Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of Elgin Part 37

_To Sir Charles Wood._

Calcutta, June 21st, 1862.

[Sidenote: Imprudence of a missionary.]

You may be interested by reading a letter (of which I enclose a copy) written by the officer commanding the cavalry at Delhi on the subject of an alleged a.s.sault by a native trooper on a missionary. I should think that the cause of Christian truth and charity would be as well served by preaching in a church or a building of some sort, as by holding forth in the streets in a city full of fanatical unbelievers.

If I am told that the Apostles pursued the latter course, I would observe that they had the authorities as well as the mob against them, and took not only the thrashings of the latter, but also the judicial penalties inflicted by the former, like men. It is a very different matter when you have a powerful Government to fall back upon, and to quell any riots which you may raise. However, these are burning questions, and one must handle them cautiously.

_To Mr. Edmonstone, Lieut.-Governor of the N.W. Provinces._

Calcutta, May 27th, 1862.

[Sidenote: Rumours of disaffection.]

I am much obliged to you for your letter of the 19th inst., and I beg that you will make a habit of writing to me whenever anything occurs respecting which you may desire to communicate with me confidentially.

I do not, I confess, attach any great importance to such incidents as the circulation of the prophecy which you have enclosed to me. It is quite as probable that it may be the act of some mischievous person who desires to keep alive excitement in the popular mind, as the indication of an excitement already existing.

It must, moreover, be observed that the English press throughout India has taken advantage of the advance of Sooltan Jan on Furrah to descant, at great length and with much fervour, on all perils, present and prospective, to which British rule in India is, or may be, exposed. That the Mahommedan mind, thus stimulated and encouraged, should altogether eschew such speculations, could hardly be expected.

It is impossible, however, to be too vigilant in watching these manifestations of opinion; and I trust that you will not fail to put me in possession of all the symptoms of disquietude which may reach you, however trivial they may seem to be.

I need hardly point out to you how important it is that your inquiries should be so conducted as to give no countenance to the impression that they are prompted by any nervous anxiety, or that we should be much discomposed even if the 12th Imaum himself were to make his appearance.

For my own part, I am firmly resolved to put down with prompt.i.tude and severity any attempt at disturbance which may be made in any part of India, and I do not care how generally my determination on this point is known. I shall pursue this policy, not because I fear for the stability of our empire in the East, but because tranquillity is essential to the progress of the country, and because lenity to the guilty originators of such machinations leads invariably to the severest punishment and suffering of misguided followers.

_To Sir Charles Wood._

Calcutta, June 17th, 1862.

[Sidenote: Groundless alarms at Delhi.]

The follies which are committed by the military panicmongers in the North-west are very vexatious, and pregnant with mischief of all kinds.... I made up my mind yesterday to set off in person and go straight to Delhi, if the thing goes on. As a rising of troops against us in places where the Europeans have all the artillery, and at least equal the native forces in number, is rather too strong a dose even for the weakest nerves, the stock in trade now is the existence of designs for the a.s.sa.s.sination of Europeans.... These topics are probably the conversation at every mess-table, indulged in before the native servants, who would be the agents in such plots if they were to be carried out. It is a remarkable fact that, although secret murder by poison and otherwise is not unknown among natives between themselves, as directed against Europeans, it is, I believe, almost entirely unexampled. It is not impossible, however, that constant discussions on the subject may familiarise the native mind with the idea.

But talking is not all. The commanding officer at Agra has acted on these suspicions, and, in the face of the native population, taken extraordinary precautions on the a.s.sumption that the wells are poisoned. We have no report as yet on the subject. All we know is from the newspapers; but of the fact, I fear, there can be little doubt. If there be disaffected persons in that locality (and no doubt there are many such), it will be strange indeed if they do not profit by so broad a hint. Then again, this panic beginning with the officers spreads to the men. Some cases of terrorism have occurred at Delhi which are a disgrace to our race. And of course we know what follows.

Cowardice and cruelty being twins, the man who runs terror-stricken into his barrack to-night because he mistook the chirp of a cricket for the click of a pistol, indemnifies himself to-morrow by beating his bearer to within an inch of his life.

