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 CHAPTER XII

Lord Dalhousie's Military Policy

Lord Dalhousie perceived that the defence of the new India would prove an onerous burden. What he could accomplish by removing the troops from the sea-board where they were no longer required, and massing them in North-western India, where he foresaw that danger might arise, he accomplished. What he could effect by pushing on railways and telegraphs, and thus increasing the striking force of his armament at any threatened point, he effected. But he also clearly discerned that the future safety of India was not alone a question of the distribution, but also of the numerical strength of the army, and of an equipoise between the British and Native Forces in that country.

The previous chapters of this book have recorded what Lord Dalhousie accomplished in each of the great Departments of his work. This chapter, unhappily for England in 1857, will have to record chiefly the measures which he proposed, and which the Home Government failed to carry out.

Lord Dalhousie, while acknowledging the great