Excellent study material for all civil services aspirants - being learning - Kar ke dikhayenge!
SHARE:
Famous British personalities
1.0 INTRODUCTION
In the year 1600, Queen Elizabeth I of England established the East India Company as a trading company whose purpose was to organize British merchants and increase English trade with India and Southeast Asia. Wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned shares in this company which brought them incredible wealth when the company was profitable.
Over time, using a mix of cunning, brutality and sheer force, the British East India Company was able to establish exclusive control over India and prevent boats from other trading companies from docking. The East India Company did this by concentrating their trade and security almost entirely with India leaving other areas of East and Southeast Asia to be controlled by other countries' companies. As the British East India Company gained more trade control over India, it also assumed military and administrative control. The company and its private army also governed over these areas establishing their own laws and order without the direct oversight of any government. At its height, the Company controlled more land than the British government and was able to institute laws in those areas that would benefit the Company and extract profit. We will now study the list of individuals, who in the pursuit of extracting wealth from India - to enrich the British nation, and themselves - ended up bringing great harm, and at times, some unintended or intentional good as well.
2.0 ROBERT CLIVE
Robert Clive is the most famous General associated with the British conquest of India. Clive's life prior to his assignment at an East-India company trading post at Madras, in 1744, showed no signs of greatness, but a considerable degree of recklessness. However, his greatest personal quality was that of extreme bravery and level-headedness in the face of overwhelming danger, and these initial altercations, although militarily insignificant, gave him a reputation as a capable leader.
Robert Clive was in India at a time when the political situation in India was very fluid; the Moghul empire had just started breaking up and dozens of native princes were vying for power. France, under the brilliant governor Dupleix, was poised to take advantage of the situation by making important alliances, and offering military assistance to some of the princes in return for trading influence. The rival princes, in turn, sought alliances with other European powers, notably Britain's East India Company (which had a small army at its disposal), so that they would be able to compete on equal terms with their enemies. In this way France and England were drawn back into an unofficial war footing. It is worth remembering that these two had been traditional rivals in Europe for centuries!
Clive's great opportunity came in 1751 when the French-backed Chandra Sahib, left his capital of Arcot, in order to effect a siege of his rival Muhammed Ali's capital of Trichnopoli. Ali, of course, sought British aid, but the resources available at Madras were not nearly equal to the task. Clive suggested the rather outlandish idea of attacking Arcot, with a small band of Englishmen. Although the probability of success was remote, he was allowed to proceed on the expedition, and succeeded beyond any expectation. His daring and resolve in the face of over-whelming opposition earned him a great reputation, not only among English officers, but also among the natives, who believed he possessed a sort of supernatural charm. England eventually provided more officers and gave Clive, who had thus far been acting unofficially, a commission in the army, and the conflict between England and France, and their Indian allies escalated. With Clive, now supported by a "real" army, the conflict went largely in England's favor and the 'Second Carnatic War' was finally concluded in 1754 on terms favorable to Britain.
Robert Clive had returned to England in 1753.
He was recalled to the governorship of Ft. David however, soon after the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud Daullah, besieged Calcutta, and reportedly imprisoned nearly 200 British citizens in a single room, where most died of suffocation (the infamous "Black Hole of Calcutta"). Clive first retook the city of Calcutta, and shortly afterward, in league with Mir Jafar, conspired to attack the Nawab's army. Instead of waiting for reinforcements, he took the first opportunity to attack and although greatly outnumbered won a resounding victory at Plassey. At this point the enormous treasury of Bengal fell into British hands and resulted in widespread corruption, both among company officers and local natives. Clive administered the region for three years and made a great personal fortune before returning to England. Once his strong hand was absent, the problems of widespread corrupting and money-grasping, became even worse, and he was recalled in 1765 to attempt to reform the situation. Reforming a system awash with ill-gotten gains however, is a far more daunting task than mere military heroics, and Clive was only partially successful. Severe corruption continued in the region for several more decades. In 1767 Clive returned to England for the last time, and seven years later, ended his own life as a result of a serious illness, and an addiction to pain medications.
3.0 RICHARD WELLESLEY
Lord Wellesley, alias Richard Colley Wellesley, was born on 20th June, 1760. He served as the Governor General of India from 1798-1805 AD after Lord Cornwallis and Sir John Shore. In the eyes of Lord Wellesley, India was a threat in the world war with France and he was a statesman who feared the conquests of Napoleon.
The next large-scale expansion of British rule in India occurred during the Governor-Generalship of Lord Wellesley who came to India in 1798 at a time when the British were locked in a life-and-death struggle with France all over the world.
