Presented to a±ILdL:/L. tid:Ud/MJ..<.. ^ By the Author^ m his eightieth year. 63, Elm Park Gardens, London, S.W. March, igoo. A^.B. All acknowledgment of receipt of the volume is requested to the address of R. N. CUST, LL.D., 63, Elm Park Gardens, London, S.W. r Xife*/Iftemoir OF A IRuler of Subject provinces, H)a^*Xabourer, Globe=trotter, fearless inquirer, 3SooF?*&ev>ourer, Careful IRote auD Bjtract*tafier, ©utspohen Critic, Copious writer anb publisber for balf*a*centur^, AND A Cbristian freetbinfter. X82\-\899. ETON COLLEGE , 1840 /Ihemoiis of H^ast J^ears OF A Septuaoenadan. Part I ... TWENTY-ONE YEARS BEFORE INDIA. Part II . . . TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN INDIA. Part III . . . THIRTY-TWO YEARS AFTER INDIA. ROBERT NEEDHAM CUST, LL.D. LATE MEMBER OF HER MAJESTY'S INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE. Betat 78. f UN TV I- j;;r-TTY ) " There is a clock to each life's period wound, " Whose steady hands with silent progress keep " O'er hours and days and weeks their ceaseless sweep, " Too oft unmarked. But when a year comes round, " That clock is heard to strike with solemn sound, " And if this world's vain pleasures do not steep " The heart's best feelings in oblivion's sleep, " As by a spell of magic torpor bound, " 'Tis roused by that impressive sound to ask, " What part is done of my allotted task ? " What has this year produced of wholesome fruit ? " What noxious plant extracted by the root ? " What record do my hours, as swift they fly, " Bear to the volumes of Eternity ? " John Marriott, December 8, 1822. " His life was one great battle with old Time ; " From morn to eve, from youth to latest age, " Ever he fought as only strong men fight." " Votivi pateat veluti descripta tabella " Vita scnis." Printed for the Author for private circulation, 1899. HERTFORD PRINTED BY STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS. TO MY FOUR CHILDREN, MY GRANDCHILD, AND THOSE THAT COME AFTER THEM, THIS NARRATIVE OF THE WAY, IN WHICH MEN WORKED IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA IS Dc^icatc^» TABLE OF CONTENTS. rA(;E I 43 Short Title. Photograph of Picture on leaving Eton College, 1840. Title Page. Dedication. Table of Contents. Division of Subjects. INIaterials for Compilation. Introductory Remarks Part I. Chapter I. Period I. Before India Part II. Exile in Indla.. Chapter II. Period II Chapter III. Period III ... Chapter IV. Period IV ... Photograph taken just before leaving India. Part III. After India. Chapter V. Introductory Remarks... 107 Chapter VI. Period V. Decade I ... ... ... 119 Chapter VII. Period VI. Decade II ... ... ... 145 Chapter VIII. Period VII. Decade III ... ... ... 193 Chapter IX. Period VIII. Decade IV ... ... ... 275 Three Diagrams of Orbits of Studies, Duties, Travels. Chapter X. Concluding Remarks ... ... ... 289 Photograph taken in Study, 1896. Appendices I-XXII ... ... ... ... ... •••317 Index of Persons and Places, and Subjects ... ... •••433 DIVISION OF SUBJECTS INTO PARTS, CHAPTERS, AND PERIODS. PAGE Introductory Remarks ... ... ... ... ... ... i PART I. Cap. I. Period I. Early Days in England: Twenty-one Years, 182 1-1842 ... ... 15 (i) Childhood, 1821-28. (2) Boyhood, 1828-40. (3) Youth, 1840-42. PART II. Cap. II. Period II. Exile in India. No. I: 1843-1851 ... ... ... ... 23 (i) College of Fort William, 1843-44. (2) First Public Employment, 1844. (3) Invasion and War, 1845-46. (4) My first District, 1846-50. (5) A great Tour in North India, 1850. (6) The Exile returns home for the first time, 1851. DIVISION OF SUBJECTS. Cap. hi. Period III. PAGE Exile in India. No. II: 1852-1857 ... ... ... ... 43 (i) Visit to Greece, Turkey, Holy Land, Egypt, 1852. (2) North-West Provinces of India, Banda, 1852-55. (3) Return Home, 1855. (4) Residence in England, 1855-57. Cap. IV. Period IV. Exile in India. No. Ill: 1858-1867 (i) Restoration of Order after a Rebellion, 1858. (2) High Offices of the State, 1859-64. (3) Bereavement, Grief, Despair, 1864. (4) Vain attempt to return, and complete my term of Service, 1866. (5) Final Return to England with my task unaccomplished, 1867. (6) General Remarks at the close of my Indian career. PART III. Cap. V. After India, 1868-1899. Introductory Remarks ... ... ... 107 Cap. VI, Period V. After India. First Decade, 1 868-1 877 ... ... ... 119 (1) Home in England. (2) Resignation of the Indian Civil Service. (3) Draft of Code of Revenue-Law for Northern India. (4j Offer of emi)loymcnt in the India-Office declined. DIVISION OF SUBJECTS. (5) Family cares and troubles. (6) Annual Tours in England, Ireland, Scotland, and on the Continent. (7) Commencement of attendance at Meetings of Societies and Committees. (8) Course of reading to bring up the arrears of knowledge of a quarter of a century. (9) International Oriental Congresses at London and at St. Petersburg. (10) Remarks on Linguistic Studies and Language generally. Serious study commenced. Cap. VII. Period VI. After India. Second Decade, 1878-1887 ... ... ... ... HS (i) INIunicipal Duties, Justice of the Peace, Guardian of the Poor, Magisterial Visitor of Prisons and Lunatic Asylums. (2) Denunciation of abuses and jobs. (3) Lectures and addresses on Secular and Religious Platforms. (4) International Oriental Congresses in Foreign Capitals of Europe. (5) International Geographical Congresses in Foreign Capitals of Europe. (6) Publication of Books and Maps : contribution to Periodicals Secular and Religious. (7) Linguistic Studies. (8) Tours in Foreign Countries. (9) Aid given in Political Contests for Seats in Parliament, and ]\Iunicipalities. (10) Scientific and Benevolent Associations. (11) Deputations and Lectures out of London. (12) INIissionary Conferences. DIVISION OF SUBJECTS. Cap. VIII. Period VII. After India. (^ (2 (3 (4 (S (6 (7 (8 (9 (lO Third Decade, 1888-1897 ... ... ... ... 193 Tours. Oriental Congresses. IMissionary Congresses. Literary Work. Addresses, Lectures, and Speeches : Oxford Mission, Bethnal Green. Prisons, Asylums. Mission Meetings, City Temple. State of Health : Fall from Horse. Distribution of my Works to Foreign Libraries. Interview with King and Queen of Sweden, and Shah of Persia. Paris Exhibition. Cap. IX. Period VIII. After India. Fourth Decade, 1898- 27s Cap. X. Concluding Remarks 289 Appendices Index 317 433 MATERIALS FOR COMPILATION. I. Memoranda of events from 1821 to 1842 (Part I, Period I), prepared from original letters and notebooks in 1857. II. Journal day by day, in fifteen quarto volumes, each volume under lock and key, from September 18, 1842, to the present day, made up at the close of each fortnight. III. Life-Diary, in one folio volume, prepared in 1874 from the Journals, showing where I was on each day of my life after childhood was passed, and since that date made up monthly. IV. Yearly Office and Business-Diaries since 1864 (Lett), showing every occupation and every private letter written, made up daily without fail. V. Separate Volumes of each Foreign Tour, made up day by day to the close of the Tour, and copied into the Quarto Volumes of the Journal. VI. Manuscript Catalogue of Books read, made up weekly, from 1859. VII. Chronological list of writings from 1840 to 1898. Appendix I. VIII. Three bound volumes of letters to my relatives from India, 1 828-1 866. IX. Large Iron Chest of letters received by me in England and India from 1828 to 1898, arranged in classified folios. X. Two Bound Volumes of Commonplace Extract Book from 1853. Prose and Poetry. Nos. I, II, with Indices.- XI. Reflections and Thoughts, 1 868-1 898. XII. Catalogue of Languages represented by Books in my Oriental Library. XIII. Books in the Officina : (i) List of Books arranged according to subjects, twenty-one in number, before India was left in 1867. (2) List of Books in restricted orbit of study from 1868. I. Language. II. Religion. With list of subdivisions of subject, and books in each. (3) Authors grouped according to subjects. (4) Names of Oriental Scholars and Authors up to 1878. (5) Index to Selections from Journals of Oriental Societies. C xiv MATERIALS FOR COMPILATION. XIV. Manuscript Notebooks from 1874 to 1898, in six volumes: Videnda. Agenda. Notanda. Quaerenda. Legenda. Visenda. XV. Bound Collective Folio Volumes of: (i) Obituary Notes. (Printed.) (2) Sermons, Addresses, and Lectures delivered, 1877-1897. (MS.) (3) Study of Languages. (MS.) (4) Letters of thanks for Books and Pamphlets of my own writing presented to Libraries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. Two large volumes. XVL Album of printed cuttings from Newspapers. (Quarto.) (i) My own Miscellaneous Writings. 7 vols. (2) Reviews and Notices on my Writings. 4 vols. (3) Speeches and Addresses made by me, and reported by the Press. XVIL List made from year to year of persons whom I have met. 1874-1898. XVIIL Remarkable Customs. XIX. Language Specimens. XX. Personal Papers, four large folios. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS THE plan of my work is to throw together the History of a Life of nearly eighty years in ten Chapters : I. Boyhood and Youth. II. The first period of Exile in India. HI. The second. IV. The third and last. V. Introductory Remarks to "After India." VI. The first decade of Life in England. VII. The second. VIII. The third. IX. The fourth. X. Concluding Remarks. My desire is to omit the first personal pronoun as much as possible, and to avoid the errors of some, whose lives are written by themselves, and of others, whose lives have been written by widows, sons, or devoted adherents. We can all recall the " Ego Ipsissimus " of the Civil Governor, and the " Ego et Exercitus meus " of the Warrior. Two errors are thus conspicuous : the writer is apt to make himself the pivot or mainspring, round which the whole of contemporary History revolved, while he was in fact only a fly on the wheel. The second error is, that he sees the events of his early life through the spectacles of the increased knowledge and experience of later years, and unconsciously infuses that knowledge into the narrative of his earlier career. Some servants of the State have not left a printed line behind them, while some have wielded the pen to the last hour. Some had not the gift of writing, but they had the greater gift of ' acting ' : to some very k\v it has been conceded to do acts worthy of record, and to record them so as to charm future generations. Xenophon, and Julius Caesar, will suggest themselves. It would have been better for some, if their Memoirs had not been written, or if they had not survived the ravages of time. The story of the two Kings of Israel, David and his son Solomon, might suggest to some to note in their wills : " Please do not write my life." 2 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Some servants of the State had no Hterary tastes ; the Newspapers were their sole intellectual pabulum : others were more fortunate and had scientific resources. I recollect a time, when I was much worried by my superior officers, and subordinates, and I used to get away to my Sanskrit studies, whence I could defy them, for they could not read the written characters of my book, or criticize what I did, or understand what I was after. Some servants of the State have loved God with their whole heart from their youth up : this is the best of all gifts, that can be given to man ; better than titles, better than wealth, better than favour and honour among men, more especially, if they had the Grace given to them to love their fellow-creatures also. Such was James Thomason, Lieutenant- Governor of the North-West Provinces 1 844-1 852, at whose feet I sat in my youth. Some seem never to have known God : from the misfortune of their Education, or their early social environments, they seem to have thought nothing of their own Souls, and the relation of those Souls to God. In many Memoirs of successful men there is no single expression of gratitude to Him, by whose Grace they were permitted to prosper, when so many fell around them : they did not express it, perhaps they did not feel it. Some servants of the State were cut off before they reached fift)' years : some were tried by tedious illness, small means, or domestic misery : there was no happy English home, no sphere of usefulness in Great Britain reserved for them : let those, to whom such blessings have been conceded, be thankful, and deal gently with the failings of others. A life to be of practical advantage to one's self, must be recorded day by day. The Fear of God, Faith in Christ, and constant Communion with the Holy Spirit, make up the only true Wisdom. Our days on Earth pass as a watch in the night, and, unless we have these three blessings, we are poor indeed. But to the writer of this Memoir, by God's Grace, thirty years of active and useful life and vigorous study, and copious publication of the outcome of study, have been conceded after the blight of his brilliant INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 3 prospects in India, and his sad destiny of creeping home a hopeless and disappointed man under a second domestic bereavement. He did not recognize the Hand, the kind Hand, of God then : he does most fully novj. His services were not wanted in India ; there were plenty there to do the work, which he proposed to do, A new sphere was opened out beyond the limits of India, and bc}^ond his widest dream of possibility. The object now is to note the details of this new sphere for the benefit of others, whose professional occupations are concluded : for nothing is so injurious to body, mind, or soul, as an objectless life, made up of eating, drinking, idleness, or worse. Life is real ; life is earnest : and those, who are permitted to live, must show themselves worthy of existence. The arena of the writer's studies, and the sphere of his occupation, from 1843 to the present year, have been the following : A. Studies. (i) The Religions of Mankind, of all Ages, Regions, and Races. (2) The Languages of Mankind witliin the same limits. (3) The Study of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures from every point of view. (4) History in its widest sense. (5) The Geography of the whole Globe. B. Occupation. (i) The administration of Indian Provinces, or the Art of Ruling subject Nations firmly, yet kindly. (2) Councils, Boards, and Committees of affaii-s, Secular and Religious. (3) Public utterances on- Platforms and in Pulpits. (4) Attendance at International Oriental and Geographical Congresses in all the Capitals of Europe. (5) A wide correspondence in several languages. (6) Compilation of Volumes for publication in connection with above-mentioned studies. 4 INTRODUCTORY RE-MARKS. (7) Contributing papers to seventy different Periodicals, spread over fifty years, of different size and imjoortance, in several languages, and in far distant countries. Physical Science, with the exception of Geography, has been kept clear of, not from any disparagement of those studies, but from the necessity of recollecting that " Ars longa est, sed vita brevis " : " Non multa sed multum." A vast number of books of ancient and modern time, coming from the Orient and the Occident, had to be read, and copious notes made : the labour of splitting straws, and quarrelling about the meaning of words, were avoided. The course of Christian Belief was traced from its cradle in Galilee, and, when stripped of mediaeval accretions, was found sufficient. Some questions too hard for solution in this Century were left to the Twentieth. Intellectually Humanity cleaves to Idolatry, in one form or another, and each one of us worships, where our favourite Divinities in Literature crowd the shelves of our bookcase. But our grandest creations are not the Picture, the Statue, or the Book, which the World at large handles, but the invisible Ideals, which Imagination keeps, at least the best of them, locked up in the workshop of the brain. U7ia^ Gallery or Libi^ary can rival the sublime and bcantiful images, that croivd the labyrinth of the brain in its dreams by day, or meditations by night ? The last quarter of a Century has been marked by wonderful and wholly unexpected progress in all the five main subjects, and the object has been to keep abreast of them, or, more than that, to float on the foremost wave, enjoying the theoretic speculations preceding actual discoveries. The course of the River Kongo, the origin of the Phenician Alphabet, the secret of Grammatical Inflection, the interpretation of the Assyrian, Median, and old Persian Inscriptions, the whole history of the Egyptian, Brahmanical, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, and Confucian, forms of Belief or Practice, were once mysterious, and arc so no longer. The Bible is not valued less now than in 1843, but it is understood better. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 5 And, indeed, seventy-eight )'ears since the Fpurth George ascended the Throne have witnessed an intellectual, spiritual, political, scientific, commercial, transformation of the Round World. We can hardly believe, that certain things were possible, when we were bo}-s, as they appear so contrary to Equity and Decency now. The writer has been a careful observer of this Progress in certain departments, with his Notebook alwa}'s in his pocket ; a fearless inquirer, and yet a downright believer in the Christian Dispensation, one who calls a spade a spade, and has not been held back by sentimental feelings from exposing an abuse, or unveiling a pious fraud. If he has not, like so many of his contemporaries, left any footsteps on the sands of time, still the echoes of past years, and the memories of lost friends, live around him in his age's lateness. Knowledge comes from studious reading, calm reflection, active emplo}-ment, and contact with men of all degrees of culture ; and from his youth up his lot has been cast in such an environment, and he feels deeply grateful for a life of active usefulness ; for unselfish exertions in the Service of God, and the Human race, alone create a healthy and happy life, the thought of which brings Peace at the last. Special among all Arts is the Art of governing subject races, so-called inferior races, firmly, kindly, sympatheticall}-, with a love for them personally, and a sympathy with their real interests, ]\Ioral, Material, and Spiritual. My long residence in India filled me with an intense love for, and interest in, the people of India, and a desire, that the system of Administration, adopted by the British Government, should be as perfect and sympathetic as possible. I commenced my career under James Thomason, who first impressed me with the conviction, that a righteous Government must be in the interest of the people governed, and not of the alien interloper. To him succeeded Major George Broadfoot, Sir Henry Lawrence, Major Mackeson, and Sir Donald McLeod, all of whom met violent deaths in battle, siege, by the hand of the assassin, or railway accident ; but the Master, whose principles were adopted as 6 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. my own, and whose steps were faithfully followed to the last, was John Lord Lawrence. I took part in the Administration of newly conquered Provinces, witnessed the decay of the old system, or want of system, of Native States, and marked the defects. For three years I was in charge of a District in Bandelkand in the North -West Provinces, which had been mismanaged, and over-assessed by British Officers, and I marked the defects of the British system also. In the first year of the annexation of the Panjab I visited every District of that Province, and Kashmir, and ten years afterwards I made a second tour of inspection. A few years later I visited every District of the North-West Provinces. I held in these two Provinces the post of the highest Revenue Officer, and in the Panjab of the highest Judicial Officer also. I think that I thoroughly mastered the system of the two great Provinces of Northern India. To satisfy myself how Oriental Provinces were governed by other European Powers, I have twice visited the Empire of Turkey, with an eye to their Judicial and Revenue System, made a careful inspection of Egypt, of the Russian Provinces south of the Caucasus, and of the French Colonies of Algeria and Tunisia, and of the Kingdom of Morocco. As I have always committed to Press at the very time my impressions, as they were formed, I have before me a certain amount of contemporaneous evidence to enable a final judgment to be arrived at. India always, and at all places, comes to my mind, and the interests and duties of the British Nation. We are a little too sensitive of contact, and seem not sufficiently to allow, that other Nations have as much right to annex, and subdue, and establish Protectorates, as we have ourselves : our bounden duty should be to exhibit an ever-increasing aptitude for the Administration of subject races, as if we were stewards for their welfare, and not only seeking our own interests, and the expansion of our own Commerce. In very notable words a great Statesman in 1833 in the House of Commons laid down our duty : " The path of duty is plain before us : " it is also the path of wisdom, of national prosperity and national INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 7 " honour : to have found a great people sunk in the lowest depths of " misery and superstition, and to have so ruled them, as to make them " desirous and capable of all the privileges of citizens, would be a title " to glory, all our own. The Empire may pass away from us, but " there are triumphs, which are followed by no reverses : there is an " Empire, exempt from all natural causes of decay : the pacific triumphs " of reason over barbarism ; the imperishable Empire of our Arts, our " Morals, our Literature, and our Law." _^ More than twenty years later the Queen in her Proclamation, 1857, stated : " We hold ourselves bound to the natives of Indian territory by " the same obligation of duty, which binds us to our other subjects : our " subjects of whatever race or creed shall be freely and impartially *' admitted to Offices in our Service, the duties of which they may be " qualified, by their education, ability, and integrity, duly to discharge. " In their prosperity will be our strength ; in their contentment our " security ; in their gratitude our best reward." Have we acted up to these noble words? My judgment is, that we have striven to do so more than any other conquering and superior Power, either in ancient or modern times. I am not the paid advocate of the Government of India. I have little for which to thank it. Owing to the non-completion of a few months of Residence in India, I forfeited my Retiring Pension, and, though I served the State energetically in Peace and War, Rebellion and Pacification, in the Field, in the Public Office, and in the Council Chamber, I received no honour of any kind My opinion is therefore the more unbiassed, and it is this : that our Administration has been based on Justice, Moderation, and Sympathy with the People : that we have to an extent far exceeding that of the Governments of Russia and France, and the wretched, ignorant, mal- administration of Turkey, consulted the true interests of the people, and stayed the hands of the alien interloper, who would have confiscated the lands of the landowner to satisfy his Earth-greed : that we have no Prison full of Political offenders, and no Military tyranny : that the Natives may go where they like, do what they like, speak what they 8 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. like, and write what they like, within the reasonable provisions of the Law, which is the same to all, high or low, rich or poor. Native or alien : that the Officials are paid for their work, and supervised in their work, are restrained from corruption and oppression, and can speak the Vernaculars of the people : that there is Toleration in the fullest extent, actively and passively, in deed as well as letter, to every form of Religious Belief or Unbelief, each soul being left in individual uncontrolled responsibility to its Creator : that children succeed without question to the inheritance of their parents : that every section of the vast population enjoys its own Law, or Custom having the force of Law, in all matters regarding Marriage and Inheritance : that the blessings of a Free Press are enjoyed by all, whether European, or Native, subject only to the reasonable Law of Libel against Private Characters : that though the Government of the Country is as regards Religious tenets entirely colourless, its Christian Servants are not afraid, or ashamed, to let it be known, that they are Christians in Morals, Habits, and the outward profession of their Faith, and would scorn even the semblance of con- forming to any non-Christian custom : that all the great triumphs of Civilization and Education, and a great portion of Municipal privileges, are freely imparted by the great Power, which governs, to the great Country, which is governed. I would particularly ask " Young India," who blusters for Home-Rule, and Political independence, to consider, whether such aspirations are not a dream, and whether he would gain much, after years of blood and confusion, in being transferred to France or Russia. I would ask the Roman Catholic, or Protestant, Missionary, whether in any other country in the world he has such liberty of Preaching, Teaching, and Itinerating, without fear of a blustering Magistrate, or a fanatical Mob. I would ask him to keep himself to his own Sacred duties, and refrain from expressing opinions upon subjects, which he is not qualified to understand, such as the Administrative system of a vast Empire, and the time-honoured and innocent Family-Customs of a great People. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 9 Finally, the Men of Commerce, the Agricultural Speculator, and all that class of Europeans, who are described without offence as alien inter- lopers, birds of passage, and shakers of the Pagoda-tree, are asked to reflect, whether in any other country of the world they enjoy such liberty of locomotion, sojourning, buying, and selling. If they are prepared to become domiciled in India, they will have the same rights as all other subjects of the Empress of India to take a part in the control of public affairs ; but, if they are only sojourners for a few years, they have no more right to interfere in the conduct of affairs of British India than a Canadian or Australian has in the Parliament of Great Britain. Attached to this Life-Memoir is a series of Appendices : I. Chronological List of Writings from 1834 to 1899, exceeding Twelve Hundred in Number. II. Contributions to Calcutta Review, 1846-1S99. (Fifty in Fifty-four Years.) III. Contributions to Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1879-1899. (Fifty in Twenty Years.) IV. List of Periodicals to which Contributions have been made, 1840-1899. (Seventy-one in Sixty Years.) V. List of Appointments under Government held in India, 1S44-1867. (Twenty- three Years.) VI. List of Committees, Boards, and Councils, on which service has been given, 1872-1899. (Twenty-seven Years.) VII. List of Languages, of which the Writer has Working Knowledge. VIII. List of Honorary Appointments held without Emolument. IX. List of Foreign Tours in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and Voyagee to India and Back. X. List of Congresses, of which there has been Membership. XI. List of Communications made by the Writer to those Congresses. XII. List of Institutions, in which Lectures have been given. XIII. List of Foreign Languages, in which the Works of the Writer have been Translated. 2 lO INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XIV. (i) British and Foreign Towns, in which Addresses have been given. (2) Number of Speeches, Addresses, Lectures, and Sermons, delivered after Return from India, 1877-1899. (Twenty-three Years.) XV^. Sermons preached in the Diocese of London. XVI. London Clubs, 1851-1893. XVII. Scientific Societies, of which Membership has existed. XVIII. ReUgious, Missionary, and Benevolent, Societies, of which Membership has existed. XIX. Poems written, 1841-1898. XX. Medals and other Tokens of Honour. XXI. Persons of Note, whom I have met and conversed with. XXII. Public Events and Remarkable Sights. A question arose as to the name, which should be given to this work : to " Autobiography " there is a decided objection ; it is rather Egotistic in idea, and very much so in execution. Then the idea occurred as to borrowing from the " Meditations " of the Emperor Marcus AureHus the name of that Immortal Book. In Rendal's Edition, 1898, page cxiiii of the Introduction, we find the following words : " Thou art an old man : thy life is all but finished ; its tale is " fully told, and its service accomplished : it remains, while the power " of mind and body still hold on, to adjust yourself, as in the presence of " Death, for reunion with God. Life's day has been laborious, and its " setting grey and solitary." Marcus Aurelius' " Meditations " apparently belong to the privacy- of the closet : the dedication is " Ek XeavTov." (" To Himself") But it can scarcely be said, that they were intended for no eye, and no ear, but his own : if so, why did the dying Emperor of the European INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. II World leave such a Manuscript on his table, unless it were intended to be read and published for the delight and edification of future generations ? The World would have been indeed poorer without the " Meditations " of Marcus Aurelius, the " Confessions " of Augustine of Hippo, and the " Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis. On the whole it was felt, that this book was not worthy of the honour of being called " The Meditations," and the simple name of " Life-Memoir" was selected. As in my solitary tent fifty or forty years ago in India, so in my Study or Committee-Room in England, I have always realized as existing in myself the component parts of two totally distinct existences, (i) the severely practical attitude of the official, (2) the romantically free thought of the day-dreamer. My Notebook was always in my pocket, whether on the horse, the elephant, or the camel, or the boat, or in the horse vehicle, or the dooley, the omnibus, or railway train ; and thus my published writings, prose and verse, are all dated, and extend from 1840 to 1898, and by a singular chance I have had the same Printers, Father and Sons, in the first of these years and the last. As, in Appendix I, each one of these writings is chronicled under its own date, I have at the foot of each page of the Life-Memoir noted the particular Essay or Poem written at that particular time, in order to show the continuousness of my literary work. An Essay on Baba Nanak was written in camp in the village, where the great Prophet lived. The description of a District during a Rebellion was put to paper in the very Station, Allahabad, where the events narrated happened. Some of the Poems were chanted from tlie back of an elephant, or jotted down in a crowded Katchery, while litigants were grossly abusing each other, and lying to their heart's content, in the Urdu Language. Literary w^ork was the one charm amidst highly paid official duties in India, and the joy of the enfranchised middle- aged man, who had done his day's paid work, in England, and who still could not hold back from doing a day's hard work for the benefit of his fellow-creatures, even though without remuneration. 12 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. An illustrious deceased friend recorded the following note, in 1864, on the Study of Oriental Languages : " The opinion, which has impressed me " most is that of the distinguished Judicial Commissioner of the Panjab. " ' Life,' says Mr. Cust, ' is short : Art is long : in this, as in other things, " we must have a minimum for the many, and a maximum for the few. " We must not waste the precious years of a man's life between twenty " and twenty-three years, when he is able to acquire anything, and what " he acquires remains for his life. I am no opponent of Oriental " studies. I devoted my youth to them, and studied with success all " the five languages alluded to, Sanskrit, Persian, Hindi, Urdu, and " Bengali, and Arabic in addition ; but I sometimes wish now, that I had " studied the Roman Law, and been content with the Hindu Law in " English translations, instead of following up dead Orientals beyond " a certain point, I wish others to avoid my error.' " — Life and Speeches of Sir Henry Maine, p. 432. (John Murray, 1892.) Charles Dickens gives this character of himself (" David Copperfield," cap. xlii), fifty years ago : " Perseverance and patient and continuous ' energy began to be matured within me, and became the strong part ' of my character, and the source of my success. " I have been very fortunate in worldly matters : many men have ' worked much harder, and not succeeded half so well ; but I never ' could have done what I have done without the habits of PUNCTUALITY, ' ORDER, and DILIGENCE, without the determination to concentrate ' myself on one object at a time, no matter how quickly its successor ' should come upon its heels." " Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my ' heart to do well ; to whatever I devoted myself to, I have devoted ' myself to completely ; in great aims and in small I have alwa}'s been ' thoroughly in earnest. I have never believed it possible, that any ' natural or improved ability can claim immunity from the companion- ' ship of the steady, plain, hard-zvorking cjualities, and hope to gain ' its end." 1 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 1 3 His golden rule was: (i) "Never to put one hand to an}'thing on which I could throw my whole self. (2) " Never to affect depreciation of my work, whatever it was." This exactly describes the principle and practice of the subject of these Memoirs : if a great and difficult work has to be done there are some men, who will accomplish it, and some who are not able to do so : this is the secret of success, rapid promotion, and reputation. I was called the * outspoken,' and the ' counter-irritant ' of the Governor of the Province, forty years ago : I accept the compliment ; I meant to be so. I give my authority for being so : " Whoever hesitates to utter that which he thinks the highest truth, " lest it should be too much in advance of the time, may reassure " himself by looking at his acts from an impersonal point of view. " Let him duly realize the fact, that opinion is the agency, through " which character adapts external arrangements to itself ; that his " opinion rightly forms part of this agency, is a unit of force, con- " stituting, with other such units, the general power, which works out " social changes ; and he will perceive, that he may properly give full " utterance to his innermost conviction, leaving it to produce what " effect it may." Herbert Spencer : Reconciliation. " I am convinced, that we do best honour the founder of Christianity, " not by His imitation, but by participation in His spirit of original " insight, spontaneity, and personal independence ; by the effort nobly to " live our own lives, to perfect our own personality after its kind and " according to its opportunities, even as He developed and perfected His." Dr. Lewis G. Janes: Life as a Fine Art (Brooklyn Ethical Association). PART I. 1 6 EARLY DAYS IN ENGLAND. My place of birth was my father's estate, Cockayne Hatley, Bedford- shire. I went to a Private School September, 1828, and to Eton College January, 1834, where I was six and a half years, and during the last year was Captain of the Oppidans. I had the honour of being flogged by Dr. Keate, who was Head-master when I entered, and to have been sent up " for good and for play " twenty-two times by Dr. Hawtrey, who succeeded Dr. Keate. I sat for the Newcastle-Scholarship four times, and was in "the select": on the fourth occasion, 1840, William Ewart Gladstone, then called " the Hope of England," and his brother- in-law, Lord Lyttelton, were the Examiners. I sat two years for the Balliol Scholarship at Oxford, and heard John Henry Newman, then a Protestant, preach in St. Mary's, at Oxford. King William IV and Queen Adelaide used to come to Speeches, and to Surley Hall, and Ad Montem. I rowed No. 9 in the Ten Oar in the Summer of 1840, and played in one or two cricket-matches in the Upper Shooting Fields, but I had no taste for athletics. Another event occurred to me at Eton ; my eldest Sister died in 1836: the first death in a family is never forgotten. In 1840, at the age of 19, I published my first book, "The Eton Addresses." King William IV came to Speeches at Eton six times, 1 831-1836, and on each occasion a Poetic Address was composed by one of the Sixth Form, and delivered viva voce. It occurred to me to collect copies, which was no easy task, and to print them at Eton. I was present at the Coronation of King William IV and Queen Adelaide in Westminster Abbey, at the Funeral of King William IV in Windsor Chapel, and at the Coronation of Queen Victoria in Westminster Abbey. I saw Queen Victoria at Salt Hill on the occasion of the last celebration of " Ad Montem." I had been entered in Trinity College, Cambridge, on Dr. Perry's side, with a view of taking my Degree, and being called to the Bar ; but the offer of an appointment in the Indian Civil Service altered the plan of my life, and in 1840 I left Eton and went to the "Eton Addresses," 1830-1836. KARLV DAYS I\ KNGLAND. 1/ East India College, IIailc}-bur)', Hertfordshire. It is something, ff)r which a man may thank his Parents, that he was sent to one of the best and greatest Schools in England, especially as he belonged to the sixth generation of a family, who had been Etonians, as duly recorded on a brass plate in the College Chapel. If the battle of Waterloo was won on Eton playing-fields, so may other battles of life have been won there in different worldly vocations, as the outcome of precepts learnt, and examples witnessed, at the Public School, where the dawning intellect passed from boyhood at 13 to manhood at 19. The boy, who refuses to betray his comrade, or who resists temptation to do something morally wrong, says to himself: " I am an Etonian, and I cannot lend myself to fraud, treachery, cowardice, or any other form of moral base- ness." A Christian may have higher motives, but a man of the world may be helped in his course by the principles learnt in his Tutor's pupil-room, and in association with his fellows. As I had left Eton College as Captain of the Oppidans, so I left Haileybury College ' Senior ' of the College, with gold medals, and scores of volumes as prizes. I had a strong Constitution, Industry, and Talents, and after the lapse of fifty-six years I feel grateful for them, for without them no success can be attained, or maintained. I felt mortified and humiliated in the presence of my Etonian contemporaries, when I met them at Eton on the 4th of June, or at Lord's Cricket Ground, by the necessity of exchanging an English for an Indian Career, but I do not regret it now. 'Conduct' was the fourth essential in a young man's career, and I was fortunate enough to realize the Horatian maxim : " Principibus placuisse viris non ultima laus est" (£/>., I, xvii, 35); and when gradually, though not yet thirty years of age, I found myself helping to rule Millions in their hundreds of towns and thousands of villages, the lines of Virgil came back to me : " Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento ; Hae tibi erunt artes ; pacisque imponere morem, Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos." yEneid, vi, 852. 3 1 8 EARLY DAYS IN ENGLAND. At College, as in the Higher Classes at Eton, I had noble companions, antagonists, and rivals, many of whom have been my life-friends, and from m}' earliest years I felt the desire " Ai€v cipicfTeveLV, kol virelpo-^ov e/xjuLevat, dWcov" (Homer : Iliad^ vi, 208) ; and the desire was partly granted. At Haileybury College, 1840-42, I was a contributor in Prose and Verse to the weekly Periodical, called the Haileybury Obsej-ver. During the three last terms I was one of the Editors. It brings tears into my eyes after the lapse of fifty-six years to read utterances such as these : " Commit to paper thoughts so pure, so high, " That men will not forget them, when you die : " Sixty years hence to read them, what a joy ! " ' I 'm glad I wrote like this, when still a boy.' " Poems of Many Years and Many Places, Second Series, 1897, p. 54. The Study of Language has been the companion of my life, and I left England in 1842 with a knowledge of the following forms of speech, their Grammatical Features, and their Literature : Dead. Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, Hebrew. Living. English, French, German, Italian, Urdu or Hindustani, Persian, and Arabic. Before I left England I attended the marriage of my Cousin Viscount Alford with Lady Marian Compton, daughter of the Marquess of Northampton. He died in 185 1. All who were present then have passed away, except my old school-friend. Lord Alwyne Compton, the Bi.shop of Ely. At the wedding-breakfast I was introduced to the Haileybury Observer, 1840- 1842. EARLY DAYS IN ENGLAND. 1 9 Poet Samuel Rogers, Author of " Pleasures of Memory," under the unduly flattering description of being one of the Poets of the P\iture, as I was from Eton Sixth P^orm, and with a memory stored with Greek, Latin, and English Poetry. Other branches of knowledge had not been neglected. The New Testament in Greek was as familiar to me as in English ; and I had by the Grace of God strong Religious convictions, though imperfect, and this kept me from the snares into which many of my contemporaries fell. I had in 1841 visited with my Father all the great cities of Germany. While at Vienna I saw the old Emperor of Austria, Ferdinand (who abdicated in 1848), going to Chapel, and in the garden of Schonbrunn I suddenly came face to face with his sister, the Empress Marie Louise, widow of Napoleon the First. At Potsdam I saw the Emperor Frederick, then a little boy, playing in the garden of his Father, who was then Prince William of Prussia, both unconscious of the great destiny which awaited them. In private parties at Leamington I had met Prince Louis Napoleon Buonaparte, who was not much thought of then, though, when I came back from India the second time, he had developed into Napoleon the Third, and was on a visit at Windsor Castle. While at Eton in 1837 I saw Marshal Soult, the Duke of Dalmatia, and Prince Talleyrand. At Rome I attended High Mass in the Sistine Chapel, and saw Pope Gregory XVI and Cardinal Mezzofanti, tJien considered a great linguist, but his knowledge would not count for much now. In 1842, on my road to India, I visited all the great cities of Italy, embarking for Alexandria at Naples, via Malta. I took leave of my Parents and Sisters January 6, 1843. They had accompanied me to Naples. During my month's stay there I went to Balls, and at one saw the King of Naples, known as King Bomba, dancing in red trousers. In a few years his dynasty was swept away. I also, with a guide ascended Mount Vesuvius, went down into the crater, and saw the flames raging : there was an eruption soon afterwards. Several of my contemporaries of 1842 had gone round the Cape of Good Hope in the steamer " Hindustan." On arrival at Calcutta it was 20 EARLY DAYS IN ENGLAND. to work its way to Suez, the first P. and O. steamer on that now well- known hne. It had been arranged, that I should meet that steamer on a certain date at Suez, but on my arrival in Egypt I found, that there would be a delay of one month, which was most acceptable. I seized the opportunity to engage a Mahometan Mullah, and steadily read with his help right through the Koran in Arabic, for which I have ever been grateful. We met at the Table d'Hote Anglo-Indians returning home, and among them General England, who had commanded the British force, which advanced to Candahar by the Bolan Pass in the first Afghan War. These were the days of Mahomet Pasha, and his son Ibrahim Pasha, and the ancient men of several European Nations, who were good to me in my boyhood, have long passed away, and are forgotten, and their literary works also. I went up the Nile to Memphis with Eliot Warburton, the author of an interesting book, " The Crescent and the Cross." I was with the great German Egyptologist, Lepsius, at the Pyramids, and took my first lesson in Hieroglyphics : he, at least, is not forgotten. I climbed the outside, and penetrated into the inside, of all the three Pyramids, as far as was possible. With other young men I wandered over these wonderful Regions, almost unknown in Europe then. I have often visited Egypt since, but never with such rapture and unbounded delight. The Nile was scarcely known then beyond Dongola. " Nile pater quanam possum te dicere causa Et quibus in terris occuluisse caput ? " We knew, then, very little more than the Latin Poet did, when he wrote these lines 2,000 years earlier. Cairo had not been Europeanized then. I used to attend the Slave-Market to see Slaves, male and female, sold, to peep with wonder into Mosques and Mahometan tombs, and to practise my Arabic on the Inscriptions : all this is stale work now. I witnessed a party of travellers starting on camels for Mount Sinai, including Dr. Wilson, the well-known Scotch Missionary of Bombay, and a young Etonian friend : how I envied them ! When EARLY DAYS IN ENGLAND. 21 the time came to go to Suez, we had to travel on donke}'.s, and made four stages : one to the Rest-House a quarter of the way, for midday rest ; one to the half-way Rest-Housc, to pass the night as best we could ; the third to the Rest-House three-quarters of the way; and the fourth to a miserable Public-house at Suez, whence we were glad to see the " Hindustan " steam-vessel just arrived : the time had not come for Vans in the Desert, or Railways, or the Suez Canal. Another month's supply of passengers had overtaken us, and we went on board the steamer in a great crowd, on February 25, 1843, the day after my birthday: the novelty of the Red Sea was delightful. We landed at Aden March 3, and found new wonders, at Point de Galle in Ceylon March 14, at Madras March 20, and reached Calcutta on the 24th: " longae finis chartaeque viaeque." Many dear friends, some dead long ago, and some still alive, came on board to welcome us, and invited us to their houses. Then began my Indian Career, and I found myself in receipt of ^^400 per annum, paid monthly, from the day of landing : these were the days of good John Company, and the Rupee was worth two shillings and a fraction. " Omnia mutantur : nos et mutamur in illis." I must have been a good correspondent, for I have before me quarto volumes of bound letters, with 160 in each volume: long, serious, letters to Father, Mother, Sisters, Grandmother, Uncles, Aunts, Cousins, etc. : the old-fashioned quarto sheet, written on three sides, with two turns-up on the fourth side. All their replies to me, which were in hundreds, perished with the rest of my property at Banda during the Mutinies of 1857. There are contrasts to this cacocthes scribendi, for it chanced that I succeeded in the charge of the Ambala District to an officer, who died suddenly. Long after his death a single letter used to come to his 22 EARLY DAYS IN ENGLAND. address by each English mail : when six had accumulated, I ventured to open one, and found that it was from his Mother. I wrote to her at once : a reply came, that her son had never written to her once since he left her ten years ago, but she had not neglected her duty, and wrote regularly. I wrote a paper on this incident called " The Box of Indian Letters." " Linguistic and Oriental Essays," Series V, p. 219. PART II. I i ©fjaptcc $2. PERIOD II. Exile in India. No. 1 : 1843-1851. (i) College of Fort William, 1843-44. (2) First Public Employment, 1844. (3) Invasion and War, 1845-46. (4) My first District, 1846-50. (5) A great Tour in North India, 1850. (6) The Exile returns home for the first time, 1851. On my arrival at Calcutta I reported myself at the College of Fort William with a view of obtaining certificates of knowledge of Languages, which preceded employment. I passed in the Urdu Language within a week of landing, as I had mastered that at Haileybury. I rather desired to stay in the Bengal Province, so I set to at the Bengali Language, and my knowledge of Sanskrit enabled me to pass in that Language the following month. I could then have taken an office, but there was fascination in the Society of Calcutta. I was encouraged to read for Honours in Languages, and I passed the test of High Proficiency in Urdu and Sanskrit with a gratuity of ^^"80 in each, and a degree of Honour in Persian with a gratuity of ^160. Gold medals and certificates were added as legitimate rewards, and I pos.sess them, but I presented a certain part of the money grant of the Persian Degree to the Sanskrit College, and money grants were made to deserving Native 24 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. Scholars. I lived in a comfortable house in Chowringhi with College friends. My eldest brother, Henry, paid me a visit October 17th to November 5th ; he went up country, and was present at the battle of Maharajpiir, in the Kingdom of Gwalior. I find in a letter to my friends at home an expression of a hope, that I should never witness a pitched battle. I altered my mind, when I had next year got up country, and smelt powder. I suppose that there is something infectious or contagious in military ardour, for I found myself very keen on the subject of pitched battles, and took part in three : Mudki, Ferozshahr, and Sobraon. I had brought with me a letter of introduction to the Governor- General, Lord Ellenborough, and he was very kind to me. I had been taken by an Uncle to call on him in London before he left England. I attended the funeral-service over the headless body of Sir William McNaghten, which had been brought down from Kabul, where he had been killed. The head of the poor man, with spectacles on his nose, which had been stuck up on the City of Kabul gates, was recovered and sent to his widow a year later at Simla. I made the acquaintance of several men, who were my friends for many years afterwards, up to the time of their death : Henry Rawlinson, then on his road to Baghdad, where he copied the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Behistun ; James Thomason, one of my dearest friends and patrons ; Frederick Currie, with whom I came in close contact during the Panjab campaign ; Henry Durand, Cecil Beadon, and others. I made the acquaintance of General Avitabile, the French General of Ranji't Singh's Army in the Panjab : he was on his road home. I was honoured with the friendship of Dr. Daniel Wilson, Bishop of Calcutta, and from his revered lips I received my first lesson of the duty, imposed upon all Christians, to try to evangelize the Non-Christian world by Christian methods of kindness, argument, and distribution of the Bible in Vernacular Languages. This was in 1843, and I never forgot that lesson ; it became the very joy of my life, and is so to this day. I went down into the Cuttack District, and was present at an exciting EXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. 