SIE CHARLES WOOD'S
ADMINISTRATION OF
INDIAN AFFAIRS,
From 1859 to 1866.
BY
ALGERNON WEST,
DEPUTY DIBECTOR OF INDIAN MILITARY FUNDS, AND LATELY
PRIVATE SECRETARY TO
THE RIGHT HON. SIR CHARLES WOOD, BART., M.P., G.C.B.,
AND
THE EARL DE GREY AND RIPON.
LONDON :
SMITH, ELDER AND CO., Q5, CORNHILL.
1867.
v«e*
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est
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[77ie n'^Af o/* Translation is reserved.']
^t<C
TO THE
HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS IN THE INDIA OFFICE,
WHO HAVE HAD THE AMPLEST OPPORTUNITIES OF
OB8EBVING THE BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF
Sir C^ar&s Wiaoh'B %liimmmtxRtwn,
AND TO WHOSE UNOBTRUSIVE ASSISTANCE, AND UNSELFISH LABOURS,
NOT ONLY SUCCESSIVE SECRETARIES OF STATE, BUT THE
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA AND THE BRITISH NATION,
OWE A LASTING DEBT OF GRATITUDE—
^PHIS WORK IS DEDICATED.
Si3i 13
As a monument of his ability, industry, and judgment, Sir Charles Wood may
fairly point to his six years' administration of India, during a period of
transition and unexampled difficulty at home and abroad. He found every-
thing in disorder, and had everything to reconstrupt.
He had to recast the whole judicial system of India — to create for her a
paper currency-r-to superintend the remodelling of her taxation, and the re-
organization of her finances. He had to develope a railway system, and last,
and most difficult of all, to carry through the herculean labour of amalgamating
the Queen's armies. If it has been impossible to do justice to every individual,
we believe that, upon the whole, the Indian army has been a gainer under the
change.
Where is the man possessed of that extent and variety of knowledge, that
quickness, industry, and versatility, that acquaintance with matters financial,
military, naval, judicial, and political, which will enable him to rule with a
firm and unfaltering hand the mighty destinies of 150,000,000 of the human
race 1— Times, Feb. 6, 1866.
No tale in Hindoo mythology is more wonderful than the change which has
been wrought in India within the last few years. The enchanters that have
worked the spell have been peace, justice, and commerce. It may be added,
that the system first fairly tried of governing India through a Secretaiy of
State, directly and personally responsible to Parliament, has proved beyond
expectation successful, — Edinburgh Review, July, 1864.
PEEFACE
I HOPE the statements contained in the following
sketch will be found accurate.
If this merit be conceded to them, the credit will
not be due to me, for, great as are the advantages
which- 1 have derived from the possession of all the
private correspondence of Sir Charles Wood and Lord
de Grey with the successive Governor- Generals and
other high authorities in India, I feel that accuracy
has only been rendered possible by the additions,
revisions, and corrections of many friends in and
out of the India Office, whose assistance has been
freely given, not so much from motives of personal
kindness to myself, as from the affection borne by
them to their old chief, who, though now sitting in
the House of Peers as Viscount Halifax, will ever be
remembered in connection with India as Sir Charles
Wood.
ALGERNON WEST.
India Office,
January 1, 1867.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTEB I.
PAGE
Intboduction 1
CHAPTER n.
Home Government 8
CHAPTER m.
Government op India and Parliamentary Legislation.^ 20
CHAPTER IV.
Law and Justice 34
CHAPTER V.
Indigo and Contract Law, and Rent 42
CHAPTER VI.
Finance 64
CHAPTER Vn.
Currency 89
CHAPTER Vni.
Land Revenue 100
VIU
CHAPTER IX.
PAGE
Public Works 109
CHAPTER X.
Cotton 116
CHAPTER XI.
Education 126
CHAPTER XII.
Political * 135
CHAPTER Xm.
Military 151
CHAPTER XIV.
I>0LICE 171
CHAPTER XV.
Kavy * ^ 174
CHAPTER XVi.
Conclusion ......*..* 177
SIR CHARLES WOOD'S
ADMINISTRATION OF
INDIAN AFFAIKS
CHAPTEE I.
INTRODUCTION.
It is proposed to show in the following pages, very
briefly, the various acts of Sir Charles Wood's admi-
nistration of India, from June, 1859, to the com-
mencement of 1866.
The subjects with which he had to deal were
numerous — the difficulties to be encountered were of
no small magnitude. He had, in fact, to reconstruct
the Government at home, and to place not only the
Government of India, but every branch of its admini-
stration, upon such a footing as the experience of
recent years and the requirements of modern times
rendered necessary. The councils of the Governor-
General and of the minor Presidencies, the courts of
judicature, the civil service, the army, the navy, and
the police, were all to be dealt with. The codification
ii 1
and administration of the law, the system of land
revenue, the finance and the currency, demanded most
careful consideration and vigorous action.
It would be impossible that all these questions,
distinct as they are from one another, should be dealt
with chronologically. They will all therefore be
touched upon under separate chapters.
In order that the position of affairs when Sir
Charles Wood entered upon office may be clearly
understood, it is necessary that a short account should
be given of the Parliamentary proceedings of 1858,
which resulted in the transfer of the Government of
India from the East India Company to the Crown.
The mind of the English people had scarcely
recovered from the crushing effect of the first news of
the outbreak at Meerut and the capture of Delhi, when
a cry arose against the East India Company. Popular
indignation, ever seeking a cause and demanding a
victim for any national disaster, with some justice and
much injustice, selected the Company as its victim,
attributing to their neglect or mismanagement all, the
sorrows and sufi'erings of the Great Indian Mutiny.
Before the opening of the session of 1858, Lord
Palmerston intimated to the Court of Directors the
intention of her Majesty's Government to introduce a
bill for the transfer of the authority and possessions of
the East India Company to the Crown.
This communication called forth an able Memo-
randum of the improvements in the administration
of India during the last thirty years, and a petition
from the East India Company to Parliament, which,
immediately on the assembling of the House of Lords,
was presented by Lord Grey ; and a debate ensued, in
which the Duke of Argyll, without disclosing the
measure of the Government, which was to be brought
forward in the Lower House, justified the course about
to be pursued by the ministry.
During the last century India had afforded subjects
enough for trials of party strength, and for feats of
oratorical display, among the giants of debate. The
sparkling brilliancy of Sheridan, the commanding
energy of Fox, the rounded periods of Pitt, the genius
of Windham, the eloquence of Grey, the impassioned
denunciations of Burke, had all been raised to the
highest pitch in the stormy contest of Parliamentary
strife engendered by Indian politics ; but not for a
long time had they so completely engrossed the
attention of Parliament as they did at the commence-
ment of 1858.
Lord Palmerston introduced his bill in a very
different strain from the fierce attacks of Burke, who
had asserted in his famous speech on Mr. Fox's bill of
1783, that '^ there is not a single prince, state, or
** potentate, great or small, in India, with whom the
** East India Company have come into contact, whom
'* they have not sold ; that there is not a single treaty
** they have ever made which they have not broken ;
** that there is not a single prince or state who ever
** put any trust in the Company, who is not utterly
** ruined."
Lord Palmerston approached the subject in a spirit
of conciliation, ^*not of hostility, to the East India Com-
1—2
*^ pany, or as meaning to imply any blame or censure
** upon tlie administration of India under that corpora-
'* tion." But lie showed that its time was past, and that
the machinery of the double government was cumbrous
and out of date. He pointed out also that the East
India Company as an instrument of Government was
superfluous and irresponsible, and demonstrated the
advantage likely to ensue from the authority of the
Company being made over to the Crown, and the vast
importance of additional Parliamentary control and
responsibility that would be thus attained.
Sir G-eorge Lewis, in one of his ablest speeches,
insisted on this point: — ''I do most confidently
*' maintain," said he, ** that no civilized Government
*' ever existed on the face of this earth which was
'^ more corrupt, more perfidious, and more rapacious,
** than the Government of the East India Company
** was from 1758 to 1781, when it was placed under
*^ Parliamentary control."
The Bill proposed that there should be a President,
with a salary and position equal to that of a Secretary
of State, and a Council of eight, who were to be
nominated by the Crown, for eight years, two of them
retiring by rotation every two years.
In all matters but those of finance the President's
decision was to be final, the members of the Council,
should they differ from him, having the privilege of
recording their dissent. In matters entailing expendi-
ture from the revenues of India, it was necessary that
the President should have the concurrence of at least
four members of his Council.
A majority of 145 in favour of the introduction
of the Bill affirmed its principle ; but, in a few
days after the division, the Government was defeated
on the Conspiracy Bill, and Lord Palmerston re-
signed.
He was succeeded by Lord Derby as Premier ; and
the new ministry, almost immediately on taking office,
considered it advisable to introduce a bill for the better
government of India, founded in a great measure on
that of their predecessors.
In the second Bill it was proposed that there
should be a Secretary of State, and a Council composed
of eighteen members ; nine were to be nominated by
the Crown, and wxre mentioned by name in the Bill,
and nine were to be elected. Four out of these last
must have served her Majesty in India for ten years,
or have been engaged in trade in that country for
fifteen years, and were to be elected by the votes of
any one in this country who had served her Majesty or
the Government of India for ten years, or any pro-
prietor of capital stock in Indian railways or other
public work in India to the amount of 2,000/., or any
proprietor of India stock to the amount of 1,000/.
The other five were to be possessed of the following
qualification : — They must have been engaged in com-
merce in India, or in the exportation of manufactured
articles to that country for five years, or must have
resided there ten years. These latter were to be
elected by the Parliamentary constituencies of London,
Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Belfast.
This Bill, however, found no support, either in the
6
House, or in the country, and was withdrawn without
having reached a second reading.
On Lord John Eussell's suggestion, resolutions
were proposed in a committee of the whole House,
and, after many nights of discussion, and many
amendments, a Bill was at last framed in accordance
with the resolutions as passed by the House.
A new Secretary of State was created, to whom,
aided by a council of fifteen members, was entrusted
the home government of India. Of the first fifteen,
seven were to be elected from among the existing or
late Directors of the East India Company by the Court
of Directors, and eight were to be nominated by the
Crown. The majority of persons so elected or
nominated were to have resided or served in India
for ten years, and, excepting in the case of late and
present Directors, and officers on the Home Estabhsh-
ment of the East India Company, who had so served,
or resided, they were not to have left India for
more than ten years preceding the date of their
appointment. The Council were to meet once in
every week, when they were to be presided over by
the Secretary of State, or, in his absence, by a
Vice-President appointed by him. Questions were to
be determined in Council by the vote of the majority,
but, except on any matter involving expenditure from
the revenues of India, and in some cases of patronage,
the Secretary of State might over-rule the decision of
the majority.
In all cases of disagreement, the Secretary of State
or any member of the Council might record his opinion,
The Secretary of State had the further power of
sending orders without the concurrence of his council,
but in these cases the orders were to lie on the table
for seven days, and every member of Council might
state his views in writing ; and, if those of the majority
were opposed to the course adopted by the Secretary of
State, he was bound to place his reasons on record.
The Act did not come into operation till the autumn
of the year 1858, and for the remainder of the time in
which Lord Derby's Government was in power Lord
Stanley held the seals of Secretary of State for the
India Department ; but his tenure of office was short.
CHAPTER II.
HOME GOVERNIilENT.
On the formation of Lord Palmerston's Government,
in June, 1859, Sir Charles Wood accepted the post
of Secretary of State for India. His last office had
been that of First Lord of the Admiralty, but it was
only four years and a half since he had, as President
of the Board of Control, taken a leading part in the
Home Government of India.
In that short interval a complete change in the
form of the Home Government had been effected.
The grand old East India Company, with all its
prestige and all its associations, which had held sway
for a hundred years over India, had, as has been
shown, been swept away, and its authority transferred
to the Crow^n. Instead of a President of the Board of
Control, sitting in Cannon Row, and the Court of
Directors of the East India Company, in Leadenhall
Street, there was now a Secretary of State, with a
Council.
There can be no question of the great advantage of
giving to the Secretary of State for India the aid of
a Council composed of persons experienced in one
branch or another of Indian administration, and no
9
one felt this more strongly, or could be more disposed
to avail himself of their assistance, than Sir Charles
Wood. It must not be fo^^gotten that in the India
Office is concentrated the collective business, not
merely of a department, but of an empire : finance,
currency, legislation, revenue, foreign policy, army,
publi^c works — all require the consideration and deci-
sion of the minister occupying the position of Secretary
of State for India ; but no man, however experienced
and laborious, could properly direct and control the
various interests of so vast an empire, unless he were
aided, as Sir Charles Wood was, by men with know-
ledge of different parts of the country, and possessing
an intimate acquaintance with the difficult and compli-
cated subjects involved in the government and welfare
of so many incongruous races.
The selection of Councillors had been made with
great judgment, and consisted of men of tried ability
in various departments, but many of them had no
previous experience of the mode of conducting business
in England. The official staff consisted of men selected
partly from the officers of the old East India House,
and partly from those of the Board of Control. It is
superfluous to say anything of the merits of a service
which has been so justly celebrated, from the time of
Charles Lamb, James Mill, his yet more distinguished
son, John Stuart Mill, Sir James Melvill, Mr. Hawkins,
and Mr. Waterfield, to the present day, when it counts
among its ranks the accomplished historian of Affghan-
istan and the Sepoy war, and many men whose finan-
cial, legal, and literary reputations have far out-reached
V
10
the narrow limits of a Government Office. Practically,
however, the working of the department in its new
form of a Secretary of State's office, with a Council
and an establishment nominally consolidated from those
of Leadenhall Street and Cannon Kow, was inhar-
monious and crude, and the whole procedure of official
business had still to be adapted to the new order of
things.
Although there were, therefore, ample materials of
the best quahty at the command of the Secretary of
State for conducting the business even of so extensive
a territory as our Indian Empire, it needed the power
and organization of a master-mind to arrange these
materials in such a manner as to turn them to the best
account, and this was the first task which Sir Charles
Wood had to encounter.
In order to give an accurate idea of the official
difficulties which attended the change of Government
from the East India Company and Board of Control
to a Secretary of State in Council, it will be necessary
to show the order of business that existed under
the former system. The "initiation of despatches on
all subjects rested with the heads of departments
in the East India House, either under the instructions
or subject to the approval of the chairman and deputy
chairman ; the drafts of despatches, technically termed
previous communications, were then submitted by the
** Chairs " to the President of the Board of Control,
who made such alterations as he thought necessary,
and returned them to the ** Chairs," by whom they
were then sent to one or other of the three com-
11
mittees ; when passed by that committee, they were
laid before the full court, and, when sanctioned by
them, were officially forwarded for the final approval
of the Board.
When Sir Charles Wood took office, he found the ^^
Council divided into three committees, in nearly the
same manner as the Court of Directors of the East
India Company had been. The despatches were pre-
pared by the Secretaries of the Department, as in the
old India House, but instead of being brought in any
way before the Secretary of State, they were sent
directly to one of the committees, and only reached
the eye of the Secretary of State when the members
of that committee were pledged to the views which
they had already approved.
It is obvious that this mode of conducting the
business was not only inconsistent with the principle
of the Secretary of State's directing the policy, but
actually placed him in a worse position than the
President of the Board of Control ; whereas there can
be no doubt that the great object of the change in the
constitution of the Home Department of the India
Government was to increase the power and responsi-
bility of its chief, who was for that purpose created a
Secretary of State. It is true that, unhke other
Secretaries of State, a council was added to assist him
with their advice, and supply local Indian experience,
but on the Secretary of State rested the responsibihty,
and with the responsibihty the power. ' ' The minister, ' '
said Lord Stanley, *' is bound to hear the advice given
** by his council, but he is not bound to take it. It is
12
" for Lim to decide whether lie v/ill take or reject it;
*' and, whether he takes or rejects it, he will equally
*' act upon his own responsibility."
Sir Charles Wood at once discerned this very
serious defect in the mode of business, and took
immediate steps to remedy it by assuming to himself
the initiatory power, and placing the office, as had
been intended, on the usual footing of that of a
Secretary of State, his Council taking their proper
position as his advisers. He divided the Council into
six committees, of five members each, every member
being on two committees, the chairman being selected
by the Secretary of State. The drafts of the despatches
were prepared, as before, by the secretary of the de-
partment, and when seen by one of the under-secre-
taries, were submitted to the Secretary of State, who,
after making such alterations as he thought fit, referred
them to one of the committees. The draft, as con-
sidered and amended, if necessary, by the committee,
was returned to the Secretary of State, and by him
sent to Council in such shape as he might determine
for final consideration and decision.
In addition to this alteration in the system of
business, the arrangement of departments in the India
Office was generally revised. The military and marine
branches had hitherto been distinct from the general
correspondence department, to the duties of w^hich the
work of those branches was analogous, and to which
they were now united.
The system of account, pay, and audit was cum-
brous and expensive, and, at the same time, inefficient ;
13
for although there was an accountant-general, a
cashier, and an auditor, exclusive of the auditor
appointed under the Act for the better government
of India (General Jameson), with a separate staff to
each, there was no adequate check on expenditure,
nor any sufficient examination of accounts. By the
combination of the three departments under the
accountant-general, a more efficient and economical
system was introduced ; the final audit, which has been,
and is, completely satisfactory, being entrusted to
General Jameson.
In the Store Department, where a complete revi-
sion w^as made of the manner by which stores were
supplied to the various Governments in India, the
system w^hich had been continued from the trading
days of the East India Company was found to be
defective in many respects, and especially in the
absence of direct responsibihty on the part of any
one person. It was, accordingly, determined to place
the supply of stores on a footing v/hich, while insuring
a more perfect responsibility, should be thoroughly
efficient to meet the rapidly increasing requirements of
our great Eastern dependency.
With this view a department was constituted,
under a Director- General, who was to represent the
Secretary of State in Council in regard to all contracts
with the public, and in whom was to be vested the
general responsibility for the supply, examination, and
shipment of all stores. To assist him in the latter
branches of the business, an Inspector of stores was
appointed, subordinate to him ; and, this post being
14
held by an officer of great professional experience, who
is aided by a competent staff of assistants possessing
the requisite technical acquirements, the utmost effi-
ciency has been secured.
Except in the case of articles of a special nature,
or those of which the supply is limited to a few large
firms, it was decided to adopt the system of open
competition, and to invite tenders by public adver-
tisement.
The great importance of this question is evident
when it is considered that stores of all kinds, whether
military, ordnance, clothing, medical, stationery, mint,
telegraph, or public works, are annually despatched
for the use of the several presidencies, to the value
of about a million sterling.
In these and all other arrangements Sir Charles
Wood was materially assisted by Mr. Baring, formerly
his private secretary at the Board of Control, whose
talent for organization was of especial advantage in the
re-arrangement of the department, and who, from his
peculiar aptitude for business, his powder of work, and
the experience he had acquired from having been em-
ployed in various public departments, had attained a
degree of official knowledge unequalled by any of his
contemporaries in the House of Commons. The
unpopularity incidental to any measure necessitating
alteration and reduction in a Government office was,
in this instance, to a great extent overcome from its
being apparent that |^the improvements were carried
out, not from a love of change, but for the good of
the service, and in strict accordance with justice. It
15
will be long before this merit in Mr. Baring ceases to
be recognized in the India Office. He had not, how-
ever, the opportunity of watching the practical workings
of those reforms, in the introduction of which he had
borne so prominent a part.
Mr. Sidney Herbert's elevation to the peerage
rendered it necessary that the War Office should be
represented in the House of Commons, and, in order
to attain this object, Mr. Baring was transferred
to that department. This appointment was amply
justified by the able manner in which, with very
short time for preparation, he mastered the com-
plicated details of the army estimates, and carried
them through the House of Commons. The popularity
which Lord de Grey had acquired in the organization
of the Volunteer Force at the War Department, was a
guarantee that the military changes then in progress
in our Eastern Empire would not suffer by his
removal to the India Office. The lamented death of
Lord Herbert, however, in the prime of his intellectual
vigour, and the appointment of Sir George Lewis as
his successor, led to the re-transfer of these two Under
Secretaries in the summer of 1861. Two years had
not elapsed, before the retirement of Mr. Lowe from
the Council of Education, and Mr. Henry Austen
Bruce's appointment in his place, left a new field of
usefulness open for Mr. Baring at the Home Office,
and the Government was strengthened by the acqui-
sition of Lord Wodehouse as Under Secretary for
India.
The pohtical exigencies of Parliament were not
16
the sole causes wliicli led to rapid changes in the
India Office. The illness and consequent resignation
of the Earl of Carlisle, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,
removed Lord Wodehouse, in 1864, to a higher posi-
tion, where his firmness and decision of character
were eminently displayed in grapphng with the dis-
content and agitation of that unhappy country. Once
more the Ministerial ranks were reinforced, hy the
addition of Lord Duiferin, who, formerly known as a
daring yachtsman, and a graceful writer, and subse-
quently as an able diplomatist in Syria, has by his
lucid speeches on the vexed questions of the Indian
Army, and land tenure in Ireland, raised yet higher
the hopes entertained of the distinguished career that
in all probability awaits him.
These constantly recurring changes diminished, to
a great extent, the practical advantage which the
Secretary of State would otherwise have derived from
the undoubted abilities of his Parliamentary Under
Secretaries ; for scarcely were they enabled to master
the rudiments of Indian government, when their ser-
vices were transferred to some other department.
Indeed, the position of the Under Secretaries of State
for India has never been on a proper footing.
In the same relation as other Under Secretaries of
State to their chief, they had no recognized place in
the Council, and were unable to take any part in the
deliberations of that body. Sir Charles Wood did all
in his power to remedy this anomaly, by causing all
papers to be referred to them, and arranging that one
of the Under Secretaries should always attend the
17
periodical meetings of Council, so that he might have
an opportunity of at least hearing their discussions :
but this, it must be admitted, is scarcely a fitting
position for the Under Secretary of State who would
have to defend, either in the House of Lords or House
of Commons, the pohcy of the Home Government.
It was well, therefore, for Sir Charles Wood that,
in his permanent Council, he found not only expe-
rienced advice, but most ready assistance, of which he
gladly and largely availed himself. Not satisfied with
the mere formal reference of documents to the com-
mittees, it was his constant practice to consult his
councillors individually, and to invite them to state
their opinions freely. Very few days ever elapsed
without his seeing many of the members of Council.
The chairmen of the committees were requested
to confer with him on papers awaiting their con-
sideration ; and, in matters of more than ordinary
difficulty, he would himself attend the committees
and personally take part in their discussion. To this
friendly communication, no doubt, is in a great measure
due the smoothing down of many difficulties, and
removal of many stumbling-blocks from the path,
which might have caused trouble, if opuaions had been
placed on record in a full committee, before an oppor-
tunity occuiTed for the discussion and interchange of
ideas on the subject with the Secretary of State.
It has never been imputed to Sir Charles Wood
that he is wanting in self-rehance, or that he is too
easily led by the opinion of others. It is, therefore,
a convincing testimony to the skill and tact with
2
18
which he availed himself of the abilities and experi-
ence of the members of his Council, and of the
practical utility of the mode of transacting the business
which he introduced, that, during his whole tenure
of office, Sir Charles Wood overruled them only four
times, on all of which occasions subjects of minor
importance only were involved.
"With these few exceptions, and the larger and
imperial question of the discontinuance of a local
European army, to which reference will be made
hereafter. Sir Charles Wood has carried with him
the majority of his Council on all the varied
measures which Vv^ere inaugurated and executed at
home and in India. Indeed, so complete was the
agreement between them, that, in the House of Lords,
in the session of 1863, a complaint was made ^* that
** they never heard of what the Council of India
'* did — occasionally there was a dissent, and nothing
** more." The names of Sir John Lawrence, Sir
George Clerk, and many others are sufficient evidence
that this unanimity was not the result of any lack of
independence on the part of the Council, but was a
proof of their earnest and willing co-operation with a
Secretary of State, whose far-sighted views were fully
appreciated and perceived by them to be advantageous
to the great interests entrusted to their charge.
One of the main features of the success of Sir
Charles Wood's administration, was the constant
personal communication he held, not only with liis
Councillors, and with the members of the India Office
secretariat, but with others unconnected with the
19
department. No man ever came from India, whatever
his position, with information likely to be of use to
the public service, but found easy access to the private
ear of the Secretary of State. Quick, and somewhat
intolerant as he was of those lengthy narratives of
purely personal interest often attempted to be placed
before him, and which he keenly felt did but waste the
time due to more important business, no man ever
bestowed a more impartial or patient hearing on those
whose experience or knowledge entitled them to atten-
tion. Many were those who, on leaving his room
after one of these interviews, expressed their astonish-
ment at the perfect intimacy he displayed with matters
supposed by them to be technical, or only to be
attained after a long residence in India, and by years
of application to a particular subject.
2—2
CHAPTER III.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA AND PAHLIAMENTARY
LEGISLATION.
While changes in Indian affairs had occurred rapidly
at home, how was ifc in the East, since Sir Charles
Wood had ceased to be president of the Board of
Control four short years ago ?
In that infinitesimal period of a country's history,
w^hat a wonderful alteration had taken place in India
itself ! The little cloud on the horizon, spoken of
by Lord Canning before taking his departure from
England, had not then arisen. India, it was hoped,
had entered upon an era of peace and advancement
which was to be undisturbed by aggression or
aggrandizement. The whole empire was in a state of
tranquillity ; the revenue was flourishing, and it might
w^ell have been anticipated that the only coming task
of the Government would be the development of the
resources of the country, the education of the people,
the improved administration of justice, and the prose-
cution of public works. But now it had come to pass
that the heaven was black with cloud and wind, the
mutiny had passed over the land, marking its fieiy
course in bloodshed, ruin, and confusion.
21
The finances were disordered, confidence was de-
stroyed, a flourishing condition of revenue had changed
into a chronic state of yearly deficits and loans. The
Sepoy army, hitherto bhndly trusted and beloved, had
been dissolved, and the conduct of the East India
Company's European troops had verged on mutiny.
It was not unnatural, when all men's energies
had been strained to the uttermost by the exciting
scenes of the mutiny, that there should follow a
period of inaction ; and the Friend of India observed
that ** the events of the year 1859 might best be
*^ expressed in negatives; nothing has been done for
*^ public works, and nothing for education. The pohce
*^ has not been reformed, a road system has not been
" organized, civiHzation has not advanced, and the
*' administration has not improved."
