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MAIRWARA.
LONDON : PRINTED BY
SPOTT1SW00DE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
GIEMEBAIL HAL1L,€*
London .-Longmans <SrC°
THE STORY
OF
M A I R W A R A
OR
OUR RULE IN INDIA.
LONDON :
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1868.
HENRY MO
RSE STEFHBW
• • ■• , •
i • » . . > •
• * • • • •
• • ■ • ,
PREFACE.
This work is an account of the progress of
a State in India which was civilised under
our rule, and which it is now proposed to
hand over, against the wishes of its people,
to certain Native Princes. It is published with
the object of appealing to the protection of
public opinion in England, on behalf of a
loyal and industrious population.
The Portrait facing the title-page is that
of General Hall, C.B., who was the founder,
and main promoter, of the reforms in Mair-
wara.
512936
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGB
Introductory Remarks i
CHAPTER II.
An Account of Mairwara, up to the Year
1848 9
CHAPTER III.
An Outline of the History of Mairwara,
from 1848 to the Present Time ... 90
Appendices A to F 119 — 134
v ! *•
THE
STORY OF MAIRWARA
&c.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
Mairwara is a small Spartan state in Cen-
tral India, adjacent to Ajmeer. On taking
the latter territory from the Mahrattas, in
1818, we found ourselves compelled, by the
injuries we had sustained, and the incursions
to which we were exposed, to reduce the pre-
datory people of Mairwara also. This we
accomplished in 1822, and they became, in
our hands, a peaceful, prosperous peasantry,
the modern instance of able, active govern-
ment. In the Great Mutiny of 1857, — which
broke out not far from their borders — they
;. ::.:•.:>;''«•: ; ,«/, :
2 7/£<? Story of ' M air war a, or
remained, though tempted and tried, our
loyal friends. It appears there is reason to
apprehend that the India Home Government
contemplates the transfer of this people from
our rule, to that of two native princes, who
claim them as their own, but whose preten-
sions are repudiated by the whole Mairwara
nation. This proceeding, we are told, is to
take place in pursuance of what is denomi-
nated c The Mysore policy/ the principle of
which purports to be, a generous consideration
of the claims of the native princes. It is
further feared, that the cases of these princes
are now being artfully advocated, and unfairly
represented, by their well-paid agents in Eng-
land.
The c Friend of India,' a well-known organ
of the Indian press, under date August i,
1867 (p. 903), says:—
Emboldened by the success of the Mysore party,
the chiefs of Meywar and Marwar, now claim vil-
lages which have been under us for nearly half a
century. Colonel Taylor, in the pay of the Marwar
Our Rule in India. 3
chiefs, is now strongly urging his employers' claims
in London.
Again, in the next page, the same journal
says : —
And now, we would ask, is Meywar fit, any
more than in 1847, to be trusted with the lives
and happiness of a whole people, born, bred, and
fostered under British rule ? Let her chiefs, con-
stantly at war with each other, and often success-
fully resisting the orders of the Durbar itself, her
roads quite unsafe for travellers, and her villages
ground down by the farming system, return an an-
swer to the question. Is Marwar now fit to govern
a race who hate, and have sworn never to obey her
rule ? Let the by no means despicable civil war
now raging there, in which the Maharajah's troops
have been invariably worsted, with loss of guns and
men, and her people fleeing into British territory,
to escape the heavy exactions of rapacious robbers,
be the reply.
Again, and in the same page : —
The Mairs were free, and gloried in their free-
dom, until the prowess of the British, tempered as it
was with mercy, made them as proud to be under
our rule, as they previously had been of their free-
B 2
4 The Story of Mairwara, or
dom. What made them robbers in days gone by ?
— The bad policy of native states. What has made
them a contented people, who stood by us to a man,
during the eventful years of the Great Mutiny ?
— British good government ! And now, well-paid
intrigue is brought to bear on gross ignorance, and
false sentiment, to force the responsible Government
of India, to make this people over to capricious
and despotic native potentates. All the results of
years of noble work, on the part of men like Colo-
nels Hall and Dixon, are to come to naught and
disappear, just as they are bearing full fruit. The
Mairs are once more to forsake their peaceful habits,
and to resume their plundering career. The British
province of Ajmeer, is again to be exposed to the
depredations of men rendered desperate, by the
double sense of tyranny, and breach of faith. That
these will be the results of making over the Mairs
to rulers who cannot yet govern what they have,
no one who knows them, and their history, can for
a moment doubt.
We take a further expression of opinion on
this subject, from another organ of the Indian
press, the c Delhi Gazette,' dated August 8,
1867 : —
However opinions may differ concerning the
Our Rule in India. 5
recent decision of the Government on the Mysore
question, one thing is certain, that by this course of
action, they have entailed on themselves and their
successors, an unheard-of amount of worry, and of
troublesome solicitation. They have placed them-
selves in the position of a party known to give with
liberal hand, in a country where beggars are not
scarce. Following the lead of the fraternity else-
where, the word has been passed to every royal, and
other jolly beggar, throughout the length and breadth
of India — that a soft heart, conjoined with a head
perchance no less soft, rules the Indian Council, and
that now is the time to revive every obsolete claim,
and to press for the concession of every unfounded
pretension.
It does not therefore surprise us to hear, from
authentic sources, that the chorus of claimants has
been begun, and led off by no less a personage than
the Maharajah of Jodhpore. Colonel Taylor, for-
merly an officer in the East India Company's ser-
vice, but now in the Maharajah's pay, has recently
been sent to London, ostensibly for other objects,
but really, to revive and press the claims of his
master, on a large portion of the British district of
Mairwara. The Oodeypore Durbar, will not be slow
to second his efforts, and to c go in ' for their share
or" the spoil ; and unless an enlightened and powerful
6 The Story of Mairwara, or
public opinion be aroused, and its pressure brought
to bear on the Home Government, there is no saying
to what length the India Office may not be carried,
in weak conciliation of Indian princes.
We feel ourselves called upon to adduce
these extracts, for the purpose of showing, in
the first instance — what many may be dis-
posed to doubt — that there are grounds for
apprehending, that even so extreme a measure
as the transfer of a great part of Mairwara, is
contemplated by the Indian Government, or
some section of it, and that, if not already
decided on, it is, at all events, a debatable
question, now in some form before it. The
extracts show that, whatever public feeling
exists upon the subject in India, is strongly
opposed to any movement of the kind.
Soon after the publication of Colonel
Dixon's expensive quarto, entitled c A Sketch
of Mairwara,' there was a notice of it in the
c Dublin University Magazine ' for July i 853,
under the title of — c The Story of Mairwara,
and the Labours of Colonel Hall.' This was
Otcr Rttle in India. 7
written by the compiler of the present work 3
and as it gives, in a condensed form, whatever
information he could collect upon the subject
of the Mairs, their singular polity, their re-
markable usages, their material and moral
progress, he thinks it will answer his purpose
to reprint it simply as it is, only premising
these introductory observations, and adding a
supplementary chapter, which may bring down
the account of Mairwara from June 1848,
the date of Colonel Dixon's last published
report, to the present time.
An authentic narrative of the advancement
of a wild, but bold and independent people,
from the condition of an impoverished robber
state, to one of order, industry, prosperity,
and a considerable amount of civilisation,
embracing, improving agriculture, extending
commerce, the abolition of slavery, and of
cruel customs, the establishment of schools,
and the introduction of Christian teaching, can
hardly fail to awaken a strong interest in their
favour, and may possibly help to save them
8 The Story of ' M air war a, or
from losing the security of British connexion,
and from being handed over to native princes,
whose claims they disavow, and whose incom-
petence they despise.
Our Rule in India.
CHAPTER II.
AN ACCOUNT OF MAIRWARA UP TO THE
YEAR 1848.*
In the history of British India, we occasion-
ally meet with passages which, while varying
from its epic tone, strike us as not less de-
serving of admiration, than the spirit-stirring
triumphs of that brilliant narrative. Among
the most attractive of such episodes is the
c Sketch of Mairwara.' It tells of a wild and
warlike race, famed for the ferocity of their
forays — a nation of Rob Roys, and Robin
Hoods — or something worse, partly Mussul-
mans, partly Hindoos, but so much laxer in
their observances than either of these persua-
* 'Sketch of Mairwara.' By Lieutenant- Colonel C. J.
Dixon, Bengal Artillery. 4to. Smith, Elder, and Co.
London. 1850.
io The Story of Mairwara, or
sions, as to be disavowed by both. Their
mountain fastnesses were for ages, the Adullam
caves of the neighbouring lowlands, and, ac-
cordingly, their community grew up, recruited
from the worst characters of the cities of the
plain. Thus circumstanced, they became an
organised robber state, and continued for
centuries, idle, independent, and unsubdued,
plagued at frequent intervals by pestilence,
or peeled by famine, until the year 182 1,
when they came into contact with our arms,
and were reduced to subjection. Soon after-
wards, their districts were confided by the
East India Company, with little either of
interference or of aid, to the management of
an officer, whose appointment affords a fresh
instance of the marked discretion with which
such selections were usually made ; and who,
in the perfect accomplishment of a task of
signal difficulty, established his claim to be
rated amongst the ablest officials of that well-
served Government. This v/as General Henry
Hall, C.B., at that time a captain, acting
Our Rule in India. 1 1
with the army in Malwa and Rajpootana,
under Sir David Ochterlony, and whose ser-
vices and gallantry had attracted the notice
and elicited the commendations of his dis-
tinguished commander. Through the exer-
tions of General Hall, the robber -system was
put down, a native battalion was formed,
roads were made, the passes were opened,
traffic was encouraged, and a regular govern-
ment was, for the first time, established
throughout Mairwara. The Mairs — for so
are these people named — were won over to
abandon their demoralising habits, and by
their own acts, in their own councils, to
abolish their pernicious usages. Slavery was
prohibited; infanticide, which it had been
found so difficult to check elsewhere, was
completely put an end to ; and their peculiar,
and most barbarous of all savage customs,
that of selling their mothers and wives, was
wholly given up. A form of trial by jury
was introduced, a jail was erected, and main-
tained without cost to the Company, and a
12 The Story of Mairwara, or
system for the administration of justice was
established, which was inexpensive, and so
efficacious that, since the year 1824, the
punishment of death has been in no instance
inflicted, and but three persons have been
transported. To secure a supply of water —
the great want of these districts — and to
husband it for the purposes of irrigation, the
people were encouraged to sink wells, and
taught to construct tank-embankments. Agri-
culture was improved, much waste jungle-
land was brought into cultivation, new villages
were built, and, in fine, through the labours
of General Hall — unremittingly pursued, with
quiet devotion, for thirteen years — this people,
once so wild, were reclaimed to fixed habits
of industry, and order, and are now living in
security, and comfort, defraying the charges
of their own establishments, and yielding,
willingly, a remunerative tribute to their be-
nefactors and protectors — the Supreme Go-
vernment. This is the sketch of a c Sketch,'
the crime de la crime of the f Sketch of Mair-
Our Rule in India. 1 3
wara,' made to bespeak the interest of our
readers. As, however, we apprehend that
their attention will not be very readily ac-
corded to a far-off district, with an unknown
heathen name, and that, possibly, our glowing
picture of these happy valleys, may have less
the appearance of reality, than of romance,
we think it well to add, that the c Sketch of
Mairwara' comes before us with unusual
vouchers, as well for the substantial accuracy
and unexaggerated truth of its averments, as
for the importance of the labours which it
records. The work was prepared by Colonel
Dixon, the successor of General Hall, in pur-
suance of an order of the Court of Directors
of the East India Company, and printed at
their expense, c chiefly ' (as the Minute con-
veying their order states) c for the purpose of
being .circulated among all public officers
who may have an opportunity of rendering
similar services, in other quarters/ The
better to secure the full effect of so good an
example, it was ordered that the book should
1 4 The Story of ' M air war a, or
contain scientific plans, sections, and drawings
of the most material works executed, founded
on actual survey, and measurement, without
which their nature could hardly be under-
stood, the difficulties encountered appreciated,
or sufficient information given, to enable
others to construct like works, in similar
localities. The drawings of the specimens
selected are accordingly given, with minute
details of the mode of construction, rates of
work, mode in which used, and all other
circumstances. These details, however, em-
barrass the narrative, and with the plans,
drawings, and illustrations, render the book
too high-priced for extended circulation. The
main object of the Directors — the instruction
of their own officers — may in this manner be
best attained; but, besides instructing, it is
good to encourage officers, a maxim- which
no public body can be more ready to assent
to, than the Court of Directors. We there-
fore, with all respect to them, submit that
they may do more justice, both to the indi-
Our Rule in India. 1 5
viduals whose names are so honourably con-
nected with Mairwara, and to themselves, by
the simple step of having this cumbrous
c Sketch ' denuded of its quarto honours,
disencumbered of work-details and expensive
attributes, and reduced to the compass of a
railway volume. Thus may the labours of
General Hall meet, in the earnest applause of
the public, the reward which will be at once
most grateful to him, and most stimulating
to ethers : thus, too, may the millions know,
that, besides gathering those laurels of which
we are so justly proud, extending our com-
merce, affording occupation, and amassing
wealth, the East India Company, far from
meriting the taunt of being indifferent to the
internal condition of the country, is actively
employed in improving it, and has been, for
a length of time, unostentatiously engaged
in the silent ministry of doing good.
Mairwara forms a portion of that mountain
chain known by the name of the Arabala
Hills, and running N.N.E. from Guzerat,
1 6 The Story of Mairwara, or
to within a few miles of Delhi. It is bounded
on the north by Ajmeer, separates Meywar
on the east, from Marwar on the west, and
to the south, has the hill possessions of Mey-
war. The territory is about a hundred miles
in length, with a breadth of from twenty-
five to thirty : —
There are no rivers in this tract, and as the rain,
descending from the hills, made its way to the
plains, with the force of a mountain torrent, agricul-
ture was extremely precarious, since the crops only
received advantage from the rain, while falling. It
will be shown, in due course, that arrangements
were made, to obviate the want of water for
purposes of cultivation, by damming up the moun-
tain streams, whereby the calamities arising from
drought, have been reduced to a minimum point.
The soil, composed of the debris of the hills mixed
with decayed vegetation, is extremely fertile ; the
return from a beegah of wheat, or barley, being from
ten to twelve maunds, while in Marwar, and Mey-
war, immediately below the hills, the produce only
ranges from six to eight maunds. The arrange-
ments adopted in the hills, of diking up the fields
with walls of dry stone — whereby moisture is re-
tained, and the decayed vegetation, washed down
Our Rule in India. 1 7
from the hills, arrested — conduce much to the fertility
of the soil. The portion of the country now most
productive, was, before the subjugation of the Mairs,
a dense jungle, infested with wild beasts, and
scarcely ever traversed by man, save along the foot-
paths,which served as roads, communicating between
the few villages dispersed through the hills. At the
time the army penetrated the tract, no single village
was inhabited in what is now denominated, Pur-
gunnah Beawr, though at the present time it has
165 villages and hamlets in a high state of cultiva-
tion, and consequent prosperity. — (Sketch, p. 2.)
The Mairwara territory, now under our
control, belongs, in unequal portions, to the
East India Company, to Meywar, and to
Marwar. On the subjugation of the Mairs,
the villages which had paid allegiance to these
states, were given up to them ; but some of
them, proving too refractory, were subse-
quently made over to our management. The
district, as at present constituted, consists of
nine purgunnahs, or divisions ; of these, four
belong to our Government, and form, pro-
c
1 8 The Story of ' M air war a, or
perly, part of the British territory of Ajmeer.
They embrace 143 villages and 63 hamlets, of
which only 1 8 were inhabited, when the coun-
try first fell into the hands of General Hall.
