{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 113,
  "chapterName": "1859. The Upper-Cloth Rebellion: Trevelyan’s Instruction to Cullen",
  "pageFrom": 189,
  "pageTo": 190,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 189,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n189\n6. We take this opportunity to forward and to request attention\nto a correspondence with the Government of India, relative to the\nappointment of a Commission for investigating the condition of the\nTravancore State (From Government of India, 9 March 1859,\nNo. 963. Τo Government of India, 23 March 1859, No. 183.)\n(Signed)\nWe have, &c.\nHarris.\nJas. Grant.\nWalter Elliot.\nFort St. George, 26 March 1859.\nW. A. Morehead.\n113. THE UPPER-CLOTH REBELLION: TREVELYAN'S\nINSTRUCTION TO CULLEN (1859 A.D.)\nThe following extract is from the Minute of the President (Madras)\nC. E. Trevelyan dated 6th May 1859, which consists mainly a copy of\na letter sent to General Cullen, British Resident in Travancore. In\neffect the letter instructs the Resident to interfere in favour of the\nShanar cause in the wake of the Upper-Cloth Rebellion (see previous\nentries). Cited in Copies of the Official Papers sent from India\ntouching the Recent Disturbances in Travancore, 1859, pp. 43-44.\nI beg to submit to my colleagues a copy of the letter which I\nintimated to them my intention of writing to General Cullen, the\nResident at Travancore :-\nDear Sir,\nHaving now perused the whole of the correspondence relating\nto Travancore, I am able to write to you with confidence.\nThe recent proceedings in reference to certain females of the\nShanar class which have attracted so much attention, both in\nEngland and in India, require no comment from me. I have\nseldom met with a case in which not only truth and justice but\nevery feeling of our common humanity are so entirely on one side.\nThe whole civilized world would cry shame upon us if we did not\nmake a firm stand on such an occasion. If anything could make\nthis line of conduct more incumbent on us, it would be the extra-\nordinary fact that persecution of a singularly personal and indelicate\nkind is attempted to be justified by a Royal proclamation, the special\nobject of which was to assure to Her Majesty's India subjects\nliberty of thought and action, so long as they did not interfere with",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 190,
      "ocrText": "190\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nthe just right of others. I should fail in respect to Her Majesty\nif I attempted to describe the feelings with which she must regard\nthe use made against Her own sex of the promises of protection so\ngraciously accorded by Her.\nI, however, observe with pleasure, that in his letter to you,\ndated the 12th of February last, Madava Rao, the Dewan of Travan-\ncore, wrote to you as follows: The authority of the Sirkar\nhaving been vindicated, it may be desirable to take an early oppor-\ntunity to consider what modifications should be made in the pro-\nclamation of 1004, so as to suit the requirements of altered times\nand circumstances, and satisfy parties as far as it may be possible\nto do so,' from which I infer that his Highness the Maha Raja is\nsensible that the conduct of a portion of his subjects towards the\nShanar women belongs to an age of barbarism utterly unsuited to the\npresent advanced stage of civilization in this country.\nBy the order of this Government, dated the 27th of January\nlast, you were instructed to be careful to give no countenance to the\nidea that the British Government, of which you are the represen-\ntative, 'recognise any exclusive distinctions, or the right of any set\nof men to prevent others from following, in all matters of social or\ndomestic life, such course as they may see fit, provided it be not\nrepugnant to public decency and morals. It will be your duty to\nimpress these views on his Highness the Raja, and to point out to\nhim that such prohibitions as those contained in the circular order\nof May 1814, or in the Proclamation of the 3rd February 1829, are\nunsuited to the present age, and unworthy of an enlightened prince,\nand that he is not to look for the support of the British Government\nin any attempts to maintain them, as respects any class of his\nsubjects'.\nAnd by the further order of this Government, of the 12th March\nlast, you were informed that the Government will hope to learn\nat an early date what arrangement has been made by the Dewan.\nThe principle on which it should proceed has already been laid down\nby Government in the last paragraph of Extract Minutes of Consul-\ntation, 27th January 1859. General Cullen will inform Government\nwhat communication he has held with his Highness the Raja in\nfurtherance of the instructions then conveyed to him. The degree\nof interference which for many years past has been exercised by\nthe representative of the British Government, in the affairs of\nTravancore, is so large, and his intervention so general, that the\ncredit or discredit of the administration greatly rests with the\nBritish Government, and it has thereby become their duty to insist\nupon the observance of a system of toleration in a more decided\nmanner than they would be at liberty to adopt if they had merely\nto bring their influence to bear on an independent State.\"",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}