25 Bufifalo-hunt, but I never cared for ficld-.sjjorts. In Calcutta I witnessed the disgusting sight of the swinging of Hindu devotees by hooks passed through their skin under their shoulder-blades. I found Calcutta very hospitable, and more than once stayed with Lord Ellenborough at his country house at Barrackpiir. Perhaps I lingered too long in Calcutta, and the Governor-General, Lord Ellenborough, thought so too, for one day I received a letter from His Lordship, ordering my instant departure, and in The Gazette I was appointed Assistant to the Governor-General's Agent in the Cis-Satlaj States, the very best appointment, that I could possibly receive. The River Satlaj at that time was the boundary of North India. The only mode of transit on this journey of many hundred miles to Ambala, where I was ordered to report myself, was by Palanquin, born on men's shoulders : there were no carriages, or roads, or Railways. On May i, 1844, I left Calcutta with my two friends, Lieut. Hotham and Lieut. Bird, who happened to be joining their Regiments up country (both died early), and we formed a party, stopping for our meals at Dawk Bungalows, but travelling day and night, as our bearers were changed at the regular halting-places. Thus I reached Gya on the 8th, Banaras on the nth, Allahabad on the i8th, Dehli on June 14, Karnal on the 23rd, and Ambala on June 24. I had found friends at every Station, the majority of whom have died long, long ago, but one or two are still alive. At Ambala I settled down in the empty official house, in a large park, known as the " Padishahi Bagh," and commenced real work, Judicial and Revenue, under the orders of the District-Officer, Major Leach, who had served in the Afghan War. I paid a visit of a few days to the Hill-Stations of Simla, and Kussoulie, making the acquaintance of Lord Napier of Magdala, then Barrack-Master of Ambala, and many others: some rose to fame ; some died in their youth, and are forgotten. One evening as I was sitting alone on the roof of my house, the Overland Mail of May, 1844, was placed in my hands by my Native Servant, and I read the news of the death^ of my second Sister, the companion of my life up to the last hour of leaving home. Fift>--four >'ears have 4 26 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. passed since that cla}', but the shock given to me then is not forgotten. I wrote a sad Poem on the subject, which is printed in my collection of Poems. On October 30 a new Agent to the Governor-General for the North-West Frontier took charge of his office at Ambala, George Broadfoot : I was appointed his Personal Assistant, and never left him till he was killed on December 21 the following year. We were always in camp, visiting Ferozpur, Ludiana, and the chief towns of the Native Protected Chiefs. I was deputed on one memorable occasion to pay a visit to the aged ex-King of Afghanistan, Shah Zeman, who in the beginning of this Century had threatened an invasion of India ; in course of time he had been superseded by his brother. Shah Shiija, who after the first Afghan War of 1838 became King of Afghanistan. His elder brother had taken refuge at Ludiana, in a small house, and with narrow means, and there I found him : the old man was seated crossed leg on a square cushion, and I had to stand before him, as no one was allowed to sit in his presence. I asked him certain questions in Persian, listened to his replies in the same language, and left him. " He sate in his age's lateness. Like a vision throned, and a solemn mark Of the frailty of Human Greatness." The prospect of war with the Sovereign of the Panjab was getting very close, and all the dispatches to the Governor-General were copied by my own hand from the MSS. of my Chief, and all the Persian letters from our Native Agents were translated by me, to be forwarded to Calcutta. Thus entire secrecy was maintained, as both Broadfoot and myself were perfectly familiar with that language. I completed my twenty-fourth year in the midst of these overpoweringly interesting circumstances. On March 23, 1845, a party of Sikhs actually crossed the Satlaj, but we attacked them at once, captured some of them, and one man was killed : this was the first shot of tlie great Sikh War, and the first, but not the last time, that I smelt powder. " Poems of Many Years and Many Places," p. 13 (18S7). i:XILK IN INDIA. NO. I. 2/ During the Summer-months we Hved in Broadfoot's house at Simla : the work was heavy, but the environment, social as well as official, was charming. We saw a great deal of Sir Hugh Gough, Sir Henry Havelock, Sir Harry Smith, Sir Robert Sale, and their staffs. Owing to the death of Major Leach I was placed in temporary charge of the District of Ambala in addition to my ordinary duties, but all Civil work gave way suddenly, when on December 9 the Sikh Army crossed the Satlaj, and laid siege to Ferozpiir. Sir Henry Hardinge, the new Governor- General, had reached Ambala : he was an old family-friend, and his two sons, Charles and Arthur, both on his staff, were my old Eton school-friends. During the months which followed I lived as a member of their family. It is vain to enter into detail. We all pushed on to the frontier, and reached Bussean on the 14th. I accompanied a Cavalry Regiment, which marched in advance all night, as Civil officer to com- municate with the Chief, who knew me, and provided supplies. From Bussean we moved up to Mudki, where on the i8th of December the first battle was fought. I was told to stick close to the Governor- General, but the old warrior went into the thick of it, and I went with him, and my greatest wonder was that, when so many were killed and wounded, I came out unhurt. However, I have described details of these last days of Broadfoot's life from my Journals, and must refer to them. In my Extracts from my Journal, called " Another Chapter in the History of the Conquest of the Panjab," published in Series VI of my " Linguistic and Oriental Essays," a further account is given. On December 21 the second battle took place at Ferozshahr, at which my chief, George Broadfoot, was killed. We rode into Ferozpiir, pitched our camp, and buried my lamented Master. I was appointed Assistant Secretary to Government in the Foreign Department under Mr. Currie, and retained charge of the Frontier-Agency until the arrival on January 21, 1846, of Major Lawrence, who had been summoned from Nepal. On his arrival I returned to my old office as his Personal Assistant. My name appeared in the Dispatch of the Governor-General " Linguistic and Oriental Essays," Series VI, p. 42. 28 KXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. to the Secret Committee of the Directors of the East India Company, December 31, 1845 : " Mr. Cust, of the Civil Service, Confidential Assistant to Major " Broadfoot, Agent to the Governor-General on the North-West Frontier " of India, both in the field, and his own immediate Department, has " shown great intelligence in duties, which were new to him, and " I notice him as a most promising officer." We remained at Ferozpur during the whole of January, 1846, awaiting the Siege-Train an(5 the troops from Mirat. On the 30th we heard the news of the Battle of Aliwal, and on February 10 I had the honour of being present at my third battle, Sobraon. I kept close to the Governor-General on horseback, and, as the enemy evacuated their strong position East of the Satlaj, we found our way across the entrenchment, and witnessed their entire destruction in the River. We crossed the River on the 13th at Ferozpur with the whole Arm\', and advanced on Labor, but the whole of the events of that invasion are recorded in a separate paper, " A Chapter in the History of the Conquest of the Panjab," published in Series V of my " Linguistic and Oriental Essays," to which I refer. I was appointed District Officer of one of the newly annexed Provinces of the Jalandhar Doab, Hoshyarpiir, at the age of 25, with a salary of ;^i,200 per annum. I took charge on April 6, 1846, and met for the first time my great Master, John Lawrence, with whom I was officially connected till the day of my leaving India, December, 1867. How shall I describe the remainder of the }'car 1846, and the years 1847, 1848, 1849? Peace and Quiet, Duties of intense interest, time for my Oriental studies: freedom from European bondage: eight hours daily on horseback : disuse of the English Language, and adoption of that of my people, to conciliate whom was the desire of my heart, and I was successful : the majority had never seen a white man before, "Linguistic and Oriental Essays,'' Scries V, p. 1,041. EXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. 2g and they learned what a gentle yet strong rule meant : no bull}'ing, no threatening : " The iron hand in the velvet glove." Such were the principles of the Lawrence-system, by which in those distant days the Panjab was ruled, and I had the delightful privilege of being one of the earliest proficients. I built myself a small house in a beautiful "•arden. I issued the famous Three Commandments : fc>^ " Thou shalt not burn thy widows ; " Thou shalt not kill thy daughters ; " Thou shalt not bury alive thy lepers." I cut roads where none had existed ; I settled the Land-Revenue in cash, and collected it to the last Rupee ; I hanged murderers, and imprisoned thieves ; I resumed many alienations of the Land-Revenue, and recorded the remainder ; I cultivated friendship with the petty Chiefs, but made them understand what obedience meant. One feature of the life now led was the necessity of being constantly on horseback, and riding great distances : one or two of my private horses died under me, to my great grief Under the old Sikh system a great many Chiefs held certain lands on condition of supplying a certain number of horsemen, so that I had alwa}'s 50-100 horses tethered near my house or tent, and I used to send on remounts out at intervals of ten miles or so, when I had long distances to travel. I got used to the native saddles, after having had a great many frightful falls, but I took no harm. Gradually, as things settled down, the Government substituted money payments for supply of horsemen, but by that time the necessity for long rides had passed away. I have no doubt, that there was much irregularity in our Proceedings, which would have shocked the red-tape Regulation Officer : legal forms not attended to ; important precedents disregarded ; standing orders defied : but we cared not : w^e were entering on a new environment of •Non-Regulation Administration, and, strange to say, the Panjab has set 30 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. an example to the older Provinces. Fuller accounts are given in the papers noted at the foot of next page. I recollect a stiff Regulation-officer of the North-West Provinces coming to Hoshyarpur with the Camp of the Governor-General. He inspected my mode of doing work, disapproved of the absence of all Red-Tape, and the omission of technical formalities. He told Mr. Currie, the Foreign Secretary with the Governor-General, that it was dangerous to place such a vast virgin-district in the hands of a young fellow only 25 years of age, with absolutely no training in the Regulation Provinces. John Lawrence, my Commissioner, laughed heartily, when Mr. Currie repeated these remarks. The experience of half a century has given the stamp of approval to our strong but benevolent, rigorous but sympathetic, system : " The iron hand in the velvet glove : " the rough-and-ready Justice : the words of sympathy and good-fellow- ship : the living alone amidst the people without soldiers and policemen : the Court held under the green mangoe-trees in the presence of hundreds : the rigJU man hanged 07i the spot, where he coniniitted the murder. There was great joy in such rule of a conquered people, and great love for them : the joy of some great scheme of improvement, the peremptory order issued, the instant obedience, the expressions of unfeigned gratitude. Both the Governor-General and the Commander-in-Chief in their Winter tours visited these newly annexed Provinces, and I was in glad attendance on my kind old friends Sir Henry, now Viscount, Hardinge, and Sir Hugh, now Viscount, Gough. I took a month's holiday to Simla, and saw many friends. When we took Labor, and broke up the Kingdom of the Panjab, one of our duties was to dispose of the female Members of the Royal Harem. At Labor there were the wives of a succession of Maharajas : the only thing was to find out the village, to which they belonged, and send them back to their friends. EXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. 3I I one day received a letter notifyini; that five Maharanis would arrive to be forwarded to their respective villages. I was greatly excited at the prospect of seeing these lights of the Harem : disgusted I was, when five hideous old women, the survivals of Ranjit Singh's Harem, were brought into my office : I packed them off at once to their homes. I was anxious to introduce a copper coinage into the District, and commenced paying the pensions of the Chiefs in bright new Copper-Coins from the Mint of Calcutta. They complained to John Lawrence, and he wrote to me, that I was very hard upon the poor Chiefs. I had been thinking only of the convenience of the poorer classes. One striking event occurred : when the War ceased, it was settled, that Maharaja Gulab Singh of Jamu should pay the enormous sum, which he offered to pay, as the price of the Valley of Kashmir, into my Treasury at Hoshyarpur ; but, when on the backs of Camels and Elephants the vast bags and boxes of silver arrived from the Hill-Provinces, my treasury would not hold them : so I cleared a large space, piled the mass in the -open air, and placed sentries round, and I had my bed prepared for the night on the top of the mound of bags of silver, thinking of Horace : " collectis undique saccis Indormis inhians." Satires, I, i, 71. But I never slept a wink, and at daybreak was glad to pack all the silver in carts, and under a strong guard of Native Infantry sent it on to Jalandhar to be counted. So rotten were the bags, that travellers from Jalandhar that day to Hoshyarpur arrived with their pockets full of old-fashioned Rupees picked off the sandy road, but were compelled to shell out. "The Country between the Satlaj and Jamna" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series I, pp. 1-23. " A newly conquered District in the Panjdb " : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series II, pp. 86-104. "Farewell to my Indian District" and "The Indian District": Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series V, pp. 234-351. 32 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. A sing'ular incident occurred one day : while in my office, deep in the affairs of my people, conducted in the language and script of the country, a letter sent by a horseman was pushed into my hand from Sir Henry Lawrence, the Resident of Lahor, already mentioned as Major Lawrence, who succeeded Major Broadfoot. I opened it in anticipation of orders with regard to some rebel to be caught and hanged, or some conspiracy for me to be ready to meet ; the words were few : " I enclose a sad letter. — H. L." I turned to the enclosure : " Dear Sir Henry, I have just opened poor Gust's body, and find no indications of unusual character." It gave me a turn to read, that somebody without my knowledge had been prying into my interior, but, as I read on, I found that the reference was to a poor young cousin of mine in an Infantry Regiment at Lahor : he was down with fever, and Sir Henry, hearing of it, had him moved into the Residency, out of kindness to me, and tended the poor lad in his last hours. I had the painful duty of writing to his widowed mother. Such was life in India. But another war was to break out in 1848. In May we heard of the rebellion at Multan. Later on commenced the Panjab Campaign as distinguished from the Sikh Campaign of 1845-46. The whole country was in a ferment : in my own District of Hoshyarpiir some petty Rajput Chiefs, my own intimate friends, incited by a designing Sikh Priest, who lived close by them, raised the Standard of Rebellion in the Jeswan Dun. John Lawrence took out all the troops, which could be got together, and we came down on them, captured the Rajput Chiefs, and burned the castle of the wily Sikh Priest, who had fled. I locked up the three poor Rajas and their sons in my fort at Bujw^ra, and fed them with bread and water. I used to visit them, and they had no excuse to make. One of them took me to the wall of his cell, and with his finger pointed out some pretty lines, which he had written in the Hindi Language and Nagari Character : a stanza of some native Poem. I copied them into my Notebook, and wrote an English Poetic version, published in my Book of Poems. The Rajas " Poems of Many Years and Many Tlaccs," Scries I, p. 29 (1887). EXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. 33 were deported as prisoners to Kumaon, where they died. The Priest escaped to Amritsar. He had proposed to assassinate me, but his plan broke down. My duties had once compelled me to go out, and pass the night in a tent in the Jeswan Dun Valley some few miles from the Fort of this Priest. It was suggested to him, that he should send out men, and kill me : but when they found me, and my two Native Servants, fast asleep, they returned to the Priest and said that they could not do the deed, for they were sure, that there was some 'Jin' or 'Afri't' ready to fall on them. They were right : the eye of the Lord was upon His Servants, and their times were in His hands. I used to chaff the old Priest about this, in after years at Amritsar, where he ended his days, and told him how lucky he was, that he had not killed me, for John Lawrence would most certainly have hanged him, if he had done so. At the close of the Rebellion I razed the Fort and Dwelling-place of this Priest to the ground, compelling his own soldiers and servants to do the work. There was one favourite seat on the mountain-side, where he used to look down with satisfaction on the great Babylon, which he had built. When I took my last view from that seat all had dis- appeared. I also felt satisfied. In the early months of 1849 (February 28) the battle of Gujarat settled the Panjab Campaign, and the whole kingdom was annexed, and Maharaja Duli'p Singh deported. I issued a Proclamation to my subjects at the commencement of the Rebellion, a copy of which is given at the end of this chapter. The failing health of my dear Father made me very anxious to run home for a short visit. There were not the same facilities of short leave then as there are now : taking leave meant resigning )'our post, and forfeiting all allowances. I had, however, received such a large salary and my cost of living, except in purchase of horses, was so small, that I could bear the expense ; but I find in my letters to my Parents, how my devotion to my Profession, my sense of Dut}', my love to my people in my District, made me very unwilling to leave my post, which suited me so admirably. In one letter of 1845 I find the following expression, which I rejoice that I wrote, and which }'Oung 5 34 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. men of thi.s generation should reflect upon, " I must establish a name first before I return home," and I succeeded. I had been three years in my dear District, my first love and never to be forgotten, when the order came to transfer me to my old district of Ambala, which was supposed to have fallen out of order, and required a new hand. I went over in November to Riipar on the Satlaj River to have an interview with Lord Dalhousie, the new Governor-General. My transfer was intended as a compliment, so I had to submit. On November 25 I left Hoshyarpur : it was a sad parting with my Native friends ; they came in from a long distance to touch my feet, and I cried like a child. I write no further, as it is described in a separate paper. I took charge of my old district of Ambala on December 3, and indeed found an Auga^an stable. However, I set to work and made long tours, and succeeded. I visited Hardwar on the Ganges at the time of the great fair. One noteworthy occurrence took place, which marks the contrast of those years with the present. The Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie, had to proceed in a palanquin from Jigadri to Ambala. It was arranged that he should travel quite alone. I realized the danger, and with an escort of two officers of the Police I accompanied him the whole night's journey to Ambala on horseback. He slept quietly, unaware of the danger or of my protection, but he thanked me for it, when we met next day. It would have been a bad job if he had been killed in my District. One or two officers had lately been attacked at night on the road. At this same place, Jigadri, there was a troublesome old lady, the widow of a deceased Chief, who represented the old Sikh system of independent Chieftainships, which expired at her death. She sent word, that she wished to see me about some case, and I was anxious to see the interior of a Native Harem. I was introduced into a room with a white sheet drawn across it. She was behind it, and there were holes in the sheet through which she could see me ; I could not see her, but could talk with her. In the case of illness Native ladies used to put their tongues or " Farewell