Meywar owns three divisions, comprising
76 villages and 13 hamlets. Their land is
fertile, and has been much improved by the
provision made for irrigation. Marwar has
but two divisions; with 21 villages and four
hamlets. These are mostly placed in moun-
tain fastnesses, and have but little available
land. One of the early objects of General
Hall, was the making of roads : —
Formerly, there was no carriage-road from Aboo
to the southward, to Khurwah in Ajmeer, north-
ward, across the hills. Over the passes of Dewair,
Chapulean, Peeplee, Mundawur, and Kot-Kuran,
a traffic on camels, and bullocks, could only pass
under the protection of large military escorts.
Commerce was, in consequence, subjected to much
expense, and interruption. The communication
from Guzerat, or Marwar, to Meywar, if not
effected over these ghattas, was extremely circuitous,
being carried on, either through Ajmeer to the
Our Rule in India. 1 9
north, or altogether to the southward of the Arabala
range. The reduction of the hill-tribes, permanently
opened these lines of intercourse, thereby, materially
conducing to the interests of the adjoining state.
Colonel Hall opened a road passing through the
cantonment of Beawr, for cattle, over the Arabala
range, in 1826. On the formation of the town of
Nya Nuggur, in 1836, this pass was made practi-
cable for wheeled carriages. It is now undergoing
considerable improvement, and with other plans,
being carried out, the communication between
Marwar, and Meywar, has been so much facilitated,
that the route by Nya Nuggur, has now become
the great line of intercourse between the northern
portion of Marwar, to Malwa and the Deccan.
The arrangements for protecting trade, and tra-
vellers, through the Mairwara Hills, are so good,
that a robbery is a matter of very rare occurrence.
When such cases happen, the onus of satisfying
the injured parties, rests with the village where the
injury has been committed. Various other inter-
mediate passes have been opened, and are fre-
quented by all sections of the community, without
fear, or apprehension. The heretofore much-
dreaded Mair Hills, offer convenient routes of inter-
course, between the two great principalities of
c 2
20 The Story of ' Mairwara, or
Meywar, and Marwar, through their whole length ;
and life and property are much more secure, from
the responsibility which devolves on the people,
than while traversing any of the states of Rajwara.
—{Sketch, pp. 3, 4.)
Whatever we know of the history of these
mountaineers, was collected by General Hall,
from a comparison of such records as they
possess, with the depositions of their chiefs.
The Mairs were no clerks, but, though un-
acquainted with reading, or writing, it was
their usage to employ itinerant historians, who
marked down the main events of their career.
Through these sources, their origin has been
traced to the twelfth century ; and it appears,
that as they grew in numbers, they became
troublesome to the states around them, and
were, in consequence, the objects of some very
formidable expeditions ; all of which, however,
had the one result of being unsuccessful. This,
their courage, their martial character, and the
difficulties of their mountain fastnesses, render
quite credible. From the year 1754 to 1800,
Our Rule in India. 2 1
repeated movements were made against them,
by princes of the Singh family. In 1 807, Baleh
Rao, a Mahratta, led a force of 60,000 men
against them ; but their whole population rose
in arms, and, attacking this numerous army,
compelled it to retire. In 18 10, and again
in 18 18, they were assailed by other Powers,
who experienced the like fortune of defeat ;
and thus, a long series of successes increased
their confidence, both in themselves, and in
the impregnability of their position.
In 18 18, the city of Ajmeer, some twenty-
five miles north of the frontier of Mairwara,
was occupied by the British forces, who soon
became aware that they were in the neigh-
bourhood of marauders, whose audacity made
it unsafe for anyone to go beyond the city
walls, after sunset. They were called, as we
were told, Mairs, and lived by levying black-
mail, on the cultivators and chiefs around.
It was at that period that we first heard of
their existence. A young officer, on his own
entreaty, obtained leave to go amongst these
22 The Story of M air war a , or
mountaineers, and sketch their unknown hills.
This was Captain (now General) Hall, who
was thus the first European who trod their
virgin soil, and whose name, in the hereafter,
was to be for ever associated with the history
of their race.
An agreement was entered into with these
Mairs, by which they bound themselves to
abstain from plundering. This they ob-
served only as long as they could not help it,
and it became necessary to use compulsion.
The hazardous task of gaining a knowledge
of the features of the country, and other in-
formation before attacking it, was undertaken
by Captain Hall : —
With a view (says Colonel Dixon) to gaining
the knowledge of the features of the country, so
necessary for the successful conduct of military
operations, a party of four officers, accompanied by
a strong escort, of a company of infantry, a troop
of cavalry, and a number of hurkaras, proceeded
from Nusseerabad, via Loolooa, to Shamgurh, in
Mairwara. Of this party was Colonel (then Cap-
tain) Hall, of the Quartermaster-General's Depart-
Our Rule in India. 23
ment, who afterwards was entrusted with the charge
of the district, and who commenced, the then ap-
parently hopeless task, of improving the morals of
the Mairs. There was also an officer of Engi-
neers ; and the party was accompanied by Devee
Singh, the Thakoor of Mussooda. Having pro-
ceeded thus far without molestation, they attempted
to penetrate, by the Jak Ghatta, to Dilwara ; but the
Mairs collected in force, and occupied the pass in
front of them, and they were obliged to alter their
route, and passed, via Soorajpoora, to Khurwah,
where they halted for the night. Some consider-
able robberies were committed during the night,
and a chuprassie was reported to have been wounded ;
but no serious attack was made upon them, and the
necessary local information having been gained, the
party returned to Nusseerabad. — (Sketchy p. 19.)
In this passage there is a small mistake.
The escort was merely for Captain Hall while
reconnoitring ; but wishing to see, and learn,
more than he could while so attended, he left
the escort, and entered Shamgurh, the chief
town of the Mairs, accompanied only by an
officer of Engineers. Their escape was provi-
dential ; the Mairs being well aware that we
24 The Story of M air war a, or
were contemplating an attack upon them, and
having, at the moment, actually sent an agent,
to inspect and report upon the British force.
The account which their messenger gave on
his return, does not do much credit to their
Intelligence Department : —
The first thing (says Colonel Dixon) which he
saw, was a number of Sepoys, undressed, bathing
and eating ; and observing so many of them with
the Juneo,or Brahminical thread, across their bodies,
he conceived the idea, that the regiments were com-
posed chiefly of Brahmins — seeing that, in Rajpoot-
ana, the distinction is almost entirely confined to that
caste — and held them in light esteem accordingly.
He next saw them, in the evening, dressed in their
red coats, and drilling on their respective parades :
the exhibition seems to have fairly puzzled him,
and, on returning to his friends, he reported that
the British regiments, were composed of Brahmins,
and women. — (Sketchy pp. 19, 20.)
The Mairs had, before long, an opportunity
of improving their acquaintance with these
Brahmins and women. In 1 8 1 9, a Sepoy
force, with some light guns, mounted on ele-
phants, was brought against them, and a
Our Rule in India. 25
simultaneous attack was made on two of their
strongholds — Loolooa, and Jak. The plan,
which was framed by Captain Hall, was per-
fectly successful, and the Mairs were again
allowed to enter into an agreement, binding
themselves to good conduct for the future ;
this, however, they did not much regard, and
in another year they were in open arms against
us. It had by this time become manifest,
that all attempts to advance the prosperity of
our possessions in Rajpootana would be un-
availing, until the Mairs were reduced to
order ; and it was accordingly resolved on —
first, to subdue, and then, if possible, to keep
them quiet. Their subjection was attended
with more of difficulty than was probably ex-
pected ; while the keeping of them quiet —
to all appearance almost impracticable — was
thoroughly accomplished through c that more
excellent way ' which was pursued by Captain
Hall.
In pursuance of this determination, at the
close of 1 8 20, a British force again marched
26 The Story of Mairwara, or
against the Mairs, and, attacking them at
Huttoon and Burar, met with, on each occa-
sion, a very spirited resistance. At the for-
mer place, the well-directed fire of their
matchlocks, taught us to regard them with
respect ; and at Burar, they twice charged
our artillery, sword in hand. These places,
however, were both captured ; and Bhoput
Khan, the leader of the Mairs in this last
movement, fled to Ramgurh, situated in the
midst of these fastnesses : —
Certain information having about this time been
received to this effect, a detachment of eight com-
panies, with a party of cavalry, marched off in the
evening, as soon as it was dark, and proceeded all
night through a most difficult country, where, in
many places, the pathway would not admit of two
men marching abreast ; and even for one, the road
was so difficult, that a mile-and-a-half an hour, was
about the rate accomplished by the detachment.
However, struggling on, they arrived at, and sur-
rounded Ramgurh, by dawn. Just as arrangements
were being made for an attack, the inhabitants dis-
covered the unexpected danger that impended over
them, and the alarm was given ; but it was too late.
Our Rule in India. 27
No time was lost on our part ; and the troops,
penetrating into the town on all sides, killed and
wounded 150 men, and took about 200 prisoners.
Bhoput Khan, of Huttoon, was among the former.
--{Sketch, p. 23.)
This surprise, in their own stronghold,
attended as it was with the loss of their
leader, ought to have been a decided blow
to the Mairs; but they were slow at compre-
hending a defeat, and in another week, en-
countered us again. The lesson they received
on that occasion, concluded the campaign.
We have felt it to be but justice to those
undisciplined mountaineers, to show that, in
their several conflicts with our troops, they
made a resistance worthy of their fame for
courage — worthy of men who encounter
tigers with no other weapon than a' sword,
and of whom it has been remarked, that they
never boast. It is also, we think, a matter
of some interest, to note that Captain Hall,
who was afterwards the true regenerator of
the Mairs, was the first British officer who
28 The Story of ' M air war a, or
entered their territory, and that he took a
prominent part* in every service against
them.
* The surprise at Ramgurh was arranged and conducted
by Colonel (then Captain) Hall. In announcing the capture
of this place, the officer who commanded on the occasion, re-
fers particularly * to the arrangements of Captain Hall, of the
Quartermaster- General's Department,"' by which 'the de-
tachment was brought to the scene of operations, exactly at
the most eligible moment — a matter of great importance to
the success of the enterprise." A postscript adds, in accord-
ance with the passage cited from Colonel Dixon, that *J:his
decided operation, was effected after a night-march of thir-
teen hoars, through a trackless and, then thought, impassable
country.'
The despatch of the officer who commanded, on the oc-
casion of our final encounter with the Mairs, and which
is dated January 24, 1821, refers as follows, to Captain
Hall :—
' If I omitted to notice the valuable services rendered on
this occasion by Captain Hall, the Deputy-Quartermaster-
General, who accompanied the detachment, I should fail in
my duty. The very correct nature of the information he
was in possession of, enabled him to conduct the detachment
directly upon the enemy, who were found to occupy (as he
had previously informed me they did), in very considerable
numbers, the whole length of an extensive and high range
of difficult hills j the detachment driving them before it, but
previously having to extend itself, for a distance of more than
two miles, along the foot of the range, and under the observa-
tion of the enemy. The exertions of Captain Hall, when
the attack commenced, were equal to the previous intelligence
Our Rule hi India. 29
These successes, which took place in
January 1821, were followed by the formal
submission of the Mairs, who have never since
rebelled against our rule. Before, however,
that rule could be fairly established, there
were difficulties to be overcome, which ori-
ginated in the too generous spirit of the East
India Company. On the conquest of Mair-
wara, many of its towns and villages were
claimed by the neighbouring Rajpoot states of
Meywar, and Marwar, as of right belonging
to them. Their claims rested, in fact, on but
slender grounds, but they were unfortunately
admitted, and the districts made over. Thus
the Mairs, who had never before known any
ruler, were, in the first instance, placed under
separate governments — part of their territory
being ceded to Marwar, part to Meywar, while
the remainder was affixed to the British pro-
vince of Ajmeer. There was, in consequence,
with which he had conducted the detachment to the scene of
action ; and he led in person one of our parties, ascending
the most difficult part of the lange, and driving before him
the enemy.'
30 The Story of Mairwara, or
no controlling authority, to enforce order — no
unity of purpose, to effect remedial measures.
Confusion was the natural result. The
criminals of one jurisdiction, found shelter
in another — punishments were arbitrary, and
severe — and the country was infested by or-
ganised banditti. We may add, that the
Political Agent, who was in charge of Ajmeer,
had already enough to engage" his best atten-
tion. The obvious remedy for such a state of
things, was the subjection of the territory to
one authority, and the vesting that authority,
in some officer of known ability. This was
at length arranged. The Meywar and Mar-
war villages were, in 1823-24, placed, for a
certain number of years, under our manage-
ment ; and in 1822, Captain Henry Hall
(now General Hall, C.B.) was selected, by the
Marquis of Hastings, for the important ap-
pointment of Superintendent, political and
military, in Mairwara. - * Within six months
* It appears that Captain Hall was, on the earnest recom-
mendation of Sir David Ochterlony, the Resident in Malwa
Our Rule in India, 3 1
after, the predatory bands were broken up,
their leaders captured, the passes were opened,
and traffic permitted to proceed without im-
pediments. Single constables took the place
of armed troops, for all purposes of police
and revenue ; c and thus/ says Colonel Dixon,
c under the guidance of one master-hand, a
regular government was for the first time
established/
The hand of Captain Hall, though often
unseen, was indeed guiding every step of pro-
gress in Mairwara. In the suppression of the
and Rajpootana, * lent ' from the Quartermaster- General's
Department for this service ; and in noticing the appointment,
and the formation of the Mair Battalion, Colonel Dixon
speaks of the complimentary tone, in which the Governor-
General was pleased to invest this officer with his political
and military authority. ■ The prominent feature,' he adds,
when speaking of the order to raise the Mair Battalion, * was
the option accorded by the Government to the Commandant,
of retaining command of the corps after it had been raised,
and reported disciplined, by the General Officer of the divi-
sion ; or of returning to the Quartermaster-General's Depart-
ment, with the benefits of any promotion to which he would
have succeeded had he never quitted it.' Such condescension
and kind consideration on the part of the Government, are
matters of extremely rare occurrence. — (Sketch, p. 41.)
The Story of ' M air war a,
or
border combinations just mentioned, as well
as in the more important proceedings which
affected the social organisation, or the political
condition of the country, he was active. It
was, as we have before observed, his principle,
to effect as much as possible through the in-
strumentality of the Mairs themselves, that so
they might feel each act to be their own, and
not one to which they were, in any way, com-
pelled. To bring this to pass, however, much
of previous effort was needed, to lead them
more fully to appreciate the evils of existing
circumstances, as well as the advantage of the
proposed change.
One of the early acts of Captain Hall, was
the formation of the Mair Battalion. He saw
that these hardy mountaineers would make
good soldiers, but his first advances towards
enlisting them, met with small encouragement.
The elders heard his invitations to enrol their
sons as Sepoys, with coldness and distrust ;
and when at length recruits came forward,
the first proceeding to which it was necessary
Our Rule in India. 33
to submit them, was that of being washed with
soap and water. A high medical authority,
soberly assures us, that c every Chinaman goes
unwashed, from his cradle to his grave;'*
and, in this particular, the Mairs may be said
to emulate the children of the Flowery Land.
They scarcely ever bathe, or change their
clothes, from the day they are first put on,
until they are fairly worn-out. Many, after
having served a short time, returned to their
villages, duty and subordination being, as
they thought, incompatible with their feelings
of independence. Recruits, too, went back
to their homes at night, and on its being
made known to them that they must either
stay in their quarters, or give up the service,
a new report got abroad, well calculated to
render enlistment still more unpopular. It
was said, and no doubt thought, by some of
the elders, that the real object of our Govern-
* This is stated on the authority of Dr. Wilson, who
had charge of our hospitals in China. Vide * Medical Notes
on China.' By John Wilson, M.D., F.R.S., Inspector of
Naval Hospitals and Fleets.
