into their mouths, or to lose his hold over them. It is true that he
rode them with a loose rein, but the pace was so killing during the
whole of his time, that it took the kick out of them, and a light hand
and silken thread were all that was required. His policy of deference
to the authority of native chiefs was a means to an end, the end being
the establishment of the British Raj in India; and when the means and
the end came into conflict, or seemed likely to do so, the former went
to the wall. Even in the case of the chieftainship of Amjherra, he
looked, as the Yankees say, 'ugly,' when Scindiah, having got what he
wanted, showed a disposition to withhold the grants to loyal
individuals which he had volunteered to make from the revenues of the
chieftainship. It is true that the ostensible ground of Canning's
dissatisfaction was the violation of a promise, but what title had he
to claim this promise, or to exact its fulfilment, if the escheat
belonged as of right to Scindiah? Again, when I came to this country,
I found that he was walking pretty smartly into a parcel of people in
Central India who were getting up a little rebellion on their own
account, a tempest in a teapot, not against us, but against their own
native rulers. In this instance he interfered, no doubt, as head
policeman and conservator of the peace of all India. But observe, if
we lay down the rule that we will scrupulously respect the right of
the chiefs to do wrong, and resolutely suppress all attempts of their
subjects to redress their wrongs by violence, which, in the absence of
help from us, is the only redress open to them, we may find perhaps
that it may carry us somewhat far--possibly to annexation--the very
bugbear from which we are seeking to escape. Holkar, for instance,
unless common fame traduces him, has rather an itching for what Mr.
Laing calls 'hard rupees.' His subjects and dependents have decided,
and not altogether unintelligible, objections to certain methods which
he adopts for indulging this propensity. When they--those of them more
especially who have Treaty claims to our protection, come to us to
complain, and to ask our help--are we to say to them:--'We have too
much respect for Holkar's independence to interfere. Bight or wrong
you had better book up, for we are bound to keep the peace, and we
shall certainly be down upon you if you kick up a row'? In the
anomalous position which we occupy in India, it is surely necessary to
propound with caution doctrines which, logically applied, land us in
such dilemmas.

[Sidenote: Problems for a time of peace.]

At a future time, if I live, and remain here, it is possible that I
may take the liberty of submitting to you some views of my own on
these questions. It may perhaps turn out that a time of peace is
better fitted than one of revolution for the discovery of the true
theory according to which our relations with native States ought to be
conducted; or, it may be, for the discovery that no theory can be
framed sufficiently elastic to fit all those relations and the
complications which arise out of them, and that, after all, we must in
a great measure rely on the rule of common sense and of the thumb.
When the circumstances of the time are such that it is deemed right
and proper to abrogate all law, and to establish over the land a reign
of terror and of the sword--to pour out, in deference to the paramount
claims of the safety of the state, public money, whether obtained from
present taxation or the mortgage of posterity, with profusion
absolutely uncontrolled--to decree confiscation on a scale of
unprecedented magnitude; it is obvious that a reputation for clemency,
economy, and respect for the native rights of property, is obtainable
under conditions that are not strictly normal. If you want to
ascertain whether your system will stand in all weathers, you must
test it when the rule of law and order have replaced that of arbitrary
will--when men present themselves, not as the scared recipients of
bounty, but as the assertors of admitted rights. We shall see how far,
in such piping times, it may be possible for the Governor-General to
enforce on the British local authorities the claims of public economy,
without resorting to any interference which can be supposed to
militate against the hypothesis that the said authorities understand a
great deal better than he does what their wants are, and how they
ought to be supplied; or to maintain the peace of India without
questioning the indefeasible title of the native chiefs to do what
they like with their own.

Meanwhile all I want as regards this matter is, to learn what
Canning's policy really was, and to follow it out faithfully. It is
neither fair to him nor to the cause, that we should misjudge its
character by founding our estimate of it on a partial or incomplete
induction.

*       *       *       *       *

_To Sir Charles Wood._

Calcutta, December 23rd, 1862.

[Sidenote: Consideration of the natives.]

