1> SKETCHES OP SOME DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS SIB J. W. KAYE, K.C.8.I. F.R.8. SKETCHES OF SOME DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. WITH AN ACCOUNT OF ANGLO-INDIAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE. COLONEL W. F. B. LAURIE, RETIRED ROYAL (MADRAS) ARTILLERY; AUTHOR OF "ORISSA, AND THE TEMPLE OF JAGANATH," " A NARRATIVE OF THE SECOND BURMESE WAR," " OUK BURMESE WARS, AND RELATIONS WITH BURMA," "ASHE PYEE," THE EASTERN OR FOREMOST COUNTRY, ETC. lEZu'tt'on, UUbt'sefc an& "Insidet qusedam in optimo quoque virtus, quse noctes ac dies animum glorise stimulis concitat atque admonet, non cum yitse tempore esse dimittendam com- mernoratorem nominis nostri, sed cum posteritatis adsequandam." CICERO, Pro Archia Poeta, cap. ii. " So might w-3 tf.ll: of the old familiar *aps." CHARLES LAMB. LONDON : W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL, S.W. 1887. LONDON : PRINTED Br WOODFALL AND KINDER, MILFORD LANE, STRAND, \V.C. Co tje jfftemotg OP MY FATHER, THIS BOOK OF DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS is y AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. 252614 ORIGINAL PREFACE. (MARCH, 1875.) DR. JOHNSON remarks on the difficulty of the first address on any new occasion ; and it would be well if an Anglo- Indian author could find some easy and successful method of introducing his last performance to the British public. My direct appeal, through a prospectus, not only to Anglo- Indians, but to the reading world in general, for patronage to this little work, having met with a fair share of success, it would seem onty desirable to send it forth without any further prefatory remark than "I am much obliged." But conceiving it to be necessary, as it is also a time-honoured custom, to say something regarding the contents, I shall, endeavouring to be brief, commence by alluding to the fact of even a larger number of names of Anglo-Indians appearing together in these pages than was at first con- templated. They are more or less distinguished : but there is certainly a goodly array ; and my humble attempt to do justice to some of them (as Anglo-Indians) is apt to remind one of the famous lines at the conclusion of Shakspeare's " King Henry V." in which the liberty is now taken oi putting one line in italics, and altering " This star of Eng- land," to suit the occasion : " Thus far, -with rough, and all unable pen, Our bending author has pursued the story ; In little room confining mighty men, Mangling by starts the full course of their glory. Small time, but, in that small, most-greatly liv'd " These stars of India ! Several additional stars, among the departed as well as I 2 Vlll PREFACE. the living, might, perhaps, have been introduced with advantage. Doubtless, when the time comes, some more- able pen will do such luminaries who, through force of character, for their hour became " lords of the ascendant "" ample justice. However, it may not be out of place to- remark that, besides the great name of Lawrence, others appear among the rulers of the Punjab who have deserved well of their country Sir Robert Montgomery (now a Member of the Council of India), Sir Donald Macleod, and Sir Henry Durand. Following India's severest trial, it would have been pleasing to record the many good actions which distinguished the lives of three such Lieutenant- Governors ; and the violent and sudden deaths of the latter two would have thrown around the sketches a melancholy halo of interest. Sir Henry Durand alone would furnish an interesting volume. As a Lieutenant of the Bengal Engineers, with the force under General Sir John (after- wards Lord) Keane, he blew open the great gate of the fort- ress of Ghuzni, firing the fuze with his own hand. By this fearless act he was first distinguished.* In September,. 1844, he relieved the gallant Major Broadfoot (who fell at Ferozshah) in the Commissionership of the Tenasserim Provinces, taking up the difficult question of the revenue assessments. Timber in the Thoongeen forests next occupied his attention ; and, in spite of great hostility from the trade, Captain Durand traversed these picturesque, yet lonely, haunts of Chin-India, and made himself acquainted, by local examination and inquiry, with everything regarding them, with a view to improvement ; evincing the same admirable spirit of inquiry which, nearly thirty years after, led Sir Henry Durand, ruler of the Punjab, to leave the camp, and visit the outpost garden and town of Tank. Having inspected the outpost on foot, Sir Henry proceeded * The historian of the War in Afghanistan records this successful military operation: "Captain Thomson, of the Bengal Engineers, directed the movements of the explosion party ; and with him were his two subalterns, Durand and Macleod, and Captain Peat of the Bombay Corps. Lieutenant Durand was obliged to scrape the hose with his finger ends, finding the powder failed to ignite on the first application of the portfire." PKEFACE. IX on one of the camp elephants in a howdah with the Nawab of Tank, whose son was in advance on horseback to show the way. On another elephant were several British officers of rank, the whole forming a striking, though not uncommon, Oriental picture. At the entrance of the town are two gate- ways, one (the outer) of sufficient height to allow an elephant and howdah to pass ; the second, considerably lower. From outer to inner gateway the ground rises. The Lieutenant- Governor's elephant passed the outer gateway with ease ; but the second appeared too low. The officers did not think Sir Henry would pass through it. Those who have been in India know well the rapid pace of some elephants, which seems to quicken (as if the animal had an increasing sense of his importance) on entering a town on any great occasion. Although there was a short pause after passing through the first gateway it was just preparatory to a more rapid sweep through the second. The elephant proceeded ; and, before warning could be given, the crash of a breaking howdah was heard, and a highly useful, as well as brilliant, career was over.* The other sad event, which happened in London, is of too recent occurrence to require mention here. And now we turn to the living. There is Sir Douglas Forsyth, who has explored hitherto unknown countries in Central Asia, and has given an impetus to trade in that fickle region hardly experienced before. Mr. Forsyth's visit to Yarkund dates as far back as April, 1870, reminding one of the useful work of exploration through which Sir Alexander Burnes and other Anglo-Indians first rose to distinction. In December, 1870, we find T. D. Forsyth, Esq., C.B., on * The officers on the second elephant got down, and found Sir Henry on the ground, just beyond the inner gateway, [lying on his face. This melancholy accident to a distinguished Anglo-Indian happened on the evening of the 31st December, 1871. Sir Henry Durand breathed his last on the evening of the 1st January, 1872, to the sincere grief of the Govern- ment of India, and his numerous friends and admirers. (From letter from T. H. Thornton, Esq., D.C.L., Secretary to Government of the Punjab). Sir Henry (as Colonel and C.B.) was a Member of the Council of India, in 1860, under the Right Honourable Sir Charles Wood, Bart., G.C.B., M.P., afterwards Viscount Halifax. X PREFACE. special duty, writing to the Secretary of the Punjab Govern- ment, that " when Mirza Mohamed Shedee, Envoy from the Atalik Ghazee, ruler of Kashgar, and the country known as Eastern Turkistan, had an inteview with the Viceroy of India at Calcutta, on the 28th March, 1870, he preferred a request, on behalf of his master, that a British officer might be sent back with him, on a friendly visit to the Court of the Atalik Ghazee, as an evidence of the friendship existing between the two Governments, and with a view to strengthen and cement it." Mr. Forsyth's instructions were to go to Tarkund merely on a friendly visit to the Atalik Ghazee, and for the purpose of " opening up and giving impulse to the trade with that country." The expedition, under Mr. Forsyth, among other useful personages, included Mr. R. B. Shaw, " the first Englishman who ever went to Yarkund, and who may be called the pioneer of Central Asian trade with India ; " Dr. Henderson, medical and scientific officer, subordinate to whom were Native Doctor Mohamed Yasseen, one bird collector and one plant collector ; Mir Akbar All Khan Bahadoor, C.S.I., of Abyssinian celebrity, acted as Native Secretary. The report consists of 214 pages, with valuable trade statistics, and information on routes in the appendix.* With similar laudable efforts on the part of the Indian Government, the Anglo-Indian has a chance of being utilised in the East, and, consequently, of becoming distinguished, which he has seldom had before. The Iron Duke says in his Despatches that the affairs of America " will always hang upon the skirts of Great Britain." So will those of India, as a matter of course ; but, in the latter case, more must be effected. They must not only hang on the skirts of Britannia, but be woven into her dress, becoming, as it were, a part and parcel of herself, by a process which Manchester ingenuity may yet devise ! Among other distinguished living Anglo-Indians, we have the Bight Honourable Sir Bartle Frere, Sir Henry Rawlin- son, Sir George Clerk, Sir Frederick Halliday, Sir Erskine * The Yarkund Envoy paid a state visit to the Viceroy, January 19th, 1875, and then left Calcutta for Bombay. PKEFACE. XI Perry, Sir William Grey, and Sir George Campbell ; the latter well-known Bengal civilian (in 1875, of the Council of India), forming one, under the Viceroy, Lord Northbrook,. and Sir Richard Temple (erstwhile a Calcutta reviewer) another, of the grand energetic triumvirate who did so much to crush the Bengal famine of 1874. Such well-timed energy cannot but command intense admiration. With even the twelve or more names already mentioned, a most interesting volume of sketches could be produced. It is curious to notice how the all-important science of geography is mixed up with Anglo-Indians at the present time. Sir Henry Rawlinson, K.C.B., Member of the Council of India, and now V.P.R.G.S., succeeded the late- Sir Roderick Impey Murchison as President of the Royal Geographical Society, and was himself succeeded in that post by Sir Bartle Frere, G.C.S.I., K.C.B., also a Member of the Indian Council. We may also mention that Mr. Clements Markham, C.B., Assistant Secretary, Revenue Department, India Office, is Secretary to the above learned body. We have just heard that slavery has been abolished on the West coast of Africa ; and this brings to mind how,, in the middle of 1873, her Majesty called Sir Bartle Frere to her Privy Council as a recognition of his services towards extinguishing slavery on the East coast. The Anglo-Indian everywhere is becoming a man of the time. It is pleasing to note that energy and intellect have not only distinguished him in India and the East ; but, at home, he has recently come forward in a remarkable degree to discuss great principles in social science, and to aid the grand lever of civilisation at the present day education. A celebrated Anglo-Indian, a former Viceroy of India (Lord Lawrence), has not long left his seat as President at the London School Board he so worthily occupied; and a late popular and energetic Governor of Madras, who did so much for that Presidency and who for the work he did there, and from the interest he takes in the country, may be almost styled an Anglo-Indian Lord Napier and Ettrick turning from the most impor- tant questions of social science, is now a member of the School Board ; and, perhaps, a more zealous worker in the Xll PREFACE. cause of popular elementary education has never appeared before. But Anglo-Indians of every degree at home are, as a rule, anxious to work if they can only find employment; and if a " bad liver " is occasionally to be found among them, it is generally coupled with a good heart. We may expect in future years to see the Anglo-Indian utilised at home to at extent hitherto unknown. When such a wished- for consumation arrives, it will be no small pleasure also to note that English indifference to Indian affairs has vanished, and that "personal and social ' sympathy,' " recently alluded to by Sir George Campbell * as wanting to our rule in India, has become more general. The actions of distinguished men detailed in this little volume, it is to be hoped, will assist the judgment of those anxious to form an opinion on some of them, but who have no time to peruse larger works ; and the fame the actors have gained certainly affords every hope of a bright future ; or, in the words of Rouchefoucault, " L'honneur acquis est un caution de celui qu'on doit acquerir " a famous motto which has been thus translated : " Honour acquired, is a guarantee That, as the past, so shall the future be." t Three of the principal sketches are almost, if not entirely, new Mr. John Colvin, General Beatson, and Sir John Kaye. In some of the others a repetition of expression will occasionally be found, which long intervals between their production, and a desire not to spoil their entirety, may readily excuse. The sketch of Anglo-Indian Periodical Literature, and the paper on Sir Henry Lawrence, originally appeared in a London Magazine, at first (as its name held forth) an Oxford star, which, although it had pecuniary and literary support from its well-wishers among them two of England's most distinguished writers after uncertain * At a meeting of the " National India Association," Dec. 1874. f Translated by the late Major- General P. J. Begbie, a worthy if not a highly distinguished Anglo-Indian, who translated some valuable works on Artillery, from the French, and, in ] 852-53, wrote a History of the Coast (Madras) Artillery. PEEFACE. Xlll twinklings for a year or two, suddenly disappeared from the literary firmament, leaving no sign ! Some good judges, and a few of the London journals, having done me the honour to think well of my Dark Slue contributions, the most impor- tant of them are here reproduced. The " Periodical " sketch perhaps the only thing of the kind existing may form some relief to the heavier fare provided for my readers. With regard to the spelling of Indian words, I should remark that as far as possible, uniformity has been at- tempted ; but where a writer of distinction is quoted, his own spelling is generally given. I have made use of what I conceive to be the most correct and approved forms of spelling ; and I now trust that the word Surma will never again be spelt with an h at the end, to which it is no more entitled than China or Russia.* The portrait of Sir John Kaye, represented in his diplo- matic uniform, with the Knight's collar and star of the much coveted Order of the Star of India (of which the Viceroy is Grand Master, and " Heaven's Light our Guide " the appro- priate motto), and which is an admirable likeness, will doubtless please the friends of that distinguished Anglo- Indian, as well as the reading public who have admired his writings. By such men, if we may again quote Cicero, we are reminded of what we should leave to posterity : "An statuas et imagines, non animorum simulacra, sed corporum, studiose multi summi homines reliquerunt : consiliorum relin- quere ac virtutum nostrarum effigiem non multo malle debemus suimus ingeniis expressam et politam ? "t It may be stated, in concluding this somewhat rambling * Introducing the general use of the Roman character into India for the vernacular languages so ably brought forward by Mr. Frederick Drew, and admirably commented on by Sir Charles Trevelyan (President) at the Con- ference of the Society of Arts, February 12th although we are loath to part with the Oriental characters, would no doubt aid in producing uniformity in the spelling of Indian words. + CICERO, Pro Archia, cap. 12. The motto from Cicero on the title-page is thus tiansJated by a learned friend : There resides a kind of virtue in every good man, which, night and day, stimulates his mind with the incentives of glory, and suggests that the record of our name is not to be obliterated with the time of our life, but is to be handed down to posterity." XIV PREFACE. preface, that pains have been taken in the all- important matter (for a good record) of correct dates, with the view to being useful as well as entertaining. So now, I cast my little ibook upon the waters, trusting that it may be deemed at least a healthy contribution to Anglo-Indian literature. PREFACE TO NEW EDITION. DISTINGUISHED Anglo-Indians, perhaps more than others of " Great Place," who sacrifice health and freedom to the service and glory of their country, warrant the division adopted by Bacon in one of his famous Essays, where he says : " Men in great place are thrice servants : servants of the sovereign or state, servants of fame, and servants of business." In submitting this new Edition of sketches of such men to his readers, the Author has been guided by the desire to make his work more useful and interesting. The sketches have been more than doubled ; and although what have been added are, for the most part, of a somewhat different kind from those which appeared in the Original Edition which consisted of eleven only it is to be hoped, for the present generation at least, if not for a future one, they will not be found less worthy of perusal. Some of the old sketches have been corrected, and in others additions or omissions made, with a view to improvement. Although nearly twelve years have fled since the projection of this work, the deaths among distinguished Anglo-Indians have, for- tunately, been few, and even " far between." Some of those mentioned in the Original preface, have gone into " the silent land ; " but others remain, with much of their former energy encircling them, as if anxious to further verify Dryden's metaphor of " a green[old age," with the mens c&qua in arduis. Then, again, of late years, excellent biographies have been written and published, of such illustrious Anglo-Indians as Lord Lawrence, Sir James Outram, Sir Henry Durand, Sir Herbert Edwardes, and Sir Fredrick Roberts, the latter re- nowned for his wonderfully rapid march from Cabul to XVI PBEFACE TO NEW EDITION. Candahar, when our hold on Afghanistan seemed in as critical a state as forty years before. A biography also appeared of Viscount Wolseley, who, although not strictly an Anglo- Indian, has among the brilliant records of an ever active career important services to look back upon in Burma (1853), and India (during the Mutiny in 1857-58), hardly second to those performed in the Crimea, China, America, and Africa ; and, therefore, he may be styled one. Such works on heroic lives will at once suffice as a reason for no sketches of luminaries already made to shine so brightly, appearing in these pages. Sir Alexander Arbuthnot, a distinguished Madras Civilian, has also, not long since, increased his reputation by a book on Sir Thomas Munro, the famous Governor and Commander-in- Chief of Madras,* whom the great statesman, George Canning, so much admired. There has, therefore, been no want of able writers to hand down some of our most mighty men in the East to posterity. Doubtless, authors will yet be found to give valuable sketches or memorials of such men as the late General Cautley (as Colonel, of Ganges canal celebrity), General Jacob, Sir Dighton Probyn, V.C., Sir Frederic Goldsmid (of Indo- European Telegraph fame), and others to be found in the honoured list of the Star of India. Five living Bengal Civilians of note may also be mentioned, Sir Ashley Eden, a former, and Sir A. R. Thompson, the present Lieutenant- Governor of Bengal, Sir S. Bayley, Sir Auckland Colvin, and Mr. Lepel Griffin. Among the great departed there is one who has only recently disappeared from the first chosen stars a name which will never be effaced ; and even if we go to the next best, there is no man living to put us in mind of him. A brief remark on his sad death, and some more interest- ing details regarding the admirable life of Sir Arthur Phayre, will be found at the end of the sketch and in an Appendix. A few days after he died, or on new-year's day of 1886, came what resulted from the " force of cir- * June 10, 1820. " Died at Pattikonda in Kurnul district, 6th July, 1827." PRINSEP. PREFACE TO NEW EDITION. XV11 cumstanc'es " (prophesied in 1852, by Lord Dalhousie), the annexation of Upper Burma to the dominions of the Queen Empress. Through the united energy of Earl Dufferin and Lord Randolph Churchill, this new stroke of policy had been accomplished, after a third expedition to Burma.* Had Sir Arthur been now alive he would have been the first to view with alarm the steady and fatal pro- gress of Dacoity in the new conquest, and to have suggested vigorous measures for its extermination. Al- though no annexationist, he knew full well, as creator of Pegu, and consolidator of British Burma, that the whole country must one day become ours. And this reminds the Author that he should not omit from his list of men- tioned worthies a name so famous as the recently Knighted Sir E. B. Sladen, whose faithful and zealous service in Lower Burma, for more than thirty years, and brilliant and devoted conduct as a political officer in the late Ex- pedition, entitle him to high honour.i" He also served with his Regiment (the First Madras Fusiliers) and distin- guished himself in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny. Of course it is from having so many distinguished men at her command that so much glory shines around the diadem of Victoria, the Queen Empress ; but still, whether we turn to India or Burma, or elsewhere in the British Empire, we should ever keep in mind the wise maxim : " Be the work- men what they may be, let us speak of the work ; that is, the * The probability of a third Burmese war is mentioned in the author's "Pegu," 1853. f A Madrassie writing (August, 1886) on "the hostilities in Burma," pungently remarks, after alluding to. the "mistake" of recalling General Prendergast so soon : "But the greatest mistake of all was to send Colonel Sladen away." Prendergast freely owns it was to the fact of Sladen being there that Theebau surrendered instead of bolting, which would much have increased our difficulties. ' Ob, Sladen is there,' Theebau is reported to have said. 'Oh, I know Sladen, and will surrender to Sladen.' Nearly twenty years before this, Theebau's father, King Mengdon, had said to this able political officer at Mandalay : 'Sladen, I am sorry to hear you have been tick. I shall send you something tomorrow to make you well.' " See " Our Burmese Wars," &c., p. 384. What a change of fortune ! The old King's son, Theebau, after losing his kingdom, now a prisoner at Viziadroog, in the Madras Presidency ! XV111 PKEFACE TO NEW EDITION. true greatness of kingdoms and estates, and the means thereof." The really good and great work accomplished by Anglo-Indians in the East, generous Britons will not easily let die ; but will be sure to carry down memorials of men who have performed ifc to admiring generations yet unborn. Although it is not customary to regard the appendix, or appendices of a work, with the same interest as the body of it, the Author trusts that in this case an exception will be made, as he has found it necessary to insert the careers of a few distinguished Anglo-Indians therein. The speeches, also, of some great men nearly all of whom have passed away on the chivalrous Sir James Outram, will be interest- ing to many who love to honour undying excellence. There are likewise brief extracts from speeches by the late Sir Bartle Frere, with reference to the Pioneer of Indian Rail- ways. These extracts, showing the amiable desire of Sir Bartle Frere to appreciate excellence in his fellow -men, possess a lasting interest, especially for Anglo- Indians. In conclusion, grateful acknowledgments are due to those who have assisted by furnishing materials without which it would not have been possible to write some of the later sketches. W. F. B. L. London, November, 1886. CONTENTS. PAGE I. SIR ALEXANDER BURNES, C.B. 7 II. JAMES BURNES, K.H., LL.D., F.R.S 20 III. SIR HENRY LAWRENCE, K.C.B 33 IV. JOHN RUSSELL COLVIN, B.C.S. (Lieutenant-Gover- nor of Agra, 1857) 50 V. BRIGADIER-GENERAL JAMES GEORGE NEILL ... 75 YL MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM FERGUSON BEATSON ... 93 VII COLONEL WILLIAM HENRY SYKES, M.P., F.R.S. ... 104 VIII. MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY MILLER, C.B. ... 110 IX. MAJOR GENERAL ALBERT FYTCHE, C.S.I 118 X. SIR ARTHUR PURVES PIIAYRE, G.C.M.G., KC.S.L, C.B 135 XL SIR JOHN WILLIAM KAYE, K.C.S.I., F.R.S. ... 153 XII. SIR OWEN TUDOR BURNE, K.C.S.I., C.I.E. ... 165 XIII. THE PRINSEPS 168 XIV. .SIR BARTLE FRERE, BART., G.C.B., G.C.S.I. ... 180 XV. SIR HENRY ANDERSON, K. C.S.I 183 XVI. MAJOR-GENERAL SIR HENRY RAWLINSON, K.C.B., LL.D 185 XVII. SIR ROBERT MONTGOMERY, G.C.S.I., K.C.B. ... 202 XVIII. SIR RICHARD TEMPLE, BART., M.P., G.C.S.I., C.I.E., D.C.L 226 XIX. GENERAL SIR DONALD STEWART, BART., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., C.I.E 243 XX. SIR WILLIAM HILL, K.C.S.1 253 XXL SIR WILLIAM ANDREW, C.I.E 260 XXIL SIR JULAND DANYERS, K.C.S.1 279 XX CONTENTS. PAGE Supplementary Sketch: LIEUT.- GENERAL SIR HERBERT MACPHERSON, V.C., K.O.B., K.C.S.1 290 NOTES ON SOME MADRAS COMMANDERS-IN-CHIEF ... 295 LINES SUGGESTED BY THE FUNERAL OF SIR GEORGE POLLOCK 299 ANGLO-INDIAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE 301 SPORTING LITERATURE IN INDIA ... 353 APPENDICES. I. LORD PALMERSTON AND SIR ALEXANDER BURNES ... 359 II. DR. BURNES' YISIT TO THE COURT OF SIXD ... 362 III. LIEUT. -GENERAL SIR JAMES OUTRAM,BART.,G.C.B., K.S.1 366 IY. FIELD - MARSHAL SIR GEORGE POLLOCK, BART., G.C.B., G.C.S.I 376 Y. DR. BRANDIS ON SIR ARTHUR PHAYRE 378 YL SIR CHARLES TREVELYAN, BART., KC.B 383 YIL SIR GEORGE EUSSELL CLERK, G.C.S.I., K C.B. ... 387 YI1I. SIR GEORGE BIRDWOOD, K.C.S.I., LL.D 388 IX. DR. ARTHUR ; DR. GORDON ; MR. ANDREW CASSELLS ; CAPTAIN GILES, IN 394 X. THE LAST COURT OF DIRECTORS 397 THE FIRST COUNCIL OF INDIA 399 XI. OPINIONS ON SIR WILLIAM ANDREW'S WORKS ... 400 XII. THE EUSSIAN ADVANCE. BABYLONIA 405 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS, THE BROTHERS BURNES. INTRODUCTORY. *' THE old East India House, in Leadenhall Street, is rapidly disappearing, and nothing remains to show of it except the portico, and this will be levelled to the ground in the course of a few days." Such was the announcement made in the London journals about the middle of September, 1862. Warehouses and chambers were soon to cover the site of the once palace of London merchants, of the Company founded in the year 1600, under the denomination of " The Governor and Company of Merchants trading to the East Indies," which had risen to such great eminence in the commercial and political world. Here was a grand them.3 for reflection ! The disappear- ance of the relic of whafc has been well styled the most celebrated association of ancient or modern times, which extended its sway over the entire Mogul Empire; what an interesting subject for the student of history ! The merchants first transacted business in the Nag's Head Inn, Bishopsgate Street. The old East India House, I learn, was erected after 1726, and completed and enlarged in 1798-99. What a number of celebrated men had stood under the portico, now about to be swept away ! * No * Wbat a crntrast the old House forms with the palatial India Office in St. James' Park, recently presided over by the Duke of Argyll, and now <1874) by the Marquis of Salisbury ! 1- ISlicNbuiSHED ANGLO-INDIANS. 'jwjo to t .ga7te, on that stately entrance, on that Goh.ta'.i:riing , figures such as Mercury, attended by Navigation, followed by tritons and sea-horses emblems of commerce introducing Asia to Britannia, before whom she- spreads her productions. But we might continue to think of those architects of their own fortunes nearly all of them belonging to the middle classes who had given such imperishable lustre to- Indian history. In selecting for the following pictures the Traveller and the Physician, as connected with the Indian ser- vice, I will not presume to say that the greatest example of each class has been presented. The sketches must speak for themselves. After the spirit of mercantile enterprise, to those who- have laboured like the above two actors in the great drama, India owes much of her prosperity. To go back ; we have the traveller and " political," Sir Thomas Roe, who, after exploring the Amazon, in America, first travelled to the Court of the Great Mogul; we have Boughton, the surgeon and diplomatist, who cured the Mogul's beautiful daughter, and, as a recompense, was allowed to found British trade in Bengal. Hindustan has since then passed through many trials. The demand for cotton, it is to be hoped, will now do much for Bombay and Madras ; and, whatever may be thought of amalgamation, let us as calm observers, accept as prophetic truth, what was eloquently uttered by Her Majesty's Secre- tary of State (July 17th, 1862), that there is " a future of great prosperity in store for India." LONDON, October, 1862. SKETCHES EEOM THE OLD EAST INDIA HOUSE. ENGLISH readers especially Anglo-Indians in 1886, who require as often to be reminded as informed, may, before look- ing at our Indian Valhalla, be interested in, if not amused by, a very few brief sketches from a most noble mansion, of a great age passed away. Like the South-Sea-House, so graph- ically described by inimitable Charles Lamb, deriving its importance from the past yet, unlike the seat of Mam- mon's famous bubble, with the principle of life strong within, and every day growing stronger and stronger the Old East India House, with its imposing portico, court and committee rooms, numerous other busy-looking rooms for officials and clerks, who seemed to partake of " the genius of the place," with stately porters, or messengers, here, there, and everywhere soldiers, statesmen, cadets, widows, orphans, and many other supplicants at fortune's gate, all wanting something "The India House" (as Elia styles it), was a most worthy neighbour of " The Bank and the 'Change ; " all three looking forth, as it were, from the world's chief centre of living commerce, bearing the stamp of prosperity on their important faces.* Let us now look at some of the daily tenants of the Old East India House as they pass quickly by. But first let us survey the two door-porters who stand in the vestibule, who appear to be men of no ordinary importance. The * The mandate of the all-powerful Court, which had gone forth more than a century before the time of which we write, directing a care to be taken of the dawning military genius of young Olive, was the key to that grand system which ensured a continual supply of most excellent Anglo- Indian soldiers and statesmen. Young civilians, too, from Warren Hastings downwards, had also boasted the tender care of the munificent old East India Company, and become lawyers and statesmen in spite of themselves. B 2 4 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. dress is a chocolate-coloured frock-coat, -with red collar ; red waistcoat with bright, silver-plated buttons ; black cloth trowsers ; cocked hats, not unlike those of the time- honoured beadle's. On court days the door-porters wore over the above suit, a chocolate-coloured cloak, faced with black velvet trimming, and tassels on the sleeves. They also carried wands with silver heads.* The in-door and out-door mes- sengers are numerous ; the former attending particularly to the wants of the 'Directors, and of all suppliants for some favour to be done in the House where charity ever breathed, and nothing was ever deemed impossible ; and the latter running messages outside, in every direction about a busy and a noisy world. In addition to the door-porters, there were, of a higher rank, either five or seven door-keepers ; most useful and important functionaries, who would now be called office- keepers. The head door-porter was then Mr. Toole, the famous toast-master of the City ("The Prince of Toast-masters"), father of the now well-known London Comedian, Mr. J. L. Toole, who has with genuine humour gladdened so many hearts in England and America, making it seem by some of his personations that Momus had really descended among us. A philosopher now passes by, a tall, thin, stooping figure, with an abstracted look, as if he considered life a farce, although well "worth living," and was determined to tell mankind so some day great on the subject of Liberty, great in philosophical speculation yet looking as if he is obliged to confess of Man that he is born but to die, and reasons but to err.t Next comes the tall figure of a well-known popular director, who will tell you all about the mysteries of Buddhism (the old patriarchal system) and ancienb India, the imports and exports of the country over which he helps to rule, and in short anything you want to know with equal ease ; who will soothe the poor widow's neart by promising a cadetship for her son, " in the finest service in the world," and who is, in spite of a few slight faults, * On which the arms of the East India Company were engraved. t " Born but to die, and reasoning but to err." POPE'S Essay on Man. SKETCHES FROM THE OLD EAST INDIA HOUSE. 5 naturally beloved of all men for his amiable qualities. And now passes by a great director, a man of sound judg- ment, a former captain of an East Indiaman, which boasted a large tonnage, was low between decks, and had enough copper about her like the Vansittart, or the Buckingham- shire, or the Thomas Coutts to give all Leadenhall Street market change of a morning ! But one more notable personage does not escape observa- tion. He is tall, robust, and cheerful-looking. Who can it be but Mr. Thomas Love Peacock, who drew with no ordinary graphic power, portraits of such mighty literati as Lord Byron, Southey, Coleridge, and Shelley ! He is now Examiner of India Correspondence,* while the philosopher afore-mentioned, is one of the assistants under him. Such names as those of Charles Lamb, and Love Peacock, as connected with the Old East India House, were not unknown in India. Many civilians and military officers in the service had laughed over Elia's joke, or rather reply to the Chairman and Directors of the august Court, when taxed with coming so late to his daily work ; " but your Honourable Court might take into consideration how early I go away ! " And Peacock's famous epigram on the clerks of the India House, who were so frequently asking " what's to be done ? " not a likely question in the present times and finding " nothing to do," one of the said clerks being the amiable and witty Charles, who was seldom in time even for the customary breakfast in Leadenhall Street provided for them before 10 A.M. had also been repeated in India at mess and in cutchery. When Love looks more than usually knowing, as he passes by to go out, the porters whisper to each other, " There goes Love Peacock ! " and one of them, who always carries a copy of Pope in his pocket, declares that satire is really his weapon. Once more among the door-keepers, door-porters, and other use- ful aids to the vast machinery of the Old East India House, * In 1822 Mr. Peacock was promoted to the staff of the Correspondence Department of the East India Company, and in 1836 he rose to the post of chief Examiner, as successor to James Mil!, the historian of British India. Upon his retirement in 1856, John Stuart Mill took his place. b DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. reminds us of a curious fact, which may draw a smile from the economists and calculators of our own time, that it was customary for the Governor-General, the Commander-in- Chief, and other high officials appointed to the three presi- dencies of India, to give the door-keepers sums varying from twenty-five to five pounds. The Governor- General always paid twenty-five ; the minor Governors twenty pounds or so, while from twenty to eighteen pounds, was considered cheap for a Commander-in-Chief. What political, commer- cial, and social changes have taken place since the Old East India House was adorned by so many " old familiar faces ! " Change must reign supreme, even although it sometimes seems that the past need fear no comparison with the present or the future. NOTE. There is another version of Charles Lambe's Ion mot, showing Elia's ideas of time, which must be accepted as the correct one : Sir Robert Campbell, Bart. , a director, having met the imperturbable Charles in the corridor of the India House, remonstrated on his always coming so late to office. "But, sir," instantly replied Elia, "I go away so early!" Sir Robert Campbell iiimself told this to Mr. (now Sir William) Andrew. THE BKOTHEBS BUBKES. I. SIR ALEXANDER BURNES, C.B. "L'immense et courageux voyage de M. Burnes." Baron Huniboldt. 1 ' Vous avez trac6 sur la portion pcut-etre la plus obscure de 1'Asie une ligne lumineuse." Royal Asiatic Society of Paris to Sir Alex. Burnes. Tnrc unexpected death of a man possessing so many great qualities as Dr. James Burnes, I am sure caused a deep sensation of heartfelt sorrow in Western India, as it did to many in this country. The circumstances attending the feel- ing of grief differed widely from those which accompanied the loss of his distinguished brother, Sir Alexander. No fearful tragedy at Cabool, or elsewhere, brought about his be formed. In December, our unwearied traveller visited Kurnaul and Delhi, when he was presented to the Great Mogul, the fifteenth descendant from Timour. If then, how much more now, is the Mogul harmless, " realmless, and a prince without * Sec Burnes' Travels, and "Narrative of a Visit to the Court of Sinde,' 1 by Dr. James Burnes, K.H. The former had on the title-page, "By Lieutenant Alexander Burnes, F.R.S., of the India Company's Service." 10 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. the shadow of power ! "* Central Asia having to be ex- plored, the sanction of the Governor-General (Lord William Bentinck) gained, the journey was commenced on the 2nd January, 1832. The route taken was that along the line of the Sutlej, till the river is joined by the Beas or Hydaspes. But, leaving the consideration of such matters to the readers of his famous book of travels, let us proceed to June, 1833, when Burnes received orders to proceed to England as the "bearer of his own despatches. The fame of his adventures had long preceded him. The Montrose youth had done wonders in an incredibly short space of time. Lord "William Bentinck wrote to the Court of Directors, that " the Govern- ment of India considered the information of Lieutenant Burnes as to the state of the countries betwixt India and Russia of such primary importance, that it should tte communicated direct to the home authorities by that gentle- man himself." He arrived in London early in October, after a few months' voyage round the Cape. Ambition seemed satisfied. By the India House and by the Board of Control, he was most cordially received as a true British son from the East, who had done real service to his country. At Court he received marked consideration, and afterwards the special acknowledgments of William the Fourth, for the " unpublished map and memoir which he had presented to his Majesty." Eventually, Burnes' manuscripts passed into the hands of the far-famed John Murray, the publisher, whose dictum, that " every man has a book in him," was of peculiar value in the case of the great Oriental traveller. Such a book of travels had not appeared for many a day. Nearly nine hundred copies were sold off in a single day; and the publisher gave the author eight hundred pounds for the copyright of the first edition. Mr. Lockhart (editor of the Quarterly, and the tasteful producer of the Spanish ballads) called on Lieutenant Burnes, and told him that it surpassed in interest any book * When this sketch had gone to press, I learned that the last of the Great Moguls, the King of Delhi, died at Rangoon on the llth of November, 1862, and was buried the same day the Mahoinedans in the town heed- less of the event. SIR ALEXANDER BURNES. 11 of travels he had ever read. It was translated into German and French. The critic's art was impartially exercised in every influential quarter ; and, in addition to his qualifica- tions as a very keen traveller, it was added, with reference to governing the affairs of an Indian Empire, that one had appeared " in every respect well qualified to tread in the steps of our Malcolms and Elphinstones." Burnes was now elected a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, when all the honours were heaped upon him which that brilliant association could bestow. The Bombay lieu- tenant was the lion of the day. The Earl of Munster, President of the above Society, so appreciated the value of his work that he reviewed it in the United Service Journal, where it is remarked that " the reflection that Mr. Burnes is the first European, for twenty- one centuries, who has sailed the whole length of the Indus, naturally excites inquiry as to existing traditions of its first great navigator." He was complimented by Baron Humbolt, by the Institute of France, and by the Royal Asiatic Society of Paris, and had the silver medal of the French Geographical Society bestowed upon him. He was already a member, and had received the gold medal, of the Royal Geographical Society of London. From Paris he writes to his brother : " The French critics give me even greater praise than the English. Is it not curious ? I have been reviewed in France, Germany, Russia, and England, and not yet in my native country " (Scotland, alluding to the Edinburgh Review)* Louis Philippe, hearing he was in Paris, sent the ever indefatigable Lord Brougham in search of him, that he might confer on him the decoration of the Legion of Honour, which his Majesty desired to do with his own hands. Still, some of the critics were at him for certain trifling defects ; but we find him in good humour as he might well be declaring in the sincerity of his heart, " In all truth, I have got enough praise." * Almost simultaneously with the Bokhara travels, appeared the short memoir of the journey of 1829. into the desert between Cutch and the Indus. 12 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. The great traveller, geographer, and commercial statist, at the age of twenty-nine, was waited on by some of the most distinguished men at that time in London. The Marquis of Lansdowne held out his hand to him ; and not long before his departure for India, gave a farewell party r where Lords Howick, Morpeth, Auckland, the present Earl Russell, and the witty Sidney Smith, were among the guests. Lord Brougham the ever steady friend of progress thought highly of the opinion entertained of him by the philosophers of France. Burnes became, too, the lion of the hour at the literary soirees of Holland House. Such attention no lieutenant in any age had ever received before. It was enough to turn the head of any ordinary mortal ; but the subaltern was extra ordinary, and survived it. After declining Lord Ellenborough's offer of the Secre- taryship to the Legation to the Court of Persia (eventually to become British Minister at the Court of Teheran), he laughs at Persia and her politics, and declares " What are a colonelcy and a K.L.S. to me ? I look far higher, and shall either die or be so." India was his chosen field of action. Of Sir John M'Neill (afterwards Ambassador at Teheran) he says, before leaving England, " He is an able fellow, and by far the fittest person in England for the situation." Burnes left London, with a " flaming despatch" from the Court of Directors in his pocket, on the 5th April, 1835, reaching India on the 1st June, by France, Egypt, and the Red Sea. On his arrival in Bombay he resumed his duties of assistant to the Resident at Cutch, Colonel (after- wards Sir Henry) Pottinger. Truly, the Governor-General (Lord Auckland) thought that Captain Burnes' abilities were wasted in such a situation. He was placed under the orders of the Supreme Government with a view to his future progress. A line of policy, it was determined in August, 1836, beyond the Indus was to be pursued. The young captain was appointed the head of a mission, the ob- ject of which was negociation with the Ameers of Sinde for the protection of the free navigation of the Indus. From Hyderabad * he was to proceed through the Punjab, * Reached 18th of January, 1837. SIR ALEXANDER BURNES. 13 by Attock and Cashmere, to Cabool, and (the mission being a purely commercial one) to enter into commercial arrange- ments with Dost Mahomed. Events on the Persian frontier soon changed the character of the mission. Sir John M'Neill and Captain Burnes became in close con\munication with each other. Enquiries as to the state of trade were soon to give place to the question of how to be prepared for war ! Burnes was satisfied that could the Persians succeed against Herat, Candahar would be at their mercy. But other mat- ters of greater importance to the rising political were about to occur. With the view of interposing the mediation of the Indian Government betwixt Dost Mahomed and Runjeet Singh, in order to extend commerce and avert a war, Captain Burnes was instructed to proceed to Cabool. The mission entered the Khyber Pass on the 3rd September, 1837 ; and, on the 20th, Burnes entered Cabool escorted by Mahomed Akbar Khan, the favourite son of Dost Mahomed. The remaining events in Burnes' life may be said to be matters of history. On the 1st October, 1838, Lord Auckland issued his famous proclamation of war. In November, the Ruler of the Punjab and the Governor- General had long interviews together at Ferozepore ; but the Envoy for Cabool was to be Sir William MacNaghten and not Captain Burnes. There can be no doubt that Burnes was in every way qualified for such a post. We were about to invade strange countries which lie knew well, and to impose an obnoxious sovereign on a fierce and deter- mined people. While Burnes was arranging for the reception of the army at Shikarpore, he received a copy of the Government Gazette, in which he found himself knighted and advanced to the rank of Lieutenant- Colonel in the army. He was also made Companion of the Bath. It is curious to notice that, while Burnes was on a poli- tical mission in Beloochistan about this time, making arrangements connected with the expedition, the Khan of Khelat remarked to him that it was easy to get our armies into the country, but how were we ever to get them out again ? On the final restoration of the Shah Soojah, in September, 1839, Burnes was appointed political resident at 14 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. Cabool ; and he continued to act along with, the Envoy there till the hour of his death. Dr. Buist, who compiled the best memoir of Sir Alex- ander from printed books and papers, says forcibly : " The Cabool tragedy opened with the murder of Sir Alexander Barnes ; it has closed by the annihilation of a force which, including camp followers, amounted to from 12,000 to 15,000 men." Sir Alexander repeatedly warned the Government of the approaching crisis, and the catastrophe which proved fatal to him and so many of his countrymen ; " and was amongst the first who fell in the Ghilzie insurrection, in November,* 1843 ; his younger brother, Lieutenant Charles Burnes, perishing along with him." Truly we may say with the French reviewerf " Comment ne pas envier a 1'Angleterre ces agens intrepides, qu'elle trouve toujours prets a se devouer a son service ! " And so here I conclude this brief sketch of Sir Alexander Burnes, in the w r ords of his learned and esteemed biographer ; J " carried off in the prime of life ' only thirty-six years old, so young, yet so much already done for immortality ; ' so much time remain- ing, as it appeared to us short-sighted mortals, to maintain and to extend his fame." In my humble judgment, it may be added, he shines as a great geographer and useful traveller more than as a great politician. Objections may be taken to some actions of his policy what public servant escapes them ? But who will dare not to admire the British traveller who first beheld " the scenes of Alexander's wars, of the rude and savage inroads of Jenghiz and Timour, as well as of the campaigns and revelries of Baber, as given in the delightful and glowing language of his commen- taries ? " " In the journey to the coast," writes Sir Alex- ander, " we had marched on the very line of route by which Alexander had pursued Darius ; while the voyage to India took us on the coast of Mekran and the track of his admiral JS"earchus." * On the 2nd. t Revue de Paris, Octobre, 1844. J George Buist, Esq., LL.D. 1842. The omissions in the foregoing sketch, of a most distinguished Anglo- Indian, will be partly supplied by citing the following interesting passages illustrating the esteem in which he was held, and exhibiting some distinctive points in the character of Sir Alexander Burnes. SIR ALEXANDER BURKES. 15 NOTES CHAEACTEEISIC OF SIE ALEXANDER BUENES. THE ATHEN^UM CLUB. ON his return to London from Paris, the Athenaeum Club admitted him as a member without ballot, and the following notice of this is given in a letter dated January, 1835 : " The Athenaeum Club has elected me over the heads of 1,130 candidates as a member, on account, as they are pleased to say, of my ' distinguished eminence.' I took my place yesterday, and you will judge of the club when I name the first men I met Hallam, Sir Gr. Staunton, Sidney Smith, D 'Israeli, Crawford of Java, &c." ESTEEMED BY EMINENT MILITARY OFFICERS AND MERCHANTS IT may here be not inaptly remarked how completely the clear judgment, energy, and decision of character of Sir Alexander Burnes won the confidence and esteem of all the most eminent military officers with whom, during his career in India, he was associated. Sir David Leighton, Sir Thomas Bradford, Sir John Malcolm, Lord William Bentinck, the Earl of Dalhousie, Sir Henry Fane, and Lord Keane admired and appreciated qualities in him which had rendered themselves among the most distinguished of their noble profession. The celerity with which he prepared himself for his exertions in the cause of geographical science is one of the most conspicuous characteristics of his earlier career. Of the various commercial reports drawn up by him, and laid from time to time before the Bombay Government, it was remarked by the merchants who examined them that they were written as if by one who had been a trader, and nothing but a trader, from his youth. His controversy with the missionary Wole indicated a know- ledge of theology, and dexterity in polemics not frequently found amongst military men. 16 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. DISTINCTION". To these high qualities for tlie attainment of distinction lie added a deep-seated and indomitable ambition, which no difficulties could damp or subdue. He had determined on achieving greatness, and he appeared to have the means within his reach, when it pleased Providence to cut short his earthly career. He was judicious and eminently fortunate in his selection of coadjutors, and had the happy faculty of attaching those who had laboured along with him most fer- vently to his person. He was simple in his manners, and for the most part sprightly and playful in his conversation, with alternating fits of absence and abstraction. His friendships were warm, enduring, and sincere. Not easily soured by disappointment, he submitted with the cheerful alacrity of a well-conditioned mind to the annoyances which came in his way. He was one of the kindest of brothers and most dutiful and affectionate of sons. Had he not been cut off in the flower of his age, at the very time when he had reason to believe that his deferred hopes of enjoying the highest position in Afghanistan were about to be realized, he might have looked forward to the attainment of honours such as those conferred on a Malcolm and an Elphinstone, with whose names his own had been so often associated, and in whose estimation he so early held a distinguished place. BURNES WELL IN HARNESS. " Ox the Indus, 5th July, 1837. I am literally overwhelmed with business. I came to look after commerce, to super- intend surveys, and examine passes of mountains, and likewise certainly to see into affairs, to judge of what was to be done hereafter ; but the hereafter has already arrived, and I have all but deserted my ledger for treaties and politics ; my proceedings up to Shikarpore you are aware of. As I approached Cabool war broke out with the Afghans and Sikhs, and my position became embarrassing ; I was even ordered by express to pause, and while hanging on my oars another express still cries pause, but places a vast latitude in my hands, and ' forward ' is my motto ; forward to the scene of carnage, where, instead of embarrassing my Govern- ment, I feel myself in a situation to do good. It is this latitude throughout life that has made me what I am, if I am anything, and I can hardly say how grateful I feel to SIR ALEXANDER BURNES. Lord Auckland. I Lave not as yet got the replies to my recommendations on our line of policy in Cabool consequent on a discovered intrigue of Russia, and on the Cabool chief throwing himself in despair on Perso-Russian arms. I have at last something to do, and I hope to do it well." BURNES AND DOST MAHOMED.* " CABOOL, 30th October, 1837. Here a hundred things are passing of the highest interest. I arrived here on the 24th of last month, and have had a very cordial reception. Dosfc Mahomed Khan has fallen into all our views, and in so doing has either thought for himself or followed my counsel, but for doing the former I give him every credit, and things now stand so that I think we are on the threshold of a negotiation with King Runjeet, the basis of which will be his withdrawal from Peshawur, and a Barukzye receiving it as a tributary of Lahore, the Chief of Cabool sending his son to ask pardon. What say you to this after all that has been urged of Dost Mahomed Khan's putting forth extragant pretensions ? Runjeet will accede to the plan I am certain, but Wade is a great little man, if you comprehend what I mean, and while he is looking to the horizon (to use his own words) of politics and considering, events crowd on, and spoil his speculations. I have, on behalf of Government, agreed to stand as mediator between the parties, and Dost Mahomed has cut asunder all his connection with Russia and Persia, and refused to receive the ambassador from the Shah now at Candahar ; his brothers at that city have, however, caressed the Persian Elchee all the more for this, and I have sent them such a Junius as I believe will astonish them. I had indeed reason to act promptly, for they have a son setting out for Teheran with presents to the Shah and the Russian Ambassador, and I hope I shall be in time to explain our hostility to such con- duct. Everything here has indeed run well, and but for our deputation at the time it happened, the house we occupy would have been tenanted by a Russian Agent and a Persian Elchee. I hardly know what the Government of India will think of my measures, for my line of conduct is only in- dicated, by them, not marked out. Yet I am inspirited by their free use of laudatory adjectives regarding my proceed- * This and the following extract will be of interest at the present time (1874-75), or after the Ameer of Cabul was said to have imprisoned his eldest sou, Yakoob Khan, for his inclination to give over Herat to the Persians. 18 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. ings hitherto ;....! am in a very critical position, and so they tell me totidem verbis ; but I like difficulties, they are my brandy." HERAT AND THE CZAR. ** I HAVE found out all the ramifications of the Czar's emis- saries, and an explanation of his coveting Herat. His Majesty sees that that is the entrepot of Persia, India, Cabool, and Toorkistan, and as his fairs in southern Persia progress to maturity, he looks to increasing the facilities of communication, and from Herat to Bokhara and Nijni Nov- gorod there are no intervening mountains. In pushing on Persia to Herat he but insinuates his own power in the very direction he desires. All this view of things was gravely propounded at Bokhara the year after I left it, for the Russians took alarm at what we were about, and reduced their duties to keep the traders with them. Is not this something to have been effected by two weary travellers plodding their way into Tartary ! " From " Memoir " by Dr. Buist; in "Notes on His Name and Family," by Dr. James Burnes. 1851. [For correspondence with Lord Palmerston, see Appendix I.] AFGHANISTAN. (1886.) IN his last work on Burma (Ashe Pyee, the Eastern or Foremost Country), about the middle of 1881, the author ven- tured a few remarks on the prospect of a United Afghan- istan being followed by a United Burma. Putting the turbulent and " invincible " Dacoits out of the question, the great event with reference to the latter kingdom has at length taken place. Regarding the wilder country in which Burnes, Macnaghten, Pollock, Nott, Sale, and Roberts laboured and fought for the glory of old England, it was written five years ago when Merv was the political diffi- culty between England and Russia : The Ameer has secured Herat, and the prospect of a United Afghanistan seems not far distant. Of course some of the unruly tribes will still give trouble ; but a turbulent and stormy sea does not settle down all at once. " Give him time," every well-wisher of the country must say of Abdul Rahman. Anyway, there is SIR ALEXANDER BURNES. 19 u comparative calm for the present, and our late brave and energetic enemy, Ayub Khan, is a fugitive. The hope of " a united Afghanistan " has not been realized, although we have " a united Burma ;" so much tbe better for humanity, commerce and civilization in Eastern Asia. We gave King Thebaw too much " time," and were :at length compelled to annex his country. Abdul Rahman, under British protection, has played his part, on the whole, well. If he be not real, a better actor we never had before. In the middle of 1886 we find him in good health, and his son betrothed to the daughter of an important Governor (of Parrah). Later on we find the Ameer dreaming of the possible recall of the English Commission of Delimitation commenced under the august auspices of Sir Peter Lumsden, and, it was believed, meditating an attack on Kaffiristan. Again, there was a talk of a collision between Afghans and Russians at or near the disputed boundary. But the nearest Russian troops were no closer than Mazar, where Sir J. W. Ridgeway the head of the Commission was on a visit to Ishak Khan. The Ameer was in hopes that the whole boundary would soon be settled, and had received " very favourable " assurances from Russia Russia, our dear old * l bugbear " whose continued beneficial results in Central Asia should make us love him more dearly than ever " Whom Persia bows to, China ill confines, And India's homage waits, when Albion's star declines ! "* CAMPBELL On the Power of Russia. * Meanwhile, while Albion's star is in the ascendant, the Ameer will probably now turn his attention to Indian railway enterprise, and the bene- ficent operation on Afghanistan, railways must certainly accomplish. On. September 11, Sir J. Gorst informed the House of Commons that the rail- way through the Bolan Pass reached Quetta on the 26th July last. The Harnai route was under construction, and preliminary surveys had been made beyond Quetta in the direction of Candahar. Mr. Condie Stephen, Secretary to the Afghan Boundary Commission, arrived in London in Sep- tember, 1886 ; and his chief, Sir J. Ridgeway, on his return to India, will also visit London, we presume, to give an account of the doings of the Com- mission, which reached Cabul on the 15th October. c 2 20 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. II. JAMES BURNES, K.H., F.R.S.* " He finds 'mid foreign crowds a friend, A home 'neath every sky." D. L. R. BORN at Montrose, February 12, 1801, Dr. Burnes was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and Guy's and Saint Thomas's Hospitals in London, and arrived at Bombay in the Company's service, with his brother, the late Sir Alexander, on the 31st October, 1821. The early career of Dr. Burnes can be traced from an official report drawn up under the orders of the Commander- in-Chief at Bombay, and which was subsequently submitted to his Majesty King William the Fourth. After having* been successively attached to the artillery at Matoonga ; the Convalescent Hospital at Severn droog : the 5th regiment Madras Native Infantry at Malligaum the three previous. Medical Officers of which had died of cholera ; and the 24th regiment Bombay N.I. at Bassadore ; he was posted in February, 1823, to the 18th regiment N.I. stationed at Bom- bay, where he was also selected to superintend the institu- tion for the check of cholera. In 1824, the honourable ap- pointment of surgeon to the Residency in Cutch having* been offered by Mr. Elphinstone for competition, as a reward to medical officers who would pass in the native language, Dr. Burnes was the one of the five candidates who was suc- cessful. On his quitting the 18th regiment, we find him commended in orders for "his professional abilities, humanity, and feeling towards the sick, and his constant and unwearied attention to his duties. "t * The chief portion of this sketch is abridged from the "Memoir," by TV. A. Laurie, Esq. (March, 1850), who wrote it while Dr. Burnes was on Lis return to his native land. This brief record was extracted from Indian- periodical?, and "Memoirs" on the same subject, byDrs. Grant, of Calcutta, and Buist, of Bombay. t Regimental Order, November 18th, 1824. JAMES BUBNES. 21 As a volunteer he accompanied, in 1825, the field force und detachments which expelled the Sindians and other plunderers who had invaded and devastated Cutch, forcing- the British Brigade to retire to the Hill-fort of Bhooj. In 1827, the Ameers of Sinde, between whom and our Govern- ment a very uncordial feeling had subsisted for years, un- expectedly solicited his services, and sent an Envoy to invito him to their capital, where he remained some months under circumstances which will be best explained by the following extract of an official dispatch from the Resident in Cutch, Sir Henry Pottinger, to Government (Political Department, No. ] 9 of 1828) . " The Honourable the Governor-in- Council will perceive that Mr. Burnes was only finally allowed by the Ameers of Sinde to come away under a promise of his early return ; and although the unsettled state of that country has since led to their Highnesses re- questing him to postpone his visit ; yet, from the terms in which they speak of Dr. Burnes (who, they say, is not only the most skilful of all Physicians, but their best friend, and the cementer of the bonds of amity between the two govern- ments), it is pretty certain they will again invite him to their Court It is due to their Bighnesses to mention. that they have treated Mr. Burnes, during his sojourn at Hyderabad, with the most marked distinction and kindness, both as a professional gentleman to whom they were in- debted for advice, and as an officer of the British Govern- ment deputed in that capacity, at their special request. Li the latter light they received him, on his first arrival, in a State Durbar, with every honour and formality, and after- wards made him welcome at all times, with a degree of cordiality and politeness which, as the Native agent justly observes in his letter to me, ' they have never before evinced towards any gentleman.' " The Government sanctioned Dr. Burnes' acceptance of liberal presents from the Ameers, and also presented him with a handsome pecuniary donation on his return to Bhooj. He w T as likewise complimented, in strong terms, on the zeal and ability he had displayed at Hyderabad, and received the thanks of the Government for the highly interesting narra- 22 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. tive of his visit, which, under the orders of the Resident in Cutch, he had submitted for its information. The Governor personally intimated that but for the good use he had made of his time, much that was important would have remained unknown and unnoticed. The Commander-in- Chief pro- nounced the narrative a most valuable addition to the- geography of India ; and the Governor of Bombay directed it to be presented to the Royal Asiatic Society through Sir John Malcolm, circulated to public servants, and printed at the expense of the State. The " Narrative of a Visit i& Sinde " drew from the Geographical Society of France a- declaration that Dr. Burnes had deserved well of Geography.* It was published in England in 1830, and has gone through successive editions, both in India and in Europe ; being the- best account of the country we yet possess. Dr. Burnes' invitation by the Ameers, and his visit to> their Court, were evidently the first link in the chain of those great events which took place in reference to the- Indus ; and it is not at all improbable that had the request of those rulers to retain him, which has been referred to in the official dispatch above quoted, been complied with, much of the trouble and expense which were incurred, might have been spared. But it did not suit the policy of the day ; and it was not till two years afterwards that his brother was deputed again to open a negotiation with the Ameers, and to ascend the Indus. Those who are familiar with that officer's travels, will recollect that the Ameers stated that he was doubly welcome as the brother of Dr.. James Burnes. Sir Alexander Burne's visit was followed by Sir Henry Pottinger's Embassy , in 1832-3, for the purpose of demanding the free navigation of the Indus to- British merchants, and the great events to the west, with which we are familiar. * M. Alexandre Burnes, Lieutenant d'Infanterie de la compagnie Anglaise des Indes, est frere de M. James Burnes, Chirurgien-Major a Bhoudj dan le Cotch. Ce dernier fut appeld en 1827, a Haiderabad, pour donner ses so'ns a un des Emirs. II a publie' une relation de son voyage. Ainsi les- deux freres ont bien me'rite de la geographic, en nous donnant des details sur des pays peu connus. Bulletin of the Geographical Society of France, 1833. JAMES BURNES. 23 In 1829, Dr. Barnes married Sophia, daughter of the late Major- General Sir George Holmes, K.C.B. In 1830, the same reputation in the north-west frontier, which had induced the Ameers of Sinde to invite and welcome Dr. Burnes to their capital, led to the Cutch Regency bringing his conduct and services specially to the notice of Government, with a request that they might have the power to remunerate them. He had now been nearly five years in that lately conquered and distracted country ; and such was the feeling towards him, that the Resident reported, in the w r ords of the Cutch government, that " there was no one of any class or rank who would not, if sick, reckon upon his services at midnight." * The reply of the Bombay government is in the following terms : "The Govern or-in- Council directs me to signify to you his concurrence in the proposal of the Durbar to remunerate the professional services of Dr. Burnes, and requests that, in making this communication to the Durbar, you will suggest the mode in which the object in view can be effected with most attention to the feelings of the Prince and his family, and to those of Mr. Burnes, whose kind and un- wearied attention, which the honourable the Governor (Sir John Malcolm) has had full opportunity of learning,, has, the Go vernor-in- Council is aware, created the most lively sentiments of gratitude, while it has established, in the strongest manner, his claims to the approbation of Government." Nearly of the same date is a Government letter to the Resident at Bhooj, acknowledging Dr. Burnes' " History of Cutch," which has since been published, along with hi& Narrative, and may be found in a compressed form in the last edition of the " Encyclopaedia Britannica." In December, 1831, we find Sir Henry Pottinger, on his departure as Envoy to Sinde, reporting to Government that, in "consideration of the long connection which has- subsisted between Dr. Burnes and himself, he will be ex- cused for bearing testimony to his merits and claims, and strongly recommending him to favourable notice." And in * Letter to Government, Political Department, January 27tb, 1830. 24 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. April following, there is a dispatch from the new Resident, Colonel Bagnold, which acknowledges that " in conducting the important duties of the frontier," he has "derived the most valuable aesistance from his exertions, talents, and information, afforded by him gratuitously, and to the benefit of the pulic service, in a department distinct from his own, and consequently the more highly to be appreciated." At the end of the same year, Dr. Burnes' services were again brought to notice as having, in the political department, " amply evinced the greatest zeal and ability for the public service." Other quotations might be made from the papers we have referred to, but enough has been given to satisfy the reader that these services were neither few nor unac- knowledged by his superiors. In October, 1833, Dr. Burnes was forced to quit Cutch, on sick certificate, after having struggled with the fever of the country for many years. In the February following, he embarked for Europe by the overland route, and an interesting account of the journey (at that time attended with some difficulty), extracted from his letters, was pub- lished in the Bombay newspapers. He took the route of Malta, Sicily, Naples, Rome, Florence, Venice, Geneva, and Paris. While at home, amongst other honours conferred on him, he was created a Doctor of Laws by the University of Glasgow, and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, and of the Royal College of Physicians of Edin- burgh. He was also presented at Court by his friend the late Earl of Dalhousie (who had then returned from the command of the army of India), and received the honour of the Guelphic Knighthood from the sovereign. On again returning to Edinburgh to make preparations for his departure to India, a public entertainment was given to him, Lord Ramsay* in the chair, when he received the present of a magnificent silver vase, bearing, besides a Masonic inscription, an intimation that it was a token of "regard and esteem for him as a gentleman." The com- mittee for its presentation consisted of the Marquis of Dal- Jhousie, Admiral Sir David Milne, G.C.B., Sir George * Afterwards the Marquis of Dalhousie, Governor-General of India. JAMES BURNES. Ballingall, Professor of Military Surgery in the Univer- sity, Sir Reginald Macdonald Seton, better known as the hospitable " Staffa," and other individuals. Before quittiag Edinburgh, he devoted a few leisure hours to his sketch of the History of the Knights Templars, having been encouraged to undertake the work by offers of valuable documents in the possession of old and noble families, and especially requested to leave amongst his friends some such token of remembrance. The book was brought out in a very elegant form ; but only a few copies, besides those for distribution amongst private friends, were printed. It contains illustrations of the curious fact mentioned in " Mills's Chivalry," that the Order of the Templars has descended to our own days ; and traces the history of these Knights, and of those of St. John of Jerusalem, in Scot- land. A great portion of his stay in Europe was devoted to visiting the countries on the continent, and we believe that he had seen and communicated with more of the eminent men of the present day than any other individual from India. On the 24th December, 1837, Dr. Burnes returned to Bombay ; and Sir James Carnac conferred on him, unsoli- cited, the first vacant medical staff appointment in his gift, namely, the Garrison Surgeoncy of Bombay. In Calcutta, as in Bombay, Dr. Burnes was received as the best friend of masonry, of which nothing need be said here. In a memoir drawn up in the City of Palaces, Dr. Grant writes "Dr. Burnes has seen much of the world, and his manners and conversation at once give the impression of one who had observed well and benefited by what he had seen and learned ; being pleasing, winning, and of a reflective cast. It has been truly said of old, that a good countenance is a perpetual letter of recommendation ; and no one who has once seen Dr. Burnes can deny that he bears this enviable missive with him wherever he goes. A family resemblance may be traced in features and occasional turns of expression and manners between himself and his distin- guished brother Sir Alexander, but there are, nevertheless, characteristic points of difference. Sir Alexander, when wo 26 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. had the pleasure of seeing him, looked spare and thin, compared with his brother ; not that Dr. Burnes is exactly anything approaching to a ' stout gentleman,' but he has less angularity of feature and frame than the enterprising traveller and keen politician. The one is sharp, quick, and rapidly decisive, expressive, and penetrating. The other, though full of energy in any matter he engages in, is more- subdued in manner and expression, a.nd his bearing more fraught with amenity. Sir Alexander, for instance, in an argument, uses a sword-like logic that he thrusts at once, and with a masculine hand, to the point. The argumenta- tive weapon of the other too, is ' of the ice-brook's temper,' and of a perfect point, and polish, but is like that of Harmodius wreathed with flowers. Both have a marked frankness of address. " That Dr. Burnes is a person of singularly attractive manners and disposition no one who has ever enjoyed the pleasure of his acquaintance can question for an instant; and a more trumphant proof of this cannot be appealed to than the warmth of his reception by not only the Masonic- body of Calcutta, but society at large, so far as he could become known to it during his short stay among us. It has appeared to us that a portion of this attractiveness is hereditary ; for the full dark eye, the well-arched brow, ex- pressive mouth, and, in a word, the whole countenance, when lighted up in the brilliance of congenial social inter- course, have often reminded us of the best portraits, graphic and biographic, of his great kinsman the poet." Dr. Burnes returned from Calcutta* early in 1841, having been requested by Sir James Carnac, then Governor of Bombay, to undertake the office of Secretary to the Medical Board, a post in which it was thought he would be able to afford much benefit to his own department. In that year he presided at the St. Andrew's dinner ; but, owing to the deplorable Cabool catastrophe, in which his brothers lost their lives, he remained for sometime afterwards in retire- ment. His next prominent appearance was on the occasion of his laying the foundation-stone of the Jamsetjee * From a visit paid in 1840. JAMES BUKNES. 27 Jeejeebhoy Hospital, which [ceremony created a great sensation at Bombay in January, 1843. In December, 1844, he established the Lodge " Rising Star," for the admission of natives, and a beautiful medal, cut by Wyon, was struck by them in consequence.* In August, 1844, he presided at the dinner given to Sir Henry Pottinger. In July, 1846, he was promoted to be Superintending Surgeon, and a piece of plate was voted to him by his brother officers, " in manifesta- tion of their esteem, and the sense they entertain of his- accelerating promotion, and of the uniform urbanity which he, in his official position, evinced on all occasions in. his. intercourse with all ranks." On quitting the Medical Board Office, the Board brought to the notice of Government the " distinguished zeal and ability" with which he had per- formed his duty for five and a half years ; and in handing up this testimonial, the Commander-in-Chief added from, himself, that " for several years he had had constant oppor- tunities of having officially under his own notice the untir- ing zeal and great ability with which Dr. Burnes performed his varied duties in the most stirring times ever known at this Presidency in the Medical Branch, and in all the Military Departments." In February, 1847, Dr. Burnes was transferred to the Poona Division, where he remained until his promotion to- the Medical Board in September, 1848. Shortly after his. arrival at Bombay, he was appointed a Member of the Bo'ard of Education ; and the interest he took in its business is- best shown by his addresses at the Grant College ; by his- successful efforts for the student apprentices ; and by the Board, having on his departure, recorded " its deep regret at the loss of his valuable services, particularly in the depart- ment of Native Medical Education, to which he has devoted so much attention, and wherein his rare talents and exten- sive experience have enabled him to act with such marked * The Hindus paying this honour to Burnes reminds us of the Duchess of Devonshire's beautiful lines on Sir W. Jones ; the first two being "Admired and valued in a distant land, His gentle manners all affection won." 28 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. efficiency ; " a regret in which the Government expressed its entire participation. The Medical Board also intimated to Government their deep regret that ill health was about to deprive the Medical Service of an officer who had been "so long its pride and ornament, and of whose honourable career and eminent merits the public records bore such ample testimony." He was one of the Trustees of the Oriental Bank, and a warm promoter of the schemes for the promotion and en- couragement of arts and manufactures, in an improved form, among the natives. He was also President of the Medical and Physical Society, and Vice-President of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. It may be added, that, before his departure the Geographical Society of Bombay elected him an Honorary Office-Bearer for life, " in testimony of their appreciation of his services to the cause of Geographi- cal Science." Though Dr. Burnes rarely appeared before the world as an author, his tastes were eminently refined and literary, and his mind abundantly stored with general knowledge. The account of his visit to the Court of Hyderabad sufficiently shows what might have been looked for from his pen had he found leisure or inclination to write for publication. He ever took an active share in the promotion of all intellectual pursuits, and was one of the most elegant and most attrac- tive members of general society in Western India. Fond of company, in which he was always the favourite, and where he eminently shone, he was the person most generally fixed upon to preside at public meetings and do the honours when entertainments were given to distinguished strangers or members of the community ; and his address on the occasion of a public dinner being given to Sir H. Pottinger on his way from China, was so marked for elegance and aptitude, as to be reprinted in all the leading journals of Europe. The eminent official position he so long enjoyed in the service to which he was an honour, was always employed by him in endeavouring to advance merit and promote unpretending worth to assist the necessitous and soothe those heats and irritations which will occasionally arise in the best regulated JAMES BURNES. 29 communities, and which tend so grievously to impair the comfort of public men and to interfere with the interests of the service. As a private friend he was ever warm, constant, and sincere in his attachments. Though generally to be met with in every scene of harmless merriment, gaiety, or festivity, no man more frequently approached the couch of sickness or chamber of suffering none could strive more to soothe the pangs of sorrow or anguish of affliction. He left India almost without an enemy, and with scarcely an acquaintance who was not also an admirer and a friend. In G. 0., by the Right Hon. the Governor-in-Council (] 9th Nov. 1849), allowing him to retire,* his eminently useful services were broup-H forward, announcing that his services extended beyond the line of his own profession ; and the same zealous devotion to the public interests was apparent in those which " distinguished him throughout his. meritorious career in the medical department."f Since 1850, Dr. Burnes chiefly resided in London, making* occasional visits to his native town of Montrose. He was a magistrate for the counties of Middlesex and Forfar, With regard to his native county, Lord Brougham had inscribed his name in the roll of Justices a remarkable compliment, at a time when no new commission was issued, to a visitor from India, who possessed no property in the shire. The compliment had been continued since the accession of Her Majesty. In 1851, he drew up an elegant little work, entitled " Notes on his Name and Family," printed for private circulation. On the title-page figures the crest which he obtained from the Herald office, in allusion to the devotion to their country shown by his two brothers. Out of a mural crown the rim inscribed CABOOL a demi-eagle is displayed transfixed by a javelin ; and round the whole is the appro- priate motto : OB PATRIAM YULKERA PASSI. In addition to being an able writer, t Dr. Burnes was an eloquent and impressive speaker ; but, on his return home, he seldom appeared in public. At the influential meeting- * As Physician- General of the Bombay Army, t Here ends abridgement of "Memoir." $ See Appendix II. 30 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. held on the 5th March, 1861, to do honour to that distin- guished soldier and statesman, Sir James Outram, he made a most eloquent speech, from which I take the following remarks on the career of the Bayard of the East: " I am possibly in a somewhat different position from other speakers, inasmuch as I have passed the best days of my life in the same public service with him, and in daily observation of him. And having watched his career through- out the truthfulness of his character and indomitable courage that early brought him into notice the energy and tenderness with which he brought to God and man, while yet a youth, the wild Bheels of the jungle (in my opinion the noblest of his achievements) his wondrous pursuit of the Afghan Ameer, Dost Mahomed, and perilous escape afterwards from Khelat through hostile tribes to the sea- coast the heroic part he took in the defence of the Hyder- abad Residency with the other varied incidents of his stirring life, all showing abnegation of self, with an uncom- promising resolve to do his duty up to the time he startled Europe, though not so much India, by his magnanimity in making place for an illustrious comrade an act which reminds us of some of those recorded of the great Conde {cheers) and completed his military exploits at Lucknow to enter the Supreme Council I look upon him as the model of the high-minded public servant, whether soldier or statesman the man whom parents may urge their sons to follow, the chevalier sans peur et sans reproche, as happily applied to him by Sir Charles Napier, and as so completely realising the classical descriptions just given by a new and eloquent historian of another great warrior and statesman, Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, that the words might be inscribed on the pedestal of his statue ' UNTIRING, UNCOMPLAINING, THOUGHTFUL OF OTHERS, PRODIGAL OE SELF, OENEROUS, MODEST, BRAVE.'" (Much cheering.)* The death of Dr. Burnes' eldest son, occasioned by a noble act of self-devotement during the Indian mutiny, brought him no common sorrow. The doctor was twice * See also Appendix III. Sir James Outram. JAMES BURNES. 31 married his brother Alexander, never. And there was every prospect of our hero's attaining " a green old age," when he sickened and died* at Manchester, on the 19th September, 1862, regretted by all who knew him. ' c After life's fitful fever, He sleeps well ! " He who was perhaps, reader, " thine own friend, and thy father's friend." Like all that is mortal, he had his faults : he was, throughout his career, too fond of distinction (by some considered a virtue) ; his zeal for a friend or relative, a few may think, occasionally led him too far in the busi- ness ; but, take him for all in all, he was a noble specimen of humanity. And, while I pay this imperfect tribute to his memory, with his intelligent features beaming from a portrait before me, I think of those he endeavoured to serve, recalling to mind the beautiful poem with the line so applicable towards the close of every year " Who has not lost a friend ? " DR. BURNES AS A MASON. SOME able men, who knew him well, especially in Bombay, are inclined to think that Dr. Burnes was most distin- guished as a Mason. He certainly shone as a bright, par- ticular star, among the brethren of the " mystic tie ; " and nowhere did he seem more in his element than when to use the words of his kinsman the poet " honoured with supreme command," he "presided o'er the sons of light." Masonry with him, as with too many, was not a mere name. He put his whole soul into the business, and thoroughly believed in its Godlike nature to produce good fellowship among men. If his brother, Sir Alexander, may be styled the most wonderful traveller, Dr. James has an equal right to be considered the most energetic and brilliant Mason that ever came to India. But in whatever he undertook, the subject of the foregoing sketch proved himself to be an able and well-read man, although, from the nature of his pro- fession debarred from the same opportunities, not so distin- guished as his brother. The following passage displays no * From tlie effects of disease of long standing, contracted in India. 32 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. ordinary ability. It is from a speech on the " India Ques- tion,'' delivered at the Court of Proprietors of India Stock, 27th January, 1858 : A NATIVE OF INDIA. THE SEPOYS. " A native of India has no notion of political rights ; his forefathers had none, and he cannot comprehend their being 1 yielded to him except from a cowardly terror of himself. Such concessions, in fact, are diametrically opposed to his conception of the dignity and authority of a ruler. ' ' ' Born to be controll'd, Slave of the forward and the bold,' what he requires from England is a well-chosen, vigorous, and benignant Governor- General , armed with ample power to enforce authority, protect person and property, and administer justice promptly and efficiently to the people, and to handle Sepoys on the principle laid down by the poet ; " 'Tender-handed stroke the nettle, And it stings you for your pains ; Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains. 'Tis the same with grovelling natures : Use them kindly, they rebel ; But be rouyh as nutmeg-graters, And the rogues obey you well.' " Ere long these mutinies will pass away, leaving behind them, with all their horrid recollections, a not unprofitable lesson. Nations, like men, are subject to frenzy and deli- rium, and within the memory of some living, the most refined and civilised people upon earth were perpetrating upon each other the most cruel atrocities. The Prcetorian Guards, the Janissaries, the Mamelukes, the Sepoys, are all reproductions of the same bloody history, the natural development which follows from rude and mercenary armies- gaining a knowledge of their own power. But with this knowledge the Sepoys have also learned this great lesson r that if brute force was with them for a season, the intellect that commands force and power was with England." 33 SIR HENEY LAWRENCE, K.C.B. A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY. DR. JOHNSON emphatically assures us that no species of writing seems more worthy of cultivation than biography, " since none can be more delightful or more useful, none can more certainly enchain the heart by irresistible interest, or more widely diffuse instruction to every diversity of con- dition." There is a powerful charm to be found in narra- tives of the lives of particular persons, to which we readily conform our minds, as containing " circumstances and kindred images," which, with not a few of us, mark " the story of our life from year to year." Keeping such ideas steadily in view, we may affirm, without hesitation, that for the earnest youth of the present generation, for a simplicity, a grandeur, a strength, a sublimity of character, which shining forth in the day of trial, must ever keep up the fame of old England throughout the world, no better study can be presented than the eventful life of Sir Henry Law- rence.* To officers who can look back on a long Indian service, some of whom will recollect the energetic cadet at Addiscombe, and watched the Indian career of our " hero in the strife," till his glorious death at Lucknow, the study of such a life is intensely interesting. To Englishmen who have never visited the East, but many of whom, in these uncertain times when beating swords into ploughshares appears to be as far distant as ever, and nation is still on * " Life of Sir Henry Lawrence." By the late Major-General Sir Herbert Benjamin Ed ward* s, C.B., K.G.S.I., an-1 Herman Merivale, Esq., C.B. 1872. "Lives of Indian Officers, illustrative of the History of the Civil and Military Service of India." By John William Kaye (now Sir John Kaye, K.C S.I.) 1869. D 34 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. the alert to rise against nation may find themselves sooner than they reckon on in any part of the world, ready to uphold the honour of Great Britain, the careful reading of such a life will perhaps do more real good than such bio- graphical studies as Charles the Twelfth of Sweden, " the most extraordinary man, perhaps, who ever appeared in the world ;" as the great Lord Olive, " the heaven-born general ;" or even as our loved hero of heroes, the illustrious Welling- ton, who " exhausted nature and exhausted glory." The biographer of the iron King of Sweden, the King who "left a name at which the world grew pale, To point a moral or adorn a tale," thinks that conquerors are a species between good kings and tyrants, partaking most of the latter, and have a glaring reputation. Still, we are naturally eager to know the most minute circumstances of their lives. The biography which has lately been so favourably received by the public, and especially by those who love to study the character of India's immortal roll of heroes and statesmen, in the first volume by Sir Herbert Edwardes, most successfully carries out the idea of " minute circumstances ;" while in the second, the more serious and business-like part is most admirably exe- cuted by Mr. Merivale, under whose careful eye and ex- perienced judgment the whole of this most noble work has been ushered forth into the world. Into such a life as that of Sir Henry Lawrence we have assembled together some of the finer qualities which distinguished the foregoing im- mortal trio (Charles the Twelfth, Lord Clive, and Welling- ton) ; and here and there we find traits which also remind us of Nelson, Howard (Lawrence was styled " the Howard of the Punjab"), Chalmers, Havelock, and Neill ; and, greatest quality of all for smccess in life on which Sir Fowell Buxton has laid so much stress he had ENERGY in a wonderful degree. Although rather late in the day, to give some of the leading points in such a life may be of interest to our readers. Before perusing the complete " Life of Sir Henry Law- rence," the student would do well to make himself master SIB HENRY LAWRENCE. 35 of the "hundred or more pages devoted to our hero in Sir John Kaye's " Lives of Indian Officers." These interesting and graphic sketches drawn by a master hand being " illustrative of the History of the Civil and Military Services of India," and written on the principle " that the best biographies are those in which the autobio- graphical element is the most prominent,"* will, even in these distracting times for much reading, create a desire to go right through the larger volumes, causing the young soldier and statesman in esse to read, as we all should read, in the words of Shakspeare "As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on." Henry Montgomery Lawrence was born at Maturah, in Ceylon, on the 28th June, 1806. His father, every inch a soldier, was garrisoned in that island, after very distinguished service in the South of India, particularly at the second siege of Seringapatam, where, as Lieutenant Lawrence, under General Baird (the mighty Sir David), he com- manded one of the two subalterns' parties t appointed to cover the forlorn hope at the memorable assault of that fortress (4th May, 1799). Judging froni his extraordinary military career, most interesting details regarding which are furnished by Sir Herbert Edwardes, Alexander William Lawrence must indeed have been a first-rate officer, ex- hibiting a life well versed in the ups and downs of martial adventures. He seemed to laugh at impossibilities, and say : " It must be done ! " on all occasions ; and doubtless, " he only wanted the opportunity which rank gives to have done great things." His "God-fearing" wife appears to have been a pattern of womanly goodness ; and when little Henry arrived 011 the stage of life, on which he was destined to play so prominent a part, the proud mother had every reason to say, as she afterwards did to a lady at Galle, " There's my Maturah diamond." With such parents, it w r as quite to be expected that a rare * "Lives," p. 400. t "Lieutenant Hill (74th)," writes Colonel Alexander Beatson, historian of the war with Tippoo Sultan, "commanded the right Subaltern's party." D 2 3G DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. jewel would be presented to the world. The son " achieved greatness," and so ma'le all the setting for it himself. Henry Lawrence's career at Addiscombe forms a most interesting study, bringing forcibly out the truth of the saying that " The boy is father to the man." At Addiscombe, we learn that Henry was always asking the " reasons " of things, and " tracing effects to their cause." Although such inquisitive power if it may be so called may hinder rapid progress at school or college, still the habit is invaluable towards forming a great statesman, and, in some respects, a great soldier. The very facts of his being "best in mathematics," and fond of " making military surveys of the country round," go some way to prove how strong the desire must have been within him to ask reasons and questions ; and we find this desire running all through his life, arid especially during many of the gravest events of Indian history, from the first Sikh war to the glorious relief of Lucknow. Perhaps, when a brother cadet (Robert Macgregor) saved him from drowning as Sir John Kaye remarks, " the one noticeable incident of Henry Law- rence's early life " he was anxious to learn the hydrostatic and pneumatic principles by which such a catastrophe could have taken place. Regarding the school and Addiscombe career of Henry Lawrence, Sir Herbert Edwardes sums up " in a few home words of the brothers and sisters," which will amply repay perusal ; but the followinj must be cited as one of the most interesting passages in the book : " I remember my brother Henry " (says Sir John, the present Lord Lawrence)* " one night in Lord Hardinge's camp, turning to me and saying, 1 Do you think we were clever as lads ? I don't think we were!' But it was not altogether that we were dull. We had very few advantages, had not had a very good education, and were consequently backward and deficient. We were both bad in languages, and always continued so, and were not good in anything which required a technical memory ; but were good in anything which required thought and * In a " Conversat on with the Author." For the other "home worJs," see vol. i. pp. 30, 31. SIR HENRY LAWRENCE. 37 judgment. Wo were good, for instance, in history. And so far from Henry being dull, I can remember that I myself always considered him a fellow of power and mark; and I observed that others thought so." Thus we have the secret of the two brothers' success in life. They possessed those qualities in which the majority of public men are deficient, despite ever so much learning tact and judgment. Perhaps, as a rule, we should call no man dull till we know him well, or opportunity brings him out. Who would ever have imagined that young Walter Scott, far from " dux " in his class, with a cluster of boys beside him listening to his recital of some strange tale, would have become the immortal author of " Waverley " and " Marmion " ? It has been truthfully remarked, and we have heard it from the mouth of a shrewd Indian General who knew him in the morning of life, that none of his contemporaries predicted that our hero would live to outstrip them all. A hundred dull youths becoming great men might be cited. And on ripe manhood also we should restrain our judgment. Sir Henry Lawrence in India great before became im- mortal at Lucknow. And the famous General Neill the avenging angel of the Sepoy rebellion almost unknown before, became immortal in his glorious march to assist Havelock and punish the mutineers. Neill, during the second Burmese war, gave one the idea of a pleasing gentle- man, but of an ordinary soldier. He was rather sparing of his remarks, but you got a telling smile from him, if no more. His manner was decidedly retired, while we marched north with the view of clearing the new conquest of Pegu of dacoits and other disturbers of the peace in the " golden " valley of Burma. Doubtless those who had the honour of knowing or serving under Sir Henry Lawrence, notwithstanding his hitherto brilliant career, never expected the wonderful energy and forethought displayed at Lucknow. At length " Aunt Angel " fits out Henry ; the Colonel (his father) "wouldn't hear of it;" and he takes his departure for India. He arrived in February, 1823, and joined the head-quarters of the Bengal Artillery at Dum- 38 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. Dum, not far from Calcutta. And now life commences in earnest in " the nursery of captains " and of able politicals. In eleven chapters making twelve in all Sir Herbert Edwardes does his utmost to produce a wonderful bio- graphical study; and the very minuteness of the bio- grapher's details forms, we think, the chief excellence of his volume. There is nothing of the water-colour sketch about the picture. It is a genuine portrait, on which we look with the same interest as on a picture by Reynolds, Lawrence, or Raeburn. The lights and shadows are ad- mirably brought out. The noble rivalry between the brothers to help their parents the influence of religious friends the varied events of the first Burmese war, where Henry first smelt powder, concluded by a fever and the peace dictated at Ava (1826) by Sir Archibald Campbell form the chief subjects of the second chapter. In the third, through sheer perseverance, Henry passes the exami- nation for interpreter at Cawnpore. In the fourth, Henry marries Honoria Marshall, " a model wife," which wise act reminds us of the remark of an able Calcutta reviewer, while writing on married life in India, that " did the Court of Directors " (now Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council) " but understand their real interests as well as the Athenians did theirs, they might perhaps make it imperative that their officers should, on entering the ser- vice, be provided with a wife." In India, through a good wife, men's minds are regulated, " their ideas and manners become softened, and their souls are cared for."* Mrs. Lawrence's "thoughts about death," in a letter to her husband at the end of this chapter, are very affecting, t The fifth chapter from 1838 to 1841 contains specula- tions on another war with Burma (which did not take place till 1852), and war with Nepaul the first note of the Caubul War Lawrence's wise resolution to write for the press the "Adventures in the Punjab," shortly after his first political appointment concluding, after striking examples of mental energy and devotion to the service of the State, with the death of his little daughter. This is a chapter which re- * Calcutta Jlevieiv, No. 8, p. 406, vol. iv. t Pp. 164, 165. SIR HENRY LAWRENCE. 39 quires especial study. The mens cequa in arduis becomes strongly apparent. There is also an impending due], and a wife's beautiful remonstrance ; the duel was prevented by Henry Lawrence's brother officers in the artillery, and an age was begining to dawn when it was thought that, for an affront, there was little satisfaction in shooting a man, or in carrying out the eloquent but unruly Grattan's advice to his son, just as the Irish orator was about to leave the world, " Always be ready with the pistol ! " This affair leads Sir Herbert Edwardes to remark on the cessation of duelling in the British army, w r hich had been slightly prevalent a quarter of a century before : " He who would judge the error fairly must go back a quarter of a century [to just before Waterloo]. Then a duel was ' an affair of honour ; ' now it is a ' disgraceful affair.' To shrink from shooting your neighbour then was to be a coward for life ; now we may be allowed even to shrink from being shot, and bear no cross."* The sixth and three following chapters are pregnant with interest : and they were especially so at the time w r hen our first Anglo-Indian Field-Marshal, the noble and gallant Sir O. Pollock, " the head of the great representatives of the old Company's army, who won and maintained our great Indian Empire," found an honoured restingplace in West- minster Abbey (Oct. 16th, 1872). Sir George, like Sir Henry Lawrence, was a Bengal artilleryman, belonging also to a family which carried out Bacon's fine expression of " achieving greatness," and Indian artillerymen were among the pall-bearers of whom, doubtless, Sir Henry Lawrence, his brother officer, had he been spared, would have formed one who consisted of Lieut. -Gen. Sir George Lawrence, K.C.S.L, C.B. ; Major-Gen. Sir V. Eyre, K.C.S.I., C.B. ; Sir J. W. Kaye, K.C.S.L; Major-Gen. Sir George McGregor, K.C.B. ; Major-Gen. Sir J. Brind, K.C.B. : and Lieut.-Gen. Sir J. Alexander, K.C.B. The Right Hon. Lord Lawrence, G.C.B., G. C.S.I., Sir Henry's brother, followed in order of procession, just before the Members of the Council of India, the Duke of Argyll and the Council having felt, with * P. 195. 40 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. admirable taste and fooling, that the glorious old Abbey was the only fit place to receive Pollock's honoured remains. We now return to Henry Lawrence, as great events are on the gale, and begin to think there is every chance of Mr. Hudleston's prophecy becoming true, which he made to Henry's sister, Letitia (who was unwilling to let him go), just before our hero's departure for India : " Yon foolish thing," he said, " Henry will distinguish himself. All your brothers will do well, I think; but Henry has such steadi- ness and resolution that you'll see him come back a general. He will be Sir Henry Lawrence before he dies.'"* To the student of Indian history, the sixth chapter is invaluable. It prepares him for the great drama of the War in Afghan- istan, so ably written by Sir John Kaje ; and when " Alps upon Alps " of difficulties w r ere arising in every direction, he finds Lawrence serving bravely in the midst of them. General George Pollock had been despatched with a force to the Afghan frontier. Sale and Macgregor wrote from Jellalabad, urging the immediate advance of Pollock's brigade, and Lawrence, Wild, and their gallant comrades were repulsed in an attempt to throw in supplies. The Khyber was jet to be forced, and everything was black as storm. threatening night. But after such darkness, as the German poet sings, cometh the light of morn " suddenly the brightest light springs from the darkest sky." The political services of Captain Lawrence in Afghanistan at this time were very valuable. Soon came preparations for an attack on the Khyber Pass (related in the eighth chapter), Pollock's advance and victory, Lawrence's renewed exer- tions ; the eventual dismantling of Jellalabad and AH Musjid : and next the return to " Home, sweet home " the whole forming in Sir John's pages one of the saddest and most eventful histories ever written. The student, with this biography beside him, should thoroughly master it; and, as old Colonel Lawrence said, when one of his children having finished Rollin's " Ancient History " " closed the volume with an exulting bang" "begin it again at the beginning."f It may here be interesting to note that the * P. 32 vol. iv. t P. 30. SIR HENRY LAWRENCE. 41 " Life of Washington " made a lasting impression on Henry Lawrence's mind ; and another biography read to the children, under the discipline of the Colonel, was the " Life of Sir Thomas Munro," one of the greatest soldiers and statesmen England and India ever had, so much admired by George Canning, and whose example continued to influence the future Hero of Lucknow during his brilliant career. In the tenth, eleventh, and twelth chapters, extending from 1842 to 1844, we have Lawrence as active as ever Lord Ellenborough rewarding him with high appointments, and eventually making him Ilesident at the Court of Nepaul. Numerous most important events in the history of India follow, all of which are touched 011 in a most interest- ing manner by the gallant biographer, whose bright day of distinction was also fast drawing nigh.* The concluding or twelth chapter describes the scenery and manner of life in Nepaul, where, as remarked in a paper on Periodical Literature in India, we found the great political watching and waiting ; and, while a Sikh invasion of British India, and the Mutiny of 1857 had been foreshadowed, with great energy assisting his brother officer, Mr. Kaye (the editor and originator of that far-famed periodical), with contribu- tions for the Calcutta Review. Se much, then, for the first volume of the " Life of Sir Henry Lawrence," compiled by his " dear friend and scholar in Indian Administration and Statesmanship, Sir Herbert Edwardes." Sir Herbert, who, while in England had been entrusted by the Lawrence family to write a memoir of Sir Henry, died in December, 1868, leaving chapter twelve unfinished, Mr. Merivale, Under- Secretary of State for India, now became the biographer, and, having arranged the first volume for publication, began the second from the materials left him, at the point at which he took up the work. The difference of style in the two volumes has been considered remarkable ; but superiority has been assigned to * Mr. Merivale writes that "Sir Herbert's best- remembered title to the gratitude of his countrjmea was gained in the three months, May to August, 1848, when, with a mere handful of men at his disposal, he kept in check the revolted Sikhs before Mooltan." Preface. 42 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. Mr. Merivale,* who, having more striking and recent materials to deal with, has, as a distinguished writer, pro- duced a book worthy of the graceful American, Washington Irving, or some of our best English writers of biography, forming the brilliant half of a most interesting biographical study. With two such admirable volumes before him, should the reader be as Major Straith, of Addiscombe, used to re- commend to the student of fortification " thorough in his study," he will be forced to the inevitable conclusion after their perusal that the great Indian officer appears to have been eminently fitted for every post he occupied. Through- out his life he comes forth as " the right man in the right place." Whether as artillery subaltern fighting his battery ; revenue surveyor ; political agent ; adventurous traveller ; conciliator of native soldiery ; philanthropist and founder of the noble asylums which bear his name ; writer of elaborate essays " gravid " with important matter on a variety of subjects, for the Calcutta Review, or of sketches for the newspapers ; one haranguing the natives in their own lan- guage and fearlessly telling the warlike races of India that England could hold her own in the country despite whatever might happen to us elsewhere ;t or as the prudent, brave, and energetic commander of troops during the crowning scene of India's " severest trial " on every occasion he dis- played extraordinary powers, forcing us to repeat what Johnson said of Addison's various ways of presenting truth " mille habet ornatus, mille decentur habet." * This able and distinguished public servant died on the 8th of February, 1874, and the Duke of Argyll in Council appointed Sir Louis Mallet, C.B. (one of the Council), his successor as Under- Secretary of State for India. Sir Louis is known "by reputation as, jointly with Cobden, the author of the French Treaty, and," continues a well-known M.P. "one of our ablest political economists and public servants." Sir Louis retired from the India Office, 30th September, 1883, having been succeeded by J. A. Godlpy, Esq., C.B., and was appointed a. member of Her Majesty's Privy Council for his distinguished services. t The author of this sketch is responsible for the incident of Lawrence thus addressing the natives. If memory serves right, it happened when the Crimean War was at its height, and an uneasy feeling existed about our success before Sebastopol. SIR HENRY LAWRENCE. 43 The second volume consists of eight chapters, with some valuable appendices. The years 1844, 1845, are about to become a critical time for India, the latter year even more so than 1842, when Lord Ellenborough succeeded Lord Auck- land, and the Khyber was yet far from being forced. Henry Lawrence's literary pursuits, assisted by his admirable wife, in Nepaul, and the foundation and early history of the Lawrence Asylum, are fully detailed at the commencement of Mr. Merivale's volume. Regarding his literary pursuits, we have spoken in our sketch of Anglo-Indian Periodical Literature. Sir John Kaye is the grand authority on this subject; and the later biographer remarks that this dis- tinguished writer " was united to Sir Henry by the bonds of strong personal friendship, and also by those which exist between editor and contributor." Who would have thought that the " sweet and gentle boy," of whom his amiable sister said she could not " recall his ever telling an untruth," or the " rather tall, raw-boned youth of sixteen," at Addis- combe, " with high cheek-bones, small grey eyes, prominent brows, and long brown hair " a " very rough Irish lad " would ever have become a Calcutta reviewer, unless we accept the fact, not common with the critical brotherhood, that "he could, when necessary, take or give a licking with a good grace " ? Mr. Merivale gives a list, which we believe not to be complete,* of Sir Henry and Lady Lawrence's contributions to the Calcutta Review, among them the famous essays on " Military Defence of our Indian Empire," " The Sikhs and their Country," ** Indian Army," " Army Reform," and " Englishwomen in Hindustan" (by Lady Lawrence). Of Sir Henry's, as well as of Sir Herbert Edwardes' style as reviewers, we have given slight specimens in our sketch of Anglo-Indian Periodical Literature. But there was one point we did not touch upon the handwriting of the Nepaul reviewer ! Sir John Kaye tells us in his " Lives "f that " his * A nearly complete list will be found in the April number (1874) of the Calcutta Review, with an article entitled "The First Twenty Years " of that periodical, by George Smith, LL. D., lately retired from the Friend of India, to which he had long been so bright an ornament. t P. 115. 44 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. Land writing was not the most legible in the world, and the copyists whom he tried only made matters worse." It was not, pernaps, quite so bad as that of the great divine, philo- sopher, and statesman, Dr. Chalmers, whose mother frankly declared that she always put Tom's letters in her drawer in order that he might read them to her himself when he came home ; but it was certainly defective, and cost East Indian and native compositors (who do the printing business in India) much trouble. This may remind us of some re- marks by Samuel Rogers, the gifted and amiable author of "The Pleasures of Memory." He said it is inexcusable in anyone to write illegibly, and tells us that he got a plain hand by tracing the master's copies against the window ; also that when the great Lord Clive informed his sisters by letter that he had returned them an " elephant " (at least, so they read the word), the true word was " equivalent." In the middle of 1844, the recall of Lord Ellenborough had arrived in Calcutta, and Sir Henry, afterwards Lord, Hardinge, was now Governor-General. The first Sikh war, throughout which Lawrence's knowledge of the Punjab was invaluable, and which was very highly appreciated by Lord Hardinge, together with his appointment of Resident at Lahore, form strong landmarks in our hero's career ; and when at length, events having become of a more peaceful character, after the war he left India, on account of his health, for England, and was made a K.C.B. (April, 1848). Returning to India the same year, he seemed to be in a fair way to exhaust glory if not nature. He was now fulfilling Mr. Hudleston's prophecy SIR HENRY LAWREKCE deter- mined to do his duty before he died ! A useful rather than a glorious life seemed to be his aim. And Sir Henry appears to have been well aware of the truth conveyed in the beauti- ful verse : "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike th' inevitable hour : The paths of glory lead but to the grave.' When he returned to India, Lord Dalhousie was Governor- SIR HENRY LAWRENCE. 45 General,* and bis relations with that stern, and, as some think, greatest Indian Proconsul, are admirably told by Mr. Merivale. Of course, the annexation and the non-annexation policy could not agree for a moment. Lord Dalhousie, too, was quite unlike the amiable " old Peninsular hero," and " favourite pupil of Wellington in his greatest wars," Lord Hardinge. Sir Henry's views regarding annexation are thus summed up in his article on. Oudh in the Calcutta Review, quoted by Sir John Kaye, and which are quite in accordance with the policy we are pursuing at the present time : " We have no right to rob a man because he spends his money badly, or even because he ill-treats his peasantry. We may protect and help the latter without putting the rents into our own pockets." He was Resident at Lahore and Presi- dent of the Lahore Board after the Second Sikh War (1849), which ended in the annexation of the Punjab. We now pass on to chapter eighteen of the work (January, 1853 March, 1857), which contains an account of Sir Henry's valuable labours as Agent in Rajpootana, where, among other humane projects, he turned himself to the abolition of widow-burning, and " the reformation of the prison discipline of the States," quite in keeping with his other noble efforts, such as rescuing poor European soldiers' children from the unseen wretchedness of barrack life, and giving them a comfortable asylum on the Hills the sad death of Lady Lawrence, Lord Dalhousie's succession by Lord Canning, and Sir Henry's appointment to the Chief Commissionership of Oudh. The story of his wife's death, about which Mr. Merivale gives some striking extracts from Sir Henry's letters, is very sad, and some of his remarks after the event to his friend (" spiritual director,") Mrs. Hill, deeply interesting: " He ' wonders why we are allowed to sin and to suffer, why some are born to bliss, and others to misery.' ' " He ' desires to be assured that he and his departed wife must hereafter dwell together.'" And yet this brave * His Lordship arrived in Calcutta on the 12th of Januarr, 1848, shortly before Sir Henry left for England, where he arrived in March, returning with his wife in November. 46 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. Christian soldier, with, a heart brim full of charity, must have been aware of the merciful promise that the mysteries of our " natures unrevealecl below, We yet shall learn and wonder as we know." Doubtless, when his bereavement producing what the Orientals style " sorrow-devouring sorrow " was less acutely felt, he found, like the puritan Havelock, comfort in the Divine order to " be not faithless but believing." Our imperfect sketch, or biographical study, draws to a close, and the crowning effort of a most glorious career is nigh. The terrible mutiny of 1857 was prophesied by Sir Henry Lawrence years before it took place. In this year he was entrusted by the Govern or- General with " the chief direction of military as well as of civil affairs " in Oudh, and became a brigadier-general. It may also be added that Sir Henry Lawrence, in the event of the death or the retire- ment of Lord Canning, was appointed Provisional Governor- General by the Home Government. "No soldier of the Company's army," writes Sir John Kaye, " had ever been so honoured." The last two chapters of Mr. Merivale's most interesting volume, Sir John's graphic pages, and the pens of other writers, have done our noble " hero in the strife " full justice ; so it would be simple presumption to attempt adding anything to such vivid descriptions. Our chief object here has been to draw public attention, especially that of students those who are preparing for India to one of the most glorious lives which have adorned the nineteenth century that of " a distinguished statesman and a most gallant soldier." The particulars of his death are most affecting. During his superhuman exertions at the siege of Lucknow, on the 1st of July, a shell burst in his room at the Residency, and severely shattered his thigh. Among Sir Henry's last directions, communicated to his successor, Major Banks, during great sufferings, were : " Let every man die at his post ; but never make terms. God help the poor women and children." " Spare the precious health of Europeans in every possible way from shot and shell." (Mr. Merivale has it " from shot and sun.") " Entrench SIR HENRY LAWRENCE. 47 entrench entrench. Erect traverses. Cut off enemy's fire." "Put on my tomb only this: HERE LIES HENRY LAWRENCE, WHO TRIED TO DO HIS DUTY. May God have mercy on him." He died from exhaustion on the morning of the 4th of July, " and," writes Dr. Fayrer,* who attended his deathbed, " his last moments were peaceful." On such an occasion we are tempted to think that " One crowded hour of glorious life Is worth an age without a name." " When I think of death," says Grrahame of Claverhouse to Mr. Morton, " as a thing worth thinking of, it is in the hope of pressing one day some well-fought and hard-won field of battle, and dying with the shout of victory in my ear ; that would be worth dying for and more, it would bo worth having lived for ! " This grand speech from the genius of Sir Walter Scott is all for glory; but Sir Henry Lawrence preferred duty, and his personal courage was quite equal to that of Claverhouse. Duty was his first aim ; and of this noble Anglo-Indian it may well be said "The elements So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up, And say to all the world, ' This was a man ! ' " So splendid a character also suggests a gem from the literature of Germany, which is from a translation! of "Words of the Heart," by J. C. Lavater, "For the friends of Love and Faith." Such Christian philanthropy, as exhibited by the " Howard of the Punjab," and especially towards poor soldiers' children, might almost make us imagine that he had the words engraven on his heart " Leave to the Dust Dust ! To the Earth the Seed ! Those glorious with it grow up ! So we shall behold ourselves once again Glorious ! " * In 1886 we find Surgeon- General Sir Joseph Fayrer, K.C.S.I., M.D., F.R.S., still President of the Medical Board at the India Office, an appoint- ment he has filled with distinction for many years. Sir Joseph first accom- panied the Duke of Edinburgh, 7th January to 10th of March, 1870, and H.R.H. the Prince of Wales to India in 1875-76. t Manuscript by Mrs. Henry Westmacott. 48 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. At the conclusion of this volume Mr. Merivale has the following striking passage, which we consider one of the finest in the whole work : " Fourteen months after Sir Henry's death, in August, 1858, the Government of India passed, under Act of Parliament, from the hands of the East India Company to the direct control of the Crown. He wa>', therefore, the last of that great line of statesman soldiers the last in the list which begins with Clive and ends with himself who held to the end, and dignified, the simple title of ' servants of the Company ; ' and with him closes one of the strangest and not least glorious chapters in the history of England and of the world." Originating in a few gunners' crews and factory guards, the Company's army became a gigantic host of a nature unparalleled in ancient or modern times. On the 22nd of July, 1857, three weeks after his death, the Court of Directors in London resolved that " Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence, K.C.B., be appointed provisionally to succeed to the office of Governor-General of India, on the death, resignation, or coming away of Viscount Canning, pending the arrival of a successor from England." Sir Henry, had he lived, would have succeeded him provisionally. But Lord Canning the pilot who weathered the storm died in England (June 17th, 1862), not in India as asserted in this volume, and his successor, Lord Elgin, died in India (1863), and was succeeded by Lord Lawrence, who " was then named to hold the magnificent vice-royalty which would have been his brother's." There is a monument to the memory of Sir Henry Lawrence in St. Paul's Cathedral ; " but," writes his friend, Sir John Kaye, " the grandest monument of all is to be found in the asylums which bear his name " the name of one, perhaps, unequalled " in the ranks of the servants of any Christian State in the latter ages of this world."* Age Jcahun, kya ; or ziijada Jcya nuheen what more need be said in favour of such a biographical study ? * The latter remark is from "William Russell's " Diary in Ind'a," quoted by Sir John. SIR HENRY LAWRENCE. 49 NOTE. With reference to the comparative merits of the two volumes formirg this excellent biography, alluded to in our sketch, Mr. Merivale wrote to the author about a month before his death, on kindly acknowledging receipt of " the favourable notice": "The book has been very well received, with some difference of opinion, I think, as to the merits of the respective authorships." The admirable Sir Herbert Edwardes, it may be here stated, has a monument in Westminster Abbey, close to the cenotaph of Richard Cofcden, his bust resting on a pedestal suppoited by two angels. 50 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. JOHN KUSSEL COLVIN, B.C.S; (LIEUT. -GOVERNOR OF AGRA, 1857.) " OXE civilian, among so many military men ! What can be the reason for such a disproportion in the arrangement of some distinguished Anglo-Indians ? " To this very natural question on the part of the reader, the writer would beg leave to reply, that it is not out of any want of respect for, or appreciation of, the high qualities and splendid actions of the Indian Civil Service, that he has not introduced more purely civil sketches into his pages, but from the fact of no other materials for such having come in his way ; and his knowing that there are very many able writers, possessed of knowledge, only to be obtained in that service particularly of days gone by who are ready, should the demand arise, to do the civilians of India full justice. It is, perhaps, safer and better, therefore, that a military writer should confine himself to military men and soldier- politicals such as form the chief sketches here presented. But there is one item of knowledge in which the writer considers himself second to no man living, and that is an acquaintance with the magnificent hospitality of the Anglo- Indian civilian. He experienced it in the morning of life in Madras and Bengal, and to the close of his service, during many wanderings, and is glad to think he was never one of those who grudged the civilian his far larger salary, as, for many years, from reading and observation, he had oppor- tunities of becoming aware of his mental attainments, his arduous duties, his vast responsibilities, his courage in facing difficulties, as well as of his social qualities, fie recollects * Written in December, 1874. JOHN KUSSELL COLVIN. 51 on one occasion, while on the march, meeting the collector and magistrate (the ruler in fact), of a district as large as Wales a genuine Anglo-Indian collector of the old school whose hospitable tent was adorned by a walking stick of colossal proportions a lathie probably resembling what Dr. Johnson carried to thrash Ossian Macpherson if required which weapon of defence had its story. It was simply that a week or so before, the collector had been surrounded and attacked while engaged in his multifarious duties for the natives' welfare, and narrowly escaped serious injury. No troops were asked for, but he determined not to go abroad among his subjects without a thick stick in future. Even a little incident like this, to a soldier, naturally inspired respect for the civilian, which continued to grow stronger, and reached its acme when he heard of the numerous instances of his " pluck " in the terrible Mutiny of 1857. The following sketch is of a distinguished Bengal civil- ian, who died in harness, just as the light was beginning to break on " the shadows, clouds, and darkness " which had so long rested on a most awful period of our Indian history. Surely the career of a Lieutenant- Governor who died at such a crisis, of the Chief of the Agra Presidency, " the model government of India," where our overthrow was more immediate, and our disappearance more complete than else- where,* the ruler of a population of twenty-three millions (fifteen millions being agricultural), where everything had been done, through village schools and peasant proprietors, to raise the people to exertion " by means of their interest in the land ; " surely such a career is well worthy of a brief study. t John Russell Colvin was the second son of James Colvin, of the great mercantile house of Colvin and Co., * See Calcutta Review, No. 66, December, 1859, p. 428 Article "Lord Dalhousie." t This sketch of- Mr. Colvin is chiefly compiled from a most interesting memoir in the Times (November, 1857), by a distinguished Bengal civilian, Sir Charles Trevelyan, the well known "!NDOPHILUS" the Christian phil- anthropist known also to fame as a financier, and who was for a short time Governor of Madras. The writer has also had the benefit of notes from private and other sources. E 2 52 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. and was born at Calcutta in May, 1807. Educated till nearly fifteen at St. Andrew's, Fifeshire, after a short time passed with a private tutor he entered the East India Col- lege at Haileybury. He must have been a distinguished student, for he at once obtained the highest place among his contemporaries, and kept it throughout, his talents, energy and industry giving the promise of a valuable public ser- vant. No one will venture to dispute that Haileybury pro- duced many great and useful civilians ; and it remains to be seen in our days of coaching and competition, whether the same certain supply of energetic talent will be obtained as in days gone by. Colvin went to India in 1826, and after passing most creditably the College of Fort William, began his career as assistant to the Registrar of the Sudder Court, Mr. Mac- naghten, afterwards the famous Sir William, who, as the British envoy was so treacherously assassinated* in the Afghan War. In this court probably, the young civilian gained his first knowledge of native character, although, perhaps, the future mighty secretary and unfortunate envoy was hardly the best man to implant such knowledge. Still here Colvin must have learned something in the way of forming his opinion of Asiatics, there being no sounder than that written twelve years after to Secretary Macnagh- ten, by Sir Alexander Burnes :f " You can only rely upon them when their interests are identified with the line of procedure marked out to them ; and this seems now to be a doctrine pretty general in all politics." At this period we are told that although John Colvin " lived laborious days," like a sensible man " he did not scorn those delights which belonged to his age and character." His next appointment was Assistant to the Resident at Hyderabad, Mr. William By am Martin, remarkable for the cultivation of literary tastes during the most active period of his Indian career. In 1832, Lord William Bentinck created the office of Assis- tant-Secretary in each of the Government Departments at * Shot by Akbar Khan, 23rd December, 1841. t Hussin Abdul, 2nd June, 1838. JOHN EUSSELL COLVIN. 53 Calcutta, " on the model of the English Under- Secretary- ships," Colvin being selected for Assistant-Secretary in tho Revenue and Judicial department. He was promoted in 1836 to be Secretary to the Board of Revenue in the Lower Provinces of Bengal. The most important event in his official life took place, when, on the 4th of March, 1836, Lord Auckland took his seat as Governor- General of India. His Lordship wanted " the best man " as Private Secretary, and asked those who were able to form a correct judgment on the subject. John Colvin was appointed, and how " ably and zealously," he served his master, forms a grateful record by Lord Auckland, the first passage in which is : " Mr. Colvin has worked, I may say rather with me than under me, during six years. He has had, and he has deserved my entire confidence. He brought to his duties an extensive and accurate knowledge of the interests of India, in its history, and in the details of its administration." There could have been no more trying period for the zealous Secre- tary than that shortly before the famous proclamation of war was issued (1st of October 1838), by the Governor- General, when, it is believed that the mind of Lord Auck- land was so thoroughly bewildered betwixt peace and war, the voice of Burnes and of the more experienced council- lors being on the one side, "those of Captain Wade, the Resident at Loodianah, and the Secretaries Macnaghten and Colvin being on the other," that scarcely an hour elapsed without his Lordship's views alternating " from peace to war, and war to peace." It is strange that " Indo- philus " does not allude to this important matter in his memoir. No more difficult position for a British states- man can be imagined than, during an impending storm in or on the confines of India, with terrific breakers ahead, to say, boldly, " To be, or not to be ! " The five small words, to think is to act contain the very quintessence of decision of character ; but then, what genius it requires, at the head of such an empire, to think rightly ! A great statesman for India must be to the manner born. The Marquis Wellesley and Lord Dalhousie had the faculty of decisive, speedy action in weighty political matters, far above nearly 54 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. all other Governors- General. The former, at the beginning of the present century, to help on the work of consolidat- ing the empire, at once resolved to occupy the province of Cuttack, in Orissa, which led to Puri and the far-famed temple of Jagannath (the Lord of the World), the strong- hold of Hindu idolatry, falling into our hands, but all his orders were conciliatory. Nearly fifty years after, Lord Dalhousie, to prevent another Sikh invasion of British India, at once resolved, when aggression had been made, to fight the Sikhs " with a vengeance," leaving conciliation to follow the conquest if possible. In both cases, and in numerous others among their actions, a grand decision of character is apparent. Lord Auckland with the Russian bugbear, and a most difficult country for warfare in his mind's eye, became overwhelmed in a sea of indecision, and in the opinion of some good judges, almost at the bidding of his pilots, the secretaries, proclaimed one of the most disastrous wars on record. Perhaps, as this world goes, the actual decision to make war was not wrong; but in the state of Lord Auckland's mind, there should have been no final decision at all ; and with the hope of conciliatory action, and the fullest preparations to resist aggression, he should, as a blow to trifling and dangerous indecision, have gone in heart and soul for peace. We are inclined to think that the towering ambition of Sir William Macnaghten is chiefly to blame in this sad piece of business. Sir William did everything in his power to sway the councils of the Government of India. Although a famous Oriental scholar, and, in many respects, a valuable servant of Government, he knew nothing of Afghan diplo- macy, as was eventually proved by the way he acted in " the Peshawur question." He lacked the accuracy of observa- tion, the general soundness of judgment, and the valuable political views of Sir Alexander Burnes. Attentively look- ing at the Chief Secretary's character, he was just the man to have great weight with such a statesman as Lord Auck- land. But, at the same time, it is a fact that Mr. Colvin's influence with the Govern or- General was very great, and, rightly or wrongly, he is said to have identified himself JOHN RUSSELL COLVIN. 55 with, or to a degree inspired, the policy which led to our Caubul disasters. Mr. Colvin, like his master, was grieved at our position in the East, at a period of some humiliation on our part, with reference to Persia and Russia, and may have thought it just possible that diplomatic errors might be corrected, and British prestige restored, by letting slip " the dogs of war ;" but the whole tenor of his career does not show any ten- dency to inculcate a war policy. As will be seen in the remainder of this sketch he was essentially a peaceful man, or, like Clive, when a youth he might have left the Civil Service for the Army. As we have said before, he died in harness, when the first awful cloud of the Mutiny was passing away. And this leads to a very interesting question, which has not yet been fairly answered Had the Afghan war any effect in producing that mutiny ? An eminent Anglo-Indian takes a very strong view when, talking of the people of India as "far- distant, strange, and peculiar," he says that " the most stupendous crime that modern history records " was the Afghan invasion, " a crime deeply affecting that very people." And then, in a tone of indignant eloquent declamation, he remarks, " It was there that the right of England, her true might, was shivered, and the glorious prestige of our nation in Asia passed away ! It was there in the perpetration of an unhallowed scheme, that the Hindustani Sepoy saw an army of his com- rades under the torn banner of Britain ' melted like snow in the glance of the Lord,' and got from the Afghan resist- ing the invader, the first glimmering of his own power ! " But many years before those words were uttered (1858), we had almost recovered our prestige by the glorious deeds of our troops under Pollock and Nott, by the gallant and chivalrous actions of Napier and Outram in Sind, and by the decisive battles which took place (an Indian Waterloo* among them), with a very strong foe, while we resisted and drove back the Sikh invaders of British India ! And even in the year of the Mutiny the people must have observed how well Sir John Lawrence held the Punjab, " kept back * Sir Herbert Edwardes styled Ferozshah the Indian Waterloo. 5G DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. the wild tribes of Afghanistan, whose bands were mustering in Cabul for the invasion of India, and forced Wilson to the storm of Delhi."* Truly we may say that, during the Indian crisis, a kind Providence looked after us ; and even en- lightened Hindus and Mahomedans w r ere forced to note what Shakspeare tells us, that " There's a divinity which shapes our ends, Rough hew them as we will." It may be said, then, although Lord Auckland, or his secre- taries, gave us the Afghan war, that war had little or nothing to do with producing the Indian Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, which chiefly arose from over confidence, and a growing want of tact and discipline of course difficult to main- tain where Brahmanic caste is so powerful in our relations with the Bengal army ! Our grand fault in the East, since Warren Hastings (the first Governor- General) consolidated the empire which Clive conquered, has been over-confidence. John Bull, in all his political conduct, especially in India and the neighbouring countries, from his kindly nature and knowledge of his inherent power, is too apt to confide, and too slow to prepare. Clouds on the horizon do not dismay him : they have passed away before, and will pass away again. This is hardly according to the advice of Burke, or our greatest political orators and writers, and, nearly twenty years ago, was alluded to in the Calcutta Review : " Trust- ing overweeningly, like true Englishmen, in our intrinsic strength ; confiding with more than Mahomedan infatuation in our ' ikbal ;' we leave much, sometimes all, to fortune. Such was long, very long, our practice on the North-West Frontier." We now return to Mr. Colvin. He came home with Lord Auckland in 1842, to enjoy that " chief nourish er '' in an Anglo-Indian career, a furlough. Both mind and body were refreshed after three years' comparative leisure. He returned to India in 1845, and for a year held the appoint- * Calcutta Review (1859), No. 63, p. 248. The Reviewer is of opinion that Mr. Montgomery (now Sir Robert, the esteemed Member of Council) was the only other man (except Sir Henry Lawrence) who could have held the Punjab. He likewise praises the adrnhable conduct of Davidson arid Macpherson at their respective courts. JOHN RUSSELL COLVIN. 57 menfc of Resident in Nepaul, after which, he was transferred (1846) to the Commissionership of the Tenasserim Pro- vinces, where, in a difficult position his administration gave much satisfaction to the Government as well as to the public. He had left the land of Vishnu and Siva to sojourn in the entirely different region of Guadama. Here his measures, says " Indophilus," regarding the timber trade for the com- munity of Moulmein, although energetic and enterprising, may be literally styled a ivooden one " were held to be par- ticularly useful, and he did much good by framing an uni- form code of procedure for the native judges." In 1848 (if we recollect right) Mr. Colvin was promoted to the Sudder Court, Calcutta, where " he became facile princeps, so much so that it was commonly said that the pleaders had some- times to be reminded that they ought to address the Court and not Mr. Colvin." This is very remarkable when we consider that he had no regular judicial training. All his knowledge of law was gained by hard study, and his be- coming chief in a learned Court may be justly deemed " a proof of his intellectual superiority." As Sudder Judge, he may be said to have made his best score. The Court at the time was in little repute, and he pulled it up effec- tively. While on the Bench, he remonstrated with Lord Dalhousie for appointing a junior to the Foreign Office. His Lordship took the remonstrance in good part, defended himself, and shortly after sent him to the North- West. Calcutta " gup " said that he was sent there to escape the alternative of giving him a seat in Council, where his anti- Oudh annexation views, and his independence, might have proved troublesome. Mr. Colvin was appointed Lieutenant- Go vernor of the North- West Provinces (or Agra), on the death of the celebrated " big collector," Mr. Thoinason (1853). "When thus appointed," writes "Indophilus," with the highest appreciation of his friend, " there was certainly no man in the service whose name stood higher for activity, ability, and force of character, and he had been already marked out as a fit man for Council." The magni- tude of such a government as that of th.3 North- West Pro- vinces cannot be easily understood by Englishmen, who 58 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. would seem to prefer any study to that of the geography and history of India. It. may give some idea of the extent of territory to remark that the provinces which, with very few exceptions, have come under the far-famed " settlement " are about equal to England and Scotland, without "Wales. In point of population (already given) they nearly equal Italy, including Sicily and Sardinia; while the gross revenue realized from them exceeds by one-half that of the Kingdom of Belgium.* From an able Bengal civilian, who knew Mr. Colvin well, we learn that as Lieutenant-Governor he laboured under the great disadvantage of being a stranger to the Province. This prevented him from being one with his officers from the first. But he became popular with most, and always had the reputation of singular fairness. His outsider position, however, led him to consult others as well ; and he was thought to lean too much on advice, and to act too little from his own motives. Still, with these dis- advantages in his high position, John Colvin exhibited an astonishing industry and mastery of detail. Perhaps, after all, the grand difficulty in official life is to do little things well. He was perpetually " asking questions, gathering opinions, collating, and he carried this to an extent rarely equalled." Such a mode of conduct was necessary to a governor who had not the practical professional knowledge of Mr. Thomason, who had been a magistrate and collector, and had made settlements ; or of Sir John Lawrence, who had " served in every department from top to bottom." It is particularly mentioned that the earnest adoption of everything that was good in Thomason's plans, shows how thoroughly Colvin had the public interest at heart, furnishing " an honourable con- trast to the usual disposition of public men to depreciate their predecessors, and to connect their own names with new measures, of which they alone would have the credit." His laudable desire to test the qualifications of his officers by in- viting conferences, and making each state his opinion, re- minds us of a story of Holt Mackenzie, given in the article * Calcutta Reriew, No. 24, December, 1849, p. 416. "The Settlement of the North- West Provinces." JOHN EUSSELL COLVIN. 59 before quoted,* when the brighter days for the North- West had just arrived, and it was acknowledged that the Revenue Officers alone were able to correct the abuses of an age passed away. Holt Mackenzie was the man who made this dis- covery. We read that he saw the only way to obtain " an accurate knowledge of a practical, but complicated subject, hitherto little understood, was to go familiarly among the people whom it concerned ; to " talk to them in office and out of office." His advice to the collectors was, " Take your gun in your hand, and go among the people ;" to the commissioners, " Get your collectors together over a good bottle of claret, and then talk to them about the settlement." The reviewer fears that one part of his counsel was often followed without the other. So, like Holt Mackenzie, John Colvin was a great advocate for relaxing the stiffness of official inter- course where information was to be gained ; but he nourished at a time when drinking was less in fashion, and there was little danger of meeting a Shearman Bird of Dacca, who was said, during his life, to have consumed enough claret to float a seventy-four ! Ever anxious to place merit above seniority, he strove to get the right man into the right place, and the judiciousness of some of his appointments was of course questioned. He was the steady friend of improvement in every phase, and in the all-important matter of detecting and suppress- ing crime, a supervision which kept the whole machinery of the police on the alert, he showed remarkable energy. The capture of a dacoit or murderer was, with Mr. Colvin, not only a fact to note, but one to receive deep consider- ation. In the Revenue Department, he did much for the settlement of the Saugor and Nerbudda territories, then recently attached to his Government ; and he was arranging for the renewal and revision of the settlement in the North- Western Provinces, which was about to expire. [The custom was to strike an average ; the revenue which each village could bear was estimated, and a settlement was made for the whole community, to last for thirty years. ]f * Page 429. t This famous settlement was completed by the great authority on Indian evenue matters, Robert Mertins Bird, in 1841. 60 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. He was " strongly impressed with the importance of moderate and fixed assessments of the land revenue as the foundation of all improvement." On all matters relating to public works and education, Mr. Colvin brought his usual energy and minuteness to bear. It might almost be said that with him it was not enough to see the bricks in position, but he must also satisfy himself (often so necessary with dishonest native contractors), of the quality of the cement by which they are to remain as a work. Under him, in the Public Works Department, the new system arising from the abolition of the Calcutta Military Board, and the placing of all works, civil and military, under the local governments, came into operation. He prosecuted to completion the Ganges Canal, which immortalises the names of Thomason and Cautley, and opened the canal himself. Road making, under his really useful administration was advanced every- where. He extended the machinery for popular vernacular education to all the districts, which had previously, as an experiment, only existed in a few. The writer of his memoir says most forcibly what, having gone thus far, the dullest reader can easily believe, that, " in all miscellaneous improvements, Mr. Colvin was most zealous and public- spirited, as was to be expected from his turn of mind, which readily grappled with anything and everything that presented itself." Not the least of his merits was his conduct towards the press, which was always " liberal and successful." " Indophilus " particularly mentions that Lord Auckland had the cordial support of the Calcutta press during the alarm and depression caused by the Afghan war, which support, of course, was wisely encouraged by Mr. Colvin ; or we may say that the good will of the press cheered a Governor- General while his career was fast closing " in difficulties and darkness." The Lieutenant- Governor's continual desire like Mr. Thomason, to propagate useful information through the press was manifest through- out his administration. It was a common saying that Mr. Colvin " over-governed." Business greatly increased ; the secretaries could not nearly keep pace with the inens cequa in arduis of their energetic chief. But now a cloud appears JOHN RUSSELL COLVIN. 61 on the horizon, and the labourer is to be taken from his works of peace and improvement. Just one hundred years after Clive " seized the keys of Hindustan " for the East India Company, the mutiny of the Bengal native army broke out a mutiny, English readers who have not been in India should ever keep in mind, not of the Indian Army, ^"t of the army of Bengal. It was the sudden revolt of an army, so far as friendship with the British was concerned insecure and hollow, with sepoys " full of treacherous hypocrisy." Feeding and glutting themselves on their liberal masters, they quietly and cleverly bided their time for rebellion and murder, the flame of which they were to fan with their ill-gotten gains. For a very long time, it has been well and truly said, avarice was " the sheet anchor " which kept the vessel of the Bengal army in tolerable safety ; and to show the saving propensities of the sepoys we read that one regiment in Pegu saved three lacs of rupees (30,000).