D
34 The Story of Mairwara, or
ment was to collect the youth of the country,
nominally to be enrolled as Sepoys, but ac-
tually to be made away with, so that we
should receive no opposition, save from the
old people. Apprehension and distrust, how-
ever, yielded to forbearance and consideration,
and, before long, service in the corps was
eagerly sought after. From the reports of
some reviewing officers of distinction, referred
to in the c Sketch,' it appears that, in their
opinion, c the Mairwara local corps, would
stand the test of comparison, with some of
the best-disciplined regiments in the service ;
and Colonel Dixon speaks of occasions, on
which the conduct of this battalion in the field,
under his command, fully supported these
high anticipations. We, however, desire to
view this corps in another phase — as an agent
in civilisation, and in this respect it appears to
have realised the warmest hopes which even
Mr. Joseph Kaye* would entertain, of the
* Vide ' The Social Condition and Education of the
People. 1 By Joseph Kaye, Esq., M.A. 2 vols. Longmans.
London: 1850.
Our Rule in India.
35
good working of a Jandwehr system.' c The
corps ' [says Colonel Hall, in an extract from
his Report on Mairwara, dated December
1834, cited in Colonel Dixon's work] c has
contributed materially towards reforming the
Mair population. The regularity of conduct,
punctual discharge of duty, cleanliness, and
unqualified submission required; the good
faith observed in all transactions ; the con-
genial subsistence offered to many ; the full
confidence reposed, and the kind treatment
shown, could not fail of conciliatory effect ;
besides, on the other hand, being a body for
coercion, which the population must have been
well convinced it was fully qualified, from
bravery, fidelity, and local knowledge, to in-
flict ample punishment, should the necessity
be imposed.' In addition to habits of order,
the young men acquired, in the battalion,
dexterity in useful labour, in the digging of
wells, in the construction and repairing of
embankments, weirs, and other works of the
first importance in their locality ; and as the
36 The Story of ' M air war a, or
period of service was not long, and discharges
were easily obtained, these acquirements be-
came rapidly diffused, exhibiting their results,
in the improved appearance, both of the
country, and its inhabitants : —
Until 1835, many of the Mair corps were ac-
customed to take their discharge after three years'
service — their intention in entering the corps being
to save sufficient money for the purchase of a couple
of bullocks. Having attained the object of their
ambition, they would return to their villages, to take
up the occupation of husbandmen. Since that pe-
riod, Tukavee advances have been freely imparted,
to all persons to whom it was desirable to afford pe-
cuniary aid, for agricultural purposes. Still, dis-
charges from the corps are frequent. The construc-
tion of works of irrrigation, by which waste land is
brought into productive fertility, when taking place
at the villages inhabited by the Sepoys, induces them,
at once, to seek their discharge, and become culti-
vators. Havildars and naicks, with the pension
establishment only a few years in prospective, have
been induced to quit the corps, and apply their en-
ergies to the tilling of the land. Thus the battalion
is the school, in which the youth are taught obedi-
ence, and the arts of civilised life. Remaining with
Our Rule in India. 3 7
it sufficiently long to have attained confirmed habits
of civilisation, they return to their homes, to impart
their knowledge to their village, and themselves
become tutors. In this manner, has the corps
proved an instrument of great utility, in dissemina-
ting knowledge, and conducing to aid us, in the
social advancement and improvement of the rural
population. — (Sketchy pp. 45,46.)
Another of the civilising agencies intro-
duced by Colonel Hall, related to the admi-
nistration of justice. Prior to the subjugation
of the Mairs, the sword most usually decided
controversies, and redressed wrongs. Every
man stood on his own strength, or that of his
kindred. Loss of life ensued, and feuds
were generated. The only peaceable modes
of adjudication resorted to, were various kinds
of superstitious ordeals. Colonel Hall es-
tablished a form of Punchayet, or jury elected
by the parties, for the determination of all
complaints of wrong, excepting cases of
crime, which has been found to work well.
The course of procedure is in some respects
singular ; but it is admirably suited to the
38 The Story of ' M air war a, or
character and condition of the people — con-
siderations which have been too often lost
sight of, by the paper reformers, and Ben-
thams of our day : —
The complainant presents a written petition, in
Oordoo, in. which is embodied the particulars of his
grievance. At the close of his complaint, he
expresses his willingness, or otherwise, to have his
case settled by Punchayet. An order is then passed
for the attendance of the defendant. On his appear-
ing, the complaint is explained to him, when he
delivers in a counter-statement, signifying, at the
same time, by what mode he wishes to be tried.
Should each party desire a Punchayet, each names
his respective arbitrators, the number of whom is
alone limited by the pleasure of the contending
parties. Sometimes the jury consists of twelve
members on each side. Generally speaking, on
the score of economy, each restricts its quota to
three or four members. Objections to members on
account of nearness of kin, or other reasonable
grounds, are allowed, and substitutes are named, to
supply the place of those challenged, or rejected.
The complainant, and defendant, then enter into
engagements to abide by the decision of the Pun-
chayet, except in case of disapproval, by paying a
Our Rule in India. 39
fine to the Government, when a new trial is allowed.
In like manner, the arbitrators bind themselves by
engagements, to do strict and impartial justice, in
the case submitted to their decision ; in failure
thereof, a stated sum is forfeited. All preliminaries
having been arranged, the case comes under investi-
gation. Each party finds its arbitrators in food,
which varies in quality, according to the means of
the parties. On the decision of the case, the
expense devolves on the losing side. As the elders
are chiefly selected, from their respectability, and
inferred knowledge of right, for this duty, delay in
coming to a decision is not unusual — influenced,
perhaps, by the circumstance that they are found in
food, whilst engaged in such investigation. Feelings
of pride, and the imagined honour of their clan,
more frequently induce delay, when matters between
two opposite septs are under discussion. Punchayets
have taken a month, or five weeks, to consider the
questions at issue. Having at length come to a
decision, their opinion, recorded in writing, is read,
and explained to the complainant, and defendant,
who approve or disapprove of the decree of the
1 Punch/ according as their feelings prompt them.
Their decision, generally speaking, is unanimous.
When otherwise, the opinion of three-fourths of the
members is necessary, to make their decree binding.
Although dissentients are at liberty, on paying the
40 The Story of ' M air war a, or
stipulated fine, regulated in reference to the large-
ness of the case at issue, to demand a fresh trial,
this privilege is rarely claimed. The Mairs, when
allowed time for consideration, are open to reason,
and they well know, when there is a large majority
opposed to them, cogent reasons exist for the deci-
sion — the more particularly as these arbitrators, or
a portion of them, have so decided the case. The
superintendent will generally know when the deci-
sion of a c Punch ' is not consonant with the usages
of the people. His explanation is received willingly
by the arbitrators, when any deviation from common
usage is pointed out to them. In this way, by ob-
serving a temperate, conciliatory tone towards the
jury, a slight modification of their decree, not un-
frequently, has the desirable effect of bringing round
a razeenamah* on both sides. — (Sketch, pp. 77-8.)
This extract will be sufficiently intelligible,
notwithstanding its hard terms of Eastern law.
It shows that the system was selected, not for
its symmetry, but for its suitability to the
people. They had before a Punchayet, but
it was rarely resorted to, because there was
no authority to enforce its decrees. This
* A written acknowledgment of the settlement of a
cause. — (Sketch, p. 240.)
Our Rtde in India. 4 r
imperfect tribunal, remodelled by Colonel
Hall, has been found to answer so well, that
for the last forty-six years — that is, during
the whole period of our rule in Mairwara —
no appeal has been made beyond the Superin-
tendent of the district.
Minor offences are punished by imprison-
ment; serious crimes, by transportation or
death. Death has never been inflicted from
the first pacification of the country in 1824,
and, in the long period that has since inter-
vened, but three persons have been trans-
ported. These simple inland people, how-
ever, look on the punishment of transportation
beyond sea, with far more of terror, than that
of death. c Their imagination/ says Colonel
Dixon, c fails to depict the state of suffering,
and privation, experienced by those who are
consigned to " Khala Panee." ' c Their state
is that of complete uncertainty. Hence the
criminals that have been transported, live
vividly in the recollection of their friends ;
and hence it is, that this punishment is re-
garded more awfully than death, which at
42 The Story of M air war a, or
once removes the subject of all doubts about
him.*
It is a peculiar and striking feature in the
penal system of Colonel Hall, that offenders
are compelled to make good the value of
stolen property, and, further, to provide for
the expenses of their own support whilst in
gaol, as well as to defray their share of the
expenses of conviction. In some instances,
poverty precludes this; but, as a general rule,
prisoners are required to arrange these con-
tingencies, and, if unable to liquidate them at
once, to bind themselves to contribute a fixed
sum at each successive harvest. This is
practicable in a country where every peasant
is more or less a cultivator, and has some
share of the lands of his village : —
The system [says Colonel Hall, in his Report,
already cited] is efficacious, notwithstanding its
mildness. Besides being a direct preventive of
crime, it has tended materially to soften the character,
to remove atrocity, to enlist the feelings of the
country, and consequently its active support, in aid
* * Sketch of Mairwara,' p. 79.
Our Rule in India. 43
of the police, and to render resistance to capture,
even by a single chuprassee (constable), very rare.
In such a country, two thousand policemen would
be ineffectual, without the cordial support of the
inhabitants, so that their good will is of primary
importance.
The inhabitants of Mairwara are, as we
have before observed, separated nominally
into two religious divisions, Mussulmans, and
Hindoos ; but they intermarry, and, save that
the former practise circumcision, and bury
their dead, their customs are almost identical.
The Hindoos are the least sectarian of all who
anywhere profess that ancient infidelity. They
wholly disregard the set forms of ablution,
preparation of food, and other peculiarities.
They pay no religious reverence to the idols,
worshipped by the orthodox of their persuasion,
elsewhere, but have their own deities. Their
principal food is Indian-corn, and barley -bread;
they eat, without hesitation, of sheep, goats,
and even cows, have no interdiction as to the
use of spirituous liquors, but never touch
hog's flesh, deer, fish, or fowls.
44 The Story of Al air war a, or
The most remarkable and pernicious of
the Mair customs were — the sale of women,
female infanticide, and an extensive system of
slavery. Women were looked upon as pro-
perty, to be disposed of or transferred, with
the same facility as cattle, or land. On the
death of a father, the mother lapsed to the
son, as part of the paternal inheritance, and
he could sell her at his pleasure, provided he
adhered to the rules of his clan. A wife
might be disposed of at any time. These
usages arose from no defect of natural affec-
tion (which we are assured this people possess
as much as others), but from an equity of
their own, having its origin in their .marriage
contracts. On a marriage engagement taking
place, the first step, the most needful, and
the most strictly enforced of all, was, that a
certain sum — and, in reference to their con-
dition, a high one — should be paid to the
wife's father. From this flowed the right of
sale, whether as wife or mother, it being
regarded as no more than an equivalent for
Our Rule in India. 45
the sum invested in the original purchase.
Strange as such a practice may seem, it will,
no doubt, appear still more singular, that it
was never regarded by the women as either a
grievance, or a degradation. On the con-
trary, they were rather flattered, at being the
subjects of so clear a test of value. This
was their custom from time immemorial, and
when spoken to about it, neither woman nor
man felt it to be in the least wrong. The
well-known eulogy on the French sauce, that
it might tempt a man to eat his own father,
had its pendant amongst the Mairs ; for one of
them declared, without reserve, that c he had
sold, and eat, his own mother/ meaning that
he had expended on himself the money he
had gained by selling her. Colonel Hall
traced this demoralising practice, and that of
infanticide, to their cause, and, dealing with
that cause, succeeded in putting them down.
c The measures,' says the work before us,
c which were adopted in view to the complete
prohibition of female infanticide, and the
46 The Story of ' M air war a, or
marked success which characterised these
proceedings, are fully detailed in Colonel
Hall's report, under date 31st July, 1827/
Colonel Dixon then gives the principal para-
graphs of that report, of which we transcribe
the following : —
Para. 5th. It is most satisfactory to be able to
report the complete, and voluntary abolition of the
two revolting customs — female infanticide, and the
sale of women. Both crimes were closely con-
nected, having had their origin in the heavy ex-
penses attending marriage-contracts. The sums
were payable by the male side ; were unalterable,
equal for the rich and poor, without any abatement
whatever, in favour of the latter. What first esta-
blished the payment is unknown, but it was so sacred,
inviolable, and even a partial deviation so disgraceful,
that the most necessitous of the tribe would not
incur the imputation.
6th. Hence arose as decided a right over the
person of women, as over cattle, or other property.
They were inherited, and disposed of accordingly,
to the extent even of sons selling their own mothers.
7th. Hence, also, arose infanticide. The sums
payable, were beyond the means of so many, that
daughters necessarily remained on hand after ma
Our Rule in India. 47
turity, entailed immoral disgrace, and thus imposed
necessity for all female progeny, becoming victims
to their family honour.
8th. On the establishment of British rule, both
evils gradually diminished. Females were not
allowed to be transferred, except for conjugal pur-
poses ; their consent was to be obtained, and their
choice consulted ; kind, humane treatment was
enforced, and the whole system of considering them
as mere cattle, was discouraged, without any indica-
tion, however, of interference with a right of property
so long existing.
9th. Female infanticide was at once prohibited ;
and though many, no doubt, still fell secret sacrifices,
from the great facility of undetected destruction, yet
the danger, aided by improved feeling, increased the
survivors so considerably, as to force upon the Mairs
a due sense of the root of the evil, and a general wish
• for its removal, by a reduction of the regulated sum
of contract; but they were averse, indeed declared
their inability, to alter their long-established sacred
custom themselves, and earnestly entreated it might
be effected by an order of authority, binding all to
obedience by heavy penalties. This was promised
in a general way, in case of necessity ; but as there
were many points to be settled, and it was ad\ isable
to ascertain the general feeling with accuracy, as
48 The Story of Mairwara, or
well as to avoid interference, if possible, a general
Punchayet was strongly urged, either to decide the
matter, or, at all events, aid in the forming of appro-
priate regulations.
loth. After the lapse of a few months allowed
for consideration, the whole was settled in public
Punchayet, and its resolutions were confirmed
without the slightest alteration, so that the proceed-
ing originated with, and has been carried through
by, the inhabitants themselves ; nor has there been
a single petition against it, either pending or subse-
quent to adjustment.
nth. They have lowered the sum payable on
marriage-contracts, abolished all right of subsequent
sale, and fixed a year's imprisonment, or 200 rupees
fine, with exclusion of caste, as the punishment for
deviation. — (Sketchy pp. 30, 31.)
We pause to admire the discretion with
which Colonel Hall made this people, to
such an extent, their own reformers, effecting
as much as possible through themselves, so
that, when authority was used, it was hardly
apparent. It will, however, be obvious, that
such results could not be attained without
much, both of previous arrangement, and
exertion : —
Our Rule in India. 49
Thus [says the c Sketch,' after citing the para-
graphs we have just transcribed] — thus infanticide
received its deathblow through the diminution of the
expense attendant on marriage, which was now
brought within the means of all sections of society.
For many years past, no female children had been
put to death. The practice has fallen altogether into
desuetude. Indeed, so greatly have the ideas of
the people changed, on this and other usages, since
the introduction of our rule, that the commission of
such an act would now be viewed as a most heinous
crime. Personal advantage has, however, had its
weight in bringing round the desired reform.
Daughters are no longer looked upon as a source
of trouble and anxiety ; marriage being open to the
poorest classes, they are much in requisition. Hence,
fathers rejoice on the birth of a daughter, seeing
they are more regarded as a source of wealth. —
[Sketch, p. 31.)
In the convention just spoken of, the re-
muneration for a bride's father was restricted
to 106 rupees, and the remarriage of widows
was also provided for. Twelve days after the
death of a husband, two mantles were placed
before his widow — one red, the other white.
If she took the former, it implied her prefer-
50 The Story of Mairwara, or
ence for remarriage, and the person who ac-
cepted her was bound to pay her sons — or, in
case she had none, her brothers — from 200
to 500 rupees. The money thus realised
went to provide these sons, or brothers, with
wives. If her choice fell upon the white
mantle, it indicated her desire to bring up her
family, and remain at the head of her own
household. In these arrangements of the
Mairs, we have another instance of the sin-
gularity of their sentiments. In their esti-
mation, a widow is worth more than a maid.