As to consideration of the natives, I can only say that during a
public service of twenty years I have always sided with the weaker
party, and it is so strongly my instinct to do so, that I do not think
the most stringent injunctions would force me into an opposite course
of action. But I am quite sure that it is not true kindness to the
weaker party, to give the stronger an excuse for using to the utmost
the powers of coercion which they possess, by seeming to be unwilling
to listen to any statement of grievances which they may desire to
make, or to suspect their motives when they suggest remedies.... It is
quite possible that such views as you instance may prevail to a
considerable extent with our agitating people; but it is equally
certain that many who join them would indignantly repudiate the
imputation of being actuated by any motives of the kind. My study
always is, to keep those who _profess_ moderate and reasonable views
right, and to prevent them from going over arms and baggage to the
enemy, by taking for granted that they mean what they profess, and,
when they propose objectionable remedies, arguing against them on
their own premises. Some, of course, would rather abandon their sound
premises than their illogical conclusions, when they are driven in
this way to the wall; but a large number come over to the right side
when they find that the consideration of their alleged grievances is
approached without any prepossession against them. Of course, this is
all a matter of tact, and cannot be reduced to any definite formula.
But you speak of our Press as hopeless on some of these subjects. Have
you observed the comparative mildness of its tone lately,
notwithstanding the action of Government in the matter of the Waste
Lands, and Contract Law? Does not that argue a better state of feeling
in the European Community; and do not you think that it is for the
benefit of the Ryots, that their interloping landlords should not be
in a humour to employ vindictively the vast powers which, whether you
disallow Contract Laws or not, they, as proprietors, possess over
them?


[1] Vide _supra_, p. 329.

[2] It was sometimes complained that on these occasions he was so
little communicative: drawing out the opinions of others, without
expressing his own. But it requires very little reflection to see that
this complaint is really a commendation.

[3] He died in London from the effects of a fever caught in the
East.




CHAPTER XVI.

INDIA.

DUTY OF A GOVERNOR-GENERAL TO VISIT THE PROVINCES--PROGRESS TO THE NORTH-
WEST--BENARES--SPEECH ON THE OPENING OF THE RAILWAY--CAWNPORE--GRAND
DURBAR AT AGRA--DELHI--HURDWAR--ADDRESS TO THE SIKH CHIEFS AT UMBALLA--
KUSSOWLIE--SIMLA--LETTERS: SUPPLY OF LABOUR; SPECIAL LEGISLATION;
MISSIONARY GATHERING; FINANCE; SEAT OF GOVERNMENT; VALUE OF TRAINING AT
HEAD-QUARTERS; ARISTOCRACIES; AGAINST INTERMEDDLING--THE SITANA FANATICS--
HIMALAYAS--ROTUNG PASS--TWIG BRIDGE--ILLNESS--DEATH--CHARACTERISTICS--
BURIAL PLACE.


[Sidenote: Duty of a Governor-General to visit the Provinces.]

At a very early period of his stay in India, Lord Elgin formed the opinion,
which was indeed strongly impressed upon him by Lord Canning, that it was
'of the greatest importance to the public interest that the Governor-
General should see as much as possible of men and things, in all parts of
the vast empire under his control; and that a constant residence in the
narrow atmosphere of Calcutta had a tendency to impair his efficiency.'
Writing to Sir C. Wood on the 17th of September, 1862, he said:--

No man can govern India in ordinary times, such as those in which we
are living, if he is to be tied by the leg to Calcutta, and prevented
from visiting other parts of the Empire. Canning, although he lived in
times by no means ordinary, and although he was compelled by
circumstances to be more stationary than he would otherwise have been,
was as clear on this point as anyone. He urged me most strongly to
proceed northwards at the earliest moment at which I could contrive to
do so. When I referred to the difficulty which the assembling of the
Council for legislative purposes might occasion, he assured me that he
had never intended to make himself a slave of the Council; that he had
taken the chair at the commencement of the proceedings, but that he
should certainly have objected to the establishment of the principle
that his presence was indispensable to its deliberations. He was
especially anxious that I should tour, in order that I might satisfy
myself as to how his arrangements affecting natives, &c., worked,
before modifying them in any degree. And, apart from Canning's opinion
altogether, this is a point on which I have had some personal
experience. I have been now steadily in Calcutta for a whole hot
season. No man, I venture to affirm, in the situation I occupy, has
ever been more accessible to those who have anything to say, whether
they be civilians, soldiers, or interlopers. But there is a blot on my
escutcheon which can easily be hit by anyone dissatisfied with a
judgment pronounced in my name. It can always be said: "What does Lord
Elgin know of India? He has never been out of Calcutta. He is
acquainted only with Bengal civilians and other dwellers in (what is
irreverently styled) 'the ditch.'" Indeed, I fear that I am exposed to
the same reproach in your circle. I see no remedy for this evil, if I
am to remain constantly here.