to my Indian District " : L. &. O. Essays, Ser. IV^, p. 234. KXILK IN INDIA. i\0. I. 35 hands through a hole in the sheet for the European Doctor to touch. All this has disappeared since the introduction of Lady Doctors. I had made acquaintance with some young officers in the Ambala Cantonment, and they were anxious to see a Chi'tah-hunt. I had business to transact with the Mahardja of Patedla, the greatest of all our Protected Chieftains, so I arranged with him to pitch tents for us, and to be our Host, and one Friday afternoon, accompanied by my four friends, I rode over to Pateala, where we were received most hospitably, witii fireworks, and all kinds of Native splendour. At daybreak and in the afternoon of each day, Saturday and Sunday, the young men were out in the Chi'tah-hunt. I had business, and cared not for such things ; but what amazed me most was, that during the whole of both days they played at cards unceasingly : I never saw anything like it before or since. I had meanwhile a long interview with the Headman of the Mahardja and the Chieftain himself. He had set his face against two features of life : Dancing Girls and Post-offices. Of course, as to the former there was no wish to interfere with him, but as regards the latter his kingdom was so situated, that it was absolutely necessary to establish Post-office runners, and branch Post-offices, in order to keep up communication with the Panjab. After long discussion he gave in ; in fact, we made him give in. Civilization was pressing on the barbarian : he condemned because he could not understand. I had always been his very good friend, and, when quite alone together, we could talk freely. He was a sharp man : he had no family, though he had three wives. He deter- mined to take a fourth, who had Sisters and Aunts, all of luhoni had children. His policy succeeded : he left a son, who succeeded him, and his Dynasty still rules the land. I had always determined to go to England this year (1849), as my Father was advanced in years and very infirm, but before I started, John Lawrence, now Chief Commissioner, wished me to visit all the Districts of the Panjab, and make a confidential Report to him. I made over charge of my District, went to Labor, and after a talk with John 36 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. Lawrence, deliberately visited each District, and the great battlefields. I then made a tour through the Valley of Kashmir, entering by the Pi'r Pinjal Pass, and passing out by the Baramullah. I saw a great deal of my old friend Maharaja Gulab Singh, now Sovereign of Kashmir. I dined with him, visited his Crocus -Gardens, and attended a Review of his troops. We had long confidential conversations : at the last, when I was on board one of his boats to traverse the Ulur Lake, and had gone to bed, late at night he was announced, and he came and sat by my bedside. When he went away at last, I put my hand under my pillow ; I found something hard, and drew out a magnificent Kashmir shawl, worth one thousand Rupees, which the old fox had with his own hands tucked in, as a farewell present, thinking that I should keep it, if thus offered on the sly : of course, I had no choice but to send it back next day, with my thanks and compliments. He has been dead years ago, and his son, Maharaja Runbi'r Singh, likewise my personal friend, has died. His grandson is on the throne. With Lala Rukh in my hands I visited the fairy regions of Kashmir, chanting Moore's beautiful Poems as I stood in my boat. On the 24th of October, 1850, I landed at the head of Baramullah Pass and commenced my march : on the 31st I was in British Territory at Hazaruh : pitching my tent at Haripur, I had friendly intercourse with Sir James Abbott, who only died a few years ago, and on the 4th November reached Rawulpindi, very tired : from this point I made an excursion to Hasan Abdul, Attock on the Indus, and Peshdwar. I embarked at Jhelum Station in a River-boat to sail down the River Jhelum into the Chenab, and clown the Chenab into the Indus. I visited Multan 01 route, and thence to Mithunkot and Sukkur in Sindh. I was quite alone with my Native Servants, and one faithful Native companion, and very much exhausted by the fatigues of the last two months. I was sustained by the desire to reach Hyderabad in Sindh, Karachi, and Bombay. I hardly realized till I got there how very near I was to the end of my career. Youth and a good constitution had carried me through, but when I left my boat at Tatta finally on Christmas Day, my journal records how KXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. 37 miserable I felt I started across the Desert on a pony to Karachi in great i)ain and suffering : I had been reduced very low by the inadequate food on board my boat : when I got into a Hotel at Kardchi I was startled by the appearance of my face in the looking-glass, for I had not had access to such a thing since I left Labor months ago : but I soon began to recover. The year ended sadly, though I found many kind friends at Bombay. During my boat-trip from Jhelum, November 21, to Karachi, my thoughts had been directed to Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, and his voyage down the Indus. All particulars are well known now, but it was not so on January 8, 1851. James Abbott, whom I had met at Haripur, had studied the subject, and written upon it, and I had all that he had written, but I cannot lay my hands on any account of a boat-trip down the Jhelum and Chenab, and thence into the Panchnad or Five Rivers, until they are all absorbed into the Indus, of a date anterior to this my solitary descent in a Native Boat. There were no Steamers on the Indus, or I should have made use of them from Sukkur. Sindh had only lately been conquered, and in 1846 I had been introduced to Sir Charles Napier, who visited us in our triumph at Labor. I had been on the track of Alexander the Great, and searched for the pillar, which he was reported to have erected, at his most Eastern point on the River Beas. Oh ! why did his recreant soldiers mutiny, and not advance to the banks of the Jamna, and sail down the Ganges ! Alexander might have met King Asoka, and come upon the footsteps of the great Buddha, and the long silence, and separation, and mutual ignorance, of the great Oriental and Occidental Nations would not have been permitted. Alexander the Great had visited Jerusalem, and con- versed with Hebrew Priests : he might, had he descended the Ganges, have visited Hindu Temples at Banaras and Buddhist Temples at G\a in Behar, and conversed with Buddhists. But it was not to be. Oh ! that they had met ! January 3, 1851. I went on board the steamer from Kardchi to Bomba}', and landed at Apollo Bhandar on the /th. Here 1 had a delightful 38 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. stay of a week among friends, and visited the Caves of Elephanta. Inter- mediately we touched at Aden on the 26th January. Here in a newspaper I read that my cousin, Viscount Alford, the heir of all the wealth and titles of my Father's family, had died on the 3rd January. He was a few years older than me, tall, strong, and healthy, and nothing was good enough for him, while the younger members of the family had to pick up crumbs where they could. Now he was cut off in his greatness. Still more strange it was, that Viscount Newry, the heir of all the wealth and titles of my Mother's family, died on the 6th May of the same year. Early death had found them out in their comfortable homes in England, while the exiled wanderer, exposed to death in sundry forms, sea voyages, disease, assassi- nation, and pitched battles, while hundreds died around him, had been permitted to live to return home, and to live on to the last years of the Century. On the 17th of January I went on board the steamer for Suez, and reached that port on February 3. Here we found vans, holding six each, to convey us across the desert. A remarkable incident occurred. At one of the stages, where we changed horses, we found the convoy of outgoing vans also changing, and a passenger to India came to all our vans, and inquired, whether a certain person was of our party. He was, and they met, and embraced : we learned, that they were brothers, who had never met previously, and they were destined never to meet again, for one of them was shot in a duel the following year. From Cairo to Alexandria we had the River-Steamer only, and I went on board the Austrian Steamer to Trieste, which I reached February 12. On my road to Vienna I visited the wonderful caves of Adelsburg. We had to cross snowy Mountains in diligences, as the Railway was not entirely completed, and it was very cold. At Vienna there was heavy snow. A Guide took me to see the usual sights, and by chance I saw a special one, for as we were walking on the old city ramparts (now destroyed), the Guide called out to me, " Kaiser ! " and we both took off our hats, and the young Emperor Franz Joseph (with his Aide-de-Camp), a thin young man, passed close to us, and bowed to our salutations. Forty-seven years of ceaseless labour have EXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. 39 passed over since that day, and every kind of political and domestic affliction, but he is the same good man and true. From Vienna I found the Railway in full force to Calais, which I reached on February 23. I was struck by the Telegraph-lines high overhead upon poles : when I left Europe in 1 842 they crept along the level of the road. I crossed to Dover, and proceeded to London, which I reached on the same day, and I met my dear Father, after a separation of eight years, in the home of my Uncle, Colonel Cust, No. 73, South Audley Street ; the next day, February 24, on which I completed my 30th year, I went down to Windsor, and met my Mother and Sisters. God had indeed been good to me, and all my desires had been accomplished. Many of my relations, who have long since passed away, then welcomed me. I visited Cockayne Hatley, the place of my birth, and Belton, the home of my Ancestors. What struck me a good deal, first at Vienna, then in London, \\'as the number of women in the shops, the conveyances, and in the streets, for during my long solitudes among the Natives of India the female sex had disappeared from my view, and I looked at them now as a curiosity and a novelty. On May i was opened the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. My Cousin, Viscount Alford, as I recorded above, had died, and I and their tutor took the two little sons, both in succession Earl Brownlow, to see the sight, and the two boys sat on our knees. The Queen and Prince Albert, and their little sons and daughters, walked just in front of our seats, which were on the floor of the nave. At a party in Arlington Street given by the Marquess of Salisbury, father of the present Prime Minister, I was presented by the late Marchioness to the great Duke of Wellington, who alluded to my being present in the Sikh battles. I felt this to be one of the greatest honours of my life. I spent my time in London ; was present at Eton for the Speeches : the Queen was there : I went also to Haileybury College on the Prize Day. I attended the Meeting of the British Association at Ipswich : Prince Albert was President, and was the guest of my Uncle, Sir William Middleton, at Shrublands Park. 1 was presented to Prince Albert by my Aunt, Lady Middleton, and he 40 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. alluded to the great wars in the Panjab. I paid many visits, and renewed old friendships. In the Autumn I made a tour in the North of England and Scotland. I was at Cockayne Hatley for my Father's birthday on September 27. He was 71 years of age that day. To please my dear Father I wTote a descriptive account of the Church of Cockayne Hatley, to the decoration of which he had contributed so much : my two surviving Sisters supplied illustrations, and some drawings of my dear lost Sister who died in 1844 were made use of My Father had the whole published, and a beautiful volume it was. Since then I have had the narrative reprinted in Series V of my " Linguistic and Oriental Essays." I accompanied him to Paris, my first visit to that city, in October : on my return to London I dined with the Lord Mayor, and with the Directors of the East India Company. I visited Belton, and took leave of my Uncle, Earl Brownlow : I never saw him again, for he died before my second visit to England. The last days of this happy year were spent with my Father in his home in Windsor Cloisters. A cloud seemed to be gathering over me, for I knew that my parting from my Parents, perhaps for ever, was at hand. I had so much for which to be thankful : I had achieved independence, and a certain position and official reputation, before I was 30, and had my career before me. My future was no longer dim and obscure. I knew two things : (i) what a man was required to do in India, (2) that I had the gift and strength to do it ; and to a certain extent I was anxious to be back in my proper field. Thus ended the year 185 1. There were many features in my first sojourn in India, the like of which I never saw again, such as the Chi'tah-hunting and the hawking. I did, indeed, in 1859 take Lord and Lady Canning out hawking, seated on Elephants, but that was merely a show ; in former years it had been a reality. The Chief rode by my side with his hawk on his wrist. I used to delight to see the cattle swimming across the River, and sometimes elephants, with the boys standing on their backs. Then in m}- tour " Linguistic and Oriental Essays,'' Series V, p. 724. EXILE IN INDIA. NO. I. 4I I overtook parties on pilL;rimaL;e to the Ganges : the faithful widow, who by our new Law had escaped the funeral pile, travelling many a league to cast a tooth or a charred bone of her deceased husband into the Ganges. I wrote a paper on the Women of India. Then there were the ceremonious receptions of Chieftains : the Isiikbdl, or going out to meet them, and the MasJidyat^ or accompanying them a certain distance on their return : the Palaces of the King or the Chieftain were of interest : the hearty welcome in the landholder's house : the Sacred Shrine on the Hilltop, such as Naini Dev, which I visited : the Sacred Temple of Jow^la Mukhi, where the perpetual Fire, which came out of the Rocks, was adored : all these I have described at different times, and the pleasant Society of a most interesting people. As the first White Ruler, whom they had known, I desired to conciliate their friendship and love, and succeeded. "The Indian Women" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series V, p. 280. "Fire-Temples" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series V, p. 195. ©Ijaptec Ml. PERIOD III. Exile in India. No. II: 1852-1857. (i) Visit to Greece, Turkey, Holy Land, Egypt, 1852. (2) North-West Provinces of India, Banda, 1852-185 5. (3) Return Home, 1855. (4) Residence in England, 185 5-1 857. I HAD my likeness taken on steel by the Daguerrotype-Process, an art, which had come into existence since I left England in 1843, ^'^cl which was entirely superseded by Photography before I returned to England in 1855. On January 3 I took leave of my dear and honoured Parents in their home at Windsor, expecting never to see either again : but I was permitted to do so. My eldest brother accompanied me to Dover, and saw me on board my Steamer to Calais. The weather was rough : there was no pier at Dover then, and we had to go out to the Steamer in an open boat, and suffered accordingly. I was in Paris a couple of days, and then worked my way to Marseilles by Railway, River-Steamer, and Diligence, for there was no through-Railway then. I took Steamer from Marseilles to Genoa, then Diligence to Milan, aixl on the 13th reached Venice. The rigour of the Austrian Customs House was terrible, and all my books were taken away from me. From Venice I crossed to Trieste, and took steamer to Athens, which I reached on the 22nd, and where I had five delightful days. At Athens I was introduced to Lord Byron's Maid of Athens, then Mrs. Black, and her daughter ; the latter did not realize my ideal of beauty, and, 44 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. II. as my Journal records, was rather of the ' Black ' type. I attended a sitting of the BovXr] or Senate : what struck me most was the noise caused by every Senator having a rosary in his hand, and counting his beads with a sharp click. I saw King Otho in his Greek, or rather Albanian, Costume. The whole of the Greek Governmental system was a humbug. I met the divorced wife of Lord Ellenborough on board ship : she had run away with a German Baron, whom she had left for a good-looking Greek, with whom she was, when I met and talked to her : she subsequently left him and went off with a Turk : " facilis descensus Averni." I rode over to Marathon, and on my return took steamer on the 27th to Smyrna and Constantinople, which I reached on February i, passing the Island of Tenedos, the coast of Troy, and the Hellespont. At Constantinople I witnessed the ceremony of the Sultan going to Prayers in State, and I went over the kitchen of the Imperial Seraglio, where food was being prepared, according to my guide, " pour deux cent demoiselles." I saw Turkish ladies drive by in their carriages, with their faces uncovered. I saw a great deal of Sir Stratford Canning, the Ambassador, and his family, as I had intro- ductions to them. The Crimean War was only threatening then. On February 9 I started by Steamer to Beirut, touched and landed on the Islands of Rhodes and Cyprus, and began my tour in Palestine on the 17th. I entered Jerusalem on my birthday, February 24, and completed my tour of Palestine, and trip to Damascus, on April 2. My experience of Camp-life in India, and my knowledge of Arabic, helped me here, for I hired two Native Servants and two mules, and put up in the villages. At night the children of the house, where I lodged, u.sed to read the Scriptures in Arabic to me. At Jerusalem I met Consul I'inn, and Bishop Gobat. I made many new friends, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I described the whole in a paper at the time, so I say no more. When I stood on Mount Gcrizim, and surveyed the whole of Palestine, as I could sec the Mountains of Moab to the South, and Mount Hermon on the North, the Valley of the "A Tour in Palestine" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Scries I, p. 252. EXILE IN INDIA. NO. II. 45 Jordan to the East, and the Mediterranean to the West, the conviction came upon me how ridiculously small was this tiny little Province, about which so much fuss is made. I had just been helping to divide our newly- conquered Province of the Panjab into more than a dozen Districts. The whole of Palestine would not make up two of these Districts. At Samaria the Samaritan Priests showed me a copy of the Pentateuch, written in the old Hebrew Alphabet, and had the impudence to tell me, and Consul Finn, that it was written by the hand of the grandson of Aaron : we know better now, that no Alphabet existed at that date, and that the survival of a MS. on papyrus of that date was exceedingly problematical. I wrote a careful study of the " present state of Turkey " after I had completed my tour. I had hoped on some subsequent occasion to go over Persia in the same way, looking into the Revenue and Judicial system with the eye of an Anglo-Indian Ruler of newly-conquered Provinces, but the Crimean War rendered it impossible. My earnest desire was to gather knowledge for the advance- ment of India. This led me in France to study the Judicial system of that country, as more suitable to Oriental Countries, and I wrote a paper on the French Courts of Justice. I also compiled a paper on Mesopotamia, though never able to visit it. I had introductions to Native officials in Turkey, and sat with them in their Courts, taking notes of things to be avoided, and things to be imitated. When a European Consul came into the Court to protect the interests of some of his own Nationality, there was a tendency on his part to bully the witnesses, and try to intimidate the Judge. I felt for the Pasha, and, if the representative of any Foreign State had taken such a line in my Indian Court, I should have turned him out of the Court, or fined him. I left Beirut for Jaffa and Alexandria on April 5. I had made the acquaintance of the Consul-General at Beirut, and Sir Charles Murray and Sir Hugh Rose, afterwards Lord Strathnairn. On board the Steamer "The Empire of Turkey" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series II, p. 244. " French Courts of Justice" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series V, p. 378. "Mesopotamia" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series I, p. 289. 46 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. II. I met and conversed with M. Ferdinand de Lesseps : nothing was known about the Suez Canal at that date. There was a poor young French girl on board, dying of consumption, and I used to talk to her on the deck, and bring smiles to her sad wan cheeks : how I wished that I could convey to her some portion, if not all, of my complete and faultless bodily health and strength, so as to lengthen her days ; but it was not to be. When I read this in my Journal, after a lapse of forty years, and a very deluge of sorrow and affliction, I am glad that in the days of my strength and joy I felt for others. At Alexandria I was locked up in Quarantine, but set free on Easter Day. I followed the old route by canal-boat to Atfuh, and Steamer to Cairo, thence by Van to Suez, went on board the Steamer on the 22nd, and, touching at Aden, reached Bombay on May 6. I paid a visit of a couple of days to the Governor of Bombay, Lord Falkland, at his villa in the Mahabaleshwar Hills : thence to Ahmednagar, Aurungabad, climbed up to the fortress of Deogiri, visited the Caves of Ellora, and further on the Caves of Ajanta. I found Major Gill hard at work at his drawings and measurements of these wonderful caves, so little known, telling of a Religion, which exists no longer in that part of India. I halted one night, and met a lady-traveller (for the genus existed even then). Next morning she mounted her horse astride on the saddle, after the manner of men, and rode off in the direction of Bombay. On June 2 I was at Indore, the guest of Sir Robert Hamilton, the Resident. I found my College- friend Edward Anson weighing opium, and giving passes to the owner to convey it to Bombay, there to pay a duty of about 100 per cent., and ship it to China. My thoughts went back to a certain day in January, 1845, when I was in the Governor-General's Camp at Ferozpur. An incident occurred, merely a signature, which added a Million Sterling to our Revenue. Scinde had been conquered, and its ports closed to the export of opium, which used to flow down through it to the open sea at Karachi untaxed. All the landowners of the Rajput States had now the choice of chewing their own opium, or sending it to Bombay to be taxed before export to China. No one dreamed of tiiis EXILE IN INDIA. NO. II. 47 a few }'car.s before. An Order of the Council of the Governor-General, sitting in Calcutta in the Financial Department, came to Sir Henry Hardinge, whose mind was occupied with Military anxieties, and Mr. Carrie asked him to sign it, inaugurating the system of trans- iwrting the opium of Central India, vid the Bombay Presidency, to Bombay. And yet the Anti-Opium Fanatics assert, that the Govern- ment of India invented the Opium -Trade from pure malevolent greed, and taught the Natives how to grow the poppy. I reached Agra by mailcart on June 9, and was the guest of my honoured friend James Thomason, the Lieutenant-Governor of the North -West Provinces, to which I was now attached, as there was no vacancy in the Panjab. On my route thither two noteworthy incidents occurred: in the dead of night my mailcart was stopped by a number of bears, who had occupied the high road, and we had to drive them awa}'. At one change of horses the new driver of the mailcart, who was a Hindu, refused to use the mail-trumpet of his predecessor, a Mahometan, as it would destroy his caste. I was appointed to Banaras as Joint Magistrate ; rather a fall, but I knew that it was only for a time. I liked my residence here. My Assistant, and sharer of my house, P. Malcolm, died September 9. I was greatly pained, and described the sad story in a paper. I saw a great deal of the Missionaries, and described the Mission Chapel. While I was there, the new rule, requiring all the prisoners of the gaol to share the same food, cooked by a high-caste Brahmin, was introduced, and the foolish people of the town clo.sed their shops, and interrupted business : after vain w^arnings and advice, we called out a Regiment of Native Infantry, led them into the city, captured the ringleaders, and compelled the shopkeepers to reopen. Quiet was restored, and we received personally the thanks of Government for our good arrange- ments. I began now to read Sanskrit regularly, and enjoyed the quiet life. On September 20, by request, I called on the Rani of Vizianagram, " Death in India" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series V, p. 245. " Native Place of Worship" : Gospel-Message, p. 384. 