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AFGHANISTAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 415 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AFGHANISTAN .) Within a See also:

month after the See also:news reached See also:Calcutta, See also:Lord See also:Auckland had been superseded by Lord See also:Ellenborough, whose first impulse was to be satisfied with See also:drawing off in safety the garrisons from See also:Kandahar and See also:Jalalabad. But bolder counsels prevailed. See also:General See also:Pollock, who was marching straight through the See also:Punjab to relieve General See also:Sale, was ordered to penetrate to See also:Kabul, while General See also:Nott was only too glad not to be forbidden to retire from Kandahar through Kabul. After a See also:good See also:deal of fighting, the two See also:British forces met at their See also:common destination in See also:September 1842. The See also:great bazar at Kabul was blown up with See also:gunpowder to See also:fix a stigma upon the See also:city; the prisoners were recovered; and all marched back to See also:India, leaving Dost Mahommed to take undisputed See also:possession of his See also:throne. The See also:drama closed with a bombastic See also:proclamation from Lord Ellen-See also:borough, who had caused the See also:gates from the See also:tomb of Mahmud of See also:Ghazni to be carried back as a memorial of " See also:Somnath revengeu." Lord Ellenborough, who loved military display, had his tastes gratified by two more See also:wars. In 1843 the See also:Mahommedan rulers of See also:Sind, known as the " meets " or amirs, whose only See also:fault was that they would not surrender their AnnexeindePevdence, were crushed by See also:Sir See also:Charles See also:Napier. See also:S1a tioa of d. The victory of See also:Meeanee, in which 3000 British troops defeated 20,000 Baluchis, is perhaps the most brilliant feat of arms in. See also:Indian See also:history; but an honest excuse can scarcely be found for the See also:annexation of the See also:country. In the same See also:year a disputed See also:succession at See also:Gwalior, fomented by feminine intrigue, resulted in an outbreak of the overgrown See also:army which the Sindhia See also:family had been allowed to maintain. See also:Peace was restored by the battles of See also:Maharajpur and Punniar, at the former of which Lord Ellenborough was See also:present in See also:person.

In 1844. Lord Ellenborough was recalled by the See also:

court of See also:directors, who differed from him on many points of See also:administration, and distrusted his erratic See also:genius. He was F!t succeeded by Sir See also:Henry (afterwards Lord) See also:Hardinge, See also:Sikh See also:War. who had served through the See also:Peninsular War and had lost a See also:hand at Ligny. It was See also:felt on all sides that a trial of strength between the British and the Sikhs was at hand. (For the origin of the Sikh See also:power see PUNJAB.) Ranjit Singh, the founder of the Sikh See also:kingdom in the Punjab, had faithfully fulfilled all his obligations towards the British. But on his See also:death in 1839 no successor was See also:left to curb the ambition of the Sikh See also:nationality. In 1845 the khalsa, or Sikh army, numbering 6o,000 men with 150 guns, crossed the See also:Sutlej and invaded British territory. Sir See also:Hugh See also:Gough, the .See also:commander-in-See also:chief, together with the See also:governor-general, hurried up to the frontier. Within three See also:weeks four pitched battles were fought, at Mudki, See also:Ferozeshah, See also:Aliwal and See also:Sobraon. The British loss on each occasion was heavy; but by the last victory the Sikhs were fairly driven into and across the Sutlej, and See also:Lahore surrendered to the British. By the terms of peace then dictated the See also:infant son of Ranjit, Dhuleep Singh, was recognized as See also:raja; the See also:Jullundur See also:Doab, or See also:tract between the Sutlej and the See also:Ravi, was annexed; the Sikh army was limited to a specified number; See also:Major Henry See also:Lawrence was appointed to be See also:resident at Lahore; and a British force was detailed to See also:garrison the Punjab for a See also:period of eight years. Lord See also:Dalhousie succeeded Lord Hardinge, and his eight years' administration (from 1848 to 1856) was more pregnant of results than that of any governor-general since See also:Wellesley.

Dal- Though professedly a See also:

man of peace, he was compelled hou housie, to fight two wars, in the Punjab and in See also:Burma. These both ended in large acquisitions of territory, while See also:Nagpur, Oudh and several See also:minor states also came under British See also:rule. But Dalhousie's own See also:special See also:interest See also:lay in the See also:advancement of the moral and material See also:condition of the country. The See also:system of administration carried out in the conquered Punjab by the two Lawrences and their assistants is probably the most successful piece of difficult See also:work ever accomplished by Englishmen. See also:Lower Burma prospered under their rule scarcely less than the Punjab. In both cases Lord Dalhousie deserves a large See also:share of the See also:credit.- No See also:branch of the administration escaped his reforming hand. He founded the public See also:works See also:department, to pay special See also:attention to roads and' canals. He opened the See also:Ganges See also:canal, still the largest work of the See also:kind in the country, and he turned the sod of the first Indian railway. He promoted See also:steam communication with See also:England via the Red See also:Sea, and introduced cheap See also:postage and the electric See also:telegraph. It is Lord Dalhousie's misfortune that these benefits are too often forgotten in the vivid recollections of the See also:Mutiny, which avenged his policy of annexation. Lord Dalhousie had not. been six months in India before the second Sikh war See also:broke out. Two British See also:officers were treachersecend ously assassinated at See also:Multan.

