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The Asia Foundation [Committee for Free Asia]
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/9/19

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The Asia Foundation
Motto "Strengthen governance, empower woman, expand economic opportunities, increase environmental resilience, promote international cooperation"
Formation 1954
Type Nonprofit organization
Headquarters San Francisco, CA, United States
President and CEO
David D. Arnold
Revenue (2015)
$113,177,863[1]
Expenses (2015) $109,163,737[1]
Website http://www.asiafoundation.org

The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organization committed to "improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia."[2] Informed by six decades of experience and deep local expertise, its programs address critical issues affecting Asia in the 21st century—governance and law, economic development, women's empowerment, environment, and regional cooperation. Headquartered in San Francisco, The Asia Foundation works through a network of 18 offices in 18 Asian countries and in Washington, DC.

The "Committee For Free Asia" was founded in 1951 as a CIA operation.[3] Its name was changed to "The Asia Foundation" in 1954.[4] The Foundation marked its 60 years of experience in Asia working with private and public partners in the areas of leadership and institutional development, exchanges, and policy research.[5] Starting January 1, 2011, David D. Arnold serves as president of the Foundation.[6] The Foundation is governed by an eminent and well-known group of private sector trustees.

Origins

"The Asia Foundation (TAF), a Central Intelligence Agency proprietary, was established in 1954 to undertake cultural and educational activities on behalf of the United States Government in ways not open to official U.S. agencies."[18]

The Asia Foundation is an outgrowth of the Committee for a Free Asia, which was founded by the U.S. government in 1951.[19] CIA funding and support of the Committee for a Free Asia and the Asia Foundation were assigned the CIA code name "Project DTPILLAR".[20]

In 1954, the Committee for a Free Asia was renamed the Asia Foundation (TAF) and incorporated in California[21] as a private, nominally non-governmental organization devoted to promoting democracy, rule of law, and market-based development in post-war Asia.

Among the original founding officers of the board, there were several presidents/chairmen of large companies including T.S. Peterson, CEO of Standard Oil of California (now Chevron), Brayton Wilbur, president of Wilbur-Ellis Co., and J.D. Zellerbach, chairman of the Crown Zellerbach Corporation; four university presidents including Grayson Kirk from Columbia, J.E. Wallace Sterling of Stanford, and Raymond Allen from UCLA; prominent attorneys including Turner McBaine and A. Crawford Greene; Pulitzer Prize-winning writer James Michener; Paul Hoffman, the first administrator of the Marshall Plan in Europe; and several major figures in foreign affairs.

In 1966, Ramparts revealed that the CIA was covertly funding a number of organizations, including the Asia Foundation.[18] A commission authorized by President Johnson and led by Secretary of State Rusk determined that the Asia Foundation should be preserved and overtly funded by the US government. Following this change, the US government described the Asia Foundation as a "quasi-nongovernmental organizations" and said that "the core of its budget" was still provided by the US government.[22] The Foundation began to restructure its programming, shifting away from its earlier goals of "building democratic institutions and encouraging the development of democratic leadership" toward an emphasis on Asian development as a whole (CRS 1983).

Impact

The Asia Foundation works with local leaders and communities to build effective institutions and advance reforms. Across Asia, the nonprofit organization is improving lives and expanding opportunities by:

• Providing 50 million books to tens of thousands of schools, libraries, and universities.[7]
• Organizing nationwide election monitoring and voter education to ensure free and fair elections and strengthen democracy in virtually every Asian country that has undergone a democratic transition over the past six decades.
• Educating more than a million migrant workers in over one thousand factories in China's Pearl River Delta on their legal rights, safety, and personal health.[8]
• Protecting the basic rights of women through our work to counter human trafficking, fight gender-based violence, increase political participation, and strengthen legal systems.[9]
• Providing life-changing professional opportunities for newly emerging Asian leaders.[10]
• Reducing the human and financial toll of natural disasters by equipping government officials, businesses, and community leaders in disaster planning and response.[11]
• Creating jobs by improving the business climate and reducing red tape for local entrepreneurs and small businesses.
• Reducing violence through peacebuilding efforts in some of the most entrenched conflict zones in the region, including Southern Thailand, Pakistan, Mindanao, and Sri Lanka.[12]
• Conducting ground-breaking empirical surveys to assess the quality and responsiveness of government services, patterns of corruption, and levels of violence, including the most comprehensive public opinion poll in Afghanistan.[13]

Global presence

The Asia Foundation addresses issues on both a country and regional level through a network of 18 offices around the world.[14] In cooperation with local partners in government and civil society, the Foundation's international and local staff provide insight and program on a variety of development challenges. Besides its headquarters in San Francisco and an office in Washington, D.C., it has a presence in the following Asian nations:

• Afghanistan
• Bangladesh
• Cambodia
• China
• East Timor
• Hong Kong
• India
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Korea
• Laos
• Malaysia
• Mongolia
• Myanmar
• Nepal
• Pacific Islands
• Pakistan
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Sri Lanka
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Vietnam

Program areas

Governance and law

The Asia Foundation's largest program area – governance and law – develops and supports initiatives that build more effective and responsive governance in Asia. The Foundation cooperates with a broad network of partners in government, civil society, and the private sector to improve governing institutions in order to help accelerate economic and social change, reduce corruption, manage conflict, and increase citizen participation.

Its sub-programming areas include:

• Governance (local/municipal governance, counter corruption, central executive institutions, parliamentary development, constitutional development)
• Law and Justice (strengthening and reform of formal and informal law and justice mechanisms, supporting efforts to increased community safety and security, particularly through community-oriented policing, and programs aimed specifically at empowering and protecting the rights of marginalized populations)
• Conflict and Fragile Conditions (subnational conflict, peacebuilding, and civil military relations)
• Elections (free and fair elections and democratic practice, open flows of information, and political parties)

Women's empowerment

While women in Asia have made steady gains in recent years, gender inequality remains a significant problem. For 60 years, The Asia Foundation has supported women and girls across the Asia-Pacific region. Its Women's Empowerment Program was established in 1994 and has transformed the lives of thousands of women and girls through significant programs that focus on three key areas: expanding women's economic opportunities, increasing women's personal rights and security, and advancing women's political participation. The Foundation supports an integrated and coordinated approach that integrates gender into its work in governance, economic development, regional cooperation, and the environment.[15]

Development and aid effectiveness

Development and aid effectiveness is a way through which the Asia Foundation brings together both their long standing and emerging donors and experts of development to have an exchange of ideas on how to best resolve key challenges in development; examples of this include the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid and Effectiveness and Asian Approaches to Development Cooperation. In these seminars and forums the Asia Foundation successful creates an open dialogue among the participants resulting in collaborative and cooperative approach to dealing with issues of development in Asia. A crucial element of this program is that it is brings together government official, policy makers, philanthropists all to one table—an approach missing from most NGOs who operate solely on implementing programs that their organizations initiate and support. Nina Merchant describes the role of Rigorous Impact analysis in the Foundations

Economic development

The Asia Foundation has a decades-long history of supporting broad-based economic growth across Asia through both public and private channels. The Foundation's Economic Development programs support Asian initiatives to enhance economic governance to accelerate and sustain inclusive economic growth and broaden economic opportunities through design and implementation in three core program areas: 1) improving the business environment for private sector growth, 2) advancing regional economic cooperation, and 3) supporting entrepreneurship development.

The Foundation works with local partners to design and implement program activities focusing on promoting investment and private enterprises, inclusive and equitable growth, empowering entrepreneurs and fostering intra and inter-regional trade by removing non-tariff barriers and strengthening domestic demand. From the sub-national level to regionally across borders, the Foundation is building coalitions for change that result in better business environments, job creation, and lasting change for individuals, families and communities.

Economic Development Impacts:

• The Asia Foundation has developed a powerful set of research tools, like the Economic Governance Indices (EGIs), Business Climate Barometers, and Regulatory Impact Assessments, which measure the quality of local business environments and the costs associated with poor policies. By identifying the strengths and weaknesses of business environments, local business owners and public officials are better able to identify and address specific areas for improvement. To date, the Foundation has developed EGIs in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Indonesia.
• The Asia Foundation has facilitated multi-stakeholder public-private coalitions to address issues hindering economic and business growth, such as business forums to secure access to credit for entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, dialogues to simplify business licensing processes and reductions in local taxes and informal fees in Cambodia, and a regional forum to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for regional integration in South-East Asia.

Books for Asia


A building used to store English books donated by the Asia Foundation at the National Library of Vietnam

Since 1954, Books for Asia has donated more than 40 million books to libraries in dozens of Asian countries, impacting the lives of millions of Asians. In 2006 alone, Books for Asia donated 920,000 books and educational materials valued at $30 million to schools and educational institutions in 15 countries. Books for Asia's donations help inspire Asia's students, citizens, and future leaders by enhancing English-language capacity, sharpening vocational and research skills, improving their knowledge about America, and giving the gift of enhanced literacy to children. The Asia Foundation's experienced local staff throughout Asia allows the Books for Asia program to work with librarians and educators to identify needs and appropriate materials, and to distribute requested books quickly and efficiently.

In 2005, Books for Asia's donations had a special focus on communities affected by the Asian tsunami in December 2004. Donations from publisher Scholastic, Inc., and a timely endorsement by the Association of American Publishers, helped Books for Asia respond to the urgent need for books in schools and libraries in Sri Lanka and Thailand that were devastated by the disaster. As these communities rebuild, Books for Asia will continue to provide access to children's books, with a total of more than 300,000 reaching affected schools by the end of 2006.

Books for Asia in Timor Leste

"Books for Asia" is one of the many initiatives that have been put forth by TAF. Under this program, one million brand-new books are put into the hands of students, educators, and local and national leaders in 18 countries annually. The Asia Foundation recognizes that books change lives and help shape young people's imaginations, critical thinking skills, and their understanding of the world. Therefore, they are recognized as powerful tools to combat poverty and inspire positive, long-lasting change.

The main objective of the program is to provide access to information through reading materials, and cultivating a culture of reading and literature and linking people together in today's world. Under TAF, resources are made available for the people in Timor-Leste to enhance their mastery of English language; sharpen vocational and research skills, build knowledge in the business, legal and sciences professions. This enables people in Timor-Leste, regardless of their age, to equip themselves with more knowledge and skills through reading. This project also seeks to infuse children with an early love for reading, which is critical to increasing literacy rates.

Since TAF's founding in 1954, 45 million books, software programs and other educational materials have been donated to tens of thousands of learning institutions. Each year, the Asia Foundation in Timor-Leste receives brand new, high quality books donated by prominent publishers in the U.S. These books are catalogued and distributed to the recipients in Timor-Leste based on requests as well as through book drives.

The Mobile Library Program also consistently extends the Books for Asia program and its outreach to a bigger community in Timor-Leste. Extensions of the program are achieved through routine visits to schools, libraries and universities in Timor-Leste. These materials will eventually improve the quality of educational institutions currently available in Timor-Leste. Apart from the Books for Asia program, the Foundation also supports initiatives that spur literacy, promote understanding of democratic principles and strengthen civic participation. For example, the Foundation supported events jointly organized by Alieu Training and Resource Center (A resource center in the rural area of Timor-Leste) and the Ministry of Education that encourages children to continue schooling by recognizing the children's accomplishments in their education. In 2007, the resource center conducted a speech contest for school children in the Aileu District; and in 2008 and 2009, reading contests for school children was held for the children in Aileu District

Today, the Asia Foundation's Books for Asia program in Timor-Leste has distributed 9,942 books to more than 40 public, school, university and local NGO libraries as well as government agencies. More than 3,000 of the books are allocated toward book fairs to help increase awareness about the important role of reading.

Exchanges

Through its Asian American Exchange unit, The Asia Foundation seeks to encourage greater understanding between Asians and Americans with the ultimate aim of contributing toward strengthened U.S.-Asia relations. For over six decades, Foundation grants have provided thousands of participants with opportunities to exchange views, professional perspectives, and gain direct experience with regions other than their own through high-quality tailored fellowships, study tours, workshops, and other programs. Notable programs include:

• The Foundation's Asian Perspectives Series and Emerging Issues Series brought Asian civil society leaders and policymakers to Washington, D.C. to discuss vital issues across the region.
• The Foundation's Ellsworth Bunker Asian Ambassadors Series, also organized by the Foundation's Washington office, brought together ambassadors from Asia and select U.S. government, business, policy, and media leaders.
• The Asia Foundation also continued its 30-year partnership with the Henry Luce Foundation to administer an internship program for young Americans with leadership potential. Since 1974, the Asia Foundation has developed and overseen placements for more than 700 Luce Scholars in East and Southeast Asia.[16]

Environment

The Asia Foundation's Environment program supports Asian initiatives to ensure the sustainability of the environment and natural resources critical to Asia's development and future well-being. The Foundation works with a broad range of local stakeholders including civil society, government, and the private sector to strengthen the institutions and processes through which environmental resources are managed, and to improve environmental policy. Areas where the Foundation is having an impact in Asia include: advancing responsible mining and natural resource management in Mongolia; increasing public participation and transparency in environmental decision-making in China; and preparing for natural disasters and climate change in the Pacific Islands, among others.

Regional cooperation

The Asia Foundation's Regional Cooperation program works to strengthen relations among Asian nations and their peoples in the effort to foster peace, stability, prosperity, and effective governance. Its focus includes fostering regional cooperation on critical issues in Southeast, Northeast, and South Asia; foreign policy capacity-building in select countries in developing Asia; providing life-changing opportunities for emerging leaders in the region; and facilitating policy dialogues on Asian affairs and U.S.-Asian relations in Washington.[17]


Board of Trustees

Officers of the Board of Trustees

• Sunder Ramaswamy, Chair of the Board and Executive Committee
• S. Timothy Kochis, Vice Chair of the Board and Executive Committee
• Kathleen Stephens, Vice Chair of the Board and Executive Committee
• Daniel F. Feldman, Treasurer of the Board and Executive Committee
• Teresita C. Schaffer, Secretary of the Board and Executive Committee
• David D. Arnold, President and Chief Executive Officer
• Suzanne E. Siskel, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
• Gordon Hein, Senior Vice President, Programs
• Nancy Yuan, Senior Vice President and Director, Washington, D.C.
• Ken Krug, Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer
• Amy Ovalle, Vice President, Global Communications
• Mandy Au Yeung, Assistant Secretary to the Board of Trustees[23]

Members of the Board of Trustees

• Terrence B. Adamson
• William L. Ball
• Howard L. Berman
• Robert O. Blake Jr.
• Jerome L. Dodson
• Elizabeth Economy
• Karl Eikenberry
• Ted Eliot III
• Daniel F. Feldman
• Winnie C. Feng
• Jared Frost
• Michael J. Green
• Noeleen Heyzer
• Karl F. Inderfurth
• Stephen Kahng
• Mark W. Lippert
• Clare Lockhart
• Patricia M. Loui
• Meredith Ludlow
• James D. McCool
• Janet Montag
• Moon Kook-Hyun
• Lauren Kahea Moriarty
• Adil Najam
• William H. Neukom
• Dustin Palmer
• Iromi Perera
• Ruby Shang
• Masako H. Shinn
• Deanne Weir[23]

Philanthropy

In 2006, the Asia Foundation provided more than $53 million in program support and distributed 920,000 books and educational materials valued at $30 million throughout Asia.

Reference

1. "The Asia Foundation" (PDF). Foundation Center. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
2. "The Asia Foundation: Improving Lives, Expanding Opportunities". Funds for NGOs. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
3. Crewdson, John (December 26, 1977). ""Worldwide Propaganda Network Built by the C.I.A."". New York Times. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
4. Best, Emma (November 2, 2017). ""The stolen history of the CIA and the Asian Foundation Financial records and declassified files reveal decades of distortions regarding the Agency's ties to the non-profit"". Muckrock. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
5. "Critical Issues Facing Asia: Marking 60 Years". World Affairs. 4 September 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
6. Rogin, Josh (9 June 2010). "Arnold to lead the Asia Foundation". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-03-19. Retrieved 2015-03-20.
8. "Asia Foundation". China CSR Map. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
9. "Campaign theme". International Women’s Day. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
10. DE Vos, Manola (26 May 2014). "The next big thing in development: What Asia's young leaders think". Devex. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
11. Tri Thanh, Nguyen (18 April 2012). "To Reduce Impact of Natural Disasters, Vietnam Must Engage Small Businesses". The Asia Foundation. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
12. http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opin ... tice-first
13. Allen, Karen (5 December 2013). "Survey on Afghan fears over corruption and security". BBC News. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
14. Duxbury, Sarah (7 June 2010). "Asia Foundation names new president". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
15. "USAID Supports Afghan Women-owned Businesses to Become More Competitive". USAID. 19 April 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
16. "New Report Reveals Trends and Implications of Conflict in Asia". The Asia Foundation. 4 October 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-03-17. Retrieved 2015-03-20.
18. "Doc. 132: Memorandum from the Central Intelligence Agency to the 303 Committee". Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume X, National Security Policy. US Department of State. June 22, 1966. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
19. "Routing and Record Sheet: Committee for a Free Asia" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency.
20. "DTPILLAR". Internet Archive.
21. Congressional Research Service (February 1983). "The Asia Foundation: Past, Present and Future" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency.
22. Congressional Research Service (February 1983). "The Asia Foundation: Past, Present and Future" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency.
23. "Our People". The Asia Foundation. Retrieved 19 February 2019.

