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'''JAMES WYNBRANDT '''<br/> 
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wynbrandt, James. <br/> 
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=The Raj Era (1858-1909=
The Sepoy Rebellion, or Indian Mutiny — the culmination of grow- 
ing resentment and anger toward the British and their policies — 
marked a turning point in the subcontinent's history In its aftermath 
the British Crown dissolved the EIC and assumed direct control 
over Indian territories. This ushered in the era referred to as the Raj. 
Under colonial rule the British attempted to introduce some forms of 
democratic institutions while simultaneously denying the people of the 
subcontinent any meaningful representation in the government. The 
Raj was also the period when seeds of an independent Pakistan were 
sown. Upper-class Muslims were living in economic and political isola- 
tion due to British perception of their support for the Sepoy Rebellion. 
Concurrently nationalist sentiment grew throughout the region and 
coalesced in 1885 in the foundation of a united independence move- 
ment led by the Indian National Congress. As the independence move- 
ment grew, so did divisions between Hindus and Muslims. A call for a 
separate Muslim state was heard, along with the rising demand for the 
subcontinent's independence from Britain, exemplified by the forma- 
tion of the Muslim League. In 1909 Muslims gained a greater voice 
with the Government of India Act, also known as the Morley-Minto 
Reforms, marking a crucial juncture in Pakistan's history. 
==The Sepoy Rebellion==
British control over the subcontinent had grown incrementally. The 
patchwork of states and fiefdoms that comprised the subcontinent's 
political landscape enabled the British to pursue a divide-and-conquer 
strategy, pitting ruler against ruler and lord against his subjects. It also 
allowed the British to rely on Indian troops for the great majority of its 
military force in the region, a weapon that played an important role in 
establishing Britain's rule. The ethnic and cultural diversity of the sub-continent and its history of internal warfare minimized the potential for 
the indigenous population to unite against the British. But a confluence 
of events finally ignited anti-British sentiment across the subcontinent, 
leading to sufficient unity against the British and thus the outbreak of 
the Sepoy Rebellion in 1858.

==Roots of Rebellion==
Britain's Indian troops, called sepoys, were divided into three main 
armies, headquartered in Bengal, Madras, and Bombay. The soldiers had 
been periodically restive since the beginning of the century. The Madras 
army had revolted in 1806 in Vellore, in what is now southern India, 
after changes in dress code that offended native religious sensibilities 
were instituted. Hats made of leather, a material forbidden to Hindus, 
who venerate cattle, were issued to the troops for headgear, while 
Muslims were required to shave their beards and trim their mustaches. 
The Bengal army, which had many high-caste Hindu troops, mutinied 
four times between 1843 and 1856 over a variety of grievances. During 
the 1840s, the British led troops from Bengal into newly annexed Sind 
and Punjab. But high-caste Hindu troops objected to crossing the Indus 
River, since this crossing traditionally resulted in a loss of caste. The 
sepoys also chaffed at the gradual loss of their overseas allowances, paid 
for serving across borders; the extra pay provided important financial 
support for their families while soldiers were away on duty. As more 
previously foreign territories were annexed, the sepoys increasingly 
served within their own borders, no matter how far from home their 
mission. And there were some theaters of operation — for example 
Burma, with its unpleasant jungles — where sepoys simply did not want 
to serve. 

Numerous other causes for complaint existed. British officers often 
made a conscious effort to evince their own superiority, while humili- 
ating local soldiers. And the Crimean War (1853-56), which pitted 
France, Britain, and the Ottoman Empire against Russia, had decimated 
the ranks of seasoned British officers, leaving less experienced and 
capable commanders in their place. At the same time, the British army's 
requirement that new officers study the native languages were dropped, 
further distancing British officers from Indian troops. 

In February 1856 Charles Canning, first earl Canning (r. 1856-62), 
replaced Lord Dalhousie as governor-general of India. The hard-line 
policies Lord Dalhousie had championed — "lapse" and "paramountcy" 
annexation, and economic exploitation — had helped sow the seeds of 
anger and discontent that drove the Sepoy Rebellion. That same year 
the British instituted a mandatory deployment policy that required 
troops to serve wherever ordered in the empire; it was aimed at troops 
refusing to serve in Burma. Other military policies perceived by sepoys 
as anti-Hindu were also announced. 
=="Biting the Bullet"==
In January 1857 the British gave Indian troops cartridges for their 
newly issued Enfield rifles. Sepoys had been taught to bite the tips 
of the cartridges before loading to prepare them for firing. Muslims 
thought the grease on the cartridges tasted of forbidden pork fat, while, 
to the Hindus, the grease smelled of cattle, which were sacred to them. 
Soldiers at Dum Dum, near Calcutta, refused to use the cartridges. 
Soon the resistance spread. Though animal fat was indeed used as 
lubrication, the British denied the fact and attempted to force use of 
the bullets. The British command surrounded groups of sepoys with 
British artillery and ordered them to "bite the bullet." Soldiers who 
refused — and most did — were immediately separated, stripped of their 
insignia, and dismissed without pay. They had to walk home to their 
villages, in some cases hundreds of miles away. 

The British finally allowed soldiers to supply their own grease and 
rescinded the order that cartridges had to be bitten. But unrest among 
troops across northern India simmered. Fires of mysterious origin 
broke out on army bases. Some units mutinied, others were disbanded 
by the British to preclude uprisings. Oudh was a scene of particular 
restiveness, the result of a British-mandated inspection of landholdings, 
viewed by the indigenous population as a veiled effort to expropriate 
native property. EIC Resident Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence (1806- 
57) was dispatched to Oudh as part of the inspection and established a 
residency at its capital, Lucknow, in March. 