Unfortunately Henry Sikh War. Lawrence was at See also:

home on sick leave. The British army was not ready to See also:act in the hot See also:season, and, despite the single-handed exertions of See also:Lieutenant (afterwards Sir See also:Herbert) See also:Edwardes, this outbreak of fanaticism led to a general rising. The khalsa army again came together, and more than once fought on even terms with the British. On the fatal See also:field of See also:Chillianwalla, which patriotism prefers to See also:call a See also:drawn See also:battle, the British lost 2400 officers and men, besides four guns and the See also:colours of three regiments. Before reinforcements could come out from England, with Sir Charles Napier as commanderin-chief, Lord Gough had restored his own reputation by the crowning victory of See also:Gujrat, which absolutely destroyed the Sikh army. Multan had previously fallen; and the Afghan See also:horse under Dost Mahommed, who had forgotten their hereditary antipathy to the Sikhs in their greater hatred of the British name, were chased back with ignominy to their native hills. The Punjab henceforth became a British See also:province, supplying a virgin field for the administrative talents of Dalhousie and the two Lawrences. Raja Dhuleep Singh received an See also:allowance ' of £5o,000 a year, on which he retired as a country See also:gentleman to See also:Norfolk in England. (See PUMAS.) The second Burmese war of 1852 was caused by the See also:ill-treatment of See also:European merchants at See also:Rangoon, and the insolence offered to the See also:captain of a See also:frigate who had been sent to remonstrate. The whole valley of the See also:Irrawaddy, from Rangoon to See also:Prome, was occupied in a few months, and, as the See also:king of See also:Ava refused to treat, it was annexed, under the name of See also:Pegu, to the provinces of See also:Arakan and See also:Tenasserim, which had been acquired in 1826. Lord Dalhousie's dealings with the feudatory states of India, though actuated by the highest motives, seem now to have Second Burmese War.

proceeded upon mistaken lines. His policy of annexing each native See also:

state on the death of its ruler without natural heirs produced a general feeling of insecurity of See also:tenure among the ,princes; and gave offence to the See also:people of India. This See also:doctrine policy was reversed when India was taken over by of See also:lapse. the See also:crown after the Mutiny; and its reversal has led to the native princes being amongst the most loyal subjects of the British See also:government. The first state to See also:escheat to the British government was See also:Satara, which had been reconstituted by Lord See also:Hastings on the, downfall of the See also:peshwa Baji See also:Rao in 1818. The last See also:direct representative of See also:Sivaji died without a male See also:heir in 1848, and his deathbed See also:adoption was set aside. In the same year the See also:Rajput state of See also:Karauli was saved by the interposition of the court of directors, who See also:drew a See also:fine distinction between a dependent principality and a protected ally. In 1853 See also:Jhansi suffered the same See also:fate as Satara. But the most conspicuous application of the doctrine of lapse was the See also:case of • Nagpur. The last of the Bhonslas, a See also:dynasty older than the British government itself, died without a son, natural or adopted, in 1853. That year also saw British administration extended to the Berars, or the assigned districts which the See also:nizam of See also:Hyderabad was induced to cede as a territorial See also:guarantee for the subsidies which he perpetually kept in arrear. Three more distinguished names likewise passed away in 1853, though without any attendant See also:accretion to British territory. In the extreme See also:south the titular See also:nawab of the Carnatic and the titular raja of See also:Tanjore both died without heirs.

Their See also:

rank and their See also:pensions died with them, though compassionate allowances were continued to their families. In the See also:north of India, Baji Rao, the ex-peshwa who had been dethroned in r818, lived on till 1853 in the enjoyment of his See also:annual See also:pension of £8o,000. His adopted son, Nana See also:Sahib, inherited his accumulated savings, but could obtain no further recognition. The annexation of the province of Oudh was justifiable on the ground of morals, though not on that of policy. Ever since the nawab See also:wazir, Shuja-ud-Dowlah, received back his forfeited territories from the hands of Lord See also:Clive in 1765, the very existence of Oudh as an See also:independent state had depended only upon the See also:protection of British bayonets. Thus, preserved alike from See also:foreign invasion and from domestic See also:rebellion, the See also:long See also:line of subsequent nawabs had given way to that neglect of public affairs and those private vices which naturally flow from irresponsible power. Their only redeeming virtue was steady See also:loyalty to the British government. Warning after warning had been given to the nawabs, who had assumed the See also:title of king since 1819, to put their See also:house in See also:order; but every warning was neglected, and Lord Dalhousie at last carried into effect what both the previous See also:governors-general had threatened. In 1856, the last year of his rule, he issued orders to General (afterwards Sir See also:James) See also:Outram, then resident at the court of See also:Lucknow, to assume the direct administration of Oudh, on the ground that " the British government would be guilty in the sight of See also:God and man, if it were any longer to aid in sustaining by its countenance an administration fraught with suffering to millions." The king, Wajid See also:Ali, bowed to irresistible force, though he ever refused to recognize the See also:justice of his deposition. After a See also:mission to England, by way of protest and See also:appeal, he settled down in the pleasant suburb of See also:Garden Reach near Calcutta, where he lived in the enjoyment of a pension of £1.20,000 a year. Oudh was thus annexed without a See also:blow; but it may be doubted whether the one measure of Lord Dalhousie upon which he looked back himself with the clearest See also:conscience was not the very one that most alarmed native public See also:opinion. Lord Dalhousie was succeeded by his friend, Lord See also:Canning, who, at the farewell banquet in England given to him by the court of directors, uttered these prophetic words: " I wish for a peaceful See also:term of See also:office.

But I cannot utiny. forget that in the See also:

sky of India, serene as it is, a small See also:cloud may arise, no larger than a man's hand, but which, growing larger and larger, may at last threaten to burst and overwhelm us with ruin." In the following year the sepoys of the See also:Bengal Aanexalion of Oudh. courts and See also:company's courts at the See also:presidency India under The Crown. army mutinied, and all the valley of the Ganges from See also:Patna to supreme See also:Delhi See also:rose in open rebellion, towns. The various motives assigned for the Mutiny appear inadequate to the European mind. The truth seems to be that native opinion throughout India was in a ferment, predisposing men to believe the wildest stories, and to act precipitately upon their fears. The See also:influence of panic in an See also:Oriental See also:population is greater than might be readily believed. In the first See also:place, the policy of Lord Dalhousie, exactly in proportion' as it had been dictated by the most See also:honourable considerations, was utterly distasteful to the native mind. Repeated annexations, the spread of See also:education, the See also:appearance of the steam See also:engine and the telegraph See also:wire, all alike revealed a consistent' determination to substitute an See also:English for an Indian See also:civilization. The Bengal sepoys, especially, thought that they could see into the future farther than the See also:rest of their countrymen. Nearly all men of high See also:caste, and many of them recruited from Oudh, they dreaded tendencies which they deemed to be denationalizing, and they knew at first hand what annexation meant. They believed it was by their prowess that the Punjab had been conquered, and all India was held quiet. The numerous dethroned princes, their heirs and their widows, were the first to take See also:advantage of the, spirit of disaffection that was abroad.

They had heard of the See also:

Crimean War, and were told that See also:Russia was the perpetual enemy of England. Owing to the silladar system, under which the native See also:cavalry provided their own horses and accoutrements, many of the sowars were in See also:debt, and were in favour of a See also:change which would wipe out the existing regime and with it the See also:money-lender. But in addition to these general causes of unrest the condition of the native army had long given cause for uneasiness to acute observers. During the course of its history it had broken out into mutiny at recurrent intervals, the latest occasion being the See also:winter of 1843-1844, when there were two See also:separate mutinies in Sind and at See also:Ferozepur. Moreover the spirit of the sepoys during the Sikh wars. was unsatisfactory, and led to excessive casualties amongst the British officers and soldiers. Both General See also:Jacob and Sir Charles Napier had prophesied that the Mutiny would take place. Sir Hugh Gough and other commanders-inchief had petitioned for the removal of India's chief See also:arsenal from Delhi to See also:Umballa; and Lord'Dalhousie himself had protested against the reduction of the British See also:element in the army. But all these warnings were disregarded with a See also:blindness as great as was the incapacity that allowed the Mutiny to gather See also:head unchecked after its first ' outbreak at' See also:Meerut. Moreover, the outbreak was immediately provoked 'by an unparalleled in-stance of carelessness. It has recently been proved by Mr G. W. See also:Forrest's researches in the Government of India re-cords that the sepoys' belief that their cartridges were greased with the See also:fat of cows and pigs had some See also:foundation in fact.

Such a See also:

gross violation of their caste prejudices would alone be sufficient to See also:account for the outbreak that followed.

End of Article: AFGHANISTAN

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