Rupnagar “Treaty” of 1831 – The Meeting Between Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and Lord Bentinck

In October 1831, the small town of Rupnagar (Ropar) on the banks of Sutlej witnessed a historic meeting between Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and Lord William Bentnick, the Governor General of Indian territory under the East India Company. Over eight days of festivities, military reviews, entertainment and feasting, each side tried to outdo the other in show of goodwill and warmth. At the conclusion, a document was presented by Lord Bentnick to the Maharaja – often erroneously referred to as the “Treaty” of 1831, it was in fact, more of a British proclamation of good intention and its desire for good relations with the Maharaja. It can possibly be compared to the communiques issued post meetings between modern day heads of states. (See below)

By this time the British empire had extended up to the Eastern banks of the Satluj, while territory beyond the river right up to Afghanistan was firmly under the control of Ranjeet Singh, a strong ruler in his own right. It was only after his death and subsequent intrigues that the British conspired to extend their rule beyond Satluj to encompass his territories.

An interesting account of this meeting, including extracts from the diaries of Col James Skinner (who raised the illustrious cavalry regiment named after him, which is still part of the Indian Army in its new avatar as an armoured regiment, known today as 1st Horse) were published in the USI journal in 1932 in an article by Col EB Maunsell. The same is reproduced below.

The meeting between Lord William Bentinck, Governor General, and the Maharaja Runjeet Singh, at Rupar, October 1831, as described by Colonel James Skinner, CB