[Sidenote: Projected tour.]

Starting from these premises he came to the conclusion, that 'it was better
to organise a tour on a comprehensive scale, even though it involved a long
absence from Calcutta, than to attempt to hurry to distant places and back
again during successive winters.' Accordingly, it was arranged that as soon
as the business of the Legislative Council was concluded, he should start
for the north, and travel by easy stages to Simla, visiting all the places
which he ought to see on his way. After spending the hot weather at the
Hills, he was to proceed early in the next winter to the Punjab, inspecting
it thoroughly, and returning before the summer heats either to Simla again,
or to Calcutta, as public business might determine. For the Session, if so
it might be called, of 1863-4, he was to summon his councillors to meet him
somewhere in the north-west, at some capital city, 'not a purely military
station, but where the Council might obtain some knowledge of local and
native feeling such as did not reach Calcutta.' The spot ultimately fixed
upon was Lahore, the capital of the large and loyal province of that name.
The earlier part of the tour was to be made chiefly by railway, with a
comparatively small retinue; but for the latter part of it he was to be
accompanied by a camp, furnished forth with all the pride, pomp, and
circumstance belonging to the progress of an Eastern Monarch, and necessary
therefore in order to produce the desired effect on the minds of the
natives.

[Sidenote: Railway to Benares.]

It was on the 5th of February, 1863, that the Vice-regal party left
Calcutta. They travelled by railway to Benares, which they reached on the
evening of the 6th. The first phenomenon which struck them, as Lord Elgin
afterwards wrote, was the 'very sensible change of climate which began to
make itself felt at some 250 miles from Calcutta.'

The general character (he said) of the country continued to be as
level as ever; but the air became more bracing, the surface of the
soil more arid, and the vegetation less rank. Hot mid-days, and cold
nights and mornings, are substituted for the moist and comparatively
uniform temperature of Lower Bengal, to a greater and greater degree
with every step that the traveller takes towards the north.

The railway, with the exception of a portion near Calcutta, is a
single line; but it is perfectly constructed, and with no great regard
to cost. The vagaries of the water-floods, which, during the rainy
season, sometimes pour down in unmanageable force from the Ganges and
sometimes rush towards it from the opposite side of the railway line,
have constituted the great engineering difficulty of the work. Some
very remarkable bridges and other constructions of this class, to
permit the free passage of water under the line, have been built. The
most critical point has been to obtain a secure foundation in the
sandy soil for these erections; and, strange to say, the principle
adopted by our engineers, under the name of the 'Sunken Well' system,
is the same as that followed by the great architects who built the
famous 'Taj' of Agra. It will, it is to be hoped, prove successful;
and these important works will remain an enduring monument of the
benefits conferred on India during the present reign. Nothing that has
been done by the British in India has affected the native mind so
powerfully, and produced so favourable an impression, as these railway
undertakings.

[Sidenote: Durbar.]

On the day after his arrival at Benares he held a Durbar--his first truly
Oriental Durbar--which, though not comprising any independent chiefs, was
attended by several native gentlemen of high consideration and large
possessions. In addressing them, he took the opportunity of dwelling upon
the improvement which recent measures had effected in their position, and
the consequent increase of their responsibilities:

'It is the desire (he said) of Her Majesty the Queen that the native
gentlemen of India should be represented in the Council of the
Governor-General, in order that when laws are made for India their
opinions, and wishes, and feelings may receive due consideration. It
is my intention and duty to do everything in my power to give effect
to Her Majesty's gracious intention in this respect. Among the rajahs
and gentlemen here to-day are many who have large estates in the
neighbourhood and along the line of railway which we travelled over
yesterday. The value of those estates will be greatly enhanced by the
completion of the important work of which we are about to-day to
celebrate the opening. I need hardly remind them that they will owe
this advantage to the introduction of British engineering skill and
British capital into this country. I trust that the consideration of
this fact, and of similar facts which are of daily occurrence, will
tend to produce a kindly feeling between the races, by showing them to
what an extent they may be mutually useful to each other. Meanwhile, I
hope that the gentlemen whom I am addressing will turn these
advantages to account by doing their utmost to improve their
properties, and to promote the happiness and welfare of their ryots
and dependents.'

