India Under British Rule

Calcutta a corruption of Kali-Ghat, 125 note

Keane, Sir John, captures fortress of Ghazni, 146;

created Baron of Ghazni, 147

Khalsas, the Sikh, 155;

army of, 156;

sent to plunder India, 158;

defeated at Sobraon, 159;

broken up, 164

Khyber Pass, British disaster in, 151;

faces Peshawar, 225

Korygaum, glorious action of sepoys, 118

Kumaon, ceded to the British by Nipal, 109

L

Lacouperie, Professor Terrien de, on the right and left hand castes, 39 note

Lahore, Council of Regency at, 161;

sepoy mutinies at, 223, 224;

European strength, 243

Lake, General, commander-in-chief of the Bengal army, 94;

his campaign in Hindustan, 94, 95;

attacks Holkar, 96;

fails to reduce Bhurtpore, 97, 98

Lawrence, Sir Henry, Resident at Lahore after first Sikh war, 161, 164;

chief commissioner of Oudh, 202;

suppresses a mutiny at Lucknow, 216;

holds a public durbar for rewarding sepoys, 259;

preparations for the defence of Lucknow, 260;

wounded at Chinhut, 261;

dies, 265

Lawrence, John, chief commissioner of the Punjab, 165;

patriarchal rule, 166;

land settlement, 167;

telegram to General Anson, 217;

executions at Peshawar, 226;

sends Punjab "Guides" to Delhi, ib.;

proposes to withdraw from Peshawar, 228;

overruled by Lord Canning, 229;

disarms all Bengal sepoys in the Punjab, ib.;

created a baronet and afterwards a peer, 286 note;

Viceroy and Governor-General, 286;

yearly migrations to Simla, 288;

relations with Sir Henry Durand, 289;

leaves India, 293;

burial in Westminster Abbey, 294

Legislation, no code of laws, 13;

powers of, granted to the Governor-General in Council, 69;

legislative council created in 1833 under the charter, 139;

new legislative council of 1854 under Lord Dalhousie, 179;

new Penal Code, 180;

new legislative council of 1861-2, 284;

relations of cabinet and council, 293;

proposed changes, 301

Lucknow, capital of Oudh, description of, 203;

the British Residency, ib.;

first mutiny suppressed by Sir Henry Lawrence, ib.;

further durbar for rewarding loyal sepoys, 259;

general mutiny, 261;

hostility of the city, 263;

disaster at Chinhut, ib.;

British Residency besieged by mutineers and rebels, 264;

death of Sir Henry Lawrence, 265;

anarchy in the city, ib.;

retreat of Havelock, 266;

desperate defence, 267;

advance of Havelock and Outram, 268;

triumphant entry, 269;

final relief of Sir Colin Campbell, 271

Lumsden, Sir Peter, his mission to Candahar, 181

Lytton, Lord, Viceroy, 295;

proclaims Her Majesty as Empress of India, 295;

the second Afghan war, 296

M

Macaulay (Mr., afterwards Lord) appointed legal member of the Council of India, 139;

drafts the Penal Code, 180

Macnaghten, Sir William, British minister at Cabul, 146, 147;

his difficulties, 148;

murdered by Akbar Khan, 149, 150

Macrae, Mr., Governor of Madras, in the olden time, 31

Madras, foundation of fortress, 7;

growth of Fort St. George and Black Town, 8;

wars of the Right and Left Hands, 10;

first Hindu town under British rule, 13;

Asiatic revolt against European taxation, 14, 15;

corporation founded, 16;

trade in slaves, 18;

abolished and revived, 21, 22;

flourishing private trade, 23;

Governors Pitt and Macrae, 31;

