Lord Lytton: The Vernacular Press Act, Arms Act and the Delhi Durbar

1. Who Was Lord Lytton?

Robert Bulwer-Lytton was a poet before he was a viceroy. He wrote verse under the name Owen Meredith. He was a diplomat for almost thirty years.

Lytton came to India in 1876 as a protégé of the British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli. Many people were surprised by the choice. He was a man of letters, not a politician.

2. When Did He Take Charge?

He was installed as Viceroy on 12 April 1876. He served until 1880. He was the last Viceroy to govern India with an open frontier.

3. Why Was Queen Victoria Made Empress of India?

Britain passed the Royal Titles Act in 1876. It let Queen Victoria add “Empress of India” to her titles. Prime Minister Disraeli had encouraged the idea.

Someone had to announce the new title in India. That task fell to Lytton. It led to the Delhi Durbar of 1877.

4. What Orders Did Lytton Carry from London?

Britain feared Russian influence in Afghanistan. Afghanistan was a buffer state between Russia and British India. Lytton had orders to win back the friendship of the Afghan ruler, Sher Ali Khan.

That worry shaped his foreign policy. It later led to the Second Anglo-Afghan War.

5. What Was the Delhi Durbar of 1877?

The Delhi Durbar of 1 January 1877 was called the Proclamation Durbar. It announced Queen Victoria as Empress of India. About 68,000 people attended. Some 15,000 British and Indian troops stood by.

A durbar is a formal court or assembly. This one displayed the Crown’s claim to rule India. Princes pledged loyalty to the new Empress.

6. What Did Lytton Announce There?

Lytton wore the robes of the Grand Master of the Order of the Star of India. He read out a speech. In it he announced a new honour, the Order of the Indian Empire.

Queen Victoria founded that order on 1 January 1878. Its members were ranked as Knight Grand Commander, Knight Commander and Companion.

7. What Was the Famine Behind the Pageantry?

A drought began in 1876 and caused crop failure in the Deccan. The Great Famine of 1876 to 1878 spread across south and west India. It covered Madras, Bombay, Mysore and Hyderabad. Famine reached parts of the north in 1877.

Modern studies put the deaths between about 5.6 and 9.6 million. A careful modern demographic estimate is 8.2 million. The exact figure is disputed, so exams rarely ask for it.

8. Did the Government Relieve the Famine Well?

Not by the standards of critics. Lytton opposed measures to bring grain prices down. He backed non-interference in private trade. Grain kept being exported during the famine.

Sir Richard Temple was sent to run relief. He set strict tests for relief and a low wage for hard work. People called it the Temple wage. Critics said it was too small to prevent hunger and disease.

9. Why Did the Durbar Draw So Much Anger?

The Durbar spent lakhs of rupees at the very time people were starving. Indian newspapers said so openly. Some British voices said so too.

The Durbar did not cause the famine. It made the gap between show and suffering impossible to ignore. That anger fed into the press law of 1878.

10. What Did the Famine Leave Behind?

After the famine Lytton appointed a commission under Sir Richard Strachey. It sat in 1880. Its work led to provincial famine codes and a famine relief fund.

The famine also troubled administrators such as William Wedderburn and A. O. Hume. Less than a decade later they helped found the Indian National Congress.

11. What Was the Vernacular Press Act of 1878?

The Vernacular Press Act was passed unanimously by the Viceroy’s Council on 14 March 1878. Lytton proposed it. It aimed at newspapers printed in Indian languages. These were called vernacular papers.

It was modelled on Irish press laws. Critics nicknamed it the Gagging Act.

12. What Could Officials Do Under It?

A district magistrate could order a printer or publisher to sign a bond. The bond promised not to spread disaffection against the government. A security deposit could also be demanded.

Breaking the rules could cost the deposit. A repeat offence could cost the press itself. The magistrate’s decision was final. No appeal lay to a court.

13. Why Did English-Language Papers Escape?

The Act did not apply to English-language papers. That gap made its target obvious. Government was angry with the Indian-language press, which criticised British rule.

The law never named a race. Its language test sorted papers just the same.

14. Why Did Amrita Bazar Patrika Go English Overnight?

The Amrita Bazar Patrika was a Bengali paper from Calcutta. It turned itself into an all-English weekly within a week of the Act. That put it outside the law.

Papers in the north took weeks even to learn what the Act said. The government had rushed the bill through with little publicity.

15. Who Opposed the Act?

Native associations of every religion and caste condemned it. The Indian Association and Surendranath Banerjee led a public protest in Calcutta. The Indian Association is seen as a forerunner of the Indian National Congress.

The Act was nicknamed the Gagging Act. Proceedings were begun against papers such as Som Prakash and Bharat Mihir.

16. When Was the Act Repealed?

Lord Ripon’s government repealed it in 1882. Lytton had left office two years earlier. The government had said in 1881 that repeal would follow when the Council met again that winter.

