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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 RULERS OF INDIA 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 SIR WILLIAM WILSON HUNTER, K.C.S.I., CLE. 
 
 M,A. (Oxford) ; LL.D. (Cambridge)
 
 HENRY FROWDE, M.A. 
 
 PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 
 
 LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK 
 
 TORONTO AND MELBOURNE
 
 J
 
 EARL AMHERST 
 Aet. 70
 
 LORD AMHERST 
 
 AND THE BRITISH ADVANCE EASTWARDS 
 TO BURMA 
 
 BY 
 
 ANNE THACKERAY RITCHIE 
 
 AND 
 
 RICHARDSON EVANS 
 
 OXFORD 
 
 AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 MCMIX
 
 OXFORD 
 
 PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 BY HORACE HART, M.A. 
 PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
 
 jus 
 
 K6I i 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PACES 
 
 I. Family, Early Career and Embassy to China . 9-20 
 
 II. Governor-General of India. .... 21-51 
 
 III. Arrival in India and Social Life at Calcutta 52-65 
 
 IV. The Burmese War : the Capture of Rangoon . 66-85 
 
 V. The Burmese War : the Defence of Rangoon 
 
 and Conquest of Arakan .... 86-104 
 
 VI. The Burmese War : Advance on Prome and Ava, 
 
 and Conclusion of the War. . . 105-127 
 
 VII. The Capture of Bhartpur 128-147 
 
 VIII. The Mutiny at Barrackpur .... 148-163 
 
 IX. The English in India during Lord Amherst's 
 
 Governor-Generalship ..... 164-174 
 
 X. Tour in the Upper Provinces .... 1 75-191 
 
 XI. Visits to Delhi and Simla, and Return to 
 
 England ........ 192-209 
 
 Index ......... 211-220
 
 NOTE 
 
 The orthography of proper names follows the system adopted by 
 the Indian Government for the Imperial Gazetteer of India. That 
 system, while adhering to the popular spelling of very well-known 
 places, such as Punjab, Poona, Deccan, &c, employs in all other 
 cases the vowels with the following uniform sounds : — 
 
 a, as in woman : a, as in father : i, as in km : i, as in intrigue : 
 o, as in cold : u, as in bull : ii, as in rule.
 
 LORD AMHERST 
 
 CHAPTER 1 
 Family, Early Career and Embassy to China 
 
 The Amherst country lies in that delightful region 
 where the North Downs slope from Sevenoaks to 
 Tunbridge and the Weald of Kent. The place which 
 bears the name is in the parish of Pembury, within 
 a few miles of Tunbridge, and from the Pipe Rolls of 
 1 215 down to the Tudor period we find mention of 
 those who took their description from the spot. The 
 Reverend Jeffery Amherst was, in the time of the 
 Commonwealth, Rector of Horsmonden, a parish east 
 of Pembury, and about eight miles east of Tunbridge 
 Wells. The son, the grandson, and the great grand- 
 son of that worthy were successively barristers and 
 benchers of Gray's Inn. The second of these legal 
 dignitaries, who died in 17 13, fixed his seat at River- 
 head, a pleasant village close to Sevenoaks, and about 
 fifteen miles to the north-east of the original Pembury 
 home. The third of the line of benchers, who also
 
 io LORD AMHERST 
 
 lived at Riverhead, and was buried with his wife at 
 Sevenoaks, was the father of Jeffery, the first Lord 
 Amherst. Another son, William, the father of the 
 statesman whose Indian administration we have here 
 to sketch, was also a soldier. 
 
 At Riverhead the Amherst property was close to 
 Knole, and in 1731 the Duke of Dorset procured for 
 Jeffery Amherst, the son of his friend the bencher, 
 an onsigncy in the Guards. This led to service in 
 the Continental wars, and acquaintanceship with the 
 great Captains of the day ; and so good a use did 
 the young soldier make of his opportunities, that Pitt 
 recognized in him a heaven-sent agent for work that 
 in the prescient mind of the statesman was of critical 
 importance. It was the period when Montcalm was 
 maturing his plans for connecting the French pos- 
 sessions in Louisiana with the French possessions in 
 Canada. Jeffery Amherst was appointed to the chief 
 command of the operations necessary to defeat this 
 well-laid plan for shouldering the English out of 
 North America. His first exploit was to capture 
 Louisburg, the fortress on Cape Breton which had 
 hitherto mocked the efforts of the British assailants. 
 In the general operations which followed Amherst 
 commanded one of the three forces employed. While 
 Wolfe has obtained unfading renown by the glorious 
 capture of Quebec, Amherst did no less solid service 
 by reducing Ticonderoga. Finally in 1760 the united 
 forces took Montreal, and General Jeffery Amherst was 
 appointed Governor-General of British North America.
 
 HIS FAMILY II 
 
 In 1 761 he was made a Knight of the Bath, in 1763 
 he returned to England, and in 1776 he was created 
 a Peer. With the rest of his career, his courageous 
 opposition to the wishes of the king, his appointment 
 as Commander-in-Chief, his support of the war with 
 the revolted colonies in America, his action in the 
 Gordon Riots, and his appointment as Field Marshal 
 we have little immediate concern. He went back to 
 live at the family estate at Riverhead, which he called 
 after the scene of his Canadian triumph, Montreal. 
 He was created Lord Amherst with remainder to his 
 nephew in 1788, and died in 1797 at the age of 
 eighty. 
 
 We return now to General William Amherst, his 
 brother 1 . He had accompanied Sir JefFery to Canada, 
 and brought back the news of the capture of Louis- 
 burg. Both brothers had a passion for botany, and 
 while in America collected the seeds of many trees 
 and shrubs which were then little known in Great 
 Britain. These were planted in 1759 in the garden 
 at Riverhead in the part which was afterwards known 
 as the American wood. During this time of absence 
 in America, the old house which used to be called 
 Brook's Place was pulled down, and the new mansion 
 finished under the new title. In 1766 Lieutenant- 
 General William Amherst married Elizabeth Patterson. 
 ' She was a very pretty and accomplished woman, 
 much beloved by her brothers-in-law.' William Pitt, 
 
 1 General William Amherst conquered Newfoundland and was 
 for several years Adjutant-General to the Forces.
 
 i2 LORD AMHERST 
 
 their eldest son, the subject of this memoir, was born 
 in 1773 a ^ Bath, one of his godfathers being Lord 
 Chatham, who was an intimate friend of the family. 
 Two years after the birth of her daughter, Mrs. 
 Amherst passed away from the love of her kindred. 
 All this while the old Governor-General (Jeffery) was 
 living at Riverhead. General William Amherst had 
 his home at St. John's in the Isle of Wight, where, 
 till his death in 1781, the children lived. The place 
 was then sold, and they went to live at Montreal 
 with their uncle and aunt, who treated them as 
 their own children. The lad went to school at West- 
 minster, and passed thence to Christ Church, Oxford, 
 where he took the degree of M.A. in 1797. In his 
 University days he devoted the long vacations to 
 walking and riding tours, nourishing that taste for 
 scenery and nature of which we shall see so many 
 charming traits in his later life. On leaving Oxford 
 in 1793 he started, after the custom of the time, on 
 a grand continental tour, studying the languages on 
 his way. His capacity as a linguist was shown when, 
 a generation later, an Italian bishop, who found himself 
 in India, spoke of the pleasure he derived from the pure 
 pronunciation with which the Governor-General spoke 
 his native tongue. It was at Rome that in the year 
 1794 he first met the Earl and Countess of Plymouth, 
 and made great friends of both. After she became 
 a widow he married her in 1800. The marriage, as 
 a perusal of her diary would alone suffice to show, 
 was an exceedingly happy one. She was one of the
 
 EMBASSY TO CHINA 13 
 
 co-heiresses of the last Lord Archer. She and her 
 sisters were very lovely women. 
 
 In 1797, as we have said, the first Lord Amherst 
 died, and his nephew succeeded to the title. He 
 succeeded also to Court favour, and he was Lord of 
 the Bedchamber to George III from 1802 to 1804. 
 His gifts seem to have marked him out very early 
 for diplomatic employment, as in 1809 he was sent 
 as Ambassador Extraordinary to Sicily. In 1815 
 he was made a Privy Councillor. 
 
 From the faithful discharge of these temporary and 
 ceremonial duties Lord Amherst was soon to be called 
 to a mission full of grave political moment and 
 fraught with possibilities of romantic peril. In the 
 early part of the present century the interior of China 
 was still, to the European imagination, a region of 
 mystery, and the Imperial Court was a labyrinth 
 which Western diplomacy had not yet succeeded in 
 exploring. The East India Company, which in India 
 had been transformed from a trading association to 
 a great governing organization, was still on the 
 Chinese coast engaged in conducting and endeavour- 
 ing to extend a profitable traffic. But the factory at 
 Canton was unauthorized by any explicit warrant 
 from Chinese officials. Nevertheless, in 18 13, the 
 Company, anxious to push their trade and influence 
 after the model which had rendered them the leading 
 political power in Hindustan, formally appointed 
 a chief of the factory at Canton. It is a curious 
 illustration of the complexities which the dual system
 
 14 LORD AMHERST 
 
 involved, that the Company became embroiled with 
 the local Mandarins less by any act of their own 
 servants than by the independent action of the com- 
 mander of a king's ship. The immediate result was 
 a series of conferences between high officers of the 
 Company and trusted agents of the Court of Pekin ; 
 but it was felt that the differences which existed 
 demanded for their adjustment the despatch of an 
 ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary. To 
 this distinguished and trying office Lord Amherst was 
 appointed by the Prince Regent. There had been a 
 British Embassy to Pekin at the close of the preceding 
 century, but the dismissal of Lord Macartney and the 
 humiliating demands made upon him by the etiquette 
 of the Imperial Court furnished no hopeful augury 
 to the new envoy. Lord Amherst, however, started 
 on his voyage with a brave heart and a cheerful 
 readiness to see good in all things. His own account 
 of the long journey from England to the remotest 
 East, as set forth almost from day to day in the diary 
 kept with his own hand, is a record, fascinating in its 
 simplicity, of many strange experiences. Lady Amherst 
 did not accompany her husband on this first excursion 
 to Oriental climes. His son Jeff, whose name appears 
 so often in the faded entries, was the partner of the 
 delights and the privations of this memorable mission. 
 The narrative of the voyage may serve to remind 
 us of the world-wide domain over which the East 
 India Company in those days had its stations, and 
 left its imprint. The squadron sailed from Portsmouth
 
 EMBASSY TO CHINA 1 5 
 
 on February 8, 1816. A visit to Rio de Janeiro, where 
 the British Ambassador had the good fortune to meet 
 the King of Portugal, was a pleasant distraction from 
 the monotony of ship life. A fortnight in the Brazils 
 appears indeed to have been then as common a pleasure 
 by the way as a few days in Cairo is now that the 
 highway to India lies through Egypt. Capetown 
 was then the half-way-house of meetings. 
 
 'April 18. In the bay we find the Salsette and five 
 Incliamen homewai'd bound. I went on board the William 
 Pitt, East Indiaman, to pay a visit to the Countess of 
 Loudoun who is on her way to England. She is going to 
 take her son, Lord Hungerford, to school, and told me that 
 she intended afterwards to rejoin Lord Moira in India. 
 They had had a very tedious passage from Bengal, and had 
 been twelve days in sight of the Cape without being able, 
 from calms and contrary winds, to reach the shore.' 
 
 ' April 2 2 . Newlands, the country residence of Lord 
 Charles Somerset, as Commander-in-Chief, is in point of 
 situation and external appearance like a gentleman's country 
 house in England. ... It is pleasantly situated in the midst of 
 flourishing woods, and its neighbourhood affords some most 
 beautiful rides. These are chiefly through an unenclosed 
 country covered with Ericas and various beautiful shrubs. ... I 
 can compare the country to nothing but a shrubbery suffered 
 to grow wild, and abounding in the choicest and most orna- 
 mental plants. . . . One of our rides was, of course, to Con- 
 stantia, which all strangers visit on account of its famous 
 vineyards.' 
 
 On June 9 the party reached Anjier Bay (Batavia), 
 '• exactly the day four months from our leaving 
 Spithead.' Here Lord Amherst could not forbear
 
 i6 LORD AMHERST 
 
 reflecting on the superior advantages of British 
 rule. 
 
 ' The English and Dutch system with respect to the natives 
 is as different as possible, for whereas the gates of the forti- 
 fication are now open at all times, and the Javanese are 
 suffered to wander about the precincts undisturbing and 
 undisturbed, a native under the Dutch Government was in- 
 fallibly shot at if he ventured to approach the fortification 
 after dark ; and I was also told, while taking our walk in 
 the dusk beyond the village, that a Dutchman would not 
 have ventured to have done so as he valued his life.' 
 
 After a visit to the city of Batavia he remarks 
 that ' he was greatly disappointed at its general 
 appearance ' : — 
 
 ' "We rode by the barracks where the Dutch troops used 
 to be quartered, and where it is said the mortality was so 
 great that sometimes two sets of men were swept off in the 
 twelvemonth. The climate appears to have been far less 
 prejudicial both to our civil or militai'y authorities . . . 
 Perhaps the difference in the mortality of the two nations 
 may be owing to the less sedentary and more temperate 
 mode of living practised by the English.' 
 
 ' In every part of the island ' — Lord Amherst observes — 
 ' the English travel fearlessly in very small numbers and 
 unarmed, and so far from experiencing injury or insult, 
 have met with nothing but kindness and hospitality.' 
 
 Certainly Lord Amherst was an Englishman who 
 believed in England. We had enemies then as now, 
 and their methods in those times were the methods 
 employed to-day. 
 
 ' The first news the Ambassador received on arriving in 
 Chinese waters was that the Portuguese at Macao had
 
 EMBASSY TO CHINA 17 
 
 already begun to propagate injurious and unfavourable 
 reports about the mission.' 
 
 Upon the fortunes of the Embassy after it had 
 reached Chinese soil, and was subjected to the tender 
 mercies of the functionaries of state, we must not dwell. 
 Celestial diplomacy appears to have been in spirit 
 then what it had been for centuries before and what 
 it remains still. But the contest was waged in 1816 
 on far different terms from those which the modern 
 Tsung-li-Yamen has to accept. Lord Amherst was 
 necessarily ignorant of the conditions with which he 
 had to deal, and had no means of gauging either the 
 character or rank of the various officials who were 
 successively sent to make experiments on his good 
 nature or his fears. The object was to befool him if 
 possible ; if that failed, to terrify him ; and if he 
 refused to be coerced, to humiliate him. Throughout 
 the period of cruel indignity and privation to which 
 he was exposed on the very threshold of the palace, 
 he bore himself with rare fortitude and discretion. 
 It is possible that if celestial cunning had not overshot 
 itself by resorting to sheer brutality, the ceremonial 
 obeisance, to secure which all these artifices and out- 
 rages had been employed, would have been conceded. 
 For Lord Amherst had it much on his mind to secure 
 for the East India Company at Canton privileges 
 which were dearer in the eyes of Leadenhall Street 
 than the assertion of the dignity of the British crown. 
 There is something at once ludicrous and pathetic in 
 the extraordinary compromises gravely suggested and 
 
 B
 
 1 8 LORD AMHERST 
 
 deliberately discussed on the terrible subject of the 
 Kotow. Reading in Lord Amherst's manuscript the 
 faithfully minute accounts of the trickery by which 
 the Mandarins, without regard to the colour or number 
 of their buttons, sought to entrap him into private 
 and unintended performance of the indispensable 
 obeisance, we can hardly help pitying these artistic 
 rogues at the failure of practices so conscientiously 
 devised and laboriously executed. The end was that 
 the Ambassador had to make a miserable retreat from 
 the outskirts of the Court. 
 
 Lord Amherst and his suite were conducted through 
 the inland provinces to Canton. Little by little, as 
 day passed day in the lazy voyage along the Great 
 Canal, vexations and regrets gave way to delighted 
 contemplation of the novel scenes through which he 
 passed. On the whole he had no great reason to 
 complain of want of good-nature in his guides. They 
 allowed him as much liberty as was compatible with 
 their instructions, and the farther he got from the capital 
 the more marked were the attentions paid to him. 
 His reception at Canton was, on the part of the 
 Chinese, so respectful, and on the part of the English- 
 men, whether belonging to the factory or the ships of 
 war, so abundantly cordial, that a nature even more 
 resentful and brooding than that of the Ambassador 
 might well have been tempted to forget the injury. 
 But the memory of the affronts he had received could 
 never be effaced. He was delighted with the aspect 
 of the settlement, and was able to solace himself with
 
 EMBASSY TO CHINA 10. 
 
 the thought that the compunction and the fear with 
 which the Chinese authorities regarded their treat- 
 ment of the Envoy was in itself a pledge that the 
 interests of our enterprise would sustain no prejudice 
 from the diplomatic disappointment. Apart from the 
 official aspect of the matters chronicled, the diary 
 shows Lord Amherst's character in a most pleasing 
 light. Home was constantly in his thoughts. Even 
 the most fantastic scenery on the route suggests to 
 the mind of the wanderer some parallel from the quiet 
 scenes of English towns and fields. Though he does 
 not pose as a naturalist, he took loving note of plants 
 and flowers ; and without any pretence to be a con- 
 noisseur, he shows a fine appreciation of art in its 
 application to the uses of life. To the charms of land- 
 scape he was keenly alive, and of that human nature 
 which his eventful journey presented to him in such 
 bewildering and sometimes repulsive variety, he was 
 a genial student. In everything we see, on the part of 
 Lord Amherst, a high conscientiousness and humble 
 anxiety to support worthily the honour of his country. 
 The chapter of misfortunes was not ended with the 
 departure from Canton. A visit to Manilla was 
 a pleasant incident in the early part of the home- 
 ward voyage, but in passing through the Straits of 
 Jaspar, His Majesty's Ship Alceste, which bore the 
 sacred person of the Ambassador, struck on a sunken 
 rock and was lost. Leaving the officers to guard the 
 baggage on the island to which fortunately the whole 
 company were able to scramble, the ' gentlemen ' had to 
 
 B 2
 
 20 LORD AMHERST 
 
 take to the boats, and row with infinite toil and dis- 
 comfort towards Batavia. where, to their relief, they 
 found a hospitable welcome on hoard an English ship 
 which happened to be in the roads. ' I was overjoyed.' 
 says the patriotic Envoy, 'to rind that although the 
 island was given up to the Dutch, the principal English 
 authorities were still at Eyswyck." The succeeding 
 entries give a BUggestive picture of the straits to which 
 a shipwrecked Embassy may be reduced in the hum- 
 an matter of a passage home. At last, all was 
 happily arranged. But when the vessel on which 
 Lord Amherst had again embarked had arrived within 
 150 miles of the Mauritius, a second calamity ensued 
 in the shape of a fire. 
 
 After this there are no more disasters to record. 
 Stopping at St. Helena. Lord Amherst enjoyed the 
 privilege which sometimes fell to the lot of less 
 distinguished callers at the island. He was admitted 
 to an interview with the captive Napoleon, from 
 whom he heard much that even to-day it is inter- 
 esting to read. But we can only give the remarks 
 that were personal to Lord Amherst. 
 
 • He began by showing me that he had acquainted himself, 
 even minutely, with what related to myself : asked me why 
 I bore the name of Pitt, and if I had not had a derail? with 
 the Queen whom he called an Intrigue 
 
 On August i6 3 181 7, the much-travelled Envoy had 
 
 •'once more the satisfaction of setting foot on old 
 England." and so ends the diary.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 Governor-General of India 
 
 Ox January 9, 1823, the Marquess of Hasting.-, 
 quitted the scene of his brilliant labours. It had 
 been a stirring question at home who should succeed 
 the great pro-consul. All eyes were turned to George 
 Canning. He had been President of the Board of 
 Control, but owing to his unwillingness to share with 
 bis colleagues the obloquy of the Queen's trial had 
 withdrawn from the Ministry. While he was thus 
 lisponibilite news came in the early part of 1822 
 of Lord Hastings's intended retirement. Mr. Canning 
 needed little persuasion to accept the reversion of 
 a post so attractive to his imagination. Xo chapter 
 in the volume of ' What might have been's ' would be 
 more alluring than that which would deal with the 
 possibilities of English rule in India had George 
 Canning continued the work of Lord Hastings. Pos- 
 sibly he might have discovered, as others have when 
 they pass from the function of control to that of 
 initiative and of executive administration, that the clog 
 is sometimes more powerful in the ordering of events
 
 22 LORD AMHERST 
 
 than the driving force. He would certainly have 
 felt with possibly painful distinctness the difference 
 between the system of government in and by a House 
 of Commons moved by fervent speech, and govern- 
 ment under conditions where eloquence can only 
 expend itself in the preparation of glowing minutes. 
 But the experiment was not to be tried ; the tragic 
 death of the Marquess of Londonderry left a place in 
 the Cabinet to which Canning was imperiously called, 
 and the Court of Directors had to look elsewhere. 
 
 Lord William Bentinck had been, some years before, 
 dismissed from the Government of Madras under 
 circumstances which placed him in possession of a 
 well-established grievance. Lord Amherst, on the 
 other hand, was thought to have earned by the hard- 
 ships he endured in China a title to a reward more 
 substantial than praise. In the case of both the 
 hopes of their friends were ultimately fulfilled, but 
 Lord Amherst's claim was allowed precedence. 
 
 There was an interval of more than seven months 
 between the departure of Lord Hastings and the 
 arrival of Lord Amherst. In this brief period 
 Mr. John Adam, who as the senior member of Council 
 was ad interim Governor-General, contrived to raise 
 some questions which profoundly stirred the Anglo- 
 Indian community. The freedom of the Press is 
 a doctrine so well established now that it is difficult 
 to enter into the strong convictions of many liberally 
 minded officials seventy years ago as to the necessity 
 of rigid censorship. Lord Hastings had in theory
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 23 
 
 abolished the censorship which indeed had in very 
 rare instances been called into play since the days of 
 Cornwallis. But as after the 'invidious shackles' 
 were broken the editor of a newspaper was still 
 prohibited from publishing ' animadversions on the 
 measures and the proceedings of the Honourable 
 Court of Directors,' and (to omit other forbidden 
 categories) from ' publishing private scandal and per- 
 sonal remarks on individuals tending to excite dissen- 
 sion in society,' the degree of relief cannot be thought 
 extravagant. Mr. James Silk Buckingham, the con- 
 ductor of a clever little print appearing under the 
 title of The Calcutta Journal, for the delectation of 
 society at the Presidency, became the object of 
 a practical demonstration of the meaning of the 
 liberty of the Press. He had ridiculed the appoint- 
 ment of a minister of the Scotch Church to the office 
 of Clerk to the Committee of Stationery. But it 
 must be said, in justice to Mr. Adam's sense of 
 absurdity, that it was the deliberate repetition of the 
 offence which provoked the penalty. Mr. Bucking- 
 ham was summarily deprived of his licence — for even 
 then a licence was indispensable — to remain in 
 Bengal, and despatched by an early ship to England. 
 It is only fair to those who supported the policy of 
 the high hand to recall the fact that the position of 
 the East India Compauy as a paramount power was 
 felt, even by those who had played a leading part 
 in advancing the borders of its influence, to be pre- 
 carious, it may almost be said provisional. The little
 
 24 LORD AMHERST 
 
 handful of Europeans at the Presidency represented 
 in the eyes of the native potentates, and the masses 
 of the people, the governing community, and it was 
 plausibly urged that any hesitation on the part of 
 those in authority to assert their title to implicit 
 respect might fatally discredit the exotic adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 In events of strictly political concern within the 
 limits of India proper, the administration of Lord 
 Amherst was destined to be comparatively sterile. 
 Twenty years before, Lord Lake's campaigns had 
 brought the North-Western Provinces under the 
 Company's rule, and made its officers guardians of 
 the Emperor at Delhi. To Lord Wellesley also we 
 owe the districts which form the Madras Presidency. 
 The main function of Lord Hastings was to reduce to 
 impotence the powers which had long harassed and 
 menaced us in the possession of these territories, 
 but almost all the region which constitutes the 
 Bombay Presidency was incorporated in the Com- 
 pany's dominions as the result of his great campaign 
 against the Mara tb as. When Lord Amherst took 
 over charge they had been less than five years under 
 British rule, and five years — even when an Elphin- 
 stone is in charge — is hardly long enough to clear 
 away the debris of loug confusion. The rest of India 
 east of the Sutlej and the Indus valley was, if we 
 except the territories of Nepal and Burma, &c, in 
 a relation of subsidiary dependence. Throughout 
 Rajputana, Malwa, Gujarat, Oudh, Bundelkhand,
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OE INDIA 25 
 
 Indore, Bhopal, Berar, Haidarabad, Mysore, and Tra- 
 vancore, the Company spoke through its Residents 
 or other agents with commanding authority. 
 
 The disposition of the new Governor-General ap- 
 peared to mark him out for the role of a peace 
 minister. But by the not uncommon paradox of fate 
 the pacific Governor- General had hardly taken the 
 oaths of office when he found himself confronted with 
 the possibilities — soon to become certainties — of hos- 
 tilities more arduous and more expensive than had 
 been dreamt of in the worst nightmare of the most 
 thriftily-minded magnate at the East India House. 
 The period of Lord Amherst's rule was not barren of 
 domestic incidents, if by the word ' incidents ' we 
 may be permitted to describe the stirring of ten- 
 dencies destined to grow before long into great 
 measures. But his term will be memorable in history 
 for a great war, and a glorious enterprise of arms. 
 The expeditions against Burma marked the renewal, 
 after the repose of thousands of years, of the march of 
 the Aryan eastwards. Many centuries before Christ, 
 the race had poured through the passes of the Hindu 
 Kush into the land of the Five Rivers ; had settled 
 in the vast expanse of the Ganges valley, and pushed 
 on wherever the soil was tempting in the highlands 
 and coast tracts of the Deccan. But having thrust 
 aside the peoples of other origin the Aryans appeared 
 content to rest. The mountainous region which 
 divides India from Burma and from China was the 
 limit of their wanderings. Isolated immigrations
 
 26 LORD AMHERST 
 
 there might have been of Brahmans or of Rajputs, 
 but there was no wave of conquest to the east of the 
 Bay of Bengal. Up to the time when Lord Amherst 
 reluctantly accepted the necessity of organizing mili- 
 tary measures for the protection of our own soil and 
 the effectual chastisement of Burmese insolence, the 
 basin of the Irawadi was a region beyond the 
 thoughts and almost beyond the knowledge of Anglo- 
 Indian statesmen. We were aware of our neighbours 
 on the west. The progress of Russian arms against 
 Persia, the intrigues which were set on foot, and 
 the combinations which were devised by Napoleon 
 Bonaparte in his palmy days had suggested to the 
 immediate predecessors of Lord Amherst the necessity 
 of cultivating friendly relations with the Court of 
 Teheran 1 and with the great Sikh State on the 
 Indus, which was in the eyes of the diplomatists of 
 the East India Company very much what Afghanistan 
 is at present to the Foreign Office. But with the races 
 and politics beyond our eastern border we had little 
 concern. Missions, indeed, of the most modest cha- 
 racter had been sent to Ava with a view to settling 
 
 1 It may be convenient to sum up here Lord Amherst's relations 
 with Asiatic powers on the west by recording that in 1826 Colonel 
 Macdonald was sent as an Envoy to the Shah, who was then vainly 
 resisting an aggressive movement of Russian troops. But the only 
 outcome of the mission was that the British representative looked 
 impotently on while the Czar exacted considerable cessions of 
 territory (Treaty of Turkomanchai, Feb. 23, 1828 . The Indian 
 Government helped the Shah to find the money for the indemnity ; 
 obtaining, in return for its grant, a release from the obligation to 
 pay a conditional subsidy.
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 27 
 
 some border troubles, but we bad no notion of ex- 
 tending our political activity to the valley of the 
 Irawadi. Yet as the consequence of that first step 
 taken by Lord Amherst, the British standard has been 
 advanced not only beyond the royal cities of the 
 Burmese, but carried up the Irawadi to the very con- 
 fines of China, and along the tributaries of the great 
 stream, among wild tribes that hardly owned even 
 a nominal allegiance to the lords of the white elephant. 
 This process of undesigned and undesired absorption 
 has added the Celestial Empire to the list of powers with 
 which the rulers of India have to make their account ; 
 while it has brought us into perilous contact with the 
 French possessions in Indo-China, and with adven- 
 turous soldiers who would fain recover for the arms 
 of the Republic the Empire in the East of which 
 Dupleix dreamt and for which he plotted. 
 
 From another point of view the Burmese war marks 
 a stage in the political relations of creeds Buddhism 
 had its birth in India. From India came the mission- 
 aries who won vast populations in Eastern Asia to 
 belief in the teachings of Gautama. But the religion 
 is extinct in the land where its founder was born and 
 where for many centuries after his death it flourished. 
 In the struggle with Brahmanism the simpler faith of 
 Sakya Muni was worsted, its edifices destroyed, and 
 its votaries exterminated, and so for ages the cults 
 dwelt apart. But when the Hindu Sepoys occupied 
 Rangoon, they found themselves in a Buddhist land. 
 When contemplating the gorgeous pagodas which
 
 28 LORD AMHERST 
 
 occasionally served either them or the enemy as 
 fortresses, the Brahman soldiers might have meditated 
 on the strange fate that again brought the votaries of 
 Siva with hostile intent to the sanctuaries of the 
 milder sage. 
 
 The siege of Bhartpur was an episode so stirring 
 and splendid in itself that it seems superfluous to 
 inquire as to its historic significance. If the ex- 
 peditions against Burma were momentous by their 
 consequences, they cannot be said on the balance of 
 triumph and reverse to have been altogether flattering 
 to British pride. But the storming of Bhartpur, had 
 it been merely a chivalrous blunder, would still have 
 counted for much as a factor in that abiding element 
 of strength — the military prestige of our name. It 
 has, however, a distinct place in the evolution of 
 British power throughout India. It was the brilliant 
 conclusion of the series of arduous labours by which 
 English supremacy had been asserted in Northern 
 India — by which the Maratha power had been com- 
 pletely crushed, and by which the last faint hope 
 cherished by the puppet emperor at Delhi, or by 
 Rohilla desperadoes, or Eajput princes, or Jat chiefs, 
 was once for all dispelled. The Pax Britannica was 
 then definitely extended to the Indus, and though 
 a score of years later the lesson of submission had to 
 be enforced at Gwalior, the victory at Bhartpur may be 
 regarded as establishing the undisputed right of the 
 East India Company to maintain peace and order 
 within the limits of Hindustan and the Deccan.
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 29 
 
 Chronologically Lord Amherst's administration is 
 singularly well placed for the purpose of comparison. 
 Just half a century had elapsed since the East India 
 Company determined to ' stand forth as Dewan,' and 
 the direct management of the revenue in the districts 
 which then were entrusted to their care passed from 
 the hands of the native officials to those of English 
 ' collectors.' It was about a quarter of a century 
 since the great reforms of Lord Cornwallis placed the 
 administration of Bengal, Behar and Orissa on the 
 basis which has never been abandoned, and which 
 with necessary modifications was adopted for the 
 government of the territories successively occupied 
 as the pillars of the Company's domain were pushed 
 on towards the north and the setting sun. It hap- 
 pens, too, that the term with which we have to do 
 lies almost midway between the installation of Lord 
 Elgin as Viceroy of the Indian Empire of 1893 and 
 the original grant which converted the Company 
 from a trading association into concessionnaires of 
 sovereign rights over a vast tract more populous and 
 more fertile than most European kingdoms. The 
 phases of development coincide, we think, with the 
 divisions into which time has been mapped. It would 
 not be inaccurate to describe the period before Lord 
 Amherst's arrival at Government House, as one of 
 struggle and acquisition, and that which ensued as 
 one of possession and of organization. Vast indeed 
 had been the change in the character of the men by 
 whom the affairs of the people of India were managed,
 
 30 LORD AMHERST 
 
 as distinguished from the more conspicuous functions 
 of control vested in the courtiers or the politicians 
 whom the British Cabinet or the Board of Directors 
 sent out to be the agent of their will or — as generally 
 happened, when good work was to be done — to receive 
 instructions which the inexorable course of events 
 had rendered obsolete or mischievous. The Governor- 
 General at Calcutta was a little nearer the realities 
 of the situation than the Commissioners of Control 
 at Whitehall or the Directors at the India House. 
 But closer still to the intrigues of native courts and 
 the humdrum miseries of the seething masses were 
 those illustrious servants of the Company, who, while 
 Viceroys came and went, remained permanently on the 
 field of action, and whose opinions not infrequently 
 dictated decisions to the Governor- General. They 
 possessed the indispensable information, the cultivated 
 instinct, the knack of executive success. Following 
 in their train, and acting loyally in concert with the 
 chiefs in all matters that concerned the haute politique, 
 there was already a school of district officials : men 
 whose hearts and souls were absorbed in thought for 
 the well-being of the common folk, who had a mastery 
 of the vernacular speech, and an intimate acquaint- 
 ance with the infinite variety of native customs and 
 ideas. We would not draw any hard and fast line 
 between the dignified administrator and the magis- 
 trate whose highest ambition was to suppress crime, 
 to encourage industry, to enlist all that was best in 
 native society on the side of the new lords of the
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OE INDIA 3 1 
 
 State. But it would be irrational and ungrateful, in 
 selecting some names from the roll of honour, to 
 forget the obscure civilians whose fame is confined to 
 the scene of their toil and there is conserved to this 
 day in the traditions of the country side. They had 
 their rewards even in their work. The area of culti- 
 vation had not been extended so far as to drive the 
 tiger or game almost as noble beyond reach, and it 
 was still an aphorism with the civilians in Lord 
 Amherst's day that the best work was done when 
 the district officer went amongst the people with 
 his gun on his shoulder. Sport was more than 
 a recreation ; it was the means of gaining the con- 
 fidence of the people and learning the truth about 
 their affairs. The selfish adventurers whose notion 
 of duty was to accumulate a fortune in the shortest 
 time, and hurry back to England to spend it in the 
 purchase of rotten boroughs and huge estates, had 
 ceased to be a recognizable class. The age of the 
 Nabobs had given place to the age of the patriotic, 
 enthusiastic administrators. There were men in high 
 places in Lord Cornwallis's time of singular capacity 
 and perfect integrity ; if he had not found such allies 
 he could not have cleansed the Augean stables. But 
 in 1823 devotion and ability had become the rule. 
 The work had trained the workmen. 
 
 There were giants in the land when Lord Amherst 
 took his seat at the Calcutta Council Board. The 
 scholarlike Elphinstone ; the accomplished Metcalfe ; 
 Sir John Malcolm, with his keen and indefatigable
 
 32 LORD AMHERST 
 
 temper ; Sir Thomas Munro, simple and earnest ; Och- 
 terlony — now alas ! the shadow of his greater self ; — 
 these names are household words even to-day and 
 fill the official literature of the time. Four out of the 
 five were Scotchmen, and three were soldiers. But 
 different social strains were found happily blended 
 in the public service. Metcalfe was a brilliant Eton 
 boy : Elphinstone an aristocrat to the finger tips : 
 Malcolm was a farmer's son : in Munro the plain 
 commercial element was represented. There were 
 strong distinctions of moral and religious tone. We 
 find the gentle spirit of Bishop Heber distressed by 
 tales which he for his part, having known the man, 
 did not believe — that Elphinstone was an 'atheist,' 
 while Munro's letters are full of unpretentious piety. 
 Nor can the student of the times fail to see the 
 contrast between the austere principles of Metcalfe 
 and the somewhat Oriental laxity of Ochterlony. 
 But all had one instinct in common : a commanding 
 sense of public duty. 
 
 There was, in truth, giant's work to be done. The 
 Pindaris had been crushed and scattered : the pre- 
 datory powers brought under the firm bonds of British 
 supremacy. The degenerate descendant of the Great 
 Mughal had to confine his despotic rule to the pre- 
 cincts of the palace or, at most, the boundaries of 
 his private domains. But the submission, though for 
 the moment complete, was sullen, and the only pledge 
 for the continuance of internal peace was the vigi- 
 lance and sagacity of our officers and the efficiency
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 33 
 
 of our military system. For the former there was 
 abundant guarantee. 
 
 ' The same arts that did gain 
 A power, must it maintain.' 
 
 But to the adequacy of the Company's armaments, 
 the thrifty spirit of Leadenhall Street was the 
 standing impediment. ' Adapt your revenue to your 
 ruling requirements' was the contention of Sir 
 Charles Metcalfe. ' Adapt your military require- 
 ments to the exigences of economical finance ' was 
 the unceasing burden of the deputations from home. 
 And in a sense the Directors were right. The dis- 
 affection created by excessive or inappropriate 
 imposts is no whit less dangerous than weak bat- 
 talions, and the problem of finance pressed very 
 heavily on the minds of those responsible. 
 
 Revenue means of course for India to a very large 
 extent land settlement. Since the beginning of the 
 century, experience had been secured by our officials 
 at the expense alike of owners and of cultivators. 
 The policy of the Permanent Settlement, which had 
 been adopted for Bengal in 1792 and was subse- 
 quently extended to the Benares districts, remained 
 the stock subject of debate in the time of Lord 
 Amherst and remains the stock subject still. With 
 it was conjoined in the talk of officials at Calcutta 
 and Madras or of the district officers as they discussed 
 affairs before the camp-fire in some remote tract, 
 then perhaps first seen by European eyes, the merits 
 
 c
 
 34 LORD AMHERST 
 
 of the rival system of Madras. This is not the place 
 to attempt a solution of the insoluble. There is 
 reason in the contention that Lord Cornwallis, by 
 fixing once for all the payments to be made by those 
 who were recognized by him as the landed class, 
 laid a firm basis of loyalty in self-interest. British 
 rule was obviously acceptable to men to whom it 
 assured the easy enjoyment of influence and property. 
 But these eulogists of the Permanent Settlement will 
 not hesitate to admit that, in carrying out the prin- 
 ciple, grievous errors were made. The rights of the 
 hereditary cultivators — the true owners of the soil 
 as far as ownership can be said to exist in India — 
 were, if not overlooked, at least left unprovided for, 
 and the right of paying the government revenue, 
 with all the power and privileges that this right 
 implied, was conferred in a great number of instances 
 on men who had hardly any title by long possession 
 and none by prescriptive usage. Even to many of 
 these the headlong gift proved ruinous. The habits 
 of their class had made it morally impossible that 
 they could comply with the stringent conditions 
 imposed as to the payment of the fixed state rent. 
 The result was the wholesale transfer of estates 
 which might well be described as territories to the 
 clever underlings of the English officials. It is 
 a melancholy truth that the first result of our 
 Western administration in the East is to create these 
 opportunities for astute clerks, who have a sufficiently 
 keen intelligence to avail themselves of all the
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 35 
 
 niceties and quibbles of refined bureaucracy, but 
 have not the slightest sympathy with the moral 
 purpose which underlies great administrative schemes. 
 The end of it all was in Bengal that there did grow 
 up a class of men who had a recognized title to what 
 may vaguely be called territorial ownership. In 
 Lord Amherst's time the faults of the Permanent 
 Settlement were more obvious than its merits, nor 
 had the alternative methods adopted in Madras of 
 direct assessments on the proprietary peasants worked 
 to more apparent advantage. Whether the ' village ' 
 system was bad per se, or worked badly because the 
 assessments were too high, is a disputed matter. It 
 must suffice here to say that the improved rayatwari 
 system of Sir Thomas Munro was formally started 
 two years before the coming of Lord Amherst, and 
 that its beneficial operation was one of the noteworthy 
 features of his term of administration. 
 