Madras captured by the French, 32;

restored, 33;

village communities of Southern India, 131;

creation of zemindars, 132;

establishment of ryotwari, 134

Maharajpore, battle of, 154

Mahrattas, raids on the Mogul empire quieted by the payment of "chout," or black-mail, 28;

origin of Mahratta power, 71;

rise of the Peishwa and his feudatories—Sindia, Holkar, and the Gaekwar, 72;

first British war against the Mahrattas, 73;

refuse the British alliance, 89;

rise of Sindia, 92;

acceptance of British suzerainty by the Peishwa, ib.;

campaigns of Wellesley and Lake, 94, 95;

Holkar's defiance and successes, 97;

non-intervention, 99;

disaffection, 111;

hostility, 115;

final establishment of British supremacy, 116, 119;

see also Sindia and Holkar

Malcolm, Sir John, sent on missions to Persia, 91, 103;

negotiations with the Mahrattas, 112, 113;

defeats Holkar, 117;

captures the Peishwa, 119

Mayo, Lord, Viceroy and Governor-General, 294;

his tragic death, ib.

Meerut, sepoy mutinies, 206-212

Mehidpore, battle of, 117

Metcalfe, Charles, his mission to Runjeet Singh at Lahore, 102;

Governor-General, 140

Minto, Lord, Governor-General, 101

Mogul, empire in India, 2;

his vengeance on the Portuguese at Hughly, 20;

conquers the Deccan, 21;

breaking up, 31;

enthronement of a Great Mogul in the British factory at Patna, 48;

settlement of Lord Clive, 54;

flight to Delhi with the Mahrattas, 57;

a pensioner of the British government, 95;

makes common cause with the rebel sepoys, 209, 216;

banishment to Rangoon, 231 note

Mohammedans, proportion of, in the Bengal sepoy army, 191;

conversion of Hindus by force, 196, 210;

revolt of Delhi, fanatics preaching rebellion, 220;

capture of Delhi, 231

Moira, Lord, Governor-General, 110;

see Hastings, Marquis of

Monro, Sir Hector, victory at Buxar, 52;

takes possession of Oudh, 52

Monson, Colonel, disastrous retreat from Holkar, 97, 98

Moodki, battle of, 158

Mornington, Lord, see Wellesley, Marquis of

Mulraj, Sikh governor of Multan, his revolt, 161;

murder of two British officers, ib.;

surrenders, 164

Munro, Thomas, his career, 133, 134;

his conservatism, 299

Munsifs, or civil judges, appointed, 80

Mutinies, see Sepoy

Mysore, Raja, restored to the throne of Mysore, 87

Mysore, conquest of, by the British army, 86;

restoration of a Hindu Raja, 87;

Mohammedan mutiny at Vellore, 100, 188;

brought under British rule, 221;

restored to Hindu rule, 292

N

Nadir, Shah, checkmates Russia, 143;

invades India, 144;

an Asiatic Napoleon, ib.

Nagpore, 111;

plottings against the British government, 116;

annexed by Lord Dalhousie, 176

Nana Sahib, a protégé of the ex-Peishwa of the Mahrattas, 245;

his preposterous claims against the British government, ib.;

pertinacity and cunning, 246;

pretended loyalty at Cawnpore, 249;

deludes the British, 250;

unpopularity with the Bengal sepoys, ib.;

joins the sepoy mutineers, 251;

parleying and perfidy, 253;

massacre of Europeans, 254;

his triumph, ib.;

his terrors, 255;

his army defeated by Havelock, 257;

massacre of women and children, 258;

flight into Oudh, ib.