[Sidenote: Railway dinner.]

In the afternoon of the same day he was present at a dinner given in
celebration of the opening of the railway from Jumalpore to Benares. In the
course of a speech which he made on that occasion, after referring to the
fact that both his predecessors had taken part in similar celebrations, he
said:--

In looking over the published report of these proceedings a few days
ago, my attention was arrested by an incident which brought forcibly
home to my mind one painful circumstance in which my position here to-
day contrasts sadly with that which Lord Canning then occupied. At a
stage in the proceedings of the evening, corresponding to that at
which we have now arrived, he departed from the routine prescribed by
the programme, and invited the company to join him in drinking the
health of his noble predecessor, the Marquis of Dalhousie, who had, as
he justly observed, nursed the East Indian Railway in its infancy, and
guided it through its first difficulties. It is not in my power to
make any similar proposal to you now. A mysterious dispensation of
Providence has removed from this world's stage, where they seemed
still destined to play so noble and useful a part, both the proposer
of this toast, and its object. The names of both are written in
brilliant characters on some of the most eventful pages of the history
of India, and both were removed at a time when expectation as to the
services which they might still render to India was at its height. I
shall not now dwell on the great national loss which we have all
sustained in this dispensation; but, perhaps, I may be permitted to
say that to me the loss is not only a public one, but a private and
personal calamity likewise. Both of these distinguished men were my
contemporaries, both, I believe I may without presumption say, my
intimate friends. It is a singular coincidence that three successive
Governors-General of India should have stood towards each other in
this relationship of age and intimacy. One consequence is that the
burden of governing India has devolved upon us respectively at
different periods of our lives. Lord Dalhousie when named to the
Government of India was, I believe, the youngest man who had ever been
appointed to a situation of such high responsibility and trust; Lord
Canning was in the prime of life; and I, if I am not already on the
decline, am at least nearer to the verge of it than either of my
contemporaries who have preceded me. Indeed, when I was leaving
England for India, Lord Ellenborough, who is now, alas! the only
surviving ex-Governor-General of India, said to me, 'You are not a
very old man, but depend upon it, you will find yourself by far the
oldest man in India.'

Passing from these personal topics, after noticing the good fortune which
had placed the formation of the railway system of India in the hands of a
man who had in a special manner made that subject his own, he proceeded to
speak of the future of Indian Railways, insisting especially on a point
about which he felt very strongly, the necessity of their ceasing to depend
on a Government guarantee, and adding some practical hints for their
development and extension:

[Sidenote: Future of Indian railways.]