External links

• Official website of the Asia Foundation
• Asia Foundation Records at the Hoover Institution Archives

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Radio Free Asia
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/9/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

Radio Free Asia
Abbreviation RFA
Formation 1951
Type Private, non-profit Sec 501(c)3 corporation
Purpose Broadcast Media
Location
Washington, D.C.
Official language
Mandarin, Cantonese, Tibetan, Uyghur, Korean, Burmese, Khmer, Lao and Vietnamese
Owner U.S. Agency for Global Media
President
Libby Liu
Parent organization
U.S. Agency for Global Media
Budget
$43.1 million (2018)[1]
Staff
253[1]
Website http://www.rfa.org

Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a private, nonprofit international broadcasting corporation that broadcasts and publishes online news, information and commentary to readers and listeners in East Asia. Its self-stated mission is "to provide accurate and timely news and information to Asian countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press."[2]

Based on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, it was established in the 1990s with the aim of promoting democratic values and human rights, and diminishing Chinese Communist control.[3] It is funded by a grant from the U.S. Agency for Global Media (formerly the "Broadcasting Board of Governors"), an independent agency of the United States government.[2][4]

A short-lived earlier incarnation of Radio Free Asia also existed in the 1950s, as an anti-Communist propaganda operation funded by the CIA.[3][5]

RFA distributes content in nine Asian languages for audiences in China, North Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Burma.[6]

History

Radio Free Asia was founded and funded in the 1950s by an organization called "Committee for Free Asia" as an anti-communist propaganda operation, broadcasting from RCA facilities in Manila, Philippines,[7] and Dacca and Karachi, Pakistan (there may be other sites) until 1961. Some offices were in Tokyo. The parent organization was given as the Asia Foundation. In 1971 CIA involvement ended and all responsibilities were transferred to a presidentially appointed Board for International Broadcasting (BIB).[8][9][10]

With the passage of International Broadcasting Act in 1994, RFA was brought under auspices of the United States Information Agency where it remained until the agency's cessation of broadcasting duties and transitioned to U.S. Department of State operated BBG in 1999. In May 1994, President Bill Clinton announced the continuation of Radio Free Asia after 2009 was dependent on its increased international broadcasting and ability to reach its audience.[11] In September 2009, the 111th Congress amended the International Broadcasting Act to allow a one-year extension of the operation of Radio Free Asia.[12]

The current Radio Free Asia is a US-funded organization, incorporated in March 1996, and began broadcasting in September 1996. It bears no relation to the 1950 organization.[13]

RFA broadcasts in nine languages, via shortwave, satellite transmissions, medium-wave (AM and FM radio), and through the Internet. The first transmission was in Mandarin Chinese and it is RFA's most broadcast language at twelve hours per day. RFA also broadcasts in Cantonese, Tibetan (Kham, Amdo, and Uke dialects), Uyghur, Burmese, Vietnamese, Lao, Khmer (to Cambodia) and Korean (to North Korea). The Korean service launched in 1997 with Jaehoon Ahn as its founding director.[14]

After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 American interest in starting a government broadcasting organization grew.[15] The International Broadcasting Act was passed by the Congress of the United States in 1994. Radio Free Asia is formally a private, non-profit corporation.[16] RFA is funded by an annual federal grant from and administered by the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The BBG serves as RFA's corporate board of directors, making and supervising grants to RFA.

International response

Radio jamming and Internet blocking

Further information: Radio jamming in China and Radio jamming in Korea

Since broadcasting began in 1996, Chinese authorities have consistently jammed RFA broadcasts.[17]

Three RFA reporters were denied access to China to cover U.S. President Bill Clinton's visit in June 1998. The Chinese embassy in Washington had initially granted visas to the three but revoked them shortly before President Clinton left Washington en route to Beijing. The White House and United States Department of State filed complaints with Chinese authorities over the matter but the reporters ultimately did not make the trip.[17][18]

The Vietnamese-language broadcast signal was also jammed by the Vietnamese government since the beginning.[19] Human rights legislation has been proposed in Congress that would allocate money to counter the jamming.[20] Research by the OpenNet Initiative, a project that monitors Internet filtering by governments worldwide, showed that the Vietnamese-language portion of the Radio Free Asia website was blocked by both of the tested ISPs in Vietnam, while the English-language portion was blocked by one of the two ISPs.[21]

To address radio jamming and Internet blocking by the governments of the countries that it broadcasts to, the RFA website contains instruction on how to create anti-jamming antennas and information on web proxies.[22]

On March 30, 2010, China's Web filter, known as "the Great Firewall", temporarily blocked all Google searches in China, due to an unintentional association with the long-censored term "rfa."[23] According to Google, the letters, associated with Radio Free Asia, were appearing in the URLs of all Google searches, thereby triggering China's filter to block search results.

Arrests of journalists' relatives

In 2014–2015 China arrested three brothers of RFA Uyghur Service journalist Shohret Hoshur. Their jailing was widely described by Western publishers as Chinese authorities' efforts to target Hoshur for his reports on otherwise unreported violent events of ethnic Han-Uighur tensions in China's Xinjiang region.[24][25][26][27]

Mission

Broadcasting Information (Channels 1, 2, 3, 4)
Language Service / Launch Date / Daily Broadcast Hours

Burmese / February 1997 / 8 Hours, Daily ÷ over 3 channels

Cantonese / May 1998 / 7 Hours, Daily ÷ over 2 channels

Khmer / September 1997 / 5 Hours, Daily, 1 ch

Korean / March 1997 / 9 Hours, Daily, 1 ch

Lao / August 1997 / 5 Hours, Daily, 1 ch

Mandarin / September 1996 / 24 Hours, Daily ÷ over 3 channels

Tibetan / December 1996 / 23 Hours, Daily, 1 ch

Uyghur / December 1998 / 6 Hours, Daily, 1 ch

Vietnamese / February 1997 / 8 Hours, Daily ÷ over 2 channels

Its functions, as listed in 22 U.S.C. § 6208, are:

1. [to] provide accurate and timely information, news, and commentary about events in Asia and elsewhere; and

2. [to] be a forum for a variety of opinions and voices from within Asian nations whose people do not fully enjoy freedom of expression.

Additionally, the International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (Title III of Pub.L. 103–236), which authorised the creation of the RFA, contains the following paragraph:

The continuation of existing U.S. international broadcasting, and the creation of a new broadcasting service to people of the People's Republic of China and other countries of Asia, which lack adequate sources of free information and ideas, would enhance the promotion of information and ideas, while advancing the goals of U.S. foreign policy.

This appears among a list of both "Congressional Findings and Declarations of Purpose", though which it is, is not specified. The subsequent section, outlining "Standards and Principles" states that all US-funded broadcasting should be "consistent with the broad foreign policy objectives of the United States", with news that is "consistently reliable and authoritative, accurate, objective, and comprehensive".[28]

Criticism

In 1999, Catharin Dalpino of the Brookings Institution, who served in the Clinton State Department as a deputy assistant secretary deputy for human rights, called Radio Free Asia "a waste of money." "Wherever we feel there is an ideological enemy, we're going to have a Radio Free Something," she says. Dalpino said she has reviewed scripts of Radio Free Asia's broadcasts and views the station's reporting as unbalanced. "They lean very heavily on reports by and about dissidents in exile. It doesn't sound like reporting about what's going on in a country. Often, it reads like a textbook on democracy, which is fine, but even to an American it's rather propagandistic."[29]

According to a report by the Congressional Research Service of the U.S. government, official state-controlled newspapers in China have run editorials claiming Radio Free Asia is a CIA broadcast operation, as was the case with the first Radio Free Asia.[15]

North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency has referred to Radio Free Asia as "reptile broadcasting services."[30] Kim Chol-min, third secretary of North Korea, in statement submitted at the United Nations, accusing the United States of engaging in "psychological warfare" with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea through RFA.[31]

Following the Burmese Saffron Revolution in the fall of 2007, the Myanmar junta held rallies attended by thousands holding signs that condemned external interference and accused Radio Free Asia, the Voice of America, and the BBC of "airing a skyful of lies."[32] In October 2007, Burmese state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar singled out "big powers" and Radio Free Asia, among other international broadcasters, as inciting protesters during the Saffron Revolution.[33]

Awards

• min magazine's "Best of the Web". 2017 for "Best Multimedia Feature".
• Sigma Delta Chi award. 2015. The Society of Professional Journalists.
• Annual Human Rights Press Award. 2012, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, and 2000. Amnesty International, Hong Kong Journalists Association, Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong.
• International Activist Award, 2005, Gleitsman Foundation.
• Edward R. Murrow Regional Award, 2005, 2003, 2002, and 2001. Radio-Television News Directors Association.
• New York Festivals radio awards named Radio Free Asia "Broadcaster of the Year" in 2009. RFA won one medal in 2015; one in 2014; two in 2013; one in 2012; one in 2011; two in 2010; seven in 2009; two in 2008; one in 2007; one in 2004; and one in 2000.
• Gracie Allen Award, 2013, 2010, and 2008. American Women in Radio and Television.
• Consumer Rights award, 2008. Hong Kong Consumer Council, Hong Kong Journalists Association.
• Society of Environmental Journalists, 2012 and 2010. Society of Environmental Journalists
• Courage in Journalism Award, 2010. International Women's Media Foundation

See also

• United States portal
• Politics portal
• Radio portal
• China Radio International
• International broadcasting
• International Broadcasting Bureau
• Murder of Robert Eric Wone, former counsel for Radio Free Asia[34]
• Open Technology Fund – a Radio Free Asia program that was created in 2012 to support global Internet freedom technologies
• Radio Taiwan International

References

1. "RFA – USAGM". Retrieved January 3, 2019.
2. Radio Free Asia – About Retrieved 10 November 2015
3. David Welch (November 27, 2013). Propaganda, Power and Persuasion: From World War I to Wikileaks. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-0-85773-737-3.
4. "About". Broadcasting Board of Governors. n.d. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
5. Central Intelligence Agency (April 1, 1953). "Memorandum For: Special Assistant to the President; International Radio Broadcasting by Radio Free Asia" (PDF). foia.cia.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
6. https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/radio-free-asia
7. Central Intelligence Agency (April 1, 1953). "Memorandum For: Special Assistant to the President; International Radio Broadcasting by Radio Free Asia" (PDF). foia.cia.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
8. Tom Engelhardt: "The End of Victory Culture". Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation (University of Massachusetts Press 1998); p. 120. ISBN 1-55849-133-3.
9. Helen Laville, Hugh Wilford: "The US Government, Citizen Groups And the Cold War". p. 215. The State-Private Network (Routledge 1996). ISBN 0-415-35608-3.
10. Daya Kishan Thussu: "International Communication". Continuity and Change (Arnold 2000). p. 37. ISBN 0-340-74130-9.
11. Executive Order 12, 850, 3 C.F.R. 606, 607 § 1(b).
12. Bill Text Versions for the 111th Congress, 2009–2010. The Library of Congress.[1]
13. Mann, Jim (September 30, 1996). "After 5 Years of Political Wrangling, Radio Free Asia Becomes a Reality". Los Angeles Times. Times Mirror Company. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
14. Brown, Emma (June 10, 2011). "Jaehoon Ahn, reporter and Post researcher, dies". Washington Post. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
15. Susan B. Epstein: CRS Report for Congress Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine (PDF)
16. "Governance and Corporate Leadership". Radio Free Asia. n.d. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
17. Mann, "China Bars 3 Journalists From Clinton's Trip", The Los Angeles Times, June 23, 1998
18. Sieff/Scully "Radio Free Asia reporters stay home; Clinton kowtows to Beijing's ban, critics contend", The Washington Times, June 24, 1998
19. "Radio Free Asia says broadcasts to Vietnam are being jammed". CNN. February 7, 1997. Retrieved February 11,2008.
20. "H.R. 1587 Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2004". Congressional Budget Office. June 24, 2004. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
21. "OpenNet Initiative: Vietnam". OpenNet Initiative. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
22. "RFA: Anti-jamming antenna". Retrieved February 11, 2008.
23. Censky, Annalyn (March 30, 2010). "Google blames China's 'great firewall' for outage". CNN. Retrieved March 30,2010.
24. Forsythe, Michael (July 31, 2015). "A Voice From China's Uighur Homeland, Reporting From the U.S." New York Times. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
25. Casey, Michael (July 9, 2015). "China's War Against One American Journalist". Slate. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
26. Denyur, Simon (January 8, 2015). "China uses long-range intimidation of U.S. reporter to suppress Xinjiang coverage". Washington Post. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
27. Editorial Board (June 9, 2015). "China exports repression beyond its borders". Washington Post. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
28. Pub.L. 103–236, Sec. 303
29. Dick Kirschten: Broadcast News May 1, 1999
30. "KCNA raps U.S. despicable psychological warfare against DPRK," February 22, 2008 BBC Monitoring Service
31. General Assembly GA/SPD/430 United Nations Department of Public Information, October 2009
32. On Quiet Streets of Myanmar Fear Is a Constant Companion International Herald Tribune. October 21, 2007
33. Myanmar guards accused of detainee abuse Associated Press. October 11, 2007
34. Duggan, Paul; Clarence Williams (November 1, 2008). "Cover-Up Alleged in D.C. Killing Of Lawyer". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2008.

Further reading

• Engelhardt, Tom (1998). The End of Victory Culture. Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation. University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 1-55849-133-3.
• Laville, Helen; Wilford, Hugh (1996). The US Government, Citizen Groups And the Cold War. The State-Private Network. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-35608-3.
• Thussu, Daya Kishan (2000). International Communication. Continuity and Change. Arnold. ISBN 0-340-74130-9.
• Defty, Andrew (2004). Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda, 1945–53. The Information Research Department. Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-5443-4.

External links

• Official website
• Broadcasting of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America is Pulled in Cambodia US Department of State Press Release
• ClandestineRadio.com Updated news
• Radio Free Asia, Legal Information Institute
• L.A. Times articles about Radio Free Asia
• Guide to the Radio Free Asia Vietnamese Broadcasts. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

[admin]

Custodial history: In Frank Cramer Roberts' possession.
Immediate source of acquisition: Acquired from Esmé [Barbara] Cramer Roberts (widow) [Librarian's Comment: Real author of Born in Tibet, which authorship is attributed to Chogyam Trungpa]
St. Antony's College, Oxford
https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk › MEChandlists › Cramer-Roberts-Collection
Aug 17, 1998
© Middle East Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford. OX2 6JF 4

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

St Antony's reputation as a key centre for the study of Soviet affairs during the Cold War, led to rumours of links between the college and the British intelligence services; the author Leslie Woodhead wrote to this effect, describing the college as "a fitting gathering place for old spooks".

-- St. Antony's College, Oxford, by Wikipedia

Reference code: GB165-0066
Title: Frank Cramer-Roberts Collection
Name of creator: Roberts, Frank Cramer- (d.1943), Engineer
Dates of creation of material: 1801-1916; ?1930s
Level of description: Fonds
Extent: 2 boxes

Biographical history: CRAMER ROBERTS, Frank W. (d.1943)
Irrigation engineer in Egypt until 1930. Further details unknown.
Scope and content: Research materials and notes by Cramer Roberts on the Egyptian Campaign, 1801, with engravings, maps and plans.
Access conditions: Open
Language of material: English
Conditions governing reproduction: No restrictions on copying or quotation other than statutory regulations and preservation concerns
Custodial history: In Frank Cramer Roberts’ possession.
Immediate source of acquisition: Acquired from Esmé Cramer Roberts (widow), October 1965. Elizabeth Monroe helped her sell some original letters from the collection through Sotheby’s, May 1966.
Location of originals: No record of purchaser of original documents (in files 3 and 4a) sold by Sotheby’s.
Finding aids: In Guide; Handlist
Archivist’s note: Fonds level description created by C. Brown 17 August 1998 and revised by D. Usher 26 September 2003.