Lord Stanley's tenure of office, though long
enough to show that in him ability and statesman-
ship were joined to great application, and a yet greater
interest in the afi*airs of India, had been too short to
enable him to carry out great reforms in the admi-
nistration.
The session of 1860, so far as regarded Indian
aJBfairs, was fully occupied with the pressing questions
connected with the change in the European forces and
Native army of India ; but in the session of 1861 Sir
Charles Wood introduced into Parliament three bills,
all deeply affecting the welfare of India. These three
measures were all carried with but little discussion,
and with no opposition worthy of the name.
The first of these bills was to make better provision
22
for the constitution of the Council of the Governor-
General, and the local government of the several
presidencies and provinces of India, so as to render
the legislative authority more suited to the require-
ments of the times, and to the altered state of circum-
stances in that country.
It is unnecessary to refer to earlier days, hut
from 1833 to 1861 legislative enactments for all
India had their origin and their completion with the
Governor- General in Council at Calcutta. The minor
Presidencies of Madras and Bombay were powerless
to make a law on the most trivial subject affecting
their own local interests.
With regard to the Council of the Governor-
General, the Act of 1833 had added to it a member
appointed from England, whose presence was neces-
sary for the passing of any legislative enactment
required for any part of British India. This consti-
tution of the central legislative body lasted up to
1853, when members of the Civil Service from each
Presidency and Lieutenant-Governorship, as well as
two of the judges of the Supreme Court, were added,
in accordance with the provisions of a bill which was
introduced into Parliament by Sir Charles Wood, at
that time President of the Board of Control, for the
purpose of gaining their experience of the varying
conditions, habits, and requirements of the people,
and of giving material assistance in the then increasing
labours of the Council. The working, however, of
this Council was not found to be altogether satisfactory ;
Lord Canning was most anxious to see it placed on
23
a better footing, and pointed out its defects, as well as
the general nature of the improvements which were
desired in India.
The English settlers were anxious to be repre-
sented in a Calcutta Parliament, but, as has been
well said in the Edinhurgh Revieiv, '^ A Calcutta legis-
'* lature would be the legislature of a class in its worst
*' and most aggravated form. The public opinion of
** India is virtually the opinion of the small but
" powerful European community ; its interests are
'* mainly commercial, and its ideas of policy and of
*' law are liable to the bias and insuperable tempta-
" tions which commercial interests involve."
In the opinion of Sir Charles Wood, a claim to
a place in the body by which laws for all India were to
be passed, equally strong with that of the English
settlers, existed on the part of the natives of India.
By the legislation of the Governor- General's Council
the interests of millions of the native population were
affected, and, however well acquainted with them might
be those members of the Civil Service who had passed
great part of their hves in the provinces, it could not
be but that natives should still more faithfully repre-
sent their mterests and wishes.
Sir Charles Wood was deeply impressed with the
importance of the subject, and was also anxious to
have the advantage of Lord Canning's services in
carrying out the alterations of the Council, as his
thorough knowledge of the question rendered him by
far the fittest man for completing so desirable a
change. As soon, therefore, as he was fully in pos-
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25
of Bengal, and the ordinary members of Council, a civil
servant recommended by the Governor of each of the
Presidencies, together with three native noblemen, and
two gentlemen selected from among the commercial
classes of Calcutta.
Authority ^vas given for the Council of the Governor-
General to meet in any place within the _ territories of
India to which it might be summoned by him ; and the
first Council held out of Calcutta assembled at Simla
in 1862.
The Governor- General was also authorized to make
rules and orders from time to time for the guidance of
his Council, and, in consequence of the arrangements
made, a system of departmental responsibility has
sprung up, which has greatly improved and facilitated
the despatch of business by the chief executive Govern-
ment in India. It has, however, been carefully kept
in view, that there should be nothing in the measure
to detract from the supreme authority of the Viceroy
and his Council; indeed a new and extraordinary
powder was conferred on the Governor- General, of*
making and promulgating ordinances, in cases of
emergency, on his own responsibility.
Councils of a somewhat similar constitution were
created in Madras, Bombay, and Bengal, to wdiich
non-official Europeans and natives were to be admitted.
On any questions connected with the debt, the
customs, the army, and other matters affecting the
w^hole empire, the local legislatures were prohibited
from entering, without the previous sanction of the
Governor-General ; but they were empowered to legis-
26
late on all internal matters peculiar to their own
Presidencies.
The authorities in Madras and Bombay were not
backward in availing themselves of the power of admit-
ting natives conferred on them by the Act. A native
gentleman was immediately appointed to the Council
in Madras ; and in Bombay, Sir George Clerk selected
for this high honour no less than four, whose useful-
ness in Council fully justified the confidence he had
reposed in them.
One other provision in this Act must not be
unnoticed, and that is the succession to the office of
Governor- General, in the event of a vacancy hap-
pening when no one in India had been provisionally
appointed to that office. Previously to this Act, the
senior member of Council assumed the post of
Governor- General on the occurrence of an unexpected
vacancy, but now the Governor of Madras or Bombay,
whichever of the two might happen to be the senior
in date of appointment, would, as a matter of course,
act as Governor-General in such circumstances.
The next step in legislating for India, at home,
was taken by the introduction of a bill for establishing
High Courts of Judicature in India. The idea had
been long contemplated of substituting for the Supreme
and Sudder Court, a single court, which should com-
bine the legal power and authority of the former, with
the intimate knowledge of the customs and of the
natives of the country possessed by the judges of the
latter, and should exercise jurisdiction both over the
provinces which had been under the Sudder Courts,
27
and over tlie Presidency towns in which the Supreme
Court had entire local jurisdiction.
Before these Courts were formed, if an Englishman,
at whatever distance from the Presidency town, was
accused of a crime, it was necessary that he should be
brought down with all the witnesses to Calcutta ; and
it cannot be denied that the inconvenience and expense
of such a course frustrated the ends of justice in a
large number of cases. This has now been remedied
by the power given in the Act for trying Europeans
elsewhere than in the Presidency towns.
The new law gave authority for the formation of
High Courts by the issue of letters patent under the
great seal, and accordingly they were, in 1862, con-
stituted in all the Presidency towns; and later, in
1866, a similar course was pursued in estabhshing a
High Couii for the North- Western Provinces.
A native judge now sits on the bench of the High ^
Court of Calcutta, with great honour to himself and
advantage to the administration of law ; and, with such
a prospect of advancement, it may be confidently
hoped that other native gentlemen will in time qualify
themselves for similar high positions of responsibiUty.
It was a matter of no slight difficulty to amalga-
mate the Supreme and Sudder Courts, and to bring
the judges, so dissimilar in every respect in their
education and training, to work harmoniously together.
The greatest credit is due to the Chief Justice, Sir
Barnes Peacock, for the hearty way in which he worked
to overcome these difficulties; and the success that
has signally attended the measure in Calcutta is
28
in a great degree owing to his exertion, zeal, and
discretion.
The third measure introduced into Parliament
during this session was the Civil Service Bill, which,
in the first instance, rendered valid nominations to
certain appointments which, it was stated, had been
made by the local government, in violation of the law
requiring that they should be filled by members of the
Covenanted Civil Service only. The number of that
service had for some years been found inadequate to
supply the demands upon it ; and the practice of
appointing to important posts, contrary to the letter
of the law, gentlemen who were not members of the
Civil Service, had largely increased in the non-regula-
tion provinces, as they were termed, which the great
extension of the British empire during the admi-
nistration of Lord Dalhousie brought under our rule.
It was incumbent on the Government to provide a
remedy for such a state of things as soon as it w^as
brought to their notice.
After the necessary provisions for this purpose,
the Act proceeds to declare what offices shall ordinarily
be held by members of the Civil Service, provision
being made for appointing other than civil servants to
such offices under special circumstances, subject to the
approval of the Secretary of State in' Council, to w^hom
the appointment is immediately to be reported.
The Act, though objected to in the first instance
by the Council of India, was ultimately passed with
general approval, and many posts of considerable im-
portance have been thus thrown open to persons not
29
in the Civil Service. An instance of its working has
been shown in the appointment, by Lord Canning,
of a mihtary officer, Colonel Durand, to the high
position of Foreign Secretary, his peculiar qualifica-
tions and fitness for the place being a valid justifi-
cation for the departure from ordinary rules.
This appointment, the nomination of the new
councillors, and the arrangements for the business of
his Council, were among the last acts of Lord
Canning's administration. At the time, indeed, when
these measures were under consideration, his period
of office was fast drawing to an honourable close ;
but Sir Charles Wood felt of what paramount import-
ance it was that he should remain for a time to
carry out at least some of the many wise and
beneficial measures already initiated by him. It was
fitting that to him, rather than to any other, it
should be given to inaugurate a new policy in new
circumstances ; and, as to him belonged the price-
less honour of having conducted with a firm yet
merciful hand the government of the country through
the sore trial of the mutiny, so it was right that to
him should also belong the honour of pacification and
reconstruction.
Ever ready to postpone his own wishes to the
public good, he determined to remain for one year
more — that fatal one year more, which sent him
home, as it had sent Lord Dalhousie home, with his
health ruined, and constitution shattered, by the cares
and anxieties of his eventful viceroyalty. Lord
Canning's departure from the scene of his great
30
achievements, when it did come, was a matter of
deep sorrow to all in India. His calm demeanour
and steadfast perseverance in the path which he had
marked out for his conduct in India, no less than the
series of great measures which he had set on foot for
the benefit of the people, had long ago silenced those
(and they had been not a few) who, themselves over-
powered by the events of the mutiny, had not minds
sufficiently enlarged to admire and respect the man,
who, amidst their fears and terrors, had calmly stood
his ground, and had dealt justice fearlessly and un-
shrinkingly to all, little heeding their petty jeers and
their paltry clamour, and earning for himself the
name of *' Clemency Canning," which, instead of
being a byword of reproach, will for ever entitle him
to respect and admiration.
That after Lord Canning it would be difficult to
obtain a fitting successor to occupy his post, was only
too obvious. At the close of 1861, however, it became
necessary for Sir Charles Wood to recommend a new
Governor- General to the Queen, and his choice fell on
the Earl of Elgin, who had already had large expe-
rience, in various capacities, in most quarters of the
globe. After a brilliant career at Oxford, he had
commenced his public services.as Governor of Jamaica.
He was subsequently appointed to the Governor-Gen-
eralship of Canada, where he remained eight years,
and concluded the well-known treaty of reciprocity
between the United States and the North American
Colonies, which has produced so much advantage to
those countries. His two expeditions to China, and
31
his treaties of Tientsin and Jeddo, evinced in him a
singular combination of jSrmness and concihation ; but
it must have been with feeHngs of heavy responsibiHty
that he assumed an office so important as that of
Governor- General of India.
How he might have performed such high duties,
what might have been his policy, what his ultimate
success, it has not been given to us to know ; for, after
a short viceroyalty, he was seized with a mortal illness,
whilst traversing the Himalayas at a point 13,000 feet
above the sea, from which he never rallied. It was
towards the end of November, 1863, that the news of
his illness and resignation reached London, too soon
followed by the inteUigence of his death. Again the
responsibility of selecting a Governor- General devolved
on Sir Charles Wood. The circumstances of India
at the time rendered it desirable that no delay should
occur in filling up the appointment, and, within three
days of receiving the intelligence of Lord Elgin's
death, Sir Charles Wood submitted the name of his
successor to the Queen. At that time, hard at work
at his post in the India Office, sat the man who of all
men was pre-eminently entitled from his past services
to claim at the hands of the ministers the office of
Governor-General of India. No claim, no request,
ever came from Sir John Lawrence. With the modesty
always characteristic of true greatness, he did not
even suspect that the vacant appointment would be
offered to him ; but, when the Queen's commands
were conveyed to him by Sir Charles Wood, unex-
pected as they were, they did not deprive him of his
32
ready power of decision, for, before leaving the room,
he had virtually undertaken the weighty cares and
responsibilities of the government of the greatest
country under British rule, the most important office
that can be offered by any Government to any man.
In recording the rapid succession of Governor-
Generals, it is impossible to avoid glancing at the
havoc which has been made by death among the
great men with whom Sir Charles Wood's adminis-
tration of India was associated.
Three of the foremost returned only to die in
England, and to receive all that their grateful country
could offer to her most distinguished sons, as a tribute
of her gratitude and admiration. Thrice during seven
years have the lofty gates of our old Abbey opened
to receive the remains of Indian statesmen and
soldiers ; Lord Canning, Sir James Outram, and
Lord Clyde, who in life were joined in one common
struggle and endeavour to maintain our power in
India, in death are united in the holy fellowship of
one common resting-place. But these are not all
on whom the hand of death has fallen : Lord Elgin,
buried in the picturesque little village of Durmsala
in the Himalayas ; Lord Elphinstone, whose able
governorship of Bombay was productive of the most
happy results to that Presidency, and pointed him
out, had he been spared, as the successor to Lord
Canning ; Sir Henry Ward, who, during the few
months he governed Madras, well maintained in India
the reputation gained in the loiiian Islands and Ceylon,
of an able administrator and loyal servant of the
33 ,
Crown, — all played a conspicuous part in tlie history
of their own country and of India.
Time would fail to tell of all who, though of lower
rank and less prominent position, were not less earnest
in walking the path of their appointed duties, or less
ready to yield up their lives in the discharge of their
allotted task.
I The chasms, however, which were thus made by
death in the ranks of Indian administrators, were
worthily filled by those on whom the choice of the
Home Government fell.
On Sir Henry Ward's death, Sir WiUiam Denison
w^as transferred from the colony of New South Wales,
which he had ably ruled for eight years, to the
government of Madras, for the superintendence of
the important public works in which Presidency his
professional knowledge as an engineer pointed him
out as being especially fitted. The appointments to
Bombay of Sir George Clerk and of his successor. Sir
Bartle Frere, were successful beyond all question ;
and their subsequent nomination to the Council of
India at home, one by a Whig, and one by a Tory,
Secretary of State, show how w^ell their services have
been appreciated in England.
3
I
CHAPTER IV.
LAW AND JUSTICE.
One of the greatest blessings conferred on the people
of India in recent years has been the codification of
the criminal law, and of the procedure, civil and
criminal, of the courts of justice.
So long ago as 1833, a commission, of which the
late Lord Macaulay was the first president, commenced
at Calcutta the arduous task of compiling a penal code
for India. This code was prepared in 1837, but did
not assume the form of an enactment until 1860, when
it was passed by the Legislative Council, and is now,
as the Indian Penal Code, in active and successful
operation throughout all the British possessions in
India.
Another commission was appointed, for the purpose
of revising the laws of India, by Sir Charles Wood,
when he was President of the Board of Control in
1853, which brought to bear on the subject the pro-
fessional knowledge of such men as Sir John Jervis,
Lord Romilly, Sir Edward Ryan, Mr. Lowe, and
Mr. Flower ElHs, and the practical and intimate
acquaintance with the customs and laws of India,
35
which was possessed by Mr. Cameron, Mr. Macleod,
and Mr. Hawkins.
By this commission were prepared the admirable
codes of civil and criminal procedure, which, substi-
tuting, as they did, simphcity and expedition for the
comphcated forms of pleading which had hitherto
existed in the courts of India, became law in 1859
and 1861 respectively, and may now be said to be in
force throughout nearly the whole of India.
In most of the non -regulation districts, and in
Bengal, including the North- Western Provinces, their
introduction has been attended with marked success ;
and the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal has reported
the prevailing opinion on the merits of the civil
code in the following words : — ** The result of all
*^ the inquiries I have made of the native judges,
*^ by whom nearly all original suits are tried, and
*' of whom I have now seen many, in different parts
*' of the Lower Provinces, is that the new procedure
*' in working has been successful even above all
*' hope ; " while the Lieutenant-Governor of the
North-West Provinces affirms the measure to have
'* been one of the best that has ever been passed
** by the legislature."
In 1861 Sir Charles Wood appointed another
commission to prepare a code of civil law for India.
Although mainly composed of the same members as
the commission of 1853, it was strengthened by the
addition of two of the most able judges of the land,
Sir WiUiam Erie and Sir James Willes. The first
part of this code has been embodied in Act X. of 1865,
8—2
and comprises the law of succession and inheritance
generally applicable to all classes domiciled in British
India, other than Hindoo and Mahomedan, each of
which portion of the community has laws of its own
on such subjects.
An Act has recently been passed in India, giving a
law of succession to the wealthy community of Parsees,
who reside chiefly in Bombay, and who were previously
subject to the law, very distasteful to them, adminis-
tered by the Supreme Court, in matters of succession.
Small Cause Courts, with a simple procedure,
have existed for many years within the limits of the
presidency towns ; but until recently no such courts
had been estabhshed in the provinces. There, every
case, of the most simple kind and of the smallest
importance, w^as tried under a lengthy and complicated
form of procedure, the tendency of which, by the
obstacles it interposed in the way of a speedy decision,
was to promote litigation, and to lead to a contest in
many cases in which, under other circumstances, there
would have been no contest at all. To add to the
diiOficulties of obtaining prompt justice under such a
system, every decision of every court was subject to
appeal to a higher court, and in some cases to a
second or special appeal to the highest court of all,
the right of appeal being considered the great security
for the efficient administration of justice by the
subordinate tribunals. In 1860 an Act was passed
by the Gfovernment of India for the estabhshment of
courts in the provinces ** with a view to the more
** easy recovery of small debts and demands." These
37
courts, instituted by the executive Government at
places where they might be considered necessary, were
to exercise jurisdiction to the extent of 50/., and were
required to conduct their proceedings according to the
new code of civil procedure, to which reference has
already been made. They were to be presided over
by competent native or European judges, selected by
the Government from among persons of judicial
attainments, whether in or out of the service of
Government, and their decisions were to be final, with
the power of granting immediate execution, on the
verbal application of the party in whose favour the
decree w^as passed. On the same day an Act was
passed abolishing the right of special appeal in any
suit of a nature cognizable in Courts of Small Causes,
when brought in any other court than a Small Cause
Court. The working of the Small Cause Courts was
carefully watched ; measures w^ere promptly taken for
supplying omissions discovered in the legislative
provisions under which they were originally consti-
tuted ; and in 1865 an Act was passed, consolidatiug
and amending the law relating to Small Cause Courts
in the provinces. By this Act power was given to the
local government to extend the jurisdiction of Small
Cause Courts to 1001. , and to invest any person, for a
limited period, with the powers of a judge of a Small
Cause Court. In other respects the principles and
rules applicable to these courts on their first establish-
ment were strictly followed. Under the foregoing
provisions. Small Cause Courts have been established
in various places in the several presidencies of India,
38
in the Punjab, and Scinde ; and they have been very
successful in disposing promptly and satisfactorily of
much of that portion of the litigation of the country
which relates to small debts and demands. In 1864
the jurisdiction of the Small Cause Courts within the
limits of the presidency towns was raised from 501.
to 1001. y thus greatly increasing the usefulness of
those courts.
At the ports of Kangoon, in Pegu, and Moulmein
and Akyab, on the Tenasserim coast, which now form
part of the jurisdiction of the Chief Commissioner of
Burmah, Englishmen have settled in considerable
numbers, and an extensive trade is being carried on,
bringing into the European markets the various pro-
ductions of that fertile territory. For the protection
of the increasing trade at the ports above mentioned,
an Act was passed by the Government of India, under
the instruction of the Home Government, for the
establishment of Recorders' Courts, to be presided
over by a barrister, with full powers of civil and
criminal jurisdiction, with the exception of the power
to try European British subjects charged with capital
offences, the High Court of Calcutta alone having
power to try such cases. Provision was at the same
time made for the estabhshment of Small Cause Courts
in those places.
The Act for estabHshing Recorders' Courts in
British Burmah was followed in 1865 by an Act for
creating a Chief Court of Judicature in the Punjab
and its dependencies. Thenceforth this court was to
consist of two or more judges, one of whom at least
39
must always be a barrister of not less than five years'
standing. It was, like the High Courts within the hmits
of the presidencies, to be the ultimate court of appeal
from the civil and criminal courts under its jurisdic-
tion ; and it was invested with original jurisdiction in
any suit falling within the jurisdiction of any of its
subordinate courts which it might think proper to try
and determine as a court of first instance, and with full
criminal jurisdiction over European British subjects as
well as natives.
By an Act passed on the 21st of March, 1865, grand
juries were abolished, and provision was made for the
issue of commissions addressed by the Government to
any of the judges of the High Court, authorizing them
to hold sittings in such place, or places, as the
Government might think expedient for the exercise
of the original jurisdiction, criminal or 'civil, of the
High Court. It was further provided that, in cases
tried under such commissions, a majority of not less
than nine out of the twelve jurors, with the concur-
rence of the presiding judge, should be competent to
pronounce a verdict of guilty.
Legislative measures on many other important
subjects were passed by the Government of India
during the period under review. The results of those
to which reference has been made above are, that an
excellent penal code has been substituted for the old
regulations on criminal law to be found in the
numerous volumes containing the efiects of previous
legislation ; that every person domiciled, or perma-
nently settled in India, has now a law of inheritance
40
and succession to wliicli bo can look for guidance in
these important matters, while the fundamental rule
of administering their own laws in such cases, to the
Hindoo and Mahomedan subjects of the Crown in
India, has been strictly adhered to; that almost the
entire administration of civil and criminal justice in the
British possessions in India is now under the supervi-
sion and control of trained judges, whereas, in 1860,
no such judge could exercise jurisdiction in any of the
proceedings of the provincial courts ; that, whereas a
European British subject could previously be tried only
by the Supreme Court at the presidency town^ he may
now be tried at any place, nearest to that of the com-
mission of his crime, at which a jury can be brought
together ; and that the proceedings of the courts, civil
and criminal, are now regulated by codes of procedure
vastly superior to those which preceded them. It may
be said, without exaggeration, that no such progress
has been made in improving the judicial administration
of British India at any period, or, indeed, during the
whole of the period, since the date of the Comwalhs
code, as within the last seven years.
Most of these reforms in the administration of the
law first assumed a definite shape in the form of bills
laid before the Council of the Governor-General ; but
they had always been previously discussed, and to a
certain degree determined upon, in private communica-
tion between Sir Charles Wood and Mr. Maine, the
legislative member of Council, and Mr. Hawkins, the
secretary of the Judicial Department in the India OjBSce
at home.
41
It was impossible that two men could be better
qualified to give advice on such subjects.
Mr. Maine had early distinguished himself, as the
most elegant scholar of his day, at Cambridge, where
he was head of the classical tripos in 1845. Shortly
after taking his degree he became Regius Professor of
Civil Law, which appointment he retained until elected
Eeader in Roman Law and Jurisprudence at the Middle
Temple. His comprehensive work on ancient law,
and other WTitings, added largely to his reputation in
this country; and his appointment to the Council of
the Governor-General in India has afforded him a
fitting, and an ample, field for the exercise of all his
powers.
To a famihar acquaintance with the habits and
customs of the people of India, acquired during a
residence of twenty- seven years in that countr}^
Mr. Hawkins added a deep and intimate knowledge
of Indian law and the ripe experience of an official
life. Originally a member of the Civil Service, he
had occupied, for ten years, the important post of
Registrar of the Sudder Court of Calcutta, and two
years that of Judge of the Com-t.
In 1853 he was appointed a member of the Indian
Law Commission, and in 1854 became its secretary.
In 1856 the Court of Directors, ever happy in its
selection of their public servants, appointed him to
the judicial and legislative department of the East
India House, from which he was, to the regret of aU
w^ho knew him, compelled by illness to retire at the
commencement of 1866.
CHAPTER V.
INDIGO AND CONTRACT LAW, AND RENT.
Out of an attempt to alter one of the provisions of
the Penal Code, as to the description of breaches of
contract which was to be dealt with as criminal, arose
a question which convulsed society in Bengal to its
centre, and was discussed with much violence and
acrimony soon after Sir Charles Wood's accession to
office. For the better understanding of the wise and
consistent course pursued by him in this matter, it*
will be necessary to advert briefly to the situation in
which he found what was usually called the contract
question.
A peculiar class of contracts is common in India,
by which the planter makes advances of money to
the ryot, who in return pledges himself to cultivate a
particular crop on his land. In regard to many of the
articles in connection with which this system prevailed,
such as sugar, silk, &c., no difficulty has ever arisen ;
but the case in part of Bengal was otherwise where
indigo was concerned.
As far back as 1830, although special legislation was
not required on the subject of breaches of contract for
the production of any other article of Indian agricul-
43 .
tural produce, or, indeed, of indigo itself, except in
the lower provinces of Bengal, the Indian Government
deemed it necessary to make enactments for the special
advantage of the indigo planter. ^* All persons," it
was provided, '* who may have received advances, and
*' have entered into written agreements, for the culti-
'^ vation of indigo plant in the manner indicated in
** Kegulation VI. of 1823, and who, without good
" and sufficient cause, shall wilfully neglect or refuse
'* to sow or cultivate the ground specified in such
'* agreement, shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor,
" and, on conviction before a magistrate or joint
*' magistrate, shall be liable to a sentence of imprison-
" ment not exceeding one month."
The above provisions were disallowed by the Court
of Directors, who considered that a law treating only
one of the pai*ties to a civil contract as a criminal
if he failed to fulfil it, was manifestly unjust and
oppressive.
Since that time legislation on behalf of the indigo
planters has been continuously called for. They alleged
that the disallowance of the penal provision of 1830
was their ruin.
Between 1854 and 1856 there was much corre-
spondence on the subject between the Government
of Bengal and its subordinate officers; but things
continued in the same state, at any rate without any
penal law against the ryots, until the year 1859, when
the ryots refused any longer to cultivate indigo, and
the Bengal indigo system came virtually to an end.
In 1860, an Act, No. XI., was passed to enforce
• 44
the fulfilment of indigo contracts during the current
season. This Act contains very stringent provisions
for the protection of the planter, but very lenient ones
against him.
*' In this special legislation," says a Avriter in the
Edinhurgh Review, '* which was mifortunately adopted
** by the Government of India for the enforcement of
*^ indigo contracts, we have a conclusive proof of the
** necessity of having a controlling authority at home
** which shall be competent, vigilant, and strong."
Upon the receipt in England of the despatch
forwarding this Act, Sir Charles Wood showed himself
** competent, vigilant, and strong," for he lost no
time in replying to the Governor- General, and on the
24th of July, 18G0, he wrote :—
'' The object of the Act XI. of 1860 is twofold :—
** first, to make temporary provision for enforcing by
^ ^ summary process the execution of agreements entered
^ ^ into for the cultivation of the indigo plant ; — and,
*' secondly, to provide for the appointment of a com-
*^ mission to inquire into and report on the system and
** practice of indigo planting in Bengal, and the rela-
** tions betw^een the indigo planters and the ryots, and
*^ holders of land there. In regard to the first point,
** it is to be observed that the authority of the
** magistrate is to be called into action on the com-
** plaint of the planter for the enforcement of indigo
** contracts, under specified penalties, in the event
*^ of a failure to perform the same. The provision
** of the Act, by which a violation by a ryot of a civil
** contract, of the nature specified in the Act, is made
45
*' the ground of a criminal prosecution by the planter,
'* appears to the Home Government to be open to
*' serious objection."