Nanuk Guru, founder of the Sikh religion, 154;

his teaching, 155

Napier, Sir Charles, defeats Amirs of Sind, 152;

supersedes Lord Gough, 164

Natives, see Asiatic

Neill, Colonel, his advance towards Allahabad and Cawnpore, 234;

delayed at Benares, 238;

at Allahabad, ib.;

restores order, 242;

joined by Havelock, 256

Newars, Buddhist people of Nipal, 106

Nicholson, John, the sainted warrior, 227;

worshipped by the Sikhs, ib.;

crushes the rebel sepoy brigade from Sealkote, 229;

mortally wounded at Delhi, 231

Nipal, Ghorka conquest of, 106;

aggressions on British territory, 107;

war, 108;

peace, 110

Nizam of the Deccan, 33, 82;

disbandment of his French battalions, 83;

accepts subsidiary alliance with the British government, 89;

political relations, 290 note

Non-intervention, policy of, 82;

sad results, 99;

bad effects in Rajputana, 106;

in the Punjab, 158

Northbrook, Lord, Viceroy and Governor-General, 295

North-West Provinces, land settlement of, 167;

revolt and suppression, 231

Nott, General, at Candahar, 146, 151;

advances on Cabul, 152

Nundcomar, his charges against Warren Hastings, 67;

arrested on charge of forgery, ib.;

trial and execution, ib.

O

Ochterlony, Colonel, defends Delhi from Holkar, 97;

services in the war against Nipal, 109;

operations against Bhurtpore, 216

Orissa, a province of Bengal, 44, 127;

village communities, 129

Oudh, old aggressions on Bengal, 44, 47;

settlement of Lord Clive with the Nawab Vizier, 53;

case of the Begums, 76;

acquisitions of Lord Wellesley, 91;

annexation by Lord Dalhousie, 177, 178;

land settlement, 182;

disaffection of the talukdars, 183;

discontent of sepoys, 184, 190, 202;

Sir Henry Lawrence, chief commissioner, 203;

disaffection, 220;

mutiny and rebellion, 259, 262;

peace restored, 272;

causes of revolt, 273;

settlement of Lord Lawrence with the talukdars, 292

Outram, Sir James, his mission to the Persian Gulf, 181;

joins Havelock, 269;

chief commissioner of Oudh, 270

P

Parliament, interference in India, 75, 135;

Charters of 1813 and 1833;

opening out trade, etc., 138;

creates the Legislative Council of India, and introduces competitive examinations, 178;

transfers India from the Company to the Crown, 275;

Council Act of 1861, 284

Patna, massacre at, 52;

Mohammedan plots, 220, 266

Peacock, Sir Barnes, revises Penal Code, 180

Pegu annexed by Lord Dalhousie, 169, 170

Peishwa, Mahratta, his feudatories jealous of the British, 186;

refuses the subsidiary alliance, 89;

flight to British territory, 92;

accepts subsidiary alliance at Bassein, ib.;

disaffected, 99;

intrigues, 111;

hostility, 115;

defeat and flight, 116;

extinction, 119;

at Bithoor, 245

Penal Code, drafted by Lord Macaulay, revised by Sir Barnes Peacock, 180

Persia, mission of John Malcolm, 103;

collision with British India, 140;

menaced by Russia, 141;

advance of Russia checkmated by Nadir Shah, 143;

Persian invasion of India, 144;

British expedition to the Persian Gulf, 181;

its return to India, 217

Peshawar, valley of, wrested from the Afghans by Runjeet Singh, 103;

reoccupied by Afghans in second Sikh war, 163;

the key to India, 225;

frontier tribes, ib.;

peril during the sepoy mutinies, ib.;

execution of rebels, 226;

proposed withdrawal, 228;

overruled by Lord Canning, 229

Peter the Great, covert advance to India, 143;

checkmated by Nadir Shah, ib.

Pindharies, freebooters in the Mahratta armies, 104;

horrible raids in British territory, 110;

George Canning's denunciations, 111;

campaign of Lord Hastings, 113;

extinction of the gangs, 115

Pitt, Thomas, Governor of Madras, 29;

his diamond, 30

Pitt, William, the younger, his India Bill, 75;

creates a Board of Control, 76;

marvellous statesmanship, 137

Plassy, battle of, 42

Pollock, General, avenges the British losses in the Khyber, 151;

relieves Sale and restores British prestige, 152

Pondicherry, French settlement, 32;

British carried prisoners to, ib.

