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THE ANGLO MANIPURI WAR, 1891
The Sanad appointing Chura Chand, son of Chawbi Yaima as the new ruler of Manipur State with the title of Raja of Manipur and a salute of eleven guns was issued by the Government of India on the 18th September, 1891. The Chiefship of the Manipur State and title and salute would be hereditary in the family of Chura Chand descending in the direct line by primogeniture. In each case the succession was to be approved by the Government of India. An annual tribute whose amount was to be determined was to be also paid by Chura Chand and his successors to the British Government.
The permanence of the grant conveyed by the Sanad was dependent on the ready fulfilment of certain conditions by Chura Chand and his successors. All orders given by the Government of India from time to time regarding the administration of the territories of Manipur State should be obeyed by Chura Chand and his successors.
Orders pertaining to the control of the hill tribes which were dependent on Manipur were to be executed by the new ruler and his successors. Orders of the Government of India on the composition of the armed forces of the State of Manipur and any other matters in which the British Government might be willing to intervene should be complied with by Chura Chand and his successors. The Government of India also assured Chura Chand and his successors that they would enjoy the favour and protection of the British Government so long as Chura Chand's house was loyal to the Crown and faitMil to the conditions of the Sanad.
The Chief Commissioner of Assam was instructed by the Government of India to take necessary action to hold the investiture ceremony of the new ruler Chura Chand immediately. The ceremony should be made public. A translated copy of the Sanad should be read out aloud in Durbar at the investiture.
The contents of the Sanad were to be given wide publicity by way of notifications. In the investiture ceremony the chief persons of the State of Manipur should express their allegiance to the new ruler and the Chief Commissioner should declare that the right of the new ruler solely depended on his selection by the Government of India and that the Government of India would not allow that right to be called in question on any ground whatever.
As regards the Arrangement for the adrninistration of the State of Manipur during the minority of Chura Chand, the new ruler of the State, Major Maxwell had been appointed Political Agent in Manipur and Superintendent of the State. Major Maxwell was to exercise full powers. However, in doing so he should pay due regard for the customs and traditions of the people of Manipur.
He should try to interfere as little as possible with the existing institutions of the State of Manipur so far as the institutions did not pose as obstacles to peace and good order. On the education of the minor, the Government of India decided that a complete English education was a secondary importance. The ruler should remain as much an possible in Manipur. The aims of the education were to make the new ruler a practical ruler, contented with his position and surroundings.
This small treatise concludes with a quotation from VP. Menon's "The story of the Integration of the Indian States" which runs as "It was not historically correct to assume that when the states came into contact with the British power they were independent, each possessed of full sovereignity and a status which a modern international lawyer could hold to be governed by the rulers of international law. In fact, none of the states had ever had international status. Nearly all of them were subordinate or tributary to the Mughal Empire, the Maharatta Confederacy or the Sikh Kingdom, and were dependent on them. Some were rescued by the British and others were created by them. (p. 23).
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