But, Gentlemen, however interesting it may be to refer to the past and
to dwell upon the present, the most important questions which we have
to answer relate to the future, and the most important of all in my
opinion is this--to what agency are we henceforward to look if we
would desire to extend as widely as possible, to all parts of India,
the benefit of this potent instrument of modern civilisation? I have
no hesitation in affirming at once, in answer to this question, that
we must not look to an indefinite extension of a system of Government
guarantees for the accomplishment of this object. In the first place,
it would be wholly unjustifiable for any one object, however
important, to place such a strain upon our finances as this policy
would involve. In the second place, however justifiable and necessary
a system of Government guarantees may be in certain circumstances, it
is essentially an expensive one, because by securing to shareholders a
minimum rate of interest on their capital it weakens in them the
motives to economy, and because by dividing the responsibility for
expenditure between Government and Railway Officials, it diminishes in
the latter the sense of responsibility. Moreover, the indefinite
extension of a system of Government guarantees is wholly incompatible
with the endeavour to bring private enterprise largely into play for
the execution of these works; while there is an unlimited call for
capital for works enjoying the protection of a Government guarantee,
it is not to be expected that capital will be forthcoming to any
extent for similar works which have not that protection. For the
accomplishment, therefore, of the great object to which I am
referring, we must henceforward, I apprehend, look to private
enterprise; not perhaps to private enterprise wholly unaided by the
State, but at any rate, to private enterprise not protected by
Government guarantee. But if so, what are the conditions which will
entitle railway enterprises of this class to the countenance and
encouragement of the Government? I lay it down as a fundamental
principle, that we ought to look to the eventual establishment of one
uniform railway gauge for the whole of India. The experience of
England is conclusive as to the inconvenience of a double or
conflicting railway gauge. After the expenditure of an untold amount
of money in Parliamentary conflicts, the broad gauge of England has
been compelled to take the narrow gauge on its back, and the whole
capital expended upon the former may be said to have been thrown away.
But what does this resolution in favour of an uniform gauge imply? It
will, I think, be admitted that the main object of an uniform railway
gauge is to enable the several railway lines to exchange their plant
in order to avoid transhipment of freight. But if the plant of the
subsidiary line is to be transported along the main lines, it must be
sufficiently well finished to be fitted to travel in safety at high
speed; and if the plant of the main lines is to travel along the
subsidiary lines, the latter must have rails sufficiently heavy, and
works of construction sufficiently substantial, to support it.
Moreover, where streams or rivers are encountered they must be
bridged. In short, the subsidiary lines must be built in a manner
which would make them nearly as expensive as the main lines; in other
words, railways must not be introduced into any part of India where we
cannot afford to spend from 13,000_l_. to 15,000_l_. a mile upon them.
I am not prepared to accept this conclusion. I have been a good deal
in America, and I know that our practical cousins there do not refuse
to avail themselves of advantages within their reach, by grasping at
those which are beyond it. In 1854, I travelled by railway from New
York to Washington. We had several ferries to cross on the way, but we
found that the railway with the ferries was much better than no
Railway at all. In short, in America where they cannot get a _pucka_
railway, they take a _kutcha_ one instead. This, I think, is what we
must do in India. There are many districts where railways costing
3,000_l_. or 4,000_l_. a mile might be introduced with advantage,
although they would not justify an expenditure of from 10,000_l_. to
15,000_l_. a mile. We have only to be careful that _kutcha_ lines are
not mistaken for _pucka_ ones--that they are not allowed to set up a
rival system as against the main lines, or to occupy ground which
should be appropriated by the latter.

[Sidenote: Carriage dak to Allahabad.]

As the railway from Benares to Allahabad was not yet complete, Lord Elgin
and his suite performed this part of the journey by carriage dak. They
travelled by night; 'each individual of the party occupying his own
separate carriage, and being conveyed along at a hand gallop by a
succession of single ponies, relayed at stages of four to five miles in
length.' In the letter which describes this, he adds the characteristic
remark:

'These ponies do not lead very happy lives, and, here as elsewhere, a
diminution in the sufferings of the brute creation will be one of the
blessings attending the introduction of a railway system.'

At Allahabad he inspected, among other things, the works which were in
progress for making a railway bridge across the Jumna.

This is (he wrote) in some respects the most interesting of that class
of engineering operations which has been already mentioned: because
whereas in other cases clay has been found beneath the sand, and the
foundation wells have been sunk into it, no bottom has been discovered
to the sand which constitutes the bed of the Jumna; and the wells in
question are required to stand firm in this most unstable of all
foundations.

[Sidenote: Cawnpore.]

From Allahabad Lord Elgin proceeded by railway to Cawnpore; where, on the
11th of February, he took part in the impressive ceremony of the
consecration of the Well, and other spots in its vicinity, containing the
remains of the victims of the dreadful massacres which occurred at that
place in 1857.[1]

He had intended from this point to visit Lucknow: but finding that time
would allow of his doing this only in a very hasty manner, which he thought
objectionable, he invited some of the principal Talookdars to come over to
see him; which they accordingly did, under the guidance of Mr. Wingfield,
the Chief Commissioner of Oude.

[Sidenote: Agra.]