The Act however had already been brought into
operation, and, being hmited to the indigo season
of that year, and having been passed to provide
for the emergency which had suddenly arisen, v/as not
disallowed by the Secretary of State in Council.
The system of indigo planting in Bengal, and the
relation between the planter and the ryot, were noto-
riously of such a character as imperatively to call for
inquiry. The Act of 1860 provided for the appoint-
ment of a commission for this purpose, and, in the
despatch sanctioning the Act, Sir Charles Wood took
the opportunity of urging the Government of India
to lose no time in carrying this intention into
effect.
A commission was accordingly appointed by Lord
Canning, consisting of six members, two of them
belonging to the Civil Service, one missionary, two
native gentlemen, and the sixth Mr. Fergusson, who
was specially selected as a fitting representative of
the planting interest. In May, 1860, they commenced
their labours, which lasted upwards of three months,
and accumulated a very large and valuable mass of
evidence on many points connected with the social
condition of Bengal. They very properly gave pro-
minent attention to the relations existing between the
planter and the lyot, and to the elucidation of that
which is in fact the pith and marrow of the whole
question, viz., whether the cultivation of indigo, as
46
carried on in Bengal, was free or forced, profitable or
unprofitable, to the ryot.
That the evils complained of did not necessarily
arise from the system of giving a portion of the pay-
ment in advance, at the commencement of the season,
is shown by Mr. Yule, the judge of Rungpore, who
thus writes on the subject : — '* The great crops of
* Bengal — rice, sugar, silk, fibres, oilseeds, &c. — are
* advanced upon to an extent to which indigo advances
* can bear no comparison. The advancers would
* doubtless be glad of the aid of a summary law, but
* still the ryots generally fulfil their contracts with-
* out being compelled to do so, either by bands of
' armed men or bribed zemindars. I fully allow
' that the necessity of keeping up extensive build-
* ings and a large establishment, renders a breach
* of contract by the ryots more injurious to the
* planter, than it is to the advancer on produce
* which requires no manufacturing process to fit it
* for the market ; but that is no reason for changing
* the law in his favour, and, if it was, it applies
* to silk, sugar, lac, and other branches of trade,
' as well as to indigo planting ; but in all these
* trades there is no general complaint that the ryots
* will not fulfil their contracts ; why should indigo
* planting be an exception ? I believe there is only
* one answer to that question, and that is, in
' Mr. Beaufort's words, — * Because the ryots, reason-
* * ably or unreasonably, are averse to indigo, believing
* * that there are many other crops which yield a
' * more certain as well as a better profit. I cannot
47
^* ' account for the universal dislike shown to indigo
** * by the cultivators in any other way. I cannot
** * show in figures that indigo is less profitable than
** * other crops. The ryots believe that it is so, and
** ^ they ought to know best. They take the advances
*' ' under pressure of some kind or other, and, having
" * satisfied the present necessity, endeavour to escape
** * from what they know to be a losing contract.' "
That the cultivation was unprofitable there could
be little doubt, for what else had led to the *' burning
** indignation with which indigo planting was regarded
** by the native population, and the bitter hostility
** entertained amongst the ryots towards the planters
** and the ruling authorities generally ; what else
** had led to a rising among these poor and timid
*' Bengalee ryots ? "
The conclusion that the indigo cultivation was
unprofitable to the ryot was arrived at by the com-
mission, and was supported by an amount of evidence
which was irresistible. The ryots declared that it was
so, with scarcely a dissentient voice ; the landholders
asserted it ; the missionaries affirmed it ; the officers
of government proved it ; and the planters themselves
admitted it ; and they admitted more, that the ryot had
been unfairly saddled with many of the expenses con-
nected with the cultivation of indigo. The most striking
and conclusive evidence of all, however, on this point,
is to be found in the comparative statement in the
Keport of the Commission, '^ showing the fluctuation
*' or rise in the price of articles of ordinary use and
** consumption, and in the remuneration for labour in
48
^' the years 1855 and 18G0, in districts in wliicli
^' indigo cultivation is carried on." While the price
of every thing had greatly risen, in some instances to
the extent of a hundred per cent., that of indigo had
generally speaking heen kept down to a point at
which remuneration was all but impossible, and loss
all but certain.
The unprofitableness of the cultivation being esta-
blished, it will at once be conceded that it is not a
free cultivation on the part of the ryots. The proof
of this point is to be found in such abundance, in the
minutes of evidence which follow the report, as to
make selection the only matter of difficulty in dealing
with it.
A few specimens of the statements in reference to
the compulsory character of the measures adopted by
the planters, and the unwillingness of the ryots to
cultivate, taken from the evidence of the planter
himself, will be enough, without any of the statements
of the missionaries, the zemindars, or the ryots.
Mr. Sage, who had had experience of factories in
Kishnaghur, Jessore, and Kungpore, when asked
whether he had known of cases in which ryots were
kept under restraint, first at one factory, and then
at another, for the purpose of eluding the police, if
their friends complained of their detention, said,
** Yes, rather frequently at one time; of late years
** not often; and at any time only by a very small
** proportion of the planters." Again, in order to
obtain a renewal of indigo contracts, *' harsh treat-
** ment," says Mr. Sage, '^is never used until all
49 ^
^' fair means fail; " and again, ** Within your know-
" ledge, are the ryots ever beaten by the planter ? "
** Very rarely, I believe."
'* Are their houses ever attacked, burnt, or thrown
down ? "
** Yes, I have known of such acts being done."
** Was that done to compel the ryots to take
" advances, or to sow in consequence of having taken
'* advances ? "
'* Chiefly as a warning to others not to resist."
'* Are the cattle of the ryots ever seized, with
** a view of inducing them to take advances ? "
** I believe they are."
" Is this rare or frequent ? "
" It was a general custom."
Mr. Fergusson, who represented the planters'
interest in the commission, subscribed, together with
Mr. Temple, a minute, in which the following state-
ments and remarks are to be found : —
''That indigo can directly add to the wealth of
" the ryots, at the rates lately given, is an untenable
** position ; " and, in his own separate minute, this
gentleman says, " The recent crisis, though accele-
*' rated by an unfounded belief on the part of the
'' ryots, that the Government was opposed to the
*' cultivation of indigo, must have sooner or later
*' occurred, owing to the disturbance which has
*' taken place in the relative returns to the ryot from
*' indigo, as compared with cereal and other cultiva-
*' tions ; and the planters would have done well, had
'* they paid earlier attention to the above facts, and
4
^
50
*' met the ryots with a more proportionate remu-
*' neration."
There is nothing more condemnatory of the
indigo system in Bengal than the oppression prac-
tised by the native servants of the factories, and,
in some instances, by the planters themselves, and
the amount of violence and crime to which it has
given rise.
There were cases officially reported to the Govern-
ment of India, where loathsome lepers, infants, men so
bedridden from age or disease as to be unable to walk,
who were brought in carts and doolies, and whom it
was necessary to prop up in court when their case was
under trial, were charged with having received advances,
under covenant, to sow and deliver Indigo plant !
Kidnapping, confining, and removing ryots from
place to place, were found to have been offences of no
uncommon occurrence. Mr. Sage, part of whose
evidence has been quoted above, was of opinion that
these cases were less common than they had been
formerly. Mr. Eden, a member of the Civil Service,
considered that the seizing of ryots and the confine-
ment within factory walls had increased, as violent acts
had decreased, in consequence of the establishment of
numerous magisterial sub-divisions throughout Bengal.
In one instance, a man had been taken from factory to
factory, until he died under the treatment he received.
In another, an indigo planter objected to the establish-
ment of a deputy magistrate's court in his neighbour-
hood ; the court was established, and no sooner was
this step taken, than the discovery was made- that the
51
neighbouring factory was used as a place of illegal
imprisonment for recusant or defaulting ryots.
The mode of executing contracts between the
planter and the ryot also conduced to the unpopularity
of the indigo cultivation; and the commissioners
observed that their inquiries had placed beyond a
doubt the startling fact that, in almost every concern,
the contract to sow, though generally drawn up for a
term of years, was renewed, or supposed to be renewed,
every year, at the expense of the ryot ; for, whether
actually executed or not, the ryot was charged for the
stamp required for the contract.
The usual mode of executing these contracts was
for the ryot to put his signature or mark to a blank
paper, which might be filled up or not at the discre-
tion of the factory.
Some of the planters explained this startling fact,
by alleging that the practice had been customary, and
that, as the charge was a trifle, it excited no attention.
Another, however, stated that the object was to keep
the contract always at the full term of years for which
it was originally made ; and another said that the
annual charge for the stamp was considered as binding
the ryot. There can be little doubt that, originally,
the annual renewal of a contract for a term of years
was resorted to for the purpose of converting a ryot
into a life cultivator for the factory ; and the solution
of the difficulty, if any difficulty there be, is to be
found in the following pregnant sentences taken from
the evidence of Mr. Cockburn, once employed as an
indigo planter, now a deputy magistrate. *' Many
4—2
52
** ryots are anxious to get rid of their engagements,
** and to sow no more. There were some individuals
" who could clear themselves, if we would let them,
*' but we would not clear them, on principle, inas-
'* much as it would be tantamount to closing the
** factory. It is my belief that many ryots would
*' borrow money to get free, if allowed."
In the autumn of 1860 things were indeed critical.
*^ I assure you," said Lord Canning, ** that for about
** a week it caused me more anxiety than I have had
** since the days of Delhi," and Lord Canning was not
a man who was easily made anxious. Sir John Peter
Grant, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, had just
returned from an excursion to the works on the Dacca
railway. During his journey, which was entirely unex-
pected, up the river Jumoonah, numerous crowds of
ryots appeared at various places, whose whole prayer
was that they should not cultivate indigo. On his
return, two days afterwards, from Seraj gunge by the
rivers Koomar and KalHgunga, which run south of
the Ganges, both banks of the river for a whole
day's voyage (70 or 80 miles) were lined by thou-
sands of people, the men running by the steamer, the
women sitting by the water's edge, the inhabitants of
each village taking up the running in succession, and
jyi crying to him for justice, but all respectful and
orderly. *' The organization and capacity," said the
Lieutenant-Governor, ** for combined and simultaneous
*^ action in the cause, which this remarkable demon-
** stration over so large an extent of country proved,
** are subjects woi*thy of much consideration."
53
^'From that day," wrote Lord Canning, ** I felt
** that a shot fired in anger or fear by one foohsh
*' planter might put every factory in Lower Bengal
*' in flames."
In the spring of 1861, the report of the commis-
sion came under the consideration of the authorities at
home, and the question before them was simply this : —
Were criminal proceedings for breach of contract
necessary ? Sir Charles Wood and his Council, after
a careful review of the report, were of opinion that
breaches of contract ought not to entail criminal pro-
ceedings ; that the relation between planters and ryots
should be held to be dependent on mutual good will,
— on the interest of both being fairly considered, —
on proper caution being exercised in making contracts,
and on integrity and forbearance. The necessity for
their relations mill the ryots being regulated by
such considerations would not be realized by the
planters, relying, as they did, on Government assist-
ance, and the strong arm of the law being exercised
in their favour against the ryot, '^ who," Lord Can-
ning thought, '* had been left too long in ignorance
** of the protection which he might claim against the
** proceedings of any planter who had bound him by
*^ unreal obligations, and who had enforced them by
*' illegal means;" and the decision arrived at was ably
expressed in a despatch to the Governor- General, on
the 18th of April, 1861, in which, when reviewing a
Bill transmitted to the Home Government, the object
of which was '* to provide for the punishment of
** breaches of contract, for the cultivation, production.
54
'* gathering, provisions, manufacture, carriage, and
** delivery of agricultural produce," Sir Charles Wood
said : —
** The question of making breaches of contract for
** the cultivation and delivery of agricultural produce
** punishable by criminal proceeding, is not one which
** now for the first time presents itself for considera- .
** tion. It has been maturely considered, and the
*' deliberate judgment of the Indian Law Commis-
*' sioners, of the Legislative Council, of the Secretary of
** State in Council, of the majority of the Indigo Com-
** missioners, of the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal,
** and even, as it appears to me, of your own Govern-
** ment, has been recorded against any such measure.
*' I am not prepared to give my sanction to the
** law which you propose, and to subject to criminal
*' proceedings matters which have hitherto been held
** as coming exclusively under the jurisdiction of the
<* civil tribunal; and I request that the Bill for the
** punishment of Breaches of Contract recently intro-
'* duced by you into the Legislative Council may be
** withdrawn."
Thus has the wish strongly urged upon the Govern-
ment of India by the planters, that there should be
criminal punishment inflicted upon the ryots for breach
of contracts, been refused and systematically discoun-
tenanced at home. The law as it existed was entirely
in harmony with the view of the Indian Law Com-
mission, under the presidency of the late Lord
Macanlay, who agreed ^* with the great body of
** jurists in thinking that in general a mere breach of
65
*' contract ought not to be an offence, but only to be
** the subject of a civil action ; " an opinion which,
after being repeatedly affirmed by the ablest lawyers
during twenty years, had been embodied in the Code
of Law enacted only the year before this outcry for its
alteration arose. Sir Charles Wood, concurring, as he
did, with these views, refused to sanction an alteration
of the law, and no consideration of popularity or
advantage in this country, or among the planters at
Calcutta, could induce him to swerve from ** the great
*' principle enunciated in his despatch," which requires
that contracts between individuals shall be left in India,
as in all other civihzed countries, exclusively to the
ordinary civil jurisdiction and process, and that */ the
'* law of India therefore shall not deviate from or
** violate the enlightened principles of the law of
** England; " and he can appeal with confidence '' to
'* the gratitude of the ryots who have been freed from
'' the effects of a project of law opposed to the prin-
** ciples of civilized jurisprudence, exceptional in its
'* aim and character, and calculated to prove an
** efficacious engine of injustice, hardship, and oppres-
" sion."
Sir Charles Wood's desire that the Bill proposed
should be withdrawn, gave rise lo many complaints
of his over-riding the Government of India ; but this
surely was a more courteous act, and less embarras-
sing to that Government, than if he had permitted the
Bill to pass, and then refused his sanction to its enact-
ment. Had he declined in this instance to avail him-
self of the controlling power vested in the Secretary
56
of State, and allowed the Government of India to
sacrifice the interests of the people to the unreasonable
demands of a small interested class, he would have
abdicated the real vital function of the Home Govern-
ment.
Were nothing added to the foregoing remarks, it
might be supposed that the law was not strong enough
to give proper support to the planter when in the
right. A glance at the provision of Act VIII. of 1859,
and at the enactments of the penal code for the
punishment of fraudulent breaches of contract and
other offences committed with a view to defraud or
defeat the claims of individuals, will show this not to
be the case. The pressure, therefore, brought to bear
upon the Government of India for special legislation
has the less excuse, and the justification of the course
of action adopted by Sir Charles Wood appears
conclusive.
The refusal to sanction a penal contract law did
not, however, definitively set at rest the indigo ques-
tion. The planters knew that the ryot, more alive than
formerly to the rights of his position, would not sow
indigo to his own loss. The special legislation they
had cried out for with so much persistency was denied
to them ; they feared, after the terrible exposures of
the Indigo Commission, to resort to the oppression
and the wrong of former times ; but they were not
prepared to yield without another struggle the profits
hitherto reaped from the indigo crops.
Abandoning all attempts to obtain a special law
for the enforcement of their contracts, they doubled
57
the price to be paid for indigo, but, availing themselves
of their position as lessees or owners of the land, they
informed the ryots who occupied farms under them,
that those who declined to sow indigo as heretofore
would have their rents raised.
The questions involved in this ** rent " dispute
were, in what cases and to what extent had the
zemindars of 1793, in whose place the planters now
stood, the power to raise the rents of the occupying
ryots.
It must be remembered that the position of the
ryots in Bengal is a very peculiar one ; that they have
from time immemorial had some right in the soil or
in its produce is universally admitted ; that there exist
ryots with rights of occupancy at fixed rents, and
ryots with right of occupancy at rents which might
be enhanced according to the rates of rent prevalent,
as well as ryots who are merely tenants at will, is an
undisputed fact ; but the questions arising out of these
rights are matters of controversy among the greatest
authorities both in India and in this country.
At the time of the settlement of 1793, power had
been reserved by the Government to interfere, when
they deemed it necessary, for the protection of the
ryot ; and regulations bad been at different times
passed for this purpose, which were subsequently
amended and embodied in the Act usually quoted as
Act X. of 1859. The ryots whose rents had been,
fixed at the time of Lord Cornwallis's settlement, of
course continued to pay the rent so fixed ; and by
Act X. of 1859 it was provided that twenty years'
58
payment of the same rent should be presumptive proof
that the land had been held at that rental from the
time of the permanent settlement, unless the contrary
be shown, or unless it be proved that such rent was
fixed at some later period. In this Act it is further
ruled that no ryot, having a right of occupancy at
a rent which might be enhanced, shall be liable
to an enhancement of rent previously paid by him,
except on one of the following grounds, viz., that
the rent paid by him is below the prevailing rent
payable by the same class of ryots for land of a
similar description, and with similar advantages, in
the places adjacent ; that the value of the produce,
or the productive power of the land, has been
increased otherwise than by the agency or at the
expense of the ryot ; or that the quantity of the land
held by the ryot has been proved by measurement to
be greater than the quantity for which rent has been
previously paid by him.
In cases with right of occupancy at enhanceable
rents, the rent had been generally a matter of arrange-
ment between the zemindar and ryot, settled, in the
event of a dispute, by the collector or by the village
neighbours. But the British planter, who had taken
the place and position of the native zemindar, with his
more advanced notion of law and right, was not likely
to be satisfied by such a mere rule of thumb ; and the
whole question, therefore, with all its complications
and difficulties, was raised prominently by Mr, Hills,
a planter, in a suit for the purpose of increasing the
rent of one Isshur Ghose.
59
On the trial of this case, it was contended on the
one side, by the ryot/that the rent could only be raised
in proportion to the increase in the value of the pro-
duce ; on the other, by the landlord, that the lessor
had a right to exact as much rent as any other person
would pay. The decision of the district judge was,
** That it was incumbent on the plaintifif to show that
'' the value of the produce had increased in propor-
** tion to the increase of rent asked for ; and that,
*^ if he could show that the value of the produce had
** doubled, he would be entitled to recover double
'' the former rate of rent, and that, if it had trebled
'' he could treble the rent, and so on;" This decision,
on appeal to the higher court, was reversed by Sir
Barnes Peacock and two judges sitting with him ;
but, on a similar action being again brought before
the High Court, the case, on account of the important
principle involved, was tried by the full court of fifteen
judges. The whole bench, except the chief justice,
pronounced against the power of the planter indefi-
nitely to raise the rent of the ryot, and decided that
the rent could only be raised in proportion to the
increased value of the land, such increase not being
due to the exertions of the ryot. So the matter rests
for the present in Bengal.
The peculiarity of the tenure under which land
is held in India, and the absence of any legal right
which can be enforced in a court, were prominently
brought to light during the inquiries instituted by
Sir John Lawrence into the rights of the ryots under
the talookdars in Oude. These inquiries gave rise
60
to assertions that he was about to undermine and
destroy the beneficial policy of Lord Canning in that
province, the main feature of which was to maintain
the influence and position of the talookdars.
In Oude the talookdars had acquired the possession
of large districts, having holders of villages and ryots
under them. On the annexation of the province by
Lord Dalhousie, instructions were issued by him
to set aside the talookdars altogether, so far as the
settlement was concerned, merely assuring to them
the payments to which they might be found entitled,
and to follow the course which had been adopted
in the North- West Provinces, the *^ leading principle"
being, as was announced, ^* to deal with the actual
*^ occupants of the soil, that is, with village zemindars,
** or with the proprietary coparcenaries, which are
'* believed to exist in Oude, and not to suffer the
'^ interposition of middlemen, as talookdars, farmers
** of the revenue, and such like."
It was, as Mr. Kaye says in his history of the
Sepoy war, *^ the policy of the time to recognize
** nothing between the prince and the peasant."
The settlement of Lord Dalhousie was closely
followed by the mutiny of 1857, and the abrogation
of the settlement followed the mutiny.
Great complaints had arisen from the village
settlement ; it had been found that the people did not
value the rights then conferred upon them, and that
in the struggle they joined their old chiefs, in spite of
the oppression under which they had previously
groaned. Lord Canning, therefore, determined to
61
take advantage of the position of affairs and to reverse
the former policy. Viewing the territory in the Hght
of a conquered province, he considered himself free to
do as he liked in it. He announced the confiscation of
all proprietary rights ; and he then issued his famous
Oude proclamation, and placed the whole district
under the old talookdaree system, making it a condi-
tion specified in each sunnud or grant to the talookdar,
that ** all holding under them should be secured in
*' the possession of all the subordinate rights they
'* formerly enjoyed."
Thus he provided, as it was thought at the time
by the Government in India and at home, for the
protection of the under-proprietors. The question,
however, speedily arose, whether the occupying tenant
generally had, or had not, a right of occupying on
favourable terms. And, if Sir John Lawrence, with
the firm conviction he held that the rights of these
proprietors existed, and w^ere not respected, had shrunk
from the inquiry, he would not only have frustrated
Lord Canning's declared intentions with regard to the
humbler classes in Oude, but he would have laid
himself open to the charge of sacrificing principle to
expediency, — a moral cowardice totally at variance
with his nature and character.
To maintain the talookdars in an influential
position, possessed of admmistrative and judicial
powers, was Lord Canning's policy, approved at home ;
but this policy provided also for the just rights of any
small holders.
The authorities in India were not, however, of
62
one accord as to the extent to which those rights could
be legitimately pushed, and a warm controversy arose
on the subject. In the early stages of the discussion,
the officers in Oude, and even the Chief Commissioner,
Mr. Wingfield, thought that certain classes of the
occupiers had such a right ; but, in the course of the
investigation, he was led to an opposite conclusion, and
it was ultimately determined that an inquiry must
be made as to the existence of any occupying right.
This inquiry was undertaken by Mr. Davies, who
was appointed Financial Commissioner in Oude.
The views of the Home Government were conveyed
to the Governor- General in Sir Charles Wood's des-
patch of the 10th of February, 1865 :—'' It would be
*' a matter of deep regret to her Majesty's Government,
** if, in carrying these recent measures into execution,
** any reasonable cause of complaint was given to the
** talookdar. The just claims of subordinate holders,
** to the maintenance of which the faith of the Govern-
** ment is as much pledged as to the talookdars, must
*^ not be sacrificed; but I am very anxious that the
*^ measures ordered by your Government should not
** be pushed beyond what is indispensably requisite for
*' this purpose, and that every consideration should
** be shown to the talookdars, so as not in any way to
** lower their position in the eyes of the country. I
** believe that their interests will not be injured by
** the maintenance of the rights of others, and that the
** good feeling, and, indeed, the well-being, of the
** whole community will be best promoted by the full
** recognition of the rights of all classes; but, after
63
** wliat has taken place in Oude, and the expectations
'* which the talookdars have been led to entertain as
*' to the effect of Lord Canning's measures, I am con-
*^ fident that you will see the propriety of taking especial
*' care, without sacrificing the just rights of others,
'* to maintain the talookdars of Oude in that posi-
** tion of consideration and dignity which Lord
** Canning's Government contemplated conferring
" upon them."
The most strenuous advocate of the rights of the
talookdars has not denied that, if such proprietary
rights in the soil did belong to the ryots, Lord
Canning's sunnud had guaranteed their continuance ;
and Sir John Lawrence's inquiry, if conducted with
the calm discretion and care impressed upon him by
Sir Charles Wood, could only tend *' to the expansion
of Lord Canning's policy to its legitimate dimensions."
The result of the inquiry had not been reported
when Sir Charles Wood quitted office.
CHAPTER VI.
FINANCE.
The most pressing, and perhaps the most important
matter which occupied the attention of the Govern-
ment at home and in India was the state of the
finances. Exhausting and distracting wars, which
constantly recurred up to and during the earher part
of Lord Dalhousie's administration, had entailed on
India a large military expenditure, for which the annual
income had been insufficient to provide, and the
deficiency had been suppHed from money raised on
loan.
On the termination of the last Sikh war a brighter
prospect had opened on the finances of India. The
last native power with which there could be any
apprehension of a formidable war had been completely
subdued, and everybody in India looked forward to a
long period of peace and prosperity.
In each of the four years from 1849-50 to 1852-3,
there was a surplus of revenue over expenditure ; the
price of Indian securities rose ; and the interest of
money fell so much that Lord Dalhousie was enabled
to reduce the interest of the debt in India from five to
four per cent.
65
But this state of financial prosperity did not last,
From the years 1853-4 to 1856-7 there was a deficit
every year. In 1854-5 Lord Dalhousie raised a loan
of 2,750,000L, nominally for public works ; and besides
this special loan, the treasury in India was, as it
had been for a long series of years, kept open for the
receipt on loan of any money which persons might
be disposed to pay in, on certain terms and conditions
notified by public advertisement.
It is needless to point out that such a system,
which relieved the Government from the necessity
of providing for the annual charges out of the income
of each year, was ill calculated to secure economy in
the management of the public expenditure.
An enormous increase of expenditure had been the
inevitable consequence of the mutiny. It had produced
in the year 1857-58 an excess of charge, beyond the
income, of 8,390,642L ; in 1858-59 a similar excess of
14,187,617/. ; and, in the first exposition of the finan-
cial condition of India made by Sir Charles Wood
in the House of Commons, on the 1st of August 1859,
he stated that in the year 1859-60 the expenditure
would in all probabihty exceed the income by no less
a sum than 10,250,000/.
It was to be anticipated that such a prospect
would be viewed with alarm by many men in and out
of Parliament who were acquainted with Indian
affairs ; and by one distinguished orator the financial
condition of India was described in the House of
Commons as ** a state of absolute chaos, utterly
** disreputable to the past Government of India, and
5
66
" presenting great difficulties to every one engaged in
" the attempt to restore it to a sound condition."
