Sir Henry Lawrence

When England was convulsing under the shock of the outbreak of the Bengal Mutiny reinforcements were being prepared with intense energy. Sir Collin Campbell had been sent out to India to take the military command. Lord Canning was at the helm in Calcutta but the situation was too critical. It was under these circumstances that Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence was appointed provisionally to succeed to the office of Governor-General of India on the death, resignation or coming away of Lord Canning, pending the arrival of a successor from England. Though the occasion never arose because Sir Henry Lawrence had already fallen in the Mutiny. This book contains a sketch of the eminent services he rendered, including the control of the Sikh government during Lord Hardinge's rule, his part in the pacification and administration of the Punjab after its annexation, his subsequent management of the Rajputana states during a period of controversy and irritation, and his final but shortlived career in Oudh, with his wise and vigorous measures for preparing Lucknow for defence. However most valuable was his special consideration to the feelings, traditions, and modes of thought of the native community, generous treatment of the native leaders and guidance given to them in the discharge of their high functions.