==Rebellion Begins==
At Meerut, in north central India, 85 soldiers had been incarcerated 
earlier for refusing to bite the bullet. On May 10, 1857, while the British 
officers were in church, the sepoys revolted, freeing their imprisoned 
comrades. After killing several officers they marched to Delhi, 30 
miles (48 km) south, where they were met by other Indian troops who 
joined the insurrection. The last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II (r. 
1838-58), was then 82 years old, and his authority was limited by the 
British and largely confined to Delhi, but he was the one figure behind 
whom both Muslim and Hindu could unite. The rebellious troops asked 
Bahadur Shah II to lead a campaign for restoration of Mughal rule, and 
he agreed. With most of the European forces off fighting the Crimean 
and Persian wars (the latter fought with Persia over Afghanistan in 
1856-57), their ranks between Bengal and Meerut were thinned, and the 
British began disarming native troops. Lucknow, Agra (in north central 
India), Lahore, Peshawar, and Mardan (in what is now the NWFP) were 
among the places were the sepoys were relieved of their weapons. 

On May 13, 3,600 Indian troops were disarmed in Lahore and put 
under the guard of 400 Europeans, augmented by Sikh troops. The 
Sikhs had suffered defeats in the two Sikh wars at the hands of British- 
led Indian troops, so they had little sympathy or fondness for either the 
Indian troops or the Mughal emperor the troops supported. Meanwhile, 
British interception of sepoy mail revealed that troops were communi- 
cating with followers of Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi, the late revolutionary 
Islamist, in Swat and Sithana (in north central India), and that the 
Sithana revolutionaries in turn were in communication with mutineers 
in Bengal. In response the British sent the Bengal Native Infantry across 
the subcontinent to the edge of the tribal area, where they would have 
more difficulty inciting or drawing support from locals. Still, the revolt 
expanded and by late May had spread as far as Bombay. The Corps of 
Guides, made up of Indian troops loyal to the British, was dispatched 
to meet and reinforce the British forces in the Delhi area. A few weeks 
later some Indian soldiers at Mardan and Nowshera (in today's NWFP) 
refused orders. Both forces were disarmed, an action some British offi- 
cers strongly opposed, feeling the loyalty of all the troops had been 
unfairly maligned by the actions of a few. Some of these British officers 
gave up their own swords and spurs in protest. Two of the deserting 
Mardan sepoys were captured in the Hazara District in the frontier 
region a few weeks later. On June 13, they were blown from the mouths 
of cannons as an example before a large assembly. 

Most of the Mardan troops were eventually executed. The north area 
now seemed secure. Sir John Lawrence (1811-79), chief commissioner 
of Punjab and brother of Sir Henry Lawrence, considered asking Dost 
Mohammed Khan, ruler of Afghanistan (r. 1818-39, 1843-63), to take 
control of Peshawar, which would have freed the Europeans to go to 
Delhi. But the senior officers felt the British would lose face by request- 
ing such help. Lord Canning agreed, sending an urgent message on 
the new telegraph line that instructed the British commander to hold 
Peshawar at all costs. The British, meanwhile, had taken to keeping 
pistols by their sides at mealtime and in church. 
==Rebellion Spreads==
In Lucknow, which was the center of the rebellion, the Europeans had 
been besieged since early June, as they were in Kanpur, on the Ganges 
in north central India. On July 16 some 400 European residents of 
Kanpur, promised safe passage downriver, were instead shot and 
hacked to death in a spasm of violence. British troops recaptured the 
city the following day. 

In July 1857 mutinies broke out in Sialkot and Jhelum in Punjab and 
in other cities. On July 30, a violent dust storm swept Lahore, where 
the 26th Native Infantry had been under detention for three months. 
During the storm the British commander was killed, and the incarcer- 
ated troops were liberated. Most fled, and the few who remained were 
killed by the British, as were those who surrendered the following day. 
Some 500 sepoys were executed within two days. Others were sent to 
Lahore and executed by cannon fire. Sir John Lawrence and Robert 
Montgomery (1809-87), lieutenant-governor of Punjab, commended 
the executions. Still the revolt spread. A British attempt to retake 
Lucknow was unsuccessful, and the revolt continued through the fall. 

The rebels' most able military leader was Lakshmibai (ca. 1828-58), 
the queen, or rani, of Jhansi, a Maratha state in North India. Sir Hugh 
Rose (1801-85), British army field marshal, considered her the most 
dangerous of all rebel leaders due to her bravery, cleverness, and perse- 
verance. She died in battle against Sir Hugh's forces at Gwalior in north 
central India, ending her threat. 

The decisive battle of the insurrection was waged at Kanpur, scene of 
the massacre of British citizens the previous December. The British, led 
by Commander-in-Chief Colin Campbell (1792-1863), defeated Tantia 
Topi (1814-59), commander of the rebel forces. Following the victory, 
the British razed villages in retribution for the slaughter. 
==The End of the Revolt==
Fighting continued into 1858, but the rebellion failed, and with it the 
last hope to drive out the foreign interlopers from the subcontinent. 
On July 8, 1858, Lord Canning proclaimed peace. The subcontinent 
was left in chaos. Several factors contributed to the revolt's failure. 
There was no central command. The spontaneous eruption of hatred 
and anger, powerful though it was, had no organization or coordinated 
way to channel its energy. The insurrectionists failed to mount any form 
of guerrilla warfare. What leaders they had were dethroned princes 
eager for return to old feudal ways, rather than enlightened figures 
with a progressive vision. Moreover, the Westernized, educated classes 
supported the British. And unity was elusive, with some rebels seek- 
ing restoration of Mughal power, while others wanted a return of the 
Marathas' authority. 

The British took swift steps to punish those they held responsible 
and to reassert the rule of law. Tantia Topi was captured and hanged in 
April 1859. Emperor Bahadur Shah II was tried and exiled to Burma. 
His sons had already been killed by the British. 

