SIR DOUGLAS FORSYTH.*
IT is not easy to write, and, with reverence be it spoken, not always easy to read, the life of an Indian civilian. There is, however, one mode of composition which seldom fails to enter- tain. A man may tell his own story, write an autobiography, and if he has any talent at all, and has anything worth telling, it is sure to succeed. Sir Douglas Forsyth, stimulated by his children, began to narrate his career, and considering his mani- fest qualities as a clear, modest, and pleasant narrator, we can only regret that his " sad and unexpected death " prevented the completion of his task. The quantity he produced is so excellent in quality, that we hunger for more in the same style. As he did not, unhappily, live long enough to finish a labour of love so well begun, it was quite right—indeed,
essential—to reprint reports, now buried in Blue-Books and other receptacles, relating his journeys and missions, twice to Yarkand and once to Mandalay. They will always be read with interest; but we may say that, except a letter to his brother from the capital of the Atalik Ghazi, the only new matter in the volume, so piously put together by his sorrowing daughter, is the opening fragment of what could not have failed to be a delightful autobiography.
He begins in the simple, good old-fashioned way,—" I was born at Birkenhead on October 7th, 1827, and was the tenth child of Thomas Forsyth, a Liverpool merchant,"—and continues in the same unaffected strain. There are, alas ! only fifty-three pages, but they are bright and flowing from first to last. He had a gloomy childhood, for not only was death almost ever-present in his family, but he was under strict dis- cipline of the Puritanical sort, so much so that " every- thing that was pleasant seemed to be wrong." He fears that he must have been an " abominable prig " in those days, and afflicted with mauvaise honte, which was only mitigated by the wholesome tonic of a Public School. He went first to Sherborne, and then to Rugby ; but "my stupidity," he writes, "and a decided disinclination to study, kept me from rising beyond the fifth form." He could run fast and jump well, but not read, and he got into " scrapes " in distinguished company, one of his comrades in frolic being M. Waddington, now the French Ambassador in London. From Rugby he was sent in 1843 to a tutor, as a preface to Haileybury. At this time his chances of distinction seemed nil; but " one day my sister Christina came to me with tears in her eyes, imploring me to do something, as she had overheard my father describe me to my brother as the dunce of the family." Others gave him good advice, which he took ; the dunce went to Halley- bury, and " came away with five gold medals, and ten or fifteen prizes." He must have had an aptitude for learning languages, since he stood first in Sanskrit, Persian, and Hindu- stani, and had a prize for Hindi, besides obtaining medals for classics and law, which showed general faculty. Here is encouragement for the so-called "dunces " who can only jump, run, and frolic. But the fact appears to be that the boy Forsyth was only late in arriving at the point where an adequate motive at once brought forth his latent powers. At Calcutta he went into and passed out of the College in a single day, and then had the luck to get posted at Saharunpore, where he had the best guidance ; and as the second Sikh War broke out in the following year, he was luckily transferred to Lahore. There Sir Henry Lawrence ordered him to a post in the South, the whereabouts of which neither Forsyth nor his chief, Colonel Marsden, knew, and one which they had great difficulty in finding.
• Autobiography and fit•iniaissericts of Sir Douglas Forsyth, C.B., X.C.S.I., 7.11.G S. Edited by his Daughter. London : Richard Bentley and Bon.
How they had to rough it in those early days ! "The heat in tents was insufferable. We were obliged to dig a hole iu the ground under our beds, and lie in it during the day to escape from the rays of the sun, from which we used to emerge about 5 p.m. and do work until 11 [p.m.], when we had dinner, then go to bed for an hour or two, and resume our march before dawn." A liver-attack sent him to Simla, and there Lord Dalhousie offered him a post ; but as the pay was lower than that he would be entitled to if he took sick-leave, and as he wanted to be married, he declined it. A severe wigging followed, of course. He got the full pay and the post "for one year," after which he was to be sent back to the North-West Provinces. It was a heavy blow ; but he went to Calcutta and got married, and as Lord Dalhousie forbade his appointment to a post, even in the North-West, he wrote direct to the Viceroy, explained his situation, mollified his master, and was sent at once, with his young wife, to the Kangra Valley. It must be said that he was lucky as well as bold, and that the Viceroy was just.