Without accepting that description as literally
accurate, there was abundant evidence of the existence
of a state of things for which it would have been idle
to anticipate an adequate remedy, if the authority to
whom the supreme control of Indian affairs was
entrusted were deficient either in financial capacity
or in firmness to carry the necessary remedial measures
into effect.
To use the words of Mr. Disraeli : — " Able as
*' has ever been the administration of India, consi-
** derable and distinguished as have been the men
** whom that administration has produced, and nume-
** rous as have been the great captains, the clever
** diplomatists, and the able administrators of large
** districts with whom the Government has abounded,
" the state of the finances has always been involved in
*' perplexity, and India, that has produced so many
" great men, seems never to have produced a chancellor
*' of the exchequer."
At that time the only prospect of improvement in
the revenue was from some additions to the customs
duties, and an increase of the duty on opium at
Bombay, for which measures had been taken by the
Government of India ; but it was obvious that these
would be insufficient to produce any material change
in the aspect of affairs.
The expenditure on account of the army un-
doubtedly admitted of considerable reduction ; but the
increase to the debt, which was attributable to the
67
mutiny, already entailed an additional permanent
charge for interest of nearly 2,000,000/. per annum,
which could not be reduced. With regard to the civil
expenditure, it was certain that, before the administra-
tion of the country could be placed in a satisfactory
condition, it would be necessary that a large increase
of annual charge should be incurred on various
matters connected with the administration of justice,
the increase of the police, and the extension of the
courts of law.
There was yet another difficulty to be encountered.
The system of account in India, imperfect in itself, had
become disorganized by the consequences of the mutiny,
so that it was hardly practicable to obtain accurate
financial returns.
The work to be taken in hand was indeed
sufficiently embarrassing to excite the energies of
the most ambitious financier, and was scarcely less
calculated to produce some feeling of apprehension
in the mind of any one who fully appreciated the
magnitude of the interests at stake.
It remains to be seen how those difficulties were
encountered, and how they were overcome.
It appeared to Sir Charles Wood that the first
condition necessary for success was to find a fitting
instrument for grappling with these questions. For-
tunately a man eminently fitted for the task was at
hand, and circumstances rendered it possible to send
him to India.
The opportunity was not lost. A vacancy having
occurred in the post of fourth ordinary member of
5—2
68
the Governor- General's Council, which had hitherto
been held by a member of the English bar, Sir
Charles Wood, seeing that financial questions must,
at any rate for a time, outweigh legal questions in the
Council, appointed to that office Mr. James Wilson,
in whom a large and comprehensive knowledge of
finance and taxation was combined with habits of
laborious and untiring applisation.
Mr. Wilson's career had indeed been remarkable,
though happily not unequalled in this country. A poor
apprentice to a poor shopkeeper in a small Scotch
town, he had by the force of his unaided intellect and
by the strength of his unwearied exertions, raised him-
self step by step on the ladder of fame. In a life
comparatively short, he rose from an apprentice to a
merchant, — in which capacity a temporary failure in
the panic of 1837 only showed to more advantage the
unselfish probity of his conduct ; from a counting-
house he passed into Parliament ; and after holding-
office in the Board of Control, the Treasury, and the
Board of Trade, and being created a Privy Councillor,
he finally took his seat at the council-table of the
Governor- General of India.
The leading questions of the day, — the repeal of the
Corn Laws and the repeal of the Navigation Laws, —
had given him ample opportunity of employing himself
with his whole heart on those subjects, and he had
advocated those great reforms not only by his speeches
in the House of Commons and out of doors, but in the
columns of the Economist, which he edited for many
years, and in which he demonstrated, in trenchant
69
and convincing articles, tlie fallacies of his op-
ponents.
Upon these general questions of finance, taxation,
currency, &c. &c.. Sir Charles Wood's opinions had
been formed after long and careful consideration, and
confirmed by his experience whilst Chancellor of the
Exchequer; and in reference to them, he had fre-
quently communicated with Mr. Wilson. It was
therefore only so far as regarded their apphcation
to India that Mr. Wilson had to learn Sir Charles
Wood's views; and, before he left England, he
received clear and explicit instructions as to what was
to be done. It was obvious, however, that it was
in India that the precise time and mode of proceeding
must be determined; and upon these points Sir
Charles Wood w^as willing to leave the Government
of India unfettered by any positive directions.
On the 18th February, 1860, Mr. Wilson made his
first financial statement in the council-room at Calcutta.
Eeferring to the speech of the Secretary of State
in the House of Commons in the preceding autumn,
Mr. Wilson estimated the deficit for 1859-60 at
9,290,129/., which was nearly a million less than the
estimate of Sir Charles Wood : a favourable anticipa-
tion which was, however, not destined to be realized,
as the accounts at the close of the year showed an
actual deficit of 10,769,861 Z. Mr. Wilson frankly
admitted that, though by the power of our arms and
the courage of our civil administration, a feehng of
security pervaded the country, it was ^* unfortunately
*' DO State secret that an evil of the greatest magni-
70
*' tude was corroding the very heart of our political
** existence," and that it would be vain that we should
boast of the restoration of order and tranquillity, if we
could see no end to the iSnancial disorder that notori-
ously prevailed. Looking forward to the prospect of
the year 1860-61, with which he had principally
to deal, he showed that, after taking credit for
the reduction of a million and three-quarters in the
military charges, a reduction of one million on account
of compensation for losses in the mutiny, which had
been included in the estimate for 1859-60, and an
increase of income from the salt duty of 410,000/.,
the expenditure of 1860-61 would still exceed the
income by six and a half millions.
He stated that Lord Canning had ordered a
searching investigation to be made as to the extent to
which that deficit could be met by reducing expendi-
ture, wherever practicable, but that it was apparent to
the Government of India that, in addition to the work
of reduction, it would be necessary to have recourse to
new sources of taxation, — a great difficulty in regard
to a people so simple in their habits, and consuming
so few articles from which revenue can be raised, as
the natives of India.
The measures selected for this purpose by the
Government of India were, a revision of the customs
duties, an income tax, and a licence duty ; which last
tax, however, was afterwards abandoned.
In dealing with the import duties which had been
raised during the mutiny, the Government of India
lowered them from 20 to 10 per cent, on nearly every
71
article in the tariff: wool, lieinp, hides, and jute,
formerly hable to a considerable export duty, were
entirely exempted, as well as tea, the experiments in
its growth having shown the expediency of giving
every encouragement to the attractions it held out
to European capital and European settlers, and how
unwise it would be to crush in its infancy an under-
taking which promised so well. Saltpetre and tobacco,
as exceptional articles, were subjected to an increased
duty. By these changes the Government of India
gave up 82,000Z. per annum, obtained from certain
customs duties, which pressed heavily on the com-
merce of the country, while they estimated that they
would obtain, in a manner far less objectionable,
233,700/.
Complaints had been made by Manchester mer-
chants at home of the unfair valuation of articles
subject to customs duties, and Sir Charles Wood had
promised that the matter should be set right. The
leading commercial men in Calcutta were therefore
called together, and, with their advice and concurrence,
a revaluation was made of the articles already subject
to duty, whereby an improvement of revenue was
anticipated of 200,000/.
But all these changes, improvements though they
were, were insufficient to meet the increased liabilities
which pressed upon the Indian Government. Some
larger measure was necessary, and the Government
of India proposed an income tax of four per cent, on
all incomes of 50/. per annum and upwards, two per
cent, on incomes between 20/. and 50/., while incomes
72
below 201, were to be entirely exempted from its
operation.
It was not to be expected that these taxes would
be passed without some opposition. One of the objec-
tions urged against the income tax was its imputed
novelty in India ; but those who used this argu-
ment overlooked the fact that under the ancient
Hindoo law such taxes were authorized ; and it was
pointed out by Sir Baiile Frere that, in the years 1834,
1835 and 1836, taxes on incomes, trades, and pro-
fessions, were almost universally levied throughout
British India, and that these taxes v/ere abolished in
Bengal, the North- West Provinces, and Bombay, not
because they were bad in principle, but because they
were so unfairly assessed, and unequally levied, that
it was difficult to enforce them in their then existing
shape.
The income tax, as proposed, was more, therefore,
in the nature of a revival of an old, than the imposition
of a new tax, and, with the exemptions and alterations
that were adopted subsequently to its introduction,
it was not calculated to press with great severity on
any class of the natives.
The smaller proprietors would escape payment alto-
gether, while the tax was intended to bring under
assessment the richer landholders and merchants who
hitherto had contributed absolutely nothing to the
public burthens. It was alleged that such a tax,
as regarded the landholders, was a breach of the
perpetual settlement; but even influential natives of
India admitted the fallacy of that objection ; and one
73
of them, the Maharajah of Burclwan, repucliatecl the
allegation in the following words : — '* I cannot," he
said, **find anything in the terms of the settlement
*^ to convince me that the zemindaries of India have
** for ever been exempted from contributing to assist
'* the GoYcrnment, when they incur unavoidable
** expenses in preserving property, life, the honour
** and all that is dear to them, of those very
'* zemindars."
No opposition to the tax, however, occcasioned so
much anxiety as that of the Governor of Madras, Sir
Charles Trevelyan, who protested against its imposition
on the people of that presidency. Had such a protest
come to the Governor- General as a confidential com-
munication, it would have been a fitting and proper pro-
ceeding, and ilie opinion of the Governor of Madras was
entitled to the greatest consideration ; but Sir Charles
Trevelyan not only wrote a minute on the subject, but
published it, warning the Government that the south of
India had twice come to the aid of the Government in
the north in their hour of need ; and he added, *' One
** hundred jeam elapsed between those two occasions ;
'* but it is impossible to say how soon a thhd may
** arise, and it W'Ould be impolitic to unite the south
*^ with the north of India in a common cause
'^ against us."
It was a serious matter that the Governor of
Madras should be opposed to the imposition of a
tax deemed absolutely necessary by the Government
of India. The publication of his minute condemn-
ing the tax was not only a breach of public duty,
74
but was calculated to produce a most prejudicial
effect on the native mind, and to cause much
embarrassment to the Government of India in a
moment of great difficulty, when they were entitled to
expect the assistance of all the public servants. The
Secretary of State was so deeply impressed with the
necessity of giving all the support in his power to the
Government of India at such a crisis, that he imme-
diately recalled Sir Charles Trevelyan.
That duty was one of the most painful that could
well be imposed on Sir Charles Wood ; for Sir Charles
Trevelyan was his personal friend, and had served for
many years under him in the Treasury at home, and,
while continuing the useful measures instituted by
Lord Harris, and supplementing these with others of
his own devising, he had conducted the government of
Madras in a manner which had done much to heal
the wounds that had previously existed among its
population, and to bring that population to regard
the English rule with favourable feelings. Indeed, in
another despatch, written on the same' day as the
one recalling him, Sir Charles Wood, in thanking
him for his valuable services, took occasion to remark,
that '*no servant of the Crown had more earnestly
** endeavoured to carry out the great principles of
** Government which were promulgated to the pro-
** vinces and people of India in her Majesty's pro-
** clamation."
Some demonstrations took place in other parts of
India against the imposition of the tax, but the Act
was passed. Happily, the judgment, abihty, and
75
conciliatory spirit in "wliicli the tax was levied by the
English officials overcame many of the objections
which had been felt to it, and secured the co-operation
and good will of the more respectable classes of the
native community.
The reduction of the annual expenditure was, if
possible, a subject of greater importance and difficulty
than the increase of taxation.
In 1856-57 the total expenditure of India, includ-
ing guaranteed interest on railway capital, amounted
to 33,852,234/.; in 1859-60 the expenditure had
risen to no less than 50,475,683/. To reduce this
enormous annual charge within moderate dimensions-
needed all the anxious attention of Sir Charles Wood ;
but, in effecting that great object, he could hardly
have desired heartier aid than he received from Lord
Canning, nor could he have found an abler or more
indefatigable assistant than Mr. Wilson ; and it was
in India that the practical reductions that were required
must be made.
It was obvious that little in the way of reduction
was to be expected in the civil administration ; as
it was conducted already on principles of economy,
** at a smaller cost than that of any country in the
': world."
With regard to the mihtary expenditure, the impe-
rative necessity of effecting every practicable reduction
had been pressed on the Government of India by
Lord Stanley, as Secretary of State ; and in April,
1859, the Governor- General called on Colonel (now
Major- General) Jameson, the auditor-general at
76
Bombay, for his oi:)iniou as to tlie best mode of
effecting those reductions.
Having been put in possession of that officer's
opinions on the subject, the Government of India
appointed a mihtary finance commission, consisting
of Colonel Jameson as president, and Colonels Burn
and Balfour as members.
The commission first assembled on the 18th of July,
1859, and reported from time to time as to the reduc-
tions that could be effected. In January, 1860, they
submitted a report on the existing system of account
and audit, and made propositions for effecting im-
portant reforms therein, and they pointed out the
necessity that existed for the preparation of an annual
budget of military expenditure. The propositions
contained in that report were important, not only in
regard to the more immediate object for v/hich the
commission had been appointed, but as also indicating
other changes in the Indian system of estimate,
account, and audit, which were subsequently, as will
be hereafter seen, entered upon and carried out,
greatly to the benefit of the Indian Government.
In April, 1860, Colonel Burn was compelled by
ill-health to leave _ India, and in June following the
commission was deprived of the valuable services of
its president, Colonel Jameson. Lieutenant-Colonel
Simson and Mr. Richard Temple were afterwards added
to the commission, and the Government of India bore
ample testimony to the important services which that
commission rendered, as well as to the benefits which
resulted from the labours of Colonel Balfour, who wa^
77
appointed chief of the MiHtary Finance Department,
and who ably and energetically carried out the work
of reduction and reform which had been suggested.
In deahng with the military charges, Mr. Wilson
saw clearly how large reductions could be made, not
indeed in the pay and emoluments of either officers or
men, but in the numerical strength of the army, by a
better distribution of the forces, by control over the
commissariat and other expenditure, and, to use his
own v^ords, *' by reducing our army finance to order."
In applying himself to that work, Mr. Wilson
introduced the system of preparing annually a budget
of income and expenditure, in order to bring before
the Supreme Goyernment, for sanction at the com-
mencement of each year, carefully devised estimates
of expenditure in every department, thereby guarding
against irregular and unauthorized outlays for which
no adequate provision had been made in the ways
and means of the year. At the same time, within
the hmits sanctioned by the Government of India,
a greater latitude than had before been given, was
allowed to the subordinate Governments of Madras
and Bombay.
In maturing the scheme which the Government
of India had determined on introducing, Mr. W'ilson
laboured unremittingly, setting at nought the advice
of his physicians, despising the warnings of a fatal
and insidious disease, and perhaps not admitting to
himself how valuable the continuance of his health
and working powers had become to India.
It was in August that he was first attacked by
78
sickness, but he nevertheless continued to discharge
without intermission his pubHc duties.
Work at night, the habitual custom of an EngHsh
politician, is notoriously unhealthy, if not fatal, in
India. Although fully aware of this danger, night after
night, when others found repose from the weariness
which follows hard work in a Calcutta climate, Mr.
Wilson would rise and set to work, till absolute exhaus-
tion compelled him once more to seek the rest which
he was unable to obtain.
A trip to sea was talked of — that wonderful panacea
for all the enervating diseases of India ; but it was too
late. A few days sufficed to render his illness fatal.
Lord Canning visited the sick man on his death-bed,
and was deeply touched by the tone in which he spoke
of public matters. Not a word of self, or of his name
or share in public affairs, escaped his lips. He ex-
pressed his hopefulness of the success of the great
work in which he had been engaged, and calmly died,
adding another name to that long list of heroes, who,
at the desk as well as in the more exciting scenes of
battle, have, without a complaint or murmur, laid down
their lives in India in their country's service.
** Nothing can replace," wrote one of his fellow-
councillors, ^* the ripe experience and practical sagacity
which tempered the unfailing energy of the colleague
we have lost," and Sir Charles Wood deeply felt the
loss of so able a coadjutor.
It was obviously advisable that there should be
no delay in appointing a successor, and the choice
fell on Mr. Laing, Secretary to the Treasury in Lord
79
Palmerston's Government, who was appointed member
of Council in Mr. Wilson's place.
On Mr. Laing's acceptance of this appointment,
Sir Charles Wood took occasion to urge with, if
possible, increased force, the absolute necessity of
early and vigorous exertions on the part of the
Government of India in the reduction of expendi-
ture, wherever it could be effected without neglecting
the indispensable requirements of the pubhc service.
** I cannot," he said, *^ allow myself to contem-
'^ plate any further increase in the taxation of India,
'* and I can hardly think that any attempt at imposing
** additional burthens would not be attended by in-
'' creased difficulty and cost of collection, beyond any
'* possible advantage of increased receipts, indepen-
*' dently of the obvious evil of the unpopularity of any
'' such measure."
The Government of India applied itself with
unflinching energy to the work of reduction, and, as
early as February, 1861, Sir Charles Wood was
enabled to anticipate the favourable results of his
instructions and of their exertions, and, both in his
despatches to the Governor- General in Council and by
his speeches in Parhament, he indicated the measures
by which he considered that in the year 1861-62 the
expenditure could be brought within the income. He
showed that the reductions ordered by the Govern-
ment of India were expected to amount in the year
1860-61 to 2,500,000/., which, with those of the
previous year would make an estimated saving in
military expenditure alone, of 6,000,000/. ; and that,
80
if the reductions for 1801-62 were equal to those of
1800-61, and the produce of the new taxes came up to
the estimate, the deficit would be extinguished, and
the expenditure and income of 1861-62 would be
balanced. The Government of India at that time
looked upon Sir Charles Wood's financial statement as
too sanguine, and there were many at home who shared
the gloomy anticipations of that Government, but it
vms subsequently demonstrated, when the accounts
were made up, that his views were almost literally
correct, the deficit of 1861-62 being only 50,628/.
Although, however, the Government of India were,
in February, 1861, unable to foresee the probable
accomplishment at so early a period of the equalization
of income and expenditure, too much praise cannot
be given to them for their ready co-operation in the
measures by which that great object was attained ;
and on no individual should greater praise be bestowed
than on Sir George Clerk, for his unceasing and
successful efforts in reducing the military expenditure
in Bombay.
In June, 1862, Mr. Laing's health, unsuited for
oJBficial life in an Indian cHmate, compelled him to
return to England.
In looking for a successor. Sir Charles Wood's
attention was not unnaturally turned to Sir Charles
Trevelyan, whose fitness for employment in India could
hardly be overlooked. He had commenced his career
as a Bengal civilian. For twenty years he had been
Secretary to the Treasury at home ; but here, with a
constant strain on his energies, he had not forgotten
81
his old associations and interests in India, and the
letters of *^Indophihis " vdiich appeared from time
to time had not only attracted the attention but had
taken a great hold of the minds of those at home to
whom India was not, as it is to many, a terra incog-
nita. He had shovv^n himself an excellent Indian
administrator during his short rule at Madras. It
is true that he had committed one great indiscretion,
but he had paid a severe penalty in being recalled
from so honourable a position. His recall had been
to Sir Charles Wood a very painful, though necessary
duty, and he gladly welcomed the opportunity of again
rendering the services of so able an administrator
available for the public good.
It was doubted, however, whether, after having
been governor of a presidency, Sir Charles Trevelyan
would again undertake a subordinate appointment
with less responsible duties. Many men of smaller
minds would have shrunk from the acceptance of
such an appointment, but the offer generously made
was met by him in a similar spirit ; and in the com-
mencement of 1863 Sir Charles Trevelyan set out on
his third journey to India, as member of the Governor-
General's Council.
The small excess of expenditure over income,
amounting to 50,628L in the year 1831-62, was
followed in 1862-63 by a surplus of income over
expenditure of no less an amount than 1,827,346Z. ;
but this was an exceptional occurrence, and was
mainly due to an unprecedented receipt from opium,
the produce of which in that year was 8,055,476/.,
or 1,696,207/. more than had been realized on the
6
82
same account in 1861-62. In the year 1863-64, the
income exceeded the expenditure by only 78,347/.,
and here again the change from the previous year
nearly corresponds with the faUing off in the net
proceeds of the opium revenue : the receipt from
that source of income in 1863-64 having been less
by 1,223,477/. than the amount obtained in 1862-63,
while the cost and charges of the drug were 450,215/.
more than in the former year*
In 1864-65, the expenditure again exceeded the
income by 193,521/., and this is the last year for
which the accounts have been received. For the year
1865-66, reference can be made to estimates only;
these once more show an excess of income over ex-
penditure of 20,585/.
In order to see how far the change from an excess
of expenditure over income in 1859-60 of 10,769,861/.
to an excess of only 50,628/. in 1861-62, and the sub-
sequent continuance of a state of comparative equi-
librium of income and expenditure, was attributable to
increases of revenue or reduction of charge, it is neces-
sary to refer shortly to the total amount realized and
expended in each year, and to the principal heads
under which changes occurred. The total revenues
and receipts in India amounted in
£
1858-59 to 36,060,788
1859-00 „ 39,705,822
1860-61
1861-62
1862-68
1863-64
1864-65
1865-06
42,903,234
43,829,472
45,143,752
44,613,032
45,652,897
(estimated) 47,041,540
83
being an increase of income for 1865-66, as compared
with 1858-59, of 10,980,752/.
Of that increase nearly two millions were derived
from the land revenue, which, under an improved
system of assessment, shows a continuous advance.
About four and a half milHons were obtained from
new or increased taxes, nearly two and a half millions
from opium, the remaining two millions consisting
of improved receipts from existing taxes consequent on
the general prosperity of the country.
The charges in India and England during the same
period were as follows : —
1858-59 50,248,405
1859-60 50,475,683
1860-61 46,924,619
1861-62 43,880,100
1862-63 43,316,407
1863-64 44,534,685
1864-65 45,846,418
1865-66 (estimated) 47,020,955
The total charges were therefore lowest in the year
1862-63, when the effect of the stringent measures of
reduction which were adopted to bring the expendi-
ture within the income was fully realized, and the
reductions were almost wholly in the military charges.
Those reductions, indeed, greatly exceeded the sum
of seven milHons, the net reduction on the total
charge, there having been considerable increases in
some of the civil departments.
The period for which the income tax had been
imposed, terminated in August, 1865, and, when the
budget of 1865-6 was under the consideration of the
6—3
* ^ 84
Government of India, ifc was decided that there was
not sufficient ground for its reimposition. Whatever
opinion may be entertained as to the expediency of
that decision, it must be admitted that keeping faith
to the very letter in matters of finance, even where
a doubt exists as to the engagements, may be worth
more in India than an overflowing treasury.
The budget of 1865-6 was, nevertheless, open in
other respects to serious objections. In order to make
good a part of the loss caused by the cessation of the
income tax, Sir Charles Trevelyan proposed to collect
export duties on several articles of Indian produce, to
raise in England a loan of 1,200,000/., and to include
the sum so raised as a part of the revenue of the
year, thus producing an appearance of a surplus when
a deficit was really to be anticipated.
It was not by such measures as these that the
finances of India had been placed on the footing that
they then occupied. After revising the budget and
acquiescing in the repeal of the income tax. Sir Charles
Wood condemned the loan, and disallowed the pro-
posed export duties. He was thus compelled, mth no
small regret, to admit a prospective deficit for the
year 1865-6 of 375,000/.
After the publication of his budget, failing health
compelled Sir Charles Trevelyan to return to England,
and Sir Charles Wood was able to secure the services
of Mr. Massey as the financial member of the Govemor-
General's Council. Mr. Massey had already filled with
considerable credit the post of Under-Secretary to the
Home Office, and was, at the time of his appointment
i
85
to India, the Chairman of Ways and Means in the
House of Commons.
The budget of the Government of India for
1866-67, the first after Mr. Massey's appointment, had
not been received in England at the time of Sir Charles
Wood's retirement from office, and therefore did not
come under his review. It may be observed, however,
that there was nothing in that budget to raise any
doubt as to the wisdom of the selection of Mr. Massey
for carrying on the work which had been for years in
progress under Sir Charles Wood's directions.
Sir Charles Wood's financial administration of
India may be briefly summarized as follows : —
On taking office he had to face an expenditure
of 50,475,000L, with an income of 39,705,000L ; to
provide by loan for the deficiency of income, with the
credit of Indian securities seriously impaired ; and, in-
sufficient as the means of India were to meet the
current expenditure on public works, to raise funds for
an increased outlay on that account.
He resigned office with the annual income adequate
to the expenditure, with Indian credit thoroughly
re-established, and this notwithstanding a considerable
increase in the amount expended on public works.
It is in consequence of that success that we are
now able to look upon India, not in the light of a
burden on the British taxpayer, or a borrower on
the British Stock Exchange, but as a solvent state,
willing and able to assist us with valuable commodi-
ties, and to pay for all her own internal improvements.
In 1856-57, the year before the mutiny, her im-
86
ports amounted to 28,608,284L, and her exports to
26,591,877/., while in 1864-5, the last year for which
reliable returns have been received, the imports
amounted to 48,702,260/., and the exports to
66,537,886/., showing on the whole an increase of
trade of upv/ards of 98 per cent, in eight years.
** The future resources of India," says the Quarterly
reviewer, ** are quite incalculable. We have already
** seen her replacing with her produce the hemp and
** linseed of Eussia, and the cotton of America ; she is
" rapidly preparing to substitute her tea for that of
** China. Should England ever be cut off from her
" usual sources of supply of sugar, coffee, silk, wool,
*^ or iron, in a few years India could make good the
" deficit. Even now India supplies a fair proportion
** of these articles, and Indian labour produces a large
** proportion of the supply from our colonies. So
** long as India and England are allied, England is
** independent of the rest of the world."
It may be safely asserted, therefore, that the finan-
cial measures of Sir Charles Wood's administration have
been numerous and successful, beyond all reasonable
expectation, and that his comprehensive knowledge
and great capacity in dealing with all matters relating
to finance have been of the greatest value in retrieving
the Indian exchequer from the disastrous state into
which it had fallen.
It was not however solely to the possession of those
qualities, but also to his knowledge of men, and judg-
ment in his choice of them, that much of his success
is to be attributed. Those whom he selected as his
87
instruments in India have been already pointed out ;
and in the India Office he found that he could place
implicit reliance, not only on the members of his finance
committee, but also on his financial secretary, Mr.