The Sepoy Mutiny was especially disastrous for British India's 
Muslim community. The British assigned them the brunt of the blame 
for the uprising, and subsequently limited opportunities for advance- 
ment to Muslims that Hindus of the subcontinent enjoyed, widening 
the chasm between the two societies. A decade after the rebellion, 
British Orientalist William Wilson Hunter (1840-1900) stated: 

There is no use shutting our ears to the fact that the Indian 
Muhammedans arraign us on a list of charges as serious as 
have ever been brought against a government . . .They accuse us 
of having closed every honourable walk of life to the professors 
of their creed. They accuse us of having introduced a system of 
education which leaves their whole community unprovided for, 
and which landed it in contempt and beggary.They accuse us of 
having brought misery into thousands of families by abolishing 
their law officers, who gave the sanction of religion to marriage, 
and who from time immemorial have been the depositories 
and administrators of the Domestic Law of Islam. They accuse 
us of imperiling their soul by denying them the means of per- 
forming the duties of their faith. Above all, they charge us with 
deliberate malversation of their religious foundations, and with 
misappropriation on the largest scale of their education funds 
(Hunter 969, 145). 
==Government of India Act of 1858==
In the aftermath of the uprising the British reexamined their policies 
toward their colonies. The insurrection was blamed on misrule by the 
EIC, and the British government was now determined to take charge of 
the EIC's management and operations. The British parliament passed 
the Government of India Act of 1858, creating the position of secretary 
of state for India to whom the governor-general of India would report. 
Previously, the governor-general was under indirect British government 
control, which made it easier for EIC directors and agents to ignore the 
government's wishes. Henceforth, the governor general, while retaining 
this title, was also now known as viceroy, and considered a representa- 
tive of the British monarch. The act also created councils to draft and 
pass laws with the viceroy's approval. The governor-general's coun- 
cil was composed of an executive council, which proposed laws for 
British-held areas, and a legislative council, which enacted them. These 
councils were mirrored at the provincial level and were to include 
Indians appointed by the viceroy's office. 

The act vested the British monarch with ultimate authority over the 
subcontinent's states and Parliament with responsibility for dictating 
their policies. But the viceroys exercised a high degree of independence 
in establishing the tone of their administrations. They would retain 
their role as the titular heads of the subcontinent until its independence 
in 1947. 
==Lord Canning==
Charles John Canning, first earl Canning, who had become governor- 
general in 1856, retained his post and became the first viceroy (r. 1858- 
62). The military was among the first institutions he reformed in the 
wake of the strife. Lord Canning disbanded the Bengal Army, number- 
ing more than 100,000 soldiers (a lakh in the traditional Indian num- 
bering system), most from what is now Uttar Pradesh in north central 
India, and many of them Muslim. Loyal Sikhs, Rajputs, and Gurkhas 
(an ethnic group from Nepal and North India) were enlisted in their 
place. The percentage of British personnel in the army was increased, 
and the proportion of high-caste Hindus decreased. Only British troops 
manned artillery. Though all officers were British, a viceroy's commis- 
sion for native recruits introduced three ranks: jemadar, subedar, and 
subedar major. These junior officer ranks gave prestige to locals and 
enabled a better chain of command from officers to troops. 

Lord Canning promoted a policy labeled conciliation, aimed at fos- 
tering good relations with leading princes and feudal aristocrats. By 
restoring their feudal authority he hoped these proxy powers, by their 
local connection and history, would keep their subjects in check. Even 
rulers of tribes participating in the revolt were restored to power. Lord 
Canning also reversed Dalhousie's efforts to appropriate feudal prin- 
cipalities. The Right of Adoption was restored, allowing feudal rulers 
without natural heirs to adopt one in order to preserve their kingdoms 
after death. 

The conciliatory policy of feudal appeasement the British pursued in 
the aftermath of the revolt did not extend to Punjab. The British viewed 
[[File: lord canning.PNG | Lord Canning arrives in Lahore in February of I860, as depicted in this painting by William Simpson (1823-99) (H IP/Art Resource, NY)|frame|500px]]

Punjab's feudal rulers, most of them Hindu, as obstacles to social 
progress, contributing little, taking more than their share in taxes, and 
short-changing the British on their due. The British wanted to levy 
taxes directly on peasants and eliminate the feudal landlords altogether. 
As a result, they gave preference to small landlords in determining 
the outcome of land ownership disputes, and rather than improving 
relations with the land barons in Punjab, the British curtailed their 
power. Peasants working the land, primarily Muslims, sold their crops 
to merchants, who, like the feudal lords, were mostly Hindu. Freed of 
the rulers' heavy hand, the economy expanded. By the 1870s Hindu 
merchants and other businessmen were developing into a middle class 
in Punjab. Mostly composed of members of lower castes, this emerging 
class sought Western education as a way to better themselves, a path 
eschewed by Muslims. Muslims, already blamed for the revolt, found 
themselves even further estranged from the mainstream of the subcon- 
tinent by a growing education gap. 

Large numbers of insurrectionists were under detainment at the con- 
clusion of the revolt. In 1858 the British reopened the penal colony at 
Port Blair, in the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, to house some 
of them. To appease the upper classes, the Indian Councils Act, passed 
in 1861, added more members to legislative councils in the provinces. 
Indians nominated for membership by the British were from the upper 
classes, chosen for their loyalty to the Crown. In reality the legislative 
councils had no authority over the executive council, which deter- 
mined policy. But it furthered the cause of reconciliation, demonstrat- 
ing Britain's desire to make at least cosmetic changes to its rule of the 
subcontinent. Also in 1861 the Indian Penal Code proposed by Thomas 
Babbington Macaulay (1800-59), based on the laws of England, was 
enacted, establishing high courts in major towns. 

Lord Canning convened two durbars, or ceremonial gatherings, 
where loyal princes' rank and titles were affirmed, as was Britain's 
pledge not to annex their territories. At his second durbar Lord 
Canning read out Queen Victoria's Proclamation of 1858. Considered 
the first constitutional reform of the British government's control of 
India, the proclamation expressed a desire to better the lives of all on 
the subcontinent. It promised that the civil service would be open to 
all. However, in practice, high-level administrators selected in England 
served to exclude well-educated Indians from senior positions. 
==Lord Elgin==
In 1862 James Bruce, eighth earl of Elgin, became the second viceroy 
(r. 1862-63). The British policy of alliances with the aristocracy had 
not completely pacified the population. Muslims chaffing at their treat- 
ment in the wake of the Sepoy Rebellion revolted in Punjab and in 
the frontier areas. The insurrection was an offshoot of the movement 
founded by followers of Islamic reformer Shah Waliullah, primarily his 
son and spiritual heir Shah Abdul Aziz Muhaddith Dehlavi, and Sayyid 
Ahmad Barelwi. Though Sayyid Barelwi and many of the leaders had 
been killed at the Battle of Balakat in 1831, the movement lived on, 
inspiring a new generation of Islamic holy warriors willing to battle the 
British. The unrest in the frontier lasted from 1858 to 1863, requiring 
four British expeditions — a total of 27,000 troops — to finally suppress 
the uprising. 