Till then, the British had followed the policy of consolidating their gains and resources in India and making territorial gains only when this could be done safely without antagonising the major Indian powers. Lord Wellesley decided that the time was ripe for bringing as many Indian states as possible under British control. By 1797 the two strongest Indian powers, Mysore and the Marathas, had declined in power. Political conditions in India were propitious for a policy of expansion: aggression was easy as well as profitable.
To achieve his political aims Wellesley relied on three methods: the system of 'Subsidiary Alliances', outright war, and the assumption of the territories of previously subordinated rulers. While the practice of helping an Indian ruler with a paid British force was quite old, it was given definite shape by Wellesley who used it to subordinate the Indian states to the paramount authority of the Company. Under his Subsidiary Alliance system, the ruler of the allying Indian state was compelled to accept the permanent stationing of a British force within his territory and to pay a subsidy for its maintenance. All this was done allegedly for his protection but was, in fact, a form through which the Indian ruler paid tribute to the Company. Sometimes the ruler ceded part of his territory instead of paying annual subsidy. The 'Subsidiary Treaty' usually also provided that the Indian ruler would agree to the posting at his court of a British Resident, that he would not employ any European in his service without the approval of the British, and that he would not negotiate with any other Indian ruler without consulting the Governor-General. In return, the British undertook to defend the ruler from his enemies. They also promised noninterference in the internal affairs of the allied state, but this was a promise they seldom kept.
In reality, by signing a Subsidiary Alliance, an Indian state virtually signed away its independence. It lost the right of self-defence, of maintaining diplomatic relations, of employing foreign experts, and of settling its disputes with its neighbours. In fact, the Indian ruler lost all vestiges of sovereignty in external matters and became increasingly subservient to the British Resident, who interfered in the day-to-day administration of the state. In addition, the system tended to bring about the internal decay of the protected state. The cost of the subsidiary force provided by the British was very high and, in fact, much beyond the paying capacity of the state. The payment of the arbitrarily-fixed and artificially-bloated subsidy invariably disrupted the economy of the state and impoverished its people. The system of Subsidiary Alliances also led to the disbandment of the armies of the protected states. Lakhs of soldiers and officers were deprived of their livelihood, spreading misery and degradation in the country. Moreover, the rulers of the protected states tended to neglect the interests of their people and to oppress them as they no longer feared them. They had no incentive to be good rulers as they were fully protected by the British from domestic and foreign enemies.
The Subsidiary Alliance system was, on the other hand, extremely advantageous to the British. They could now maintain a large army at the cost of the Indian states. This enabled them to fight wars far away from their own territories, since any war would occur in the territories either of the British ally or of the British enemy. They controlled the defence and foreign relations of the protected ally, and had a powerful force stationed at the very heart of his lands, and could, therefore, at a time of their choosing, overthrow him and annex his teriitories by declaring him to be 'inefficient'. As far as the British were concerned, the system of Subsidiary Alliances was, in the words of a British writer, "a system of fattening allies as we fatten oxen, till they were worthy of being devoured".
Lord Wellesley signed his Subsidiary Treaties with the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1798 and 1800. In lieu of cash payment for the subsidiary forces, the Nizam ceded part of his territories to the Company.
The Nawab of Awadh was forced to sign a Subsidiary Treaty in 1801. In return for a larger subsidiary force, the Nawab was made to surrender to the British nearly half of his kingdom, consisting of Rohilkhand and the territory lying between the Ganga and the Jamuna. His own army was virtually disbanded and the British had the right to station their troops in any part of his state.
Wellesley dealt with Mysore, Carnatic, Tanjore and Surat even more sternly. Tipu of Mysore would, of course, never agree to a Subsidiary Treaty. On the contrary, he had never reconciled himself to the loss of half of his territory in 1792. He worked incessantly to strengthen his forces for the inevitable struggle with the British. He entered into negotiations for an alliance with Revolutionary France (Napoleon ultimately). He sent missions to Afghanistan, Arabia and Turkey to forge an anti-British alliance. In that sense, Tipu was very forward-looking and aggressive.
The British army attacked and defeated Tipu in a brief but fierce war in 1799, before French help could reach him. Tipu still refused to beg for peace on humiliating terms. He proudly declared that it was "better to die like a soldier, than to live a miserable dependent on the infidels, in the list of their pensioned rajas and nabobs". He met a hero's end on 4 May 1799 while defending his capital Seringapatam. His army remained loyal to him to the very end.