 But the long controversy found a special text in 
 the problem presented by the as yet unsettled tracts 
 of the provinces on the Ganges and the Jumna, and 
 the newly acquired districts which make up the 
 Presidency of Bombay. The best thoughts of some 
 of Lord Amherst's most trusted advisers were given 
 to this — the fundamental issue of Indian adminis- 
 tration. Nothing is more pathetic than the tales to 
 which district officers had to listen with impotent 
 regret. There had been violence and confusion in 
 the wild Maratha days, and from that the conquests 
 and annexations of Lord Welleslry, followed by the 
 
 c 2
 
 36 LORD AMHERST 
 
 brilliant operations of military police carried out by 
 Lord Hastings, had delivered the toiling masses. But 
 in the attempt to grapple with the emergencies of 
 the situation, which the first generation of British 
 officers had to face in the perturbed and harried 
 provinces along the Jumna and the upper course 
 of the Ganges, some of the most tragic blunders 
 of Lower Bengal were repeated. Settlement opera- 
 tions, which are now as familiar to the people as 
 festivals or pilgrimages, were then a bewildering 
 novelty. The initial impulse of the district officer 
 was to frame a register, and unluckily in those 
 prepared in some of the freshly acquired tracts sepa- 
 rate columns were allotted to Farmer (in the sense of 
 ' contractor-for-the-payment of Government revenue') 
 and Owner. Our methods of administration had 
 from the first beginnings of the Company's rule been 
 carried out to a great extent through members of 
 the Writer class — a caste of small consideration in 
 native eyes, but indispensable to the working of the 
 exotic method. They have their virtues — industry, 
 pliability, and unquestioning subservience to the 
 express orders and even desires of their superior. 
 But they have their failings also — failings by no 
 means peculiar to the Writer caste, — selfish cunning 
 and rapacity. It was a very simple thing for one of 
 these functionaries, when charged with the preliminary 
 duty of making out the register, to record the owner 
 not as owner but as ' Farmer,' and to avail himself 
 at the earliest opportunity of any technical lapse in
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 37 
 
 satisfying the dues of the State to secure the property 
 for some nominee of his own. A favourite device 
 was to leave the Owner column a blank in the first 
 periodical register (for the settlements were for short 
 terms) ; in the next to insert a fictitious owner, and 
 in a third to note that it had been transferred by 
 this imaginary person to the clever clerk or his 
 umbra. Thus many a family which even in our own 
 day the people regard as the rightful owners of broad 
 lands were transformed into petty tenants, while in 
 a still sadder and larger number of instances the 
 rights dating from the most remote times of village 
 communities were not so much confiscated as ignored. 
 In Lower Bengal, before we had any concern with 
 its government, these ancient Aryan institutions had 
 fallen into decay and had for practical purposes 
 ceased to be. When Lord Wellesley's conquests made 
 the Company lord of new territories on the North- 
 West, the civilians who were despatched to make the 
 first settlements brought with them unfortunately the 
 impressions they had derived from experience in the 
 Lower Provinces. Every schoolboy now knows some- 
 thing about village communities; but it was only 
 slowly that their existence — though they had survived 
 the shock of centuries of change in supreme rule — 
 became apparent to Anglo-Indian officials. It is 
 essential to the due understanding of these initial 
 blunders to remember that after our countrymen had 
 discovered towards the end of the last century the 
 corruption and the incapacity of the native func-
 
 38 LORD AMHERST 
 
 tionaries whom they ' took over ' (if we may use the 
 expression) with the grant of the Diwani, the native 
 element was almost wholly excluded from the adminis- 
 trative hierarchy. Natives were employed as clerks 
 and writers at salaries that were notoriously insuffi- 
 cient to provide them with a decent living. We have 
 seen how they managed to build up enormous fortunes 
 by a dexterous use of the opportunities of their 
 humble state. It was the defect of Lord Cornwallis's 
 system that under it all the ostensibly important 
 and responsible positions were reserved for English- 
 men, who had to learn the language and condition, 
 the laws and the usages, of the people as they went 
 on. The number of the foreign officials was, it need 
 not be said, utterly inadequate for the work that lay 
 before them. The reality of power therefore did not 
 correspond with the formal devolution of it. The 
 horde of underlings were masters in all that touched 
 closely the life of the people. Under perfectly regular 
 forms the grossest wrong was done. 
 
 It was reserved for Lord William Bentinck to 
 correct this flagrant abuse and to do for the native 
 servants of the Company what Lord Cornwallis had 
 done for the Covenanted Civil Service. But though 
 in Lord Amherst's day there was no definite step 
 towards the creation of an Uncovenanted Service, 
 the need was keenly felt and the reform was ripening 
 in the stage of discussion. 
 
 The case was the same with the closely related 
 question of land settlement. Not till 1833 did
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 39 
 
 the cultivating communities of the North- Western 
 Provinces get the Great Charter of their Rights — 
 Regulation IX of 1833. But the district officers had 
 become alive to the real conditions of land tenure and 
 to the magnitude of the injury that had been done. 
 Commissioners bad been appointed in 1821 to inquire 
 into all the transfers of property that had taken place 
 during the first decade of our rule in the North- West : 
 and in 1822 the famous Regulation VII was framed, 
 by which at least the sound principle was affirmed. 
 Unluckily the machinery was not provided for the 
 immense operation contemplated, and during Lord 
 Amherst's whole term of rule, in spite of strenuous 
 efforts on the part of the district officers, little ad- 
 vance was made — except, as we have remarked, in 
 the development of opinion. But that was no trifling 
 gain. It was not till 1859 that the tenants, as dis- 
 tinguished from owners, received adequate legal pro- 
 tection. But no reform could make the crooked 
 wholly straight, or efface from the minds of the 
 people the painful recollection of the injuries which 
 British rule in the first instance brought in its train. 
 These, it must be remembered, are the things which 
 make up the history of India for the people of India. 
 The annals of the country are the annals of each 
 district and each village, and no attempt to sketch 
 the events of a Governor-Generalship would be faith- 
 ful if it did not allude, however superficially, to the 
 cares which oppressed the consciences of these who 
 were in contact with the local realities of life.
 
 40 LORD AMHERST 
 
 The judicial system was hardly less than the ques- 
 tion of Revenue Settlements a matter for profound 
 concern. It was indeed forced on the attention of 
 the Calcutta Government by despatches from home. 
 Since 1765 nearly every conceivable method had been 
 tried. Criminal justice had at first been left to native 
 magistrates administering the Muhammadan law. 
 Then the Musalman code was tempered by English 
 ideas, and the native judges supervised by Europeans. 
 After this, Europeans were set to administer the 
 Musalman code. Next, the Musalman code was 
 superseded by the elaborate Regulations of Lord 
 Cornwallis. As a diversion, the Supreme Court, 
 manned by English judges, innocent of all know- 
 ledge of India, had claimed jurisdiction over natives 
 and British subjects alike. As to agency, there had 
 been a similar variety of expedients. Magistrates, 
 Collectors of the Revenue, Circuit Judges — these 
 roughly were the three categories to which power 
 was now given, now denied. At one time it was 
 thought a reform to make the collector a judge 
 or a magistrate : at another it was thought a reform 
 to separate the functions. Much the same may be 
 said of civil justice. To grant facilities of appeal 
 was the ideal one year ; to limit them was the policy 
 five j'ears after. It was considered a boon to make 
 litigation cheap, until it was discovered that the 
 people would ruin themselves unless it were made dear. 
 
 Under Lord Amherst the Cornwallis Regulations 
 were in force, and English judges were the rule.
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 41 
 
 Revenue functions were kept distinct from judicial. 
 Native jurists were sparingly employed, and only in 
 cases of trifling importance. There was general dis- 
 satisfaction. The arrears of work were scandalous : 
 the demoralization of the suitors was a natural con- 
 sequence. To the honour of the Directors it must be 
 said that in 1824 they wrote urgently recommending 
 the larger employment of native functionaries and of 
 the Panchayat, or Council of Village Elders, in civil 
 cases. Lord Amherst declared himself heartily in 
 favour of the principle, but urged that as much had 
 been done as could safely be attempted in Bengal. 
 Separate Supreme Courts were established for the 
 North- West — an important step in judicial de- 
 centralization. In Madras Sir Thomas Munro had 
 meanwhile taken more courageous steps to train and 
 to employ native judges. Native juries also were 
 made a part of the system ; but unfortunately those 
 who were summoned felt it a grievance to have to 
 attend. In Bombay Elphinstone's splendid success 
 in the codification of laws and rules forms a land- 
 mark in Anglo-Indian administration. There, too, 
 the more elastic system was adopted and native 
 co-operation enlisted. 
 
 The truth is that every great Anglo-Indian, at this 
 time, had his own convictions and preferences as to 
 the proper lines of reform. Some believed in the 
 possibility of reverting to native principles of juris- 
 prudence and of making the Panchayat — the Court 
 of Elders in the village community — an important
 
 42 LORD AMHERST 
 
 adjunct in the administration of justice. Others des- 
 paired of restoring efficiency and honesty to institutions 
 which had been demoralized by the long anarchy. 
 Even those who agreed that the judgement-seat must 
 be left to those who held the sword of State, were by 
 no means at one as to the appropriate procedure. 
 The uncertainties and the bewildering bulk of the 
 Regulations were a common matter of complaint. 
 Considering the paucity of capable officials, anything 
 more than a perfunctory compliance with the technical 
 requirements was plainly impossible. The non-regula- 
 tion system for the newly acquired territories was the 
 happy compromise. This form of administration may 
 be regarded as having first taken definite shape under 
 Lord Amherst. When the Bombay districts first 
 became British, military officers — for want of civilians 
 — were placed at the head of each. Bishop Heber, 
 visiting that Presidency in 1824-5, speaks with 
 enthusiasm of the simplicity and despatch resulting. 
 The principles of the law administered were the same, 
 the application less hampered by form, or by nice 
 distinctions. The plan was adopted subsequently in 
 the Central Provinces — in Tenasserim, in Arakan, in 
 Assam, and has in fact become the normal system for 
 all districts newly brought under our rule. The 
 conventional picture of the Company's servant 
 sitting under a palm-tree, and dealing out patriarchal 
 equity to all comers, was about this time occasionally 
 realized in fact, even in the North- West Provinces. 
 But it was never so common as the picture-books
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 43 
 
 would lead one to suppose. Courts of appeal, whether 
 under the style of Supreme Courts or High Courts, 
 have always been a bugbear to the energetic district 
 official. The lawyers got a footing in the factories of 
 the Company when it was still only a trading associa- 
 tion, and ever since have marched steadily in the 
 train of the armies ; but seventy years ago there was 
 probably a much closer approach to rough and ready 
 justice than is now possible. The magistrate complied 
 with the formal requirements of the law, but was, it 
 may be suspected, guided in cases of considerable 
 importance to a decision by the hearsay evidence he 
 heard out of doors. Proceedings, it is to be feared, 
 were in this idyllic period often perfunctory, and 
 a great deal of the perjury which is now attributed 
 to the inherent depravity of the average Hindu may 
 be explained by the want of discrimination and care 
 in the old tribunals. It is not that the people believe 
 in lying in the abstract. They have imbibed some- 
 how a notion that lying is the proper thing in an 
 English Court. In this respect the process of ameliora- 
 tion was already beginning in Lord Amherst's time. 
 The necessity of codifying the law was then recog- 
 nized, though India had still to wait many years for 
 the boon bestowed upon it by Lord Macaulay and 
 Sir James Stephen. There were no doubt gross mis- 
 carriages of justice in the somewhat hasty processes 
 of investigation, but if an innocent man sometimes 
 was punished owing to the malice of his neighbours 
 or by want of judgement on the part of the magistrate,
 
 44 LORD AMHERST 
 
 the guilty had very much less chance of escape 
 than now. For though the police system was in its 
 infancy the English barrister was almost unknown in 
 the mofussil. 
 
 The operations in Burma cost fifteen millions, and 
 as the total revenue for 1822-3 nac ^ ^* een little more 
 than twenty-three millions it will be easily under- 
 stood that the result was grave financial disorder. 
 Lord Hastings had left a surplus of over three 
 millions, and Lord William Bentinck before he re- 
 signed restored the equilibrium. But the interim 
 was full of anxiety. The loans by which Lord 
 Amherst met the liabilities of the Government were 
 of course a permanent burden ; but it was accounted, 
 politically speaking, an encouraging sign that native 
 bankers were so ready to make advances. 
 
 In spite of this grave impediment to progress, it is 
 hardly too much to say that engineering as a branch 
 of State policy began with Lord Amherst. The 
 traveller to-day along the course of the Jumna, when 
 he looks out on a landscape of rich cultivation, does 
 not always remember that the scene as left to us by 
 the native lords was a barren wilderness. Not that 
 the Mughals had been negligent in the matter either of 
 Roads or Irrigation. The works they had constructed 
 remained to remind us of our duty, though in the 
 prevailing anarchy they had become almost useless 
 for want of the necessary repair. Under Lord Minto 
 and Lord Hastings something had been done to make 
 inquiries and surveys. The water of Ali Mardan's
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 45 
 
 canal had once again been brought into Delhi. Eufc 
 it was not till 1823, when Colonel John Colvin — 
 a famous member of a famous corps, the Bengal 
 Engineers — was appointed to be general Superinten- 
 dent of Irrigation for the Delhi district, that con- 
 structive advance began. The Western and Eastern 
 Jumna Canals are the enterprises which chiefly en- 
 gaged attention in Lord Amherst's day, though they 
 were not completed when he left. 
 
 Social reform engaged the attention of Lord Amherst 
 and his advisers. If little in the way of immediate 
 performance ensued, the period was the starting-point 
 of tendencies which, under Lord William Bentinck 
 who succeeded, took precise shape. It was the 
 transition from the epoch of fighting and diplomacy 
 to that of social reform. The arms of the West had 
 triumphed over native prowess, the ideas of the West 
 were now to be brought to bear upon the complex 
 mass of native usage and superstitions. A beginning 
 was to be made with that great policy of education 
 which has brought much of the intelligence of India 
 within the pale of Western culture. Some of the 
 prognostics that may be read in the eloquent letters 
 and minutes of the time have come true. The know- 
 ledge of the English language we know now does not 
 necessarily bring with it a grateful or even a candid 
 appreciation of the incidents of English rule, and 
 many of the disciples would perhaps not be unwilling 
 to use the lessons they have learnt for the purpose of 
 superseding the teachers. If the results are not wholly
 
 46 LORD AMHERST 
 
 pleasing, let us at least acknowledge that they were 
 clearly foreseen by many who were enthusiastic in 
 promoting the means, and no one who turns from the 
 most insensate ravings of the most disreputable of the 
 vernacular prints of to-day would care to exchange 
 India as we know it with the India depicted for us 
 in the writings of those who knew it seventy 
 years ago. 
 
 Of ' Thuggee and Dacoitee ' we read, much in the 
 correspondence of the period. That strange fraternity 
 which made murder a trade and a cult had found the 
 wild disorder of Maratha days propitious to their 
 calling, and the formation of robber bands for the 
 sack and plunder of defenceless villages was almost 
 a natural sequel to the overthrow of the predatory 
 powers. The Pindari, as a Pindari, found his occu- 
 pation gone ; but when he got back to his village he 
 had still the accpuired distaste for ordered industry 
 and the instinct of criminal adventure. Dacoitee 
 indeed is a spontaneous product of the Indian soil, 
 when the powers of supreme husbandry are enfeebled. 
 In addition to the disbanded privates of the robber 
 army, there were also thrown loose upon society their 
 captains, and the swaggering bully with a swarm of 
 armed retainers at his heels was a fairly familiar 
 figure to English travellers. Native territory and the 
 outskirts of native courts were peculiarly their happy 
 hunting-ground. 
 
 Nothing is more misleading than the tendency to 
 speak of India as a uniform whole, and we pass gladly
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 47 
 
 from the abuses which lingered round the palaces of 
 moribund dynasties to the utterly wild regions which 
 recent conquest had opened to the civilizing approach 
 of Englishmen. The savagery of the Mers and the 
 Bhils was proverbial among their Hindu neighbours. 
 Merwara, had been subdued in 1821, and so rapid 
 was the effect of the personal influence of our officers, 
 so little impeded was education by caste ideas, that 
 by 1827 it was found possible to put a stop to female 
 infanticide and to the sale of women. When it is 
 remembered that the former practice was well known 
 to prevail amongst the Rajputs of Northern India, 
 and that long after Lord Amherst's day the most 
 zealous humanitarians confessed their inability to 
 check it — and this in communities of the highest caste 
 — the singular success obtained in dealing with these 
 aboriginal tribes will be appreciated. One of the steps 
 which was most effective in reclaiming the Mers was 
 the formation of a battalion of Mer soldiers. Setting 
 a thief to catch a thief is time-honoured philosophy, 
 and some of the best fighting material of the Indian 
 army is supplied by races whom we should otherwise 
 know as inveterate marauders. 
 
 The Bhils of Khandesh were at first regarded as 
 hopelessly intractable, but much the same method 
 was applied to them as to the Mers, and by 1829 
 their country, under the admirable rule of Outram, 
 was a model of repose. British rule may be said 
 to have discovered these non-Aryan races which, for 
 want of a better name, we call aboriginal.
 
 4^ LORD AMHERST 
 
 Sati was the great moral question of Lord Am- 
 herst's time. How familiar the practice was may be 
 judged from the fact that in the year 1819 there were 
 421 cases in the Calcutta division alone. A sati 
 was a popular form of public entertainment, combin- 
 ing a spectacle of devotion in the victim with excite- 
 ment to the crowd ; nor can it be said that in most 
 cases there was any greater compulsion than that of 
 public opinion and the apprehension of social disgrace 
 in case of refusal. There was, however, a very strong 
 body of high official authority in favour of absolute 
 abolition. Opinions had been obtained from pundits 
 which negatived the idea that the burning of a widow 
 on the husband's pyre was an act of imperative 
 religious obligation. We had already ventured to 
 declare the practice of Dhurna criminal, and it was 
 argued that though the prohibition of sati might 
 at first cause local trouble, it would in the end be 
 acquiesced in. But Lord Amherst, in opposition pro- 
 bably to the preponderant judgement of his advisers, 
 and certainly to tho suggestions of the Directors, 
 refused to incur the political risks of a veto. He 
 trusted rather to the effects of time and growing 
 enlightenment. 
 
 The State-system of education may be said to have 
 originated in Lord Amherst's day, but we must dismiss 
 from our minds the notion that either then or for 
 a generation afterwards there was any settled official 
 policy of popular education. Colleges and the higher 
 class of schools were alone thought of. The Hindu
 
 GOVERNOR-GEXERAI. OF INDIA 49 
 
 College had been opened in Calcutta in 1817, and 
 thanks to the leaven of English culture amongst the 
 native patrons, Western knowledge formed a large 
 element in the training. But on the whole it must 
 be said that the facilities afforded did not attract. In 
 the Benares College rigid orientalism was the rule. 
 Under Lord Amherst colleges were founded at Agra 
 and Delhi ; and in many places colleges and schools 
 maintained by missionaries were already giving that 
 sound European education, as to the comparative 
 expediency of which there was doubt and wrangling 
 among the great officials. The controversy, as we 
 know, was decided some years after in favour of 
 Western learning. But the affection of the more 
 learned servants of the Company for the literature 
 and the language, to the study of which they had 
 devoted themselves with so much zeal, is at least 
 intelligible. Yet already the process of anglicization 
 had set in. The Nawab of Mursbidabad amused his 
 leisure with English literature and politics. The King 
 of Oudh patronized European art as well as Oriental 
 philology. 
 
 In Calcutta the wealthy natives loved to have 
 their houses decorated with Corinthian pillars, and 
 filled with English furniture. They drove in English 
 carriages with well-groomed horses ; many spoke 
 English fluently. In some families the children 
 wore jackets and trowsers. ' In the Bengali news- 
 papers,' saj^s Bishop Heber, of which there are two or 
 three, ' politics are canvassed, the balance, as I am
 
 50 LORD AMHERST 
 
 told, inclining to Whiggism ; and one of their leading 
 men gave a great dinner not long since in honour of 
 the Spanish revolution.' 
 
 Christian sentiment also was getting into the air; 
 it was the time, we must remember, not only of Henry 
 Martyn and of Marshman, but of Horace Hayman 
 Wilson and of Ram Mohan Rai. If the latter did not 
 quite satisfy the description given of him, that he was 
 essentially a Christian, he represented the movement 
 of rationalizing reform in Hinduism. Protestants 
 and Puritans, Mystics and Rationalists there have 
 been from the first in that vast community, but with 
 Ram Mohan Rai began the phase which has the closest 
 affinities with the thought of the West. 
 
 By the ' pious clauses ' of the Charter Act of 1813 
 an English Church establishment had been created 
 for India, that is to say a bishop of Calcutta and three 
 archdeacons were appointed to superintend the 
 chaplains who were ab-eady scattered throughout the 
 country as servants of the Company. It is possible 
 to smile now at the earnestness with which this recog- 
 nition of an English State religion was denounced 
 when it was proposed by Mr. Charles Grant in the 
 House of Commons. Hindus and Musalmans, instead 
 of rising in protest against this recognition of a foreign 
 faith, were well pleased to see that the new masters 
 were not after all without a creed and a form of 
 worship. Had there been any discontent or ill-will, 
 the journeys which Bishop Heber made throughout 
 British India while Lord Amherst was Governor-
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 51 
 
 General would have sufficed to reconcile chiefs and 
 people. No official emissary was more welcome at 
 the courts of princes and at the shrines of the idols 
 than the Lord Padre Sahib, and the journal in which 
 he records his experiences from day to day remains 
 one of the most valuable accounts of contemporary 
 conditions. Not least surely amongst the men who 
 have won great honour for the name of England in 
 India is the gentle and pious Reginald Heber, and his 
 death was one of many sorrows which cast a gloom 
 over the Amherst household. 
 
 D 2
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Arrival in India and Social Life at Calcutta 
 
 Lord Amherst took with him to India his wife, 
 his son Jeff (whose acquaintance we have already 
 made), and his daughter Sarah. The party started 
 from Southampton on March 15, 1823, in the Jupiter, 
 seventy-four guns. Lord Amherst was only just 
 recovering from serious illness, and the early part 
 of the voyage was one of great suffering. His horo- 
 scope was certainly not propitious to his fortunes 
 as a traveller, for in an excursion from Funchal 
 a kick from a horse sent the convalescent Governor- 
 General back to his bed. Later they called at Santa 
 Cruz and at Rio de Janeiro — doing ample justice at 
 both places to the marvels and beauty of the tropical 
 scenery. At Rio they found the King of Portugal, 
 and for a second time Lord Amherst made the ac- 
 quaintance of that singular Court. 
 
 On July 18, 1823, they reached Madras, landing in 
 state. Lady Amherst describes the scene : — 
 
 'Lord Amherst walked with the members of Government 
 into the Fort ; Sarah and I got into a carriage and four, and
 
 ARRIVAL IN INDIA 53 
 
 proceeded to Ameer Baugh, a palace of the Nabob of the 
 Carnatic which he had lent to us. ... A day was fixed for 
 Lord Amherst to receive the Nabob with much state and 
 ceremony. The potentate arrived with his body-guard, in a 
 splendid low carriage, almost all glass, drawn by four white 
 horses, and accompanied by a brother and an uncle.' 
 
 Lord Amherst embraces them all and exchanges 
 courteous civilities by means of an interpreter. The 
 Nawab was blessed ' with a pleasing countenance and 
 manner,' says Lady Amherst. Lord Amherst having 
 wreathed them with flowers, embraced them again, 
 and took leave, returning the visit next day. Lady 
 Amherst accompanies him, visits the Begums — one of 
 them has been married three years, and is sixteen 
 years old, she has rings on her fingers and rings on 
 her toes, and only goes out in a shut- up box, with 
 a peep-hole to see the country. Lady Amherst is 
 wreathed with flowers and anointed with attar of 
 roses, and before leaving she is treated to a Nautch 
 dance. Festivities of every sort and colour ensue, 
 black and white, with reviews and dinners. 
 
 On August i the Governor- General and his Lady 
 land at Calcutta ; the troops are drawn up, the forts 
 are firing, the river is crowded with vessels, and the 
 shore with spectators. The members of Council 
 receive them at the bottom of the flight of steps at 
 Government House, and conduct Lord Amherst in 
 great state to the Council Chamber where he takes 
 the oath, and a public breakfast in the great marble 
 hall ensued. Lady Amherst holds her first drawing-
 
 54 LORD AMHERST 
 
 room on the 1 7th, which ' was exceedingly splendid ' 
 she says, from the number of officers in full uniform, 
 and the large number of troops. ' Surprised we 
 were,' adds the great lady, ' at the well-fashioned 
 dress and manners of most of the ladies.' 
 
 Society within the Ditch was in truth large enough 
 and gay enough to distress officials who preferred 
 secretariat delights to social functions. Lady Amherst 
 played a large and gracious part both in court and 
 camp. This lady, who seems to have been a person of 
 great character, courage, and remarkable intelligence, 
 has left a journal, perhaps almost unique of its kind, 
 containing the history vividly and simply told of her 
 husband's rule in India. The past is conjured up, still 
 remembered names are familiarly quoted ; we feel the 
 temper of the times. 
 
 The events which had so lately shaken Europe bad 
 trained a race of warriors. Fighting is the order of 
 the day, danger and adventure are the habitual 
 element in which men live. Wellington has sheathed 
 his sword. Napoleon is safely chained upon his rock, 
 but a whole generation has followed in the steps of 
 its great leaders. India is full of adventures and 
 adventurers. Chieftains and princes have been raised 
 and deposed, the Peshwa's rule has hurried to its 
 close. The campaign in Burma reads like some 
 history from a fairy tale. We witness the march 
 of armies through unexplored lands : amid scenes 
 strangely compounded of splendour and of squalor. 
 Wc have feats of dariug alternating with strange
 
 SOCIAL LIFE AT CALCUTTA 55 
 
 displays of pusillanimity. We marvel now at the 
 cunning of the strange foes — deceptions prolonged till 
 duplicity became almost respectable as an exhibition 
 of ingenuous perseverance in the teeth of failure — 
 now at their dogged courage — now at their fantastic 
 boasts and melodramatic menace. As a part of the 
 stage properties, the golden fetters forged for the 
 Governor-General are particularly effective : but they 
 had a meaning serious enough. There was alarm on 
 the Hugli as well as vapouring on the Irawadi. 
 The narrative has the particular charm of personal 
 feeling. Lord Amherst's keen sense of responsibility 
 would in any case have made him sensitive to every 
 rumour and report; but he had in addition the 
 instincts of a soldier's son. A lover of peace, he was 
 lued in the traditions of the battlefield. His wife 
 shared her husband's anxieties. She had a delicate per- 
 ception of the picturesque and romantic aspects of war. 
 There are entries that have all the simple seriousness 
 of the comments of a Greek chorus as the action of 
 the piece proceeds. There are intervals of suspense : 
 of eager waiting for news. If only the record covered 
 the whole series of events it might be adopted as the 
 story of the wars. But it would lose something of 
 its charm if it were systematic. We are fortunate in 
 having it as it is, and shall endeavour to weave it 
 into our account of events, and so tinge the matter- 
 of-fact summary with the emotions of the hour. 
 
 Lady Amherst had not had the preliminary ex- 
 perience of Asiatic travel which had prepared the
 
 56 LORD AMHERST 
 
 Governor- General for the wonders of* Hindustan. 
 She sees everything with clear, but as yet untutored- 
 eyes, and we must not, in reading her descriptions, 
 accept in every ease her impressions as transcripts of 
 reality. Dainty sketches of figures or buildings 
 enhance the value of the pages ; pressed leaves, cut- 
 tings from the newspapers of the day, letters received 
 from native friends are laid between. 
 
 Before proceeding to the story of Burma and 
 Bhartpur, we may note some passages that illustrate 
 the daily round of Viceregal life. One which bears the 
 date Jan. 5, 1825, at which time Lady Amherst had 
 already sojourned more than a whole year at Fort 
 William, tells of a romantic excursion by river, in 
 the cool morning air, to the ruins of Gaukatchi, 
 which lie just opposite the French settlement at 
 Chandarnagar. Very delightful the ruins must have 
 been, if we may judge from the pen-and-ink sketch 
 of the ' entrance to the Fort ' — a tine remnant of the 
 Tudor-Pathan style. Walls and arches are overgrown 
 with saplings and shrouded in palm-trees. 
 
 The ladies explore the country round about escorted 
 by the aides-de-camp ; and encamp under the shade 
 of forest-trees. The friendly villagers come forward 
 with presents, bananas, oranges, vegetables, ' even 
 jugs of milk,' says Lady Amherst. She gives a 
 pretty description of their progress, she herself riding 
 on an elephant which helps to force the way through 
 the jungle. A vast number of pioneers go in front : 
 cutting through the forest, felling trees covered with
 
 SOCIAL LIFE AT CALCUTTA 57 
 
 fruit and blossom, and making the path possible. 
 The road itself is beautiful and romantically wild. 
 Their train consists of several hundred persons dressed 
 in scarlet and yellow, table-servants, bearers, spear- 
 men, and the crews of the yachts. Lady Amherst 
 and her daughter return home laden, as less exalted 
 ladies might be, with trophies of their excursion, 
 flowers, and plants and sketches. 
 
 The following little incident is curious. On April 
 28, 1825, Lady Amherst and her daughter attend a 
 meeting in the Town Hall to hear a report of the Com- 
 mittee for the native female schools. Mrs. Pearson, 
 Mrs. Shakespear, and Mrs. Harington were present. 
 Lady Amherst says : — 
 
 ' Mr. M got up chiefly to eulogize Mrs. Wilson who 
 
 manages the schools, after which he launched out into the 
 most vehement abuse of the native religions, several of the 
 principal Baboos being present. It was one of the most 
 ranting and violent discussions I have ever heard. He wound 
 up this strange speech more like a strolling player than 
 anything else, by comparing Mrs. Wilson to Bonaparte and 
 her scheme of education to the road over the Simplon. 
 A clergyman begged leave to propose a vote of thanks to 
 Almighty God for the success of the undertaking. The 
 natives present were evidently much disgusted by this gross 
 impropriety ; as to myself and Sarah we were shocked to be 
 made a party to such unwarrantable proceedings.' 
 
 Soon after comes a description of a warrior of those 
 days of whom mention will elsewhere be made : — 
 
 ' Colonel Gardner arrived here from Arakan in a very ill
 
 58 LORD AMHERST 
 
 state of health. He is a very extraordinary man, remarkahle 
 for his bravery. He has heen in India from his earliest 
 youth, and associated entirely with the natives. He com- 
 mands a hody of irregular horse. . . . Colonel Gardner's own 
 uniform is a high fur cap, short light blue and silver jacket 
 trimmed with fur. His men are dressed like him ; they amount 
 to 1,000 ; and when called upon to face the enemy are entirely 
 to be depended on, would follow him through the greatest 
 dangers and difficulties, and are faithful in all respects when 
 in the field. Out of it, the Colonel says, they would be 
 certain of cheating him. Many years since he married 
 a Begum : his daughter is going to be married to the King 
 of Oudh's nephew. In many respects Colonel Gardner is a 
 native himself.' 
 
 On March 12, Lady Amherst describes herself as 
 driving along in Calcutta and meeting a procession, 
 with stands drawn by men and bullocks, with bands 
 of native music, and harlequins and tomtoms : — 
 
 ' One special company of natives was screaming with 
 laughter, and in the midst of them a man, dressed like one 
 of our Methodist preachers, addressing the multitude. The 
 magistrates hearing of it, the man was taken into custody 
 and fined for turning the Christian religion into ridicule. 
 The Methodists are specially obnoxious to the natives, their 
 familiar style disgusts them, and entirely- counteracts their 
 avowed system of conversion. The above festival was in 
 honour of a rich Baboo.' 
 
 Among the many amusing facts which relieve the 
 gloom of the news from Rangoon, is the account 
 of the native lady at Calcutta, who shammed ill, 
 and whose anxious husband, a rich Babu, called in 
 the Governor-General's doctor. The lady, who had
 
 SOCIAL LIFE AT CALCUTTA 59 
 
 pla} r ed this prank to beguile the dreary hours of the 
 zenana, burst out into fits of uncontrollable laughter 
 when the doctor was introduced. The doctor seems 
 to have been greatly fascinated, and describes her as 
 a very beautiful girl of seventeen or eighteen years 
 old, with the most perfect symmetry of features he had 
 ever beheld. He left her perfectly well: as he came 
 away he observed multitudes of young females at all 
 the doors and windows tittering and laughing too. 
 
 We are still in 1825. June has come with its 
 torturing heat. Lord Amherst had still to discover 
 Simla for the comfort of his successors : and the 
 Governor-General's lady, like other wives of Anglo- 
 Indians, had to make the best of existence in the 
 plains. She thus describes a health excursion up the 
 river in the Government yacht, the Soonamookie : 
 
 ' Our party was small, consisting only of Lord Amherst 
 and myself, Sarah and Jeff, Captain Dalgairns, Captain Crole, 
 Mr. Hale, Mr. Marriage, and Dr. and Mrs. Abel, in all ten 
 persons. Pinnaces, budgerows, paunchways, and baggage 
 boats to the number of about fifty ; and the servants, boat- 
 men, guard of Sepoys (the latter about forty), in all, amounted 
 to about 500 men.' 
 
 They sailed on past the junction of the Hugli 
 with two other rivers by Nadiya — then described as 
 looking ' nothing more than a native village of huts.' 
 On the 29th they anchored. Lady Amherst describes 
 indigo plantations, palm-trees, and bananas, herds of 
 cattle, tumble-down villages haunted by crocodiles, 
 and the thunder and lightning at intervals. The
 
 60 LORD AMHERST 
 
 thermometer is ninety-two, but the air is fresh. They 
 start in the early mornings, sailing between beautiful 
 banks, passing native towns and villages, curious 
 temples and buildings, and are once driven aground 
 in a storm. Then they come to the ever famous 
 plains of Plassey. In the evening the ladies go on 
 shore for a walk by the indigo plantations, they 
 collect a few insects and plants, but it is soon too 
 dark to go further. On July 3, 1825, they are still 
 proceeding on their way to Murshidabad, and the 
 Nawab of Bengal sends them boats full of fruit and 
 flowers, as do the Resident and Agent at Murshida- 
 bad. On the 4th they anchor at Berhampur, and 
 greatly admire the place and the buildings among the 
 groves. A few miles further on they enter the town 
 of Murshidabad, full of beautiful buildings with line 
 trees upon the banks. It seemed to be composed of 
 native huts. There were, however, some large hand- 
 some buildings belonging to the Babus, and an im- 
 mense number of Hindu temples of various forms, 
 most of them extremely beautiful ; the dome of one 
 of these was ornamented with numerous conical small 
 domes, which had a rich and new effect. The Raja 
 of Bengal has a large house upon the banks, he is 
 a child of nine years old under protection of the 
 Government, he is already crowned, and is about to 
 be affianced to his cousin. 
 
 On July 7, 1825, they are still sailing agreeably on 
 the river, and they meet a large herd of bullocks 
 swimming across the stream, their drivers swimming
 
 SOCIAL LIFE AT CALCUTTA 6r 
 
 after and guiding them. : On the 8th and 9th the 
 heavy rains begin, thermometer eighty-two, the river 
 enormously wide ' writes Lady Amherst. Fresh and 
 new as the sights are to the travellers, it seems 
 needless to recapitulate the items of temples, villages, 
 and mango groves by which they pass, and which 
 Lady Amherst enumerates. Sometimes they land, to 
 the surprise of the villagers, and take walks upon the 
 banks. They are exposed to some danger from the 
 sudden storms which now begin to overtake them on 
 their way. It is not until the 20th that they arrive 
 at Barrackpur on their return journey to Calcutta. 
 
 In August, 1825, Lady Amherst had an attack of 
 cholera. She ia evidently a person of admirable 
 nerve. She makes little of her own illness and goes 
 on keeping her diary notwithstanding. On the 18th 
 she writes : — 
 
 'This dreadful scourge still rages at Calcutta, and its 
 environs, and Barrackpur. Dead bodies lie in heaps by 
 the river-side. At Achipur the same disease extends, 
 notwithstanding a grand sacrifice by the Hindus of a live 
 buffalo, a goat, and a dog.' 
 
 It was certainly a melancholy season. As the result 
 of the cholera Lady Amherst records the satis close to 
 Calcutta and the ' murders,' as she says, 
 
 ' One can give no other appellation. Along the river 
 the poor creatures are brought screaming tbat tliey are 
 not dying, but the Brahmans are inflexible and suffocate 
 them with mud.' 
 
 There is a pleasing account of a Burmese princess,
 
 62 LORD AMHERST 
 
 the Hani of Cheduba, who, having been made a 
 prisoner with her husband in one of the early opera- 
 tions of the Burmese war, was detained in honourable 
 captivity at Calcutta : — 
 
 'Living in Fort William in a neat pretty house within the 
 walls, she has liberty to walk about and do as she pleases. 
 She has declined a house in Chouranghee, which has been 
 offered to her. She has written me a letter in the Burmese 
 language and character, in reply to some inquiries I made 
 after her when a child in the family died. She has sent me 
 two pocket-handkerchiefs worked by herself, and most beauti- 
 fully and curiously, in the style of lace, which she wove with 
 her fingers without any other implement. She is the most 
 industrious little woman possible, always either reading, 
 writing, or at work ; never for a moment idle.' 
 
 The letter, which has a strange cabalistic appearance, 
 is preserved among the English lady's notes. 
 
 We may as well finish here by anticipation the 
 story of this interesting captive. The conclusion of 
 peace with Burma brought her an unwelcome re- 
 lease. On June 9, 1826, Lady Amherst takes leave 
 of her. 
 
 ' She is veiy much grieved at quitting Calcutta and us ; 
 we have seen her frequently; her affectionate disposition has 
 attached us all much to her ; she appears very apprehensive 
 as to her reception by the king and queen of Ava, and fre- 
 quently expressed the fear that she would lose her head. 
 . . . The Eaja, her husband, is quite a brute ; she showed us 
 wounds and scars inflicted by him.' 
 
 The last news we get of her is in a letter from 
 Rangoon, in the August following. Mr. Crawfurd
 
 SOCIAL LIFE AT CALCUTTA 63 
 
 gives an account of the poor lady, who was evidently 
 regretting her lodgings in Fort William, and very 
 uneasy as to her fate. 
 
 This second volume of the diary concludes with an 
 account of Baji Rao, the famous Peshwa, 
 
 ' who in the last Maratha war caused so much fatigue 
 in pursuit, and hard fighting to the British troops, under 
 Lord Hastings. Captain Low l has had the custody 
 of him ever since, and says he is one of the best 
 mannered Indians he ever saw. His conversation is 
 superior, gentle, and temperate. His mad ambition has 
 softened down into luxury, ease, and idleness; and the 
 worship and rites of his gods at present is his only occupa- 
 tion. The enormous allowance of eight lacs of rupees, paid 
 by the Company to him ever since he was taken prisoner, 
 and the Maratha power destroyed, enables him, his family, 
 and followers who are very numerous, to enjoy every kind of 
 luxury.' 
 
 We are now in October, 1825, and the beginning of 
 the cold weather. A ghastly event has j ust occurred 
 in the immediate neighbourhood of Calcutta : 
 
 ' A young man having died of cholera, his widow resolved 
 to mount the funeral pile. The usual preparations were made, 
 and the licence procured from the magistrate. The fire was 
 lighted by the nearest relations ; when the flame reached her, 
 however, she lost courage, and amid a volume of smoke, and 
 the deafening screams of the mob, tomtoms, drums, &c. she 
 contrived to slip down unperceived, and gained a neighbouring 
 
 1 Familinr to so many as Sir John Low, K.C.B., of Chatto, in Fife. 
 My father lias told me that in those early days he was offered a lac 
 of rupees on one occasion, only to allow one elephant to precede 
 another in some public procession. — A. T. R.
 
 64 LORD AMHERST 
 
 jungle. At first she was not missed, but when the smoke 
 subsided it was discovered she was not on the pile, the mob 
 became furious, and ran into the jungle to look for the 
 unfortunate young creature, dragged her down to the river, 
 put her into a dingy, and shoved off to the middle of the 
 stream where they forced her violently overboard, and she 
 sunk to rise no more.' 
 
 ' It is a miserable reflection,' says the writer, and 
 indeed one can well imagine what the horror of such 
 events must have been happening within a few 
 hundred yards of home. At any time of public 
 mortality these sacrifices rise enormously in numbers. 
 
 All through the diary these miserable histories 
 alternate with episodes like chapters out of the 
 Arabian Nights. Here, for instance, is the visit of 
 Raj Garoo (illustrated with a clever sketch in pen and 
 ink). He is supposed to be a priest of eminent sanctity, 
 and enormous wealth, and appears with a long suite of 
 attendants. On entering the Audience Chamber and 
 being presented to the Governor-General he did not 
 bow or make any obeisance, but a slight motion of 
 both hands which meant his blessing. 
 
 ' We were all surprised to see so good-looking and young 
 a man, who appeared under thirty-five, with a very benevolent 
 smile and a dignified manner. He said in Persian that his 
 first pleasure and duty in life was to pay his adorations to 
 Jagannath, which he was on his road to do, and the next 
 object, which was both a duty and a pleasure, was to pay his 
 respects to the Governor-General, who accordingly returned 
 a courteous answer. After some complimentary conversations 
 Lord Amherst put a long string of pearls round his visitor's
 
 A HOLY SPY 65 
 
 neck, aii' I the young i>riest offered .some very handsome 
 presents of shawls and gold and silver muslins, very beauti- 
 fully winked ; also pearls, coral, and gold and silver tissue ; 
 these were placed on carpets and silver waiters on the floor 
 of Lord Amherst's ante-room. As presents are not allowed 
 to be accepted, we selected a few to purchase. The Gaussein 
 (Holy Man) now rose, and expressing in elegant language 
 the satisfaction he had felt at the interview, withdrew. We 
 were all charmed by his manners ; his dress was simple, 
 a plain muslin vest down to the wrists, and crossing before 
 with a good deal of drapery of the same material round his 
 waist, in the curl of each ear two of the very finest pearls 
 I had ever beheld.' 
 
