Presented to the LIBRARY of the UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO by JOHN ENGLISH THE LAWRENCES OF THE PUNJAB All rights reserved THE LAWRENCES OF THE PUNJAB BY FREDERICK P. GIBBON AUTHOR OF "THE RECORD OF THE SIKHS," " THE GURKHA SCOUTS," ETC. 1908 LONDON: J. M. DENT & CO. NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. TO FIELD-MARSHAL THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL ROBERTS, V.C., K.G. THIS BOOK IS (BY HIS PERMISSION) RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED NOTE For the greater part of the material used in this biography I am indebted to Mr. R. Bosworth Smith's Life of Lord Lawrence, to the Life of Sir Henry Lawrence by Sir Herbert Edwardes and Mr. Merivale, and to Sir John Kaye's History of the Sepoy War and Lives of Indian Officers. My acknowledgments are especially due to Mr. Bosworth Smith for permission freely " to dig in his mine," and I have endeavoured to show appreciation of his courtesy by making copious use of the permission. I take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude also to Lieut. -Colonel D. C. Phillott for the photographs of Punjabis, and to Colonel J. Hay, C.B., for that of the Gurkhas. vii — CONTENTS PAGE Introduction ........ xvii. CHAPTER I— 1806-1822 BOYHOOD The Lawrence Family—Henry's School-days—His Courage John at Foyle College and- Wraxhall—No Indication of Future Greatness ....... 1 CHAPTER II— 1822-1829 HENRY AT DUM-DUM The Bengal Artillery—Padre Craufurd—-War with Burma Invalided Home—Honoria Marshall—The Lawrence Fund . .11 CHAPTER III— 1827-1833 JOHN ENTERS THE CIVIL SERVICE Self-Conquest—Haileybury College—The Brothers sail for India Together . .19 CHAPTER IV— 1830-1838 JOHN AT DELHI " As District Officer—" John Lawrence knows Everything —His Strength, Resolution, and Resource . .25 CHAPTER V— 1833-1837 THE REVENUE SURVEY The Land Revenue—The New Settlement of the North-West — " Provinces " Lawrence's confounded Zeal —Village Communities . .38 ix —A X Contents CHAPTER VI— 1835-1838 HENRY LAWRENCE'S LOVE STORY PAGE Death of Colonel Lawrence—Henry's Care for His Mother Marries Honoria Marshall—Her Letters from India Rumours of War—A Wife's Remonstrance ... 46 CHAPTER VII— 1838-1842 JOHN LAWRENCE FINDS A WIFE Etawa—Fever and Home Leave—His Irish Temperament Marriage—Bad News from Kabul . -59 CHAPTER VIII— 1838-1841 THE CIS-SUTLEJ STATES Henry at Ferozepore—His Town prospers—The Sikhs have Confidence in Him . .63 CHAPTER IX— 1841-1842 THE FIRST AFGHAN WAR Lord Auckland's Madness—The Kabul Disaster—George Lawrence a Prisoner—Sikh Contempt of the English Gravity of the Situation—Henry Lawrence selected as Political Officer with the Army—Sikh Co-operation— Wife's Heroism ....... 68 CHAPTER X— 1842-1843 STEPPING STONES George Lawrence's Captivity—Henry offers Himself in Ex- change—Capture of Kabul and Release of the Prisoners Henry transferred to the Dehra Dhoon—To Amballa To Kytul—John in Charge of Kurnal—The Brothers Meet—Henry's Work Appreciated .... 79 — Contents XI CHAPTER XI— 1843-1845 NEPAL AND THE GURKHAS PAGE Nepal—Its Inhabitants—A Barbarous Court—The Gurkhas —Mrs. Lawrence's Letters from Nepal—Literary Work —The Lawrence Asylums ...... 89 CHAPTER XII— 1845-1846 THE SIKHS Lord Hardinge and John Lawrence—History of the Sikhs Sikh Aggression—Both Henry and John are needed Defeat of the Sikhs—Gulab Singh and Kashmir . .105 CHAPTER XIII— 1846-1847 THE LAWRENCES AND THEIR PUNJABIS Henry becomes the " Ruling Spirit of the Punjab " —His " ' Disciples —The Lahore Residency—John administers the Jalandar Doab—Female Infanticide—John's Subordi- nates—Sikh Intrigues—Banishment of the Maharani . 118 CHAPTER XIV— 1847-1848 THE SECOND SIKH WAR Henry's Liberality—Benefits of his Rule—His Health breaks down, and John officiates for Him—Henry returns to England—The Multan Revolt—Fatal Delay—Herbert Edwardes—The Punjab Ablaze . .136 CHAPTER XV—January-March 1849 A NEW ERA IN INDIA Henry's Policy overturned — Lord Dalhousie — Gujerat Henry opposes, John urges, Annexation—The Governor- General agrees with John . .147 3 — Xll Contents CHAPTER XVI— 1849-1851 THE PUNJAB BOARD PAGE A Rule of Three—Disarmament—The Frontier Force—The Guides — Thuggee and Dacoity stamped out — Public Works—The Province pays its Way—The " Punjab Head"—John's Capacity for Work . .159 CHAPTER XVII— 1850-1852 THE DERRY SCHOOLFELLOWS The Koh-i-nur—Robert Montgomery—Story of a Christmas Box—Gulab Singh and the Lawrence Asylums . 173 CHAPTER XVIII— 1849-185 INCOMPATIBLE IDEALS Controversy with Sir Charles Napier—The Shadow of the Mutiny—The Jaghirdars—Irreconcilable Differences of Opinion between the Brothers—Both offer to Resign Lord Dalhousie accepts Henry's Resignation—He leaves the Punjab—Grief of the Natives . .179 CHAPTER XIX— 1853-1856 JOHN LAWRENCE RULES THE PUNJAB John Supreme in the Punjab—" How would Henry have acted? " —John Nicholson, Neville Chamberlain, Robert Napier, Donald Macleod—Treaty with Afghanistan Lord Dalhousie's Affection for John—Last Meeting between the Brothers . .205 CHAPTER XX— 1853-1856 HENRY LAWRENCE AND THE RAJPUTS Rajput Degeneracy—Gaol Reform—Suttee checked—Death of Lady Lawrence—Absorption of Native States—Annexa- tion of Oudh . 