All this is very bad, and very difficult to control. After the lesson of 1857 it will not do for me to adopt the happy-go-lucky tone, and to pooh-pooh what professes to be information. To preach common sense from a safe distance is equally futile. It therefore occurred to me that the only thing practically to do, would be to go to the head- quarters of the panic, surround myself by native troops, and put a stop to the nonsense by example.

If I had been anywhere else except in India, I should have acted upon this determination at once; but here there are such enormous physical difficulties in the way, that one is obliged to think twice before setting out on such an expedition. However, I have not abandoned the intention, and shall certainly carry it out, if this sort of thing goes on. We cannot afford to have the progress of the country arrested by such _miseres_. The alarmists succeeded in bringing down the price of our stocks a few days ago.

By the bye, last night was fixed upon by my anonymous correspondents for my own a.s.sa.s.sination.

_To Sir Charles Wood._

Calcutta, June 22nd, 1862.

[Sidenote: The murder of a native.]

I have had, this week, a very painful matter to deal with. A man of the name of Budd, a soldier who had obtained his discharge in order to accompany an officer of the name of ---- to Australia, killed a native in the Punjab some months ago under the following circ.u.mstances. He was desired by ---- to procure a sheep for him. He went to a native, from whom he appears to have procured sheep before, and took one. The native protested against his taking this particular sheep, because it was with lamb, but said he might take any other from the flock. Budd paid no heed to this remonstrance, put the sheep on the back of another native, and marched off. The owner followed, complaining and protesting. On tins Budd first fired two barrels over his head, then threw stones at him, and finally went into the house, brought out another gun, fired at him, and killed him on the spot. Besides imploring that his sheep might be restored to him, it does not appear that the native did anything at all to provoke this proceeding.

The perpetrator of this outrage being a European, the case could not be tried on the spot. It was accordingly transferred to Calcutta; witnesses, &c., being sent 1,000 miles at the public expense. Before it came on, however, the counsel for the defence requested a postponement in order to obtain further evidence. The request was granted, and the trial deferred till another term.

[Sidenote: Punished by death.]

The trial came on a few days ago, and the jury, much to their honour, found the prisoner guilty. On this an agitation was got up to obtain a commutation of the sentence of death which had been pa.s.sed by the judge. A pet.i.tion, with a great number of signatures, was presented in the first instance to the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal; but he was advised that, the crime having been committed in the Punjab, he had nothing to do with the case. It was then transmitted to me. There was quite enough doubt as to my power of acting, to have justified me in referring the case to the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab. But I felt that the delay, and, above all, the appearance of a desire to shrink from the responsibility of pa.s.sing a decision on the case, which this step would involve, would be so mischievous, that, having obtained from the Advocate-General an opinion that I had the requisite authority, I determined to take the matter into my own hands. The verdict was clearly borne out by the evidence. The sentence was in accordance with the law, and the judge, to whom I referred, saw no reason to question it. The decision of the Governor-General in Council was, that the law must take its course.

[Sidenote: Little value put on native life.]

It is true that this murder was not committed with previous preparation and deliberation. It had not, therefore, this special quality of aggravation. But it was marked by an aggravation of its own, not less culpable, and unfortunately only too frequently characteristic of the homicides perpetrated by Europeans on natives in this country. It was committed in wanton recklessness, almost without provocation, under an impulse which would have been resisted if the life of the victim had been estimated at the value of that of a dog.

Any action on my part which would have seemed to sanction this estimate of the value of native life, would have been attended by the most pernicious consequences.

It is bad enough as it is. The other day a station-master, somewhere up country, kicked a native who was, as he says, milking a goat belonging to the former. The native fell dead, and the local paper, without a word of commiseration for the victim or his family, complains of the hardship of compelling the station-master to go to Calcutta, in this warm weather, to have the case inquired into. Other instances in which the natives have died from the effect of personal chastis.e.m.e.nt administered by Europeans have occurred since I have been here.

