1 THE GOVERNMENT OF SIR JOHN LAWRENCE. 583
2 ness had long desired to obtain, and a remission of the annual commuta-
3 tion tax to which he was then subject, amounting to Rs, 5,265.
4 To the Rajé of Jhind was assigned the hereditary title to the Dadri
5 territory, estimated at Rs. 1,083,000 per annum, with thirteen villages in
6 the Kularan Pergannah, with a rental of Rs. 18,810 per annum.
7 On the Raj& of Nabhd a portion of the Jhajjar territory, valued at
8 Rs. 1,06,000 per annum, was bestowed in perpetuity.
9 In return, the chiefs were bound thenceforth to render civil and military
10 service when required by Government.
11 In acknowledgment of the aid afforded by the Mahardj4 of Kashmir,
12 jewels and horses to the value of one lakh of rupees were presented to
13 His Highness ; the Mahardjd sending for the acceptance of Her Majesty a
14 costly selection of the choicest fabrics of Kashmir,
15 To the Kapirthala Raja, who had taken a force of 2,000 men to Oudh, ,,
16 under his personal command, and had borne his part in six different actions,
17 a considerable estate in that territory: was allotted, and he himself became a
18 principal taluqdar in Oudh.
19 On the Ist of November, 1858, Lord Canning held a grand darbar at
20 Allahabad, in which he published the most gracious proclamation of Her
21 Majesty, Queen Victoria, the true Magna Charta of the Indian people,
22 announcing the assumption of the Government of India by the Queen.
23 Thus the rule of the Hast India Company, which had lasted for upwards of
24 two centuries and a half, was brought to an end, and the entire administra-
25 tion of the country was taken over by the Crown. India was thenceforward
26 to be governed by the Queen of England through one of her principal
27 Secretaries of State, assisted by a Council of fifteen members. Lord Can-
28 ning, the Company’s last Governor-General, became the first Viceroy of the
29 Queen. The Royal Proclamation was published at Lahore on the same date.
30 By it all existing usages and customs, rights and dignities, treaties and
31 covenants were confirmed; religious toleration was extended to all ranks of
32 society ; peace was proclaimed to all, and an amnesty granted to all except
33 those who had taken a direct part in the murder of British subjects.
34 From the Ist of January, 1859, the Panj&b and its dependencies were
35 constituted a Lieutenant-Governorship, Sir John Lawrence, who had hither-
36 to held the office of Chief Commissioner, and had been intimately associ-
37 ated with its politics, from the beginning of the British connection with it,
38 being appointed the first Lieutenant-Governor. On the Sth of February, 1859,
39 the ceremony of turning the first sod of the Panjéb Railway from Amritsar
40 to Multén was performed by its first Lieutenant-Governor, who had so long
41 advocated its construction. The silver shovel presented to Sir John Law-
42 rence for the occasion bore the appropriate motto, “ Tam bello quam pace.”
43 One of the latest acts of Sir John, before resigning his office, was destined to
44 compose the long-standing feud between Mahardjdé Guldb Singh and his
45 cousin Rdjd Jawdhir Singh, son of Rdjdé Dhian Singh, long Prime Minister
46 of the Lahore Darbdr, mainly through whose influence Guldb Singh had
47 risen to sovereign power in the hills. Jawdhir Singh received from the
48 Maharaja an allowance of a lakh of rupees per annum, on condition of his
49 residing at Ambala, or anywhere to the east of it.
50 Sir John Lawrence was compelled by ill-health, brought on by over-exer-
51 tions, to vacate his office at the end of February, and to leave for England.
52 On the eve of his departure from L&hore an address was presented to him by
53 the civil and military officers and gentlemen, in which, referring to Sir John’s
54 services during the Mutiny, they said :—
55 All those among us who are military officers know how, when the Panjab was
56 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary
57 Of the Rsjs of
58 Jhind.
59 The Raja of Nabha,
60 The Maharaja of
61 Kashmir.
62 The Rajd of Kapur-
63 ala,
64 Lord Canning’s
65 Darbar at Allahabad,
66 1858
67 Assumption of the
68 Government of India
69 by Her Majesty the
70 Queen,
71 Lord Canning be-
72 conies the first Viceroy
73 of India.
74 Publication of the
75 Royal Proclamation at
76 Lahore,
77 Constitution of a
78 Lient.-Governorship in
79 the Panjab, 1859.
80 Sir John Lawrence
81 the first Lientenant-
82 Governor.
83 The ceremony of
84 turning the first sod of
85 the Panjab Railway.
86 Settlement of the
87 dispute between Maha-
88 raja Gulab Singh and
89 his cousin, Jawaébir
90 Singh.
91 Sir John Lawrence
92 resigns his office,
93 The Panjab address-
94 to Sir John Lawrence.
95 NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com