This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ ‘Masterly inactivity’: Lord Lawrence, Britain and Afghanistan, 1864-1879 Wallace, Christopher Julian Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 27. Sep. 2021 1 ‘Masterly inactivity’: Lord Lawrence, Britain and Afghanistan, 1864-1879 Christopher Wallace PhD History June 2014 2 Abstract This dissertation examines British policy in Afghanistan between 1864 and 1879, with particular emphasis on Sir John Lawrence’s term as governor-general and viceroy of India (1864-69). Having achieved national renown for his exploits in the Punjab during the Indian Mutiny, as governor-general Sir John (later first Baron) Lawrence became synonymous with a particular line of foreign policy in Afghanistan, commonly referred to by contemporaries as ‘masterly inactivity’. His tenure at Calcutta coincided with a critical period in Anglo-Afghan relations, on account of a protracted civil war in Afghanistan and the renewal of Russian military advances in central Asia. This dissertation explains why government ministers granted Lawrence so much latitude for formulating British policy and what motivated his ‘masterly inactivity’, an alluring although misleading expression. A central concern is the extent to which public criticism in Britain influenced Lawrence’s decisions in India. Some of the constraints on policy-makers are also explored, including contemporary perceptions about the importance of ‘prestige’ to the control of India. In addition, the thesis considers some of the domestic effects of British imperialism, by reference to Lawrence’s public criticism of government policy before the second Afghan war, and by analysing metropolitan reaction to the murder of the British envoy at Kabul in 1879. His utility to parliamentary Liberals and prominence in public discussion about Afghanistan in 1878 demonstrate that—after nearly a lifetime on the imperial ‘periphery’—Lawrence ultimately exerted a considerable influence on politics in the imperial metropolis. 3 A portrait of Sir John Lawrence (by George Frederic Watts; oil on panel, 1862) is currently displayed at the National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG 1005). 4 Table of contents Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 5 Introduction 6 I. Sir John Lawrence, the ‘saviour of India’ 33 II. British policy in Afghanistan: Sir John Lawrence and official decision-making, 1864-1869 69 III. The pragmatism of ‘masterly inactivity’ 87 IV. The importance of prestige: Britain, India and Abyssinia, 1867-1868 114 V. ‘Our Indian armies pine for war’! Perceptions of army officers in India, c.1864-1869 165 VI. The limits of ‘masterly inactivity’, 1864-1869 199 VII. Lord Lawrence, the Liberals and Afghanistan, c. 1878 222 VIII. Major Sir Louis Cavagnari, Afghanistan and imperialism in British culture, c.1879 259 Conclusion 281 Bibliography 300 5 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Paul Readman, of King’s College London, for his invaluable advice and supervision throughout the period of my doctoral research. I alone am of course responsible for any shortcomings or omissions in this dissertation. I would also like to thank my wife Rebecca, for her constant support and encouragement during the preparation of the manuscript. Christopher Wallace London June 2014 6 Introduction John Lawrence, first Baron Lawrence, GCB, GCSI, PC, was a British administrator who worked in the Punjab, achieved national renown for his exploits during the Mutiny, and subsequently served as governor-general and viceroy of India for a perfect five-year term, from 12 January 1864 to 12 January 1869. During his tenure at Calcutta, Sir John Lawrence (he was not ennobled until his return to England in 1869) became synonymous with a particular line of British policy in Afghanistan. Contemporaries understood that policy as ‘masterly inactivity’, an alluring although misleading expression. Neglected by modern scholars, Lawrence’s approach to Afghanistan is worth studying, for as governor-general he had great latitude for determining policy at a critical juncture in Anglo-Afghan relations, when civil war in Afghanistan and Russian military expansion in central Asia threatened to disturb the status quo enjoyed since the end of the first Afghan war in 1842. Examining the formulation and motivation of his policy also illuminates characteristics of British imperialism, in India and at home, as well as some of the external influences and constraints on policy-makers. Lawrence’s