The Press.
London, England, 1858-08-28 00:00:00

Colittral.

PENSION TO SIR J. LAWRENCE.
ON Wednesday a special general Court of Proprie-
tors of the East India Company was held at the
India•bouse, for the purpose of laying before them
for their approbation a resolution passed unani-
mously by the Court of Directors, granting an
annuity of 2,0001. to Sir John Mair Lawrence, Bart.,
G.C.8.; Sir Currie, chairman of the Court of
Directors, presided.
The CHAIRMAN having stated the object of the
meeting,and the vote of directors, staling the grounds

on which the annuity was granted, having been read,
proceeded to move that a resolution in accordance
therewith should bo agreed to. His acquaintance
with Sir John Lawrence commenced in 1845,
when he (the chairman) was Judge of the
Sudder Court at Allahabad, and he had oppor-
tunities of knowing how fully he was acquainted
with his duties, and how great were his intel-
ligence and the soundness of his views. He
(the chairman) had the satisfaction of introducing
Sir John Lawrence to Lord Hardinge. Occurrences
took place which caused Sir Henry Lawrence (the
brother of Sir John) to take the place of Major
Broadfoot, who was killed at Ferozeshah. Shortly
after that, the operations led the army across the
Sutlej to Lahore, and it was necessary that an officer
of experience and ability should be appointed com-
missioner of the Jullunder Doab, Lord Hardinge
having decided on rocupying that territory after the
battle of Sobraon. lie (the chairman) had no hesi-
tation in pointing out Sir John Lawrence as the best
man. Mr. Thomason was reluctant to part with
him. Lord ilardinge, however, was satisfied that he
was the man, and required that he should be placed
at his disposal. As soon as the cession of the terri-
tory was made, Sir John Lawrence was appointed
commissioner of the Jullunder Doab, and remained
there for a year during the occupation of Lahore by
the British army in 1840. Sir Henry Lawrence
having accepted the government of the Punjaub,
and holding Lahore in the name of the British Go-
vernment, his health failed, and Sir John Lawrence
was called in to assist his brother, and when the
rebellion against the Sikh Government broke out in
Cashmere, and the governor of that territory refused
to make it over to the officer sent for that purpose,
Sir Henry Lawrence went with an army to enforce
that object, and Sir John Lawrence was left at La-
bore as the representative of the Government. It
was while he was there that he discovered the
treachery of the Rajah Lall Singh, and that he
was acting in conjunction with the Governor of
Cashmere. Sir John Lawrence gave information to
the Government, cn which Lord Hardinge acted,
and he (the chairman) was sent to Lahore to
bring Lull Singh to trial with the other parties
who resisted the treaty. Sir John Lawrence assisted
him (the chairman) and Sir Henry Lawrence in the
trial of Lall Singh, who was found guilty, and
deported from the country. Sir John Lawrence gave
his advice, when it was determined by the British
Government to bold the Punjaub till the Maharajah
Duleep Singh came of age, and Sir John Lawrence
organized the settlement f the territory and con-
tinned to rule it amidst the blessings of the people,
and the government of the Punjaub had been most
successfully administered by him during its occupa-
tion by British power. Events followed which it was
not necessary to detail, which ended in the annexa-
tion of the Punjaub as British territory, and Lord
Dalhousie selected Sir John Lawrence, who was
appointed with his brother and Mr. Mansell, as
commissioners, to carry on the administration of
British rule in the Punjaub. After some time Sir
Henry Lawrence was removed to another territory,
and Sir John Lawrence became chief commissioner
of the Punjaub. How he conducted the affairs of that
country—how he founded an administration which
was eminently successful—all Europe knew, and its
details were to be found in reports which were in the
hands of the proprietors. He was carrying on this
administration with success when the mutiny of the
native army broke out at Meerut. What be did
when the electric telegraph brought the intelligence
to Lahore was as well known to the proprietors and
the British public as to the Court of Directors. They
had few official reports, and they were meagre as
compared with the letters which had appeared in the
newspapers. It was unnecessary to enter into a
detail of what Sir John Lawrence's conduct in the
Punjaub had been, but the success of the energetic
measures he took were known to the proprietors and
patent to all Europe, while Sir John Lawrence had
been very properly designated " the Saviour of
India." Nor did he (the chairman) think that too
strong a term, for it was impossible to calculate the
value to India of the
peaceable stste of the Punjaub,
which enabled Sir John Lawrence to put the whole
force of that territory "at the disposal of the
officers engaged in hostilities, and which bad led
t 9 mph Suez
essful operations all over