48 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. II. of Madras, and her daughter, who resided at Bandras : the daughter was young, unmarried, and pretty. This was the only occasion in the whole of my Indian career, that I had conversation with Indian ladies, and I was much gratified. I met them also at dinner at a friend's house the next day. The Raja of Banaras, a kindly old man, gave his annual dinner to the ladies and gentlemen of the Station on one of his feast-days, and we had wreaths of roses placed round our necks. I disapproved of this, as a recognition of Idol-Worship. The Mahometan Festival of Bakra Eed took place on September 27, and the Hindu Festival in honour of Rama, the Avatar of Vishnu, took place on October 23 : there were grand processions in the streets. These are nervous times for the Magistrate in great Cities, for, while we allow full Religious liberty, we insist on the peace being kept. My time at Banaras had come to an end, and I was appointed Magistrate and Collector of Banda in Bundelkund on a salary of ^2,250 per annum. It was wonderful promotion, but I suppose, that I had a good reputation from the Panjab. I was now in an old Regulation Province, and had not the freedom of a newly-conquered Province. I felt diffident and anxious, but I knew my work, and was strong in health. I understood, that the District was out of order, and that the settlement of Land-Revenue had broken down. I took charge of my new office November 8, and went into Camp for several months : the task was indeed a difficult one, but in the three years of my residence I accomplished it, and left for England in 1855 under a flourish of official trumpets and congratulations. My reputation was now made, both for the North-West Provinces and the Panjab. In December I crossed the Jamna to Fatehpur to visit my dear friend James Thomason, the Lieutenant-Governor, and accompany him in his tour of my District. I never met him again, for he died suddenly just as he had been appointed Governor of Madras. This was a lesson for " Indian Festival " : Gospel- Message, p. 404. "James Thomason, a peaceful Ruler" : L. l^ O. Essays, Series IV, p. 129. " Undue Deference to Idol-Worship" : L. ii O. Essays, Series III, p. 321. KXILK IN INDIA. NO. II. 49 me to ponder over in after years : this good man was called away before he was 50, and had no reward in this world for his labours. He had lost his wife many years before, and no official honours ever reached him. I described him years afterwards as the ' Peaceful Ruler,' for he laid down the principles of our System of Government, based on love for the People, and left behind him a School of followers, one of whom I am proud to reckon myself I had one remarkable political exile in my District, the ex- Peishwah of Satara in Bombay : when defeated in battle he had been exiled to Banda, and was now a very old man. I paid him his pension of ;^70,000 per annum. I used to visit him : he was childless, and was called 'Nana Sahib.' The pension had been arranged by Sir Arthur Wellesley, who had commanded the Army, which defeated him in Central India. I told him once that Sir Arthur, on his return to Europe, became a very great man indeed, when he was called the Duke of Wellington : his reply was, that in his estimation he w^as as great a man as could possibly be, when he gave him a pension of seven lakhs per annum. He died, and I reported his death to the Governor-General direct ; great satisfaction was expressed at the lapse of this enormous pension. During the Mutinies in 1857 some obscure member of his family raised a rebellion, and became notorious as Nana Sahib, but he had no manner of claim to the Pension, which was for life only. I was now for months and weeks quite alone with the Natives, very happy, very contented, in excellent health, and busily employed. My birthday came round on February 24. I had books to read, and I wrote papers for the Calcutta Review, and other Periodicals, and Poems for my private collection. I used to be on horseback before daybreak ; then came the false dawn, which disappeared, followed by the real dawn, and the Sun rising in its glory. I find in my Journal that I once sprained my ankle, and continued m)^ tour on the back of my elephant, and some of my Poems " Poems of Many Years and Many Places," pp. 40-101 (1S87). " Pictures of Indian Life" (1881). 7 so EXILE IN INDIA. NO. II. are recorded as having been written on my elephant. In 1854 I record that I had the most severe fall from my horse of all my many falls. I was fifty miles from the nearest surgeon : I had no bones broken : the Goodness of God preserved my life in the Jungle. Only a few years before, the great Sir Robert Peel, riding on his own trained steed in the streets of London, was killed on the spot. My general health was always good. There were no stimulants to be had in camp so far from the haunts of Europeans. I was repeatedly vaccinated during my Indian career, as Small Pox at certain seasons raged around. On one occasion a poor Englishman was brought to the Station in a dooley quite dead : there was nothing for it but to dig a large hole, and drop him in with his clothes and all his chattels, and bury him, as no one would touch him. All the Natives then rushed off to the River to wash their bodies and their clothes. I had to pay visits to Native Chiefs, a barbarian class, and I described one visit. I ascended the sacred Hill of Chitrakot, where the great Prince Rama lived in exile. I had been reading the Sanskrit Ramayana, and I described his whole route over India in a paper. It was the first time that the geographical details of this wonderful passage across India had been described by one, who had visited the sacred spots, and entered thoroughly into the subject. Years afterwards, when I visited Turin, Signor Gaspar Gorresio, who had published the text with an Italian translation in nine stately volumes, expressed to me his gratitude for my paper, and informed me that in his Italian Preface he had mentioned my name with honour. I venture to add an extract of his remarks in Italian : Extract from Preface to Gorresio s Edition of the Raiiidyana, vol. ix, p.xxifSjd). " II Signor Roberto Gust, persona di nobile ingegno, versatissimo nelle " lingue e nella letteratura dell' India, il quale passo piu anni nelle varie " i)arti deir Indostan e principalmente in quelle contradc, dove Rama " dimoro, sia esulando, sia capitanando I'esercito de Vanari "The Ramdyana" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series I, p. 56. " The Indian Raja '' : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Scries V, p. 262. EXILi: IX INDIA. NO. II. 5 1 " II Signer Roberto Cust, visito que siti lontani, e compose una carta " geographica dclle regione percosse da Rama, e mi notifico, que la Pampa " non e propriamenta un flume, ma un gran stagno." When the heat became unbearable in tents, I retired to my house, and continued the same quiet life. On Sunday I used to distribute copper coins among the fakirs, who came together. I found plenty of time for literary work, and was never less alone than when alone. After sunset I used to seat myself in my garden : I described such scenes in a Poem. We had service on Sunday in our Church, and some of us laymen read the Service, for we had no Chaplain. I presented a Quarto Bible and Prayer Book as a record of my residence. They were plundered during the Mutinies, but found in the house of the Rebel Nawab and replaced. I helped the American Missionary Society to start a Mission in the town of Banda. In the Autumn I was in camp again for the Winter-months. I did my best to put a stop to Execution of Criminals outside the Prison, in the presence of a gaping crowd. I made a report to the Government, and wrote a paper for publication, but I failed tJien : eventually the measure was carried. It has been my misfortune through life to see things about seven years before my fellows ; however, my long life has enabled me to see them carried out at last, and be satisfied. A new Lieutenant-Governor, John Colvin, had succeeded James Thomason. I visited him in his camp, and he was very gracious ; among other things he offered me the post of Magistrate and Collector of Dehli. It was a great temptation, but I refused it on the ground of it being my duty to go home on furlough, and see my Father once more ; and this saved my life, for my poor friend, John Hutchison, who accepted it, was killed on the first day of the Mutinies in 1857 in discharge of his ordinary duties. How grateful I ougiit to feel ! Another happy " The Indian Gallows-Trce " : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series V, p. 258. " Protest against Public Execution of Criminals" : L. &; O. Essays, Series III, p. 314. " Poems of Many Years and Many Places," p. 99. "Miriam the Indian Girl" : L. & O. Essays, Series V, p. ?5i. 52 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. II. year of official success came to a close, but during those solitary hours my heart had been entirely turned to God, and such honours as fell on me were nothing worth in comparison. The year 1854 passed away in the same quiet manner. I wrote a paper on the duties of a Collector of Land Revenue, which I knew pretty well now. I wrote several Manuals in the Urdu Language with a view of introducing order into the office, instructing the Native sub- ordinates ; at night I used to have the young officials to meet me, and they were taught, as on a stage, by acting a scene in a drama, how to execute legally the duties imposed upon them by Law. Those books were largely used elsewhere afterwards. In November I sailed down the River Jamna to Allahabad, and I saw for the first time in India the Telegraph-line along the road. The news here reached me of the Crimean War, and at Allahabad I heard of the battle of the Alma, and the death of my young Cousin, Horace Cust, in the field. Mr. Colvin, the Lieutenant-Governor, visited Banda in his tour, and he bestowed high commendation on my work. With 1855 came the fulfilment of my plans. I became convinced, that my dear Father's health was failing, and I determined to take my furlough of three years, which was now due, and return to England to see him, as he had expressed a wish to that effect. My work at Banda was practically done : anybody could carry it on, and a most efficient successor was appointed, Frederick Maine, who died a few years after- wards, greatly lamented. Mr. Colvin, the Lieutenant-Governor, came again to Banda in February to take leave of me. Unconscious of the storm to burst over Lidia in 1857, I had stored away in carefully-packed chests in the Government-Treasury all my silver plate, books from my schoolboy days, pictures collected in Italy, letters received during fourteen years by mc from my friends in India, and relations in England, and Oriental MSS. collected in India. All perished in the Mutinies of 1857, and the loss was irremediable. Had I remained, I might have fallen a victim, " Questions for Officials" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series V, p. 1,013. "Collector of Land Revenue" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series I, p. 172. EXILE IN INDIA. NO. II. 53 as some of my friends and assistants did. I ought to feel deeply grateful, as on looking back I see, that m}' life was so often spared, when others fell. It is not in a spirit of vainglory or official pride, that I find a place in my Life-Memoir for the opinions recorded of my work at Banda in 1 852-1 85 5 by the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, the Board of Revenue of the Province, the Commissioner of the Division, and my official successor, all of them written months afler my departjire. When a Public Officer leaves the scene of his labours, he leaves his character behind at the mercy of those above him, who were jealous of him, those below him, who smarted at having been superseded by him, and those who differed from him, and thought that they knew better than the man who was gone. In my paper on the "Conquest of the Panjab," I record how ten years before the Governor-General, Sir Henry Hardinge, during the Satlaj Campaign, in his ride round the Camp had found me in a Banya's shop behind the counter, dealing out grain from my Stores to the Sepoys, who had brought their bags. His Excellency called out to me : " Nothing is below the dignity of an earnest man." Such was my maxim in life. I had to collect the Revenue of the Land, and I showed my people that I could collect it. I had to maintain order, and I succeeded in doing so, and yet, when I left the District, driving through the crowds which lined each side of the road, and heard their words of farewell, I had my reward, and I shed tears on leaving m}' people, as if they had been my own relatives. Extract from a letter. No. J,i6j, iph November, 18^9, from the Collector of Banda, to the Commissioner Fourth Division. " Paragraph 14. Mr. Cust was appointed Collector on 27th October, "1852, and he remarks in his Administration Report for 1852-1853 : " ' Banda has given constant trouble, and it is impossible to say when " the difficulties attendant upon its management will cease. Still, it " appears that by judicious treatment, and by very vigorous practice, "Conquest of the Panjab'' : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series VI, p. 46. 54 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. II. " this eval may be diminished.' The stern enforcement of the Law " had taught the people at last that the Revenue was finally fixed " for the term of Settlement, and that there would be no more reduc- " tions. Mr. Cust then set about to restore all the unsettled Estates " by vigorous direct management ; and disposing of all old balance " cases, he allowed no current balances to accrue. He eradicated many " very irregular and prejudicial customs, and removed many inefficient " public servants. Government officials were made to learn their work, " and to know that it must be efficiently done, and the zemindars were " taught that they had a master over them whom no species of chicanery " could deceive, no threats nor tears would cause to swerve one inch from " the policy he had assumed, and whom they could not blind. They " fought long and hard with him, and many a severe tussle took place " in the Civil Courts, but he won his point in almost every case, and they " at last knuckled down. The people were made to pay, and they did pay, " in spite of bad seasons, but I believe not without much sacrifice. Much " property privately changed hands, and many zemindars were reduced to " great poverty by being obliged to pay two or three successive years' " revenue, or a portion of it, from their private resources. Every trick "of a defaulter was met by a manoeuvre. .It took a great deal of " squeezing and planning of new processes, which, though strictly legal, " are as unpalatable to the defaulter as they are uncongenial to the " authority imposing them ; by thoroughly ascertaining the causes of " default, however, in each case, and carefully applying at once the " proper and most efficient process, and especially by enforcing the joint " responsibility." Extract from a letter of Mr. Colvin, the Lieutenant-Governor, to the Court of Directors. No, 5 of iS^J. " Paragraph i. As an instance of great administrative success His " Honour notices the District of Banda, where the Revenue had, through " a close, vigorous, and discriminating, plan of superintendence, been, with "a much diminished resort' to coercive measures, realized with unusual " punctuality. The example is regarded as one of much encouragement, EXILE IN INDIA. NO. II. 55 " and as indicative of what may be done by the influence of so energetic " and intelHgent an officer as Mr. Cust, of whose able and assiduous " exertions His Honour has ah'cady recorded his appreciation." Extract from a letter of Mr. Colvijt, the Lietitenant-Governor. No. i of iSj6. " The diminution of balances in Estates under direct management is " considered very satisfactory. The Board noticed the high commendation " already bestowed on Mr. Gust's exertions in this Department. " His Honour has perused with interest Mr. Gust's report of " February 19, 1855. The real subject of congratulation, as remarked " by Mr. Gust, is not the disposal of so many Estates, but the cessation of " fresh cases. " The Lieutenant-Governor concurred in the favourable notice taken " by the Board of the services of Mr. Gust. His merits have been " repeatedly marked by the high approbation of Government." Extract of letter from the Board of Revenue to the Lieutenant-Governor, February p, iSj^. No. lop. " The untiring energy, with which Mr. Gust has devoted himself to the " duties of his office, is deserving of the highest commendation. He has " brought great ability and knowledge to bear on every department of his " various duties, and has introduced order and method into the place of " extensive disorganization. He has lightened the task of his successor, " who w^ill nevertheless find that a steady perseverance in the san^e habit of " strict supervision will be essentially necessary for a very long period. " Mr. Gust highly merits the favourable notice of Government." Extract of letter from Covunissioner of Revenue to the Board of Revenue. Paragraph 5/ of No. ^72 of November //, 18^4. " It will be no easy matter to supply the place of Mr. Gust, whose " eminent services entitle him to the highest commendation of Government. " Through the influence of his own example he has introduced a spirit of " emulation among his subordinates, which has greatly f^icilitated the " various measures designed for the improvement of the District." 56 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. II. Extract of letter from Secretary to GoverJinieiit, North- West Provinces, to the Board of Revenue, April ij, ii^SS- " The Lieutenant-Governor desires me to observe that the report on " Estates under direct Management exhibit the administration of Mr. Cust " as entitled to the highest praise. The result, notwithstanding the many " difificulties against which he had to contend, are singularly successful, and " could not have been obtained without laborious and unwearied attention, " and the exertion of marked vigour and ability. The eminent zeal, ability, " and intelligence, of which Mr. Cust has given proof in the reform of " Revenue affairs at Banda have gained the special confidence and marked " approbation of Government. It is the intention of the Lieutenant- " Governor to print at the public charge for general distribution a series " of the useful treatises, prepared by Mr. Cust, on different branches " of official duty, including his Manual of Direct Management. The " publication will not be authoritative, but for the information and " assistance of other officers, as embracing a wide range of valuable and " practical remarks and suggestions." Extract of letter from Mr. Colvin, the Lieutenant-Governor of the North- West Provinces, to the Directors of the East India Company, October j, iSjj. " Paragraph i68. His Honour remarked with satisfaction, that the ' Collector of Hamirpur followed the useful example of Mr. Cust at ' Banda in the systematic instruction of his subordinates in Revenue ' and Law Procedure. Such public-spirited efforts, in addition to the ' heavy duties of the Collector, were deserving of honourable mention. ' His Honour perused with the closest attention the important remarks ' recorded by Mr. Cust, and the Board, on the prospects of Banda. ' Mr. Cust had, by the exercise of great intelligence, promptitude, and ' strictness, been highly successful in realizing the Revenue. His Honour ' had in orders, dated April 13 last, recorded the approbation, which ' was eminently due to the high ability of that officer, and to the ' untiring devotion of public spirit to his varied and arduous duties." FAILE IN INDIA. X(X II. 57 " Paragraph 188. The report exhibited the admini.stration of Air. Cu.st " a.s entitled to the highest praise. The result is singularly successful, " and could not have been obtained without laborious and unceasing " attention ; and the exertion of marked vigour, and the ability, and " eminent zeal, of which Mr. Cust has given proof in the Reform of the " Revenue affairs of the district, have secured for him the special confidence " and approbation of Government." The district of Banda was a garden of the Cotton Plant, depending upon the supply of rain : just across the River Jamna there was another district, the soil of which was suitable only to Sugar-cane, and, depending on irrigation, did not require rain. The consequence was, that in the Hindu Temples and Mahometan Mosques of the two districts, prayers were being offered at the same time for viore rain, and for no raiyi at all, according to the particular requirements of the cultivator of Cotton or Sugar-cane. How much wiser it would be, both in India and Europe, to leave the control of the Seasons to a wise Providence, who knows what is best ! I remember an old cultivator of five acres smarting under want of rain, remarking, that he wondered how it could be that the great Creator, who made the World, did not know what amount of rain was required for his five acres, and in what month. One peculiar succession of circumstances, like a great drama, had clung round me from 1845 to 1855, and was destined to burst out again in 1865. Act I of this drama represented the death of my poor friend Captain Dashwood at Mudki : I sat by his side, while the cannonade of Ferozshahr a few miles off was roaring over us. He made me his Executor, and told me that his poor wife would have little beyond her pension. However, I sold his house at Simla, and remitted i^ 1,200 to the widow, and filed my accounts as Executor in the proper office at Calcutta. Act II. Seven years elapsed, and in 1852 I was at breakfast in my house at Banaras, where I was Joint-Magistrate, when a buggy dro\e up to my door containing a man, apparently infirm and walking lame, 8 58 EXILE IX IXDIA. XO. II. and a young girl. Under the idea, that they were travellers and had mistaken their house, I invited them in, and offered the girl a cup of tea. While I was so doing, I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard a voice say, that / la^is arrested: it was a mere form, but an important one. I had the man kicked out of the house at once by my Native servants, but he had served his writ. The bailiff apologized for the trick, which he had played, and pleaded the difficulty of serving a Calcutta Supreme Court Warrant in an up-country District, and of arresting the Magistrate of a great city : it was true. I recollect a bailiff trying to arrest an officer of a Regiment, who craftily had him sent off as " a deserter from an English Regiment a thousand miles off" On another occasion a bailiff was clapped into the Police lock-up, and his case allowed to stand over sine die. Had I had the slightest notice by telegraph of this warrant, I should have dodged my friend the bailiff On writing to Calcutta I found, that my friend Captain Dashwood had borrowed £']O0 of the husband of his wife's sister, who was a partner in a mercantile house. At the time of his death the brother-in-law orally forgave his Sister-in-law the debt, but did not cancel the Deed, and kept the fact secret from me the Executor. The mercantile house failed : the Deed was found in their Deed-Box. My accounts filed officially revealed the fact, that 1 had paid ^1,200 to the widow ; the official assignee called on me to pay the ^700 loan, and ^500 interest on that amount. Mrs. Dashwood refused to refund, and after taking the opinion of the best Counsel, I was told that under the Statute of Frauds I must pay, and I did pay it. I remember my great trouble : I did not much care for the money, but I did not like to be robbed. I left India in 1855, and, with the exception of two letters, all the records of the transaction perished in the Mutinies of 1857, and I tried to forget it also. Thus ended Act II. Act III. In 1865, in the midst of my deep domestic sorrow, a lawyer called on me in my Sister's house at Calcutta, produced a Deed, and asked me to sign a paper as Executor to Captain Dashwood — only a signature, no trouble. Captain Dashwood at the time of his death, twenty years before, i:XILK IN INDIA. NO. II. 59 was holder of shares in the Assam-Tea-Company ; it was then in its infancy, and the shares paid nothing. Since then it had grown, and there was now many hundred pounds standing to the account of the deceased, and his ividow was anxious to get it. I was in such a state of mind, that I told the man to go, that I would sign nothing, do nothing : so he went. While I was in London another man called, hoped my health was better, and repeated the same story. I referred him to my Brother, and another lawyer-friend ; they employed a Solicitor, who verified the fact of the existence of the Assam-Company's shares, and their value, made out an account between the Estate and me, and recommended me to sell the shares, get the whole sum into my Bankers in a separate account, recoup myself, and offer the remainder to the widow. Unluckily I could claim no interest of my money from 1855 to 1865, as it was an affair between me, an Executor, and an Estate in trust in my hands ; so I recovered my principal at last, losing about ;^6oo. This is a warning to young men in India : yet I do not see, how I could have acted differently, considering that the legatee kept back from me the fact of this loan, and the Mercantile House never cancelled the Deed. At the age of 24 I was scarcely sharp enough to grasp the possibility of such a fraud. In the midst of so many special blessings conferred on me I cannot complain at having been robbed at the rate of ^^30 per annum for twenty years, while so many had lost their lives and everything. On February 24, 1855, I had completed 34 years, and on the 26th I made over my District to my successor in perfect order, as he kindly reported in his own letters. On March r I had a sad parting with my subjects, for I again had had the privilege of winning their affection, and, as my successor drove me out of the town of Banda, we found for a long distance rows of men seated on each side to bid me Farewell, and some shedding tears. My successor expressed liis astonishment ; "The Indian District " : Linguistic and Oriental Essa)-s, Series V, p. 244. " Manual of Magistrate's Office in Urdu"' : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series V, p. 1,013. 