'PAPERS RELATING TO THE MESOPOTAMIAN COMMISSION from SIR E. BARROW'S ROOM' [618r] (1247/1386)
The record is made up of 1 file (687 folios). It was created in 1915-1918. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
11
direct to the Gomr.ander-in-Chief T s office at Simla, T .7hile the
Commander-in-Chief through a member of the Governor General’s
Council, and therefore of the Government, submitted his views,
proposals and requirements through the Llilitary Department of
the Government of India.
As the relations of the Governmant of India to the Commander-
in-Chief are but imperfectly understood even in India and in
many high Quarters it is necessary to explain them, for ignorance
A
of fundamental principles cannot fail to result in confusion of
ideas.
It is evident that in every organised State the authority
r\A*e
of the Goveriaint must be paramount and that the Commander- in-
Chief of its Army, where there is a Commander-in-Chief, is
necessarily only the executive head of that great branch of the
i
public service. Ihe policy which dictates the organisation
of the Army, the political and financial conditions which fix
its strength and the system of administration which governs
its interior economy, must be directed and provide, for by the
Government of the country. In an autocratic State like Russia,
the Napoleonic Empire or Lodern Germany, that supreme power is
more or less vestel in the Sovereign, but in such a State the
true executive Chiefs are the commanders of armies or army
corps as the case may be. Again, as I have shown, in constitu-
i/cil / tional countries, if the monarch is not the de facto Com :ander-
in-Chief, the authority of the Government is exercised through
the minister of 7ar, who whether a soldier or civilian is so far
supreme in military affairs that he is responsible only te the
Government of which he is a member. In India the situation
/
is abnormal. None of the conditions above indicated can be
said to exist. Ihe Government is neither an autocracy nor one
founded on democratic principles. It is a centralised bureau
cracy with wide powers, subject however to the limitations
imposed upon it by the Imperial Government. The Indian Army
has not been organised on any definite lines but has been
c
r-
About this item
- Content
This file contains working drafts of confidential prints, correspondence and telegrams from the room of Sir Edmund Barrow, Military Secretary in the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , collected for the Mesopotamian Commission which was convened to examine the causes of the besieging and surrender of the Indian Expeditionary Force in Kut-el-Amara [Al Kūt].
The papers cover a range of topics and include the following: General Townshend's assessment of the situation after the Battle of Kut-el-Amara; a précis of correspondence relating to the origins and development of the Mesopotamia expedition; and a collection (ff 396-399) of private telegrams between the Secretary of State for India and the Viceroy, prior to the outbreak of war with Turkey.
The file also includes some tables showing the strength of General Townshend's force at Ctesiphon (folio 111) as well as the Indian Expeditionary Force 'D' (In Mesopotamia) Troops of the 6th Poona Division (folio 114).
Correspondents include: General Sir John Nixon; Major-General Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend; the Viceroy of India; officials of the Admiralty; officials of the War Office.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (687 folios)
- Arrangement
The entries are recorded in chronological order from the front to the rear of the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 686; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Multiple additional mixed foliation/pagination sequences are present in parallel; these numbers are written in crayon and pencil; where they are written in pencil and circled, they are crossed through.
The file has one foliation anomaly, f 374A.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'PAPERS RELATING TO THE MESOPOTAMIAN COMMISSION from SIR E. BARROW'S ROOM' [618r] (1247/1386), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/5/768, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100116195934.0x000032> [accessed 7 June 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/5/768
- Title
- 'PAPERS RELATING TO THE MESOPOTAMIAN COMMISSION from SIR E. BARROW'S ROOM'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:5v, 7r:89v, 91r:107v, 109r:130v, 131ar, 131r:134v, 135ar, 135ar, 135r:136v, 137ar, 137r:203v, 204ar, 204r:225r, 225ar, 225v:295v, 296ar, 296r:316v, 317ar, 317r:374v, 374ar:374av, 375r:405v, 406ar, 406r:562r, 562ar, 562v:623v, 624ar, 624r:686v, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence