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DALHOUSIE, JAMES ANDREW BROUN RAMSAY,...
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See also:DALHOUSIE, See also: The 9th earl was in 1815 created Baron Dalhousie in the See also:peerage of the See also:United See also:Kingdom, and had three sons, the two See also:elder of whom died See also:early. His youngest son, the subject of this See also:article, was small in stature, but his See also:firm chiselled mouth, high forehead and masterful manner intimated a dignity that none could overlook. Yet his early life gave little promise of the dominating force of his See also:character or of his ability to rise to the full height of his splendid opportunities. Nor did those brought
into closest intimacy with him, whether at school or at See also:Oxford, suspect the higher qualities of statesmanship which afterwards established his fame on so firm a See also:foundation.
Several years of his early boyhood were spent with his father and mother in Canada, reminiscences of which were still vivid with him when governor-general of India. Returning to Scotland he was prepared for See also:Harrow, where he entered in 1825, Two years later he was removed from school, his entire See also:education being entrusted to the Rev. Mr See also:Temple, See also:incumbent of a quiet See also:parish in See also:Staffordshire. To this See also:gentleman he referred in later days as having taught him all he knew, and to his training he must have owed those habits of regularity and that indomitable See also:industry which marked his adult life. In See also:October 1829 he passed on to See also:Christ See also: In the previous See also:year he had married Lady Susan See also:Hay, daughter of the marquess of See also:Tweeddale, whose companionship was his chief support in India, and whose death in 1853 See also:left him a heartbroken See also:man. In 1838 his father had died after a See also:long illness, while less than a year later he lost his mother.
Succeeding to the peerage, the new earl soon made his See also:mark in a speech delivered on the 16th of See also:June 184o in support of Lord See also:Aberdeen's Church of Scotland Benefices See also:Bill, a controversy arising out of the Auchterarder See also:case, in which he had already taken See also:part in the "general See also:assembly" in opposition to Dr See also:Chalmers. In May 1843 he became See also:vice-See also:president of the See also:board of See also:trade, See also:Gladstone being president, and was sworn in as a member of the privy See also:council. Succeeding Gladstone as president in 1845, he threw himself into the work during the crisis of the railway See also:mania with such See also:energy that his See also:health partially See also:broke down under the See also:strain. In the struggle over the See also:corn See also:laws he ranged himself on the See also:side of Sir See also:Robert See also:Peel, and after the failure of Lord John See also:Russell to See also:form a See also:ministry he resumed his See also:post at the board of trade, entering the See also:cabinet on the retirement of Lord See also:Stanley. When Peel resigned See also:office in June 1846, Lord John offered Dalhousie a seat in the cabinet, an offer which he declined from a fear that See also:acceptance might " involve the loss of public character." Another See also:attempt to secure his services in the See also:appointment of president of the railway board was equally unsuccessful; but in 1847 he accepted the post of governor-general of India in See also:succession to Lord See also:Hardinge, on the understanding that he was to be left in " entire and unquestioned See also:possession" of his own "See also:personal See also:independence with reference to party politics."
Dalhousie assumed See also:charge of his dual duties as governor-general of India and governor of See also:Bengal on the 12th of See also:January 1848, and shortly afterwards he was honoured with the See also:green ribbon of the See also:Order of the See also:Thistle. In See also:writing to the president of the board of See also:control, Sir John See also:Hobhouse, he was able to assure him that everything was quiet. This statement, however, was to be falsified by events almost before it could reach England. For on the 19th of April Vans See also:Agnew of the See also:civil service and See also:Lieutenant See also: He therefore resolutely delayed to strike, organized a strong See also:army for operations in See also:November, and himself proceeded to the Punjab. Despite the brilliant successes gained by See also:Herbert See also:Edwardes in conflict with Mulraj, and Gough's indecisive victories at Ramnagar in November, at Sadulapur in See also:December, and at See also:Chillianwalla in the following See also:month, the stubborn resistance at Multan showed that the task required the utmost resources of the See also:government. At length, on the 22nd of January 1849, the Multan fortress was taken by General Whish, who was thus set at See also:liberty to join Gough at See also:Gujrat. Here a See also:complete victory was won on the 21st of See also:February, the Sikh army surrendered at Rawal Pindi, and their Afghan See also:allies were chased out of India. For his services the earl of Dalhousie received the thanks of parliament and a step in the peerage, as marquess.
The See also:war being now over, Dalhousie, without waiting for instructions from See also:home, annexed the Punjab, and made See also:provision for the custody and education of the See also:infant maharaja. For the See also:present the See also:province was administered by a triumvirate under the personal supervision of the governor-general, and later, a See also:place having been found for See also: See also:Martaban was taken on the 5th of April-1852, and Rangoon and See also:Bassein shortly after-wards. Since, however, the court of Ava showed no sign of submission, the second campaign opened in October, and after the capture of See also:Prome and See also:Pegu the See also:annexation of the province of Pegu was declared by a See also:proclamation dated the loth of December 1853. To any further invasion of the Burmese empire Dalhousie was firmly opposed, being content to " consolidate " the Company's possessions by uniting See also:Arakan to See also:Tenasserim. By his See also:wise policy he pacified the new province, placing See also:Colonel See also:Arthur Phayre in sole charge of it, personally visiting it, and establishing a complete See also:system of telegraphs and communications. These military operations added force to the conviction which Dalhousie had formed of the need of consolidating the Company's See also:ill-knit possessions, and as a step in that direction he decided to apply the See also:doctrine of " See also:lapse," and annex any See also:Hindu native states, created or revived by the grants of the British government, in which there was a failure of male lineal descendants, reserving for See also:consideration the policy of permitting adoptions in other Hindu chief ships tributary and subordinate to the British government as See also:paramount. Under the first See also:head he recommended the annexation of See also:Satara in January 1849, of Jaitpur and See also:Sambalpur in the same 'year, and of See also:Jhansi and See also:Nagpur in 1853. In these cases his See also:action was approved by the home authorities, but his proposal to annex See also:Karauli in 1849 was disallowed, while Baghat and the See also:petty See also:estate of See also:Udaipur, which he had annexed in 1851 and 1852 respectively, were afterwards restored to native rule. Other See also:measures with the same See also:object were carried out in the Company's own territories. Bengal, too long ruled by the governor-general or his delegate, was placed under a See also:separate lieutenant-governor in May 1854; a See also:department of public See also:works was established in each See also:presidency, and See also:engineering colleges were provided. An imperial system of telegraphs followed; the first See also:link of railway communication was completed in 1855; well-considered plans mapped out the course of other lines and their method of administration; the Ganges See also:canal, which then exceeded " all the See also:irrigation lines of See also:Lombardy and See also:Egypt together," was completed; and despite the cost of See also:wars in the Punjab and See also:Burma, liberal provision was made for metalled roads and See also:bridges. The useless military boards were swept away; selection took the place of seniority in the higher commands; an army clothing and a See also:stud department were created, and the medical service underwent complete re-organization. " Unity of authority coupled with See also:direct responsibility " was the keynote of his policy. In nine masterly minutes he suggested means for strengthening the Company's European forces, calling attention to the dangers that threatened the See also:English community, " a handful of scattered strangers "; but beyond the additional See also:powers of recruitment which at his entreaty were granted in the last See also:charter See also:act of 1853, his proposals were shelved by the home authorities, who scented no danger and wished to avoid expense. In his administration Dalhousie vigorously asserted the control of the civil government over military affairs, and when Sir See also: His See also:foreign policy was guided by a See also:desire to recognize the " independence " of the larger native states, and to avoid extending the See also:political relations of his government with foreign powers outside India. Pressed to intervene in See also:Hyderabad, he refused to do so, laying down the doctrine that interference wasonly justified " if the administration of native princes tends unquestionably to the injury of the subjects or of the allies of the British government." Protection in his view carried no right of interference in the affairs of what he called " See also:independent " states. In this spirit he negotiated in 1853 a treaty with the See also:nizam, which provided funds for the See also:maintenance of the contingent kept up by the British in support of that See also:prince's authority, by the See also:assignment of the Berars in lieu of See also:annual payments of the cost and large outstanding arrears. " The See also:Berar treaty," he told Sir Charles See also:Wood, " is more likely to keep the nizam on his See also:throne than anything that has happened for fifty years to him," while at the same time the control thus acquired over a See also:strip of territory intervening between Bombay and Nagpur promoted his policy of consolidation and his schemes of railway See also:extension. The same spirit induced him to tolerate a war of succession in See also:Bahawalpur, so long as the contending candidates did not violate British territory. This reluctance to increase his responsibilities further