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Mss Eur F90/32A, no.2
- Record Id:
- 041-002301547
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002301132
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001953.0x00017e
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Mss Eur F90/32A, no.2
- Title:
- Letter from Lawrence to Cranborne
- Scope & Content:
- Refers to Cranborne's letter of 3 December (2); would gradually reduce army numbers 'where this can be done with safety on financial grounds'; only minor reductions of native troops possible and these would cause an outcry; reduction of native troops would increase duties of British troops who now perform many duties undertaken by natives before mutiny; increase of duties leads to increase of sickness and mortality; given India's size, troop numbers are very moderate – thinks French would use double their number to hold India; comparison of pre- and post-mutiny Indian and British troop strengths; danger of reducing ratio of British to Indian troops; mutiny has 'excited a distrust indeed I may say a hatred between the two races which perhaps may never subside; and which has certainly not of late years decreased'; comparison of warlike qualities of races comprising pre- and post-mutiny Bengal Army; stationing troops away from their birthplace is already done as far as practicable - any extension would cause great discontent; in 1857 troops mutinied even though far from home; troops kept in their own province can be paid less; suggests if regiments were not of mixed race composition (as now) they could be more readily used against each other if need be; soldiers serving all over India become all-India politicians; surveys various races and castes which serve or might serve in army, and indicates limited possibilities which they offer; Pathans are the most fanatical; Gurkhas 'probably our best and most reliable native troops' but difficult to recruit more as ruler of Nepal is averse to it; little prospect of employing Malays from Ceylon or the Straits, Burmese, or Chinese in Indian Army; Chinese would demand high pay; Africans might be substituted for Indians, but that move would be unpopular with English who would doubt their fidelity and Indians who would see it as directed against them; a real grievance against British rule is lack of service opportunities; discusses at length employment of British troops in India, including tendency of Europeans either to treat natives with contempt or to panic, Anglo-Indian troops, troop levels and limited possibilities of further reduction, extent to which troops could be spared from India in a crisis, religion and race relations, European volunteer forces, need for strong points; question of employing Indian troops on foreign service – impolitic to employ them in England or Europe, but feasible for short campaigns in Oriental countries; numbers of men outside Bengal now impoverished for lack of traditional warlike service who would flock to charismatic leader in time of commotion; suggests experiment of raising one or two regiments specifically for foreign service; advocates reforms to system of employment of British soldiers in India to ease problems of recruitment; advantages from soldier's point of view of Indian service; attaches tables showing established and actual strength of British troops in India.
- Collection Area:
- India Office Records and Private Papers
- Project / Collection:
- India Office Private Papers
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002301132
036-002301161
040-002301545
041-002301547 - Is part of:
- Mss Eur F90 : John Lawrence Collection
Mss Eur F90/25-33 : Sir John Lawrence, Viceroy of India 1864-69: correspondence with Secretary of State
Mss Eur F90/32 : Letters to the Secretary of State, Lord Cranborne and Sir Stafford Northcote. Vol B, no.53 missing or misnumbered as 54
Mss Eur F90/32A, no.2 : Letter from Lawrence to Cranborne - Hierarchy:
- 032-002301132[0005]/036-002301161[0008]/040-002301545[0002]/041-002301547
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Mss Eur F90
- Record Type (Level):
- Item
- Extent:
- 1 item
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- English
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1867
- End Date:
- 1867
- Date Range:
- 4 Jan 1867
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)