Poona, head-quarters of the Sivaji family, 71;

capital of the Mahratta Peishwas, ib.;

interference of Bombay, 72, 73;

negotiations of Lord Wellesley, 86;

flight of the Peishwa to Bassein, 92;

subsidiary alliance, ib.;

intrigues, 112, 113;

British residency burnt, 116;

incorporated with the Bombay Presidency, 119

Portuguese in India, their fortresses, 3;

thwart the British at Surat, 4;

intermarriages with the British at Madras, 12;

slave trade, 19;

settlement at Hughly, 20;

destroyed by the Great Mogul, 21

Pottinger, Eldred, Captain, 151

Provinces, regulation and non-regulation, 166, 289;

distinction effaced, 297

Punjab, Sikh rule under Runjeet Singh, 102;

relations with the British government, 103;

attitude in the first Afghan war, 146;

opened to British troops after the death of Runjeet Singh, 147;

a Sikh army under French officers a menace to Hindustan, 153;

review of Sikh history, 154;

army of the Khalsa, 156;

anarchy, 157;

despotism of the army, ib.;

Sikh invasion of British India, 158;

Aliwal and Sobraon, 159;

end of first Sikh war, 160;

mixed government, ib.;

revolt at Multan, 161;

second Sikh war, 162;

Chillianwalla, 163;

Goojerat, 164;

annexation, 165;

patriarchal rule, 166;

non-regulation system, ib.;

land settlement, 167;

frontier province of India on the north-west, facing Afghanistan and Cashmere, 186;

musketry school at Sealkote, 193;

John Lawrence, chief commissioner, sends the Punjab "Guides" to Delhi, 222;

disaffection of Bengal sepoy regiments, 224;

valley of Peshawar, 225;

Sikh volunteers, 226;

John Nicholson, the sainted warrior, 227;

difficulties of John Lawrence, 228;

fall of Delhi, 231

R

Railways in India, 173, 174

Rajputana, princes and chiefs taken under British protection by Lord Wellesley, 95;

annulment of treaties by Sir George Barlow, 99;

plundered by the Mahrattas, ib.;

ravaged by Sindia and Amir Khan, 105;

renewal of protective treaties by Lord Hastings, 120;

relations with the British government, 289

Rajputs, in Bengal sepoy army, 191

Rama, the ancient hero of Oudh, 104

Rana, of Oodeypore, his descent, 104;

war for his daughter, 105;

her death, 106

Rangoon, expedition to, 121;

second Burmese war, 168

Rawlinson, Major, at Candahar, 146, 152

Revenue, Board of, 128

Rewah in Central India, 289 note

Roe, Sir Thomas, Ambassador to India, 135

Rohilcund, mutiny in, 228

Runjeet Singh, Sikh ruler of the Punjab, 102;

relations with the British government, 103;

attitude in the first Afghan war, 146;

death, ib.;

genius and depravity, 156;

family pensioned, 165

Russia menaces Persia, 141, 143;

driven back by Nadir Shah, 144;

cat's-paw policy, 145;

hold on Turkistan, 296

Ryotwari settlement, in Madras presidency, 133;

introduced into Bombay presidency, 134

S

Sale, Sir Robert, sent to Jellalabad, 149;

besieged by Afghans, 151

Sealkote, mutiny at, 229

Secretary of State, Council of, 301

Sepoy army of India, 188;

old mutinies, 189;

separate armies of Bengal, Bombay, and Madras, 190;

high caste in old Bengal army, 191;

mutinies against greased cartridges, 193-274

Seringapatam taken by storm, 86

Shere Ali Khan, Amir of Afghanistan, 291;

estranged from British government, 296;

flight, ib.;

death, 297

Shore, Mr. John, presses for an inquiry into rights of ryots, 79;

Governor-General, 81

Sikh, kingdom founded by Runjeet Singh, 102;

review of Sikh history, 154-157;

first Sikh war, 158;

second Sikh war, 161;

annexed to British India, 165;

help the British against Delhi, 222, 226, 237

Sind, Amirs of, defeat of, 152;

their territories incorporated with the Bombay presidency, ib.

Sindia, Mahadaji, feudatory of the Peishwa, 71;

established a dominion in Hindustan, 72;

French battalions, 83;

rule of Daulat Rao, 90;

his vacillation, 93;

flight at Assaye, 94;

joins Holkar, 97;

returns to the British alliance, 98;

ravages Rajputana, 105;

secret negotiation, 111;

submission, 114

Sitabuldi Hill, battle on, 116, 117

Sivaji, hero of the Mahrattas, 71;

his tomb repaired, ib. note

Slavery, Hindu and Mohammedan, 18;

Mogul restrictions, 19;

Portuguese trade, ib.;

abolished at Madras, 22

Sobraon, battle of, 159

Sudder Courts, 127 note, 128, 284

Supreme and Sudder Courts amalgamated, 284

Surat, British traders at, 3;

factory, 4;

foreign guests, 5;

decay, 24

Suttee, abolished, 123

T

Talukdars, or zemindars, 130;

discontent in Oudh, 220;

healed, 293

Tayler, Mr. William, quashes plot at Patna, 266

Thomason, Mr., Lieut.-Governor, land settlement finished, 167, 168;

constructs macadamised roads, 172

Thugs, atrocities of, 124;

hereditary gangs, ib.;

suppression, 125

Tippu of Mysore, first war against, 80;

alliance with the French, 84;

second war and death, 86;

family, 100, 283

Trevelyan, Sir Charles, protests against income tax, 283

Tucker, Mr. Robert, at Futtehpore, murdered, 257

Turkey, menaced by Russia, 141

V

Vellore, sepoy revolt at, 100, 188

Village communities in the North-West Provinces, 128;

in the Madras Presidency, 131;

changes, 299

W

Wales, Prince of, his tour in India, 295

Water-ways in India, 171

Wellesley, Marquis of, Governor-General, 82;

political system of subsidiary alliances, 89;

fears of France, 90;

mission to Persia, 91;

acquisitions from Oudh, ib.;

wars, 94;

reversal of his policy, 98

Wellington, Duke of, opposes recall of Lord Ellenborough, 154

Wheeler, General Sir Hugh, commands at Cawnpore, 244-249;

surrenders to Nana Sahib, 253

Willoughby, Lieut., blows up the magazine at Delhi, 214;

murdered, 215

Wilson, Mr. James, Finance Minister, 282;

proposes income tax, ib.;

death, 283

Y

Yakub Khan, imprisoned by his father Shere Ali, 296;

succession and abdication, 297

Z

Zemindars, status in Bengal, 59;

created in the Madras Presidency, 132

THE END

1

The island of Goa, and the fortress of Diu in Guzerat, were nominally within Mohammedan dominion, but they were really independent and were held by force of arms.

2

The authorities for the present chapter, which deals with the rise and early development of British rule in India, are somewhat numerous. The most important are the Government records at Madras, in which the weekly transactions of the Governor and Council are entered at full length in a series known as "Consultations." Every year a copy of the "Consultations" was sent to the Court of Directors, together with a summary of the affairs of the year as a "General Letter;" and every year a "General Letter" was received from the Court of Directors, reviewing the "Consultations," and conveying instructions and orders thereon. The Madras records have been closely investigated by the author from 1670 to 1748; and printed extracts were published at Madras in 1860-62, in three volumes small quarto, under the title of Madras in the Olden Time. To them may be added Bruce's Annals of the East India Company; Sir Thomas Roe's Journal of a Mission to the Great Mogul in 1616-18; and the travels of Pietro della Valle, Tavernier, Thevenot and Fryer; as well as Orme's History of Hindustan, Stewart's History of Bengal, Faria y Souza's History of Portuguese Asia, and Shaw's Predecessors of the High Court at Madras. Further authorities will be found cited in the author's History of India from the Earliest Ages, and in his Early Records of British India.