Nearly half of Tipu's dominions were divided between the British and their ally, the Nizam. The reduced Kingdom of Mysore was restored to the descendants of the original rajas (Wodiyars) from whom Haidar Ali had seized power. A special treaty of Subsidiary Alliance was imposed on the new Raja by which the Governor-General was authorised to take over the administration of the state in case of necessity. Mysore was, in fact, made a complete dependency of the Company.
In 1801, Lord Wellesley forced a new treaty upon the puppet Nawab of Carnatic compelling him to cede his kingdom to the Company in retum for a pension. The Madras Presidency as it existed till 1947 was now created, by attaching the Carnatic to territories seized from Mysore, including the Malabar. Similarly, the territories of the rulers of Tanjore and Surat were taken over, and their rulers pensioned off.
The Marathas were the only major Indian power left outside the sphere of British control. Wellesley now turned his attention towards them and began aggressive interference in their internal affairs.
The Maratha Empire at this time consisted of a confederacy of five big chiefs, namely, the Peshwa at Poona, the Gaekwad at Baroda, the Sindhia at Gwalior, the Holkar at Indore and the Bhonsle at Nagpur, the Peshwa being the nominal head of the confederacy. But all of them were engaged in bitter fratricidal strife, blind to the real danger from the rapidly advancing foreigner.
Wellesley had repeatedly offered a Subsidiary Alliance to the Peshwa and Sindhia. But the far-sighted Nana Phadnavis had refused to fall into the trap. However, when on 25 October 1802, the day of the great festival of Diwali, Holkars defeated the combined armies of the Peshwa and Sindhia, the weak Peshwa Baji Rao II rushed into the arms of the English and on the fateful last day of 1802 signed the Subsidiary Treaty at Bassein.
The victory had been a little too easy and Wellesley was wrong in one respect: the proud Maratha chiefs would not surrender their great tradition of independence without a struggle. But even in this moment of their peril they would not unite against their common enemy. When Sindhia and Bhonsle fought the British, Holkars stood on the sidelines and Gaekwad gave help to the British. When Holkars took up arms, Bhonsle and Sindhia nursed their wounds.
In the south, the British armies led by Arthur Wellesley defeated the combined armies of Sindhia and Bhonsle at Assaye in September 1803 and at Argaon in November. In the north, Lord Lake routed Sindhia's army at Laswari on the first of November and occupied Aligarh, Delhi and Agra. Once again the blind Emperor of India became a pensioner of the Company. The Maratha allies had to sue for peace. Both Sindhia and Bhonsle became subsidiary allies of the Company. They ceded part of their territories to the British, admitted British Residents to their courts and promised not to employ any Europeans without British approval. The British gained complete control over the Orissa coast and the territories between the Ganga and the Jamuna. The Peshwa became a disgruntled puppet in their hands.
British statesmen and the directors of the Company felt that time had come to check further expansion, to put an end to ruinous expenditure, and to digest and consolidate Britain's recent gains in India. Wellesley was, therefore, recalled from India and the Company made peace with Holkar in January 1806 by the treaty of Raighat, giving back to the Holkars the greater part of their territories.
Wellesley's expansionist policy had been checked near the end. All the same, it had resulted in the East India Company becoming the paramount power in India. A young officer in the Company's judicial service, Henry Roberclaw wrote (about 1805): An Englishman in India is proud and tenacious, he feels himself a conqueror amongst a vanquished people and looks down with some degree of superiority on all below him.
4.0 WARREN HASTINGS
The influence of Warren Hastings in laying the foundation of Britain's empire in India is second only to that of Clive. After completing high school he was sent to Bengal in 1750 to work as a clerk for the East India Company. During Hastings' first tour in India he served in many capacities including clerk, soldier, translator, resident (i.e. ambassador to an Indian prince), and finally to council of the company president. In 1757, while Hastings was still a low level operative, the Company's fortunes took a dramatic turn when Clive won Bengal for Britain at the Battle of Plassey. The enormous infusion of riches however, and the difficulties of dealing with rival native princes and overlords caused enormous problems. The company was not equipped to govern such a large and diverse region; there was no consensus on how to proceed; the company had unreasonable financial expectations; and there was graft and corruption at every level of administration. In 1764, after fourteen years in India, Hastings resigned his post on the president's council and returned to England.
In 1773, he was appointed the first Governor-General of Bengal. The post was new, and British mechanisms to administer the territory were not fully developed. Regardless of his title, Hastings was only a member of a five man council so confusedly structured that it was difficult to tell what constitutional position Hastings actually held.
