Was the Raj rebuilt and on what foundations?

As is known the East India Company was swept away and replaced by direct rule from Westminster.

This involved a change of name but did it involve a change of function and outlook?

The Governor-General became the Viceroy, for example, and the President of the Board of Control was turned into the Secretary of State for India.

Lords Canning and Stanley held both positions before and after 1857.

It is F.G. Hutchins' hypothesis that the Mutiny provided a rationalisation for change but did not cause it.

What he detected are a number of mood, rather than policy, shifts in British attitudes to the governance of India: a desire for permanence; a sense of distrust; and a different approach to improvement.

Does this model of explanation account for the kind of 'reconstruction' that took place in the period 1858-1870?

Could in fact the architects of the new raj learn any positive lessons from the Mutiny unless its causes were agreed upon?

Synoptic Lecture Notes

LECTURE 5:

THE 'VICTORIAN' RECONSTRUCTION OF THE RAJ [1858-70]

Hindu priests bless regimental Colours From: India Office Library

Introduction

* Was Mutiny the great turning point in history of British India?

F.G. Hutchins [The Illusion of Permanence] says NO!

His argument - since no agreement about causes in Post Mortem of Mutiny

- it follows there could be no agreement about remedies

There were simply too many pathologist's reports; so in so far as there were changes, they were not so much changes of policy as changes in attitudes.

Hutchins identifies three new, post-mutiny moods :

a) A DESIRE FOR PERMANENCE

b) A SENSE OF DISTRUST

c) A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO IMPROVEMENT

A Desire for Permanence

Represented by a new, cold realistic attitude to Empire.

James Fitzjames Stephen changes rationale of empire

viz: Raj founded not on consent of Indians, but on conquest

God taken out of the equation. Empire not the result of Providence

It follows that the British were unlikely to withdraw until they were forced to.

British rule seen as permanent

Ways Permanence Reflected:

- Changes in the constitutional relationship

East India Co. abolished. But Hutchins suggests changes more apparent than real, and not caused by Mutiny anyway.

- Rejection of the Westernised Élites as natural heirs of British

- 'Brown Englishmen' were denied equality

- they were denigrated as unrepresentative

- declared unfit EVER to rule

Pre-Mutiny despots [Princes & Taluqdars] upgraded

- Paternalism

Since the élites were denied representative qualities, the British declare themselves to be more fitting and more representative trustees of India and of the Poor.

The Guardian Concept

- Splendid Isolationism

Remote control rule. Rule from a distance; from the Hill-stations like Simla or Ootacamund. Separation of races becomes total. Social contact frowned upon, lest British reveal weaknesses.

John Beames' Memoirs

Forster's Passage to India

Kipling's Plain Tales from the Hills

A Sense of Distrust

A Policy of Counterpoise. Divide and Rule

Princes vs Middle Classes

Muslims vs Hindus

Military Reforms [Numerous measures to avoid repeat of Mutiny]

A Different Approach to Improvement

Govt. withdraws from social sphere. Left to Indians

Improvement should be technological : slow, safe

"Capitalism" = instrument of civilisation, and improvement

New conservative Doctrine : Imperium et Libertas

Tutorial Questions to Address

1. What was the post-Mutiny diagnosis of the events of 1857-8?

2. Critically examine the view that if the British wanted to avoid the errors of the past, they had no clear idea about the 'new direction' they should follow.

Core Reading

Brown, Ch III

Hibbert

Hutchins, Chs. 4, 6

Woodruff, Vol. 2, Ch 1

Additional Reading

A.T. Embree (ed.), 1857 in India. Mutiny or war of Independence? (Very useful for range of interpretations - good starting point for essay 2.)[See BOOK 3]

S. Gopal, British Policy in India 1858-1905

T. R. Metcalf, The Aftermath of Revolt: India 1857-1870

S.N. Sen, Eighteen Fifty-Seven (possibly the best overall work)