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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1869' [‎315r] (640/788)

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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1869'
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Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/CA9

The record is made up of 1 volume (388 folios). It was created in Dec 1868-Dec 1869. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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With regard to the Cavalry and Infantry of the Bengal Presi
dency, we cannot, after very mature deliberation, recommend any re
duction of rank and file ; but, as we proposed with respect to British
regiments, we would also desire to reduce Native corps in Bengal,
making up the total number of rank and file by additions to existing
regiments. The Army of the Bengal Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. has to guard a most
extended frontier, on which active operations are constantly requisite.
Since the entire suppression of the Mutiny in 1859, there have been
campaigns in Sikhim, in the Cossyah and Jynteah Hills, in Bhootan,
and several on the North-West Frontier Region of British India bordering Afghanistan. , three of which latter were of
a very large character, and two, viz., that against the Wuzeerees in
1860, and that to Umbeylah in 1863, attended with heavy casualties
in action, while the Bhootan war was a very prolonged campaign, and
attended with much mortality from sickness. We are constantly liable
to such calls on our troops in Bengal, and are sometimes in much
difficulty for want of more Native soldiers, as was the case during the
Hazara campaign of last year. Nor is Bengal at all exempt from calls
for foreign service. All the Native Cavalry and Infantry that landed
at the Taku Forts and advanced to Pekin in 1860 were furnished from
Bengal, while four regiments proceeded to Abyssinia in 1868. We
do not propose to retain troops of the Madras Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. in the
Saugor Command or in Dorundah, in Bengal. We find by experience
that to bring these troops out of their own Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. is attended
with the greatest expense and inconvenience. Indeed, if we had
accurately before us the cost of bringing Madras regiments, with their
numerous male and female adult and infant followers, from Madras by
sea to Calcutta, and then by rail to their stations, or the neigh
bourhood of their stations, the total expense on this head last year
would be shown to be enormous. We therefore propose that the
Bengal Army should take all the stations included within its present
divisional and district limits as they stand; but that one regiment of
Cavalry and four of Infantry shall be reduced, a corresponding addition
being made to the rank and file of the remaining regiments,—not
necessarily divided equally among them, for we might be disposed
to make certain special corps, and particularly those of Pioneers,
stronger than others. The result of the reductions in the Native
Cavalry and Infantry of the Bengal Army, however, would cause an
eventual saving of about 27,200/.
In Madras, a considerable saving may be effected. The Presi
dency itself contains no elements of serious disturbance, and it has no
frontier, while the peculiarities of the Madras Army render their em
ployment out of their Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. , as already shown, a matter of
considerable inconvenience and expense. As a regiment of Madras
Cavalry would be dispensed with from Bengal, we would make a
reduction of one corps, and form the remaining three into two—a
force which would be amply sufficient for the only three stations to be
11100. 9 E

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Content

Confidential printed abstracts of letters received by the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. from the Government of India, and from senior officials in certain areas outside India, during the year 1869. The letters are dated December 1868-December 1869. The abstracts each have one of the following titles:

  • Abstracts of Letters received from India
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Aden
  • Abstracts of Military Letters received from India
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar and Aden
  • Abstracts of Secret Letters received from India
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire [Bushehr]
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Muscat and Aden
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Muscat
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire and Aden
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar and Muscat
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire, Muscat and Aden
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar and Bushire.

Each abstract contains summaries of one or more letters from the specified source, each with a title giving the subject of the letter. Letters from India are divided within each abstract by the branch or department of the Government of India they originated from. The correspondence covers issues including:

  • Pay, pensions, recruitment, and other personnel issues in the Indian Civil and Military establishments
  • Revenue, expenditure, and taxation
  • Food shortages
  • Public works, including railways, roads, irrigation, and harbours
  • Banking and finance
  • Telegraphy
  • Cholera outbreaks
  • Issues concerning Princely States, including: allowances; debt; succession; internal administration; and the slave trade in Kutch
  • Legal issues, including the question of British jurisdiction in occupied Bassadore [Basa’idu] arising from the case of a murder committed by a British subject
  • Land issues, including the cultivation of cash crops such as cinchona, indigo, and tea, and the sale of ‘waste lands’
  • Issues around emigration from India to British and French colonies
  • Military affairs, including the reorganisation, accommodation, and supply of military units
  • Frontier policy and relations with tribes on the Northwest and Northeast Frontiers; in particular frontier raids and retaliatory expeditions, including the destruction and pillage by British forces of Shahtoot [Shahtut] village on the Northwest Frontier
  • The Russian advance in Central Asia; related discussions around British policy in the Northwest Frontier, Cabul [Kabul], and Persia [Iran]; and restrictions on trade from India to Central Asia
  • Communications and trade with Ladakh and Cashmere [Kashmir] and on to Central Asia
  • Affairs in Affghanistan [Afghanistan], including challenges to the rule of the Ameer Shere Ali [Amīr Shīr ‘Alī Khān], internal reforms, a meeting between the Ameer Shere Ali and the Viceroy of India in Umballa [Ambala], and the presence of rival Sirdars Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. [Sardārs, noblemen] in India
  • Affairs in and around Aden Settlement, including: relations with neighbouring polities, including Lahej [Laḥij Sultanate], Fodthlee [Faḍlī Sultanate], Houshebi [Ḥawshabī Sultanate], and Maculla [Mukalla]; water supply to Aden; the purchase of Little Aden; and attempted French inroads in the area
  • Civil conflict in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, in particular the capture of Muscat by Azan-bin-Ghes Azzān bin Qays Āl Bū Sa‘īd], the consolidation of and challenges to the rule of Azan-bin-Ghes; the effect of the change in regime on the lease of Bunder Abbas [Bandar-e ‘Abbas]; a conflict between Muscat and the Wahabees [Waḥabī movement] at Bereymee [Al Buraymi]; and debates around British policy in the country
  • Affairs in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , including an attack by Shargah [Sharjah] on Rasul-Khyma [Ra’s al-Khaymah] and civil conflict in Bahrein [Bahrain]
  • Relations with Persia, including: Persian objections to British actions in Bahrein; trade restrictions in the Gulf ports; frontier disputes around Khelat [Kalat], Seistan [Sistan], and Mekran [Makran] and the need to determine the eastern border of Persia; and the opium trade between Persia and China
  • Affairs in Zanzibar, including: the slave trade; the issue of subsidy payments to Muscat; and the Sultan of Zanzibar’s reaction to events in Muscat
  • Affairs in East Africa, including the proposed occupation of Asab [Assab] Bay, French activity on Mohilla [Mohéli], affairs in Abbysinia [Ethiopia], and relations with Somali tribes
  • Affairs in Burmah [Burma/Myanmar], Siam [Thailand], Nipal [Nepal], and Bhootan [Bhutan]
  • The annexation of the Nicobar Islands.

The primary correspondents are:

Extent and format
1 volume (388 folios)
Arrangement

The abstracts are arranged in roughly chronological order. A detailed index of subjects, places and people mentioned in the correspondence is included on folios 375-386.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 388; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers.

Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1869' [‎315r] (640/788), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/CA9, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100176432874.0x000070> [accessed 4 October 2024]

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Reference
IOR/L/PS/20/CA9
Title
'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1869'
Pages
front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 1r:47v, 47ar:47av, 48r:77v, 78ar:78av, 78r:365v, 367r:388v, back-i
Author
East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
Usage terms
Open Government Licence