Some books say 1881. That is the year of the promise. Repeal itself came in 1882.

17. How Did Parliament Treat the Promise of Repeal?

On 18 July 1881 a British MP asked when the Act would be repealed. The Secretary of State for India pointed to a despatch of 28 February 1881. The despatch said the Act would be repealed when the Government of India met again early next winter.

18. What Was the Indian Arms Act of 1878?

The Arms Act of 1878 made licences compulsory to carry firearms. It also reached swords, daggers, spears and bows and arrows. It built on the earlier laws of 1857 and 1860.

19. Who Was Exempt From It?

The Act exempted several groups. They included Europeans, Anglo-Indians and the Kodava people. The same law that bound most Indians left Europeans free.

That rule made the Act look deeply unfair. Nobody had to be named by race for the effect to be clear.

20. Who Demanded Its Repeal?

Mahatma Gandhi called the Act a great wrong. In 1918 he wrote that depriving a whole nation of arms was the blackest of British acts. Repeal of the Arms Act was also a demand of the early Congress moderates.

CDS II 2020 asked about this demand. The answer is in the exam section below.

21. How Do the Two 1878 Laws Compare?

Both laws applied to everyone on paper. Both sorted people in practice.

• Vernacular Press Act: bound only Indian-language papers. English papers were left alone.
• Arms Act: required licences, with exemptions that mainly protected Europeans.

One law controlled what Indians could print. The other controlled what they could carry.

22. Why Did Lytton Push Into Afghanistan?

The British feared Russia. In July 1878 an uninvited Russian mission reached Kabul. Sher Ali Khan, the Amir, tried to keep it out. Britain then demanded that he accept a British mission too.

Lytton’s policy aimed to control Afghanistan’s foreign dealings. It is called the Forward Policy. A buffer state would keep Russian power away from the frontier.

23. How Did the War Begin?

Lytton sent a mission to Kabul in September 1878. It was turned back at the entrance to the Khyber Pass. He set a deadline of 20 November. No answer came in time. British forces invaded in November 1878.

Sher Ali left Kabul to seek help from Russia. He died in Mazar-e Sharif before reaching the Russian border. His son Yaqub Khan took the throne.

24. What Did the Treaty of Gandamak Say?

Yaqub Khan signed the Treaty of Gandamak on 26 May 1879. He gave up control of Afghan foreign affairs to Britain. He also accepted British representatives in Kabul. In return he received a yearly subsidy.

25. Why Did the Peace Break Down?

On 3 September 1879 a rising in Kabul killed Sir Louis Cavagnari, the British representative. His guards and staff died with him. The war began again.

General Frederick Roberts took Kabul in October 1879. Afghan forces later beat a British detachment at Maiwand in July 1880. Roberts then won at Kandahar on 1 September 1880.

26. Why Did Indians Object to the War?

The Indian press asked why so much money went to war while famine victims needed relief. The British won nearly every battle. The human and money costs still caused heated debate.

That criticism is one reason the Vernacular Press Act was passed in 1878.

27. Why Did Lytton Leave in 1880?

Lytton resigned in 1880. He stepped down when Disraeli’s Conservative government fell. Gladstone’s Liberals came to power. Lord Ripon followed him as Viceroy.

He was not recalled over any single event. War costs, famine criticism and the change of government in London all played a part.

28. How Do Lytton and Ripon Compare?

Ripon undid some of Lytton’s work. He repealed the Vernacular Press Act in 1882. He also backed a wider role for local boards.

• Lytton, 1876-80: Durbar, famine, war and press censorship.
• Ripon, 1880-84: repeal of the press law and local self-government.

29. How Did CDS II 2019 Test the Press Act?

CDS II 2019 asked for the correct order of four measures. The answer runs Cornwallis Code (1793), Vernacular Press Act (1878), first Indian Factory Act (1881), then Morley-Minto Reforms (1909). The correct option was 4, 2, 1, 3.

30. How Did CDS II 2020 Test the Arms Act?

CDS II 2020 asked which demand was not made by the Congress moderates. Repeal of the Arms Act was a real demand. So were extension of the Permanent Settlement and higher army jobs for Indians. Universal adult franchise was not on the list.

31. Which Names and Dates Should You Memorise?

• 1876: Lytton arrives. Royal Titles Act.
• 1 January 1877: Delhi Durbar.
• 14 March 1878: Vernacular Press Act passed.
• 1878: Arms Act. Afghan War begins.
• 26 May 1879: Treaty of Gandamak.
• 1880: Lytton resigns. Ripon follows.
• 1882: Press Act repealed.

32. What Are the Common Traps?

Do not mix the Forward Policy toward Afghanistan with Curzon’s later Partition of Bengal. They belong to different Viceroys and different decades.

Do not mix the two 1878 laws. The Press Act controlled Indian-language newspapers. The Arms Act controlled who could carry weapons.