3

The Mofussil Courts, and the High Court in Appeals from the Mofussil Courts, are still required to decide, according to "equity and good conscience." See the "High Court amended Charters" granted in 1866.

4

This was notoriously the case at Surat, where female slaves might be purchased by Europeans. There was a Dutch factory at Surat of the same stamp as the British factory, and its married inmates were in like manner forbidden to bring their wives from Holland. But when the Dutch got possession of Java, they offered grants of land to married Dutchmen, and, according to Pietro della Valle, there was a sudden change in domestic arrangements. Dutch bachelors were in such a hurry to go to Java, that they married Armenian Christians, or went off to the bazaar and bought female slaves and baptised them and married them without loss of time.

5

Abbé Dubois, who lived many years in Southern India, could not account for the distinction between the two Hands; Dr. Fryer was told about 1676 that the antagonism was planned by the Brahmans to keep the lower castes in subjection.

6

Since the foregoing chapter was in type, Professor Terrien de Lacouperie has kindly pointed out that a division between right and left hands has existed from a remote period in Central and Eastern Asia. Among the Turkish Hiung-nu on the north-west of China, the officers were arranged into two divisions, a left and a right-hand side, both before and after the Christian era. The Burut-Kirghiz are still divided into two wings, viz., on of the right and sol of the left.

In China the task of keeping a daily chronicle of "words" and "facts" was entrusted to two officers, one on the left-hand of the emperor and the other on his right. The officer on the left recorded all speeches and addresses, whilst that on the right recorded all facts and events. This last division, however, is a mere title in Chinese administration; the left-hand being more honourable than the right, and taking the precedence.

The distinction between the right and left hands in Southern India, is, as already seen, a caste antagonism, and it is impossible to say whether it has or has not any connection, however remote, with that in Central Asia or China. The Dravidian populations of Southern India certainly immigrated from the region beyond the Himalayas in some unknown period, but all historical links are wanting save the evidence of language. Professor Terrien de Lacouperie, in his lectures on "Indo-Chinese Philology," has pointed out that the Dravidian group forms the fourth division of the Kueonlunic branch of Turanian languages.

7

The three provinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa are known to Europeans by the one name of Bengal. Bengal proper includes the delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra. Behar is the frontier province towards Oudh, having its capital at Patna. Orissa lies to the south of Behar and Bengal proper, but Cuttack and the hilly country to the south and west had been ceded to the Mahrattas. The Orissa of the period comprises little more than Midnapore; but the high-sounding title was still retained of Nawab of Bengal, Behar and Orissa. After the Mahratta wars of 1803, the British took possession of Cuttack and remaining portions of Orissa, in order to hold the sea-board against invasion.

8

In the present day there are forty-five districts in the Bengal provinces, namely, thirty-seven regulation and eight non-regulation. The distinction between the two classes of districts will be explained hereafter.

9

The first portrait of Warren Hastings was exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1883. The second portrait is still hanging in the Council Chamber at the India Office at Westminster.

10

See Holwell's Historical Events in Bengal.

11

The control over the country police was also transferred from the zemindars to the new magistrates and collectors. This measure was good in itself, but attended with disadvantages, which will be brought under review hereafter.

12

The old Sudder Courts at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay finally disappeared in 1862, when they were amalgamated with the Supreme Courts, which will be described hereafter, and which, up to that date, were exclusively composed of barrister judges. In the present day they are forgotten by all but lawyers familiar with a past generation, yet the Sudder Courts played their part in the history of the past. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the Marquis of Wellesley was Governor-General, three civilians were appointed judges in the Sudder, one being a member of Council and the Chief Judge in the room of the Governor-General.