Seccombe, whose great knowledge of his business, per-
fect accuracy, and unflinching application to his work,
obtained for him the entire confidence of Sir Charles
Wood.
A question far less interesting to the public, but
one which required much thought and labour, was the
improvement of the Indian system of account; and,
although the time has not yet arrived when the full
extent of the benefits of the measures adopted by him
can be appreciated, sufficient experience has been
obtained to give reason for hoping that a foundation
has been laid for a thoroughly good system of estimate,
account, and audit, which only needs time to be fully-
developed.
The Indian accounts had been unnecessarily com-
plicated and difi'use, and in the year following the
mutiny had fallen hopelessly into arrear. There were
not, it was thought, men in India quahfied for the
work of revising the mode of keeping the accounts, so
as to make them harmonize with the new forms of
estimate ; and, therefore, at the instance of Sir Charles
Trevelyan, two commissioners were sent from England,
for the purpose of completing a system very similar in
detail to that which is now adopted by all the principal
offices of Government in this country.
These commissioners, Mr. Foster, Assistant Pay-
master-General, and Mr. Whiffin, an Assistant Ac-
88
countant- General at the Yv^ar Office, have concluded
their labours and returned to England ; and there is
reason to hope that it will be found that the changes
that have been made, will go far towards remedying the
serious evils which had been so long acknowledged
and deplored.
CHAPTEE VII.
CURRENCY.
The improYement of the currency of India, by the
introduction of a system of paper money better calcu-
lated than the notes of the Banks of Bengal, Madras,
and Bombay to obtain general circulation, was a
question intimately connected with Indian finance.
On this subject Sir Charles Wood was entitled to
speak with great authority, from the knowledge which
he had obtained as chairman of the parliamentary
committee on the Bank Acts in 1841, from the part
which he had taken in the discussions on the Bank of
England Charter Act in 1844, and from the experi-
ence he acquired v/hile Chancellor of the Exchequer in
the monetary crisis of 1847.
Before describing the paper currency introduced
under Sir Charles Wood's instructions, it will be well
to glance briefly at the monetary system previously
existing in India.
The rupee of 180 troy grains weight, containing
165 grains of pure silver, and of the value of about
two shillings, constitutes, with the exception of copper,
nearly the whole circulating medium of India, and it
was, and still continues to be, the measure of value in
90
British India. The mohur, a gold coin identical
in weight and fineness with the rupee, was coined
to a small extent at the Government mints, but was
not received at Government treasuries in payment
of revenue since 1852, and circulated as coin to a
very small extent.
There was also a limited circulation of bank-notes,
confined almost exclusively to the presidency cities.
They were issued by the Banks of Bengal, Madras,
and Bombay, in each of which the Government was a
shareholder, and was directly represented on the board
of management by public officers, appointed under the
designation of Government directors.
The authorized circulation of those banks was as
follows : —
£
Bank of Bengal, 2 crores of rupees, or 2,000,000
Bank of Madras, 1 „ „ 1,000,000
Bank of Bombay, 2 „ „ 2,000,000
The actual circulation of the Bank of Bengal was
somewhat within that limit ; that of the Bank of
Bombay was usually under 1,000,000/. ; while that of
the Bank of Madras rarely amounted to 200,000Z.
Throughout the vast territories of the Indian
empire, therefore, silver coin formed practically the
only means of discharging debts or defraying expen-
diture ; and, although silver coin was inconveniently
bulky for transmission to great distances, it was not
supplemented by any popular gold coin, or any accept-
table form of paper money.
The Government was compelled, in consequence
of the imperfect means of communication, to maintain
91
treasuries, with large amounts of cash, m charge of
Government officers, for carrying on the receipts and
payments of the State. It is easy to understand that,
in the absence of a paper or gold currency, the con-
stant transmission of large sums in silver coin between
the Government treasuries was a w^ork of great labour,
risk, and expense ; but it would be difficult to convey
to the mind of a person unacquainted with India,
the extent to which the army of the East India Com-
pany had for years been employed in detachments as
treasure escorts.
The question of introducing a more extended paper
currency into India had frequently been discussed, and
Sir Charles Wood thought that the time had arrived
when such a measure might be adopted with great
advantage. It was his wish to establish a paper circu-
lation, issued directly by Government, and conducted
on the principle which had been laid down and
enforced in the Bank Act of 1844, i,e,, that a certain
fixed amount of notes, corresponding as nearly as
could be ascertained to the minimum ordinary circula-
tion of- the country, should be issued against an equal
sum to be held in Government securities, and that
notes in excess of that amount should be issued only
against buUion or coin to be held in the currency
department.
Before Mr. Wilson went to India, the whole
subject of currency was fully discussed with him by
Sir Charles Wood, and a general plan was devised,
which was afterwards developed in an able minute by
Mr. Wilson, written soon after his arrival in India.
92
In that paper Mr. Wilson: discussed with his cha-
racteristic clearness the advantages to be obtained from
the general use of bank-notes, and he showed that,
in order to secure the confidence of the people, it was
necessary that the notes should be issued under the
direct authority and management of the Government.
The main features of the plan were : —
1st. The withdrawal of the privileges of issue
hitherto enjoyed by the three presidency banks.
2nd. The issue of notes by the Government at
the three cities of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay,
and in circles at various places in the interior of the
country, the notes issued in any circle being payable
only in that circle and at the presidency cities.
3rd. That coin or bullion, to the extent of one-
third of the notes issued, should always be kept in
the currency departments, and Government securities
held for the remainder.
"With the exception of the last provision, Mr.
Wilson's plan was in accordance with the arrangements
of the issue department of the Bank of England ; but
the exception was important, and was a departure from
Sir Charles Wood's instructions.
While this scheme was under discussion, Mr.
Wilson died, and Mr. Laing, who succeeded him,
was desired by Sir Charles Wood to endeavour to
amend the proposed plan in this respect, and to
adhere strictly to the principles enforced in the Act
of 1844.
The amendment was carried into effect by the
Government of India, but they deviated from the
93
intentions of Sir Cliarles Wood in another respect,
by making the banks in the presidency cities the
agents for the issue and exchange of notes.
Under the system which was adopted, the notes
were to be of the denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100,
500, and 1,000 rupees. The expediency of issuing
a five-rupee note was duly considered and provided
for in the Bill introduced into the Legislative Council
of India, Sir Charles Wood and Mr. Wilson being in \/
its favour ; but the special committee of the Legisla-
tive Council altered the Bill, so as to exclude notes of
five rupees, a change in regard to which Sir Charles
Wood at once expressed his disapproval.
Ten circles have been established up to the present
time : — Calcutta, with Allahabad, Lahore, and Nagpore
as branches ; Madras, wdth Calicut, Trichinopoly, and
Vizagapatam as branches ; Bombay, v/ith a branch at
Kurrachee.
The amount of notes to be issued on Government
securities was not to exceed four crores of rupees, or
4,000,000/., an amount somewhat in excess of the
former circulation of the three presidency banks,
which, as has been seen, seldom reached 3,200,000/.
The circulation of the new notes has increased,
and on the 31st of October last had reached the sum
of 10,160,959/.
Although, when compared with the notes issued by
the three presidency banks, the circulation of Govern-
ment notes shows a great augmentation, the issue in the
circles has not, as yet, reached the amount which had
been expected. Comparatively few notes have been
94
taken out for local use, but further experience of their
convenience will, it is to be anticipated, increase their
popularity in the country ; and there can be no doubt
but that the issue of a note of a smaller denomination
than ten rupees, according to Sir Charles Wood's
intentions, would lead to that result.
In carrying the currency scheme into effect, the
claims of the three presidency banks to some compen-
Bation for the withdrawal of the privilege of issuing
notes were not overlooked. An arrangement was
made, whereby not only were those claims satisfied,
but the banks were made the bankers of the Govern-
ment at the presidency cities and at certain places
in the interior, and they have been subsequently
entrusted with the detailed management of the
Government debt. In pursuance of that arrangement,
the balances in the Government treasuries at the
places referred to were made over to the banks, and a
minimum balance was fixed, which the Government
was to keep in their hands.
These arrangements necessitated the grant of new
charters to the three banks. In the terms of those
charters the Government of India allowed a provi-
sion to be inserted which involved a departure from
Sir Charles Wood's intentions, as it authorized the
banks, in regard to their agency department, to draw
bills payable out of India, and to purchase bills for
the purpose of providing funds to meet those drafts,
a form of dealing in exchanges whereby they might
incur risks inconsistent with the prudent management
imperatively required on the part of any bank con-
95
nected with the Government, and in whose hands the
Government money was kept.
It was difficult, however, for Sir Charles Wood
to disallow that provision, as it could only be done by
refusing his assent to the Act constituting the charter.
As the agreement with the banks was to be in force for
only five years, he entrusted the rectification of that
error to the Government of India. It was, however, a
work of considerable difficulty, and was not accom-
plished until Sir Charles Trevelyan had succeeded Mr.
Laing as financial member of the Governor- General's
Council, when, after much correspondence with the
bank, an arrangement was made by which that objec-
tionable part of the agreement was terminated.
The Act authorizing the issue of a Government
paper currency contained one other provision which
gave rise to some anxiety during a time of pressure for
coin at Bombay. Under section ix. of that Act, notes
were to be issued in exchange for bullion or coin, the
currency commissioner being entitled to require such
bullion or coin to be melted and assayed. The notes
were issued as soon as the bullion was assayed, and
there was no provision that any time must be allowed
for coining the bullion into rupees. In regard to
bullion taken direct to the mint for coinage, provision
was made for an interval between the deposit of the
bulHon and the deHvery of the coin ; but, under this
section of the Currency Act, a person taking bullion
to the currency department received notes at once,
and, as the currency department was bound to give
coin for notes immediately, if demanded, it followed
96
that, by this double action, the Government might be
called upon to deliver at once an amount of coin which
they had not had the time or opportunity of providing.
But, although some risk of inconvenience was
incurred, actual embarrassment was avoided, and, under
Sir Charles Wood's directions, the rules for granting
notes in exchange for bulhon have been so modified
as to preclude the occurrence of any similar risk in
future.
The time that has elapsed since the introduction of
the Government paper currency is not sufficient to
show what will be its real value in the monetary
system of India, when the use of the notes shall be
more fully understood and appreciated, and a lower
denomination of note brought into use. Enough,
however, has been stated to show that, whereas, on Sir
Charles Wood's acceptance of the office of Secretary of
State for India, that country was practically without
any useful paper money, he introduced a paper cur-
rency based on sound principles ; and, when he quitted
office, the system was so far in operation as to leave it
a comparatively easy task to carry it into effect, to
whatever extent the wants of India may require.
The question of introducing gold coins more
largely into the currency of India had also been con-
sidered by Sir Charles Wood, and discussed by him
with Mr. Wilson ; and, as the latter had placed on
record the result of their dehberations when dealing
with the paper currency in his minute dated the
25th of December, 1859, so, in another minute bearing
the same date, he discussed the subject of the
97
introduction of a gold currency into India. He
admitted that, if the system of currency were to
be commenced de novo, there would be a manifest
convenience in having a gold coin as the standard,
and silver tokens as subordinate coins. But, as all
contracts in India were made in silver, he was of
opinion that the contract between debtor and creditor
must be strictly maintained. Nor did he consider that
any important advantage would attend the use of
gold, if it were otherwise practicable. He remarked
that the expense of removing coin was in a small
degree only determined by its weight and bulk, to
a much greater extent by the necessity of protecting
it, and that it was doubtful whether there would not
be somewhat more danger of robbery from local trea-
suries containing gold, than if they contained silver.
He concluded his minute by expressing his opinion
that a well-regulated paper currency was more suited
to the wants of India than a currency consisting mainly
of gold.
The question of a gold currency was not again
raised until the year 1864, when the Bengal, Madras,
and Bombay Chambers of Commerce represented to
the Government of India that it would be expedient to
introduce gold as an auxiliary currency, the Bombay
Chamber of Commerce adding that India was not yet
prepared for a paper currency.
The subject was freely discussed by the members
of the Government of India, and in July, 1864, in
forwarding a minute by Sir Charles Trevelyan, that
Government expressed its concurrence in his pro-
7
98
position that sovereigns and half-sovereigns, of the
British and Austrahan standard, coined at any properly
authorized royal mint in England, Australia, or India,
should be made legal tender throughout the British
dominions in India, at the rate of one sovereign for ten
rupees.
In replying to the Government of India, Sir Charles
Wood observed that there could not be any doubt of
the advantage to India, England, and Australia, if the
gold sovereign could be made the basis of their common
currency. He objected, however, to the proposal of that
Government, which would have the effect of establishing
a double standard of gold and silver. He showed that,
at the existing price of silver, a sovereign was worth
intrinsically more than ten rupees, and that an enact-
ment making the sovereign a legal tender for less than
it was worth, would be practically inoperative. He
further stated that, at the present relative value of
gold and silver, the question whether the sovereign
would circulate at ten rupees could only be determined
by experience ; and, in order to give every facility for
trying the experiment, he requested the Government
of India to notify by proclamation that, until further
notice, sovereigns and half-sovereigns of the British and
Australian standard, coined at any properly authorized
mint in England or Australia, and of current weight,
would be received in all the treasuries of India for the
same sum as ten and five silver rupees respectively,
and would, unless objected to, be paiS out again at the
same rate.
Since 1864 no change has been made in regard
99
to the receipt of sovereigns in India, and, as in most
other questions relating to currency, various opinions
have been expressed as to the necessity for, and the
best mode of, introducing gold, and especially the
sovereign, more generally into use.
In the year just closed the Government of India,
having received a memorial from the Bengal Chamber
of Commerce, praying for an inquiry as to the expe-
diency of introducing gold into the monetary system
of India, appointed a commission ** to inquire into
'' the operation of the Paper Currency Act, upon any
*' improved arrangements, including the introduction
*^ of notes for five rupees, by which it could be rendered
'* more effective ; and upon any extension of the mone-
'' tary system, which the increasing commerce and
'^prosperity of the country may seem to require;"
that inquiry being considered by the Government of
India a necessary preliminary to any consideration
of the question of taking further measures for the
introduction of gold.
The repoi-t of that committee has not yet been
received in England.
7—2
CHAPTEK VIII.
LAND KEVENUE.
A VERY large portion of the income of India is derived
immediately from the land. Next in order come salt
and opium, customs and stamps ; but, even when taken
together, they do not usually give so large a return as
is obtained under the heading of Land ; indeed, before
the mutiny, more than half the revenues of India were
derived from that source ; and in the year 1865-66
it was estimated at 20,066,200/., in a total income of
47,041,540/.
A prominent event in the revenue administration
of India, during the period now under review, is the
publication by Lord Canning, in October, 1861, of a
resolution ^'regarding the sale of waste lands in fee
** simple, and the redemption of existing land revenue."
The proposals of the Government of India were to
the effect that all unoccupied waste lands throughout
British India should be sold to any buyers, at a fixed
price of five shillings per acre for uncleared, and ten
shillings per acre for cleared, lands. For thirty days
after an intending purchaser had put in his applica-
tion, any one claiming the property applied for might
101 ■'•'--' •.'>',>>^,>'^'.
assert his right to it ; if, however, that period of thirty
days elapsed without any claim being advanced, the
property was to be allotted to the applicant, whose
absolute possession was not hereafter to be disturbed,
even if a right of property in the land so allotted
should be estabHshed.
Compensation might be awarded to any one proving
a title to the land within a year of the sale ; but the
original possessor was not allowed to have any claim
for the restoration of his land.
Most delusive ideas were entertained by many as
to the advantages Hkely to ensue from this resolution
of the Government of India. Energetic capitalists
were supposed to be only waiting for the opportunities
thus presented to them, to flock to the jungles of
India, and convert the howling wilderness into a
smiling cotton -field. The Government of India itself
was not entirely free from these Utopian anticipations ;
it was confidently hoped ^* that harmony of interests
between permanent European settlers and the half-
civilized tribes by whom most of the waste districts
and the country adjoining them are thmly peopled,
will conduce to the material and moral improvement
of large classes of the Queen's Indian subjects, which
for any such purposes have long been felt by the
Government to be almost out of the reach of its
ordinary agencies." Sir Charles Wood, on the con-
trary, perceived that European settlers and wild tribes,
in tracts of country far removed from the protection of
the law, were little likely to form themselves into a
peaceful and harmonious community, bound together
102
by the mutual interests of trade and commerce. The
intrusion of European settlers amongst warlike and
predatory clans, passionately attached to their ances-
tral lands, would lead to differences and quarrels
ending in bloodshed, and the ultimate extermination
of the weaker body. The Government of India was
therefore cautioned to exercise the greatest care ** in
allowing grants of land in outlying districts, where the
arrangements for the protection of life and property
were still imperfectly organized."
The quantity of really unoccupied land in India,
except in wild and remote districts, has been generally
very much exaggerated. A traveller passing up the
country saw extensive jungles and apparent wastes,
and not unnaturally inferred that these tracts were
unoccupied and unclaimed by any one. This was,
however, far from being the case. ** The assumption
** that these lands," wrote Lord Canning, '* were unen-
** cumbered with private rights and tenures, was erro-
*' neous,.and the publication of such statements was
^' extremely mischievous." Nearly the whole of them
belonged to some proprietor or another, — the neigh-
bouring zemindar in Bengal, or the inhabitants of an
adjacent village, to whom they afforded pasture for
their cattle ; and the sale of such land would be as
much an act of confiscation, as it would be if an unen-
closed sheepwalk in Sussex was seized on, and sold
by the order of the magistrates at quarter-sessions. It
was pointed out to the Indian Government that the
mode proposed by them for securing to the grantees
the possession of their land, without regard to the
103
rights of original claimants, was not only entirely incon-
sistent with equity, but also with the provisions of the
law, which could only be altered, if it were considered
necessary to do so, by legal enactment.
The land which was really available for sale by
Government consisted nearly altogether of wild districts
in remote parts of India, in Assam, Oude, or the Central
Provinces ; and as to such lands Sir Charles Wood
approved of the proposed resolutions, with only two
exceptions. In the first place, he insisted that a
rough survey of the land, sufficient to ascertain the
identity and quantity of the lots, should be made
previously to, instead of after, the sale of the land.
Such a survey would appear to be a necessary
preliminary to a sale being effected or a purchase
made, as without it a purchaser would really be in
ignorance of what property he had bought ; and it
entailed no expensive European agency. '* Hundreds
^* of native surveyors," said the Chief Commissioner of
Oude, '^ trained in Government schools, and therefore
" capable of performing the work, are available." Sir
Charles Wood further desired that on all occasions the
land to be sold should be put up to auction, as is
the invariable practice in Ceylon, instead of being sold
at a price fixed irrespective of the value of the soil,
its situation, capacities for irrigation, and contiguity
to roads.
Abundant evidence has already been forthcoming
that the provision requiring all waste lands to be put
up to auction has in many cases secured large sums
for the land purchased, and has effectually prevented
101
land-jobbing on the part of speculators. In some cases
as much as 8Z. per acre has been realized by the
Government, instead of the small fixed sum at which
it was proposed that they should be sold.
Eules have been since drawn up by the several
local governments in accordance with Sir Charles
Wood's directions, and a tribunal has been established
for the adjudication of all claims to lands proposed to
be sold.
By the same resolution of October, 1861, Lord
Canning authorized the redemption of the land-tax,
whether permanently or temporarily settled, to the
extent of one-tenth of the aggregate amount of the
assessment in each district.
Sir Charles Wood objected to this resolution.
There was no source of income so little unpopular
as the land revenue, and he disliked the sacrifice of
so large a portion of that safe and secure income
which was always to be depended on. It had been
disapproved of by the great majority of the ablest
officers in India. It was improbable that many
persons would avail themselves of the power of
redemption ; indeed, when the experiment had been
tried in the North- West Provinces and Oude, during
six months after the publication of the Government
resolutions not a single landowner had applied for a
redemption of his land-tax. Apart from this resolution,
it was already in the power of any landholder in Bengal
practically to redeem his land-tax, by placing in the
hands of the Collector an amount of public securities
the interest of which was equal to the rent of his
105
estate ; but for thirty years hardly anybody had availed
himself of this po^'er.
Sir John Lawrence also deprecated a policy, the
effect of which he knew, if fully taken advantage of,
would be to deprive the State of a large amount of
income which the people of India had from time
immemorial been accustomed to pay, and which, he
said, ^* has all the authority of prescription and tradi-
*' tion in its favour; " an income w^hich is drawn from
the land, as has been observed by Mr. James Mill,
*' without any drain either upon the produce of any
'^ man's labour, or the produce of any man's capital."
The objections that were raised to the redemption
did not apply to a direct permanent settlement of the
land revenue.
Great advantages were anticipated from such a
measure ; a general feeling of contentment would be
diffused among all the landholders in the country, and
they would, it was believed, become attached by the
strongest ties of personal interest to the Government
by which such a permanence was guaranteed to them,
while great inducements would be given to them to lay
out capital freely on the land, and to introduce im-
provements by which the wealth and prosperity of the
country would be materially increased.
A permanent settlement would, in one respect,
operate disadvantageously to the Government, inas-
much as it would cease to profit directly by any future
augmentation of its income from this source; but it
was the opinion of many men, well qualified to judge
of such matters, that the Government could not fail
106
indirectly to participate in any advantages accruing
to its people, and that the people themselves would
acquire more ability to bear increased taxation in
other shapes. **Her Majesty's Government," wrote
Sir Charles Wood to the Government of India,
" entertain no doubt of the political advantages that
** would attend a permanent settlement. The security,
** and, it may almost be said, the absolute creation
** of property in the soil which will flow from limita-
** tion in perpetuity of the demands of the State on
'* the owners of land, cannot fail to stimulate or con-
** firm their sentiments of attachment and loyalty to
" the Government by whom so great a boon has been
" conceded, and on whose existence its permanency
** will depend."
A revision of the existing assessment was a neces-
sary preliminary to a permanent settlement, and Sir
Charles Wood directed that ** a full, fair, and equable
rent should be imposed on all lands under temporary
settlement." He was prepared, after this was carried
out, to sanction a permanent settlement of the land
revenue throughout British India ; at the same time
desiring that the process of its introduction should be
gradual, as it was impossible that establishments large
enough for a general revision of the assessment could
at once be provided.
Certain reservations in favour of the Government
were directed to be made, whereby it might take
advantage in participation hereafter of any mineral
productions discovered in the soil, and of any im-
proved culture resulting from the completion of
107
schemes of irrigation in contemplation at the time
of the settlement.
The summary settlement of enams, * chiefly in
the presidencies of Madras and Bombay, including
all tenures of land held under favourable conditions,
has been vigorously prosecuted of late years ; the old
rules by which inquiry was instituted into a title on
the decease of any holder having produced a vast
amount of vexation and annoyance. Under the new
regulations laid down in 1859, all these inquiries are
set at rest, and inconvertible titles, and the option of
converting their terminable tenure into freeholds, by
the payment of a sum to Government, have been given
to the holders of the enams.
A special department for the management of the
extensive forests, and forest-lands of India, has been
carefully organized, and experienced foresters have
been sent from this country to assist in their con-
servation and superintendence; and the results in
the supply of timber for railway purposes, as well as
in an improvement in the cHmate of many districts
by the replacement of trees, which had almost dis-
appeared, will, doubtless, prove very great and
beneficial.
The cultivation of the chinchona tree in India has
been an object of great interest at home, and that
interest has now been happily rewarded by the extra-
ordinary success which has attended its introduction
into that country. On the Neilgherry Hills acres and
acres of land are now covered with plantations of these
* A gift or rent-free tenure.
108
beautiful trees, and Mr. Markliam, who, with consider-
able danger to his health and Hfe, originally superin-
tended the removal of the plants from Peru to Madras
in 1860, and to whom the credit of the experiment is
principally due, had, on his second visit to India, in
the autumn of 1865, the satisfaction of finding all the
plantations flourishing, and upw^ards of a miUion of
trees growing successfully.
Some idea of the value of the quinine can be
formed from a remark made in Mr. Henry Waterfield's
valuable statement, showing the moral and material
progress of India in 1864-65, w^hen he mentions the
fact that, ^independently of the great saving that will
*' accrue from the possession of chinchona to the
** Indian Government, which has been estimated at
** not less than 50,000/. a year, for the supply of
** quinine to the troops alone, the result of the
** experiment is very satisfactory in having opened
** a vast field for the cultivation of this valuable
** plant, the best species of which appeared likely,
*' ere long, to become almost extinct in South
** America, and in having demonstrated that the medi-
'* cinal qualities of the bark are capable of con-
*^ siderable improvement under proper culture ; whilst
<< it is impossible to calculate the value of the benefit
" bestowed upon the general population, by placing
*^ within their reach the fever- expelling preparations
** of the plant, which, from their high price, have
** hitherto been inaccessible to any but the wealthy
** classes."
CHAPTER IX.
PUBLIC WORKS.
How deeply Sir Charles Wood was impressed with
the desire to improve the civil administration of India,
and to accelerate the extension of reproductive public
works, will be apparent, when it is remembered that,
between the years 1862-3 and 1865-6, the annual
expenditure on those heads was increased by nearly four
milHons per annum. There were, indeed, few subjects
to which Sir Charles Wood devoted more constant
consideration, than that of public works. Even when
it was necessary to obtain repeated loans in order to
meet the extraordinary expenditure caused by the
mutiny, he was anxious to avoid any interruption of
the progress of works for which an adequate supply of
labour could be obtained.
A large expenditure was sanctioned and directed
for the construction of roads in aU parts of India,
especially in the cotton districts, which will be adverted
to hereafter.
Large sums of money were annually expended on
the completion of the canals in the North-West
Provinces and in the Punjab, and in the formation
110
of the subsidiary channels necessary for the wider
diffusion of their benefits.
The Ganges Canal, in 1860, had been of incalculable
advantage to the famine-stricken people in the districts
through which it passed, not only in irrigating land
which, without its fertilizing waters, would have been
barren wastes, but by bringing down grain from more
favoured districts for the relief of the sufferers. In
1864, a report, drawn up by Captain Crofton, showed
that a large outlay was required for remedying certain
defects in the construction of the canal ; and authority
was given for effecting the needful repairs. It is believed
that by this expenditure, estimated to amount to no
less a sum than half a million, the canal will be ren-
dered well adapted for irrigation, as well as navigation.