CRAMER-ROBERTS
GB165-0066

© Middle East Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford. OX2 6JF 2

FILE AND ITEM LEVEL DESCRIPTIONS FOR THE FRANK CRAMER-ROBERTS COLLECTION

FILE 1 “The British Campaign in Egypt 1801 – as recorded in the diary of Surgeon Thornton edited with comments by Lt Col W H Thornton” Privately published 1933
FILE 2 Note by Cramer-Roberts on the landing of the British Army at Abu-Kir 1801, with a short account of the events which led up to the campaign and the preparation of the expeditionary force
FILE 3 Copy of an official despatch from Major General Hely Hutchinson to Secretary of State for war – Dundas, 3 April 1801
FILE 4 (a) Photocopies of the original letters from Major General Sir Eyre Coote to H.R.H. Duke of Gloucester 13 December 1800 – 9 October 1801
(b) Typescript transcriptions of (a) made by F.W. Cramer – Roberts
(c) Mss transcriptions of (a)
FILE 5 Statements of General Belliard’s account of the Fall of Cairo, 19 March 1801 – 27 June 1801
FILE 6 Note on conference of 27 June 1801, giving terms of French withdrawal – safe conduct etc
FILE 7 Brief notes on the state of the French army in Egypt 1798 – 1801
FILE 8 French scheme for Battle at Abu Kir. Brief chronology of main events March – October 1801
FILE 9 Miscellaneous final drafts of various sections of Cramer-Roberts proposed book on the British campaign
FILE 10 Text of a lecture (and list of slides shown) entitled “A Short description of difficult actions fought between the French and British armies in Egypt in 1801”
FILE 11 Drafts of Chapter dealing with French activity 1797-1800 (death of General Kleber)
FILE 12 & 13 Miscellaneous early notes and drafts
FILE 14 Draft of a chapter on the Turkish army
FILE 15 Text of a lecture given in Egypt
FILE 16 Collection of engravings, photographs and small maps/plans
(a) Engraving of Sir Sidney Smith at the breach of Acre, 9 May 1799. Engraved by Richard Bentley London 1848

CRAMER-ROBERTS
GB165-0066

© Middle East Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford. OX2 6JF 3
(b) Engraving of Rt Hon G.K. Elphinstone. Painted by J Hoppner R.A. Engraved by W Hall. Fisher Son & Co. London 1837
(c) Engraving of Brueys. Painted by A Lacauchie, engraved by Leguay (undated)
(d) Kleber. Published by Furne Paris (undated)
(e) Engraving showing the Battle of the Nile. Painted by G Arnold Esq A.R.A. engraved by J Le Petit (undated)
(f) Engraving showing the Battle of the Nile. Painted by Captain James Weir R.A. engraved by A.H. Payne (no date)
(g) Engravings of Lt Gen Sir Eyre Coote. Painted by Willian Lodder, engraved by H.R. Cook (undated)
(h) Engraving of Sir Ralph Abercromby. Engraved by W. Finden. Published by Harding & Leppard., Pall Mall 1831
(i) Engraving of Sir Ralph Abercromby published by Kirkwood & Sons, Edinburgh. June 1801
(j) Engraving of Kleber. Painted by Lacauchie, engraved by Leguay (undated)
(k) Engraving of Lord Nelson. Painted by J Hoppner R.A. engraved by H Robinson (undated)
(l) Engraving showing the death of Sir Ralph Abercromby. Published by Thomas Kelly. London 1916
(m)Two framed compilations each containing four photographs of portraits of Generals Valetin, Reyneir, Lanusse, Destaing, Boussart, Rampon, Fraint and Damens
(n) Photograph of an engraving of General Lord Hutchinson. Original engraved by J Heath from a drawing by Knight. First published 1815 by G Robinson of London
(o) Plan showing the Battle of the Nile fought off Abi-Kir. 1 August 1798 (C.R. undated)
(p) Plan showing the disposition of the French army on the arrival of the British in Abu Kir Bay on 2 March 1801 (C.R. undated)
(q) Plan of the action of Mandora fought on 13 March 1801 (C.R. 1934)

CRAMER-ROBERTS
GB165-0066

© Middle East Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford. OX2 6JF 4

Rolled Maps/Plans

1 Larger version of (p); plan showing the landing of the British forces at Abi-Kir 8
March 1801; of an engraving by C Turner showing the Battle of Alexandria 21 March 1801
2 Larger version of (q); plan of the investment of Grand Cairo by the British forces commanded by General Lord Hutchinson 1801

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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/9/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office Main Building, London, seen from Whitehall
Department overview
Formed 1968; 51 years ago
Preceding agencies
Commonwealth Office
Foreign Office
Jurisdiction United Kingdom
Headquarters King Charles Street
London, SW1
51°30′11″N 0°07′40″WCoordinates: 51°30′11″N 0°07′40″W
Annual budget £1.1bn (current) & £0.1bn (capital) in 2015-16[1]
Ministers responsible
Rt Hon. Dominic Raab MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Rt Hon. Christopher Pincher MP, Minister of State for Europe and the Americas
Com. Rt Hon. Andrew Murrison MP, Minister of State for the Middle East
Rt Hon. The Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN
Rt Hon. Andrew Stephenson MP, Minister of State for Africa
Heather Wheeler MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Asia & the Pacific
Department executive
Sir Simon McDonald KCMG KCVO, Permanent Under-Secretary and Head of the Diplomatic Service
Child agencies
FCO Services
Wilton Park
Website http://www.gov.uk/fco

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), commonly called the Foreign Office (which was the formal name of its predecessor until 1968), or British Foreign Office, is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting and promoting British interests worldwide and was created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.

The head of the FCO is the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly abbreviated to "Foreign Secretary". This is regarded as one of the four most prestigious positions in the Cabinet – the Great Offices of State – alongside those of Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary.

The FCO is managed from day to day by a civil servant, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who also acts as the Head of Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service. This position is held by Sir Simon McDonald, who took office on 1 September 2015.

Responsibilities

• Safeguarding the UK's national security by countering terrorism and weapons proliferation, and working to reduce conflict.
• Building the UK's prosperity by increasing exports and investment, opening markets, ensuring access to resources, and promoting sustainable global growth.
• Supporting British nationals around the world through modern and efficient consular services.

Ministers

The FCO Ministers are as follows:[2][3]

Minister / Rank / Portfolio

The Rt Hon.Dominic Raab MP / Secretary of State / Overall responsibility for the department; Policy Unit; intelligence policy; honours.

The Rt Hon. Christopher Pincher MP / Minister of State for Europe and the Americas / The Americas (including Cuba and the Falkland Islands); Europe (including Turkey, Gibraltar and Sovereign Base Areas); deputy to the Foreign Secretary for EU Exit Cabinet Committees; eastern Europe and central Asia; defence and international security (only Euro-Atlantic security policy); multilateral policy (only OSCE, Council of Europe and sanctions); relations with Parliament.

The Rt Hon. Dr Andrew Murrison MP / Minister of State for the Middle East & North Africa / The Middle East and North Africa; stabilisation (including Stabilisation Unit); national security (excluding intelligence policy); defence and international security (excluding Euro-Atlantic security policy).

Andrew Stephenson MP / Minister of State for Africa / Africa; consular policy; LGBTQ+ equality.

The Rt Hon. Lord Ahmad / Minister of State for the Commonwealth, the UN and South Asia / All Foreign and Commonwealth Office business in the House of Lords; multilateral policy (including the Commonwealth, United Nations and human rights, excluding OSCE and Council of Europe); Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict initiative; south Asia and Afghanistan; Overseas Territories (excluding Gibraltar, Sovereign Base Areas and the Falklands); the Caribbean (excluding Cuba); Foreign and Commonwealth Office operations.

Heather Wheeler MP / Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Asia and the Pacific / East and south-east Asia; Australasia and the Pacific; economic diplomacy (including Foreign and Commonwealth Office representative for Prosperity Fund Ministerial Board and climate change); oceans; communications; British Council; Economics Unit; gender equality (including gender and conflict, and women and girls' rights); protocol; Diplomatic Academy; estates and security.

History of the department

The Foreign Office


The Foreign Office building by Sir George Gilbert Scott, viewed from Horse Guards Road

Eighteenth century

The Foreign Office was formed in March 1782 by combining the Southern and Northern Departments of the Secretary of State, each of which covered both foreign and domestic affairs in their parts of the Kingdom. The two departments' foreign affairs responsibilities became the Foreign Office, whilst their domestic affairs responsibilities were assigned to the Home Office. The Home Office is technically the senior.[4]

Nineteenth century

During the 19th century, it was not infrequent for the Foreign Office to approach The Times newspaper and ask for continental intelligence, which was often superior to that conveyed by official sources.[5] Examples of journalists who specialized in foreign affairs and were well connected to politicians included: Henry Southern, Valentine Chirol, Harold Nicolson, and Robert Bruce Lockhart.[6]

Twentieth century

During the First World War, the Arab Bureau was set up within the British Foreign Office as a section of the Cairo Intelligence Department. During the early cold war an important department was the Information Research Department, set up to counter Soviet propaganda and infiltration. The Foreign Office hired its first woman diplomat, Monica Milne, in 1946.[7]

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The FCO was formed on 17 October 1968, from the merger of the short-lived Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Office.[8] The Commonwealth Office had been created only in 1966, by the merger of the Commonwealth Relations Office and the Colonial Office, the Commonwealth Relations Office having been formed by the merger of the Dominions Office and the India Office in 1947—with the Dominions Office having been split from the Colonial Office in 1925.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office held responsibility for international development issues between 1970 and 1974, and again between 1979 and 1997. From 1997, this became the responsibility of the separate Department for International Development.

The National Archives website contains a Government timeline to show the departments responsible for Foreign Affairs from 1945.[9]

Developments

When David Miliband took over as Foreign Secretary in June 2007, he set in hand a review of the FCO's strategic priorities. One of the key messages of these discussions was the conclusion that the existing framework of ten international strategic priorities, dating from 2003, was no longer appropriate. Although the framework had been useful in helping the FCO plan its work and allocate its resources, there was agreement that it needed a new framework to drive its work forward.

The new strategic framework consists of three core elements:

• A flexible global network of staff and offices, serving the whole of the UK Government.
• Three essential services that support the British economy, British nationals abroad and managed migration for Britain. These services are delivered through UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), consular teams in Britain and overseas, and UK Visas and Immigration.
• Four policy goals:
o countering terrorism and weapons proliferation and their causes
o preventing and resolving conflict
o promoting a low-carbon, high-growth, global economy
o developing effective international institutions, in particular the United Nations and the European Union.

In August 2005, a report by management consultant group Collinson Grant was made public by Andrew Mackinlay. The report severely criticised the FCO's management structure, noting:

• The Foreign Office could be "slow to act".
• Delegation is lacking within the management structure.
• Accountability was poor.
• The FCO could feasibly cut 1200 jobs.
• At least £48 million could be saved annually.

The Foreign Office commissioned the report to highlight areas which would help it achieve its pledge to reduce spending by £87 million over three years. In response to the report being made public, the Foreign Office stated it had already implemented the report's recommendations.[10]

In 2009, Gordon Brown created the position of Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) to the FCO. The first science adviser was David C. Clary.[11]

On 25 April 2010, the department apologised after The Sunday Telegraph obtained a "foolish" document calling for the upcoming September visit of Pope Benedict XVI to be marked by the launch of "Benedict-branded" condoms, the opening of an abortion clinic and the blessing of a same-sex marriage.[12]

In 2012, the Foreign Office was criticised by Gerald Steinberg, of the Jerusalem-based research institute NGO Monitor, saying that the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development provided more than £500,000 in funding to Palestinian NGOs which he said "promote political attacks on Israel." In response, a spokesman for the Foreign Office said "we are very careful about who and what we fund. The objective of our funding is to support efforts to achieve a two-state solution. Funding a particular project for a limited period of time does not mean that we endorse every single action or public comment made by an NGO or by its employees."[13]

In September 2012, the FCO and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs signed a Memorandum of Understanding on diplomatic cooperation, which promotes the co-location of embassies, the joint provision of consular services, and common crisis response. The project has been criticised for further diminishing the UK's influence in Europe.[14]

Overseas Territories Directorate

The Overseas Territories Directorate is responsible for the British Overseas Territories.[15]

FCO Services

In April 2006, a new executive agency was established, FCO Services, to provide corporate service functions.[16] It moved to Trading Fund status in April 2008, so that it had the ability to provide services similar to those it already offers to the FCO[17] to other government departments and even to outside businesses.

It is accountable to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and provides secure support services to the FCO, other government departments and foreign governments and bodies with which the UK has close links.[18]

Since 2011, FCO Services has been developing the Government Secure Application Environment (GSAE) on a secure cloud computing platform to support UK government organisations.[19]

For over 10 years, FCO Services has been working globally, to keep customer assets and information safe. FCO Services is a public sector organisation, it is not funded by Vote and has to rely on the income it produces to meet its costs, by providing services on a commercial basis to customers both in the UK and throughout the world. Its Accounting Officer and Chief Executive is accountable to the Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs and to Parliament, for the organisation's performance and conduct.

Buildings


The western end of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's building in 1866, facing St. James's Park. It was then occupied by the Foreign and India Offices, while the Home and Colonial Offices occupied the Whitehall end.

As well as embassies abroad, the FCO has premises within the UK:

• Foreign and Commonwealth Office Main Building, Whitehall, King Charles St, London (abbreviated to KCS by FCO staff)
• Old Admiralty Building, Whitehall, London (abbreviated to OAB by FCO staff)
• Hanslope Park, Hanslope, Milton Keynes (abbreviated to HSP by FCO staff). Location of FCO Services, HMGCC and Technical Security Department of the UK Secret Intelligence Service)
• Lancaster House, St James's, London. A mansion in the St James's district in the West End of London which the Foreign Office holds on lease from the Crown. It is used primarily for hospitality, entertaining foreign dignitaries and housing the Government Wine Cellar.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office Main Building


The Grand Staircase in September 2013

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office occupies a building which originally provided premises for four separate government departments: the Foreign Office, the India Office, the Colonial Office, and the Home Office. Construction on the building began in 1861 and finished in 1868, and it was designed by the architect George Gilbert Scott.[20] Its architecture is in the Italianate style; Scott had initially envisaged a Gothic design, but Lord Palmerston, then Prime Minister, insisted on a classical style.[20] English sculptors Henry Hugh Armstead and John Birnie Philip produced a number of allegorical figures ('Art', 'Law', 'Commerce', etc.) for the exterior.

In 1925 the Foreign Office played host to the signing of the Locarno Treaties, aimed at reducing tension in Europe. The ceremony took place in a suite of rooms that had been designed for banqueting, which subsequently became known as the Locarno Suite.[21] During the Second World War, the Locarno Suite's fine furnishings were removed or covered up, and it became home to a Foreign Office code-breaking department.[21]

Due to increasing numbers of staff, the offices became increasingly cramped and much of the fine Victorian interior was covered over—especially after the Second World War. In the 1960s, demolition was proposed, as part of major redevelopment plan for the area drawn up by architect Sir Leslie Martin.[20] A subsequent public outcry prevented these proposals from ever being implemented. Instead, the Foreign Office became a Grade I listed building in 1970.[20] In 1978, the Home Office moved to a new building, easing overcrowding.

With a new sense of the building's historical value, it underwent a 17-year, £100 million restoration process, completed in 1997.[20] The Locarno Suite, used as offices and storage since the Second World War, was fully restored for use in international conferences. The building is now open to the public each year over Open House Weekend.

In 2014 refurbishment to accommodate all Foreign and Commonwealth Office employees into one building was started by Mace.[22]


Ceiling above the Foreign Office’s Grand Staircase, 2008


The Grand Staircase, 2008


The Locarno Suite in September 2013


The Durbar Court at the former India Office, now part of the FCO

Devolution

International relations are handled centrally from Whitehall on behalf of the whole of the United Kingdom and its dependencies. However, the devolved administrations also maintain an overseas presence in the European Union, the USA and China alongside British diplomatic missions. These offices aim to promote their own economies and ensure that devolved interests are taken into account in British foreign policy. Ministers from devolved administrations can attend international negotiations when agreed with the British Government e.g. EU fisheries negotiations.[23] Similarly, ministers from the devolved administrations meet at approximately quarterly intervals through the Joint Ministerial Committee (Europe), chaired by the Foreign Secretary to "discuss matters bearing on devolved responsibilities that are under discussion within the European Union."

See also

• United Kingdom portal
• International relations portal
• Department for International Development
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office migrated archives
• National Security Adviser (United Kingdom)
• National Security Council (United Kingdom)
• Conflict, Stability and Security Fund
• Stabilisation Unit

References

1. Foreign Office Settlement. London: HM Treasury. 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
2. "Our ministers". GOV.UK. Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
3. "Her Majesty's Official Opposition". UK Parliament. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
4. A brief history of the FCO Foreign and Commonwealth Office
5. Weller, Toni (June 2010). "The Victorian information age: nineteenth century answers to today's information policy questions?". History & Policy. United Kingdom: History & Policy. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
6. Berridge, G. R. "A Diplomatic Whistleblower in the Victorian Era" (PDF). grberridge.diplomacy.edu. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
7. "Women and the Foreign Office". Issu.com. Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
8. "The Foreign and Commonwealth Ministries merge". The Glasgow Herald. 17 October 1968. p. 1. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
9. Archives, The National. "The National Archives - Homepage". labs.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
10. "BBC NEWS - UK - UK Politics - Foreign Office management damned".
11. Clary, David (16 September 2013). "A Scientist in the Foreign Office". Science & Diplomacy. 2 (3).
12. "Apology over Pope 'condom' memo". BBC News. 25 April 2010.
13. "'Investigate UK funding of Palestinian NGOs'". thejc.com.
14. Gaspers, Jan (November 2012). "At the Helm of a New Commonwealth Diplomatic Network: In the United Kingdom's Interest?". Retrieved 26 November 2012.
15. Foreign & Commonwealth Office (June 2012). The Overseas Territories: Security, Success and Sustainability(PDF). ISBN 9780101837422.
16. "Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs". Hansard. March 2006.
17. "The FCO Services Trading Fund Order 2008". UK Legislation. National Archives. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
18. "Who we are". FCO Services. 24 May 2011. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 18 June2011.
19. Say, Mark (21 July 2011). "FCO Services pushes secure cloud platform". Guardian Government Computing. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
20. Foreign & Commonwealth Office History Archived 24 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine
21. Jump up to:a b "Foreign & Commonwealth Office: Route" (PDF). FCO. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2012.
22. "Mace wins £20m Whitehall Foreign Office refit". constructionenquirer.com.
23. Scottish gains at Euro fish talks, Scottish Government, 16 December 2009

External links

• Media related to Foreign and Commonwealth Office at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Cockerell, Michael (1998). How to Be Foreign Secretary (Television production). BBC.
• Cockerell, Michael (2010). The Great Offices of State: Palace of Dreams (Television production). BBC.

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Indian Political Department
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/9/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

The Indian Political Department (IPD) was a government department in British India. It originated in a resolution passed on 13 September 1783 by the Board of Directors of the East India Company; this decreed the creation of a department which could help “relieve the pressure” on the administration of Warren Hastings in conducting its "secret and political business".

In 1843, Governor-General Ellenborough reformed the administration, organizing Secretariat of the Government into four departments – Foreign, Home, Finance and Military. The officer in charge of the foreign department was supposed to manage the “conduct of all correspondence belonging to the external and internal diplomatic relations of the government”. Its political officers were responsible for the civil administration of frontier districts,[1] and also served as British agents to rulers of Princely states. A distinction was made between the “foreign” and “political” functions of the department; relations with all “Asiatic powers” (including native princely states of India) were treated as “political” and those with all European powers as “foreign”. At independence in 1948, the Foreign and Political department of the British India government was transformed into the new Ministry of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations. A small number of British officers continued to serve as employees of the Union of India.[2]

"Politicals"

The staff employed by the IPD, known as the Indian Political Service, were generally referred to as political officers, or colloquially as "politicals", and were recruited from four areas:[3]

• Two thirds were recruited from the Indian Army
• Next most numerous were those recruited from the Indian Civil Service
• Some came from the Indian Medical Service
• Some came from the Indian Public Works and Engineering Department

Employees of the political service were predominantly racially European, although small numbers of Indians were employed.[4]

References

1. James Onley, The Raj Reconsidered: British India’s Informal Empire and Spheres of Influence in Asia and Africa (2009)
2. Hansard 11 December 1947
3. Wendy Palace (2004), The British Empire & Tibet 1900 - 1922, London: Routledge, ISBN 0415346827, OCLC 834529138, 0415346827
4. Hansard 26 June 1939

External links

• Indian Foreign Service: A Backgrounder

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Dominion of India [Union of India]
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/9/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

Union of India
1947–1950

Flag of India

Emblem[1]
Status: Dominion of the British Commonwealth
Capital New Delhi
Government Federation
Governor-General
• 1947–1948: Louis Mountbatten
• 1948–1950: Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
Prime Minister
• 1947–1950: Jawaharlal Nehru[2]
Legislature Constituent Assembly
History
• Indian Independence Act: 15 August 1947
• Indo-Pakistani War: 22 October 1947
• Republican constitution adopted: 26 January 1950
Area
1950 3,287,263 km2 (1,269,219 sq mi)
Currency Indian rupee
ISO 3166 code IN
Preceded by British Raj
Succeeded by Republic of India

India, officially the Union of India,[3] was an independent dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950. It was created by the Indian Independence Act 1947 and was transformed into the Republic of India by the promulgation of the Constitution of India in 1950.[4]

The King was represented by the Governor-General of India. However, the Governor-General was not designated Viceroy, as had been customary under the British Raj. The office of Viceroy was abolished on independence. Two governors-general held office between independence and India's transformation into a republic: Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1947–48) and Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1948–50). Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister of India throughout.

History

Partition of India

Main article: Partition of India

The Partition of British India on 15 August 1947[5] led to the creation of two sovereign states, both dominions: Pakistan (which later split into the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People's Republic of Bangladesh in 1971) and India (later the Republic of India).

Since the 1920s the Indian independence movement had been demanding Pūrṇa Swarāj (complete self-rule) for the Indian nation and the establishment of the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan was a major victory for the Swarajis. Nevertheless, the Partition was controversial among the people, and resulted in significant political instability and displacement.[6]

Aftermath

Most of the 565[7] princely states within Indian territory acceded to the Dominion of India. The Hindu-majority Junagadh State located in modern-day Gujarat attempted to accede to Pakistan under Nawab Sir Muhammad Mahabat Khanji III, who was a Muslim. It was annexed militarily by the Indian government. Similarly, the State of Hyderabad sought to remain independent and was also annexed by India in 1948.[6]

Conflict with Pakistan

See also: Indo-Pakistani War of 1947

The newly created states of Pakistan and India both joined the Commonwealth, a platform for cooperation between the countries that had been part of the British Empire. Nevertheless, they soon found themselves at war beginning in October 1947, over the contested princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani militants entered the state, alarming Maharaja Hari Singh who appealed to India for military intervention, in exchange for the signing of the Instrument of Accession and annexation into India. The region is contested to this day and two other Indo-Pakistan wars occurred as part of the Kashmir conflict.[6]

The Dominion of India began working towards a constitution based on liberal democracy immediately after independence.

Republic of India

Main article: India

The Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution of India, drafted by a committee headed by B. R. Ambedkar, on 26 November 1949. India abolished the role of the constitutional monarchy and became a federal, democratic republic after its constitution came into effect on 26 January 1950; henceforth celebrated as Republic Day. The governmental structure was similar to that of the United Kingdom but within a federal system. Rajendra Prasad became the first President of India.

Government

List of Governors-General

Main article: List of Governors-General of India

Name (birth–death) / Picture / Took office / Left office / Appointer

Governors-General India, 1947–1950

The Viscount Mountbatten of Burma[8] (1900–1979) / Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1943. / 15 August 1947 / 21 June 1948 / George VI

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1878–1972) / C Rajagopalachari 1944 / 21 June 1948 / 26 January 1950 / George VI

List of Prime Ministers

Main article: List of Prime Ministers of India

№ / Name (birth–death); constituency / Portrait / Party (Alliance) / Term of office[9] / Elections (Lok Sabha) / Council of Ministers / Appointed by

1 / Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) MP for Phulpur / Jnehru / Indian National Congress / 15 August 1947 / 26 January 1950 / — / Nehru I / Lord Mountbatten

See also

• India portal
• Monarchy portal
• Interim Government of India
• History of the Republic of India
• Indian independence movement

References

1. "Press Communique' - State Emblem" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 February 2018.
2. As Prime Minister of India until 1964.
3. *Winegard, Timothy C. (2011), Indigenous Peoples of the British Dominions and the First World War, Cambridge University Press, p. 2, ISBN 978-1-107-01493-0 Quote: “The first collective use (of the word "dominion") occurred at the Colonial Conference (April to May 1907) when the title was conferred upon Canada and Australia. New Zealand and Newfoundland were afforded the designation in September of that same year, followed by South Africa in 1910. These were the only British possessions recognized as Dominions at the outbreak of war. In 1922, the Irish Free State was given Dominion status, followed by the short-lived inclusion of India and Pakistan in 1947 (although India was officially recognized as the Union of India). The Union of India became the Republic of India in 1950, while the became the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1956.”
4. Winegard, Timothy C. (2011), Indigenous Peoples of the British Dominions and the First World War, Cambridge University Press, pp. 2–, ISBN 978-1-107-01493-0
5. Section 1 of the Indian Independence Act, 1947
6. India: A History. New York, USA: Grove Press. 2000. ISBN 978-0-8021-3797-5.
7. "Indian Princely States before 1947 A-J".
8. Created Earl Mountbatten of Burma on 28 October 1947.
9. "Former Prime Ministers". PM India. Retrieved 2 January 2015.

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Warren Hastings
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/10/19

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-- Impeachment of Warren Hastings, by Wikipedia

The Right Honourable Warren Hastings
Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal)
In office
28 April 1772 – 20 October 1774
Preceded by John Cartier
Succeeded by Position Abolished
Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort sala
In office
20 October 1782 – 8 February 1785[1]
Monarch George III
Preceded by Position Created
Succeeded by Sir John Macpherson, Bt
As Acting Governor-General
Personal details
Born 6 December 1732
Churchill, Oxfordshire
Died 22 August 1818 (aged 85)
Daylesford, Gloucestershire
Nationality British
Alma mater Westminster School

Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818), an English statesman, was the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and thereby the first de facto Governor-General of India from 1774 to 1785. In 1787, he was accused of corruption and impeached, but after a long trial, he was acquitted in 1795. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1814.

Early life

Hastings was born in Churchill, Oxfordshire in 1732 to a poor father, Penystone Hastings, and a mother, Hester Hastings, who died soon after he was born.[2] Despite Penystone Hastings's lack of wealth, the family had been lords of the manor and patrons of the living of Daylesford in direct line from 1281 until 1715. It was relinquished after there had been a considerable loss of family wealth due to support given to Charles I.[3] Warren Hastings attended Westminster School, where he coincided with the future Prime Ministers Lord Shelburne and the Duke of Portland and with the poet William Cowper.[4] He joined the British East India Company in 1750 as a clerk and sailed out to India, reaching Calcutta in August 1750.[5] There he built up a reputation for diligence and spent his free time learning about India and mastering Urdu and Persian.[6] His work won him promotion in 1752 when he was sent to Kasimbazar, a major trading post in Bengal, where he worked for William Watts. While there he gained further experience in the politics of East India.

British traders still relied on the whims of local rulers, so that the political turmoil in Bengal was unsettling. The elderly moderate Nawab Alivardi Khan was likely to be succeeded by his grandson Siraj ud-Daulah, but there were several other claimants. This made British trading posts throughout Bengal increasingly insecure, as Siraj ud-Daulah was known to harbour anti-European views and be likely to launch an attack once he took power. When Alivardi Khan died in April 1756, the British traders and a small garrison at Kasimbazar were left vulnerable. On 3 June, after being surrounded by a much larger force, the British were persuaded to surrender to prevent a massacre.[7] Hastings was imprisoned with others in the Bengali capital, Murshidabad, while the Nawab's forces marched on Calcutta and captured it. The garrison and civilians were then locked up under appalling conditions in the Black Hole of Calcutta.


Warren Hastings with his wife Marian in their garden at Alipore, c. 1784–87

For a while Hastings remained in Murshidabad and was even used by the Nawab as an intermediary, but fearing for his life, he escaped to the island of Fulta, where a number of refugees from Calcutta had taken shelter. While there, he met and married Mary Buchanan, the widow of one of the victims of the Black Hole. Shortly afterwards a British expedition from Madras under Robert Clive arrived to rescue them. Hastings served as a volunteer in Clive's forces as they retook Calcutta in January 1757. After this swift defeat, the Nawab urgently sought peace and the war came to an end. Clive was impressed with Hastings when he met him, and arranged for his return to Kasimbazar to resume his pre-war activities. Later in 1757 fighting resumed, leading to the Battle of Plassey, where Clive won a decisive victory over the Nawab. Siraj ud-Daulah was overthrown and replaced by his uncle Mir Jafar, who initiated pro-British policies. Today Mir Jafar has the reputation of a traitor in India and Bangladesh.

Rising status

In 1758 Hastings became the British Resident in the Bengali capital of Murshidabad – a major step forward in his career – at the instigation of Clive. His role in the city was ostensibly that of an ambassador but as Bengal came increasingly under the dominance of the East India Company he was often given the task of issuing orders to the new Nawab on behalf of Clive and the Calcutta authorities.[8] Hastings personally sympathised with Mir Jafar and regarded many of the demands placed on him by the Company as excessive. Hastings had already developed a philosophy that was grounded in trying to establish a more understanding relationship with India's inhabitants and their rulers, and he often tried to mediate between the two sides.

During Mir Jafar's reign the East India Company exerted an increasingly large role in the running of the region, and effectively took over the defence of Bengal against external invaders when Bengal's troops proved insufficient for the task. As he grew older, Mir Jafar became gradually less effective in ruling the state, and in 1760 British troops ousted him from power and replaced him with Mir Qasim.[9] Hastings expressed his doubts to Calcutta over the move, believing they were honour-bound to support Mir Jafar, but his opinions were overruled. Hastings established a good relationship with the new Nawab and again had misgivings about the demands he relayed from his superiors. In 1761 he was recalled and appointed to the Calcutta council.

Conquest of Bengal

Further information: Battle of Buxar

Hastings was personally angered when he conducted an investigation into trading abuses in Bengal. He alleged some European and British-allied Indian merchants were taking advantage of the situation to enrich themselves personally. Persons travelling under the unauthorised protection of the British flag engaged in widespread fraud and in illegal trading, knowing that local customs officials would thereby be cowed into not interfering with them. Hastings felt this was bringing shame on Britain's reputation, and he urged the ruling authorities in Calcutta to put an end to it. The Council considered his report but ultimately rejected Hastings' proposals and he was fiercely criticised by other members, many of whom had themselves profited from the trade.[10]

Ultimately, little was done to stem the abuses, and Hastings began to consider quitting his post and returning to Britain. His resignation was only delayed by the outbreak of fresh fighting in Bengal. Once on the throne Qasim proved increasingly independent in his actions, and he rebuilt Bengal's army by hiring European instructors and mercenaries who greatly improved the standard of his forces.[11] He felt gradually more confident and in 1764 when a dispute broke out in the settlement of Patna he captured its British garrison and threatened to execute them if the East India Company responded militarily. When Calcutta dispatched troops anyway, Mir Qasim executed the hostages. British forces then went on the attack and won a series of battles culminating in the decisive Battle of Buxar in October 1764. After this Mir Qasim fled into exile in Delhi, where he later died (1777). The Treaty of Allahabad (1765) gave the East India Company the right to collect taxes in Bengal on behalf of the Mughal Emperor.

Hastings resigned in December 1764 and sailed for Britain the following month. He left deeply saddened by the failure of the more moderate strategy that he had supported, but which had been rejected by the hawkish members of the Calcutta Council. Once he arrived in London Hastings began spending far beyond his means. He stayed in fashionable addresses and had his picture painted by Joshua Reynolds in spite of the fact that, unlike many of his contemporaries, he had not amassed a fortune while in India. Eventually, having run up enormous debts, Hastings realised he needed to return to India to restore his finances, and applied to the East India Company for employment. His application was initially rejected as he had made many political enemies, including the powerful director Laurence Sulivan. Eventually an appeal to Sulivan's rival Robert Clive secured Hastings the position of deputy ruler at the city of Madras. He sailed from Dover in March 1769. On the voyage he met the German Baroness Imhoff and her husband. He soon fell in love with the Baroness and they began an affair, seemingly with her husband's consent. Hastings' first wife, Mary, had died in 1759, and he planned to marry the Baroness once she had obtained a divorce from her husband. The process took a long time and it was not until 1777 when news of divorce came from Germany that Hastings was finally able to marry her.