* But now the minds (if such treasures they really possess), of the sepoy dominating majority, became fairly unsettled, and the time appeared to have come when the Indian statesman's prophecy was to be fulfilled; and a large portion of our countrymen were to get up in the morning with their throats cut ! Englishmen began seriously to muse on the probable overthrow of a splendid empire, and to wonder if such a state of things could really be produced by the revolt of a Sepoy army. Having thus touched on the native troops of the Mutiny, we trust that, even in the sketch of a distinguished Anglo-Indian, a slight digression may be pardoned if, thinking it will add to the interest of our little volume, a reminiscence of days gone by (nearly thirty years ago) is given, from which it may be deduced by those about to pass a competitive examination, that the French were the original authors of the Sepoy Mutiny. This time we give the great nation the credit of the invention, for they used to be rather prone to invent "everything which the cunning rogues, the English, unmercifully appropriate as their own." They invented * The Indian Crisis, 1857. Calcutta Review, No. 58, December, 1857, p. 435. 62 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. fluxions, not Newton ; and logarithms, not Napier ; the vaccine was discovered by a French physician at Montpelier, long before Jenner was heard of ; the Lancaster system of education was discovered by the Chevalier Paylett, before the revolution ; Lerebours invented achromatic telescopes, not Dolland; and the French even contest the invention of Sir H. Davy's safety lamps ; so now they had better take the entire credit of the Indian Mutiny. But there is one thing clear : if there had been no Bengal native army, there would have been no sepoy mutiny ; and, consequently, no such terrible massacres as those of Delhi, Cawnpore, and Futtehghur. What would Dupleix and Labourdonnais the grand promoters of French power in the East have thought of such an insurrection, could their apotheoses have visited India in fatal 1857 ? It is interesting to read how in 1644, just nine years before Fort St. George (Madras) was raised to the rank of a presidency, " Thirty recruits and a considerable amount of ordnance and military stores " were landed from England, for it was not till nearly a century later that the idea occurred to Clive of partly conquering and keeping the country by its own inhabitants. This famous notion of the Peon, or native foot-soldier, was taken by our great countryman from the shrewd Frenchman Dupleix, which fact was, on one occasion, strongly remarked on to the present writer, while on a visit to the Governor of Pondicherry. The conversation turned on the political exploits of Lord Ellenborough, and our wonderfully constituted Bengal native army ; for no one ever dreamt then that in another twelve or fourteen years, such a large, mutinous crew would nearly ruin our power in Hindustan. " Look there, sir," said the sailor governor, pointing to a marble bust of Dupleix at the end of the loom, " there is the man who taught you how to conquer India with its own inhabitants. You are of course aware that Clive took his idea of the native soldier entirely from this clever Frenchman ? " The Bengal army in particular, went on increasing till 1857, when the grand explosion took place; so what (with a few European troops) served the purposes of Clive, Dupleix and others in the East, during early JOHN RUSSELL COLYIN. 63 European conquests, was no longer to be relied on. And it is curious to note how, after the Mutiny (as if out of com- pliment to Clive, who won his first glories in Madras), the order of faithfulness to British rule in the native armies was clearly seen to run Madras, Bombay, Bengal. We left. John Colvin about to be taken from his peaceful labours to face " the stern realities of the military insurrec- tion." The chief importance of Agra lay in its proximity to the great native independent states, to the dominions of Holkar and Scindia,* and to E/ajpootana. Being also the seat of Government in the North- West, and with its fort and strategical position affording the nucleus of a strong military centre, it is difficult to imagine any position at the time involving higher responsibility or requiring more commanding powers of action than that in which the Lieutenant- Governor was placed. As it turned out, u the worst massacres took place at Futtehghur and Cawnpore. There was the undying malice of the Nana, the almost entire absence of European soldiers, the contiguity of the newly settled kingdom of Oudh, and the excitable nature of a martial population, not yet tamed into forgetfulness of their old predatory habits." In a very different position was the great ruler of the Punjab. " Indophilus " tells us that " John Colvin's Government was itself the focus of the insurrection. Lawrence may be said to have been his own comniander-in-chief, and after an European force had been detached to Delhi, immediately on the outbreak, he still had at his disposal seven European regiments (including one sent from Bombay to Moultan), besides European artillery, and a local Sikh force of about 20,000 Hrst-rate irregulars of all arms." The civil governor of the North-West, as the posts were stopped, could not even communicate with the * Holkar's death occurred the day before the anniversary of Waterloo, 1886, and that of Scindia three davs after (20th June). These distinguished Hindu chiefs almost became Anglo-Indians, as they held the honorary rank of General in the English army, conferred on them by Her Majesty the Queen- Empress. Had Theebau of Burma possessed even a small part of the stuff which made up Holkar and Scindia, he would have now been on the throne of Alompra, and our staunch ally in Eastern Asia. 64 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. Commander-in-Chief. The Punjab ruler Lad three days* knowledge by telegraph (by which he is said to have saved India) of the insurrection at Meerut and Delhi, and had time for arranging for disarming the Sepoy regiments under him. Mr. Colvin had no warning, and the military revolt had " actually taken place within his government, and the mutineers were in possession of Delhi before he could begin to act." He had only time to look about him, and perhaps hear people invoking Lord Dalhousie, who had recently left India,* in the forcible language of a lady poet of the rebellion : " Come back to us : the tiger, which we deemed So tame, has broken loose, missing thy hand, Most firm, yet gentle ; and this glorious land Is full of his foul slaughters." But when he did act, he acted with promptitude and vigor. About a week after the Mutiny began, or on the 17th May, Lord Canning telegraphed to Mr. Colvin, thank- ing him most cordially for what had been " so admirably done," and for keeping that most valuable of treasures at such a crisis " a stout heart." At Agra he held a parade of the troops, clearly explaining to them that the Government had no intention whatever to interfere with their religion and caste ; he strengthened the fort, and threw into it a large amount of supplies ; he raised a body of volunteers (horse), who afterwards did good service ; and called upon Scindiah and the neighbouring native states to use their contingents in keeping open the roads and preserving the peace of the country. In a spirit which Vauban or Cormontaigne would have admired, he strongly deprecated any " premature abandonment of our position." He wrote to the Governor- General on the 22nd of May : " It is a vitally useful lesson to be learnt from the experience of present events that not one step should be yielded in retreat on an outbreak in India which can be avoided with any safety." Surely the strictest and most able and impartial civil or military critic will confess that John Colvin had * In March, 1856. JOHN EUSSELL COLVIN. 65 nobly done his duty up to this mark. But now was about to come the unfortunate proclamation the " mild proclama- tion," as it was jeeringly called which, rightly or wrongly, has been seized upon by historians and other writers to detract from his fame. The " quality of mercy " in a ruler had never been so severely called in question before. Even a faint shadow of mercy was quite out of the question until the fearful crisis was over. The unfortunate proclamation came about in this fashion : As early as the 15th May, Mr, Colvin urgently recommended the issue of a procla- mation by the Governor- General, to disabuse the Sepoys of the delusions under which they laboured, and to give a bridge for the faithful to walk over and separate themselves from the mutineers. On the 24th of May he reiterated the advice. He was strongly opposed to a general severity towards all, thinking that such action would " estrange the remainder of the army." " Hope," he wrote, " I am firmly convinced should be held out to all those who were not ring- leaders, or actively concerned in murder or violence." He wished the Commander-in-Chief to be authorised to act upon such a line of policy, adding, " When means of escape are thus open to those who can be admitted to mercy, the remainder will be considered obstinate traitors, even by their own countrymen, who will have no hesitation in siding against them." The subject being of " vital and pressing importance," Mr. Colvin requested " the earliest answer to this message." The pressure to act in some manner regard- ing a proclamation must have been very strong indeed. The idea of a successful issue of his own model had evidently taken firm hold on his mind ; and certainly, at such an awful time, to many it seemed to depend, like a man's fortune, on the toss up of a halfpenny whether success would follow, or otherwise. Without waiting for an answer from the Viceroy, on the following day (May 25th) he reported that he had taken the decisive step. " Supported," he wrote, " by the unanimous opinion of all officers of experience here, that this mutiny is not one to be put down by high-handed autho- rity, and thinking it essential at present to give a favourable turn to the feelings of the Sepoys who have not yet entered 66 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. against us, I have taken the grave responsibility of issuing on my own authority the following proclamation." Order and control in many of his districts had vanished. His latest letter from Meerut was now seven days old, and not a single letter had reached him from the Commander-in- Chief.* Surely India was never in such a mess, nor Local Governor placed in such a disagreeable plight before. We seriously cannot help thinking that, had Lord Dalhousie been in power, Mr. Colvin would not under any circumstances have issued his proclamation ; but would have contented himself with other means at his disposal for keeping order and pre- venting the spread of disaffection at least, until he heard from the Governor- General. The Lieutenant- Governor seemed to have some intuitive knowledge of the sloivness, where grave political matters required speedy decision, of Lord Canning's mind ! Action was indeed necessary at Agra; but the very commencement of the Lieutenant- Governor's proclamation was unfortunate : " Soldiers en- gaged in the late disturbances, who are desirous of going to their own homes, and who give up their arms at the nearest Government civil or military post, and retire quietly, shall be permitted to do so unmolested." While all Anglo-India was, with the deepest execration, thirsting for revenge on the merciless rebels ; while Siva wore his most destructive attire, and his wife, Kali, her most ghastly necklace of skulls ; while even their fat, elephant-headed son, Ganesa, seemed to have abjured his protective qualities for ruthless slaughter, and (in Shaksperian language) if ever hell was empty and all the devils present in a tempest it was now, it certainly did seem hardly the time for any show of mercy. Action of some sort, however, was necessary. But without a large European force to back Mr. Colvin's efforts, what was to be done ? The concluding paragraph of the proclama- tion is decisive enough as to punishment : " Every evil- minded Instigator in the disturbance, and those guilty of heinous crimes against private persons, shall be punished. * Who was preparing for the siege of Delhi. On his march thither General Anson died of cholera, brought on by overwork, at Karnaul, 27th of May. JOHN BUSSELL COLVIN. 67 All those who appear in arms against the Government after this notification is known, shall be treated as open enemies." It was almost "beyond human judgment, in such an unpre- cedented crisis, " to know what were good to do ; " so the author of the proclamation, from a strong sense of duty, risked his reputation by an act which was sure to become more public than any other. " Indophilus " cites two cases from history which justify Mr. Colvin, so far as precedent is concerned. These are the Mutiny at the Nore, and the Irish Rebellion ; and any one carefully reading the Royal Proclamation on the former, and the preamble of the Irish. Act of Parliament of George III. on the latter insurrection, will see that the course adopted by John Colvin was the usual one on such occasions. In. an ordinary state of public feeling, it is remarked " that unsparing .military executions would not have been considered justifiable until the attempt had been made to distinguish between the leaders and followers, between those who struck the blow and added outrage to insubordination, and those who passively or willingly yielded to the movement of the body to which they belonged." To this it was replied that there should have been no parleying with rebels, and that the armed opposition should have been put down before discriminating between different degrees of guilt. On this point " Indo- philus " remarks, that if Mr. Colvin had waited till then, it would have been too late. " The object was, to apply a solvent to reduce the compact mass of rebellion to its ele- ments, and to give to the w^ell-disposed an opportunity of returning to their allegiance, leaving the guilty remainder to their well-deserved fate." Less reflective men might have acted better, seeing that it was during an extraordinary " state of public feeling," arid on the principle of violent diseases requiring violent remedies. But such a mode of action was not to be expected from the high judicial mind of John Colvin. The proclamation was universally approved at Agra. It seemed to his advisers that it was the right thing to do at that time, and under those circumstances. And this forces a remark somewhat similar to what Johnson applied to the writing of the poet Savage under difficulties : F 2 68 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. " How many other able and distinguished civilians in India, had they been at Agra, would have acted better than Colvin?" But the difficulty of obtaining evidence as to- guilt on giving up arms was severely commented on by the head of the Indian Government. A new proclamation,, directed by the Governor- General, fell flat just as much as his Lieutenant- Governor's did ; and, taken as a whole, it was identical in substance with a telegraphic message from Lord Canning, " bearing the same date as the proclamation, but received subsequently to its being issued." Colvin wrote to his family, that they might understand the grounds of L;* conduct : " That those who had taken a leading or a deliberately malignant part in the revolt would ever seek to- take advantage of the notification, we know to be quite out of the question. The chance that seemed open, through the proclamation, of escape to such persons, was what called forth the heavy censure at many distant points : but we who were nearer the scene, and knew the real spirit of the revolt,, could not entertain such a supposition." If Mr. Colvin had lived to complete his defence, he might have added, " that the Governor- General afterwards himself issued a circular letter, in which the principle was fully admitted that a dis- tinction ought to be made between the innocent and guilty r even in Sepoy regiments w r hich have murdered their officers, and that punishment ought to be founded upon some proof of individual guilt ; and the Governor- General's circular was issued on the 31st July, when all hope of securing an immediate political result by inducing the comparatively innocent to separate themselves from their more guilty associates had passed away which was not the case in May y when the character of the insurrection had not been fully developed." " Indophilus " concludes this masterly part of his memoir by remarking, with the clear judgment and im- partiality of a true friend and critic : " The difficulty of obtaining evidence must have been encountered at some time or other, unless it had been determined to make no- distinction between the Sepoys belonging to the offending regiments, whatever their individual conduct might have been." On the question of Lord Canning being blamed for JOHN KUSSELL COLVIN. 69 his clemency, an able writer, the year after the Mutiny, was of opinion that nobody ever blamed the Governor- General for being clement. He was not clement in the commence- ment of 1857, and had no chance of being so ; the sepoys had it all their own way. " What we all objected to, was Lord Canning's discourse about clemency at a time when Europeans were prostrate at the mercy of a bloodthirsty enemy." When Delhi was taken, India saved, and Luck- now had fallen, it w r as the time for " mercy and pacifica- tion ;" for then "the crisis was overpast." Another able writer one very far from being prejudiced either in favour of Lord Canning or Mr. Colvin shrewdly remarks : " If many guiltless must have fallen at first under the blind rage of the English or the grosser greed of the Sikh soldiery, it seems clear that some needless waste of lives and property, sowing in its turn rich crops of fear and hatred in the minds of people otherwise loyally, at any rate peacefully, disposed, must be laid to the rash zeal of those civil officers for whose guidance Lord Canning framed the resolution of the 31st July."* .Doubtless, Mr. Colvin had similar motives when, in the early development of the Mutiny, he issued his pro- clamation. Lord Canning's proclamation of May 16th has been compared to pouring a bottle of oil upon a stormy sea " to quell the wild tumult of its waves ; " but notwithstand- ing, to the Governor- General's credit, he, at the same time, awoke to unmistakeable energy, which showed that he did not put his trust in papers or other statecraft. He im- mediately summoned European troops from all quarters, despatched ships to intercept the Chinese expedition under Lord Elgin, and called for speedy and large reinforcements from home. He also proclaimed martial law in the dis- turbed districts. It should also be kept in mind that Mr. Colvin was the first in the latter particular, by asking leave to proclaim martial law around Meerut ; that, while the cantonment fires those " red forerunners of evil " were raging "in the very seat of his rule," he showed remarkable energy ; and that, at the end of May, two companies of * Trotter's "History of the British Empire ia India," vol. ii p. 285. 70 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. native troops having mutinied at Muttra (twenty miles from Agra), he disarmed the remainder of the two regiments to which they belonged (the bulk of them slipping off to Oudh or Delhi) ; in their default, the English band of volunteers which Mr. Colvin had raised, taking their place, and doing admirable service.* It was Mr. Colvin, also, who first urged on Lord Canning that the returning Persian force be at once- ordered round to Bengal. Judged by such activity of mind for the public welfare, the subject of our sketch appears in a fair way to be more admired by posterity than by some highly-intelligent Anglo-Indians of the present time ; like many writers, too prone to judge a man's career by one action only. John Colvin said truly, in the letter to his familv, already quoted that his " proclamation remained a mere trifling incident in the great series of events." From this sketch, perhaps, the useful lesson may be gained, that all proclamations in India, at a time of an extraordinary revolt, when every calculation, on ordinary grounds, for its suppression, has a very great chance of being in error, are utterly useless. There is no help for it at present, but to be constantly prepared, at all the important posts in the country,, with a strong European force, and such aids for a general plan of fortification as our best engineers may deem advisable. A force of 65,000 or 70,000 men is certainly the minimum of European troops we should have in India,, including a very strong force of artillery, of which the Oriental mind has a wholesome dread (the Burmese used to style even our 12-pounder rockets " devil-sticks ") ; and then, with such a speedy mode of transport of fully equipped batteries by rail to any scene of outbreak or disaster, as that recently carried outf by Sir Charles Reid under whom a fully equipped battery of artillery was moved from Umritsur to Meean Meer by railway at a few minutes'" notice by a telegram and with the hope of 30,000 more * Towards the end of May, in connection with the progress of rebellion near Agra, may particularly be mentioned the brave stand made at Mainpoorie, to the eastward, by Lieutenant de Kantzow, "a noble example," as Lord! Canning well said, "of courage, patience, good judgment, and temper." t November, 1874. JOHN RUSSELL COLVIN. 71 men from home and the colonies, ready for service in India at a day's notice, with various important changes in the constitution of our native armies, which need not be mentioned here, India would become tolerably safe ; and it will remain so, till the people having, through its being made known to them by every available avenue, learned the force and excellence of Christian truth, the transition state of the Native mind, prophesied by Sir Charles Trevelyan, shall have arrived, and we behold a nation " born in a, day ! " Mr. Colviu's life was now fast drawing to a close. So much responsibility had rarely been laid on one man's shoulders, and no wonder his health was shattered. That terrible energy which kills more public men than is generally supposed, was now in full play. A hostile force, composed chiefly of the Neemuch Brigade, arrived within a short march of Agra. Quarters had been prepared for the entire Christian population in the old Royal Residence, which had little of the character of a fort ; and into this place of refuge they went, while the main body of our much smaller force marched out to meet the rebels. On the 25th of August the fort had 4,289 inmates, including the European Regiment and the Artillery. There were 2,514 women and non-adults. But everything had been foreseen and arranged, and the bad effects of compressing such a multitude into a small space prevented. That watchful care of others, which so distinguished his life, now became more and more apparent. But the Lieutenant -Governor had received his death stroke. The guns of the fort commanded all that was left of the vast Government lie had striven so hard to improve. Even the remnant was threatened by a war-cloud from the direction of Gwalior. Mr. Colvin's first attack of illness immediately preceded his removal into the fort ; but, in spite of the advice of kind friends, he would not cease from work. Eventually he was transferred to " the freer air of canton- ments," which gave him but temporary benefit. His son, Elliott, who was out in the district, was just recalled in time " to see and be recognised by his father." Mrs. Colvin 72 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. was in Switzerland, on her way home to England. "On Wednesday afternoon, the 9th of September," writes " Indo- philus," " he sank quietly, without a pain, to his last blessed sleep," and was buried inside the fort on the following morning. In the notification of his death by the Govern- ment of India (September 19th), a fine passage occurs : "Worn by the unceasing anxieties and labours of his charge, which placed him in the very front of the dangers by which of late India has been threatened, health and strength gave way, and the Grovernor-General-in-Council has to deplore, with sincere grief , the loss of one of the most distinguished among the servants of the East India Company." He could discuss literary and political subjects with the ablest men of the day ; but " the warm and genial qualities of his heart were his crowning excellence." Colvin is described as one of the last of our Indian statesmen who derived their inspiration by immediate tradition from Malcolm, Munro, Metcalfe, and Bentinck. " These wise master-builders completed the edifice of our Indian Empire on the solid foundation of good faith, justice, and personal respect. Many of their disciples devoted themselves to the interests of the natives with a self-denying zeal which has been seldom equalled." Had he lived a short time longer, we can imagine with what delight lie \vould have read of the brilliant siege of Delhi (20th September), when the tide of disaster turned, and India passed out of its " dark phase of mourning ; " of the deeds of the "glorious Nicholson," and of Hodson, "the Cavalier of Cavaliers ; " all turning him to think of the people, justice, and the settlement in his loved North- West Provinces, where " the labours cf Robert Bird, Thomason. and Colvin will not be in vain." Reviewing the life of Mr. Colvin, we cannot help being of opinion that, during his Indian career, he did his vast amount of work ever under the strong impulse of duty. For such a crisis as the great Sepoy rebellion, he may be said to have been, like Lord Canning (who won high honours at Oxford), over-cultivated. More rough and ready material, with half the brains, perhaps, would have done better at such a crisis. Military men are JOHN RUSSELL COLVIN. 73 not, as a rule, so highly educated as civilians who rise to distinction. But their profession particularly fits them for action in troublous times ; and this tends to impress us with the idea that men like Sir John Malcolm, Sir Henry Lawrence, Sir James Outram, and Sir Herbert Edwardes, can go anywhere and do anything. The frequent over- cultivation in the civilian tends to make him halt between two opinions, to seek a reason for all he does, which will not do in a crisis requiring speedy action. The military political, without any judicial or legal training, has only his common sense to lead him straight to the point. This is apt to remind one of the well-known story of the great Lord Mansfield, who, being asked by a distinguished general officer, with judicial as well as military duties to perform, what he should do, as his inexperience and ignorance of technical jurisprudence would prove a serious impediment to his efficient administration of justice. "Make your mind perfectly easy," said the great judge ; " trust to your native good sense in forming your own opinions, but beware of attempting to state the grounds of your judgment. The judgment will probably be right the argument infallibly wrong." Mr. Colvin left seven sons, three of whom are in the Bengal Civil Service, Bazett, Elliott, and Auckland Colvin, the latter holding the important post of Secretary to Government, North- West Provinces. The fourth son, Clement, is in the India Office, was recently Private Secretary to the Duke of Argyll, and is now in that capacity to Sir Louis Mallet, Under Secretary of State for India. While concluding this imperfect sketch of a distinguished Anglo-Indian, the clock announced that 1874 had passed away; the writer, therefore, cannot help remarking how admirably the severe trial of the old year the Bengal famine has come to a close. Wonderful energy has been shown by Englishmen in the year that has gone, which must prove to the natives of India that, in works of real necessity and charity, Great Britain is ever to the fore. India must now be fully aware that, under Providence, we can arrest the dis- astrous famine as well as put down the deadly rebellion. In the fatal year 1857, at the very outbreak of the Mutiny, the 74 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. writer occupied an important post near Hyderabad, the huge and wicked city of the Dekhan, where, although we had one rather serious disturbance, peace was well preserved through the tact of the Nizam's most able Minister, the illustrious Salar Jung, the prudent action of Colonel Davidson, the Resident at Hyderabad, and the precautionary measures taken by the officer commanding the Subsidiary Force.* This slight reminiscence compels a thought of how glad we, in India, were to part with a year which had been so fatal to so many of our brave countrymen ; and, although we have still to be with the " avenging angel " during that period, while the, in many respects, glorious old year of 1874 (to many like an old friend) has just departed, perhaps it will not be out of place to give the following admirable sonnet, from the " Poetry of the Rebellion," which would have done no discredit to Wordsworth, on 1857. " Depart ! depart ! We ever hid farewell To our old years with a quick, sudden pain Around our hearts, as if we would again Recall the past by working of a spell ; But thou art different, and we would compel Thee from our homes, if power were to constrain Thy speedy parting. Wane, quickly wane, Sad moon, and let us hear the signal bell. Old year, wrap thy blood-stained robes around, And take thy staff within thy trembling palro, And leave us ; wait thou not for blessing-sound, For lingering clasp of hand, soothing as balm : We standing in a silentness profound, Shall watch thy going, still, relieved, and calm."t MARY LESLIE. Brigadier, afterwards Major-General Sir Isaac Campbell Coffin, K. C.S.I. Calcutta Review, No. 62, December, 1868, p. 360. 75 BRIGADIER-GENERAL NE1LL. (A BRIEF REVIEW OF HIS MILITARY CAREER.)* THE " Second Burmese War," like, perhaps, most other recent military narratives, has been entirely cast into the shade by the more stirring and novel matter of the Bengal Sepoy Revolt. Such a cloud, so awful in result, being as every one hopes, about, to give way to a prospect " bright and advancing," the minds of some may once more turn to Pegu, the province but a few years conquered, where, during the times of bloodshed and rebellion, during a chaos of darkness, disorder and ruin throughout a large portion of India, the sunshine of a tranquil and increasing prosperity has steadily appeared ; and where now, it may safely be said, Justice really breathes, and Civilization, after a hard struggle,, is really born. On the present occasion, however, let us allow Pegu to claim our sympathy for another reason. It is the land where Havelock and Neill first displayed those peculiar qualities which eventually led them on, in Bengal and Oudh, to success and victory. True enough, neither of them were leading men, the fulmina belli, as they have since been styled, neither of them held the rank of General in Pegu; but Havelock. with his .Company of Europeans, in the first, and Neill, with his Adjutant- General's duties, in the second Burmese War, did quite enough to show, that, if opportunity offered, they would one day make a mighty progress on the path to fame. To both this opportunity came rather late in life ; but not * Written at Nagpore, December, 1858. 76 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. too late to exhibit judgment combined with " dash " and vast powers of enduring fatigue, reminding ns of Clive at Arcot or Plassey, and of the ablest soldiers that have been reared in this our " nursery of Captains." Literature, also, is indebted to the departed heroes. Both were military writers of no ordinary capacity ; and we naturally grieve to think, that the pen of Havelock which wrote the " Cam- paigns in Ava," more than thirty years ago, and that of Neill, which recorded the " services of the First Madras European regiment," the immortal Fusiliers, will never tell us more than has already been told of that glorious career of triumphs at the crowning goal of which Neill fell and Havelock died, the former dying, in the strictest sense, " as heroes wish to die," and the latter departing while nobly reviewing the conduct of a well- spent life. Havelock, who had chronicled the privations and suffer- ings of the troops at Rangoon in 1824, had throughout his career seen death in all its varieties ; and his remark to Sir J. Outram, in the last victory, " Iliave so ruled my life that, when death came, I might face ifc without fear," per- haps owes some of its power and beauty to scenes of suffer- ing he had witnessed in the land of the Golden Foot.* The exit of this hero points to a remark of old Montaigne " Where death waits for us is uncertain ; but let us every- where look for him. The premeditation of death is the pre- meditation of liberty ; he who has learnt to die has forgot what it is to be a slave." That noble-minded Frenchman, Montalembert, has done full justice to Havelock, and to that admirable spirit of the Puritans which still exists in our Army. To the memory of both heroes their countrymen have done great honour : and, as belonging to Madras, we read with pride what has been done to raise a monument to Neill,f as * It was at Rangoon that Sir A. Campbell, the General Commanding, when informed of the enemy approaching one of our posts, said, ' ' Call out Havelock's saints ; they are never drunk, and he is always ready." " Biographical Sketch of Sir Henry Havelock," p. 39. t The statue at the Presidency, since raised in honour of Neill, is a most teresting work of art. BRIGADIER- GENERAL NEILL. 77 well as to assist the widow and the fatherless of the Madras Fusiliers, which regiment has played so distinguished a part in putting down the rebellion. It was during the march of the Martaban Column, in 1853, that our attention was first drawn to Major N"eill, Assistant- Adjutant-General. Every one remembers Napier's account of the British Infantry soldier in the " Peninsular "War ;" and on seeing Neill, with his powerful frame and lofty port, forming a noble specimen of military bearing, one might well have supposed he was proud to have risen in a corps which possessed, rather than these features, the quality of sustaining fatigue with incredible vigour, un- deniable firmness in battle, and, " the fount of honour full and fresh within ;" but which attributes, as was afterwards apparent, he also shared in common with the Madras Fusi- liers, as hardy and daring a body of infantry as the world ever saw. As Captain of the Grenadier company of his corps, he was an especial favourite with the men. Of this we have been well assured by those who have served under him in the ranks. His services in Turkey, during the recent war with Russia, belong more to the pen than to the sword. Instruction in military duties, and attention to discipline, for which some years of service in the Adjutant-General's department* should well qualify a zealous and efficient officer, had probably some- thing to do with laying the foundation of Neill's after fame in India. His services in Burma had procured him the army rank of Lieutenant- Colonel; and he served as Brigadier-General with the Turkish Contingent. On the eve of his return to India, General Vivian t wrote to the Court of Directors, with a view of bringing under their notice the estimation he felt for Neill's merits and services, particularizing the zeal and efficiency with which he commanded a division of in- * Havelock tad been Quartermaster-General of Queen's Troops, and afterwards Adjutant-General. t Sir R. J. H. Vivian, K.C.B. Now (1874-75) G.C.B., and late Member of the Indian Council. 78 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. fantiy, from the period when the Turkish Contingent was organized "until its re-transfer to the Sultan's government." This was duly communicated to the Government he had the honour to serve ; and by the time he arrived in India, about the end of March, 1857, but a very few months had to elapse, before he would do full honour to that Government. Before viewing his career, in the last stirring scenes of his life, a slight retrospect may not be uninteresting. When Neill arrived in Burma in 1852, it may be said he had seen no field service, although the date of his commis- sion as Ensign was as far back as January, 1827. Spectamur Agenda, the motto of his regiment, with its long list of triumphs, commencing at Arcot and Plassey, was to be fulfilled by Neill and his gallant corps, a century after Clive had won India for us, in Bengal and Oudh, rather than in Burma, the country which the Fusiliers now visited, to support the glory of our arms, for the second time. The fame of this distinguished corps is well known to the reader of Indian military history. It was in the year 1755 that the Madras Artillery and the First Madras European regiment were first regularly incorporated. In 1756, the English and French forces on the Coromandel Coast were nearly equal, each consisting of some 2,000 Europeans and 10,000 natives. The British force included H.M.'s 39th regiment, Primus in Indis. The Madras Artillery and Fusiliers may be said to have borne the brunt of the early (which is, in one sense, the principal) portion of the con- quest of our Indian Empire. In those days of Lawrence and Clive it was difficult indeed to make way against French intrigue and native treachery ; and when, notwithstanding vast progress had been made, and numerous deeds of valour had been accomplished, we at length find the two corps pre- sent in Bengal, retrieving the fallen fortunes of that Presi- dency ; and now, about a century after Clive's defence of Arcot, they were serving, each for the second time, in Burma, while fortune had favoured Bengal, and allowed it to pride itself on nearly all the recent military glory of the East ! "* * "Pegu, a Narrative," &c., p. 65. BRIGADIER-GENERAL NEILL. 79 The doings, on the 4th June, at Benares will be touched upon in due time; but in connection with tho foregoing historical remarks, it may not be out of place here to note that, on the said 4th June, Lieutenant Crump, of the Madras Artillery, rendered important services at Benares, and fell in the gallant discharge of his duties at Lucknow. At the time of meeting the Assistant- Adjutant- General while on service with the Martaban Column, to procure notes on the subject of the then very recent relief of Pegu, in which he had shared with his commander, General Steel,' 55 ' was of more importance to us than to photograph the future hero. One day, after a long march, he acceded to our request to furnish some, and the result was a donation of six or seven pages of closely-written manuscript, when the column reached Tonghoo. From these materials the chief portion of the ninth chapter in " Pegu, a Narrative of the Second Burmese War," was composed, with an endeavour to preserve as much as pos- sible Neill's own views on the relief of Pegu, and the sub- sequent operations, about which, having been present, and possessing the experience of a military writer, he would, doubtless, give the world a valuable opinion. f Nothing could be better than Neill's reasons for fully expecting that General Godwin would, after relieving Pegu, and in order to free the garrison from the near position of the Burmese Army, wait for the land column, which was on its way from Rangoon, proving that he quite understood the value of combining Artillery, Cavalry, and Infantry, especi- ally where a small body is to attack a large one. And yet it seems simple enough, though even Generals not unknown to fame have occasionally disregarded the solution of the problem, that well-equipped artillery, especially when fur- nished with plenty of canister (say Brigadier Miller's allot- ment), compensate for small numbers of infantry; and after success by either infantry or artillery, against a compara- * Sir S. W. Steel, K.C.B., a distinguished (Madras) Indian Officer. f For this account of the relief of Pegu and other operations, see " Pegu, a Narrative," p. 1 20 ; also "Our Burmese Wars," &c., p. 236. Neill's Lette and "Remarks " will be found at the close of this Sketch. 80 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. tively numerous force, without cavalry how is it possible to follow up and cut off the enemy ? Military judgment was the grand requisite wanting in the present instance : and there can be no doubt that General Godwin, with an enemy before him. without any disposition to retire, should have either himself waited, or deputed his next in command, General Steel, to wait for the column, so as, in the gallant Neill's own words, " to disperse the enemy with effect." When the time for action came, even under unfavourable circumstances, decision of character, as shown in the follow- ing remarks, gleams forth in the character of Neill. During the operations, dispositions were made for attacking in two- columns, of which the left was placed under General Steel ; but, the attack of the left column having been counter- manded, the " rapid dash " Neil! wished with all his heart was not made ; and so the enemy walked leisurely off. And again, during the same operations, while a good opportunity offered, he deplores the want of " a steady active advance to bring our troops into action/' In alluding to these two occasions, Neill's own words are almost entirely used in the " Narrative." " These plans of attack were admirably con- ducted until it came to the moment for acting, when it appeared as if the veteran chief lacked decision, and seemed to be unconscious of the enemy passing away before him." But, with that generosity which might be expected from a noble-minded soldier, he highly praises the relief of Pegu, General Godwin's great " coolness under fire," and the " entire disregard of self " evinced by the gallant chief, which few who had seen him on service could have failed to observe. And again, it is from Neill's manuscript the sentiment comes, that, during " the three days' work," none displayed " greater endurance than General Godwin himself, and several of the oldest officers who accompanied him." Alas ! how many of the devoted band have since died or fallen in battle, including Neill and Renaud, the Fusilier Officers; both, it may be said, " in the blaze of their fame." Neill, like the knight of old,* whose chivalrous death he * Sir Philip Sidney, BRIGADIER- GENERAL NEILL. 81 seemed to emulate, doubtless looked into his heart and wrote; so judging from the above strictures on the opera- tions in Burma, he would have acted strictly in the way he recommended ; and, judging from the attributes he so warmly praises in others, it is pleasing to think, and his short but brilliant career in Oudh eminently supports the assertion, that these attributes shone with a peculiar lustre in his own character. Qualities such as he possessed are rarely to be found combined in one man ; and now he comes before us as the Officer of the Madras Presidency, the right man in the very nick of time, to do what Clive did a century before with a handful of the very same Regiment, and even to do more than retrieve the fallen fortunes of Bengal, to strike deeply at the root of a deadly mutiny which threatened an Empire, show a bold front to Rebellion, and save Benares, the stronghold of Siva the destroyer, the city of the sacred bulls and sacred water, with temples second only in mytho- logical and religious importance among the Hindus to Jagannath, the " Lord of the world." The story of Neill at the Calcutta (Howrah) railway station has been told in various ways. The most striking picture which rests on the mind is as follows : Neill's sudden arrival at the station with a portion of his gallant Fusiliers the determination of the Colonel to wait for the rest of a detachment the carriages filled with passengers for " up-country," Europeans, natives, and East Indians the surprise of the station-master and railway officials at being told to wait, and, on the arrival of the missing men, nnload, and make way for the troops the natural hesitation 011 their part the determined look of Neill, and glance at a Corporal's guard who would execute if the order were not immediately obeyed Neill assuming pro tern, the position of station-master a few rather strong oaths decidedly audible the bewilderment of the various pas- sengers the eventual " clearing " of the train, and its oc- cupation by the Fusiliers the sullen looks of the guard and engineer, as the train moved off under such extraordinary compulsion with a whistle and a scream to Benares ! " Benares, the "Lotus of the world," has been graphically Q 82 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. described by Heber and Macaulay. The picture of Siva, as drawn in the Puranas, seems strongly prophetic of the vile arch-fiend of Bithoor, whose bloody work was so soon about to commence. Siva in Benares, in the pride of Satanic majesty, appearing here and there, at one time sitting in his chief temple " covered with the ashes of a funeral pile, ornamented with human skulls and bones ; " at another, wandering about, with dishevelled hair, " sometimes laugh- ing and sometimes crying." At this stronghold of Hinduism, Colonel ISTeill, with only a detachment of his Fusiliers, arrived on the eve of the 4th June, the night of which had been appointed for a general rising in the " holy city." Here, in the strictest sense, thought was action. This was the first arrival of an additional European regiment in Bengal, and hopes of relief from Europe were yet distant. Down went the spirit of mutiny before the judicious arrangements and untiring energy of Neill ! With only 200 men of his own Regiment, and about half a battery of guns, at first, through causes afterwards explained, hindered rather than assisted by the Sikhs he had so much admired in Pegu, he dispersed the mutineers with great slaughter, restored order and confidence, and saved Benares. The vast importance of this service, we are afraid, has not yet been quite understood. It was the first stroke in earnest made by British power at the root of the Indian rebellion. Neill had anticipated the move- ment of the mutineers as one who knew how much reliance to place on Native character ; and his triumph was com- plete. Clive declared, if he had known the Native language he never would have conquered India ; for he might have believed all the lies that he heard, and have been cheated accordingly. Neill seems to have had the great General in his eye when commencing his labours ; so, whether it be at the Howrah terminus, or at Benares, we have few words, but a good deal of action, and abundance of decision of character. A mind such as his, which acknowledged only one path, the path of duty, was the right sort of mind for this most formidable crisis. Jomini, in his " Art of War," BRIGADIER- GENERAL NEILL. 83 in enumerating the qualitites most essential for a Com- mander, declares they will ever be a " great character, or moral courage, which leads to great resolutions ; then sang- froid, or physical courage, which predominates over dangers."