Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??
Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...
Mss Eur F231/10, f98
- Record Id:
- 041-002302409
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002302141
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001953.0x0002d8
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Mss Eur F231/10, f98
- Title:
- Letter from Canning to Vernon Smith
- Scope & Content:
- Death of Anson (C-in-C) from cholera; he had apparently been waiting for siege guns before proceeding to Delhi; though any defeat or check under the walls of Delhi 'in the present temper of India would be disastrous', Canning considers siege guns unnecessary; Sir H Barnard to take command at Delhi, and General Sir Patrick Grant to become Acting C-in-C at Calcutta; other military appointments; 'Delhi once cleared of the Mutineers, the neck of the Insurrection will be broken'; situation elsewhere; telegraph communications between Calcutta and Agra, Bombay and Madras, cut for last 30 hours; describes efforts (and difficulties) to move troops to affected areas; 'until Delhi is crushed the danger will continue imminent everywhere'; native troops in neighbourhood of Calcutta and Barrackpore behaving well and seeking to demonstrate loyalty but Canning not totally confident of them; panic in Calcutta has died down; reinforcements of European troops arriving; has tried to make it difficult for Elgin to refuse sending China regiments; when rebellion is over, additional force of twelve European infantry regiments and one of dragoons will be needed - 'we must not conceal from ourselves that our Government must henceforward rest much more openly than heretofore upon military strength … we must for a time, and for no short time, make our European strength visible and sensible to all India. Our power and name has had a rude shake; and nothing must be spared to make them firm again. Until this has been done, no confidence, political, social, or commercial will be established'; at least ten more regiments needed to do this, and to begin with he would like twelve; initially additional European troops must be Queen's regiments, but India cannot bear their expense for long; urges substitution of Company European for Native regiments in ratio of 1:2 which will produce small saving to be used for Irregular and Local units; reduction of strength of native regiments will produce further saving; urges despatch of twelve infantry regiments and one of dragoons without loss of time; situation in Punjab and Central India; Sir John Lawrence has higher ratio of European to Native troops than in tract between Barrackpore and Cawnpore where there is one European to fifteen Native regiments; describes changing character of rebellion; mismanagement at Meerut for which he has removed Maj-Gen William Henry Hewitt from his command; fears other disasters may happen before Delhi is taken; trusts Vernon Smith and his colleagues believe that everythung humanly possible is being done to 'mitigate or avert impending evils'; shameful proclamation issued by J R Colvin (Lt-Governor of North-Western Provinces) from Agra; extraordinary ignorance of army officers (even including Anson) on true facts concerning cartridge question; loan is going well.
- Collection Area:
- India Office Records and Private Papers
- Project / Collection:
- India Office Private Papers
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002302141
036-002302142
040-002302397
041-002302409 - Is part of:
- Mss Eur F231 : Papers of Robert Vernon Smith, 1st Baron Lyveden (1800-73) as President of the Board of Control 1855-58
Mss Eur F231/1-11 : Letterbooks of correspondence with the Governor-General of India, the Governors of Madras and Bombay and others
Mss Eur F231/10 : Letters from Lord Canning Vol 2 [formerly Mss Eur B324]
Mss Eur F231/10, f98 : Letter from Canning to Vernon Smith - Hierarchy:
- 032-002302141[0001]/036-002302142[0010]/040-002302397[0012]/041-002302409
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Mss Eur F231
- Record Type (Level):
- Item
- Extent:
- 1 item
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- English
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1857
- End Date:
- 1857
- Date Range:
- 5 Jun 1857
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.
Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.
Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.
This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.
- User Conditions:
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)