I have gone at some length into this case, both because you may hear of it, and also because it exemplifies what is really our greatest source of embarra.s.sment in this country--the extreme difficulty of administering equal justice between natives and Europeans.

_To Sir Charles Wood._

July 16th, 1862.

[Sidenote: Against interference in Afghanistan.]

I am very much averse to any interference on our part in the quarrel which is now on foot in Afghanistan; and, indeed, I do not very well see my way as to how any such interference can be managed without entailing responsibilities which we may regret at a later period. You are doubtless aware that we have no agent with the Dost. He particularly requested that no one should be sent to his court in that capacity, and we a.s.sented to his views on this point. All we know of what is going on there is derived from the reports of a native vakeel, who reports more or less faithfully what he hears and sees, but who is not, and I apprehend, could not be employed to speak on our behalf to the Ameer. In order, therefore, to communicate with him, we must either send a special agent, or write. Now it must be observed that in this affair the Dost has not been the aggressor. The Herat chief attacked him without any provocation. We offered him no a.s.sistance, made no remonstrance, and left him to take care of himself. He has asked us for nothing, and we have given him nothing. It is now proposed that we should inform the Dost that if he goes beyond a certain point, and Persia comes into the field to support Herat, he must not expect any a.s.sistance from us. If we had an agent there it would be easy to instruct him to make such an intimation; and if the Dost were to ask us for any support, an answer which would convey this hint might be given. But situated as we are, we must move cautiously in this matter. If the Dost stops on our suggestion, and if (as is frequently the case with Orientals), the enemy, ascribing his moderation to weakness, presses him with increased vigour, what are we to do then? Are we to stand by and laugh at our dupe, telling him that though our advice got him into the sc.r.a.pe, he must find his own way out of it? or are we to set to work to check his opponents? and if we undertake the latter task, how far will it lead us?

It is quite impossible in these affairs, and with people of this description, to say what an hour may bring forth. A shower of rain may convert a victorious army into a baffled one, and an advance into a retreat. The death of a man of eighty years of age will probably throw all Afghanistan into confusion, convert friends into foes and _vice versa_. Instructions framed in Calcutta to meet one set of circ.u.mstances may arrive in Afghanistan when the whole scene has changed. I own that I am strongly of opinion that our true policy is to leave these kinds of neighbours as much as possible alone; to mix ourselves up as little as may be in their miserable intrigues, which generally entail obligations which bind us and not them, and not unfrequently lead to most unexpected issues. We should only speak when we have a case of self-interest so clear that we can speak with determination, and follow up our talk if necessary with a blow.

_To Sir Charles Wood._

August 9th, 1862.

[Sidenote: Withdrawal of vakeel.]

After a good deal of consideration as to how I can, with least risk of getting this Government into trouble, put a spoke into the Dost's wheel in his progress towards Herat, I have despatched to Sir R.

Montgomery the telegram of which I enclose a copy. The order sent to our vakeel, desiring him to leave the Ameer's camp, and return to India, if the Dost proceeds to extremities against Herat, will sufficiently show that we discountenance any such proceeding; while at the same time the measure commits us to nothing, gives the Dost no such claim upon us as he would naturally have if we tendered advice to him, and induced him to abandon his own projects in order to follow it, and leaves us free to shape our policy as the shifting current of events may prescribe. I pointed out to you in my letter of July 16, that we are awkwardly situated for interfering with the Ameer. He is our friend, and we said nothing when he was attacked. He has set to work to redress his own injuries, asking us for no aid, and paying his own way. We are quite ent.i.tled to say, 'Your hostile advance on Herat has not our approval, and we must show that you are making it without our sanction.' This we do in the most emphatic manner, by withdrawing the only British official who is with him. But I do not like to go farther in the direction of interference. It is impossible to say how matters may terminate in Afghanistan. It is possible that the Ameer may get the whole country into his hands. It is possible that he may come to an understanding with Sultan Jan, who is his connection by marriage. It is very desirable that we should be free to accept the _status in quo_, whatever it may be.

_To Sir Charles Wood._