ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>LUDHI&#256&#7750&#256 POLITICAL AGENCY</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="LUDHIF,POLITICAL,AGENCY"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279LUDHI&#256&#7750&#256 POLITICAL AGENCY, renamed North-West Frontier Agency in 1835, was established in 1810 as the main official channel of Anglo-Sikh political and diplomatic communications. When, in February 1809, Lt-Col David Ochterlony established a British military post at Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 during Charles Metcalfe's negotiations with Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh, the town belonged to R&#257j&#257 Bh&#257g Si&#7749gh of J&#299nd. Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh had seized Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 from the ruling Muhammadan family during his M&#257lv&#257 campaign of 1807 and bestowed it on Bh&#257g Si&#7749gh. From April 1809 the Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 military post served as a link with the Sikh government at Lahore, and Bh&#257g Si&#7749gh was allowed a compensation of Rs 500 per month for the temporary occupation of his territory. As commander of the post and performing both military and political functions, Ochterlony realized the strategic importance of Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257, and he recommended to his government its retention on a permanent basis.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In May 1809, the British decided to withdraw their military detachments from Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 on moral as well as on political grounds. Lord Minto had given a personal assurance to Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh that the treaty of friendship and alliance between the Sikhs and the British had rendered the stationing of British troops on the Sutlej frontier unnecessary. Yet the post continued, mainly because of the strong pleadings of Ochterlony, Metcalfe and Seton, who maintained that its retention was essential for the security of British interests. But Lord Minto kept his word and the military post was withdrawn in April 1810, and Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 was converted into a political agency. Lt-Col Ochterlony was appointed agent to the Governor-General at Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257, and stayed at the post until 1815. He had three assistants, Birch, Ross and Murray, to deal with the affairs of the protected Sikh chiefs and hill states between the Sutlej and the Yamun&#257. In 1815, the agent's office was shifted to Karn&#257l which was considered more central to the area the agency looked after. In 1822, it was moved to Amb&#257l&#257. Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 was reduced to a sub-agency to deal with only the Lahore Darb&#257r.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lieut Murray held Charge of Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 sub-agency as political agent till 1823, when Claude Wade succeeded him. In his dealings with the Lahore Darb&#257r, Wade discovered certain anomalies in the jurisdiction, function and authority of Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 sub-agency. It was directly under the control of the Delhi Residency, but had to take orders from the political agent at Amb&#257l&#257 on many a matter, especially in relation to the Sikhs. Moreover, the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257's government suggested that, as Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 was nearer Lahore, it was a more convenient channel of intercourse between the two governments. The point was also stressed that, since Amb&#257l&#257 was concerned with safeguarding the interests of the protected states, Lahore government's territorial disputes with them could not with propriety be entrusted to it. In 1827, while Amb&#257l&#257 was given full jurisdiction over protected cis-Sutlej states, Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 was given full authority not only to deal with the disputed cis-Sutlej territorial possessions of the Lahore government, but also to conduct all political and diplomatic relations with it. In 1832, Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 regained the status of political agency, and Wade was authorized, as political agent, to deal with all British political affairs in relation to the Sikh Darb&#257r, and to territories beyond the Sutlej and the Indus. Three years later, the designation of the Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 Political Agency was changed to North-West Frontier Agency.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The political officers who held charge of the agency for over three and a half decades (1810-1845) were Ochterlony, Murray, Wade, Clerk, Richmond and Broadfoot. The sub-agencies at Amb&#257l&#257, F&#299rozpur, Kaithal, Sab&#257th&#363 and N&#257han were served by men like Cunningham, Nicholson, Henry Lawrence, Mackeson, Mills, Malville and Abbott.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Sikh government at Lahore did not have a counterpart of the Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 political agency. Its diplomatic representation was through its <i>vak&#299ls</i> or envoys stationed at Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 (R&#257i K&#299shan Chand and two subordinate <i>vak&#299ls</i>, R&#257i Govind Jas and Faq&#299r Sh&#257h D&#299n), at F&#299rozpur R&#257i R&#257m Day&#257l, at Amb&#257l&#257 and at Delhi R&#257i Anand Si&#7749gh.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While the Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 political agency played an important role in the evolution of Anglo-Sikh diplomatic relations, the vast mass of its records of transactions are, in spite of their bias and inaccuracies, our primary source of information on the political history of the Sikhs in the first half of the nineteenth century. These records were used by Murray, Wade, Prinsep, Mac Gregor, Edwardes, Cunningham and others in writing their books on Sikh history. The records of the Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 agency are especially full and comprehensive. Of particular interest are Lake's transactions in the cis-Sutlej region (1805-1806) in the wake of Holk&#257r's arrival in .the Punjab, Minto-Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh correspondence relating to the Metcalfe mission (1808-1809), and the despatches of Edmonstone, Ochterlony, Seton and Carey. Later Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 agency records contain Anglo-Sikh transactions from 1810-1845. They comprise documents on the Indus navigation scheme, the claims of the Sikh government in respect of 47 cis-Sutlej territories, Anglo-Sikh Af<u>gh</u>&#257n affairs, and the exchange of political and complimentary missions between the Sikhs and the British government. The transactions from 1834 onwards contain despatches of the North-West Frontier Agency and the correspondence of Wade, Clerk, Richmond and Broadfoot. Documents abound on Burnes' mission to K&#257bul (1837-1838), Macnaghten's mission to Lahore (1838) and the Tripartite treaty, Sikhs' role in die first Af<u>gh</u>&#257n war, and British policy towards the State of Lahore till the beginning of hostilities in December 1845. Another interesting category of documents pertains to periodical reports furnished by the British newswriters from places such as Mult&#257n, Pesh&#257war, Lahore and K&#257bul.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Hasrat, Bikrama Jit, <i>Anglo-Sikh Relations</i>. Hoshiarpur, 1968<BR> <li class="C1"> Bal, S.S., <i>British Policy Towards the Panjab 1844-49</i>. Calcutta, 1971<BR> <li class="C1"> Bhagat Singh, <i>Maharaja Ranjit Singh and His Times</i>. Delhi, 1990<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">B. J. Hasrat<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>