Madras and Calcutta

Hastings arrived in Madras shortly after the end of the First Anglo-Mysore War of 1767–1769, during which the forces of Hyder Ali had threatened the capture of the city. The Treaty of Madras (29 March 1769) which ended the war failed to settle the dispute and three further Anglo-Mysore Wars followed (1780-1799). During his time at Madras Hastings initiated reforms of trading practices which cut out the use of middlemen and benefited both the Company and the Indian labourers, but otherwise the period was relatively uneventful for him.[12]

By this stage Hastings shared Clive's view that the three major British Presidencies (settlements) – Madras, Bombay and Calcutta – should all be brought under a single rule rather than being governed separately as they currently were.[12] In 1771 he was appointed to be Governor of Calcutta, the most important of the Presidencies. In Britain moves were underway to reform the divided system of government and to establish a single rule across all of British India with its capital in Calcutta. Hastings was considered[by whom?] the natural choice to be the first Governor General.

While Governor, Hastings launched a major crackdown on bandits operating in Bengal, which proved largely successful.

He also faced the severe Bengal Famine, which resulted in about ten million deaths.

Governor-General

The Regulating Act of 1773 brought the presidencies of Madras and Bombay under Bengal's control. It elevated Hastings from Governor to the new title Governor-General, but limited his power by making the Governor-General one member of a five-man Supreme Council of Bengal,[13] so confusedly structured that it was difficult to tell what constitutional position Hastings actually held.[14]

Bhutan and Tibet

In 1773, Hastings responded to an appeal for help from the Raja of the princely state of Cooch Behar to the north of Bengal, whose territory had been invaded by Zhidar, the Druk Desi of Bhutan the previous year. Hastings agreed to help on the condition that Cooch Behar recognise British sovereignty.[15] The Raja agreed and with the help of British troops they pushed the Bhutanese out of the Duars and into the foothills in 1773.

The Druk Desi, returned to face civil war at home. His opponent Jigme Senge, the regent for the seven-year-old Shabdrung (the Bhutanese equivalent of the Dalai Lama), had supported popular discontent. Zhidar was unpopular for his corvee tax (he sought to rebuild a major dzong in one year, an unreasonable goal), as well as for his overtures to the Manchu Emperors which threatened Bhutanese independence. Zhidar was soon overthrown and forced to flee to Tibet, where he was imprisoned and a new Druk Desi, Kunga Rinchen, installed in his place. Meanwhile, the Sixth Panchen Lama, who had imprisoned Zhidar, interceded on behalf of the Bhutanese with a letter to Hastings, imploring him to cease hostilities in return for friendship. Hastings saw the opportunity to establish relations with both the Tibetans and the Bhutanese and wrote a letter to the Panchen Lama proposing "a general treaty of amity and commerce between Tibet and Bengal."[16]

In February 1782, news having reached the headquarters of the EIC in Calcutta of the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Hastings proposed despatching a mission to Tibet with a message of congratulation designed to strengthen the amicable relations established by Bogle during his earlier visit. With the assent of the EIC Court of Directors, Samuel Turner was appointed chief of the Tibet mission on 9 January 1783 with fellow EIC employee and amateur artist Samuel Davis as "Draftsman & Surveyor".[17] Turner returned to the Governor-General's camp at Patna in 1784 where he reported that although unable to visit the Tibetan capital at Lhasa, he had received a promise that merchants sent to the country from India would be encouraged.[18]

Turner was also instructed to obtain a pair of yaks on his travels, which he duly did. They were transported to Hasting's menagerie in Calcutta and on the Governor-General's return to England, the yaks went too, although only the male survived the difficult sea voyage. Noted artist George Stubbs subsequently painted the animal's portrait as The Yak of Tartary and in 1854 it went on to appear, albeit stuffed, at The Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in London.[19]

Hasting's return to England ended any further efforts to engage in diplomacy with Tibet.

Resignation and impeachment


The trial of Warren Hastings, 1788

Main article: Impeachment of Warren Hastings

In 1784, after ten years of service, during which he helped extend and regularise the nascent Raj created by Clive of India, Hastings resigned. He was replaced by General Charles Cornwallis, the Earl Cornwallis; Cornwallis in India served as Commander-in-Chief of British India and Governor of the Presidency of Fort William, also known as the Bengal Presidency.

Upon his return to England, Hastings was impeached in the House of Commons for crimes and misdemeanors during his time in India, especially for the alleged judicial killing of Maharaja Nandakumar. At first deemed unlikely to succeed,[20] the prosecution was managed by MPs including Edmund Burke, who was encouraged by Sir Philip Francis, whom Hastings had wounded during a duel in India,[13] Charles James Fox and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. When the charges of his indictment were read, the twenty counts took Edmund Burke two full days to read.[21]

The house sat for a total of 148 days over a period of seven years during the investigation.[22] The investigation was pursued at great cost to Hastings personally, and he complained constantly that the cost of defending himself from the prosecution was bankrupting him. He is rumoured to have once stated that the punishment given him would have been less extreme had he pleaded guilty.[23] The House of Lords finally made its decision on 24 April 1795, acquitting him on all charges.[24] The Company subsequently compensated him with 4,000 Pounds Sterling annually, retroactive to the date he returned to England, but did not reimburse Hastings' legal fees which he claimed to have been £70,000. He collected the stipend for nearly 29 years.[25][26]

Throughout the long years of the trial, Hastings lived in considerable style at his town house, Somerset House, Park Lane where he was the owner of the lease.[27] He subsequently sold the house at auction for £9,450.

Among the many who supported him in print was the pamphleteer and versifier Ralph Broome.[28] Others disturbed by the perceived injustice of the proceedings included Fanny Burney.[29]

The letters and journals of Jane Austen and her family, who knew Hastings, show that they followed the trial closely.[30]

Later life

His supporters from the Edinburgh East India Club, as well as a number of other gentlemen from India, gave a reportedly "elegant entertainment" for Hastings when he visited Edinburgh. A toast on the occasion went to the "Prosperity to our settlements in India" and wished that "the virtue and talents which preserved them be ever remembered with gratitude."[31]

In 1788 he acquired the estate at Daylesford, Gloucestershire, including the site of the medieval seat of the Hastings family at a cost of £54,000.[32] In the following years, he remodelled the mansion to the designs of Samuel Pepys Cockerell, with classical and Indian decoration, and gardens landscaped by John Davenport. He also rebuilt the Norman church in 1816, where he was buried two years later.

In 1801 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[33]

In spite of the substantial compensation he had received from the East India Company, Hastings was technically insolvent at the time of his death because of excessive spending.[34]

Hastings's administrative ethos and legacy


Hastings painted by Johann Zoffany, 1783–1784.


Hastings in the late 18th century, as painted by Lemuel Francis Abbott.


His simple memorial in Daylesford churchyard

During the final quarter of the 18th century, many of the Company's senior administrators realised that, in order to govern Indian society, it was essential that they learn its various religious, social, and legal customs and precedents. The importance of such knowledge to the colonial government was clearly in Hastings's mind when, in 1784, he remarked:

Every accumulation of knowledge and especially such as is obtained by social communication with people over whom we exercise dominion founded on the right of conquest, is useful to the state ... it attracts and conciliates distant affections; it lessens the weight of the chain by which the natives are held in subjection; and it imprints on the hearts of our countrymen the sense of obligation and benevolence... Every instance which brings their real character ... home to observation will impress us with a more generous sense of feeling for their natural rights, and teach us to estimate them by the measure of our own. But such instances can only be obtained in their writings: and these will survive when the British dominion in India shall have long ceased to exist, and when the sources which once yielded of wealth and power are lost to remembrance.[35]

Under Hastings's term as governor-general, a great deal of administrative precedent was set which profoundly shaped later attitudes towards the government of British India. Hastings had a great respect for the ancient scripture of Hinduism and set the British position on governance as one of looking back to the earliest precedents possible. This allowed Brahmin advisors to mould the law, because no English person thoroughly understood Sanskrit until Sir William Jones, and, even then, a literal translation was of little use; it needed to be elucidated by religious commentators who were well-versed in the lore and application. This approach accentuated the Hindu caste system and to an extent the frameworks of other religions, which had, at least in recent centuries, been somewhat more flexibly applied. Thus, British influence on the fluid social structure of India can in large part be characterised as a solidification of the privileges of the Hindu caste system through the influence of the exclusively high-caste scholars by whom the British were advised in the formation of their laws.

In 1781, Hastings founded Madrasa 'Aliya at Calcutta; in 2007, it was transformed into Aliah University by the Government of West Bengal.[citation needed] In 1784, Hastings supported the foundation of the Bengal Asiatic Society, now the Asiatic Society of Bengal, by the oriental scholar Sir William Jones; it became a storehouse for information and data on the subcontinent and has existed in various institutional guises up to the present day.[36] Hastings' legacy has been somewhat dualistic as an Indian administrator: he undoubtedly was able to institute reforms during the time he spent as governor there that would change the path that India would follow over the next several years. He did, however, retain the strange distinction of being both the "architect of British India and the one ruler of British India to whom the creation of such an entity was anathema."[37]

Legacy

The city of Hastings, New Zealand and the Melbourne outer suburb of Hastings, Victoria, Australia were both named after him.

"Hastings" is the name of one of the 4 School Houses in La Martiniere for Boys, Calcutta and La Martiniere for Girls Kolkata. It is represented by the colour red.

"Hastings" is also the name of one of the 4 School Houses in Bishop Westcott Boys' School, Ranchi. It is also represented by the colour red.

"Hastings" is a Senior Wing House at St Paul's School, Darjeeling, India, where all the senior wing houses are named after Anglo-Indian colonial figures.

There is also a road in Kolkata, India, named after him.

RIMS "Warren Hastings" was a Royal Indian Marine troopship built by the Barrow Shipbuilding Company. She was launched on 18 April 1893. The ship struck a rock and was wrecked off the coast of Réunion on the night of 14 January 1897.

Literature

Warren Hastings took keen interest in translating the Bhagavad Gita into English, and as a result of his efforts the first English translation appeared in 1785. Warren Hastings wrote the introduction to the English translation of the Bhagavad Gita, which was translated by Charles Wilkins, 4 October 1784, from Benares.[38]

"Warren Hastings and His Bull" is a short story written by Indian writer Uday Prakash. It was adapted for stage under the same name by the director Arvind Gaur. It is a socio-economic political satire that presents Warren Hastings's interaction with traditional India.

In the collection of short stories by the Hindi author Shivprasad Singh 'Rudra' Kashikeya, called "Bahti Ganga," there is a lovely short story that features the then Raja of Banaras and Warren Hastings in conflict. Hastings is imprisoned by the Raja, but escapes, and ordinary people of the city make fun of him.

Hastings' career is discussed at length in the historical fiction mystery novel, Secrets in the Stones, by Tessa Harris.[39]

See also

• Company rule in India
• Mughal Empire
• Shah Alam II

References

1. Bengal Public Consultations February 12, 1785. No. 2. Letter from Warren Hastings, 8th February, formally declaring his resignation of the office of Governor General.
2. Lyall, Sir Alfred (1920). Warren Hastings. London: Macmillan and Co. p. 1.
3. Biographical Illustrations of Worcestershire: Including Lives of Persons, Natives or Residents eminent either for piety or talent, John Chambers, Wm. Walcott, 1820, pp. 486–87.
4. Turnbull, Patrick. Warren Hastings. New English Library, 1975. p.17.
5. Turnbull pp. 17–18
6. Turnbull pp. 19–21
7. Turnbull p. 23.
8. Turnbull pp. 27–28
9. Turnbull pp. 34–35
10. Turnbull pp. 36–40
11. Turnbull p. 36.
12. Turnbull p. 52.
13. Wolpert, Stanley (2004) [First published 1977]. A New History of India (7th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-19-516677-4.
14. The Earl of Birkenhead, Famous Trials of History (Garden City: Garden City Publishing Company, 1926) p. 165
15. Minahan, James B. (2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World A-Z. ABC-CLIO. p. 1556. ISBN 978-0-313-07696-1.
16. Younghusband 1910, pp. 5–7.
17. Davis, Samuel; Aris, Michael (1982). Views of Medieval Bhutan: the diary and drawings of Samuel Davis, 1783. Serindia. p. 31.
18. Younghusband 1910, p. 27.
19. Harris, Clare (2012). The Museum on the Roof of the World: Art, Politics, and the Representation of Tibet. University of Chicago Press. pp. 30–33. ISBN 978-0-226-31747-2.
20. Macaulay, Thomas Babington. "Warren Hastings (1841), an essay by Thomas Babington Macaulay." Columbia University in the City of New York. (accessed 20 May 2009).
21. The Earl of Birkenhead, Famous Trials of History (Garden City: Garden City Publishing Company, 1926) 170
22. Sir Alfred Lyall, Warren Hastings (London: Macmillan and Co, 1920) 218
23. The Earl of Birkenhead, Famous Trials of History (Garden City: Garden City Publishing Company, 1926) 173
24. Political Trials in History by Ron Christenson, p. 178-179, ISBN 0-88738-406-4
25. https://www.amdigital.co.uk/about/blog/ ... n-hastings, ‘The captain-general of iniquity’: The impeachment of Warren Hastings
26. https://books.google.ca/books?id=G-wOz1 ... 0.&f=false, The British Country House in the Eighteenth Century, page 10
27. 'Park Lane', in Survey of London: volume 40: The Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings) (1980), pp. 264–289, accessed 15 November 2010
28. In: Letters of Simkin the Second to his dear brother in Wales, containing a humble description of the trial of Warren Hastings, Esq. (1788) Letters of Simpkin the Second, Poetic Recorder, of all the proceedings upon the Trial of Warren Hastings (1789), and An Elucidation of the Articles of Impeachment preferred by the last Parliament against Warren Hastings, Esq., later Governor of Bengal (1790).
29. The Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney (Madame d'Arblay) I. 1791–1792, p. 115 ff.
30. https://austenised.blogspot.com/2011/07 ... tions.html, Jane Austen’s Colonial Connections
31. Gilbert, W.M., editor, Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century, Edinburgh, 1901: 44
32. https://books.google.ca/books?id=G-wOz1 ... 0.&f=false, The British Country House in the Eighteenth Century, page10
33. "Fellows details". Royal Society. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
34. https://www.amdigital.co.uk/about/blog/ ... n-hastings, ‘The captain-general of iniquity’: The impeachment of Warren Hastings
35. Cohn, Bernard S (1997). Colonialism and its forms of knowledge: The British in India. Oxford University Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-19-564167-7.
36. Keay, John (2000). India: A History. Grove Press. p. 426. ISBN 0-8021-3797-0. Not the least of Warren Hastings' achievements had been the foundation in 1784 of the Bengal Asiatic Society which, under the presidency of [Sir William] Jones, became a veritable clearing-house for intellectual data about India.
37. Keay, John (1991). The Honourable Company. New York: Macmillan. p. 394.
38. Garrett, John; Wilhelm, Humboldt, eds. (1849). The Bhagavat-Geeta, Or, Dialogues of Krishna and Arjoon in Eighteen Lectures. Bangalore: Wesleyan Mission Press. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
39. https://books.google.ca/books?id=IZCmCQ ... 20&f=false, excerpt from Secrets in the Stones, Postscript

Bibliography

• Davies, Alfred Mervyn. Strange destiny: a biography of Warren Hastings (1935)
• Ghosh, Suresh Chandra. The Social Condition of the British Community in Bengal: 1757–1800 (Brill, 1970)
• Feiling, Keith, Warren Hastings (1954)
• Lawson, Philip. The East India Company: A History (Routledge, 2014)
• Marshall, P.J., The impeachment of Warren Hastings (1965)
• Marshall, P. J. "Hastings, Warren (1732–1818)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004); online edn, Oct 2008 accessed 11 Nov 2014
• Moon, Penderel. Warren Hastings and British India (Macmillan, 1949)
• Turnbull, Patrick. Warren Hastings. (New English Library, 1975)
• Younghusband, Francis (1910). India and Tibet: a history of the relations which have subsisted between the two countries from the time of Warren Hastings to 1910; with a particular account of the mission to Lhasa of 1904. London: John Murray.

