1 The Attock camp of
2 1890.
3 The Black Mountain
4 Expedition, 1891.
5 The Age of Consent
6 Bill,
7 The Cesarewitch in
8 the capital of the
9 Panjab, 13th January,
10 1891.
11 634 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB,
12 activity, our countrymen of the Panjdéb will show that to maintain and
13 strengthen the traditions of their forefathers in this respect is the highest
14 aim which a Panjabi can recognise.
15 In the months of November and December, 1890, troops were assembled
16 at Attock, with the twofold object of illustrating the facilities for attack
17 and defence offered by the Attock position, and of furnishing practical
18 experience of the operations of the war in a difficult country. As notified
19 by His Excellency the Commiander-in-Chief at the conclusion of the man-
20 ceuvres, the results in both respects have been extremely valuable, and Sir
21 Frederick Roberts was pleased to record his appreciation of the soldier-like
22 keenness, and cheerful spirit and steadiness, displayed by all ranks in carrying
23 out their arduous duties on the occasion.
24 The preliminary movements of the Cavalry Brigades afforded useful
25 examples of the work they would be expected to perform in a campaign.
26 The march of the Akora division through the Kunna Khyal Pass, the
27 dispositions of the defending forces, and the field-firing with service ammuni-
28 tion, were all that could be desired. The British Commander-in-Chief was
29 glad to welcome at Attock representatives of the armies of Australia, Madras,
30 and Bombay which was proof of the interest taken in the working and
31 organization of the Panjab armies in such distant parts of the Empire.
32 With a view to effecting the permanent pacification of the Hassanzie
33 and Akazie clans of the Black Mountain, which have lately been in a state of
34 declared hostility to the British Government, it has been decided to send a
35 force of British troops to inflict effectual chastisement on the people
36 of the clan. A notification was issued by the Honourable the Lieutenant-
37 Governor of the Panjdb in February last, warning the public, generally,
38 that they are forbidden to pass, otherwise than on public service, across
39 the frontiers of the districts of Hazdré and Peshdwar into the territories
40 of the Hassanzie and ‘Akazie clans, and the clang adjoining them on the
41 Indus River, The projected expedition will have also for its object the
42 construction of such roads and outposts as may appear to be necessary.
43 The total strength employed is to be 6,800 fighting men and 1,900 followers.
44 To the beneficent measures of our humane Government, we main-
45 ly owe the abolition of that repugnant custom of the Hindus known as
46 Satti, or the self-immolation of widows on the funeral pile of their
47 husbands, which had obtained deep root in India, as also the suppres-
48 sion of infanticide, which was so prevalent in the Mdnjhd and Cis-Sutlej
49 country at the time of the annexation of the Panjdb by the British. The
50 Bill relating to the lawful age of consent for the marriage of females .which
51 was under the consideration of the Government in the Legislative Depart-
52 ment has been finally passed into law, and it is gratifying to see that, so far
53 as the Panjab is concerned, the beneficial measure of the Government aiming
54 at a higher limit of age, has been welcomed by all classes of the people,
55 Hindus and Mahomedans.
56 The visit of His Imperial Highness the Cesarewitch, the Czar’s eldest
57 son, to the Panjdb and its capital, after a sojourn in other principal
58 towns of India, and the exceptionally brilliant reception given him at
59 Lahore by the Honourable the Lieutenant-Governor of the Panjdb and the
60 Chief Civil and Military Officers of the station, is particularly interesting,
61 as affording proof of the relations of amity and concord existing between
62 the two great Powers of England and Russia. That Russia and England,
63 two great rival European Powers in Asia, and the subverters of many 2
64 mighty monarchy founded by the legions of Changez Khan, the Tartar, and
65 Sri Sathrupsgit Sidi préripkary Gorgan, showldmtenatipibtarhGignalincéhe annals of