* Neill was the man to make and to carry out great resolutions. The slightest pusillanimity or want of decision at Benares might have lost us Calcutta; and who can say what would have been the end of such a disaster ? When comparative order had been restored, Neill passed on to Allahabad. Celebrated as to position for a great city, situated at the junction of the two mighty streams, the Ganges and the Jumna, from which, so far as the cleansing away from sin is concerned, the city has, perhaps, as great a religious importance as Benares, the destroyer was very likely to be equally busy at work. What Bishop Heber thought, that it might revive to greater prosperity than it possessed when he beheld it, seems now, from the improvements being carried on, to be in course of realisation; and, not the least honour to Alla- habad, at the present time, it was from this city came forth the State paper which so nobly defended the policy pursued in Oudh during the rebellion, putting many literary rebels to confusion, and proving the writer to be a statesman worthy of the great name he bears, and, in some respects, deserving to be styled, as Canning said of William Pitt, " the pilot who weathered the storm ! " Had Burke lived in our time, he might have exclaimed, " What a deadly and cruel rebellion ! " and pronounced the crisis to be one more difficult to steer through than had 1 perplexed any English statesman since the Conquest. The progress of Neill up the valley of the Ganges a mission of relief, as it has been styled, " bringing retribu- tion in his van and leaving order in his rear " adds extra- ordinary lustre to the stem excellence of his military character. On his arrival at Allahabad, with a small detachment of the Fusiliers, although too late to save the Europeans from * "Art of War." Article, Military Policy. G 2 84 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. the mutineers, he was jet in time to restore order, to defeat and put the rebels to flight; and, on this occasion, the Sikhs who were in the fort, again elicited his admiration, fighting as they now did with extraordinary vigour. The remainder of the Fusiliers having arrived, were dispatched by Neill, under Major Renaud, in advance, towards Cawnpore. A force of some 800 or 900 men was placed under this admirable officer ; and on the same day, the last of June, Genoral Havelock arrived at Alla- habad ; and the chief command of the small but gallant army was accordingly transferred to him. Up to this time, our Brigadier-General had been the foremost man in the valley of the Ganges. The magnanimity of Neill on this occasion the most galling that can be to a true soldier in command was quite as conspicuous as his gallantry and devotion to the public service after he had left Calcutta. Instead of his energy diminishing, it steadily increased. As in most revolutions and political convulsions, there is room enough for many great men, so it was in this deadly Indian rebellion. Envy or jealousy formed no portion of Keill's failings. Cawnpore had now to be retaken, Lucknow to be rescued, and the most bloody massacre of the innocents in history had yet to be avenged. Havelock's victorious progress to Cawnpore is well known ; and distinguished among the brave who fell in it is the name of Major Renaud, of the Fusiliers. General Havelock had left Neill at Allahabad, who now, it may be said, having saved that station, was ordered by his superior to push on with every available man and join him at Cawnpore. He arrived on the 20th July. The relieving General was assisted by Neill across the Ganges 011 the 21st ; and then began his celebrated march to relieve Lucknow. Left at Cawnpore, in supreme command, the energy of Neill's character seemed to burn brighter than ever. At Benares, Allahabad, and Cawnpore (where he organised a local police) he showed administrative ability that kind -which was adapted to such a crisis only second to his power of military command. Some may think him severe in punishment. On our first seeing a private letter BRIGADIER- GENERAL NEILL. 85 from one of the Madras Fusiliers to a friend, describing how the captured Brahman Sepoy murderers, before suffer- ing a well-merited death on the gallows, were ordered to be flogged into the slaughter-house at Cawnpore, and there compelled to clean up the blood of the poor victims they had so mercilessly shed, it became a question which to admire most, the originality of the mode of punishment or its tremendous severity. Neill did this ! But, after all, was it a severe enough retribution ? Could it bring back the loved and lost? Havelock's force, from 1,200, had increased at Cawnpore to 1,500. Neill had also sent on num- bers of soldiers he could not spare to answer the call of the daring General in advance for reinforcements. In one of Havelock's letters at this time, alluding to some traitors in his force, " traitors in heart to their fostering government," whom he had ordered back and placed under the care of Neill for work in the intrenchments, he significantly says " He will look after them." This reminds us of what Wellington might have said of Picton, in an emergency, being quite sure he would do his duty The period was a terrible time of suspense to the British in India. All eyes were turned to the progress of Havelock towards Lucknow. But his force was inadequate; and cholera, that " angel of death," which so frequently appears in our Indian armies,* had been lessening it as well as the enemy. Having done all that man could do, the General abandoned the attempt, to use his own words, " with great grief and reluctance," re-crossed the Ganges, and on the 13th August he was again with the indefatigable Xeill at Cawnpore. Immediately after Havelock's arrival, we find our Bri- gadier-General marching out of the intrenchments, which, with his usual foresight, he had made, and with his accus- tomed daring and ability completely defeating a rebel force which was endeavouring to prevent our communication with Allahabad. The return of Havelock's force to Cawnpore, it is supposed, saved that city from the troops of the I^ana, * Cholera first began its de astations among our troops in the great Mahratta War in 1817, tinder the Marquis of Hastings. 86 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. which were gathering like a thunder- cloud around it. In this case, as throughout the rebellion, the mysterious work- ings of a kind Providence became strongly apparent. Passing over the well-known advance against Bithoor, after which victory Havelock's most memorable despatch was penned and where the Madras Fusiliers were, as usual, second to none we now behold the trio of heroes, Have- lock, Outram, and Neill, setting out on one of the grandest missions in the world's history, the second effort for the relief of Luckiiow. General Outram, with that high-souled knowledge of what is noble and right, although the senior, left Havelock in command. A month had elapsed since the return of the first reliev- ing army to Cawnpore. Even now, with the reinforcements brought by Outram from Allahabad, the force was deemed hardly adequate to the mighty attempt about to be made in Oudh. Two brigades of infantry, one of artillery, and a few cavalry, made the whole amount of the relieving army. Neill's brigade, the first, was composed of three Royal regiments and his own First Madras Fusiliers. This column of men or rather, in the old Gruard phraseology, this column of granite, was composed of rare fighting material, and commanded by generals not " rocked and dandled " into command, but who had in war, if not in politics, in the spirit of the great Burke, Nitor in adversum, fought their way to distinction. The relief of Lucknow was an enterprise of the most extraordinary character. When Napoleon found all Europe arrayed against him, neither he nor his brave followers put forth more superhuman effort than that which, during a time when those we have taught the art of war had turned against us, appeared in the commanders and men who now pushed forward to effect this grand object. There is nothing in history to compare with it. The relief of Lucknow, in the face of such overwhelming numbers of the enemy, stands forth unique in its peculiar intenseness from every other military effort. The Residency might fall into the enemy's hands before it could be reached the Cawnpore massacre, BRIGADIEK-GENERAL NEILL. 87 on a more awful scale, might be repeated ; so on went the band of heroes, in the face of every danger, to the relief of suffering humanity. The fortified outpost of the Alumbagh reached, the battle won there made hope beat high for a moment in every heart. The relieving army was at the entrance of the city. The determined resistance, however, at the Kaiser Bagh, proved the determination and force of the insurgents to be even greater than was supposed. To go on appeared the only chance of success. Night would soon overtake the weary British troops ; and had night come on, without the object gained, annihilation would have been certain. But forward they rushed in the face of death. through a miracle the Residency was gained, and the evening of the 25th September saw Lucknow relieved ! But the gallant Neill, who had reached the entrenchments, was no more ! In the heat of the conflict, actuated by a noble vengence, he had rushed forward to rescue some guns, and was struck on the head by a bullet from one of the innumer- able loop-holes ; and so, like Brunswick's Duke at Waterloo, " foremost fighting fell ! " He fell, it is said, while passing through a gateway at the head of his own loved Regiment (there was also H.M.'s 78th Highlanders, whose brave men knew well the worth of Neill), and had paused only to assist from his flask a poor soldier who was wounded by his side which pause, it may be remarked, cost him his life ! " And thus his career ended with a glorious act of charity, which has caused his end to be eloquently compared to that of Sir Philip Sidney on the field of Zutphen. t In the land of his birth the land of Wallace and Burns, where there are some now alive who remember the bright-eyed reckless schoolboy there is a tombstone to the martyrs of * Lieutenant Crump was killed while in the actual performance of extri- cating a gun from a position exposed to the heavy musketry fire of the enemy. t " ' Give it to that poor man, his necessity is greater than mine.' And when after we are gone, our children's children shall be taught the last words of the gentle warrior poet at Zutphen, shall they not also read with glowing hearts and moistened eyes of the last deed of the undaunted Neill dying at Lucknow? " Speech of Mr. Ritchie, in Calcutta, February 4, 1858. 88 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. the Covenant, with the inscription commencing, " Halt / passenger." thus arresting the attention of the inquiring traveller. Beside NeilFs grave might be raised a stone with the words inscribed on the monument of a French General, so much admired by a melancholy poet (Kirke White) Siste viator, heroam calcas ! " * It is difficult to recollect a more striking or brilliant close to a military career than that which has been now so briefly and imperfectly recorded. There hardly seems to be a single flaw in the picture. The energy of the man, his heroic devotion to the State; the resolute execution of his plans in the face of every difficulty, which is always considered a grand test of strength of character; his magnanimity in supporting Havelock to the utmost of his power ; his nerve, firm and unquailing like that of a Napier ; his consummate tact and talent for resource under circumstances the like of which the world never saw before ; the kindness he ever evinced for his men ; his noble death, all afford a splendid example of one who had adopted the science of war as his profession, and, by striving to become a master in it, did full honour to that science. Not the least pleasing remembrance, while thus remark- ing on the character of ISTeill, is the manner in which he has been treated by public meetings and the public press. There is, generally speaking, no sickening adulation little distortion of facts the truth comes boldly forward the man is understood, and justice is done. It has been so- likewise, with regard to Havelock and Nicholson ; and, per- haps more than with any of these, in the case of Sir Henry Lawrence, who, approaching if not equalling the military qualities possessed by the others, has the honour of having devoted a large portion of his fortune and time to the organisation and foundation of the nobls military asylums which bear his name. High dignitaries of the Church, Members of Parliament, men of nearly every shade of opinion, have joined to do honour to the memory of the fallen heroes of this sad Rebellion. But, w r hy call it sad ? True enough, it is sad to the bereaved ; but to the world, * Stop, traveller thou treadest on a hero ! BRIGADIER-GENERAL NEILL. 89 and to humanity, the darkness, even now passing away, is only the forerunner of a lasting, marvellous light ! It must have been strange to hear a Member of the British Senate talking of Neill, Nicholson, and Havelock as, " not only three of the greatest soldiers, but three of the wisest statesmen that were ever entrusted with authority in India or any other part of the world." We are pretty sure, had they been alive, they would have disowned the latter portion of the compliment and transferred it to Sir Henry Lawrence. Clever administrative ability, which really good soldiers sometimes possess, and wise statesmanship, are two very different things ; in the world of mind bearing about the same relation to each other as the Principia of Newton to the Elements of Arithmetic. But excess in panegyric in such cases is pardonable. Each of the illustrious four died the death of a soldier ; and, in the mighty enterprise in which they were engaged, it w r as such a composition of glorious natures which put life into the business of putting down the rebellion.* In the case of Lawrence it is consoling to know that the brother, who has rendered such eminent services to the State, is yet alive to put us in mind of him.f The best thing that has been said of our hero by the Brit- ish Press is that, " from Benares to Cawnpore, the march of Neill was as the track of England's avenging angel ! " J It would be useless to attempt a comparison between Neill and other Generals. He reminds us more of Clive than of any other, the " merchant's clerk " who suddenly "raised himself to celebrity," and who, as "the heaven- born General," retrieved the fallen fortunes of our late most noble and most munificent masters, the East India Company. Neill never had the opportunity of devising or conducting war on a grand scale. To this the nearest approach is his share in the organisation of the glorious advance upon Cawnpore and Lucknow. The historian of the Peninsular War condemns the inju- * See Bacon's Essay on "Vain Glory." t See inscription on monument to Lord Lawrence, Appendix III. Westminster Review. 90 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. dicious juxtaposition made by some, in military talents, of Crawfurd and Picton beside their master, the illustrious Wellington. Great opportunities and great power have, it is true, a wonderful deal to do with bringing out the lasting effect of a really good General's picture. Had Neill lived, and these requisites been eventually his fortune, it may be reasonably supposed he would have risen to be considered as occupying a place in the first rank of our Generals ; ' and his name now certainly stands very high among the best and bravest Commanders who ever led on British troops to victory. The mention of Picton and Crawfurd, forces a comparison between Havelock and Neill, with regard to the assistance rendered by one to the other while on service. During the fight on the Coas, Crawfurd asked Picton for the support of his division, which was angrily refused, while, as the eloquent historian asserts, it shonld Lave been " eagerly proffered."* Neill sent every available soldier to assist Havelock. Take him for all in all, he surely did enough worthy of imitation. And when, in an after age, the account of this Rebellionf shall be read in the work of .some future Orme or Malcolm, as one of the blots on the page of history, the star of NeilFs glory will ever give a lustre to the page; and then, as now, young military readers will not cease to admire his chivalrous courage, his power of enduring fatigue, his untiring energy, and his noble end. Paradoxical as it may seem, it is the appearance of such qualities in military commanders, during great emergencies, that will do much to usher in the blessings of peace when the power of Christianity and the advantages of education shall be acknowledged by Hindu and Mussul- man alike when no arsenals shall resound with the busy clang of machinery in working out scientific inventions for * " History of the Peninsular War," Book XL, chap, iv., p. 415. t This has been -written by Sir John William Kaye. The title is "The Sepoy War in India," in three volumes. That distinguished Anglo-Indian author, Colonel GL B. Malleson, C.S.I., completed "The History of the Indian Mutiny " in three volumes, commencing at the close of the second volume of Sir John Kaye's "History." BRIGADIER- GENERAL NEILL. 91 the destruction of our foes when the world-renowned British bayonet shall cease to be required in the charge to extirpate tyranny and support the cause of freedom when the thunder of our batteries of Artillery, and the crack of the long-range rifle shall no longer be heard in the land when the trumpet shall hang in the hall, and men shall " study war no more ! " NEILL IN BUEMA. LETTER FROM THE LATE GENERAL NEILL, WHILE SERVING IN BURMA, TO THE AUTHOR. " My dear , " I am quite ashamed to send you such a scrawl, and so stupidly put together ; but I was so interrupted I had not time to set my mind to the work. If it, such as it is, will be of any use to you, I shall be very glad. You will do well to compose something more worthy of your book, of your own, from the information I give, which I believe to be correct ; and the opinions I have given are my real senti- ments : they need not be yours. I wish you every success, and only regret the assistance, if any, I have given is so paltry. " Yours very sincerely, "J. G. S. Neill. "ToNGHOo, 5tk March, 1853." REMARKS.* The operations on the 17th and 18th (December, 1852) showed that had Colonel Sturt's column been waited for, the army of the enemy would in all probability have been entirely destroyed. No country could have been more favourable for Cavalry, and the few patches of jungle their Infantry might have found refuge in, could have been cleared by our own. But between Kully and Montsanganoo there was a sufficient space of open ground for the destruc- tion of the force. A blow might have been struck at Kully * These, almost entirely by General Neill, are valuable. 92 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. on the 18th or 19th, which would have paralysed them with terror, and compelled them to submit to our power, and from the carriage the enemy's camp would have supplied, a rapid movement on Shoe-Ghyne would have obtained us possession of that town, and the almost certain annihilation of that boasting Burmese army. It is a humane wish to be lenient with the actions of men. We must narrate, how- ever, that this grand opportunity was lost by not waiting for a more efficient column, which marched from and back to Rangoon without once coming into action. The exposure and fatigue the troops underwent on the 17th and 18th, caused much sickness from cholera ; the Bengal Fusiliers in a few days lost upwards of twenty men. The Natives also suffered considerably. General Godwin, as is ever the case, showed the greatest coolness under fire, and an entire disregard of self : and nothing could have been better than the relief of Pegu, and the plans of attack on the 17th and 18th. These were admirably conducted until it came to the moment for acting, when it appeared as if the veteran chief lacked decision, and seemed to be unconscious of the enemy passing away before him. Whatever may have been General Godwin's motives for not attacking his enemy with vigour on the 17th and 18th and he had shown him- self quite capable of vigorous and successful attacks even during the second Burmese war whatever may have been his motives for not waiting for Colonel Sturt's column, or leaving General Steel to follow up the enemy when the Horse Artillery and Cavalry arrived he relieved Pegu and turned the enemy's position on the 17th with little or no loss to his own troops. The three days' work on the 14th, 17th, and 18th of December tried the stoutest and hardiest of the force. Some old campaigners declared the " Punjab " was a joke to it as far as fatigue went. None displayed greater endurance than General Godwin himself and several of the oldest offi- cers who accompanied him. 93 MAJOE-GENEEAL W. E. BEATSON.* " AT the grand ball at the Hotel de Yille on Saturday last, the lion of the evening was Brigadier Beatson in the uniform of the Nizam's Cavalry. The French ladies declared they had never seen anything so splendid. ' Quel bel nniforme, mais quel bel homme aussi,' was whispered every- where. ' Qui est-il ? ' ' Je crois qu'il est le Sultan on le Grand Mogul.' In fact, they were quite puzzled who he could be ' perhaps a new candidate for the Presidency of the Eepublic ! ' If it had depended on the ladies at the Hotel de Ville he certainly would have been elected ! " " Bravo ! Brigadier Beatson outshining Louis Napoleon in his own capital ! Think of that, officers of the Nizam's army, and plume yourselves, "t A letter from Paris, dated 5th January, 1852, contained the above item of interest, which, among those who knew the Brigadier well, probably excited but little surprise either in Bombay or the Nizam's dominions, where, on account of a local revolution in dress which Brummell might have envied, but which had brought dismay to those officers not overburdened with rupees it had really seemed as if the apparel proclaimed the man.J And yet the subject of our sketch was no fop, but one of the most able, zealous, and hard-working soldiers who ever entered the Indian army. Throughout life, honourable distinction was his steady aim. Wherever he went he seemed marked out to be " the observed of all observers ;" yet, strange to say, after long and faithful service, he died without a single mark of distinction from his country to add to his name. That he was indeed a * Written in January, 1875. + See Bombay Times, February 7, 1852. + " For the apparel oft proclaims the man." SHAKSPEARE. 94 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. distinguished Anglo-Indian will be seen from the following record of military services. But first it may interest those who were his friends to learn that he was born at Rossend Castle, Fifeshire, KB., about the year 1805. General Alexander Beatson, Governor of St. Helena,* was his uncle the distinguished Madras officer who had planned the attack of Seringapatam, and wrote the history of the war in Mysore. Sir Charles Oakeley (Governor of Madras) married Miss Beatson, General Alexander Beatson's only sister. The father of our hero was Captain Robert Beat- son (Beatson of Kilrie), of the R/oyal Engineers, who had three sons appointed to the Bengal Native Infantry. William Ferguson entered the Bengal Army in 1820. Being on furlough, he (with the sanction of the British Government) served with the British Legion in Spain in 1835-1836, first as Major, afterwards as Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the 10th, or Munster Light Infantry, at the head of which regiment, he was severely wounded. For his services in Spain he received the Cross of San Fernando from Queen Isabella, and Her Britannic Majesty's per- mission to wear it in September, 1837. Beatson was not the only Indian officer who, under Sir de Lacey Evans, won distinction in Spain, but he was certainly one of the foremost in what was considered a good cause. Nearly forty yearst have not entirely changed the drama in that unfortunate country so difficult to govern for we have just seen Don Carlos again fighting for the crown, yet, in spite of his energy and pluck, defeated and discomfited ; while Queen Isabella is in Paris, and her son, with the romantic name of Alphonso, ascending her throne ! It may truly be said, that if Hindu sovereignties fall to pieces, so do European. Beatson returned to India in 1837, and having been appointed to the important command of the Bundelkund Legion, received the thanks of Government for the capture of Jignee, in Bundelkund, in 1840; and of Chirgong, in 1841. * Whose relative, General Edward Swift Erougliton, an excellent and dis- tinguished, officer of the Bengal army, was Deputy-Governor early in the present century. f Written in 1874. MAJOR-GENERAL W. F. BEATSON. 95 In February, 1844, be received the thanks of the Governor- General's agent, in Scindiah's dominions, for recovering for the Gwalior Government forts and strongholds in Kach- wahagar. In March, 1844, he played one of his best cards by volunteering with his Bnndelknnd Legion for Sind. For this he received the thanks of Government ; which volunteering, the Governor- General declared, placed the Government o India under great obligation. In March, 1845, he was mentioned in Sir Charles Napier's despatch, regarding the campaign in the Boogtee Hills; which service called forth the approbation of Government. In July, 1846, the conduct of his Legion while in Sind, was, much to the satisfaction of the Commandant, praised in General Orders by the Governor- General, Viscount Hardinge.* Having been appointed to the command of the Nizam's Cavalry, we find Brigadier Beatson, in July, 1848, receiving approbation from the Government of India for taking the Jagheer and fort of Rymou from that troublesome, ever war-like, and energetic race, the Bohillas ; and in November, 1850, he recaptured Ryrnou from the Arabs. In February, 1851, he captured the fort of Dharoor, one of the strongest in the Dekhan. In March, 1851, the Resident at Hyderabad paid Beatson a high compliment, by issuing the following General Order : " Brigadier Beatson having tendered his resignation of the command of the Nizam's Cavalry, from date of his embarkation for England, the Resident begs to express his entire approval of this officer's conduct during the time he has exercised the important command of the Cavalry Division. " Brigadier Beatson has not only maintained, but im- proved, the interior economy and arrangement of the Cavalry Division ; and the value of his active military services in the field has been amply attested and rendered subject of * Lord Dalbousie arrived in India on the 12th of January, 1848, an on the 18th Lord Hardinge left Calcutta on his way home. 96 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. record, in the several instances of Kangoan, Bymou, Arnee, and Dharoor." The Brigadier appears to have tendered his resignation rather hastily, for we find him, shortly after, asking Lord Dalhousie's permission to withdraw his application ; but his Lordship, with characteristic decision, did not approve of the "wavering spirit" of even so distinguished an officer. So Beatson proceeded to England. We next find him in Turkey, on special service (1st May, 1854), with rank as Colonel on the staff in the British Army. He received the rank of Lieutenant- General in the Turkish Army on his arrival at Constantinople. For his services on the Danube he obtained the gold medal from the Sultan, the " Nishan-i-lftihar." In 1854 he was with the Heavy Brigade at Balaklava and Inkerman, and was mentioned in General Scarlett's despatch regarding the famous charge which has made Balaklava immortal. " During the time he was with me " (writes General Sir J. Scarlett, when recommending him to Head- Quarters, in October, 1856) " as Lieutenant-Colonel Beatson, he proveif himself a most active and useful officer, as willing to work as the youngest Aide-de-Camp, with the experience of active service before the enemy. He was with me under fire the early part of the 25th of October, 1854, near the Turkish forts. He was by my side at the charge of the Heavy Brigade and rode by my side down the valley in support of the Light Brigade under as severe a fire as troops were ever exposed to, and had his horse struck by a spent shot in the side. During the whole of this day he behaved with the greatest gallantry and coolness, and entirely supplied the place of my Aide-de-Camp (Captain Elliott), after the charge of the Heavy Brigade, in which Captain Elliott was severely wounded." He received the British and Turkish silver medals for the Crimea, the former with three clasps. On the 1st of November, 1854, Beatson was given the local rank of Major- General in Her Majesty's Army in Turkey; and he organised 4,000 Bashi-Bazouks. This corps was composed of confessedly the most difficult troops MAJOR-GENERAL W. F. BEATSON. 97 in the world for European officers to deal with ; but for which the commandant's " long experience among the Arabs and Rohillas of the Nizam's Cavalry peculiarly fitted him." It was " during the transfer of the command from Colonel Beatson to Colonel Smith " that the events were said to have occurred which were set forth in the well-known trial in the case of Beatson v. Skene. The consul at Aleppo (Mr. Skene), who was with the commandant of the Bashi-Ba/.ouks at the Dardanelles, was reported to have brought against him the extraordinary charge of attempting "to incite to mutiny the troops he had been appointed to command, so as to pre- vent others succeeding him therein." The value of such a charge was at once apparent when he was specially employed to aid in suppressing the great Mutiny in India, after being charged with attempting to create one in Turkey.** Resting assured that he would be able to clear his fair fame, he returned to India on the breaking out of the Mutiny in 1857, when he was immediately employed in the highly-responsible duty of raising and organizing two regi- ments of cavalry, which, under the name of " Beatson's Horse," he took into the field. For services with one of the regiments of this brigade, the 18th Royal Irish, and Bombay Artillery, he received the thanks of Sir Hugh Rose in Febru- ary, 1859. Sir Hugh Rose (afterwards Lord Strathnairn) had made known to the Bombay Commander-in- Chief the satisfaction he derived from the manner in which Colonel Beatson discharged his duties while under his command, and praised him for his zeal and energy in carrying out his instructions. Sir Hugh was perfectly aware of his " readi- ness to encounter any hardship or fatigue for the good of the service." He returned to England towards the close of 1859. * On the grounds of the communication being "privileged," the verdict of the Jury was "for the defendant." "The Jury wish to express their strong opinion of regret that, on discovering how unfounded the reports were, the defendant had not thought proper to withdraw his statements." The trial took place on Beatson's return from India, after the Mutiny, and it co>t him 3,000. The case was fully noticed in the London and provincial journals of January, I860. Mr. Skene died in Geneva, October 3, 1886. H 98 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. We have before us a " Supplement " of Beatson's services under four successive Governors- General, Lords Auckland, Ellenborough, Hardinge, and Dalhousie. Lord Canning made the fifth ; and, though engaged under the lamented Viceroy in a peaceful but brilliant service, Lord Mayo, the sixth. Under Lord Canning's successor, Sir John (after- wards Lord) Lawrence, whose reign appears to have been one of consolidating the Empire after the Mutiny, Beatson's name does not come much before the public. Shortly after his return to India, or about the years 1864-65, there was almost nothing for him to do ; so he could only wait patiently for what he was generally confessed to have very strong claims the command of a division. This he at length obtained from the Commander-in- Chief, Sir William Mansfield (now Lord Sandhurst) ; but he and his friends felt that the high and lucrative appointment, worth over 4,000 a year, came rather too late in life.* Still the old soldier was very thankful for the great honour paid him, through which the wonted energy might again burst forth ; and he had hope of retrieving his pecuniary losses. In Allahabad Division " up in the morning early " (as was ever his custom), and action everywhere among the troops, soon became the order of the day. A sham fight was taking place at Allahabad, while the troops in some .other cantonments were only just arriving on the ground. Lord Chatham's famous maxim, " If you. do not rise early you can make progress in nothing " (advice doubly valuable in India, where the sun, if you would be cool, compels you. to rise early), was never absent from Beatson's mind ; and we cannot help thinking it not improbable that, had he been in command at Meerut during the 10th and llth of May, 1857, at the first outbreak of the Mutiny, he would have headed a party of horse, galloped off, and not left the saddle till he had done his utmost to secure the mutineers on their way to Delhi, and bring them back, under a strong guard, to their proper station. * Beatson was a full Colonel in the Army, November, 1854 ; a Regimental Colonel in May, 1864 ; Major- General, 8th January, 1865 ; and was appointed to command the Allahabad Division, 3rd October, 1866. MAJOR-GENERAL W. F. BEATSON. 99 Earlj in 1869, we find him in command of the Sirhind (Umballa) Division, where the grand Durbar, in honour of Shere Ali, the Ameer of Afghanistan, was held under Lord Mayo with unusual splendour. Beatson was now in his glory, and put forth all his ener- gies to deserve the thanks which he so generously received for his admirable arrangements regarding the troops ; and our friend, the Ameer, doubtless, went back to his own country, having formed a very high opinion of our army, under the Chief, Sir William Mansfield, and his soldier-like Lieutenant, General Beatson. This was the brilliant service before alluded to ; and Lord Mayo's Durbar, we may hope, Shere Ali considered, in every sense, a victory of peace. If such friendships last, the designs of Russia (if such there be), or any other great power, against our splendid dominion, will vanish like mist before the morning sun. Our distinguished Anglo-Indian's career is now drawing to a close. The " last of earth " is not far distant. Origi- nally of a strong constitution, his health, from over-work and anxiety, now ^gave visible signs of being somewhat shattered ; and, while commanding at Allahabad, he lost his wife, on which occasion he sent a letter to the present writer detailing the sympathy shown in his bereavement by all the officers at the funeral. More than a year of his divisional command still remained to be served ; but he determined to visit England early in 1870, leaving the year in reserve for his return. Shortly after reaching home he lost a favourite daughter, which affliction he bore with truly Christian resignation ; and before his health was fairly established although much improved he, soon after the sad event, left for India to accomplish the "one year more," which has killed, and will yet kill, so many Anglo-Indians ! His con- dition in the loved land of his best achievements gradually became precarious, and he was recommended to Malta for change of climate. Thence, at the end of January, 1872, he returned to England to join his only surviving daughter, Mrs. M'Mullen, who had recently lost her husband, Major M'Mullen, "while on active service in India." On arrival he was so weak that he had to be carried from the ship. H 2 100 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. Early in February, the London journals contained the follow- ing announcement : " GENERAL BEATSON. This distin- guished officer died on Sunday, the 4th, at the Vicarage, New Swindon, the residence of the Rev. G. Campbell, aged sixty-seven."* Gazing on him in his last sleep, he reminded yon of an effigy in a cathedral of one of the knights of old, with a visage conscious of having, during an eventful life, done much hard and chivalrous work. Or he might have given some the idea of a dead warrior on the hard- won field, with, as Aytoun describes the "dead Dundee," a slight smile on his visage, as if, in the splendid lines of Campbell conscious of leaving "no blot on his name," he dared to " Look proudly to Heaven from the death-bed of fame."t There can be no doubt that the subject of this sketch had numerous very fine qualities ; but disappointed ambition seemed occasionally to freeze "the genial current" of his soul, and in a few of his deeds there was a slight want of discipline of the mind. After all, how many well-known or distinguished men, in and out of the Services, are deserving of the same remark, and have shown, more or less, qualities which stood in the way of Beatson's advancement and dis- tinction. One good anecdote of him may be told, showing his impetuosity, with a tinge of humour, even at the quiet chota haziree (small breakfast) after parade. It was in Central India, when the fame of " Beatson's Horse " was beginning to attract attention, that, as the commandant and his officers were seated round the small table, preparatory to the larger and later repast, Beatson suddenly drew his sword, and made a smart cut at the helmet of one of the officers, who naturally looked up from his tea, inquiring the reason for such an assault. " I only wanted to find out whether or not your helmet is sword-proof," coolly replied Beatson. That he w r as a favourite among many of his officers is undeniable ; and the following extracts will show how he was appreciated in the Bundelkund Legion, and the Nizam's Cavalry. Take him in whatlighb we will, Beatson will long be remembered as one of the bravest and best soldiers of the old India Army. * Then followed a record of his services. + " Lochiel's Warning." MA JOE- GENERAL W, F. BE AT SON. 101 PAPERS RELATING TO GENERAL BEATSON'S INDIAN CAREER. No. 1. Extract of a Utter to Government from GENERAL ERASER, Resident at Hyderabad, dated 6th of March, 1848. " I have always been anxious to diminish, as far as pos- sible, the debts of the Cavalry Division, and it is a source of gratification to me to find that the Brigadier has taken such steps as may tend to effect this desirable object. " I am happy that I am enabled to speak in terms of high approval of Brigadier Beatson. He was not appointed at my recommendation, and there was another officer who I thought had superior claims to the Cavalry Division, from having served in it for many years with credit and reputa- tion ; but there is no man with whom I could be better satisfied than with Brigadier Beatson, nor any one, in my opinion, who would be better suited to command the Cavalry branch of the Nizam's Service." General Fraser was a distinguished Anglo-Indian, a capital Persian scholar, and well-read on nearly every subject. He held several important political appointments during his long career. The writer recollects him at Hyderabad in 1846, remarking, as we entered with our swords on (according to custom) before breakfast, "Take off your swords, gentlemen; this is a time of peace ! " No. 2. Extract of a letter from COL. WOOD, Military Secretary to LORD HARDINGE, dated IStk October, 1848. " It now appears that Col. Tomkyns has applied for an extension of leave, only to the 29th of February next, and that on his reassuming his command, Major Beatson, who is officiating for him will be deprived of his appointment. " The G. G. considers the claims of this officer on the Government are very strong, having, whilst in command of the Bundelkund Legion, consisting of Cavalry, Infantry and Artillery, done good service to the State, at a most im- portant crisis, when our troops refused to march to Scinde, 108 DISTING-tlSHKD ANGLO-INDIANS. which, his troops volunteered to do, the command of which he has been deprived by the men of the Legion having been drafted into the Regular Regiments of the Bengal Army. " Under these circumstances the Or. G., although he acknowledges that Major Inglis, having commanded a regi- ment of the Nizam's Cavalry for seventeen years, would be a very proper officer to command the Cavalry Division, does not feel justified in passing over Major Beatson in favour of that officer." No. 3. The following is the inscription on a sword presented after the Bundelkund Legion was broken up : To MAJOR W. F. BEATSON, late Comma ndant-in- Chief of the 'Bundelkund Legion. From his friends of the Legion, in token of their admiration of him as a Soldier, and their esteem for him as an Individual 1850. No. 4 The following accompanied the presentation of a handsome piece of Plate, from the Officers of the Nizam's Cavalry, after BRIGADIER BEATSON gave up command : " We have availed ourselves of this method of testifying our regard for you personally, and our admiration of your talents and abilities as a Soldier under whose command we have all served, and some of us have had opportunities of witnessing your gallant conduct in action with the enemy, and your sound judgment upon all occasions, when Brigadier in command of the Nizam's Cavalry, both in Quarters and in the Field." No. 5. Extract of a Despatch from the COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF to the GOVKRNOR-GENERAL, dated Head Quarters, Simla, 19th October, 1853. Recommending " The introduction, under an Inspector, or other properly qualified Officer, of a well-considered and uniform system in the Cavalry, so as to ensure effectually, for the future, the most perfect efficiency attainable." MAJOR-GENERAL W. F.. BEATSON. 103 " In the event of these suggestions meeting with the ap- proval of the Most Noble the Governor- General-in-Council, I am to observe that Major W. F. Beatson, late Brigadier in the Army of his Highness the Nizam, whose return from furlough is shortly expected, appears to His Excellency, from his long experience, a fit officer to investigate into the state of the Irregular Cavalry, and to prepare such rules and regulations as may conduce to its perfect organization." 104 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. COLONEL W. H. SYKES, M.R, F.RS.* THE death of Colonel Sykes, M.P., at the ripe age of eighty- two, has removed from us a man of no ordinary mental calibre, and whose like we may not soon see again. He was emphatically, as a contemporary writer has styled him, " the M.P. for Hindustan." India was the darling of his heart through two generations of men, and when he could not get India to talk about, he was off to China to discourse about the Taepings, or some other political subject of the Flowery Land. India, past and present, was alike known to the gallant and philanthropic Colonel ; and from his extensive reading and vast experience he had the power of doing much good ; but he knew not the secret of being concise, or of seizing on various occasions the main points of an argument ; which injured his value in the eyes of the world. Great in statistics, great in a knowledge of the origin and progress of Eastern commerce, great in a knowledge of ancient India his " Notes " concerning which form one of the most in- teresting works on the mysteries of Buddhism in the world great in his devotion to the officers of the Indian army, and always kind and considerate to officers and others requiring his assistance and advice, the departed Colonel was in many respects a remarkable man. As Director and Chairman of the East India Company, a large amount of patronage was in his gift, and for nearly forty years we fully believe that he never lost an opportunity for exercising his power of doing good. The subaltern of the fine old Indian army, wanting his book patronised by the Court, was sure to go to Sykes. If it could be done Tie was the man. The * Written in June, 1872. COLONEL W. H. SYKES. 105 widow and the orphan, too, how often have they had to bless his name ! Some who read this will remember the Colonel's famous remark " I never ask favours from the Govern- ment " which has damped the spirit of many an aspirant to fame. That tall figure with the benign countenance has now passed away ; but none who have heard his speeches, read his works, or had an interview with him, will easily forget such a friend as William Henry Sykes. The Liberal Member of Parliament for Aberdeen died in London on the 16th June, 1872. He was the son of Mr. Samuel Sykes, a representative of a branch of the Sykeses of Yorkshire, and was born in the year 1790. He joined the Bombay army in 180 i, and in 1805 served under Lord Lake atBhurtpore. At the battles of Kirkee and Poonahhe com- manded a regiment of native troops. He was actively employed in the Deccan in 1817 and 1818 ; and in 182-4 he was engaged by the Bombay Government as statistical Reporter a position which he held till he finally quitted India in 1831. In 1840 he was elected a Director of the East India Company. He gave his services to the public gratuitously as a Royal Commissioner in Lunacy. In March, 1854, he was elected Lord Rector of Aberdeen University ; and, to crown the zeal he displayed for India, he was subsequently chosen Deputy- Chairman of the East India Company, and served as Chairman of that great Corporation in the eventfnl years of 1857-58. He had re- presented Aberdeen since 1857, at every general election, the gallant and learned Colonel having the preference. He belonged to many learned societies at home and abroad, and had held the presidential chairs of the Royal Asiatic Society, of the Statistical Society, and of the Society of Arts. In 1856 he received from the citizens of Bombay a medal for his strong advocacy of a system of native education ; and only a year or two before his death he was presented with a handsome silver candelabrum, subscribed for and presented by the officers of the Indian army "in grateful appreciation of his persevering and disinterested advocacy in the House of Commons of the rights and privileges " of that body. ' Turning from the learned " Notes on the Religious, Moral, 106 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. and Political State of Ancient India " which alone occupy some 250 pages, or nearly the entire volume, of the Journal of the Eoyal Asiatic Society, for May, 1841 we find among his scientific and literary works one on the " Organization and Cost of the English and French Armies and Navies," and upwards of sixty papers published in the Transactions of various learned societies, " mainly on the ancient history, antiquities, statistics, geology, natural history, and meteor- ology of India." The general complaint, remarked on by Seneca, of the shortness of life, and his answer Vita, si scias uti, long a est " Life is long, if you know how to use it " were known to few men better than Colonel Sykes. Not long before his death, the writer had occasion to pay him a visit in Albion Street, Hyde Park. The conversation turning on work for the Anglo-Indian at home, on its being remarked to him what a vast deal of work lie had got through since he left India (more than forty years ago), he replied "But there is little use in living now ; the vis vitce has gone ! " Some twenty years before, the conversation with him, when he served as a Director in Leadenhall Street, had been on Buddhism and Monsieur Manupied's wonderful work, bringing out a comparison between some of the Buddhistical writings and those in Isaiah ; now it was on the great ques- tion of the day Education ! Perhaps no Anglo-Indian ever moved in a higher circle of society than Colonel Sykes. He was the friend of several distinguished men, among others, Lord Bosse, the inventor of the mighty telescope, with whom the writer found him busy on one occasion ; and, during the first conversation above alluded to, he remarked on being obliged, from ill- health, to decline all invitations, even from those related to the Royal Family. This is mentioned to show that, in spite of a few short-comings as a public man, there was some attractive metal about him, even in a social point of view. Early in June, on leaving the House of Commons, we believe that he said to a brother Member with whom he had been associated for years, while supporting him on leaving the House, " I'm going home I don't think I shall ever re- COLONEL W. H. SYKES. 107 turn ! " The remark was too true ; lie went Lome but to die. Sykes comes under the head of useful and hard-work- ing rather than of brilliant Anglo-Indians. Those who knew him well declared that he thought he knew everything better than anybody else ; and surely, when we consider that he was a soldier a year before Nelson won the battle of Trafalgar, and then an ardent student, such pride of knowledge may be excused. A duplicate of the man can never possibly appear : he belongs to a school fast passing away ; but younger men will do well if they evince the same amount of energy and industry in the public service which so long distinguished Colonel Sykes. In 1886, it is pleasing to find that the name of Colonel Sykes is by no means forgotten. Dr. Murdoch, evidently a well-read Anglo-Indian, in a strange work on " India's Needs," remarks that the struggle for existence is not con- fined to India. Colonel Sykes, for many years resident in that country, says : " Poverty and wretchedness exist in all countries ; but this much I can say, that in similar limited areas I never witnessed in India such an amount of squalid misery as it has been my misfortune to witness in my personal inquiries in London and elsewhere into the con- dition of the labouring classes." The recent "Bitter Cry of Outcast London " shows that " the misery still exists." The question at once arises, How could the gallant and philan- thropic Colonel, amidst so many engagements, find time for such important inquiries ? Perhaps the answer is to be found in a remark once made by the most popular of English novelists, that he owed very much of his success in life to doing one thing at a time. THE GENIUS OF ANCIENT BUDDHISM. Under the above head, the conclusion of Colonel Sykes' famous paper, "Notes on Ancient India," may be given as an example of his style. When we consider that the religion of Buddha numbers some 400,000,000 members, the subject should be one of no common interest. WITH a few words on the genius of ancient Buddhism, and the possible cause of its fall in India, I shall close these 108 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. notes. The Buddhists, like many other Eastern nations, believed in the transmigration of the soul. To terminate the probationary state, and to obtain final liberation or rest, nirvana, or nirbutti, that is to say, the stoppage of the further transition of the soul, was the sole worthy object of man's existence ! The only path to this object was through the grades of the clergy. The conditions w T ere, the " most perfect faith, the most perfect virtue, and the most perfect knowledge." It was insufficient for the laity that they believed in Buddha, Dharma, Sanga, i.e. Buddha, the law, and the clergy or church ; of which there is elsewhere an analogue in " God, the law, and the prophets:" it was only by receiving the tonsure, and enlisting in the ranks of the church that they even made the first step towards salvation. It was then, that, aban- doning the world and its concerns, pledged to absolute poverty, to support life by eleemosynary means, to chastity, to abstinence, to penance, to prayer, and, above all, to continued contemplation of divine truths, they rose in the grades of the church, until some one amongst them having obtained the most perfect knowledge, the most perfect virtue, and the most perfect faith, became Buddha, or infinite wisdom; that is to say, the soul ceased to wander, its final rest was attained, and it was absorbed into the First Cause. It has been attempted to brand this doctrine with atheism ; but if it be so, then are the Brahmans atheists, for it is part of their esoteric system.