Money was also advanced for the improvement
of the Eastern and Western Jumna Canals, which,
as Colonel Baird Smith said in his able report on
the famine and its causes in 1860-61, did noble
work in watering during the famine very nearly half
a milHon of acres, and thus supplying an amount of
good grain very moderately estimated at about six and
a half millions of bushels.
In the Madras Presidency the works necessary for
the extension and completion of the great systems of
irrigation in the deltas of the Godavery and Kistna,
have been fully sanctioned.
That many, if not all these works, will prove
essentially reproductive, as anticipated by Sir Charles
Wood, when he authorized such an enormous and
yearly increasing expenditure upon them, is shown by
Ill
the beneficial results wliicli have generally followed the
construction of such works in India, and especially
by the striking improvement in the value of property
and in the condition of the people, in the extensive
districts of the deltas of the Godavery and Kistna,
in consequence of the restoration and extension of
the old irrigation works connected with those rivers,
and by the well-established success of the Jumna
Canals in the North-Western Provinces.
In the year 1862, in addition to the cuiTent expen-
diture of the year, sanction w^as given by Sir Charles
Wood for the employment of a sum amounting to
3,000,000?. from the cash balances for the further
prosecution of reproductive works ; and this money was
not used, simply on the ground that sufficient labour was
not obtainable to employ so vast a sum. In 1863-64
the amount to be applied to public works in India
amounted to 5,237,200/., or, including the guaranteed
interest on railways, to 9,237,200/. ; but this was not
all. ** The Government," said Sir Charles Trevelyan,
*' desires that it may be clearly understood that any
** funds that can be expended with advantage on cotton
*' roads, or works of irrigation or navigation, or on
** any other useful works, will be granted during the
** ensuing year. There will be no difficulty as far as
** money is concerned."
During this large outlay on reproductive works for
the development of the communications of the country,
a new demand, to the extent of some millions, w^as
made for providing additional and improved barrack
accommodation for the increased number of European
112
troops ; for not only was their number in India more
than double that for which accommodation had been
provided before the mutiny, but the altered proportion
of the European and native troops had called for a
re -arrangement of the military posts throughout the
country, while very few of the existing barracks were
found equal to the requirements of modern sanitary
science.
The heavy expenditure requisite for this purpose
was freely sanctioned, caution being enjoined only that
the stations should be carefully selected, and that more
work should not be undertaken at one time than could
be efficiently superintended and executed.
It was not only by the expenditure of money from
the revenues of India that Sir Charles Wood encouraged
the execution of works of public improvement ; he was
always ready to give all reasonable assistance to those
who were prepared to invest their capital in such
undertakings in that country.
A guarantee of 5 per cent, had been given by Lord
Stanley to the Madras Irrigation Company, on a
capital of 1,000,000L for 25 years for the execution of
an extensive scheme of irrigation works in certain parts
of the Madras Presidency, but when soon after the
commencement of the works, it became evident that
this sum would be utterly insufficient for the comple-
tion of the project as originally designed, Sir Charles
Wood entered into a contract with the Company under
the conditions of which they confidently expected that
they would be enabled to raise the requisite capital
without the aid of a guarantee. Circumstances,
113
connected to some extent with the unfavourable
condition of the money market, have hitherto
prevented the reahzation of these expectations, and
the operations of the Company have, therefore, been
restricted to that portion of their canal which is
between Sunkasala and Cuddapah, and the Home
Government have recently consented, on the applica-
tion of the Company, to advance them the further
sum of 600,000/. ; a condition being, however,
attached to the concession, viz., that, should the
canal not be open by 1871, the works shall be made
over to the Government for an amount of Indian
stock equivalent to that which may have been laid
out in their construction.
Large irrigation works on the Mahanuddy were
entrusted to the East India Irrigation Company, who
have already nearly completed a navigable canal from
Balighat to Calcutta ; and the execution of irrigation
works in the Behar district, from the river Soane, on a
plan proposed by Colonel Dickens of the Bengal
Artillery, was also o£fered to the company.
No allusion has yet been made to railways and
telegraphs — the two works which have tended more
than any other to the consolidation of our power, and
to the civilization and future peace and welfare of
India. In June, 1859, the total length of rail open
for traffic throughout the British dominions in India
was 1,438 miles ; at the commencement of 1866 the
number of miles open for traffic was 3,332.
The recent opening of the bridge at Allahabad
has brought within thirty-seven hours of each other
8
•j^(b
114
Calcutta, the capital of Eastern India, and Delhi, the
ancient capital of the Moguls, which two cities are
1,000 miles apart ; and, when the advantages Hkely to
accrue from the improved facilities of communication
for military purposes, as well as the impulse that is
thus given to the commerce and trade of India, are
considered, the taunt hurled in the teeth of the East
India Company in 1783 cannot now be repeated, that
** England has built no bridges, made no high roads,
** cut no navigations, dug out no reservoirs. Every
'* other conqueror of every other description has left
'^ some monument, either of state or beneficence,
** behind him. Were we to be driven out of India
'* this day, nothing would remain to tell that it had
** been possessed during the inglorious period of our
** dominion by anything better than the ourang-outang
** or the tiger." If in future years India shall cease
to be a British possession, her railways alone will be
sufficient proof that our rule was a beneficent one to
the people.
AVhether, therefore, we look to the development
of railways as affecting the rapid concentration of
troops, the carriage of merchandise, the ease and
security of travellers, the facilities of personal inter-
course, or the spread of intelligence afforded thereby,
we cannot fail to see with gratitude the vast improve-
ments they have wrought in the administration of
Government and the amelioration of the social condi-
tion of the people.
The map of India was already covered by a com-
plete network of Hues of telegraph, before. Sir Charles
115
Wood became Secretary of State; but during his
tenure of office, the telegraph from England to India
by the Persian Gulf was commenced, and under the
able superintendence, and by the personal exertions, of
Colonel Patrick Stewart, was brought to a successful
issue ; but, alas, at a heavy cost. He, who in his
short life had undergone more dangers, braved more
perils, and encountered more adventures than are often
crowded into that of an old man, died of fever in the
moment of his greatest triumph. Full of enterprise
and zeal, beloved by all who knew him. Colonel
Patrick Stewart had the satisfaction of knowing that
he had nobly done his duty, and that his success had
been appreciated and rewarded at home.
It was a remarkable achievement of science that
led to the completion of telegraphic communication
from India to England by a line surrounded with
dangers of all kinds by land and by sea. From
Kurrachee to Constantinople it extends for three
thousand miles, half of its distance being submarine
and half through unhealthy countries and desolate
wastes. The working of this line, though at times
messages have been passed through it mth almost
miraculous rapidity, has not been on the whole quite
satisfactory ; the fault, however, has not been due to
the defective construction of the line, but to the many
interruptions that have occurred, for the most part in
countries not under the control of the Enghsh or Indian
Governments.
8—2
CHAPTER X.
COTTON.
Great as had been the outlay on pubKc ^Yorks of
late years, a demand for still greater outlay was raised,
not only in India, but at home, during 1863, and
Lancashire manufacturers called loudly for extravagant
expenditure on cotton cultivation, without, perhaps,
inquiring or knowing what had been already done, and
what was then doing. Without considering the
capabilities of India, or the tenure on which the land
was held, or the position of the native ryots, they
inveighed against Sir Charles Wood, because he did
not consider that ** India meant cotton, and cotton
'* meant India," but held that his duty, as Secretary
of State, was to *' govern India for the good of the
** greatest number of the hundred and eighty milhons
** consigned to the care of England." ''
* ** The Manchester Chamber of Commerce have raised a cry
** against a minister who has refused to concede its preposterous
"demands, but Sir Charles Wood knows that his business is not
*' with Manchester, but with India. His sphere is not a narrow one,
"bounded by the walls of Cottonopolis, but a wide one, extending
"from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, and peopled with one
" hundred and eighty millions of human beings. Mr. Hugh Mason,
" a member of the Chamber, has been pleased to declare that India
" means cotton, and cotton means India ; but Sir Charles Wood
117
It was painful to any liberal politician to watch
how the influence of personal interests eclipsed in the
minds of many of the cotton manufacturers the leading
principles of free trade, which were entirely lost sight
of, in nearly all the suggestions that were made in
respect to the supply of cotton from India.
It will not be out of place to see what had been
done for the furtherance of the growth of cotton in
India, and its transport to this country. It was con-
stantly alleged that the want of roads and difficulty of
transit were so great that it was impossible to convey
cotton to the ports for shipment ; that nothing had been
done or attempted to be done by the Government of
India to obviate these difficulties ; that a contract law,
with penal clauses, was necessary ; that there should be
special interference with the ryots to compel them to
grow cotton ; that all land on which cotton was grown
should be exempted from payment of rent for two
years; that, finally, Government should make itself
the medium between the producer and manufacturer,
and buy the cotton at a fixed price, thus in fact entering
the lists as a cotton broker.
The question no doubt was deserving of all atten-
tion. Nor did it fail to receive it. The wants of
" believes that cotton, though a good thing — and one which might he
" grown here, not by Government, but by private enterprise — is not
*' the highest good of India. Sir Charles Wood believes, and this
"meeting is a living proof that the people of this country share in
" this belief, that India means good government, enlightened legis-
" lation, and the moral and mental elevation of its myriad millions."
— Speech of Bahoo Kissonj Chanel Mitira, at a public meeting at
Calcutta, 7th March, 1863.
118
Lancashire invested it with no common feelings of
anxiety, and afforded some excuse for the thoughtless
clamour indulged in by some of the manufacturers in
that county.
But the subject of the growth of American cotton
was not a new one in India. As long ago as 1843
experimental farms for its cultivation were formed by
the East India Company in different parts of the
country, and when, by the success of these experi-
ments, the capability of growing American cotton in
India had been established, supplies of fresh seeds
were distributed to the ryots, and, in order to give
ample encouragement to them, the Directors of the
East India Company undertook to buy all cotton of a
certain quality at a fixed price. By these means they
proved India's capacity to grow American cotton, but
it was for the consumer and not the Government to
decide whether its production should be encouraged
and increased by such a price as would induce the
natives of India to cultivate it. The British merchants
did not offer the price required, and, as a natural and
certain consequence, the growth of the superior kinds
of cotton fell off, and the producers grew only that
material which was best suited to their own or the
China market.
Lord Dalhousie, on his annexation of Nagpore, had
seen the importance of the cotton question. *' The pos-
** session of that country," he wrote, **will materially
*' aid in supplying a want, upon the secure supply of
'' which much of the manufacturing prosperity of
** England depends."
119
In the early part of 1861, before the commence-
ment of the American war, Lord Canning, seeing the
probabiHty of a rupture between the north and south in
the United States, and anticipating the certainty of
a greatly and suddenly increased demand for Indian
cotton in England, published a resolution drawing the
attention of the local governments to measures for
meeting the demand that was likely to arise.
All information on the subject was to be collected
from public records, and, when obtained, was to be
freely distributed all over the country to producers.
The demand likely to occur in England, and the
ruling prices, were also rapidly to be communicated
to them.
Agents of the mercantile community were invited to
visit the cotton-producing districts. The Government
offered the aid of the public treasuries in the interior
to capitalists in their banking arrangements ; an official
inspection of country cart and bullock tracks was
ordered ; and an offer was made to pay the expenses
of any gentlemen connected with the trade who would
accompany the officers so employed, and *' observe
** and report on any obstacles other than physical
'' which may appear to impede the cotton trade."
Handbooks on the cultivation of cotton in India
were compiled in each presidency, and prizes of 1,000/.
in Bengal, Madras, and Bombay were offered for the
largest quantity of cotton combined with the best
quality grown on any one estate.
These measures were all sanctioned and generally
approved of by Sir Charles Wood.
120
In July of the same year the Manchester Cotton
Supply Association deputed Mr. Haywood, their secre-
tary, to proceed to India. The services of Dr. Forhes,
superintendent of the Dharw^ar Cotton Gin Factory,
who was in England at the time, were at once placed
by Sir Charles Wood at the disposal of the company.
Mr. Haywood, however, on his arrival in India, refused
to buy any cotton. The people, believing that he had
come to purchase, flocked round him, offering even
to keep their cotton till his return from upper India ;
but his authority to purchase for the company had
been withdrawn, if ever granted, before he touched
the shores of India.
Indeed, the affairs of the association seem to have
been sadly mismanaged at Sedashagur. While the
agents of Bombay houses were active and busy,
making the most of all available means, buying land,
building sheds and boats, setting up steam-mills and
cotton presses, the agents of the association were
watching valuable machinery rusting on the shore,
and doing little more than constructing an office with
expensive materials imported from England !
The most pressing orders were sent by Sir Charles
Wood for the construction of a road up the Khyga
Ghaut, to Dharwar, and a large body of workmen
were collected on the spot ; but fever seized upon the
labourers with a virulence which killed many,
weakened more, and drove away the rest in fear
and panic. No inducement that could be offered
w^ould tempt them to return to what they imagined
certain death. In this state of things a road was
121
commenced over the Arbyle Ghaut, and within a few
months was opened to within half a mile of Sedashagur,
and this road was completed before the cotton-presses
from England had been set up.
The energetic Governor of Bombay, Sir Bartle Frere,
himself visited the fever- stricken districts. ** x\lmost
** every man," he wrote, ^'that we met had been, or
** was when we saw him, fever-stricken, and, from the
** miserable emaciated figures, and enlarged spleens of
** the poor wretches, I can well believe the tales we
** were told of its ravages among the wild, ill-fed, ill-
^^ clothed people of these forest tracts. It seems to
** strike terror into every class, especially the work-
^^ men, who abscond after a few day's stay, and cannot
*^ now be got to engage at all on the ghaut works."
It was not, however, only for the construction of
roads for the conveyance of cotton that labour was
deficient ; the crops could not be properly got in from
the same cause. In Berar, the great cotton- field of
India, said Dr. Forbes, ** manual labour is still more
** scanty. The produce, as it; is picked from the field,
*' is piled up in one large heap in the open air, where
' ^ it remains sometimes for months, until labour can be
** obtained. Although the cultivation of native cotton
*^is capable of extension to an enormous degi^e, yet
*^ the amount of manual labour available is barely
*' sufficient to clean the quantity now produced ; any
*' large extension without the aid of cleaning ma-
** chinery, therefore, cannot be expected ; and this
** remark is the more applicable, when it is considered
** that the chief increase of cotton cultivation must be
122
** looked for in new districts, such as those of Central
'' India, where population is thin and scarcely suffi-
'' cient to till the land."
Mr. Stanhorough, who was for some time settled
in Berar, reported that the amount of labour employed
on the railroads and construction of roads seriously
interfered with the cultivation of cotton : indeed, a
similar complaint of the scarcity of labourers was
received from all parts of India.
The Government, however, did not relax its efforts
for facilitating the conveyance of cotton from the fields
of production.
In the year 1861-2 more than half a milKon of
money was applied, out of a total expenditure on
public works of 4,742,183Z., for the purposes of
facilitating the conveyance of cotton. In Bengal the
able Lieutenant-Governor, Sir John Peter Grant,
devoted much time to the construction of roads, which
enabled the cotton of Singboom to be conveyed to the
Grand Trunk Koad and to the railway. In the follow-
ing years not much less than half a million has been
annually expended on cotton roads alone.
In the Madras Presidency the Godavery had been
surveyed with a view to its being created a navigable
river many years ago, and numerous plans and
estimates had been framed, but no operations on a
large scale were begun until the year 1861. As a
matter of emergency, in the cotton famine of 1862 an
attempt was made to surmount the obstacles formed
by the three great rocky barriers, by temporarily
constructed tramways being made at the points where
123
the stream was iinnavigable, by which means goods
passing down the river were transported on carts
beyond the rapids ; but this necessity for breaking
bulk proved very inconvenient and expensive. In
1863, therefore, the entire force of labour that could
be obtained was thrown on the completion of the
works in the river, which were ordered to be pushed
on as rapidly as possible : the object being the rapid
transmission of cotton from the plateau of Berar to
the seaboard — a line of navigation upwards of three
hundred miles in length, over which it is hoped that,
after the completion of the works, boats will be enabled
to pass during six months in the year. The same dis-
persion of the labourers, however, from fever, which
occurred in Canara, was also experienced in these
works.
The cotton-fields of Berar and Surat are now
penetrated by the Great Indian Peninsula, and the
Bombay and Baroda Railways. Before this, cotton
from the former district had to be carried to the port
of Bombay, a distance of 450 or 500 miles, on the
backs of bullocks, whose average pace was one mile
per hour, or in small country carts. Had the American
war found India less provided with internal means of
rapid communication, Lancashire would have been
deprived of her best source of mitigating the calamity
which fell so heavily upon her ; and, notwithstanding
the impetus given to the cotton-trade by increased
price, it would have been impossible that the exports
of that article could have increased, as they actually
did, from 1,717,240 cwts. in 1859 to 4,911,843 cwts.
124
in 1863-4, while, even after the cessation of hostilities
in the United States, they were not less than 4,663,808
cwts. in 1864-5.
** We have no want of means," said Sir Bartle
Frere, the Governor of Bombay, ** nor of encourage-
'* ment from the Government of India, or from the
** Secretary of State, to do our duty by the country ;
** not only have they sanctioned all that we could
** show was required, but in all their communications
*' they have not ceased to urge on us the necessity for
** making due provision for the wants of the cotton-
'' trade."
Great complaints were made in England about the
inferior quality and adulteration of Surat cotton, which
was no doubt bad ; but this arose in great part from
the system of purchase encouraged by the European
merchants, almost holding out a premium for fraud.
The price given was for quantity, not quality.
In the warehouses of Dharwar a regular system of
cotton adulteration existed ; on one side of the sheds
was a heap of Dharwar cotton of superior growth, on
the other a heap of dirty and inferior cotton to be
mixed with it ; but this was not all : stones, rubbish,
the sweepings of warehouses, and refuse of every
description, were promiscuously mingled together ; and
thus, if the quality was deteriorated, the quantity and
weight were unmistakably increased.
The only step which the Government could take to
prevent the adulteration of the staple was to pass an
Act punishing fraudulent adulterations with heavy
penalties ; and a law to effect this was ena^ctp^ in
125
Bombay, which to a large extent prevented such dis-
honest practices.
All having been done that was" legitimate on the
part of a Government, and perhaps a little more, in v/
fm-therance of the growth and export of cotton, the
rest was wisely left to private enterprise, and to those
unfailing laws which govern supply and demand ; and
the increase in the amount of cotton received from
India has justified the expectation that to those laws
might safely be left the encouragement of its pro-
duction.
CHAPTEE XI.
EDUCATION.
While the measures for the material improvement of
the people of India engrossed so much of Sir Charles
Wood's time, their mental and moral welfare was by
no means neglected.
It is impossible to speak of the progress of education
during the last seven years, without referring to the
despatch of the Court of Directors in 1854, which was
prepared under Sir Charles Wood's directions, and
which has ever since been considered as the charter of
education in India.
In words which read almost like the commence-
ment of a paraphrase of Dr Johnson's celebrated
epitaph on Goldsmith, it was said by a speaker in
the House of Lords, *' that it had left no part of the
*' question of education in India untouched, and it
** dealt with every branch of the subject judiciously
*^ and effectually."
In that elaborate document a plan was laid down,
complete in all its parts from the highest to the lowest,
from the enlarged system of university and collegiate
education down to the poor village schools ; and, as
Lord Dalhousie said, ** it left nothing to be desired,
127
'* if indeed it did not authorise and direct that more
** should be done than is within our present grasp/'
In accordance with the instructions contained in
that despatch, educational departments were formed
in every Presidency and every Lieutenant- Governorship,
and inspectors and other officers were attached to
those departments.
The London University was taken as the model on
which the estabhshment of the universities was to be
framed, due allowance being made for the various
conditions of the inhabitants of India, differing so
widely as they do from one another in many important
particulars.
Professorships, for the delivery of lectures on
subjects of science, were instituted in connection with
the universities, and special degrees were awarded for
proficiency in the vernacular languages, as well as
Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian.
The schools for the education of natives through-
out the length and breadth of British India required
some assistance, not only for their establishment, but
for their maintenance when established. Anxious,
however, as Sir Charles Wood was to provide that
*' useful and practical knowledge suited to every sta-
*' tion in life should be conveyed to the great mass
** of the people who w^ere utterly incapable of
*' obtaining any education worthy of the name by
** their own unaided efforts," he felt that, while
granting additional sums for the purpose, the Govern-
ment resources were inadequate alone to carry out
so large a scheme of education of the natives as
128
he contemplated, and he desired, moreover, to enlist
as much as possible the interests and exertions of
the natives themselves in favour of education. He
therefore determined to found the general education
in India on the basis of grants in aid to all schools,
irrespective of the religious opinions of those who
promoted or conducted them, and to observe an entire
abstinence from interference with the religious instruc-
tion conveyed in the schools assisted. Thus were the
spontaneous efforts of the people in the cause of
education fostered and encouraged, with the assist-
ance of considerably increased expenditure from the
revenue.
It will be obvious to all who are acquainted with
India, how important it was that this question of
religious instruction should be properly settled, if any
general extension of education was to be effected.
The co-operation of the natives could not be
expected unless their religious feelings and prejudices
were respected, and, on the other hand, it was necessary
to avoid alienating the Christian teachers and mission-
aries by whom some of the best and most efficient of
the schools in India were conducted.
The question was agitated mth great eagerness how
far the Bible should be introduced into Government
schools, and whether clergymen should be employed
in the educational department.
Both these points were happily settled by adopting
the principle acted on in the Irish system of education,
of not allowing rehgious instruction to be given as
part of the system of the Government schools, and of
129
making grants in aid to all schools, Christian, Maho-
medan, or Hindoo.
The Bible was placed in the libraries of all the
Government schools, and instruction in the Bible, and
in the tenets and doctrines of Christianity, was allowed
to be given to all pupils at their own request, and in
any manner most convenient, out of school hours.
Without any unnecessary interference wdth the
freedom of individual thought and private views,
it was laid down as an inviolable rule that no
person in the service of the Government should make
use of the influence of his position under Government
for the purpose of proselytism. In a few cases, clergy-
men possessed of special qualifications were employed as
professors, but they were not generally allowed to act as
inspectors of schools. Sir Charles Wood had consulted
officers of the Government who had the greatest
experience and knowledge of the natives, and also
some of the ablest of the conductors of the missionary
establishments ; and he had come to the firm conviction
*^ that the extension of the Christian religion in India
'* must be left to the voluntary efi'orts of individuals and
** societies, and that the interference of Government
** would tend, by inflaming the religious prejudices of
*' the natives, to check, rather than promote this
'' object."
More than once had he emphatically to lay down
the principle enunciated so clearly and impartially in
the despatch of 1854, and confirmed by Lord Stanley's
despatch of 1859, that religious instruction must be
sought by the pupils of their own free will ; that the
9
130
giving, as well as receiving, instruction must be equally
voluntary ; that it must be given out of school hours,
so as not to interfere in any way with the course of
instruction in the schools ; and that it should not be
noticed by the inspectors in their periodical visits.
By these rules, openly avowed, and strictly adhered
to, Sir Charles Wood, without yielding to the views of
either extreme party in this country, secured alike the
respect and co-operation of all parties in England and
India; and during his tenure of office no religious
animosities, so often fatal to the cause of religion itself,
were raised or perpetuated.
Large funds for the promotion of education were
provided from native resources ; and, as regards the
Government expenditure. Sir Charles Wood was firmly
convinced that whatever was incurred would, in the
words of Sir Thomas Munro, so appropriately used at
the conclusion of his despatch, ** be amply repaid by
** the improvement of the country; for the general
** diffusion of knowledge is inseparably followed by
*' more orderly habits, by increasing industry, by a
* ' taste for the comforts of life, by exertions to acquire
*' them, and by the growing prosperity of the country."
The grant-in-aid system, inaugurated in 1854, has
been successful beyond all expectation, the voluntary
donations of the people being met by contributions of
equal value on the part of the Government, while the
outlay on education generally has been amply provided
for and increased.
Since 1859 there has been little to do but to watch
with pleasure and satisfaction the progress of education,
131
under the principles laid down in the despatch of 1854.
Candidates for the universities, as well as those who
have taken degrees, have increased rapidly in number,
and the admission of the pupils to the various colleges
and schools throughout India has been on a greatly
augmented scale.
In Madras an Act was passed empowering villages \/
to tax themselves for the support of schools ; and the
example may probably lead to similar efforts being
made in other parts of India.
In 1861-2 the expenditure from the public revenue
was 322,593Z., and in the budget estimate of 1866-67
no less than 763,230Z. has been allotted to this
purpose.
Notwithstanding the deep-rooted prejudices existing
in India against female education, the number of girls
under instruction has largely increased. Mr. Drink-
water Bethune, when Legislative Member of Council,
and President of the Council of Education at Calcutta,
had given every encouragement to the formation of
female schools throughout British India, and he estab-
lished one in that city for girls, the children of
natives of wealth and rank. His exertions in the
cause were cordially seconded by Lord Dalhousie, who,
on Mr. Bethune's death in 1851, adopted and sup-
ported the school, until his departure from India,
when, so impressed was he with its importance, that he
recorded his high opinion of the institution in terms
which induced the home authorities to undertake from
that time its entire pecuniary maintenance. There
are now, however, other causes at work tending to the
9—2
132
same desirable end, and the augmented number of
pupils may be immediately attributed, says the director
of pubHc instruction in Bengal, '* to the growing
** influence of the young men, who have received the
*^ full advantages of a high university education in
** the different colleges throughout the country."
At Lahore, Sir Robert Montgomery, the able Lieu-
tenant-Governor of the Punjab, held an educational
durbar in 1865, and received deputations from the
native chiefs and gentry, of the Mahomedan, Hindoo,
and Sikh creeds, anxious to develope further the educa-
tion of young women, and offering as a tribute and
proof of their sincerity in the cause, an annual sum
towards the scheme, in the hope that the future
mothers of their chiefs and owners of the land might
be capable of rearing a race of enlightened sons, who,
by their education and advanced civilization, should be
able to take their proper places in the administration
of the affairs of their native country.
Amongst the supporters of the movement Sir
Robert Montgomery mentions Baba Khan Sing, the
most revered gooroo, or rehgious teacher, in the
Punjab, of noble descent, who has himself estab-
lished 75 schools, attended by 1,172 girls, increasing
the total number now under instruction to 9,000.
In 1863 a scheme of general education for the
province of Oude, prepared by the Chief Commissioner,
Mr, Wingfield, was sanctioned. In its leading features
it was similar to those which have been introduced
with so much success in other districts of India, and
will probably be found to afford sufficient scope for the
133
action of the local administration for some years to
come.