The remuneration on the marriage of the
former varies, as we see, from 200 to 500
rupees, while, in case of that of the latter, it is
fixed at the far lower rate of 106 rupees.
We know not whether it will be regarded as
equally remarkable, that, of all the decrees
made at this convention, the hardest to en-
force was that which prohibited husbands
from selling their wives. Our text informs
us that —
Though infanticide has been at once checked by
Our Rule in India. 5 1
the decree of the Punchayet, yet it was a matter of
considerable difficulty to restrain husbands from
selling their wives. The interference of authority
was necessary, on all occasions where a deviation
from the decision of the elders was made known.
The bargain was annulled, the wife taken back, and
the money returned ; a small fine being imposed on
both parties, on account of their dereliction from
established rule. Should the husband refuse to
take back his wife, he was at liberty to give her
leave to follow the bent of her own inclination, but
on no account was her sale sanctioned. — {Sketch,
p. 3*0
After enumerating so many eccentric usages,
we must add that, notwithstanding these, the
Mairs have strong domestic affections, and a
high sense of honour. Colonel Dixon repre-
sents them (p. 33) as c faithful, kind, and
generous,' with a strong clannish attachment
to each other. c They are/ he says, c very
regardless of life, and always ready to take
their own, or those of others, for trifling
causes. They are, moreover, much attached
to their families, and the dishonour of their
wives is avenged by death alone/
52 The Story of M air war a, or
Colonel Hall was equally successful in
abolishing slavery, which, though generally
exempt from the character of illusage, pre-
vailed extensively, and was necessarily pro-
ductive of many evils. In addition to its
ordinary source — war, or the seizure of people
in forays, and who were not redeemed — there
were three modes and varieties of slavery,
peculiar to the Mairs. The first of these
was denominated c Chotee-kut ' : —
A man suffering great oppression proceeds to
one of the chiefs, solicits his protection, and cuts off
his c Chotee,' the lock of hair preserved by the
Hindoos on the top of the head, saying — ( I am
your Chotee-kut ; preserve me from oppression.'
The chief places a turban on his head, and renders
him all the support in his power, keeping him in
his own village. On the demise of the Chotee-kut,
his property lapses to the chief, unless any of the
relatives of the deceased reside in the same village.
The chief, in return for his protection, receives a fourth
of his gains arising from all plundering expeditions.
Another kind of bondage is called c Bussee,'
which differs only from Chotee-kut, from a written
engagement being entered into, instead of cutting
off the lock of hair. All castes may become Bus-
Our Rule in India. 53
sees, while Chotee-kut cannot be provided from
amongst those who lean to Mahommedanism.
c Oonglee-kut ' is a third kind of servitude.
It is of a milder form than those mentioned, since
the duty and respect paid, are those of a son towards
a father. Nor is any power exercised over life and
property. The ceremony of Oonglee-kut is per-
formed by cutting off the little finger, and giving
some of the blood to the chief, whose protection is
accorded. It extends to all castes. — (Sketchy p. 3 ?.)
Those three forms of voluntary bondage,
were traced by Colonel Hall to the condition
of the country as he found it. c A poor man/
says the work before us, c could not obtain
justice, and being unable to bear up against
his powerful oppressors, desperation drove
him to seek shelter from some chief; and as
he possessed no means of remunerating his
protector, • he relinquished what is prized by
all, his personal liberty, rather than live under
grievances too keen for endurance.' *
Many of the social features which we have
noticed, and most of the miseries of Mairwara,
* Vide ' Sketch or' Mairwara,' p. 33.
54 The Story of M air war a, or
were connected with its physical character.
The hills of the country, like the flats of
Holland, required that certain precautions
should be taken, before they were fairly habit-
able. The object of the Dutch, however, was
to exclude, while that of the Mairs must be
to retain, the water. The measures needed
to secure a supply of that essential element,
called for both labour and expense; but with-
out these, industry could not be established,
order could not last — the labours of Colonel
Hall would be unavailing, and his plans
visionary. This was, probably, the first re-
flection which he made in Mairwara, as it
could hardly fail to strike any observant
person who mounted its hills, or crossed its
valleys.
The country is, as we have said, mountain-
ous ; there are no rivers or perennial rivulets,
and as the rain runs off with extreme rapidity,
the soil is but partially saturated. The rains,
too, are precarious, bad seasons being the rule,
and good the exception. The whole amount
of rain, in good seasons, rarely exceeds twenty-
Our Rule in India. 5 5
two inches, and usually ranges from eight to
twelve. In 1832, no single shower fell, and
the province experienced all the miseries of a
famine. The cattle perished, and numbers
of the Mairs fled to Malwa, while those who
remained had, in many cases, only the alter-
native of death by starvation, or of living by
plunder. In ordinary seasons, too, a break
of twenty-five or thirty days, without a
shower, often induced results almost as
disastrous. Some villages were destitute of
water, even for domestic purposes, during
the hot months, and their inhabitants were
compelled to emigrate to more favourable
localities, until the rains returned. At other
places, the people had to carry water from a
distance of two miles. Thus were the labours
of the inhabitants interrupted, their minds
unsettled, and their amendment rendered
hopeless, unless it could be shown to them,
that it was practicable to provide against such
calamities. Colonel Hall then saw, at once,
that the great want of the district was water,
and that it must be his first object to con-
56 The Sto7y of M air war a, or
struct tank-embankments, and to teach and
encourage the people to sink wells, and to
make dams, weirs, £ narrees,' and every other
appliance and form of reservoir of which it
was possible to avail themselves, either for
the purposes of irrigation, or for the preser-
vation of water. All this was, in his position,
attended with peculiar difficulty. The pea-
sants he had to deal with were, at that period,
idle, indolent, untrained to labour, and with-
out confidence in themselves ; and he knew
that the Government would not, at first,
sanction any large outlay on tank-embank-
ments, or other public works which they
might regard as experimental.
A tank in Mairwara is a very different
thing from what it is in Europe, or even in
Bengal. In Europe it means a small reservoir
for holding water, known chiefly in ships, and
manufactories. In Bengal, it is a rectangular
excavation, of no great size, filled by rain,
and used either for ornament or for bathing.
In Mairwara it is a lake — an artificial lake or
Our Rule in India. 5 7
spread of water — formed by embanking up
a stream with earth or masonry, or both com-
bined, for the purposes of irrigation, or to
serve as a fountain-head to the springs of
wells. The native name is c tulao,' or c tulab,'
and tulaos are distinguished from the smaller
reservoirs of Bengal by the circumstance, that
the latter are excavations, while in Mairwara,
the water is retained by a bund, or embank-
ment, and spreads over and above the land.
It is remarkable that Mairwara, where such
works are indispensable, is admirably adapted
for their construction. To the making of a
tulao, it is necessary that the face of the
country should possess an irregular uneven
surface, traversed by hollows and correspond-
ing elevations. The bund is thrown across
the low grounds, whereby the water is ob-
structed in its passage ; and being collected
into a body, it constitutes a tulao, or tank.
Mairwara has precisely the features here de-
scribed, and, besides, usually affords other
facilities, in the provision of stone and lime,
58 The Story of Mairwara, or
and a supply of wood, for calcining. Still,
though these needful works are happily at-
tended, in that country, with less than their
ordinary cost elsewhere, they necessarily in-
volve, in labour and other ways, a large expen-
diture, which, as we have intimated, Colonel
Hall could hardly expect the Government to
authorise very freely, until he was enabled to
exhibit their value and importance. Under
these circumstances, he was obliged to pro-
ceed more gradually than he could have
wished ; and the marvel is, how he advanced
the industry of the country so rapidly, as
materially to aid him in carrying out his re-
forms, and raising its character and condition.
During the time he was in Mairwara, Colonel
Hall constructed seven of these vast irriga-
tion lakes, or tank-embankments, besides re-
pairing others of large extent, which had
never been available for agricultural purposes;
and he succeeded in leading the people to sink
wells, and to avail themselves of smaller works,
and inexpensive contrivances, for husbanding
Our Rule in India. 59
the rain. His great tank-embankments are
models of work of that description. One of
these, the c Gohana tank-embankment/ was
selected by the Government of Agra for an
example, and its plans and details are given
in the 'Sketch' (p. 164). c It forms,' says
Captain Baird Smith,* c a very beautiful lake,
securing 250 acres of cultivation, giving food
and occupation to fifty-nine families, and
amply repaying the State's outlay/ It has
now stood five-and-twenty years, in a climate
well calculated to test its stability, and is
likely to last as long as the hills around it.
The Mairs saw, by the result of these works,
that it was in their own power to guard
against the hazards of the seasons, and learned
to expect, with confidence, the return for their
labours. Thus was the main impediment to
their industry removed ; and thus, with an-
cillary reforms, and the constant inspection
and unfailing encouragement of their bene-
* Vide the valuable and interesting work on l Italian
Irrigation.' By Captain R. Baird Smith. Vol. i. p. 418-
60 The Story of Mairwara, or
volent governor, and supported by the con-
viction that the East India Company was in-
terested in their advancement, were these wild
mountaineers of 1820 — these Ishmaels of the
hills, these outlaws, uncivilised, half-famished,
and unclad — transformed into peaceful, happy
peasants, living in security and comfort on
the fruits of their own industry ; and when,
after thirteen years of incessant labour, Colonel
Hall was warned, by broken health, to bid
them a long farewell, he had the deep satis-
faction of knowing that he left the poor Mair
trained to good habits, formed to good prin-
ciples, c clothed, and in his right mind * : —
Thirteen years' continued and undivided atten-
tion to the affairs of the district had [says Colonel
Dixon] impaired Colonel Hall's health. Taking
into consideration the great anxiety of mind which
was induced, and the constant labour and expense
that were necessarily imposed on him, in training
the wild tribes of the hills, and substituting regu-
larity and order, for anarchy and disorder, the result
was by no means a matter of surprise. A more
arduous undertaking, in which the exercise of
temper and conciliation, combined with firmness.
Our Rule in India. 6 1
were essentially requisite, could not be well ima-
gined. The reform he had to introduce could not
be effected in a moment. Time and confidence were
indispensable to its gradual advance, and ultimate
permanency. The customs of a country had to
be changed •, and honest labour, and settled habits
of thrift, to be exchanged for an uncertain, preda-
tory life. The difficulties to be encountered were
extremely formidable ; yet, all were met with pa-
tience, and subdued through perseverance. His
exertions had been attended with signal success.
The regret of the people was great, on hearing that
he was about to leave them. The question in their
minds was, who should take the kind interest in
their welfare that had been manifested by him,
during the thirteen years of his administration ?
Whatever may have been since effected in ame-
liorating the condition of the people, or in advancing
them in the arts of civilised life, it is to Colonel
Hall that the credit is due, for having laid the
foundation of these good works. — {Sketch, p. 82.)
Colonel Hall gave up his charge in 1835,
and the East India Company, with their cus-
tomary, judgment, selected in Captain (since
Colonel) Dixon, the person who, of all others,
was probably the best qualified to succeed him.
62 The Story of Mairwara, or
The new Superintendent applied himself at
once to working out the measures, and de-
veloping the plans, of his predecessor ; and as
the Indian Government was, by this time,
well acquainted with their advantageous re-
sults, there was but little difficulty in obtain-
ing its sanction to the construction of large
tulaos, at the public expense, and to making
advances, in certain cases, for minor improve-
ments. In his first year, Colonel Dixon
erected two tulaos, and as he evinced the
zeal and ability that were expected from him,
he was soon enabled to proceed more rapidly ;
so that up to 1 847, the date of his last Report,
the number of tank-embankments and weirs
in Mairwara, amounted to 290. Of these,
seven were constructed, and some others re-
paired,* by Colonel Hall, the remainder
being all erected under the direction of his
successor. This refers only to works of the
* The ' Sketch,' in several places, states that Colonel
Hall made or repaired several tanks. This is a mistake. He
constructed seven tank-embankments of the larger class, and,
besides, repaired others.
Our Rule i?i India. 63
larger class, besides which there was, since the
date of Colonel Dixon's appointment, a posi-
tive increase of 3,915 in the number of wells,
and a like progress in the minor appliances
for irrigation. Thus was the primary ob-
ject of Colonel Hall carried out, and the
province prepared against the contingencies
of famine.
The attention .of Colonel Dixon was not
confined to irrigation-works. He converted
wide tracts of jungle-land into fruitful fields,
and observing that the improved condition of
the people, rendered it desirable that an im-
pulse should be given to the encouragement
of trade ; that there was scarcely a merchant
settled in Mairwara ; that the Rajpoot towns
monopolised the dealings of the peasantry, to
their serious loss ; that an open market and a
bazaar were needed ; and that capital, where-
by cultivators might procure advances of
cash on fair terms, and so accelerate advance-
ment, was much required — he came to the
resolution of meeting these wants by building
64 The Story of ' M air war a, or
a town. Accordingly, in 1836, he founded
the town of Nya Nuggur (new city), which
has answered all his expectations. Traders
and mechanics flocked to occupy his handsome
shops ; neighbouring villages replaced their
mud hovels by solid habitations, resembling
those of the new city ; and rival bazaars arose,
in various parts of the country. The popu-
lation in 1847 consisted of 1,955 families,
and the average annual value of the merchan-
dise imported, exported, and passed through
the city, in the three preceding years, amount-
ed to 147,191/. Provision has been made
for amply supplying the inhabitants with
water ; trees give their refreshing shade in
the chief streets, at the gateways, and in the
roads which approach the town ; and by hav-
ing broad streets parallel to each other, inter-
secting the town from north to south, and
from east to west, ventilation has been en-
sured, and health preserved. Uniformity in
the buildings, and regularity in their construc-
tion, have been attended to; and in 1838 a
Our Rule in India. 65
rampart-wall, six feet wide, twelve in the
bastions, seventeen feet high, and twenty-one
in the bastions, and two miles in circuit, was
carried round the town. The work of all
this rampart is so good, that Colonel Suther-
land, on seeing it in his tour of inspection,
observed that c the building of the town- wall
of Nya Nuggur, was enough to immortalise
one man.'
Another of Colonel Dixon's many success-
ful efforts, was the establishment of an annual
fair, at Nya Nuggur, by which an opportunity
for more general intercourse was afforded to
those secluded mountaineers. We can imagine
the interest with which he, and his predeces-
sor, must alike regard this picture of the first
fair : —
The fair was numerously attended by the people,
decked out in their best attire, and accompanied by
their minstrels. Clans, kept apart by the feuds of
ages, now met on one neutral spot, and greeted
each other. Opportunity was then afforded for
forming a judgment as to the industry or sloth of
particular sections. The dress of the industrious
F
66 The Story of M air war a, or
shone conspicuous, while shame, and a firm resolu-
tion to amend, characterised those whose appear-
ance was shabby. The females of the industrious
classes were extremely well-dressed. Seated on
the flat roofs of the bazaars in clusters, or moving
about the fair, they more resembled the wives of
Sahookars, in appearance and attire, than the ma-
trons and daughters of the wild predatory race of
Mairs. By this simple expedient of holding a fair,
were the people of two purgunnahs gathered to-
gether at one spot ; the condition of each village,
indeed of each separate family, was freely imparted
to each other; the sedulous had their reward in
self-approbation, in having made so good an appear-
ance, and then returned home confirmed in their
habits of thrift. The wives of the slothful were
the only sufferers, amidst the gay and happy mul-
titude. Plunder and robbery were interdicted,
and the only certain road to independence was,
application to labour. Their lords and masters were
importuned to improve their condition, and thus,
example had been highly beneficial. Much good
feeling had thus been generated amongst the people,
and all returned home intent on amendment. —
Sketchy pp. 1 20-1.
The fair is regularly maintained, and is
attended by 8,000 or 10,000 Mairs, as well
Our Rule in India. 6 J
as by Rajpoots, and others from the adjoining
provinces.