* Those of the Buddhist clergy who could not attain nirvana, in their renewed births were supposed to attain a form amongst the grades of beings either celestial or terrestrial, approaching to perfect happiness in the proximate ratio of their attainment of perfect knoivledge, and in these states they might rise or fall, until final libera- tion was attained. The souls of the laity went on transmi- grating through animal or vegetable life, without even pass- ing the threshold to salvation. It was a strong motive with every man, therefore, to join the clergy, and even the painful lives the latter led, did not prevent the proper relation be- tween producers and non-producers in the social system being subverted. The accumulation of the clergy was preg- nant with evil. Their standard of excellence was infinitely too high for humanity ; their tests for its attainment too severe ; schisms occurred, disorders broke out, relaxations in discipline followed, and these circumstances, in the progress of ages, combined with the severe pressure upon the laity for the support of the enormously disproportioned numbers * Wilson, Second Oxford Lecture, p. 64. COLONEL W. II. SYKES. 109 of the clergy [vide Maliawanso], loosened their hold upon the veneration and affection of the people : they silently fell off from a system which was so onerous, and merged into the Yaisya or Sudra ranks of the Brahmanical faith, pre- cisely as is described by Hiuan thsang to have been the case at Patna in the seventh century, when " the Buddhists were living amongst the heretics, and no better than them." In this corrupted stage of Buddhism, the fiery Saivas mustered in sufficient force to effect its overthrow ; the clergy, and such of the laity as espoused their inte- rests, were either slaughtered, or driven out of India to a man, and the rest of the laity had little difficulty in trans- ferring their allegiance from one idol to another (for from works of Buddhist art, and from what we now see of its practices in other countries, it must then have lapsed into little better than rank idolatry), and Buddhism thus finally disappeared from India, leaving, however, indestructible vestiges of its former glory, and many of its practices amongst the Hindus, as noticed by Dr. Stevenson ; the Saivas leaving also, as I elsewhere have had occasion to notice, monuments of their triumphs ! * In case I am asked for the specific object and cui bono of my labours, my reply is brief and simple. The startling accounts of India by the Chinese travellers in the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries of our era, prompted me to subject details so novel and unexpected to the test of such contem- porary or previous evidence, as might be obtainable. The Chinese travellers have come from the ordeal unscathed, and the accumulated facts of the preceding pages satisfy me that the narratives of what they saw, in their chief features are as worthy of credit as those of the travellers of any other time or nation whatever, at least those of a Fahian. With respect to the cui bono, if it be proved that Brahmanism is neither unfathomable in its antiquity, nor unchangeable in its character, we may safely infer that by proper means, applied in a cautious, kindly, and forbearing spirit, such further changes may be effected, as will raise the intel- lectual standard of the Hindus, improve their moral and social condition, and assist to promote their eternal wel- fare. * Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. iv., p. 205. HO DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. MAJOR-GENERAL W. H. MILLER, C.B. WILLIAM HEXRT MILLER appears in the "Madras Quarterly Army List," in June, 1860, as Regimental Lieutenant- Colonel, a Colonel in the Army, and Aide-de-Camp to the Queen ; his season of appointment to the Madras Artillery dating as far back as 1823. The same interesting work more interesting to many than either romance or history records that Colonel Miller served with the force of Colonel Evans, C.B., employed against the insurgents in the Nuggur Province of Mysore, in April, May, and June, 1831 ; with the Saugor Field Division in the Bundelkund campaign, of 1858, in command of the Artillery Brigade ; present at the actions of Jheenjun, April 10th, and of Kubraee, April 17th, ]858; the Battle of Banda, 19th April, 1858. Re- ceived three wounds, one on the hand, one on the face, and lost his right arm. From the fourth of the seven ages of man (according to Shakspeare), we make a retrograde movement to " the infant," and find that, as the son of Major Miller, Royal Horse Guards (Blues), William first saw the light in May, 1805, at or near the town of Windsor. To his father, one of the best informed officers of the day, the son owed much of his education; and that love of argument in conver- sation, which so distinguished him in after life, was due to paternal tuition. The Millers seem to have caught some infection from the vastness of the Scotch intellect during the eighteenth century, of which we read in Buckle's re- markable book on " Civilisation." Of the two fundamental divisions of human inquiry the deductive and the in- * Written June, 1873, partly from a sketch printed at Ootacaraund, Neilgherries, 1866. MAJOR-GENERAL W. H. MILLER. Ill ductive during that renowned period of invention, all the great thinkers of Scotland chieHy cherished the deductive philosophy which, in comparison with the other, was deemed " remarkable for boldness, dexterity, and often rashness." From Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton, over his carronades and paddle-wheels, down to his grandson, the lieutenant fire- worker in the Coast Artillery, the spirit of investigation, was apparent. Such a state of mind, preferring facts to theories, was not less valuable to the soldier Miller (especially in the scientific branch of the Army) than to the eventual vindica- tion of his grandfather's right to be considered the sole originator of Practical Steam Navigation. After some thirty-five years of uninterrupted Indian service, in the different capacities of surveyor, commissary of ordnance, and regimental officer all blended with that love of shikar, which the Iron Duke rightly deemed a grand qualification in the British soldier William Miller was appointed by Sir Patrick Grant, Commander-in- Chief of the Madras Army, to the command of the Artillery Brigade of the Saugor Field Division, which division, under General Sir G. C. Whitlock, the great question of the Banda and Kirwee prize-money afterwards rendered even more famous in the eyes of the world than its glorious deeds in the field. To one who was fond, and knew so much about, horses and cattle, this well-equipped division (including a more than usually effective siege-train) must have presented a cheerful picture one that would have received ample justice from the genius of Land seer. All the animals were in splendid con- dition, and well adapted to aid the work of giving the coup-de- grace to the Sepoy rebellion. The Brigadier was a thoroughly practical man. Not a few of the stores for the large train were weighed out and packed under his personal inspection. While Commissary of Ordnance his plan was to keep various books, in which the materials for making up stores w r ere carefully jotted down, as well as a vast quantity of practical information, invaluable to the Ordnance officer. " Give me facts, I am sick of theory ; give me actual facts ! " said James Watt to Boulton ; and, doubtless, so thought, while about to set forth on his warlike mission, the grandson of 112 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. Patrick Miller of Dais winton. Bundelkund was to be tlie grand theatre of action. It was in the height of the hot weather of 1858 that the Column encountered the Nawab of Band a. During the action which ensued, Brigadier Miller's gallantry, while in command of the Artillery, was con- spicuous. Attempting to silence or carry away one of the enemy's field guns, which was playing hard upon the Division, he had his right arm shattered, and received a sword cut on his head, and other wounds. Through medical skill, and a strong constitution, a valuable life was spared ; but the arm had, at Banda, to be eventually amputated near the shoulder. " After the battle," wrote a most intelligent officer in the force, " the fearful weather under which we marched to Kirwee when strong men dropped motionless, and too soon lifeless, day by day will never be forgotten by those who shared it." The General was proud to the end of his days of the Artillery he commanded at Banda, on the 19th April, and of how they did their duty in the famed relief of Kirwee, 25th December, 1858, under the personal command of General (afterwards Sir George) Whitlock, on which occasion the Cavalry and Horse Artillery marched eighty- seven miles in thirty-seven hours. Honor fidelitatis premiarn was the motto chosen for an interesting pamphlet on the Division, recording the exploits of the Madras troops, who " from the hour when the gallant Neill led his little band of Fusiliers across the surf, down to the Battle of Banda and march to Kirwee, had proved themselves to be soldiers of whom Charles the Twelfth, or the Great Conde, would have been justly proud." Among the recipients of honours dis- tributed after the war, was the Artillery Brigadier, who had foueht so fearlessly and well ; he was appointed Aide -de- Camp to Her Majesty, with the rank of a Brevet-Colonel, and eventually a C.B., on obtaining the honorary rank of Major- General. In 1866 General Miller was among the first recipients of the good service pension allotted by Her Majesty to distinguished or worthy Indian officers. He had retired from the service, and left India in 1860-61. Shortly after his retirement General Miller set his power- MAJOR-GENERAL W. II. KILLER. 113 ful mind to work on the scientific subject of the origin of Practical Steam Navigation ; and the result, after unwearied investigation, was a published letter (1862), " vindicating the right of Patrick Miller, Esq., of Dalswinton, to be regarded as the first inventor." For many years, in a foreign land, the grandson had been displeased to hear that others were pursuing the triumph which belonged to his illustrious relative, whose experiments in artillery and navigation, including those in the latter with steam, are well known to have cost Mr. Miller above 30,000. The " Letter," published in the form of a neat brochure, is addressed to Bennett Woodcroft, Esq., F.R.S., author of " A Sketch of the Origin and progress of Steam Navigation." In his "Vindication" the General exhibited a forbearance, a generosity, and an impartiality, not common in a matter of scientific controversy, and did much to fix old Dalswin- ton in a conspicuous niche in the temple of fame. The question of Army prize, in connection with the well-known Banda and Kir wee case, occupied unceasingly the last seven or eight years of General Miller's life ; and, as President of the Committee appointed with reference to the money and jewels taken in the campaign in which he had played so dis- tinguished a part, the hoc age, or do it with all thy might principle of work, was ever apparent in one of the most unselfish of men. The worry and vexation which his generous labours frequently entailed, doubtless tended to hasten the General's end ; and, after a brief illness, the fine old Anglo-Indian soldier died peacefully at his residence in Kildare Gardens, Bayswater, on the 15th May, 1873. His remains were interred in Kensal Green Cemetery, May 21, in the presence of numerous mourning and sincere friends and companions-in-arms. In. his manner General Miller was genial and attractive in an extraordinary degree. Tall and erect, with a rather powerful frame, le general sans bras (as the French used to style him), with his amiable visage set off by a venerable beard, seemed to make friends everywhere. In the omnibus or railway carriage he had always a little troop of patient listeners to his occasional droll remarks and brief anecdotes ; 114 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. and in the former vehicle on one occasion he kept two old ladies chained to their seats, to their dismay, long after passing the appointed place of exit. He was generally at first averse to novelties of any kind. He preferred the old stagecoach to the railway carriage, and shot with the flint gun (and killed right well, too) long after percussion caps had come into use. The old soldier in London, now turned into a commis- sionnaire, who could display medals, and especially if he had lost an arm, was sure to meet with his sympathy or assis- tance. At home, the fund of anecdote he would pour out was sometimes surprising. He knew everything about Anglo-India in the old time, and would bring " old familiar faces " back before you in rapid succession. In Indian sporting matters he was a first-rate authority, and the well- known heroes of the turf of a past age in our " Nursery of Captains " were most of them known to him.* Himself a fearless rider, he would discourse on the merits of once renowned jockeys. He would tell you of the mighty hunters, whether with hound or spear, such as John Elliott and Backhouse, and of some of the chief turf men in Ben- gal Stevenson, Bacon, Grant, and John White. He would bring before you the feats of Stevenson, the father of the turf in the Bengal Presidency, and the eccentricities of MacDowell ( " Arab Mac " ) who claimed that honour in Madras. He had stories of Apthorp, Humffreys, and Shir- riff a ll renowned tiger-killers and Duncan Mackenzie ("Mr. North"), Edward Gullifer Showers (Artillery), and the two Macleans, were cited as " among the glorious old ' Mulls,' " who in their day shed glory o'er the turf, as Cun- ningham (Cavalry) did in Bombay. He had even stories of the famous Arabs of the time, such as Pyramid, Feramorz, and Hurry Skurry those " equine sons of the desert," as he styled them. He would then strike off to affairs at home, and talk of history, politics, and the drama. Of the latter he was especially fond, and he would tell you about the old actors of whom he had seen many dwelling on Liston's wonderful face, for instance with a genial humour * See "Sketch of Sporting Literature in India," in which the General is the "choice spirit of a world gone by," therein a'luded to. MAJOR- GENERAL W. H. MILLER. 115 worthy of Elia. In politics the General was a strict Con- servative : and, with a Tory journal in his hand he seemed to bid defiance to all the world, which frequently led him into severe wordy conflicts with his political opponents. Well-read, and possessing a most retentive memory, his weak point now came forth impatience of contradiction. And yet with his opposing style of argument he was one of the kindest and most charitable of men. A genial laugh or smile soon succeeded the motion of the empty sleeve. Charity with him was not a mere name. With but limited means he was ever ready to do a good action, when in his power ; and he did it with much delicacy and good feeling. To give the last touch, he was eminently just and liberal, and loved for his justice and magnanimity. NOTES. I. THE SAUGOR FIELD DIVISION". The Saugor Field Division consisted of a wing of the 12th Royal Lancers, under Colonel Oakes ; the 43rd Regi- ment, under Colonel Primrose ; the 3rd Madras European Regiment, under Colonel Apthorp (" Tiger Apthorp," so called from being such a good shot) ; a troop of European M.HA., under Major Mein ; F Troop of Native H.A., under Major Brice ; a Horse Battery, under Captain Gos- ling and Lieutenant Pope ; the 50th M.N.I., under Colonel Reece, and the 1st M.N.I, under Colonel Gottreux. Cap- tain Palmer's Company, R.A., with Lieutenant Morgan; and last, though far from least, the 2nd Ressalah of the Hyderabad Contingent, under Captain Macintire, completed Whitlock's Field Division, in which were some of the best officers in the Madras Army. The staff consisted of Colonel Hamilton, Adjutant-Gen- eral ; Major Barrow, Commissary of Ordnance ; Major Lud- low, Field or Chief Engineer ; Head of the Commissariat, Captain Barrow ; Major Lawder, Q.M.G. ; and Dr. David- son, Surgeon-in-Chief, with whom the writer had served in the second Burmese war. All the men were eager for i 2 116 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. service "the boys" in particular; for so the men of the recently raised Madras 3rd European Regiment had been styled by their former Colonel (General Whitlock),* who was now about to lead them on to victory ! Bondela Khond, the land of the Bondelas, was to be the grand theatre of action. II. COLONEL WALTER CONINGSBY ERSKINE, C.B. (EARL OF KELLIE). The Honourable Colonel Walter Coningsby Erskine, C.B., also retired in 1861, after distinguished political service in Central India during the Mutiny. We mention this, as the subject of the foregoing brief sketch was cousin to the very recently deceased Earl of Mar, now (1866) succeeded in the estates by Colonel Erskine (cousin to the late Earl), under the title of the Earl of Kellie. So much for the rise of the cadet who went out to the Bengal Presidency in 1827. To future historians, among the various fortunes of the famed Erskines of Mar, not the least remarkable will be that of the soldier (and after political) who found his way to India ! We may here state that John Thomas Erskine, 13th Earl of Mar, son of John Francis, 12th Earl, married Miss Janet Miller, daughter of Patrick Miller, Esq., of Dalswinton, in Dumfriesshire, and had issue one son, the Honourable John, Francis Miller Erskine, and two daughters. The now deceased nobleman, John Francis Miller Erskine, 14th Earl of Mar and Kellie, was born at Dalswinton about the year 1 794-5. t He must have been born in the old mansion ; for the present was not erected till some years after. However, the grounds, and lake (on which the first steamboat experi- ment took place) remain the same ; and while we think of the place as hallowed by scientific achievement, history reminds us that here was born the descendant of an Earl who had the " custody of his infant Sovereign, Queen. Mary," till 1548 ; and from whom was descended the next Earl, his son, who had charge of James VI., afterwards King of England, when an infant. This Earl, the sixth of a great line " whose origin is lost in its antiquity," was highly distinguished by his Sovereign, and, as we read, * Sir George Cornish Whitlock, K.C.B. t In his early days he served in the Army, and was present at Quatre Bras and Waterloo. He died at Alloa House on the 19th of June, 1866, in kis 71st year. MAJOR-GENERAL W. H. MILLER. 117 bringing the immortal inventor of abridging calculation by Logarithms to memory, " was the friend and fellow labourer of Baron Napier of Merchiston ! " Lieut. -Colonel the Earl of Kellie died at Cannes, 15th January, 1872. He held several military and civil appoint- ments in India; received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament, and was created a C.B. (Civil Division) for his conduct in the Indian Mutiny ; he also had medals for the " Sutlej " and " India." 118 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. MAJOB-GEN. ALBERT FYTCHE, C.S.I * GENERAL FYTCHE, late Chief Commissioner of British Burma, was born in 1823, and educated at Rugby and Addiscombe. At the age of sixteen he obtained his commission in the Bengal army, and (like many distinguished men) commenced work in earnest at an early age. Before he was twenty, while serving as a lieutenant in the Arakan Local Battalion, he did credit to Rugby and Addiscombe while gaining his first laurels (1841) by routing out and punishing a wild hill- tribe, known as the Wallengs, who had committed several raids on the British frontier. It was a difficult service. The position to be attacked was on a precipitous mountain, 4,000 feet high, with sides so steep that the inhabitants of the place could only ascend it by ladders. In the face of strong opposition Lieutenant Fytche dislodged the enemy, and for this gallant attack received the thanks of the British Govern- ment. In 1845 he joined the Commission of Arakan ; but in 1848 he left civil employ to take part in the second Sikh war, and distinguished himself at Chilianwallah and Guzerat. During the latter famous and decisive action, he was selected by General Sir Walter Raleigh Gilbert to storm the key of the Sikh position, and in performing this important service Lieutenant Fytche was severely wounded. He also joined in the pursuit in which the Ameer Dost Mahomed Khan was so nearly taken prisoner. After the Sikh war Lieutenant Fytche returned to the Commission of Arakan, but in 1853 was appointed Deputy- Commissioner of Bassein, in the new British province of Pegu, where he performed services * Written in March, 1873 ; forming portion of a sketch of the General's "Administration of British Burma." The growing importance of Burma must form an excuse for the administrative details here given. MAJOR-GENERAL ALBERT FYTCHE. 119 which must at once recommend themselves to every saving War Minister or economical Chancellor of the Exchequer. They are recorded in a " Narrative of the Second Burmese War." On one occasion Captain Fytche penetrated to the haunts of bands of armed robbers, who were ravaging the country, accompanied by a band of irregular followers whom he had raised and drilled himself, and by this daring act succeeded in routing and dispersing the enemy, and restoring tranquillity in that quarter of his district, with a wonderfully small bill of costs for an army. On another occasion, which even more strongly recommends itself, the Captain attacked a strong entrenchment of the banditti, and shot their chief with his own hand. But his most daring and economical exploit was against the ex- Governor of Bassein, who had collected an army of 3,000 men, with a gathering of camp followers which raised the aggregate to about 10,000 ; Captain Fytche attacked them after a forced march, with his detachment of Irregulars, accompanied by four field-pieces ; the engagement was most successful. Captain Fytche, with an energy worthy of a Malcolm or an Outram, not only dispersed the enemy and killed their leader, but captured nine guns and upwards of 3,000 stand of arms, and so much plunder, that with the proceeds he was enabled to pay all the expenses of his car- riage and other charges without the cost of a rupee to the State.* On this occasion we were led to remark : " With such a force, the blue-jackets and four field-pieces, we think that a successful march might have been made even on Amrapoora, ' the city of the immortals,' itself ! " As we cannot here detail the Captain's numerous other exploits for the next few years, all performed in the most gallant manner, let us pass on to 1857, when Major Fytche was appointed Commissioner of Tenasserim and Martaban, a most important post, which he held with great credit for a period of ten years. Tempered by the Commissioner's judg- ment and discretion, which greatly adorned his administra- tion, under his mild rule the territory enjoyed an order and tranquillity which formed a significant contrast to the more * See " Second Burmese War "Pegu pp. 385-389. 120 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. demonstrative proceedings which were carried on in other provinces of the British Empire in the East. In March, 1867, Colonel Fytche was appointed to the still more im- portant post, in succession to Sir Arthur Phayre, of Chief Commissioner of British Burma and Agent to His Excellency the Viceroy of India. His four years' administration date from March, 1867, to March, 1871 ; and before taking his departure from the Province on furlough to Europe, the Chief Commissioner put upon record some interesting par- ticulars respecting the past history of his administration, and its progress during the time it had been entrusted to his care. His distinguished predecessor, Sir Arthur Phayre, previous to his departure from Burma, had submitted to the Government of India statistical tables of the progress of the province prior to 1867 ; and so the wholesome practice has been established in Chin-India (as the French geographer, Malte-Brun, aptly styles India beyond the Ganges), of an administrator finishing his chequered course by displaying his talents as author or reviewer. General * Fytche had just reason for entering on a comprehensive review when we consider that the main portion of his life had been spent in the country, and that for more than thirty years he had been serving in one or other of the three divisions of Arakan, Pegu, and Tenasserim. Passing over some valuable particulars, especially con- cerning the rapid improvement of Arakan and Tenasserim (which provinces came into our possession in 1826) under British administration ; at the present time, when, probably in a true spirit of wisdom suited to the age, annexation is not the policy of our Indian Government, it is interesting to read General Fytche's remarks on Lord Dalhousie's not taking a mode of action which, in our opinion, might have led to making northern Burma British, and the omission of which, for political reasons, appears to the General to have been open to question. He alludes to the " premature with- drawal " of the expedition, in 1852 : " Had that force been allowed to remain a few weeks longer, our political relations * Appointed Major-General in the Army, November, 1868, and Companion of the Exalted Order of the Star of India. MAJOR-GENERAL ALBERT FYTCHE. 121 with the Court of Ava might have been established on a last- ing basis, which would have proved beneficial to both states. Fortunately the result has been in a great measure achieved in later years, partly by diplomatic action, and partly by a spontaneous display of friendship and confidence on the part of his Majesty the King of Ava, which was previously unknown." It is curious to remark that when General Fytche came to India (1841), while the Government was rashly contem- plating the occupation of Afghanistan, Burma was so little cared for, that a withdrawal from the country was more than once seriously contemplated. The revenue was insufficient to meet the expenditure, and the public opinion of civilized nations had not yet reached the fertile valley of the Irra- waddy,* from the sea-coast upward to the wild tribes which intervene between Burma and China, which region " was in the hands of a cruel and barbarous despot utterly ignorant of the great world around him." General Fytche, in a " Memorandum," reviews his admi- nistration during four years, under the several heads of Foreign Policy, Internal Administration, and Public Works. Under the head of Foreign Policy his review of the progress of our relations with the Court of Ava especially at a time when the Burmese Embassy, after receiving the utmost consi- deration and attention, has so recently left London is highly interesting. The other countries upon our frontier also come well under notice. When entrusted with the administration of Burma, early in 1867, one of the Chief Commissioner's first objects was to open up a friendly intercourse with the King, and to en- deavour, through Major Sladen (who was at that time his assistant at the Court of Mandalay), to remove all suspicions from the mind of His Majesty, and to convince the Burmese Government that the only object of the British was to pro- * According to the highest authority (Sir Arthur Phayre) Irdwadi is the correct spelling of this word ; for the etymology of which, see Ash6 Pyee, p. 81. " Poonghi " a Burmese priest should be also spelt Phongyee, though the common spelling is retained in this Sketch. 122 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. mote, by mutual concessions, the material interests of the two States. At that time so little had been accomplished in the way of developing the trade "with Upper Burma under the treaty of 1862 (which proved to be of little or no advantage to British interests and trade), that during the whole interval that had elapsed between that year and the date of Colonel Fytche's taking charge of the administra- tion in 1867, only four merchant steamers had made their way to Mandalay. One of his earliest measures was to provide for a more rapid and regular communication, not only between Rangoon and the frontier town of Thayet- myo, but between Thayetmyo and Mandalay, the capital of Ava, and with the stations in the Ava territory still further inland, as far as the remote and decaying commercial city of Bhamo. While Commissioner of Tenasserim andMartaban, in 1864, Colonel Fytche had carried on some important negotiations with the Siamese Commissioners especially appointed by the King of Siam, respecting the line of boundary between British territory and that country. Matters, unsettled for forty years, were brought to a successful issue. Proceeding to the boundaries in person, in less than two years, through the Commissioner's negotiations, the line of frontier was surveyed and demarcated,* and duly ratified by a treaty between the Government of India and the King of Siam. This business appears to have been so well managed that it was natural to expect great results from the visit of the new Chief Commissioner to Mandalay, in 1867. Colonel Fytche succeeded in negotiating a very important treaty with the King of Burma forming the basis of our present political relations with the Court of Mandalay under which the oppressive monopolies of the King were abandoned, and a fixed rate of frontier duties was finally settled ; whilst the country was fairly opened up to European enterprise, and with such advantageous results to British merchants that during the following year the trade with Upper Burma was nearly doubled. At the same time Colonel Fytche won the * An excellent and much-lamented officer, Lieutenant Bagge, R.E., was employed in this work. MAJOR-GENERAL ALBERT FYTCHE. 123 confidence of the King, and thus obtained His Majesty's permission to the despatch of an expedition, under Major Sladen, towards Western China, via Bhamo, * with the view of re-opening an ancient and important trade between Burma and Western China, which had been closed only ten years previously in consequence of wars between some Mussulman tribes known as Panthays, and the Chinese local governors. Opening up the old trade route, among other objects, had the important one of encouraging the influx of population into British territory. By this expedition in 1868, the energetic and fearless Sladen did for this part of Asia what Sir Alexander Burnes had effected by his travels into Bokhara ; he cast a line of light une ligne lumineuse, as the great Humboldt said of Sir Alexander around a hitherto unknown region. The Major succeeded, not only in visiting Bhamo, but in penetrat- ing the Kachyen hills as far as Momein, and opening up communications with the Panthay chiefs of Talifoo, the capital of Yunan ; so the Chief Commissioner has good reasons for thinking there can be no question that with a rapidly-increasing steam communication with Bhamo, f the old trade will speedily revive, and the river Irrawaddy be- come the Ganges of Burma. The value of Pegu as a British possession in the East is particularly noticed by General Fytche. Indeed, it may be safely asserted that without Pegu our possessions in Burma are of comparatively small value ; but that with Pegu our territory in Burma has become " one of the most prosperous provinces of our Eastern Empire." Beyond all question, the General's four years' administra- tion of Burma has been eminently successful, externally as well as internally ; and at its close, it is highly pleasing to note the following results : " A British officer has been appointed to reside perma- * Here, where Burmese and Chinese influences commingle, we hope yet to see an exchange-mart for the silk, copper, gold, drugs, and textile fabrics of Western China, and for British and Burmese staples. t In 1869 Captain Strover was appointed to reside at Bhamo as assistant political agent. 124 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. nentlj at Bhamo. A mixed court has been established at Mandalay for the trial of cases in which British subjects are concerned. Every year Upper Burma is brought more and more into communication with the western world ; whilst the prosperity of British Burma is such, that within the last ten years her population and revenue have both doubled ; and whilst she has to maintain herself against a frontier more considerable and difficult than that of the Punjab, she contributes one-sixth of her revenue to the Imperial treasury, after meeting all charges, military and civil." As regards roads, railways, and other public works, very much was effected under General Fytche's administration. A complete system of Imperial roads was prepared, and a line of railway was surveyed between Eangoon and Prome.* Embankments were constructed, whereby large tracts of culturable territory, which had been abandoned to swamp, have been rescued. New lighthouses were constructed at Krishna Shoal, China Buckeer, and Eastern Grove. Plans were submitted to the Government of India for connecting Burma with India by a submarine cable. Gaols and civil courts were constructed at every important station in Burma, in the place of the wretched huts which had previously done duty. Education was promoted, and strong efforts were made to utilise the hundreds of monastic schools (under the yellow-garbed poongJns, or priests) throughout the province, and to render them available for the better instruction of the masses. The employment of Burmese officials had been largely promoted; a more regular system had been introduced into the revenue and judicial courts throughout the province ; a vaccination department had been organized, and local gazettes established in English and Burmese, bearing favourable comparison with those published in the Presi- dencies of India. So much, then, for British Burma under General Fytche ; a province which has improved in a greater ratio than, perhaps, any other in British India, and which the Chief * -See p. 29. MAJOR-GENERAL ALBERT FYTCIIE. 125 Commissioner thinks it will be always well to administer in accordance with, the national institutions. Education in India is a great question, and has been so since the days of Lord William Bentinck. The present Viceroy, Lord Northbrook, was not out of order when he declared that the Indian education question was a greater one than that which has " temporarily checked Mr. Glad- stone."* In Burma, or India beyond the Ganges, there are some peculiar features about the question not to be met with elsewhere. Allusion has been made to the monastic schools under the Poonghis, reminding us, so far as zeal in the teachers is concerned, somewhat of schools under the parish priesthood of Ireland. About 1865, the Chief Commissioner (Sir A. P. Phayre) had drawn up a famous Memorandum on Vernacular Education for British Burma, and the plan was at length to be given a trial. This drew forth a strong protest from an opponent of the scheme, who thought that it was so thoroughly antagonistic to the principles on which the Buddhist priests live and have their being, that it could not be otherwise than a failure. The champion of the masses in Burma argued thus : What is a Poonghi ? A Poonghi is a man who has given up all intercourse with the outer world, as far as worldly affairs go. His great object in this world is to practise virtue, and to become proficient in the various qualifications as ordained by his religion. The subjects which we would all like to see more largely diffused in the Burman mind are purely worldly land measuring, arithmetic, history, and geography, &c. That the Burman priests hold schools, is true, but to convey to the English mind the nature of the instruction given, we should call them Sunday schools. The boys go to the Kyoungs daily, to be taught their religion only. To get the priests to be secular, you must strike at the root of their religion, which is to renounce everything pertaining to this world. General Fytche, throughout his administration, studied the nature and character of Buddhist schools ; but, although he thought very highly of Sir Arthur Phayre's suggestion, that the monastic schools might be made the basis of a national * Speech at opening of the University Hall, Calcutta, March 13, 1873. 126 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. system 'of education, increased knowledge of them opened the Chief Commissioner's eyes to difficulties which had not appeared to his predecessor still, difficulties not insurmount- able. As we do not wish to weary our readers, we shall give no further details on this matter, but merely remark that there is not a village in Burma which has not a school, and there is, consequently, scarcely a Burman to be found who cannot read, write, and cypher in the vernacular.* In 1866, Mr. Hough had been appointed Director of Public Instruction ; there were also four circuit teachers the whole forming the educational department. Previous to this, the present writer had the honour of being appointed by Sir Arthur Phayre, the first Inspector of Civil Schools in Burma. In 1870, upwards of 12,000 youths were being instructed under British superintendence. While Commis- sioner of Tenasserim, General Fytche believes that he founded the first school in British Burma for the exclusive education of girls ; and after taking charge of the province, both the General and Mrs. Fytche endeavoured to promote female education by every means in their power. This was, indeed, a move in the right direction ; for, after all, female education is the grand lever for mental progress in Eastern lands. Progress is the word we should more frequently apply to India and Burma. India is, or at least should be, of no politics. It only acknowledges one law the law of pro- gress ; and, like the science of geology, what in the history of that progress is its " goal to-day," may be its "starting point to-morrow." In looking at Burma, therefore, let us observe this " princess among the provinces " in such a fair light. In British Burma the progress of education is en- couraging. It must have been pleasing to General Fytche, at the close of his administration, to know that the bonds of relation between the British Government and the Court of Ava were drawing the two countries into closer communica- * Compare with Bengal, where, says Mr. Wodrow, Inspector of Schools, only two and a half to three per cent, of the people can read and write their mother tongue. MAJOR-GENERAL ALBERT FYTCHE. 127 tion than could have been anticipated at any previous period. The King had sent several young Burmese to Europe to be educated, whilst he welcomed any European merchant or official who paid a visit to his capital. Siam a country whose frontier is conterminous with that of British territory was also in a satisfactory condition ; and we all know that the promising young King, of many names, last year * paid an interesting visit to India. Doubtless it is, in some measure, on account of the tact and wisdom of our " poli- ticals " that the Kings of the East are becoming less shy of us than formerly. We have had embassies from proud Burma and exclusive Japan in London ; and this year the Shah of Persia, after saluting the Czar, is to honour us with a visit. For the first time in the world's history the Shah will leave his dominions for Western Europe ; and his arrival in the modern Babylon will of course set young people a-reading " Lalla Rookh " (tnlip-cheek) ; fashionable novels will for the time give way to the " Veiled Prophet of Khorassan :" "That delightful province of the sun, The first of Persian lands he shines upon ; " and young students, with a " coached " knowledge of Hafiz, will be ready for examination in Persian. The advent of the Persian monarch we should look upon as a most important political, as well as social, event, since, through the Sbah's dominions, in case of Russian attack, the approach to India, must lie.t Next year, perhaps, to crown our foreign policy, we may expect the Golden Foot himself, and then there will only be the Emperor of ChinaJ left who has not honoured us, but who, with his young bride, when (with the permis- sion of the Board of Astronomers) he does come, will be heartily welcome ! Britannia is extending her hand to all the world. Returning to Burma. The tribes on the Arakan frontier * King of Siam, January, 1872. + And not by way of the " disputed frontier." Sir Henry Rawlinson. His Celestial Majesty died at Pekin in January, 1875, at the early age of 19. 128 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. and region beyond wild, savage people, of a very primitive type occupied General Fytehe's attention. He found that they practised the system of kidnapping and slavery amongst themselves, which his administration did its best to suppress. Early last year (1872) the Loshai country, lying on the south-western frontier of Bengal, and extending thence to Burma, became the scene of a campaign. The hardy mountain tribes, who for years had made raids on the neighbouring British territory, were punished, surveys were made, and more knowledge of the country gained. At that time the General had for several months left his post of Chief Commissioner; still he must have been deeply in- terested in the operations, as they tended to solve the questions connected with the administration and political control of these remote regions. The internal administration of British Burma, from 1867 to 1871, seems to have been a complete success; and it was most gratifying to the administrator to observe the large increase in the trade of the province, especially in the year 1868-69. This commercial progress was no doubt due in great measure to the new markets which were opened up in Upper Burma, in consequence of the treaty which General Fytche had concluded in 1867. The defences of the Province were in a most unsatisfactory condition. The great pagoda of Rangoon (stormed by the British in April, 1852), with the arsenal lying to its west- ward, were neither entrenched nor rendered secure. " Practically, it may be said that, at the commencement of 1867 the province was setting aside the presence of the troops in a defenceless state by sea and land ; " and on his departure, with the exception of the near completion of the Rangoon pagoda and arsenal defences, General Fytche could not record that the province was in a more advanced state in the matter of defence than it was four years before. But so far as the local administration was concerned, the needful steps had been taken for materially improving the military position of the province, which should never be left without a considerable European force, and, in our humble opinion, which should have its frontiers strengthened by a fortress MAJOR-GENERAL ALBERT FYTCHE. 129 system similar to tliat now being adopted in Germany.* With reference to the well-timed despatch of Colonel Jervois, B/.E., by the Home Government of India, to look after the defences of Calcutta, Bombay, and Aden Harbours, and the approaching visit of the estimable, but now lamented, Earl of Mayo to Rangoon, when it was thought that the merchants would urge on the Viceroy the impor- tance of our founding an extensive traffic with South- western China, we wrote :f "The defences and battery at Monkey Point, which commands the Rangoon River, will require the attention of Colonel Jervois. Monkey Point must be put in the strongest state of defence ; and to do this an intelligent artillery officer suggests that two more forts should be built, one on the Poozendoung Spit to the left, and another on the Dalla side of the Rangoon River. These with the Monkey Point Fort, would render the passage impracticable, and this is absolutely necessary in case a Russian, American, or even German squadron should one day visit the future Liverpool or Glasgow of Chin- India." At Lord Mayo's request, the Secretary of State for India allowed Colonel Jervois to visit Burma with the Viceroy, from which no doubt good results have been obtained. General Fytche alludes to the interest felt in British Burma by his Excellency Lord Mayo ; and it was a matter of sincere regret to the Chief Commissioner that His Lord- ship's visit to Rangoon, which was seriously contemplated in 1870, should have been indefinitely postponed. The General thus missed a grand opportunity; and we much regret that neither of the two administrators of British Burma (Phayre and Fytche) could welc ome to its shores the high-souled and chivalrous Viceroy. It may be here remarked that the Chief Commissioner had an interview with Lord Mayo in Calcutta, early in 1870, and took back with him to Burma his Lordship's reply to a Rangoon address. His Excellency declared the growing * Their system of classifying forts, and the adoption of strategical rail- ways, demand our attention in India as well as in Burma, t 25th January, 1872. K 130 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. prosperity of British Burma to be specially interesting to him, and promised a visit to the province as soon as public duty would permit. Such a visit we venture to think would greatly tend to facilitate the discussions on the necessities of Burma in the Executive Council of Calcutta. Since Lord Dalhousie's time no Governor- General had visited Pegu. The remarkable words uttered by the Viceroy to the Burmese Community at Rangoon, in January, 1872, will not be forgotten so long as Arakan, Pegu, and Tenasserim remain British : for they contain the grand desire of our Indian Government at home and abroad: "We govern (said Lord Mayo) in order that you should live in peace, prosperity, and happiness ; that you should be free to come and go ; that whatever you possess should be secure ; that all your rights should be preserved, and your national customs and habits respected." In closing our remarks on a very useful four years' ad- ministration we must not omit a name regarding public works particularly alluded to by General Fytche : the name of Fraser will ever be linked with Rangoon and Brijtish Burma. After the capture of the Citadel, Colonel Fraser (Bengal Engineers) became the architect of new Rangoon, which seemed to rise as if by magic from the old ; and of late years another Colonel * (Alexander) Fraser, of the same corps (now Royal), in addition to other important duties, has completed many lighthouses around the Bur- mese coast. "The name of Colonel Fraser," writes General Fytche, " must ever be associated with the ease and safety with which a hitherto dangerous coast may now be navi- gated." British Burma, through the triumphs of science, can now fairly say regarding her coast " Steadfast, serene, immovable, the same, Year after year, through all the silent night Burns on for evermore that quenchless flame, Shines on that inextinguishable light. "t Having now given so much of work well done, let us think for a moment how few persons in this country under- * Afterwards Major- General. t " The Lighthouse," by LONGFELLOW. MAJOR-GENERAL ALBERT FYTCHE. 