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Title: India Under British Rule
From the Foundation of the East India Company
Author: James Talboys Wheeler
Release Date: June 30, 2014 [eBook #46151]
Language: English
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INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE
By
J. Talboys Wheeler
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
MADRAS IN THE OLDEN TIME, 1639-1748. 3 vols. sm. 8vo. Madras, 1861-62.
EARLY TRAVELS IN INDIA. First Series, comprising Purchas's "Pilgrimage" and the "Travels of Van Linschoten." 8vo. Calcutta, 1864.
EARLY TRAVELS IN INDIA. Second Series, comprising Sir Thomas Roe's "Embassy to the Great Mogul" and Fryer's "Travels in India." 8vo. London, 1873.
HISTORY OF INDIA FROM THE EARLIEST AGES. 5 vols. 8vo.
Vol. I. The Mahá Bhárata and the Vedic Period. Thick 8vo. Map. 1867.
II. The Rámáyana and the Brahmanic Period. Thick 8vo. Map. 1869.
III. Hindu, Buddhist, and Brahmanic Revival. 8vo. Map. 1874.
IV. and V. Mohammedan Rule. 2 vols. 8vo. 1876-82.SHORT HISTORY OF INDIA, and of the Frontier States of Afghanistan, Nipal, and Burma. Thick-crown 8vo, with Maps and Tables. Macmillan and Co. 12s. 1880.
HISTORY OF THE IMPERIAL ASSEMBLAGE AT DELHI, held on the 1st of January, 1877, to celebrate the assumption by Her Majesty Queen Victoria of the Title of Empress of India; with Historical Sketches of India and her Princes. Royal 4to, with 13 Portraits, Map, and 17 Illustrations, chiefly by Photographs. 1877.
EARLY RECORDS OF BRITISH INDIA; a History of the English Settlements in India. 8vo. Calcutta, 1878.
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE UP THE IRRAWADDY TO MANDALAY AND BHAMO. 8vo. Rangoon, 1871.
TALES FROM INDIAN HISTORY. 12mo. 1881.
GEOGRAPHY OF HERODOTUS, Developed, Explained, and Illustrated from Modern Researches and Discoveries. Thick 8vo, with Maps and Plans. 1854.
LIFE AND TRAVELS OF HERODOTUS. 2 vols. post 8vo. 1855.
ANALYSIS AND SUMMARY OF HERODOTUS. Post 8vo. Bohn's Philological Library. 1852.
ANALYSIS AND SUMMARY OF THUCYDIDES. Post 8vo. Bohn's Philological Library. 1852.
INDIA
UNDER
BRITISH RULE
FROM THE
FOUNDATION OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
BY
J. TALBOYS WHEELER
LATE ASSISTANT-SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, FOREIGN DEPARTMENT,
AND LATE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF BRITISH BURMA.
AUTHOR OF "HISTORY OF INDIA FROM THE EARLIEST AGES,"
INCLUDING THE "MAHA BHARATA" AND "RAMAYANA,"
"A SHORT HISTORY OF INDIA,"
ETC., ETC.
London
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1886
The Right of Translation and Reproduction is Reserved.
Richard Clay & Sons,
BREAD STREET HILL, LONDON,
Bungay, Suffolk.
TO
SIR CHARLES TREVELYAN, Bart.,
WHO OPENED
THE OLD MADRAS RECORDS TO THE AUTHOR
IN 1860,
This book is Dedicated.
PREFACE.
A hundred years ago, when the lively Miss Frances Burney was weeping over the wrongs of Warren Hastings, and the learned and portly Gibbon was still lamenting that he had not entered on an Indian career, there were people in the British Isles who knew something of Indian history. They had picked up information respecting Indian affairs from the speeches of the grave Edmund Burke, the eloquent Charles James Fox, and the impassioned Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The facts may have come second hand, and been more or less distorted by the jealous and bitter fancies of Sir Philip Francis, the reputed author of the Letters of Junius; but facts or fables, they served to enlighten the British public on the Indian questions of the day.