return to public prominence in 1878, as perhaps the most conspicuous force in Liberal opposition to a new Afghan policy, demonstrates how a Briton from the imperial ‘periphery’ could exert a powerful influence on public discussion and politics in the imperial metropolis. * * * John Laird Mair Lawrence was born at Richmond, Yorkshire, on 4 March 1811. He was the sixth son of Major Alexander Lawrence, of Ulster protestant stock, and his wife 7 Catherine Letitia, daughter of Reverend George Knox of Lifford, co. Donegal.1 Having attended schools at Bristol, Londonderry and Wiltshire, in 1827 Lawrence received a nomination to the East India College at Haileybury. He sailed for India in 1829, in the company of an elder brother, Henry, who later died in the defence of Lucknow (Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence, KCB (1806-57)). After a year studying languages at Calcutta, John Lawrence requested a posting to Delhi, where he worked for four years as assistant judge, magistrate and collector. He was then given temporary charge of the Panipat district (north of Delhi), with responsibility for surveying its lands and assessing their taxation. Initially working without a British assistant, in a population of several hundred thousand, Lawrence ‘displayed the qualities that were to become a legend and a model. Riding armed through a district with a turbulent history, attired for comfort in a mixture of Western and Indian dress, he made himself accessible to its people, in patriarchal fashion, and acquired a local reputation for omniscience. He excelled in settlement work, spending the greater part of the year under canvas.’2 Lawrence came home on extended sick leave (1840-42), following a near fatal attack of jungle fever. Against medical advice, he returned to India after marrying (in 1841) Harriette Katherine Hamilton (1820-1917), daughter of Richard Hamilton, rector of Culdaff, co. Donegal. In 1844 Lawrence was appointed collector of Delhi and Panipat. Two years later he was promoted to commissioner of the Trans-Sutlej States, territory acquired after the first Anglo-Sikh war. After the second Anglo-Sikh war and the annexation (in 1849) of the Punjab, a board was established to administer the new province, with Henry Lawrence at its head, supported by John and a third member. The 1 D. Steele, ‘Lawrence, John Laird Mair, first Baron Lawrence (1811-1879)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004; online ed. Jan. 2011). 2 Steele, ‘Baron Lawrence’. 8 brothers disagreed regarding the treatment of the defeated Sikh aristocracy. Henry pleaded with the governor-general, Lord Dalhousie, for the Sikhs. John favoured their total subjection to direct rule, believing that lower taxation and greater security for the peasantry would provide stronger foundations for British rule than Sikh princes and noblemen. Dalhousie backed the younger Lawrence: in 1853 the board was dissolved, Henry moved to another post, and John was promoted to chief commissioner of the Punjab.3 John Lawrence was therefore able to implement his policy of reconciling the ‘hardy yeoman’ to British rule. ‘Assess low,’ he instructed a subordinate in 1853, ‘leaving fair and liberal margin to the occupiers of the soil, and they will increase their cultivation and put the revenue almost beyond the reach of bad seasons.’4 The achievements of Lawrence’s administration in the Punjab were considerable: a warlike population, predominantly Sikh and Muslim, was disarmed; roads and irrigation works were constructed; a police force of over twenty thousand men ‘set a standard of public order unequalled in the subcontinent’; within three years of annexation thuggee and dacoity had been eradicated; and by 1856, over three thousand schools existed, providing rudimentary education. In recognition of these achievements, in 1856 Lawrence was made KCB, on the recommendation of Lord Dalhousie.5 Although Lawrence had been an unusually successful administrator in India, it was the Indian Mutiny (1857-58) that transformed his reputation in Britain. His exertions during 3 Steele, ‘Baron Lawrence’. 4 John Lawrence to John Nicholson, 22 Jan. 1853, cited in R. Bosworth Smith, Life of Lord Lawrence (II vols., London, 1883), vol. I, p. 394. 5 Steele, ‘Baron Lawrence’. The term thuggee refers to the practices of a sort of criminal brotherhood of thugs, who strangled their victims before stealing their valuables and burying their bodies. The term dacoity refers to acts of robbery committed by armed bandits.