The building of a town, and the establish-
ment of the fair, were so far successful move-
ments; but there is a circumstance connected
with them, which leaves our praises not un-
mingled with regret. Colonel Dixon — c the
subject/ as he says, c having received mature
deliberation'* — thought proper to dedicate
the fair to a Hindoo idol, c in whose wonder-
ful deeds/ as he again says,j" c the people
place implicit faith ; ■ and, moreover, he erected
the effigies of this idol, or hero-saint, mounted
on a horse, sculptured in stone, in the centre
of his town. If Colonel Dixon could do no-
thing for the furtherance of true religion, he
ought not, at all events, to have lent the sanc-
tion of his station, and of the Government he
represented, to the encouragement of idolatry.
This was, according to the phrase of a great
diplomatist, c not only a crime, but an indis-
cretion.' Nothing has so strongly excited
* Vide 'Sketch/ p. 118. f Ibid. p. 118.
F 2
68 The Story of Mairwara, or
public feeling against the East India Com-
pany,* nothing in their near hour of trial will
so much endanger their continuance, as their
alleged discouragement of Christianity ; and
the mere fact of this uncalled-for idol at Nya
Nuggur, may be a fresh item in the long list of
charges against them.
The progress of the Mairs was not un-
heeded by their neighbours. The Ajmeer
chiefs complained that their tenants were
leaving them, tempted by better terms in
Mairwara. Their Superintendent wrote to
this effect to Colonel Dixon, who, in reply,
showed that the cause of these emigrations
lay, not in invitations from him, or reduction
in assessments, but in irrigation works and
field improvements ; and that, if the Ajmeer
chiefs adopted these, their people would not
leave them. Eventually, Colonel Dixon was
directed to proceed to Ajmeer, and introduce
there the irrigation works and field improve-
* This was written in 1853, before the great change in
our Indian Government.
Our Rule in India. 69
ments, which had been so successful in Mair-
wara. This he did, to the great advantage
of the district, although, from the inferior
fertility of Ajmeer, and other causes, the re-
sults were not altogether so striking, either in
production or in revenue, as in Mairwara.
The Mairs [says the ' Sketch'] have been singu-
larly fortunate in the authorities who have been
appointed to rule over them. Colonel Hall, C.B.,
devoted thirteen years to the amelioration of their
condition. He taught them the arts of civilised
life, and the duties of a soldier. The present in-
cumbent has striven to follow in the steps of that
able officer.
Colonel Dixon is truly entitled to the high
praise of having emulated alike the zeal, and
the success, of his predecessor, and it is mani-
fest that the Mairs have been fortunate in
their rulers — both in having two successive
Superintendents of rare administrative talents,
and, during so long a period, but the two.
One of the infirmities of our Asiatic empire —
incidental in a great measure to its being ruled
by Europeans — is the frequency of change in
70 The Story of Mairwara, or
its provincial governments. A Superinten-
dent has hardly become acquainted with his
position, when he is transferred by promotion,
or compelled to leave by sickness. Thus,
Ajmeer has had its rulers changed eleven times
in twenty-three years, while the happier Mair-
wara has, in thirty-one years, known no other
governors than Colonels Hall and Dixon.
It is, we trust, evident that we have no
desire to disparage the high claims of Colonel
Dixon ; but there are, in his quarto volume,
some perplexing passages, to which it is right
to refer, especially as they have already occa-
sioned overt misapprehensions.
Colonel Dixon embodies in his text, and
adopts the following extract, from a report
made by Colonel Sutherland, a high authority,
who visited Mairwara on a tour of inspection
in 1841, and wrote as follows, for the infor-
mation of the Governor-General of India : —
Much was achieved for the peace and agricultural
prosperity of Mairwara by Colonel Hall, C.B., and
the people have a lively sense of the benefits which
Our Rule in India. 7 1
they derived from his administration. The high
degree of prosperity which it has now attained
arises, however, from the system introduced by
Colonel Dixon. He may be said to live amongst
the people. He knows minutely the condition of
each village, and almost of its inhabitants indivi-
dually ; is ready to redress not only every man's
grievances, but to assist them to recover from any
pecuniary or other difficulty in which they may be
involved. It may be supposed that such a system
could not be of any extensive application ; but from
what I have seen here, and from my experience
elsewhere, I am satisfied that in unimproved coun-
tries, if men of Colonel Dixon's energies and dis-
position could be found, this system of management
may be of very extensive application. Colonel
Dixon has no European assistance, but his native
establishment is so admirably disciplined and con-
trolled, that whether in the construction of tanks,
in the assessment of the revenue*, or the adminis-
tration of justice amongst this simple and primitive
people, these establishments conduct all matters to
almost as happy an issue as he could himself. I
described at some length, in the fifteenth paragraph
of my Khalsa Report on the condition of Ajmeer,
the system pursued by Colonel Dixon; and I need
here only repeat, that it is simply to take, from all
72 The Story of ' M air war a, or
classes alike, the money-value of a third share of
the produce — to assist them to the utmost extent, on
the part of Government, to obtain water for irriga-
tion — and to assist them individually with money, or
by a remission in the share of produce, according to
the work to be done, in the accomplishment of all
-objects acknowledgedly remunerative and useful. —
Sketchy p. 72.
This passage is sufficiently perplexing. It
speaks of a system introduced by Colonel
Dixon, to which the prosperity of the district
is ascribed, while it names, expressly, two
systems, and describes a third. Our com-
plaint concerns not style, but facts, and, in
making it, we join in every eulogy on the
energy of Colonel Dixon. He did all that
might become a man, and all that was left
for him to do ; but he did not introduce
either of the two systems named, or the third,
described in this extract — they being all in
successful operation, when he took charge of
Mairwara.
As we impugn this passage, we desire to
be distinct.
Our Rule in India. 73
First, we are told that the prosperity of
Mairwara arises c from the system introduced
by Colonel Dixon. He may be said to live
amongst the people. He knows minutely,' &c.
Surely, Colonel Dixon knows, and Colonel
Sutherland ought to have known, that all this
was, for thirteen years, the system and prac-
tice of Colonel Hall !
Secondly, as to the system, not expressly
named, but described : c Colonel Dixon has
no European assistance; but his native esta-
blishment is so admirably disciplined -/ &c.
Now, Colonel Dixon knows perfectly well,
that this identical establishment was trained
to his hand by Colonel Hall — trained, too,
from a class who were, at that time, habituated
to falsehood and fraud, and that (what is
unusual in administrative changes in India)
he had not to part with a single member of it.
Thirdly, the second system actually named,
and the third described above, is : c To take
from all classes alike, the money-value of a
third share of the produce — to assist them to
74 The Story of Mairwara, or
the utmost extent > on the fart of Government : ,
to obtain water for irrigation * &c.
The money- advances for irrigation works
were, as we have seen, greatly extended in
the time of Colonel Dixon, and he was
thereby enabled to accomplish all that he did
so well ; but public works of the same de-
scription had been erected, and advances made,
in like manner, in the time of Colonel Hall ;
and it was in consequence of the beneficial
operation of these works, and their proved
results, that the system of advances was ex-
tended. It was a rule of the Indian Govern-
ment at that time, not to sanction advances
for agricultural improvements, until their
value and importance had been thoroughly
ascertained. On this account, Colonel Hall
was not enabled to proceed as rapidly with
irrigation works, as his successor; but the
system was the same, and its value was tried,
established, and strikingly exhibited, in the im-
proved condition, both of country and people,
before Colonel Dixon ever built a tank.
Our Rule in India. 75
Thus are the three averments, in that short
extract, all inaccurate. Colonel Sutherland
was, no doubt, justly pleased with the activity
of Colonel Dixon, and the condition of his
province, and possibly, in an access of official
facility, forgot for a moment that he ever had
a predecessor.
We have good reason for remarking on
this extract. Mr. Kaye, in his well-known
work* on c The Administration of the East
India Company/ takes his account of Mair-
wara from the c Sketch '; does some injustice
to the claims of Colonel Hall ; and cites this
passage in a note, as one of his main autho-
rities. In the heading of his chapter on the
c Progress of Civilisation/ we have, c Dixon
and the Mairs/ but not the name of Colonel
Hall. The latter is afterwards introduced
to us as c Captain Hall, of the 1 6th Bengal
Native Infantry, an officer who, in the Quar-
termaster-General's Department, had exhibited
* * History of the Administration of the East India Com-
pany. 1 By John William Kaye. One vol. 8vo. Bentley :
London, 1853.
76 The Story of Mairwara, or
considerable ability and force of character/ and
the moral and administrative reforms are
mostly referred to him ; but the irrigation
works are as wholly ascribed to Colonel Dixon,
as if his predecessor had never once thought
about them : c He (Dixon) saw at once what
was the great want of the country. Eager
to develope the productiveness of an unyield-
ing soil, and to stimulate the industry of an
unyielding people, he addressed himself to
this great matter of the water-supply, and left
untried no effort to secure it.' * c The
financial results of the experiment were highly
favourable ; the moral results were more
favourable still.' j- . . . c His (Dixon's) name
will live as the regenerator of the Mairs. It
is no small privilege, to the compiler of such
a work as this, to chronicle, even in a few
imperfect pages, the recent annals of Mair-
wara, and to show how a wild and lawless
* Kaye's • History of the Administration of the East
India Company,' pp. 468-9.
f Ibid. p. 469.
Our Rule in India. 77
people were reclaimed by a single European
officer, taken from an expense-magazine/ *
The readers of Mr. Kaye's very clever book
— for such it is — may admire his style ; but,
as we have shown, they have some reason to
distrust his infallibility.
The extract on which we have been ob-
serving, is from a report made by Colonel
Sutherland, embodied, indeed and adopted in
the c Sketch ' ; but we have now to ask the
reader's attention to another, which is alto-
gether Colonel Dixon's own. After recording
the retirement of Colonel Hall, and his own
appointment, Colonel Dixon proceeds to
say : —
It was manifest that water was the great deside-
ratum, and that the first step towards improvement,
must be to provide for its supply. It was the one
thing necessary to bind the inhabitants to the soil,
to attach them to our form of government, and to
admit of our moulding them into the habits of life
we desired. It was evident that on its provision,
* Kaye's ' History of the Administration of the East
India Company," p. 472.
78 The Story of ' M air war a, or
which would ensure the ripening of the crops, de
pended future prosperity. It has been said that the
rains are light and uncertain ; but though the fall, in
reference to more favoured climes, is small, still,
were arrangements matured and carried out, for re-
taining all the rain that fell on the soil, there was a
confident promise that sufficient would be reserved
for the purpose of the cultivator. The plan was easy
of conception — the difficulty was to carry it out.
Its enforcement involved the outlay of considerable
sums of money. The people at that time were too
much impoverished to afford any gratuitous assistance.
Measures involving an immediate expenditure for
what might have been considered a problematical
benefit, were not likely to be favourably entertained
by the Government. Colonel Hall, during his thir-
teen years' administration, had made and repaired
seven tulaos. The benefit to the people and the
return of revenue had been great, but the outlay had
been inconsiderably small. To have progressed at
the slow rate which then prevailed, would have been
to have protracted the final completion of all the
works of irrigation that were necessary, to an inde-
finite period. The Superintendent had been recently
appointed. His character might not be sufficiently
known to the authorities, to warrant a deviation
from the then established rule, which was, to dis-
Our Rule in India. 79
courage advances or outlays, on agricultural purposes.
Still, some essay towards effecting improvement was
imperative. The subject was brought to the notice
of the Government, such circumstances as favoured
the project being duly set forth. The proposition
was favourably entertained, and sanction accorded.
The requisition embraced the construction of two
tulaos. The work contemplated was inconsiderable
in respect to what was to be accomplished — to place
the country in a position to withstand a season of
drought. But as the Government had vouchsafed
its sanction, there was a confident expectation that
its support would be continued, and more liberally
extended to the outlay of larger sums, on the utility,
alike to the people and to the State, of works of
irrigation being made palpably manifest. The ques-
tion of the support of the Government having, hap-
pily, been answered in the affirmative, it became
necessary to arrange, systematically, for the spread
of improvement throughout the district. The ex-
pense of the larger works, it was evident, must be
borne by us ; but there was no reason for allowing
the inhabitants to remain inactive. It was desirable
to enlist their hearty co-operation in the fulfilment of
contemplated improvements. — Sketchy pp. 85-6.
We submit that the impression which
this passage is calculated to convey is, that
80 The Story of M air war a, or
although Colonel Hall built a few tanks in
thirteen years. Colonel Dixon was the first
who saw the real value of irrigation works,
and gave the impulse to their construction ;
that, when he took charge of the district, the
advantages arising from these, might have
been regarded as c problematical ' by the Go-
vernment, and their utility as not yet made
c palpable.' This is, accordingly, the impres-
sion imbibed, not only by Mr. Kaye, but
also by Captain Baird Smith, who, in his
valuable book on c Italian Irrigation/ * gives
an abstract of Colonel Dixon's book ; and it
appears again, in a notice of the c Sketch/ in
the February number of c Blackwood's Ma-
gazine' of the year 1853. c Blackwood,' and
Baird Smith, give each their meed of praise to
Colonel Hall ; but the reader will rise, from
the perusal of both, with the conviction that
the order of the respective merits of Colonels
Hall, and Dixon, refers the social reforms to
* < Italian Irrigation.' By Captain Baird Smith, Bengal
Artillery. 2 vols. Blackwood: Edinburgh, 1852.
Our Rule in India. &i
the former, while the irrigation works and
agricultural improvements, are the fruits of
c a new system ' — c a new era/ introduced by
the latter : —
For thirteen years [says Captain Baird Smith*]
Colonel Hall devoted himself to the social ameliora-
tion of the Mairs ; to the abolition of demoralising
and pernicious customs \ to the substitution of honest
labour and settled habits of thrift among the people,
for an uncertain, predatory mode of life. Though
it was reserved for his successor, to develope irriga-
tion work, as a great engine for the improvement
of the country, and of the people ; it was Colonel
Hall who first tamed the wild race, who substi-
tuted law and order, for anarchy and disorder, and so
laid the foundation of all subsequent ameliorations.
Let the reader compare this passage with
another in the next page (p. 405), when,
after speaking of the appointment of Captain
Dixon, he adds : —
It soon became manifest to the new Superin-
tendent, that water was the great desideratum in
Mairwara, and that the first step, &c.
The same views are reproduced in c Black-
* * Italian Irrigation, ' vol. i. p. 404.
G
82 The Story of Mairwara, or
wood/ a magazine which, we need hardly say,
is not more esteemed for its ability, than for
the straightforward character of its articles.
In the number for February 1853 (p. 208),
after enumerating the moral and social re-
forms of Colonel Hall, it adds : —
In 1835, ill-health drove Colonel Hall to
another climate, and he was succeeded by Captain
(afterwards Colonel) Dixon, of the Artillery : with
him began a new era in the history of Mairwara.
It soon became manifest to the new Superinten-
dent, that water was the great desideratum in Mair-
wara, &c.
And so it is assumed, throughout both the
abstract of the c Sketch ' in Smith, and the ar-
ticle on Mairwara in c Blackwood's Magazine/
that the merit of the irrigation movement —
without which, as we have already observed, all
other reforms would be unavailing — belongs,
not to Colonel Hall, but to Colonel Dixon.
We do not impute to these writers any
intentional disparagement of the claims of
Colonel Hall. They have, probably, been
misled by a want of clearness in their only
Our Rule in India. 83
book of authority, the c Sketch.' Colonel
Dixon makes many acknowledgments of the
services of his predecessor ; but it so happens,
that these are vague, save in their reference
to social reform, and that, when compared
with other passages of his work, they leave
those very impressions, which have been taken
up by every author who has referred to it.