Primary sources

• Forrest, G.W., ed. Selections from the State Papers of the Governors-General of India: Warren Hastings (2 vols.), Blackwell's, Oxford (1910)

External links

• "Warren Hastings" an essay by Thomas Babington Macaulay (October 1841)
• Warren Hastings at Project Gutenberg (within Critical and Historical Essays (Macaulay))
• Warren Hastings public domain audiobook at LibriVox
• House of Warren Hastings in Calcutta
• Newspaper clippings about Warren Hastings in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

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George Bogle (diplomat)
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/10/19

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Portrait of George Bogle, late teens

George Bogle (26 November 1746 – 3 April 1781)[1][2] was a Scottish adventurer and diplomat, the first to establish diplomatic relations with Tibet and to attempt recognition by the Chinese Qing dynasty. His mission is still used today as a reference point in debates between China and Tibetan independence activists.

Family background

George Bogle was the third son of a wealthy Glasgow merchant, George Bogle of Daldowie, one of the Tobacco Lords and Anne Sinclair, a gentlewoman directly descended from James I and James II of Scotland. His father had extensive connections in the Scottish landed, commercial, and governmental elite, as well as trading contacts across the British Empire.[3]

The Scots gentry to whom he belonged were in turn, in the 18th century, a key feature in the British state. Their political allegiance was often managed through patronage. In particular, Henry Dundas was able to offer the younger sons of gentry opportunities in India. This was to be a significant feature in George's career.

Education and early career

Born in 1746 at the family seat of Daldowie, on the right bank of the River Clyde as the youngest of one of seven surviving children[4] and the youngest of three brothers, his elder brother John Bogle eventually had a plantation in Virginia. His other brother, Robert, after the failure of a business adventure in London (the importing house of "Bogle and Scott"), established a cotton plantation in Grenada. Both these brothers were intimately involved in the slave trade. His four sisters married into their gentry network of traders, lairds and lawyers. His mother died when he was thirteen. The following year he matriculated at Edinburgh University where he studied Logic. He completed his education, when he was 18, at a private academy in Enfield, near London. Following this, he spent six months travelling in France. His brother Robert then took him on as a clerk in his London offices of Bogle and Scott where he spent four years as a cashier.[5]

India

Using the family network, he secured an appointment as a Writer in the East India Company (EIC). In 1770, at the height of the Bengal Famine, he landed in Calcutta, the centre of British power in India. [6] His extensive letters home, as well as his journal entries, show him to have been a lively, entertaining and perceptive writer. The comments of his colleagues and others show him to have been an agreeable, indeed playful – if sometimes riotous – companion. These qualities no doubt influenced Warren Hastings, the Governor-General of the EIC, when he appointed him his private secretary.[7] His letters show that he was aware of the suspicion of corruption, and had some misgivings about it – Hastings would soon be impeached for corruption – he was determined to make his fortune come what may.

Envoy to Bhutan and Tibet


The Sixth Panchen Lama Receives George Bogle at Tashilhunpo, oil painting by Tilly Kettle, c. 1775

In 1773, Hastings responded to an appeal for help from the Raja of the princely state of Cooch Behar to the north of Bengal, whose territory had been invaded by the Zhidar the Druk Desi of Bhutan the previous year. Hastings agreed to help on the condition that Cooch Behar recognise British sovereignty.[8] The Raja agreed and with the help of British troops they pushed the Bhutanese out of the Duars and into the foothills in 1773.

Zhidar, the Druk Desi, returned to face civil war at home. His opponent Jigme Senge, the regent for the seven-year-old Shabdrung (the Bhutanese equivalent of the Dalai Lama), had supported popular discontent. Zhidar was unpopular for his corvee tax (he sought to rebuild a major dzong in one year, an unreasonable goal), as well as for his overtures to the Manchu Emperors which threatened Bhutanese independence. Zhidar was soon overthrown and forced to flee to Tibet, where he was imprisoned and a new Druk Desi, Kunga Rinchen, installed in his place. Meanwhile, the Sixth Panchen Lama, who had imprisoned Zhidar, interceded on behalf of the Bhutanese with a letter to Hastings, imploring him to cease hostilities in return for friendship. Hastings saw the opportunity to establish relations with both the Tibetans and the Bhutanese and wrote a letter to the Panchen Lama proposing "a general treaty of amity and commerce between Tibet and Bengal."[9]

Hastings then lost no time in appointing Bogle to undertake a diplomatic and fact-finding mission "to chart the unknown territory beyond the northern borders of Bengal", with a view to opening up trade with Tibet and possibly establishing a back-door trade relationship with the Chinese Qing dynasty who tightly controlled foreign trade at Canton (now Guangzhou) under the Canton System.

Hastings instructions to Bogle, given on 18 May 1774, were as follows:

"I desire you will proceed to Lhasa ... The design of your mission is to open a mutual and equal communication of trade between the inhabitants of Bhutan [Tibet] and Bengal ... You will take with you samples, for a trial of such articles of commerce as may be sent from this country ... and you will dilligently inform yourself of the manufactures, productions, goods introduced by the intercourse with other countries which are to be procured in Bhutan ... The following will be also proper objects of your inquiry: the nature of the roads between the borders of Bengal and Lhasa and the neighbouring countries, their government, revenue and manners ... The period of your stay must be left to your discretion.[10]

Bogle's expedition set out the same year and consisted of himself, an army surgeon named Alexander Hamilton, and Purangir Gosain (an agent of the Sixth Panchen Lama, the effective ruler of Tibet), as well as a retinue of servants. Despite warnings from the Chinese government and the Panchen Lama that he was not allowed to enter Tibet, he made use of the recent political instability in Bhutan and tension between the Panchen Lama and the regent for the 7th Dalai Lama to win access to Tibet where he was brought before the Panchen Lama in Shigatse. [6][failed verification] Bogle made a favourable impression on the Sixth Panchen Lama and spent six months overwintering in his palaces learning what he could of Tibetan culture and politics. Bogle was struck by the experience, noting in his journal, 'When I look upon the time I have spent among the Hills it appears like a fairy dream.' It may have been the publication of accounts of his journey which established the myth of Tibet as Shangri-la. Bogle helped the Panchen Lama compose his still famous Geography of India.

Returning to India, Bogle fulfilled the Panchen Lama's request to establish a temple on the banks of the Ganges, not far from the East India Company headquarters, where Buddhist monks could return to their spiritual roots in India.

Although the ultimate goal of establishing a trade route to China was not met, a long-lasting relationship was formed between the British and the Tibetans. The mission to Tibet was viewed as a success, and was commemorated by a 1775 portrait of Bogle being presented (in Tibetan gowns) to the Panchen Lama. This portrait, by Tilly Kettle, a British painter who worked in Calcutta, was reputedly presented by Hastings to King George III and it is now in the Royal Collection.

Overtures to China

The hopes for a breakthrough in China rested on using the Lama as an intermediary with the Qianlong Emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Empire, an astute but aloof ruler who regarded all the world as tributaries. In 1780, Palden Yeshe visited Beijing where he came close to gaining a passport for Bogle. The Qianlong Emperor presented him with a golden urn for use in ceremonial lotteries and the goodwill seemed to suggest that a passport would be issued. However, he was struck down by smallpox and died that same year. (It was not until 1793, that a British envoy ) Lord Macartney was, very sceptically, received by the Qianlong Emperor).

Death

Bogle died, probably of cholera, on 3 April 1781,[11] and was buried in South Park Street Cemetery, Calcutta.[12] He had never married, but left behind a son George, and two daughters, Martha and Mary. According to family lore, the girls' mother was Tibetan. The two girls were sent back to Daldowie House, where they were brought up by Bogle's family and eventually married Scotsmen.[13][14]

Legacy of Bogle’s mission

Bogle's diary and travel notes were found in his Ayrshire family archives and published as "Narratives of the mission of George Bogle to Tibet, and of the journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa" (1876) by Sir Clements Markham. This edition provided a partial impetus for the Tibetan journeys of Sarat Chandra Das. Das translated and published parts of the Tibetan biography of the Third Panchen Lama, including descriptions of his friendship with Bogle. Some critics have ascribed Bogle and Das as major inspirations for Rudyard Kipling's novel Kim, shown by Kipling's use of the title "Teshoo Lama" (an alternate title of the Panchen Lama used by Bogle and other British sources of the time).[15]

The Bogle mission has echoes today. The Chinese government has used it on official websites to suggest that Britain recognised Chinese sovereignty over Tibet.[16] They portray the meeting of the Panchen Lama as one where he kowtowed in submission to the Qianlong Emperor. The Tibetans suggest it was a meeting between a pupil (the emperor) and a revered master (the Lama).

According to the Asia Times, in 1995 the search for the 11th Panchen Lama culminated with Beijing and the Dalai Lama proclaiming rival child candidates, Gyaincain Norbu and Gedhun Choekyi Nyima respectively, with Chinese officials using the Qianlong Emperor's urn as a symbol of legitimacy and sovereignty.

See also

Mitchell Library Glasgow Special Collections Bogle Papers, 1725–80 [letter-book and correspondence of the firm Bogle & Scott, tobacco merchants]

Footnotes

1. Charles Edward Buckland, Dictionary of Indian Biography
2. Stewart, Gordeon T., Journeys to Empire: Enlightenment, Imperialism, and the British Encounter with Tibet, 1774–1904, Cambridge University Press, 2009, p. 15. ISBN 978-0-521-51502-3
3. Teltscher, Kate. (2006). The High Road to China: George Bogle, the Panchen Lama and the First British Expedition to Tibet, p. 26. Bloomsbury, London, 2006. ISBN 0-374-21700-9
4. Bernstein, Jeremy (2000). Dawning of the Raj: The Life and Trials of Warren Hastings. Ivan R. Dee. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-56663-281-2.
5. Teltscher, Kate. (2006). The High Road to China: George Bogle, the Panchen Lama and the First British Expedition to Tibet, p. 27. Bloomsbury, London, 2006. ISBN 0-374-21700-9
6. Henderson 1886.
7. Harris, Clare (2012). The Museum on the Roof of the World: Art, Politics, and the Representation of Tibet. University of Chicago Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-226-31747-2.
8. James Minahan (30 May 2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World A-Z. ABC-CLIO. p. 1566. ISBN 978-0-313-07696-1.
9. Younghusband 1910, pp. 5–7.
10. Younghusband 1910, p. 9.
11. Stewart, op. cit. p. 145
12. Bernstein, Jeremy Dawning of the Raj The Life and Trials of Warren Hastings Chapter One, Prologue, George Bogle, Ivan R Dee, Lanham MD USA, 2000 ISBN 1-56663-281-1
13. Teltscher, Kate. (2006). The High Road to China: George Bogle, the Panchen Lama and the First British Expedition to Tibet, pp. 234–235; 252–253. Bloomsbury, London, 2006. ISBN 0-374-21700-9
14. Markham, Clements R. Narratives of the mission of George Bogle to Tibet: and of the journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa, pp. cliv–clv. Trübner and Co., London. Second edition, 1879
15. Teltscher, op. cit., pp 257–260
16. Teltscher, op. cit., pp 265

Attribution

Henderson, Thomas Finlayson (1886). "Bogle, George" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 5. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 302.

Bibliography

• Bernstein, Jeremy Dawning of the Raj The Life and Trials of Warren Hastings Chapter One, Ivan R Dee, Lanham MD USA, 2000 ISBN 1-56663-281-1
• Bogle, George, Hamilton, Alexander, and Lamb, Alastair. Bhutan and Tibet : the travels of George Bogle and Alexander Hamilton, 1774–1777. Hertingfordbury : Roxford Books, 2002
• Markham, Clements R. (editor). Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet, and of the Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa, edited, with notes, and introduction and lives of Mr Bogle and Mr Manning. London 1876. Reprinted: New Delhi, Manjusri Pub. House, 1971.
• Stewart, Gordon T.: Journeys to Empire: Enlightenment, Imperialism and the British Encounter with Tibet, 1774–1904, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2009 ISBN 978-0-521-51502-3
• Teltscher, Kate. (2004). "Writing home and crossing cultures: George Bogle in Bengal and Tibet, 1770–1775." In: A New Imperial History: Culture, Identity and Modernity in Britain and the Empire, 1660–1840, edited by Kathleen Wilson, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2004. ISBN 0-521-00796-8
• Younghusband, Francis (1910). India and Tibet: a history of the relations which have subsisted between the two countries from the time of Warren Hastings to 1910; with a particular account of the mission to Lhasa of 1904. London: John Murray.

External links

• http://www.rc.umd.edu/praxis/containmen ... scher.html in which Kate Teltscher entertainingly analyses Bogle’s letters.
• http://atimes.com/atimes/China/HH19Ad02.html Asia Times review of Teltscher’s book.
• http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/stecit/stecit14009.htm Brief entry about George Bogle's father (George Bogle of Daldowie), in "Curiosities of Glasgow citizenship", an ebook available via the Glasgow Digital Library

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Samuel Turner (diplomat)
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/10/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

Samuel Turner (19 April 1759 – 2 January 1802) FRS was an English Asiatic traveller and a cousin of Warren Hastings, the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal).

Early life

Turner was born in Gloucestershire, England.

India and Tibet

After becoming a cadet with the East India Company (EIC) in 1780, Turner was subsequently promoted to ensign. Promotion followed to lieutenant on 8 August 1781 and to regimental captain on 18 March 1799. In February 1782, news having reached the headquarters of the EIC in Calcutta of the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Warren Hastings proposed despatching a mission to Tibet with a message of congratulation designed to strengthen the amicable relations established by George Bogle during his 1774 visit to Tibet. With the assent of the EIC Court of Directors, Turner was appointed chief of the Tibet mission on 9 January 1783 with fellow EIC employee and amateur artist Samuel Davis as "Draftsman and Surveyor".[1] Following the route previously taken by Bogle, Turner arrived in Bhutan in June 1783 and stayed at the summer place of the Druk Desi, the country's ruler until 8 September. He then moved on to arrive at Shigatse in Tibet's Tsang Province on 22 September 1783 where an audience with the infant Panchen Lama followed on 4 December. Turner returned to the Governor-General's camp at Patna in 1784 where he reported that although unable to visit the Tibetan capital at Lhasa, he had received a promise that merchants sent to the country from India would be encouraged.[2] For his efforts in Bhutan and Tibet, Turner received the sum of £500.00 from the EIC.[3]

Turner served with distinction at the first Siege of Seringapatam in 1792 in command of a troop of Governor-General Lord Cornwallis' bodyguard of cavalry and later carried out a mission to the court of Tipu Sultan.[3] He accumulated a large amount of wealth in India and after a spell as a captain in the EIC's 3rd European regiment he returned to Europe where he purchased a country seat in Gloucestershire.

On 15 January 1801 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society then on 21 December the same year, while walking at night in the neighbourhood of Fetter Lane, London, he was seized with a paralytic stroke, and was taken to the workhouse in Shoe Lane. His name and address in St. James's Place were found; but he was too ill to be moved, and died on 2 January 1802. Buried in St James's Church, Piccadilly, his property in Gloucestershire went to his sisters, one of whom married Joseph White, Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford.[4]

Works

Turner was the author of An Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet, containing a Narrative of a Journey through Bootan and part of Tibet, which was published in London in 1800. A French translation published in Paris followed the same year followed by a German translation at Berlin and Hamburg the next year. The book was the first account of a visit to Tibet by a British author as the accounts of Bogle and Manning were not published until 1875.

Notes

1. Davis, Samuel; Aris, Michael (1982). Views of Medieval Bhutan: the diary and drawings of Samuel Davis, 1783. Serindia. p. 31.
2. Younghusband 1910, p. 29.
3. Dodsley 1803, p. 493.
4. Dodsley 1803, p. 494.

References

• Dodsley, Robert (1803). The Annual Register, or a View of the history, politicks and literature of the year... Dodsley.
• Younghusband, Francis (1910). India and Tibet: a history of the relations which have subsisted between the two countries from the time of Warren Hastings to 1910; with a particular account of the mission to Lhasa of 1904. London: John Murray.

Attribution

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wheeler, Stephen Edward (1899). "Turner, Samuel (1749?-1802)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 57. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 354–355.

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Part 1 of 2

Samuel Davis (orientalist)
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 9/10/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

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Samuel Davis (1760–1819) was an English soldier turned diplomat who later became a director of the East India Company (EIC). He was the father of John Francis Davis, one time Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China and second governor of Hong Kong.