 It appears later on that this holy priest was a spy 
 making his own observations on behalf of the Bur- 
 mese Court, as he paid his devotions by the way to 
 Jao-annath and the Governor-General of India.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The Burmese War : the Capture of Rangoon 
 
 Almost from the moment when Lord Amherst 
 addressed himself to the duties of his high office, 
 the contingency of war with Burma occupied his 
 thoughts. The occupation of Bengal had brought 
 the authority of the Calcutta Government into con- 
 tact at many far distant points with the huge empire 
 over which the successors of Alompra either held 
 sway or claimed sovereignty. Far away to the north 
 the officers of the Company in what was then the 
 outlandish district of Rangpur looked across with 
 curiosity rather than with covetousness to the great 
 valley of Assam. More to the south the British 
 district of Sylhet marched with Cachar. On the 
 seaboard of the Bay of Bengal, Chittagong was our 
 farthest outpost, from which stretched southward 
 along the coast what was once the famous kingdom 
 of Arakan. But all the regions we have named, 
 though for our present purpose they must be treated 
 as held or claimed by the Burmese, were in truth 
 mere outlying and detached fragments of the vast
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 67 
 
 kingdom which was ruled from Ava. Assam is the 
 upper portion of the basin of the Brahmaputra, which 
 flows into the Bay of Bengal. Burma, including in 
 that term the lower province of Pegu, consists roughly 
 of the valley of the Irawadi. which Hows into the Gulf of 
 Martaban. The watershed which divides the two is 
 a vast expanse of mountains peopled by wild tribes, 
 barren, inhospitable, and all but impenetrable. A huge 
 spur, projecting from this central mass towards the 
 west, divides Assam from Cachar. The main mountain 
 system continues southwards in a direction roughly 
 parallel to the coast, thus dividing the comparatively 
 level strip of seaboard, called Arakan, from the basin 
 of the Irawadi, that is to say from Burma and Pegu. 
 Thus the land barrier is practically complete from the 
 gigantic mountain masses of the Chinese frontier to 
 Cape Negrais on the south, where the coast suddenly 
 turns to the east and forms, beyond the rib of hills, 
 the Delta of the Irawadi. 
 
 But even now we have not completed our survey of 
 the theatre of the coming war. Beyond the limits of 
 Pegu, and separated from it by another system of hills, 
 lies the valley of the Salwin, and from the mouth of 
 this river, which is hardly inferior to the mighty 
 Irawadi, stretches still southward much in the same 
 way as Arakan the coast territory of Tenasserim. We 
 have described the interior of Burma as ground almost 
 untra versed by European feet, but centuries before the 
 coast had been the haunt of Portuguese a< I venturers, 
 whose exploits and whose crimes form one of the most 
 
 E 1
 
 68 LORD AMHERST 
 
 fascinating chapters in historical romance. But these 
 men were pirates or bandits, renegade priests from 
 Goa, or deserters from Malacca. Like others of their 
 nation, they showed a marvellous capacity for adapt- 
 ing themselves to native ways and surpassed Asiatics 
 in the favourite forms of Asiatic crime. Their de- 
 scendants remain to this day by thousands in the 
 East, and are hardly distinguishable in morals or 
 physique from the indigenous natives. Pirate ships 
 from the Portuguese headquarters in the Sundarbans 
 swept the seas ; one clever miscreant set up a kingdom 
 for himself at Syriam near Rangoon, and kept up 
 gorgeous Oriental state. But practically the struggles 
 for mastery in Burma were amongst the natives 
 whose only relations with Western arts and civili- 
 zation arose from the occasional employment of 
 mercenary Portuguese captains. 
 
 We need not dwell upon the monotonous and 
 sanguinary record, or chronicle the ups and downs of 
 fortune by which the kings of Burma conquered the 
 kings of Martaban or of Pegu, or these States in turn 
 obtained control over the northern kingdom or each 
 other. It is however worth while to note that Siam 
 entered constantly into the competitions and complica- 
 tions just as in our own day a definite understanding 
 with the Court of Bangkok was regarded as a necessary 
 factor for the success of administration at Mandalay. 
 It suffices to go back to 1750, when Alompra 1 the 
 Hunter, a man of humble birth but commanding 
 
 1 Alaung-pavii.
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 69 
 
 genius, displayed a spirit of sincerely national patrio- 
 tism which is rare in Oriental annals, and established 
 for himself and his descendants a throne on a firm 
 basis at Ava. By this time some European factories 
 had been founded on the coast. It was a circumstance 
 of evil omen that the servants of the East India 
 Company, who had their quarters in the Island of 
 Negrais, helped Alompra's rival in Pegu by the sale of 
 munitions of war, and paid with their lives for their 
 double dealing;. If strength of character be a merit, 
 Alompra is entitled to his renown. But his successors 
 imitated him rather in his pride than in his faculty 
 for command, until Thebau, the feeblest and the last, 
 passed from the scene of his misrule, and all Burma 
 became a British Province. 
 
 It is customary to speak of the Court of Ava, but in 
 truth the capital has been changed from time to time 
 according to the caprice of the reigning sovereign. 
 The magnificent ruins of pagodas and palaces remain 
 at many places on the banks of the Irawadi to remind 
 the passing voyager of the mutations of Royal state. 
 Pagan and Ava and Amanipura have had their day 
 and ceased to be. It must at least be allowed that the 
 house of Alompra gave their subjects an imposing show 
 of kingly state and impressed their imagination by the 
 most unsparing acts of despotism. They might have 
 remained undisturbed to take their chance of native 
 rivalry if they had been content to allow the English 
 to rest in peace within the confines of India. 
 
 But before the beginning of the present century
 
 70 LORD AMHERST 
 
 troubles arose. The Burmese monarch of the day had 
 sent an army through a defile of the mountain barrier, 
 had conquered Arakan and extinguished the glories 
 of that ancient kingdom. To make intelligible what 
 would otherwise appear to be the preposterous claims 
 advanced a quarter of a century later, it is necessary 
 to remember that the authority of the Arakanese mon- 
 archy, while it flourished, had extended as far as Dacca, 
 so that a precedent could be cited for the pretensions 
 of the Burmese sovereign to exercise lordship in Bengal. 
 But Arakan did not accept the rule of the stranger 
 with docility. A sentiment that deserves to be 
 called national animated the bulk of the people, 
 and the oppression of the Governor to whom the 
 management of the province was entrusted converted 
 ill-will into active disaffection. The Naf estuary 
 was the boundary between Arakan and the British 
 district of Chittagong, and over it passed band after 
 band of emigrants from the south. Some of these 
 established themselves in the wild tracts near the 
 frontier and thence made incursions into the land 
 that had been their home. It may be assumed that 
 the Burmese had a perfectly genuine contempt for the 
 resources of the East India Company, but when the 
 leader of a Burmese force came into British territory 
 in pursuit of a band of these marauders he preferred 
 a comparatively modest claim for the surrender of the 
 fugitives. Still to leave no doubt of the firmness of 
 his determination he established himself in a stockaded 
 camp. Sir John Shore was not easily moved to
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 7 \ 
 
 anger, but he felt unable to tolerate this violation of 
 our territorial rights. By a sufficiently transparent 
 compromise it was arranged that if the Burmese 
 withdrew, the Company would surrender the fugitives. 
 This was done, doubtless on high moral grounds, but 
 with considerable injury to our prestige, nor did the 
 despatch of Captain Symes on ' a friendly mission ' to 
 Ava tend to correct the impression. 
 
 The result was precisely what might have been pre- 
 dicted, there were further emigrations of fugitives into 
 Chittagong, and further pursuits by armed Burmese 
 forces. An attempt to dislodge them was repulsed, 
 but Lord Wellesley had his hands too full of wars 
 elsewhere to be able to take serious note either of the 
 insult or of the reverse. The conscience of the Com- 
 pany, moreover, was not wholly clear ; with a view to 
 putting British authority in the right, arrangements 
 were made for settling the fugitives in large indus- 
 trial communities. When the Governor of Arakan 
 still pressed his demands, Lord Wellesley resorted to 
 a diplomatic subterfuge and affected to assume that it 
 was the unauthorized indiscretion of a local func- 
 tionary. Again Captain (by this time, Colonel) Symes 
 was sent to Ava, but hardly succeeded in obtaining 
 a courteous hearing from the king. It is easier, it 
 must in candour be said, to state the issues than 
 to pronounce final judgement on the equities of the 
 dispute. On the one side was the piteous plea of 
 the fugitives, ' We will never return to the Arakan 
 country; if you choose to slaughter us here, we are
 
 72 LORD AMHERST 
 
 ready to die ; if you drive us away, we will go and 
 dwell in the jungles of the great mountains.' On the 
 other, was the case of the king, ' If you keep in your 
 country my slaves, the broad path of intercourse 
 between the states will be blocked up.' 
 
 In the year 1811 the question had become a burning 
 one, and for a time the rights and wrongs of the 
 ' Mugs ' was a topic of interest to sentimental poli- 
 ticians even in England. This cacophonous name 
 was given indiscriminately to all the Arakanese, though 
 in strictness it applies only to one section of the 
 population, said to be descended from Bengali 
 mothers and Arakanese fathers. Amongst the suffer- 
 ing race appeared in 1811 one who for a time seemed 
 destined to be the saviour of his country. Khyen- 
 byan, whom the Anglo-Indians persisted in calling 
 King-bering, was the son of the district officer who 
 had betrayed Arakan to the Eurmese. So unpopular 
 was he on this account amongst his countiymen 
 that their hatred followed the son to his exile in 
 Chittao-onij. But ho was soon to free himself from 
 obloquy. Half brigand, half patriot, he collected 
 a host with which he invaded Arakan, captured the 
 chief town, and behaved with the usual licence of 
 a Eurmese victor. Again the Governor of Arakan 
 held the English responsible, and again Calcutta 
 statesmanship professed its innocence. This time 
 Captain Canning, who had twice before visited 
 Rangoon on diplomatic business, was despatched to 
 Amarapura, to smooth away the displeasure of the
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 73 
 
 king. But so little did he succeed in mollifying the 
 angry feelings of the Court, that it was only by 
 address and determination that he escaped being 
 detained as a hostage. This was the last attempt 
 to communicate with the government of Ava by 
 a pacific British mission. 
 
 The nationalist drama, in which King-bering was 
 the leading actor, had an ill ending. A Burmese 
 army came and swept him and his followers back 
 to Chittagong, from which harbour of refuge they 
 resumed patriotic incursions. So, till 1815, the tri- 
 angular warfare was maintained, poor King-bering 
 and his men being hunted with equal zest by the 
 Company's Sepoys and the levies of the Viceroy of 
 Arakan. Then the freebooter died, and his haunt 
 amid the forests knew him no more. But the ill- 
 feeling, of which his forays were the occasion, did not 
 die with him. It would be too much to say that 
 King Bodau Phra * brooded over his wrongs ; but the 
 inattention of John Company to his representations 
 struck him as a piece of outer barbarism, of which 
 the government of Ava was obliged to take serious 
 note. It was intimated in 181 7 that if the vagabond 
 Mugs were not sent back to receive the penalty of 
 their contempt, the Lord of the Seas and Earth 
 would be obliged to re -assert his authority over 
 such places as Dacca and Murshidabad — undoubted 
 appanages of the crown of Arakan. Such was the 
 warning, given in a pompous letter from the Governor 
 1 Bodaw-paya,
 
 74 LORD AMHERST 
 
 of Arakan — the Raja of Ramri. It came into bad 
 hands, for the Marquess of Hastings was now supremo 
 at Calcutta. The statesman who found means to 
 dethrone the Peshwa, was not disposed to yield to 
 the menace of ' The Golden Foot.' The answer was 
 a simple statement that the British could not and 
 would not deliver up those who had sought and had, 
 some of them for thirty years, enjoyed their protec- 
 tion. Perhaps the news of recent events in Central 
 India co-operated in persuading the king not to 
 commit himself to open hostilities. At any rate he 
 died, in 1819, in peace, his dignity unimpaired, and 
 his realm at the height of its greatness. 
 
 It was in quite another direction that his successor 
 prepared to enlarge the bounds of his dominion. We 
 have no intention of attempting to elucidate the poli- 
 tics of Assam. It is enough to say that this secluded 
 kingdom enjoyed the blessings of a peculiarly limited 
 monarchy. There was a Raja, and a council of three 
 ministers. The monarch could do nothing — not even 
 get himself crowned — without the permission of his 
 advisers ; but he was able to dismiss any of them in 
 favour of some more agreeable member of the same 
 family. While this was the judicious balance of 
 power in the highest place, the real functions of 
 administration were fulfilled by provincial officers, 
 nominally subordinate. The arrangement, which we 
 believe had long prescription in its favour, broke down 
 in 1809; and the end of an extremely complicated 
 system of court intrigues was the entry of a Burmese
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 75 
 
 army and the deposition of the king. A kinsman 
 took his place, and piously contented himself with 
 slitting the ear of the fallen ' King of Heaven.' After 
 a time of exile in Bhutan, the dethroned king ventured 
 back, and for a while recovered power. The Burmese, 
 however, proved treacherous allies, and again the 
 poor king had to fly ; but on this occasion he found 
 refuge in the adjacent British district. Thus the 
 Company had a Shan pretender on its hands in 
 Rangpur as well as a community of fugitive Mugs 
 in Chittagong. History repeated itself. The com- 
 mander of the Burmese forces in Assam threatened to 
 pursue the royal refugee ; the Company's ' Commis- 
 sioner of the North-East Frontier ' prepared to repel 
 aggression. 
 
 We have now to turn to the third — and, happily, 
 the last — point at which, on the eve of Lord Amherst's 
 administration, the Company had strained relations 
 with the representatives of the Court of Ava. The 
 ancient valley kingdom of Manipur hardly calls for 
 any detailed description. The tragic massacre of an 
 English Envoy, of which it was the scene only a 
 few years ago, made its position, its characteristics, 
 and even its physical aspect, familiar to the most 
 phlegmatic of home-keeping Britons. It will be 
 remembered that of the columns which were despatched 
 to restore order and exact reparation, one advanced 
 by way of Cachar and another by way of Upper 
 Burma. This fact supplies the key to the events of 
 1823. S° far back as 1762 a treaty of alliance had
 
 76 LORD AMHERST 
 
 been concluded between the Raja of Manipur and 
 the English Governor of Fort William in Bengal. 
 A small force of Sepoys was even sent with the 
 object of helping the Raja to expel the Burmese who 
 were then, after strange vicissitudes of conquest, in 
 occupation. The attempt was abandoned. Passing 
 over more than a half century we find the Burmese 
 advancing into Cachar, with the intention of dealing 
 with certain Manipuri princes who, driven out of 
 their own country, had taken up their quarters there. 
 But they had been anticipated by the extension to the 
 region of British protection. Again the demand for 
 the surrender of fugitives was preferred, and again 
 it was met with a decisive refusal ; and so, when 
 \he 3 r ear 1823 closed, a Burmese host was hanging 
 menacingly on the Sylhet frontier. 
 
 The three tracts, which were soon to be the scene of 
 hostilities, are now among the most valuable of our 
 Indian possessions. The tea-gardens of Assam have 
 attracted from other parts of the continent a coolie 
 emigration so considerable that the control of it is a 
 most important feature in executive action, while the 
 growth of trade at Akyab on the Arakanese coast is 
 one of the stock marvels of industrial annals. But, in 
 1823, cultivation was the exception, and commerce was 
 of the most primitive description. We have still, from 
 time to time, to send a force into the hills to chastise 
 one of the tribes, Abors or Lushais or Nagas, who 
 descend from their mountain retreats to raid upon the 
 peaceful settlers in the valley- The obstacles which
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 77 
 
 beset these expeditions when they have passed from 
 the jurisdiction of the English magistrate into the hilly 
 wilds is a measure — though an imperfect measure — 
 of the conditions with which the leaders of our first 
 advance had to contend, while they were still in the 
 cultivable but neglected lowlands. The gigantic 
 system of navigable rivers in India did, to some 
 extent, facilitate the transport from the Presidencies 
 to the distant frontiers — even in the days before 
 railways had revolutionized the art of campaigning. 
 But the absence of roads and bridges was the grave 
 impediment. 
 
 On January 17, 1824, the first serious collision took 
 place. A body of 4,000 Burmese and Assamese had 
 crossed the mountains from Assam and taken up an 
 entrenched position at Bikrampur, a place forty-five 
 miles east of Sylhet, while another force, flushed with 
 victory over native foes, was advancing from Manipur. 
 To prevent the junction of these two, a detachment 
 of Sepoys and local levies, which had been posted to 
 observe events a little beyond our frontier, marched to 
 the attack of the Burmese entrenchments at Bikram- 
 pur. The enemy were put to flight, but managed to 
 join the host from Manipur. Some further successes 
 were obtained by the Company's troops, but a gallant 
 attack made on the stockade constructed by the 
 Burmese on the Surma failed. Since 1824 we have 
 had wars in so many quarters of the globe that 
 hardly any fresh modification remains to be dis- 
 covered. The 'laager,' the 'zarueba' have become
 
 78 LORD AMHERST 
 
 household words. But the first experience of the 
 stockade was a discouraging surprise. 
 
 The effect of our repulse was further to inflate the 
 pride of the courtiers of the Golden Foot. They were 
 under the same delusion as those who, in 1857, 
 were responsible for the worst horrors of the Indian 
 mutiny. The English, it was supposed, were a mere 
 handful of traders., hiring Sepoys to do their fighting, 
 but possessing no reserve of military strength. 
 
 The British reverse in Cachar occurred in February, 
 1824. On the 24th of that month the Declaration 
 of War was published in Calcutta. The immediate 
 provocation came from the Chittagong borderland. 
 At the mouth of the River Naf lies the small island 
 of Shahpuri. Here had been established a military 
 guard with a view to putting a stop to the incessant 
 molestations of which British subjects were the 
 victims. Tolls had been levied by Burmese officials 
 on boats passing to and from Chittagong. In one 
 instance, when payment was refused, shots were fired 
 and one of the crew killed. The whole attitude of 
 the Burmese was wantonly aggressive. Seizures of 
 persons working on British soil were frequent. There 
 were great gatherings of armed men on the Arakanese 
 side. The king's officers affected to take umbrage at 
 our calling the island ours, and they sent a large 
 force which very soon expelled the little garrison. 
 This manifestly could not be endured. A strong 
 body of regulars was despatched from Calcutta to 
 rcoccupy the post, but before it arrived the Bur-
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 79 
 
 rnese had the discretion to retire. The Governor- 
 General had expressed his willingness to appoint 
 Commissioners to determine the question of owner- 
 ship ; an offer which was only interpreted at Amara- 
 pura as a proof of conscious weakness. Lord Amherst, 
 however, who was still painfully anxious not to be 
 led astray like his predecessor, and to abide by the 
 pacific instructions of the Directors, was careful to 
 keep the door of reconciliation open. Even in the 
 Declaration of War he ' retained an unfeigned desire 
 to avail himself of any proper opening which may 
 arise for an accommodation of differences with the 
 king of Ava.' But he made ' the tender of an ade- 
 quate apology, and the assurance of such terms as 
 are indispensable to the future security and tran- 
 quillity of the Eastern frontier ' a condition. As well 
 might Jack the Giant Killer have sent up a concilia- 
 tory message when he knocked at the door of the 
 Giant's Castle. The Viceroy of Pegu, who had acted 
 previously as the mouthpiece of the Court, replied. 
 He claimed Dacca and Chittagong for his master; 
 asserted that Shahpuri was indisputably Burmese, 
 and graciously recommended the presumptuous person 
 at Calcutta to say whatever he had to say by way 
 of petition to Maha Bandula. 
 
 The die was cast. The Company was at war again, 
 and the operations promised to be of a more than 
 usually expensive kind. Lord Amherst — still new to 
 the ways of administration — had to face the responsi- 
 bilities of conducting a peculiarly difficult campaign.
 
 So LORD AMHERST 
 
 We have remarked already on the strange apathy 
 that had been shown by earlier Viceroys as to col- 
 lecting accurate information about Burma from the 
 traders, residents, and missionaries who might at least 
 have given useful hints. Lord Amherst had to rely 
 almost wholly on the report of Captain Canning, and 
 as the lines on which operations were subsequently 
 conducted were unfavourably judged by some con- 
 temporary critics, it may be as well to give a con- 
 densed extract from the document. 
 
 ' Should an advance to Aniarapura be contemplated, 
 a larger force of 3,000 Europeans and 7,000 natives would 
 be necessary. This, with a proportional detail of artillery 
 and particularly gun-boats, would place the capital in our 
 possession. 
 
 ' Rangoon is accessible at all seasons, but during the 
 strong prevalence of the south-west monsoon, from the 
 beginning of July to the end of September, there is risk. . . . 
 For the advance of a force on the capital the commencement 
 of the rains or the beginning of June should be selected, and 
 the rise in the river removes all obstacles from sand banks, &c, 
 and a strong southerly wind would convey the troops to 
 their destination in a month or rive weeks.' 
 
 Captain Canning cannot make even a distant con- 
 jecture as to the number of men the Burmese could 
 bring into the field. The absence of data is well 
 illustrated by the fact that the population is variously 
 estimated at from three to eighteen millions. 
 
 ' Of a regular army they have no idea. "When troops are 
 required, each district of a province is assessed at a certain 
 number of men, . . . The men thus raised receive no pay ; in
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 81 
 
 lieu of which they are provided with food. Powder and ball 
 each man manufactures from the raw materials supplied him 
 by the Government. ... At close charters the dah, a species 
 of broadsword, is in the hands of the Burmese a formidable 
 weapon. Strength and individual courage they possess in 
 a high degree.' 
 
 It would thus appear that according to the best 
 expert advice procurable it was advisable to take 
 Rangoon — if it was to be taken at all — by a sudden 
 coup de main, and that the ascent of the river to 
 Amarapura would be easy. If the latter prognostic 
 was not fulfilled, the explanation is the unlooked-for 
 subtlety of the Burmese tactics. Yet Captain Can- 
 ning estimated their defensive power more highly 
 than Sir Thomas Munro, who was at the time of all 
 Indian statesmen and soldiers the most competent to 
 form a sound judgement. 
 
 A letter addressed by Lord Amherst on March 10 
 to the sagacious and experienced Governor of Madras 
 is interesting in two ways. It shows that Lord 
 Amherst was not carried away by the sanguine views 
 of those around him ; and that he did not base his 
 plans on the assumption that there would be a river 
 promenade to the capital. It exhibits also in a most 
 pleasing light the modesty and courtesy which Lord 
 Amherst carried into all official relations. 
 
 ' Captain Canning will be directed, on our occupying 
 Rangoon, to tender from thence to the Burmese Government 
 the terms on which we shall consent to make peace. Mean- 
 while, every possible inquiry will be instituted at Rangoon 
 
 F
 
 8a LORD AMHERST 
 
 into the practicability of procuring a sufficient number of 
 boats to transport an army of eight or nine thousand men to 
 Amarapura. 
 
 ' I should hope that though the main enterprise may be 
 relinquished, the possession of Rangoon, Cheduba, and 
 perhaps other ports or islands belonging to the Burmese, 
 may induce them to accede to such terms of peace as we 
 shall propose. 
 
 'It is really with considerable hesitation that I have 
 entered into this detail with you. Arrangements like these 
 are far beyond the reach of my experience ; and I may have 
 overlooked objections which would readily present them- 
 selves to persons more conversant with these matters. 
 
 One other set of passages from a letter of April 2, 
 1824, may serve still further to illustrate Lord 
 Amherst's ideas for the campaign. 
 
 ' The aid to be derived from the Siamese, in the event of 
 protracted hostilities, has entered deeply into our calculation. 
 But I am not disposed, if we can possibly avoid it, to engage 
 too largely in the intrigues and politics of the Indo-Chinese 
 nations, or to enter into engagements which we ai'e not 
 prepared at all hazards to fulfil. Our main object will be, 
 not the acquisition of new territory, but the security of that 
 which we already possess. . . . The only tribe to which we have 
 yet held out hopes of independence is the Assamese. These 
 were annexed about four years ago to the kingdom of Ava, 
 and it is highly desirable on every account that they should 
 no longer remain subject to the Burmese yoke.' 
 
 There were of course other modes of approach to 
 Amarapura. Burmese hosts had passed through 
 the wilderness of mountains to Assam and to Arakan. 
 Why should not a small well-equipped force of
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 83 
 
 Sepoys and Europeans use the same route? The 
 answer was that a tumultuous levy of natives who 
 can live on almost nothing, who can plunder or 
 carry tho little food they need, who can dispense 
 with shelter, who know the country thoroughly and 
 are accustomed to the climate, and whose individual 
 lives are in the esteem of their commander valueless, 
 could do what a costly disciplined column under 
 European guidance would perish in attempting. 
 
 There was a special reason for the call made upon 
 Sir Thomas Munro's good offices. The Bengal army 
 was recruited in the main from the higher castes, 
 and viewed with religious repugnance the notion of 
 crossing the ' Black Water.' As it would have been 
 out of the question to reach Rangoon save by sea 
 transport, recourse was had to the less scrupulous 
 material presented by the Madras army. Happily 
 Sir Thomas Munro was as popular as he was capable: 
 and the response to the appeal from Calcutta was 
 immediate and enthusiastic. Colonel M'Creagh led 
 the Bengal division, Colonel Macbean was at the 
 head of the more important force supplied by Madras. 
 Sir Archibald Campbell was in supreme command. 
 Altogether the army of the Ira wad i comprised over 
 11,000 men. Of these one half were Europeans, one 
 of the regiments being the Madras European regiment. 
 The voyage was a repetition of the Spanish Armada 
 on a small scale. There were royal sloops of war 
 and Company's cruisers to convoy the transports 
 and — a portent which it was hoped would impress 
 
 F 2
 
 «4 JORD AMHERST 
 
 the minds of native observers with superstitious 
 awe & tiny steam vessel, the Diana, was witli the 
 flotilla. 
 
 There is a beautiful and commodious harbour 
 called Port Cornwallis, in one of the Andaman 
 I lands, then the abode only of savages, and here waH 
 the rendezvous of the squadrons. On May 9 Hi«' 
 Heel, reached the Rangoon river one of the many 
 mouths of the [rawadi. The bar was crossed, in 
 spite of some, dismal prophecies, without a serious 
 hitch, and on the morning of the nth the vessel 
 cast anchor in the wide stream in front of Rangoon. 
 A few shots were flred from the feeble defences of 
 the town. The Lijfey answered, dismounting the 
 guns, and forthwith the gunners fled. An American 
 missionary brought a message from the Governor 
 gravely inquiring what tin' new comers wanted, and 
 intimating that the European residents were all in 
 irons and would be killed a! Once. But his Excel- 
 lency the Governor did Dot wait for a reply. When 
 the troops look possession <»r the town, the only 
 persons they found there were this Little band of 
 strangers— eight traders or pilots of British origin, 
 two missionaries, an American and b Greek. The fire 
 from the ships bad interrupted the execution! [fthe 
 Burmese authorities were taken unawares, they knew 
 at anj rate what they had to do. [t was the Burning 
 of Moscow over again. The most stubborn resistance 
 would not have been more embarrassing to the 
 invaders. Our troops held the (own. but tfcere was
 
 CAPTURE OF RANGOON 85 
 
 little in it worth capture. The nou-coinbatant 
 population, through whom the English General had 
 calculated on getting the daily necessaries of life for 
 his force, had disappeared; never did victors feel 
 more dejected.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 The Burmese War: the Defence of Rangoon 
 and Conquest of Arakan 
 
 Rangoon had been built by the mighty hunter 
 Alompra, in part to commemorate his victories in 
 Pegu, but mainly with a prescient desire to secure for 
 Burma the advantage of foreign trade. The town lay 
 on the left bank of the river ; on the other three sides 
 it was protected by a wet ditch. The four main 
 streets were lined with huts of bamboo and matting, 
 raised on piles, for the site of Rangoon was then 
 a, swamp. A few brick houses, of the poorest con- 
 struction, attested the presence of the motley foreign 
 element. Some of these strangers were in the employ 
 of the native government. The day of the arrival 
 of the English about 40,000 people were dwelling in 
 the place, of whom 1,500 were priests and acolytes, 
 attached to the neighbouring pagodas. Between it 
 and the sea was a dead flat, of swampy jungle, varied 
 by paddy fields. But on a low range of hills two miles 
 to the north showed grandly the Holy Place of the 
 Burmese — the great Pagoda of Shwe Dagon Prah. To 
 this a road leads from the town, shaded by splendid
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 87 
 
 trees — mangoes, cocoa palms, and many another of 
 majestic form. At the end of this stately avenue rose 
 the Pagoda, crowning an eminence. Of solid brick 
 throughout, it was covered with gilding which glittered 
 in the sunshine. Minor temples or monasteries Hanked 
 the sacred way, huge griffins standing guard at the 
 entrance of each. Such was the jumble of splendour 
 and squalor in which the army was now quartered. 
 
 The Pagoda was of the most respectable antiquity. 
 The height ascended from the lowest level by two 
 gigantic terraces, which formed a quadrangular base 
 for the solid dome that occupies the centre. At the 
 top it tapers gradually till it ends in a slender pin- 
 nacle almost as high as the body of the dome ; at the 
 end of this is the Tee, the mystic umbrella which 
 denotes the shelter under which the true Buddhist 
 lives and the eternal lordship of his faith. The 
 tinkling of small bells from the lofty pinnacle alone 
 represented for the intruding soldiery the worship of 
 the shrine from which priests and devotees alike had 
 fled. 
 
 The height of the pile is giveu as 300 feet. Scattered 
 over the terraces, and at the base, were sacred build- 
 ings, many of which were in themselves imposing and 
 exquisite specimens of Burmese art. Generation after 
 generation had in this way paid their homage to the 
 spot where under this enormous cairn rested the 
 revered relics of the last four Buddhas. But, for the 
 moment, the interest of the place in the eyes of the 
 quartermaster-general's department lay in its defen-
 
 88 LORD AMHE 
 
 gth and its comparatively salubrious posi- 
 tion. T from the parap. uperb. On 
 north-eastern horizoL nthe hills by which 
 ~ .-taxing river flowed, and be aed 
 a rich plain through which the branches of I 
 Irawadi found their the sea : to the south 
 
 i rt and Pagoda of Syriam. the old c 
 familiar in the dingy romance of early European 
 enterprise. Below flowed the Rangoon river, now 
 with shipping ; on the other bank was the 
 ad almo" foot of tin Pagoda 
 
 lay a beautiful lake. But the contemplation of the 
 Ian . was not an unmixed pie Columns of 
 
 - m -: u .Tiling from th a which broke I 
 
 plain indict 
 
 Tearing their stockades. The c:u: 
 round was almost impracticable for the mo 
 of regular ir noes we: out 
 
 to explore and, if pi - : to tempt back the fagi" 
 inh tUe expedition in boats from the 
 
 ships of war gallantly stormed an unfinished si 
 
 endin. about six miles o an. A more 
 
 advance into the interior by land resulted 
 
 only in illustrating the marvellous ale. a which 
 
 the villagers could disappear inJ ungle, and 
 
 in leaving our commai. - two gilt umbrellas 
 
 trophies A number of mutilt 
 
 bod. found in the wood, a sample of the terrors 
 
 which unswerving loyalty to the crown of . 
 was maintained. I: the dreaded rains set in..
 
 DEFENCE OF RANGOON 89 
 
 and the garrison found itself beleaguered by tho 
 floods. To conduct the force up 500 miles of stream 
 in open boats under this tropical downpour would 
 have been madness, even if boats could have been 
 obtained. As to the route by land, the inundations 
 were a fatal impediment. Nor was there available 
 carriage, nor prospect of supplies. The Burmese 
 authorities had rendered Sir Eyre Coote's primi- 
 tive system of commissariat impracticable by the 
 simple plan of making the country a desert in the 
 track of our troops. There was nothing for it but to 
 wait till the rains were over, and meanwhile to draw 
 supplies from Calcutta and Madras. There was 
 happily no difficulty about making the necessary dis- 
 positions for the defence of Rangoon in the very im- 
 probable contingency of an attack. Nor was the hope 
 abandoned that when the people of Pegu had realized 
 the discomfiture of the Burmese oppressor they 
 would declare on the side of the British. But since 
 the days when Alompra finally asserted the supremacy 
 of Ava over Pegu, the policy of the Burmese had been 
 ingeniously directed to discouraging and supplanting 
 all that was national in the old race. These people, 
 the Talaiugs, were a standing exception to the doctrine 
 that force is no remedy for disaffection. They had been 
 thoroughly cowed into acceptance of the alien rule. 
 
 We have now to turn from the offensive operations 
 of the war to those in Assam and Cachar, and on the 
 Arakan frontier, which were in their primary purpose 
 defensive. The cruelty of the Burmese conquerors iu
 
 90 LORD AMHERST 
 
 Assam had left the population sufficient spirit to resent 
 the wrongs they endured, and here, at any rate, our 
 forces received a welcome, hut that was really all that 
 the people had it in their power to bestow. Our 
 banners advanced along the Brahmaputra from Goal- 
 para to Gauhati, but the rains in this quarter also 
 compelled our commanders to rest. It was the same 
 in Cachar. There too the Burmese remained in 
 occupation. 
 
 It would have been well if nothing worse had 
 occurred on the Arakanese side than the maintenance 
 of the status quo. Something had been done to 
 augment the scanty force of the Company by the 
 enrolment of a Mug levy, but Maha Bandula had 
 discerned with unerring eye the weakness of our 
 position. He could afford to neglect Rangoon as 
 long as he could deal us a blow in the point where 
 we were vulnerable. There is no reason for describing 
 as bombast or vainglory the repeated assurances 
 given by this remarkable man to his royal master, 
 that he could force his way to Calcutta without 
 calling upon more than the local resources of the 
 dependent provinces. A favourite of the queen, 
 who was herself a favourite of the king, he had 
 advantages in the councils of Amarapura such as 
 were denied to most of the functionaries with out- 
 landish titles among whom executive authority was 
 frittered away. He obtained permission to lead an 
 army of more than 10,000 men through Arakan to 
 Chittagong. It reached the British frontier in May
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 91 
 
 about the time that Sir Archibald Campbell occupied 
 Rangoon. Crossing the Naf it advanced to within 
 fourteen miles of Ramu, an advanced post held by 
 a body of a few hundred of the Company's Infantry, 
 supplemented by some of the ill-trained and unre- 
 liable Mugs. For a time the position was held 
 courageously enough as the 8,000 Burmese comba- 
 tants advanced in their traditional style, each man 
 digging his own shelter-hole in the ground, until they 
 reached the pickets. Then our position being plainly 
 untenable, a retreat was ordered, but when the Sepoys 
 reached a stream which crossed the way and the 
 enemy pressed close upon their rear they became 
 utterly demoralized, flinging away their arms and 
 rushing tumultuously into the water. There were 
 deplorable casualties amongst the British officers, and 
 more than half of the rank and file were missing. 
 Some of our soldiers were taken as prisoners to the 
 Burmese capital, where their appearance was held to 
 justify Bandula's confidence in his star. In our 
 own territories too the disaster caused a panic, at 
 which we may now afford to smile, but which was 
 then not wholly unjustified by the possibilities of 
 the case. Fortunately the Golden Foot found itself 
 uncomfortably pinched by the presence of our gam- 
 son at Rangoon. Bandiila with the flower of his 
 army was recalled to expel the impudent intruders 
 in the south, and on our side the reinforcements 
 were tardily sent to Chittagong which should have 
 been there at the outset.
 
 92 LORD AMHERST 
 
 One operation of some importance was carried out 
 with entire success. When the fleets met at Port 
 Cornwallis a portion of the force was sent to reduce 
 Cheduba, one of the numerous islands which fringe 
 the Arakanese coast. The Raja was captured in the 
 jungle and sent as a prisoner with his wife to Calcutta, 
 where the Burmese princess — as has been seen from 
 the diary — became an object of interest and kindly 
 sympathy to the great lady, the wife of the Governor- 
 General. 
 
 A small garrison was left in the island, which 
 became a position of diplomatic rather than of 
 strategic interest. We return to Rangoon, where 
 the troops had been placed in defensive positions 
 at ihe Pagoda and along the Causeway connecting 
 it with the town. The discomfort caused by the 
 rains was much enhanced by the failure of provisions, 
 and by the beginning of June there was nothing but 
 salt meat, for the most part, putrid, even for the 
 invalids in the hospital. Vegetables there were none, 
 and though tempting gardens of pine apples lay 
 outside the lines, the fruit could only be gathered 
 by armed bodies of men. The incessant attacks kept 
 up in guerilla fashion by the Burmese bands who 
 lurked in the country round were almost welcome as 
 a distraction from these monotonous privations. The 
 first experience of fire-rafts — of which much had in 
 a vague way been heard before — was exciting. These 
 were a series of bamboo platforms loosely hinged, so 
 that when they struck the shipping, they easily closed
 
 DEFENCE OF RANGOON 93 
 
 round the hulls. On these floating floors were piled 
 jars of mineral oil and every variety of combustible, 
 from which so fierce and high was the blaze that 
 the observers at the Pagoda trembled for the safety of 
 the fleet. Happily the naval officers learned betimes 
 the knack of arresting the rafts by beams across the 
 river and converting the monsters into harmless 
 bonfires. 
 
 Far more formidable was the land system of stock- 
 ades with which in frequent sallies and expeditions 
 the garrison soon made acquaintance. They varied 
 in size and elaboration, but one general description 
 may suffice for all. The unvarying element was 
 a continuous wall, sometimes as high as twenty feet, 
 of solid timber— the stem of bamboos or trunks of 
 saplings from the neighbouring forests. At the top 
 ran horizontal beams which held all firmly together. 
 At intervals were loopholes for musketry fire. Within 
 the enclosure, which was square or oblong, were raised 
 platforms of earth or wood from which small guns 
 could discharge over the paling. Inside and outside 
 the stockade were trenches, and on the external face 
 were often abattis formed of trunks of trees. Such 
 was the Burmese arrangement for defence, and a modi- 
 fication of the system served for attack. It is hardly 
 an exaggeration to say that the Burmese combatants 
 operated underground. While they were still at 
 a distance our officers saw them advancing in regular 
 line, but presently the units that formed the rank 
 were prostrate on the ground, and before long they
 
 94 LORD AMHERST 
 
 were all comfortably ensconced in couples in small 
 excavations something after the manner of the pit 
 dwellings of prehistoric times. Even a roof was 
 not wanting, and each couple of soldiers had with 
 them the simple commissariat necessary for the whole 
 period during which the siege was expected to last. 
 
 It was not long before the English leaders found 
 a way of coping with the difficulties of this novel 
 system of warfare. A cannonade was almost useless 
 against the stockades: the very flimsiness of the 
 structure was its strength. But shells had a won- 
 derful effect in unnerving the defenders, while at 
 least the European soldiers developed a marvellous 
 capacity for climbing and swarming over the barrier. 
 The courage of the natives did not long survive the 
 consciousness that their position was no longer im- 
 pregnable, and though in the very early stage of 
 hostilities the barbarous shouts and yells and drum- 
 mings of the warriors of Ava unmanned the assailants, 
 there came a time when the mere appearance of the 
 soldiers of John Company rushing to the attack on 
 one side, was the signal for a wholesale flight of the 
 Burmese on the other. The capture of a stockade 
 was sometimes like a hurdle race, but occasionally the 
 conflict was desperate and there were cases in which 
 victory remained with the less civilized combatants. 
 To the last it was considered unsafe to send Sepoys 
 against the enclosures unless they were supported 
 01 even led by Europeans. Many contemporaneous 
 sketches exist of these encounters, which give a vivid
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 95 
 
 picture of the romantic contrasts of the war. We 
 see the men of the king's or the Company's regiments 
 with their tall stiff hats, their straight-cut coats, 
 their closely-fitting breeches, and well-kept accoutre- 
 ments, descending from the palisade with a haste 
 which the artist of the time has made consistent with 
 unruffled dignity. The bayonet is plied, the smoke 
 of the discharges goes up to the sky in white puffs. 
 On the other side are the unfortunate Burmese, some 
 resisting as best they may with their broad swords, 
 but most rushing away in confused rout. Above the 
 parapet of the palisade appear the waving palms and 
 the rich forest foliage — the peaceful setting of this 
 scene of bloodshed. 
 