The following account has only just come to light. The original is a heirloom of the Wood family, and is in Skinner’s own handwriting, clear and legible, though the ink has faded. Skinner’s memoirs and reminiscences were, curiously enough, written mainly in Persian. The forwarding letter was written to Mr Wood, who, so the family tradition states, married the daughter of a Rajput officer who lay beside Skinner, desperately wounded, on the field of Oniara. in the connection there is a tradition in the Skinner family that, when the ladies of Delhi were working an altar cloth for the church this half -caste adventurer was building in the memory of the horrors occasioned on that occasion, Skinners took the letters, I.H.S., to be complementary to himself, these being his own initials. With regard to the Durbar, Skinner makes a very pertinent remark, “The meeting with Runjeet was very grand on his side, on ours, very poor.” This is in full accordance with contemporary accounts of Bentinck’s character for pettifogging economies. It was this Governor General, it will be remembered, who was responsible for the mean “half batta” order which reduced the small allowance of officers while retaining those of the sepoys. This, coupled with his fatuous “gesture’ of abolishing flogging for sepoys while the punishment still remained in existence for British soldiery, had no small effect towards running the discipline of the Bengal Army, which culminated in the Mutiny twenty six years later. 
Skinner, in this note, also observes, “Runjeet is a noble fellow, and the only good chieftain of the old days remaining. After his death there is no one to manage his affairs and John Company will, of course, do it.” Runjeet was then fifty years of age, and, on the last day of the Durbar, joined in with some of his own troopers, and with men of Skinner’s Horse, at equestrian feats, Skinner observing, “I could not help admiring his fine spirit.”
This was the second occasion when Skinner crossed the Sutlej. In 1805, acting as advanced cavalry to Lord Lake’s army in pursuit of Holkar, who was delirious of seeking shelter with Runjeet, then a budding chief, the adventurer, with a couple of troops and a galloper gun, was the first man to plant the British standard on the far bank of the river and his mare was the first animal of the British camp to drink the water of the Hyphasis – the Beas – of Alexander the Goat, and in close proximity to the altar erected by that world’s conquerer. 
Although in 1831 Skinner had served the Company, on and off, for the last twenty-eight years, he was not a regular officer, but as a special compliment, he was placed on the roster as a Field Officer, and commanded the outposts in his turn. He was much gratified by this, for never before had he commanded European troops, the 16th Lancers and 31st Foot being the regiments present.
Runjeet Singh’s troops, who were reviewed on this occasion, had come into being in a curious manner, for the Sikhs, like the Mahrattas, in the days of Lake and Wellesley, and only been horse soldiers, and very irregular at that. In 1809, Charles Metcalfe had been sent to negotiate certain terms with Runjeet who was now imposing his personality on the whole of the Punjab, as also on Sikh States on the British bank of the Sutlej. Metcalfe happened to be at Amritsar when the Muharram festival took place, and the Mussulman sepoysof the escort celebrated it in the usual manner. This infuriated the fanatical Sikh Akhalis, who attacked the camp. The Company’s sepoys, well disciplined, but totalling only some two hundred all told, met the overwhelming numbers of the Akhalis in the most steady manner, utterly routing them. Runjeet was so impressed with what he heard of the occurrence that he resolved on forming an army, to be trained and disciplined in the European manner. The Colonel, Allard mentioned, together with Ventura nd AVitabile, were the adventurer officers who, in common with sundry British, entered his service and who welded the Sikhs into the formidable soldiery we met in the war of 1845. In this connection Avitabile became the Governor of Peshawar, the only Euopean who governed in India in an Orinetal manner, with the gallows at the city gate. 
In the initial preparations for the Durbar “the Seiks cleared a fine space and planted a garden, in the centre of which the royal tent was to be pitched. Wheat had been sown too, in the shape of men, birds and animals, in which form it grew up for the amusement of the chief, as well as gave verdure to this royal and magnificent encampment, while a bridge of boats sufficiently strong to allow the passage of the royal sowarees, consisting of elephants, horses etc, were erected. Nor did a single accident occur.” The “bungalow of silver” referred to below could be moved about as necessity dictated, Runjeet and Lord William taking their seats thereon and being able to see over the heads of the crowd. With regard to the entertainment given by the Maharaja, Skinner tells us that the whole “formed a perfect specimen of Indian luxury and magnificence” – and this old adventurer had seen much magnificence i this early days, particularly under his first master, the great de Boigne, who fully realised its importance in the East. Runjeet Singh, in his cups, was wont to become “very high spirited” and somewhat inconveniently hearty. On this occasion he plated Lady William Bentinck, in common with the naught girls, with gold dust. “and he seemed much to enjoy the joke.” On the other hand his chieftains appeared unable to carry their liquor as gentlemen should, “and, instead of the manners of noblemen, displayed those of village churls.”
Runjeet Singh, in his enthusiasm, went so far as to present Lord William with his famous horse “Loylee” – this was well on in the evening – and his Lordship wisely declined acceptance. The reception was an unqualified success.
The results obtained by the Durbar were incalculable. Had the Sikhs proved hostile during our troubles in Afghanistan eight years later it might have proved impossible to redeem the situation, for the Khyber line of advance would have been closed. 
The total number of Sikh troops present was estimated at being some fifteen thousand horse, seven thousand infantry and twenty five guns. 
25th October
Ranjeet Singh arrived in his royal tent this morning at 8 am. A deputation consisting of Mr Prinsep, General Ramsay and two other officers, escorted by 60 sowars from Skinner’s Horse, went over and was received with a salute of 15 guns. His son, Kurruck Singh, paid the Governor-General a visit and was received by a salute of 17 guns and took his leave at 12 am. The Royal tent is made of red velvet and the outer kunnauts of yellow satin. There is also a bungalow of silver about 16 feet square. 
26th
All our troops formed a street from the Governor-General’s tents towards his camp. The Maharaja arrived at 9 am, escorted by a thousand horsemen dressed in silk velvet also rich armours. As he passed every corps saluted, the Company’s colours only dropped. The Governor General with all his suite received him about 100 yards from the Government tents, went into his Hodah, and put a string of pearls around his neck. After asking after each other’s health, about 200 trays were brought in containing shawls, silk, velvet, Kum Khaub, and other manufactures, also several double barrelled guns and pistols besides two horses and two elephants which were all presented to the Maharaja. He returned about 10 am, with the same salute of 21 guns. The horsemen that accompanied him, about 300, were good, the rest were indifferent. The French Lancers were only a mockery of discipline and the horses badly disciplined. 
27th
This morning His Lordship returned the Maharaja’s visit at 7 am Kurruck Singh met His Lordship about 1/2 a mile on our side of the river when he crossed the bridge of boats and was met by Runjeet with all his Sardars. His Lordship shook hands and one into the Maharaja’s Howdah. They then passed through street fully a mile in length formed by Runjeet’s troops, both infantry and cavalry. The Durbar was surrounded by large silk kunnauts inclosing a space about 2,000 yards square. It was made of scarlet broadcloth lined on the inside with yellow velvet worked with gold. The carpets were all shawls, rich and superb. The household horse (dismounted) were arranged in ranks in different places. Upon the Lord dismounting, he was received with a salute of 21 guns. He was seated on the left of the Maharaj – Kurruck Singh on the right. Near Runjeet sat Captain Wade, acting as interpreter – then 200 of his Sardars, and then our own officers according to their respective ranks. 
When we were all seated a band of about 100 young women came in, well dressed and jewelled. After their salute they sat down on our left. She had arrows in their hands, and some bows. their commanders held staff of order in their hands and wore yellow turbans inkling on one side which made them look very handsome. After singing a little they retired. 
The presents next came. They consisted of about 190 trays of different rich manufactures of the country. Runjeet put a string of pearls round His Lordship’s neck besides two horses and an elephant with rich trappings. After receiving these, His Lordship got up and looked at all the magnificent tents, etc etc. After which he took his leave with a salute of 21 guns. Everything was well managed in the Royal way of Hind. The Maharaja was dressed very richly with jewels and wore on his left arm the famous diamond called the Khoe Noore. We returned to our tents at about 11 am.
28th 
Troops all paraded at 3pm. Maharaj arrived about 4 pm with about 200 soldiers and sardars. His Lordship also accompanied him with all his staff. The Maharaja inspected the troops very minutely. When the manoeuvres commenced he was so delighted that he was going about alone among the troops with the greatest confidence and tased the Generals to perform some of the manoeuvres again. Of our square he said “They are like a wall of iron.” He departed about sunset quite delighted. He presented 11,000 rupees to the troops. He proved himself superior to any native and seemed rather to have understanding of an English Field Marahal, and, in fact, moved about as though he were himself commanding the troops.
29th
The review of Runjeet’s troops took place to-day and was one of the grandest I have seen. In the front of the parade stood the silver bungalow, or rather, temple, for it resembled on in shape. In the upper part of this sat Runjeet with the Lord and his staff. The rest of the officers were seated below under shumianahs which were pitched close before the temple, and before the Durabar all the movements were performed. There were five brigades of infantry formed, three deep, and each consisting of about 1,000 men, chiefly Seiks (Sikhs?) but mixed with some Mussalman sepoys. The whole of this brigade, with about 15 or 20 gallopers, was under the command of a Seik General. After passing in review order they performed some English Manoeuvres, now out of date. They were done in slow time. Their firing(which they did both in line and square) was very regular – they were armed with muskets and dressed like our sepoys. There were three or four guns attached to them in all their manoeuvres. Whether in line or square, they always left a space for them and fired together. Of the cavalry, only one regiment called the Dragoons acted with the infantry. They are dressed in red jackets with steel helmets and are armed with carbines and pistols. Monseiur Allard (a Frenchman, who was formerly in Napoleon’s army) commanded them. He has taken much pains with them but they are still greatly inferior to our cavalry.
The rest of the cavalry were drawn up o each side of the silver temple and seems the flower of his army. they are undisciplined and are perfectly in their native style. They were dressed in yellow silk and wore armour. Some of his own braggers received about Rs 40 a month. 
In the evening entertainment was given by the Maharaja to the Lord and consisted of fireworks. His troop of females was likewise present and danced before the company. Runjeet was in high spirits and drank freely with the Lord. At the end of the party jewels and shawls were presented to Lady William, and a handsome armour to the Lord. 
On the 2nd, the camp broke up – the Lord marched to Puttiala – Runjeet to Lahore, and the troops to their respective cantonments. 
Unfortunately it does not include the proceedings of 31st October when the ‘treaty’ is dated. But its quite clear from Skinner’s account that the plan to annex Ranjeet Singh’s kingdom was already hatching in the minds of the British. The careful manner in which the fighting potential of the Sikhs was being assessed is obvious from his remarks. But the most ominous give away is his statement in the accompanying note – “After his death there is no one to manage his affairs and John Company will, of course, do it.”  And sure enough, that is what happened.
This is what the site where the camps were pitched and the meetings took place looks like this today.
The plans to develop an interpretation centre at the site seem to have been shelved, which is a pity.
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Battle Box – story of a bunker