caused him to refrain from punishing Dost Mahommed for the part he had taken in the Sikh War, and resolutely to refuse to enter upon any negotiations until the See also:amir himself came forward. Then he steered a See also:middle course between the proposals of his own See also:agent, Herbert Edwardes, who advocated an offensive See also:alliance, and those of John Lawrence, who would have avoided any sort of engagement. He himself drafted the short treaty of See also:peace and friendship which Lawrence signed in 1855, that officer receiving in 1856 the order of K.C.B. in See also:acknowledgment of his services in the matter. While, how-ever, Dalhousie was content with a mutual engagement with the Afghan chief, binding each party to respect the territories of the other, he saw that a larger measure of interference was needed in See also:Baluchistan, and with the See also:khan of See also:Kalat he authorized See also:Major See also:Jacob to negotiate a treaty of subordinate co-operation on the 14th of May 1854. The khan was guaranteed an annual See also:subsidy of Rs.5o,o00, in return for the treaty which " bound him to us wholly and exclusively." To this the home authorities demurred, but the engagement was duly ratified, and the subsidy was largely increased by Dalhousie's successors. On the other See also:hand, he insisted on leaving all matters concerning See also:Persia and Central See also:Asia to the decision of the See also:queen's advisers. The frontier tribes-men it was obviously necessary to coerce into See also:good behaviour after the annexation of the Punjab. " The hillmen," he wrote, " regard the plains as their See also:food and See also:prey," and the, Afridis, Mohmands, See also:Black See also:Mountain tribes, Waziris and others had to be taught that their new neighbours would not tolerate outrages. But he proclaimed to one and all his desire for peace, and urged upon them the See also:duty of tribal responsibility.
The See also:settlement of the Oudh question was reserved to the last. The home authorities had begged Dalhousie to prolong his See also:tenure of office during the See also:Crimean War, but the difficulties of the problem no less than complications elsewhere had induced him to delay operations. In 1854 he appointed See also:Outram as See also:resident at the court of See also:Lucknow, directing him to submit a See also:report on the See also:condition of the province. This was furnished in See also: The insurrection of the See also:half-civilized Kolarian See also:Santals of Bengal against the extortions of landlords and See also:money-lenders had been severely repressed, but the causes of the insurrection had still to be reviewed and a remedy provided. By removing the See also:tract of country from the See also:ordinary regulations, enforcing the See also:residence of British See also:officers there, and employing the See also:Santal headmen in a local See also:police, he ensured a system of administration which afterwards proved eminently successful.
At length, after seven years of strenuous labour, Dalhousie, on the 6th of March 1856, set See also:sail for England on board the Company's " Firoze," an object of general sympathy and not less general respect. At See also:Alexandria he was carried by H.M.S. " Caradoc " to See also:Malta, and thence by the " See also:Tribune " to Spithead, which he reached on the 13th of May. His return had been eagerly looked for by statesmen who hoped that he would resume his public career, by the Company which voted him an annual pension of 5000, by public bodies which showered upon him every mark of respect, and by the queen who earnestly prayed for the " blessing of restored health and strength." That blessing was not to be his. He lingered on, seeking See also:sunshine in Malta and medical treatment at See also:Malvern, Edinburgh and other places in vain obedience to his doctors. The outbreak of the mutiny led to See also:bitter attacks at home upon his policy, and to See also:strange misrepresentation of his public acts, while on the other hand John Lawrence invoked his counsel and See also:influence, and those who really knew his work in India cried out, " Oh, for a See also:dictator," and his return " for one See also:hour!" To all these cries he turned a See also:deaf See also:ear, refusing to embarrass those who were responsible by any expressions of opinion, declining to undertake his own See also:defence or to assist in his vindication through the public See also:press, and by his last directions sealing up his private See also:journal and papers of personal interest against publication until fifty years after his death. On the 9th of See also:August 1859 his youngest daughter, Edith, was married at Dalhousie Castle to Sir James See also:Fergusson, See also:Bart. In the same castle Dalhousie died on the 19th of December 186o; he was buried in the old See also:churchyard of Cockpen.
Dalhousie's family consisted of two daughters, and the marquessate became See also:extinct at his death.
The detailed events of the See also:period will be found in Sir William See also: ; Sir E. See also:Arnold's Dalhousie's Administration of British India; Sir C. See also:Jackson's Vindication of Dalhousie's Indian Administration; Sir W. W. See also:Hunter's Dalhousie; Capt. L. J. Trotter's Life of the Marquis of Dalhousie; the See also:duke of See also:Argyll's India under Dalhousie and See also:Canning; See also:Broughton See also:MSS. (British Museum); and See also:parliamentary papers. (W. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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