During the present century, the march of intellect has turned away from India, except as regards an outlet for cotton goods, a field for speculation in railways and teas, or a provision for younger sons in the "Indian civil." Within the last few years, however, there has been a change for the better. The British public has been alarmed at the fall in silver. It has been cheered by the proposal to place British-born subjects under the magisterial jurisdiction of Hindus and Mohammedans. It has been aroused by the prospect of a war with Russia in Central Asia; but it has been comforted by the restoration of the fortress of Gwalior to Maharaja Sindia. Moreover, Burma is no longer confounded with Bermuda, and no one groans over the annexation of the country, or the destruction of brigandage by the new rulers. Still there is room for more knowledge. The author, however, has before him a letter from an old friend in high position in India, who tells him plainly that the British government does not want history. Accordingly, the present work is not called a History of India, but India under British Rule.
More than one British ruler in India has, however, sinned against history, and might well like to shut it up with confidential minutes and secret negotiations. Within the present century, India has been desolated by wars as cruel as those of the Heptarchy, and as unmeaning as those of the White and Red Roses. Within the present generation, it has been distracted and tortured by a military revolt, created by a scare about greased cartridges, but leading to crimes more horrible than those of the French Revolution. Yet Anglo-Indian statesmen have been known to ignore the past, and to propound schemes for India that
Controversy and fault-finding are to be deprecated. But reform is only possible after a due consideration of what has been accomplished up to date by British rule in India, and of the flaws and faults in the existing constitution.
It will be seen from the first chapter, that the British traders of the seventeenth century, who established factories, built fortresses, and created manufacturing towns, also attempted to introduce representative and municipal government into the East India Company's once famous city of Madras. The second chapter reveals the fact that the acquisition of Bengal in the eighteenth century was not the work of ambition, but an act of self-preservation. The third chapter shows that the peace of India could not have been maintained in any possible way except by the establishment of British supremacy as the paramount power. The fourth chapter proves that the first Afghan war, needless as it turned out to be at the time, was the outcome of Russian ambition which dates back to the times of Peter the Great and Nadir Shah.
The story of the sepoy mutinies of 1857 occupies a considerable space in the present volume. It is not a mere narrative of military revolt, but a revelation of Asiatic nature; a lesson which every Anglo-Indian statesman must study, if he would avoid defeat or failure. The masses in the British Isles may read Biblical accounts of rebellion and massacre, or the story in Josephus of the atrocities of Herod the Great; but very few seem to realise the fact that they are reading Asiatic history, which has no reflex in Europe, nor in any country under European rule except British India. The horrible intrigues and murders in the household of Herod; his frantic passion for the fair Mariamne; the malicious lies of Salome; the assassination of Mariamne by her jealous and infuriated husband; the alternations in the mind of Herod as regards Cleopatra, whether to accept her love or murder her;—find no parallels in European history, excepting perhaps in Turkey, or in the Russian court of the last century.
The last chapter in the present volume is devoted to the constitutional changes in the government of India, and in the local governments, since the mutinies. The author has not indulged in the hope of raising Asiatics to the level of Europeans by the premature introduction of representative government. He considers that such a scheme would for the present be as much out of place in Asia as a republic of boys for the control of schoolmasters. British India is treated as a political school for Asiatics, in which Europeans are the teachers; and so long as that theory of government is upheld, constitutional reforms in India are practical and possible.
In conclusion, the author has to express his obligations to Professor Terrien de Lacouperie of the London University College, and to his own son, Owen E. Wheeler of the Leicestershire Regiment, for revising the proofs of the present work, and for many valuable suggestions.
Fulham,
12th May, 1886.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
EAST INDIA COMPANY.
CHAPTER I.
FIRST PERIOD: FACTORIES, FORTRESSES, TOWNS.
1600-1756.
§1. India in 1600. §2. British at Surat and Masulipatam: Commercial and Social Life, 1612-1638. §3. Rise and Growth of Madras, 1639-1680: Portuguese and Dutch Neighbours. §4. British Rule and Representative Government, 1686. §5. Mixed Corporation of Europeans and Natives, 1688. §6. Slavery and the Slave Trade in India. §7. Madras, Surat, Bombay, and Hughly. §8. Collision with the Great Mogul, 1686-1700. §9. Domestic Administration, 1700-1746. §10. Wars against France in Southern India, 1746-1756. §11. The Black Hole at Calcutta, June 1756Pages 1-39
CHAPTER II.
SECOND PERIOD: BENGAL PROVINCES.
1756-1798.
§1. From Calcutta to Plassy, 1757-58. §2. Nawab Rule under British Protection. §3. British Arrogance: Massacre at Patna. §4. Lord Clive's Double Government, 1765-67. §5. Warren Hastings, 1772-85: Life and Career. §6. British Rule: Treatment of Bengal Zemindars. §7. British Collectors and Magistrates: Circuit Courts and Sudder.
