especially when aggrandised by remoteness and invisibility, in preference to the authority of men who were present, and known to be subjects like themselves. Accordingly, when a royal proclamation, which was transmitted to India, was published by the governor-general on the 1st of November, it called forth several addresses to the queen, expressive of their loyalty and attachment.

In this proclamation it was announced to the native princes of India that all engagements which had

been made with them by
the company would be
scrupulously maintained
and fulfilled; that no ex-
tension of territorial poses-
sion was sought; and that
no aggression upon it
should be tolerated, or en- v
croachment upon that of
others sanctioned. The
British government held
itself bound to the natives
of its Indian territories by
the same obligations of
duty which bound it to all
the other subjects of the
British Empire. Upon the
important subject of reli-
gion, in which the rebel-
lion had originated, the

(Where two thousand mutineers were killed in 1857)

declaration was explicit: "Firmly relying ourselves on the truth of Christianity, and acknowledging with gratitude the solace of religion, we disclaim alike the right and the desire to impose our convictions on any of our subjects. We declare it to be our royal will and pleasure that none be in any wise favoured, none molested or disquieted by reason of their religious faith or observances, but that all shall alike enjoy the equal and impartial protection of the law; and we do strictly charge and enjoin all those who may be in authority under us, that they abstain from all interference with the religious belief or worship of any of our subjects, on pain of our highest displeasure." It was added that all of whatever race or creed were to be freely and impartially admitted to such offices in her majesty's service as they were qualified to hold. Those who inherited lands were to be protected in all rights connected therewith, subject to the equitable demands of the state; and in framing and administering the law, due regard was to be paid to the ancient rights, usages, and customs of India.

With regard to the late rebellion, a general pardon was granted for past offences, except to those who had taken part in the murder of British subjects, or who had given asylum to murderers, knowing them to be such, or who may have acted as leaders or instigators in revolt; but in apportioning

[1857-1858 A.D.]

the penalty due to such persons, full consideration should be given to the circumstances under which they had been tempted from their allegiance. To all others still in arms against the government, an unconditional pardon, amnesty, and oblivion was promised, on their return to their homes and peaceful pursuits, and compliance with these conditions before the 1st day of January next.

END OF THE MUTINY

The chief difficulty that still remained was the pacification of Oudh, without which the government of India could not be fully re-established; and to effect this, such decisive measures were adopted, as could only be justified by the necessity of the case, and the warlike, dangerous spirit of the people. A proclamation was issued by Mr. Montgomery, who had been appointed chief commissioner of Oudh, ordering that all talukdars, zamindars, and native inhabitants of the province should deliver up to the servants of government at the nearest police station, within one month from that date, all their cannon, firearms, weapons, and ammunition, under pain of fine and imprisonment for one year, with flogging; and if a landholder, of the confiscation of his lands. The next step was to suppress the rebels who were still in the field, which was no such easy achievement, for they had made Oudh their place of shelter and rallying point for their final stand, and were likely to defend it with the fierceness of despair. They had also for one of their chief leaders the ex-queen of Oudh, a woman of fearless courage and unyielding spirit, who issued a counter-proclamation to the people, warning them not to trust the promises of the British government, and analysing the proclamation of the British sovereign, paragraph by paragraph, with all the shrewdness and caustic severity of a well-practised literary reviewer. The winter campaign was opened in November, and the Oudh chieftains surrendered their hill-forts, or were driven from them after a short and useless resistance.

With the close of the year, the rebellion in Oudh, its last stronghold, had terminated, and an army, originally numbering one hundred and fifty thousand, been routed and dispersed with comparatively little loss to the victors. Resistance indeed continued to be made, but it was the hopeless resistance of broken bands and fugitive chiefs, lurking among the fastnesses of Nepal, beyond the British dominions, and urged by hunger or revenge; and with every attempt their numbers were diminished and their range circumscribed, so that what had lately been armies, were little more than troops of brigands, whose outrages the nearest military station was strong enough to suppress. The British Empire was re-established in India upon a basis more august and imposing than before.c

The act for the better government of India (1858), which finally transferred the entire administration from the company to the crown, enacts that India shall be governed by and in the name of the sovereign of England through one of the principal secretaries of state, assisted by a council of fifteen members. The governor-general received the new title of viceroy. The European troops of the company, numbering about twenty-four thousand officers and men, were amalgamated with the royal service, and the Indian navy was abolished. By the Indian Councils Act (1861) the governor-general's council and also the councils at Madras and Bombay were augmented by the addition of non-official members, either natives or Europeans, for legislative purposes only; and by another act passed in the same

[1857-1858 A.D.] year high courts of judicature were constituted out of the existing supreme courts at the presidency towns.

It fell to the lot of Lord Canning both to suppress the Mutiny and to introduce the peaceful revolution that followed. As regards his execution of the former part of his duties, it is sufficient to say that he preserved his equanimity undisturbed in the darkest hours of peril, and that the strict impartiality of his conduct incurred alternate praise and blame from the fanatics on either side. The epithet then scornfully applied to him of "Clemency" Canning is now remembered only to his honour.