==Sir John Lawrence==
After the reign of Lord Elgin, a pair of provisional viceroys were appointed 
in succession before Sir John Laird Mair Lawrence (r. 1864-69) was 
named viceroy. He had been the chief commissioner in Punjab following 
the 1857 revolt. Lawrence continued to improve the infrastructure sys- 
tem initiated by Lord Dalhousie in the 1850s, including large construc- 
tion projects to expand the railway and irrigation systems. Concern for 
public health led him to upgrade sanitation systems and water supplies. 
The Punjab and Oudh Tenancy Act was passed in 1868, which gave ten- 
ants ownership of lands they had lived on and cultivated for a requisite 
period of time. Yet with the many changes the British had wrought in the 
agricultural system, the subcontinent had still not recovered its ability 
to feed all its people. In 1866-67 a famine occurred in Orissa, the first 
in a series of famines over the next few decades. Sir Lawrence proposed 
supplying grain to those affected, but his council rejected the proposal 
on the grounds it would interfere with the laws of supply and demand. 
Moreover, council members felt it would be demeaning to offer charity 
to the population. Thus nothing was done, and almost one-quarter of 
Orissa's population starved. When a famine later occurred in Rajputana, 
Lawrence ignored his council's opinion and mounted a relief effort, 
which was credited with saving many lives. 

Afghanistan still cast a large shadow over the area that is now 
Pakistan, even as British interest in this area grew. In 1863 Dost 
Mohammad Khan (b. 1793) had died, and Sher Ali Khan (1825-79), 
one of his sons, emerged as the ruler after defeating his brother; how- 
ever, his brothers continued trying to wrest leadership from him. Sher 
Ali asked Lawrence for help in securing the throne, but as the British 
had a policy of noninterference in the succession battle, he declined. 
Sher Ali was ousted in 1866, but regained control of Afghanistan in 
1868, which he held to his death in 1879. Throughout the reign his 
hold on the throne was tenuous, and the memory of Britain's lack of 
support remained with him.

==Lord Mayo==
Sir John Lawrence was succeeded by Richard Southwell Bourke, 
sixth earl of Mayo (r. 1869-72). A major policy change he initiated 
transferred more control over finances to regional authorities, shift- 
ing decisionmaking to the provinces. At the regional level, budgetary 
needs could be more accurately gauged and spending more carefully 
monitored. Lord Mayo also initiated large public work programs for 
the construction of roads, railways, canals, and sanitation projects. The 
rails were becoming a key part of the subcontinent's landscape, draw- 
ing together the disparate regions. By 1870 rails connected Multan 
with Calcutta and Bombay. Railways played a key part in territorial 
dominance as well, allowing for the quick movement of military assets 
over large distances. When Russia, which was conquering territories to 
the north, built a rail link to the Oxus River, on Afghanistan's border, 
Britain responded by building a rail link to its frontier on the border 
SIR SAYYID AHMAD KHAN 

Regarded as one of the fathers of Pakistan, Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan 
(1817-98) was one of the first to push for Muslim education and 
representation. After the Sepoy Rebellion he wrote forcefully on its 
causes, blaming British inability to understand Indian thinking for the 
violence. A visit to England convinced him the only path toward prog- 
ress for Muslims in India lay in Western education. He believed accom- 
modation with the British was in Muslims' best interests. Many Muslims 
were reluctant to have their 
sons educated at schools 
without Islamic teaching, 
and the subsequent lack of 
education kept many from 
pursuing career paths that 
provided opportunity for 
advancement. Ahmad Khan 
believed Western education 
was compatible with Islamic 
teachings. He was the driv- 
ing force behind the cre- 
ation of the Muhammadan 
Anglo-Oriental (M.A.O.) 
College (later renamed 
Aligarh Muslim University), 
founded in 1875 in Aligarh in 
northern India. Khan made 
Arabic language and Islamic 
studies compulsory courses at M.A.O. The university fomented the thinking and shaped the minds of future leaders who would father an independent Pakistan.
with Afghanistan. This further opened what is now Pakistan to British 
incursion and domination. After the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, 
Karachi became Europe's closest Asian port, and sea trade increased in 
volume and importance. 

In 1869, his first year in office, Lord Mayo traveled to Ambala in 
North India to meet with Sher Ali Khan, with whom relations had 
been strained since Britain's failure to help Sher secure the throne in 
Afghanistan. The earl also improved relations between Indian princes 
and the government. However, his efforts to impose an income tax, 
instituted in 1869, drew widespread opposition, and the tax was ulti- 
mately unsuccessful in generating projected revenues. He established 
the Department of Agriculture to boost agricultural production. And 
during his tenure Chiefs' Colleges, created to offer Western education 
to the sons of princes and chiefs, were founded in Lahore, Rajkot (in the 
present-day state of Gujarat in western India), and Ajmer (in modern- 
day Rajasthan state in northwest India). Lord Mayo also helped lay the 
groundwork for the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental (M.A.O.) College, 
founded in Aligarh in 1875, shortly after his time as viceroy came to a 
premature end. The college, later renamed Aligarh Muslim University, 
was founded by Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-98), a leading Muslim 
reformer who believed that access to Western education was essential 
for Muslim progress in British India. 