131 stand the vast trouble and responsibility attending the Chief Commissionership of such a province as British Burma. True, he is monarch of all he surveys ; but everyone expects a berth from him, and all sorts of adventurers besiege him for appointments. Even the loafer from Australia, with some got-up story about coming over with horses to Calcutta, prowls about as if he had a right to be employed. On one occasion an adventurer, with an extra- ordinary quantity of what is vulgarly called " brass," solicited employment on the ground that he could do it " cheap,"* as if he were talking of mending a coat or taking a contract, when, for the important duties required, the man would have been dear at any price ! To steer well clear of such annoyances requires some tact ; and in all cases, to put the right man into the right place has been an object steadily kept in view in the administration of British Burma. In a record of General Fytche's services, drawn up in March, 1873, after alluding to the prospects of the ancient and important trade between Burma and Western China being re-opened "for which Great Britain should largely pay when such a consummation would be fraught with so much benefit to British trade at home " it was remarked (not- withstanding a difference of opinion as to some of the political actions of the late Chief Commissioner) that his labours had " smoothed the way for a new and mighty field of enterprise. "t The noble Irrawaddy would sooner or later become the Ganges of Burma. And, in conclusion, it was stated : " Mounted on the pedestal of purpose, wherever good could be effected, it was, often in the face of difficulties, readily accomplished ; and now we look with pride on British Burma, as a province which has improved in a far greater ratio than perhaps any in British India, the result of such able administrators as Phayre and Fytche." * We heard this from Sir Arthur Phayre himself. f A telegram from Rangoon, December 12, 1874, announced that the second Western Chinese Expedition had started under Colonel Browne. For a reference to this ill-fated expedition, in which Mr. Ney Elias (as geographer) distinguished himself, and a brave promising member of the Consular service, Mr. Margary, was murdered, see "Our Burmese Wars," &c., pp. 361-62. K 2 132 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. General Fytche's seat is Pyrgo Park, Havering-atte-Bower r Essex, and he represents one of the oldest Essex County families the Fytches of Danbury Place and Woodliam Walter, and of Eltham and Mount Maskall, in Kent. He is a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Essex, and is also a Magistrate for County Tipperary, where he has also an Estate.* So our esteemed Anglo-Indian has opportunities of doing good accorded to few. In 1878, the General brought out his handsome and most interesting work, in two volumes, Burma, Past and Present, of which he intended to- publish a new and cheaper edition, but which has not yet appeared. THE ANGLO-INDIAN; IN PARLIAMENT. AFTER three or four years at home, a steady and most laudable aim of our zealous Anglo-Indian was to serve in Parliament ; and at the last General Election (early in 1874), General Fytche came forward and contested Bye in the Liberal interest. He was defeated, after a severe struggle, by a small majority. As has been remarked elswhere, India has no politics, or should cause no political bias in the minds of those acting for the benefit of our splendid dominion. " I do this for the good of India," the useful Anglo-Indian in Parliament must consider his watchword of action. Tak- ing a broad survey of its people and its customs, and musing over the historic fact that ages before Athens and Rome promoted the arts of civilized life and literature, India was the seat of wealth and grandeur, it certainly does seem on such grounds, even to Liberals, that the strictest constitutional principles, or say the highest state of Conservatism, is the safe mainspring for political action in Hindustan " unchangeable in the midst of change " so, in the House of Commons, we may yet see gifted Members Liberals for England and Conservatives for India ! Any way, the Anglo-Indian in Parliament should now be a more important personage than ever ; and in the coming Session we hope to see him, in a full House, debating on the highly- important matters regarding the country to which ho owes his all, which will be sure to come under his consideration ! The M.P. for Hindustan has gone ! Who is to succeed him ? We trust it will be an. Anglo-Indian orator, not * Vide Essex County Hand Book, 1875. MAJOR- GENERAL ALBERT FYTCHE. 133 tedious, but copious, explanatory, and fascinating. There is a grand field in the British Senate now open to Anglo- Indians ; and if some clever and experienced men whom among them we could name, would only seek a seat in Parliament, an amount of practical good might be accom- plished, of which at present we can form no adequate con- ception.* A few days after sending the above remarks on the Anglo-Indian in Parliament to press, the writer was much gratified by reading the speech of the Marquis of Salisbury, on the occasion (Saturday, 23rd January) of his being pre- sented with an address by the Manchester Chamber of Commerce. His Lordship's views require no comment ; and as they exactly chime in with those of the humble author of these sketches, it may be considered wise to insert some of them at this stage, as affording a noble and liberal guide for Secretaries of State, who shall have India confided to their charge in generations yet unborn. PARTY IN THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. AT the commencement of his speech Lord Salisbury remarked : " You have referred to the recent change of government. Indian politics, I am happy to say, are different from all other politics in this that we know no distinction of party. Change of government does not of itself mean a change of policy. Opposition on other matters does not mean opposition on Indian subjects. I was well satisfied with the policy of the Duke of Argyll during the time that I was in opposition. I never expressed any dis- satisfaction with, and am glad to be able to follow it now that I have acceded to office (applause). I observe that in some parts of the country it is now a subject of political comment in fact, most political speeches seem to take that for their basis that there is no substantial difference between the policy of the present government and the last, and political controversy is very much becoming a con- troversy not as to the nature but as to the copyright of measures that are proposed (laughter). Well, gentlemen, this is not a political assembly, and therefore I shall not say what I might in another place have to say on the subject of the copyright of measures that are proposed ; but what is the * Written in January, 1875. 134 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. taunt with respect to other parts of English policy is our object and aim with respect to Indian policy, and our most earnest desire is that (to borrow a figure from a matter which has been a good deal in controversy in India) there will never beany break of gauge observed in the government of India (applause) and, in doing so, I must do justice, in passing, to my predecessor." 135 SIE ARTHUB PHAYEE, G.C.M.G., K.C.S.L* "A CLASS of public servants which has never been equalled upon earth." Such was the eulogy bestowed by a high authority on the many illustrious men produced under the system of the old East India Company. And, certainly, when we look at their actions, the difficulties they had to encounter, and the vastness of the splendid dominion in which they laboured, the praise seems not undeserved. On the present occasion wo desire to say a few words regarding the services of one whom Lord Carnavon has just appointed to the Governorship of Mauritius, " another example," it has been well observed, " of the system under which a new career is opened to those public servants who have attained a high Indian reputation ; and we trust that Sir Arthur Phayre will prove as successful in Mauritius as Sir John Peter Grant has been in Jamaica." Sir Arthur became an ensign in the Bengal army on the 13th August, 1828, a lieutenant in 1835, a captain in 1843, major in 1854, and lieutenant-colonel on the 22nd January, 1859. He was appointed to the Bengal Staff Corps in February, 1861, and five years later held the rank of colonel. In August, 1870, he became a major-general, which military rank he now holds, with the honourable adjuncts of C.B. and K. C.S.I., after an arduous service of forty years in the East. Erom the first he was essentially a political officer, for, as in the cases of Malcolm and of Munro, the duties of drill and discipline were second in his mind to the more noble work of settling the affairs of kingdoms. It was * "Written in September, 1874. 136 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. during the second Burmese TVar, 1852-53, after that " brilliant feat of arms," the capture of Rangoon,* and when the important towns of Bassein, Prome, and Pegu, had fallen into our hands, while the energy of the great Pro-Consul, Lord Dalhousie, on behalf of his favourite annexation, had reached its acme, that Captain Phayre was looked upon as the only man fitted to be the future adminis- trator of the conquered kingdom. Pegu, released from, the tyranny of the Golden Foot, was, under the Bengal Captain, soon to behold Justice beginning to breathe, and civilisation struggling to be born. It was thought that the adminis- trative talents of Captain Phayre who had been " one of the chief means of turning the swamps of Arakan into the granary of the Bay, and whose forte lies in making a little kingdom a great one " would soon render Pegu a most important and valuable British possession. About the middle of January, 1853, the new Commissioner arrived at Rangoon with the Governor- General's proclamation annex- ing Pegu to the British territories in the East. The reading of this document at the stronghold of Gautama w r e have no doubt Sir Arthur considers not the least important action in his busy life ; while hardly less remarkable was another, when, a year or two after, in the marble hall of Government House, Calcutta, Major Phayre, as interpreter, by desire, and in the presence of the Governor- General, announced to the Burmese Envoys who had come by command of the King of Ava to seek restitution of the whole of the captured provinces that " AS LONG AS THE SUN SHINES IN THE HEAVENS, THE BRITISH FLAG SHALL WAVE OVER THOSE POSSESSIONS !" a capital lesson for shortsighted political sentimentalists who talk of giving up any of the conquests of Great Britain.-f" When Sir Arthur Phayre had finished his work in Pegu, * April 14, 1852. t Nearly the last words uttered by the writer of this sketch to Sir Arthur, in St. James' Square, on the eve of his departure for Mauritius 3 , were on the above subject. The decided speech of Lord Dalhousie will afford to many a melancholy reminiscence of wl at Lord Mayo (nearly twenty years later) told the Burmese at Rangoon in January, 1872. In his own admirable manner, he said that Arakan, Pegu, and Tenasserim were British, "AND BRITISH THEY WILL REMAIN FOR MANY GENERATIONS OF MEN ! " SIR ARTHUR PHAYRE. 137 he was (1862) appointed the first Chief Commissioner of British Burma, i.e., Pegu, Arakan, and Tenasserim. No better representative of his Excellency the Viceroy could have been appointed ; and in March, 1867, when he gave up his high post to General Albert Fytche, Pegu might have been looked upon as possessing a model adminstration. Within a period of fiften years (from 1853), British Burma had attained a prosperity which could be favourably compared with that of any province in India ; and in the ten years, from 1855-56 to 1864-65, the revenue was doubled. At the same time, the population which had been essentially reduced through the devastating wars which for centuries had desolated the entire region from Chittagong to Siam increased from 1,252,555 to 2,196,180. The Official Report on the administration for 1866-67 does Sir Arthur full justice. The details of his labours are most carefully noticed. At first, writes one of his numerous admirers, " it seemed to announce what we hoped w r as only a visit to Europe for the recovery of his health. But it was really his retirement from British Burma." In the Report the following remark- able passage occurs enumerating the qualities so essential for every good ruler or governor : " Whether at the com- mencement of his career as a district officer, or later when organising a new administration, or lastly as the head of the entire province, Sir Arthur Phayre has always been prominently distinguished by his mastery of details, his exceeding personal devotion to his duties, and his own sympathy with the people of the country which he ruled. 5 ' His intimate knowledge of the Burmese language, and scholarly acquaintance with the dialects of the races in, and contiguous to, British Burma, and his close study of their history and characteristics, " rendered him an authority on the philology and ethnology of the Indo-Chinese nation " perhaps, we venture to add, the soundest that England can boast. We have no doubt whatever that the learned and distinguished heads of the Royal Asiatic and Geographical Societies fully appreciate the few Oriental researches Sir Arthur has been enabled to make. Mr. Cory ton, in a letter to the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, takes care not to 138 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. omit another fine passage of the Report above mentioned, disclosing qualities which will recommend the new Governor to the people of Mauritius : " His constant accessibility and courteousness to the people of the country, whatever their position, gained for him their confidence and respect to an unusual extent. He was careful of the rights of Govern- ment, but zealous and watchful over the interests of the native population. His great administrative capacity has been well shown by the rapid and progressive prosperity of the province, especially in the manner in which it has grown up under his direct guidance and control." Those who know Sir Arthur Phayre and his works well will endorse every word of this praise ; and we may add that in the all- important matter of education there could not be a more zealous advocate for the diffusion of its blessings. For this alone he will ever be remembered by the people of Pegu, to whom he strove to give a national system of education founded on the best principles ; while, for his works among them in general, Peguers, Burmese, and Karens (Deists, chiefly inhabiting the hills), for many generations to come, will, as in the case of the " Munro Sahib " in Southern, and in that of "Jan Malcolm Sahib" in Central India, make it apparent to the inquisitive traveller in a large portion of Chin- India that whoever mentioned the great Chief Com- missioner as Johnson said when extolling one of the poets "mentioned him with honour." In Sir Arthur's opinion, the chief essential for extending" the commerce of Chin-India, and that of Great Britain and India with "Western China, is exploration; and as the British Chambers of Commerce are now much interested in the subject, it may not be out of place to say here, what has been said elsewhere, that, in 1862, orders w r ere communicated by the Government of India to Sir Arthur Phayre, when negociating a treaty with the King of Burma, " to include in it provisions for facilitating the commerce of British merchants with Yunnan." He still considers that our relations with the Golden Foot threw, and still throw, considerable difficulties in the way ; and no one understands the keen trader and monopolising monarch so well as the SIR ARTHUR PHAYRE. 139 ruler wlio is now about to embark on a new scene of action. In a few years perhaps, the Chinese will have learnt to respect the rights of nations ; and it is not improbable that before the expiration of Sir Arthur's new Governorship, through the strong influence of Burma, Siam, and England, " an artificial highway " will have opened up British trade with the south-western provinces of China. The General expected to leave for Mauritius by the last steamer in October. He left England on the 20th October, 1874, having previously been honoured with a farewell interview by the Marquis of Salisbury at the India Office : and we have every reason to believe that the great merits of the distinguished Anglo-Indian are fully appreciated by the present Secretary of State. It is not enough to say that the appointment is an honour to the Indian Army ; many of us see in the laudable action of the Colonial Secretary that the clever and experienced Anglo-Indian " is no longer to be left out in the cold." It is not at all likely that the statesman who ruled so well in Chin-India will make only a second-rate Governor of such an important possession as the Isle so famed in history and romance ; and if Mauritius, under Sir Arthur Phayre, does not exactly as Grattan said of Ireland when boasting of having given her Free Trade " rise from the sea and get nearer to the sun," we may still venture to predict many great improvements therein. The political school in which Sir Arthur rose to eminence is probably one of the severest in the world. His knowledge of the cunning and duplicity of the Mongol races, kings, and chiefs, with whom he has had every variety of dealing, preventing any chance of imposition on the part of those in whose interests he laboured, will never be without value ; while his rare appreciation of the position and wants of the British merchant abroad, and the desire he ever evinced in Chin- India to be courteous to all, will be sure to gain him troops of friends. Before the new Governor's departure for Mauritius, he received a deputation from the Aborigines Protection Society. In addition to the state of the coolies, Sir Arthur will, no doubt, bring his practical mind to bear on the sanitary condition of the lower classes of the com- 140 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. munity and time-expired emigrants, " with a view to the prevalence of epidemic fever and cholera being prevented " from effecting the destruction of life hitherto, at intervals, experienced. Before another twelve years had elapsed, our illustrious friend was dead. A silver cord had been loosed, and a golden bowl broken, which, so far as Burma was concerned, was beyond all price. The following interesting obituary notice appeared a week after the sad event : SIR ARTHUR PHAYRE. We regret to announce that Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Purves Phayre, G.C.M.G., K.C.S.I., C.B., formerly Chief Commissioner of British Burma, was found dead in bed on December 15, 1885, at his lodgings in Bray, near Dublin. While men's minds are full of events in Burma, and of what the future destiny of that country shall be, there is an appropriate as well as melancholy interest in learning the death of the man who more than any one else is identified with English rule in Burma. Sir Arthur Phayre was not merely the first Commissioner of British Burma, but, as the historian Kaye has written, it was he who did for that part of our Empire what John Lawrence did for the Punjab. Twenty years have elapsed since Sir John Kaye stated that Phayre is " entitled to a place in the very foremost rank of those English administrators who have striven to make our rule a blessing to the people of India and have not failed in the attempt." Born seventy- three years ago, of a family which has given many soldiers to the national service, Arthur Purves Phayre entered the Bengal army as an ensign in 1828. He was attached at first to the 7th Bengal Native Infantry, and after seven years' service became lieutenant in 1835. Promotion was slow in those days, and after twenty-six years' service he only attained the rank of major in 1854. However, he had before that shown that his capacity lay rather in a diplo- matic and an administrative direction than in a military. Employed in Arracan, a province which had fallen to our share in the first Burmese war, he had gained a high repu- tation for his knowledge of the Burmese language and SIR ARTHUR PHAYRE. 141 character, and for his skill in managing a light-hearted but still sensitive people. When Lord Dalhousie had to provide for the civil administration of those provinces taken from Burma in 1853, it was not unnatural that he should assign a position of great responsibility to the officer who had gained " a great name along the Eastern coast." Major Phayre was appointed Commissioner of Pegu, and it was he who read the Governor- General's proclamation annexing ifc before a multitude of Burmese subjects. Shortly after- wards the Burmese sent an embassy to Calcutta, and he interpreted the different speeches at the interview which culminated in Lord Dalhousie's famous declaration that " As long as the sun shines in the heavens the British flag shall wave over those possessions." Although Lord Dal- housie would not surrender territory, he agreed to send a complimentary mission in return, and Major Phayre was appointed English Envoy to Amarapoora, at that time the Burmese capital. He was accompanied by a large suite, and the secretary of the mission, the distinguished Colonel Yule, wrote a most interesting report of their experiences. It is unnecessary to repeat the details of this journey, which did not close with a treaty, although it left our relations on an amicable footing with a prince from whom we had taken two provinces. After this mission Sir Arthur Phayre was appointed in 1863 the first Commissioner of the United Provinces of British Burma. Shortly after this increase of rank he was sent on a second mission to the new Bur- mese capital of Mandalay. This mission was nominally more successful than its predecessor, for it resulted in a treaty. On the first day of 1886, the annexation of Upper Burma to the dominions of the Queen- Empress was pro- claimed ; so what the great Pro-Consul, Lord Dalhousie, left undone in 1853, was now accomplished by Lord Dufferin. One of the principal stipulations of the treaty was the abolition of duties on our side, while the Burmese Govern- ment promised a similar step if it felt inclined within a few years. The residence of an English officer at Mandalay was also provided ; but a very brief experience sufficed to show that the treaty possessed no practical value. We need not recall the numerous unpleasant collisions between English- men and Burmese in 1856-66, when a different turn was given to the whole question by an insurrection in the capi- tal, during which the Crown Prince and other members of the family were slain. Colonel Sladen, who is now actively supervising the civil administration, was in Mandalay at 14'2 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. the time, and it was then that he first made a name for tact in dealing with this peculiar people. Colonel Phayre acted throughout the crisis not merely with great firmness, but also with great consideration for the difficulties of the Bur- mese ruler, and so much stress was laid on this moral sup- port that Colonel Phayre went a third time as Envoy to Mandalay. All these hopes were rudely disappointed. The King showed himself more obstructive than ever, and when Sir Arthur Phayre retired from the Commissionership, in March, 1867, the question of our future relations with Upper Burma was in a very critical condition. Bat Sir Arthur Phayre's chief services in this quarter were ren- dered, not to the inhabitants of Independent Burma, but to those of the British province, and it is not too much to say that he accomplished a marvellous success in popularising English rule among an alien race. How this was done may be judged from the following passage taken from his last administrative report covering the period of his authority, which says : " His constant accessibility and courteousness to the people of the country, whatever their position, gained for him their confidence and respect to an unusual extent. He was careful of the rights of Government, but zealous and watchful over the interests of the native population." In 1874, Sir A. Phayre was appointed by Lord Carnarvon to the Governorship of the Mauritius, from which post he retired in 1878, having attained, in the previous year, the rank of lieutenant-general, with the additional honour of the Grand Cross of St. Michael and St. George. The last seven years of his life were passed in what may be called an honourable retirement, from which he only emerged to contribute some paper on the subject with which his name was identified to one or other of the learned societies. The paper, full of value, which he read before the Society of Arts in 1881, is perhaps the most valuable summary ever compiled upon that country and the question of our rela- tions with it."* A distinguished Anglo-Indian (Sir Henry Norman) speaking on that occasion, said, tersely but truly, that " to speak of Burma was to speak of Sir Arthur Phayre. r f Not long before his death, Sir Arthur had been on a visit to Rome, from which city he wrote to the author that he was determined to see all before he died. The last occasion of meeting him was at Charing Cross, in the mid- * For an analysis of this valuable paper, see the author's " Ashe Pyee : the Eastern or Foremost Country," p. 150 (supplementary chapter). + Homeward Mail, Dec. 23, 1865. See also Appendix V. SIE ARTHUR PHAYRE. 143 die of 1885, when lie looked hale, and spoke cheerfully as usual ; and this, with his hearty manner, seemed to give pro- mise of a long life. Early in 1886, a memorial in his honour was projected, several distinguished Anglo-Indians appearing in the subscription list. THE BURMA RACE.* (A CRITICAL SKETCH.) o "The proper study of mankind is man." POPE. To Oriental students the subjoined sketch, it is presumed, will be of interest. It is founded on one of Sir Arthur Phayre's most learned con- tributions to Asiatic research ; which, apart from the desire of know- ledge, evinced the laudable and statesmanlike wish to know all about the people he was called upon to govern. THE idea of the Chief Commissioner finding time, amid so much work of a constant attention-requiring, sometimes dry, and frequently unpleasant, nature, to write on the his- tory of the Burma race, is another of the proofs occasion- ally presented to the world of the Anglo-Saxon's mental energy in lands where the love of deep study among us is not conspicuous ; the chief reason for which, perhaps, being that we are "exotics " or "fish out of water." From time to time, however, in literature and in science, men have appeared in the East who reflect the highest credit on their country ; and whose writings and researches will be dear to the memory of the Oriental student till time shall be no more. England may be proud of having had not a few distinguished literary and scientific scholars in India. Colonels Sykes, Young, Boileau, and Davidson ; also Cap- tains Macnaghten, Richardson, and Newbold the first and last in Oriental research and statistics, and the others in general literature are the chief military names among India's periodical writers. Colonel or General Vans Ken- nedy, of the Bombay army, in days long gone by, was also one of the greatest of our Oriental scholars and writers. * "On the History of the Burma Race." By Lieutenant-Colonel A. P. Pbayre, C.B., Chief Commissioner of British Burma. (Contributed to the " Journal of the Asiatic Societv.") The critical sketch, of which only a portion is here given, was written in 1872, and originally appeared in " Papers on Burma." 114 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. Burma is now beginning a new life. The Conquest of Pegu has been the means of this second birth ; and no bet- ter manner of showing the world that we do not only con- quer a country but endeavour to gain a knowledge of its people, could have been adopted, than that which is exhibited by Colonel Phayre in the present pamphlet. We have before alluded, while writing of Lord Dalhousie,* to what Lord Macaulay says of Warren Hastings, " the Con- queror in a deadly grapple." And, although Pegu has for some years back been far from a settlement in commotion, still, in like manner, might we suppose the Chief Commis- sioner of this comparatively new conquest, amid many cares and anxieties, while a peaceful but rather eccentric King was watching the progress of trade among the British in Chin- India, and, as some said, amusing himself by erecting stock- ades and taking them down again, f and even turning an eye to the improved manufacture of ordnance in England the Viceroy's Agent, finding a few hours to spare, to gratify his love of study and research, by writing a paper on the history of the Burma Race. Some years ago Colonel Phayre was presented by the " King of Burma " (the letter h is omitted in what is the most correct spelling of the word) with a complete copy of the carefully preserved " Chronicles of the Kings " of this interesting land, which are styled Maha Radza Weng. These chronicles appear to have been compiled under the direction of His Majesty, himself a man of learning and re- search. Of this " national work," writes the author of the paper under notice, " All that part of the history which refers to cosmogony and the dynasties of Kings in India, is- derived from Pali books, and has no more real connexion with Burmese history than the Hebrew annals have with British history." (Page 1.) The learned Dr. Mason;]; (author of a grammar of the Pali language) writes regarding the Pali, that it is the sacred * "Pegu, "p. 400. "t These stockades "in esse"were probably the acts of the "Fighting Prince," and not the King's. Sending embassies about the world appears to be the new political game on the part of His Majesty. In December, 1874,. we read of an embassy from Burma about to visit the Viceroy, the object being unknown. + This eminent man has gone to his rest. He was among the chief of those distinguished Americans who have done so much for the land of the Golden Foot ; he was a missionary in the highest sense of the word, and all who take an interest in Coin-India must be acquainted with his famous book on "The Fauna, Flora, and Minerals of Burma.' SIR ARTHUR PHAYRE. 145 language of 300,000,000 Buddhists. In it are written the most ancient inscriptions found in India, and the Verna- culars of all Buddhist nations abound in Pali terms and phrases " The Burmese books have as many Pali words in them as the English have Latin." This will at once account for the many discrepancies found by the author of the paper on the history of the Burma Race, whose object is simply to make " an outline of the main facts, yet omitting nothing which is necessary to be known to understand the history of the Burmese race as written by themselves." First, we have the self-develop- ment of the world, and the appearance of man therein the system of cosmogony, with the Buddhist philosophy and religion, being from India. The Burmese Kings, we are told, profess to trace their descent " from the Buddhist Kings of Kappilawot of the Salnja tribe, to which race Gautama Buddha belonged." In the Royal history there is the Buddhist account of the first formation of human society the election of a King, and the grant to him of a share of the produce of the soil ; such legends, according to Colonel Phayre, constituting " to this day the foundation of the authority, temporal and spiritual, of the Burmese Kings." Those old facts being " for ever present to the minds " of the Burmese, make them interesting in a political, as well as in a historical point of view ; for with them, as a matter of course, are wrapped up certain views of the British law of progress at the present day, while Christianity is begin- ning to assert her triumphal reign on the ruins of old king- doms fallen to pieces. The student of Hindu mythology will derive some plea- sure from analogy in his study of this paper on the Burma race. After an inexplicable chaos, the present earth, emerged from a deluge.* The subsiding water left a de- licious substance, which became spread over the earth. Gautama's throne first appeared above the water. At the same time the occupants of the " heavenly regions," called Brahma, had accomplished their destinies. Changing their state, they "became beings with corporeal frames, but with- out sex." The men arrive at " Paradise Lost " in Chin- India. " From eating of the ambrosia, the light of the bodies of these beings gradually declined, and because of the darkness * For similar curious information, relating to the Karens in particular, see Appendix to ' Pegu," a Narrative, &c., p. 500. . 146 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. they became sore afraid." LIGHT what a "world of mean- ing lies in that single word ! And well did Longinus con- sider the perfection of the sublime reached by the divine command at the beginning of all things, Sit Lux, et Lux Fuit ! Yes" Let there "be light, and there was light,"* whether as applied to creation or to fallen humanity, will be found, perhaps, to have sunk more into the minds of the intelligent or thoughtful among heathen nations than any other remark in the literature of any people or race. For, what dreadful ideas do we evolve from darkness ! Take light away from the world, and we may as well take life. And it was a full sense of the truth of this remark which caused the mighty but erring genius of Lord Byron to pen that " grand and gloomy sketchf of the supposed con- sequences of the final extinction of the sun and the heavenly bodies, the very conception of which," says the father of modern criticism (Lord Jeffrey), " is terrible above all conception of known calamity." From the " beings with corporeal frames," just alluded to, we are informed in a note that the people called by Euro- peans Burma s, Burmans, or Burmese take their name. In the Burmese language, " the name is written Mran-md or Mram-ma, and is generally pronounced by themselves Ba md." Talking of Ava, we find a geographical writer! of twenty years back remarking: " By Europeans the country is generally called Ava, from the common name of the capi- tal ; but, by the natives themselves, it is named Burma, which is a corruption of Mrumma, its original appellation." The truth of this latter remark would appear to be corroborated by the more recent research of Colonel Phayre, by whom we are now referred to the etymology of the word Myan-ma or Mran-ma. Alluding to a paper by Mr. B. H. Hodgson, published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, No. 1, of 1853, it is found that the author concludes that the term Burma or Burmese, " which is the Europeanised form of the name by which that people called themselves, can be traced to the native name for man. This, however, is open to some doubt ; but Mr. Hodgson's general conclu- sion that the languages of the Himalayan, Indo-Chinese, and Thibetan tribes of one family is fully justified. " The name, then, by which the Burmans are known to Europeans, or as the Burmese call themselves, is written Mran-ma, and sometimes Mram-ma, and is pronounced * Genesis, c. 1, v. 5. f "Darkness." Bjron's Works, in one vol. p. 564. $ Symonds. SIR ARTHUR PHAYRE. 147 Ba-ma. The Arakanese call themselves Ma-ra-ma, which is " a variation of the same word." Turning from the roots mi and ma in the Burmese language, we at length arrive at a most interesting conclu- sion by the author of the present paper : " I cannot say how the Chinese got the word, but it is possible that Mien was the original name of the race, and contains the root meaning man." However that may be, the word in this or any similar sense is now entirely lost among the Burmese, excepted as noted in the term for woman (Mien-ma or Mim-ma), and it may be in Mru (race). " It does not appear," the author remarks, "as the name of any of the tribes with which the Burmese might be supposed to be immediately connected." On an assembly of the world's first inhabitants, we get at the origin of Kings and high priests: "An excellent man, full of glory and authority, the embryo of our Gautama Phra, being entreated to save them, was elected king, and was called Maha-tha-ma-da. In verse, it is sung that he was of pure nature, of exalted authority, and of the race of the sun. The Burmese " history " then informs us that, like a second sun, this Manoo dispelled darkness or ignorance. To the name of this early reformer, Colonel Phayre appends some interest- ing information : " The word appears to mean generally lawgiver or king. The word is Indian not Burman ; " simply, we presume, the far-famed Menu, the Indian law- giver. From the following may be deduced an argument greatly in favour of the purity and antiquity of Buddhism. Next to the ruler came men of Wisdom ; they were called Brahmans. Others tilled the ground and traded ; they were called wealthy men and merchants. The rest being poor persons in humble employments were called Soodras, or poor people. Such were the four classes of men." Among them, it is remarked, it will be observed that the ruling power is placed first according to the Buddhist system. The Brahmans appear as "literati and ascetics." We now come to when the embryo of Gautama Phra, a wealthy Kap-pi-la Brahman, having abandoned his house, had become a hermit in the Himalaya jungles or mountains. When we are told that eighty- four thousand kings reigned in Kap-pi-la, the native country of Gautama, in " distant after times," it is needless to inquire how princes came, or how time elapsed. But " Princes " did come to the hermit's place of secretion (whether a teak or a saulwood forest is not known). They came to the place "in search of a site L 2 148 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. for a city." The hermit foresaw, with admirable sagacity, " that a city built there, w r ould, in after time, be of great fame in Dzam-bu-dee-pa, the world of man, and advised them to build their city there and call it Kap-pi-la-wot" This, from a note, we learn, appears to signify " the Kap- pi-la Brahman's place of religious duty." Then the Princes consulted together saying, " There are with us no king's daughters of our own race, nor are there any kir-g's sons for our sisters ; if marriages are made with other races the children become impure ; in order to preserve our race, let us put aside our eldest sister as a mother, and we four marry our four younger sisters ? " It was done ; and from that day the race became known as the Tha-luja-tha-liee race of Kap-pi-la-wot. Regarding the elder sister, Colonel Phayre remarks : " In Burma to this day the king's eldest daughter is not given in marriage, but remains unmarried, at least during the life of her parents." (P. 4.) Regarding the word Phra loung (i.e., the embryo Phra, a term for Gautama Buddha) the Chief Commissioner says, u The Phra, now adapted into the Burmese language is, according to Professor Wilson, a corruption of the Sanscrit Prabhu, Lord or Master. This appears to be the most probable origin of the word. It certainly is not a pure Burmese word. The orthography of it in ancient stone inscriptions at Pughan is Bu-rha and Pu-rha. The Burmese have used the original much as European nations, have the Pali word Da-go-ba. The modern word is written Phu-rd." After a terrific enumeration of sons and daughters of kings, we arrive at De-wa-dat. " This was the great oppo- nent of Buddha Gautama. They were first cousins by birth, and Gautama had married De-wa-datfs sister" As the Kings of Burma claim to be descended from the Tha-liya race of Kap-pi-la-wot to which Gautama belonged, the inter- marriages of that tribe are carefully detailed in the history. Having brought down the narrative of events to the death of Buddha Gautama, the first volume of the work proceeds to give an account of the geography of the world of Dzam-boo-dee-pa, where the Buddhist Kings reigned. We now come to confusion worse confounded. And, truly, it may be styled, in the words of Colonel Phayre, a " mythological geography." Dzam-'boo-dee-pa frequently represents " India prominently, and the world remotely." (P. 7.) As regards the countries of India all cited by Colonel SIR ARTHUR PHAYRE. 149 Phayre, it is remarked, " There appears to be some confusion, resulting apparently from some states having in the course of time subdued others, and from the historian (of the> Maha Ruza Weng) not knowing that some small states appear sometimes as members of a confederacy in an extensive country called by one general name ; and at other times are lost in the establishment of a monarchy." The first volume of the history concludes with maxims for kings and people. Into Colonel Phayre's critical analysis of the second volume of the " History " we do not propose to enter at any length. Suffice it to say, that a great variety of interesting information is brought forward, from which much that throws light on the Burmese race may be gleaned. The brochure concludes with some most valuable " observations," from which we learn that the physiognomy and language of the Burmese people, as well as those of the adjoining tribes, proclaim them all to belong to the same family of nations as the tribes of Thibet and the Eastern Himalaya. As to whence they came, and how they arrived in Burma, Colonel Phayre writes : " The theory of Prichard in his Natural History of Man on this subject is probable, is supported by existing facts, and accords with the physical geography of the regions north of the countries now occupied by the Indo-Chinese races." It is thought reasonable to conclude that tribes leaving the south-eastern margin of the great plateau of Central Asia, early in the existence of the human race, "would naturally follow the downward course of streams and rivers." And, among the earlier emigrants from that part of Asia towards the south, " as far as we can now discover, were the ancestors of the present Mon or Talaing people, the aborigines, so to speak, of Pegu." The Karens also, it is thought, left their ancient dwelling-place at an early period. Uninfluenced by Buddhism, and their language unwritten till the year 1830 A.D., their traditions of their own origin, or at least of the route by which they arrived at their present seats, " are therefore more trust- worthy than those of the Burmese or the Talaings are, regarding themselves." Regarding the physiognomy of the Karens, the Chief Commissioner observes, " I must uphold that their national physiognomy is essentially Indo-Chinese, and their speech connects them with the same family." Again, he says : " In every Indo-Chinese tribe occasional exceptions to the general flat physiognomy are met with ; these are almost always among the men. The women have more frequently the true type of Mongolian or Bhotiya face." 150 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. It is, then, presumed that such tribes as the " Burmese, the Karens, and the Mon, would readily find their way from Cen- tral Asia by the courses of the rivers Salween and Menam towards the south. Some would be led westerly, and so gain the valley of the Trrawaddy, in the upper course of that river." Regarding some Bhuddist writings preserved in Ceylon, we arrive at the sonorous name of Thoo-wan-na- bhoomee. " By that name, no doubt, is meant the country inhabited by the Mon or Talaing race, and their chief city then was on the site of the present Tlia-Tung lying between the mouths of the Salween and Sittang rivers That gold was anciently found in that vicinity is testified from the Burmese name of Shwegyeen (Shoeghyne), literally ' gold washing,' now borne by a town on the Sittang; and gold is still found there, though probably in diminished quantity to what it was anciently. This, no doubt, was the origin of the name ' Aurea regio,' of Ptolemy." Many circumstances seem to show that the Mon or Talaing race received Buddhism before the Burmese did. It is difficult to say when the conjectures about Fo " the son of a prince of India" the Samana Kautama of Pegu, the Samana Codium of Siam, and the Foe or Xaca of China and Japan, all being the same person,* will end; or if they ever end at all, whether the vast research expended on them will enlighten us much regarding the early history of this or that race. If this Fo were the Hindu Vishnu in one of his pretended incarnations, then, doubtless, much in Burmese history, as well as that of Thoo-wan-na-bhoomee, the country inhabited by the Mon or Talaing race, is accounted for. "Although the conversion," writes Colonel Phayre, " of the people of Suvanna Bhumi was planned by people in Gangetic India, it is not probable that so essential a sea- hating people had their own ships to convey the missionaries across the Bay of Bengal. Then, how did they arrive at their destination ? " Regarding the mission to Suvanna Bhumi, the writer also remarks : " It is probable that the people of the Coromandel Coast already had settlements on the Arakanese and Talaing Coasts as places of trade, and the Buddhists of Grangetic India would, in all probability, resort to some of the ports on the east coast of the continent, and not far from the head of the Bay of Bengal. At that time it is probable that the people of Teliugana carried on commerce with Suvanna Bhumi, and the Buddhist mission- * CRAUFURD. See also the author's work on "The Temple of Jaganoa'th," p. 12. SIR ARTHUR PHAYRE. 151 aries would embark in their ships." There is said to have been a Hindu Colony at Moulmein, the site of which was called Kamapoora. Until late years, the Burmese mixed up English and all Europeans with the natives of India in the one common appelation of Kuld, or western foreigners ; and it is only since the war of 1825-26, with the British, " that they have learnt to distinguish between the more prominent of the nations lying west of them. But the fact still remains that the Burmese received religion and letters from India." It now requires a good knowledge of the Burmese language to follow Colonel Phayre. "It does not appear that the Burmese people received their religion and letters through the medium of their cousins, the Arakanese, for that people refer to the eastward as their own source of both. The passage of Indian Buddhist missionaries, there- fore, from Gangetic India through Bengal and Munnipore to Burma, is a probable event, but it took place much later than has been represented." The Chief Commissioner con- cludes his valuable paper with allusion to certain customs which " are tenaciously adhered to by the Royal Family of Burma, who consider themselves as ethnologically and religiously the descendants of the Buddhist Kings of Kap- pi-la-wot." We shall now conclude this brief and imperfect sketch by referring the reader to Colonel Phayre 's valuable paper itself for further information on the Burma race, and by stating from such good authority : In the matter of the race of the Burmese, they are undoubtedly what is now called Turanian, or by Cuvier and the old authors, Mon- golian.* The notion of the descent of the Royal Family from Indian Rajas is regarded as incorrect. But it is now admitted that the Rajpoot tribes of India are Turanian also, the Brahmans being Aryan, or, as formerly called, Caucasian. By intelligence of the 26th of February, 1870, from Bombay, it was announced that Sir Arthur Phayre, who had been making antiquarian researches in the north of India, was expected to produce " an exhaustive work on Buddhism." In such an event, we may fully expect a line * In the "Lectures on the Science of Lan guage," by Professor Max Miiller, the Professor says, regarding the question, Whether or not originally Tatar was a name of the Mongolic races: "Originally 'Tatar' was a name of the Mongolic races. The Mongolic class, in fact, has the greatest claim to the name of ' Tataric.' The recollection of their non-Tataric i. e. non- Mongolic origin remains among the so-called Tatars of Kasan and Astrachan." 152 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. of light to clear up what is still one of the great Asian mysteries. As even a Governor and Comraander-in-Chief of Mauritius may require an occasional holiday, it is not im- probable that some such work from Sir Arthur's pen may yet afford food for discussion by eminent Orientalists. Nov. 1874. The principal work of Sir Arthur Phayre is "A History of Burma, including Burma Proper, Pegu, Taungu, Tenasserim, and Aiakan. From the earliest time to the end of the first war with British India." London, 1883 He also wrote " The Coins of Arakan, of Pegu, and of Burma," (1882), and was the author of various scientific papers in Periodicals. 153 SIR JOHN KAYE, K.C.S.I., F.R.S. " Etinim tails est vir, ut nulla res tantasit ac tarn difficilis, quam ille non et consilio regere et integritate tueri et virtute conficere possit." CICERO : " Oratio pro lege Manilla," cap. xx.* THE retirement f of Sir John Kaye from the India Office, after a long and distinguished period of service, is an important event, on account of the intrinsic merits and vast experience of the late political chief, in whom Conciliation ever found a steady friend, and Annexation a determined foe. Doubtless the young Bengal Artilleryman, when he arrived in India, in 1783, little contemplated either the transfer of the glorious old Company's government to the Crown, or that (after being for nearly twenty years Secre- tary in the Political and Secret Department of the 'East India House and India Office) he should one day retire with so much honour, gained after various political and literary work well and carefully done. But to say that an active mind like Sir John's could be at rest, would be to utter a preposterous fallacy. There is no rest on earth for such men. He, and some of the others whom we have so imperfectly sketched in these pages, remind one of the old Roman alluded to by Sir Walter Scott as anxious to adjust his mantle ere he fell, but who as the Scottish Shakspeare makes John Philip Kemble say, on his retirement from the stage like the " worn war horse at the trumpet's sound, Erects his mane, and neighs, and paws the ground, Disdains the ease his generous lord assigns, And longs to rush on the embattled lines ! " * "In truth he is such a man, that no affair can be so great or so arduous, which he cannot direct by his wisdom, maintain by his integrity, and accom- plish by his valour." t The retirement of Sir John Kaye from his Secretaryship at the India Office was formally announced about the middle of October, 1874. 