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Selections from Despatches tothe Government ofIndia

Secretary of Statefor in Council, 1858-1936

Background considering despatches in London before Secretary of State was not required to It was the Indian Mutiny of 1857-8 they were sent to India. Basically under take certain urgent or secret matters to which finally brought about the the old system a draft was prepared by an the Council. abolition of the official in the relevant department of the whose history went back to 1600.There Company who agreed it with the Heads of The Prints was a widespreadfeeling that the his appropriate committee. Upon There had been no previous printed Company's weak administration had agreement it was then sent to the Board of Selections from Despatches and so the contributed to the disaster and in any Control for informal consideration and present series is the first of its kind. event a company should notbe was known at this stage as a 'Previous However the Foreign Office administering a British overseas Communication'. (This procedure Confidential Print dates from 1829 and territory even if, since the creation of allowed unlimited time for consideration.) the Prints began in the the Board of Control in 1784, it had If the Board agreed the draft, it could then 1860s although a Print as early as 1826 been subject to government regulation be submitted officially and approved exists.4 Clearlyat this time officials in for more than seventy years. So under within a timetable which was strictly laid Whitehall were beginning to find it the Government of India Act of 1858 a down by the Acts. The despatch was then convenient to have a record of each properministerial office was instituted sent toIndia) year's important despatches available in known as the Secretary of State for printed form. It should be stressed there India in Council. The new office was In fact the system after 1858 closely are two important differences between established on 1 September 1858 and resembled the earlier procedures with the the India Office Prints and those of the the despatches in these fiches are from India Council taking on something of the other departments. The India Office that date. They cover the 'high noon' of character of the old Board of Control. despatches are out despatches only. British rule in India as well as the start Under rules laid down in 1859 by Sir London appears to have made no print of its decline. Charles Wood, the second Secretary of of the related incoming despatches and State, drafts of despatches were prepared letters. Secondly, although the selected Significance of Despatches by Departmental Secretaries under despatches are of considerable historical Ministerial directions and were then seen significance, they do not include items By 1858 the despatch had already come by the Minister before being subjected to to have an important andclearly covering the highest and most sensitive further office consideration. At this point levels of policy. established role. It was the mostfonnal they were forwarded to the Council. The means ofcommunication between old system of 'Previous Communication' The Volumes and their Contents London and its governments in India. had been abolished but nonetheless the There were other forms of contact, such The Selections from Despatches series is new Council sometimes caused an both official and private, but 79 (in 112) volumes with a further three as letters interminable waste of time in its index volumes placed at the end. These these did not have the authority of deliberations.2 It should be noted that the despatches. Despatches were used for a index volumes cover the years 1858- wide range of purposes. They sought or 1897. After that indexes are included in provided information; they could ask for For a fuller description of the procedure see the individual volumes. In the series advice; most importantly they laid down Martin Moir, A general guide to the India Office there is one volume a year between Records. (London: British Library, 1988), pp. 42- and explained the British government's 5. 1858-9 and 1883; two volumes a year policies, big and small, over the whole 2 Formore detailed accounts of the working of the between 1884 and 1921; and one area of itsadministration. 1858 Act see Prashanto K. Chatterji, The making of India policy 1853-65: a study of the relations of the Court of Directors, the India Board, the India Public Record Office, The records of the Drafting of Despatches Office and the Government of India. (New Delhi: Foreign Office 1782-1939. (London, HMSO, It had been hoped that the 1858 Act Orient Longman, 1975) and Donovan Williams, 1969), p. 52. would simplify the elaborate The India Office 1858-1869. (Hoshiarpur: 4 R.B. Pugh, The records of the Colonial and Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute, Offices. (London, HMSO, 1964), p. arrangements which had grown upfor 1983). 40. volume a year again between 1922 and meaning relations with the Princely States and forestry. Above all the despatches 1933. The years 1934 to 1936 are and foreign governments); Military; show the full panoply of the Raj. On covered in the final volume. The Print Public Works; and Railway. Within each one occasion the Secretary of State reproduces 489 despatches for 1860; department the despatchesare further sub- complains of the costs incurred in 375 for 1900; 177 for 1919; while there divided by recipient government: India transporting six Arab horses given to are 22 for 1931. The marked decline in (), Madrasor Bombay. A Queen Victoria by the Sultan of Muscat number after 1919 represents a change particularly valuable feature of this series (Political no. 87 of 1886); on another he which had overtaken the despatch. It is that enclosures to despatchesare agrees to accept the Mir of Khairpur's had become reserved for rather frequently included in the Print. This offer to raise and maintain a baggage specialised use having finally been provides a great deal of background camel corps in the imperial interest replaced by the telegram and the official correspondence relating to matters under (Political no. 80 of 1905); while in 1911 letter. In addition the 1919 Montagu- discussion. he conveys to the Treasury, withoutany Chelmsford constitutional reforms cut hesitation, the news that King George down the amount of paper sent home. Subjectarea V's coronation visit to India will cost The seriescovers a very wide subject area. the Government of India £940,000 Throughout the series the despatches are There is material here of great valueto (Financialno. 78). grouped in a fairly standard way in each historians (political, diplomatic, economic volume by departments, namely: and military); to sociologists, economists Financial; Revenue; Judicial and Public and students of antiquities. Early Lionel Carter (a term meaning roughly home affairs environmental issuesare addressed as are Former Librarian, Cambridge University's South within British India); Political (a term questions of animal husbandry, botany Asia Centre

Scope Selections from Despatches, addressed to the Government of India by the Secretary of State in Council, 1858-1936. London, 1859-1937. V.1-79. Missing I 892-V.35 Number of fiche3,380 Internal Eye-legible headers on every fiche finding aids Two index volumes, 1858-1897; on fiche 1-35. Subsequent volumes with indexes included. Film type Positive silver halide Size of fiche 90 x 120 mm Reduction ratioVaries according to the size of the original Order no. 1-472/2

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This title has previously been offered in IDC's South Asia generalcatalogue.