Proclamation of the Queen's rule in India:
the Illuminations

Transcript from
The Illustrated London News
1 January 1859

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Click thumbnails for enlargements in a separate window

The 1st of November, 1858, will ever be memorable in the history of our Indian empire. On this day, as duly recorded in our Journal, her Majesty's Proclamation to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India was read throughout nearly every district in India, whereby it was officially announced that the political authority of the East India Company had ceased to exist, and that the Government of India had been transferred to the management of the Crown. This important State document, and a supplementary proclamation by the Governor-Generals, were read in the chief towns of the three Presidencies amid great rejoicing. We engrave this week three Photographic Sketches, which have obligingly been forwarded to us from Calcutta and Bombay, in relation to this great event.
Reading the proclamation at Calcutta
 


 
The assumption of the reins of Government in India by her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria was celebrated at Calcutta with all fitting pomp and with great enthusiasm, both on the part of natives and of Europeans. From all quarters there poured into the city such a concourse of people as had never before been witnessed there. Government House was, of course, the great centre of attraction; and shortly after three o'clock the streets surrounding it became almost impenetrable. From the Esplanade to Tank-square the entire space was alive with a surging crowd.
The proclamation was read, according to programme, at four p.m.; the troops were all in attendance, and the public mustered in crowds, forming a very striking assemblage in the square before the great steps of Government House. The document was read in English by Mr. Beadon, and in Bengali by Baboo Samachurn Sircar. At the conclusion the Royal flag was hoisted at the head of the mast erected for the occasion before Government House, and it was saluted by the cheers of the European portion of the crowd, led by Mr. Halliday on the first round, and again by a sailor who hoisted the flag, and who had placed himself conspicuously on the Dragon Gun. Our Engraving represents Mr. Cecil Beadon reading the proclamation; Mr. Halliday, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, is on his right, with Mr. Grant and Chief Justice Colville.
The illuminations at night were worthy of the occasion; and, whether they were a real proof of rejoicing on the assumption of the empire by the Queen or not, the old servants of the Company and the now servants of the Queen did their work well. No other city in the world could have prepared such a gorgeous spectacle.
The City of Palaces shone a city of fire. The Government House was illuminated at every point — the lines of its architecture, of the cornices, of its pilasters, and of its columns, were brought out in the most brilliant manner. The dome for once became an ornament, and a superb one, lines of fire streaking it like a melon; and a magnificent crown, surmounted by the cross, shone out in all the beauty of dazzling light. The night was dark as Erebus, thus giving further effect to the illuminations. The columns of the Baboo's Ghat at a short distance shone as one mass of bright light, marking all its lines and distinctly tracing the architecture. This was the character of the majority of the illuminations, the houses all appearing as though built of flame. The devices were the usual compliments to her Majesty, and "Queen Victoria" shone over the whole city in letters of fire.
The Auckland Hotel (Hall of all Nations), which was superbly illuminated, is shown in the annexed Illustration. Among the various designs and devices displayed on this building was a transparency of her Majesty the Queen, surmounted by a cross, above which, in brilliant jets of gas, were the words "Long Live our Noble Queen!"
From one end of Calcutta to the other there was a succession of illuminations and transparencies, giving to the city a carnavalesque appearance which, says our Correspondent, it is impossible to describe.

 
 
 'Auckland hotel (Hall of all nations), Calcutta'1859



The ceremony at Bombay
The demonstration on the 1st of November at Bombay was also highly successful. The Royal proclamation was read from a platform erected on the steps of the Townhall. The civil, military, and naval officers of Government having met the Governor in the Durbar-room, a procession was formed, preceded by trumpeters and chobdars, which had a very grand effect. On arriving at the front of the platform a flourish of trumpets was blown, and the chief secretary to Government stepped forward and read in English the Royal proclamation. At its conclusion the Royal standard of England was unfurled, the bands struck up "God Save the Queen," and a Royal salute from the ramparts of Fort George proclaimed that Victoria I. had assumed the sovereignty of India. The cheers from the platform were taken up by ten thousand voices from the crowd beneath, until tower and steeple almost trembled with the reverberation. In the evening the whole town was illuminated, a brilliant display of fireworks took place on the Esplanade, and all the vessels in the harbour were lighted up with great brilliancy.