During the period 1775-1800 AD, the Company's senior officers and administrators came round to the conclusion that that, in order to govern the vast and diverse 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 said: "Every application of knowledge and especially such as is obtained in 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 will impress us with 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 gained in their writings; and these will survive when British domination in India shall have long ceased to exist, and when the sources which once yielded of wealth and power are lost to remembrance." It must have been quite radical for an officer of Hastings’ level to say something like this, at that time!
Hastings also had respect for the ancient Hindu scriptures and wanted to utilise some existing precedents in such matters, rather than inventing more of his own. This desire of his allowed Brahmin advisors to mould the law, as no English person thoroughly understood Sanskrit until Sir William Jones, and, even then, a literal translation was of little use; it needed to be explained by religious commentators who were well-versed in its localised application. Unfortunately, this approach of Hastings further gave strength to 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.
In 1784, after ten years of service, during which he helped extend and regularise the nascent Raj created by Clive of India, Hastings resigned. On his return to England he was charged in Parliament with high crimes and misdemeanors by Edmund Burke, who was encouraged by Sir Philip Francis, whom Hastings had wounded during a duel in India. He was impeached in 1787, but the trial, which ran from 1788 to 1795, ended in acquittal. Though Hastings spent most of his fortune on his defence, the East India Company provided substantial financial support towards the end of the trial.
Hastings' trial for corruption was largely the work of Francis, who used his connections in Parliament to turn Hastings seven-year trial into a Whigs vs. Tory showdown. The only good thing to come of the whole ghastly affair was that it succeeded in raising important issues related to governing India into the national eye. Corruption, and misgovernment in India, was still a problem for many years after Hastings. Hastings survived the ordeal and lived his final years peaceably in England, his reputation restored, and his legacy intact. He died in 1818.
One can safely say that Robert Clive and Warren Hastings were the two pillars that defined the establishement of the British Raj in India, and whose strength the coming generations were to use fully.
5.0 CHARLES CORNWALLIS
Charles Cornwallis was a British Army officer and colonial administrator. He was the Governor-General of India from 1786-1793.
Lord Cornwallis was appointed as the Governor-General of India in the year 1786 and he also became commander in chief for Bengal under the Pitt’s India Act. An aristocrat by birth, Lord Cornwallis was delegated with the work of reorganising the administrative system of India. The British administration in India was facing land revenue problems, judicial corruption and the commercial departments lay disorganised. Lord Cornwallis was entrusted with the task of analysing these hindrances and figure out a probable solution.
Cornwallis engaged in reforms of all types, that had an impact on many areas of civil, military, and corporate administration. According to historian Jerry Dupont, Cornwallis was responsible for "laying the foundation for British rule throughout India and setting standards for the services, courts, and revenue collection that remained remarkably unaltered almost to the end of the British era". He also enacted important reforms in the operations of the British East India Company, and, with the notable exception of the Kingdom of Mysore, managed to keep the company out of military conflicts during his tenure.
Prior to Cornwallis's tenure, company employees were allowed to trade on their own accounts and use company ships to send their own goods back to Europe. This practice was tolerated when the company was profitable, but by the 1780s the company's finances were not in good shape. Cornwallis eliminated the practice, increasing employee salaries in compensation. He also worked to reduce nepotism and political favoritism, instituting the practice of merit-based advancement.
In order to straighten the judicial problems Lord Cornwallis introduced judicial reforms in India. These included the concentration of power in the able hands of the Collector. The new Governor-General was answerable only to the Board of Control that appointed him. Hence, he was able to resist the petty interest of the East India Company when they came in conflict with the state policies. During his office (1786-1793), Lord Cornwallis suspended the Board of Revenue and enforced new regulations for trading. He was the first person to put everything under the Company’s rule. Hence the entire administration was reorganized.
Part of the Cornwallis Code was an important land taxation reform known in India as the Permanent Settlement. This reform permanently altered the way the company collected taxes in its territories, by taxing landowners (known as zamindars) based on the value of their land and not necessarily the value of its produce. In the minds of Cornwallis and its architects, the reforms would also protect land tenants (ryots) from the abusive practices of the zamindars intended to maximize production. Cornwallis, a landed gentleman himself, especially believed that a class of landed gentry would naturally concern themselves with the improvement of the lands, thus also improving the condition of its tenants.
