Queen Victoria: Proclamation concerning India

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

Queen Victoria's Proclamation concerning India was essentially a diplomatic document, couched as it was in the formal language of diplomacy. It announced the results of the Government of India Act, which the British Parliament had passed two months earlier, in August 1858. Its purpose was to announce that the British government was assuming control of India from the British East India Company. It was addressed to the people of India, announcing the change and assuring the Indian people that the British government would not interfere with their rights and traditional practices, including religious beliefs.

The document begins with a formal salutation to the Indian people, including India's princes and chiefs, from Queen Victoria. It goes on to note that for “weighty reasons,” the government of Great Britain, including the House of Lords and House of Commons of Parliament, is assuming control of India from the East India Company. The queen calls upon the people of India to bear allegiance to “Us” (it was and still is customary for monarchs to refer to themselves in the first-person plural) and to submit themselves to British authority.

The next paragraph announces the appointment of Charles John Canning, first Earl Canning, as viceroy and governor-general of India. Canning had already occupied the post of governor-general of India; Prime Minister Henry John Temple, third Viscount Palmerston, had appointed him to the post in 1855, though at that point he was part of the East India Company administration of the colony. In a letter to Queen Victoria dated September 25, 1857, Canning wrote of the Sepoy Revolt:

One of the greatest difficulties that lies ahead—and Lord Canning, grieves to say so to your Majesty—will be the violent rancour of a very large proportion of the English community against every native Indian of every class. There is a rabid and indiscriminate vindictiveness abroad, even amongst many who ought to set a better example, which it is impossible to contemplate without something like a feeling of shame for one&rsquos fellow-countrymen. (Anderson and Subedar, p. 189)

Although Canning suppressed the revolt, he tried to mitigate some of the worst acts of vengeance, earning the nickname “Clemency Canning.” From the queen's perspective, Canning was already in place, and his attitude made him suitable for the position. Because other East India Company officials were experienced and on the scene, they were retained in their positions.

After assuring the Indian people that Great Britain would adhere to the treaties it had signed with various regions, the queen takes up the issue of religion. One of the chief objections to British administration in India was the belief that the British were trying to impose Christianity on the population. The queen assures the people of India that the Crown “disclaim[s] alike the Right and the Desire to impose our Convictions on any of Our Subjects.” No one is to be “molested or disquieted by reason of their Religious Faith or Observances.” People of all religious faiths would be subject equally to the same laws, and anyone who interfered with Indians' religious beliefs would be threatened with the queen's “highest Displeasure.” All civil service positions were to be open to qualified people of any religion. The queen goes on to assure Indians that their ancestral lands would be respected, as would their “Rights, Usages, and Customs.”

The proclamation then turns to the issue of the recent revolt. In diplomatic language, the queen blames the revolt on “ambitious Men, who have deceived their Countrymen, by false reports, and led them into open Rebellion.” She chooses to see many of the rebels as having been misled and therefore deserving of the queen's clemency, as long as they return to the “path of Duty.” She notes that Canning has already offered clemency to many of those who took part in the “late unhappy Disturbances,” reserving punishment only for those “whose Crimes place them beyond the reach of forgiveness.” She approves of this course but goes on to impose conditions. First, punishment would be meted out to anyone who took part in the murder of British citizens. Second, she states that anyone who has given sanctuary to murderers or who instigated the revolt was to be punished, though they would not be subject to capital punishment. Again she offers the hope of clemency to those “whose Crimes may appear to have originated in too credulous acceptance of the false reports circulated by designing Men.” Finally, she offers full clemency to those who took up arms against the British but who returned to their homes and “peaceful pursuits.”

The queen concludes with expressions of hope for the future. She states that when tranquility is restored, it is Britain's desire to promote industry, improvements, and “Works of Public Utility.” She further expresses the hope that British administration of India would work toward the good of the nation's people.