From Cawnpore Lord Elgin journeyed, again by rail, to Agra, the 'key of
Hindostan.' The following description of his arrival there is borrowed from
his private secretary, Mr. Thurlow:[2]--

'Arrived at the railway station, Lord Elgin met with a reception
worthy of the East. The road, thickly lined with native troops,
crossed the Jumna by a bridge of boats, and wound along the river's
bank beneath those lofty sandstone walls; then, mounting a steep hill
and leaving the main entry into Agra Fort upon the right, the Taj
remaining to the left, it led, through miles of garden ground, thickly
studded with suburban  villas, to the Viceroy's camp,  that occupied
the centre of an extensive plain, where tents were pitched for the
accommodation of the Government of India, and an escort of ten
thousand men. Beyond these were ranked, according to priority of
arrival, the far-spreading noisy camps of those rajas the number of
whose followers was within some bounds; and beyond them again
stretched miles and miles of tents containing thousands upon thousands
of ill-conditioned-looking men from Central India, and the wildest
part of Rajpootana, the followers of such maharajas as Jeypoor, who
marched to meet the Viceroy with an army of thirty thousand strong,
found in horse and foot and guns, ready for the field.'

The six days spent at Agra Lord Elgin was 'disposed to rank among the most
interesting of his life.'

Perhaps (he wrote) months of the monotony of a Calcutta existence may
render the mind more sensitive to novelty and beauty; at any rate, the
impressions experienced on visiting Agra at this time have been
singularly vivid and keen. The surpassing beauty of the buildings,
among which the Taj stands pre-eminent; the vast concourse of chiefs
and retainers, combining so many of the attributes of feudal and
chivalrous times with the picturesqueness in attire and gorgeousness
in colouring, which only the East can supply; produced an effect of
fairyland, of which it was difficult to divest oneself in order to
come down to the sterner realities of the present. These realities
consisted mainly in receiving the chiefs at private and public
Durbars, exchanging presents and civilities with them, and returning
their visits. The great Durbar was attended by a larger number of
chiefs than ever before assembled on a similar occasion.'

[Sidenote: Grand Durbar.]

The Grand Durbar, or 'Royal Court,' was held on the morning of the 17th of
February: a grander gathering, it was said, than even the great one held by
Lord Canning in 1859. The scene was one of remarkable splendour--a
splendour alien to the simple and unostentatious tastes and habits of the
chief actor in it, but which he knew how to use with effect when taking his
place as Suzerain in an Assembly of Princes. To aid us in conceiving it, we
must have recourse to the picture sketched at the time in one of the Indian
Newspapers.

'It is difficult to describe--without seeing it it is impossible to
conceive,--a scene like that presented at a grand Durbar of this kind.
One may imagine any amount of display of jewels, gold and glitter,
gorgeous dresses, splendid uniforms, and handsome faces. You may see
far more beautiful sights in the shape of court grandeur at our
European palaces, at Versailles and St. James's; but nothing that will
give you an idea of an Indian Durbar. The exhibition of costly jewels,
the display of wealth in priceless ornaments and splendid dresses, the
strange mixture of wealth and poverty, the means of accomplishing
magnificence and splendour enjoyed to such profusion, yet rendered
almost void to this end from want of taste! "Barbaric wealth," indeed,
you behold; barbaric from its extent and profusion, and barbaric in
the hideous use made of it. The host of chiefs, who sat on the right
side of the huge Durbar tent, close packed in a semi-circle, and who
rose as one man when the band outside began "God save the Queen," and
the artillery thundered forth the royal salute, were a blaze of
jewels. From underneath head-dresses of every conceivable form and
structure--the golden crown studded with rubies and emeralds, the
queer butterfly-spreading Mahratta cap, the close-fitting Rajpoot
turban, the common _pagree_ of the Mohammedan Chief, ordinary in shape
but made of the richest material--from under each and all there are
peering dark faces, and bright glancing eyes, eager to catch the first
view of the great Lord Paramount of Hindostan. What a multitude of
different expressions one notices while scanning that strange group of
princes of royal descent, whose ancestors held the very thrones they
now hold far back beyond the range of history. The scheming
politician, the low debauchee, the debased sensualist, the chivalrous
soldier, the daring ambitious descendant of a line of royal robbers,
the crafty intriguer, the religious enthusiast, the fanatic and the
sceptic side by side, you can trace in each swarthy face the character
written on its features by the working of the brain within.'

