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Selections from Despatches to the Government of India
Selections from Despatches to the Government of India
Secretary of State for India in Council, 1858-1936
It was the Indian Mutiny of 1857-8 which finally brought about the abolition of the East India Company whose history went back to 1600. There was a widespread feeling that the Company’s weak administration had contributed to the disaster and in any event a company should not be administering a British overseas territory even if, since the creation of the Board of Control in 1784, it had been subject to government regulation for more than seventy years. So under the Government of India Act of 1858 a proper ministerial office was instituted known as the Secretary of State for India in Council. The new office was established on 1 September 1858 and the despatches in these fiches are from that date. They cover the “high noon” of British rule in India as well as the start of its decline.
Significance of Despatches
By 1858 the despatch had already come to have an important and clearly established role. It was the most formal means of communication between London and its governments in India. There were other forms of contact, such as letters both official and private, but these did not have the authority of despatches. Despatches were used for a wide range of purposes. They sought or provided information; they could ask for advice; most importantly they laid down and explained the British government’s policies, big and small, over the whole area of its administration.
Drafting of Despatches
It had been hoped that the 1858 Act would simplify the elaborate arrangements which had grown up for considering despatches in London before they were sent to India. Basically under the old system a draft was prepared by an official in the relevant department of the Company who agreed it with the Heads of his appropriate committee. Upon agreement it was then sent to the Board of Control for informal consideration and was known at this stage as a ‘Previous Communication’. (This procedure allowed unlimited time for consideration.) If the Board agreed the draft, it could then be submitted officially and approved within a timetable which was strictly laid down by the Acts. The despatch was then sent to India.
In fact the system after 1858 closely resembled the earlier procedures with the India Council taking on something of the character of the old Board of Control. Under rules laid down in 1859 by Sir Charles Wood, the second Secretary of State, drafts of despatches were prepared by Departmental Secretaries under Ministerial directions and were then seen by the Minister before being subjected to further office consideration. At this point they were forwarded to the Council. The old system of “Previous Communication” had been abolished but nonetheless the new Council sometimes caused an interminable waste of time in its deliberations. It should be noted that the Secretary of State was not required to take certain urgent or secret matters to the Council.
The Prints
There had been no previous printed Selections from Despatches and so the present series is the first of its kind. However the Foreign Office Confidential Print dates from 1829 and the Colonial Office Prints began in the 1860s although a Print as early as 1826 exists. Clearly at this time officials in Whitehall were beginning to find it convenient to have a record of each year’s important despatches available in printed form. It should be stressed there are two important differences between the India Office Prints and those of the other departments. The India Office despatches are out despatches only. London appears to have made no print of the related incoming despatches and letters. Secondly, although the selected despatches are of considerable historical significance, they do not include items covering the highest and most sensitive levels of policy.
The Volumes and their Contents
The Selections from Despatches series is 79 (in 112) volumes with a further three index volumes placed at the end. These index volumes cover the years 1858-1897. After that indexes are included in the individual volumes. In the series there is one volume a year between 1858-9 and 1883; two volumes a year between 1884 and 1921; and one volume a year again between 1922 and 1933. The years 1934 to 1936 are covered in the final volume. The Print reproduces 489 despatches for 1860; 375 for 1900; 177 for 1919; while there are 22 for 1931. The marked decline in number after 1919 represents a change which had overtaken the despatch. It had become reserved for rather specialised use having finally been replaced by the telegram and the official letter. In addition the 1919 Montagu-Chelmsford constitutional reforms cut down the amount of paper sent home.
Throughout the series the despatches are grouped in a fairly standard way in each volume by departments, namely: Financial; Revenue; Judicial and Public (a term meaning roughly home affairs within British India); Political (a term meaning relations with the Princely States and foreign governments); Military; Public Works; and Railway. Within each department the despatches are further sub-divided by recipient government: India (Bengal), Madras or Bombay. A particularly valuable feature of this series is that enclosures to despatches are frequently included in the Print. This provides a great deal of background correspondence relating to matters under discussion.
Scope of the Despatches
The series covers a very wide subject area. There is material here of great value to historians (political, diplomatic, economic and military); to sociologists, economists and students of antiquities. Early environmental issues are addressed as are questions of animal husbandry, botany and forestry. Above all the despatches show the full panoply of the Raj. On one occasion the Secretary of State complains of the costs incurred in transporting six Arab horses given to Queen Victoria by the Sultan of Muscat (Political no. 87 of 1886); on another he agrees to accept the Mir of Khairpur’s offer to raise and maintain a baggage camel corps in the imperial interest (Political no. 80 of 1905); while in 1911 he conveys to the Treasury, without any hesitation, the news that King George V’s coronation visit to India will cost the Government of India £940,000 (Financial no. 78).
