Sir Charles Wood's Administration of Indian Affairs from 1859 to 1866

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Preface

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 I 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.

ALGEBNON WEST,

India Office, January 1, 1867.

Contents

OHAPTEB I.

VAoa

Iktboduction 1

Introduction

It is proposed to show in the following pages, very briefly, the various acts of Sir Charles Wood's administration of India, from June, 1859, to the commencement 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 administration, upon such a footing as the experience of recent years and the requirements of modem 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 il 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 aflfairs 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 sufferings 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 Memorandum 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 Lidia had afforded subjects enough for trials of party strength, and for feats of oratorical display, among the giants of debate. The sparkling briUiancy 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 Lidian politics; but not for a long time had they so completely engrossed the attention of Parliament as they did at the commencement 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 Lidia 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

*^ party, or as meaning to imply any blame or censure ** upon the administration of India under that corpora - ** tion." But he 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 Parhamentary control and responsibility that would be thus attained.

Sir George 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 1784, 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 expenditure 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 resigned.

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 were 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 proprietor of capital stock in Indian railways or other public work in India to the amount of 2,000Z., 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 commerce 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

House, or in the country, and was withdrawn without haying 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 Estabhshment 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 Lidia Department ; but his tenure of office was short.

Chapter II. Home Governiment

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 Crown. Instead of a President of the Board of Control, sitting in Cannon Eow, 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 one felt this more strongly, or could be more disposed to avail himself of their assistance, than Sir Charles Wood. It must not be forgotten 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, public works — all require the consideration and decision 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 knowledge of different parts of the country, and possessing an intimate acquaintance with the difficult and complicated 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 Affghanistan and the Sepoy war, and many men whose financial, legal, and literary reputations have far out-reached 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 inharmonious 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 quality 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 committees; 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 prepared 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 responsibility of its chief, who was for that purpose created a Secretary of State. It is true that, unlike 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 responsibility, and with the responsibility 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

** for him to decide whether he will 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 oflSce, 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 Bk 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 department, and when seen by one of the under-secretaries, 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 considered 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 which the work of those branches was analogous, and to which they were now united.

The system of account, pay, and audit was cumbrous and expensive, and, at the same time, inefficient ;

for althongh there was an accountant-general, a cashier, and an auditor, exclusive of the auditor appointed under the Act for the better goyemment 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/;iaZ audit, which has been, and is, completely satisfactory, being entrusted to General Jameson.

In the Store Department, where a complete revision was made of the manner by which stores were supplied to the various Governments in India, the system which 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 which, 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 pubUc, 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 held by an officer of great professional experience, who is aided by a competent staff of assistants possessing the requisite technical acquirements, the utmost efficiency 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 advertisement.

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 power of work, and the experience he had acquired from having been employed 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 will be long before this merit in Mr. Baring ceases to be recognized in the India Office. He had not, however, 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 complicated 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 Brace'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 acquisition of Lord Wodehouse as Under Secretary for India.

The political exigencies of Parliament were not the sole causes which 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 position, where his firmness and decision of character were eminently displayed in grappling with the discontent and agitation of that unhappy country. Once more the Ministerial ranks were reinforced, by the addition of Lord Duflferin, who, formerly known as a daring yachtsman, and a graceful writer, and subsequently 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 services 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 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 policy of the Home Government.

It was well, therefore, for Sir Charles Wood that, in his permanent Council, he found not only experienced advice, but most ready assistance, of which he gladly and largely availed himself. Not satisfied with the mere formal reference of documents to the committees, 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 consideration ; and, in matters of more than ordinary difl&culty, 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 opinions had been placed on record in a full committee, before an opportunity occurred 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-reliance, or that he is too easily led by the opinion of others.- It is, therefore, a convincing testimony to the skill and tact with which he availed himself of the abiUties and experience 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 were 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 his Councillors, and with the members of the India Office secretariat, but with others unconnected with the 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 attention. Many were those who, on leaving his room after one of these interviews, expressed their astonishment 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 apphcation to a particular subject.

2—2

Chapter III. Government Of India And Parliamentary Legislation

While changes in Indian aflfairs had occuiTed rapidly at home, how was it in the East, since Sir Charles Wood had ceased to he president of the Board of Control four short years ago ?

In that infinitesimal period of a country's history, what 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 well 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 prosecution 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.