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 to Umballa. He was here at the outbreak of the mutiny of 1857, and did good service by his vigilance in detecting the first signs of disaffection, and his promptitude in reporting them. After the capture of Delhi he was one of the special commissioners appointed to hunt up the rebels, and in this capacity was principally engaged in examining the papers of the nana of Cawnpore. He arrived at Lucknow in time to see the city evacuated by the rebels, and after this event acted as secretary successively to Outram, Montgomery, and Wingfield, until, in 1860, he was appointed commissioner to the Punjaub. For his services during the mutiny he received the order of companion of the Bath. In 1867 he visited Leh, the capital of Ladakh, with the object of obtaining from the Cashmere officials a removal of the restrictions which prevented the trade between Eastern Turkestan and the Punjaub. On his return he instituted an annual fair at Palumpore, in the Kangra valley, to which he invited traders from Turkestan. The experiences which he gained in this way encouraged him in the idea of promoting amicable relations between the Indian government and the Central Asiatics and Russians. Lord Mayo approved and authorised him to proceed to England, and thence, if possible, to St. Petersburg, with the object of arranging with the Russian government a definition of the territories of the amir of Cabul. In this mission he succeeded in proving that the disputed districts belonged to the amir, and obtained from the Russian government an acknowledgment to that effect. Forsyth returned to India in 1869. At this time the amir of Yarkand and Kashgar, being desirous of establishing relations between his country and India, had sent an envoy to the viceroy with the request that a British officer might be deputed to visit him. Forsyth was accordingly instructed to return with the envoy, without political capacity, for the purpose of acquiring information about the people and country. The journey from Lahore to Yarkand and back, a distance of two thousand miles, was accomplished in six months, but the expedition failed to produce all the results expected from it, owing to the absence of the amir from his capital on its arrival.

In 1872 a serious outbreak of the Kooka sect, the leader of which was a religious enthusiast named Ram Singh, occurred at Malair Kotla. Troops were at once ordered to the disaffected districts, and Forsyth was entrusted with the duty of suppressing the insurrection. His powers on this occasion seem not to have been sufficiently defined, and Cowan, the then commissioner of Loodiana, had anticipated his arrival by executing many of the rebels, a course of action which, though contrary to instructions, Forsyth felt himself bound to support. When the insurrection was put down, an inquiry instituted into the conduct of Forsyth and Cowan resulted in the removal of both from their appointments. Forsyth appealed against this decision to Lord Northbrook, who had recently come out as viceroy, and, though no reversal of the verdict was possible, he was compensated by being appointed in 1873 envoy on a mission to Kashgar. The object of this mission was to conclude a commercial treaty with the amir, and it resulted in the removal of all hindrances to trade between the two countries, and gave reason for the hope that, in spite of physical difficulties, such a trade would eventually be of considerable importance. On his return Forsyth received the order of knight commander of the Star of India.

In 1875 Forsyth was sent as envoy to the king of Burma to obtain a settlement of the question which had arisen between the British and Burmese governments as to the relation of the Karenee States, a question which was settled by an agreement, proposed by the king of Burma, that these states should be acknowledged as independent.

Forsyth left India on furlough in 1876. In the following year he resigned, and occupied himself during the remaining years of his life in the direction of Indian railway companies. In 1879 he formed a company for the purpose of connecting Marmagao, in Portuguese India, with the Southern Mahratta and Deccan countries; and in 1883 he was deputed by the board of directors to visit India and report upon the progress of the works. He died on 17 Dec. 1886 at Eastbourne.

[Autobiography and Reminiscences of Sir Douglas Forsyth, edited by his daughter, Ethel Forsyth, London, 1887.] 

FORSYTH, WILLIAM (1722–1800), merchant, was born in 1722 at Cromarty, where his father, a native of Morayshire, had settled as a shopkeeper. He made good progress at the town school, then taught by David Macculloch, not only in the ordinary branches, but in the classics. Forsyth spent some time in a London counting-house, but, his father dying suddenly, he was called home, and had to take the place of head of the family at the early age of seventeen. Cromarty was then in a low state. The herring had deserted the coast, and there was no trade. Forsyth, however, saw that