Peace was proclaimed throughout India on July 8th, 1859; and in the following cold weather Lord Canning made a viceregal progress through the upper provinces, to receive the homage of loyal princes and chiefs, and to guarantee to them the right of adoption. The suppression of the Mutiny increased the debt of India by about forty millions sterling, and the military changes that ensued augmented the annual expenditure by about ten millions. To grapple with this deficit, Mr. James Wilson was sent out from the treasury as financial member of council. He reorganised the customs system, imposed an income-tax and licence duty, and created a state paper currency. The penal code, originally drawn up by Macaulay in 1837, passed into law in 1860, together with a code of civil and criminal procedure.b

To Canning's services as governor, Spencer Walpole pays this tribute: "If Dalhousie was the last, and in some respects the greatest of the old type of governors, Canning was the first and one of the greatest of the new class of rulers. That he had defects in his character, and that his defects were attended with serious consequences, it would be absurd to deny. A Clive or a Wellesley, or even a Hastings or a Hardinge, would possibly have stamped out rebellion more rapidly, or confined a revolt within narrower limits. But neither Clive nor Wellesley, neither Hastings nor Hardinge, would have furnished subject India with so grand an example of the nobler features of the British character. The man who maintained his equanimity amidst panic, whose courage never quailed amidst disaster, who, conscious of his own virtue, moved calm amidst obloquy; who, amidst rage and tumult, in the hour of severity never forgot to be just, was a ruler worthy of the great country whose honour, in the hour of her supreme peril, was entrusted to his keeping."

LORD CANNING left India in March, 1862, and died before he had been a month in England. His successor, Lord Elgin, lived only till November, 1863, when he too fell a victim to the excessive work of the governor-generalship, dying at the Himalayan station of Dharmsala, where he lies buried. He was succeeded by Sir John Lawrence [afterwards Lord Lawrence], the saviour of the Punjab. The chief incidents of his administration were the Bhutan War and the terrible Orissa famine.b

The drought of 1865 had caused a dearth in 1866. Unforeseen by the lieutenant-governor of Bengal, it could not be met with imported supplies, and before the following rainy season brought relief a million souls had died of hunger or consequent disease, out of a province containing a population of only four millions. Lord Napier saved Madras from a similar calamity by his foresight, and a year later the sufferings from a drought in Mysore were considerably instigated by the British rulers."

LORD LAWRENCE'S VICE-ROYALTY (1863-1869 A.D.)

Bhutan is a little Himalayan state to the north of Assam. For some years past the Bhutia highlanders had made frequent inroads in British ground lying at the foot of their hills, and claimed by their chiefs as part of Bhutan. In 1863 the Honourable Mr. Ashley Eden had been sent to treat with the Bhutan government on behalf of the British subjects who had been kidnapped in these raids. The utter failure of the mission was crowned by the insults heaped upon the envoy himself. In fear of his life he had to sign a treaty surrendering the very lands in dispute. After some vain attempts to patch up the quarrel and gain redress for the outrage, Sir John Lawrence, in November, 1864, declared war against Bhutan. A small force entered the hills;

[1863-1877 A.D.]

but mismanagement and a sickly season delayed its progress; some of the British troops on one occasion were disgracefully defeated, and not till some months later was the enemy driven to sue for peace and give some pledges for its maintenance.h

Great importance also attaches to Lawrence's Afghan policy, the interest of the British power in Afghan affairs having become closer as her frontiers advanced towards Afghanistan in consequence of the annexations following on the Sind and Sikh wars. a Of Lawrence's attitude, Brightc has said that his "consistent policy, sometimes slightingly spoken of as masterly inactivity, consisted in holding entirely aloof from the dynastic quarrels of the Afghans, in the recognition of any prince who either by force or by popular favour succeeded in establishing himself on the throne, and in attempting to cultivate the friendship of the amir by gifts of money and arms, while carefully avoiding topics of offence."

THE GOVERNORSHIPS OF LORDS MAYO AND NORTHBROOK (1869-1876 A.D.)

Lord Mayo, who succeeded Lawrence in 1869, carried on the permanent British policy of moral and material progress with a special degree of personal energy. The Ambala (Umballa) darbar, at which Sher Ali was recognised as amir of Afghanistan, though in one sense merely the completion of what Lord Lawrence had begun, owed much of its success to the personal influence of Lord Mayo himself. The same quality, combined with sympathy and firmness, stood him in good stead in all his dealings both with native chiefs and European officials. His example of hard work stimulated all to their best. While engaged in exploring with his own eyes the farthest corners of the empire, he fell by the hand of an assassin in the convict settlement of the Andaman Islands in 1872.

His successor was Lord Northbrook, whose ability showed itself chiefly in the department of finance. During the time of his administration a famine in Lower Bengal in 1874 was successfully obviated by government relief and public works, though at an enormous cost; the gaekwar of Baroda was dethroned in 1875 for misgovernment and disloyalty, while his dominions were continued to a nominated child of the family; Lord Lytton followed Northbrook in 1876.

QUEEN VICTORIA BECOMES EMPRESS OF INDIA (1877 A.D.)

On January 1st, 1877, Queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of India at a darbar of unequalled magnificence, held on the historic "ridge" overlooking the Mughal capital of Delhi. But, while the princes and high officials of the country were flocking to this gorgeous scene, the shadow of famine was already darkening over the south of India. Both the monsoons of 1876 had failed to bring their due supply of rain, and the season of 1877 was little better. The consequences of this prolonged drought, which extended from the Deccan to Cape Comorin, and subsequently invaded northern India, were more disastrous than any similar calamity since the introduction of British rule. Despite unparalleled importations of grain by sea and rail, despite the most strenuous exertions of the government, which incurred a total expenditure on this account of eleven millions sterling, the loss of life from actual starvation and its attendant train of diseases was lamentable. The total number of deaths from disease and want in the distressed tracts in excess of the normal mortality for the two years 1876-1878 is estimated to have raised the