Early life

Samuel was born in the West Indies the younger son of soldier John Davis, whose appointment as Commissary general there had been signed by King George II in 1759 and countersigned by William Pitt. After his father died, Davis returned to England with his mother (who was of Welsh descent, née Phillips) and his two sisters. He became a cadet of the EIC under the aegis of director Laurence Sulivan in 1788, and sailed for India aboard the Earl of Oxford, which also brought the artist William Hodges to India, arriving in Madras in early 1780.[1][2]

Bhutan

In 1783, Warren Hastings, the Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal) assigned Davis "Draftsman and Surveyor" on Samuel Turner's forthcoming mission to Bhutan and Tibet.[3][4] Unfortunately, the Tibetans (or more probably the Chinese ambans, the de facto authority in Tibet) viewed his "scientific" profession with suspicion and he was forced to remain in Bhutan until Turner and the others returned.[1] Whilst in Bhutan he turned his attention to recording the buildings and landscape of the country in a series of drawings. These were published some 200 years later as Views of Medieval Bhutan: the diary and drawings of Samuel Davis, 1783.

Bhagalpur

On his return from Bhutan, in around 1784 he became Assistant to the Collector of Bhagalpur and Registrar of its Adalat Court. In Bhagalpur he met lawyer and orientalist William Jones who had recently founded The Asiatic Society of which Davis subsequently became a member.[3] The two became firm friends based on their shared love of mathematics while along with another member of The Asiatic Society, Reuben Burrow, Davis studied astronomical tables obtained by the French astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil, French Resident at the Faizabad court of Shuja-ud-Daula who in turn had obtained them from Tiruvallur Brahmins on the Coromandel Coast. The tables showed accurate Indian scientific knowledge of astronomy dating back to the third century BCE. As part of his research, Davis also learned Sanskrit and Hindi.[5] For the next ten years, Jones and Davis carried on a running correspondence on the topic of jyotisha or Hindu astronomy.[3] While in Bhagalpur, Davis also met landscape artist Thomas Daniell and his nephew William whom he encouraged to visit the Himalayas. In 1792 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[6]

Burdwan and Benares


Engraving of the attack on the Davis residence in Benares, 14 January 1799.

Davis' next appointment was as Collector of Burdwan, a town in the Bengal Presidency. He then spent 1795–1800 in Benares (now Varanasi), this time as Magistrate of the district and city court. Benares was also home to former ruler of Oudh State, Wazir Ali Khan, who had been forcibly deposed by the British in 1797. In 1799, the British authorities decided to remove Ali Khan further from his former realm and as a result rioting broke out. Davis singlehandly defended his family by shepherding them to the roof of his residence and defending the single access point with a pike.[7] The incident was the subject of a book by his son, John F. Davis, entitled Vizier Ali Khan or The Massacre of Benares, A Chapter in British Indian History published in london in 1871.

Later career

During the remainder of his stay in India, Davis held a succession of more senior positions including Superintendent-General of Police and Justice of the Peace at Calcutta, member of the Board of Revenue and Accountant-General of India. He resigned from the civil service in February 1806 and after a stop at St. Helena to engage in his love for painting, arrived back in England in July the same year.

He was elected a director of the EIC in October at the instigation of President of the Board of Control, Henry Dundas and to the latter's disgust, acted independently thereafter until his death in 1819.

"At the time of the renewal of the [company's] Charter in 1814, the Committee of the House of Commons entrusted him [Davis] with the task of drawing up, in their name, the memorable "Fifth Report on the Revenues of Bengal", which remains a monument of his intimate acquaintance with the internal administration of India"[8]

Personal life

While in Burdwan, Davis married Henrietta Boileau, who was from a refugee French noble family[7] who had come to England in the early eighteenth century from Languedoc in the South of France. She was the first cousin of John Boileau, 1st Baronet of Tacolnestone Hall in Norfolk. The couple went on to have four sons and seven daughters. Their eldest son John Francis Davis, became second Governor of Hong Kong followed by Lestock-Francis and Sullivan, both of whom died in India in 1820 and 1821 respectively. Their daughters were as follows:[9]

• Henrietta-Anne, who married Henry Baynes Ward in 1821.
• Anne, who married Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Dundas Campbell in 1827
• Maria–Jane, who married Lieutenant Colonel John Rivett-Carnac, RN in 1826.[10]
• Elizabeth, who married Sir Henry Willock, KLS.
• Frances, who died in 1828.
• Alicia, who married the Reverend John Lockwood, rector of Kingham in 1832.
• Julia, who in 1839 married John Edwardes Lyall, Advocate-General of Bengal, who died in 1845 of cholera.

Death

Davis died on 16 June 1819 at Birdhurst Lodge near Croyden in Surrey, which is believed to have been his country home.[11]

References

1. Markham 1876, p. lxxi.
2. Davis & Aris 1982, pp. 30–31.
3. Davis & Aris 1982, pp. 31.
4. Heawood, Edward (2012). A History of Geographical Discovery: In the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Cambridge University Press. p. 380. ISBN 978-1-107-60049-2.
5. Franklin, Michael J. (2011). 'Orientalist Jones': Sir William Jones, Poet, Lawyer, and Linguist, 1746–1794. OUP Oxford. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-19-953200-1.
6. "Fellow Details". Royal Society. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
7. Davis & Aris 1982, pp. 34.
8. Davis & Aris 1982, p. 36.
9. Burke, Bernard (1860). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. London: Harrison and Sons. p. 271.
10. "Marriages". Hampshire Chronicle. 20 March 1826. Retrieved 28 August 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).
11. Davis & Aris 1982, pp. 38.

Bibliography

• Davis, Samuel; Aris, Michael (1982). Views of Medieval Bhutan: the diary and drawings of Samuel Davis, 1783. Serindia.
• Markham, Clements (1876). Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet and of the Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa. London: Trübner & Co., Ludgate Hill.

************************************

Pictures from "Views of Medieval Bhutan: The Diary and Drawings of Samuel Davis, 1783, by Michael Aris"


"The Palace of Panukka," watercolour by Samuel Davis, 1783. By courtesy of the India Office Library and Records (WD 3271)


The Daniells picnicking at the hot springs of Sitakund with Samuel Davis. Detail of a wash-drawing by Davis, 1790. By courtesy of the Victoria Memorial, Calcutta (R 1544).


Detail of a watercolour by Samuel Davis of the Kotwali Gate at Gaur, 1791. It is presumed to be Thomas Daniell who is shown here sketching. Private Collection.


Engraved dedication and title-plate of Willian Daniell, Views of Bhutan: From the Drawings of Samuel Davis, Esq. (London, 1813). By courtesy of Dr. Maurice Shellim.


"Tasee Punchou [Tashi Phuntso] the ... in office next to the Soubah at Buxadewar ...", 1783, watercolour. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. This is one of only two portraits among the Bhutan drawings of Davis. The monk official portrayed was perhaps the same one who welcomed Bogle's mission to Buxaduar in 1774. "The commander (Pasang Katam, vulgo Buxa Subah) being at Bahar, I was visited by his dewan with presents, a white Pelong handkerchief (the general nazir throughout Bhutan), butter, rice, milk, and some coarse tea. We were detained for a day for want of coolies: Bogle, Narratives, ed. Markham, pp. 16-17."


The village of Buxaduar, wrongly titled "Thibit", 1783, watercolour. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. Buxaduar, or Pasakha (sceMap) as it is properly known to the Bhutanese, is the first village on the old route north from Bengal, and is populated today by people of mixed descent. In the eighteenth century it was reckoned among the eighteen duars (passes or "gates") extending into what is now Indian territory, over which Bhutan had territorial rights. "The road became uneven; and we reached the foot of the hills at about two o'clock; walk; ascent at first easy; way through a wood; some fine groves of first-rate trees; grows steep; narrow path zigzag up the hill; what a road for troops!; about four miles to climb; many little springs to drink at; from the bottom of the hills to their summit covered with wood; variety of well-grown trees of the largest size; some grand natural amphitheatres, with the noise of waterfalls. We arrived at Buxa-Duar towards evening; situated on a hill, with much higher ones above it, glens under it, and a 3-feet walls of loose stones about it; a fine old banian tree; that's all: Bogle, Narratives, ed. Markham, p. 16." "Mr. Davis had taken a view of Buxadewar [untraced], which was lying on the table: the soobah was instantly struck with it, and recognized all the different parts of his habitation; the beams, the stairs, the people looking out at the windows, and even the packages that lay beneath. He staid with us till the servants came to prepare for dinner: Turner, Embassy, p. 30."


"Murichom to Choka", 1783, watercolour. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. "We had now to climb on foot up a very high mountain; the road led along its side, in a serpentine and exceedingly steep direction, the ascent almost all the way being by stone steps, which in some places were sustained only by beams let into the rock, and secured with cramps of iron. It was after much labour, and repeated halting, that we reached the summit. At every pause we beheld a different prospect, each of which, perhaps, might justly be reckoned amongst the grandest and most awful in nature. Cascades of water issuing from the bosoms of lofty mountains, clothed in noble trees, and hiding their heads in the clouds: abrupt precipices, deep dells, and the river dashing its waters with astonishing rapidity, over the huge stones and broken rocks below, composed the sublime and variegated picture: Turner, Embassy, pp. 53-4. "


"View between Murichom and Choka," 1813. Source: William Daniell, Views in Bootan, plate 5. India Office Library and Records, Dept. of Prints and Drawings. The figure seated in the foreground with bow and quiver is wearing a costume rarely seen in Bhutan today called a "pakhi", woven from the fibre of nettles and crossed over the chest. Cane helmets such as he is wearing are now found only in temples dedicated to the guardian divinities, where they were deposited as offerings. This is the only one of Daniell's six Bhutan aquatints for which the original by Davis has not been traced. For the originals of the other five, see Plates 5, 22, 23, 31, 36 below. "This view occurs on the third stage towards Tassisudon [Tashicho Dzong]. The mountains in this part of the road appear as if separated by violence to give a passage to the river Teenchoo. The side up which the road ascends is precipitous, and of an height to render the climbing of it intimidating to those less accustomed to it than the natives. The hoarse murmurs of the Teenchoo are heard, though the river is not always seen as the traveller ascends: William Daniell, Views in Bootan, caption [by Davis ?] to plate 5."  


"Choka Castle in Bootan," 1783, waterclour. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. This fort was probably built in the late seventeenth century to guard the trade route south to India and to control the surrounding district, but its foundation finds no mention in the local records. Its ruins were quarried in the mid-1960s when the motor road was being constructed. "The castle of Chuka makes a very respectable appearance. It is a large square building, placed on elevated ground; there is only one entrance into it, by a flight of steps, and through a spacious gateway , with large heavy doors: it is built of stone and the walls are of a prodigious thickness. We were conducted hither, on our entrance, and lodged by the commandant in a large and lofty apartment, in which there were two or three loop holes towards the river, and on the other side, a projecting balcony: the floor was boarded with thick planks that were pretty well joined together. Turner, Embassy, pp. 55-6. Choka castle, the prominent feature in this view, is composed of three separate buildings, which, with a wall on the fourth side, enclose a quadrangle court-yard, and form altogether a post of ample dimensions, and of sufficient strength, for any purpose of defence that is likely to be required in a region so difficult of access, and possessing so few qualities to invite hostile intrusion as this part of Bootan. The Teenchoo is sunk too deep in its rocky chasm to be seen in this view. The strong vegetation afforded by a warm climate and abundant moisture, is here seen on the sides of the mountains in a degree not perceptibly diminished from what was observable on the preceding stages from Bengal: but on the next stage, which leads up the hill on the right hand, in the middle distance of the view, the great acclivity of the road is soon found to produce a change of temperature and a difference in the vegetation: William Daniell, Views in Bootan, excerpt from caption [by Davis ?] to plate 2."


"Murichom", 1783, pencil and wash drawing. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. "We arrived at Muri-jong ["Murichom" of the Map] as they were beating the evening tom-tom. It consists of twenty houses, some of them stone; many inscribed banners; and a good deal of arable land and cattle. I planted fifteen potatoes: Bogle, Narratives, ed. Markham, p. 20." "Murichom consists of about twenty houses, in their structure much superior to any I had yet seen in Bootan. They are built of stone, with clay as cement, of a square form, and the walls narrowing from the foundations to the top. The roof is supported clear of the wall, has a very low pitch, and is composed of fir boards placed lengthways on cross beams and joists of fir, and confined by large stones laid upon the top. The lower part of the house accommodates hogs, cows, and other animals . The family occupies the first story, to which they ascend by a ladder, composed of one half of a split fir tree; into the flat side of which, rude holes are cut at proper distances to serve as steps: Turner, Embassy, p. 50."


Figures crossing a bridge over a ravine, no title, 1783, wash-drawing. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. "Three or four fine waterfalls were passed; one jell perpendicular about 40 feet from the top of a rock; another a stream foaming and tumbling over large stones; another embosomed in a fine grove, with arches formed by the trees and rocks. There were wooden bridges over all the rivulets which ran from them: Bogle, Narratives, ed. Markham, pp. 19-20."


"View from Murichom looking northward up the Channel of the Teenchoo on the road to Tasissudon, Butan," 1783, watercolour. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. "May 22 and 23 [1783]. . . . Many European plants are to be met with on the road to Murishong; many different sorts of mosses, fern, wild thyme, peaches, willow, chickweed, and grasses common to the more southern parts of Europe; nettles, thistles, dock, strawberry, raspberry, and many destructive creepers, some peculiar to Europe. Murishong is the first pleasant and healthy spot to be met with on this side of Boutan. It lies high, and much of the ground about it, is cleared and cultivated; the soil, rich and fertile, produces good crops. The only plant now under culture, is a species of the polygonum of Linnaeus, producing a triangular seed, nearly the sice of barley, and the common food of the inhabitants. It was now the beginning of their harvest; and the ground yields them, as in other parts ofBoutan, a second crop of rice. May 25. On the road to Chooka found all the Murishong plants, cinnamon tree, willow, and one or two firs; strawberries every where and very good, and a few bilberry plants: Saunders. "Account", in Turner, Embassy, pp. 390- 1 . "  


Waterfall, no title, c. 1800, wash-drawing, British Museum, Dept. of Prints and Drawings. "On the face of the opposite mountain is a water-fall, called Minzapeezo, which issues in a collected body, but descends from so great a perpendicular height, that before it is received in the thick shade below, it is nearly dissipated, and appears like the steam arising from boiling water: Turner, Embassy, p. 53."


"On the Road near Choka in Bootan," 1783, pencil drawing. Author's collection.


William Daniell after Davis, engraved by J. Redaway, "Crossing a Torrent in Bootan," 1837, engraving on steel. "A very curious and simple bridge, for the accommodation of single passengers, communicated between this and the opposite mountain. It consisted of two large ropes made of twisted creepers, stretched parallel to each other, and encircled with a hoop. The traveller, who wishes to cross over from hence, has only to place himself between the ropes, and sit down on the hoop, seizing one rope in each hand, by means of which he slides himself along, and crosses an abyss on which I could not look without shuddering. Custom, however, has rendered it familiar, and easy to those who are in the practice of thus passing from one mountain to the other, as it saves them, by this expedient, a laborious journey of several days: Turner, Embassy, p. 54. "


"The Chain Bridge in Bhootan," 1783, watercolour. Victoria Memorial, Calcutta, formerly in the possession of Sir Leicester Beaufort, deposited by Lord Curzon. This is one of several iron-chain suspension bridges attributed locally to the great Tibetan saint Thangtong Gyalpo (1385-1464), who is now reckoned by historians of bridge building to be "the earliest known builder of iron chain bridges": Tom F. Peters et al., The Development of Long-Span Bridge Building (Zurich, 1980), p. 51. There is however no mention of this particular bridge in his Bhutanese biography. None of the sain'ts bridges in western Bhutan are still standing. "In a nation where no records are kept to perpetuate the memory of the achievement of genius, and in which the minds of the people are remarkably prone to superstition, perhaps more than a century may not be necessary, to deify the author of a great work. Thus it is, that the bridge of Chuka is reckoned to be of more than mortal production. No less a being than the dewta Tchuptchup [=Tibetan "drubthop", Sanskrit mahasiddha, "great magician", title of Thangton Gyalpo] could possibly have contrived so curious a piece of mechanism. Neither the origin nor the history of this renowned Tehuptchup, can be traced with any degree of certainty, but the works they assign to him, the road up the mountain we lately passed (many parts of which are held, it may be said, upon a precipice, by pins and cramps of iron uniting together the stones that form it), and the bridge at Chuka, do credit to a genius, who deservedly ranks high upon the rolls of fame, and justly claims from the inhabitants, decided tokens of respect and gratitude: Turner, Embassy, pp. 54-6.


"Kapta [Chapcha] Castle", 1783, wash-drawing. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.