 

 

Of the various sections of the community that were anxious to mark the day with rejoicing and demonstrations of loyalty, the foremost and most conspicuous were the Parsees. In their houses — some of them princely mansions — they vied with each other in highly ornamental designs. Entire streets occupied by them were adorned with triumphal arches, and tastefully devised transparencies and decorations. Conspicuous in the blaze of light stood out the mansion of the Parsee baronet Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, which we have engraved.
The Mohammedan community also took an active part in the festive demonstration by illuminating the grand mosque, in the Green-market, which was visible for miles around. Lord Elphinstone was everywhere received by the native community with enthusiasm. As his Lordship was proceeding to the Townhall, near Hormusjee Wadia's Fire Temple, a number of Parsees, dressed in their flowing snow-white robes, received the representatives of Majesty by a band of music, whilst a shower of roses was thrown into his Lordship's carriage.

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LINKS

Wikipedia:
Government of India Act, 1858
East India Company
Calcutta / Kolkata
Banglapedia: India Act, 1858
Moving Here site: a PDF file of the proclamation can be viewed/downloaded
India Office (British Library): Historical Background
Kamat's PotPourri: First Indian War of Independence (summary of events leading to the transfer of government of India)
The Athaenium: The Sepoy Mutiny, India, 1857 (another summary)

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Queen's Proclamation, Government House, Calcutta (Kolkata), November 1858

Source: Calcutta Photographs and Memories

1841 INDIA CHINA WAR STOPPED BY BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY

Sino-Sikh War

In the 18th to 19th centuries, the Sikh Confederacy of the Punjab region in India was expanding into neighbouring lands. It had annexed Ladakh into the state of Jammu in 1834. In 1841, they invaded Tibet with an army and overran parts of western Tibet.

Chinese forces defeated the Sikh army in December 1841, forcing the Sikh army to withdraw from Tibet, and in turn entered Ladakh and besieged Leh, where they were in turn defeated by the Sikh Army.


At this point, neither side wished to continue the conflict, as the Sikhs were embroiled in tensions with the British that would lead up to the First Anglo-Sikh War, 

while the Chinese was in the midst of the First Opium War with the British East India Company. 

The Chinese and the Sikhs signed a treaty in September 1842, which stipulated no transgressions or interference in the other country's frontiers


The McMahon Line is clearly shown as India’s boundary in the east. But for the entire western sector, right from the Sino-Indo-Afghan trijunction to the Sino-Indo-Nepalese trijunction, the legend reads: ‘Boundary Undefined’.







Britain as the preeminent power wanted to encroach upon Chinese territory, and every few years expanded the definition of “India”. First they took over Leh and Ladakh, then they defined the McMohan Line. But that did not satiate their appetite. They then took over Aksai Chin–but never exercised control over it—the Chinese a weak and weakened power were powerless to halt the march of the British..
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The British defeated the Sikhs in 1846 and took over sovereignty over Ladakh. The British commissioners and the Chinese officials were apparently sufficiently satisfied that a traditional border was recognized and defined by natural delements, and the border was not demarcated. The boundaries at the two extremities, Pangong Lake and Karakoram Pass, were well-defined, but the Aksai Chin area in between lay undefined.

The Second Opium War from 1856 to 1860 and China lost it too forcing China to import Opium into China. At the same time other stuff was happening on the Western front

W. H. Johnson, a civil servant with the Survey of India proposed the “Johnson Line” in 1865, which put Aksai Chin in Kashmir. This was the time of the Dungan revolt, when China did not control Turkestan, so this line was never presented to the Chinese. Johnson presented this line to the Maharaja of Kashmir, who then claimed the 18,000 square kilometres contained within,, and by some accounts territory further north as far as the Sanju Pass in the Kun Lun Mountains.

 The British government had some doubts on the validity of the Johnson Line[Calvin, James Barnard (April 1984). "The China-India Border War". Marine Corps Command and Staff College. Retrieved 2006-06-14.] and Johnson was censured

That would have been the end of it–but other events happened
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In 1878 the Chinese had reconquered Turkestan, and by 1890 they already had Shahidulla before the issue was decided(Mohan Guruswamy, Mohan,. By 1892, China had erected boundary markets at Karakoram Pass (Calvin, James Barnard (April 1984). “

By 1865 Yakub Beg, the Commander-in-Chief of the army of Kokand too advantage of the Hui uprising in Xinjiang Province, and captured Kashgar and Yarkand from the Chinese and gradually took control of most of the region of Eastern Turkestan, including Khotan, Aksu, Kucha, and other cities in 1867. After Begs death his state of Kashgaria rapidly fell apart, and Kashgar was reconquered by the Qing Dynasty.

ARMED FORCES OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY 1800'S