Chapter 21

HISTORY (_continued_). THE BRITISH PERIOD, 1849-1913

~Administrative Arrangements in Panjáb.~--Lord Dalhousie put the government of the province under a Board of Administration consisting of the two Lawrences, Henry and John, and Charles Mansel. The Board was abolished in 1853 and its powers vested in a Chief Commissioner. A Revenue or Financial Commissioner and a Judicial Commissioner were his principal subordinates. John Lawrence, the first and only Chief Commissioner of the Panjáb, became its first Lieutenant-Governor on the 1st of January, 1859. The raising of the Panjáb to the full rank of an Indian province was the fitting reward of the great part which its people and its officers, with their cool-headed and determined chief, had played in the suppression of the Mutiny. The overthrow of the _Khálsa_ left the contending parties with the respect which strong men feel for each other; the services of the Sikhs in 1857 healed their wounded pride and removed all soreness.

~Administration, 1849-1859.~--When John Lawrence laid down his office in the end of February, 1859, ten years of work by himself and the able officers drafted by Lord Dalhousie into the new province had established order on a solid foundation. A strong administration suited to a manly and headstrong people had been organised. In the greater part of the province rights in land had been determined and recorded. The principle of a moderate assessment of the land revenue had been laid down and partially carried out in practice. The policy of canal and railway development, which was to have so great a future in the Panjáb, had been definitely started. The province had been divided into nine divisions containing 33 districts. The Divisional Commissioners were superintendents of revenue and police with power to try the gravest criminal offences and to hear appeals in civil cases. The Deputy Commissioner of districts had large civil, criminal, and fiscal powers. A simple criminal and civil code was enforced. The peace of the frontier was secured by a chain of fortified outposts watching the outlets from the hills, behind which were the cantonments at the headquarters of the districts linked together by a military road. The posts and the cantonments except Pesháwar were garrisoned by the Frontier Force, a splendid body of troops consisting ultimately of seven infantry and five cavalry regiments, with some mule batteries. This force was till 1885 subject to the orders of the Lieutenant Governor. It never wanted work, for before the Mutiny troops had to be employed seventeen times against the independent tribesmen. East of the Indus order was secured by the disarmament of the people, the maintenance, in addition to civil police, of a strong body of military police, and the construction of good roads. Just before Lawrence left the construction of the Amritsar-Multán railway was begun, and a few weeks after his departure the Upper Bárí Doáb Canal was opened.

~Administration, 1859-1870.~--The next eleven years occupied by the administrations of Sir Robert Montgomery and Sir Donald Macleod were a quiet time in which results already achieved were consolidated. The Penal Code was extended to the Panjáb in 1862, and a Chief Court with a modest establishment of two judges in 1865 took the place of the Judicial Commissioner. In the same year a Settlement Commissioner was appointed to help the Financial Commissioner in the control of land revenue settlements. Two severe famines marked the beginning and the close of this period. Omitting the usual little frontier excitements, it is necessary to mention the troublesome Ambela campaign in 1863 in the country north of Pesháwar, which had for its object the breaking up of the power of a nest of Hindustání fanatics, and the Black Mountain expedition, in 1868, on the Hazára border, in which no fewer than 15,000 men were employed. Sir Henry Durand, who succeeded Sir Donald Macleod, after seven months of office lost his life by an accident in the beginning of 1871.

~Administration, 1871-1882.~--The next eleven years divided between the administrations of Sir Henry Davies (1871-1877) and Sir Robert Egerton (1877-1882) produced more striking events. In 1872 a small body of fanatics belonging to a Sikh sect known as Kúkas or Shouters marched from the Ludhiána district and attacked the headquarters of the little Muhammadan State of Malerkotla. They were repulsed and 68 men surrendered to the Patiála authorities. The Deputy Commissioner of Ludhiána blew 49 of them from the guns, and the rest were executed after summary trial by the Commissioner. Such strong measures were not approved by the Government, but it must be remembered that these madmen had killed ten and wounded seventeen men, and that their lives were justly forfeit. On the 1st of January, 1877, Queen Victoria's assumption of the title of Empress of India (_Kaisar-i-Hind_) was announced at a great _Darbár_ at Delhi. In 1877 Kashmír, hitherto controlled by the Lieutenant-Governor, was put directly under the Government of India. The same year and the next the province was tried by famine, and in 1878-80 it was the base from which our armies marched on Kábul and Kandahár, while its resources in camels were strained to supply transport. Apart from this its interest in the war was very great because it is the chief recruiting ground of the Indian army and its chiefs sent contingents to help their suzerain. The first stage of the war was closed by the treaty of Gandamak in May, 1879, by which Yakúb Khán surrendered any rights he possessed over Khaibar and the Kurram as far as Shutargardan.

~Administration, 1882-1892.~--During the Lieutenant-Governorships of Sir Charles Aitchison (1882-1887) and Sir James Lyall (1887-1892) there was little trouble on the western frontier. In 1891 the need had arisen of making our power felt up to the Pamírs. The setting up of a British agency at Gilgit was opposed in 1891 by the fighting men of Hunza and Nagar. Colonel Durand advanced rapidly with a small force and when a determined assault reduced the strong fort of Nilt, trouble was at an end once and for all. Within the Panjáb the period was one of quiet development. The Sirhind Canal was opened in 1882, and the weir at Khánkí for the supply of the Lower Chenáb Canal was finished in 1892. New railways were constructed. Lord Ripon's policy of Local Self-government found a strong supporter in Sir Charles Aitchison, and Acts were passed dealing with the constitution and powers of municipal committees and district boards. In 1884 and 1885 a large measure of reorganization was carried out. A separate staff of divisional, district, and subordinate civil judges was appointed. The divisional judges were also sessions judges. The ten commissioners were reduced to six, and five of them were relieved of all criminal work by the sessions judges. The Deputy Commissioner henceforth was a Revenue Collector and District Magistrate with large powers in criminal cases. The revenue administration was at the same time being improved by the reforms embodied in the Panjáb Land Revenue and Tenancy Acts passed at the beginning of Sir James Lyall's administration.