The talookdars of Oude, anxious to perpetuate
their grateful remembrance of Lord Canning, have
instituted, at Lucknow, a college to be called after his
name, in which a separate department is constituted
where the children of the chiefs and principal land-
owners of the province may receive their education ;
but the college will also be thrown open to the natives
of the country generally. An annual grant, equal in
amount to the endowment of the talookdars, will be
made by Government.
The rich merchants of Bombay, following the
noble example of enlightened liberality set before
them by Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, w'hose gifts to, and
endowments of, charitable and educational institutions
in Bombay during twenty years amounted to upwards
of 200,000/., have largely contributed to various
similar objects. Mr. David Sassoon's name will long
be remembered in connection with a reformatory estab-
lished by him; Mr. Kustomjee Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy
has offered 10,000/. for the promotion of English
education in Guzerat and Bombay, besides, in conjunc-
tion with his brothers, spending 1,200/. on the School
of Arts in the Presidency town.
Large contributions have been given by Mr.
Chesetjee Furdonjee to the foundation of a school at
Surat ; Mr. Premchund Eoychund has placed at the
disposal of the Government 1,200/. and a house for a
girls' school; while Mr. Mungaldas Nathabhoy has
founded a travelling fellowship for Hindoos in the
134
Bombay University, at a cost of 2,000/., and has
endowed a professorship of economic science, as well
as provided funds for building the Civil Engineering
College at Poona.
"Whether, therefore, we look to these generous and
magnificent donations, to the increased interest shown
in education by the chiefs in Oude and the Punjab, or
to the appreciation of these advantages manifested by
the poorer natives, and the readiness evinced, in many
quarters, to come forward in support of the schools,
we cannot but believe that, under the blessing of God,
we have good grounds for satisfaction for the present,
and hope for the future.
CHAPTER XII.
POLITICAL.
When Sir Charles Wood entered upon his duties as
Secretary of State for India, the mutiny and reheUion
of 1857-58 had been trampled out ; but it still remained
for the British Government, by a wise and generous
policy, to restore confidence to the princes and nobles
of the land, and to render permanent the peace which,
in the first instance, had been accomplished by the
strength and valour of our arms. As our enemies had
been punished, so were our friends to be rewarded.
This good work Lord Canning was pushing forward
with congenial energy ; and he was warmly supported
by Sir Charles Wood, who addressed letters to many
of our most faithful friends and adherents, thanking
them in the name of the Queen, for the good services,
**more precious than gold and silver," which they had
rendered to the British Government. Throughout his
administration. Sir Charles Wood has scrupulously
abstained from aggression or annexation ; what is
known as the adoption policy of Lord Canning was
cordially accepted by him; and in reply to the
Governor-General's despatch on this important sub-
136
ject, he wrote: — *^It is not by the extension of our
** empire that its permanence is to be secured, but by
** the character of British rule in the territories akeady
*' committed to our care, and by practically demon-
** strating that we are as willing to respect the rights
^' of others, as we are capable of maintaining our
'' own."
While such sentiments pervaded the minds of the
authorities both in London and at Calcutta, it is not
surprising that nothing has occurred to mar the
perfect tranquillity which has prevailed within the
limits of India since 1859.
The only occasions on which British troops have
been called into action were three affairs on the
frontier; the first in Sikkim, the second at the
Umbeyla Pass, and the third in Bhootan. ^' With
*^ regard to these frontier raids," as Lord Dalhousie
said in his memorable minute summing up the
political events that had occurred, the measures that
were taken, and the progress made during the course
of his administration, '' they are and must for the
*^ present be viewed as events inseparable from the
** state of society which for centuries past has existed
** among the mountain tribes. They are no more to
*' be regarded as interruptions to the general peace in
** India than the street brawls which appear among
*^ the every-day proceedings of a police-court in
*' London are regarded as indications of the existence
** of civil war in England."
The cases referred to form no exception to Lord
Dalhousie's principle.
137
At the end of the year 1860 the outrages com-
mitted on British subjects by the Eajah of Sikkim and
his minister compelled the Government of India to
send a force into that country, in order to obtain
satisfaction for the injuries ^'hich had been inflicted.
In sanctioning this expedition, Sir Charles Wood
expressed his cordial approval of the instructions given
to the political officer, that a strict line should be
drawn between the ruler, whose offensive conduct
demanded reprisals, and the inhabitants of the country,
to whom all possible consideration w^as to be show^n.
The military operations were brought to a successful
close ; the just punishment of the minister was
obtained ; and a treaty w^as negotiated, providing for
free commercial intercourse with and through the
country. *^ Her Majesty's Government," wrote Sir
Charles Wood to Lord Canning, *' hope that the
*^ moderation evinced by your declared intention not
" to annex any portion of the Sikkim territory to the
'* British empire, will contribute as much to the main-
*' tenance of a lasting peace, as it did to the speedy
** conclusion of the war."
In 1863 another expedition was undertaken to
repress the marauding incursions of Mahomedan free-
booters on the North-western frontier. Some of the
fanatical Mahomedan tribes on the border, taking
alarm at the approach of our troops, opposed their
progress, but after some resistance they were signally
defeated, and, finding what was the real object of our
advance, several of their chiefs, at the instance of
Major James, whose influence over them was very
138
great, joined our troops m person, and conducted
them to the stronghold of the marauders, which how-
ever was found to have been evacuated and destroyed
before their arrival.
Shortly afterwards, the long- continued robberies of
the Bhooteas, and ultimately their gross ill-treatment
of a British envoy who had been sent to them in the
hope of averting the necessity of hostile operations
which had been contemplated by Lord Canning, ren-
dered it imperative on the Indian Government to vin-
dicate the honour of England, and take some security
for their better behaviour in the future. The military
operations were of a very trivial nature, and were
brought to a close by a treaty, concluded with the
Bhootan Rajas, the passes in the mountains through
which the plundering expeditions issued on the
plain having been placed in the hands of the British
authorities.
While, then, the arm of the Government has not
been slow to defend its subjects against attack from
without, instances have not been wanting in which
states under British rule have been restored to their
native princes, and rights have been confirmed to
native chiefs, in a spirit of liberality well calculated
to increase our power.
In 1861 Kolapoor, which had been in the hands
of the British Government since the suppression of
the insurrection in 1845, was restored to the manage-
ment of the Rajah, a young man twenty-seven years of
age, anxious to assume the control of the affairs of his
native country. In 1864 the administration of the
139
principality of Dhar, which had been confiscated on
account of the rebellion of its mercenary troops in
the troubles of 1857, was restored to the Kajah. It
had been Lord Stanley's intention, when in office, to
have effected this restoration, but the age, inexperi-
ence, and incapacity of the young Kajah prevented its
being concluded before 1864.
Sir Charles Wood's tenure of office has not, how-
ever, been destitute of political questions of grave
importance, one of which — his grant to the Maho-
medan princes of Mysore in 1859-60 — created much
comment and dissatisfaction in India.
After the death of Tippoo Saib at the storming of
Seringapatam in 1799, these princes and their families
had been removed to Vellore, and an allowance of
about 77,000/. per annum was settled upon them.
Their supposed complicity in the Vellore mutiny in
1806 entailed upon them their removal to Calcutta,
and the forfeiture of any claim on the British Govern-
ment. They lived in seclusion at Eussapugla, under
the superintendence of a British officer, and were
treated as royal pensioners by the Indian Government ;
but the profligacy and the disreputable course of Kfe
pursued by several of them tended neither to their
advantage nor honour, nor to that of the Govern-
ment.
In this state of things. Sir Charles Wood was
very anxious that the settlement should be broken
up and the Mysore stipendiaries absorbed in the
general mass of the people. He was desirous to
place them in a better position as regarded their
140
own independence and power of utility ; and, at
the same time, to relieve the Government of India
from the charge of a numerous and increasing
body of pensioners. He proposed therefore to allow
each member of the family to settle where he
pleased away from Calcutta, free from any Govern-
ment supervision ; and, in order to place this in their
power, he proposed to create an amount of India stock,
the interest of w^hich should make provision for their
incomes. The sum allotted for their permanent pro-
vision amounted to 17,000/. per annum for their lives.
An equal amount was assigned to the existing heads of
families for their lives, and a certain sum was granted
for the purchase of houses elsewhere than in Calcutta.
The w4iole provision was very far below the sum
originally set apart for their maintenance, or the inte-
rest of the sum which had accrued to the Government
by withholding part of it for so many years.
'* When I review," says Sir Charles "Wood in his
despatch of the 4th of February, 1861, '' all the circum-
^ ' stances of British relations with the families of Hyder
'^ Ali and Tippoo Sultan, from the time of the conquest
'^ of Mysore ; when I advert to the terms of the treaty
^^ of 1799, — to the revenues of the territory assigned
^' for the maintenance of the family ; when I consider
*' the intentions of the framers of the treaty, the
*' recorded opinions of Lord Wellesley, and especially
'' of the Duke of WelHngton, who remonstrated
*' against the illiberal manner in which effect was given
** to a treaty he helped to negotiate; when I refer to
** the accounts of the * appropriated Mysore Deposit
141
^ ' Fund,' and know that in the year 1806, when neither
' of the contingencies contemplated in the treaty as
* grounds for a reduction of the payments to the
* family had occurred, there were accumulations to
' the credit of the fund greater than the amounts
* which I have ordered to be distributed amongst
* existing members of the family ; when I consider
' that since that time the sums actually paid to the
* descendants of Hyder Ali and Tippoo Sultan fell
' short of those specified in the treaty by a larger
' amount than that which I have ordered to be
* capitalized, as a permanent provision for the family ;
^ that the annual amount now paid to existing incum-
* bents is below that stated in the treaty ; and that,
' on the death of these incumbents, many of whom
' are of advanced age, the territories assigned for
* the maintenance of the family will revert to the
* British Government in perpetuity, free from all
^ charge or incumbrance ; and when I bear in mind
^ the claims of a body of men, descended from a
' sovereign prince, to generous sympathy and bene-
* ficent treatment, and the benefit which they will
* derive from being placed in a position of honourable
' independence, I cannot think that the demands of
' justice and humanity would have been satisfied by
* any less liberal arrangement than that which has
* been directed by her Majesty's Government."
Another question of a similar nature, which had
more than once been discussed in Parliament, was Azeem
Jah's claim to be recognized as the titular Nawab of
the Carnatic. In the early wars during the last
V
142
century with the French, the ancestor of Azeem Jah,
Mahomed AH, one of the pretenders to the Nawab-
ship, was our ally, and his claim was supported by the
English, as that of his rival was by the French. On
the ultimate victory of the EngHsh, he was rewarded
by being established as the independent sovereign of
the Carnatic. In 1795 Mahomed Ali was succeeded
by his son, Omdut ul Omrah. At the time, however,
of Tippoo Saib's most violent hostihty to the British
Government, the Nawabs, both father and son, for-
getting the obligations by which they should have
been bound, entered into correspondence with him ;
and proofs were discovered at the capture of Serin-
gapatam, which satisfied Lord Wellesley, and the
ablest men at the time in India, of their treachery.
On the death of Omdut ul Omrah, which almost
immediately ensued, in 1801, Azeem ul Dowlah
was placed on the throne, and a treaty was signed
with him, in the same year, by which a certain
income and certain privileges were assured to him
for life ; the British G-overnment ^* remaining at
** liberty to exercise its rights, founded on the faith-
*' less policy of its ally, in whatever manner might
** be deemed most conducive to the immediate safety,
** and to the general interests of the Company in the
** Carnatic. Thus," said Lord Dalhousie in his minute
of the 19th of December, 1855, '' in 1801 the terri-
** tories of the Nawab of the Carnatic were at the
** absolute disposal of the British Government."
In 1819 Azeem ul Dowlah died, and his son,
Azeem Jah, was recognized as his successor. On the
143
death of the latter, in 1825, his infant son, Mahomed
Ghouse, succeeded, and during his minority his affairs
were conducted by his uncle Azeem Jah, the term of
whose administration was rendered conspicuous by an
exhausted exchequer, enormous debts, hideous profli-
gacy, and fraudulent proceedings tending *^ to bring high
'^ station to disrepute, and favouring the accumulation
'* of an idle and dissipated population in the chief
** city of the presidency."
On the death of Mahomed Ghouse, without
children, in 1855, the friends of Azeem Jah in
this country, founding their pretensions on the treaty
of 1801, claimed for him the Nawabship of the
Carnatic, and its rights and dignities, as hereditary.
Lord Harris and Lord Dalhousie both refused to
place Azeem Jah on the throne ; the Home Govern-
ment, when Mr. Vernon Smith was President of the
Board of Control, confirmed their decision ; but again
and again was Sir Charles Wood pressed to confer
the sovereignty on Azeem Jah.
Had he consented, he would have reversed the
decision of Lord Clive, Lord Wellesley, Lord Dal-
housie and Lord Harris, and would have entailed on
India the mischief of more royal puppets, whose
ancestral names and dynastic traditions made them
often the rallying points of disaflection and treason.
Sir Charles Wood firmly, and more than once, resisted
these appeals, founded, as they were, on erroneous
grounds and inaccurate statements.
The members of the late Mahomed Ghouse's
immediate family had been already liberally provided
144
for, and Sir Charles Wood increased Prince Azeem
Jah's allowance to 15,000/. a year ; consenting to
recognize his position as that of ^* the first nobleman
*^ of the Carnatic."
The most important political question which arose
during Sir Charles Wood's tenure of office was, whether
the administration of the affairs of Mysore, of which
the Kajah had been deprived in the year 1834, should
be restored to him.
About a hundred years ago, Mysore was an inde^
pendent state, under the rule of a Hindoo Kajah.
Hyder Ali, a Mahomedan adventurer in the service of
the Eajah, deposed his master and usurped the govern-
ment of the country, which he conducted with great
ability. He was succeeded, in 1782, by his son
Tippoo Saib, whose inveterate hostility to the British
Government was only terminated by his death at
the capture of Seringapatam and the conquest of
Mysore in 1799. Part of the territory of Mysore
ruled over by these Mahomedan princes Vv^as taken
possession of by the British Government, part was
assigned to the Nizam, who had been the ally of the
English during the war. The remainder, with some
additional territory, was formed into a separate state,
and a young child, a descendant of the old Rajahs
of Mysore, was taken from prison, and placed in
possession of it, the arrangements being sanctioned
in a treaty concluded between the British Government
and the Nizam. From this treaty the Rajah's title is
derived. In addition to this, a treaty was made with the
Rajah, called the Subsidiary Treaty of Mysore, which
145
contained the relations and defined the conditions
which were to subsist between the British Government
and the Rajah. It was stipulated that a certain annual
sum should be paid to defray the expense of an
auxiliary force, and, in default of payment, territory
might be taken as security. The Eajah bound him-
self to be guided by the advice of the British G-overn-
ment, and provision was also made for ^' assuming
** the management and collection of the said tem-
** tories, as the Governor- General in Council shall
** judge most expedient, for the purpose of securing
** the efficiency of the said military funds, and of
*^ providing for the effectual protection of the country
** and the welfare of the people."
During the minority of the Rajah, the administra-
tion of the country was most efficiently carried on for
several years by Purneah, a valuable Hindoo minister ;
but, upon the Rajah's accession to power, he was
dismissed, the Rajah assuming to himself the Govern-
ment. Under the Rajah's management affairs were
so ill conducted, and such disorder prevailed over
the whole country, that in 1831 the people rose
in rebellion. In consequence of this state of things
Lord WiUiam Bentinck, in 1834, moved a consi-
derable body of EngHsh troops into the country,
restored tranquillity by force of arms, and found him-
self under the necessity of assuming the administration
of the country, in which state it has continued ever
since, a large annual allowance, as stipulated by the
treaty, being placed at the disposal of the Rajah.
Before he left India, Lord WilHam Bentinck pro-
10
146
posed to restore to the Rajah the greater part of
the territories of Mysore. The Home Government,
observing that, if the Rajah's character was sufficiently
good to enable him to govern any of his territories
well, there was little reason for not restoring the whole
to him, expressed their opinion that his vices were
permanent, and they desired the administration of the
whole country to be retained till a good system of
Government was established, and security taken for its
continuance. Lord Auckland, in communicating the
decision of the Home Government to the Rajah, stated
that ** the administration of his Highness's territories
*^ should remain on its present footing until the
" arrangements for their good government should have
** been so firmly established as to be secure from
** future disturbance."
The Rajah applied for a reversal of this decision to
Sir Henry Hardinge, when he became Governor-
General in 1844, who, avoiding any direct opinion on
the subject of his restoration, desired the Commis-
sioner to furnish an account of the Mysore debt to
the British Government.
Again did the Rajah appeal, to Lord Canning.
This appeal was made in 1861. In March, 1862, Lord
Canning, after long and patient consideration of the
request, informed the Rajah of his inability to '* recog-
** nize his claim, or to admit the claim on which it was
** founded." He referred, in the course of a long
despatch, to Sir Mark Cubbon's testimony, that any
improvement that had taken place in Mysore had
been effected in spite of the counteraction he had met
147
with on the part of the Eajah and his adherents, and
that his conduct during his suspension from power
offered no security that the crisis which induced that
suspension would not recur in the event of his restora-
tion. Nothing could be clearer or more^emphatic than
Lord Canning's treatment of the question. He denied
that a pledge of restoration was ever given, and declared
that the Eajah had forfeited the administration of his
country by his misconduct, and that the British
Government intended to remain free to act as circum-
stances might render advisable.
The Eajah of Mysore, on the receipt of this
despatch, renewed his appeal to Lord Elgin, who
replied that " its allegations and reasonings did not
** shake his confidence in the propriety of the decision
*' of his predecessors."
The protest and appeal of the Eajah were referred
home to the Secretary of State in Council, and on him
rested the final decision in this important case.
On referring to the opinion of successive Governor-
Generals, Sir Charles Wood found that Lord Hardinge,
Lord Dalhousie, Lord Canning, and Lord Elgin, sup-
ported by the valuable opinion of Sir Mark Cubbon,
the chief commissioner in Mysore, had all expressed
their views against the restoration of the administration
of Mysore into the hands of the Eajah. To these
views Sir Charles Wood naturally attributed much
weight ; but to Lord Canning's especially he attached
great importance. *' The name of Lord Canning,"
said he, in his despatch supporting the opinion given
by Lord Elgin and the Indian Government, ** will for
10—2
148
" ever he associated in the history of British India
** with the most liberal pohcy towards the native
** Princes of India. That lamented statesman has
** given abundant proof, not only that questions
** affecting their rights received from him a fair and
*^ impartial consideration, but that he cherished a
** lively sympathy with their feelings and interests,
** and his opinion therefore deserves especial con-
** sideration upon the present question."
Sir Charles Wood was averse to cancel the
deliberate opinions of so many high authorities,
and, taking into consideration the interests of the
people of the country, long accustomed to the en-
lightened rule of the British Government, which they
had learnt sincerely to appreciate and to respect, he
refused to sanction the dangerous experiment of
removing the administration out of the hands of
British officers by whom the country had been so
materially benefited.
The Rajah, having since adopted a distant rela-
tive, the power of adopting an heir to his title
and his private property has been admitted ; but no
authority to adopt an heir to the raj of Mysore has
ever been conceded to him, and he has been distinctly
informed by the present Governor- General, Sir John
Lawrence, that no such concession would now be made.
In the political troubles of Affghanistan Sir Charles
Wood has consistently refused to bear a part, or to
take any action beyond affording in British territory
an asylum for refugees, and acknowledging the ch facto
rulers of that distracted country. He has thus set an
149
example of non-interference with foreign politics,
which has of late 3^ears been happily followed in this
countiy.
It was Sir Charles Wood's good fortune to intro-
duce into India a new order of knighthood to be con-
ferred alike on distinguished Europeans and distin-
guished natives. Its title is the Star of India, and its
motto, ** Heaven's light our guide."
Never since Englishmen first conquered India
has any decoration peculiar to that country been
bestowed upon its native princes. Doubtless the
conflicting elements of many creeds, the jealousies
of caste, and the rivalries of race, had deterred any
Governor- General or any government from making
an experiment likely to be attended with so many
difficulties.
It was reserved for Sir Charles Wood to be the
first to obtain the sanction of the Crown to this new
honour. More than a formal sanction was promptly
accorded by the Queen. The Prince Consort himself
took an active aud energetic interest in the details of a
measure which proved successful in overcoming all
prejudices, jealousies, and heartburnings in India.
Lord Canning added lustre to the order as its first
grand master, and it is now worn with pride by
the present Governor- General, the Nizam, Lord
Gough, Sir George Pollock, the Maharajahs of Cash-
mere, Gwahor, and Indore, Sir George Clerk, Lord
Strathnairn and others of high and distinguished
positions at home and in India. A lady knight also
adds a peculiar grace to the order, in the person of
150
the loyal and able Secunder Begum of Bhopal. So
popular and esteemed has the Star of India become,
that a second and third class of the order have
since been added, to be worn by those who have
rendered distinguished service to the State, in military
or civil capacities in India, but whose rank and position
are not suffi<?ient to place them on an equaHty with the
original knights of the order.
CHAPTER XIII.
MILITARY.
Fkom the first moment of his taking office to the
last day before his retirement, the affairs of the army,
in one shape or another, caused Sir Charles Wood
more anxiety and exhausting labour than any other
subject that came before him.
The year 1859 has been well described as being
" the year of India's suspense." The mutiny was
crushed, the protracted sieges and reliefs, the hard-
fought battles, the dearly-won victories, were all over.
Tantia Topee, the last of the rebel chiefs, had been
treacherously betrayed by his own followers, and had
expiated his crimes on the gallows ; but, though the
work of the soldier in the field was concluded, the
whole question of the future constitution of our armies
in India remained to be considered.
While the rebellion of the mutinous sepoys had
come to be looked upon as a thing of the past, another
danger little anticipated, and at the time much under-
rated, arose.
In the Bill introduced into ParHament by Lord
Stanley for the transfer of the powers and possessions
of the East India Company to the Crown, their
152
European troops Lad been transferred also, ^\ithout
a passing allusion to them, or to tlieir new posi-
tion. The transfer was, in fact, purely nominal ;
they had been the servants of the Company as the
trustees of the Crown, they became the servants of
the Crown without the intervention of the Company ;
but every right and every privilege which they had
enjoyed as soldiers of the Company were scrupulously
secured to them as soldiers of the Crown.
The men, however, tempted perhaps by an oppor-
tunity of obtaining their discharge, and a renewed
bounty on re-enlistment, or perhaps by the fancy
of a visit to England, strenuously, and even mutin-
ously, opposed their transfer to the direct service
of the Crown. This was the first of the many diffi-
culties which met Sir Charles Wood on his accession
to office.
It is important to notice at this time what was the
actual position of the European portion of the Indian
army.
Up to 1852 the European troops consisted of two
regiments of infantry in each presidency; in that
year a third regiment was added; and during the
mutiny an additional force of European soldiers was
raised, and the officers of the new artillery, cavalry,
and infantry, were taken from those of the native
artillery and native regiments which had disappeared
or been disbanded.
In the year 1858, a Eoyal Commission was
appointed to inquire into the reorganization of the
Indian army. On the question whether the European
153
forces in that country should be exckisively Eojal
artillery and cavalry, and infantry of the line, or
partly of this description, and partly a local force,
the Commission were nearly equally divided — the
members of it connected with the Indian services
being in favour of a local service, — the other members
being opposed to such a system. They reported,
however, in favour of an exclusively line army. Lord
Stanley, how^ever, decided, against the report of the
Commissioners, that the European forces in India
should be partly local and partly general.
Upon Sir Charles Wood becoming Secretary of
State for India, the European troops in the service of
the East India Company amounted to 24,000, being
in excess of the numbers authorized by law to be
maintained by them. It was necessary, there-
fore, that an Act should be passed, legahzing this
excess.
In introducing a Bill for that purpose into Parlia-
ment, Sir Charles Wood had announced his deter-
mination to abide by the decision of his predecessors
in office, and to maintain a local army for India.
The mutinous conduct of the European troops,
however, convinced Lord Palmerston's Government that
it was not expedient to maintain in the Queen's army
a body of European troops exclusively for ser\dce in
India, and other reasons, indeed, led to the same con-
clusions.
The disclosures made during the inquiries into the
late disaffection of the European troops, had converted
Sir Hugh Eose, Sir William Mansfield, and Sir Patrick
154
Grant, from being advocates of the local force, into
supporters of a contrary system.
The discipline of the old Indian army was con-
fessedly and notoriously inferior to that of the
Queen's troops, and it was acknowledged that long
service in a tropical climate deteriorated troops in that
respect as well as others. Lord Clyde urged that it
was ** absolutely necessary not to trust to local
** corps, but to put faith alone in a discipline which is
** constantly renovated by return to England, and the
** presence of officers with their regiments who look
*' on these as their homes."
In June, 1860, therefore, Sir Charles Wood intro-
duced into the House of Commons his proposal for
the reorganization of the Indian army, in a Bill
entitled '' The European Forces Bill,"
The difficulty of this question, great enough in
itself, was increased by the opposition of the Council
of India, whose members fondly clung to the recol-
lection of the old service with which they had been
associated, and in which some of them, perhaps, had
passed some of their happiest days.
They urged on financial grounds, that, as India
paid for the whole of her military expenditure, none of
the troops should be liable at any time to be with-
drawn for Colonial or European purposes. On the
same grounds it was argued that the expense of a
Koyal army far exceeded that of a local force. The
proposals of the Government were further opposed,
on the grounds of acclimatization being necessary
for the troops employed in India, the impolicy of
155
placing more authority in the hands of the Horse
Guards, and the difficulties of checking patronage and
expenditure.
The soundness of these arguments was very
questionable.
The matter was one of such a character, that it
had to be looked at from an Imperial rather than
from a departmental point of view. It was very
carefully considered, therefore, by Lord Palmerston's
Government, and it was ultimately determined by
them to discontinue the local European troops, and to
provide for the whole of the European force to be
stationed in India, by increasing the artillery, cavalry,
and infantry of the line, in the Queen's general army.
All the European troops in India were to be
relieved periodically, as those, regiments of cavalry
and infantry had been, %hich for many years had
formed the largest portion of the European force in
India.