It is but justice to Colonel Dixon to add,
that the errors of his work, may arise from
its being prepared amidst absorbing duties ;
from its having passed through the press
while he was far away ; and from its having
been originally made up, less for the English
public than for the Indian Government, who
were well acquainted with the real facts. How-
ever this may be, it is certain that when Colonel
Hall left Mairwara, the importance of tank-
embankments in that province, was not c pro-
blematical/ nor had their c utility' to be made
c palpable/ This officer had availed himself
of every means in his power, to encourage
irrigation works, and had made their results
84 The Story of ' M air war a, or
palpable, in the changed aspect of the
country, and the improved condition of its
people. In proof of this, we can adduce the
independent testimony of an accomplished
observer, who had no disposition to describe
the doings of the East India Company too
favourably. The French naturalist, M.
Victor Jacquemont, visited Mairwara, and
wrote of what he saw, as follows ; we cite
from the c Letters from India/* 2nd vol.,
p. 285, first English edition: —
I have seen the superb Jeypore and the delight-
ful Ajmeer; and during my very short stay in the
latter, I have contrived to visit Mairwara, the former
abruzzie of Rajpootana. It was well worth eighty
miles of riding, in little more than twenty-four
hours. I saw a country whose inhabitants, since
an immemorial time, had never had any other means
of existence but plunder, in the adjacent plains of
Marwar and Meywar — a nation of murderers, now
changed into a quiet, industrious, and happy people
* ' Letters from India during the Years 1828, 1829, 1830,
183 1. By Victor Jacquemont. 2 vols. London: Churton,
1834. See Appendix B., p. 121.
Our Rule in India. 85
of shepherds and cultivators. No Rajpoot chiefs,
no Mogul emperors, had ever been able to subdue
them. Fourteen years ago, everything was to be
done with them, and since six or seven years, every-
thing is done already. A single man has worked
this wonderful miracle of civilisation — Major Henry
Hall, the son-in-law of Colonel Fagan, of whom I
have written to you at Delhi.
As I know it will be gratifying to your feelings,
and to your opinions on the subject, I shall add, my
dear friend, that Major Hall has accomplished this
admirable social experiment, without taking a single
life. The very worst characters of Mairwara he
secured, confined them, or put them, in irons, at
work on the roads. Those who had lived long by
the sword, without becoming notorious for wanton
cruelty, he made soldiers ; they became, in that ca-
pacity, the keepers of their former associates, and
often of their chiefs ; and the rest of the population
was gained to the plough.
Female infanticide was prevalent with the Mairs,
and generally through Rajpootana ; and now female
casualties among infants, exceed not male casualties
— a proof that the bloody practice has been aban-
doned, and scarcely has a man been punished for
it. Major Hall did not punish the offenders ; he
removed the cause of the crime, and made the
86 The Story of Mairwara, or
crime useless, even injurious to the offender, and it
is never now committed.
Major Hall has shown to me, on the field, the
corps which he has raised from amongst these for-
mer savages ; and I have seen none in the Indian
Army, in a higher state of discipline. He was justly
proud of his good work, and spared no trouble to
himself, that I might see it thoroughly, in the few
hours I had to spend with him. Upwards of one
hundred villagers were summoned, from the neigh-
bouring villages and hamlets. I conversed with
them on their former mode of life ; it was a most
miserable one, by their accounts. They were naked
and starving. Now, poor as is the soil of their
small valleys,, and barren their hills, every hand
being set to work, there is plenty of clothes and
food ; and so sensible are they of the immense
benefit conferred on them by the British Govern-
ment, that willingly they pay to it, already, 500,000
francs,, which they increase as their national wealth
admits of it.
Often I had thought, that gentle means would
prove inadequate to the task of breaking-in popu-
lations, addicted, for ages, to a most unruly, savage
life — such as the Greeks, for instance ; yet the
Klaphtes were but lambs, compared to the Mairs —
Our Rule in India. 87
and the Mairs, in a few years, have become an in-
dustrious and well-behaved people.
I see by the Bombay papers that M. Capo
d'Istrias has been murdered. I wish Major Hall
were his successor ; for now I have the greatest
confidence in the efficacy of gentle means ; but a
peculiar talent, too, which is a gift of nature, is
required in the ruler, without which, the most be-
nevolent intentions would prove useless.*
In connection with Jacquemont's most in-
teresting letter, we transcribe, from a printed
document, a note addressed to Colonel Hall,
by the late Lord Metcalfe, then Governor-
General of India : —
Allahabad, 10th February, 1835.
My dear Colonel, — Many thanks for your
kind letters. I have read your interesting report
regarding Mairwara.
Your management there will immortalise you!
It has already brought your name before the public
with proud distinction. Jacquemont says, you
ought to be King of Greece.
* Jacquemont, again referring to Major Hall, says (vol.
ii. p. 291): — 'There are few Major Halls to work the
miracles he has done.'*
88 The Story of Mairwara, or
You have my wishes to be whatever you may
desire to be.
Yours, most sincerely,
C. T. Metcalfe.
Jacquemont visited Mairwara in 183 1.
Colonel Hall left that province in 1835.
Thus it appears that, four years before this
officer left the Mairs, he had changed them
c into a quiet, industrious , and happy people of
shepherds and cultivators ; ' that he had
c gained them to the plough;' that c there was
plenty of food and clothes ; ' that, at this period,
he had accomplished their reformation — had
c worked this miracle of civilisation. 1 Colonel
Dixon, we gladly repeat, evinced the most
enduring zeal, reclaimed large tracts, induced
new settlers, extended irrigation works, built
a town, and (as was said of him by a com-
petent authority) c did enough to immortalise
one man.' Still, the system he pursued so
well, had been introduced, and proved, by his
predecessor.
Our Rule in India. , 89
The testimony of Jacquemont would alone
establish the claims of Colonel Hall. We
persuade ourselves that there was no actual
intention of impugning them ; but as they
have been, in fact, impugned, our duty, and
our desire, is to defend the right.
In closing this chapter, we must express a
hope, that the more popular form in which we
are now presenting c The Story of Mairwara,'
may help to make known to widening circles,
the fruitful labours of Colonel Dixon, and
General Hall. Such workers are the stars of
India, worthy of being numbered with those
whose names we honour, and to whom we
erect statues.
90 The Story of Mairwara, or
CHAPTER III.
AN OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF MAIRWARA,
FROM 1848 TO THE PRESENT TIME.
Impelled by the ordinary feeling in favour
of fair-play, we tried, in the preceding chapter,
on its first appearance, to set right some mis-
apprehensions in reference to the respective
shares of Colonel Hall and of Colonel Dixon,
in the civilisation of the Mairs. We discussed
the topics simply with the desire of doing
justice, and do not think it necessary, on our
reconsideration of the subject, to alter what we
have said, or to advert to it any further.
Colonel Dixon was not inferior in energy
to his predecessor, Colonel Hall. Within a
year of his appointment, he had made a per-
sonal inspection of all the districts then under
him, and laid before the Government an im-
Our Rule in India. 9 1
portant Report, calling on them to assist him
with a largely increased expenditure, for irri-
gation, and other field-works. In this he met
with all the encouragement he could have
hoped for, and was thus enabled to carry out
the many great undertakings, to which we
have referred in the preceding chapter. In
the same first year, he founded and reared a
city, thus seeking to extend to commerce, the
momentum which had been already given to
agriculture. We have spoken of Nya Nug-
gur ( c The New City ') before, but so great an
achievement deserves a further notice. Up
to the period of the building of Nya Nuggur,
there was scarcely a trader in all Mairwara.
Their long ancestral fame for robbery and
rapine, was far too firmly fixed to allow of the
Mairs being looked on, by the merchant class,
without some lingering feelings of apprehen-
sion and distrust ; and although Colonel Hall
had, with a view to the promotion of trade,
established some lines of intercourse, still
these were chiefly used for cattle ; and the
92 The Story of Mairwara, or
people got such articles as they required from
Nusseerabad or Ajmeer, distant, respectively,
some thirty or forty miles, paying, of course,
enhanced prices. As the country was pros-
pering, this form of dependence was incon-
venient. Colonel Dixon accordingly circu-
lated notices in the neighbouring towns,
intimating his intention of building a city
which would be well situated for commerce,
being between the states of Marwar, Meywar,
and Ajmeer ; and that a wide field was thus
open to merchants, for the investment of
their money, while all settlers should find
protection, and be received with kindness.
It was added, that the customs-duties, leviable
on merchandise in the new town, should be
remitted for the first two years. These invi-
tations were well received, and people came
in numbers to learn particulars, and to judge
for themselves. The houses were to be of
stone, the streets regular and broad, and to
have the shade of trees ; and provision was
made for a good supply of water. Candi-
Our Rule in India. 93
dates at once came forward for forty shops,
and the buildings were begun. The bazaar
was to be after the model of that at Ajmeer,
and was opened for traffic three months after
the first stone was laid. Religious edifices
were added, and in due time c the business of
life/ says Colonel Dixon, c fell into the course
of steady regularity which characterises the
internal economy of old towns/
Two years later, Colonel Dixon completed
another great public work — that is, the ram-
part-wall, already spoken of, which surrounds
his town. This was a concession to the resi-
dent traders, to secure their increasing stores,
from the hazards of possible raids.
The building of Nya Nuggur appears to
have answered the objects for which it was
undertaken. In his last published Report,
dated 1848, Colonel Dixon says: —
The tables have now been turned, and, in place
of seeking supplies from distant towns, we have
ourselves become the source of supply to surround-
ing countries. In the course of twelve years, a
town has been built, and fortified by a wall two
94 The Story of M air war a, or
miles in length. A population, numbering perhaps
nine thousand souls, entire foreigners to the country,
have come to settle with us, and, having built their
shops and houses, are now sedulously engaged in
their own immediate callings. An extensive and
prosperous trade has arisen, and has become
cemented by time ; while Nya Nuggur presents a
great variety in its manufactures, and is a sample of
industry worthy of imitation by our neighbours. —
Sketch, p. 109.
It is now twenty years since the last date in
Colonel Dixon's c Sketch/ and we are happy
to hear, from persons who have the means of
knowing the country, that it is prosperous,
and fairly progressive. Nya Nuggur has
not, of late, increased much in population;
but it has become the centre of a well-rooted,
thriving cotton-trade with Bombay, as well
as with other places ; and an active com-
merce in other articles — such as grain, salt,
sugar, spices, tobacco, opium, and wool.
Colonel Hall and, after him, Colonel Dixon,
took long-continued pains to train their people
to industrious ways. They had them in-
structed in building, in the making of tank-
Our Rule in India. 95
embankments, and of all field-works, and
supplied them with tools and implements.
Their desire was, to have every individual
employed, and every foot of ground under
careful cultivation. They even led the min-
strels, who were chartered idlers, to turn their
soft hands to farm- labour. It is gratifying
to find that the good habits, so cherished and
enjoined, continue still. As to their success
in agriculture, a competent observer, now in
Mairwara, writes as follows : —
Better cultivation than that which is brought to
bear on its narrow strips of hill-bosomed land, I
have seen nowhere else out of Scotland. Indeed,
it would compare favourably with the model farming
of Mid-Lothian. In these hill-valleys, no foot of
ground is lost, and at this season (February) a
sheet of vivid green, from wheat or barley, spreads
from base to base of the hills, and pushes the village
footpaths up on the bare hill-sides, where no corn
can grow, or fertile soil be lost.
The cardinal events of the later history of
the Mairs are, — the death of Colonel Dixon,
and the revival of the claims of the native
princes, to have a large portion of their territory
96 The Story of Mairwara, or
transferred to them. We shall discuss the sub-
ject of the transfer presently, but must first pay
our tribute to the memory of Colonel Dixon.
Early in 1 857, the year of the Great Mutiny,
Colonel Dixon, worn by climate, and by the
responsibilities of an arduous position, died,
and was truly mourned for, by the people he
had served, so devotedly, and so well. We
remember reading, in the Memoirs of Warren
Hastings,* that for long years after his depar-
ture from India, no native from the provinces
entered the Government-Hall in Calcutta,
without doing reverence to his portrait. This
was the unbought homage, the genuine tes-
timony, of public opinion, which consoled him
for the Athenian gratitude he had experienced
at home. Colonel Dixon, and General Hall,
had no ingratitude to encounter, but they
too found, in the strong regards of their
people, the reward they valued most. Their
names are always spoken of in tones expres-
* * Memoirs of the Life of the Right Hon. Warren Hast-
ings.' By the Rev. G. R. Gleig, M.A., 3 vols. Bentley :
London, 1841.
Our Rule in India. 97
sive of veneration and regret. c Ah,' they
said, c the days of Hall Sahib, and Dixon
Sahib, are no more ! They took us, when we
were as wild beasts on the mountains, and
made men of us!' c The name/ said an
elder, c of Hall Baba will be known amongst
us, as long as our mountains last/
We have seen the remarkable success of
the moral, social, and economic measures in-
troduced by General Hall in Mairwara, and
that, after an experience of forty-five years,
their good results continue, and abide. Order
and industry have become established, slavery
has been abolished, the cruel customs of sell-
ing wives and mothers have been put down,
and female infanticide — one of the great diffi-
culties of statesmen and philanthropists in
India — has been wholly eradicated. The tes-
timony of Captain Baird Smith, who knows
India well, is : — c The sale of women, and
female infanticide, are among the customs
thus abolished ; and so effectually, that the
former is scarcely ever heard of, and the latter
H
98 The Story of Mairwara, or
is regarded as a heinous crime, by the Mairs
themselves/ *
Mr. Kaye, in his c History of the Adminis-
tration of the East India Company/ and in a
chapter on Female Infanticide which does them
honour, tells of the efforts made by ener-
getic men, in various parts of India, to put
down this revolting practice — by such men
as Duncan, Walker, Wilkinson, Willoughby,
Erskine, Lang, Ludlow, Unwin, Macpher-
son, Campbell, and others ; of their failures,
their partial and temporary successes — and
then refers to the result of General Hall's
measures in Mairwara, as c The first unequi-
vocal success,' as one which had stood the
trial of more than twenty years. His words
are, c The result appears to have justified the
sanguine expectations of Colonel Hall.'
Writing more than twenty years after-
wards, his successor, Colonel Dixon, says —
Thus infanticide received its deathblow, through
the diminution of the expenses attending on mar-
* • Italian Irrigation,' vol. i. p. 404..
Our Rule in India. 99
riages, which were now brought within the reach of
all sections of society. For many years past, no female
children have been put to death. The practice has
fallen altogether into desuetude. Indeed, so greatly
have the ideas of the people changed on this, and
other usages, since the introduction of our rule, that
the commission of such an act, would now be viewed
as a most heinous crime.*
The twenty years above referred to, may
now be written down as forty-five, and the
reports of missionaries, who have been living
amongst this people for the last eight years,
state, that infanticide is as little known there
now, as it is in England. They add, that in
all that time, they heard of but one case of
wife-selling, and that was surreptitious, and
known to be illegal. These peaceful triumphs
were all devised and carried out by Colonel
(now General) Hall, and all, as Jacquernont
adds, with evident exultation, by gentle
means.
We have two other topics to touch upon,
* Vide Dixon's ' Mairwara,' as cited in Kaye's ' History of
the Administration of the East India Company,'' pp. 564-5.
H 2
ioo The Story of ' M air war a, or
in order that our readers may have a just
impression of the actual condition of Mair-
wara. These are, — Education and Religion.
Whatever has been done in either of these
departments, appears to have been owing,
altogether, to the United Presbyterian Church.
In 1858, some members of that denomination,
moved by the terrors of the recent Mutiny,
and by the more appalling barbarism which
they disclosed, and desirous of sharing in the
evangelisation of India, came to the deter-
mination of sending a mission there. The
field they selected, was the British provinces
of Ajmeer and Mairwara. They had learned
that the hillmen were less under the in-
fluence of customs, and superstitions, than the
dwellers in the plains, and that, accordingly,
Gospel-teaching was more likely to make
progress amongst them. In 1 860, they sent out
one medical and two ordained missionaries;
and they appear to have now eight European
agents there, engaged in preaching, and teach-
ing. They have fixed stations, with central
Our Rule in India. 161
schools, whence they supervise and inspect
other schools in the villages about them.