William Daniell after Davis, engraved by J. Cousen, "Capta Castle, Bootan," 1837, engraving on steel. Like the earlier Chukha Dzong, this fort was probably built in the seventeenth century to guard the trade route and control the surrounding district. The central tower would have contained two storeys of temples. Formerly the seat of a minor "ponlop" (district governor), the building survives today in a somewhat altered condition as a centre of local government. "The castle of Chupka, or Kepta, is built about half way up the mountain, in a bleak, but beautifully romantic situation: the mountains in its neighbourhood, I judged to be the highest we had yet seen in Bootan. The light clouds in some parts swiftly glided past their sides; in others they had assembled, and sat with deep and heavy shade upon their brows: and as they were continually shifting their position, they varied and improved the views. On the summit of Lomeela mountain, bearing from hence to the east, and in direct distance about five miles, there lay a great deal of unmelted snow: we felt the cold even at noon: Turner, Embassy, p. 58."


"Near Chepta [Chapcha] in Bhootan," 1783, watercolour. Victoria Memorial, Calcutta, R. 1731, formerly in the possession of Sir Leicester Beaufort, deposited by Lord Curzon, 1921. A wash-drawing of the same view is in the Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. "I remember to have seen one of these buildings, which was dedicated to the junction of the Hatchieu [Hachu] with the Tehintchieu [Thinchu rivers] near Kepta [Chapcha]. They are often placed at the meeting of two principal roads. I have seen them also at the base of a remarkable mountain, and they are invariably met with, at the entrance of every capital village: Turner, Embassy, p. 9


"View of the Mountain Downgala [Dongkarla] (On the summit, a religious habitation Downgachine). Taken in the village Puga [Paga] on the road to Tassisudon in Bhootan," 1783, watercolour. Victoria Memorial, Calcultta. Formerly in the possession of Warren Hastings, deposited 1916.


William Daniell after Davis (Victoria Memorial, Calcutta, R. 1716 watercolour, and R. 1724 pencil sketch), engraved by M.J. Starling, "Loomno, looking towards Tassisudon," 1839, engraving on steel. "As we approached Nomnoo, the husbandmen were busied in the fields; the reapers were cutting down the corn with sickles, which others collected in handfuls, and bound up with a wisp of straw: we saw also oxen yoked in a plough, which was guided by a boy at the plough tail. We came early to Nomnoo, and were lodged in a large apartment in a spacious house, the walls of which were black from the smoke of a fire, which in the winter they commonly burn upon a large flat stone, in the middle of the room; the commodiousness of a chimney being here unknown: Turner, Embassy, p. 61."


"A Bhootan Landscape", 1783, watercolour. Victoria Memorial, Calcutta, R. 1713, deposited by the Director-General of Archaeology in India, 1932. Unidentified village with soldiers in foreground, probably on the first stage beyond the Pachu-Thinchu confluence towards the capital at Thinphu. "The road, on Friday the 30th of May, led by the river along the sides of the mountains, and there were few inequalities from hence to Nomnoo, and easy stages of about eight miles. We saw hermitages and villages spread over the sides and summits of the mountains, to each of which is allotted a spacious portion of cultivated ground: still much more appeared capable of improvement; for over the whole of these mountains, except where precipices or steep points project, there is a great deal of soil; yet vegetation is not so strong as the neighbourhood of Bengal. The trees are no where so numerous or flourishing, nor do the pines grow with that luxuriance, which might be expected in a favourable soil: Turner, Embassy, pp. 60-1."


"Wankaka," 1783, wash-drawing. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. Unidentified monastery. "The road from hence [Paga] to Tassesudon [Tashicho Dzong], presents us with little that we have not met with; fewer strawberries; some very good orchards of peaches, apricots, apples, and pears. The fruit formed, and will be ripe in August and September. Met with two sorts of cranberry, one very good. Saw the fragaria sterilis and a few poppies. At Wanakha found a few turnips, shallots, cucumbers, and gourds. Near Tassesudon, the road is lined with many different species of the rose, and a few jessamine plants. The soil is light, and the hills in many places barren, rocky, and with very little verdure. The rock in general laminated and rotten, with many small particles of talc in every part of the country, incorporated with the stones and soil. Some limestone, and appearance of good chalk. Several good and pure springs of water: Saunders, "Account", in Turner, Embassy, pp. 393-4."


View of Tashicho Dzong from above, no title, 1783, wash-drawing. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. "Although the building was entirely rebuilt, except for the central "citadel" and one temple, in the late 1960s in order to convert it into the permanent seat of the modern government of Bhutan, it retains the basic layout seen here in the reconstruction of 1772. Bogle wrote that, "The building of it stripped naked several mountains". The palace is divided into courts, flanked with galleries, supported on wooden pillars running round them, like the inns in England. The different officers have each their apartments. The gylongs [Buddhist monks] live in a large church, besides which there is a smaller one where they officiate, and where the larger images are kept. These images are mostly decent and well-proportioned figures, sitting cross-legged. There is a large gallery above the church, painted with festoons of death's-heads and bones, where folks go to see the ceremonies. I went once or twice myself; and the Rajah, thinking I was fond of it, used to send for me to church by break of day and at all hours, and congratulated me greatly on my good fortune in happening to be at Tassisudon during the grand festival [the "Thinphu Dromcho"]. All the governors of provinces repaired there to the presence, and there were [monastic] dances every day in one of the courts of the palace: Bogle, Narratives, ed. Markham, p. 27."


"The Palace of the Deib Rajah at Tassisudon [Tashicho Dzong]", 1783, watercolour. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. "The castle, or palace, of Tassisudon [seen here from the south] stands near the centre of the valley, and is a building of stone, of a quadrangular form. The length of the front, exceeds that of the sides by one-third: the walls are lofty, and as I conjecture upwards of thirty feet high, and they are sloped a little from the foundation to the top: above the middle space, is a row of projecting balconies, to each of which are curtains made of black hair, which are always drawn at night: below, the walls are pierced with very small windows, which I judge to be intended rather for the purpose of admitting air, than light. There are two entrances into the palace: the one facing south is by a flight of wooden steps, edged with plates of iron, beginning on a level with the ground on the outside, and rising to the more elevated terrace within, the whole being comprehended within the thickness of the wall. The other, the grand entrance, is on the east front, which is ascended by a flight of stone steps . . . We passed through this gateway, and came opposite to the central square building, which I must call the citadel; and this is the habitation of the supreme Lama: Turner, Embassy, pp. 90-1." "The magnitude, regularity, and showy decorations of this edifice, combined with the numerous clusters of houses and well cultivated state of the adjacent land, produced a favourable contrast with the wild and solitary aspect of the country through which the embassy had yet advanced, and afforded a favourable impression of the intelligence and civilization of the inhabitants of Bootan . . . On one of the adjacent hills is seen the rajah's villa of Wandechy [Plates 34-5], to which he occasionally retires by the zig-zag road which is visible on the side of the hill. The building seen lower down is a small castle or fortified house, the residence of a lama, or priest of high rank [Plates 32-3]. The red stripe observable on all these buildings, has a reference to the religion of the inhabitants: it invariably occurs where there is a chapel, or where the place is specifically dedicated to Budha: William Daniell, Views in Bootan, excerpt from caption [by Davis ?] to plate 3." 


"Tassisudon [Taschicho Dzong], Bhutan / House where embassy was Lodged / Covered Bridge / the Palace," 1783, watercolour. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. "The summer capital of Tashicho Dzong in the Thimphu valley was built in 1642 on the orders of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, unifier of Bhutan, on the foundations of an older fort called Dongon or Donyuk Dzong. Nothing of the original building remains. After its destruction by fire in 1772, a new site was found and the fortress was very quickly rebuilt by command of the 16th Deb Raja. The hardship caused to the local population, and his consequent unpopularity, contributed to his downfall in 1773. By the time the first British mission led by Bogle arrived in 1774 the building, seen here from the north, had been standing for only about a year. The house where the missions of 1774 and 1783 were accommodated, seen here to the right above the river, was undoubtedly much older. We were accommodated in a good house near the palace; and soon found it so cold that I was glad to hang my room, which was a wooden balcony [visible here], with Bhutan blankets. The window looked to the river, and commanded the best prospect: Bogle, Narratives, ed. Markham, p. 23." "Our habitation, which was within a stone's throw of the palace, was extremely commodious, and well adapted to our use. We entered, by a door on the south side, into a square court-yard; not very large, but it served to confine our cattle, and, indeed more than we wished to have there . . . We inhabited the upper story, which displayed a good suite of rooms, boarded, and divided by doors that turned on pivots. The eastern front next the river had a commodious balcony, which projected sufficiently to command a view of as much of the valley as was visible from any one point . . .: Turner, Embassy, pp. 93-4." "Though the ambassador's house exhibits no appearance of diplomatic dignity, it was clean and commodious, and formed with the adjoining buildings a square court-yard, with stabling for the horses, and lodging for the servants and native attendants . . . The trees near this building are intended to be portraits of two pear-trees and a peach-tree. The latter hides the view of part of the Palace. The bridge leads to a level lawn or meadow, formed on the margin of the Teenchoo by alluvion, and ornamented with willows planted in rows. To this spot the order of priests from the castle occasionally repair for the purpose of religious ceremonial, and at other times for recreation. Two of these persons are represented in their usual dress, made of woollen cloth, of which there is abundance, and some of good quality, manufactured in Bootan. The rapid descent of the river, when swollen by the rains, renders it necessary to secure the bank, which is done in the manner represented in the view: William Daniell, Views in Bootan, caption [by Davis ?] to plate 3."  


"Tassisudon [Tashicho Dzong] -- House in which the Embassy was Lodged," 1783, watercolour. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. "The palace of Tassisudon is situated in a valley about five miles long and one broad, entirely surrounded with high mountains. The river Chinchu [Thinchu] gallops by; the low grounds near it being covered with rice, and well peopled. Villages are scattered on the brow of the hills. Immediately behind Tassisudon there is a very high mountain . . . and some solitary cottages, the retreat of dervises, are here and there dropped as from the clouds. In these airy abodes they pass their days in counting their beads, and look down with indifference on all the business and bustle of the world, from which they are entirely excluded. The palace is a very large building, and contains near 3000 men, and not a woman. Of these about 1000 may be gylongs [Buddhist monks], some of the former chiefs [the ousted 16th Deb Raja] adherents, who are kept in a kind of imprisonment, and the rest the Rajah and Lama's officers, and all their train of servants. A tower, about five or six stories high, rises in the middle, and is appropriated to Lama-Rimboche [the acting head of state - see Appendix]: Bogle, Narratives, ed. Markham, pp. 23, 26." 


"Bootan," three pencil studies of a Bhutanese warrior. Private collection. "The Booteeas are a strong and hardy race, by no means deficient in manly courage. Their feeble mode of attack and defence is, therefore, imputable only to their want of discipline; to their not fighting in compact files or platoons; and to their consequent distrust of each other; and something must also be attributed to [illegible] inexperience of war: for indeed, among this crowd of [illegible], we find merely husbandmen and villagers, called at [illegible] from their peaceful occupations to the field of battle. Every kind of discipline and order is totally disregarded in their mode of warfare, [illegible] is more practised than open assault; they engage in general [illegible] and wait their opportunity to fire unobserved. [illegible] so careful to conceal themselves, that seldom [illegible] but the top of a tufted helmet, or the end of a bow [illegible], that in their contests very few are killed. The accoutrements of a fighting [illegible], are extremely cumbrous. A prodigious deal of clothing surrounds the body: besides the common [illegible] very often a blanket, or thick quilted jacket. [illegible] as the helmet, (which is made either of stained cane, [illegible], or else of cotton rope, quilted between two cloths, [illegible] occasionally turn down over the ears, and a piece [illegible] the nose,) if not absolutely proof against the stroke of [illegible] arrow, must at least considerably weaken its force. He [illegible] upon his arm a large convex shield of painted cane, coiled [illegible] and a long straight sword is worn across the body, thrust [illegible] the belt before. To these arms must be added, a bow, and a quiver of arrows, slung by a belt behind the back; the arrows being commodiously drawn from it over the left shoulder. The bow is held in the right hand; it is commonly six feet long, made of bamboo, and, when unstrung, is perfectly straight . . . . . . Their fire-arms are very contemptible; evidently of no use, but in the fairest weather, when the match will burn, and the priming, in an open pan, take fire. In the management of the sword and shield they are sufficiently dexterous, and undoubtedly most excellent archers: Turner, Embassy, pp. 117-20." 


"View of Bhootan," 1783, watercolour. Victoria Memorial, Calcutta, R. 1254, formerly in the possession of Warren Hastings, deposited 1916.


William Daniell after Davis, engraved by W.J. Cooke. "Guard House near Tassisudon," 1838, engraving on steel. "A soldier in Bhutan has not a distinct profession. Every man is girt with a sword, and trained to the use of the bow. The hall of every public officer is hung round with matchlocks, with swords and shields. In times of war or danger, his servants and retainers are armed with these; the inhabitants, assembled from the different villages, are put under his command, and he marches in person against the enemy. The common weapons are a broadsword of a good temper, with shagreen handle; a cane-coiled target, painted with streaks of red; a bow formed of a piece of bamboo; a quiver of a junk of the same tree, the arrows of reeds, barbed, and often covered with a poison said to be so subtile that the slightest wound becomes mortal in a few hours. Some few are armed with a pike. They put great confidence in firearms; but are not so cunning in the use of the matchlock, as of their ancient weapons, the sword and the bow. Their warlike garb is various and not uniform. Some wear a cap quilted, or of cane and sugar-loaf shape, with a tuft of horse-hair stained; others, an iron-netted hood, or a helmet with the like ornament; under these they often put false locks to supply the want of their own hair, which among this tribe of Bhutanese is worn short. Sometimes a coat of mail is to be seen. In peace as well as in war, they are dressed in short trousers, like the highland philabeg; woollen hose, soled with leather and gartered under the knee; a jacket or tunic, and over all two or three striped blankets. Their leaders only are on horseback, and are covered with a cap, rough with red-dyed cowtails [yak-tails]. They sleep in the open air, and keep themselves warm with their plaids and their whisky. When they go to war or to an engagement, they whoop and howl, to encourage each other and intimidate the enemy. They are fond of attacking in the night time. As to their courage in battle, those can best speak who have tried it. I saw only some skirmishes: Bogle, Narratives, ed. Markham, pp. 62-3."


View of part of the Thinphu valley, looking northwest, the temple of Dechen Phodrang visible on a hillock in the middle distance, and two monks in the foreground, no title, 1783, watercolour. Victoria Memorial, Calcutta R. 1722, deposited by the Director-General of Archaeology in India, 1952.


"Near Tasissudon," 1783, wash-drawing. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. "This 'choten' shrine has a most unusual bulbous form that is not seen in Bhutan today. The imposing structure seen here stood on the banks of the Thinchu river, a few hundred yards east of the fortress of Tashicho Dzong. No trace of it remains today. A similar building is seen, placed like a centinel, as it were, by the road side, on each approach towards every consecrated habitation, proportionate in its dimensions to the magnitude and importance of the edifice with which it is connected: on each of the three great roads, that lead to Tassisudon, a very spacious one is found. They have one small doorway, which always remains closed [evidently not this one], at least I never could succeed in my endeavour to obtain a view of the interior; yet such is the superstitious respect of the inhabitants for its contents, that they constantly uncover their heads, and if travelling on horseback, dismount and walk while they pass by them: Turner, Embassy, p. 97." "The temples of Bode in Ceylong, Siam, and Pegu, as described by travellers, are generally solid structures of different forms. The temple shewn in the view is of this class, but enclosed in a building to defend it from the weather. It is erected on a level slip of alluvial land formed on the side of the river Teenchoo, about a mile below Tassisudon, and it serves the adjacent villagers for the exercise of their devotion. The idol is to be viewed in a niche on the side of the vase-shaped temple. In the distance is seen a small villa of the Rajah's [see Plates 34-5], and the view terminates with the mountain behind Tassisudon. The high poles erected at the angles of the building are such as occur throughout the country on elevated points of the road, or near temples and public edifices. They carry a strip of cloth, on which, in repetition from top to bottom, is printed the devout sentence - Om-ane-pee-mee-hon [Om mani padme hum]: William Daniell, Views in Bootan, caption [by Davis ?] to plate 6."  


The temple of Dechen Phodrang, Thinphu, no title, c. 1800, wash-drawing by an unknown artist after Davis. The original watercolour, much faded, upon which this view is based is in the Victoria Memorial, Calcutta, R. 1728.