'In the midst of such a scene, seated on a massive gold throne, with
crimson velvet cushion, two lions of the same precious metal forming the
arms; the whole standing on a square platform raised about ten inches from
the ground, covered with a carpet of gold,' Lord Elgin addressed his
princely audience; his voice 'clear and distinct, so that he could be heard
easily at the further corner of the tent; every word seeming to be weighed
and uttered as if he meant what he said:'

[Sidenote: Vice-Regal speech.]

Princes and Chiefs.--In inviting you to meet me here, it was my wish
in the first place to become acquainted with you personally, and also
to convey to you, in obedience to the gracious command which I
received from Her Majesty the Queen, upon my departure from England,
the assurance of the deep interest which Her Majesty takes in the
welfare of the Chiefs of India. I have now to thank you for the
alacrity with which, in compliance with my request, you have, many of
you from considerable distances, assembled at this place.

Having received, during the course of the last few days, many of the
principal personages among you in private Durbar, where I have had the
opportunity of communicating my views on matters of interest and
importance, I need not detain you on this occasion by many words.

Before taking leave of you, however, I desire to address to you
collectively a few general remarks upon the present state of affairs
in India, and upon the duties which that state of affairs imposes upon
us all.

Peace, I need hardly remind you of the fact, now happily prevails
throughout the whole extent of this vast empire; domestic treason has
been crushed; and foreign enemies have been taught to respect the
power of the arms of England.

The British Government is desirous to take advantage of this
favourable opportunity, not to extend the bounds of its dominions, but
to develop the resources and draw forth the natural wealth of India,
and thus to promote the well-being and happiness both of rulers and of
the people.

With this view many measures of improvement and progress have already
been introduced, and among them, I may name, as most conspicuous, the
railway and electric telegraph, those great discoveries of this age
which have so largely increased the wealth and power of the mightiest
nations of the West.

By diffusing education among your vassals and dependents, establishing
schools, promoting the construction of good roads, and suppressing,
with the whole weight of your authority and influence, barbarous
usages and crimes, such as infanticide, suttee, thuggee, and dacoitee,
you may, Princes and Chiefs, effectually second these endeavours of
the British Government, and secure for yourselves and your people a
full share of the benefits which the measures to which I have alluded
are calculated to confer upon you. I have observed with satisfaction
the steps which many of you have already taken in this direction, and
more especially the enlightened policy which has induced some of you
to remove transit and other duties which obstructed the free course of
commerce through your States.

As representing the Paramount power, it is my duty to keep the peace
in India. For this purpose Her Majesty the Queen has placed at my
disposal a large and gallant army, which, if the necessity should
arise, I shall not hesitate to employ for the repression of disorder
and the punishment of any who may be rash enough to disturb the
general tranquillity. But it is also my duty to extend the hand of
encouragement and friendship to all who labour for the good of India,
and to assure you that the chiefs who make their own dependents
contented and prosperous, establish thereby the strongest claim on the
favour and protection of the British Government.

I bid you now, Princes and Chiefs, farewell for a time, with the
expression of my earnest hope that, on your return to your homes,
health and happiness may attend you.

[Sidenote: Muttra.]

Proceeding northwards from Agra, up the valley of the Jumna, they arrived,
after three days' march, at Muttra.

The mornings (he wrote) are cool, almost cold; and were it not for
clouds of dust, the marching would be pleasant, although the country
traversed is flat, and not very interesting.... Muttra itself is
interesting from the sanctity which the Hindoos attach to it. Special
blessings are earned by those who bathe in the river here; and the
town is consequently largely resorted to by pilgrims. A great many
fairs are held at Muttra during the year, which enables the Hindoos
who resort thither to combine devotion and business. To ride through
the narrow streets of the sacred town on an elephant, and find oneself
on a level either with the upper stories of the houses which are
frequently decorated with elaborately carved oriel windows, or with
the roofs on which holy monkeys in great numbers are disporting
themselves, is a very curious spectacle.

[Sidenote: Delhi.]

On the 23rd of February the camp left Muttra; on the 3rd of March it was
pitched under the walls of Delhi--'unquestionably the place of greatest
interest' visited in this part of the tour.

