DALHOUSIE. James Andrew Broun Ramsay, tenth Earl and first Marquis of Dalhousie was born on the 22d April 1812. He was a third son by the heiress of the Brouns of Colstoun in Haddingtonshire. He was educated at Harrow, and subsequently at Christchurch, Oxford, where he was fourth class in classics (1833), and gradu ated 3I.A. in 1838. 13y the deaths of his two elder brothers he became Lord Ramsay in 1832. He WAS employed iu the Ministry of Great Britain, , and was Governor-General of India from the 12th , January 1848 to the 29th February 1856. The ; period of his administration was marked by great , changes, and posterity has styled him the Gre.at Proconsul. Ile WU naturally prompt and imperi ous; be was prompt to vindicate his authority, and he had quite a special faculty for making his displeasure dreaded. He never failed to reward goal service, though oven his friends regarded I him with a certain IMO j and it used to be said of hitn, that 'although his height was not impos in„,;v he looked every inch a king.' . On reaching Calcutta, Lord Dalhousie proclaimed - his policy : We aro lords paramount of India, and - our policy is to acquire AS direct n dominion over a the territories in possession of the native princes, , as WO already hold over the other half of India.' Soon after his arrival, British officers were mur dered at Niihau, and Mulraj its governor was in revolt ; the Sikhs were defeated, and the Panjab annexed to the British dominions. In 1852 the Government was involved in hostilities with Burma, where British traders had been insulted by the officers of the king of Ava, and in a few weeks the entire coast of Burma was occupied, and before the close of the year the province of Pegu was annexed. From that time to the end of his administration, the Indian Empire enjoyed com parative peace.
During his tinie a Legislative Council was organized, prison discipline was improved, a system of uniform and cheap postage was intro duced, a portion of the Peninsula intersected by railway, and all the large towns brought into immediate connection by means of the electric telegraph, laid down by Dr. (Sir William) O'Shaugh nessy, 4000 miles having been constructed and placed in working order between November 1853 and February 1856. The production of cotton, tea, and flax, the breeding of sheep, and the im provement of agricultural implements, all received his attention. The development of the resources of the country in iron, coal, and other minerals was a matter on which he bestowed peculiar care; and measures were also taken for the preservation of the forests, and for making their produce avail able. A new and uniform survey of the districts
was commenced, and the limits of feudatory states accurately defined. Irrigation on a large scale wa,s attended to in Sind, Madras, and Bombay ; the navigation of the Ganges, Indus, Nerbadda, and Bmlimaputra was improved ; grand trunk roads were carried to Dehli, through the Panjab, and to Patna, and others made in Pegu and Sind. A road was also constructed to the frontiers of Tibet, commencing from the plains of the Sutlej, and another put in progress from Arakan over the Yoma ridge to Pegu. The most stupendous work, however, was the Ganges canal., carried out by the skill of Sir Proby T. Cautley. The depart ment of public works was reformed throughout, and colleges founded to train young men specially in civil engineering. Schools and colleges were established and placed under Government in spection. _Strenuous efforts were made for the eradication of sati, thuggee, and infanticide. The condition of the British soldier was greatly improved. Provision was also made for both Protestant and Roman Catholic worship on more equal terms, and extensive changes were made in matters of criminal and civil justice. The government of each Presidency, each lieutenant governor, and the chief officer of every province, were required to send in to the Governor-General an annual administration report of the chief events that occurred within their several jurisdictions, in order to test the progress made by the nation at large. In his last minute, he said : No prudent man, who has any knowledge of Eastern affairs, would ever venture to predict the maintenance of continued peace within our Eastern possessions. Experience—frequent, hard, and recent experience —has taught us that wars from without, a rebellion from within, may at any time be raised against us, III quarters where they were the least to be expected, and by the most feeble and unlikely instruments. No man, therefore, can ever pru dently hold forth assurance of continued peace in India.' For his success in the Panjab, Lord Dal housie was raised to a marquisate in 1849 ; and on his return to Britain in May 1856, the East India Company settled on hint a pension of £5000 a year. He had previously been appointed to the wardenship of the Cinque Ports on the death of the Duke of Wellington. He died on the 19th December 1860.