6o EXILE IN INDIA. NO. II. I felt deeply grateful. I had finished my seven Manuals of Practice in the Urdu Language for instruction of Native officials before I left : nothing seemed left undone. My plan was to cross India to Bombay in a Palanquin, but the Palanquin broke down, and I had to substitute a dooley. I pressed on night and day to Sagur, passed the Bhilsa Tope, which I stopped to inspect, Bhopal, and Indore ; pushed on thence in a bullock-cart, crossed the River Nerbada, and the River Tapti ; thence took the Mailcart, and on the 17th March reached Bombay, and on the 19th went on board the steamer for Suez ; reached Aden on the 27th. As we passed up the Red Sea we sighted our consort-steamer on her route from Suez to Aden, and, as she neared us, she put up a board, on which we could read the words " Emperor Nicolas dead." On April 3 we reached Suez, and heard all the news. I pressed on to Alexandria, and took steamer to Trieste, and passing through Vienna, Dresden, Berlin, and Calais, reached London on the 21st. As we left Calais, we passed the fleet of Napoleon III returning from England after his visit to Queen Victoria. On the 22nd I again met my Parents at Windsor, and was at home again. I at once entered myself at Lincoln's Inn with a view of keeping my terms during my furlough, and being called to the Bar. I had to attend courses of lectures : one course was given by Sir Henry Maine, who was destined to be my friend and colleague in the Legislative Council of India. The actual term was kept by dining so many times each term in Hall. I settled down in furnished apartments, but I had plenty of visits to pay to relations, and I was constantly at Windsor with my dear Parents. I visited all my old Schools, Turnham Green 1828, Pinner 1829, Yately 1829, Mitcham 1830, and had a week in Paris. It was an easy, happy time, and I had plenty of books to read. In 1856 I visited my eldest brother at h'llcsmere. I went over to Shavington, the residence of my Mother's Father, the Earl of Kilmorcx', which I had visited as a child in 1828. I called with my brother at Combcrmere, and had an interview with Field-Marshal Viscount Comber- mere, a very old family-friend, and made a tour in the Manufacturing EXILE IX IXDIA. NO. II. 6l Districts, Sheffield, Binnin-^ham, etc., to go over great Manufactories. I went to call on Lord Macaulay in his Chambers at the Alban}-, and presented him with a copy of the translation into the Urdu of his Code of Criminal Law, as finally passed into Law : he was much gratified, and I was glad to hear him converse : he asked me to one of his breakfasts, and there I met some of the most illustrious literary men of the time : all have passed away. On May lo I was married at St. Peter's, Eaton Square, to ]\Iaria Adelaide Hobart, daughter of the Hon. and Very Rev. Henry Lewis Hobart, Dean of Windsor, and brother of the Earl of Buckingham- shire. Her parents were life-friends of my parents, her fortune and her position in life were the same as my own, and we had always called each other by our Christian names, for I had known her since she was a very little child. We passed our honeymoon at Cockayne Hatley, and then settled in London. We attended Her Majesty's Drawing Room on June 20, and on July 27 went on a tour in Germany, the Tyrol, Switzerland, and Italy, reaching Rome October 10, after which we returned to England, and settled for the Winter in London, as I had to keep my terms and attend lectures. I spent Christmas with my Parents, and it was the very last, for before Christmas of next year I was again a solitary wandere'r. This year, 1856, was the last happy year of my life : troubles gathered around me, from which I have never escaped. The Lord's will be done ! In 1857 I was settled in London: I had kept ten terms in Lincoln's Inn, and went down to Windsor on Februar)- 24, on which da>' I was 36. I attended a Levee, and was presented to Prince Albert by my Uncle, the Hon. Colonel Cust. I attended the Courts of Law, and the Debates in both Houses of Parliament. On April 25 we paid a month's visit to Paris. On June 27 the news reached London of the Mutiny of the Native Troops at Mirat on May 10, the anniversary of my wedding-day, and I received orders to return at once to India, forfeiting the remainder of the term of my furlough. This was the turning-point of my fortunes : prosperity had attended the first half of my life ; all was changed now. 62 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. II. Last year, 1856, just after my marriage, a letter came from my old Master and Friend, Sir John Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner of the Panjab, offering me the post of Commissioner of Lahor with a salary of £2,yoo, if I came out in the Autumn. The post was just what I desired, and had been beyond my most sanguine dreams, but I felt it hard to be deprived of my furlough, and to give up the idea of being called to the Bar, so I wrote to decline. It was against my principles to ask for an appointment, or decline one, when offered, but as events turned out it was well. The troubles of the Mutiny were heavy at Lahor, and I should have arrived with my young wife just as the storm was about to burst, and I felt then, and I feel now, that I should have been unequal to it. In 1857, with a feeling of despair I felt, that I must leave my }'oung wife, and her expected child, behind me in safety and go out alone, with a prospect of Death, for matters seemed desperate. Fortunately no passages were available in Steamers until September 20, and I was allowed two months more, as in fact there were scores of men out of employ already in India, as many Districts were in the hands of the enemy, and it was a mistaken policy to send out useless men. I was called to the Bar by special favour after only ten terms, and called out of term : there was no precedent, but great sympathy was felt. Lord Justice Knight Bruce presided at my call. I was with my dear Father on his birthday at Cockayne Hatlcy : he w^as yy years of age. I have passed that age myself now, but it seemed then to be very, very old. My eldest child, Albinia Lucy, was born at Langdown, Hampshire, on the 1 8th October, and was christened in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on December 5. I took my wife and child back to Langdown, her Mother's residence, and left them there. The World seemed closing upon me, when on December 21 I left her, as I thought for ever, to start for India. I went to Windsor, and took leave of my Parents and Sister : I never saw my Father again. I worked m_\' way to Dover b\' 1 1 p.m., and went on board the Steamer for Calais. I can hardly realize now the misery of that period. I felt that there was no object in life. When I read, even now, the Evening Private Prayer of that particular day, Monday, EXILE IN INDIA. NO. II. 63 December 21, which I read on board my crowded Steamer in 1857, the whole thing seems to come back to me. His Holy Will be done! On Christmas Day I was at Vienna, I embarked at Trieste for Alexandria on December 27, and was off Crete on December 31. I have undergone many bitter sorrows since then, but those days can never be forgotten. When I left England I expected never to return to it again, and I made my final arrangements, as a man going out to his death. During my stay in England I had been preparing myself by study to fill high posts during the next decade. I had drawn up a paper of Resolutions and Maxims to help me in the discharge of my duties, and I can add nothing to it. Similarly my thoughts had been turned to deep Religious Subjects, and I had committed them to paper. "On Positive Religion" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series III, p. 440. Resolutions and Maxims" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series III, p. 587. " u. Cfjaptcr $F* PERIOD IV. Exile in India. No. Ill : 1858-1867. (i) Restoration of Order after a Rebellion, 1858. (2) High Offices of the State, 1 859-1 864. (3) Bereavement, Grief, Despair, 1864. (4) Vain attempt to return, and complete my term of Service, 1866. (5) Final Return to England with my task unaccomplished, 1867. (6) General Remarks at the close of my Indian career. I REACHED Alexandria on January 2, 1858, and took train to Cairo : there was a frightful crowd on board the Steamer " Nubia " at Suez, as the shaft of the Steamer of the previous month, the " Alma," had broken down, and all its passengers, including several Companies of Soldiers, were transferred to our Steamer. I secured my berth in a four-berth cabin by h'ing down upon it, until people settled down. My old friend Richard Temple was one of the unhappy passengers of the " Alma," and I saw a great deal of him. We landed at Calcutta on January 28. Lord Canning, the Governor-General, was at Allahabad, as the Mutiny had been checked, if not crushed, and the work of restoration had commenced. I dined with Lady Canning at Government-House ; Ishe was one of my wife's Cousins. The new arrivals soon became aware, that they were not wanted, as there were no appointments vacant. On February 6 I visited my Sister, Mrs. Seton-Karr, at Jessore : the effects of the Mutiny had not been felt there. I had no alternative but to go to Allahabad and wait. Good luck attended me. I had an interview with Lord Canning, 9 66 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. and expressed my readiness to go anywhere, and do anything. Just then the Magistrate and Collector of Allahabad, who had served through the worst days of the Mutinies, broke down in health, and I took his appointment ; it was delightful to be at work again on March i8, though there was scarcely a house to live in. However, another change came over my circumstances. One day we attended officially the ceremony of opening the Railway from Allahabad to Cawnpoor. As we stood on the Platform, Lord Canning beckoned to me to come to him, and he led the way into the nearest door of the unfinished Station, as he wanted a private word. The room, into which we entered, was the Public Lavatory, but it did not much signify. He then told me, that Sir John Lawrence had written to ask for my services as Commissioner of Labor, the very post, which I had refused in 1856. Lord Canning did not wish to lose my services from the North-West Provinces, and asked me whether I particularly wished to go. Of course, I did wish very much to get back to my old Province of the Panjab, and my old Master, but I thought it politic to say, that I would do exactly as Lord Canning wished : he was good enough to say, that he wished me to stay with him. In a week I had a letter from Sir J. Lawrence insisting on my coming : he had written to Lord Canning to say, that he must have his old officers back, as so many had fallen, or were disabled : so on April 5 Lord Canning ordered me to go. It was no easy matter to fight my way across to Agra, as the Rebels and Mutineers were still out in arms : however, I took my chance, and worked my way in a mailcart with one horse to Cawnpoor, Agra, Dchli, Ambala, Amritsar, and reached Labor, and assumed my office as Commissioner. It was indeed a wondrous surprise to have this high office, whilst still so young in the service. At Cawnpoor I visited the Well and the Barracks, so well known in the Mutiny Annals. As I entered the town, I found the road blocked by a mob, and found m\'self in front of the Gallows, on which a poor fellow was about to be hanged. Seeing me he called out " Salaam, Sahib," and then fearlessly jumped off with the rope round his neck, and I watched the breath struggling in the i:XILi: IX INDIA. NO. III. 67 poor body. I received warning not to proceed, as the rebels were crossing the great Northern road and passing from GwaHor to Rohilkand : however, I had received my orders to go, and I reached Agra in safet>'. I went over the fortress, and then pushed on to Dehli. I found myself among friends now, and went over the city, and heard all the sad story. I visited the old Emperor of Dehli in the Palace : he was seated on the ground with his young wife and a baby : all the old State-Ceremony was gone : he was starting off as a life-prisoner to Barma : all his sons had been killed, and every vestige of the ancient Mogul Empire destroyed. I asked him why he was so foolish as to join the Mutiny ; he replied, that it was ' Kismat ' (his fate). On my road further North I had to draw up my mailcart more than once on the side, as I felt clouds of dust, saw the flaring of torches, and heard the tramp of men and horses, for some English regiment of Horse or Foot was making its night-march from the Satlaj River, up which River and the Indus they had come from Karachi. It was an impressive sight. When I reached Lahor, John Lawrence had gone up to Marree in the Hills. There was a great deal to be done. I found the Telegraph in full working order, and on the 14th of June a telegram came to me to go at once to Gurdaspiir, to try and sentence some captured Mutineers. It was very hot, but I had to go. I found my men. They had been driven out of Jamu by the Maharaja and had fallen into the hands of our Police. The question was, were they Mutineers? Of what Regiment? Had that Regiment killed the Officers and their wives ? My nine men stood before me, and in reply to my inquiry denied, that they were soldiers, and pretended to be only poor agriculturists. I was too many for them, for I made a sign to my official, and, while they were talking, a non- commissioned Officer behind the tent-curtain sounded his bugle, and unconsciously obedient to its call, the wretched men at once fell into line, and the fact of their being soldiers was manifest. They then admitted the number of their Regiments, and on referring to my official lists, I found that the English women and children of that Regiment had all been killed. They declared that they had individually opposed the 68 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. massacre, but my orders were explicit to let off as many as possible, but never to spare such cases ; so sentence was passed under the special powers conferred by the Legislature, and I had a triangular gallows constructed to hold three on each side ; one fatal word was pronounced, and all ceased to live. Their poor wives and children stood around. It was very sad, but, if we were to retain the Empire of India, there was no alternative. These men were mutinous soldiers, not rebellious villagers, all of whom were pardoned. On September 14 I visited Dera Baba Nanak, the holy city of the Sikh Priesthood, and to my great delight I counted 175 little girls of the Bedi caste : they all owed their life to my Commandment (see p. 29, Cap. II), " Thou shalt not kill thy daughters," issued at Hoshyarpiir in March, 1846. On November i we published the Queen's gracious Proclamation of Amnesty to all her Subjects, with the exception of mutinous soldiers for offences committed in 1857-8. On December i I met my old chief, John Lawrence, and accompanied him on a visit to the Maharaja of Kashmir at Jamu, near Sialkot. The old fox Gulab Singh had died, and his son Ranbi'r Singh (since dead) was in his place. He had done good service at Dehli, and we all went up to Jamu to do him honour. He gave us a magnificent dinner, sitting himself quite clear of the contamination of our food, and we had a grand Durbar, making him magnificent presents, and receiving each of us jewels in return, which were all ruthlessly swept into the Government-Treasury. However, the Maharaja at the close came to John Lawrence, and me, and one or two of his other old friends, with little Kashmir scarfs in his hand, and placed one on each of our necks, " as a memorial of his gratitude and love." We were allowed to keep these, and I have mine to this day, though sadly eaten by moths, hanging on a screen before me, " reliquiae Danaum." Affairs were settling down, so that it became possible to the Ci\'il Officers to send for their families from luigland. On December 4 I received a telegram from Bombay, that my wife and child had arrived at that place, and were starting to Karcichi. I started to Multan to meet her on her Steamer on the River Indus. I was alone in my tent in the great Jungle EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. 69 on Christmas Day, and on the last day of 1858 I embarked in a country- boat and floated down the River Chenab. On the 8th of January, 1859, we saw the smoke of a Steamer. It stopped at my signal, when I was near^^to it. I rushed up the side, and found her on the deck : the Lord be praised ! Her eldest child was with her. I had arranged everything for her comfort at Multan, and it was like a triumphant procession to our new house at Lahor, which we reached on January 18. During the year 1858 I had to work hard to sweep up the arrears of 1857, as all civil administration had been suspended. I was regular in my Office, but I found time for literary work. I described the state of Allahabad during the Mutinies in a paper, " A District during a Rebellion." I wrote another on the Civil Courts and Law of the Panjab. I wrote letters in Indian Newspapers : I found time for reading. On February 7 the first sod of the Railway from Labor to Amritsar and the North-West Provinces was turned. Sir John Lawrence made his farewell speech ; he was about to leave for England, and was succeeded by Sir Robert Montgomery, the Chief Commissioner of Oudh. On this occasion I met an officer of the Army (Lord Clarina). We had met three times: the first time in 1852 at Constantinople, where we were at the same Hotel, and went about together : the second time at Cawnpoor in the middle of the night ; our beds were side by side ; he was gone before I awoke : the third time at Aden, where his Regiment was stationed, he came on board my Steamer. He has died since. I mention these as instances of the chance - meeting of acquaintances in foreign countries. On February 10 an administrative change took place. The size of the Labor Division was too large, and so it was divided, and I was offered the "An Indian District during a Rebellion" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series I, p. 224. " Civil Justice of the Panjdb '' : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series I, p. 198. ''' "Dirge of the East India Company": Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Scries III, p. 322. "The Indian Reformer" : Pictures of Indian Life, p. 194. " Detur Digniori, or Patronage in India" : L. & O. Essays, Series II, p. 164. 70 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. choice of the moiety attached to Lahor, or the new Division at Amritsar. I chose the latter, and Richard Temple succeeded me at Lahor. My family moved to Amritsar, where I had a capital house and an interesting charge. I went into Camp, and made a tour of my Division, and then settled down for the Summer. It was a beautiful country : Sialkot and Adinanagar resembled my first District of Hoshyarpiir, to which I paid a visit, and thought of old days. I found time to write on the Examination System, and a series of lives, especially one of Nanak, the founder of the Sikh Religion. On October 23 my eldest son. Peregrine Bertie, was born in my house at Amritsar. A few hours afterwards a violent Earthquake shook the house and the room where the child was. In a superstitious age this would have been supposed to have meant something. He was christened in the Station-Church. I went into Camp alone, as my duties as Judge compelled me to hold my Sessions. I visited the battlefield of Sobraon, and thought of old days. I got back to Amritsar for the last week of the year, and thanked God for being permitted to have my wdfe and my children with me for the first time under my Indian Home : and it proved to be the last one. His Holy Will be done ! My great comfort was, that my duties, both Judicial and Revenue, and my official Corre- spondence of all kinds, were in the highest state of order. In January, i860, I was offered the post of Financial Commissioner of the Panjab. Before I left, the Governor-General, now Viceroy, and Lady Canning arrived, and I had to show them the wonderful city of Amritsar. The Sacred Tank was illuminated in their honour, and we had a great Durbar at Lahor. I accompanied the Viceregal Camp into the interior of the District, and took their Excellencies out on Elephants to witness a hawking expedition. On March 21 I moved to Lahor, and took charge of my new office. In April I conducted my wife and our two children to the beautiful Hill Station of Dharamsala, and left them there in a sweet little house, belonging to my late friend William Arnold. She had plenty " Family in India" : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Scries V. " rictures of Indian Life " (1S81). EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. 