832

dostan. The fall of Delhi was the first break
in the chain of the mutiny, and that was mainly attri.
Imitable to the admirable management of Sir John
Lawrence ; the troops. munitions of war, and money
which he sent, enabled the British commanders to
carry on these operations which were crowned with
success. If there was any fault in Sir John Law-
rence it was that he was too eager, and pressed
matters on more than was palatable to the military
officers charged with the operations. He saw that
the allegiance of the Punjaub and the maintenance
of his own frontier depended on the fall of Delhi,
and he pressed as much as he could that an attack
should be made upon it. He (the chairman) had
mentioned this because it was said that Sir John
Lawrence was averse to an attack on Delhi when it
was made, and counselled that it should not take
place at the time it did. All the papers the directors
had seen tended to show just the contrary ; that he
urged the attack to be made at a time, perhaps too
soon ; but he never said that the place ought not to
be attacked. On the contrary, when September
arrived, he expressed great apprehensions for the
tranquillity of his own district, and said that the early
fall of Delhi was absolutely necessary to that tran-
quillity. It was not necessary to say more of the
conduct of Sir John Lawrence from the time of the
mutiny until the present time. He asked the court
to confirm the resolution of the directors, that a pen-
sion of 2,0001. a year be granted to Sir John Law-
rence from the time he resigned the Company's set•
vice. It was necessary to say at what time the
pension should commence, because by Act of
Parliament no governor•;;eneral or member of
council who received 10,0001. from the East India
Company could receive a pension. Therefore, Sir
John Lawrence could not receive his until he left the
service. The chairman then put the motion amidst
loud cheers.

Mr. EASTWICK, the deputy•chairman, seconded the
motion, and expressed his surprise that there had
been no earlier recognition of Sir John Lawrence's
services—the man who had saved India.

Mr. CRAWSHAY then rose to move an amendment.
He said that, in spite of the humiliation which had
been recently inflicted on this great company, he was
not prepared for such an exhibition of degeneracy as
had been displayed in the two speeches they had just
heard. He was glad of the opportunity of this dis-
cussion, and he was surprised at the revelations he
had heard made. He knew that there was a party
in this country which was seeking to make Sir John
Lawrence Governor-General of Indio. It was not

thcugbt enough to give him 10,0001. a year, but it
was also desired that he might be made a peer. He
was not, howaver, aware until now that the directors
were acting in this matter in collusion with the
Times. It was a most important question to consider
what were the claims of Sir John Lawrence. The
chairman said that he was the man who had saved
India. He could join issue on that point. He felt
no pain in opposing the grant of this pension, as he
had done on former occasions, because he had charges
to make against Sir John Lawrence which went to
impeach his conduct, and to leave it to the Court of
Proprietors to say whether or not they would suspend
this question. He charged Sir John Lawrence with
acts which were in disobedience to the orders of the
Company. The hon. gentleman then read the order
of the Court of Directors in 1847, maintaining the
principle of abstaining from all interference with the
religion of the natives of India by the officers of the
Company, civil or military, even:initheir private capa-
cities. He then pnaluced a document which he
stated he took from the Times newspaper, which was
entitled " The Punjaub Circular," and which was re-
ferred to Sir George Clerk in a memorandum re-
cently published. That circular was published
during the mutiny, and was signed by Mr. Mont-
iromery. He read extracts from it, to the effect
" that the troubles then taking place in India would
end in Glory to God, and that the followers of Christ
would be induced to come forwatd to advance his
kingdom; that the system of caste would not be per-
mitted to prevail in our service; that the native
Christians who bad been hitherto set aside must be
more t mployed by the Government. There must be
a change, and those who were competent must be
employed by the Government." The population of
the Punjaub was twelve millions, and as the whole
number of native Christians in India was only one
hundred thousand, there would be only a few hun-
dreds in the Penjattb, and there was no wonder that
few of them were employed. He asked the chairman
whether there wer- any orders given by the Com-
pany not to employ native Christians in the Punjaub.
The circular from which he was quoting went on to
say that it would be desirable to secure judicial
appointments for the native Christians, and endea-
vours must be made to promote them in preferenee
to Hindoos and Maliotnedans, and that lie would be
obliged to each missionary if he would furnish hint
with a list of native Christians in his (opinion tit fur
the public service. D. contained also instructions to
the missionaries how to act. He then proceeded to
urge that thia fili4 a &grant 'mulattos cf the orders