85. And whereas the removal of restrictions on the intercourse of Europeans with the said Territories will render it necessary to provide against any mischiefs or dangers that may arise therefrom, be it therefore Enacted, That the GovernorGeneral in Council shall by Laws and Regulations provide with all convenient speed for the Protection of the Natives of the said Territories from insult and outrage in their persons, religions, or opinions.

87. No Native of the said Territories, nor any natural-born Subject of His Majesty resident therein, shall, by reason only of his religion, place of birth, descent, colour, or any of them be disabled from holding any Place, Office, or Employment under the said Company.

103. And whereas it is expedient to provide for the due qualification of persons to be employed in the civil service of the Company in the said Territories, be it therefore Enacted That the Governor-General of India in Council shall, as soon as may be after the First day of January in every year, make and transmit to the Court of Directors a prospective estimate of the number of persons who will be necessary to supply the expected Vacancies in the Civil Establishments of the respective Governments in India, And within One month after such estimate shall have been received the Board of Commissioners shall certify to the Court of Directors what number of persons shall be nominated as candidates for Admission, and what number of Students shall be admitted to the College of the Company at Haileybury, in the then current year . . . and it shall be lawful for the Court of Directors to nominate such a number of Candidates for admission to the College as shall be mentioned in the Certificate of the Board.

105. The Candidates for Admission to the College shall be subjected to an Examination in such branches of knowledge, and by such Examiners as the Board shall direct, and shall be classed in a List to be prepared by the Examiners, and the Candidates whose names shall stand highest in such List shall be admitted by the Court as Students in the College, until the number to be admitted for that year, according to the Certificate of the Board, be supplied.

112. THE NEW AIMS OF THE SUPREME GOVERNMENT

From the Report of the Committee of Parliament on the Affairs of the East India Company, 1833.

On a large view of the state of Indian Legislation, and of the improvements of which it is susceptible, it is recognised as an indisputable principle, that the interests of the Native Subjects are to be consulted in preference to those of Europeans, whenever the two come in competition; and that therefore the Laws ought to be adapted rather to the feelings and habits of the Natives than to those of Europeans. It is also asserted, that though the Native Law might beneficially be assimilated to British Law in certain points, yet that the principles of British Law could never be made the basis of an Indian Code; and finally, that the rights of the Natives can never be effectually secured otherwise than by such amalgamation.

Intimately connected with every plan for the good government of India, and for the introduction of ameliorating changes into the present system, is all that relates to the habits, character, and capacity of the Native Population. It appears that at present they are only employed in subordinate situations in the Revenue, Judicial, and Military Departments. They are said to be sufficiently observant of the practical merits and defects of our system; and to be alive to the grievance of being excluded from a larger share in the Executive Government. . . . It is amply borne out by the Evidence that such exclusion is not warranted on the score of incapacity for business, or the want of application, or trustworthiness: while it is contended that their admission, under European control, into the higher offices . . . would strengthen their attachment to British dominion; would conduce to a better Administration of Justice; and would be productive of a great saving in the Expenses of the Indian Government.

CHAPTER IX

THE NORTH-WEST FRONTIER

1835-1848

SINCE 1818 the north-western frontier of the Indian Empire had been the line of the Sutlej and the Indus. Beyond this line lay the valley of the Indus, including the fertile region of the Punjab to the north, and the desert area of Sind to the south. Beyond these again rose the great mountain-wall which is the obvious natural frontier of India in this direction, and through whose passes have come all the conquerors of India since the dawn of history, except the seafaring Europeans. The expansion of the Indian Empire could not be said to have attained its natural limits until it had reached this mountainwall. This last great step, which made political India for the first time correspond with geographical India, was made by the British power during the decade 1838-1848. But it was not undertaken deliberately for military and political reasons. The directors of British policy were as anxious as ever not to assume further territorial responsibilities; and it is probable that if the decision had rested with them alone, the Empire would not have attained its natural limits. Factors beyond their control drove them forward. These factors were the fear of Russian advance upon India through Central Asia, which haunted the minds of British statesmen in these years; and the political condition of the three chief regions that lay beyond the Sutlej-Indus line.

Of these regions the least important was Sind, a barren and

very thinly peopled region on both sides of the lower Indus, controlled by several chieftains, or Amirs, of Baluchi race. Unattractive in itself, and isolated between the desert regions of Rajputana and Baluchistan, Sind would have had no importance but for two facts. In the first place, the Indus formed the natural outlet of the commerce of north-western India to the sea, and the Amirs levied toll upon this trade. In the second place, the easiest passes through the mountain barrier were approached across Sind. For that reason Sind had great importance for the Punjab on the north, and for Afghanistan on the east ; and the masters of these regions were apt to claim suzerainty over it.

Afghanistan, a wild mountain region, was important because it controlled the mountain gateways into India. It stood like a fortress overlooking the plains, and time and again its masters had been the conquerors of India. Even at the beginning of the nineteenth century there was constant fear of Afghan invasion and conquest. But since then the Afghan kingdom had broken up. The heir of the old ruling house, a feeble old man, Shah Shuja, was an exile in India, dependent upon the charity of the British Government; and the head of the Barakzai family which had ousted him, Dost Mahomed, could control little more than the city of Kabul and its neighbourhood. Western Afghanistan (round Herat) was practically independent, and was threatened with conquest by Persia.

In the fertile territory of the Punjab a formidable military power existed-the empire of the Sikhs; which had been able to establish itself in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries owing to the collapse of the Mogul power on the one hand, and the disorganisation of the Afghans on the other. The Sikhs were not a nation or a race; they were the adherents of a religion, a sort of Puritan offshoot of Hinduism whose votaries were practically confined to this part of India. Under the last of its gurus or prophets Sikhism had become a fighting and conquering faith; and just at the time when the British supremacy was being established in India, the Sikhs had produced a leader of remarkable ability, in the Maharaja Ranjit

Singh, who had subjected the whole wide region of the Punjab to his centralised rule, and fought on equal terms with the Afghans. The Sikhs were a small minority of the population of the Punjab; but thanks to their remarkable military organisation and the skill of their leader, they lorded it over the much more numerous Hindus and Mahomedans who surrounded them. Between them and the Afghans was almost unending strife the frontier town of Peshawar, controlling the exit from the Khyber Pass, was the chief apple of discord. Ranjit Singh had a shrewd sense of the strength of the British power, and was always, till his death in 1839, at pains to be on friendly terms with it.

It was fear of a Russian attack that first brought the British Government into relations with these trans-Indus states. We have already seen (Nos. 89-91) how in 1809 the threat of a Franco-Russian advance across Central Asia had led Lord Minto to send special embassies to Persia, to Afghanistan, and to the Punjab, in order to concert measures for meeting this attack if it came; at the same time relations were also opened up with the Amirs of Sind. From that time onwards friendly relations, especially with the Sikh power, were anxiously cultivated.

In the 'thirties of the nineteenth century the British fear of Russia was at its height. Under the direction of the Whig statesman, Palmerston, Britain was fighting a diplomatic duel with Russia to prevent the establishment of Russian influence at Constantinople. Palmerston watched with equal suspicion and nervousness the growing influence of Russia at the court of Persia. And in these same years, under Nicholas I., Russia was steadily adding to her dominions in Central Asia. Lord Auckland, who came to India in 1835, was a Whig, and shared all Palmerston's fears. Russia seemed to be slowly closing in upon India, and it appeared more essential than ever that safeguards should be taken against her. Especially did it appear necessary that the passes through the mountain barriers should be in friendly hands. It was these fears which led to the disastrous Afghanistan expedition of 1838; and