7 1 of nice neighbours, and I returned to my solitary house at Lahor to get through the hot months. On July 7 I received a brief summons from Uharamsala to come, for my eldest child was dying. I lost no time : the heat was overpowering, but by rail, by d.og-cart, and on horseback, I traversed the distance. At each place I found a bulletin, which seemed worse and worse. One of my servants met me at Nurpur with my hill-pony, and a message, that there was little hope. At the foot of the hills of sweet Dharamsala I had a brief message from a friend (who died many years ago), " She still lives." I climbed the hill, and found her still alive, and I was thankful : but her life was spared, even to this day. On the loth a severe earthquake took place. As she got better, the necessity was made manifest, that my wife and children must return to England, and my newly- made home be broken up. On November 8 I took them all to Calcutta, made over my office to my successor, and took Privilege - leave. On December i I reached my Sister's house at Calcutta, and on the 9th shipped off my wife and children by Steamer to England. All seemed over, but I had heavier troubles to come. I started back to the Panjab, and visited en route my own dear District of Banda. I walked over the site of my old house, where I had spent so many happy hours, and the Treasury where I had, on leaving for England, stored my books, pictures, and correspondence of fourteen years : all had been destro}'ed in the j\Iutinies. One little book of Poetry, with my name in it, had been picked up by an Officer of the Army, which reconquered the Province, and he sent it to me. The little Station-Church, in which I had so often read prayers, had escaped harm, and I found on the reading-desk the large Bible and Pra}'er Book which I had presented. The Rebel Nawab had reserved them for his own Library, and they were recovered and replaced in the Church. On January 15, 186 1, 1 reached Dehli, where I commenced the duties of my new and temporary office, to visit all the Districts of the Panjab, inspect and advise as to the mode of conducting business, and rearrange the establishment of Native Officials. I visited the Salt-IMines on the Jhelum, and climbed up Mount Si'kesar, went over the great battlefields of Chillian- wala and Gujcranwala of the Panjab Campaign, now at a distance of 72 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. ten years, crossed the Indus, and at length, with my work of Inspection accomplished, found myself at Lahor on Easter Day, 1861, and took charge of my new office of Judicial Commissioner of the Panjab. There seemed no limit to my official good fortune above my fellows, and to my domestic misfortunes. We cannot have everything in this world. I heard of the birth in England of my second son, Robert Henry Hobart, on May 13, and of the death of my dear and honoured Father on May 19, at the age of 81. I lived alone in my deserted home : I had plenty of work, and health, and strength. In July we were aware, that Cholera was creeping up country, and in August and September 500 soldiers of the European Regiment fell victims in the Military Station of Mean Meer, a distance of five miles from Lahor, and my friend Colonel Irby died also. Our duty in the Civil Station was to supply about thirty coiifins every day. In October and November I commenced my official tours. Among the places visited were my own dear Hoshyarpiir, and Ferozpiir, where I knelt at Major George Broadfoot's grave. They seemed like old- world history now, those events of 1845 and 1846, for we live very fast in India, and sixteen years of sorrow and joy, of peace and war, had passed over me. All the officers of that time had passed away, were dead, or their names but shadows, and I was the oldest member of the Panjab Service, for I was there before John Lawrence, or any of the illustrious Military and Civil Rulers, who w^ere still in power. I had joined the Corps of Volunteers as a Private, and attended all their drills. I was doing much literary work, and helping to reform and solidify our Judicial System. One incident deserves notice. In our early years the average of capital executions in the Panjab amounted to one daily ; as time wore on it fell to about one weekly : my desire was to reduce it still further, and as no case could occur witliout my leave, I succeeded. Others thought differently. Sir Hugh Rose, the Commander-in-Chief, known as Lord Strathnairn, made a violent attack on this policy : he had been Consul-General in Turkey, and the destruction of human life " On the subject of Violent Crime on the Afghan Frontier, 1S63 " : L. tS: O. Essays, Ser. III. EXILE IN INDIA. NO. ill. 73 seemed to him the chief feature of a vigorous and healthy administration. I repHed to this attack, and the Government approved. My letter is printed among my Essays. We were taught in the Panjab to have an iron hand in a velvet glove : a firm rule, but soft words, and conciliation : no bullying, nor favouritism. Another point I helped to carr}', which I had started at Banda, viz., the execution of Criminals within the Prison - walls. After the Mutinies permanent gallows were erected in every Station, and the English of both sexes used to saunter down in the evening to see men hanged : it was wrong morally, and dangerous politically. I helped to have every gallows destroyed, and executions conducted inside the Prison-walls. Another important subject had to be handled firmly. I had belonged from the very first, 1843, to supporters of the principle, that it was our duty to Evangelize, and all the leading Panjab officials were of the same School, but not by the Arm of the Flesh, or official influence, or favouritism. After the Mutinies there were signs of a fanatical spirit, and a desire to introduce the Bible into the State-Schools, to push Christians forward in Government-offices, to let the Missionaries interfere, to preach to the Prisoners in Gaols. To all this I was totally opposed, and success- fully ; it would have been followed by appropriation of Hindu and Mahometan places of Public Worship, State-grants to Missions, disabilities to Non- Christians, and all those features, which disgraced the conversion of Europe in the Middle Ages. At the same time, at my suggestion the Government withdrew from any connection with the management of Non-Christian places of Worship, such as the Sacred Tank of Amritsar, and the income, which belonged to them. All the Revenue-free Estates, which had been granted by Hindu and Mahometan Rulers, were after investiga- tion registered, and made over to Native Committees. All recognition of Non-Christian customs was allowed to fall out of practice. The feet were to be uncovered, when sacred places were visited, or special stockings put on, on the ground of not injuring the marble pavements. I remember conducting the Viceroy, Lord Canning, to the sacred Sikh Temple in the centre of the Lake : we looked very ridiculous in our thick stockings, 10 74 F.XILE IN INDIA. NO. III. drawn over our shoes, and at my earnest request he did not follow the example of his predecessors, and lay a bag of 500 rupees in the temple as an offering : however, the Priest called round at the Office-tent, and received his grant privately : it was not the money, but the mode, in which the money was offered, to which I objected. In the Panjab, Public Officers never paid visits to Temples on solemn occasions, or had wreaths placed round their necks, as I had seen in other parts of India. I refer to the description which I published at the time. At the same time I held that Public officials must not be ashamed of, or neglect, their own Religion. Lord Canning, without thinking of the matter, ordered his camp to march on Sunday. The Panjab officials, after dining on Saturday night with the Viceroy, rode that night to the next Station, and were ready in his Lordship's camp to receive His Excellency on Sunday morning on his arrival. He took the rebuke in his own calm and noble manner, and never marched on Sunday again, nor do troops in India move, nor Public works continue, on Sunday. It may seem a small matter, but it means a great deal, for the Non-Christian population kept their own sacred days and holidays. A baptism of some natives took place in the Mission-Chapel in the City of Amritsar. I took an interest in these converts, and accompanied by my wife attended the Chapel for the Baptism. I had done the same years before at Banaras, and been Godfather to the infant. The fact was mentioned in the Press, and I was called upon by the Viceroy to explain my conduct. I had found my opportunity, and I stated boldly that I had as much right in my private capacity to attend the service of my own Religion, as the Mahometan and Hindu had to attend theirs. The Government of the Panjab entirely agreed with me, and I had a letter from the Viceroy in Council accepting my explanation, and have published it among my Essays. The real principle is to keep clear of the gush, which too often accompanies Religious sensationalism, and stand up for Religious Liberty, Universal Toleration, and Mutual Respect. "On the subject of Attendance of British Officials at Native Baptisms,'' 1859: Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Series III. KXILK IN INDIA. NO. HI. 75 Time has passed quickly on, and my wife left En<^land for the second time, parting, as it proved, for ever from her two elder children. On November 27, 1861, the Telegraph announced the arrival of my wife and her baby at Bombay. As in the previous year, I started to Multan, and went on board a Steamer for Sukkur : there, on December 8, the anniversary of the day of our parting on the Ganges, the two Steamers met to pass the night. I rushed on board, and found her and her baby. All my troubles seemed to be over ; alas, they were not ! We steamed up the Rivers Indus and Chendb to Multan : all my arrangements for carriages were perfect, and we reached Labor on the 22nd December, and knelt down side by side in our own house. The year 1861 ended happily : the accounts of the children at home were good. There were two years allowed to us to live in this house, and then the light of my life was destined to be extinguished for ever. In January, 1862, I was offered a seat on the Legislative Council of India. On a full consideration I declined it, but it was of no use, for I was compelled to take it in 1864. I trembled at the idea of taking my wife to Calcutta, little thinking that she was to die in the very house, in which she was at that moment sleeping. The news of the death of Prince Albert reached us. On March i the Railway was opened to Amritsar, and I heard that I was to continue in my office as Judicial Commissioner. On May 6 there was a sharp earthquake. The news of the war between the Northern and Southern States in North America reached us. I used to write a great deal of Poetry at this time. On June 16 I moved my family to a beautiful house in the new Hill Station at Dalhousie : the heavy rains were upon us, and the streams were swollen. The Cholera appeared at Labor, and I received orders to return from Dalhousie to Labor. In September I found that my day-by- day Journal, commenced on quitting England September, 1842, had lasted twenty years. I used to talk with my wife of what we would do when we got back to England, for I was weary of India. My second daughter, Maria Eleanor Vere, was born at Dalhousie on the 30th of September. " Poems of Many Years and Many Places." ^6 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. She was chri.stened at Amritsar in the Mission Chapel, and we settled down at Lahor for the Winter on November 3. The Mission Conferences took place in the last week of the year : I presided at some of the Meetings, and read my contributions on Lay Co-operation. In the thirty- six years that have passed since that date I have tried to carry out those principles. The year 1862 closed over us both in peace and happiness: before the end of the ne.xt year I was in the furnace of affliction, and the quiet course of my life was hopelessly altered. On January 6, 1863, I found that twenty years had elapsed since I parted with my Parents at Naples at the outset of my career, and on the 24th of February I was 42 years of age. I had attained some of the highest posts of the State, and had prospects of still higher ones before my eyes, but my ambition was quite gone, and I felt that somehow my heart was not in my work. On May 24, Whit Sunday, while we were at Morning-Service in the Church, there was the sound of a mighty wind, as on the day of Pentecost. I have never forgotten it ; it seemed to me like the knell of my life's happiness. On June 6 we left Lahor for Dalhousie, and took a new house. On July 2 there was a sharp earthquake. I was employed in my leisure hours in drafting a Revenue Manual of the Panjab : it was not printed until 1876. On July 28 my dear wife completed her thirtieth year: it was her last birthday. On October 20 we left Dalhousie for Lahor, our last journey : we were unconsciously descending into the grave. I had secured the same house for next year, but we were destined never to occupy it again. On the 23rd October my wife reached our quiet home at Lahor, and was destined never to leave it. The Viceroy, Lord Elgin, died on November 20 at Dharamsala. I had never seen him, but he was on his road to Lahor. The Lahor Exhibition was in progress, and I took a great interest in it, and used to preside at the Committees. On January 6, 1864, my fifth child, Sophia Charlotte, was born at Lahor, the same day as the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, the late Prince Edward ; and the wonderful news reached his numerous friends "Manual of Land Revenue for the Panjab " (1S63). EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. "]"] at Lahor, that my Master since 1S46, Sir John Lawrence, was appointed Viceroy of India. It seemed as if my road to the highest posts of the State were clear ; but it was decreed otherwise. On the 17th my dear wife, Maria Adelaide, died, and India, and the world, ceased to have any charm and interest for me. No one but myself knew the extent of the blow after the repeated trials of 1857 and 1861. All was over now. She was buried next morning in the Cemetery under the Citadel of Lahor, by the side of the first wife of my dear friend Sir Henry Davies. Her coffin was conveyed in our own open barouche to the Cemetery, and a long train of English and Natives followed in the Procession. On a subsequent day the three little children were taken down to her grave : they were all below three }'ears, too young to know their loss or remember anything. To me it was the turning-point of my fortune: from 1844 to 1864 all had been bright, and the appointment of my great Master Sir John Lawrence to be Viceroy opened out to me new vistas of Usefulness and Honour. But there is a tide in the affairs of man, and for me there was no future : I reasoned with myself, but in vain. I rolled up my MSS., closed my books, resigned my high office, and took my unhappy motherless children to Calcutta. The Railway had made the journey easy. On the 13th of February I laid the poor children down at my Sister's door, and with them embarked in the Steamer for England on February 23, the last day of my 43rd year. My career was finished, and I took leave of India, never intending or wishing to return. I knew that it entailed the sacrifice of my Pension, but a great fear had fallen upon me. Sir John Lawrence and many friends remonstrated, but I knew my own strength and my own weakness. As we approached Malta we became aware of an excitement in the harbour, which was explained by the Italian Liberator, Giuseppe Garibaldi, coming on board our Steamer for a passage to England. We all welcomed the great man as he came on board, and at the dinner-table I was placed by the Captain opposite to him, as I was able to converse with him " A Life Trial " (a poem) : Poems of Many Years and Many Places, Series II. 78 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. in Italian. On deck, in his armchair, he used to take on his knees my little boy, who was dressed in that childish costume known then as the Garibaldi dress. On arriving at Southampton the excitement was tremendous, and I, with my three motherless children and the Nurses, sat in the empty saloon until the crowd had passed off the Steamer, and my brothers-in-law could find their way to my side. I reached Southampton on April 3, and for tJie first tune had all my five motherless children around me at Langdown, the residence of my wife's Mother. One only blessing accompanied my return, that I saw once again my widowed Mother, for which we were both grateful. On June 31 I received a letter from my kind ]\Iaster, Sir John Lawrence, offering me a seat in the Legislative Council of India, if I could arrange to arrive by November i at Calcutta. I had so far recovered myself. I had done my duty to my children, and could be of no use to them in their infancy and childhood ; I found that I was in the way at home, and could settle down to nothing, so I agreed to make the attempt. I knew that I could be of use and a comfort to Sir John Lawrence ; he, indeed, told me so. The scene was a new one, and the presence of my Sister an important feature. I knelt at my dear Father's grave at Cockayne Hatley, and visited my eldest brother at Ellesmere. I arranged for my five children to be taken care of by their IMother's relatives at a charge of £7^0 per annum, took leave of them and my Mother, and taking train to Marseilles, I embarked on the Steamer to Calcutta, which I reached on October 28, and took refuge in my Sister's empty house, as she was up-country for the Autumn. On November 4 I was sworn in as a Member of the Legislative Council, and appointed to act for three months as Home-Secretary to the Government of India : the promotion was wonderful, but it gave me no pleasure. I had still the capacity for work : I had delightful duties with most distinguished col- leagues : I was every week alone with the Viceroy, at his particular request, to talk over matters confidentially, and it was a comfort to me to think, that I was of use to him in his duties, as he could always depend on me and Richard Temple for honest advice and hearty support. A special I EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. 79 dut)' had been assigned me to review the scale of salaries of all the Civil Service in my two Provinces of Allahabad and the Panjab. The year closed in sadness. I used to walk out alone on the Maidan to watch the setting Sun : I shall never forget the agony of that period : I wrestled with myself, but in vain. Without Hope no effort can be sustained. Kind advice was not wanting. On the expiry of the three months, I made over the Home Office to its permanent occupant, my old friend K. C. Bay ley, who has long since passed away. When the Legislative Council rose at the close of the Spring, I made my bow and returned to England, on the 24th of April, 1855. At Cairo I received telegraphic news of the death of my youngest child On May 30 I reached Folkestone. I hoped that it was my final visit to England, but it proved to be not so. I hurried to London and saw my dear Mother. On June i I met my two youngest children, who were in London, and on the 8th my two eldest at Mickleham, and I determined to have them together in one house at No. 12, Cavendish Street, Eastbourne, the house, on the doorsteps of which my dear wife had finally parted with her two eldest children to go out to India. This was an eveiit in my life : I had them with me ; it was all that the Lord had left me. Gradually Peace, if not Happiness, stole over me. I had nothing to wish for : I seemed to have played my last card in life. I had a sufficiency for my moderate wants, and my children must be content. To occupy my time I studied the Hebrew Language, and learned to read the Old Testament. There were the ordinary troubles attending the care of }^oung children, but I was ready to do that service. My children all had the whooping-cough, and I caught it from them. We moved to London, in Gloucester Street, Warwick Square, on November i, and on the 4th I received a letter offering me the post of a IMember of the Board of Revenue in the North- West Provinces. Sir John Lawrence felt that I could never go back to Labor or \he Panjab, so in the excess of his thoughtful kindness he made this offer. More than a year and a half had elapsed since my bereavement : a great desire to be employed again had seized me ; this was my last chance : could I find someone, who would 80 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. consent to be my companion in India for two or three years until my term of service was accomplished, and then help me at home in the care of my children? I found one, full of pity and love, and on the 28th, in St. Gabriel's Church, Warwick Square, in the presence of my Mother and a few friends, I was united to Emma Carlyon, daughter of the Rev. Edward Carlyon. She came from the same village, and was of the same age, as my lost wife, in whose Mother's house I met her, and as far as I could see all seemed to promise well. In January of 1866 I hired a Cottage at Mickleham for my children, with their Nurses and Governess, who received her instructions direct from me. I parted with them on February 23 : I had done all that I could for their comfort : my return to India on a high salary made me rich again. On the 24th of February, I and my wife were my Mother's Guests in her house, No. 16, Eccleston Square : here I took leave of her for the last time, for I never saw her again, and we started via Paris for Marseilles, and went on board our Steamer on the 28th. Lord and Lady Napier of Ettrick were our fellow-travellers to Madras, and most kind they were. On the 23rd of March, off the Point de Galle, my wife fell ill with high fever, and, ere we reached Calcutta, I thought that it was all over, and that she was gone. My Sister came down to the Steamer, and took her to her well-known home. I followed in a state of great despondency ; however, she pulled through, and on the i6th April we started by train to Allahabad. We passed the 17th in the Resting House of the Darjeeling Junction; the iSth we spent at Arrah, and on the 19th reached the hospitable roof of a dear friend at Mirzapur. I left my wife, and went on to Allahabad to take charge of my new appointment on the 19th, and returned to Mirzapur ; on the 22nd we both settled in our new home at Allahabad, but my wife was weak and poorly, and it was the beginning of the hot season, and I could not possibly obtain leave. How much I wished that I had not returned to India! Of course I delighted in my new duties : it was a proud thing to have been selected to the chief post in the Revenue Department of both the great Provinces of the Panjab and Allahabad, both of which I knew so well. In the Winter EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. 