221 — Contents Xlll CHAPTER XXI—May 1856-MAY 1857 LUCKNOW AND OUDH PAGE Henry Lawrence in Lucknow—Disaffection—The Talukdars —Causes of Discontent—The Greased Cartridges—Mungul Pandy—Lawrence's Popularity and Influence—An Abor- tive Revolt—Speech to the People . .234 CHAPTER XXII—May-August 1857 THE MUTINY The Outbreak at Meerut—Bahadur Shah proclaimed Emperor —John Lawrence's prompt Action—Lord Canning and the Lawrences—Both grip the Situation—State of the Punjab—Loyalty of the Cis-Sutlej Princes—Corbett and Montgomery at Lahore—The Movable Column—" King John " — Jalandar — Multan — A " Master-stroke " at Peshawar—Becher—The Punjab Army before Delhi Proposed Abandonment of Peshawar—Jhelum—Sialkot —Lawrence sends Nicholson to take Delhi . .251 CHAPTER XXIII—May-July 1857 SIEGE OF LUCKNOW AND DEATH OF HENRY LAWRENCE Henry Lawrence prepared — He wins over a Number of Sepoys—Failure of the Rebel Plans—A Headstrong Subordinate—The Cawnpore Massacre—Chinhut—Death of Henry Lawrence . .282 CHAPTER XXIV—September 1857-DECEMBER 1858 JOHN LAWRENCE SAVES INDIA Nicholson's Last Fight—Effect of the Capture of Delhi Lawrence raises the Khalsa to Life—He appeals for Mercy in the Hour of Victory—Edwardes' Elimination of all Unchristian Principles Memorandum . 299 — XIV Contents CHAPTER XXV— 1859-1869 VICEROY OF INDIA PAGE Honours—Reception in England—Appointed Viceroy—The Orissa Famine—Crisis in Bombay—Public Works Tenancy Acts—Relations with Secretaries of State—His Simplicity—Calumnies—His Durbars—Raised to the Peerage . ... .318 CHAPTER XXVI— 1 869- 1 879 THE LAST YEARS OF JOHN LAWRENCE Home Life—The London School Board—Tributes to Mis- sionary Work — Miss Gaster's Reminiscences — The Forward Policy—He condemns the Government's Afghan Policy—His Death 330 Index 343 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Sir Henry Lawrence ..... Frontispiece Gurkhas ....... Facing page 98 Mahzud Waziris from the Bannu District . „ 208 Map of Punjab ...... 250 A Pathan (Shahzada Sultan Jan, of Kohat) . 270 A Sikh of the Manjha (Risaldar Gurmukh Singh, 3rd Punjab Cavalry) ..... 304 Lord Lawrence . „ 318 XV INTRODUCTION Whenever our thoughts turn towards the achievements of Englishmen in India, when, with a thrill of pride, we reflect that no nation can show a like array of men who have served a subject state so devotedly, when the names of those faithful servants fall in to the bugle-call of memory, the first to be told off are those of Henry Lawrence, who died the best-loved man that ever set foot in India, and of John Lawrence, his brother, who lived to win greater respect than has been granted to any other Anglo-Indian. The one " represented the poetry of Indian statesmanship," the other " its hard direct prose." 1 The story is unique in the history of brothers. The children of a poor soldier, the Lawrences raised themselves until they wielded power an emperor might have envied, and this position they attained, not by climbing over their fellows and thrusting them down, not by intrigue and trickery, nor by depreciation of other men's work and advertisement of their own, but by sheer merit, by inspiring and justifying confidence in their integrity and ability. Henry Lawrence was born in Ceylon in 1806, John at Richmond, Yorkshire, five years later, and both were educated at a small school in the north of Ireland. Henry became a soldier in the service of the East India Company. In the popular mind the antithesis of the soldier is the clerk, the career selected for, not by, the younger brother, 1 Captain Trotter's Lord Dalhousie, p. 62. xvii A xviii The Lawrences of the Punjab who also turned his steps towards the East, where he met with adventures of a kind more readily connected with the tales of Schehera-zade than with the actual experience of a middle-class Englishman in the nineteenth century; and Jan Larens knows everything was the verdict of the natives. The offer of an appointment in the Revenue Survey lured the soldier brother from his regiment, and, after filling an important political office throughout the Afghan War, he was sent to represent England in the kingdom of Nepal. In 1846 a new country was brought under British sway —twenty millions of hardy fighting men, of warring sects, agreed upon one point only, the worship of success and strength. To keep the peace, to restore, or create, order and respect for the law, to encourage all that made for prosperity in a land where every man was armed, hoping to live, and expecting to die, by the sword—to do all this in the name of an infant maharaja, and hampered by the intrigues of the Sikh Council, was hardly a work suited to a committee.