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[1784 A.D.]

Sir A. Lyall on Warren Hastings

Hastings carried the government of India safely through one of the sharpest crises in our national history, when our transmarine possessions were in great peril all over the world, because all the naval powers of Europe were banded against us. In America, the insurgents after an arduous struggle tore down the British flag; in India the end of a long and exhausting contest found our flag not only flying but still more firmly planted than ever; nor had either the vindictive hostility of Mysore, or the indefatigable activity of the Mahrattas, succeeded in wresting an acre of British territory from the grasp of Warren Hastings.

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PITT REFORMS THE ADMINISTRATION (1784 A.D.)

When Mr. Fox succeeded to the head of affairs in 1783, all parties were already prepared for a great and important change in the government of Great Britain's eastern empire. But the scheme of that able and ambitious statesman far outstripped either the reason or necessity of the case. He proposed — in his famous India Bill, which convulsed the nation from end to end, and in its ultimate results occasioned the downfall of his administration to vest the exclusive right of governing India in seven directors, "to be named in the act," that is, appointed by the legislature under the direction of the ministry for the time. The vacancies in these commissioners were to be filled up by the house of commons under the same direction. But this important innovation was defeated, after it had passed the lower house, by a small majority of nineteen in the house of peers, and this defeat was immediately followed by the dismissal of Mr. Fox and his whole administration.

Although, however, Mr. Fox's India Bill was rejected, yet the numerous abuses of Great Britain's Indian dominions, as well as the imminent hazard which they had run during the war with Hyder Ali, from the want of a firmly constituted central government, were too fresh in the public recollection to permit the existing state of matters to continue. Mr. Pitt, accordingly, was no sooner installed in power, than be brought forward an India Bill of his own, which, it was hoped, would prove exempt from the objections to which its predecessor had been liable, and, at the same time, remedy the serious evils to which the administration of affairs in India had hitherto been exposed. This bill passed both houses (1784) and formed the basis of the system under which, with some subsequent but inconsiderable amendments, the affairs of India were for many years administered. By it the court of directors appointed by the East India Company remained as before, and to them the general administration of Indian affairs was still entrusted.

The great change introduced was the institution of the Board of Control, a body composed of six members of the privy council, chosen by the kingthe chancellor of the exchequer and one of the secretaries of state being two in whom the power of directing and controlling the proceedings of the Indian Empire was vested. The duties of this board were very loosely defined, and were all ultimately centred in the president, an officer who became a fourth secretary of state for the Indian Empire. They were described as being "from time to time to check, superintend, and control all acts, operations, and concerns which in anywise relate to the civil or military government or revenues of the territories and possessions of the East India Company." These powers were ample enough; but in practice they led to little more than a control of the company in the more important political or military concerns

[1786 A.D.] of the East, leaving the directors in possession of the practical direction of affairs in ordinary cases. All vacancies in official situations, with the exception of the offices of governor-general of India, governors of Madras and Bombay, and commanders-in-chief, which were to be filled up by the British government, were left at the disposal of the East India directors. A most important provision was made in the institution of a secret committee, who were to send to India in duplicate such despatches as they might receive from the board of control, and in the establishment of the supreme government of Calcutta, with a controlling power over the other presidencies - a change which at once introduced unity of action into all parts of the peninsula.

It cannot be affirmed that this anomalous constitution will stand the test of theoretical examination, or is confirmed by history as regards other states. Still less could it be presumed that a distribution of supreme power between a governor-general and two subordinate governors in the East, and a board of control and body of directors in the British Islands, gave any fair prospect either of unity of purpose or efficiency of action. Nevertheless, if experience, the great test of truth, be consulted, and the splendid progress of the Indian Empire of Great Britain since it was directed in this manner be alone considered, there is reason to hold this system of government one of the most perfect that ever was devised by human wisdom for the advancement and confirmation of political greatness. The secret of this apparent anomaly is to be found in the fact, that this division of power existed in theory only; that from the great distance of India from the home government, and the pressing interests which so frequently called for immediate decision, the supreme direction of affairs practically came to be vested in the governors-general; and that in them were found a succession of great men, second to none who ever appeared in the world for vigour and capacity, and who vindicated the truth of the saying of Sallust, that it is in the strenuous virtue of a few that the real cause of national greatness is in general to be found.

It soon appeared how much the vigour and efficiency of the Indian administration had been increased by the important changes made in its central government. By Mr. Pitt's India Bill, all ideas of foreign conquest in the East had been studiously repressed it having been declared, that "to pursue schemes of conquest or extension of dominion in India are measures repugnant to the wish, the honour, and the policy of the nation." But this declaration, in appearance so just and practicable, was widely at variance with the conduct which extraneous events shortly after forced upon the British government.