From these stations, they itinerate through
given districts, preaching and ministering as
occasions offer.
In their eight years' experience, they have
found no serious hindrance to their efforts,
but only, now and then, some little difficulty
arising from caste, or prejudice, or super-
stition ; and their addresses are listened to,
with grave attention. Neither do the people
make any difficulty about sending their
children to the mission schools, although
the missionaries uphold the healthy doctrine,
that secular education and religious teaching
should go hand-in hand. Indeed, the farmers
and peasantry (the real original Mairs), take a
very practical view of the value of education.
Having been hitherto wholly unacquainted
with what, in days gone by, the Irish school-
master was used to call the c three R's '(reading,
writing, and arithmetic), they found themselves
obliged to entrust the keeping of their ac-
102 The Story of Mairwara> or
counts to the Bunneahs, or merchant-class,
who, at stated times, came round to assist
them. These people are said, as a rule, to
falsify accounts, and, through fictitious re-
presentations of debt, to practise a great deal
of oppressive fraud. Hence, fathers have
become very sensible of the advantage of
having their children able to assist them in
the keeping of their accounts.
In 1 865, the missionaries had twelve schools
in and around Beawr, with a daily attendance
of 470 children ; and, in the following year,
there was a public examination of their schools,
in the presence of the authorities of the neigh-
bourhood. In addition to the ordinary stu-
dies, they were examined in mental arithmetic,
and in the first seven chapters of the Acts of
the Apostles, and answered well. The number
in actual attendance then was 470 ; but one
school, numbering 1 00, and said to be well pre-
pared, refused to attend, having taken it into
their heads that they were all to be spirited
off to an imaginary place called Willayat. The
Our Rule in India. 103
Pundit said that, to oppose them, would be to
break up the school, so they had their way.
The same day afforded another instance
of the impulsive character of this people,
and of the suddenness with which they act
on their impressions. General Hall had
directed that a remembrance-feast should be
given, in his name, to such survivors as had
served under him in any capacity. About
140 veterans came forward, many of them
walking from a considerable distance. They
rested in groups, beneath the banyan and
orange trees, enjoyed their hookah and their
talk; and the feast, consisting of piles of
pastry and of sweets, and of all such things
as they think good, was announced. At
that instant it was suggested, that the whole
object of the feast was to make them Chris-
tians, and that there was something wrong
mixed with the food. All hesitated, and
some got up, and tying pieces of cocoa-nut
in their turbans were going off, leaving the
feast untasted. Fortunately for the enjoy-
]04 The Story of Mairwara, or
ment of the day, there was one sensible man
amongst them. He pointed out to them,
that the eatables had come direct from their
first confectioner, whose shop their best
Brahmins frequented daily ; and, showing
round the photograph of General Hall, he
asked them if they could believe that he
would practise such a contrivance on them ?
No one, on consideration, believed it, and the
appeal was triumphant.
In addition to the schools around Beawr,
there are village schools connected with the
several stations, and in all these, adults may
be seen, as well as children — young farmers
reading with the Scripture classes, and an-
swering from a Catechism, which the mission-
aries have rendered into the Hindee. While,
however, they are openly, and with their own
goodwill, teaching them great truths, the
missionaries are by no means disposed to re-
ceive converts hastily, and have declined
admitting several.
Colonel Dixon was not inattentive to the
Our Rule in India. 105
value of schools. He had twelve in Nya
Nuggur — ten in which Hindee was taught, and
two for instruction in Persian. The number
of children attending, at the date of his last
report, amounted to 118. Besides these, he
had village schools, amounting in all to fifty.
They were of little use, and have nearly all
disappeared since Colonel Dixon's death ;
owing partly to there being no system of
inspection, and partly to the pundits (or
teachers) being idle, ignorant, and under-
paid — their wages being hardly better than
those of a cooly, or common porter.
When the missionaries first came, there
were, in all the Mugra or Hill country, but
eight schools. Two were Government schools,
paid for by the Indian treasury, and the remain-
ing six were supported, partly by a sum taken
from the land-tax of the district, and partly
from other funds at the Commissioner's dis-
posal. The Government teachers received six
rupees a month, the others four The result, of
course, was, that such schools were altogether
106 The Story of Mairwara, or
useless, and this the peasantry quite under-
stood. When asked to send their children,
their ordinary answer was, c Why should
we ? They learn nothing there, and they are
of some sort of use to us in the fields.'
No schools will do in India which are not
under a vigilant superintendence, and, for want
of that, Colonel Dixon, with all his energy,
was wholly unsuccessful. The missionaries
take a more judicious course ; they content
themselves with establishing schools within a
morning's ride of their stations, and postpone
attempting their further extension, until they
have centres which may bring them within
their reach. In want of these, they have de-
clined applications for schools from farmers,
with offers of support.
Having now completed our outline of the
history and present position of Mairwara, we
revert to the topic with which we commenced
— the transfer of large portions of this territory
to the two native princes who claim them
as their own. These claims have been doubt-
Our Rule in India. 107
ful and doubted, since our first subjugation
of the country, and have been the subject of
many arrangements, but of no final agreement
as yet. They were at first too easily con-
ceded, and hence the great trouble they have
given us. The officials to whom the Com-
pany of that day referred the examination of
their titles, were deceived by evidence which
they who offered it knew to be untrue. For
example, the Mairs were accustomed, at cer-
tain festivals, to offer a goat or a hare, or
some such trifling present, to the lowland
lord near whom they lived. These were re-
presented as symbols of allegiance, when they
were, in fact, nothing of the kind, but only
tokens of respect, for which they received in
return an allowance — usually a too liberal
allowance — of drink.
The truth, as it is now known, is, that the
chiefs of Meywar and Marwar have no title
to any portion of Mairwara, unless it be that
of their having made continual claim to it.
The Mairs were never in bondage to any man,
108 The Story of M air war a, or
They have been an independent people from
a period of great antiquity — it is said, even
from the thirteenth century. They never paid
tribute, but had long and regularly levied it
from districts, which chose to buy from them
that protection which their own chiefs could
not afford them. Some chiefs compounded
with them for an annual payment in corn or
cash, and some by the assignment of a village.
It is quite true that the question of these
claims is not free from difficulty. We ac-
cepted them in the first instance, and have
dealt with them in agreements and treaties.
Still, it may be urged that we were led into
all this, by misstatements and wrong represen-
tations, and might justly repudiate a title so
tainted with, what a court of equity would
call, fraud. This course is not unattended
with difficulty ; but had we only a choice of
difficulties, it would be incomparably better
to accept it, rather than resort to the fearful
alternative of handing a whole people back
to barbarism, and foregoing all those moral
Our Rule in India. too,
obligations which a long connection with
them has induced.
We have, however, yet another course.
These claimant-States entered into agreements
with us, to make over what they called their
districts, to meet the expenses of the Mair
Battalion, and, in the treaties made in refer-
ence to these districts, it is expressly stipu-
lated c that they should be held by us so long
as may suit our convenience.' We may then,
as is suggested by the two Indian journals,
cited in our first chapter, fall back upon this
clause, and keep the provinces as long as we
please. This course may be practically the
best, but neither is it without its difficulty.
The whole agreement appears to contemplate
only a temporary retention of the districts,
and is calculated to preclude the Mairs from
ever regarding their connection with England
as permanent.
In any negotiation that may be entered
into with these two neighbour States, it may
be well to bear in mind, that, on the subju-
no The Story of Mairwara, or
gation of the Mairs, we were the only party
who had a right to their country. The Mairs
had forfeited all rights. Such Ishmaelites
knew they had none. They had broken
agreements, violated treaties, and assailed and
plundered us in incessant raids, and so com-
pelled us to subdue them. France had not a
more righteous title to Algeria than we had
to Mairwara — an unquestionable right by
conquest. The princes of Mey war, and Mar-
war, were never regarded by the Mairs as
anything more than pretenders. This people
respected our fame in arms, and acknowledg-
ing and feeling our title by the sword,
' Deemed it
No loss of pride ■
to accept and obey our rule. They have
learned to value their union with us, by nearly
half a century of the truest services, and, come
what may, we must not abandon them.
We shall now refer to some short docu-
ments, which show in what light the proposed
transfer was regarded by high officials in
Our Rule in India. 1 1 1
India, as well as by the Mairs themselves,
when it was debated in 1846.
The first is the opinion of Colonel Suther-
land, Lieutenant-Governor of the North-
western Provinces. We transcribe it from
Colonel Dixon's s Sketch' (p. 224) : —
It may be a question whether the British Go-
vernment would be justified in now withdrawing its
protection. Under the native governments no
limit to the demands of the State exists, but the power
of one party to exact, and the ability of the other to
pay. If, by mild and conciliatory measures, the
Mairs have been reduced from a state of wild ferocity
to one of civilisation and industry, it would amount
to almost a breach of faith to give them over, in
their present comparatively helpless condition, to be
plundered by persons whom they hate.
The probable results of their transfer would be,
their impoverishment, the diminution of their culti-
vation, and their more or less rapid demoralisation,
till they resumed their old habits of plunder, and
became such a source of uneasiness to their neigh-
bours, and disquietude to the country at large, as to
render our interposition again necessary. But it
could not then be rendered with the same effect as
now. The remembrance would be fresh of what
1 1 2 The Story of Mairwara, or
would appear to the people a betrayal of their
interests, They would be slow to adopt habits and
to follow suggestions which, at some future time,
would only make them the better objects of plunder.
We next show a document drawn up by
the Mairs themselves in 1832, when it was
rumoured that our rule was about to be
abolished, and the Mairs given over to the
native princes who claimed them. The cir-
cumstances of their position then, and now,
are the same ; only their aversion to being
transferred has become stronger by length of
time, and by their greater experience of the
advantages of good rule.
The document is a petition from the Mair
zemindars of Shamgurh, dated 12th June,
1832:—
The government of the English extends to thou-
sands of koskos, and they are kings of the earth.
We never yielded to any Raja, or Bhoomeah, when-
ever any such came with troops to attack us, we
never submitted, but beat them back with our own
power. What have the Bhoomeahs to do with us,
that we should pay them revenue ? On the contrary,
Our Rule in India. 113
they (such as the Thakoors of Mussooda and
Khurwa) paid us revenue, that we should abstain
from plundering them. When you came to reduce
our hills, we recognised you as our king, and made
no resistance, but as the subjects of a king consented
to pay revenue. Our lands were given to us by
no one. At one time King Akbar took our an-
cestors to Delhi, circumcised them, rendered us
his subjects, and gave us those towns. From those
days to this, no government has been established in
Mairwara. Considering you our original kings, we
pay you revenue. We have derived our injuries
from you ; but such benefits have followed, that
nobody is in want of food or raiment, and we are
as happy, if not more so, than in former times.
But now that the Thakoors of Mussooda, and
Khurwa, have told us that they will take revenue
from us, desire us to cultivate well, and point out
our boundaries ; we represent to you, that these
lands do not belong to Thakoors, or Bhoomeahs.
Boundaries have never been fixed ; and it cannot
be that the Thakoors of Khurwa or Mussooda shall
take revenue from us. If only one of your chu-
prassees came, all the inhabitants of the district are
obedient, with supplicating hands, but we never will
submit to any other masters except you.
In 1843 ^ s question of the transfer was
1
H4 2% Story of ' M air war a, or
again revived, and is referred to by Colonel
Dixon, as follows : —
This paragraph expresses the sentiments I
entertained in 1840. Nor have I, after a lapse of
two years and a half, any cause for changing those
opinions. On the contrary, further experience has
satisfied me of the correctness of the views I then
formed. By way of illustration, it may be remarked
that during the last month, reports have been rife that
our arrangements in Mairwara were to be broken
up, and the villagers given over to the States bearing
their names. Numerous petitions have been re-
ceived, and all breathing the same painful and heart-
breaking sentiments : extreme despondence that
they should be transferred to States to which they
only paid a nominal allegiance ; that the British Go-
vernment, through extreme kindness, conciliation,
and liberality, had weaned them from their former
predatory habits, and had taught them the arts of
peaceful industry; that, under the favour and soli-
citude of that paternal government, their children
were becoming an industrious peasantry, looking
alone to the produce of their lands as the means of
their livelihood ; that at present they were eating the
bread of industry, in full security that what they
earned was their own, and in full confidence that
Our Rule in India. 115
they, and their posterity, would live in happiness
under the shade of the English Government ; that
they had sunk all their savings and profits on the
improvement of their paternal lands ; that their
separation from the British rule would dissipate, and
utterly destroy all the visions of happiness they had
so fondly hoped would be permanent, and descend
from father to son in perpetuity ; that now, each man
received a patient and willing hearing from the
Superintendent. The Kamdars would treat them
with haughtiness and tyranny, fleece them of all
their hard earnings, and ultimately drive them to
desperation — forcing them either to quit their native
soil, or to have recourse to the paths of their fore-
fathers in resuming a predatory life. These are a
{qw of the melancholy anticipations which rumour
alone has created, in the breasts of the denizens of
Mairwara. — (Sketch, p. JO.)
The Government had decided on making
over a number of the villages to the State of
Marwar ; but on receiving the above remon-
strance from Colonel Dixon, they reconsidered
their views, and came to an agreement with
the Raja of Marwar, for their further con-
tinuance under British rule. The arguments
in the remonstrance are, in the main, as appli-
1 1 6 The Story of ' M air war a, or
cable to the Mairs of the present day, as they
were to those of 1843. No doubt Mairs,
born and bred under our rule, are less likely
to recur to predatory habits than their fathers
were. Still, there is too much reason to be-
lieve that, if long placed in unfavourable cir-
cumstances, they would relapse into all bad
ways, and that it would be more difficult to
reclaim them than ever.
Before leaving this part of the subject,
there are one or two circumstances which it is
worth while noticing. Part of the arrange-
ment come to in 1843, was > tnat certain vil-
lages which had been placed under our
management in 1835, snou lci be given back to
Marwar, the State that claimed them. With
us they prospered, and their revenue had
nearly trebled ; but on their re-transfer, veri-
fying the prophetic fears of Colonel Dixon,
they deteriorated, the land relapsed into
waste jungle, and many of the inhabitants
migrated to within our jurisdiction.
These villages, we have seen, fell away
Our Rule in India. 117
from the advancement they had made under
us. We have the cases of other Mair vil-
lages, which, in our first arrangements, were
left in the hands of the chiefs that claimed
them, and which never attained to any ad-
vancement. We speak of the villages on the
western side of Mairwara. Thus it would
appear, as far as these examples teach, that
the native princes of India have little taste
or talent for statesmanship, even while they
see beside, and around them, the gains and
the comforts of active rule.
If, in despite of the enough that has been
said, and of the more that might be added,
the Mairs are to be indeed abandoned ; if sen-
timental conciliation, and the cloud-capp'd
principle of nationalities, are to be extended
to the yet happy valleys of Mairwara, let
them at least have that semblance of freedom
— that nominis umbra which is implied in a
plebiscite. Were such a course practicable,
we are persuaded that no influence would
avail to prevent their showing to all the world
1 1 8 The Story of Mairwara.
what their feeling is, and that our Govern-
ment would find itself compelled to protect
them. If, however, transfer is their fate,
abandonment their doom, their country will
soon fall back into anarchy, and our conquest
of 182 1 will have to be re-enacted. That
accomplished, there will remain this disastrous
difference between our present, and our future
positions. The Mairs will no longer feel the
enthusiastic attachment to English connection
which actuates them now : they will have
lost all faith in European justice, all trust in
British truth.
... In now closing our case in behalf of the
Mairs, we desire to submit it to the sure
tribunal of public opinion, in the hope that,
for the sake of our own fair fame, for the
sake of our influence in India, for the sake of
the Mairs — whom, up to this time, we have
signally served — so fatal a measure as this
dreaded transfer, may never be allowed to
receive the sanction of any section of our
Government !
Appendix A. 119
APPENDIX A.
