1 SIR ROBERT MONTGOMERY. 589
2 Mr, Montgomery, the present Lieutenant-Governor of the Panjab. I know but one
3 opinion of the value of his prompt and conrageous counsels, tempered, as they always
4 have been, with the soundest and most generous, judgment.
5 Sir Robert Montgomery resigned his office on the 10th of January, 1865.
6 Three days before this, an assembly of native chiefs and gentlemen, at a
7 public darbdr! held to bid him farewell, presented him with an address
8 expressing their gratitude for the benefits conferred by his administration
9 of the province and for the interest he took in their welfare. After his
10 departure to England they raised a magnificent memorial in his honour,
11 which took the form of the Montgomery. Hall, now standing by the side
12 of that which bears the name of Sir John Lawrence. Before he left Ldéhore,
13 Sir Robert was entertained in the Lawrence Hall by English officers and
14 gentlemen. At this meeting, Mr. Arthur Roberts, his successor in the office
15 of Judicial Commissioner, in an appreciative speech, recounted his brilliant
16 services, and all joined in doing honour to their departing ruler.
17 Sir Robert Montgomery was succeeded in the office of Lieutenant-
18 Governor by Sir Donald McLeod, a highly gifted ruler, who had played
19 an important part in the administration of the Panjab ever since it became
20 a British province. He joined the Panjdb in 1849 from Benares as Com-
21 missioner of Jallandar, for which post he had been selected in succession
22 to Sir John Lawrence, who had obtained a seat at the Board. God-fearing
23 and by nature of a mild disposition, the’ feelings with which Sir Donald
24 entered upon the duties of his office may be gathered from the following
25 extracts from a letter, dated the 1st of January 1865, and written a few days
26 after the event :—*
27 Truly, when I look back to the past and the present, how can I but feel amazed,
28 and, Lmay add penetrated, with conflicting feelings, in which humiliation bears a largo
29 part, that one so full of weaknesses and failings should have been elevated to such a post,
30 the post in which the strong and vigorous Sir Henry and Sir John Lawrence won their
31 first renown, the post which Sir Robert Montgomery has graced during the past five
32 years by virtues rarely combined in one individual, and which has been filled by all of
33 these with an ability, energy and success which render the task of their successor
34 doubly onerous and responsible. In my consciousness of weakness and the prayers of
35 many good men lies my only strength ; and well do I know, deeply do I feel, that if I
36 should ever cease to look above for guidance and for strength, 1 must fail. God grant that
37 it may never beso! I have felt much more solemnized than gratified by the position in
38 which I find myself. . . . I will not allow myself to doubt that it has been brought
39 about in the decrees of an All-wise Ruler for the welfare of this very interesting
40 province,
41 In the year 1865, the office of Judicial Commissioner was abolished, and
42 a Chief Court, consisting of two judges, was created with final appellate
43 authority in civil and criminal cases. In subsequent years the staff of the
44 court was strengthened by the addition of more judges. The first civilian
45 judge was Mr. H. A. Roberts, who had been Judicial Commissioner, and a
46 Barrister-Judge, Mr. Charles Boulnois.
47 . The succession of Sher Ali Khan to the K4bul throne, after the death of
48 the Amir Dost Muhammad Khan, was contested by Mubammad Afzul
49 Khan and Muhammad Azim Khan, Sher Ali’s brothers, and a series of civil
50 wars broke out in Afghanistan, resulting in the defeat of Sher Ali, and the
51 accession of Afzul Khan to the throne. On the 7th January, 1867, in an
52 engagement near Khilat-i-Ghilzai between the troops of Sher Ali Khan and
53 the Kdébul army under Sardar Muhammad Azim Khan and Abdul Ruhmdna
54 Khan, son of Muhammad Afzul Khan, Sher Ali was again disastrously de-
55 feated with the loss of eighteen guns, and retired to Herét, and on the
56 * Life of Sir Donald McLeod, a Record of forty-two Years’ Service in India, by Major-
57 Sir Robert Mont-~
58 gomery resigns his
59 Office, 1865,
60 The Montgomery
61 Hall founded.
62 Sir Donald McLeod
63 succeeds as Licut,-
64 Governor, 1865,
65 The feelings with
66 which he entered his
67 new office,
68 Establishment of the
69 Chief Court of the Pan-
70 jab, 1865,
71 Mr. A. i. Roberts
72 and Afr. Ch. Boulnois
73 first Judges of the
74 Chief Court,
75 The civil war in
76 Afghanistan, 1866,
77 The defeat of Sher
78 Ali Khan and the
79 accession of Afzul
80 Khan to the Kabul
81 throne.
82 General Egy Satbakre KagutSingh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com