Lionel Carter, Former Librarian, Cambridge University’s South Asia Centre
Secretary of State for India in Council, 1858-1936
It was the Indian Mutiny of 1857-8 which finally brought about the abolition of the East India Company whose history went back to 1600. There was a widespread feeling that the Company’s weak administration had contributed to the disaster and in any event a company should not be administering a British overseas territory even if, since the creation of the Board of Control in 1784, it had been subject to government regulation for more than seventy years. So under the Government of India Act of 1858 a proper ministerial office was instituted known as the Secretary of State for India in Council. The new office was established on 1 September 1858 and the despatches in these fiches are from that date. They cover the “high noon” of British rule in India as well as the start of its decline.
Significance of Despatches
By 1858 the despatch had already come to have an important and clearly established role. It was the most formal means of communication between London and its governments in India. There were other forms of contact, such as letters both official and private, but these did not have the authority of despatches. Despatches were used for a wide range of purposes. They sought or provided information; they could ask for advice; most importantly they laid down and explained the British government’s policies, big and small, over the whole area of its administration.
Drafting of Despatches
It had been hoped that the 1858 Act would simplify the elaborate arrangements which had grown up for considering despatches in London before they were sent to India. Basically under the old system a draft was prepared by an official in the relevant department of the Company who agreed it with the Heads of his appropriate committee. Upon agreement it was then sent to the Board of Control for informal consideration and was known at this stage as a ‘Previous Communication’. (This procedure allowed unlimited time for consideration.) If the Board agreed the draft, it could then be submitted officially and approved within a timetable which was strictly laid down by the Acts. The despatch was then sent to India.
In fact the system after 1858 closely resembled the earlier procedures with the India Council taking on something of the character of the old Board of Control. Under rules laid down in 1859 by Sir Charles Wood, the second Secretary of State, drafts of despatches were prepared by Departmental Secretaries under Ministerial directions and were then seen by the Minister before being subjected to further office consideration. At this point they were forwarded to the Council. The old system of “Previous Communication” had been abolished but nonetheless the new Council sometimes caused an interminable waste of time in its deliberations. It should be noted that the Secretary of State was not required to take certain urgent or secret matters to the Council.
The Prints
There had been no previous printed Selections from Despatches and so the present series is the first of its kind. However the Foreign Office Confidential Print dates from 1829 and the Colonial Office Prints began in the 1860s although a Print as early as 1826 exists. Clearly at this time officials in Whitehall were beginning to find it convenient to have a record of each year’s important despatches available in printed form. It should be stressed there are two important differences between the India Office Prints and those of the other departments. The India Office despatches are out despatches only. London appears to have made no print of the related incoming despatches and letters. Secondly, although the selected despatches are of considerable historical significance, they do not include items covering the highest and most sensitive levels of policy.
The Volumes and their Contents
The Selections from Despatches series is 79 (in 112) volumes with a further three index volumes placed at the end. These index volumes cover the years 1858-1897. After that indexes are included in the individual volumes. In the series there is one volume a year between 1858-9 and 1883; two volumes a year between 1884 and 1921; and one volume a year again between 1922 and 1933. The years 1934 to 1936 are covered in the final volume. The Print reproduces 489 despatches for 1860; 375 for 1900; 177 for 1919; while there are 22 for 1931. The marked decline in number after 1919 represents a change which had overtaken the despatch. It had become reserved for rather specialised use having finally been replaced by the telegram and the official letter. In addition the 1919 Montagu-Chelmsford constitutional reforms cut down the amount of paper sent home.
Throughout the series the despatches are grouped in a fairly standard way in each volume by departments, namely: Financial; Revenue; Judicial and Public (a term meaning roughly home affairs within British India); Political (a term meaning relations with the Princely States and foreign governments); Military; Public Works; and Railway. Within each department the despatches are further sub-divided by recipient government: India (Bengal), Madras or Bombay. A particularly valuable feature of this series is that enclosures to despatches are frequently included in the Print. This provides a great deal of background correspondence relating to matters under discussion.
Scope of the Despatches
The series covers a very wide subject area. There is material here of great value to historians (political, diplomatic, economic and military); to sociologists, economists and students of antiquities. Early environmental issues are addressed as are questions of animal husbandry, botany and forestry. Above all the despatches show the full panoply of the Raj. On one occasion the Secretary of State complains of the costs incurred in transporting six Arab horses given to Queen Victoria by the Sultan of Muscat (Political no. 87 of 1886); on another he agrees to accept the Mir of Khairpur’s offer to raise and maintain a baggage camel corps in the imperial interest (Political no. 80 of 1905); while in 1911 he conveys to the Treasury, without any hesitation, the news that King George V’s coronation visit to India will cost the Government of India £940,000 (Financial no. 78).
Lionel Carter, Former Librarian, Cambridge University’s South Asia Centre