UNIV. OF CALIFORNIA WAR WITH Minute by the Governor-General of India. June 16th, 1845. As the time has now arrived when preparations will require to be made for the journey of the Governor-General to the Upper Provinces, I consider it most advisable to consult my colleagues before any steps are taken to carry that intention into effect. Under ordinary circumstances I should have desired, on public grounds, to remain the next winter and summer at Calcutta, in order to have the advantage of the experience and advice of the Council, by which course the usual business of the Government can be transacted with more unity, regularity and general satisfaction than when the Governor-General is separated from his colleagues. On the other hand, it is clearly my duty to place myself in that position, as regards the exercise of my functions, by which I can most advantageously apply my exertions for the service of the State. In this, as in every other case, the real question for decision is, whether it is more for the public interests that I should this autumn proceed to the Upper Provinces, or remain at the usual seat of Government. Between my colleagues and myself there has always existed a most anxious desire, and perfect unison of opinion, that no efforts B 10 VIMU or precautions should be spared to maintain a Sikh Government in the Punjaub as long as it may be possible. To carry the pacific policy of the Government of India into effect, we have been content to suffer great inconvenience, considerable expense, and some risk, necessarily caused by the presence of a large disorganised Sikh force on the frontier, requiring, on our part, an army to be assembled for the protection of our frontier, and in close contact with that of the Sikhs; I need not enter into the consideration of the various questions of solicitude which are involved, in the proximity of a Sikh army, in a successful state of mutiny, so close upon our frontier. We have never relinquished the hope that some amelioration may eventually take place, affording the prospect of the reestablishment of a Sikh Government, able to carry on its ordinary functions. We have never abandoned the expectation that, after anarchy and military violence have long prevailed, these disorders, having reached their maturity, might subside, worn out and exhausted by their own virulence; or that some man of superior capacity and master mind might appear amongst them, able to control this mutinous army, and to re-construct a strong Sikh Government. I must confess that these hopes have not been strengthened by recent events; and now that we can, at this season, when all military operations are nearly suspended, deliberately review the political and military condition of the Punjaub, I can arrive at no other conclusion than that the state of our relations with that country has become more critical than it has been at any time since Rajah Heera Singh's death. When the finances of the State shall be found to be insufficient to pay the troops, a state of things may arise at any moment requiring the instant decision of the highest authority on the spot. The instructions which we may send from Calcutta may be very proper, and applicable to the state of things which may have happened on the frontier ten days before, when the report was made; and may, when the instructions are received, twenty days after the event, be totally inapplicable. In ordinary transactions this is an inconvenience, but in the state of the Punjaub it is positively dangerous. I have a firm conviction that the chances of preserving peace will be diminished by the powerless state in which the Government would be placed, by not being able to act with decision and promptitude, and that opportunities would be lost of effecting some good, and of preventing much mischief, if in the state of the Punjaub the responsible authority of the Government remains more than 1,000 miles off, at the other extremity of Bengal; it appears to me, therefore, to be expedient, as a means of averting risk, and of carrying our policy more securely into effect, that the Governor-General should, in the month of October next, proceed to the Upper Provinces, and that the authority should be entrusted to him with which the law enables the Council to invest him, when separated from his colleagues. Having given my decided opinion that, under existing circumstances, it will be the duty of the Governor-General to proceed to the Upper Provinces in the autumn, I have to request the attention of my colleagues to this subject, at their earliest convenience. H. HARDINGE. I concur, T. H. MADDOCK. I concur, F. MILLETT. As the separation of the Governor-General from the Council requires the sanction of a law, I presume it is proper that I should record my opinion upon the proposition. I concur, C. H. CAMERON. The Governor-General to the Secret Committee. On the River Ganges, off Monghyr, 30 September, 1845. The forbearance of the Government of India has been carried to an extent beyond that which has been customary. Every military precaution has, however, been taken; advice and warnings have been repeatedly conveyed to the Lahore Government in the plainest language; even the risk of giving offence by such language has been incurred, rather than fail in the essential point of clearly defining the nature of our policy, and of having that policy well understood. I am convinced that our desire to see the Maha Rajah's government re-established on a basis of independence and strength, is well known to the most influential and leading chiefs. Their personal interests, endangered by the democratic revolution, so successfully accomplished by the Sikh army, may induce those chiefs to exert all their efforts to compel the British Government to interfere; but these attempts, and any danger resulting from them, will be attributable, not to our forbearance, but to their personal fears for life and property. You may be assured that, whilst I shall omit no precautions, and be prepared for any event, I shall persevere in the direct course I have hitherto pursued, of endeavouring, by moderation, good faith, and friendly advice, to avert the necessity of British interference by force of arms in the affairs of the Punjaub. The Governor-General to the Commander-in-Chief. Agra, October 24, 1845. I have the honour to inform your Excellency that, on or before the 12th of November arrangements will have been made, by which the commissariat department will be prepared to equip nearly two-thirds of the force at, and in advance of, Meerut, with the necessary means of marching at the shortest notice. The extent to which it may be expedient to be prepared with this description of equipment must always be dependent on contingent events, which fluctuate, in an unsettled Government like that of Lahore, in a manner which defies all ordinary calculations of probable results. In the present state of our relations with the Lahore Government, your Excellency is aware that I do not anticipate the probability of any emergencies arising which can require the army, under your Excellency's orders, to take the field this autumn. Nevertheless, having to deal with a mutinous Sikh army, which has usurped the functions of the Government, and whose caprice may, at any time, force on a rupture with our forces on the frontier, I have deemed it advisable to be prepared with the means of movement to the extent noted in the margin; and as it is desirable that the arrangement should be made on the most economical scale, the whole will be hired at the halting rates. 7 Troops of Horse Artillery. 6 Companies Foot Artillery. 4 Light Field Batteries. 2 Regiments of Dragoons. 3 Regiments of Light Cavalry. 5 Regiments European Infantry. 13 Regiments Native Infantry. 6 Companies Sappers & Miners. 2 Regiments Irregular Cavalry. If, as I expect, the tone of the Lahore Durbar should continue to be more friendly, as has been the case since Sirdar Jowahir Singh's death, I shall be anxious, according to events, gradually to diminish the scale of the present preparation, which, as before, is strictly of a defensive character. No provision has been made for the baggage animals of the European officers, according to the decision of the Government of India last year. The number required would probably exceed 1,200 camels. Lieutenant-Colonel Parsons, the Deputy Commissary-General, will be instructed to communicate with your Excellency on this subject, and will postpone his usual tour of inspection for one month. |