CHAPTER III.
THIRD PERIOD: IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT.
1798-1836.
§1. Lord Mornington (Marquis of Wellesley), 1798-1805: last war against Tippu, 1799. §2. Carnatic confiscated and annexed to Madras Presidency. §3. Wellesley's scheme of a paramount power. §4. Second Mahratta war: successes of Arthur Wellesley and Lake. §5. Disastrous war with Holkar. §6. Return to non-intervention. §7. Sepoy mutiny in Madras army. §8. Lord Minto, 1807-13: wars and alliances against France. §9. Evils of non-intervention in Rajputana: troubles in Nipal. §10. Lord Moira (Marquis of Hastings), 1813-23: war with Nipal, 1814-15. §11. Revival of the paramount power: Pindhari and Mahratta wars, 1817-18. §12. Lord Amherst, 1823-28: wars with Burma and Bhurtpore. §13. Lord William Bentinck, 1828-35; abolition of Suttee. §14. Suppression of Thugs. §15. Administrative reforms. §16. North-West Provinces: Joint Village Proprietors. §17. Madras and Bombay Presidencies: Ryotwari Settlements. §18. Changes under the Charter of 1833. §19. Sir Charles Metcalfe, 1835-36. Pages 83-140
CHAPTER IV.
FOURTH PERIOD: RISE TO ASIATIC POWER.
1836-56.
§1. Russian advance checked by Nadir Shah, 1722-38. §2. First Cabul war under Lord Auckland, 1838-42. §3. Lord Ellenborough, 1842-44: return from Cabul and conquest of Sind. §4. War in Gwalior: reduction of Sindia's army. §5. Lord Hardinge, 1845-48: Sikh rule in the Punjab. §6. First Sikh war: Moodki, Ferozshahar, Aliwal, and Sobraon. §7. Lord Dalhousie, 1848-56: Second Sikh war: Chillianwalla and Goojerat: annexation of the Punjab.
CHAPTER V.
SEPOY REVOLT: BENGAL, DELHI, PUNJAB.
1857.
§1. European soldiers and Asiatic sepoys. §2. Three British armies in India: Bengal, Bombay, and Madras. §3. Sepoy army of Bengal: Brahmans and Rajputs. §4. Enfield cartridges: general horror of pork: Hindu worship of the cow. §5. Agitation of the sepoys at Barrackpore. §6. First mutiny against the cartridges: Berhampore. §7. Second mutiny: Barrackpore. §8. Oudh: mutiny at Lucknow: suppressed. §9. Mutiny and massacre at Meerut. §10. Mohammedan revolt and massacre at Delhi: general excitement. §11. British advance from the Punjab to Delhi. §12. Siege of Delhi by Europeans, Sikhs, and Ghorkas. §13. Punjab and John Lawrence: antagonism between Sikhs and Mohammedans. §14. Sepoy plots at Lahore and Mian Mir; quashed. §15. Peshawar and frontier mountain tribes. §16. Execution of sepoy mutineers at Peshawar. §17. Brigadier John Nicholson: worshipped by a Sikh brotherhood. §18. Proposed withdrawal from Peshawar. §19. Mutiny at Sealkote: wholesale executions. §20. Siege and storm of Delhi, September 1857: peace in the North-West. Pages 185-231
CHAPTER VI.
SEPOY REVOLT: NORTH WEST, CAWNPORE, LUCKNOW.
1857-58.
§1. Bengal and Lord Canning: General Neill's advance from Calcutta. §2. Sacred city of Benares: Hindu population overawed. §3. Fortress at Allahabad: treachery and massacre. §4. Cawnpore: extreme peril. §5. Story of Nana Sahib. §6. European
PART II.
BRITISH CROWN.
CHAPTER THE LAST.
CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT.
1858-1886.
§1. Awakening of the British nation. §2. Government Education in India: Toleration. §3. British Rule after the Mutiny: Legislative Council of 1854 and Executive Council: Wrongs of Non-Official Europeans. §4. Mr. James Wilson and his Income-Tax. §5. New Legislative Council of 1861-62. §6. New High Court: proposed District Courts. §7. Lord Canning leaves India. §8. Lord Elgin, 1862-63. §9. Sir John Lawrence, 1864-69: Governments of Madras and Bombay: Migrations to Simla: Foreign Affairs. §10. Lord Lawrence leaves India. §11. Lord Mayo, 1869-72. §12. Lord Northbrook, 1872-76: Royal visits to India. §13. Lord Lytton, 1876-80: Empress Proclaimed. §14. Second Afghan War. §15. Political and Judicial Schools. §16. Constitution of British India: proposed Reforms Pages 275-302
INDEX Pages 303-312
INDIA UNDER BRITISH RULE.