 But it must not be supposed that the Burmese 
 soldiery were a barbarous rabble. As marksmen they 
 took accurate aim, though their weapons and ammu- 
 nition were of the most wretched kind. They had, 
 however, some excellent guns, a fact for which the 
 invaders were quite unprepared. Nor were they 
 wanting in the proprieties of uniform. A black 
 glazed jacket, a silk band round the waist, a silk 
 scarf over the shoulder, a red fillet round the hair 
 which was tied in a knot at the top of the head, 
 a sword slung over the arm, a spear, a musket, 
 a powder-horn and a shot-pouch completed the equip- 
 ment. In justice to the enemy it should be said, 
 that though in masses they often fled, as individuals 
 they showed an absolute contempt of death. But the 
 bitterest feelings of resentment were stirred among
 
 96 LORD AMHERST 
 
 our troops by the evidence which presented itself of 
 their cruelty to the wounded, and of the horrible 
 indignities they offered to the dead. It may be that 
 the man who holds his own life cheap is courageous, 
 not from heroism but from insensibility. 
 
 We cannot attempt to chronicle in detail the events 
 of this dreary year. Operations were necessarily con- 
 fined to the country about Rangoon. Kemendin, as 
 the starting-point of the fire -rafts, had to be taken. 
 Very gallantly the work was done. A detachment 
 was sent also to drive the enemy from the fort at 
 Syriam. Later on there was another expedition to 
 Pegu, the ancient capital of the province. Eighty 
 years before it had been a splendid and opulent city : 
 now it was an almost desolate ruin. Such is history 
 in the East. These places were accessible by the 
 network of river branches in the centre of which 
 Rangoon lies. An attack on a stockaded post of the 
 Burmese at Kaik-lo ended in a check for the British — 
 the news of which was received with great delight 
 at Amarapura. In some later marches our soldiers 
 were sickened by the sight of the bodies of their 
 comrades who fell, hanging mutilated and gibbeted 
 on trees. There is too much reason to fear that 
 a sense of jealousy or soreness led to this failure. 
 The attack was left to the Madras Sepoys ; and being 
 unsupported they were repulsed. The hardships en- 
 dured by the troops on all these occasions were 
 extreme. The floods were out: there were no roads, 
 hardly indeed tracks : cannon could not be moved.
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 97 
 
 When they bivouacked, mud was the soldier's bed, 
 a log his pillow. Only a portion of the garrison was 
 fit for service. Sickness raged in the cantonment. 
 
 No information, meanwhile, could be obtained of 
 the movements of the enemy beyond the points of 
 occasional contact with the scattered bands or posts. 
 As a matter of fact, our comrades had, as yet, to 
 deal only with raw local levies. For Bandiila's 
 grand army had not come back from Arakan, and 
 the host organized at the capital to expel the insolent 
 strangers was still on the way. The very crudity of 
 Burmese organization made it an easy matter to 
 extemporize a militia. The local governor knew he 
 would answer with his head if he failed, and the 
 masses of the people were creatures of his will. 
 An elaborate cordon of guard-houses prevented any 
 approach to our lines. But by degrees about 200 
 were able to make their way in, chiefly to serve as 
 menial servants. 
 
 There were a number of small excitements to 
 prevent time from hanging heavily on the hands of 
 Sir Archibald Campbell and his staff. The smartest 
 captain on board the men-of-war could not help 
 admiring the easy sweep of the war-boats which 
 brought down messages in the king's name to the 
 intruders, or rather inquiries as to what they wanted 
 on the territory of the Monarch of Monarchs. Out- 
 side of Norse legends nothing could be more stately 
 and graceful than these colossal canoes, with their 
 trim crews of scores of oarsmen. Then there was the 
 
 a
 
 98 LORD AMHERST 
 
 awful yelling from the jungles at night, and marvel- 
 lous stories to tell of clever thefts and of sudden 
 attacks upon the gunboats. In August a great body 
 of devotees, who styled themselves Invulnerables, and 
 had certainly gone through a course of magical pre- 
 paration that ought to have insured immunity, made 
 some daring efforts to free the Holy Pagoda from the 
 profanation of our presence. 
 
 One visitor was a particularly interesting person- 
 age — a man named Gibson, who, born at Madras, 
 the son of an English father and native mother, had 
 ingratiated himself with the Court of Ava, and had, 
 before the outbreak of war, been sent to Cochin 
 China to arrange for a combined attack by the two 
 States on Siam. On his return he found, much to his 
 surprise, that his countrymen were installed at Ran- 
 goon. He is described as a man of extraordinary 
 attainments in everything that concerns the East, 
 in addition to which he spoke English, Portuguese, 
 and a little French. But he was especially welcome 
 because he had a map of Burma in his possession : 
 and was thus able at last to furnish the Intelligence 
 Department with the rudiments of information. 
 
 But the season was by no means wasted. The 
 forced inactivity on the Irawadi enabled the com- 
 mander to send oft' small expeditions by sea to 
 capture Mergui and Tavoy, Martaban and Ye — ports 
 of much value on the long coastline of Tenasserim. 
 We have already described the fluctuating character 
 of possession in these tracts. Tenasserim had for
 
 THE BURMESE WAR -99 
 
 only twenty years acknowledged the supremacy of 
 Ava, and the people had not the smallest objection to 
 exchange of masters. Although these conquests were 
 only subsidiary to the main object of the campaign, 
 they remained a part of the solid fruits of our 
 ultimate triumph. 
 
 We may perhaps add here that, partly owing to 
 the withdrawal of the Burmese armies, and partly 
 owing to the advantages we enjoyed by the command 
 of local allies (whose battle we were really fighting), 
 we had succeeded by the middle of 1825 in effacing 
 the last traces of Burmese power in Assam, Cachar, 
 and Manipur. 
 
 In spite of the spasmodic elation produced by the 
 accounts of occasional British reverses and the arrival 
 of prisoners and captured arms, the King of Ava, and 
 what was more, the Queen, were conscious that things 
 were not going well in the South. All hopes were 
 now centred in Bandula. When the Prince of 
 Tharawadi, whom he superseded, made over the 
 command to him at Donabyii, he gave the plebeian 
 general some cautions, out of the fund of his own 
 experience, as to the danger of despising the might 
 of 'the strangers.' 'In eight days,' was the reply, 
 ' I shall dine in the public hall ' — which by the way 
 was a sort of barn — 'and afterwards return thanks ' — 
 the Burmese equivalent for a Te Deum — 'at the Shwe 
 Dagon Pagoda/ Inspired with this confidence, he 
 marched down the left bank with the better part 
 of his army of 60,000 men ; a force which included 
 G 2
 
 too LORD AMHERST 
 
 a contingent of cavalry, mounted on ponies. Four 
 days sufficed to place the host in front of the British 
 position. The garrison numbered then 1,300 British 
 effectives and 2,500 of the native Indian regiments. 
 On the river was a fleet of Burmese war-ships, and 
 the usual provision of fire-rafts. The Pagoda and the 
 outpost at Kemendin were the principal objects 
 menaced. But after some successful preliminary 
 sorties, a combined attack was made by the British 
 with the help of their gunboats on the Burmese 
 entrenchments. The enemy's lines were carried and 
 the soldiers of Ava fled, leaving their banners, 
 umbrellas, and much munition of war to the victors. 
 This was on December 6, 1824. A week later, two 
 miles from the Pagoda, a stockade at which Bandula 
 had made a stand was taken, and the Burmese com- 
 mander, accepting his first defeat, retired to the 
 fortified position he had prepared at Donabyii. 
 
 In these operations the flotilla had done much 
 service, and the little steamer Diana had demon- 
 strated for the first time in eastern waters the value 
 of steam in naval warfare. The Governor-General's 
 bodyguard, which had under the stress of the situation 
 been despatched from Calcutta, had, like our own 
 guardsmen in similar circumstances, behaved with 
 conspicuous courage. A great conflagration within 
 the British lines at a critical moment was happily 
 extinguished. 
 
 The retreat of the Burmese marked the close of the 
 period of inaction in Pegu. Meanwhile energetic
 
 THE CONQUEST OE ARAKAN IOI 
 
 measures were being taken in the original seat of 
 the troubles to restore the prestige of the Company. 
 Few countries presented greater difficulty to a mili- 
 tary commander. The rainfall on this coastline is 
 far above the standard even of the humid regions of 
 the world. The rivers perversely flow from the 
 central mountain range almost parallel to the coast, 
 and for great distances are rather estuaries than 
 streams, so that a force advancing to the south would 
 have to pass through sodden wastes either sterile or 
 covered with dense masses of tropical vegetation, and 
 at frequent intervals have to cross what were prac- 
 tically inlets of the sea. The beauty of the scenery 
 was no adequate set-off in the eyes of the commanders 
 for the enormous difficulties of transport. As will be 
 seen hereafter the Government at Calcutta found the 
 gravity of their task aggravated by the mutinous 
 spirit of the troops who were detailed for the under- 
 taking. At length, however, an army of 11,000 men 
 was concentrated at Chittagong under General Mor- 
 rison. Gunboats and cruisers sailed along the coast 
 carrying the two European regiments. The passage 
 of the Naf river was not disputed by the enemy, 
 but a painful struggle of two months with physical 
 obstacles lay before them. Sir Henry Lawrence, then 
 a subaltern, was serving with General Morrison ; and 
 there is an interesting account in his Life of the many 
 struggles his division encountered on its way — Sir 
 Henry, up to his waist in water, fording rivers and 
 transporting all the horses of a regiment and all
 
 102 LORD AMHERST 
 
 the ammunition with infinite fatigue ! But the hard- 
 ships were for the moment forgotten when the army 
 found itself before the ancient capital of Arakan in 
 its picturesque setting of low hills. The garrison 
 consisted of the remains of Bandula's army, and 
 after the second day's attack they took to flight, 
 carrying across the mountains evil tidings to the 
 King of Ava. 
 
 Lady Amherst writes, in April 1825, of the painful 
 state of suspense in which they are all waiting at 
 Calcutta. No official news arrives from the armies 
 till the 14th. Then at last comes the most cheering 
 account of the capture of the capital, ' after efforts 
 which seem almost supernatural.' 
 
 On March 29 the force advanced, 
 
 'and came in sight of the very strong position taken up by 
 the enemy for the defence of Arakan. It was a range of 
 hills almost inaccessible, surrounded by dangerous swamps, 
 the summits being cleared and entrenched. An attack on 
 these heights on the evening of March 29 failed owing to 
 the extreme difficulty of ascending the heights, which were 
 nearly perpendicular, and the successful resistance of the 
 enemy l'olling down stones. Pointed pieces of bamboo stuck 
 into the ground wounded the feet of the troops as they 
 advanced.' 
 
 Thirty men were killed and 100 wounded, besides 
 the officers who fell. On the 30th batteries were 
 opened on the enemy's works, and on the 31st arrange- 
 ments were made to attack the fortified heights, which 
 were the key of the position.
 
 THE CONQUEST OF ARAKAN 1 03 
 
 ' This service was performed entirely with the bayonet, 
 without firing a shot. Their success was announced to the 
 camp by striking up the British drums and fifes from the 
 summit during the night.' 
 
 How simply and well the story is told, and what 
 a heroic story it is ! One can imagine the English 
 hearts beating in response to that sudden midnight 
 outburst of warlike music. 
 
 A private letter which Lord Amherst was writing 
 at Barrackpur to Sir Edward Paget on the very day 
 of this brilliant exploit, furnishes us with a most 
 graceful comment. 
 
 ' If ever despatches were calculated to inspire confidence, 
 such are General Morrison's. If providing against failure is 
 the best way to ensure success, no man ever better deserved 
 to find his objects accomplished. 
 
 ' Manipur and Arakan are pretty specimens of the ex- 
 tent and accuracy of our information. By the former we 
 were to march an army without any great difficulty. At 
 the latter we were all to perish by fog and jungle fever. 
 I thank God that the last appears unlikely.' 
 
 The occupation of the rest of the province of Arakan 
 was easily effected, but an attempt to advance on 
 Amarapura by the passes of the dividing range was 
 found to be impracticable. Pestilence was a foe more 
 formidable than the Burmese, and so the plan of a 
 march on the capital from the west, which had found 
 much favour with some of the Calcutta strategists, 
 was abandoned once for all. But Arakan, like Assam 
 and Cachar and Tenasserim, remained ours from that
 
 T04 LORD AMHERST 
 
 time, and the troops were cantoned on the grassy 
 expanse which is now the populous and busy town of 
 Akyab. 
 
 The year 1824 had been one of continuous anxieties 
 to Lord Amherst, and while he wrestled in Council 
 with the doubts concerning policy, and the still more 
 serious questions of executive detail, Lady Amherst 
 watched and waited for tidings of good. From the 
 beginning of the year 1825 there is a growing tone 
 of cheerfulness as the diary records the progress of 
 events of which we have already given an outline at 
 the various seats of war. As the lady continues her 
 record of the rumours which reach her, it is interesting 
 to see the facts and dates of history interpreted into 
 this daily life and talk. When one reads books of 
 history after such a lapse of time, one looks at the 
 maps, one follows the march of the armies, one 
 moralizes on the results of the struggle ; but how 
 different are such calm resumes from the thrill created 
 by the throbbing details which are part of our own 
 actual history, by the events in which we ourselves 
 and the people we live alongside of take a part. 
 Eeading these journals is in some measure living the 
 moment over again with Lady Amherst in that distant 
 place where the pages were written, covered with 
 those close and careful lines which still seem to 
 vibrate with the pulse of that hour.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 The Burmese War : Advance on Prome and Ava 
 and Conclusion of the War 
 
 The advance on Prome is the next act of the 
 Burmese drama ; we may almost trace the incidents 
 in the notes made by the interested annalist at 
 Government House. On March u, 1825, ' accounts 
 arrive of the vanguard of the army at Rangoon 
 having marched on the 5th. On the 16th, Brigadier- 
 General Cotton sailed with his division to meet Sir 
 Archibald Campbell at Donal^u and to proceed to 
 Prome, the capital of the Prince of Ava.' 
 
 The arrangement was, we may explain, that one 
 force should go by water under General Cotton, 
 while another advanced by land (which was now free 
 from flood) under the Commander-in-Chief. Brigadier 
 M'Creagh remains at Rangoon in command, waiting 
 for the necessary transports to arrive. The town is 
 fortifying briskly. Rockets, which never before had 
 a fair opportunity of being tried, astonish the enemy 
 so much that immediately on their beginning to play 
 the Burmese fly precipitately. As the King's armies 
 retreat, the peaceable inhabitants of the country 
 come back to their homes.
 
 106 LORD AMHERST 
 
 ' Great numbers of families are returning and the market 
 is well supplied. Every member of our army in the greatest 
 possible spirits, delighted to be on the march to Prome, and, 
 as they hope, to Amariipura, before the rainy season sets in. 
 This we fear, however, is unlikely. There are several thousand 
 bullocks needed to draw the artillery tents and the baggage, 
 also elephants ; and all will have to be transported from the 
 Upper Provinces (of India) to Calcutta, 1,200 miles, and to be 
 again embarked for Rangoon and Chittagong.' 
 
 On March 27, many reports are afloat both of 
 victories and defeats : 
 
 ' Some Burmese prisoners sent from Rangoon say that their 
 countrymen are now fully persuaded that we are sorcerers . . . 
 we bewitch their men, their artillery, their stockades, and 
 they think every white face a devil, but they still do not talk 
 of peace.' 
 
 We must here return to the thread of our narrative. 
 The river force had been detained at Donabyu, 
 Randula's fortified position on the river about 
 seventy miles above Rangoon, while Sir Archibald 
 Campbell, with whom it was impossible to keep up 
 communication, had gone in advance on his land 
 march towards Prome. 
 
 On April 3 Lady Amherst records 
 
 'that General Cotton with a small force of 200 men had 
 succeeded in carrying the first outwork of the great stockade 
 at Donabyu. But in attempting the second the cannonade 
 was kept up so heavily that in a few minutes, having had 120 
 men killed and wounded (out of 200), the General thought it 
 prudent to retire, which he did successfully to his boats. 
 General Cotton sent to acquaint Sir Archibald Campbell
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 707 
 
 with what had occurred. His note was on a small bit of 
 paper wrapped round a cheroot and put into a hole bored in 
 a messenger's ear. The man, a Burmese, carried the message 
 safely, and Sir Archibald, who was about forty miles higher 
 up beyond Donabyu, immediately returned with the greatest 
 part of his force to join in another attack. General Cotton 
 had summoned Bandiila to surrender, who sent a very civil 
 message in answer, saying it was his duty to defend Donabyu 
 to the utmost, but if he took any prisoners they should be 
 well treated. We have therefore so far civilized them by 
 our example of humanity. The account the prisoners give 
 is that there are 20,000 men in the stockade, and that 
 Bandiila has been obliged to chain his men to the guns to 
 prevent their abandoning them.' 
 
 At this point, the story of the diary reverts to 
 Rangoon and the coast. Major Sale, who had been 
 sent with a small force to occupy Bassein, found on 
 his arrival that the enemy had abandoned the place ; 
 he had the satisfaction of setting prisoners free from 
 their irons and of being welcomed by the inhabitants. 
 So at last we come to better times, the peasants are 
 bringing in provisions, the population is reassured. 
 The High Priest of the Great Dagon Pagoda is also 
 returning, oddly enough escorted by a British guard 
 of honour. 
 
 The crowning mercy was not long delayed. 
 
 'April 29, 1825. This morning despatches arrived from 
 Sir Archibald Campbell with the glorious and cheering news 
 of the fall of Donabyii. It was invested on March 28 by 
 the combined forces of General Cotton and Sir Archibald. 
 A rocket most fortunately falling on the Maha Bandiila
 
 to8 LORD AMHERST 
 
 killed him, mid on the night between the ist and 2nd of 
 April the garrison evacuated the fort, stores of all kinds 
 were taken, and immense quantities of provisions. Our loss 
 was very trifling indeed. Bandula is the only Burmese 
 general who has in any degree resisted our army. . . He had 
 begun to show signs of civilization and had issued a procla- 
 mation ordering the soldiers not to maltreat or put their 
 prisoners to death. ... In the centre of the stockade was 
 a very beautiful bungalow discovered, belonging to Bandula, 
 containing thirty spacious apartments. As soon as Ban- 
 dula was killed the soldiers immediately burnt his body. . . . 
 Bandula,' Lady Amherst says, 'had great influence over the 
 king, and his soldiers were much attached to him. He used 
 to behead them if they were frightened. On one occasion 
 he killed seven men one after another, when the eighth at 
 last found courage to stand by the gun.' 
 
 May 22. Despatches were received from Sir Archi- 
 bald Campbell dated April 20, thirty miles from 
 Prome. An English soldier who had been taken 
 prisoner was sent to Sir Archibald, bringing a letter 
 from the Burmese Government proposing peace. The 
 letter stated that the English and Burmese Govern- 
 ments had from the beginning of the world been 
 always allies and friends, and that from the folly of 
 the Raja of Arakan and other Rajas, war had been 
 kindled between the two Governments. Sir Archibald 
 replied that, foes or friends, he must continue his 
 march to Prome, and there hear what the King's 
 Ministers had to propose. 
 
 ' We now begin to flatter ourselves that there is a pi'ospect 
 of an end to the war,' wrote Lady Amherst in ink which is
 
 OCCUPATION OF PROME 109 
 
 somewhat couleur-de-rose, ' which has been a campaign of 
 increasing triumphs to the British arms.' 
 
 It will be noticed how again the English are 
 deluded by hopes of peace. 
 
 ' We may fairly say,' the diary continues, ' that our foes 
 have been beaten into sueing for peace, their insolent 
 language and high pretensions have vanished.' 
 
 Another despatch from Sir Archibald of May 2 
 states, that 
 
 ' on entering Prome, they found the town completely evacu- 
 ated ; a strong garrison had fled with all the inhabitants, 
 and the peacemakers, if such they were, had also fled. Sir 
 Archibald represents Prome as the strongest and best fortified 
 town he has seen in Ava, and states that with 1,000 men 
 he could have defended it against ten times that number from 
 the excessive strength of the works and stockades. . . . The 
 Prince Sarawaddi (Tharawadi) who commanded in Prome, and 
 who fled so precipitately on the first advance of the army, 
 told his followers that he was gone to tell the king the truth, 
 and the state of the country, which the queen and her brother ' 
 (both of low birth) ' had concealed ; and to implore him to make 
 peace as the only means of saving the remains of the empire. 
 He promised that he himself should return to Prome.' 
 
 In Prome were found above a hundred pieces of 
 cannon besides ordnance and military stores. 
 
 ' The Burmese set the town on fire before they quitted it, 
 and our troops could only save one half of it from the 
 flames. Captain Alexander went up in his boats for fifty 
 miles, and captured 3,000 boats full of the population that 
 had fled. These he persuaded to return to their homes. We 
 are now awaiting in anxious suspense the next accounts.'
 
 HO LORD AMHERST 
 
 The capture of Donabyu was undoubtedly the 
 crisis of the campaign. Yet the glory of the exploit 
 belongs perhaps to the slender force under General 
 Cotton, which with ineffectual gallantry attacked the 
 formidable defences. As a piece of military engineer- 
 ing the stockade was the admiration of our officers. 
 After Sir Archibald Campbell had returned and 
 invested the place there was less occasion for a dis- 
 play of valour. The defenders had the imprudence to 
 attempt a sortie, and in spite of horses and elephants, 
 possibly by reason of the presence of these unwieldy 
 monsters, were forced back to their lines. Lady 
 Amherst's brief and ingenuous account of the Bur- 
 mese commander's death — ' a rocket most fortunately 
 falling on the Maha Bandiila killed him ' — reflects 
 faithfully the tension of feeling at the time. But the 
 great-grandchildren of the victors may well speak 
 with honour and respect of the vanquished dead. 
 Maha Bandula had many of the qualities of true 
 greatness ; and had he survived might have proved 
 himself as perilous an antagonist as Haidar All. The 
 suit of armour which he wore may be seen in the 
 Tower of London ; and in the sketches of the period, 
 he looks more like a Knight Templar than a Pagan. 
 But picturesque costume was the forte of all the 
 Burmese magnates; and some of the most consummate 
 knaves were faultless in the matter of armour. Nor 
 should praise be withheld from Bandula's colleague 
 or rival, the Prince of Tharawadi. He had statesman- 
 like perception, and had his pacific spirit prevailed
 
 OCCUPATION OF PRO ME III 
 
 the Court of Ava might have escaped superfluous 
 humiliation. But the weakness of Burma has 
 always been the ignorance, the pride, the duplicity 
 of the Palace. 
 
 The occupation of Prome was, in every way, 
 an advantage. The climate was excellent, supplies 
 abundant, and after the first panic was soothed the 
 people were friendly. Then first the British soldier 
 had an opportunity of making the acquaintance of 
 the merry light-hearted folk, who are now our fellow 
 subjects, and far and away the most popular of all the 
 races living under the shadow of the British Throne. 
 The absence of caste restrictions, their frank and 
 kindly nature, their love of sport and song, commend 
 John Burman to the good graces of John Bull. 
 After all the miseries of Rangoon it was a perfect 
 delight to the army to be in a place where the 
 bazaars were bright and full, where men and women, 
 dressed in gay clothes, exchanged jokes with the 
 strangers, and looked them straight in the face. 
 There was plenty of amusement. The flower orna- 
 ments of the women were a sight in themselves. 
 And the scenery was lovely. There were pagodas and 
 huge images as in Rangoon ; but all was embosomed 
 in hills of the most romantic form and tender colour. 
 For at Prome, as at other points of its long course, 
 the Irawadi in its windings forms a series of beautiful 
 lakes, girt by mountains. 
 
 To cheer further the hearts of the English leaders, 
 there was good news from Rangoon. The Pegu
 
 112 LORD AMHERST 
 
 people were at last beginning to think that they need 
 no longer yield implicit obedience to the boycotting 
 orders from Ava. 
 
 There was at one time a little fear that we might 
 have on the Tenasserim coast the same sort of trouble 
 that we had with the Burmese in Arakan. But it 
 was explained that the Siamese bands which sug- 
 gested trouble had appeared by mistake. A change 
 of rule at Bangkok, however, put a stop for the time 
 to the schemes of an alliance between the British 
 and the Siamese. Later on, a friendly mission from 
 Calcutta was well received on the Menain, and 
 honoured with much largesse of ' sugar.' But only 
 commercial relations were in question. It was a fixed 
 point in Lord Amherst's policy to maintain a balance 
 of power between Siam and Burma. The disintegra- 
 tion of the latter, he clearly foresaw, might make the 
 neighbouring kingdom dangerously strong. 
 
 It is now the turn of the Burmese to suffer priva- 
 tions. Lady Amherst writes in June, 1825 : — 
 
 'Reports from Aniarapura speak of a great dearth of 
 provisions there, and in all the towns in that part. True 
 the report must he, for we are masters of the Irawadi 
 river which conveyed all kinds of provisions from the 
 provinces to the capital. Surely hunger must bring these 
 barbarians to their senses ; but there seems no hope of this 
 at present, as the Burmese Ministers are fortifying their 
 capital strongly, and erecting stockades to a considerable 
 distance, and are determined to carry on the Avar at all 
 risks. The cessation of the rains is anxiously looked for by 
 Sir Archibald and his army, who are all in high health and
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 1 13 
 
 spirits at the prospect of meeting the enemy again and 
 conquering his capital.' 
 
 'June 6, 1825. Despatches arrive from Sir Archibald 
 Campbell of May 10. Heavy rains commenced a week 
 before, and he had been occupied in housing his troops in 
 Prome. The natives were returning in vast numbers ; 5,000 
 boatfulls at one time came down the river to return to their 
 homes from whence they had been driven by Prince Tliara- 
 wadi and Bandula. The bazaars were beginning to be 
 stocked, so much so, that Sir Archibald wishes no more 
 provisions to be sent to his army. Many of the chiefs had 
 arrived with offers of service and to put themselves under 
 British protection. One chief brought nine elephants, with 
 a promise of adding ten more. It is said that the king in 
 despair has given himself up to perpetual intoxication.' 
 
 But as yet the King of Ava has not learnt the 
 lesson of politic submission. An account, we read 
 in the diary, has been received from Prome that 
 a tributary province has been ordered to raise a 
 body of troops to join the Burmese army which is 
 now again collecting, to try its fortune against British 
 arms. This was in fact one of the Shan states in the 
 hilly country to the east of Amarapura. 
 
 The province — Lady Amherst explains — is governed 
 by Shan princesses, who themselves command their 
 troops, consisting of 1,500 men. The princesses ride 
 on horseback at the head of their armies. They give 
 it out that they are enchantresses, gifted with the 
 power of converting a cannon or musket ball into 
 a drop of water at the moment it is fired from the 
 mouth of the gun : this is implicitly believed by the 
 
 H
 
 i 14 LORD AMHERST 
 
 superstitious Burmese. ' These poor ignorant Ranis 
 must however be cautious how they try their witch- 
 craft against the British troops,' adds Lady Amherst, 
 rather grimly. 
 
 On September 9 despatches are again received from 
 Sir Archibald Campbell. 
 
 ' It being reported to him that a large army had arrived 
 about sixty miles from Prome commanded by the queen's 
 brother who is first minister at Amarapura, he sent General 
 Cotton in a steam vessel up the Irawadi, who returned 
 with the account that not less than 50,000 Burmese, all 
 armed with muskets, were assembled about sixty miles up 
 the river. . . . They had fired from a battery of sixteen guns 
 upon the steam vessel, but the width of the river and the 
 great distance prevented any mischief being done.' 
 
 At this time the anxieties of the Vice-regal house- 
 hold were divided between the old trouble in Burma 
 and the mischief that was brewing at Bhartpur. 
 
 Sir Charles Metcalfe had no sooner started on the 
 mission, which was the final effort of pacification in 
 the Jat State, than from the east arrive the tidings of 
 peace so ardently desired. Overtures for an under- 
 standing had been received at Prome in answer to 
 a letter which had been despatched by Sir Archibald 
 Campbell to Amarapura a few weeks before. Two 
 commissioners were sent by the British to negotiate. 
 
 ' They were received,' says Lady Amherst, ' very courteously 
 at first, and with great demonstrations of respect by some 
 chiefs of high rank belonging to the Burmese Court ; but
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 115 
 
 when they came to business they reverted to their usual 
 insolence of language, saying that if the British wished for 
 peace they might sue for it, and that the Burmese might 
 perhaps listen to them as tributaries to the Golden Empire. 
 The chiefs were stopped and told that this was not the 
 language to be used to a general at the head of a victorious 
 army. Then in low voices the commissioners answered that 
 this high language was meant for their own people ; we must 
 not regard it. They added that the British fought like 
 lions, and when the battle was over showed no resent- 
 ment. It was finally settled that Sir Archibald Campbell 
 should meet the King of Ava's Prime Minister, and that an 
 armistice should immediately be agreed upon for forty days 
 from that time' — that is to say from Sept. 17, 1825. 
 
 The Government at Calcutta was in great hopes 
 that all was going to be satisfactorily settled, but 
 they had not yet sounded the depths of Burmese 
 guile. 
 
 The truth was that the Court of Ava had prepared 
 a force of new materials which might easily have 
 perplexed the British generals. After the first sense 
 of despair inspired by the downfall of Donabyii, the 
 Shans were summoned to the standard. No sharp 
 geographical division can be drawn between tho 
 people of the plains and the people, whether they be 
 called Shans or Karens, who belong by origin and in 
 large part by residence to the wild hill tracts on tho 
 east. Within the last few years we have found how 
 much easier it is to subdue the races of the valley 
 than to secure the good behaviour of the mountaineers, 
 and in 1825 the strong contingents of these tribu- 
 
 h a
 
 Tl6 LORD AMHERST 
 
 taries who flocked to Amarapura supplied the king 
 with excellent fighting stuff. The system of bounty 
 was substituted for conscription in the case of the 
 Burmese proper, with results that any students of 
 human nature can divine. The main force, to which 
 Lady Amherst refers in the entry we have quoted, was 
 stationed about sixty miles up stream from Prome, 
 under the command of a half-brother of the king. 
 The rest were distributed to guard the approach to 
 the capital. Another large body was at Taung-ngu, 
 a town to the east of Prome. To meet all contin- 
 gencies, Sir Archibald Campbell had with him 2,300 
 Europeans and rather a larger number of Sepoys. 
 
 News of the result of the meeting was impatiently 
 awaited at Government House. 
 
 On October 30, 1825, despatches arrived from Sir 
 Archibald Campbell. The meeting took place on 
 October 2, in a large hut which had been prepared 
 between the lines. 
 
 ' The Burmese chiefs were splendidly dressed. Sir Archi- 
 bald opened the business with a brief and solemn speech, in 
 the same style and spirit in which he had written to them. 
 He proposed his terms of peace, which were to give them 
 hack Pegu, for which two crores of rupees would he expected, 
 and to retain Arakan. After some consultation among them- 
 selves, they said that when they made peace witli the Chinese, 
 neither money nor territory was asked. Sir Archibald told 
 them that it was not a case in point, they had entirely 
 annihilated the Chinese army, not a man having escaped, 
 whereas now w T e are masters of the country with a victorious 
 and increasing army, ready to march upon the capital if they
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 117 
 
 do not accede to our terms. They replied that they must 
 send to the king to consult him hefore they could consent to 
 such humiliating terms. Sir Archibald replied that every- 
 thing should be done in the quietest and gentlest manner ; but 
 that the terms must be complied with, they all concurred in 
 prolonging the armistice for thirty days, and agreed to meet 
 again when they had consulted the Golden Monarch . . . The 
 Burmese chiefs were invited to dinner next day, which invi- 
 tation they joyously accepted. They all drank wine and cherry 
 brandy and were joyous but not at all intoxicated, and the 
 first Minister in taking leave laid Sir Archibald's hand on his 
 heart and assured him of his sincerity with tears rolling from 
 his eyes.' 
 
 Lady Amherst gives the last touch to the comic 
 grandeur of the scene by a quotation from the letter 
 of an officer present. 
 
 ' Sir Archibald conducted the Keywonghee \ Their dress 
 beggars all description : it was covered with gold embroidery, 
 of green and purple velvet made up in fastastic shapes ; on 
 their heads they wore a gilt bason with something like 
 a steeple on the top of it, and bells and gold chains dangling 
 all round the face, their ears wrapped up in solid gold cases. 
 Their dress was made of pasteboard covered with velvet. The 
 Keywonghee asked Sir Archibald if he had ever seen two 
 such great men as the Mayoon and himself. The General 
 smiled, and smothering a laugh, said, Never.' 
 
 The resources of Burmese effrontery were, however, 
 not yet exhausted. 
 
 'On the 19th of November despatches arrived in Calcutta 
 from Promc. The day before the armistice on November 1 
 
 1 The principal noble of the Council of State.
 
 Il8 LORD AMHERST 
 
 came a letter from the Keywonghee breaking up all the 
 negotiations. The king's answer was, " Let the English 
 generals empty their hands and return to their ships and 
 trouble us no more. They are not sincere in supplicating for 
 peace, and their petition is not heard." Sir Archibald imme- 
 diately ordered his troops to prepare to march.' 
 
 On the 2 and another letter arrives from Sir 
 Archibald. 
 
 ' Accounts from the capital say that the moment terms of 
 peace were mentioned to the king his rage was unbounded ; 
 that he ordered the wretched Minister who imparted them 
 to him to have his mouth cut from ear to ear ; that he shut 
 himself up in his room for a week, and on coming out of it 
 ordered the head of the Governor of Donabyu to be struck off. 
 All the English and Americans were again put into a dungeon, 
 from whence they had been liberated for a short time.' 
 
 For it should be explained that besides some English 
 soldiers and a surgeon captured in fight, some mis- 
 sionaries who had been resident in the capital were 
 detained as hostages. The Duchess in Alice was 
 nothing to this magnificent monarch. 
 
 1 Our troops,' Lady Amherst records on December 12, 1825, 
 'are reported to have received a check on the 16th. Four 
 native regiments were sent to clear a jungle of a body of 
 2,500 men; they found at least 12,000 armed with muskets 
 and artillery, their Colonel was killed by the first shot, several 
 other officers wounded — a disastrous affair, but it had not 
 damped the ardour of our troops.' 
 
 The check was soon to be atoned for. 
 
 ' On the 30th of December arrived news of a decisive 
 victory for the British close to Prome, a battle lasting three
 
 THE BURMESE WAR 119 
 
 days having been fought on both sides of the river. The 
 enemy were driven from their entrenchments, which had 
 seemed almost impregnable. The Keywonghee commanded 
 the centre of their army, consisting of 30,000 men, which was 
 entrenched on the summit of a high hill. This very strong 
 position was attacked by the flotilla under Sir James Brisbane. 
 Our loss was comparatively small in privates, but six officers 
 were killed. Among the slain was found one of the Shaumese 
 [Shan] enchantresses habited as a man. She was one of the 
 three young princesses who governed the Shaum [Shan] 
 country. All the letters dwell much on the young enchan- 
 tress. Another of these ladies was seen to fall, but she was 
 immediately carried off the field by her own people.' 
 
 Concerning this strange and painful incident, it is 
 well to quote from the narrative given by Major 
 Trant in his delightful Tivo Years in Ava. 
 
 ' Being habited (says another authority) in a black jacket 
 and large straw hat, similar to the men, her sex at first was 
 not discovered, but when the soldiers ascertained that they 
 had unwittingly been the cause of this pretty creature's 
 premature death, they immediately dug a grave and deposited 
 her corpse in it, with many sincere though unpolished expres- 
 sions of regret that such should have been her melancholy 
 fate. It is customary among the Shuans that the wives of 
 the Chobwahs [Tsabwas] should have equal authority with 
 their husbands, when taking the field to encounter an enemy ; 
 and in this instance it would seem that the confidence reposed 
 in the beauteous Amazon was not misplaced.' 
 
 Our victories bore good fruit, for we read on 
 January 20, 1826 — 
 
 ' At 1 2 o'clock last night arrived the steam vessel Enterprise 
 from Rangoon. Captain Johnstone came up to Lord Amherst's
 
 120 LORD AMHERST 
 
 door, to announce that preliminaries of peace were actually 
 signed with the Burmese. On arriving at Malown they found 
 the place evacuated. They were met by the first Minister 
 (the Keywonghee) from Ava, to sue for peace. The Burmese 
 gave up all our conquests, or rather acceded to our terms. 
 . . . The steamboat is returning to Rangoon to fetch the 
 treaty to Calcutta. This joyful intelligence has been very 
 overpowering, and an indescribable load of anxiety is removed 
 from Lord Amherst's mind. If Bhartpur falls as we expect, 
 and our dear Jeff returns unhurt, our happiness would be 
 complete.' 
 
 But Lord Amherst had from the first instructed 
 the commander that incredulity was the proper spirit 
 in which all overtures from Ava should he received. 
 
 ' Till the ratification of the peace from Ava arrives/ Lady 
 Amherst observes, ' a degree of uneasiness must exist.' 
 
 On February 5 we read : 
 
 ' Mr. Wilson arrived in the steam vessel from Rangoon 
 with the provoking and disappointing intelligence that the 
 Burmese had again broken their faith and every pretension 
 to honour, and that hostilities had recommenced. After fifteen 
 days' allowance for the return of the ratification of the treaty 
 Sir Archibald sent an officer to ask why they did not perform 
 their promise. They could see by the help of telescopes that 
 they were fortifying themselves by strong stockades in Malown. 
 The Keywonghee asked for seven days more. Sir Archibald 
 said he would give them until 1 2 o'clock that night to produce 
 the ratification, if nut he should attack them. The night 
 before was spent in preparation, and by daybreak the attack 
 was made, and Malown carried by storm with so very small 
 a loss on our side, that it is scarcely credible, four Sepoys 
 killed and fourteen officers and men wounded in all. The
 
 ADVANCE ON AVA 1 21 
 
 enemy suffered severely by our rockets. The king's brother 
 was killed by a shot from a musket ; his horse was taken, 
 a fine charger covered with gold plates and jewels. The 
 Keywonghee escaped, as did the other commissioner who 
 asserted that the king had sent him to treat for peace. In his 
 tent was found the treaty which had remained there ever since 
 it was signed, and the whole has proved to be a trick, and ' 
 (as the lady exclaims) ' the grossest violation of truth, honour, 
 faith, and everything of the kind.' 
 
 Under the circumstances this harsh judgement was 
 only natural. Yet we know from independent sources 
 that this unlucky envoy was sincerely anxious for 
 a settlement ; that he positively declined to attack 
 the British during the armistice, and that it was sheer 
 terror of the king's resentment that prevented him 
 irom making his sovereign fully acquainted with the 
 situation of affairs. 
 
 As the result of this engagement, booty of all sorts 
 was seized. Sir Archibald proceeded on his road to 
 Ava, not expecting much more opposition. Burmese 
 prisoners — Lady Amherst continues — say that no one 
 dare speak to the king of peace, and that one of his 
 Ministers having ventured to do so, the king threw 
 a javelin at him and transfixed him. ' It is from the 
 mouths of our cannons,' says Lady Amherst, ' that the 
 Golden Monarch must hear a few truths.' 
 
 In the Keywonghee's trunk at Malown were found 
 several of the Raj Garoo's x letters, urging the Burmese 
 
 1 The 'Raj Garoo' was tho Holy Man, half spy, half impostor, 
 whose call at Government House is pleasantly desn-ilud elMwien 
 in the diary see page 64).
 
 122 LORD AMHERST 
 
 to prosecute the war, saying that we were exhausted 
 in men and money. He recommended their armies 
 never to hazard a battle, but to harass us by night in 
 jungles, and swamps, and above all to interrupt our 
 convoys. So the news continues changing from clay 
 to day ; we hear of the steady advance of the English, 
 the shifty subterfuges of the Burmese. Two of the 
 English prisoners were sent back to treat with Sir 
 Archibald, who had now nearly doubled the terms he 
 had originally asked. 
 
 While the prospect of an honourable peace in 
 Burma grows more and more remote, Lord Amherst 
 is harassed by news from England of his intended 
 recall. Happily the demonstrations of local respect 
 were more than a solace for the passing displeasure 
 of the home authorities. 
 
 We are now in April, i 826. On the 5th, just as 
 Lord and Lady Amherst were starting for their early 
 ride in the cool morning, a messenger hurried up with 
 the news that the Enterprise had anchored above Ked- 
 geree. Before seven o'clock the letter arrived bringing 
 the joyful intelligence of peace. It had been signed at 
 a place only four marches from the capital of Burma. 
 The faithful missionaries who had returned to the king, 
 as they promised to do, now brought the treaty signed 
 by him, and twenty-five lacs of rupees besides. 
 