Lord Mayo also initiated prison administration reforms during his 
tenure. Paradoxically, he was stabbed and killed by a Pashtun pris- 
oner — a Muslim — at the prison colony in the Andaman Islands in 
1872. The British incorrectly believed Muslims were bound by religion 
to resist British rule, and incidents such as this assassination reinforced 
this view. 
==Lord Northbrook==
Two provisional viceroys succeeded Lord Mayo before Thomas George 
Baring, second baron Northbrook (r. 1872-76) was appointed viceroy. 
In the 1870s Baluchistan remained restive, with tribes throughout the 
area staging border raids on Punjab and Sind. During the previous 
decade, as part of their efforts to work with local rulers in the wake of 
the revolt of 1857, the British had encouraged the new khan of Kalat, 
Khodada Khan (r. 1857-63, 1864-93), then a teenager, to consider 
himself an absolute monarch. The British created a standing army for 
the young khan and with their blessing he had spent the intervening 
years in a failed attempt to establish his dominance over the tribes of 
Baluchistan. With Khodada Khan unable to control them, the British 
had then dispatched their agent Sir Robert Groves Sandeman (1835- 
92) to negotiate with tribal leaders, paying the tribes to act as border 
guards. These payoffs reduced, but did not eliminate, raids, which con- 
tinued to vex border villages. The British had finally ceded the respon- 
sibility, again, to Khodada Khan, treating him as the ruler of the tribal 
lands and providing money to pay tribal leaders to cease their attacks. 
In a further effort to promote law and order, the frontier and other tribal 
areas in the region had been brought under jurisdiction of the Frontier 
Crimes Regulations in 1871. The laws it codified were different from 
those in force in the rest of the subcontinent; they included the stipula- 
tion that internal disputes would be settled by jirgas, or tribal councils 
of elders, while ceding British administrators ultimate authority over all 
matters. In 1876 Sandeman received a concession from Khodada Kahn 
to establish a frontier trading post at Quetta, a location that would give 
the British another access point to Afghanistan and control of the Bolan 
Pass. The khan also gave the British permission to post a resident in 
Kabul. Lord Northbrook unsuccessfully objected to the posting, assert- 
ing it would subject England to the risk of another war in Afghanistan, 
a conflict he believed would be both costly and unnecessary. 

Lord Northbrook staunchly supported the development of busi- 
ness and commerce in the subcontinent. He abolished the unpopular 
income tax imposed under Lord Mayo and also sought to protect 
India's nascent textile industry. The British were intent on wringing 
as much revenue as possible from India. Under the banner of free 
trade, British manufacturers, who had the benefit of industrial produc- 
tion, flooded India with cheap imports. Lord Northbrook felt British 
goods brought into the colony should have a higher import duty to 
protect Indian manufacturers and in 1875 made his views known to 
Parliament. However, a conservative government had been elected in 
England during his tenure, and instead of raising Indian import duties 
on British textiles, Parliament reduced the duties to make them more 
competitive with locally produced goods. His policy differences with 
the government too profound to bridge, Lord Northbrook resigned in 
protest in 1876. 
==Lord Lytton==
Lord Northbrook was replaced by Robert Bulwer-Lytton, second baron 
Lytton (r. 1876-80), who set about undoing the reforms Northbrook 
instituted. Lord Lytton tried to restore the authority of the feudal princes 
who had been most disaffected by the previous viceroy's reforms. His 
primary goal, however, was to regain British control over India and 
avoid the possibility of losing the colony entirely. In 1877 Lord Lytton 
convened a great durbar at Delhi to impress local aristocrats. The guests 
were required to pledge an oath of loyalty in return for the award of 
honors and multigun salutes. During the gathering Queen Victoria was 
proclaimed empress of India. 

In response to a famine that began in 1876 and that had by 1877 
claimed the lives of tens of thousands, Lord Lytton established the 
Famine Commission, which recommended building roads and railways 
for shipment of grain to famine-plagued areas and instituting updated 
irrigation methods. Though the subcontinent would experience sub- 
sequent famines in 1896 and 1899, the adoption of the commission's 
recommendations was credited with minimizing the severity of these 
later crises. 

Meanwhile, discontent was growing in British-ruled areas. More 
opportunities in the civil service and other reforms had been promised 
to Indians in the Charter of 1833, the Queen's Proclamation of 1858, 
and other laws. But Lytton sought to renege on these pledges in an 
effort to maintain Britain's hold on power. The British made a cosmetic 
attempt to placate locals by creating a separate statutory civil service, as 
opposed to the covenanted civil service, in 1879. It included one-sixth 
of the minor posts from the covenanted civil service. Appointments 
were made based on education and social position. This essentially 
closed the ranks to all but loyal members of the aristocracy. So rather 
than quell protests, the new civil service further inflamed educated 
Indians. 

Discriminatory taxes and import and export duties angered the busi- 
ness class, and the British felt they needed to take steps to forestall 
unrest. The Vernacular Press Act of 1878 reduced freedom of expres- 
sion in newspapers printed in non-English languages, effectively sti- 
fling reporting of news that put British actions in a negative light. The 
same year the Arms Act forbade Indians from carrying arms without a 
license. Both laws aroused further resentment and anger throughout 
the subcontinent. 

Throughout the viceroyships of Lawrence, Mayo, and Northbrook, 
the area of present-day Pakistan had received less attention than other 
regions of the subcontinent. That changed under Lord Lytton, who sup- 
ported the "forward policy," a strategy of containing Russia's expansion 
toward Afghanistan; the policy's most notable proponent was British 
prime minister Benjamin Disraeli (r. 1868, 1874-80). The treaties 
struck by Sir Sandeman in 1876 with Khodadad Khan gave the British 
a foothold for their military by permitting their annexation of Quetta 
and its surrounding territory. By this time the khan viewed the British 
as the ultimate arbiters of his disputes, as stipulated by treaty. 

The Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878- 1880) 

The ruler of Afghanistan, Sher Ali Kahn, continued his weak hold 
on power. Despite Lord Mayo's visit in 1869, the British still refused 
to support him militarily or financially, and Sher Ali resisted British 
efforts to post an envoy in Kabul. Russia, meanwhile, made overtures 
of assistance to Sher Ali, although he had also refused Russia's request 
to post an envoy. Concerned about his developing relationship with 
Russia, Lytton dispatched a British officer to meet with the Afghan 
ruler, but Sher Ali refused to grant the emissary an audience and threat- 
ened to turn back any British diplomatic mission. In response, Lytton 
declared war on Afghanistan. Three forces consisting of 35,000 troops 
and camp followers under the command of Major General Frederick 
Roberts (1832-1914), General Samuel Browne (1824-1901), and 
General Donald Martin Stewart (1824-1900) advanced on Afghanistan. 
Traversing what is now Pakistan, the British army made a show of force 
that implicitly demonstrated their control over the area. Sher Ali fled 
to Turkestan, from where he dispatched a letter agreeing to allow a 
British envoy in Kabul. Despite his acquiescence, the British occupied 
Kandahar and Jalalabad. On his way back to Afghanistan, Sher Ali 
died. The British struck a treaty with his son, Yaqub Khan (r. 1879), at 
Gandamak, a village in southeast Afghanistan, in 1879. 