Kangra was the stepping-stone to Yarkand and Kashgar; but a visit to England and the Mutiny intervened. Mr. Forsyth tells at first-hand some incidents which, at second-hand, have been told before. He was Deputy-Commissioner at Umballa in 1857, and keeping his eyes and ears open, he saw many signs of the coming tempest; but Sir Henry Barnard, a kind gentle- man and soldier, made light of them. He obtained specific in- formation from a young Sikh that a rising was imminent, and sent it to General Barnard, to his own chief, Mr. Barnes, and to John Lawrence. The General said he must give proofs, or take the consequences of calumniating the Army ; Mr. Barnes told him to " mind his own business ;" but John Lawrence urged him to get further information, and protect his young Sikh. Then came the thunderpeal from Meerut and Delhi. He sent the news on, and instantly requested Pattiala to bring up every available man. The Maharajah, on the alert, obeyed, but would not move a man to guard the Trunk Road unless he had a promise of support. Mr. Forsyth gave his word that he would do everything he could to secure it, and that pledge sufficed. Then there was high debate in council of war, and it was resolved to call the troops from the hills; but Mr. Barnes arrived and cancelled all Mr. Forsyth's orders, because he had "exceeded his authority and acted in a state of needless alarm." General Barnard followed suit, and wanted to recall his orders ; but Forsyth, believing be was in the right, as he was, would not despatch the counter-orders. It was a sound as well as bold decision ; and he was justified at once, for prompt approval and orders came from John Lawrence. Forsyth carried them to General Barnard, who " begged me," he writes, " to get the last letters back. I produced them out of my pocket, and said, Here they are, General.' He tore them up into bits, and so we got the troops down to Delhi, and my promise to the Maharajah was redeemed." Major Browne, we have seen, testified to the practical character of the American missionaries. There was one, Mr. Carleton, at Umballa, an excellent man, and popular among the natives. When Mr. Forsyth advised the Europeans to leave the civil lines, the missionary came to him, and "in a straightforward, simple way said, I think I had better give up preaching, but I will not desert you, as I might be of some service, for I was raised in Kentucky, and am skilled in the use of the rifle." And he was of use, for Mr. Forsyth, he, and another held the gateway over the gaol full of prisoners, until the threat of an attack dis- appeared. All the Mutiny stories are piquant and illustrative.
After many years' faithful service, Mr. Forsyth fell upon an evil chance which nearly shelved him for life. A sect, known as the Kook-as, rose in the Punjab, headed by Ram Singh. Sir Robert Montgomery kept them in awe, but the mild Sir Donald Macleod relaxed his precautions, and the consequences were murders in the Jullunder division. Then followed a movement which aroused the apprehensions of Lord Napier of Magdala, and Mr. Forsyth, then in the Camp of Exercise, was sent, without " specific orders," to prepare to put down the insurrection. He said, on departing from Lahore, as he could get nothing definite,—" Then I shall act on my own judg- ment, and you must support me." Before he could reach the scene of disturbance, Cowan, the Deputy-Commissioner, had caught a large number, and Mr. Forsyth directed him to arrest and try, but not execute. " Cowan took the law into his own
hands," ignored his instructions, and executed the ringleaders
captured red-handed. What was to be done. Knowing the
importance of the crisis, and feeling that promptitude and action were necessary to stay the spread of insurrection, Mr. Forsyth, courageous man as he always was, took the responsibility on him- self. Then he arrested Ram Singh, and the danger was over. His reward for this was an inquiry held behind his back. "I never was told," he says, "that any inquiry was going on, and I was not called upon to make any defence." He got a curt telegram re- moving him from his post, followed by a declaration that he was "incapable of serving in any political capacity." It was a huge injustice. Cowan was wrong to exceed his authority ; but Mr. Forsyth was right and manful in what he did. He afterwards found, on appealing to Lord Northbrook, then just come out, that, to use his own words," every letter or report which told in my favour had been carefully eliminated from the correspondence sent home for publication." The solemn decision of the Govern- ment could not be reversed, but in a short time reparation was made by the order which sent him as Envoy to Kashgar.
Mr. Forsyth went twice into Eastern Turkestan, and came back from his second journey with a treaty of commerce, which won for him his well-earned knighthood. The incidents which led to both missions are briefly described in a chapter of the "Autobiography," where they may be sought. There also will be found his account of his mission to St. Petersburg, and, later on, to Mandalay, his last conspicuous piece of service. In 1876, Sir Douglas retired from the Civil Service; but he did good work daring the ten years allotted to him after he became free, and the reader will find in Miss Forsyth's unpretending book the record left by an honest, courageous, industrious, and able man, whose name deserves to stand high on the long roll of known and unknown Anglo-Indian public servants.
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