154 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. Yes we may easily imagine, on a war-note sounding from Afghanistan or Central Asia, or in the event of another Mutiny (which God forbid !) the historian, rising even from a sick bed the old fire returning to the fading eye eager to seize his pen again ! " Rest ! " says an eloquent divine,* " what have we to do with that ? " Earth for work, heaven for wages ; and so must it ever be with men of energy and intellect who are desirous of leaving " footprints on the sands of time." We had written thus far, when a friend put Sir John Kaye's " Essays of an Optimist " (of which we had heard, but had not seen before) into our hands. There we found his views on "Best," including those concerning "Superan- nuation," and the " Battle with Time ; " which we%eemed well worthy of attention. In his essay " Of Life," Lord Clarendon advises us to follow the wise rule laid down by an old philosopher pretium tempori ponere, diem csstimare ; to consider that " every hour is worth at least a good thought, a good wish, a good endeavour; that it is the talent we are trusted with to use, employ, and to improve." Sir John has not hidden this talent in the dark, " that the world cannot see any fruit of it ; " and it is only a mind conscious of much valuable time well employed that could have produced the pleasing essay on " Best." He thinks a well-timed retirement a most prudent action. " The time must come," he says, " when younger men will do our work better, and, if we remain still at the grindstone, we shall be little more than cumberers of the earth. Nay, we may be something worse miserable spectacles of decay, not even stately ruins Let us take our pensions thankfully in good time ; let us be content to be superannuated ; let us go cheerfully into retirement before people say that we ought to be kicked into it." But then, he afterwards says beautifully " It is only through the gates of death that we grope our way to the fulness of repose." Sir John's striking lines on the " Battle with Time," prob- ably written "on the eve of a crisis," which fortunately "never came after all," and which might be applied to himself, * Dr. Guthrie. SIR JOHN KAYE. 155 follow the remark that " it is not good to be stricken down in the midst of the great battle : " " His life was one j.rand battle with old Time. From morn to noon, from noon to weary night, Ever he fought as only strong men fight ; And so he passed out of his golden prime Into grim hoary manhood ; and he knew No rest from that great conflict till he grew Feeble and old, ere years could make him so. Then on a bed of pain he laid his head, As one sore spent with labour and with woe ; ' Rest comes at last ; I thank Thee, God,' he said, Death came : upon his brow lay chilly hands, And whispered ' Vanquished ! ' But he gasped out ' No, I am the victor now ; for unto lands Where Time's dark shadow cannot fall, I go.'" Then, reminding us that " death is a fearful thing," and of the immortal lines which Shakspeare puts into the mouth of Claudio,* commencing " Ay, but to die, and go we know not where," the subject of our sketch asks " Ay, but whither ? " and continues : " It is ill thus to die with the harness on one's back and the battle-axe in one's hand. Better to lay them down ere the dark shadow falls ; and, resting as best we may upon earth, pass away into the Perfect E-est."f * " Measure for Measure." t "The Essays of an Optimist." By John William Kaye, F.R.S., Author of " History of the War in Afghanistan," " Life of Lord Metcalfe," "History of the Sepoy War," &c., 1870 (pp. 285-7). We cannot leave such a pleasant volume of essays written with a smack of the graceful stjle and humour of Addison, and of the common sense of pious Jeremy Taylor with- out turning to one, " The Wrong Side of the Stuff," iu a note to which Sir John mentions one day, on passing to office, having seen a Commissionnaire, hard by the great palace of Westminster : " As I neared him, I saw another old soldier approach him an older soldier, and of a higher rank, with bronzed cheek, and white moustache, and erect carriage, and a noble pres- ence ; one whom there was no mistaking, though dressed in the common garb of an English gentleman. When he saw the medals on the Commissionnaire's breast, his face brightened up, and he stopped before the man in green, and, with a pleasant word or two, took up the medals, one after another, in his one hand, and then I saw that he had an empty sleeve. And when I looked at the Commissionnaire, I saw that he also had an empty sleeve. And I 156 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. Something is said in the sketch of Anglo-Indian Period- ical Literature about Sir John Kaje, aud a portion of his writings, so that it may be sufficient to add, that the grand secret of Sir John's success in Anglo-Indian literature- particularly in his histories and biographies lies in the admirable execution of his work, rather than in the interest attached by the British public to the subject. People who want to know about the War in Afghanistan, or Sir John Malcolm, or Lord Metcalfe, go at once to the History and Biographies par excellence ; or, about the Mutiny, to the History of the Sepoy War. Beyond a doubt, then, during such a lamentable state of indifference to Indian affairs &uch an obstinate want of British and even in some respects- Anglo-Indian interest in an Empire which tends to make England glorious, the treatment of the matter is of the last importance ; and on this the success of any book on India that is to live will always greatly depend. You have first to conquer prejudice, and then, if you can, become fascinating. Sir John Kaye, throughout his literary career, has been eminently successful in both these particulars. Such remai-ks may excuse the introduction here of a reminiscence of that mighty wielder of the English tongue Lord Macaulay. It was in the month of June, 1850, while Macaulay lived in the Albany, writing his " History of England," that the writer of these pages having, after some labour and historical research, arrived in London with a manuscript work, on " The French in India," submitted the question to the great historian and essayist, Whether he thought the public would care about such a work at such a time ? The reply was prompt, exibiting the kindness of Macaulay to young authors. (He had not long hefore gracefully acknowledged a copy of " Orissa."*) Coming from, perhaps, the most brilliant writer of modern times one of the chiefs of Modern Criticism his remarks may be wished I had been an artist to paint that touching scene." Compare the " older soldier " with a dear departed Anglo-Indian General Officer sketched in these pages ! * A volume of local, archaeological, and other critical sketches, reprinted chiefly from tbe Calcutta Re-dew. (London, 1850.) SIR JOHN KAYE. 157 given : " It seems to me that the fate of such a volume as you describe must depend entirely on the execution. There is not, I apprehend, much curiosity on the subject of the French in India. But eloquence and vivacity will make any subject attractive. My own pursuits do not leave me time to give to manuscripts that attentive perusal, without which advice is a mere mockery." We may fairly claim. Lord Macaulay as a very distinguished Anglo-Indian,* one of whom it is well known that, from the date of his first appearance in the Edinburgh, as a reviewer of Milton (August, 1825), down to the day of his death (December 28th, 1859), his literary career was a grand continual success. Few writers can tell an anecdote so well as Sir John Kaye, and it cannot be denied that this is a most excellent gift in an author who would be entertaining. While lecturing in Central India, on Periodical Literature, we quoted an anec- dote which gave great amusement, one of the famous Sir John Malcolm, when a boy, appearing before the mighty Court of Directors in London, to present himself as a cadet, previous to obtaining their consent to proceed to India : " So mere a child was he (says Mr. Kaye), that on the morning of his departure, when the old nurse was combing his hair, she said to him, " Now, Jock, my mon, be sure when ye are awa', ye kaim your head and keep ye'er face clean ; if ye dinna, ye'll just be sent haim again.' ' Tut, woman,' was the answer, " ye're aye sae feared. Ye'll see if I were awa amang strangers, I'll just do weel aneugh.' " And Jock did " weel aneugh " amang strangers. Towards the end of 1781, "John Malcolm was taken to the India * Thomas Babington Macaulay was born at Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, in the year 1800. His father, Zachary Macaulay, a retired East India mer- chant, strengthened the hands and helped forward the philanthropic enter- prise of Wilberforce. When eighteen years of age, Thomas entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where his career was a brilliant one. He entered Parliament in 1830, under the auspices of Lord Lansdowne, and became Secretary to the Board of Control. About 1831 he became a Member of the Supreme Council of India. In 1838 Mr. Macaulay returned to England with a practical knowledge of Indian affairs ; but he is best known to Anglo- Indians as the author of the unrivalled essays on Clive and Warren Hastings. 158 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. House, and was, as his uncle anticipated, in a fair way to be rejected, when one of the Directors said to him, u Why, my little man, what would you do if you were to meet Hyder AH ? ' ' Do, sir ! ' said the young aspirant, in prompt reply, ' I would out with my sword and cut off his head/ t You will do,' was the rejoinder, 'let him pass.'' 1 The "Boy, Malcolm," had been brushed up at home to some purpose. In the review* of Sir John Kaye's work, in which the above anecdote is quoted, some interesting information is given regarding an early part of the career of one whose biography is now better known than that of other highly distinguished Anglo-Indians of days long gone by. " In February, 1798, Lord Hobart resigned the Govern- ment of Madras, and General Harris acted during the in- terregnum. The Town Majorship of Fort St. George was in those days an office of greater honour and emolument than it is now, and it was regarded as a perquisite of some one of the Governor's suite. It was therefore given by General Harris to his secretary, and Malcolm held it till the arrival of Lord Clive in August. In this year also he attained his captaincy. And in this year Lord Mornington landed at Madras on his way to Calcutta ; and Captain Malcolm took the liberty to forward to * the glorious little man ' some of those papers that he had submitted to Lord Hobart, and to solicit that ' when opportunity offered, he might be employed in the diplomatic line of his profession/ And opportunity offered soon : on the 10th September he received a letter from the Governor- General, announcing his appointment to be assistant to the Resident at the Court of Hyderabad, and at the same time requesting to see him as soon as he could possibly present himself at Calcutta." At this time the Nizam was on friendly terms with the French as well as the English. But the English and French were at war with each other ; and, as the reviewer remarks, the Nizam [" Putter in Order "] " had no very special pre- * Calcutta Review, No. 57, September, 1857. It is a sad reflection to think that this review of the great Political was originally assigned to Sir Henry Lawrence. SIR JOHN KAYE. 159 ference for either of the parties." One of the first acts of Lord Mornington (afterwards the Marquis Wellesley) was to order the disbandment of 11,000 troops in the pay of His Highness, under the command of French officers, and of course only devoted to French interests. Captain Kirk- patrick and his able assistant did the business fearlessly and well. "Had Kirkpatrick," writes the eminent biographer, " wanted resolution had he hesitated, and faltered, and shown himself to be a man of weak-nerved humanity, slow to resort to extremities in all probability before the end of October, the French lines would have been running crimson with blood. There is an ill-odour about the word ' dragoon- ing/ but there is more real kindness in the thing itself than is readily believed."* John Malcolm proceeded with the colours of the disbanded French regiments to Calcutta ; and the Calcutta reviewer, while alluding to Mr. Kaye's account of his important advent, thus gives Lord Morning- ton's idea of " the right man in the right place," which we think as applicable to the selection of politicals and other officials at home as in India, and which feeling no doubt prompted the selection of the subject of this sketch to fill the high post of Political Secretary at the India Office, as well as the appointment of Sir John Kaye's successor: "In point of fact, the Governor- General, the 'glorious little man,' [since his time we have had another 'glorious little man,' Lord Dalhousie], was one of those few men to whom, being in office, it was of no consequence whether a man were old or not, whether he were a cadet or a colonel, provided he had eyes that could see, a brain that could think, a soul that could feel what was right and what was noble, and a hand that could hold a sword or a pen." Having alluded to the disbandment of French officers in India, with reference to the all-important matters of Con- ciliation and Annexation (touched on at the commencement of this sketch), it is natural for one who has long taken an interest in such political acts in the East, to remark how deficient the French in India, during their early struggles, were in the necessary qualities for either. Dupleix could * Also quoted in the review, p. 167. 160 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. found a factory, but not an empire ; Count Lally could blow Brahmans from guns, but could not gain for his country any firm footing in Hindustan ; and even long after the days of the Marquis Wellesley, French adventurers joined the great Sikh ruler (Runjeet Singh), and eventually one (whom we knew), General D'Orgoni, tried to "manage affairs" at Ava ! All all are now departed, and have left no sign ! * It is the best thing that ever happened for England, that, during the early part of her wonderful career in India, France could neither conciliate nor annex ! Great Britain has done both successfully ; but the days for annexation are now at an end. The mandate has gone forth to look well after what we have, to resist aggression, but go no farther ; and the more pleasant task of the political secretary in days to come will be to conciliate, chiefly with a view to increase commerce and the general prosperity and happiness of the people. Annexation, in the mind of Sir John Kaye, is not to be tolerated for a moment. Talking to him one day on the subject, and casually bringing forward some excuses, in extreme cases, for the political act, such as the " force of circumstances," the writer incurred his displeasure, and was immediately silenced by " The force of circumstances ! " being repeated in a disdainful tone. Regarding the annexa- tion of Pegu perhaps the best and most righteous annexa- * Pondicherry and the other French settlements in India do not affect this remark. The French have no power in India. It would be well, how- ever, if we could buy them out of it, as we have done the Danes (the last purchase being that of Tranquebar), which (in case of European compli- cations extending to the Ea r change of air." Brigadier-General John Caillaud a distinguished name, familiar to every reader of Indian history ten years before had assumed command of the forces on the Coromandel Coast. The famous Major-General Hector Munro com- manded the forces on the Coromandel Coast between 1777 and 1781 ; and then came the well-known and distinguished Lord Macartney, K.B. Four distinguished officers (K.B.'s) came after Lord Macartney Lieut.-Generals Sir Robert Sloper, Sir John Dalling, and Sir Archibald Campbell, fol- lowed up by a well-known hero of Indian history during the war in Mysore Major-General Sir William Medows, who was also Commander-in-Chief of Bombay. There is a capital anecdote of this brave General. It was at the storming of Bangalore (1791). just after the gallant Colonel Moorhouse had received his fatal wound, when the principal gate was almost torn in pieces by our determined troops, Lieutenant Ayre, a man of diminutive stature, forced his way through it. Medows, who preserved " an inspiring gaiety " in the midst of battle, called out, " Well done 1 Now, whiskers, try if you can follow and support ' the little gentleman '." The result, of course, was, after a most gallant resistance, our eventual occupation of the pettah (town) of Bangalore. Sir Charles Oakley, Bart, (a writer in Madras, 1767), was Commander-in-Chief, as well as Governor, from 1792 to SOME MADRAS COMMANDERS-IN- CHIEF. 297 1704, and -was succeeded by a well-known nobleman, Lord Hobart, whose descendant, in onr time, became Governor of Madras. Major- General George (afterwards Lord) Harris, G.C B., Commander of the Forces in 1797, was also Governor in 1798. The descendant of this famous General was Governor of Madras during the Indian Mutiny, displaying conspicuous energy and ability. Lord William Cavendish Bentinck was Governor and Commander-in-Chief in 1803. We pass on to three well-known chiefs, all G.C.B.'s Major- General Sir Samuel Auchmuty (1810), and Lieut. - Generals the Hon. John Abercromby (1813), also Com- mander-in-Chief at Bombay, and Sir Thomas fclislop (1814), one of Britain's most distinguished leaders during the great Mahratta War. He was Commander-in-Chief, Bombay, and, Mr. Prinsep informs us, was captured on his voyage to Madras [Brigadier James Ketchen, Madras Artillery, was also captured on his voyage to Madras as a cadet, and was not delivered up until after the French war.] Major- General Sir Thomas Munro, Bart., K.C.B., assumed com- mand in 1H20 ; and another Baronet and K.C.B., Sir Alex- ander Campbell, was Commander of the Forces in 1821. After these distinguished men, we arrive at a Madras Com- mander-in-Chief, who made himself immortal by issuing one of the best General Orders ever penned ; but the full credit of it was given to His Excellency's esteemed and clever wife, Lady Walker. Lieut.-General Sir George Townsend Walker, Bart., G.C.B., assumed command in 1826. At that time the " most excellent foppery of the world "was running riot at Madras among military officers. One day a General Order appeared from the Adjutant General's office to the following effect : Sir George felt it incumbent on him to intimate to the army that officers were at liberty to dis- continue forthwith the cultivation of corkscrew ringlets; and, still further, that he was pleased to dispense with the use of side combs by the officers in the army which he com- manded, as he was unable to appreciate their utility or expediency in any military point of view ! After this, who will dare say, in these days of female suffrage in esse, hys- teric " statesmanship," female members of School Boards, fair physicians, and strong-minded women everywhere, that the wife is not the better half of poor humanity, even of a Commander-in-Chief ? Sir George Walker was Commander- in-Chief for the usual term of five years, and died Governor of Chelsea Hospital in November, 1842. Lieut.-General Sir Robert William O'Callaghan, G.C.B., K.H., commanded 298 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. from 183 L to 1836. He was a famous sportsman as well as soldier, and shot a magnificent elk on the Neilgherries (or Bine Mountains). After Sir Peregrine Maitland (1836-38), who eventually became Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, we have Sir Jasper Nicolls, who became Commander-in-Chief of India. Three years after, the famous Sir Hugh Gough assumed temporary command. As Commander-in-Chief in India, the great battles he fought in the Punjab gained him his peerage ; and Viscount Gough died in Dublin, March, 1869. General Sir Robert Dick had temporary command in 1841, and was killed at Sobraon, February 10, 1846. In September, 1842, Lieut. -General the Marquis of Tweeddale, K.T., G.C.B., G.C.H., who had served at Waterloo, assumed command. His Lordship was also Governor. Passing over five chiefs, we come to June, 1856, when Lieut.-General Sir Patrick Grant, K.C.B. once, as Adjutant General, Lord Gough's right-hand man assumed command, and held it with honour throughout the Mutiny. He is at present Governor of Chelsea Hospital, and long live Sir Patrick, say we ! Among his most notable successors have been Generals Sir James Hope Grant, Sir Frederick Haines (who became Commander-in-Chief in India), Sir Neville Cham- berlain, and Sir Frederick Roberts, who succeeded Sir Donald Stewart as Indian Commander-in-Chief. His place was taken at Madras by the gallant and admirable Sir Herbert Macpherson, whose brilliant career has been sketched by many able pens, and whose untimely death we all deeply lament. Peace be to his memory ! Truly, death openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguishes envy. " Extinctus amabitur idem."* * Bacon. 299 SIR GEORGE POLLOCK, BART., G.C.B., G.C.S.I. LlNES SUGGESTED BY THE FIELD-MARSHAL'S FUNERAL IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, OCTOBER 16, 1872. o AFTER a well -spent life, work noblj done, Nature exhausted, mourned by troops of friends, Our Indian hero sleeps. But scanty honours Graced such a wonderful career, for, Pollock, With all who wish our Eastern Empire well And who so dead of soul not so to wish ? Thy name shall live for ever ! India, When terrible disaster, deadly ruin, Made all look black, and Afghan treachery Was to the fore, and peace had left the land ; When faith in England's power began to shake, And Russia's eagle, ready for his prey, Hailed the impending storm ; then came a star A " bright particular star " which settled o'er The head of Pollock, born to fight and save ! Type of the Anglo-Indian General he, Type of the Anglo- Indian gentleman, Type of a race who shall to time unborn Be linked with India's welfare and true glory ! " The last of earth" calls forth a solemn meeting; Now, in the Abbey honoured resting-place Must he be laid, where glorious dust abounds. Hark ! the procession comes what solemn music ! Statesmen and soldiers following in the train ; Knights of the Bath and Star of India ranged Beside the worthy freight now borne along.* * The pall-bearers consisted of three Knights Commanders of the Bath and three Knights Commanders of the Star of India. 800 DISTINGUISHED ANGLO-INDIANS. Conspicuous among the Stars of India, Lawrence,* whose energy in time of need, In later days, did much to crush rebellion ; And Kaye, the bounteous labours of whose pen Have given historic truth to mighty deeds Performed by Pollock dreadful Khyber forced, Brave Sale relieved, and conquest of Cabul A page which England will not soon let die. The solemn service o'er, a last sad look We take at the old warrior's resting-place, Thinking what Antony said of noble Brutus " His life was gentle " life to what poets style " A green old age " the elements of good All " mixed in him ; " while some friends, loath to part, Muse o'er the Khyber Pass then glide away.f * The Right Hon. Lord Lawrence, G.C.B., G.C.S.I. (late Viceroy of India). t See also Appendix IV. ANGLO-INDIAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 301 ANGLO-INDIAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE/ i. IT was not long after the terrible emotion caused by India's severest trial, "The Sepoy Mutiny," had subsided, that, while holding an important position in Central India, I had the honour to form one of a small band who were anxious to improve the various grades of Europeans resident at the station. The means were a series of lectures. As coming under the head of subsidiary education, they seemed particu- larly well adapted to the country ; for, in the East, where intellectual stagnation, even among true Britons, is so apt to become lamentably frequent, should men only wish to have their memories refreshed (supposing them to be " too clever by half," to require any "subsidiary" knowledge), what better plan than a system of lectures can be devised to stimulate them to keep up an acquaintance with what they once knew of the various branches of science and litera- ture ? Again, the thought occurred to us that lectures, to many of our hearers, would not only be subsidiary, but actual primary education. For my own part, having long held it to be indisputably true that " Periodical Literature is a great thing," that it is a potent instrument in the educa- tion of a people, it was selected for the subject English and Anglo-Indian on two occasions, when I attempted to give, with the help of a rather limited library, and the assistance of a few genuine old Indians stars of a world gone by some account of its rise, progress, and importance. Having opened our campaign in July, 1859, Nagpore became the second great province,t in which, during the month, lectures for the diffusion of useful knowledge had * This and the three following papers appeared in the Dark Blue for July, August, and September, 1872, under the heading of "Periodical Literature in India." t On the 2nd July, a series of lectures was opened by Sir Bartle Frere, Chief Commissicnerof Sind, in the Government English School at Kurrachee. 302 ANGLO-INDIAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE. been instituted. Looking back upwards of forty years, the Peishwa, the Nagpore Rajah, and Holkar, were all rising with one accord against the English. The Pindarries- and Mahrattas were distracting the land. On the very ground where we had now raised our humble standard to give an occasional hour's intellectual entertain- ment to those who sought it, during that critical period host was encountering host ; the " fatal hill " of Seetaabuldee resounded with the clang of arms, and the thunder of the "red artillery;" and Nagpore fell another trophy to the Saxon race ! The remarkable events in Central India during that important time have been ably and graphically chroni- cled in the " Life of Sir John Malcolm" a biography which will never die by one of the brightest ornaments of our Indian Periodical Literature,* to whom allusion will be made in due course. And now the present writer must be pardoned for commencing his subject which professes to treat of periodical literature in India only with a piece of egotism. My first serious attempt in the walk of our in- digenous Indian literature was made public through the pages of that popular vehicle, the Calcutta Review, some twenty-seven years ago ; and any literary ardour and energy I then possessed were thereby roused into a decisive state of action. In the preface to the little work under review it is remarked : " Literature in India may be said to be in a state of inaction [1845] with the exception of one Review, which, leviathan like, plays about in the torpid pool." Again "The Calcutta Review, undoubtedly the best work (Anglo- Indian) we have ever had, we are afraid is not sufficiently patronised in our Presidency (Madras). We have frequently asked if such a person had seen the last number of the above Review, when the reply would be, ' I have heard of such a work, but I have never read it ; upon my soul I've no money to throw away, and in fact I've not much relish for works published in India : besides, who can write here ? ' Who can write here ? that is the question ! " In this same number of the Review, it may be mentioned, a volume of " Prose and Verse," from the Calcutta press was noticed : the book was written by Captain A. H. E. * Sir John William Kaye, K.C.S.I., founder of the Calcutta Review; and who, true to his love of periodical literature, was present at the News- paper Press Fund Dinner in London, 12th May, 1872 ; on which august occasion also the chair was filled by His Grace the Duke of Argyll, Secretary of State for India, who, amidst the most important official duties, in addition to writing several works, has found time to communicate with various periodicals (including newspapers) on subjects of vast importance. ANGLO-INDIAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 303 Boileau, of the Bengal Engineers, who had taken up the mantle which had been worn, and worn so well, by Dr. John Grant, Henry Meredith Parker, H. Torrens, B. B/attray, Captains Macnaghten and Richardson, as the supporters of Anglo-Indian Periodical Literature in days gone by ; and who, now a colonel and commandant in his own corps, lectured to us on " Topography " on our opening night. The Colonel's various scientific attainments, and his Lectures on Iron Bridges were still well-known in Bengal. The familiar, good-humoured face comes vividly before me while writing this sketch. I behold him as he is pacing along, with his bearer behind him that Oriental func- tionary being always ready to receive the huge lathie (stick), as long as a hop-pole, carried by the Colonel from door to door, in a manner quite patriarchal his blue frock coat, with faded light-blue Bhurpoor ribbon of '26, buttoned up to the throat, even in the hottest weather ; and, as he goes, pouring forth to those who sought it, his boundless stock of in- formation. He was a genuine type of the old Indian school generous to a fault, and abounding in anecdote. The Colonel's appearance in the lecture-room, after the severe official labours of the day, made every one happy ; and, like Falstaff, he was not only witty in himself, but " the cause of wit in other men." Proposing to teach his audience how to take some measurement in the easiest way gained from his vast experience in surveying seizing the chalk and commencing " You see the triangle, A B C," gave promise of a rather dry lecture ; but soon the subject became deeply interesting from the introduction' of a well- timed anecdote or illustration from his personal history ; and all went home delighted. Not among the least worthy of old ludians departed, will appear this General (in that rank he died a few years since) a sort of chief among " the old familiar faces " one whom Charles Lamb would have delighted to take by the hand ; and who, from the morning of life to its close, did battle in the East for the cause of knowledge and mental, recreation in the small army of India's periodical writers. Shortly after being criticised, I had the audacity to become an occasional Calcutta reviewer, when I began to carefully watch periodical literature in its various aspects, both at home and in India ; and I became more and more convinced of its power and utility in the education of a people. The number of the Calcutta (December, 1845) to which 304: ANGLO-INDIAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE. allusion has already been made, is a very varied and interest- ing one, containing six leading articles, and four " miscel- laneous critical notices " the former consisting of elaborate essays on " Indian Buddhism, its Orign and Diffusion," "The Cape of Good Hope," "The Urdu Languag 3 and Literature," " Rammohun Roy," " Married Life in India," and " The Mahommedan Controversy " the number almost a library in itself; and among the "notices," one of a " Charge delivered to the Grand Jury of Bombay by the Honourable Mr. Justice Perry" (Sir Erskine, and now (1872) Vice-President of the Council of India), and another of an anonymous pamphlet on the " Education of the people of India : its Political Importance and Advantages." The reviewer sums up his notice of the latter brief essay by remarking " Undoubtedly, a sound education, widely diffused throughout the native community, of all classes and grades, must be regarded as one of the primary instruments of its effectual amelioration ; " and as a set-off against " many disappointments and drawbacks," we are informed that the well-written "article in the present number, on Itammoliun Rot/ whose life embraces the commencement of that great social and moral revolution " through which India is "now silently but surely passing" is the bond fide production of a native Hindu." The foundation of a well-conducted periodical literature in India, carefully translated into the vernacular until English becomes (as it one day must) universal, I have long thought would produce the germs of a mighty revolution, especially in what is now in a decided transition state the Hindu mind ; and the Mahomedans too, or those of any persuasion who take an interest in their rulers, would have easy access to a knowledge of our present political power, and that in days gone by ; of OUT national amusements and mental recreations, and of our scientific and literary attain- ments all borne to the mind's eye with the idea of a highly Christianised civilisation. Such a hope could not have been entertained at the time of the publication, in 1780, of Hickifs Gazette, the first Indian newspaper.* This great event in the history of periodical literature in the East is duly recorded by the historian of Bengal with the import- ance it so well merits : " On the 29th January, 1780, the first newspaper ever published in India made its appearance in Calcutta." A newspaper could not have been started at a better time. * Calcutta Review, No. II., August, 1844, p. 314. ANGLO-INDIAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 305 The hands of Warren Hastings were indeed full, for he was employed during the next four years, chiefly out of Bengal, in managing the affairs of Benares and Oudh, in a war with the renowned Hyder Ali, the Rajah of Mysore, " and in negotiations all over India." But Mr. Hicky, and the society of which he wrote, afforded far from good examples for the improvement of the native community. " The whole picture of Anglo-Indian society, at this period, was a very bad one, and," remarks a Calcutta reviewer, " society must have been very bad to have tolerated Hickifs Gazette" a strange contrast with the highly-polished and newsy Globe and Pall Mall of our time. Infamous slander is the chief material of which the first Indian journal is composed ; and even Warren Hastings, the first Governor- General, and the dignitaries of the Supreme Court, came in for their share ; while colonels, missionaries, and beautiful yonng ladies just arrived for the marriage mart, are all mercilessly dealt with. At length Mr. Hicky thought it " a duty incumbent on him to inform his friends in particular, and the public in general, that an attempt was made to assassinate him last Thursday morning between the hours of one and two o'clock, by two armed Europeans, aided and/assisted by a Moorman ! " Such was the first Indian editor, the amusing chronicler of the gay and grave doings of a great age long passed away, the scene of whose labours was Calcutta, where, at that time, there was only one church, and deep drinking was considered a rational amusement. It may be interesting, while thinking of the improvment which has taken place since Hicky's time in our Indian newspapers, to look also at the improve- ment in civil and military salaries since then not a bad theme for a reflective mind. When Sir Thomas Munro arrived in India, as a cadet, in 1780, his pay was five pagodas (17^ rupees, or 35s.*) a month, with free quarters, or ten pagodas without. Five pagodas and free quarters was the way generally followed. " Of the five pagodas," writes Mr. Munro, " I pay two to a Dubash, one to the servants of the mess, and one for hair-dressing and washing ; so that I have one pagoda per month to feed and clothe me." Mr. Shore (afterwards Lord Teignmouth), a civilian in the Secret and Political Department, on his arrival in India, in 1769, had only eight rupees a month : t but the " writer," as the young civilian was then always styled, was, in those days, allowed to trade under certain * Taking the Sicca rupee, say 2. t Calcutta Review, No. I., May, 1844, p. 17. 306 ANGLO-INDIAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE. restrictions. The mention of such eminent men suggests others of great celebrity in India, who, during the latter portion of the eighteenth century, even supposing no difficulty existed in paying for the newspaper or periodical, could not get the article of the intellectual quality they desired. It was a dark night, even in England for the broad- sheet. The sunny days of a penny Daily News, Telegraph, Globe, or Standard, and halfpenny Echo, were yet far re- mote. The future Sir John Malcolm, and Lord Metcalfe of whom the biographer of the former has also written so well, and who was born in Calcutta in 178, r >, or two years after the great soldier aud political, " Jan Malcolm Sahib," arrived in India during their early labours must have gained but little assistance from the Indian press, of which Sir Charles Metcalfe was afterwards styled the Liberator, and on whose account the noble Metcalfe Hall, on the banks of the Hooghly, was erected by the citizens of Calcutta to perpetuate his name. Under the administration of Lord Cornwallis, or from 1786 to 1793, the tone of social morality in India became much improved. The Calcutta Review informs us that the India Gazette of 1778 has an editoral congratulating its readers on the fact " that the pleasures of the bottle, and the too prevailing enticements of play, were now almost universally sacrificed to the far superior attractions of female society." It was the old story, now told in India, which had long been told in other parts of the world, and of which the editor of the India Gazette must have been an admirer, while bewailing bachelor life in Calcutta : " Still slowly pass'd the melancholy day, And still the stranger wist not where to stray. The world was sad ! the garden was a wild ! And man, the hermit, sigh'd till woman smiled." Or, perhaps, the ideas of the lively Moore regarding the " superior attractions of female society," would have been more palatable to the editor of the India Gazette than those of the more sober Campbell, as in the well-known verse of the Irish melody : " Oh ! 'tis sweet to think tbat where'er we rove, We are sure to find something blissful and dear ; And that when we are far from the lips we love, We have bat to make love to the lips we are near! " But such a " defence of inconstancy " such a piloting off and bidding " good-bye ! " may be unjust to an age in ANGLO-INDIAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 307 India when the precocious youth, the " girl of the period," and the periodical of sensational tales, had not yet appeared in England. It is strange to think of what such men as Hicky and the above-mentioned editor would write about the law of pro- gress, could they now behold Young Bengal in his railway carriage or steamer, with his Friend, Englishman, Phoenix, or Pioneer all ministering to his social wants. Shades of Caxton, "Watt, and Stephenson, the reality is a stern one ! On the 29th May, 1818, under the administration of Lord Hastings, the first efforts to improve the native mind by education, and by periodical literature in the shape of a native newspaper, were made. The journal appeared from the Serampore Press, and was styled the Sumachar Durpun. Lord Hastings took it into Council, and allowed it to be circulated at one-fourth of the ordinary postage. About the same period the Calcutta School-book Society was formed. Thousands of Natives began to learn the English language, and there was every sign of National Education struggling to be born. There is not space here to enter into even a brief account of the restrictions on the Indian press, after the departure of Lord Hastings ; of the ejectment of Mr. Buckingham by Mr. John Adams ; of the comparative freedom of the Indian journals during the last two years of Lord Amherst's administration ; of the attacks on Lord William Bentinck for carrying out his masters' (the Cour'J of Directors') orders, and the consequent renewed restric- tion on the press ; or of its liberation by Sir Charles Met- calfe in September, 1835. About the year 1832 there were several Bengali newspapers, also a Bengali Magazine. Let us" now turn to the stars of Anglo-Indian periodical literature, some of which went out while giving fair promise of more glory, and to those whom to know was an honour, who, in their maturer years, thought sometimes with pride of the delight their writings gave while life's morning was opening on a brilliant Indian career. I shall here bring the editorial We into operation, which was first adopted by the Printer, " the ostensible director i the paper,""* in 1640 ; just eighteen years after the first printed newspaper appeared in London the Weekly News of Nathaniel Butter. Of course the mighty Oriental (Hindustani) HUM (We) has existed from time immemorial. The first work we shall turn to is the " Bengal Annual," of which the number for * Andrews. x 2 308 ANGLO-INDIAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 1833 lies before us. This was a very successful publication while it lasted, and very superior in literary merit to some of the English Annuals. It was maintained for a few years at first without any engravings, but latterly with embellishments from Europe, which probably caused its abandonment as being too costly for India, and consequently unremunerative. Its principal contributors were Henry Meredith Parker, of the Bengal Civil Service ; Captain D. L. Richardson (editor) ; John Grant, Apothecary- General ; Lieutenant A. H. E. Boileau (the familiar face before mentioned), and numerous others, all of whose names are given in the respective volumes, which contain no anonymous productions. W. T. Robertson, C.S., R. H. Rattray, Lieutenants Macgregor and Westmacott, the' Hon. Sir John Malcolm, Mrs. Hough, and Miss Anna Maria Mowatt, in addition to the names above mentioned, figure in a list of about fifty contributors to the " Bengal Annual " for 1833. The volume, standing entirely on its literary merits typography very good, bound in red (not morocco), with gilt edges, not a single illustration opens with " An Oriental Tale," by the highly accomplished and versatile Henry Meredith Parker. This being the fourth number of the " Annual," which would make its foundation date from 1830, the London critics had ample time to decide on the merit of the Eastern stranger. The thing, to exist well, must be decidedly Oriental, was the unanimous voice from which there is no appeal. When men go to India to seek their fortunes, and women to the marriage-mart, to carry out what Dr. Johnson styles the great end of female education, to get husbands (an idea now exploded, but which the learned Doctor might have thought more sensible than soliciting "Female Suffrage" at home!) said the critics, when they take up the pen they must leave their British character behind them, and give us something of the marvellous, and Oriental-picturesque that we do not know. To please such a fastidious race, the " Oriental Tale " came forth; and it was thought so worthy of giving a flavour to " Bole Ponjis," that it appears in Mr. Parker's collected writings under that title, published in 1851. Remarks from the Monthly Review and Morning Herald head the contribution, the former probably written by some lineal descendant of Smollett's friend, Mother Griffiths; and .they may be accepted as curiosities of literature : "To ns, at tMs side of the Ganges (which side?), subjects entirely Indian, or at least Asiatic, would be in general much more acceptable then those which we can easily obtain in our north ern climate." Monthly Review. ANGLO-INDIAN PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 309 " The 'Bengal Annual 'comes from about our antipodes (really !) from the Calcutta Press, and is printed upon Indian paper. It would be well if the Eastern character had entered a little more into its contents." Morning Herald. The tale is full of fun and rich humour. Mounted on the pedestal of purpose, the tale-teller shouts forth : " Joseph, a duwaat (ink-stand), filled with the blackest ink of Agra, and 40,000 new Persian cullums (pens). Good ! A fresh, chill um ; saturate the tatties with goolaub, scatter little mountains of roses, chumpah, and baubul blossoms about the room ; bring me a vast serai of iced sherbert, pure juice of the pomegranate, you understand, and now here goes ! " And now commences an Oriental tale with a vengeance : "The snakes were prodigiously lively thermometer stood precisely at 138 Fahrenheit in the sun, but was some degrees lower in the sha< commencing " The spear that once o'er Dekhan ground The blood of wild boar shed," is worthy of a place in poetical literature far above that of ordinary parody. Of gun and rifle celebrity some forty-five years ago, we particularly hear of Tiger Shirreff, Tiger Apthorp, Vivian, Humffreys, Boddam, and Backhouse, the famed Bengal fox- hunter. Boddam (Madras Cavalry) heard of Lord Kennedy's famous match, and he resolved to emulate it. He accord- ingly did the distance from Arcot to the Tinnery Tank- Wallajahbad forty or more miles driving, riding, and walking, and returning in the same manner, bringing back with him fifty-two couple of snipe, in the incredible short space of twelve hours, within which time he was dining at the mess. Killing a tiger on foot was by no means an uncommon occurrence in the old days. Such men as Apthorp,* Humffreys (who was killed by a tiger), Shirreff, and Christie, with others of our own time, are hardly to be trifled with either in the forest or on the battle field. We observe that the lasfc 'named gallant colonel has recently left Madras for England ; and we much regret that the Presidency tiger- slayer's exploits have never been fully detailed in a Madras sporting periodical. Well-known heroes of the turf of a past age in India are summed up in the names of Shepherd, Hall, Gash, Parker, and Salter. They are equally renowned as jockeys. As hunters, whether with hound or spear, John Elliot and Backhouse are never to be forgotten. But we should men* tion that some of the chief turf men in Bengal were Steven- son, Bacon, Grant, and John White. Stevenson was the father of the turf in that Presidency, while Macdowell well-known as Arab Mac claimed the honour in Madras. f * General East Apthorp, C.B., K.S.F., died at Tunbridge Wells, March 3, 1875, aged 69. t "Arab Mac " always kept some twenty or thirty horses in his stable ; and the Griffin, or needy officer, \vantinga "charger," knew where to go for the value of his money. Arab Mac's way of doing business was some- thing in the following style : " Ye want a horse, Mr. Robinson ; now here's a fine Persian " .(or it might be an Arab) "which cost me 400 rupees. He's been in my stable a month ; so I shall only charge ye 6 rupees for the Ghorawallah's (horsekeeper's) pay, 3J for the grass cutter, 3| for gram, and SPORTING LITERATURE IN INDIA. 357 Duncan Mackenzie (who enjoyed the turf sobriquet of Mr. North), Edward Gulliver Showers, of the Artillery, and the two Macleans, were chief among the glorious old " Mulls " who in their day shed glory o'er the turf, as Cunningham. (Cavalry) did in Bombay. As Nelson wished for a Gazette all to himself, so those turfites, with the other sportsmen already brought forward, might well have claimed an extraordinary magazine or review to chronicle all their brilliant sporting achievements. And are not the pages of the Bombay (Oriental') Sporting Magazine adorned with the illustrious names of those equine sons of the desert the last, alas ! of the genuine ones Pyramid, Chapeau de Faille, Feramors, Salonica, Paul Pry, Sackcloth, Hurry Skurry, and a host of others well-known to its able editor ? Although far from wishing to be guilty of the too common folly of crying- up the past nt thfi expense of the present, still we cannot help exclaiming, so far as sporting in India is concerned, Where are now the horses ? and more im- portant still, Where are the men ? The ghost of an Outram on Ariel, or of a Pottinger on Selim, answers, Where ? lieu, quanta minus est cum reliquis versari quam tui meminisse. Colonel Davidson in his " Travels " gives some valuable information on Anglo-Indian gastronomy. This amusing, sprightly traveller, when he weighed less than nineteen stone, must have been a veritable sportsman. His discourse on the co urs gastronomique, while officiating as chef de cuisine and excelling in making rich bread sauce for partridges, found its way into our most celebrated Indian periodical (the Calcutta Review) ; and, as we know some admirable Indian Nimrods who are very good cooks, the following extract, commencing in rare Johnsonian style, may be received with gratitude by our readers : " Bleak and barren indeed must that spot be where the eye of a sound- hearted and skilful gastronomist cannot discover matter for thankfulness ! For him does sad and solitary Ascension gather together her luscious and indescribable turtle ; for him the dark rocks and arid plains o the dry Deccan produce their purple grapes, and cunning but goodly bustard ; for Lira burning Bundelkund its wonderful rock pigeon and ortolan inimitable ; the Jumna, most ancient of rivers, its large rieh kala banse and tasty crabs ; for him yields the long and marshy Teraee her elegant florican ; the mighty