Under the terms of the Treaty of Gandamak, the British were 
allowed to place a British resident in Kabul and British agents in Herat 
and Kandahar. In return, Yaqub Khan received a subsidy of six lakhs 
(600,000) of rupees a year. Parts of Afghanistan and the whole of the 
Khyber Pass were ceded to Britain. Yaqub Khan also agreed to accept 
British counsel in conducting his foreign policy. But many Afghans 
wanted no British presence in their capital, and in 1879 mutinous troops 
stormed the house of the British Resident, Sir Pierre Louis Cavagnari 
(1841-79), and killed him and his staff. Lord Lytton dispatched an 
army under the command of generals Roberts and Stewart. Another 
of Sher Ali's sons, Ayub Khan (1857-1914), engaged the British army 
at the Battle of Maiwand in southern Afghanistan in July 1880. The 
largest battle of the Second Anglo-Afghan War, it ended in a British 
defeat, though the Afghan forces also lost many soldiers. Ayub Khan's 
remaining forces next laid siege to Kandahar, where a British resident 
was stationed. General Roberts hurried to relieve Kandahar, marching 
his forces more than 300 miles from Kabul. The British defeated the 
Afghans at the Battle of Kandahar in September 1880, the last major 
conflict of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. During the conflict, without 
the draft animals the British appropriated for the campaign, agriculture 
in the Punjab region suffered, costing the government a fortune in lost 
revenue. Lord Lytton resigned. 

==Lord Ripon==
Following the Second Anglo-Afghan War, Lord Lytton was succeeded 
by George Frederick Samuel Robinson, first marquis of Ripon (r. 1880- 
84), a more enlightened viceroy. In the same year British Liberal Party 
leader William Gladstone (r. 1868-74, 1880-85, 1886, 1892-94) was 
beginning the second of his four terms as prime minister of Britain. He 
moderated the "forward policy," pursuing a less confrontational strategy 
toward Afghanistan. Instead of large settlements and forces, the British 
sought to counter Russian influence by the posting of small forces and 
extensions of existing fortifications. They agreed to recognize as emir of 
Afghanistan Abdur Rahman Khan (r. 1880-1901), a grandson of Dost 
Mohammad, who had long battled Sher Ali, Abdur Rahman's uncle, for 
the throne. The new emir brought stability to the region and retained 
good relations with the British throughout his reign, which lasted until 
1901. He was succeeded by his son, Habibullah Khan (r. 1901-19). 

The Second Anglo-Afghan War brought large areas of Baluchistan 
and the frontier into the British Empire. Yet British objectives in 
Baluchistan were fundamentally different from those in Sind and 
Punjab. In Baluchistan, the British were interested in the military and 
geopolitical value of the land; in the rest of the subcontinent, they 
sought primarily to extract income. But the local populations still bore 
significant costs from the British incursions. British development of 
cantonments, or military quarters, at Quetta and other areas required 
evicting many locals from their lands, creating an army of landless peas- 
ants. This action led to the suppression of local tribes and increased 
resentment of the British throughout the subcontinent, particularly 
among Muslims. Indians also had to endure tax increases, levied in 
order to pay for the war. 

During his tenure as viceroy, Lord Ripon abolished the Vernacular 
Press Act established by his predecessor, posted Indians in high gov- 
ernment posts, broadened the powers of local governments, and made 
municipal offices elective positions, giving locals experience in democ- 
racy. Laws were passed to safeguard working conditions in factories. 
He encouraged education of the subcontinent's people, appointing the 
Hunter Education Commission, whose report of 1884, among other 
accomplishments, helped focus attention on the plight of Muslims in 
the subcontinent. The viceroy also attempted the radical step of allow- 
ing Indian judges to try Europeans under the Ilbert Bill, enacted by 
the Indian Legislative Council in 1884, but loud European opposition 
forced him to back down. 

However, economic exploitation continued throughout Lord Ripon's 
tenure. In the years following the reduction of import duties on British 
textiles in 1876, economic manipulation of tariffs and trade became 
common. In 1879 all tariff duties for English goods were abolished, 
primarily to help the British fabric industry. In 1895, after the British 
placed an excise duty of 5 percent to raise revenue, Parliament imposed 
a similar excise duty on Indian cotton goods. Foreign exchange between 
the Indian rupee and the British pound was fixed in such a way as to 
stimulate imports of British goods into India and curtail exports from 
the subcontinent. 

As Indian demands for autonomy and freedom began to grow, 
Muslims continued their political awakening. Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan 
spoke out forcefully for separate representation for Muslims in self- 
governance institutions. He won recognition in 1882 for the principle 
of separate electorates for Muslims on Lord Ripon's municipal councils. 
In a speech before the Governor-General's Council in January of 1883, 
Ahmad Khan explained the need for separate representation: "So long 
as differences of race and creed, and the distinctions of caste form an 
important element in the socio-political life in India, and influence her 
inhabitants in matters connected to the administration and welfare of 
the country at large, the system of election, pure and simple, cannot 
be safely adopted. The larger community would totally override the 
interests of the smaller community, and the ignorant public would hold 
Government responsible for introducing measures which might make 
the differences of race and creed more violent than ever" (Symonds 
1950, 30-31). 