LORD CORNWALLIS AS GOVERNOR-GENERAL; THE WAR WITH TIPU

(1786-1792 A.D.)

In order, however, to carry into execution the pacific views of ministers at home, a nobleman of high rank and character, Lord Cornwallis, was sent out by Mr. Pitt, who united in his person the two offices of governor-general and commander-in-chief, so as to give the greatest possible unity to the action of government [1786]. No sooner, however, had he arrived there, than he discovered that Tipu was intriguing with the other native powers for the subversion of Great Britain's Indian dominion; and, as a rupture with France was apprehended at that juncture, four strong regiments were despatched to India. As the company complained of the expense which this additional force entailed upon their finances, a bill was brought into parliament by Mr. Pitt, which fixed the number of king's troops who might be ordered to India by

[1791 A.D.]

the board of control, at the expense of the company, at eight thousand, besides twelve thousand European forces in the company's service.

The wisdom of this great addition to the native European force in India, as well as the increased vigour and efficiency of the supreme government, speedily appeared in the next war that broke out. Tipu, whose hostility to the English was well known to be inveterate, and who had long been watched with jealous eyes by the Madras presidency, at length [1789] commenced an attack upon the rajah of Travancore - a prince in alliance with the British, and actually supported by a subsidiary force of their troops. At first, from the total want of preparation which had arisen from the pacific policy so strongly inculcated upon the Indian authorities by the government at home, he obtained very great success, and totally subdued the chief against whom he had commenced hostilities.

Perceiving that the British character was now at stake in the peninsula, and being well aware that a power founded on opinion must instantly sink into insignificance, if the idea gets abroad that its allies may be insulted with impunity, Lord Cornwallis immediately took the most energetic measures to re-assert the honour of the British name. Fifteen thousand men were collected in the Carnatic under General Meadows, while eight thousand more were to ascend the Ghats from the side of Bombay, under General Abercromby. Treaties of alliance were at the same time entered into with the peshwa and the nizam, and hostilities commenced, which were at first attended with checkered success - General Meadows having taken Karur and other towns, and Tipu having surprised Colonel Floyd, and burst into the Carnatic, where he committed the most dreadful ravages.

THE CAMPAIGN OF SERINGAPATAM (1791-1792 A.D.)

The energies of government, however, were now thoroughly aroused. In December, 1791, Lord Cornwallis embarked in person for Madras: the Bengal sepoys were with extreme difficulty reconciled to a sea voyage; and great reinforcements, with the commander-in-chief, were safely landed in the southern presidency. It was resolved to commence operations with the siege of Bangalore, one of the strongest fortresses in Mysore, and commanding the most eligible pass from the coast to the centre of Tipu's dominions. In the end of January the grand army1 moved forward; the important pass of Coorg leading up the Ghats, was occupied within a month after; Bangalore was invested in the beginning of March and carried by assault on the 21st of that month.

Encouraged by this great success, Lord Cornwallis pushed on direct to Seringapatam, although the advanced period of the season, and scanty supplies of the army, rendered it a service of considerable peril, which was increased rather than diminished by the junction, shortly after, of ten thousand of the nizam's horse, who, without rendering any service to the army, consumed every particle of grass and forage within its reach.

Still the English general continued to press forward, and at length reached the fortified position of the enemy, on strong ground, about six miles in front of Seringapatam. An attack was immediately resolved on; but Tipu, who conducted his defence with great skill, did not await the formidable onset of the assaulting columns, and after inflicting a severe loss on the assailants by the fire of his artillery, withdrew all his forces within the works of the fortress.

['Lord Cornwallis led the British army in person with a pomp and lavishness of supplies that recalled the campaigns of Aurangzeb.-HUNTER."]

[1792 A.D.] The English were now within sight of the capital of Mysore, and decisive success seemed almost within their reach. They were in no condition, however, to undertake the siege. Orders were therefore given to retreat, and the army retired with heavy hearts and considerable loss of stores and men. But the opportune arrival of the advanced guard of the Mahratta contingent, on the second day of the march, which at first caused great alarm, suspended the retrograde movement, and the army encamped for the rainy season in the neighbourhood of Seringapatam.h

The next move to Seringapatam was effectual. Reinforcements had been sent out from England; and during the autumn all the lines of communication for another march upon the capital of Tipu had been opened. Some of the strong hill forts had been stormed and taken by the troops under General Meadows. On the 25th of January, 1792, Cornwallis, with twenty-two thousand men, had united his force to the troops of the nizam and the Mahrattas, and commenced his march. On the 5th of February he encamped about six miles northward of Seringapatam. The Mysorean army was encamped under its walls. It amounted to five thousand horse and forty thousand foot. The city was defended by three strong lines of works and redoubts, in which three hundred pieces of artillery were planted. Cornwallis reconnoitred these lines on the morning of the 6th, and determined to storm them that night, with his own army, without communicating his plan to his allies.