Fort Canning Hill or Bukit Larangan (Forbidden Hill), as it was originally know, dominated the landscape of the island for centuries before being dwarfed by the tall structures of the concrete jungle that Singapore is today. Soldiers and rulers have always had a fixation with heights – for purposes of tactical and psychological domination. Hence, this hill, imposing at 47 meters height over the otherwise flat terrain, was used as the seat of power from the time the island was first inhabited.

Sejarah Melayu, an ancient Malaya text, mentions Sang Nila Utama, the son of Raja Chulana, a South Indian king, who became the ruler of Sumatra and took the title of Sri Tri Buana. He later founded the Kingdom of Singapura on the island earlier known as Temasek (Sea Town). He built his palace on the hill that became forbidden for common people. Later, when Stamford Raffles founded the modern city of Singapore in 1819, he too built his house on the same hill, which was thence called the Government Hill. In 1859, the house was demolished and a fortified garrison, named Fort Canning after the then Governor General and Viceroy of India Lord Canning, was established. The fort also housed 17 canons of various calibers for ceremonial and defence purposes. But these proved to be ineffective as the ships at sea could remain out of their range and easily bombard the town below the fort.


The fort was demolished in 1907 and in its place, several buildings came up in the 1920s to house headquarters of the Malaya Command. This included the administrative building, which is now Hotel Fort Canning, and the barracks, which is now an art centre. Also in 1938 was added and an underground command centre, which this post is actually about.