==Lord Dufferin==
Liberalization of policies that began under Lord Ripon continued 
under Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, the earl of Dufferin (r. 
1884-88, later first marquis of Dufferin and Ava), his successor. The 
Bengal Tenancy Bill, proposed during Lord Ripon's viceroyalty passed 
in Bengal in 1885 under Lord Dufferin's stewardship. The law defined 
and improved the rights of farmers under their landlords. Working 
conditions and exploitation of the subcontinent's labor force had come 
to the attention of the British public, which had already grappled with 
similar homegrown abuses springing from its industrial revolution. In 
response, Parliament passed the Factor Act, which limited the number 
of hours employees could be required to work, and forbade children 
under age nine from employment in factories. 

In 1886 Lord Dufferin appointed a commission to explore ways to 
expand public services. The viceroy also wrote A Report on the Condition 
of the Lower Classes Population in Bengal, called the Dufferin Report, 
published in 1888, which countered claims that the poor had benefited 
from British rule in the subcontinent. His wife founded a charity fund 
that built Lady Dufferin hospitals for women, staffed by female doc- 
tors, which took all patients regardless of ability to pay. Today, Lady 
Dufferin Hospital in Karachi is the largest women's hospital in Pakistan. 
However, as viceroy Lord Dufferin also sought to ease concerns of the 
British population of India, which viewed the reforms introduced by 
Lord Ripon with unease. 

For most Indians, British reforms came too late and did not go far 
enough. In 1885 the Indian National Congress (INC) was founded, 
established by a new generation of Indians educated in Western-style 
educational institutions. Consumed by nationalist zeal, INC members 
met regularly and, though they had no legal authority, passed resolu- 
tions recommending actions and policies for the British-run govern- 
ment to follow. Several British helped in founding the Congress Party 
(as the INC is otherwise known), viewing the organization as a way to 
monitor the opposition, and as a relief valve for political discontent. 

The INC began as a moderate political party, supported by the educated 
middle classes — lawyers, teachers, and journalists — as well as by some 
members of the business community and landed gentry. They sought 
increased British assistance in training and education, not independence. 
But as moderate voices within the INC were ignored by the British, more 
radical leaders gained power. Some Hindu extremists played on anti- 
Muslim prejudices, and their incendiary rhetoric went largely unchal- 
lenged. Muslims watched mute while shrill INC members who denounced 
British rule were received with cordial respect by the viceroy. Leaders of 
the Muslim community were reluctant to strike a militant stance, since 
the financial well-being of educated professionals and landlords was in the 
hands of the British. But with the establishment of educational institutions 
such as the M.A.O., a new generation of educated Muslims was com- 
ing of age, eager to pursue its own path. After 1884 Ahmad Khan began 
to support Muslim separatism, advising Muslims to boycott the Indian 
National Congress, and in 1886 he formed a rival institution to the INC, 
the Mohammedan Education Conference, a predecessor of the All India 
Muslim League that would form 20 years later. In 1887 a Muslim was 
named president of the INC; Ahmad Khan denounced the appointment. 
He felt the appointment would lead Muslims into what he saw as a false 
belief that they and the Hindu majority could work together and peace- 
fully coexist in one nation independent of the British. His opposition to 
the INC coincided with that of the British: As the INC as a whole adopted 
a more independent stance, British support evaporated. However, many 
Muslims continued to support the stance of the INC's less militant mem- 
bers and favored a nonconfrontational approach to their differences with 
the British. Following the fourth annual session of Congress, government 
officials were banned from joining the organization. 
==Lord Landsdowne and Lord Curzon==
Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, fifth marquis of Lansdowne, 
succeeded Lord Dufferin as viceroy (r. 1888-94). His tenure and that 
of his later successor George Nathaniel Curzon, first marquis Curzon 
of Kedleston (r. 1899-1905), underscored the fact that liberalization 
accorded to the majority of the subcontinent was withheld in the fron- 
tier areas of what is today Pakistan. The Indian Councils Act, passed by 
Parliament in 1892, increased membership in the central and provincial 
legislative councils in the Punjab and Sind, but not in Baluchistan or 
the frontier area. These western provinces were deemed too untamed 
to permit such reforms. 

==Defining the Border==
As kingdoms in the region grew and declined, their territories were 
often in flux. The border between Afghanistan and British India had 
never been fixed. That boundary was delineated by the Durand Line, 
created during Lord Lansdowne's time as viceroy. Sir Henry Mortimer 
Durand (1850-1924) was an officer in the corps when he requested 
permission from Abdur Rahman, the emir of Afghanistan, to determine 
a line of demarcation between Afghanistan and the British Empire. 
Abdur Rahman could not well refuse, as the British controlled trade 
routes in and out of Afghanistan and paid the emir subsidies. When 
completed in 1893, the Durand Line moved the border of the British 
territory from the foothills west to the crests of the highest peaks and 
ridges in the mountains dividing the territories. This brought several 
tribes, including the Afridis, the Mahsuds, the Wazirs, and the Swat, 
under nominal British rule if not control. The British launched several 
military campaigns to subdue the tribes and demonstrate their regional 
dominance. In 1895 an uprising broke out in Chitral and soon spread 
to the rest of the tribal area. During the campaign a force of allied 
tribesmen besieged 400 British troops in the Chitral Fort; they also 
succeeded in closing the Khyber Pass. It took British forces 48 days to 
come to their countrymen's rescue and relieve the siege. 

In the early 1890s the chesslike maneuvering the British and Russians 
engaged in as each attempted to gain power and influence in the area 
became known as the Great Game. The Pamir Mountains, which extend 
from the Hindu Kush into Afghanistan, took center stage in their 
contest. The Great Game came to an end with the Pamir Boundary 
Agreement of March 1895, signed by Russia and Great Britain. It estab- 
lished the Wakhan Corridor, a narrow sliver of Afghanistan in the Pamir 
Mountains, as a buffer between Russia (now Tajikistan) and British-held 
India in what is today Pakistan. The corridor, about 300 miles (480 km) 
long and less than 10(16 km) miles wide in some places, borders China 
on the east. In 1896 the border between the British and Persian territory 
of Baluchistan was established. 

Lord Curzon, who became viceroy in 1899, took a different tack 
in dealing with the rebellious tribes. He saw the frontier Pashtun as a 
unique population, independent and strong willed, whose heritage fell 
far outside of social norms not only in Britain but even in this corner 
of the subcontinent. He recognized that raiding and plundering, the 
basis of their livelihood, had long been the only means of survival in 
the frontier. In 1900 Curzon established the area as the North- West 
Frontier Province, placing it under the direction of a seasoned chief 
commissioner. 

