THE LATE LORD LAWRENCE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 386, 5 July 1879, Page 9

THE LATE LORD LAWRENCE.

The following short biography of the above eminent statesman, whose death is recorded in another column, is extracted from “ Men of the Time ”

Lawrence (Baron), the Right Hon John Laird Mair, late Viceroy Governor-General of India, who has been emphatically styled the savior of that vast possession of the British Crown during the mutiny of 1857, brother of the late Sir Henry Lawrence, K.C.8., killed in the same year, in the defence of Lucknow against the rebels, was born March 4, 1811, and received his early education at Foyle College, Londonderry, and at the East-India College, Halleybury. He obtained his nomination to India as a writer in 1829, became Assistant to the Chief Commissioner and Resident at Delhi in the early part of 1831 ; was promoted to the post of Officiating Magistrate and Collector in December, 1533, and to a similar post at Paniput in 1834 ; was appointed Joint-Magistrate and Deputy-Col-lector of Goorgaon, and the southern division of Delhi, in July, 1836, and Officiating Magistrate in the southern division only, in Dec.; had the sole charge of Goorgaon, and conducted the settlement duties in zillah Etawah in 1838 ; proceeded to Europe ou furlough, in Feb., 1840, and did not proceed to India until Dec., 1842. Up to this time Mr, Lawrence had been chiefly engaged in the collection of revenue. After holding one or two temporary employments, he was engaged as J udge, Magistrate, and Collector for the important district of the Central Division of Bengal, when his administrative ability attracted the attention of the Governor-General, Sir H. Hardinge, and an opportunity for making himself a name presented itself on his being appointed to the important post of Commissioner of the trans-Sutlej provinces, which had been added to our Indian empire, as the result of the first Sikh war of 1845-6. In this position he found ample scope for the exercise of his great abilities and persevering energy, and succeeded in reducing a chaos of disorder, political, fiscal, and agricultural, into system, shape, and form. The assassination, at Mooltan, of the English envoys, Mr. Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson, April 18, 1848, followed by a general insurrection in the Punjaub, led to the second Sikh war. After a long and obstinate contest, the Sikhs were finally defeated by Lord Gough at Goojerat, Feb. 21, 1849, when their territory was surrendered into our hands, and was declared by Lord Dalliousie to be thenceforth annexed to our possessions in India. The first important step on the part of the GovernorGeneral was to seek for men of great administrative ability to bring the newly-acquired territory under British laws and rule. Sir H. Lawrence, who had filled the post of Resident at Lahore, and his brother, Mr. John Lawrence, were nominated two out of three members of the board for the administration of the Punjaub. Some slight idea of the labors of this commission may be formed from the fact that the superficial area of the country is 50,400 square miles, and that it contains a population, partly military and partly agricultural, of various races and religious creeds, who all “ hated every dynasty except their own, and regarded the British as the worst, because the most powerful of usurpers.” Under their former sovereign, Runjeet Singh, the administration was deplorable. There was scarcely a crime for which impunity could not be purchased by bribes ; while the oppressive exactions of the provincial governors, who farmed the taxes, were unchecked. Such was the state of affairs when the British Government first interfered in the internal administration of the country. Much had been done by Sir 11. Lawrence, when acting as Resident at Lahore, to ameliorate the condition of the people; but his endeavors were interrupted by the rebellion of 1848-9. The first labor undertaken by the board appointed by Lord Dalhousie, was to organise a comprehensive system of law and justice, aud of social and financial improvement throughout the Punjaub. It was found necessary to disband the Sikh soldiery, though many of them afterwards entered the British service, and an irregular force, consisting of ten regiments, was raised for the protection of the western frontier. In consequence of these measures, at the end of two years, the board was able to report to the Governor General that “ the entire British system and its institutions were thoroughly introduced into the Punjaub.” One triumphant result of this consummation was shown in the fact that in the great mutiny of 1857, that province remained faithful to British rule, and contributed largely to the preservation of our Indian empire. In 1856 Sir J. Lawrence was made a K.C.B. in reward of his services as Chief Commissioner of the Punjaub, and was advanced to the dignity of a G.C.B. (civil) in 1857, for his zeal, intrepidity, and energy in aiding the military authorities to suppress the formidable revolt. He was created a bai-onet August 16, IS58 ; sworn a member of the Privy Council, and on the creation of the Order of the Star of India, was made K.S.I. <ln Dec., 1863, he succeeded the late Lord Elgin as Governor General of India, an appointment which gave great satisfaction both in this country and in India. He was made a member of the Indian Council, and the Court of Directors of the East India Company granted him a life pension of £2OOO per annum, which, by a special act (27 Viet. c. 2), he was empowered to hold with his full salary as Viceroy of India. On March 27,1869, he was raised to the House of Peers by the title of Baron Lawrence, of the Punjaub, and of Gately, in the county of Southampton. Lord Lawrence, who has received the honorary degrees of D.C.L. and LL.D. from the Universities of Oxford aud Cambridge, is known as an earnest advocate of a more open Christian course in the government of India ; and especially of making the Bible a class-book in the Government schools, but allowing the attendance of the native pupils to be voluntary. At the first elections lor the London School Board in 1870, he wa3 chosen for the Chelsea division, and at the first meeting of the board he was elected its chairman,