At eight o'clock the British moved in three columns to the attack, one column being led by Cornwallis himself. The moon was shining brilliantly; but the sun of the next day was declining before the firing ceased, and the whole line of forts to the north of the Kaveri were in possession of the British forces. Tipu retired within the walls of his capital. Preparations for the siege went vigorously on; but negotiations for peace were at the same time proceeding. The British commander, assured of his triumph, demanded that Tipu should cede the half of his dominions; should pay a sum amounting to £3,000,000; should release all his prisoners; and should deliver his two sons as hostages. The sultan assembled his officers in the great mosque, and adjured them, by the sacred contents of the Koran, to tell him whether he should accept these hard terms. They all held that no reliance could be placed upon the troops, and that submission was inevitable.

On the 23rd of February the preliminaries of peace were signed; and on the 25th the two sons of Tipu were surrendered to Lord Cornwallis. The definitive treaty of peace was signed on the 19th of March. The ceded territories were divided in equal portions between the company, the nizam, and the Mahrattas. On the 4th of May Cornwallis wrote to his brother, "Our peace will no doubt be very popular in England. No termination of the war could have been attended with more solid advantages to our interest; and the deference which was paid to us on the occasion, both by friends and enemies, has placed the British name and consequence in a light never before known in India."

The subjection of Tipu was most opportune. In all probability Cornwallis, who was blamed by some for not insisting upon harder terms, anticipated the probability that the French Revolution would involve England in war, and therefore he made peace whilst it was in his power. When the war broke out he hurried to Madras. But his presence was unnecessary. Pondicherry had already been taken by Sir John Braithwaite; and the French had no longer a footing in India. The agents of the republic were nevertheless active, but they were unable, for several years, to move "Citizen Tipu" into a course of open hostility.

[1793 A.D.]

THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT (1793 A.D.)

If the foundations of the system of civil administration were laid by Hastings, the superstructure was erected by Cornwallis. It was he who first entrusted criminal jurisdiction to Europeans, and established the Nizamat Sadr Adalat, or supreme court of criminal judicature, at Calcutta, and it was he who separated the functions of collector and judge. The system thus organised in Bengal was afterwards transferred to Madras and Bombay, when those presidencies also acquired territorial sovereignty.

But the achievement most familiarly associated with the name of Cornwallis is the permanent settlement of the

land revenue of Bengal. Up to his time the revenue had been collected pretty much according to the old Mughal system. Zamindars, or government farmers, whose office always tended to become hereditary, were recognised as having a right of some sort to collect the revenue from the actual cultivators. But no principle of assessment existed, and the amount actually realised varied greatly from year to year. Hastings had the reputation of bearing hard upon the zamindars, and was absorbed in other critical affairs of state or of war. On the whole he seems to have looked to experience, as acquired from a succession of quinquennial settlements, to furnish the standard rate to the future.

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TIPU SAHIB (1749-1799)

Francis, on the other hand, Hastings' great rival, deserves the credit of being among the first to advocate a limitation of the state demand in perpetuity. The same view recommended itself to the authorities at home, partly because it would place their finances on a more stable basis, partly because it seemed to identify the zamindar with the more familiar landlord. Accordingly, Cornwallis took out with him in 1787 instructions to introduce a permanent settlement. The process of assessment began in 1789 and terminated in 1791. No attempt was made to measure the fields or calculate the out-turn as had been done by Akbar, and is now done when occasion requires in the British provinces; but the amount payable was fixed by reference to what has been paid in the past. At first the settlement was called decennial, but in 1793 it was declared permanent forever. The total assessment amounted to sikka Rs. 2,68,00,989, or about 2 millions sterling. Though Lord Cornwallis carried the scheme into execution, all praise or blame, so far as details are concerned, must belong to Sir John Shore, afterwards Lord Teignmouth, whose knowledge of the country was unsurpassed by that of any civilian of his time. Shore would have proceeded more cautiously than Cornwallis' preconceived idea of a proprietary body and the court of directors' haste after fixity permitted.9

H.-VOL. XXII. I

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