PART I.—EAST INDIA COMPANY.
CHAPTER I.—FIRST PERIOD: FACTORIES, FORTRESSES, TOWNS.—1600-1756.
§1. India in 1600. §2. British at Surat and Masulipatam: Commercial and Social Life, 1612-1638. §3. Rise and Growth of Madras, 1639-1680: Portuguese and Dutch Neighbours. §4. British Rule and Representative Government, 1686. §5. Mixed Corporation of Europeans and Natives, 1688. §6. Slavery and the Slave Trade in India. §7. Madras, Surat, Bombay, and Hughly. §8. Collision with the Great Mogul, 1686-1700. §9. Domestic Administration, 1700-1746. §10. Wars against France in Southern India, 1746-1756. §11. The Black Hole at Calcutta, June, 1756.
The rise of British rule in India is a problem in history. A single association of British traders established factories which grew into fortresses, and governed native towns which became the capitals of a British empire. The march of events is without a parallel in the annals of the world. In 1600 the East India Company obtained
§1. In 1600 the whole of Northern India was under the dominion of a Mohammedan sovereign, known as the Great Mogul. His revenues and armies were the marvel of Europe. His empire extended from the mountains of Cashmere to the Bay of Bengal, from the slopes of the Himalayas to the tableland of the Deccan. It covered large Hindu populations and many Hindu principalities, for throughout this vast area the Great Mogul was sovereign lord of all, the emperor, the Padishah.
South of the Mogul empire was the Deccan or "south." The country was a terra incognita to Europeans. The interior had been conquered by Mohammedan invaders from the north, and distributed into kingdoms under Sultans, who formed a barrier against the Moguls. East and west were hills and jungles stretching to the sea, mostly held by Hindu Rajas who were hostile alike to the Sultans and the Great Mogul. Mohammedan rule, however, had never as yet extended further south than the river Kistna. The whole region from the Kistna to Cape Comorin—sometimes known as the "Peninsula"—was under the dominion of Hindu Rajas.
The western coast of the Deccan and Peninsula was dotted with Portuguese fortresses, mounted with cannon and garrisoned by Portuguese soldiers. The Portuguese had made their way to India round the Cape of Good Hope about the end of the fifteenth century, and for a hundred years had been building factories in the territories of Hindu Rajas, and converting them into fortresses. Nothing of the kind would have been allowed by the Great Mogul, or by the Sultans of the Deccan, but the Portuguese had persuaded the Hindu Rajas that they would help and protect them, and the Rajas never saw the danger until the fortresses were bristling with cannon and opposition was useless. The Portuguese capital was seated on the island of Goa, about half-way between Surat and Comorin, and was a centre of the Catholic religion as well as of Portuguese trade.[1]
§2. British merchants in the service of the East India Company would gladly have traded on the same sea-board, which was known as the coast of Malabar, but they were shut out by the Portuguese fortresses. Accordingly they sailed further northward, and tried to get a footing in the Mogul port of Surat. This port was a centre of the Mohammedan religion and an emporium of Mogul trade. It was the starting-point for all pilgrims going to Mecca, and the point to which they returned when their pilgrimage was over. It was the rendezvous of Mogul merchants who despatched ships to the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, and sent goods overland to the great capitals of the Mogul empire—Agra, Delhi, and Lahore.
At Surat, however, the British were thwarted by the Portuguese. The Nawab of Surat was told that the British were pirates. The merchants of Surat were threatened with the capture of their ships if they had any dealings with the British. Fighting was the only way of meeting the difficulty. Accordingly the British attacked a Portuguese fleet outside the bar of Surat. The news of battle and the roar of cannon brought the Nawab, the merchants, and half the population of Surat to the sea-shore. The British sunk or burnt several Portuguese ships until the residue of the fleet steered back to Goa. The Moguls were fascinated by the victory. They saw that the British had not only superior strength on their side, but Allah and kismet. The Nawab of Surat feasted the conquerors in his tents on the sands, and the Surat merchants eagerly bought British cargoes and supplied Indian commodities to the brave men who had beaten the Portuguese.