It was not to be expected that this measure, as
to the expediency of which the opinions of the
great authorities in India materially differed, would
pass imchallenged in the House of Commons. Lord
Stanley and Sir De Lacy Evans both spoke in favour
of the maintenance of a local force ; but the opposition
in Paiiiament was not sufficient to defeat the measure,
which was passed by large majorities; and the amal-
gamation, or more properly the conversion of the
European troops of the Indian army into troops for
general service, was finally adopted.
The European soldiers of the East India Company
156
had the option of volunteering for the Queen's ser-
vice, and with few exceptions both officers and men
availed themselves of the offer, the latter receiving a
small bounty. Fourteen brigades of artillery, three
regiments of cavalry, and nine regiments of infantry,
were added to the estabhshment of the Queen's regular
forces, and this part of the army question was thus
satisfactorily brought to a close.
The insubordination of the European troops, how-
ever, w^as not the only difficulty that had to be
overcome.
The native army in India consisted, before the
mutiny, of seventy-four regular regiments in Bengal,
fifty-two in Madras, and thirty in Bombay. The
number of officers attached to each infantry regiment
was twenty-six, to each cavalry regiment twenty-four ;
but, according to the invariable practice, a certain
portion, not exceeding seven, of these officers was
withdrawn from their regiments for service in other
y( ways. Besides these troops, there were irregular
j regiments, with only three European officers, and
I these W'ere generally admitted to be the corps d'elite
\ of the whole army.
The regular army had, as far as Bengal was con-
cerned, almost ceased to exist ; for, whereas before
the outbreak of the mutiny there were eighty-four
regiments, cavalry and infantry, in 1859 only seven-
teen were left, though the officers of all the original
regiments remained. In Madras, the former number
of regiments still existed, and in Bombay there had
been only a small diminution of numbers; so that^
157
including the new levies embodied during the mutiny,
the whole army in India amounted to 260,000.
It was indispensable to take into serious considera-
tion the question of what was to be done with the
native army. The danger of an overgrown native
force, the pressure upon the finances and on the
maintenance of so large a number of men, the pro-
spects of peace, all pointed alike to reduction. But,
beyond the diminution of numbers, it was thought
expedient, partly with a view to improve the character
of the regiments, partly from considerations of expense,
to change the organization of the army, and to adopt
the system which had worked so successfully in what
were called the irregular regiments, with a smaller V
number of picked officers, receiving higher allowances.
That the effects of this reorganization were advan-
tageous to the native officers and soldiers was never
disputed ; but the question as to the European officers
of the native army was different altogether. The
diminution of force naturally led to a diminished
number of officers, and the change in the organi-
zation of the army rendered the reduction still larger.
A considerable number of officers thus became super-
numerary.
Had such a reduction taken place in the British
army, the difficulty would have been met by placing
all supernumeraries on the half-pay list ; but such had
not been hitherto the practice of the Indian Govern-
ment. The fact was, that ever since our possession of
India, our territories, and consequently our armies, had
always been on the increase ; so that only once since
158
the East India Company existed had any reduction, and
that a very small one, taken place. It is obvious that
no question could be more difficult of solution than one
in which the personal claims and personal interests of
so many officers were concerned. Nothing daunted,
however, Sir Charles Wood encountered the Herculean
task, which has proved not less difficult than he antici-
pated, and has lasted to the end of his administration,
with all its technical details, all its grievances— some
real, some imaginary, but none that were intentional,
and none which, when proved, it has not been sought
to redress, by the incessant care and attention of those
to whom the execution of details was entrusted, and
by labour almost incredible.
If Sir Charles Wood experienced opposition from
the Council in originating and proposing these great
measures, he met with their cordial and hearty support
in carrying them out.
It had been a frequent subject of complaint that
the efficiency of the old local European and native
regiments was most seriously affected by the large
number of officers, _and those the most capable, being
withdrawn from service with their regiments for staff
employment. Under the term *' staff" employment
were included appointments in all branches of public
works, telegraph, surveys, engineering, ordnance,
political, commissariat, stud, and pay departments,
besides the general staff of the army. Those that
were so taken for civil employment became naturally
unaccustomed to their military duties, and, what
is perhaps of more importance, they lost their
159
interest in the men of their regiments, were un-
known and without influence with their brother
officers and their soldiers, while those that were not
so favoured were inclined to be discontented and dis-
satisfied, aiming not so much at military proficiency,
and an acquaintance with their men and their regi-
mental duties, as at future employment in places of
superior emolument and greater interest.
It had been a subject of frequent discussion during
the existence of the late East India Company, how
to meet this crying evil and to provide officers for the
various situations in which their services were required,
without impairing the efficiency of the regiments.
The only scheme which afforded the means of
attaining so desirable an end, was the formation of
a Staff Corps, which had been frequently recommended
by high authorities, including such men as Sir John
Lawrence, Lord Elphinstone, Sir Bartle Frere, Sir
Herbert Edwardes, and Sir Patrick Grant, the
last of whom expressed his hope that under this
system the European officers would look upon their
.regiments as theh^ homes. ** To be attached," he
wrote, ** to a native corps would be considered one
*' of the prizes of the service ; and the permanent
'* association between officers and men that must
*' ensue, would more than anything tend to restore
** the old feeling of mutual respect and attachment
** which, in the early days of British power in India,
** united the native soldier and his European officer."
The institution of a staff corps was also recommended
by a committee presided over by Lord Hotham, which
160
sat for the purpose of considering the measures to be
adopted for the amalgamation of the Indian forces.
Besides the improved efficiency of the army anti-
cipated from such a change, the financial part of the
question was well worthy of consideration. A sum,
it was calculated, of 330,000 L per annum would be
saved to the revenues of India by^the change.
It was determined, therefore, to organize a Staff
Corps to which both Indian and Queen's officers might
be appointed, but which would be ultimately filled up
by candidates selected from the Queen's general ser-
vice ; while those officers of the Indian forces who had
not been transferred to the Queen's army or joined the
Stafi" Corps, would be employed as heretofore with native
regiments, or in various situations on the staff.
On the 16th of January, 1861, Sir Charles Wood
advised the issue of a royal warrant, authorizing the
formation of a staff corps to provide officers for general
employment, as well as for regiments which had been
placed on the irregular system.
One of the chief difficulties attendant upon the
new order of things, was to devise the best system of
promotion for the officers in the staff corps. The fluc-
tuation of the number as the necessity for more or less
officers was felt, prevented the adoption of any scheme
but that of length of service ; and indeed. Lord Hotham's
committee had recommended ** promotion in the staff
** corps to be governed by length of service, and to be
** irrespective of departmental position."
The option of joining this corps was given to
all officers of the Indian army wdio were in staff
161
employment, or who had been so within a certain
time, and the benefit of counting towards promotion,
time previously served in such employment, as if it
had been in the staff corps, was accorded to those
officers who entered it on its formation.
Upwards of 1,300 officers availed themselves of
this privilege, which, in very many cases, gave addi-
tional promotion, as well as additional pay.
This liberality on the part of the Government led
to complaints from those who, remaining in the position
of regimental officers only, were thus liable to a super-
session in army rank. Sufficient precautions were taken
to prevent their being superseded in regimental duties.
These complaints were pressed upon Sir Charles
Wood, who, Vvdth every anxiety to remedy any
reasonable grievance, appointed, in 1863, a commis-
sion, presided over by Lord Cranworth, and com-
prising Lord Ellenborough, Lord Hotham, and Mr.
Henley (the mover of the original parliamentary
clause, guaranteeing to the officers of the old Indian
armies, all those '* advantages as to pay, pensions,
** allowances, privileges, promotion, and otherwise,"
which they would have enjoyed, had they continued
in the service of the East India Company), as well as
Sir Charles Yorke, General Clarke, and Sir Peter
Melvill, " to inquire into and examine whether any
*' departure from the assurances given by Parhament
'* had taken place by reason of the measures which
** have been taken since the passing of the first-
** mentioned Act for the better government of India,
** by the Secretary of State in Council, or by the
11
162
" Government or military authorities in India, to-
*' wards such reorganization and amalgamation as
" aforesaid."
This commission made their report in November,
1863, having classed and arranged the various com-
plaints they had received from officers under thirteen
heads, the principal of which were the following : —
1. Retention on cadres of names of officers trans-
ferred to the staff corps.
2. Retention on the cadres of European regiments
of the names of officers who joined the representative
line regiments.
3. Injury to the remaining officers, from the
greater healthiness of service in the staff corps.
4. Or in representative regiments.
5. Retardation in attaining colonel's allowances in
ordnance corps.
6. Injury to officers as regards funds for retirement.
7. Discontinuance of Indian allowances to regi-
mental colonels residing in India.
8. Cancelling an order for ante-dating commis-
sions in ordnance corps.
On three points the commissioners considered that
the parliamentary guarantee had been infringed; the
first being the immediate and prospective supersession
in rank of regimental officers, by those in the staff
corps, which was the inevitable consequence of the
rule regulating promotion in the staff corps, and
especially of that which allowed previous staff service
to count towards the period of service quahfying for
promotion in the staff corps.
163
Measures were at once adopted for remedying this
complaint, on its being pronounced by the commis-
sioners to be well founded ; and it was decided to give
brevet rank to the regimental officers of the Indian
army, and local rank to the officers of the line serving
in India, from the formation of the staff corps, so that
from that date the whole of the officers of the Indian
army, including the staff corps, will be promoted in
army rank after the same periods of service. Sir
Hugh Rose, now Lord Strathnairn, with all his
affection for the officers of the Indian army, with
whom his name is so nobly associated, recorded his
opinion that these measures adequately met the com-
plaint of supersession, and the Government of India
declared that all substantial ground of complaint was
removed.
The two other points were — the retention, on the
cadres of native corps, of the names of officers who
joined the new line regiments, and the arrangements
for the future promotion of officers of the Indian army
to the rank of general officers.
To obviate the first of these two complaints. Sir
Charles Wood directed that the names of all officers
who have joined the new line regiments from the
native ca"«alry and infantry should be removed from
the cadres, and that promotion should take place in
the vacancies so caused.
To remedy the second, the provisions of the royal
warrant, regulating the future amalgamation of the
field officers of the British and Indian armies, were
modified, so as to retain the whole of the officers of
11—3
1C4
the cavalry and infantry of the Indian army, on the
general list of that service as before, for promotion to
the rank of general officers.
Thus were the three points in which the parlia-
mentary guarantee was reported to have been infringed
dealt with in a generous and comprehensive spirit.
There were two complaints on which the Royal
Commission expressed no positive opinion.
These were : —
1st. The regulation by which twelve years is made
the period of service in the grade of lieutenant-
colonel, for the attainment of colonel's allowances.
2nd. The reduction of the regimental lieutenant-
colonels by making promotion in succession to one-
half only of the officers of that rank, who accepted the
special annuities offered to them on retirement in 1861.
The period of twelve years was adopted, on what
was considered as a fair calculation, being somewhat
more than the time recently taken to pass through the
colonels' grade in Bengal and Bombay, but less than
that in Madras ; and this term was so fixed absolutely,
only in respect to the officers who attained the rank of
lieutenant-colonel after the 1st of January, 1862, and
whose promotion to that rank had been accelerated by
the liberal scheme of retirement.
The officers who were lieutenant -colonels before
1862 have attained to the colonels' allowance under
the previously existing rules, unless, as was the case
with many officers of the Madras army, the new rule
was more favourable to them.
With regard to the second complaint, that the
165
number of lieutenant-colonels was reduced by pro-
motion in succession to one- half only of the retire-
ments in 1861, it must not be forgotten that these
retirements were the result of an extraordinary
measure, involving considerable expense, which gave
special annuities to a larger number of officers, who
were thereby induced to retire.
It was impossible to contend that the guarantee
could have been intended to prevent the Crown, if, in
the interest of India and of the empire at large, it
should deem it necessary, from reducing the number
of the Indian army. And, when the native army was
reduced by 135,000 men, it could not with justice be
made a matter of complaint that the number of
colonels' allowances should be gradually diminished.
The Government, on the reduction, did not place a
single officer on half-pay ; and, with the exception of
this diminution of colonels' allowances, they continued
their full allowance, as well as promotion, to those
officers for whom, owing to the various circumstances
mentioned above, there was no employment.
Lord Cranworth's commission had reported that, if
it was impossible to retain all the advantages enjoyed
under the East India Company, some counterbalancing
benefit should be given in compensation for them.
It would be too long a task to explain in detail all
the advantages accumulated upon officers by the mea-
sures of the Government. A few examples will show
that they were many and great.
The immediate efi'ect, in a pecuniary sense, was to
increase the pay, pensions, and emoluments, in one
V
166
shape or another, of the existing officers, by more than
a quarter of a million sterling.
A glance at the number of promotions to substantive
rank in the three Indian armies in the four years ending
January, 1857, and the four years ending January,
1865, will show how the promotions have increased.
In the latter period there were 233 promotions to
the rank of lieutenant-colonel, against eighty-four in
the former ; to that of major there were 534 against
142; and to the grade of captain, 616 against 585, or
against 409, if 176, which were due to augmentation,
be withdrawn from the calculation.
These advantages were with great fulness demon-
strated to the House of Commons, by Sir Charles
Wood, in a debate brought on by Captain Jervis ; but,
unfortunately for the encouragement of an agitation
damaging to the discipline of the army, on a division
in a thin House, an address was carried praying the
Crown to ** redress all such grievances complained of
*^ by the officers of the late Indian army as were
" admitted by the commission on the memorials of
** officers to have arisen by a departure from the
" assurance given by Parliament."
Another commission was thereupon issued for the
purpose of inquiring into the effect of the measures
already adopted with this object.
This commission having only to deal with questions
affecting pay and promotion, was composed entirely of
officers of the army. General Sir John Aitchison
acted as chairman, and it rested with them, according
to the instructions they had received, to report whether
167
the brevet rank given to all officers of tlie Indian army
efifectually removed the cause of the complaint that
regimental officers might, in certain contingencies, be
superseded in rank and command by officers of the
staff corps; whether any retardation of promotion
which might hereafter take place in a few cases, from
not filling up all the vacancies caused by the extra-
ordinary retirements, and fixing twelve years as the
term of service in the rank of lieutenant- colonel, con-
sequent on the great reduction of the army, is to be
considered as a departure from the parliamentary
guarantee; and, if so, whether the increased pay,
pensions, and general acceleration of promotion con-
ferred on officers, are not an adequate counterbalancing
benefit.
It was in the autumn of 1865 that the commissioners
made their report, pointing out where the measures
taken fell short of what was required for removing the
causes of complaint, or for giving such counter-
balancing benefit in lieu thereof. Their report received
from Sir Charles Wood immediate and constant atten-
tion, but his accident and subsequent resignation of
office prevented his completing the task he had under-
taken. The question was left to his successor Lord
de Grey, and it was well that Lord Russell's choice fell
on one whose previous official career had been exclu-
sively connected either with India, as Under Secretary,
or with the English army, as Under Secretary and
Secretary of State for the War Department. Con-
versant as he thus had become with all military matters,
and assisted by Mr. Stansfeld as his under secretary.
168
and the military members of the council, he at once
gave his best consideration to the settlement of the
matter. Indeed a despatch was actually prepared
under his directions, but not signed, when Lord Russell's
administration resigned office.
Lord de Grey did not consider himself justified
in settling so important a matter on the eve of his
retirement, but left his opinions and his despatch to
his successor, who shortly after, in the House of
Commons, enunciated the measures to be adopted by
the Government for the remedy of the alleged
grievances of the officers of the Indian army.
He adopted entirely the conclusions which had
been arrived at by his predecessor in office with regard
to all the points touched on in the report of Sir John
Aitchison's commission. All officers belonging to that
army before the amalgamation, were to be allow^ed to
join the Staff Corps without any condition or test
whatsoever.
And further. Lord Cranborne issued instructions to
the Government of India, for compensating, to some~
extent, the officers who could prove that they had not
received an equivalent advantage for the sums which
they had from time to time contributed, for purchasing
out their regimental superiors.
Every one who has the interests of the Indian
army at heart, will wish that this long-vexed question
may now for ever be set at rest, and will join with the
present Secretary of State in hoping, **that all who
'* have taken up the case will use their influence to do
** all they can to put a stop to a system of agitation,
169
*' most mischievous to the Indian service, and most
** inconsistent with the ordinary attitude which officers
*^ ought to assume towards the Government."
If the measures adopted for the amalgamation of
the army did not give the satisfaction that they ought
to have done to individuals who were too apt to con-
sider, not w^hether they themselves had been fairly dealt
with, but whether others had not, amidst many neces-
sary changes, been more fortunate than they, it is
consohng to find that there were other mihtary changes
during this period on which there can be little or no
difference of opinion.
In 1863 sanitary'commissions were nominated in
each Presidency, in accordance with the recommenda-
tion of a sanitary commission appointed in 1859 to
inquire into the best means of selecting the sites of
military stations, improving the health, and preventing
epidemic and other diseases incidental to the British
soldier serving in India.
Sir Hugh Rose's noble efforts for the amelioration
of the condition of the soldier in the East were at all
times cordially approved and seconded at home.
Workshops, as w^ell as gardens, gymnasia, fives-
courts, baths, cricket-grounds, skittle-alleys, refresh-
ment-rooms, have all been instituted to reheve the
soldier from the depression and lassitude of an ener-
vating climate ; additional pay was given ; the period
of service entitling them to good-conduct pay w^as
reduced ; the odious order of 1836 instituting *^ half
batta " for all troops within 200 miles of presidency
towns, in consequence of the supposed facility with
170
which they obtained supplies from England, was with-
drawn, and full batta granted to all soldiers, wherever
stationed.
In 1864 fifty good-service pensions were announced
for officers of distinguished and meritorious service,
and a capitation allowance was granted to all effective
members of Volunteer Corps.
All these benefits could not be given without a
corresponding charge on the revenues ; but the addi-
tional outlay will not be considered ill spent, if it should
be proved that there is a compensation in the shape of
increased health and comfort, and prolonged life, to
the soldier, and new popularity to a service on which
much of our prosperity and safety in India depends.
CHAPTEK XIV.
POLICE.
The subject of the reform of the police in India
engrossed much of Sir Charles Wood's attention.
The mihtary character it had assumed, and its increased
numbers, had entailed enormous charges on the Indian
revenues.
'^ Hordes of military police and local levies, whose
" name was legion," said an article in the Calcutta
Bevietv of June, 1861, ** and whose aggregate nume-
" rical strength has probably never been accurately
*' known to any one, had grown up in every district,
** pervaded every town, and patrolled every highway,
** and bid fair, if allowed to remain undisturbed, to
** become as great a source of anxiety in the future as
** the pretorian Sepoys had proved in the past, while
** for the time being they consumed the revenue of
** the country."
There were many systems, no one like another,
and no uniformity of plan or discipline. In Madras
alone a purely civil force had been organized, respon-
sible only to an inspector-general, who was to be in
direct communication with the Government. It was
172
impossible, howeyer, having in \iew the many require-
ments of various districts, to dispense altogether with
an armed police throughout India, but it was advisable
to define more clearly the duties of the civil and
mihtaiy forces.
In July, 1860, an able and exhaustive memo-
randum, embodying the views of Sir Charles Wood
on the principles on which a pohce force was to be
organized throughout India, was sent to the several
presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay,
Lord Canning, seeing at once the pressing nature
of the subject, appointed a police commission, its
members being carefully selected from men of expe-
rience from all parts of the country.
In consequence of the unanimous report of that
commission. Act V. of 1861 was passed in the Legis-
lative Council of India, and a civil constabulary is now
introduced in all the presidencies, their duties being to
preserve tranquillity in ordinary times, to protect life
and property, and to perform many duties heretofore
discharged by sepoys, such as furnishing guards for
escort of buUion, for gaols, for pubhc treasuries, &c.
An improved poHce has enabled Government not
only largely to reduce the number of native troops,
but has to an incalculable extent restored disciphne to
regiments who, under the old system, were constantly
broken up and scattered on detached duties, considered
by all military men to be eminently subversive of proper
regimental control and discipline.
The supervision of the police is henceforward to be
intrusted to European officers, themselves responsible
173
to a chief appointed directly for that purpose, and
subordinate only to the local Governments.
The new system, from the trial that has already
been made of it, holds out every prospect that it will
prove really efficient and far superior to the old and
e£fete system which it has supplanted. ** We believe,"
said an Indian waiter, *' the w^heels of police adminis-
'^ tration have now got into the right groove, and we
'* look with confidence to the experience of the next
" ten years to bear us out in our conclusions, and to
*' justify our hopes."
Sir Charles Wood was also desirous of seeing
vigorous and effective measures taken for the improve-
ment of the village watch, who were to be carefully
selected, and to be placed under proper and sufficient
superintendence, under the control of the magistrate.
No great reform in the village watch could w^ll be
carried out without the co-operation and assistance of
the heads of the villages, the landholders, and local
chiefs. Sir Charles Wood w^as anxious to follow up,
throughout India, the judicious course pursued by
Lord Canning in Oude and the Punjab, and to invest
the Native country gentlemen with considerable magis-
terial and executive powers; and he impressed upon
the Government of India the value of enlisting the
influence of the landed proprietors in favour of the
public interests, not only by law, but by the steady
pursuit, on the part of the magistrates, of such con-
ciliatory measures as should lead them to consider
themselves as parties concerned in the general admi-
nistration of the country, rather than as servants of
the district authorities.
CHAPTEK XV.
NAVY.
In the beginning of 1860 great uneasiness prevailed
among many thinking men in India, on account of the
insufficiency of the naval defences of our British
possessions in the Indian Seas ; the Indian Navy,
gallant as her officers and able as her seamen had
proved themselves, was of course utterly unable to
cope with the overwhelming forces that any large
European power might bring against it, and many
years and many millions of money would hardly serve
to put it in a position capable of defending our
Eastern Empire. Indeed, even for the purposes for
which it was intended, of suppressing piracy and slave
trade in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, its condi-
tion was far from satisfactory ; many of the larger and
most expensive ships were almost useless for any
service, were under-officered and under-manned, and
the uncertainty of its future as a fighting navy had
affected all classes and seriously impaired its former
efficiency. *' Its extinction was most desirable,'*
wrote Lord Canning; *' it is a service extravagant
" to the state, disheartening to the officers, and
** utterly inefficient, owing to its nature, not to the
175
** fault of officers or men." It was necessary that
some remedy should be devised for this state of
affairs, and the subject had to be regarded by Sir
Charles Wood from an European as well as an
Indian point of view. He decided upon its aboli-
tion as a fighting service, retaining only a sufficient
number of vessels for purposes of surveying, transport,
(fee. In the first instance the number of ships in
commission was reduced as far as practicable, and
those that were not absolutely required, were directed
to be sold; it was not therefore till 1863 that the
abolition of the Indian navy was actually accomplished.
No appreciable dissatisfaction at the measures
adopted has been created ; officers of all ranks and
grades have been pensioned on a liberal scale, and
the local Governments directed, in all cases when it
is possible, to employ the officers of the late Indian
navy, where suitable opportunities present themselves,
the men being discharged gradually, and with due
regard to the demand for their services in the mer-
cantile marine. The defence of the seaboard of India
is now altogether intrusted to the Koyal Navy, and the
Cape of Good Hope command is extended to the East
Indies, with the addition of a commodore, whose head
quarters are at Bombay.
The wisdom of this arrangement is very evident,
remedying as it does all the objections raised against
the insufficiency of Indian Naval defence, while the
enormous expenditure which would have been required
to place the existing navy in a proper fighting position,
has been obviated.
176
Much correspondence with the various offices at
home has taken place respecting the transport of Indian
rehefs and their passage through Egypt, instead of
the long sea voyage round the Cape of Good Hope.
After considerable discussion, and notwithstanding
some objections, it has been determined that the service
shall commence in the autumn of 1867, by which time
^ye first-class steam transports, it is expected, wdll
be completed, and ready for service. This means of
transport wdll be much more economical than the old
service round the Cape, and will, naturally, be far
more rapid and advantageous to the discipline of the
troops, which is always apt to deteriorate in long sea
passages. The service will only be conducted during
those months which are adapted in a sanitary point of
view for the passage and landing of the troops in
India.
GHAPTEK XVI.
CONCLUSION.
It was in the autumn of 1865 that Sir Charles
Wood had an accident in the hunting-field, which,
though exaggerated at the time, was nevertheless so
severe as to compel him, in the beginning of the
following year, to resign his ojBfice of Secretary of
State for India to a younger colleague in the Cabinet,
anxious to continue the liberal poUcy developed in his
predecessor's administration.
It was impossible that Sir Charles Wood could
have witnessed, without some feelings of pride and
satisfaction, the sincere regret caused by his retirement
from the field of Indian politics. To him, the enforced
relinquishment of a life's pursuit must inevitably have
been a source of much regret. To those associated
with him in official business it was a matter of deep
sorrow, and at the council- table, when he announced
his retirement, there were few^ who could trust their
voices to express the emotion which they felt. Though
Sir Charles Wood had frequently differed with indivi-
dual councillors, his masterly conduct of business, his
quick appreciation of merit, his experience and know-
12
178
ledge, his frank manners, and his liberal consideration
for the feelings and opinions of others, had won a
place in every heart, and those who had differed from
him the most, were not those who regretted his loss
the least.
Nor was it only with those who personally knew
him that this feeHng existed. The native princes
of India, the wealthy merchants of Bombay, the
talookdars of Oude, the poor and needy ryots of
Bengal, — all vied with each other in the expression
of their regret. ** The native press knew well to
** whom was due the credit of the successful and bene-
** ficent administration of India,*' which, to quote the
words of the address of the British and Indian Associa-
tion, ** has nobly sustained the authority and dignity of
** her Majesty's Government in her Indian territories;
'* which has strengthened by new bonds of attachment
** the confidence and sympathy of the princes and
** chiefs of the country, which has, above all, steadily
** sought to govern the empire in consonance with
*' justice and the true interests of her teeming millions.
** Indeed, from one end to the other, the country rings
" with the praises of Sir Charles Wood. We might
** have, but for his too rigid justice and impartiality,
** been cursed by the European adventurer, whose
** claims to superior privileges by reason of colour and
** creed he would not admit ; but he has the blessings,
** spontaneous and sincere, of two hundred millions of
** feUow-creatures, whose good he has sought with a
** single-minded zeal. If the conscious satisfaction of
'* having discharged his duty and advanced the cause
179
** of humanity and justice constitute the best and
** richest reward which a statesman can reap in this
*' world, Sir Charles Wood has that reward. May he
** reign over us for all the time God may be pleased
** to spare him to serve his fellow-men."
THE END.
Ox_
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