The Mairs face tigers with as much indifference as
they would any domestic animal, and, with sword
and shield, think themselves safe against man or
beast. A few facts, out of many we have been
supplied with, will show this. They are of no rare
occurrence.
A tiger came near a village, and seizing a dog
ran off with it in his mouth. One of the inhabit-
ants seeing this, ran after it, and struck it with a
stick. The enraged animal dropped the dog, and
flew at him. Another of the villagers came to his
aid, and the tiger, dropping the first man, seized
him. A third came and shared a like treatment,
while the inhabitants, collecting to the number of
fifteen, assailed the tiger with sticks, until he dropped
the man and went off. The three men recovered
from their wounds.
A Mair, cutting wood on a hill, was snapped up
by a tiger ; but, having a stick in his hand, he beat
the animal so soundly about its head and ears, while
120 Appendix A.
actually in his mouth, that the tiger was glad to let
go his prey and escape.
This poor man died of his wounds, after linger-
ing for some time.
Two Mairs were cutting grass, when one of
them was snatched up by a tiger. His comrade
pursued, and beat the animal until it let him go.
The wounded man recovered.
A cow having been killed by a tiger — a very
common incident — a Mair lay in ambush all
night with a loaded matchlock, with intent to kill
him as he should come to feed again. The animal
came, and was wounded by the matchlock-ball, but
got off. Soon, however, some thirty or forty vil-
lagers collecting, set off in pursuit of the abscond-
ing tiger, and found him on a hill. He was
assailed in various ways, and two or three of the
villagers were severely wounded in the encounters.
One, at length, went up singly, with his sword and
shield, put the shield in the tiger's face, and inflicted
two or three deadly wounds with the sword ; but
we are sorry to add that the gallant fellow lost his
own life.
The villagers, wishing to recover their comrade
from the grasp of the tiger, had resort to throwing
stones ; but, perceiving that the animal was motion-
less, they approached and found him lying dead,
Appendix B. 121
with the bold Mair cruelly torn, but close beside
him.
These facts respecting tigers, were communicated
to the author by General Hall.
APPENDIX B.
Victor Jacquemont, a distinguished naturalist and
an accomplished traveller, was, at the instance of
Baron Cuvier, sent by the French Government to
visit India. Before entering on his voyage he came
to London, and was given all the facilities which
our public men and men of science could afford him.
He made the tour of India, visited the Punjaub,
crossed the Himalayas, entered China, and, re-
turning, explored Cashmere, where he remained for
five months. He had the advantage of being made
known to Runjeet Singh — the Lion of Lahore — by
General Allard, a French officer, who trained that
monarch's soldiers to European drill. Runjeet Singh
was so much attracted by his talents and acquire-
ments, and impressed by his character, that he urged
him to accept the appointment of Viceroy of
Cashmere, with, what may be well called, a fabulous
income. The offer does credit to Runjeet's sagacity ;
but it was, unhappily, as we think, declined.
12 2 Appendix C.
The wish expressed that Colonel Hall should
be made King of Greece is playfully referred to by
Lord Metcalfe, but was probably thought of in sober
earnest by the young philosopher, who, as we have
seen, had occasion to ponder well the subject of
princely positions, and fairy-tale-like fortunes.
Jacquemont was early lost to science, and to the
many circles in which he was highly regarded. He
died in India.
A new edition of his Travels and Letters was
brought out by c Michel Levy, Freres, Paris/ in the
close of last year.
APPENDIX C.
The following tells of a new form of asking a
favour : —
Colonel Hall was alone, in his tent, without a
defensive weapon, and with no one near him, when
an armed brigand sprang in, and demanded pardon
for all his past offences. c No,' said Colonel Hall ;
c they are too great for that. All I shall grant you
is one quarter of an hour to escape. After that I
shall do my best to have you brought to punish-
ment.'
The robber, and the difficulty, disappeared at
once.
Appendices D and E. 123
APPENDIX D.
Colonel C. J. Dixon, a native of Scotland, entered
the army, and was appointed to the Bengal Artillery,
in 18 1 2. He succeeded Colonel (now General) Hall,
in 1835, as Superintendent, or Governor, of Mair-
wara, and attained his rank of Colonel in 1854.
He died in India in the early part of 1857, tne y ear
of the Mutiny. He had thus been twenty-three
years in India when he was nominated to the charge
of Mairwara, and forty- five when his services were
terminated by his death.
APPENDIX E.
General Henry Hall, C.B., of Knockbrack,
County Galway, and Merville, County Dublin, is
descended from a collateral branch of the family
of Roger Hall, of Narrow Water, County Down,
Ireland. He is the fourth son of the late Vene-
rable Archdeacon Hall, by Christiana, daughter
of — Trail, Esq., and was born in 1789. In 1827
he married Sarah, eldest daughter of the late General
Fagan, Adjutant-General of the Bengal Army.
1 24 Appendix E
General Hall entered the army in 1804, sailed
for India in 1805, an d arrived in Calcutta on his
seventeenth birthday. He was sent on at once to
Cawnpore, where he was placed under the command
of Captain Delamaine. On the first introduction of
Light Infantry into the Bengal Army, Captain Dela-
maine gave young Hall the command of the light
company of his regiment. At the close of 1806 he
was sent, with his regiment, on service in Bundel-
cund, where they formed part of a force which was
destined to complete the subjugation of that country.
The district was studded with forts, to the number
of four-and-twenty, each with its independent chief.
After taking two minor forts, they attacked a third,
which presented serious difficulties, and where they
lost two of their officers, and put about three hundred
men to the sword. Captain Delamaine received a
wound in the head, which ultimately led to his death.
After this, Lieutenant Hall was appointed adjutant
of his battalion, and was ordered to Benares. Thence
he proceeded again to Bundelcund, and was engaged
in the reduction of forts. One of these, built on
the summit of a hill some eight hundred feet high,
was regarded as very formidable. Before, however,
they had reached it, they had to attack a fortified
position named Regoulee, where they found a much
stronger force than they had counted on, advantage-
Appendix E. 125
ously placed. Hall led the assault up a steep ascent,
with much gallantry, and had a ball through his hat.
Soon after this, the fortress, which they thought
would give them so much trouble, unexpectedly
surrendered, and their campaign was for a while
broken up.
In 18 17, Captain Hall, having filled with credit
several staff appointments, was nominated, by the
Marquis of Hastings, to the Ouartermaster-Gene-
raFs Department, and joined a force, which, under
the command of Sir David Ochterlony, was pro-
ceeding against the Pindarees, whose subjugation
was, in the result, effected.
In consequence of the absence of his senior,
Captain Hall had, at this time, the advantage of
being led into direct communication with the
General.
Their next exploit was to reduce the hill-fortress
of Paragur, at Ajmeer, which was regarded as
well nigh impregnable. They had further to put
down some troublesome chiefs in the Jeypore States,
whose towns and forts they captured. Captain
Hall received, for his services on these occasions, the
marked thanks of the General.
Captain Hall was next directed to join Brigadier
Knox, at Ajmeer, where he had to lay out the
largest cantonment then in India. His senior officer
126 Appendix E.
having been removed to another station, Captain Hall
was left at the head of his department in Rajpoo-
tana. While there, he employed himself in making
surveys of the country. Next came his active
efforts for the reduction of the Mairs, and, subse-
quently, his appointment as Commissioner, Super-
intendent, or Governor of Mairwara. This was in
1822, and from that period, until his departure from
India in 1835, his life is part of the history of
that country, as we have sketched it in our text.
Meagre as this summary of General Hall's services
must be, we ought not to omit stating that his name
was publicly noticed on many occasions — on the
occasion, for example, of the attack on Regoulee,
and at the siege of Adjeehur in 1809, at Callingur
in 18 12, at Modherajpoona and Neepreeda in Raj-
pootana in 18 18, and in a short campaign in Mair-
wara in 18 19, besides the first campaign there,
before adverted to. We must add that he volun-
teered to conduct one of the columns in the night-
attack on Modherajpoona, and that his name ap-
peared in the c London Gazette ' of the following
dates, as well as in those of other dates not men-
tioned: 'London Gazette,' August 7, 18 19, pp.
1388-1389 j March 20, 1822, p. 490; March 24,
1823, pp. 479-480.
General Hall thus served in India for thirty-two
Appendix E. 127
years. He was made a C.B. in 1838, and became
Lieutenant-General in 1858. He is a magistrate
for the counties of Galway and Dublin.
We have taken the particulars of the family of
General Hall, from a work entitled c The County
Families of the United Kingdom,' and those of his
military services, chiefly from a printed document,
which had to be laid before the late East India
Company.
Jacquemont, after observing that there were c few
Major Halls to work the miracles he has done,'
adds, in another letter, that ' a peculiar talent, too,
which is a gift of nature, is required in the ruler,
without which the most benevolent intentions would
prove useless.' This just remark appears to be
illustrated in the character and career of General
Hall, whose talents for government 2 re, in fact, part
and parcel of his nature. In advanced life, and
amid the bereavements which render it so solitary,
and so deeply sad, he retains and exhibits the energy,
the assiduity, the benevolence, the active benefi-
cence, and the unfailing judgment which, in other
days, achieved for him such great results in India.
At the age of eighty, he is one of the most effective
magistrates of his neighbourhood, and the chief
man of business of many institutions, committees,
and public societies. He is a regular attendant at
1 2 8 Appendix F.
the Poor-house, some miles' distance from his resi-
dence, and takes a lead in the management of its
details, and a personal interest in the boys' and girls'
schools, giving them frequent prizes to stimulate
their progress. On his estates in the West of Ire-
land, he shows the same capacity as marked his
Mairwara days, and is the generous promoter. of
advancement in every form — in agriculture, in
education, in the promotion of religious objects ;
and, amidst these many activities, never forgetting
the interests of that far-off Indian people, who have
now, for forty long years, looked up to him, and
will ever continue to regard him, as their first re-
former, and their great benefactor.
APPENDIX F.
Remarks,* by General Hall, on perusing the article,
on the subject of Mairwara, in the c Dublin Univer-
sity Magazine' for July 1853 : —
The observations contained in this Sketch of
Mairwara, as to the injustice done to General Hall,
are generally correct ; but he is convinced, without
* These Remarks were printed some years ago, for pri-
vate circulation. As they refer, partly, to a matter of much
public interest, the abolition of Female Infanticide, they are,
with General Hall's permission, now added.
Appendix F. 129
any intention, either on the part of Colonel Dixon,
or the reviewers adverted to.
It is obvious enough that Colonel Dixon must
have compiled the work, as ordered by Government,
under the serious disadvantage of great pressure in
the carrying on of his current business, and without
an opportunity of revisal, preparatory to its going to
press.
The length of time which intervened between
General Hall's relinquishment of office, and Colonel
Dixon's compilation, must have contributed much to
the apparent intermixture of their respective labours.
But the very complimentary manner in which
Colonel Dixon so frequently refers to his prede-
cessor, together with the frank acknowledgment
contained in the few lines (p. 81 of the Review),
that c whatever may have been efFected in amelio-
rating the condition of the people, or in advancing
them in the arts of civilised life, it is to Colonel
Hall that the credit is due, for having laid the
foundation of these good works,' clearly indicates
the absence of all intentional misrepresentation.
The fact however is, as the reviewer states, that
from the nature of Colonel Dixon's statements, any-
one cursorily reading the compilation would infer
that he had been the originator of the highly im-
portant undertaking of irrigation, in all its branches,
130 Appendix F.
though the most decided proof to the contrary is
contained in the work ; and even one of the lakes
(Gohana), constructed by General Hall, was selected
by the Governor of Agra, for the publication, and
appears there in full, with drawings.
Captain Baird Smith calls it, in his work on irri-
gation, c A very beautiful lake, securing 250 acres
of cultivation, giving food and occupation to fifty-
nine families, and amply repaying the State's out-
lay.' *
More need not be said for the prqsent purpose ;
for such ample testimony, afforded so many years
after General Hall's labours had terminated, must
be quite conclusive of his having established the
system, and procured to the Supreme Government
its great advantages, thus enabling his successors
to proceed with well-assured and rapid success ;
and though General Hall's time was so much occu-
pied with all the preliminary rough work, his mea-
sures for irrigation were not slow, considering the
circumstances in which he was placed.
The approbation of Government was to be gained
— success to be rendered certain ; the supply to keep
pace with the demand, rather than all at once (even
if he could) to have run into a large expenditure,
which could not be remunerative until long after ;
* 'Italian Irrigation/ vol. 1. p. 418.
Appendix F. 131
besides reserving at command the means of affording
employment to the people, in times of scarcity or
famine.
As carried out, in some instances, the expense
was covered by the increase of revenue the first
year, and it contributed most materially to the relief
of multitudes, during one of the most severe famines
that, perhaps, ever visited any country, completely
destroying the food of both man and beast.
No one can be more ready to acknowledge the
admirable manner in which Colonel Dixon has car-
ried on his duties, than General Hall, and, in fact,
his feelings towards him are of a most grateful
nature, on that account ; nor does he make these
observations in the way of complaint, nor would he
ever have commented on these errors, had they not
been rendered prominent by the notice in the
c Dublin University Magazine.'
As General Hall never contemplated his exertions
in Mairwara becoming public, he would be wanting
in the ordinary feelings of human nature, were he not
much gratified at his measures, and their results,
being so favourably noticed.
His abolition of female infanticide, alone, saved
numbers of lives annually, and Mr. Kaye* pro-
* See Mr. Kaye's very valuable work, ' The History of
the Administration of the East India Company,' pp. 563-4.
132 Appendix F.
nounced it as the c only instance on record of com-
plete success/ but with some infelicity of remark
detracts from his merits, by ascribing it to a simple
municipal regulation.
Now, this was far from being the case : it cost
him very great preparatory exertion, in order to
effect it through the people themselves, being satis-
fied that by no other means could permanent results be
reckoned upon.
Prohibitory orders would have been useless, as
proof could rarely, if ever, be obtained, when all
were united in keeping up the practice. No medical
men could be scattered through such an extent of
country; nor can corpses remain unburied,to await
examination from a distance.
It was by gaining the confidence of the people,
working upon their feelings in various ways, dis-
covering and showing them the causes of the cus-
tom, and how easily they could be removed, to the
great future benefit of the community at large ; by
noticing occasionally female children, and appealing
to parental affection, that all were eventually con-
vinced, and won over to a general consent; so that,
so far from the abolition of infanticide being the re-
sult of a merely municipal regulation, the latter only
gave effect to a long course of anxious preliminary
measures, bearing on the wished-for result.
Appendix F. 133
In conclusion, it must be admitted to add not a
little to his satisfaction, that while General Hall
was simply carrying on his unpretending duties, he
has in some degree contributed to do justice to the
Indian Government, by exhibiting the advantages
of its administration to the great country confided
to its charge.
P.S. — It is a most interesting and important fact,
that the fidelity of the Mair troops and people,
contributed wonderfully to the safety of the Euro-
pean community, when the mutiny broke out at
Nusseerabad. The city of Ajmeer stands in re-
lation to the country, as the city of Delhi stood to
its neighbourhood. The former, as well as the
latter, had a treasury, a well-stocked magazine, jail,
&c, &c, and all defended by a wall and bastions.
There were 250 of the Mair corps there ; the
mutinous sepoys, only ten miles distant, tried to
seduce them, but happily failed, and thus was
Ajmeer preserved from becoming a second Delhi.
On that dreadful occasion, all the European
families found refuge in the cities of Ajmeer and
Beawr, the head-quarters of the corps ! On a
subsequent occasion, the Mair corps distinguished
themselves against the mutineers, under Brigadier-
General (now Sir G. St. P.) Lawrence.
134 Appendix F.
Colonel Dixon died in the year of the Mutiny
(1857), but before the outbreak.
It is only justice to his memory to say, that had
he not retained the confidence of the Mairs, and
kept up the efficiency of the Mair Battalion, Mair-
wara, Ajmeer, and the whole of Rajpootana, would
have been in rebellion against us.
H. HALL, General.
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