 The Conquering Hero was, in fact, almost the 
 herald of his own triumph. 'Before ten o'clock,' 
 says Lady Amherst, ' Sir Archibald, Mr. Robertson, 
 and Mr. Mangles arrived at Barrackpur ; the joy on
 
 CONCLUSION OF THE BURMESE WAR 123 
 
 all sides is more easily imagined than described. 
 The troops were returning, only a certain number 
 remained until the rest of the tribute was paid, and 
 some regiments were left to guard the ceded pro- 
 vinces.' When one reflects on all the anxiety and 
 the many difficulties through which the English had 
 struggled for the last twenty-four months, one cannot 
 wonder at the note of triumph which is struck in 
 these records. It is almost a psalm. 'The Golden 
 Monarch's insolence and pride ' are now humbled. 
 
 Honour to the victors ! There is a banquet at 
 Government House. There are illuminations present 
 and to come. Proclamations, minutes, compliments, 
 and guns are being fired off in every direction. There 
 is of course curiosity to hear all about the Burmese. 
 The accounts given describe a shrewd and clever 
 people. Even now they tried to take advantage of 
 us ; some of the bars of gold being merely gilt copper, 
 and some of the priceless jewels proving to be coloured 
 glass only. 
 
 Among Lady Amherst's anecdotes of the Burmese, 
 there is one told her by Dr. Price, the American mis- 
 sionary, who had asked the King of Ava to grant him 
 a great favour — permission to preach his doctrines and 
 to convert the king's subjects to them. The king told 
 Dr. Price he granted this request, and he might preach 
 his religion ; but whenever his subjects were con- 
 verted by it, he should cut off their heads, and send 
 them at once into the Paradise of which the Doctor 
 had told them.
 
 124 LORD AMHERST 
 
 Even during the time of Lady Amherst'^ great 
 bereavement scraps of news from the scene of the 
 long anxiety continue to be inscribed on the pages of 
 the diary — the light epilogues of the engrossing 
 drama. 
 
 The altar of the Great Pagoda had been returned 
 by Lady Amherst to the Burmese chiefs at Rangoon, 
 whose letter in recognition is as follows : — 
 
 ' The great Lady of Bengal has graciously sent back the 
 glass altar, the sacred Kyang and the image of Duty which 
 had miraculously travelled to Bengal. They are deposited in 
 the great Temple and are daily worshipped.' 
 
 It remains only to supplement in a few details 
 the narrative of military and political events drawn 
 from Lady Amherst's passing notes. A reference 
 must suffice to the collateral operations conducted 
 on the river Sit-taung, with a view to dislodging the 
 Burmese force from Taung-ngu. As in other cases, an 
 initial reverse was followed by a hardly won success. 
 
 The fortunes of the main column concern us 
 chiefly. By the time the army had reached Pagan, 
 one of the ancient capitals of Burma, the ruins of 
 which still attest its former greatness and the tran- 
 sitory nature of Burmese magnificence, there is a most 
 gratifying proof that the people recognized us as 
 masters of the country. In long processions of boats 
 on the river, and in streaming crowds on the shore, 
 they were seen returning to the flimsy homes from 
 which the edict of the Palace had banished them. 
 
 Yandabu remains famous in history as the village
 
 CONCLUSION OF THE BURMESE WAR 125 
 
 where the treaty was at last, on February 24, 1826, 
 concluded. Even the king, tardily converted to a 
 sense of the realities of his position, gratefully acknow- 
 ledged his friend Sir Archibald's ' magnanimity.' 
 Assam, Arakan, and the coast of Tenasserim, were 
 ceded in perpetuity, and he agreed to abstain from all 
 interference in Manipur, in Cachar, and. the adjacent 
 hill-state of Jaintia. He pledged himself to receive a 
 Resident at his capital, and to enter into negotiations 
 for the conclusion of a commercial treaty ; as an 
 indemnity he undertook to pay a crore of rupee?, 
 about 1,000,000 sterling, in four instalments. 
 
 A portion of the British force withdrew through 
 the mountains to Arakan. It was satisfactory of 
 course to find that a feat which had been consi- 
 dered impracticable could after all be performed ; but 
 there was mortification in the thought that if only 
 the route taken (that by the Aeng Pass) had been 
 known before, General Morrison and his army might 
 have wintered in Ava instead of ' perishing in the 
 marshes of Arakan.' 
 
 Rangoon was held by a British garrison till the 
 second instalment of the indemnity was paid. Then, 
 at the close of 1826, they were transferred to Maul- 
 main, at that time a mere cluster of huts ; but soon to 
 become one of the most flourishing, and, as many 
 competent judges hold, the most beautiful ports in 
 the East. 
 
 Although the submission of tho Court of Ava was 
 at the moment complete, there was a speedy revival
 
 126 LORD AMHERST 
 
 of the old insolent airs. The Envoy despatched to 
 arrange the commercial treaty was superciliously 
 treated, and the concessions made were inadequate. 
 But only a very grave provocation would have 
 tempted the Government of India to incur the pains 
 and risks of another rupture. The king on his part — 
 though left in possession of domains as wide as those 
 of monarchs who ruled in the palmy days of the 
 kingdom — sulked and fretted. Four years elapsed 
 before a British Resident was appointed to the 
 capital. 
 
 In the light of experience the policy of the Burmese 
 war needs no justification. Arakan and Tenasserim 
 in due course became valuable possessions. Arakan is 
 one of the great rice-fields of the world. The superb 
 timber forests of Tenasserim were especially a gain. 
 Assam, although at first we took possession only of 
 the lower part of the valley, was destined to become 
 more than the rival of China in the production of its 
 tea. Development was not immediate ; for the 
 heaven-sent administrator is not always found at 
 once. Assam and Arakan were placed under the 
 government of Bengal ; Tenasserim under that of 
 Madras. The town of Amherst on the Tenasserim 
 commemorates the connexion of the Governor- 
 General with the conquest. It was intended to serve 
 as a sanatorium, but disappointed hope in this respect. 
 
 It was as a first step which led of necessity to the 
 complete absorption of Burma in the Empire, that 
 Lord Amherst's policy became a landmark in history.
 
 CONCLUSION OF THE BURMESE WAR 127 
 
 Yet we must not blame those who felt too acutely 
 the distresses of their own time, to be capable of 
 divining the future. The war was condemned at 
 home simply because the early stages were gloomy 
 and almost calamitous. As in the Zulu war, the 
 occasion appeared to those at a distance to be too 
 trivial to justify the stupendous sacrifices. Not that 
 the Directors were moved by any spirit of humani- 
 tarianism. The treasury they considered was ex- 
 hausted by the struggle within the limits of India 
 proper, and it seemed sheer madness to court further 
 outlay in adventures in the barbarous borderlands. 
 Lord Amherst judged more wisely. He saw that if 
 the aggressions of the Burmese were not sternly 
 repressed they would be extended indefinitely; and 
 that the good work done by Lord Hastings and Lord 
 Wellesley for the prestige of the Company in India, 
 would be rendered unavailing if the native princes 
 saw that we complacently put up with insult from 
 a barbarous neighbour on the eastern frontier. Criti- 
 cism may fasten more plausibly upon the conduct of 
 the campaign ; but criticism has an advantage denied 
 to statesmanship, that of learning wisdom after the 
 event.
 
 CHAPTER VH 
 
 The Capture of Biiahtpur 
 
 We have described in Chapter II the state of 
 things which the conclusion of the operations against 
 the predatory powers had left to the successor of 
 Lord Hastings. Even had it been possible to reserve 
 all the resources of the Government for the necessary 
 organization of reform in police, in civil justice, in 
 revenue settlement, for patient effort to remove by 
 wise and kind administration in the several districts 
 the painful impressions left by the earlier blunders, 
 the task would have been one of extreme difficulty. 
 One result of the effacement of the Pindaris, as 
 a political force, was to scatter the members of these 
 armed bands to their homes or haunts in the new 
 provinces and even in the old. Thus the materials 
 for mischief were diffused everywhere. The strain 
 put upon the authorities by the Burmese War crippled 
 them in the arrangements of internal order and 
 content : while the first failures on the Chittagong 
 frontier and at Rangoon, magnified as they were by 
 bazaar rumour, gave heart to every scoundrel in the
 
 THE CAPTURE OP DHARTPUR 129 
 
 villages under our own rule and every ill wisher in 
 the Courts of the native princes. 
 
 A fakir at Bhadaur notified that on a certain day 
 the god Kalki would be incarnate in hirn as the last of 
 the Hindu Avatars. Among a people who are always 
 ready for signs and wonders, and to whom such an 
 occurrence appeared quite in accordance with the 
 order of the universe, the announcement caused 
 excitement rather than incredulity. It was a case, 
 according to English notions, for police interference, 
 and accordingly the divine mortal was arrested. But 
 a great band of fanatics assembled to rescue him. 
 Happily the Maharaja of Patiala — a house distinguished 
 by its loyalty to the British — sent a party of horse 
 which dispersed the mob ; and so there was an end 
 of the quasi-religious trouble. 
 
 Brigandage was more serious. Close to our station 
 at Saharanpur a bravo chief established himself in 
 the mud fort at Kanjawa. The local officers were 
 men of courage and intelligence and with the aid 
 of some Gurkhas — a race which already was yield- 
 ing us some of our best native soldiery — captured 
 the robber stronghold, 150 of the defenders being- 
 killed. 
 
 These are illustrations of the various forms of 
 unrest which showed themselves in the as yet 
 imperfectly tamed borderland to the west of Delhi, 
 the ' protected Sikh provinces,' to use the phrase of 
 the day — in Bundelkhand, in Malwa, in the jungle 
 territories round the famous Asirgarh, among the 
 
 1
 
 130 LORD AMHERST 
 
 Bhils, among the Kolis — one of the wild tribes of 
 Gujarat. The area of these disturbances — several of 
 which necessitated a considerable military preparation 
 on the side of the British authorities — was roughly 
 conterminous with the old raiding grounds of the 
 Maratha and the Pindari. The cold weather tourist 
 of the present day, who wishes to have some little 
 variation from the enlightened sentiments of the 
 English-speaking natives whom he meets in the large 
 towns, may be advised to visit some of these hunting- 
 grounds of the outlaws. He will find superb scenery 
 — if primitive jungle and rock fastnesses be to his 
 taste — and in the stories told by the sparse jungle 
 folk, he will discover that romance dies hard in India. 
 At Kittur, in the South Maratha country, there 
 was, in October 1824, an episode of a serious and 
 melancholy character. The petty chief of the place 
 had died, leaving no son to succeed. Some of the 
 hangers on of the little Darbar were anxious to keep 
 the property in hands that suited their own interests. 
 They accordingly persuaded the widow to adopt an 
 heir, on behalf of her dead husband. The validity 
 of the adoption was not recognized by the collector of 
 the district. The Government of Bombay instructed 
 him to hold an inquiry and meanwhile to assume 
 charge of the territory and the treasure. For some 
 time things went well ; but one morning admittance 
 to the fort was refused to the English officials. They 
 tried to force the gate, and in the melee, Mr. Thackeray 
 and the officers who commanded the escort were
 
 THE CAPTURE OF BHARTPUR 131 
 
 killed. Happily the contagion of resistance did not 
 spread to neighbouring chiefs : and the speedy appear- 
 ance of a strong British force before the walls secured 
 the surrender of the ringleaders. 
 
 The following year there was another affair of 
 much the same description in a neighbouring ter- 
 ritory. 
 
 In another state of the Western Deccan, of which 
 the later princes have been distinguished by enlight- 
 ened loyalty to the British crown, there were for 
 a time a series of troubles which illustrate the diffi- 
 culties attendant on the first effort at authoritative 
 pacification after the long confusion. The young 
 Raja of Kolhapur, proud of his descent from Sivaji, 
 refused to adapt himself to the altered order of things. 
 His quarrel however was with Maratha rivals, not 
 with the paramount power. He claimed under a grant 
 from the Peshwa, a district which had been for some 
 time in the possession of Sindhia's brother-in-law. 
 The Government of Bombay looked quietly on whilst 
 Sindhia protested with pardonable warmth that he 
 was not permitted to vindicate the outraged rights of 
 his relative by force. The Raja of Kolhapur, however, 
 ultimately forced the hand of the reluctant Govern- 
 ment. Maintaining a large and well-disciplined force, 
 he revived within his local limits the terrors of the 
 predatory system. The doom he provoked descended 
 in 1827. A British force occupied his forts, he was 
 compelled to restore the lands he had plundered, to 
 receive British garrisons, to see his powers of rule 
 
 1 2
 
 132 LORD AMHERST 
 
 seriously restricted, and, hardest lot of all ! to promise 
 good behaviour in future. The odd thing is that on 
 the whole he kept his word. 
 
 We pass to a region very different both ethno- 
 graphically and geographically. Some chiefs who 
 had been banished from Cutch found refuge in 
 Sindj then, as twenty years later, ruled by the 
 Amirs. These princes were not sorry to have an 
 opportunity of worrying the British in their efforts 
 to obtain order in Cutch. They gave assistance to 
 the fugitives in raising a force of Mianis. At the 
 head of these wild warriors of the desert the exiles 
 marched back announcing with commendable brevity 
 the object of their enterprise. ' We are Girasias,' ran 
 their epistle to the Resident, ' if you agree to restore 
 Rao Bharmal Ji to the throne, you may command us.' 
 The invasion at first was a complete success, but the 
 spirit with which the British troops despatched from 
 the Residency at Bhuj dislodged the insurgents from 
 the stronghold they had captured was caught by the 
 native soldiers of the regency. The invaders were 
 finall}' expelled and had to make their way as best 
 they could across the Rann to the more hospitable 
 shores of Sind. But it was found necessary to 
 maintain a much stronger garrison in Cutch as a 
 precaution against the evil designs of the Amirs. 
 
 We come now to the far more formidable complica- 
 tions on the North- Western frontier, where the 
 rumoured distresses of the government in Burma, 
 and the confident anticipation of the immediate
 
 THE CAPTURE OF BHARTPUR 133 
 
 downfall of the upstart British Raj, had led to active 
 communication between the three disaffected States 
 of Alwar (or Macheri, as it was the custom to call it 
 then), Jaipur, and Bhartpur. The Jats, as a caste 
 or rather tribe, are well known throughout many of 
 the western districts of the present North- West 
 Provinces as singularly industrious agriculturists, but 
 at Bhartpur the Jat house ruled in sovereign state, and 
 held itself no whit the inferior of the Rajput chivalry. 
 The prince of the day had, with characteristic shrewd- 
 ness, recognized the wisdom of making terms with 
 the English after the overthrow of the Marathas and 
 the Pindaris. It was at the instance of Raja Baldeo 
 Singh that Sir David Ochterlony, as Political Agent 
 at Delhi, had presented to his young son Balwant 
 Singh, a Khilat, that is to say, a ceremonial dress, 
 the presentation of which by a political superior is, 
 by the immemorial usage of India, generally under- 
 stood to be a recognition of the right to succeed. 
 Early in 1825, a year after the investiture, Raja, 
 Baldeo Sing died while on pilgrimage to the holy 
 town of Gobardhan, near Muttra on the Jumna, not 
 very far from Bhartpur. The little lad, whom the 
 careful father was so anxious to securo against possible 
 intrigue, was not then six years old. At first there 
 was no sign of opposition to his succession, under 
 the tutelage of his maternal uncle. Only a few weeks, 
 however, had passed when Durjan Sal, the son of 
 the younger brother of the late prince, gained the 
 adhesion of the army of the State, attacked the
 
 134 LORD AMHERST 
 
 citadel, and killed the regent. He then proclaimed 
 himself ruler in his room. 
 
 Lady Amherst gives the Secretariat version of the 
 affair in her diary. 
 
 ' Sir David Ochterlony collected all the troops in the 
 neighbourhood and issued a proclamation in which he sadly 
 compromised the Government, and began putting his troops 
 in order, to advance to the hitherto impregnable fortress of 
 Bhartpur. These measures met with the unanimous dis- 
 approbation of the Government, who ordered him to recall 
 his proclamation and stop the advance of troops.' 
 
 It is possible to concur in the view taken by Lord 
 Amherst and his advisers, and yet sympathize with 
 the spirit shown by the gallant veteran who repre- 
 sented the British name and British honour at Delhi. 
 He addressed a proclamation to the people at Bhart- 
 pur, commanding them not to yield allegiance to 
 the usurper, and he promised that a British force 
 would forthwith secure respect for the rights of the 
 lawful sovereign. He was as good as his word, and 
 made immediate preparations to collect an expedi- 
 tionary force at Muttra, which, it has been explained, 
 lies on the confines of Bhartpur. It may plausibly 
 be argued that to this prompt display of energy the 
 comparative moderation of the usurper was due. The 
 young Raja was in his custody, but his life was 
 spared, and Durjan Sal professed that he desired to 
 act only as regent during his minority. To some 
 extent the soundness of Sir David Ochterlony's policy 
 was admitted by the subsequent issue of instructions
 
 THE CAPTURE OE BHARTPUR 135 
 
 from Calcutta, to use his discretion in keeping to- 
 gether a part of the force as a check upon any 
 outrages that might be attempted on the frontier 
 by the followers of Durjan Sal. The old soldier- 
 diplomatist felt very keenly that ho had pledged the 
 Government to maintain the succession when he 
 presented the Khilat, though no doubt the act was 
 susceptible also of the construction put upon it by 
 some of the Members of Council at Calcutta, namely, 
 that it was a pure compliment and did not bind the 
 Company to intervention. 
 
 Lord Lake, it will be remembered, had not reduced 
 the fortress, and it was natural to infer from the 
 failure of so great a general that the defences were 
 all but impregnable. In addition* there were always 
 ringing in the ears of Lord Amherst and his advisers 
 the regrets and the rebukes of the Directors, while 
 the condition of affairs in Burma was grave enough 
 to curb the ardour of the most militant of statesmen. 
 
 How far chagrin and a sentiment of wounded 
 honour may have hastened the close of Sir David 
 Ochterlony's long and splendid service, we do not 
 know, but at any rate death came to release him 
 from his sorrows. 
 
 A column at Calcutta commemorates the high 
 respect in which he was held, and even to this day 
 the reputation he won for generosity and goodness 
 during his fifty years of Indian work remains fresh 
 in the minds of many as his best monument. 
 
 Sir David Ochterlony died in July, 1825, but in
 
 J 36 LORD AMHERST 
 
 the preceding April, the Government had resolved 
 to make some arrangement ' by which he was to 
 retire from active employment, as formerly suggested 
 by himself. The considerations arising out of the 
 affairs of Jaipur, Alwar and Bhartpur,' were the 
 reasons for this step, and the choice of a successor 
 fell on Sir Charles Metcalfe. 
 
 Sir Charles Metcalfe had had long experience of 
 administration at Delhi ; he had left that cherished 
 scene of his labours with reluctance, and would have 
 received the invitation to return with delight if he 
 had not felt that his good fortune was connected with 
 pain to his valued friend Ochterlony. The political 
 biography of this period is full of charm to those who 
 wish to think well of human nature. We find the 
 great men of the day, Elphinstone, Malcolm, Munro, 
 Metcalfe, Ochterlony, all fired with a noble ambition: 
 by no means unconscious of their own title to dis- 
 tinction : coveting sometimes, each for himself, the 
 same post, and yet, withal, exalting the services of 
 their friendly competitors. They are, as often as not, 
 the recipients of each other's confidences on these 
 delicate questions. Lord Amherst thoroughly sym- 
 pathized with the natures with which he had to deal, 
 and thus we find him making Metcalfe's way easy 
 by assuring him that the question of Ochterlony's 
 retirement did not depend on his ' accepting or de- 
 clining the proposal.' Ochterlony himself in spite 
 of his dejection had looked forward with pleasure to 
 the coming of the younger man by whom he was
 
 THE CAPTURE OF BHARTPUR 137 
 
 superseded. But on Metcalfe's arrival at the mouth 
 of the Hugli on his way from Haidarabad he was 
 saddened by the news that the ' brave and gentle ' 
 spirit of his friend had passed away. He had not 
 even been able to answer the kindly invitation sent 
 by the veteran to his ' dearest Charles ' to share the 
 'old house at Shalimar.' Not till October 21 had 
 Metcalfe reached Delhi. In November he commenced 
 his march for Bhartpur. In a statesmanlike way 
 he put aside all discussion as to the technical signifi- 
 cance of the investiture. It was, he boldly affirmed, 
 'as supreme guardians of general tranquillity, law, 
 and right/ that we were bound imperatively ' to 
 maintain the legal succession of the Raja Balwant 
 Sing.' In 1 81 7, he insists, it 'became an established 
 principle of our policy to maintain tranquillity among 
 all the States of India, and to prevent the anarchy 
 and misrule which were likely to disturb the general 
 peace. In the case of succession to a principality it 
 seems clearly incumbent on us to refuse to acknow- 
 ledge any but the lawful successor.' It is interesting 
 to observe that this doctrine was made, in 1826, the 
 occasion for special censure by the Home Govern- 
 ment. The Secret Committee write that they cannot 
 admit that ' the extension of our power has in any 
 degree extended our rights of interference in the 
 internal affairs of other states.' 
 
 The Resident succeeded at any rate in persuading 
 the Governor-General to concur in the, application of 
 the doctrine to the special case of Bhartpur. On
 
 138 LORD AMHERST 
 
 September 16 a resolution was passed, that 'the 
 existing disturbance at Bhartpur, if not speedily 
 quieted, will produce general commotion in Upper 
 India ; ' it was ' their solemn duty, no less than their 
 right as paramount power, to interfere.' Authority 
 was accordingly conveyed to Metcalfe to maintain 
 the succession of the ' rightful heir by expostulation 
 and resort to measures of force.' 
 
 In ' expostulation ' with native princes, Metcalfe 
 was an adept. His admiring friend, the Chief Secre- 
 tary Swinton, writes to him from Calcutta, ' You 
 know my sentiments as to your way of doing business 
 with native gentlemen. Poor Durjan Sal has caught 
 a tartar in you, and knows it, I daresay.' 
 
 If poor Durjan Sal knew it, he kept his own secret. 
 He was a weak creature, but had enough obstinacy 
 to serve the purpose of a strong man. It was soon 
 plain that Lord Comberrnere, who had meanwhilo 
 been entrusted with the duty of military preparation, 
 would have to solve the problem. Nor was the 
 feeling, either in camp or in Council, altogether one 
 of regret, that matters were to be pushed to extremes. 
 The existence of the ' impregnable ' fortress was re- 
 garded as a permanent defiance to British supremacy, 
 and was supposed to have a disturbing effect on the 
 native imagination. On December 6 Sir Charles 
 Metcalfe joined the Commander-in-Chief at Muttra, 
 where his headquarters were, and exercised the 
 authority vested in him to set the army in motion. 
 
 We have now to return to Calcutta, where the
 
 THE CAPTURE OF BHARTPUR 139 
 
 contemplated operations had added family solicitude 
 to the Governor-General's cares. His son and heir 
 Jeff had proved himself an admirable secretary, and 
 a most popular member of the household at Govern- 
 ment House. Concerning him we have this touching 
 entry in Lady Amherst's diary dated September 30, 
 1825 :- 
 
 ' This day has been a gloomy and heavy one to me. My 
 clear son Jeff announced to me his anxious wish to join his 
 regiment, in case the siege of Bhartpur is resolved upon; 
 and that his father had consented to his plan, though so 
 painful to his feelings, and so inconvenient to him to lose at 
 such a moment the services of so confidential and trust- 
 worthy a military secretary. As to myself I am torn with 
 the anguish of two feelings of an opposite nature, my 
 maternal feelings for my son (in me greatly too poignant for 
 my comfort) and the conviction, on the other hand, that he is 
 doing his duty and evincing a spirit and courage worthy of 
 his family.' 
 
 The sense of patriotic feeling triumphed ; and by 
 December 10 Captain Amherst was with the besieg- 
 ing force. Lord Combermere's army had advanced 
 in two divisions ; the first from Agra on Dec. 7, the 
 second from Muttra on the following day. They 
 consisted altogether of about 21,000 men, chiefly 
 Sepoys. The garrison, which was made up of Raj- 
 puts and Jats with a sprinkling of Afghans, was 
 somewhat inferior in numbers, but they occupied 
 a position in which it seemed the merest handful 
 could bid defiance to thousands. There was a grim 
 picturesqueness about the vast mass rising from the
 
 140 LORD AMHERST 
 
 plain, which the eyes of the young soldier surveyed 
 with anxious interest. The high and massive mounds 
 of clay which formed the defences had been hardened 
 by the fierce sunshine into the firmness of brick, 
 while the toughness of the material appeared to be 
 unaffected by the most powerful cannonade. The 
 strength of the position may well have inspired the 
 defenders with confidence. 'For more than twenty 
 years,' remarks Sir John Kaye, it ' had seemed to 
 snort defiance at the victorious Feringhees.' If the 
 British had not attacked it before, it was not for want 
 of provocation. Their forbearance, which was known 
 to be based upon reluctance to face the necessary 
 sacrifices, had, of course, ministered to the pride of 
 the possessors. 
 
 ' The walls were decorated with satirical pictures of defeats, 
 real or imaginary, of British armies. An old native, who in 
 1805 had looked down from the ramparts upon the Company's 
 troops as they marched in the plain, says that they looked 
 like two marriage processions.' 
 
 It was therefore wisely determined that since the 
 time had come for making the supreme effort, it 
 should not fail for want of preparation. The flower 
 of our army was in the field, and it is no exaggera- 
 tion to say that events were watched in many a native 
 court as marking the crisis of our rule. It is just to 
 the memory of Ochtcrlony to say that he based his 
 plan for an immediate attack with a comparatively 
 weak force upon what appeared to him to be accurate 
 information, that important breaches in the walls had
 
 THE CAPTURE OF BHARTPUR . 141 
 
 not been, and could not within the available time be, 
 repaired. Besides Captain Jeff, there was another 
 volunteer in camp. Sir Charles Metcalfe, with cha- 
 racteristic energy, threw himself into the study of 
 military operations, and probably before the assault 
 was delivered knew vastly more about the art of be- 
 sieging fortified places than some of the accomplished 
 soldiers on the staff. Yet even his stout spirit sank 
 within him when he contemplated the nature of the 
 task. Lord Combermere, however, by a happy 
 mixture of boldness and sagacity, refuted the fore- 
 bodings. A Jhil or lake, from which the water for 
 the ditches round the fortress was to be drawn, was 
 captured before the garrison had time to cut the 
 sluices. The exterior of the defences was about five 
 miles in circumference. A regular investment was 
 therefore out of the question ; but a number of 
 important positions round the fortress were success- 
 fully occupied. To add to the difficulty of approach 
 there was outside the walls a huge glacis, round the 
 greater part of which again was a fringe of forest, which 
 the Rajas of Bhartpur had i^tained, after the manner 
 of native princes, as a hunting-ground. Within the 
 walls was the town and the citadel which dominated 
 all, and was itself defended by a separate system of 
 works. For a little while the besiegers were suffi- 
 ciently occupied in repelling sorties and preventing 
 the entry of reinforcements. But on December 23, 
 1825, two definite positions were taken up for the 
 attack. The batteries from these opened fire on the
 
 142 LORD AMHERST 
 
 24th, trenches were pushed forward, and further 
 batteries constructed in advance. The rain of shot 
 and shell was kept up on the bastions and the tower, 
 and on the last day of the year the trenches had 
 reached the counter-scarp, and everything was ready 
 for undermining. Mining, in fact, was the only mode 
 by which any practicable breach could be effected in 
 the massive defences. The enemy tried to counter- 
 mine, with results that might have been serious had 
 the assault been delayed. A portion of the works, 
 famous in the annals of the siege as the Long Necked 
 Bastion, was the scene of the first greatly successful 
 explosion. This was on January 16, 1826, and two 
 days after the explosion of another great mine was 
 the signal for the assault. 
 
 ' Our first mines,' says Sir Charles Metcalfe, ' were bungling 
 ones, but the latter were very grand. That to the right did 
 a great deal of mischief to ourselves, for the people assembled 
 in the trenches were too near, and the explosion of the mine 
 took effect outwards. It was a grand sight, and was 
 immediately followed by that of the advance of the storming 
 columns up the two grand breaches; that on the left 
 advanced first, on the signal of the explosion of the mine, 
 and that on the right immediately afterwards. Both mounted 
 the breaches steadily, and as quickly as the loose earth and 
 steepness of the ascent would admit, and attained the summit 
 without opposition. It was a most animating spectacle. 
 1 had posted myself where I saw the whole pei'fectly. The 
 instant before I had separated myself from the Commander- 
 in-Chief, because in the position which he had taken to the 
 right of the angle of the fort one could not see the left 
 column, and went to a battery which gave a view of both
 
 THE CAPTURE OF BH ART PUR 143 
 
 breaches, and the angle where the mine was to be sprung. 
 I congratulate myself on having done so, for many about the 
 Commander-in-Chief were killed or braised by the explosion 
 of our mine, and his own escape was surprising.' 
 
 In this passage Sir Charles Metcalfe has modestly 
 veiled his own share in the fighting. When he joined 
 the camp, there was the inevitable grumbling amongst 
 the dashing sabreurs at the presence of a mere 
 political. But after the great day the civilian was 
 hailed as a trusty and gallant comrade in arms. 
 The rest of the story may be briefly summarized in 
 Sir Charles Metcalfe's words : ' The other forts of 
 the country are falling without opposition; I trust 
 that the effect will be good everywhere.' 
 
 We may now go back a little, and view events 
 with Captain Amherst's eyes. 
 
 On January 7 he writes from Bhartpur to his mother 
 that an English artilleryman, a sergeant, having been 
 tried for misconduct, was reduced to be a corporal. 
 
 ' This disgrace to the name of an Englishman deserted 
 that night, and was seen in his regimentals upon the battle- 
 ments pointing the enemy's guns. Lord Combermere was in 
 tin; habit of breakfasting in the trenches; to this immediate 
 spot did the traitor direct the gun, which wounded a Kitmagar 
 behind Lord Combermere's chah\' 
 
 Of the final assault Captain Amherst gives a picture, 
 vivid in its simplicity. The great mud walls were 
 blown up, and the English entered the town by the 
 breaches. 25,000 lbs. weight of gunpowder had been 
 put into a large mine, forty-eight yards long, under 
 the wall. All the population, troops, &c, who had
 
 144 LORD AMHERST 
 
 crowded to the parapet where the great mine 
 exploded, were thrown to a great height in the air 
 and blown to atoms. 
 
 ' No words can describe the tremendous scene of noise and 
 confusion. The town appeared one mass of dust from the 
 mud walls and smoke ; the shouts of the besiegers in triumph 
 and the cries of the poor sufferers were heard many miles 
 distant. The effect of the mines was perfect.' 
 
 On the 28th further letters were received at Cal- 
 cutta, describing the storming. 
 
 ' Of course,' says Lady Amherst, • Jeff was close to General 
 Nicolls, who was foremost to mount the breach, aud was for 
 three hours in the thickest of the enemy's fire. They 
 defended themselves obstinately and bravely : not one man of 
 them was left alive, all refused quarter. Lord Combermere 
 says that 5,000 dead were counted after they got possession 
 of the town, besides those destroyed by our shells aud mines. 
 When the English advanced towards the citadel they saw no 
 appearance of resistance. A Vakeel (native agent) came out to 
 them to inform our commanders that not a warrior was left 
 alive. In the citadel was found underground the young 
 Raja and the Rani, his mother. Durjan Sal and his wife 
 and two sons were taken prisoners in the act of escaping on 
 horseback with what money and jewels they could collect.' 
 
 We find a later entry, describing how trophies 
 began to arrive in Calcutta — three hunting ' tygers ' 
 among them belonging to Durjan Sal ; also letters 
 which had been seized in Bhartpur, urging the 
 neighbouring Rajas to revolt. ' I will shake off the 
 little man who rides upon my neck,' says one of 
 the letters (the little man being the Resident). The
 
 THE CAPTURE OF BHARTPUR 
 
 H5 
 
 Begam Sarnru witnessed the storming of the city 
 from the top of a turret in her own garden. 
 
 'The conviction of the impregnability of Bhartpur' (we 
 are again quoting from the diary) ' was held far and wide, and 
 even in Calcutta was so rooted in the minds of its principal 
 native inhabitants as to render them incredulous for a time 
 to the account of its fall. It formed a kind of point d'appui 
 for the hopes of all who were hostile to British rule.' 
 
 At a later date, February 14, comes another in- 
 teresting detail. 
 
 ' An officer just arrived from Bhartpur tells us that after 
 the capture of the place a mine, quite complete and ready 
 to spring, was discovered just under the spot where Lord 
 Combermere and his generals had been in the habit of 
 assembling daily. Had the siege lasted a few hours longer 
 every preparation for firing it would have been complete.' 
 
 And so, to conclude the story of the famous siege, 
 as told from the domestic point of view. 
 
 February 6, 1826. In the midst of gloom and disappoint- 
 ment into which the above mentioned circumstances (the dis- 
 appointment of the hopes of peace in Burma) had plunged 
 Lord Amherst and us all, arrived our beloved Jeff from 
 Bhartpur in high health and spirits, having travelled ten 
 days and nights without stopping. The excessive joy of 
 seeing once more this dear son, so many weeks the object of 
 such intense anxiety, has made us forget all the disappoint- 
 ment from Burmese treachery.' 
 
 It remains only to chronicle the fate of Durjan Sal 
 and the Bhartpur State. Durjan Sal was sent as 
 a state prisoner to Allahabad, and on Jan. 20, 1826. 
 
 K
 
 T46 LORD AMHERST 
 
 Lord Combermere and Sir Charles Metcalfe held 
 a Darbar in the citadel and placed the young Raja 
 on the Musnad. The widow of Raja Baldeo Singh 
 was appointed his personal guardian ; a British 
 Resident was appointed to control the management 
 of affairs through two noblemen who were favourites 
 of the late Raja. So thoroughly hated, however, were 
 these magnates, that when they paid a ceremonial 
 visit to the camp, they were with difficulty protected 
 by our soldiers from the murderous violence of the 
 mob. The fortifications which had so long been the 
 despair of our strategists and hope of our enemies 
 were dismantled. 
 
 The army was now set free to restore order in the 
 State of Alwar. The story is long and hardly worth 
 the telling. A competition for the succession between 
 two minors had been settled some years before by an 
 arrangement that one should be the titular Raja, and 
 that the administration should be exercised by the 
 other under the guardianship of a Chief of a neigh- 
 bouring principality. In 1824 the titular Raja took 
 possession by force of the real power, while an at-' 
 tempt was made to murder the said Chief. The crime 
 was not directly traceable to the Raja, but when he 
 was called upon to surrender the assassin, he failed to 
 do so, and showed him many marks of honour. This 
 recalcitrance was due to a close understanding with 
 the malcontents in Ehartpur, but so wholesome was 
 the effect of the fall of that stronghold, that on the 
 approach of the victorious army the Alwar Raja
 
 THE CAPTURE OF BHARTPUR T47 
 
 hastened to make his submission. He was compelled 
 to set his rival at liberty and to restore to him much 
 land and treasure. The contrition of the Raja, how- 
 ever, was short lived. It is a suggestive illustration 
 of the prestige which now attached to the British 
 power, that he was brought to a better frame of mind 
 by the simple process of forbidding him to pay his 
 respects to the Governor-General, and by the with- 
 drawal of the privilege of corresponding directly with 
 the Government of India. 
 
 K 2
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 The Mutiny at Barrackpuk 
 
 One of the saddest episodes of Lord Amherst's 
 administration was the Mutiny at Barrackpur. It 
 belongs in part to the history of the Burma campaign, 
 but as a symptom and a cause it may be more appro- 
 priately treated as an event of domestic import. We 
 have seen what a strain had been placed upon the 
 resources of the Government towards the end of 1824 
 by the necessity of assembling an adequate force for 
 expelling the Burmese from Arakan. To meet the 
 difficulties of transport there had been an extraordi- 
 nary demand for beasts of burden in Lower Bengal. 
 According to the ordinary terms of service the Sepoys 
 were bound to provide carriage for their personal 
 baggage. An indispensable part of this was the col- 
 lection of cooking utensils, since the usage of caste 
 compelled each man to take his own set. Under 
 normal conditions it would have been a simple matter 
 to hire cattle; but the requirements of the Govern- 
 ment had swept the country of most of the available 
 beasts, and for those offered for hire a payment was
 
 THE MUTINY AT BARRACKPUR 149 
 
 demanded quite beyond the means of the native 
 soldier. So that there was absolute sincerity in the 
 complaint of the men that they were not in a position 
 to march. To take them by sea was, of course, 
 impossible, since caste scruples again stood inexorably 
 in the way. But there was reluctance to start on 
 other grounds as well. The innate horror with which 
 the Indian fighting man regards warfare beyond the 
 familiar bounds of Hindustan or the Deccan was 
 immensely increased by the stories, true and false, 
 that were current of our mishaps. The defeat at Ramu 
 was magnified into a disastrous portent of the collapse 
 of our power, and there was a superstitious belief in 
 the magical prowess and invulnerability of the enemy. 
 Nay, the very indulgence with which the Bengal 
 soldiers had been treated, and their pride in the 
 successes that had been achieved in the campaigns 
 against Pindaris and Marathas, had bred a spirit of 
 insubordination. To crown the danger of the situa- 
 tion some recent measures of reorganization had 
 broken up the old regimental system. The battalions 
 were placed under officers who were strangers to the 
 men, and were cut away from the honourable tradi- 
 tions belonging to the old corps. Just when this 
 rupture of old relations and ties was fresh, came the 
 crisis which would have tried the most confirmed 
 loyalty. The climate of Arakan is not unhealthy if 
 there be the means of housing troops properly on well- 
 chosen and well-prepared sites. But there had been 
 no opportunity of learning the lessons of military
 
 150 LORD AMHERST 
 
 sanitation, nor indeed of putting them into practice if 
 the knowledge existed. Sickness was rife, and the 
 Sepoys shrank from advancing into what they had 
 reason to regard as a region of plague. Nor were 
 minor considerations wanting to fan disaffection. High 
 pay had to be given to carriers, drivers, and camp 
 followers to induce them to serve, and the high caste 
 soldiers felt aggrieved at receiving less than the com- 
 mon coolies. The regimental officers did their best 
 under most trying circumstances. They helped the men 
 out of their own pockets. But strait-laced officialdom 
 at headquarters was inflexible. Insubordination must 
 be put down with a high hand. The men were under 
 engagement to provide their own carriage, and govern- 
 ment declined to relieve them of the responsibility. 
 Lady Amherst must relate the miserable sequel in her 
 own words : 
 
 ' November, 1824. On the evening of October 31, General 
 Dalzell informed Lord Amherst that a mutinous spirit had 
 manifested itself among the troops in the cantonment, that 
 the 47 th Native Infantry had refused to march, and had 
 demanded increase of pay, and in short seemed resolved to 
 resist their officers. Early on the morning of the 1st, General 
 Dalzell went up to the Commander-in-Chief, and before 
 3 o'clock that day himself and all his staff arrived at 
 Barrackpur. Soon after, the bodyguard, consisting of 
 300 men, went up in a boat to overtake General Cotton's 
 regiment. It had proceeded thirty miles up the river, but 
 arrived here [at Bari-ackpur], as did the Koyals from Calcutta, 
 by 1 1 at night. Some artillery also arrived from Dum-Dum; 
 the house was therefore well guarded on all sides and all
 
 THE MUTLXY AT BARRACKPUR 151 
 
 the avenues to it, and we then thought ourselves safe from the 
 attack we fully expected from the mutineers. Their numbers 
 hud increased during the night : 200 of the 47th had declared 
 their loyalty and determination to be staunch to their duty, 
 but they traitorously joined their companions, as did about 
 200 of the 62nd Regiment Native Infantry and about thirty 
 men of the 26th Regiment. 
 
 ' All the non-commissioned as well as commissioned native 
 officers to a man went to their Colonel and declared they 
 would stand by him. The sequel will show their sincerity. 
 By daybreak on November 1, Sir E. Paget, who had with his 
 staff bivouacked in the Green House, put himself at the head 
 of the troops. About 2,000 men proceeded to the canton- 
 ment.' 
 
 Barrackpur, it may be as well to explain, is 
 a pleasant place on the Hugh, about sixteen miles 
 above Calcutta. Ever since the days of Job Charnock 
 it has been a favourite resort of Europeans. Here 
 was a great mansion in a stately park, to which 
 Governors-General retired from the dust or steam of 
 the capital, and at this 'summer palace ' Lord Amherst, 
 with his family, was staying when the story begins. 
 