Cultured and well traveled, Curzon instituted numerous reforms. 
He emphasized improvements in university education, overhauled the 
police department, bolstered farmers' rights, and pushed credit societ- 
ies and agricultural banks to give financial assistance to the poor. Under 
his direction thousands of miles of railway were built. 

==An Agrarian Revolution==
In the last quarter of the 19th century agrarian reforms and improve- 
ments to the infrastructure introduced by the British showed some 
results. Before this time, much of the Indus Valley was dry and sparsely 
inhabited. A canal system the Mughals built to irrigate the area had 
fallen into disrepair. Changes in the course and flow of the Indus had 
added to depopulation. The British undertook large-scale projects to 
repair and expand the ancient canal system and engineered massive 
additional irrigation systems that made vast areas of formerly uninhab- 
ited lands in Punjab arable. An expanding railway system transported 
grain from Punjab for shipment to England. After 1879 Lahore and 
Karachi were linked by rail. By 1883 it was possible to travel from 
Karachi to the Khyber Pass by rail. During construction of the Lahore- 
Multan track, engineers discovered the lost city of Harappa. They 
used the ancient brick they found to build 100 miles (160 km) of the 
railway's embankment. Curzon recognized the region's archaeological 
importance. The Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, passed during 
his tenure, made the government responsible for maintaining historic 
buildings and investigating archaeological sites. Taxila and cities of the 
long-lost Indus Valley Civilization were first excavated as a result of 
this act. 

From the 1880s onward peasants settled on these newly fertile lands. 
This set in motion a new political dynamic in the region as agrarian 
landlords came to accumulate land and power. Peasants were limited 
to plots of 100 to 150 acres, with landlords receiving a percentage of 
crops in rent. Sometimes the rents were usurious, and tenant farmers 
often fell into debt, their plots seized by the landlords. Other peasants 
lost their lands to moneylenders. By the late 19th century some of these 
holdings became mini-feudal states and their owners strong support- 
ers of the British, whose policies served their interests. The situation 
was antagonizing many Muslims, who comprised a majority of sepoys 
in Punjab. To help address the problem of small farmers having their 
lands repossessed and stem the unrest it was stirring, Parliament passed 
the Punjab Land Alienation Act in 1900. The act defined tribes as either 
agricultural or nonagricultural and forbade nonagricultural tribes from 
acquiring the land of agricultural debtors. 
==Partition of Bengal==
Despite the fact that it was the region first exposed to the British pres- 
ence — or because of it — Bengal, the northeast corner of the subconti- 
nent, lying east of the Ganges, remained backward and undeveloped. 
The eastern portion of Bengal was predominantly Muslim, the western 
portion Hindu. The religious dichotomy had complicated administra- 
tion of Bengal, as did the large population. To break the administrative 
bottleneck, in 1905 Lord Curzon partitioned Bengal into two parts: 
[[File: european.PNG | A European is engaged in a tiger hunt, a pursuit of nobles and the upper class, in this 1892 painting from Punjab. (Victoria & Albert Museum, London/Art Resource, NY)|frame|500px]]
West Bengal encompassed Bihar and Orissa, with Calcutta as its capi- 
tal, and East Bengal incorporated the province of Assam, with Dacca 
(modern-day Dhaka) as its capital. From the start, Hindus objected to 
the partition, feeling their land was being taken away. The protest was 
more widespread and sustained than anticipated by the British and 
increasingly included Hindu nationalist overtones as well as violence. 
The opposition to the partition also spawned the swadeshi movement, 
which advocated boycotting British goods, a form of protest that turned 
out to be surprisingly effective. 
==Toward Muslim Independence==
As viceroy Lord Curzon enjoyed the customary control over the Indian 
Army's commander in chief (CIC). But in 1905 the secretary of state 
for India in England changed the policy, taking direct oversight of the 
CIC for himself. Lord Curzon resigned in protest. Gilbert John Elliot- 
Murray-Kynynmound, fourth earl of Minto, succeeded Lord Curzon as 
viceroy (r. 1905-10). 

Political change, both peaceful and violent, was in the air. Muslim 
aspirations were being expressed in Muslim-majority areas, and the 
concept of self-government for Muslims began to take root. In 1906 
the All India Muslim League was founded, a political party that would 
play a major role in the future of the subcontinent's Muslims. Formed 
in Dacca (now Dhaka) at the annual meeting of the Muhammadan 
Educational Conference, attended by 3,000 delegates, it was created 
in answer to concerns that Muslims would be oppressed by the Hindu 
majority if the British ever vacated the subcontinent. Sultan Muhammad 
Shah, Aga Khan III (1877-1957), hereditary leader of a large Shia sect, 
was appointed first honorary president. The league's principles were 
spelled out in its Green Book, though its goals did not initially include a 
separate state for the subcontinent's Muslims. Instead of independence, 
the group's principles stressed the protection of Muslim liberties and 
rights, and encouragement of understanding between Muslims and 
other Indians. Indeed, its initial platform included the goal of promot- 
ing feelings of loyalty to the British government among Muslims, which 
caused some of the more militant voices in the community to shun 
membership. 

Despite the appearance of liberalization, heavy-handed British poli- 
cies had fed rising tension and opposition throughout the subconti- 
nent. Attempts to placate the population by providing the appearance 
of increased local political power were failing. The British hoped to 
mollify the upper classes sufficiently to win their tacit support for con- 
tinued British rule. Viceroy Minto worked with the British secretary 
of state for Indian affairs, John Morley First Viscount Morley (1838- 
1923), to develop a framework that would give Indians more direct 
control over their government while keeping the ultimate authority in 
the hands of the British. In 1906 Lord Morley announced the govern- 
ment's intent to cede greater legislative power to local rule. Parliament 
approved the changes as the Government of India Act of 1909, more 
commonly called the Minto-Morley Reforms. The reforms would be a 
landmark in the subcontinent's constitutional history and begin a new 
chapter in its march to independence.