8l month.s I went out into camp, and visited all the Districts of the North-West Provinces. I doubt whether it ever fell to the lot of any public officer to visit all the Districts, and inspect all the work, of every part of the vast Region of North India. I attended the great Durbar on the occasion of the Exhibition at Agra, and I visited Mirat and Dehli once more. My dear wife accompanied me ; she was never strong, and I counted the months for our getting back to England with my term of Service done, but she enjoyed the Camp-Life. We visited Oudh and the ancient city of Ajodhya. I heard with grief of the death of my dear Mother, and of the Mother of my first wife. Asthma began to cling to me : I had felt it first in 185 1 in Kashmi'r : I had inherited it from my Mother. In April, 1867, I settled at Allahabad for the hot weather. Both my wife and I did a good deal of literary work. My attention was also called to the necessity of codifying the Revenue-Laws of my two Provinces, which were now to be found only in Regulations issued from time to time, and as the preparatory step I brought together, in a collective form, all the existing Orders, which had the force of Law, analogous to the Pandects of Justinian, with a view of subsequent legislation. The death of Bishop Cotton of Calcutta by drowning greatly distressed us. I went to the Railway-Station with my wife to shake hands with my old friend and Master, Sir John Lawrence, on his road to Simla. At this season the heat was tremendous, and my wife felt it severely: it was her second Summer in India : I find, however, in my journal of that time, " All seems bright," and " we are very happy." I had a charming colleague, numerous kind neighbours, most excellent medical attendants. I used to lament my want of leisure, for in addition to my heavy official work, my pen was always busy with Poetry and Prose. I had good accounts of my children : they at least were safe, happy, and well. I quite knew, that in the eyes of my friends an additional decade of useful and interesting employment in high Offices of the State was in store for me : "The Revenue Law of North-West Provinces" (1867). " Poems of Many Years and Many Places." " Fifteen Months in India," by E. C. (1867). I I 82 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. I cared not for it ; all ambition was dead in me : only the desire remained to be useful, and employ the talents, which the Lord had given me, for the benefit of my dear people of India. On July 14, 1867, I made my last entry in my Journal in India : I had kept it week by week for nearly twenty-five years since September, 1842. But now something occurred, and I did not take up my pen, or make the next entry in my Journal, until the lapse of a whole year, when I was settled at Eastbourne in England. On July 13 my wife had a shiver, and the evil commenced, which ended in her death on August 10, after a month of careful nursing and most devoted attention on the part of the medical men. On July 15 I was told, that there was no hope for her life, and this proved true. The heat of the weather was intense : I slept at intervals, but was never absent from the sick bed. Cholera was raging in the Station, and many died. On August 10 my wife was delivered prematurely of a little girl, only a seven months child, and shortly afterwards expired. From that moment the world became a blank to me : everything was gone, gone for ever : it was from the Lord. The child was hastily baptized by a Native Clergyman, whom I sent for, by the name of Emma : the poor Mother was placed away in that Cemetery, in which she had so lately walked with me, and which she had described in one of her beautiful sketches, and my grief was poignant, that I had been the cause of a second sweet young woman leaving her home to die in India, only to die : a grave in each of the Capitals of the two great Provinces, at Labor and Allahabad, records my unhappy destiny. A kind lady took charge of the child, and carried it off to her house : our home was dismantled, and everything sold. I took refuge in a room in the house of the kind Chaplain. Days of darkness followed. I visited Agra to see a friend, and found kind sympathy everywhere. I visited my Sister at Calcutta for a few days to make a break in my life, and then came back to my official business, which I transacted with dogged determination. I carried through to comi)lction my Digest of Revenue Law, working alone in a darkened " Fifteen Months in India," by E. C, p. 20 (1867). r.XlLE IN INDIA. NO. III. 83 room, and taking solitary walks morning and evening. It was wonderful, that my strength held out. I used to peep through the garden-fences, and see my happy neighbours, husbands and wives, parents and little children, and I used to ask, why I was thus tortured. The answer came after a lapse of years. All those friends, young and old, have passed away many years ago : after the lapse of thirty-one years I am still in the land of the living, strong and well. My services were required in another field. This friend, who took care of the poor child, and that friend, who came to pack up my property and her property ; those who listened to the words of my deep despair, and tried to rouse me by the dream of worldly ambition : " Some urged him to his duties to return : " Shake off the thought of her, and bravely learn " A hard and stern Philosophy, and try " To look on Good or 111 with equal eye" : all of them have long since passed away, and I still live on, and am thankful to God, that I have been to a certain degree useful. I used to attend on Sundays the Native Church, as I had not the heart to sit in my old seat in the English Church without my wife by my side. On one occasion I had the pleasure of hearing Bishop Milman preach in the Urdu Language, and quite understood him, as did the Native Christians by my side. I impressed this fact recently on Dr. Welldon, the Bishop-Elect of Calcutta, and he promised to make the attempt, which to a scholarly man like him was possible. At the Lord's Table I knelt betwixt two Native Christian women, friends of my wife, and received my last Sacrament in India in the language of the people, whom I loved so much. I had to wait, and work on, until after the lapse of three months the child was fit to move to England. I had to ask permission to resign my appointment with a view of leaving India for ever. Com- plimentary letters were not wanting, and official regrets. I feared madness more than bodily illness or death : my body was strong, but my " Poems of Many Years and Many Places," Series II, p. 148. 84 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. self-control was going. In the solitude of an Indian Bungalow, after the business of the day had been despatched, in my excited state of feelings, and with my overtaxed brain, and excitable temperament, I might be tempted to some rash action. I am still of opinion that I acted well and wisely. Had I stayed on, I should probably have been Secretary to the Government of India, or Member of the Viceregal Council, or Lieutenant-Governor, all of which posts my friends deemed me qualified for, and I should have enjoyed them. Some of my contemporaries had suffered like bereavements, but they were enabled to fill their course. Handles to my name of a temporary character would have come, but they would have been of little value to the member of a noble and hereditary-titled family. If I could have resided nine more months, I should have had a Pension of ;^i,ooo per annum, instead of £4SO. This amounts up to this date to a loss of £iy,ooo on diminished Pension only, and in the large salaries of ;£ 8,000 as Councillor, or ;^ 10,000 as Lieutenant-Governor, there would have been further accumulations. All this I realized then as now, and I lost what to me seemed most important, the priceless opportunity of introducing Reform in our system of Adminis- tration, and conferring benefits on the people of Northern India, whom I loved so well, and advancing with an advancing age. On November 25, 1866, with my poor child, who had thriven wonderfully, and was now three months old, I left Allahabad, and again hid myself in my Sister's kind house. The Medical Board passed my sick leave to England at once, as the only chance for my mental health was entire change of scene. During the sad days betwixt my arrival and departure a letter from an old College-friend came to me, begging me to come over to his house at once, as his wife was dying. I went and found her just passing away, and sat by the side of her distracted husband the whole night. Sorrow as well as Joy unite the whole human race. The day before I started I was implored to look after a poor young girl, who, under the age of 20, was left a widow, and without any resources. She had come out the previous year, and kind friends were sending her home to her parents. I did my best for her : there were other cases of widows, EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. 85 and widowers, on board the Steamer, On December 8 I went on board the Steamer with the child. The Viceroy, Sir J. Lawrence, rode down on horseback, and came on board to shake me by the hand, and bid me Farewell. How I longed to recover my mental strength, and stay to serve him ! I left India for the fifth and last time. Lord and Lady Napier of Ettrick sent me kind letters of condolence, when we reached Madras. Many friends on board helped me in my hopeless despair. On December 31 I landed at Suez, and took rail to Cairo and Alexandria. I knew that my cousin. Colonel Clark-Kennedy, was in Egypt, and presumably at Cairo : I inquired where he was at the moment, and the reply was, that he had died the preceding day at Alexandria. On arrival there I found, that his remains had been sent on board a troopship to be conveyed to England. I visited the room, in which he had died, and I knelt down by the bed, on which he had died, and thanked God, that at least my life had been spared : " Oh let me have Grace to make use of it to the benefit of my fellow-creatures ! " What I feared most was despondent idleness, an impaired intellect, and such a vegetable existence, as is the fate of many. To me Life must be real, must be earnest, if it is to be Life at all. The voyage from Calcutta to Suez had restored me to consciousness of the Past, and a clearer view of the Future, and I felt keenly, that with blasted hopes, ruined fortunes, legitimate ambitions crushed, opportunities of usefulness gone, I was creeping home hke a cur, which had been flogged, or like a soldier, who had been cashiered, with one poor motherless child to add to the four other motherless children already in England. I prayed that I might have strength to get this child safe to her Mother's Home, and see my four elder children once more, and then lie down and die. The struggle had been too much for me. I threw up the sponge, and gave in, and could strive no more, I readied Southampton on January 17, 1867, the third anniversary of the death of my first wife, handed the poor child in excellent health over to her Mother's Sister, and then hurried to Mickleham, saw my children, and shut myself in the little inn near the Cottage which they occupied, "The two Indian Ships " : Linguistic and Oriental Essays, Scries V, p. 225. 86 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. and secluded m}^self from the Society of my Fellows, as I could not tolerate the iteration of a second outpour of condolences, real or con- ventional. At the age of 47 I had the alternative of dying, or carving out a new life in a new environment. The idea of the vegetable existence of the old Indian at his Club to me seemed intolerable. General Remarks at Close of my Indian Career, December, 1867. I dedicated one of my published volumes on Indian Subjects as follows : — " Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento, Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos." To all those, Who have an Interest in The Art of Governing Subject-Races, Who have Hearts to love them. And Sympathies wide enough to care for their Best Interests, Moral, Material, and Spiritual, These Pages Are Dedicated. A quarter of a century in power in India teaches us to reject crude fads of ignorant philanthropists in Europe, such as (i) Anti-Opium-Trade, (2) Anti-Liquor-Trafific, (3) Anti-Cantonment- Arrangements, (4) Anti-Early Marriages of Natives ; And others ; EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. 8/ and at the same time it creates a great interest in, and love for, the people, a determination, that they shall have the same Courts of Justice and the same Law as the European intruder, that they shall have Free Labour, Free Press, Free Right of Assembly, Free Religion, and Equality in Courts of Justice. On the other hand, there must be no tribal Caste-Law in the Ferries, the Roads, the Railways, the Hospitals, the Gaols, or the Courts of Justice. We must be met in the same spirit. Natives of India cannot expect the same salaries as Europeans : they are in their own country, climate, and homes, and their expenses are less. A residence in Great Britain of thirty years after India clears the intellect, and enfranchises the judgment. We think with pity on the philosophy or train of thought, engendered in the prolonged silence of the Indian Civil Station, and the absence of all exterior intercourse in the solitary Indian Camp ; the blank years of hateful routine, with no breath of intellectual air from the outside, no germ of new ideas, the result of contact with enlightened contemporaries. The compilation of an Essay on some particular branch of the subject, the dashing off of a Poem during the morning ride, a dip into the European or Indian Classics, help to keep alive the divine flame, which in many is crushed out by solitude, or official detail, or possibly never came into existence. Forty years ago I thought deeply, and I think deeply still. In 1857, just before the Mutinies broke out, and I was ordered back to India, I was then " in mezzo camnino della nostra vita," as Dante Alighieri tells us in the first line of his immortal Poem "II Inferno," and I wrote the following paper, and I kept to it to the end, though that end was premature, and the column of my career stands without its capital. 88 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. RESOLUTIONS AND MAXIMS, For the Guidance of a Public Officer in British India, recorded in england just before the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny in 1857, and acted upon until Service ENDED IN 1867. A, Resolutions. If I am to do anything in this world, if my faculties were given me for any purpose of benefit to my fellow-creatures ; if the studies, and experiences, of the last fifteen years in India, if the acquired knowledge of ten languages, and a wide reading of Literature of all ages and countries, are to be of any practical good, now is the time. During the next decade, what is to be done by me must be done. Let me consider calmly what ought to be done : 1. Professionally, as a Member of the Civil Service in India. 2. Intellectually, as a man of capacity and attainments. 3. Spiritually, as one, who seeks for the Truth, as a humble sinner before God. Subjects belonging to these three heads are constantly before me : night and day I reflect on what I can do for the People of India : what employment I can give to the talents entrusted to my charge, what road I can find to the Truth, the great Truth, of the relation of the Soul to God. I. I will, if possible, cause the Judicial Courts in India to be more respected, and more worthy of respect : they shall be no longer dilator}-, uncertain, expensive, shackled by vain forms, and odious and ruinous to the poor people. I will expose their shortcomings, suggest reforms, EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. 89 introduce ideas from the British and French systems, and secure, that after seven years of joint service the Judicial Officers should be absolutely separated from the Executive, and legal Colleges founded for the training of Native Judges, and a Native Bar. I must watch the proceedings of the Legislative Council of India, read their reports, weigh well every Bill affecting any Province, remembering, that this is the best training to fit me hereafter for the post of a member of that Council, should it fall to my lot. I must urge the improvement of our Criminal Law, and the reformation of our Gaols. I trust to see the day, when there will be not a Prisoner seen outside the Gaol. I will never cease to urge a com- plete separation of the House of Detention of persons under trial from the prison of those who are convicted. I must urge the examination of the fitness of all Servants of the State, European or Native. I will strive to curb the Demon of Patronage and Nepotism. I trust to see the day, when the State-College will be the only door to Public Service. I trust to see the evil habit of prolix writing reduced, and the abominable mode of recording evidence, now in vogue, done away with. I hope to see more dignity in Office on the part of the presiding Officer. 2. Intellectually, I have much to do both in reading and writing : subjects crowd in my brain, and fill up my notebooks : lives of great Indians for a Vernacular series : a succession of descriptive pictures of the duties of each grade of Public Officers, with the object of inspiring the holders of Office with nobler feelings, a greater love for the people, and a juster appreciation of their position as Rulers for good or ill. Judges of Life or Death, vested with the power of being an angel of Wisdom and Goodness, or a Demon of Ignorance, Stupidity, and Malignity. I wish to read more of the ancient Literature of India, both in its original and translation, to read more of Jurisprudence and Law. I wish to be on a level with all the vast subjects discussed daily, to join in the strife of brave and earnest men battling for the advance of the interests of Man- kind, and floating on the foremost wave of the stream of legitimate Reform. 12 go EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. " Let nothing exi.st," say I, " which cannot justify its existence, and no person be allowed to live, who does not do something daily for the benefit, physical, moral, or spiritual, of his fellow-creatures." 3. Spiritually, I must constantly read, mark, and learn : watch the great course of events, the customs, and modes of thought, of Nations, the maxims inculcated in the Religious Books of all Nations, ponder on the opinions of all, avoid all dogmatic assertions, get out of the prison of the stupid conservatism of this Century, sweep away all fogs of European mediaeval and patriotic tradition, try to grasp the whole of the Almighty Plan, the story of His dealings with the whole of His poor Children, for all of whom His Son died on the Cross, not for the poor unit alone, the mere cypher, the tiny Church, to which we happen by the mere chance of our parentage to belong, a mere fraction of divided Christianity. The whole term of life is not long enough for this consideration, and, if the whole business of life were centred in it, Life would not be thrown away. For why are we here for a brief period ? How came we here ? What should we do here? Where after life's short passage do we go, and what is Hereafter ? These are the questions. B. Maxims. 1. Take a general view of every subject, and consider how far it will affect the interests of others as well as your own. 2. Avoid even the appearance of prejudice : have before your e}'es the emptiness of personal squabbles. Measures, not men : it is never worth the while of a clever and earnest man to quarrel : it wastes time and ruffles temper, and disturbs the smooth lake-like placidity of the intellect. 3. Write as briefly as possible : strike out every extra word, or superfluous sentence, if you wish your writings to be read. The reports of special correspondents, and tiic Leaders of the best Newspapers, EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. 9 1 show you the errors, which you should strive to avoid, Egoism, Mannerism, Prejudice. 4. Never use uncommon, or foreign, or uncourteous, or sarcastic words : never give even the chance of being charged with dupHcity. 5. Never despatch a letter of reproof to a Subordinate, or a reply to a reproof of your Superior, until one night has elapsed after receipt of their letter. Consult your pillow. 6. If misinterpreted, reflect on the abuse and defamation, which every public man undergoes in Great Britain : let your character be known by the general tenour of the whole course of your actions, and writings. No one would believe a charge of injustice brought against Aristides, or of immodesty against a Vestal Virgin. Consider also that, if the world knew the secrets of your life, as well as you know them yourself, how would you escape. 7. Never under any circumstance apply for any Office, any Reward, or any Honour, and never decline any Office tendered to you personally by the Government. 8. Profit by the censure of others on your acts, and writings, if their knowledge of the facts compel you to admit, that they are qualified to form a judgment: pass quietly over the censure of the unqualified, but still reflect, whether you deserved it, or not, and take a hint for future guidance. 9. Nothing can be done without system and order, but do not let your routine degenerate into red-tape : your system represents the means, and not the object : do not let the spirit of what has to be done degenerate into formalities : avoid delay ; " bis dat qui cito dat " : dispose of every- thing at once : never let arrears accumulate : never touch up matters disposed of, and chew useless cuds : marshal your business, so as to dispose first of what is most urgent: do not let one tedious train of thought block your official Railway : get rid of all your light business, so as to clear your table. "Mens a mensa noscitur": an orderly mind has an orderly business-table, and the pigeonholes of the writing-desk help the pigeonlioles of the brain. 92 EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. 10. Steer the middle course between ultra-liberalism and stupid conservatism : do not assert that because a thing is, therefore it must be wrong : on the other hand, do not acquiesce in a thing remaining, unless sufficient reason can be shown for allowing it to remain. 11. Do not stick to your opinions for consistency's sake: the world is a stage, on which the scenes are always shifting : the basement of ever- lasting Truth remains : the environment from time to time is altered : the wisest live and learn : but before you change, see that you get no personal advantage from the change, for then you are selling yourself, and that your change is not sudden, and groundless, for then }^ou act like a poor fool. Sometimes, for no reasons, that are other than subjective, a man shifts his moorings, if he is a mere speculator, or his bearings, if he is active as well as observant. But sometimes an able man goes through life with an intellectual consistency as steadfast as his moral consistency ; widening, deepening, enlarging, modifying, adapting himself to new conditions, in perfect harmony with the main principles, upon which he started. His is the happiest lot in life ; the primal blessing of the Bible is upon him ; for he not only is not barren or unfruitful, but he brings forth fruit after his kind. 12. Keep clear of all intrigues : let your conduct be so clean and clear, that you would not care to let every letter, public or private, be read by your greatest enemy, and so act as to be perfectly indifferent to espionage. 1 3. But why have an enemy, public or private ? You cannot prevent others from hating you, but you can prevent yourself from hating them ; if you cannot agree, keep clear of each other. Dislike of another is oftener a result of our injuring him than of his injuring us. It is easier to forgive, or to forget, in the case of one, who has wronged us, tlian to forgive ourselves, or to forget the fact, when we have wronged our fellow. If we would probe deep enough into the cause of our dislike of one, whom we dislike, we should generally find ourselves and our ungenerous conduct, at the bottom of it. 14. Jealousy is an ignoble weakness : take a wider view of the whole EXILE IN INDIA. NO. III. 93 system ; there is room for all : all have separate gifts, and Chance very much guides the disposal of appointments, and opportunities of distinction. Some flower early, some late. Remember Mettcrnich's remark, " Le moins decoree, le plus distingucc." 15. In dealing with your subordinates give them the fullest credit for what they do, and do not swallow up their merit : it is a drop to you : it may be the germ of future greatness to them : be regular, indulgent, free from spite, conciliatory, courteous : mark their characters : encourage the lethargic, restrain the over-zealous, support the timid : be it your constant pleasure to develop talent in others, remembering how much you owe to the illustrious men, who trained and fashioned you : never damp youthful energy, nor damn with faint praise. 16. Every letter deserves an answer ; if possible, by next day's post. Every visit deserves a return-visit : the more inferior the social position, the more necessary the attention both of letter and visit. 17. Temperate opposition, and temperate criticism, are the greatest safeguards of a public officer : how much cause for regret you would have, if all your crude ideas had at once been carried out ! But give intelligent reasons for dissent, couched in courteous language, so that if the matter be handed up to the highest authority, the motive of your judgment will be appreciated. Treat contemptuous attacks as contemptible with the scorn of scorn : ovTQ)