 ' The cannon from Dum-Dum was stationed in the park to 
 fire over the pales on the insurgents if necessary. Captain 
 Macan and two other officers were sent to them, lie ad- 
 dressed the mutineers in their own language in a very 
 conciliatory manner, endeavouring to persuade them of the 
 folly and danger of persisting in their mutiny, and refusal to 
 deliver up their arms. No argument availed. He then told 
 them the dire consequences that must ensue, and that at his 
 return without their laying down their arms, the signal
 
 152 LORD AMHERST 
 
 would be given to fire upon them. Their ringleaders 
 laughed at him, and on his report to the Commander-in- 
 Chief the fatal signal was given. The mutineers instantly 
 fled. The cannon fired several volleys afterwards, as did the 
 musketry ; four or five were killed and wounded, and many 
 hundreds were taken prisoners. They fled in all directions, 
 and were instantaneously dispersed. Above 800 muskets 
 and uniforms were found in the adjacent fields and roads. 
 The Court-martial sat immediately. The ringleaders (six) 
 were hanged the next morning. Many hundreds since have 
 been found guilty and sentenced to death, but this was 
 commuted to hard labour for fourteen years on the public 
 roads. Five other ringleaders were executed afterwards, 
 and one man whom the mutineers regarded as their Com- 
 mander-in-Chief was hung in chains in front of the lines. 
 Every one of these unfortunate deluded wretches declared 
 that their native officers had instigated them to mutiny by 
 all sorts of means. To the Hindus, they told them they 
 would be compelled to eat beef (a sacred animal), and to the 
 Musalmans, pork. All the officers (native) were dismissed 
 the service and their guilt proclaimed at the head of every 
 regiment in their native language. 
 
 'Before the troops arrived on the 1st at Barrackpur we 
 were for twenty-four hours in great danger and entirely at 
 the mercy of the mutineers. Had they had any clever head 
 among them, and seized the Governor-General and the 
 Commander-in-Chief, the mutineers might probably have 
 made their own terms. There was not a single European 
 or person to be depended upon, and our situation was awfully 
 alarming. Lord Amherst resolved not to leave the house, 
 and I determined not to quit him. Sarah behaved heroically, 
 and, though ill, declared she would remain, and kept up her 
 spirits, as we all did as well as we could. 
 
 ' The Commander-in-Chief returned his thanks to us both
 
 THE MUTINY AT BARRACKPUR 153 
 
 for not quitting the house ; hut it was a frightful scene — 
 English soldiers firing on British uniforms, pursuing them 
 in all directions ; some of our servants were wounded. "We 
 fortunately did not know at the moment that the night the 
 mutiny broke out all the sentries in and about the house 
 belonged to the 47th. The scene of action was not a quarter 
 of a mile from this house. Many shots entered the cook- 
 house and many fell into the water under our windows, and 
 we saw great numbers trying to swim the Ganges. Few 
 reached the opposite shore from the strength of the current. 
 Twenty or thirty dead bodies were seen floating down of 
 these unhappy people. The different regiments of British 
 troops remained at Barrackpur about a week, after which 
 the native regiments marched quietly to the eastern frontier, 
 and the British troops returned to their destinations. The 
 English regiments were encamped in the park, as also the 
 artillery and the bodyguard. Had any cause brought them 
 here but the actual one, we should have enjoyed this beautiful 
 encampment and scenery extremely.' 
 
 Something has to be added to this narrative if 
 justice is to be done to the wretched mutineers. Their 
 demeanour on that last parade, as described by some 
 who witnessed the scene, was that of men dazed by 
 excitement, of men not so much bent on mischief as 
 possessed by some fatal infatuation. They stood 
 ' with ordered arms in a state of stupid desperation, 
 resolved not to yield, but making no preparation to 
 resist.' The punishment was just, but the fate of the 
 regiment was unspeakably pathetic. The native officers 
 were dismissed from the service, and the name of the 
 regiment was effaced from the list of the army. 
 Thirty years later a scene closely resembling this in
 
 154 LORD AMHERST 
 
 its outward beginnings was rehearsed in the same 
 place, but though the awful tragedy of the Great 
 Mutiny was to follow, the immediate outbreak was 
 suppressed without bloodshed. Those who blame the 
 rigour shown in 1824 may, perhaps, ask themselves 
 whether lenity might not have been misconstrued. No 
 one felt more keenly than the Governor-General the 
 pain of the spectacle. He cannot reasonably be held 
 responsible for the absence of tact and conciliation in 
 the early stage of the discontent, and nothing cheered 
 and pleased him more than the proof he was hereafter 
 to receive of the return of a better feeling among the 
 soldiers. The affair left an ineffaceable impression on 
 the sensitive spirit of Lady Amherst. We can imagine, 
 then, her delight as she writes thus : 
 
 ' Soon after the unfortunate mutiny here, the 39th Native 
 Infantry and the 60th Native Infantry volunteered services 
 to go anywhere that Government ordered them. Colonels 
 Andrews and Lines explained minutely the sort of service 
 they would he sent upon and the duties they would have to 
 fulfil. . . . They were told that their colours should be planted 
 at a distance and that those who persevered in their first 
 intentions were to range themselves around them, hut should 
 any on reflection after hearing these further particulars alter 
 their minds, they were at liberty to remain where they were. 
 To the unspeakable satisfaction of their commanders every 
 one to a man ran and ranged themselves around their 
 colours.' 
 
 In a later entry Lady Amherst notes a minute of 
 the Council in Calcutta especially addressed to the
 
 THE MUTINY AT BARRACKPUR 155 
 
 regiment which had been particularly infected with 
 the spirit of insubordination. 
 
 ' In consequence of the excellent conduct and bravery of 
 the native troops it is ordered that a new colour be presented 
 to the 26th in lieu of the sacred emblem lost in the mutiny, 
 and that a free pardon be granted to those misguided men 
 whose death-sentence had been commuted to hard labour on 
 the roads. The prisoners received the news with apathy, 
 asked for their copper pots and marched home — a most 
 disappointing result indeed ! ' 
 
 Locally the trouble was at an end. But in those 
 old days no ruler of India could breathe freely till 
 sufficient time had elapsed to give his masters an 
 opportunity of expressing their pleasure or displeasure 
 concerning his acts. On the evening of March 8, 
 1826, returning from Barrackpur to Calcutta, Lord 
 Amherst — we quote from his wife's diary — 
 
 ' Received letters from Mr. Wynn and Sir G. Robinson, 
 informing him he was about to be recalled from the Governor- 
 ship of India, for certain specified reasons. First, for the 
 delay in sending a report of the inquiry into the causes of 
 the mutiny at Barrackpur; secondly, for making no com- 
 ments, and giving no opinion as to its correctness ; and 
 thirdly, for not pardoning the mutineers immediately. To 
 the first complaint Lord Amherst answered, that the rejiort 
 was so voluminous that it tcok him six days to l-ead it over. 
 The Court of Inquiry sat six weeks, and the whole of the 
 proceedings were sent off less than three months afterwards. 
 Secondly, as to making no comments, Lord Amherst felt it 
 belonged to the Commander-in-Chief to make comments 
 upon a question of military discipline. The third complaint
 
 156 LORD AMHERST 
 
 was easily answered. All the mutineers taken with arms 
 in their hands were sentenced to death ; this sentence was 
 commuted to hard lahour. In ahout a fortnight, the native 
 troops having behaved with great bravery in Ava, this 
 opportunity was seized with eagerness to grant a free 
 pardon, and they were all sent to their homes. Another 
 reason for censure given by the Deputy-Chairman was having 
 undertaken the Burmese war without a sufficient probability 
 of success. 
 
 ' These futile complaints have been much ridiculed in 
 Calcutta, and we have been universally congratulated by the 
 members of the Government and society at large upon 
 the Directors having nothing else upon which to ground 
 the recall. . . . The spirit of revenge has shown itself in 
 various forms, misrepresenting the measures of Government, 
 with a perseverance and malignity scarcely credible. This 
 opportunity was net lost by the Grenvillites, who secretly 
 fanned the flame in every way, endeavouring by every 
 insidious art to get the Duke of Buckingham or Mr. Wynn 
 appointed Governor-General.' 
 
 It would be pleasant for the biographer to pass 
 lightly over the less gracious phase of Lord Amherst's 
 experiences. But no account of the discharge of a high 
 function would be adequate which affected to ignore 
 the littlenesses which attend on greatness. Lord 
 Amherst's period of disfavour in England was brief, 
 and in India opinion was wholly and enthusiastically 
 on his side. The diary proceeds : 
 
 'March 15 and 16, 1826. The town of Calcutta is in 
 a great state of indignation at the recall. On the last 
 day we went to the theatre. Never was public opinion so 
 strongly marked ; the plaudits were loud and reiterated and
 
 THE MUTINY AT BARRACKPUR 157 
 
 lasted so long it was quite overcoming. Old Indians who 
 have passed their lives here tell us they never saw anything 
 at all to compare to this in the most brilliant days of Lord 
 Wellesley and Lord Hastings, after their triumphant suc- 
 cesses ; everyone says it is the cause of an injured man, 
 whose character had been unjustly aspersed by anonymous 
 letters, as well as a faction thirsting for place and power 
 who have taken every advantage.' 
 
 At last justice is done to the Governor- General. 
 On April 2, 1826, 'arrived a letter from Mr. Wynn 
 stating, that on examining the result of the inquiry 
 into the causes of the mutiny it was found that there 
 were no grounds for a recall, and that the Cabinet 
 had sent notice privately to the Court of Directors 
 that they would be no party to it. The question 
 now seems to rest with the Court of Proprietors. 
 This turbulent and radical body very much influence 
 the measures of the Directors ; our fate therefore 
 cannot be known till the beginning of next month.' 
 
 On April 7, 1826, the bachelors of Calcutta gave a 
 ball and supper. The Governor-General's health was 
 drunk ; Lord Amherst returned thanks and spoke of 
 the bravery, skilly and moderation of General Sir Archi- 
 bald Campbell, and took this opportunity of adverting 
 to the situation he himself stood in, and of the gener- 
 ous support he had met with at a time when he was 
 so much in need of it. ' He was nearly overpowered 
 by his feelings,' says his wife ; ' the applause was so 
 violent that it interrupted him every minute . this 
 interruption enabled him to recover his breath/
 
 158 LORD AMHERST 
 
 It may cheer the present generation to hear of past 
 illuminations and rejoicings which are almost like 
 those in a fairy tale, in which everybody is victorious 
 and comes home unharmed. On the king's birthday, 
 April 24, there is a grand entertainment at Govern- 
 ment House ; Combermere and Bhartpur in lamps 
 on the right, Campbell and Ava in coloured lamps on 
 the left, wreaths round the pillars, George IV in 
 the centre also in lamps, with the appropriate accom- 
 paniments of star and orown. In the great ball-room 
 were transparencies representing Lord Combermere 
 leading the young Raja into Bhartpur, followed by 
 his staff, while a figure of Victory waved a laurel 
 wreath. Also Sir Archibald Campbell on horseback 
 with his steamer in the background, the Dagon 
 Pagoda, and a nymph-like figure scattering olive 
 branches, — India, Peace, Victory and other appro- 
 priate inscriptions were liberally scattered about, 
 and the company danced till 3 o'clock in the 
 morning. 
 
 Rejoicings, alas, do not last for ever, and troubles 
 seem to be impending once more ; the tidings of 
 victory have been sent off to England, but it will 
 take months before they arrive. On May 7, the usual 
 letters are received from the Directors ' expressing 
 alarm and general discontent ; they are still meditat- 
 ing the recall of Lord Amherst, and we are in an 
 unpleasant state of uncertainty.' 
 
 The King's speech arrives on May 30, 1826, in 
 winch he speaks of the prospect of peace, and in
 
 THE MUTINY AT BARRACKPUR 159 
 
 terms of commendation of the army and its com- 
 mander in Ava. 
 
 Later, in August 1 826, when Lord and Lady Amherst 
 were mourning for the recent loss of their beloved son, 
 ' arrived a letter from Mr. Wynn to Lord Amherst of 
 very satisfactory character.' 
 
 We are able fortunately to print the (as yet 
 unpublished) letter in which the Great Duke gives 
 characteristically precise expression to his views : — 
 
 'London, 10 October, 1825. 
 
 ' Mt dear Lord Liverpool, 
 
 ' Since I wrote to you at Sudbourn, I have put together 
 my opinions, formed after perusal of the papers on the 
 Mutiny in India, of which papers I send you a copy. 
 
 'I don't see how it is possible to find fault with Lord 
 Amherst upon any part of this transaction. The acts or 
 the omissions of his Government did not occasion the mutiny ; 
 it was put down in the field by the Commander-in-Chief 
 in person, into which field the Commander-in-Chief was 
 forced to go by the mutineers, and the consequences which 
 followed are those- of trial, condemnation, and punish- 
 ment. 
 
 ' But it is pretended that Lord Amherst ought to have 
 pardoned the criminals, and to have remitted the sentence 
 of working upon the roads, because it is stated (but I don't 
 know where) that the arms of the mutineers were not 
 loaded '. 
 
 ' I would beg leave to recommend to the Government here 
 to allow those upon the spot in India to judge of the 
 
 1 Marginal note apparently l>y Lord Amherst: — 'Their guns were 
 loaded, but the mutineers fired them in the air, and then threw 
 them away, when (lie Government guns opened upon them.'
 
 160 LORD AMHERST 
 
 expediency of punishing after fair and legal trial, or of 
 pardoning, and most particularly in cases of mutiny. These 
 men have had a fair trial by a Court-martial composed of 
 Native Officers, and it is but [right?] to allow the Local 
 Government to decide what shall be done with those convicted 
 by legal sentence. 
 
 ' I say then in answer to your queries Nos. i and 2, that 
 not only we ought not to remove Lord Amherst on account 
 of the Mutiny, or for any of the acts preceding that mis- 
 fortune, or following it ; but we ought to do everything 
 in our power to support him in the performance of the duty. 
 Neither is there anything in my opinion in the state of 
 the war which ought to induce the Government to recall 
 Lord Amherst. 
 
 ' We ought not to have commenced the war without 
 knowing a little more of the enemy he had to contend with ; 
 he ought not possibly to have sent Sir Archibald Campbell 
 to Rangoon till he could co-operate with him from other 
 quarters. But even this last opinion might be doubted ; 
 as it is certain there has been no alarm in Bengal, since the 
 enemy has found himself under the necessity of detaching 
 ti'oops to oppose Sir A. Campbell. But whether the war 
 was originally right or wrong, or whether the detaching 
 Sir A. Campbell was right or wrong, it is quite clear to me 
 that the Bengal Government are now in the right road, and 
 that nothing but the season will prevent them from putting 
 an end to the war in a very short time. 
 
 'It must be observed however that the rains begin in 
 May or June, and that their effects are felt in the country 
 till towards the end of December. I am aware of the power 
 of the Court of Directors to remove the Governor-General. 
 But in my opinion it would be better, both for the public 
 iuterest and for the honour of individuals concerned, that 
 they should remove him against the will of the Government
 
 THE MUTINY AT BARRACKPUR 161 
 
 than that we should be guilty of injustice, or take upon 
 ourselves the appearance of protectors of mutiny. 
 
 ' Believe me yours, 
 
 'Wellington. 
 ' Strathfieldsaye, Oct. II.' 
 
 Amid all these preoccupations Lady Amherst notes 
 with much feeling- the sad news of the untimely 
 death of Reginald Heber, the Bishop of Calcutta. 
 The whole of India was his diocese, and the end of 
 his labours came when in his second visitation tour 
 (to Madras) he had reached Trichinopoli. 
 
 'On April 3, 1826, he had been preaching and performing 
 Divine Service very early in the morning : on his return 
 home, he went into a cold and very large and deep bath at 
 a little distance from the house, where he was found dead. 
 He had been in the highest health and spirits previously.' 
 
 A bitter domestic sorrow was soon to divert the 
 
 thoughts of Lord Amherst and his wife from the 
 
 jars of State controversies. In the diary for July, 
 1826, we read: 
 
 'On the 25th Lord Amherst, Jeff, and Mr. Hale all 
 ill from what is called epidemic fever, which in general 
 only lasts three days. Jeff recovered for a day, but had 
 a relapse ; he was able to come to Barrackpur. How can 
 I express all our bitter pangs ! Another severe relapse 
 seized our beloved boy on the evening of the 30th, although 
 1 had seen him an hour before apparently in high health 
 and spirits. We had all gone on board his pinnace and 
 sat an hour or two with him at Barrackpur. Not long 
 after we landed I received two notes from him, pressing 
 me to semi him medicine as his fever was coming on again. 
 
 I,
 
 1 62 LORD AMHERST 
 
 We got him ashore as soon as possible, violently and dan- 
 gerously ill, which illness continued with little or no inter- 
 mission until a quarter past nine in the morning of August 
 the 2nd, when his pulse which had been sinking for the 
 last twelve hours stopped, and he expired with the same 
 placid heavenly smile on his countenance I had been used 
 to see . . . During his illness he never once complained and 
 his answer to inquiries was, "I am very comfortable, I am 
 quite well." . . . His calm and sweet temper and very warm 
 heart had endeared him to every member of society. . . . Had 
 it pleased God to have spared his life till the 29th, he 
 would have completed his twenty-fourth year. On August 3 
 at break of day our dearly beloved son was interred in the 
 burial-ground at Barrackpur with military honours. The 
 Commander-in-Chief attended, as did all the principal 
 authorities in Calcutta. AVe bad requested that the funeral 
 might be as unostentatious as possible, but he was a general 
 favourite, and the grief for his untimely end has been 
 general and sincere.' 
 
 The record of the year 1826 concludes very sadly 
 on Dec. 28. ' This year, full of momentous events, has 
 nearly drawn to a close. Upon the whole the most 
 miserable of my life ' she writes. 
 
 And then turning from her own domestic sorrows, 
 she reverts to public affairs again, and continues with 
 most natural bitterness. 
 
 ' While Lord Amberst was labouring day and night for 
 his employers, in measures that have since proved to be 
 highly advantageous to their interest, and for the prosperity 
 of the country entrusted to his care, they were listening 
 to the base falsehoods, and to the base intrigues to recall 
 him . . . The Duke of "Wellington evinced both magnanimity
 
 THE MUTINY AT BARRACK PUR 163 
 
 of mind and a thorough knowledge of the affairs of India. 
 The conduct of the war being referred to him, he declared 
 his entire approbation of the manner in which it had been 
 conducted, especially the attack upon Rangoon, a point on 
 which our enemies were most virulent, and which in fact 
 drew the Burmese from the eastern frontier, which we had 
 not then the means of defending, to Rangoon, the source 
 of all the trade we possessed, the only seaport . . . The 
 Cabinet then refused to be a party to Lord Amherst's recall, 
 which was agitated by the Directors the 22nd of last 
 December, 1825. To this day, December the 31st, 1826. 
 Lord Amherst has not received a line from these gentlemen, 
 notwithstanding all the great and glorious events which 
 have occurred. ... I used to try to console Lord Amherst by 
 saying so long as it pleases God to grant our children and 
 ourselves tolerable health, we must be thankful. That great 
 luminary, truth, must in time bring all things to light; but 
 the heavy and awful visitation of the sudden and very 
 unexpected removal of our beloved Jeff overset us. This 
 death was the bitterest pang I ever felt and shall continue 
 to feel as long as I live.' 
 
 L 2
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 The English in India in Lord Amherst's 
 Governor-Generalship 
 
 This seems the place to attempt some account of 
 the English establishments through which India was 
 held and administered in the first years of Lord Am- 
 herst's governorship ; of the communities of planters, 
 merchants, traders, which enjoyed the protection of 
 the Company ; and of the relations of those who 
 laboured in the East with the supreme masters of 
 fate at home. 
 
 The Charter under which the Company governed 
 was the Act of 1793, slightly modified by that of 18 13. 
 The Directors were masters, subject always to the 
 power of the Crown exercised through the Board of 
 Commissioners. So in India there were three re- 
 sponsible Vicegerents — one for each presidency ; but 
 the Governor-General of Bengal had the primacy in 
 theory and in fact. Sir Thomas Munro as Governor 
 of Madras, or Mr. Mountstuart Elphinstone as Governor 
 of Bombay, had immediate concern for the internal 
 affairs of those presidencies ; but for the politics of 
 India as a whole, the Governor and his Council at 
 Fort William exercised conclusive authority. Dis-
 
 THE ENGLISH IN INDIA IN 1824 165 
 
 tance and difficulty of communication is a factor in 
 the Indian life of those days for which the modern 
 reader sometimes fails to make due allowance- 
 In 1824 Mr. Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, M.P., 
 was the President of the ' Right Honourable the 
 Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India.' 
 Lord Bathurst, Mr. Canning, and Mr. Robert Peel 
 were the Secretaries of State who had seats on it. 
 Among the other members of the Board was Lord 
 Teignmouth (Sir John Shore). 
 
 The Honourable the Court of Directors included 
 many names which, borne by descendants of those 
 great owners of patronage still — even under the system 
 of Open Competition — abound in the Indian Service. 
 
 The Furlough Regulations throw an interesting- 
 light on the conditions of an Indian appointment. 
 Seventy years ago no one was entitled to leave till 
 he had served ten years in India ; but to make 
 amends there is a warning that any one who does not 
 return within five years — five years at home! — will 
 forfeit his post. Three years is the ordinary furlough. 
 There were nearly 500 retired officers on the 
 rolls: so that we can see what abundant material 
 there was for volunteer councils of expert critics at 
 Bath and Cheltenham. 
 
 The East India College at Haileybury — it was 
 called Hertford College at the time — was already 
 a flourishing institution. All nominees for writer- 
 ships had to study there for four terms, no one being 
 eligible whose age exceeded twenty-two. In the
 
 t66 LORD AMHERST 
 
 class of 1823 we find there were twenty students, 
 among whom were John Russell Colvin and George 
 Mertins Bird. To any one indeed who has had the 
 good fortune to have worked in India these old 
 Registers read like a family chronicle. Charles 
 Trevelyan, then a freshman, got a prize in Sanskrit 
 and Classics. The Military Seminary was even better 
 stocked with Cadets. 
 
 The list of East India Company's ships of the 
 season 1824-5 suggests many a vision of marine 
 stateliness and grace. There were twenty-five of them 
 sailing from Gravesend for St. Helena, Bencoolen, 
 Bengal, Madras, Bombay and China ; and very strictly 
 noted is the time when they were to sail to Gravesend 
 and be in the Downs. 
 
 We must imagine that the voyage has been made 
 and that some young writer — whose name will by- 
 and-by be famous — finds himself in Chowringhee, on 
 his way to pay his respects at Government House. 
 
 Lord Amherst, we know, is Governor-General. 
 Sir Edward Paget is Commander-in-Chief and second 
 in Council. John Adam, after his brief experience of 
 the storms of supreme power, is one of the civilian 
 members. John Fendall is another. This year, how- 
 ever, Adam is to sail for home, and rest. But he will 
 never see the white cliffs of Dover again ; and like 
 many others of those who have made our Empire, the 
 sea is to be his tomb. William Butterworth Bayley 
 was Chief Secretary. George Swinton was secretarj^ 
 in the secret and political department. But we must
 
 THE ENGLISH IN INDIA IN 1824 167 
 
 not dwell on names. It must suffice to mention the 
 chief departments of State. The four judges of the 
 Sadr Diwani and Nizamat Adalat, that is to say the 
 Judges of the Supreme Court, Civil and Criminal. 
 The Board of Trade. The Board of Revenue in the 
 Lower Provinces. The Board of Revenue in the 
 Central Provinces. The Board of Revenue in the 
 Western Provinces. The Board of Customs, Salt and 
 Opium. 
 
 The Civil Servants are divided still into classes 
 under the old-fashioned titles of Senior Merchants, 
 Junior Merchants, Factors and Writers. Mr. Brooke, 
 who was senior Judge of the Court of Appeal at 
 Benares, had been appointed to the Service in 1768. 
 
 'Mr. Brooke,' writes Bishop Heber in Sept. 1824, 'lias 
 been fifty-six years in India, being the oldest of the 
 Company's resident servants. He is a very fine healthy old 
 man, his manners singularly courteous and benevolent, and 
 his tone, in speaking Hindustani and Persian, such as 
 marks a man who has been in the habit of conversing much 
 with natives of high rank.' 
 
 Even now in this year 1824 Commercial Residents, 
 Superintendents of Lotteries and Export Warehouse 
 Keepers (to say nothing of Salt agents and Opium 
 agents which survive) alternate with Judges, Magis- 
 trates, Collectors, Superintendents of Police, Registrars 
 of Zillah Courts, and assistants to all these. The 
 Registrars of the Zillah Courts were really supplemen- 
 tary Judges and Magistrates. Since the days of Lord
 
 1 68 LORD AMHERST 
 
 Wellesley, however, the Civil Service had been steadily 
 growing into very much its present form and bulk. 
 The absence of the ' Uncovenanted ' element will be 
 remarked. We may take Moradabad, which was one 
 of the districts most remote from the seat of govern- 
 ment, as an illustration of the ordinary arrangement. 
 The station staff consisted of a Judge, a Collector, 
 a Registrar, a Second Registrar, and a Surgeon. It is 
 interesting to know that the cutchery, 'a large and 
 handsome house,' was approached through 'a very 
 splendid gateway as lodge.' But very significant of 
 the condition of the country is the fact that this 
 palace of justice was surrounded by a mud rampart, 
 with a deep moat and four small circular bastions. 
 When the pile was built such a precaution was ' in 
 this part of India not undesirable.' Indeed, even 
 now the villages in this tract are more or less fortified. 
 Altogether in Bengal, including what is now the 
 North- Western Provinces, about 300 English officers 
 were engaged in judicial and executive district work. 
 Less than half that number served for Madras, while 
 Bombay had a still smaller share. 
 
 A most important branch was, of course, the estab- 
 lishment of Residents or Minor Diplomatic Agents at 
 Native Courts. Gerald Wellesley was at Indore, 
 Sir Charles Metcalfe at Haidarabad, Mordaimt Ricketts 
 at Lucknow, Sir D. Ochterlony had charge of Malwa, 
 and Rajputana, Richard Jenkins (one of the great 
 men of the time) was at Nag-pur, Mr. Cole in Mysore. 
 Major Close looked after Sindhia at Gwalior. Tanjore
 
 THE ENGLISH IN INDIA IN 1824 t6u 
 
 and Travancore complete the list, with one exception. 
 Mr. Gardner was Resident at Khatmandu, and his 
 assistant was Mr. Brian Hodgson, who is, we are 
 glad to say, alive to this day. 
 
 Of the ecclesiastical establishment we have to 
 speak elsewhere. Reginald Heber had left, after 
 much misgiving, his quiet parish of Hodnet. and was 
 now Bishop of Calcutta. In Bengal alone there were 
 over thirty chaplains. 
 
 Compared with the civil list, the list of military 
 officers is of enormous length. But many of them 
 were engaged in civil work. Indeed, in the early 
 days of the Company, no distinction at all was drawn 
 between liability to service in the field and at the 
 desk ; and to the end of our rule the army will no 
 doubt furnish British India with able administrators 
 as well as gallant defenders. 
 
 The College at Fort William was the place where 
 the newly arrived nominees to the Civil Service got 
 their training — where they were supposed to learn 
 the language, and at any rate get acquainted with 
 each other and see something of life. The Asiatic 
 Society, with its long list of members, showed that 
 there was scholarlike taste and archaeological ardour 
 among those who had to face the rough and tumble 
 of affairs. 
 
 But of special interest to us in a survey of this 
 kind is the careful register kept of ' European in- 
 habitants ' — other than covenanted servants. Far 
 the largest portion of these were in Bengal. Scattered
 
 170 LORD AMHERST 
 
 throughout the Presidency or collected at Calcutta 
 were about 2,500, who are classed as Europeans, and 
 whose names in very few instances suggest Eurasian 
 origin. Many of the trades which have since been 
 learnt by natives were then probably almost confined 
 to white men. ' Mariners,' as a matter of course, 
 abounded at Calcutta and other ports. Indigo 
 planters were numerous in many districts of Bengal, 
 though none seem to have established themselves 
 to the west of the Benares Division. Lord Amherst 
 gives a very bad account of the men who were at 
 the time in charge of the factories. Two members of 
 this class, whose cruelty and oppression led to their 
 expulsion from British jurisdiction, had the effrontery 
 to come to England and furnish Mr. Hume with 
 a statement of their grievances, which that humani- 
 tarian politician utilized as an item in his acri- 
 monious indictment of the absent Governor-General. 
 Cawnpur and Fatehgarh — the great seats of English 
 power in the pioneer days — had large mercantile 
 communities of Englishmen. The trader invariably 
 follows the advance of cantonments. There were 
 many missionaries. Jewellers were in request. We 
 find even a European ' scavenger.' An English- 
 man kept an ' asylum for insanes ' at Bhawani- 
 pur. At Patna resided a jockey. A miniature 
 painter, a teacher of the piano, and a nurseryman 
 contributed to the amenities of the capital. Meerut 
 boasted a schoolmaster. An Inspector of Empty 
 Houses earned an honest livelihood. So did many
 
 THE ENGLISH IN INDIA IN 1824 171 
 
 firms of wine merchants. French millinery was on 
 sale by a European milliner. The Oriental Mercury 
 required printers, a publisher, and even an editor. 
 One is anxious to know how the Mr. Lumley who 
 tried ' farming ' at Meerut succeeded. Horatio Nelson 
 — out of pure perversity — chose to be a land surveyor. 
 But we must not linger over the dingy list of those 
 who lived life as it was lived in India seventy years 
 ago, whose very memories have passed away, and who 
 lie — most of them — in some neglected graveyard 
 under the graceless pyramidal pile of brick and stucco, 
 which it was the fashion of the time to erect as 
 the tomb of the European. In the month of May, 
 1823, there were twenty-nine deaths — mostly of 
 women and children. There were ten weddings. 
 
 The members of the Civil Service had their wives, 
 and sometimes their families, living with them. 
 Bishop Heber remarks on the excellent moral tone 
 of the stations in the Mofussil. There is much sig- 
 nificance in the testimony which he bears to the high 
 character and piety of the chaplains. Stories, it is 
 clear, were afloat not wholly creditable to the earlier 
 race of the Company's divines. 
 
 Let us add — to conclude this sketch of the social 
 atoms— that fifteen advocates practised in the Supreme 
 Court of Judicature at Calcutta, and that seventy-five 
 Attorneys and Public Notaries tendered their services 
 to litigants. 
 
 Such was the personnel of society. But the foreign 
 element in it was not wholly English. We read of
 
 172 LORD AMHERST 
 
 a Milanese ecclesiastic at Dinapur, who was the 
 Roman Catholic Bishop of Thibet. He was not 
 exempt from the strange fatality which attended the 
 first four Anglican bishops. After a short residence 
 he died. At Benares there was quite a cosmopolitan 
 community, including Persians, Turks, Tartars, an 
 accomplished and versatile Greek, and a Russian, 
 who had the Muscovite gift of making himself 
 mysterious. Of the social scenery, Lady Amherst's 
 diary gives so many picturesque views that anything 
 like a set estimate would spoil the effect. But we 
 have to say something of the Governor-General and 
 his family, as seen by the eyes of others ; and perhaps 
 of Calcutta, as the background of so much that was 
 bright and sad. 
 
 An extract from a work published in 1827 (Alex- 
 ander's Travels from. India to England) will serve 
 our purpose particularly well, since it gives the 
 impressions of a sightseer. 
 
 1 The first appearance of Calcutta, to a stranger, is very 
 grand and imposing : the public buildings, mostly of the 
 Grecian order, are extremely handsome : porticoes, colon- 
 nades, and piazzas abound everywhere. The river was 
 crowded with shipping, chiefly European, with budgerows, 
 bolios, and other Indian craft. . . . 
 
 ' In the evening the course was crowded with gay equipages 
 till sunset. The course is a broad road round a grass quad- 
 rangle adjoining the splendid palace of government, and 
 bounded on two sides by the lofty and handsome buildings of 
 Chowringhee. It commands a view of the river and of Fort 
 William.
 
 THE ENGLISH IN INDIA IN 1824 1 7 3 
 
 ' The appearance of Lord Amherst on this scene did not 
 exactly correspond with what might have been expected from 
 the Governor-General of India, though it accorded with his 
 unassuming character. He rode in plain clothes, on a white 
 horse, not remarkable for its beauty, attended by a single 
 aide-de-camp, and couple of troopers of the bodyguard, who 
 were dressed in red hussar jackets, with silver lace, leather 
 breeches, and long boots, caps and feathers. Lady Amherst 
 appeared in a better style, accompanied by her daughter and 
 an aide-de-camp, in a smart carriage and four. An escort of 
 the bodyguard attended in front and rear. The vehicles on 
 the course were of every build, from the dashing landau to 
 the humble buggy. Some of the ladies sported bare arms, 
 and were unbonneted : a few of the gentlemen promenaded 
 in white jackets, without hats. Rich natives, baboos and 
 others, were lounging in their coaches ; among them were the 
 representatives of the Pacha of Egypt, the Imaun of Muscat, 
 &c. The Strand is a street which leads along the river, and 
 is resorted to by the more sober and unostentatious portion 
 of the inhabitants. Here were several beautiful Armenian 
 ladies with golden diadems, the lower parts of their faces 
 muffled in white veils, who were enjoying in their carriages 
 the cool breeze from the river. . . . 
 
 ' During this month (February) plays were occasionally 
 performed by amateurs ; balls and parties were frequent 
 among the Europeans, and nautches among the natives. 
 One of the latter was given by Baboo I\ussum Doss Moolk 
 (reported to be worth 1 00 lakhs) on occasion of the marriage 
 of his son. The saloon in which we assembled was brilliantly 
 lighted up with wax candles in expensive cut-glass chandeliers. 
 The natives sat on chairs and couches ; many of them wore 
 English stockings, shoes, and kid gloves, which made a 
 ridiculous addition to their Oriental costumes.' 
 
 Time, it will be seen, has dealt very gently with
 
 174 LORD AMHERST 
 
 the outward show of Calcutta life. Bishop Heber 
 does more justice to Lord Amherst's state. Elephants, 
 it appears, were not allowed in Calcutta or within 
 five miles of it, but at Barrack pur they were in 
 order. ' That which Lord Amherst rode,' says the 
 bishop, ' was a very noble fellow, dressed up in splendid 
 trappings, which were a present from the King of 
 Oudh.' 
 
 The bishop describes an excursion which he made 
 in November, 1823, to the botanical garden. The 
 journey was by water in the Elephant barque, so- 
 called because it was adorned with the head of an 
 elephant with silver tusks. It was a large, light 
 and beautiful canoe, paddled by twenty men, the 
 bard standing in the centre, who sang songs of his 
 own composition in praise of the Company and the 
 Governor-General, and in celebration of victories 
 gained by our troops.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Tour in the Upper Provinces 
 
 Rest for a Governor-General can only lie in change 
 of occupation. A few days of escape may be granted 
 in extreme cases. So, as a temporary and preliminary 
 respite, we find Lord Amherst and his family 
 embarking on June 10, 1826, on board the Govern- 
 ment yacht. On the 14th, they anchor for the night 
 at Diamond Harbour, where the other vessels salute 
 them as they pass. On the 22nd, the whole party 
 proceeds by land to Calcutta. But a longer and 
 a more auspicious journey lay before them. At last 
 the important letters arrive from England, letters 
 written after the news of the armistice. This and the 
 firm support of Government seem to have set the 
 question of his recall at rest. Lady Amherst also 
 adds, ' that the solicitations of the authorities of the 
 Upper Provinces of India for Lord Amherst to visit 
 them have induced him to decide upon going there.' 
 
 The reason of the ' solicitations of the authorities of 
 Upper India' needs no elucidation. But this journey 
 of pacification and settlement which — had the Court
 
 176 LORD AMHERST 
 
 of Ava been more reasonable — would probably have 
 been among the early acts of Lord Amherst's Admin- 
 istration, was destined to be the closing scene. 
 
 'On August 4/ Lady Amherst writes, 'our miserable 
 family embarked on the Mookie at 5 o'clock in the morning. 
 On this day Lord Amherst has resolved on resigning his 
 situation as Governor-General, and has written to Mr. Canning 
 to that effect. . . . The idea of rejoining my children in England 
 is a great comfort to us all.' 
 
 The pleasure of the earlier part of the Ganges 
 voyage was spoilt by the heat and the fevers. Lady 
 Amherst was a victim as well as the Governor- 
 General. 
 
 A great deal of the diary is now taken up with 
 descriptions of scenery, jungles, rhinoceroses, alli- 
 gators, beautiful mountains, islands and flocks of 
 storks. Various accidents happen to the fleet ; the 
 dispensary boat goes over with Mr. Luke the apothe- 
 cary, who is saved, but a 'year's supply of calomel 
 and tartar emetic are unfortunately lost ! ' Sometimes 
 the party goes on shore visiting native temples and 
 tombs and ascending adjacent hills. On September 2 
 they arrive at Bhagalpur and are hospitably enter- 
 tained at the house of Mr. Ward, the judge. There is 
 an interesting account of his bodyguard of eighty 
 men, still called the Hill Rangers. Only a few 
 years ago these men, who belonged to a fierce hill- 
 tribe, went about the country plundering and devas- 
 tating. They had now become our defenders instead. 
 'Their strict observance of truth is quite remarkable,
 
 TOUR IN THE UPPER PROVINCES 1 77 
 
 combined with a belief in witchcraft ; their oaths are 
 taken on the back of a cat.' 
 
 Dr. Wallich, who was accompanying Mr. Crawfurd 
 on a mission to the Court of Ava, also sends letters on 
 his own subjects, and describes a splendid tree, with 
 a large rich drooping flower of a bright scarlet colour, 
 which he has named Amherstia Nobilis after Lady 
 Amherst. 
 
 On the 5th they arrive at the opium-inspector's 
 house at Ghazipur. ' He tells me the opium in this 
 district alone produces a million annually ; it is all 
 sent to China.' The fields are full of white poppies 
 from which the opium is made ; attar of roses and 
 rose-water are also prepared at Ghazipur, and in 
 February the face of the country is perfumed for 
 miles around with the roses which are in bloom. The 
 party visit the tomb of Lord Cornwallis who, about 
 twenty years before, expired near this spot. There is 
 a bust by Flaxman, and as ornamental details the 
 favourite emblems of the period — soldiers in attitudes 
 of grief, and various inscriptions. They presently 
 arrive at Benares, where they are received with a good 
 deal of state and ceremony. They are escorted by 
 a mounted bodyguard to the Raja's palace while 
 salutes are fired. The whole native population is 
 on the banks and in the illuminated streets ; the 
 bustle, noise, and brilliance are not to be surpassed. 
 Next day they visit the city with its thousand 
 temples, its worshipping priests. They met the 
 inevitable sacred bull in the narrow streets. Even
 
 178 LORD AMHERST 
 
 the Governor-General of India has to step aside to 
 allow the sacred brute to pass. Besides the bulls 
 there are the Fakirs, who seem even more objection- 
 able, with their strange distorted minds and bodies. 
 They paint themselves white (is it in suggestion of 
 the text?): 'holy villains' Lady Amherst calls them. 
 Lord and Lady Amherst dined with Mr. Brooke (the 
 veteran of whom mention has been made elsewhere). 
 Fifty people sat down to dinner, and at the Drawing 
 Room afterwards the ladies were ' as well dressed as 
 in Calcutta.' The Governor-General and his wife go 
 about in tonjons, and visit the famous minarets of 
 Aurangzeb, 'an effort felt for many days by Lord 
 Amherst in the sinews of his legs.' Lady Amherst 
 had some talk with Mr. Brooke about the Hindus. 
 ' You may live very well with them,' he said, ' if you 
 are always on your guard.' The old story of the 
 unfortunate Mr. Cherry, which was told again by 
 Mr. Brooke, confirms the impression. 
 
 On the 1 7th they proceed to Ramnagar (the palace 
 of the Raja of Benares), where the entertainments of 
 jewels, fireworks, cloth of gold, &c, are continued to 
 the sound of guitars and cocoa-nut instruments, with 
 salutes from the battery, and shouts from friendly 
 crowds who escort them to their pinnace. There is 
 a certain monotony in these royal progresses. Lady 
 Amherst writes, ' The Raja is literally covered with 
 very fine diamonds, and strings of pearls round his 
 neck, a large diamond necklace hung down to his 
 girdle. On his forehead hung a row of the finest
 
 TOUR IN THE UPPER PROVINCES 179 
 
 emerald drops I ever saw, his turban was a blaze of 
 diamonds.' Lady Amherst also adds, that he himself 
 was the largest man she ever beheld, with a merry, 
 laughing countenance. As usual he arrives in state 
 with his processions of horses, elephants, camels, and 
 howdahs, and native chiefs. 
 
 The progress continues by Mirzapur, and they 
 come by difficult navigation to Allahabad, at the con- 
 fluence of the Jumna and the Ganges. ' This city is 
 esteemed by the Hindus equal to Benares in holiness. 
 During their great native festivals many pilgrims 
 annually sacrifice themselves to the alligators. Going 
 in a boat to the centre of the river, they plunge 
 in and are no more seen; from the bloody appear- 
 ance of the water it is known they are dismembered 
 by the crocodiles. The victims invite all their friends 
 to the ceremony as they call it ; I heard this account 
 from those who had witnessed it.' 
 