The approach to it through ten miles of a desolate-looking campagna,
thickly strewn with funereal monuments reared in honour of the
sovereigns and mighty men of former dynasties, reminded me of Rome.
The city itself bears traces of more recent calamities. The Palace has
been a good deal maltreated, and the Jumma Musjid (Great Mosque), a
magnificent building, has only just been restored to the worshippers.
Beyond the town, and over the place where the camp was pitched, lay
the heights which were occupied by the British troops, and signalised
by so many deeds of valour, during the eventful struggles of 1857.

[Sidenote: Hurdwar.]

After resting for two days at Delhi, he pursued his course north-eastward,
through Meerut to Hurdwar, on the Ganges--

a sacred place, near the point at which the great Ganges Canal leaves
the river; resorted to by pilgrims, in vast crowds, from the Punjab,
Rajpootana, and other extensive districts in India. The Sikhs, who are
a reformed Hindoo sect, hold Hurdwar in especial reverence. To this
spot was conveyed, in order that it might here be cast into the sacred
water of the Ganges, what remained, after its cremation, of the body
of the great Sikh Chief, the Maharaja of Puttialla, whom Lord Canning
placed in the Council of the Governor-General.

In another letter, written from the immediate neighbourhood of this place,
he took a more practical and utilitarian view of its capabilities and
prospects:

Hurdwar, where I have been spending two days, is a most interesting
place. It is curious to see the old Faith, washing itself in the
sacred waters of the Ganges, and the new Faith, symbolised in the
magnificent works of the Ganges Canal. One regrets that these canals
should be so little used for navigation purposes, or as sources of
mechanical power; but there is some difficulty in combining navigation
with irrigation works. Moreover, in passing through districts which
are dependent on irrigation, one cannot help being deeply impressed
with a sense of the danger which will ensue if canals are entrusted to
private companies, unless they are bound by the most stringent
conditions to keep their works in good order, and to supply water at
reasonable rates. In the absence of such precautions, the population
of whole districts might be, especially in famine years, entirely at
the mercy of those companies.

[Sidenote: Umballa.]

From this point the vast camp took a north-westerly direction towards the
military station of Umballa, which was reached on the 27th of March. On the
following day Lord Elgin received in private Durbar a large number of
influential Sikh chiefs, at the head of whom was the young Maharaja of the
neighbouring state of Puttialla, the son and heir of the prince above
mentioned. In addressing these chiefs, he showed his usual tact in adapting
his words to the character and disposition of his hearers:--

The Sikhs (he afterwards wrote) are a warlike race, and the knowledge
of this fact gave a colour to the advice tendered to them. It was my
wish to recognise with all due honour their martial qualities, while
seeking to impart a more pacific direction to their energies. The
capture of half the capitals of Europe would not have been, in the
eyes of the Sikh, so great an event, or so signal a proof of British
power, as the capture of Pekin. They are proud of the thought that
some of their race took a part in it; and more inclined than
ever--which is an important matter--to follow the British standard
into foreign lands, if they should be invited to do so.

He was careful also to make as much as he could of some feeble indications
of a disposition to educate their sons, and even their daughters, which had
been exhibited by the Sirdars in some parts of the Punjab; thinking that
'if an impulse in this direction could be imparted to the ruling classes
among the natives, great results might be anticipated.'

The text of this address--the last address which he delivered--is as
follows:--

[Sidenote: Address to the Sikh chiefs.]

Colonel Durand,--I beg that you will express to the native gentlemen
who are assembled here my regret that I am unable to address them in
their own language, and inform them that I am charged by Her Majesty
the Queen to convey to them the assurance of Her Majesty's high
appreciation of the loyalty and devotion to Her Majesty's person and
Government which has been exhibited on various occasions by the Sikh
rulers and people. Not many days ago it was my pleasing duty to
determine that the medal granted to Her Majesty's troops who were
engaged at Delhi in 1857, should be conferred on the followers of the
Sikh chiefs who took part in the noble achievements of that period;
and I can personally bear testimony to the good services of the
officers and men of the Sikh regiments who, in 1860, co-operated with
the British troops in placing the British flag on the walls of Pekin,
the capital of the vast empire of China.

But, in order to be truly great, it is necessary that nations should
excel in the arts of peace as well as in those of war.

Look to the history of the British nation for an example. Most
assuredly the British people are powerful in war, but their might and
renown are in a great measure due to their proficiency in the works