The story of the happenings this bunker or ‘battle box’ during the events that led up to the surrender of Singapore in 1942 is beautifully told in the one hour tour that I had the pleasure of taking recently.


Singapore was a key military base for the allies during WWII,  the hub of allied war activities in South-East Asia and South-West Pacific – the other being Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.

On 7th December 1941, Japan attacked the latter, presumably to prevent Naval interference for its planned operations in South-East Asia. In a complementary move, on 8th December, Japanese invasion forces landed at Kota Bharu in the Malayan state of Kelantan and on the Thai coast of Singora and Pattani, while Japanese aircraft carried out several air raids including on the island. 10th December 1941, the Japanese aircraft sunk British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and cruiser HMS Repulse off Singapore. With this, as Lord Winston Churchill writes in his memoirs,


“There were no British or American capital ships in the Indian Ocean or the Pacific except the American survivors of Pearl Harbour, who were hastening back to California. Over all this vast expanse of waters Japan was supreme, and we everywhere were weak and naked.”


(Image credit – Google Maps)


After the Naval isolation of the region and gaining air superiority, the Japanese land forces rapidly moved down the Malay Peninsula led by armour, with infantry keeping up on bicycles. Lieutenant General Arthur E. Percival, General Officer Commanding (GOC) Malaya and the overall commander of the Allied troops in the theatre shifted his headquarters from the administrative block (now Hotel Fort Canning) to the ‘Battle Box’, the adjacent bomb proof bunker complex 9 meters underground, consisting of 29 rooms. As the giant steel doors banged shut, the General spent the next couple of months overseeing the retreat, if not the rout, of his forces in Malaya. His staff officers and a posse of signallers, messengers and orderlies worked day and night in this cramped space where even the air they breathed was filtered through two special plants to prevent effects of any chemical attacks by enemy.
(Image credit – battle box )


It is difficult to fully comprehend the state of minds of the air defence coordinators with a handful of outdated aircraft against the enemy’s superior Mitsubishi and Zeros, the telephone operators, signallers and cipher operators constantly relaying news of further setbacks on the Peninsula, and of the commander supervising an obviously losing war with virtually no hope of reinforcements. On 9th January 1942, the British forces on the peninsula were ordered to abandon Kuala Lampur and fall back to Johor, on the souther tip, separated from Singapore by the narrow Johor Strait. They were forced back across the strait into Singapore on 31st January 1942. The whole of Malay Peninsula was now in Japanese hands, with Singapore handing on by a thin thread across the strait and cut off from all hopes of reinforcements or replenishments.


After a brief pause, the Japanese launched the anticipated attack on Singapore on 8th February 1942, crossing the Johor Strait after prolonged bombardment that virtually crippled the Australian brigade deployed for coastal defence. The allied forward troops were overrun over the next two days, and fell back to the second line of defence nearly halfway across the island.


On 10th evening, Prime Minister Churchill cabled ordering


“There must at this stage be no thought of saving the troops or sparing the population. The battle must be fought to the bitter end at all costs…. Commanders and senior officers should die with their troops. The honour of the British Empire and of the British Army is at stake.”


But, even as plans for a counterattack were being drawn up, the Japanese captured the Allies’ food, fuel and ammunition depots. The withdrawing troops were now in a tight perimeter around the city. Throughout the night of February 14/15, the Japanese continued to press against this perimeter, while the Allies’ ammunition and supply situation became precarious. At 9:30 am on 15th February, General Percival held a conference of his senior commanders and staff officers in the battle box, to decide on the further course of action. Ruling out a counterattack in view of the situation, a decision was taken to surrender Singapore to the Japanese.

(Image credit – battle box)


After brief negotiations with the Japanese, Allied troops led by General Percival carrying the Union Jack, surrendered to the Japanese commander General Yamashita at the Ford Factory complex. A total of 85,000 Allied troops surrendered, in the biggest ever capitulation by them during the war. The prisoners, including General Percival, spent the rest of the war as Japanese prisoners, some of them under extremely pitiable conditions in labour camps.


(Image credit – Wikipedia)


The tide of war ebbed and flowed over the next three years, finally culminating in the dropping of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, leading to immediate surrender by Japan. In a possible move to redeem the loss of face, it was ensured that General Percival was specially flown in for the signing of the surrender document by Japan. He can be seen standing behind General Douglas MacArthur in this photograph.

(Image credit – History.com)


The entire saga is brilliantly brought to life through models, photographs, audiovisuals and commentary in the one hour tour through the various rooms of the battle box. It’s a must see, particularly for military history enthusiasts.

Details can be found at http://battlebox.com.sg


(Image – Rohit Agarwal)
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