 Lord and Lady Amherst landed in state on Oct. 27, 
 1826, and were received by General Marley, the 
 Governor of the Fort of Allahabad, and lodged in 
 his quarters. The great chiefs of Bundelkhand and 
 the regions round come to welcome them. Among 
 others the Nawab of Banda, with a following of 
 9,000 men. 
 
 The company is not let into the Fort, but received 
 in tents outside. More and more processions arrive 
 with hawks and greyhounds dressed in gold and silk, 
 as well as the usual camels and elephants. So great is 
 the influx of strangers that a famine is apprehended. 
 
 M 2
 
 i8o LORD AMHERST 
 
 It is only averted by the zeal of the magistrate, 
 Mr. Colvm. Durjan Sal, the usurper of Bhartpur, 
 is a prisoner in the Fort, and no doubt sadly watches 
 these festivities from his casement. 
 
 The ex-Peshwa of the Marathas is among the 
 chiefs who come to pay their duty. ' His dress was 
 uncommon — a small pointed gold turban ; his dia- 
 monds and pearls were few, but large and splendid ; 
 his appearance and conversation were animated and 
 sensible.' 
 
 From Allahabad began the land progress. During 
 the earlier stages Lady Amherst was full of wonder at 
 the magic ease with which the tent city was wafted 
 from one halting-place to another, at the luxuriant 
 beauty of the cultivated country, and — dearest praise 
 of all to the active magistrates of the respective dis- 
 tricts ! — at the excellence of the roads. 
 
 From Nov. 6 to 10, 1826, they are marching, hunt- 
 ing, nnd hawking as they go to beguile the way. 
 They reached Fatehpur, which had only lately been 
 made a station, and in which the bungalows had still 
 to be built, on Nov. 11 ; and Cawnpur, where they 
 had an imposing reception, on the 18th. 
 
 On Nov. 20 the King of Oudh comes in great stato 
 to visit Lord Amherst. Twenty-two of his relations, 
 all splendidly dressed, accompany him. Next day the 
 English return the King of Oudh's visit, crossing by 
 a bridge of boats. All the gentlemen were in their 
 best uniforms. The King of Oudh entertained them 
 at a handsome breakfast cooked by a French cook
 
 TOUR IN THE UPPER PROVINCES I 8 1 
 
 from Paris. Among other subjects of conversation 
 the native chiefs expressed their astonishment that 
 the English, who are so far superior to them in most 
 sciences, should be so far behind them in that of 
 music. 
 
 Crossing the Ganges into Oudh on Nov. 27 they 
 arrive at Fatehganj, a beautiful town two miles 
 from Lucknow. While the Governor- General and his 
 Court were travelling in state along the highways, 
 Lady Amherst is horrified to hear of other travellers 
 also advancing along the road to the Temple of Jagan- 
 nath, but in a different fashion. One man she tells 
 us had crawled like a serpent from the other end of 
 India, at the rate of a mile a day, and had been 
 a year on his journey. Many of the poor pilgrims 
 never reached their destination : a still larger number 
 never returned, but died of fever and famine by the 
 roadside. 
 
 The English party are at Lucknow on December 1 . 
 By the end of the year they have returned to British 
 territory. On January 3, 1827, they are at Soron, 
 a very ancient and holy city, and there Colonel 
 Gardner, of whom we have heard before, gives them 
 a review of his native troops. ' The beauty of the 
 horsemanship was past expression, their feats of 
 activity were astonishing.' 
 
 We may here break the thread of Lady Amherst's 
 narrative to explain the political aspect of this visit 
 to the capital of Oudh. Ghazi-ud-din Haidar was by 
 no means the worst of the line of Wazirs; he had
 
 1 82 LORD AMHERST 
 
 scholarlike tastes, and, though a wine-bibber and self- 
 indulgent, had a certain amount of statesmanlike 
 shrewdness. His kingdom, however, by no particular 
 fault of his own, was the rally ing-ground of the 
 adventurers and bravos whom the Pax Britannica had 
 thrown out of their regular employment; and the 
 turbulence of some of the landowners, whose lands 
 lay along the British border, had brought a bad name 
 upon the country and subjected the ruler to the 
 suspicion of incompetence. On the whole, however, 
 he was able to satisfy the Governor-General that the 
 charges were unjust. Cultivation was general, and 
 there was no complaint of excessive severity in the 
 assessments. The same could not perhaps be said of 
 all the British provinces. He had, in addition, some 
 very persuasive means of soothing the anxieties of 
 the conscientious but impecunious John Company. 
 In 1825 and 1826 he had advanced from the treasures 
 in his vaults a sum of one million and a half to the 
 Calcutta Government. His death, which occurred in 
 the October following the Governor-General's visit, 
 put an end to the particular cycle of complaints and 
 intrigues that circled round him. 
 
 On Jan. 8, 1827, the party arrives at Agra. Lady 
 Amherst describes the beautiful bridges, the ghauts, 
 the groves of fruit trees, the Taj. As usual, Lord 
 Amherst holds a Levee. Sindhia, whose health has 
 been declining for some time, writes to say how 
 anxious he is to come, but is compelled to send Hindu 
 Eao, his brother-in-law, in his place, and he is duly
 
 TOUR IN THE UPPER PROVINCES 183 
 
 received at a Darbar. There is a reception also for 
 the Maratha ladies, sent by the famous Baiza Bai, 
 Sindhia's wife, as a deputation to Lady Amherst, who 
 describes the amusing scene as follows : — 
 
 ' I had promised that no man should be present. A back 
 entrance was the spot destined for their entrance, guarded 
 by a kirnaut — a sort of wall of cloth, the same as round our 
 tents, and so well managed that their palanquins came in 
 without the possibility of their being seen. A female 
 Darbar, never having taken place before in India, excited 
 much curiosity. ... I invited all the principal ladies of the 
 station, twelve in number ; they were ranged round the room 
 on chairs. I as closely imitated Lord Amherst's Darbar 
 Courts as I could in everything relating to their reception. 
 Mrs. Saunders our kind hostess, Mrs. Stewart, Sarah and 
 Miss Payne were deputed to meet them on the steps of the 
 door and conduct them to me. The name of the first and 
 favourite wife was Lakshmi, and the second Parbati. I sat 
 upon the gold chair of state, and rose as they entered and 
 met them halfway. Their principal lady who directed 
 everything, and even answered eveiy question for them, is 
 a wife of a Brahman called Almaram. After saluting on 
 both sides of the face the two wives of Hindu Puiao, I con- 
 ducted them to their seats, and through a female interpreter 
 we had much conversation. They said they were much 
 alarmed at the state of health Sindhia was in, and praying to 
 God for his recovery, and making offerings in their temple. 
 They told me that they rode on horseback daily like men 
 astride, with Maratha shawls, which are enormously large, 
 wrapped round them ; this and a thick veil over their faces 
 completely conceals them. Parbati did not venture one 
 word, did not even sit down but when ordered by her 
 superior. Lakshmi, to do so. They remained till 12 o'clock
 
 I 84 LORD AMHERST 
 
 at night, when their ladies conducted them to their palan- 
 quins. They brought a numerous train of female attendants, 
 among them the old nurse to Lakshmi. a laughing old 
 woman, a sort of buffoon. They also brought many splendid 
 presents.' 
 
 Some little time later Lady Amherst received 
 a translation of the account of this interview giyen in 
 a Gwalior vernacular paper — the Court Journal, let 
 
 us call it. 
 
 ; On the evening appointed my wives proceeded to tbe 
 house. I. ly Amherst deputed some ladies to meet them. 
 and conduct them into the Zenana. After taking their seats, 
 mutual inquiries after each other's health having been made, 
 some pleasing conversation on various topics ensued, after 
 which the party was entertained by the singing of some 
 English Nautch girls. The visit lasted three hours, when 
 my wives took occasion to present to Lady Amherst the 
 articles which they had brought with them for that purpose, 
 viz. a female elephant, twenty-four trays of jewels, and 
 twenty-seven trays of muslin, <fcc, which her ladyship did 
 them the honour to accept. After expressing her approval 
 of the elephant. Lady Aruherst said she would eat the air 
 upon it (take an airing upon it) the following day. Her 
 ladyship presented them with atr and pawn, and conducted 
 them to the lip of the carpet. The English Xautch girls,' 
 says Lady Amherst, ' were no less than Sarah and Miss Payne, 
 who had been presented to Lakshmi by name. I told them 
 that in England it was the custom for young ladies of rank 
 to occupy themselves constantly, and music was studied by 
 them and was one of their amusements.' 
 
 A little further on we get the wives" own account 
 of the visit, which is very characteristic. It is
 
 TOUR IN THE UPPER PROVINCES 185 
 
 a translation from the Persian of a letter from Lakshmi 
 Bai to the Baiza Bai. 
 
 ' On our arrival at the house we found that a high wall of 
 cloth had heen placed X'ound the door 011 every side and all 
 necessary precautions taken, that none of us might be 
 polluted by the fame-destroying eyes of the English Sahibs. 
 Two ladies were sent to conduct us to the Zenana. I was so 
 much agitated at approaching the great lady that 1 could 
 hardly breathe. For some time I was hardly able to lift my 
 eyes to her countenance, which was dazzling as the sun at 
 noonday. After making the usual salutations and inquiring 
 after each other's health we sat down. The great lady was 
 sitting on a golden Musnid of curious workmanship and 
 resembling the mountain Kailas in splendour; she did not sit 
 cross-legs like your Highness, but with her feet hanging 
 down to the ground in a strange manner which I cannot 
 describe, but which I think must be very painful. The 
 great lady's stature is exalted as the Heavens, and her 
 appearance surpassing that of the other ladies who were 
 present, as the full moon does that of two days old. On the 
 top of her turban she wore a waving plume of white feathers 
 resembling the wing of the Scivroogh, and on the front of 
 the turban was a Sirpesch of light-scattering diamonds which 
 sparkled like the Pleiades. The other parts of the Sahibin's 
 dress it is impossible to describe, being entirely different to 
 the dress worn by the ladies of our country. She did not 
 wear a Sary or Dossuttah or even Pyjamas : neither did she 
 wear nose rings, which was very surprising ; but what caused 
 me most astonishment was that her throat and neck were 
 quite uncovered. This shocked me very much. There were 
 a great many more of the great lord's wives present ; some 
 were very handsome, but most of them so horridly white 
 that they appeared like figures of marble. Alter we had all
 
 186 LORD AMHERST 
 
 taken our seats some pleasing conversation ensued, but I was 
 so bewildered witb the novelty of the scene, that I scarcely 
 knew what passed. The elegance of the room was beyond 
 the powers of the picture-painting pen of description. The 
 walls were covered with pictures of the great lord's wives 
 and mistresses in different dresses, and at the end of the 
 room in a sort of recess (fireplace) was a large fire which 
 diffused a surprising deal of heat, which was very agreeable. 
 After conversing some time two young ladies acted as Nautch 
 girls. They sat before a kind of table on which there were 
 a number of ivory teeth placed in a row ; one of the young 
 ladies, daughter of the great lady, struck these teeth with 
 her fingers very quick, which produced some soul-exhilarating 
 sounds ; at the same time both young ladies began to sing 
 together, as our Nautch girls do. It was very pleasing and 
 soft, like the tear-beguiling song of the Bulbul. The other 
 young lady who sang was called Miss Pin. She was very 
 beautiful. Her face was like the full moon, her cheeks 
 resembling the blooming pomegranate, her eyes like violets 
 on the snowy Himalaya, her stature tall and graceful as the 
 cypress, and she walked like a mountain partridge. She 
 showed us her picture which was hung over the fireplace. 
 It resembled her very much, but in the picture her h;dr 
 was hanging gracefully over her shoulders like the curling 
 hyacinths (this picture, says Lady Amherst, was that of 
 Sir Henry Russell, once Chief Justice of Calcutta, in his 
 full bottomed wig curling down to his waist). We wished 
 very much to bring her away with us, that the sight of your 
 Highness's eyes might be gratified by this tulip cheek. The 
 great Miss was also very charming, but shockingly fair. 
 
 ' During the time we were there we heard some English 
 tomtoms playing in the gateway, in short everything was 
 done that could afford us pleasure and delight. . . . We were 
 all so much pleased that it was difficult to tear ourselves away
 
 TOUR IN THE UPPER PROVINCES 1 87 
 
 till we heard the earth-shaking steps of the great lord, when 
 we were obliged to depart.' 
 
 On the 19th the party visit Fatehpur Sikri, the 
 deserted fortress-palace of the great Akbar, where 
 can still be seen in all their fairy-like beauty 
 of carved sandstone and marble his Zenana, his 
 mosque, ' supported by innumerable pillars, his Halls 
 of Audience, and all the edifices of Mughal state.' 
 An old Pindari chief visits them — ' a strange wild- 
 looking old man.' Finally, on January 24, they 
 reach Bhartpur, where the young Raja comes out to 
 meet them with all his troops, all his ministers, and 
 all his relations. Lord Amherst received him into 
 his howdah, and the two dignitaries entered the town 
 together. 
 
 ' On the 25th,' Lady Amherst says, ' we all rose 
 early to view the famous walls of Bhartpur, the 
 ditch and breaches made by our mines, also the site 
 of Lord Combermere's camp, and the trenches.' But 
 the spirit of the scene has been transformed. In the 
 evening they all dined with the Raja : the town was 
 most beautifully illuminated. There were triumphal 
 arches, coloured lamps, and all else that suited rejoic- 
 ing. They were met at dusk by numbers of men 
 carrying lighted torches. The dinner was very hand- 
 some, and in English style ; nautching went on all the 
 time ; they left amid ronewed cheers and benedictions 
 (into the sincerity of which Lady Amherst did not 
 make too curious inquiry), because the British Go- 
 vernment had put the rightful heir on the throne.
 
 i88 LORD AMHERST 
 
 ' On the 28th,' says Lady Amherst, ' we encamped 
 under the walls of Dig, where a battle took place 
 between Lord Lake's army and Holkar's in 1803. The 
 former took it by storm. The palace is the finest we 
 have met with in India: it stands in the midst of 
 a large and very beautiful garden, with fountains and 
 orange groves — it is to be regretted that it is not 
 inhabited. The town is crowded with monkeys, which 
 are looked on as sacred, and worshipped by the 
 natives.' Although the monkeys are sacred at Bhart- 
 pur, we read that at Dig and in all this part of the 
 country, female infants are put to death as soon as 
 they are born. 
 
 Muttra and Brindaban are visited in due course. 
 On Feb. 3, 1827, they encamp at Koosi, where Major 
 Fielding (assistant to the Resident at Gwalior) tells 
 Lady Amherst an anecdote of Hindu Rao, brother of 
 Baiza Bai, Sindhia's favourite wife. ' His servants had 
 not received their pay for many months ; their distress 
 at last was so great, that they deputed twelve men to 
 represent their piteous case. Hindu Rao heard what 
 they had to say, and then calling aloud to his 
 Mewatis, a body of armed men rushed into the room 
 and the twelve wretched servants were cut into pieces 
 in a moment. I asked whether Sindhia, who was 
 reported a mild man, had taken any notice of Hindu 
 Rao's ferocity. He replied no, it is the custom of the 
 country.' 
 
 ' Accounts arrived to-day,' Lady Amherst continues, 
 : that Sindhia is sinking, and Baiza Bai and his other
 
 TOUR IN THE UPPER PROVINCES 189 
 
 wives have declared their intentiou of burning them- 
 selves with him on his funeral pile. Nobody believes 
 this as regards Baiza Bai.' 
 
 On February 6, 1827, they encamp near Firozpur. 
 ' The Nawab and his four sons came out to meet us 
 with a troop of irregular horse, and a few native 
 infantry, a venerable fine-looking old man. In the 
 evening Lord Amherst held a Darbar.' On the next 
 evening they dined with the Nawab, and were much 
 pleased with his manners and extreme civility. 
 
 This is the nobleman who, about two years before, 
 was nearly murdered in his house at Delhi by men 
 suborned by the Raja of Alwar. We have told the 
 whole story elsewhere. 
 
 Lady Amherst gives a striking account of the death 
 of Sindhia which Major Stewart, the Resident at his 
 Court, had sent to Lord Amherst. Major Stewart, 
 answering a summons to the palace, found it sur- 
 rounded by a great crowd of the townspeople. Inside ; 
 the apartments were filled by all the principal persons 
 about the Court : — 
 
 ' Sindhia was terribly changed ; he held out his hand and 
 whispered, for his voice was almost gone. He had not 
 named a successor, but said there were two or three hoys 
 he would like to adopt that one might set fire to the funeral 
 pile. Major Stewart, seeing him faint, asked if he had 
 anything else to say : he answered, " A great deal," but had 
 not strength to speak. Then Major Stewart retired for 
 a little. Suddenly he heard screams, the lamentations of 
 women, and cries without, indicating that Sindhia had 
 breathed his last. When Major Stewart returned he found
 
 190 LORD AMHERST 
 
 the principal wife beside the sofa on which Sindhia was lying, 
 two women were holding a screen before her face. Soon 
 after Sindhia was carried in his state palanquin dressed in his 
 most splendid dress with all the emblems of state to the 
 funeral pile, but nothing was said of the Baiza Bai, his 
 widow, burning herself, which was a great relief to Lord 
 Amherst.' 
 
 So passed away from the stage of native history 
 one who had played for thirty-three years at first 
 a leading and always an interesting part in events. 
 During the first decade of his reign Daulat Rao 
 Sindhia was master of Hindustan. The Emperor of 
 Delhi was in everything but form his vassal and his 
 prisoner. The Rajput princes paid him tribute, and 
 the Peshwa was in effect his subordinate. The Upper 
 Doab and nearly the whole of Bundelkhand and Malwa 
 were his. The army by which he maintained his 
 supremacy was of great strength, admirably drilled 
 and well equipped. He had the good sense to avail 
 himself of the services of European captains, whose 
 careers furnished some of the more romantic chapters 
 in Indian history. But his strength was his betrayal. 
 Twice he challenged an encounter with the British 
 arms, and as the result he was left not powerless 
 indeed, but shorn of much of his early might and 
 dignity. He accepted his reverses discreetly, and 
 died with no greater anxieties on his mind than that 
 of leaving his power to his wife Baiza Bai, of whom 
 Lady Amherst has had so much to say. Fearing to 
 prejudice her position, he had refrained during his
 
 TOUR IN THE UPPER PROVINCES 191 
 
 lifetime from adopting a son as his successor, but 
 after his death Baiza Bai was permitted to choose one 
 from among the far-away kinsmen of the royal house, 
 and in June 1827, Mukt Rao, a boy of eleven, was 
 installed as chief, the power of the queen dowager 
 being assured by his betrothal to her granddaughter. 
 
 The Maharaja, says Major Stewart, ' was by no 
 means deficient in understanding, his temper was 
 mild and gentle, though his courage was never 
 doubted. Apathy and indolence were his besetting 
 faults. He was raised to sovereignty at the age of 
 fourteen, and was brought up from childhood among 
 the scenes of rapacity and treachery that characterized 
 the Maratha camp. The last act of his life showed 
 his unbounded confidence in the justice and generosity 
 of the British Government.' 
 
 It is only fair to Baiza Bai to say that she 
 probably would have gone to the funeral pile with 
 her husband if Major Stewart had not peremptorily 
 sent her to her apartments.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Visits to Delhi and Simla, and Return 
 to England 
 
 It would be tedious to relate at length the details 
 of each successive halt on the road to Delhi, where 
 the ' phantom court,' as Sir Alfred Lyall calls it, was 
 still ruling, in shadowy state. On arrival at the 
 Mughal capital, the too familiar ceremonial begins over 
 and over again, the unending circus is certainly 
 beginning to pall upon one. Lord Amherst embraced 
 the heir-apparent and his brother who came on their 
 elephants to meet him. The long procession with 
 deliberate solemnity proceeds up streets ' wider than 
 any in London, not excepting Portland Place,' and so 
 they advanced amid deafening noise, loud native 
 music, and the bellowing of elephants, to the house of 
 Sir Charles Metcalfe. 'The vast concourse of ele- 
 phants heightened the grandeur of the scene.' The 
 heir-apparent, ' a melancholy looking man/ says Lady 
 Amherst, hunts, wears boots and leather breeches. 
 How well one knows that }^ounger brother who 
 imitates the English ! The usual receptions follow 
 and the Begam Samru now again appears upon the
 
 VISIT TO DELHI 193 
 
 scene and is asked to dinner, ' a short old woman, 
 with a keen eye, white muslin dress and crimson 
 satin pyjamas.' Her manner is described by Lady 
 Amherst as pleasing and courteous, and she is build- 
 ing a cathedral. 
 
 Lady Amherst hears and duly sets down many 
 a story of this famous lady. Most of them had been 
 told to Bishop Heber, and to the blameless pages of 
 his journal the reader must be referred. She was one 
 of the most remarkable personages of the time. Her 
 husband, Walter Bernhardt, a native of Strasburg or 
 of Treves, had taken service as a sailor with the 
 French, and as a soldier with the British. Finally he 
 drifted to India, where he attached himself to the 
 Nawab of Bengal, and was responsible for the murder 
 of the British residents at Patna in the year 1763. 
 He obtained large grants of land, and married. He 
 was nicknamed Sombre, which the natives corrupted 
 into Samru, and when he died in 1778, his widow 
 became famous as the Begam Samru. Originally 
 a Musalman she embraced what may by courtesy be 
 called her husband's faith. After his death she 
 became a Roman Catholic, and ruled in great state at 
 Sardhana — a place in the Meerut District, where many 
 a visible token of her glory still remains. She main- 
 tained an army and commanded it in the field. An 
 old woman at the time of Lord Amherst's visit, she 
 lived on till 1836. 
 
 Sir Charles Metcalfe's diplomatic skill had been 
 sorely taxed to arrange the ceremonial for the inter- 
 
 N
 
 j 94 LORD AMHERST 
 
 view between the pageant emperor and the repre- 
 sentative of the paramount power. Like other fallen 
 potentates, the Mughal stood upon his dignity; and 
 twelve years before, when Lord Hastings passed his 
 way, there was much bootless effort to consult his 
 susceptibilities without compromising the Governor- 
 General. Either his Majesty had learned wisdom in 
 the interval, or Sir Charles Metcalfe was singularly 
 adroit. The meeting with Lord Amherst passed off 
 most pleasantly. The king, whom Lord Amherst 
 describes as ' a venerable man leaning on a stick,' 
 said to Lord Amherst: ' As you are my friend, as 
 you are my protector, as you are my master, I ask you 
 to sit down.' And so Lord Amherst sat down, being 
 (his wife proudly records) ' the only person except 
 the heir-apparent who has ever sat in the king's 
 presence.' Many more princes came to the Darbar, 
 and on March 23, we read : 
 
 'AH our gentlemen went to the Palace to present their 
 Nuzzas (tribute). Edward presented fourteen gold pieces, 
 the rest .£5 each, which the king took himself. They 
 received some trumpery dresses in return, only fit for 
 chimney sweeps; so much pride and ostentation combined 
 with so much meanness, dirt, and poverty is incredible. 
 How is the race of Timiir sunk ! ' 
 
 It is indeed a striking description of the fallen 
 monarchs still inhabiting their decaying palaces. 
 The gardens are neglected, groves of orange trees are 
 in full bloom, the air strongly scented with perfume, 
 but everything untidy and forlorn. There is still
 
 VISIT TO DELHI 195 
 
 the inscription over the Hall of Audience, ' If there is 
 a Paradise on earth it is this, it is this, it is this.' 
 
 On the 24th, the Mughal returned the Governor- 
 General's visit at the Presidency. At 7 o'clock a.m. 
 Sir Charles Metcalfe and his staff and suite went in 
 state to the Palace to announce Lord Amherst's 
 intention of coming out to meet his Majesty ; and at 
 8 o'clock, Lord Amherst started forth with the whole 
 of the bodyguard, his own staff, and all the military 
 and civil gentlemen at Delhi, and many who had 
 arrived at Meerut and other stations ; Colonel Skinner 
 at the head of his regiment of irregular native horse, 
 and a dense population. The Begam Samru seems 
 very prominent in all these receptions. She is 
 always ready to receive visitors ; she says she smokes 
 all day, and when tired of smoking, she assembles 
 the women who amuse her by telling stories. She 
 also had three sets of Nautch girls singing different 
 tunes at the pitch of their voices, to the accompani- 
 ment of drums and tomtoms. 
 
 More visits to the ghostly court follow. Lady 
 Amherst calls upon the queen, who embraces her and 
 leads her to a seat. The queen complains of her 
 poverty, begs the Governor-General to give her 
 a pension, asks for a general order that every ono 
 who comes through Delhi should be obliged to pay 
 tribute to her. Lady Amherst replied that all Lord 
 Amherst's gentlemen had presented tribute to the 
 king. The queen said that was true, but she had none 
 of it. She made Lady Amherst promise to repeat what 
 
 N 2
 
 196 LORD AMHERST 
 
 she had said, and added that the secretary (an old 
 woman) should write to remind her. ' The queen is 
 a rapacious old woman, intriguing for her own son,' 
 says Lady Amherst. On March 27, a farewell Darbar 
 is held for the king's sons, the heir-apparent and nine 
 others. 
 
 ' It appears that the royal family has heen so much 
 delighted with its receptions and presents, that among other 
 marks of approhation the heir-appai^ent proposed to change 
 clothes with Lord Amherst, an honour which it required 
 some ingenuity to escape. Also sixteen more of the king's 
 sons and nine other of his relations wished for a Darbar 
 all to themselves.' 
 
 Lord Amherst respectfully pleaded want of time ; 
 for the drum of departure was beating at the 
 door of the Govern or- General's tent. Towards the 
 end of March, the heat in the dry plains of Northern 
 India already becomes trying, and all through the 
 brilliant progress, the cool heights of the Himalayas 
 formed the goal to which the thoughts of the sad 
 travellers were tending. The way now led through 
 the less settled tracts on the borders of Ranjit 
 Singh's realm. 
 
 One is more and more impressed, as one reads the 
 diary, with the vastness of the tract which has to be 
 traversed, its heat, its sameness. The dust is nearly 
 intolerable, nor do the trays of jewels, the ceremonies 
 and repetitions of ceremonies make it less trying. 
 We read: 
 
 ' Near a village in the neighbourhood of Kamgarh, we
 
 VISIT TO SIMLA 197 
 
 were met by a number of men, some respectably dressed. 
 As they approached us they set up a loud shout with the 
 most discordant vociferations, so that the frightened elephants 
 turned round. Upon inquiry we learnt that these people 
 were complaining of their Raja, and imploring the Governor- 
 General to interfere betwixt them. He was a cruel despot, 
 he massacred any persons who had property to seize. Captain 
 Murray spoke to these unhappy people, to inform them that 
 their Raja was an independent chief, and that nobody 
 could interfere. The Sikhs are, generally speaking, at war 
 one with another. Those who are under British protection 
 express their gratitude in the most enthusiastic terms, 
 certain that their property and their lives are safe.' 
 
 At last our travellers are in the Hills. On April 1 
 they reach Subathu, where they remain to give time 
 for the rest of the party to come up. Seventeen 
 hundred coolies were not enough to bring the baggage 
 and the company ! Lord Amherst reviews the Gurkhas 
 who had distinguished themselves at the siege of 
 Bhartpur, ' small men but active and intelligent, 
 performing nineteen evolutions in the space of one 
 hour, with great rapidity and exactness.' The diary 
 still registers strange odds and ends of information 
 about the ways of India. When the late Raja of 
 Jaipur died, we are told, eighteen men and eighteen 
 women of his household were forced to burn with his 
 body. Many were dragged from their families, bound 
 hand and foot, and thrown into the names, among them 
 his barber, as they said he would not go into Paradise 
 unless the barber was there to shave him. ' Sati,' 
 the great English lady adds, 'is being gradually
 
 198 LORD AMHERST 
 
 suppressed in our dominions, for the magistrates refuse 
 to grant licences .... Sindhia did not expect either of 
 his wives should sacrifice themselves, and it is hoped 
 this will have put the savage custom out of fashion.' 
 Ranjit Singh, Lady Amherst also tells us, is ill, and 
 has sent for an English doctor, but fearing poison he 
 tries all his medicine first on his own retainers. Lady 
 Amherst adds that Lord Amherst, ' who looked like 
 a skeleton when he started, is now in good health.' 
 
 There is the account of a curious custom of the 
 Hill folk, that of putting infants as soon as they are 
 born under a cascade, for the water to drop upon 
 their heads, while their bodies are wrapped in flannel. 
 This is thought to be a specific against fevers. ' As 
 soon as the infant is put under a rill of water it falls 
 into a profound sleep. I mean to witness this curious 
 operation at the first opportunity.' At Subathu 
 Lord Amherst received some Hill chiefs : eighteen 
 came, all very poor, and proud as poor. 
 
 1 One Raja, more powerful than the others and more 
 wealthy, resolved to go down to Calcutta to learn English 
 habits, customs, and language. He acquired a little smat- 
 tering of English and adopted among other manners that 
 of walking out with his wife leaning upon his arm. This 
 made such a sensation in his own State that his subjects 
 all rose up in open rebellion against him. To restore tran- 
 quillity he was obliged to renounce his English manners. 
 
 ' Captain Newton, who accompanied us, told us various 
 stories of the extraordinary bravery of the Gurkhas, who 
 defeated the English repeatedly before we succeeded in 
 conquering their country. The children are without cover-
 
 VISIT TO SIMLA 1 99 
 
 ing of any kind; fighting is almost their only recreation. 
 When the Gurkha regiment now here marched to the siege 
 of Bhartpur, the boys begged and cried so bitterly to be 
 allowed to accompany their parents that a great number 
 went, and their wives with one accord told the soldiers nut 
 to return to them unless victorious.' 
 
 No wonder the camp is in some difficulty for pro- 
 visions. Besides their own innumerable followers, 
 deputations arrive from Ranjit Singh and from the 
 ex-king of Kabul. Their followers now amount to 
 2,500 men. On the 5th they arrive at Simla. Lady 
 Amherst, who is of the stuff of which good travellers 
 are made, is full of enthusiasm for the country. 
 Although they all arrive wet to the skin, in hail and 
 in snow, their uncomfortable state does not prevent 
 their ' extreme admiration ' of the mountain scenery ; 
 the magnificent snowy range, groves of cedar, the 
 ilex, the chestnut, and apricot trees. 
 
 'April 10. Large flocks of sheep laden with merchandise 
 come over these nearly inaccessible mountains ; each sheep 
 has a small bag on either side proportionable to its size and 
 strength . . . We spend our time most monotonously,' she says, 
 ' rising early and walking, or rather scrambling up the 
 mountains. Alter breakfast, go out with the native botanist 
 in search of new plants. Our morning home occupations 
 ensue till 5 in the evening, when we sally forth again among 
 the mountains ; dine at 7, and retire to rest at 9 o'clock. 
 This is our present life, very quiet and pleasant, but it 
 does not furnish matter for a journal.' 
 
 We have seen that on his journey Lord Amherst 
 had received the homage — rendered either in person
 
 200 LORD AMHERST 
 
 or by deputation — of the various chiefs of Bundel- 
 khand at Allahabad, of Malwa at Cawnpur, and of 
 Rajputana at Delhi. While he was at Simla he 
 exchanged courtesies, by way of reciprocal missions, 
 with the ' Lion of the Punjab,' the veteran Ranjit 
 Singh. The Musalman movement which had been 
 organized by the fanatic Syed Ahmad in the Afghan 
 District, west of the Indus, had for some time given 
 much occupation to the Sikh government ; and the 
 systematic aid which the malcontents received from 
 their co-religionists in British India rendered it desir- 
 able that the friendly disposition of the Calcutta 
 Government should be placed beyond the reach of 
 doubt. 
 
 Lady Amherst quotes from a letter sent by a member 
 of the British deputation a graphic account of the 
 court of Ranjit Singh: — 
 
 'The Darbar was held in the western verandah of the 
 palace. It was Sunday. Ranjit Singh himself looked 
 graver than is customary with him. The air was sultry, 
 the fountains had half lost their force and the people half 
 their vivacity, and though only 8 o'clock in the morning 
 the day seemed already closing — the whole scene going 
 to sleep. We sat for some time like statues, except a couple 
 of dogs fighting. Ranjit wore a very plain vest sprinkled 
 with diamonds; he sat upon his golden chair with his legs 
 folded up. His long grisly beard seemed to have grown 
 since his last appearance, and his decrepitude seemed more 
 closely marked. Ranjit frequently gave a twist to his 
 moustache, looked around him, and fixed his eyes on the 
 ground. At length he made a signal which was answered
 
 VISIT TO SIMLA 201 
 
 by the approach of his regiment of heroines in full dress. 
 About three full companies entered the court armed with 
 bows and arrows . . . Ranjit welcomed them and nodded to 
 bis favourites to approach. They seemed in no wise abashed 
 at his presence, for their honours were well due. But he 
 is a ghastly figure, and when mounted upon his high-bred 
 steed his phantom face and bird-like limbs, his long hoary 
 beard and withered form, pictured death on a pale horse.' 
 
 Here is the account of one of their visitors, the 
 Rani of Saice : — 
 
 ' She is considered a very clever woman, and has that 
 appearance. She was dressed quite plainly in a white 
 garment, and her hair, parted in front and tight to the 
 forehead, was fastened in front — the dress of a widow.' 
 [A lifelike portrait in water colours is inserted between the 
 pages of the diary.] ' She thought herself aggrieved by 
 Colonel Ross, Superintendent of the Sikhs, and went down 
 to Calcutta and represented her case to the Supreme Govern- 
 ment. The grievance having occurred sixty years ago, when 
 her country was conquered by the Gurkhas, the Governor- 
 General could do no more than allow her a small pension on 
 which she lives very comfortably, but is not satisfied that the 
 country is not restored to her. She is a handsome, oldish 
 woman of about forty years. She told me I must be her 
 mother, father, and everything to her, to which I assented. 
 She then said she wished to marry Captain Kennedy, the 
 Assistant Superintendent here : it made us all smile except 
 herself; she said it was for protection.' 
 
 It was not only the glorious scenery and the cool air 
 of Simla that refreshed the spirits of the party. In the 
 last days of May Lord Amherst received an inti- 
 mation that the king had been pleased to create him
 
 202 LORD AMHERST 
 
 an earl by the title of ' Earl Amherst of Arakan in 
 the East Indies and Viscount Holmesdale in Kent.' 
 All things went well with the man whom the king 
 delighted to honour. 
 
 ' May 30. Arrived this morning from Calcutta an extract 
 of a letter from the Hiyh Court of Directors dated January 1 7, 
 transmitting the following resolutions : — " Eesolved, That 
 the thanks of this Court he given to Lord Amherst, 
 Governor-General, for his active, strenuous, and persevering 
 exertions in conducting to a successful issue the late war 
 with the Government of Ava, provoked by the unjust 
 aggression of the enemy, prosecuted amid circumstances of 
 very unusual difficulty, and terminated so as to uphold the 
 character of the Company's Government, to maintain the 
 British ascendant in India, and to impress the bordering 
 States with just notions of the national power and re- 
 sources." ' 
 
 The Directors and the Court of Proprietors also 
 voted thanks to Lord Amherst ' for his forbearance 
 in not resorting to measures of coercion against the 
 usurper of Bhartpur as long as hopes could reason- 
 ably be entertained of accomplishing by means of 
 negotiation the restoration to power of the legitimate 
 Raja, and for his decision in the failure of negotiation 
 to effect the reduction of that important fortress by 
 force.' 
 
 There were only six dissentient voices to the vote 
 of thanks in the Court of Proprietors— consisting of 
 Mr. Hume and his friends. Mr. Hume made every 
 opposition he could devise. 
 
 Virtue has triumphed ; and the diary returns to
 
 VISIT TO SIMLA 203 
 
 daily life, describes the sights and incidents of life 
 among the Hills, telling of mountains clothed to the 
 summit with cedars and rhododendrons, birds of rare 
 plume, and all the marvels of the Snows. 
 
 But there was a land dearer, if not fairer, than the 
 Himalayan Highlands. Lord Amherst had announced 
 his intention of returning to England. On June 15 
 he and his party quitted Simla. ' We could not but 
 feel sorry to quit this peaceful abode, and the magni- 
 ficent scenery of those stupendous mountains, but it 
 was our first step towards home.' It is not accurate 
 to say that Lord Amherst ' invented Simla.' Its 
 claims were well understood by officers who servo 1 
 in the North- West, and they had carried its fame to 
 Government House. But he was the first Governor- 
 General who made it a place of retreat from the 
 discomforts of the plains. He set the fashion. Not 
 many years after a lively French traveller described 
 Simla in terms which would not be quite inappropriate 
 to-day. The summer capital of India may thus be 
 said to have been founded by the same Governor- 
 General, who carried British arms beyond the old 
 limits of India ; and considering how great has been 
 the effect for evil or for good of the annual exodus 
 to the Hills, the holiday trip was a political event of 
 no small moment. 
 
 And now begins the first stage of the homeward 
 way. At Subathu the Viceregal party are met by 
 bad news. 'The cholera is raging at Nain and 
 hundreds are dying daily. This morning the Ivajii,
 
 204 LORD AMHERST 
 
 his Rani, and three hundred attendants came flying 
 through Subathu on their journey through Nain. 
 Thirty of the latter died ; one poor man expired in the 
 bazaar.' 
 
 The following quotations give one some idea of 
 what people went through in those days, and with 
 what courage they faced their difficulties : — 
 
 ' After much deliberation we resolved to proceed this 
 evening on our journey, avoiding as much as possible the 
 sun, living as carefully as possible as to diet, and not 
 sleeping in the infected air. . . . We accordingly set out at 
 4 o'clock and travelled over high, steep, and almost in- 
 accessible mountains, the sides of which in many places 
 were absolutely perpendicular. The scenery was magnificent, 
 but alas, there were human beings dead and dying scattered 
 on the road, without aid or remedy or a friend to soothe them 
 in their agony or to close their eyes. We proceeded to Bhor, 
 the first stage, and did not arrive till after dark. There 
 being no moon it was perfectly impossible for the bearers to 
 see their way, and it was certainly the most dangerous road 
 that can be imagined. We went to bed much fatigued. . . . 
 We unanimously resolved to return to Subathu, and started 
 soon after 2 o'clock in the morning, and arrived at 7, shocked 
 and distressed at the wretched scenes of the dead and dying 
 in the fields and roads. 
 
 ' In the midst of all this Lord Amherst received answers 
 from Mr. Wynn and Sir George Robinson accepting his resig- 
 nation, but regretting it, and urging him to change his mind. 
 
 ' On every side come terrible reports. The natives are 
 sacrificing to the gods with music and tomtoms.' 
 
 On June 21 they are all at breakfast when one of 
 the suite is taken ill, and by midnight all hope is at
 
 RETURN TO CALCUTTA 205 
 
 an end. ' This sad event has plunged us all into 
 alarm as to our own fate. We have before us a long, 
 fatiguing, and fearful journey, through countries satu- 
 rated with this dire disease.' This is almost the only 
 complaint the courageous woman makes. One night 
 they rest in the midst of an orange garden with 
 ' fountains innumerable.' They reach Ambala in the 
 early morning ; they have no beds ; they sleep in their 
 palanquins. As they travel on next day, they have to 
 pass through streams, and lie drenched in cold water. 
 On June 29 they reach Kemaul. ' We had not been in 
 bed since the 24th.' It is not till July 2 that they 
 arrive at Meerut and comparative comfort, thankful to 
 have got over all the difficulties and fatigues as well 
 as they had done. ' Mr. Glyn received us as before 
 in his cool, comfortable and spacious mansion. We 
 were some days and nights recovering from the 
 immense fatigue we had undergone, but did not 
 otherwise suffer. The thermometer ninety and from 
 that to ninety-four.' The officers at Meerut enter- 
 tained them hospitably ; there are compliments and 
 speeches. ' Lord Amherst returns thanks. I never 
 heard Lord Amherst speak more to the feelings or 
 with happier effect. I was thankful when it was over,' 
 his wife writes, ' being overcome with uncontrollable 
 feelings myself.' 
 
 Still, the cholera ! In one place there were at least 
 500 men victims to the scourge, and their wives were 
 preparing to ascend the funeral pile, but were all 
 dissuaded, and actually not a single sati took place.
 
 206 LORD AMHERST 
 
 Wc need not follow the itinerary as they measured 
 back the way to Calcutta. One other grief awaited 
 them : for while still travelling they received from 
 Madras the tidings of the death of Sir Thomas Munro 
 — the most trusted of advisers, most faithful of 
 friends. He had intended to return home at the 
 beginning of Lord Amherst's administration ; but when 
 the Burmese war was seen to be inevitable, he re- 
 mained to render all the help his long experience fitted 
 him to give. He fell a victim to the fatal cholera 
 while he was waiting to be relieved of his functions. 
 The yearning for home was never satisfied : it was 
 a pathetic close to a noble life. 
 
 One incident by the way deserves mention as an 
 illustration of the temper of a native grandee of the 
 old school. The Nawab of Murshidabad set out to 
 meet them in state, but on his way received a letter 
 informing him that they would not arrive for a 
 fortnight. 
 
 ' He flew into such a violent rage that it resembled frenzy. 
 He tore off a fine turban with jewels, and threw it into the 
 river. Two rings off his fingers shared the same fate ; some 
 valuable filigree work — in short every valuable he could lay 
 his hands on — was thrown overboard. He stamped and raved 
 like a madman, and no one could pacify him. He threatened 
 to cut off his beard and eyebrows, and make a Fakir of 
 himself. Mr. Melville says in his rage he destroyed pi*operty 
 to the value of 50,000 rupees — his own to be sure.' 
 
 We reach now the record of the last days in India. 
 There is a touching entry of the visit of the sorrowing
 
 DEPARTURE FROM INDIA 207 
 
 parents to the burying-ground at Barrackpur, where 
 their son was lying. After remaining a couple of 
 days to recover from their agitation, they proceed to 
 Calcutta, where they are received in great state. 
 Sympathetic farewells and congratulations pour in on 
 every side. A small ship of 500 tons, the Herald, is 
 being fitted for their journey home. Good accounts 
 come up from Ava to cheer them — the population has 
 more than doubled — peace, industry, and happiness 
 have taken the place of despotism, extortion, and 
 wretchedness. Sir Charles Metcalfe and other friends 
 vie in attentions and friendly expressions. The new 
 Governor-General is on his way, the new Bishop of 
 Calcutta has landed ; everything seemed prepared for 
 their start when their departure was again delayed 
 by the dangerous illness of their daughter, who lay 
 for many days between life and death : it was not till 
 March 8, 1828 that they are enabled at last to carry 
 their invalid on board. Lord Amherst's departure was 
 in some respects like his reception, the same salutes 
 from Fort William, the same people assembled, ' but/ 
 as she says truly, ' the one was a ceremonial, the other 
 a heartfelt expression of regret.' They are not safe yet. 
 There are risks by sea as well as by land. They 
 encounter tremendous gales of wind, ' appalling 
 tempests.' They prepare for action on one occasion, 
 when an American privateer is seen, and seems to be 
 bearing down upon them. A ball of fire falls from 
 the sky, as large as a 12-pounder, and passes over 
 the mainmast.
 
 208 LORD AMHERST 
 
 On July 2i they pass the Lizard in the night 
 steering for Portsmouth. ' On the 22nd we anchored 
 at Spithead about 8 o'clock, and soon afterwards I 
 had the supreme delight of seeing our three dear sons 
 rush into our cabin — Plymouth, Holmesdale, and 
 Frederick. So unexpected was the delight we were 
 all quite overpowered, and unable to express it but 
 by tears of joy.' 
 
 A happy ending to a time chequered with many 
 a sorrow ! Lord Amherst was fortunate beyond the 
 common lot ; for India has been stern to its English 
 rulers. Thirteen years before, Lord Minto had 
 hastened home grudging every hour of delay that 
 kept him from the wife who was waiting for him in 
 the old Scottish home. He reached England : he left 
 London : but never on this earth was the longed-for 
 meeting to be. * When, in process of time, it became 
 the part of another generation to " open the places that 
 were closed," and when to those who did so came the 
 desire " to show the image of a voice and make green 
 the flowers that were withered," the last year's letters 
 from Minto to India — so full of hope, of joy — were 
 found tied together with a black string, and inscribed 
 "Poor Fools." With these was a note with an un- 
 broken seal, the last written by Lady Minto to her 
 husband V 
 
 Of Lord Amherst's after-life we can speak but 
 briefly. He resumed his place at Court, being Lord 
 
 1 Lord Minto in India, edited by his great niece, the Countess of 
 Minto, p. 394.
 
 LATTER DAYS 209 
 
 of the Bedchamber to George IV in 1829-30, and to 
 William IV from 1830-37. In 1834 he was made 
 a Knight Grand Cross of the Hanoverian Order. 
 In 1835 he was appointed Governor-General of 
 Canada, but the Government changing, he never took 
 up the appointment. Suitably enough, the appoint- 
 ment was gazetted on April 1 ! Having lost his wife 
 in 1837, he married in 1839 the widow of the sixth 
 Earl of Plymouth. In the beautiful park of Montreal 
 he found abundant opportunity of gratifying his 
 taste for trees and flowers, and the many friendships 
 he had formed during his long and varied career gave 
 him the society he loved. His manner was animated : 
 his features, as we see them in the portrait by Sir 
 Thomas Lawrence, were calm, gracious, and regular. 
 ' A statesmanlike face ' would be no bad description. 
 He came of a long-lived stock. After his second 
 marriage he spent a good deal of his time at Knole, 
 and there he died on March 13, 1857. In the year of 
 the Mutiny, but, before the tidings of horror came, the 
 veteran passed away, at the ripe age of eighty-four.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Adam, John, Governor-General of 
 India, ad interim (1823), 22 : 
 deported J. S. Buckingham, 23 : 
 member of Lord Amherst's 
 Council, 166. 
 
 Agra, college founded at, 49 : 
 Lord Amherst's visit to, 182, 
 183: Lady Amherst receives 
 Mar^tha ladies at, 183-187. 
 
 Akyab, troops cantoned at, after 
 conquest of Arakan, 104. 
 
 'Alceste,' H.M.S., wreck of, with 
 Amherst on board, 19, 20. 
 
 Alexander, Captain, afterwards 
 Sir J. E., brought back inhabi- 
 tants to Prome, 109 : Travels 
 from India to England, quoted, 
 172, 173- 
 
 A li Mardan's Canal, 44, 45. 
 
 Allahabad, Amherst's visit to 
 and Darbar at, 179, 180. 
 
 ALOMPRA, the great Burmese con- 
 queror,68,69 : built Rangoon, 86. 
 
 Alwar, troubles in the State of, 
 settled after fall of Bhartpur, 
 146, 147. 
 
 Ambala, Amherst's visit to, 205. 
 
 America, Jeffery Amherst's cam- 
 paigns in North, 10, 11. 
 
 Amherst, Elizabeth, mother of 
 Earl Amherst, 1 1 . 
 
 Amherst, Field-Marshal Jeffery, 
 Lord, uncle of Earl Amherst, 
 his career, 10, n : succeeded by 
 his nephew, 13. 
 
 Amherst, lion. Jeffery, eldest son 
 
 of Earl Amherst, accompanied 
 his father to China, 14 : to India, 
 52 : joined his regiment before 
 Bhartpur, 1 39 : took part in the 
 assault, 144: diedatBarrackpur, 
 161, 162. 
 
 Amherst, Sarah, Countess, married 
 Earl Amherst, 1 2 : accompanied 
 her husband to India, 52 : ex- 
 cellence of her diary, 54, 55 : 
 passages from her diary dealing 
 with daily life in India, 56-65 : 
 has cholera, 6i : her diary as 
 casting light on the Burmese 
 War, 104: her description of the 
 M utiny at Barrackpur, 1 50-1 53 : 
 her reception of Martitha ladies 
 at Agra, 183-187 : interview 
 with the wife of the Mughal Em- 
 peror at Delhi, 195, 196: her life 
 at Simla, 199: death, 209. 
 
 Amherst Lady Sarah, afterwards 
 Lady Sarah Williams, daughter 
 of Earl Amherst, accompanies 
 her father to India, 53 : courage 
 during the Mutiny at Barrack- 
 pur, 152: present at reception 
 of Mantthii ladies, 183, 184, 186: 
 dangerous illness at Calcutta, 
 207. 
 
 Amherst, General William, father 
 of Earl Amherst, 1 1 , 1:. 
 
 AMHBBST, William Pitt, Lord, 
 afterwards Karl, his ancestry and 
 relatives, 9-1 1 ; education and 
 marriage, 1 2 ; early career, 12,13; 
 
 2
 
 212 
 
 INDEX 
 
 appointed ambassador to China, 
 14-17: reception, and journey 
 through the interior, 17-19: 
 return journey and shipwreck 
 by the way, 19, 20 : appointed 
 Governor-General of India, 22; 
 viewsonjudicial reform in India, 
 41 : starts non-regulation system 
 for newly occupied territory, 42 : 
 financial difficulties, 44 : efforts 
 for irrigation, 44, 45 : refused to 
 suppress sail, 48 : arrival in 
 India, 52, 53: visits MurshiiM- 
 bad, 59-61: declares war against 
 the Burmese, 78, 79 : does not 
 want to annex territory, 82 : 
 letter on Gen. Morrison, 103 : 
 wishes to maintain balance of 
 power between Burma and Siam, 
 112: personal danger in Mutiny 
 at Barrackpur, 152: notified of 
 intended recall, 155 : indignation 
 at Calcutta, 156, 157: recall 
 withdrawn, 157: Wellington's 
 letter on his behaviour, 159- 
 161 : his simple demeanour, 1 73 : 
 his state, 174: sends in his 
 resignation, 176: his tour in 
 the Upper Provinces, 176-199: 
 visits — Bhagalpur, 176 : Ghazf- 
 pur, 177: Benares, 177, 178: 
 Ramnagar, 178, 179: Mfrzapur, 
 179: Allahabad, 179, 180: 
 Fatehpur, 180 : Cawnpur, 180, 
 181 : Lucknow, 181: Soron,i8i : 
 Agra, 182 : Fatehpur Sfkri, 187 : 
 Bhartpur, 187 : Dig, Muttraand 
 Brinddban, 188: Firozpur, 189: 
 Delhi, 192-196: Sub«4thu, 197, 
 198: residence at Simla, 199- 
 203 : created an earl, 201, 202 : 
 thanked by the Court of Direc- 
 tors, 202 : journey from Simla to 
 Calcutta, 203-206 : departure 
 from Calcutta, 207 : return to 
 England 208 : latter days, 209. 
 
 Amherst, town in Tenasserim, 
 called after Lord Amherst, 126. 
 
 Amherstia Nohilis, tree called 
 after Lady Amherst, 177. 
 
 Arakan, conquered by the Bur- 
 
 mese, 70 : difficulties caused by 
 Arakanese exiles and Burmese 
 pretensions, 70-74 : invaded by 
 Maha Bandula, 91 : invasion of, 
 by Gen. Morrison, 101, 102 : 
 conquest of, 103, 104 : ceded to 
 the Company by treaty of Yan- 
 dabu, 125. 
 
 AuAKAN,City(Mro-Haung), taken 
 by Morrison, 102. 
 
 Assam, conquered by the Burmese, 
 75 : welcomed the English, 90 : 
 Burmese driven out of, 99: 
 ceded to the Company by treaty 
 of Yandabu, 125. 
 
 Baiza Bai, favourite wife of 
 Daulat Rao Sindhia, 188-191. 
 
 Baji Rao, the last Peshwa, de- 
 scribed, 63 : visits Amherst at 
 Allahabad, 180. 
 
 Baldeo Singh, Raj£ of Bhartpur, 
 invokes Ochterlony's recognition 
 of his son, and dies, 133. 
 
 Balwant Singh, Raja" of Bhartpur, 
 dethroned by his uncle Durjan 
 S;il, 1 33 : placed on the throne 
 after capture of Bhartpur, 146 : 
 receives Amherst, 187. 
 
 Banda, Nawab of, visits Amherst 
 at Allahabad, 179. 
 
 Bandula, Maha: see Maha 
 BandtJla. 
 
 Barrackpur, Mutiny of the Bengal 
 Sepoys at, its causes, 148-150: 
 progress, 150, 151 : suppression, 
 151— 153 : good effect of the 
 prompt proceedings, 1 54 : Am- 
 herst censured for his action, 
 155 : Wellington's general ap- 
 proval, 1 59-16 1. 
 
 Bassein, taken by Major Sale, 
 107. 
 
 Batavia, Amherst visits, on his 
 way to and from China, 16, 20. 
 
 Bathurst, Henry, Earl, a Com- 
 missioner of the Board of Control , 
 165. 
 
 Bayley, William Butterworth, 
 Chief Secretary to the Govern- 
 ment of India, 166.
 
 INDEX 
 
 213 
 
 Benares, the college at, 49 : Am- 
 herst visits, 177, 178. 
 
 Bentinck, Lord William, his claim 
 to succeed Lord Hastings in 
 India, 22: was the Cornwallis 
 of the Native Civil Service, 38 : 
 established financial equili- 
 brium, 44. 
 
 Berhampur, Amherst visits, 60. 
 
 Bhadadr, religious riot at, 129. 
 
 Bhagalpur, Amherst visits, 176. 
 
 Bhartpur, historic significance of 
 the capture of, 28 : dispute as to 
 the succession at, 133: usurpa- 
 tion of Diirjan Sal, 134: belief 
 in its impregnability, 135: Met- 
 calfe's views, 137 : an attack 
 ordered, 138: Combermere's ad- 
 vance, 1 39 : strength of the 
 fortress, 139, 140: the siege, 
 141, 142 : the assault, 142-144: 
 Balwant Singh recognized, 146 : 
 the fortress dismantled, 146 : 
 visited by Amherst, 187. 
 
 Bhils, the taming of the, 47. 
 
 Bikrampur, Burmese defeated at, 
 
 77- 
 
 Bird, George Mertins, 166. 
 
 Bodau Phra, King of Ava, 
 threatens the East India Com- 
 pany, 73 : dies, 74. 
 
 Bodyguard, the Governor-Gene- 
 ral's, its gallant conduct at 
 Rangoon, 100: helps to suppress 
 the Mutiny at Barrackpur, 150. 
 
 Brazil, Amherst touches at, on his 
 way to China, 15 : to India, 52. 
 
 Brindaban, Amherst visits, 188. 
 
 Brisbane, Captain Sir James, 
 R.N., commanded the flotilla 
 at the battle of Proine, 1 19. 
 
 Brooke, William Augustus, the 
 senior officer of theCivil Service, 
 167 : entertains Amherst at 
 Benares, 178. 
 
 Buckingham, James Silk, de- 
 ported from India, 23. 
 
 Buckingham and Chandos, 
 Richard, Duke of, said to wish 
 to be Governor-General, 156. 
 
 Burma, historic significance and 
 
 ultimate results of the expedition 
 to, 25-28: geography of, 66, 67 : 
 the conquests of Alompra, 68, 
 69 : his dynasty, 69 : conquest 
 of Arakan, 70 : first collision 
 with the East India Company, 
 70, 71 : troubles on the Arakan 
 frontier, 71, 74 : conquest of 
 Assam and consequent troubles 
 with the Company, 75 : conquest 
 of Manipur and consequent 
 troubles with the Company, 76 : 
 commencement of war, 77 : oc- 
 cupation of the island of Shali- 
 puri, 78. 
 Burmese War commences with 
 a repulse of the British, 77 : 
 war declared, 78 : capture of 
 Rangoon, 84 : army of the Ira- 
 wadi shut up in Kangoon, 89 : 
 operations in Assam and Cachar, 
 90: defeat of the British in 
 Arakan, 91 : capture of Cheduba 
 island, 92 : the defence of Ran- 
 goon, 92-96 : operations round 
 Rangoon, 96, 97 : operations in 
 Tenasserim, 98, 99 : Maha Ban- 
 dula attacks Rangoon and is 
 defeated, 99, 100 : conquest of 
 Arakan by Morrison, 101-104: 
 Campbell and Cotton advance 
 from Rangoon, 105, 106: repulse 
 before Donabyu, 106 : capture 
 of Donabyii, 107, 108: occupa- 
 tion of Prome, 109-1 11 : negotia- 
 tions for peace and armistice 
 concluded, 114-118: British 
 victories at Prome, 118, 119: 
 and at Malown, 120, 121 : ad- 
 vance on Ava, 121, 122, 124: 
 war ended by the treaty of 
 Yandabu, 124, 125. 
 
 Cachar, occupied b}' the Burmese, 
 90: the Burmese driven from, 
 99 : becomes a protected state 
 by the treaty of Yandabu, [35. 
 1 ta, Amherst reaches, r.\ '■ 
 cholera at, 61 : appearan 
 and society at, 173, 17.: 
 
 Calcutta Journal, Tin, :•,.
 
 214 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Campbell, General Sir Archibald, 
 placed in command of the army 
 of the Irawadi, 83 : defeats the 
 attack of Maha Bandiila on 
 Rangoon, 100: commanded land 
 column in advance from Ran- 
 goon, 105 : takes Donabyu, 107, 
 no: occupies Prome, 109: 
 houses his troops there, 113: 
 makes an armistice with the 
 Burmese, 1 15 : negotiates for 
 peace, 116-I18: wins a victory 
 before Prome, 118, 119: signs 
 preliminaries of peace, 119, 120: 
 storms Burmese position at 
 Malown, 120, 121 : advances on 
 Ava, 121 : arrives at Barrack- 
 pur with the news of peace, 122: 
 praised by Amherst, 157: fete 
 in his honour and that of 
 Combermere at Government 
 House, Calcutta, 158. 
 
 Canada, Jeffery Amherst's cam- 
 paign in, 10. 
 
 Canning, Right Hon. George, 
 accepts Governor-Generalship of 
 India, 21 : gives it up, 22 : a 
 Commissioner of the Board of 
 Control, 165. 
 
 Canning, Captain Henry, sent as 
 envoy to Burma, 72, 73 : advice 
 as to plan of campaign and the 
 strength of the Burmese power, 
 80, 81. 
 
 Canton, the East India Company's 
 Pactoryat, 13 : Amherst reaches, 
 18. 
 
 Capetown, Amherst visits, on his 
 way to China, 15. 
 
 Cawnpttr, Amherst visits, 180 : 
 meets the King of Oudh at, 1 80, 
 181. 
 
 Chatham, William Pitt, Earl of, 
 gave Jeffery Amherst a com- 
 mand in America, 10: godfather 
 to Earl Amherst, 1 1 . 
 
 Cheduba, Lady Amherst's interest 
 in the R-inf of, 61-63 : island of, 
 taken by the British, 92. 
 
 ( 'ii 1 n a, relations of the East India 
 Company with, 13, 14: Amherst 
 
 appointed ambassador to, 14: 
 his embassy, 17, 18: journey 
 through the interior, 18, 19. 
 
 Chittagong, its proximity to Ara- 
 kan, 70, 7i — 73 : troops collected 
 at, for the invasion of Arakan, 
 101. 
 
 Cholera, its prevalence, 61 : 203- 
 205. 
 
 Christianity, spread of, in India, 
 during Amherst's administra- 
 tion, 50. 
 
 Civil Service op India, the 
 Covenanted, in Arnherst's time, 
 29-32 : its excellent moral tone, 
 171. 
 
 Close, Major Robert, Resident at 
 Sindhia's Court, 168. 
 
 Cole, Hon. Arthur H., Resident 
 at Mysore, 168. 
 
 Colleges founded in India, 49. 
 
 Colvin, Alexander John, Magis- 
 trate at Allah.-CMd, 180. 
 
 Colvin, Colonel John, superinten- 
 dent of irrigation in Delhi Dis- 
 trict, 45. 
 
 Colvin, John Russell, 166. 
 
 Combermere, General Stapletoa 
 Cotton, Lord, afterwards Vis- 
 count, Commander-in-Chief in 
 India, 1 38 : moves on Bhartpur, 
 139: besiegesBhartpur,i4i,i42: 
 his personal risks, 143, 145 : fete 
 in his honour and that of Camp- 
 bell at Government House, 158. 
 
 Constantia, Amherst visits the 
 vineyards at, 15. 
 
 Cornwallis, Charles, Marquess, 
 and the Permanent Settlement, 
 34 : defects of his system, 38 : 
 his Regulations, 40 : tomb at 
 Ghstzfpur, 177. 
 
 Cotton, Major-General Willough- 
 by, commanded river column in 
 advance from Rangoon, 105 : 
 repulsed at Donabyu, 1 06 : sent 
 up the Irawadi from Prome, 1 14. 
 
 Crawfurd, John, gives account of 
 the Ritnf of Cheduba, 62 : sent 
 on mission to Ava, 177. 
 
 Cutch, disturbances in, 132.
 
 INDEX 
 
 215 
 
 Dacoitee, its prevalence in India, 
 46. 
 
 Dalzell, Major-General Robert 
 Alexander, reports mutinous 
 spirit among the Sepoys at Bar- 
 rackpur, 150. 
 
 Delhi, college at, 49 : Amherst's 
 visit to, 192-196. 
 
 'Diana,' H.MS., steam vessel 
 used in capture of Rangoon, 84 : 
 its excellent service, 100. 
 
 Dig, Amherst's visit to, 188. 
 
 Donabyu, Maha Bandula takes 
 command at, 99 : retires to, 
 100 : Cotton repulsed from, 
 106 : taken by Campbell, 107, 
 108. 
 
 Dorset, Lionel Sackville, Duke 
 of, gave Jeffery Amherst his 
 first commission, 10. 
 
 DuBJAN Sal, made himself Rjljit 
 of Bhartpur, 133, 134 : pro- 
 fessed only to be regent, 1 34 : 
 taken prisoner at storm of 
 Bhartpur, 144 : sent to Allaha- 
 bad, 145, 180. 
 
 Dutch, comparison of the English 
 and, in Java, 16. 
 
 Education, progress of, in India 
 during Amherst's administra- 
 tion, 4S-50. 
 
 Elphinstone, Hon. Mountstuart, 
 Governor of Bombay, 24, 31, 
 
 32, 4 1 - 
 Engineering becomes a profession 
 in Amherst's time, 44, 45. 
 
 Fatehpur, Amherst's visit to, 
 180. 
 
 Fatehpur SIkri, Amherst's visit 
 to, 187. 
 
 Fendall, John, Member of Coun- 
 cil, 166. 
 
 Fielding, Major W. G. A., tells 
 
 Lady Arnherst anecdote ;il t 
 
 Baiza B^i, 188. 
 
 Fighting, Burmese method of, 
 
 93-95- „ 
 Fire-rafts, Burmese, 92, 93. 
 
 Firozpur, Amherst encamps and 
 holds a Darbar at, 189. 
 
 Gardner, Hon. Edward, Resident 
 at Khiltm;Cndu, 169. 
 
 Gardner, Colonel William Lin- 
 naeus, of Gardner's Horse, de- 
 scribed, 57, 58 : his force re- 
 viewed by Amherst at Soron, 
 181. 
 
 Gauhati occupied by a British 
 force, 90. 
 
 Ghazipur, visited by Amherst and 
 described, 177. 
 
 Gbazi-ud-din Haidar, King of 
 Oudh, fond of English art, 49 : 
 his visit to Amherst at Cawn- 
 pur, 180, 181 : his character, 
 1S1, 182 : satisfies Amherst 
 that charges made against him 
 were false, 182. 
 
 Gibson, a Eurasian in Burmese 
 employ, makes himself useful 
 at Rangoon, 98. 
 
 Glyn, Richard Carr, Collector at 
 Meerut, entertains the Gover- 
 nor-General and his party, 205. 
 
 Grant, Charles, opposed to a 
 Church establishment in India, 
 50. 
 
 Gurkhas, traits illustrating their 
 bravery, 198, 199. 
 
 Haileybury, East India College 
 at, 165, 166. 
 
 Hale, Edward, private secretary 
 to Amherst, accompanies the 
 Governor-General, 59: ill with 
 fever, 161. 
 
 Hastings, Francis, Marquess of, 
 resigns the Governor-General- 
 ship of India, 2 1 : left a financial 
 surplus, 44 : refused to heed 
 threats of the King of Ava, 74. 
 
 Hi ii:r, Reginald, Bishop of Cal 
 outta, his teaching and influence, 
 50,51: his death, 161: quoted — 
 on Elphinstone, 32 : on judicial 
 superiority of Bombay, .)-■ : on 
 I;. ogali ii.« ipai 50 : on 
 
 Mr. \V. A. Brooke, 107 on the
 
 2l6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 moral tone of civilians and chap- 
 lains, 171 : on Amherst's state 
 appearances, 174. 
 
 Hill Rangers, the Bhagalpur, 
 176, 177. 
 
 Hindu College at Calcutta, the, 
 49. 
 
 Hindu Rao, Sindhia's brother-in- 
 law, met Amherst at Agra, 182: 
 anecdote of, 188. 
 
 Hodgson, Brian H., assistant to 
 the Resident at Kh^tmandu, 
 169. 
 
 Hume, Joseph, M.P., attacked 
 Amherst on charges brought by 
 two expelled indigo planters, 
 1 70 : opposed vote of thanks to 
 Amherst, 202. 
 
 Indigo planters, two, attack Am- 
 herst through Hume, 170. 
 
 Ifrigation, encouragement of, by 
 Amherst, 45. 
 
 Italian, Amherst spoke fluently, 
 12. 
 
 Jaintia, placed under British pro- 
 tection by treaty of Yandabu, 
 125. 
 
 Jaipur, sacrifices made at the 
 funeral of Mahanijd of, 197. 
 
 J ats, the, 133. 
 
 Java, Amherst's visit to, 16. 
 
 Jenkins, Richard, afterwards Sir 
 Richard, Resident at Nagpur, 
 168. 
 
 John VI, King of Portugal, grants 
 interviews to Amherst at Rio 
 de Janeiro, 15, 52. 
 
 Judicial System in India in 
 Amherst's days, 40, 41 : causes 
 of difficulty of reform, 41-44. 
 
 Kanjawa, fort of, stormed, 129. 
 
 Karxatik, Nawab of, interview 
 with, 53. 
 
 Kaye, Sir J. W., quoted on the 
 importance of subduing Bli art- 
 pur, 140. 
 
 Kemendin, Burmese stockade at, 
 stormed, 88, 96. 
 
 Khyen-byan invades Arakan, is 
 driven out by the Burmese and 
 killed, 72, 73. 
 
 King-bering : see Khyen-byan. 
 
 KiTTtjR, affair at, 130, 131. 
 
 Kolhapur, troubles and fighting 
 in, 131, 132. 
 
 Kykloo, British repulsed at Bur- 
 mese stockade at, 96. 
 
 Lake, General Gerard, Viscount, 
 failed before Bhartpur (1805), 
 
 135- 
 
 Land Settlement in Bengal, 33- 
 35 : wrongs done in first tem- 
 porary settlement of the Upper 
 Provinces, 35-38 : opinion on 
 developed in Amherst's admin- 
 istration, 38, 39. 
 
 Lawrence, Lieutenant, afterwards 
 Sir Henry M., serves in the in- 
 vasion of Arakan, 101. 
 
 ' Liffey,' H.M.S., bombarded 
 Rangoon, 84. 
 
 Loudoun, Flora, Countess of, 
 Amherst meets, at Capetown, 
 
 15- 
 Louisburg, Cape Breton, taken by 
 
 Jeffery Amherst, 10. 
 Low, Captain, afterwards Sir John, 
 
 in charge of Baji Rtio, Peshwa, 
 
 63 and w. 
 Lucknow, Amherst visits, 181. 
 Luke, Mr., apothecary to the 
 
 Governor-General, accident to, 
 
 176. 
 Lumley, George, farmer at Meerut, 
 
 171. 
 
 Macan, Captain Thomas, endea- 
 vours to prevent open mutiny 
 at Barrackpur, 151. 
 
 Macao, Portuguese at, spread 
 reports against Amherst's mis- 
 sion to China, 17. 
 
 Macartney, George, Earl, am- 
 bassador to China (1792), 14. 
 
 Macbean, Brigadier-General Wil- 
 liam, commanded Madras divi- 
 sion in the capture of Rangoon. 
 S3-
 
 INDEX 
 
 217 
 
 M'C'reagh, Brigadier- General 
 Michael, commanded Bengal 
 division in the capture of Ran- 
 goon, 83 : left in command at 
 Rangoon (1825), 105. 
 
 Macdonald, Colonel John, sent 
 on mission to Persia, 26 n. 
 
 Madeira, Amherst meets with an 
 accident in, 52. 
 
 Madras, Amherst's arrival and 
 reception at, 52, 53. 
 
 Maiia Bandula, Burmese leader, 
 his reply to Lord Amherst, 79 : 
 crosses British frontier and wins 
 victory at Ramu, 91 : takes 
 command of Burmese southern 
 army and attacks Rangoon, 99 : 
 defeated, 100: repulses Cotton 
 at Donabyti, 106 : his courtesy, 
 
 107 : killed at Donabyu, 107, 
 
 108 : his character, no. 
 Malcolm, Colonel Sir John, 31, 
 
 32. 
 
 Malown, Burmese position at, 
 stormed, 120, 121. 
 
 Manilla, Amherst visits, 19. 
 
 Manipur, its position and early 
 treaty with the East India 
 Company, 75 : conquered by 
 the Burmese, 76 : Burmese 
 driven from, 99 : placed under 
 British protection by treaty of 
 Yandabu, 125. 
 
 Marlet, General Bennet, the 
 Governor, receives Amherst at 
 Allahabad, 179. 
 
 Marshman, Henry, 50. 
 
 Martaban taken by the British, 
 98. 
 
 Martyn, Henry, 50. 
 
 Maulmain, garrison of Rangoon 
 withdrawn to, 125. 
 
 Meerut, Amherst entertained at, 
 205. 
 
 Mergui, taken by the British, 98. 
 
 Mers, the, tamed by raising the 
 Merwara battalion, 47. 
 
 Metcalfe, Sir Charles, 31, 32, 33 : 
 succeeds Ochterlony at Delhi, 
 136 : views on the Bhartpur 
 'Hiestion, 137 : orders up the 
 
 army under Combermere, 138: 
 assists in the siege of Bhartpur, 
 I41 : his account of the assault, 
 142, 143: his personal gallantry, 
 143: settles Bhartpur affairs, 
 146: Resident at HaidarabaM, 
 168 : receives Amherst at Delhi, 
 192, 195- 
 
 Mirzapur, Amherst at, 179. 
 
 Missionaries, Christian, their 
 educational policy, 49. 
 
 Montreal, Canada, taken by 
 Jeffery Amherst, 10. 
 
 Montreal, Kent, name given to 
 Riverhead, 1 1 : Amherst spends 
 last days at, 209. 
 
 Morrison, Brigadier-General J. 
 W., conquered Arakan, 101- 
 103 : division nearly destroyed 
 by sickness, 125. 
 
 Mughal Emperor, Amherst's in- 
 terview with, 194, 195. 
 
 'Mugs,' the, 72. 
 
 Munro, Major-Gen. Sir Thomas, 
 Governor of Madras, 32 : his 
 rayatwa>f settlement, 35 : judi- 
 cial reforms, 41 : opinion of the 
 Burmese, 81 : co-operation in 
 expedition to Rangoon, 83 : 
 death, 206. 
 
 Murshidabad, Amherst visits, 
 60. 
 
 Murshidabad, Nawdb of, a little 
 boy, 60 : exhibition of temper, 
 206. 
 
 Mutiny of the Sepoys at Barrack- 
 pur : see Barrack pur. 
 
 Muttra, army concentrated at, 
 for attack on Bhartpur, 134, 
 139 : Amherst visits, 188. 
 
 Naf, the boundary between Ara- 
 kan and Chittagong, 70 : Maha 
 Bandula crosses, 91 : Morrison 
 crosses, 10 1. 
 
 Napoleon, Amherst's interview 
 with, at St. Helena, 20. 
 
 Negrais, East India Company's 
 servants at, killed by Alompra, 
 69. 
 
 NELSON, Horatio, a surveyor. 171.
 
 ai8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Nicolls, Major-General, after- 
 wards Sir Jasper, led assault on 
 Bhartpur, 144. 
 
 Non-Aryans, success of British 
 administration among the, 48. 
 
 Non - Regulation system, first 
 used by Amherst for newly oc- 
 cupied territories, 42. 
 
 Ochterlony, General Sir David, 
 32 : recognizes right of Balsvant 
 Singh to succeed to Bhartpur, 
 133 : proposes to attack Diirjan 
 Sal, 134: plan disallowed, 135: 
 death and character, 135, 136: 
 affection for Metcalfe, 137 : in 
 charge of Rajputana and Malw^, 
 168. 
 
 Opium, production of, at Ghazipur, 
 177. 
 
 Oudh, condition of, considered 
 satisfactory by Amherst, 182 : 
 see Ghazi-ud-din Haidar. 
 
 Outram, Captain, afterwards Sir 
 James, tamed the Bhils, 47. 
 
 Oxford, Christ Church, Amherst 
 educated at, 1 2. 
 
 Pagan, occupied by the British 
 
 army, 124. 
 Paget, General Hon. Sir Edward, 
 
 suppressed the Mutiny of the 
 
 Sepoys at Barrackpur, 151-153: 
 
 Commander-in-chief in India, 
 
 166. 
 I'axchayat, Amherst's belief in 
 
 the, 41. 
 Patiala, Maharaja of, puts down 
 
 a religious riot at Bhadaur, 129. 
 Peel, Robert, afterwards Sir 
 
 Robert, a Commissioner of the 
 
 Board of Control, 165. 
 Pegu, town of, taken by the British, 
 
 96. 
 Perjury, tendency to, of natives of 
 
 India, partly accounted for, 43. 
 Permanent Settlement, the, 33- 
 
 35- 
 Persia, Amherst's relations with, 
 
 26 ». 
 Peshwa : see Baji Rao. 
 
 Plassey, Amherst visits battle- 
 field of, 60. 
 
 Plymouth, Mary, Countess of, 
 marries Earl Amherst as second 
 wife, 209. 
 
 Plymouth, Sarah, Countess of, 
 marries Earl Amherst, 12 : see 
 Amherst, Sarah, Countess. 
 
 Pout Cornwallis, Andaman Is- 
 lands, expedition to Rangoon 
 concentrates at, 84. 
 
 Portuguese at Macao spread re- 
 ports about Amherst's mission 
 to China, 17: adventurers in 
 Burma, 68. 
 
 Press, question of freedom of the, 
 in India, 22-24: the Bengali, 
 49. 
 
 Price, Dr., American missionary, 
 anecdote of the King of Ava, 
 123. 
 
 Prome, occupied by Sir A rchibald 
 Campbell, 109 : its advantages, 
 1 1 1 : the troops housed at, 1 1 3 : 
 battles fought at, 1 18, 1 19. 
 
 Raj Garoo, interview with Lord 
 Amherst, 64, 65 : a Burmese 
 spy, 121, 122. 
 
 Ram Mohan Rai, 50. 
 
 Ramnagar, Amherst visits the 
 Maharaja of Benares at, 178, 
 
 Ramri, the Raja of, Burmese 
 Governor of Arakan, 74. 
 
 Ramu, British defeated by Maha 
 Bandula at, 91. 
 
 Rangoon, always accessible ac- 
 cording to Captain Canning, 80: 
 taken by the expedition under 
 Sir A. Campbell, 84 : as it was 
 in 1824, 86 : the British army 
 shut up in, 89 : Maha Bandula 
 attacks, but is repulsed, 99, 100 : 
 the troops advance from, 105 : 
 evacuated by the British, 125. 
 
 Ran jit Singh, MaharajfC, in bad 
 health, 198 : sends a deputation 
 to Amherst, 199, 200: descrip- 
 tion of his Court, 200, 201. 
 
 Rayatwari settlement established
 
 INDEX 
 
 2T9 
 
 by Munro in Madras during 
 Amherst's administration, 35. 
 
 Kicketts, Mordaunt, Kesident at 
 Lucknow, 168. 
 
 Rio de Janeiro, Amherst touches 
 at, on his way to China, 1 5 : to 
 India, 52. 
 
 Riverhead, Kent, the home of the 
 Arnhersts, 9, 10 : the American 
 wood at, 1 1 : called Montreal, 
 11. 
 
 Robinson, Sir George Abercrom- 
 bie, Chairman of the Court of 
 Directors, informs Amherst he 
 is about to be recalled, 155: 
 accepts his resignation, 204. 
 
 Roses at Gluizipur, 177. 
 
 St. Helena, Amherst has an in- 
 terview with Napoleon at, 20. 
 
 Sale, Major, afterwards SirRobert, 
 takes Bassein, 107. 
 
 Samru, Begam, watched assault 
 on Bhartpur, 145 : visited Lady 
 Amherst, 192, 193 : her history, 
 193 : her mode of life, 195. 
 
 Santa Croz, Amherst touches at, 
 on his way to India, 52. 
 
 Sati, Amherst refused to suppress, 
 48 : a case described, 63, 64 : 
 being gradually discontinued, 
 197, 198, 205. 
 
 Shahpuri, island, occupied by the 
 Burmese, 78 : but at once aban- 
 doned, 79. 
 
 Shans raised to oppose the British 
 advance on Ava, 113. 115, 116: 
 their princesses, 113, 114: one 
 princess killed in action, 119. 
 
 Shore, Sir John : oeeTEiGNMOUTH, 
 Lord. 
 
 Shwe Dagon Pagoda described, 
 86. 
 
 Siam, importance of, in Burmese 
 complications, 68 : negotiations 
 with, 112. 
 
 Simla, Lord Amherst's residence 
 at, 199-202 : the first Governor- 
 General to visit, 203. 
 
 Sind, the Amfrs of, support dis- 
 order in Cutch, 132. 
 
 Sindhia, Daulat Rao, too ill to 
 visit Amherst, 182 : his death, 
 
 189, 190 : character and career, 
 
 190, 191. 
 
 Skinner, Colonel J. H., his irre- 
 gulars reviewed by Amherst at 
 Delhi, 195. 
 
 Somerset, Lord Charles, Governor 
 of Cape Colony, visited by Am- 
 herst, 15. 
 
 Soron, Amherst reviewsGardner's 
 irregulars at, 181. 
 
 Stewart, Major Josiah, Resident 
 at Gwalior, his account of Nind- 
 hia's death, 189, 190: and of 
 his character, 190, 191. 
 
 Stockades, the Burmese, 93. 
 
 Subathu, Amherst visits, 197, 203, 
 204. 
 
 Surma River, British defeated by 
 the Burmese on, 77. 
 
 Swinton, George, admiration for 
 Metcalfe, 138: Secretary to 
 Government in the Political 
 Department, 166. 
 
 Symes, Colonel Michael, his mis- 
 sions to Burma, 71. 
 
 Striam, capital of a Portuguese 
 adventurer, 68 : its position, 88 : 
 taken by the British, 96. 
 
 Taung-ngu, occupation of, 124. 
 
 Tavoy, taken by the British, 98. 
 
 Teignmouth, John Shore, Lord, 
 compromises with the Burmese, 
 70, 71: a Commissioner of the 
 Hoard of Control, 165. 
 
 Tenasserim, military operations 
 in, 98, 99: ceded by treaty of 
 Yandabu, 125. 
 
 Thackeray, St. John, killed at 
 Kitttir, 130, 131. 
 
 Tharawadi, Prince of, surrendered 
 command of Burmese before 
 Kangoon to Maha Bandiila, 99 : 
 driven from Prome, 109 : the 
 rival of Maha Bandiila, 110, 
 in. 
 
 Thuggee, 46. 
 
 Ticonderoga, taken by Jeffery 
 Amherst, 10.
 
 220 
 
 IXDEX 
 
 Trant, Major, Two Tears in Ava 
 quoted, 1 19. 
 
 Trevelyan, Sir C. E. ; distin- 
 guished at Haileybury, 166. 
 Turkomanchai, Treaty of, 26 n. 
 
 Wallich, Dr. Nathaniel, names 
 
 a tree after Lady Amherst, 
 
 177. 
 Wabd, John Petty, Collector of 
 
 Bhagalpur, entertains Amherst, 
 
 176. 
 Wellesley, Gerald, Resident at 
 
 Indore, 168. 
 Wellesley, Richard, Marquess, 
 
 had too much to do to attend to 
 
 Burmese aggressions, 71. 
 Wellington, Arthur, Duke of, 
 
 letter on Amherst's conduct 
 
 during the Barrackpur Mutiny 
 and the Burmese War, 159— 
 161. 
 
 Westminster School, Amherst 
 educated at, 12. 
 
 Wilson, Horace Hayman, 50. 
 
 W 7 olfe, General, his capture of 
 Quebec, 10. 
 
 Wynn, Right Hon. CharlesW r atkin 
 Williams, President of the Board 
 of Control, informs Amherst of 
 his intended recall, 1 55 : wished 
 to be Governor-General, 1 56 : 
 accepts Amherst's resignation 
 with regret, 204. 
 
 Yandabu, treaty of, ending the 
 
 Burmese War, 125. 
 Ye, taken by the British, 98, 
 
 THE END 
 
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