~Administration, 1892-1902.~--The next two administrations, those of Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick (1892-97) and Sir Mackworth Young (1897-1902) were crowded with important events. Throughout the period the colonization of the vast area of waste commanded by the Lower Chenáb Canal was carried out, and the Lower Jhelam Canal was formally opened six months before Sir Mackworth Young left. The province suffered from famine in 1896-97 and again in 1899-1900. In October, 1897, a worse enemy appeared in the shape of plague, but its ravages were not very formidable till the end of the period. The Panjáb was given a small nominated Legislative Council in 1897, which speedily proved itself a valuable instrument for dealing with much-needed provincial legislation. But the most important Panjáb Act of the period, XIII of 1900, dealing with Land Alienation was passed by the Viceroy's Legislative Council. In 1901 a Political Agent was appointed as the intermediary between the Panjáb Government and the Phulkian States. On the frontier the conclusion of the Durand Agreement in 1893 might well have raised hopes of quiet times. But the reality was otherwise. The establishment of a British officer at Wána to exercise control over Southern Wazíristán in 1894 was forcibly resisted by the Mahsúd Wazírs, and an expedition had to be sent into their country. The Mehtar or Chief of Chitrál, who was in receipt of a subsidy from the British Government, died in 1892. A period of great confusion followed fomented by the ambitions of Umra Khán of Jandol. Finally we recognised as Mehtar the eldest son, who had come uppermost in the struggle, and sent an English officer as British Agent to Chitrál. Umra Khán got our protégé murdered, and besieged the Agent in the Chitrál fort. He withdrew however on the approach of a small force from Gilgit. Shuja-ul-Mulk was recognised as Mehtar. This little trouble occurred in 1895. Two years later a storm-cloud suddenly burst over the frontier, such as we had never before experienced. It spread rapidly from the Tochí to Swát, tribe after tribe rising and attacking our posts. It is impossible to tell here the story of the military measures taken against the different offending tribes. The most important was the campaign in Tirah against the Orakzais and Afrídís, in which 30,000 men were engaged for six months. In 1900 attacks on the peace of the border by the Mahsúd Wazírs had to be punished by a blockade, and in the cold weather of 1901-2 small columns harried the hill country to enforce their submission. By this time the connection of the Panjáb Government with frontier affairs, which had gradually come to involve responsibility with little real power, had ceased. On the 25th of October, 1901, the North-West Frontier Province was constituted and Colonel (afterwards Sir Harold) Deane became its first Chief Commissioner, an office which he held till 1908, when he was succeeded by Major (now Sir George) Roos Keppel.

~Administration, 1902-1913.~--The last eleven years have embraced the Lieutenant Governorship of Sir Charles Rivaz (1902-1907), the too brief administration of Sir Denzil Ibbetson (1907-1908), and that of Sir Louis Dane (1908-1913). Throughout the period plague has been a disturbing factor, preventing entirely the growth of population which the rapid development of the agricultural resources of the province would otherwise have secured. It was among the causes stimulating the unrest which came to a head in 1907. A terrible earthquake occurred in 1905. Its centre was in Kángra, where 20,000 persons perished under the ruins of their houses. The colonization of the Crown waste on the Lower Jhelam Canal was nearly finished during Sir Charles Rivaz's administration. Before he left the Triple Canal Project, now approaching completion, had been undertaken. Other measures of importance to the rural population were the passing of the Co-operative Credit Societies' Act in 1903, and the organization in 1905 of a provincial Agricultural Department. The seditious movement which troubled Bengal had its echo in some parts of the Panjáb in the end of 1906 and the spring of 1907. A bill dealing with the rights and obligations of the Crown tenants in the new Canal Colonies was at the time before the Local Legislature. Excitement fomented from outside spread among the prosperous colonists on the Lower Chenáb Canal. There was a disturbance in Lahore in connection with the trial of a newspaper editor, the ringleaders being students. When Sir Denzil Ibbetson took the reins into his strong hands in March, 1907, the position was somewhat critical. The disturbance at Lahore was followed by a riot at Ráwalpindí. The two leading agitators were deported, a measure which was amply justified by their reckless actions and which had an immediate effect. Lord Minto decided to withhold his assent from the Colony Bill, and it has recently been replaced by a measure which has met with general acceptance. When Sir Denzil Ibbetson took office he was already suffering from a mortal disease. In the following January he gave up the unequal struggle, and shortly afterwards died. Sir Louis Dane became Lieutenant Governor in May, 1908. A striking feature of his administration was the growth of co-operative credit societies or village banks. At the Coronation _Darbár_ on 12th December, 1911, the King-Emperor announced the transfer of the capital of India to Delhi. As a necessary consequence the city and its suburbs were severed from the province, with which they had been connected for 55 years. In 1913 Sir Louis Dane was succeeded by Sir Michael O'Dwyer.