There was rampant corruption in the Commercial Department. To fight this evil, Cornwallis reduced the strength of the Board of Trade and eventually Commercial Residents were set up to procure supplies. Tribulations like bribery, corruption and the problems of private trade were suppressed. Apart from taking care of the administration Lord Cornwallis was also on military enterprise. He had to face huge resistance from Tipu Sultan, ruler of Mysore during 1782 to 1799. Lord Cornwallis led the British army to the Third Mysore War in the year 1790-1792. The war ended with Tipu Sultan`s surrender of half of his kingdom to the British.
As far as his administrative reforms were concerned, his achievements were so impressive that these were often termed as perfect. Lord Cornwallis tried to solve the problem is India by through his various reforms and measures. He was responsible for introducing British principles and planting British institutions in India.
In 1793 Lord Cornwallis returned to England to receive the title of The Marques (a nobleman ranking above a count and below a duke) and was granted a seat in the Privy Council. He was later also given a place in the Cabinet. Lord Cornwallis died on October 5th, 1805.
6.0 WILLIAM BENTINCK
Lieutenant-General Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, was a British soldier and statesman. He served as Governor-General of India from 1828 to 1835.
Lord William Bentinck opened an era of monumental social reforms in India. His seven years rule proved a peaceful interlude between two periods of severe and costly campaigning, and thus made it possible to achieve reforms which were long overdue. Social reform which reflects great credit on the administration of Lord Bentinck was the abolition of Sati and Thugee.
Abolition of Sati: The custom of Sati, even before the British, was being increasingly looked upon as revolting to the conscience of humanity. The greatest of Mughal Emperors, Akbar had ridden forth from his palace to save a Sati from funeral pyre, Albuquerque had forbidden it in Goa and the Peshwa had prohibited it within his territories.
But none before Bentinck had made Sati a crime and punishable under the criminal code. British conscience had long been touched but their policy of non-interference in religious customs, and serious consequences were apprehended. Lord Amherst invited opinions, but the diversity of view expressed served only to confuse him.
Bentinck came determined to end the matter finally this way or that. The opinions of the civil and military officers whom he consulted coupled with the support of Raja Ram Mohan Roy who encouraged him in the belief that no serious consequences would fellow legal prohibition.
Accordingly by a regulation of December, 1829, he declared the practice of Sati illegal and punishable by the Criminal courts as 'Culpable Homicide'. Except the orthodox section, the prohibition found favour among the enlightened Hindu.
The use of law to affect a social reform was a new experience to many. But nobody doubts that the measure has proved highly beneficial to an overwhelmingly large section of the Indian community.
Suppression of Thugs: William Bentinck set up a new department which was placed in charge of Sir William Sleeman whose strenuous labours ended in finally breaking up the gangs with the help of approvers. The thugs were pursued from place to place, eventually caught and punished.
For the improvement of the situation these steps were also taken. An industrial school was opened at Jubbulpore (modern day Jabalpur) where they were taught useful crafts and induced to settle down as civilized citizens.
Suppression of Infanticide and Child-sacrifices: Although infanticide had been declared illegal by Bengal Regulation XXI of 1795 and Regulation III of 1804, the inhuman practice still continued. William Bentinck took vigorous steps to suppress this immoral and inhuman practice.
William Bentinck's attention was also drawn to the ritual of offering child sacrifices at special occasions in Saugar Island in Bengal. Bentinck issued prompt orders to stop this evil practice.
Recruitment to Public Services: In matters of recruitment to public services, William Bentinck sought to efface the humiliating distinctions between Europeans and Indians introduced by Cornwallis and upheld by subsequent Governor-General.
Fitness was now laid down as criterion for eligibility. Section 87 of the Charter Act of 1833 provided that “No Indian subject of the company in India was to be debarred from holding any office under company ‘by reason of his religion, place of birth, descent, and colour’”. It is believed that this charter clause was inserted at the instance of Lord Bentinck. Though the immediate effect of this clause was very little, it laid down a very important and healthy principle.
Educational Reforms: Perhaps the most significant and of far reaching consequences were Bentinck's decisions about education in India. As early as 1825 Elphinstone had written that the only effective path to Social Reform and only remedy to social abuses was education.
The Macaulayian system of education has profoundly affected the moral and intellectual character of the people of India. Bentinck's government defined the aim of education in India and the medium of instruction to be employed.
The members of the committee of public instruction were divided into two groups of equal strength; the orientalists led by Hayman Wilson and Prince Brothers and the occidentalists or Anglicists led by Sir Charles Trevelyar and supported by Indian liberals like Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
The Charter Act of 1813 allotted a sum of Rs. one lakh a year for the "revival and promotion of knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories". The Government of India could not make up its mind as to how the money was to be spent and the same was allowed to accumulate every year.
In 1823 Mr. Adams appointed a committee of public instruction to make suggestions. However, much could not be done on account of pre-occupation with the first Burmese War; William Bentinck had to tackle the problem. The arrival of Lord Macaulay as law member strengthened the hands of those who stood for the expenditure of money on English education.
Ultimately the issue was decided in favour of the English language. Practical considerations were responsible for deciding the issue. It was felt that not only the Government of India would get cheap clerks but there would be greater demands for English goods.
Even Indians like Raja Ram Mohan Roy were in favour of the English language. By a resolution of March 1835, William Bentinck declared that, “the great object of British Government ought to be the promotion of literature and science among the natives and the funds appropriated for education should be best employed on English education alone”.
English was made the official language of India in the higher branches of administration. Since then English language, English literature, English political and natural sciences have formed the basis of higher education in India. It cannot be denied that the English education gave the Indians a lingua franca and thereby helped the cause of nationalism in the country. The Indians were introduced to the treasures of western knowledge. In 1835, a medical college was opened at Calcutta. Thus the knowledge of the western theory of medicine began to be given to the students in India.
Financial Reforms: The Financial Reforms of Bentinck had two objectives. One was retrenchment and the other was increase in revenue.
Immediately on his assuming the reins of office, Bentinck appointed two committees - Civil and Military - to enquire into the increased expenditure and suggest means of reduction. As a result of their suggestions he abolished many sine-cure offices, cut down inflated allowances and reduced the salaries of Civil services.
In the military establishment not much reduction was possible except the curtailment of the 'bhatta' allowances. In November 1828 an order was issued reducing bhatta to half it's fixed amount at all stations within 400 miles of Calcutta. Immediately uproar was created; the Governor-General was openly insulted and the Anglo-Indian press added its venomous shafts to the onslaught. But Bentinck kept his head and storm died its natural death. The saving effected was Rs. 20,000 a year.
Another measure of retrenchment affected by Bentinck concerned the judicial structure set up by the company. This was the abolition of the provincial courts of Appeal and Circuit. The some judges as courts and as courts of circuit held session's trials twice a year. The system was defective in the extreme.
The judicial acumen of the judges was beneath contempt and Bentinck justly characterized the courts as resting places for those members of service who were deemed unfit for higher responsibilities. The abolition of the courts was a measure of economy as well as judicial reform.
Administrative and Judicial Reforms: The administrative structure of British India had been given shape by Cornwallis. But since the days of Cornwallis the company had made great advances, and defects in that structure became apparent as it had not kept pace with the advance. The judicial system especially suffered from the three great evils of "delay, expense and uncertainty". Calcutta, the nerve centre of administration, had become too distant for the newly acquired territories. Bentinck set his head to the remodelling of the judicial structure ably assisted by Sir Charles Metcalfe, Butterwarth Bayley and Holt Mackenzie. He abolished the provincial counts of Appeal and Circuit. The duties of the sessions he transferred to the District Judge and established Sadar or chief court of the north-west province to hear appeals from the original courts. These institutional changes removed many of the miseries of the litigant public and helped in the quick disposal of cases. In reconstituting the administrative mechanism be followed in general the path suggested by Metcalfe viz., native functionaries in the first instance in all departments.
In his administrative reforms Bentinck combined economy with simplicity and the machinery which he set up, with alternations in minor details, exists to this day.
Another anomaly which he removed was the use of Persian as the court language, a language unknown to the judge as well as the litigants. Bentinck abolished the use of Persian and in its place substituted the vernacular. This change greatly benefited the people and enabled them to express their grievances in the language know to them.
Policy towards the Press: Bentinck's policy towards the press was characterised by a liberal attitude. He used it as a safety valve for discontent.
Lord William Bentinck was one of the most successful Governor-generals who came to India. He achieved far more popularity and fame than could be achieved by any one of his predecessor. Dr. Ishwar Prasad says "Bentinck's glories were the glories of peace." P.E. Roberts says the peaceful and financially prosperous administration undoubtedly did the East India Company a great service.
It has been rightly remarked "while the administration of the marques of Hastings was marked by triumphs of war that of William Bentinck will always be remembered for the triumphs of peace."
7.0 LORD DALHOUSIE
Born in the year 1812 in the Scotland Castle, the original name of Lord Dalhousie was James Andrew Broun Ramsay. Lord Dalhousie was one of the pioneers who initiated the Indian Telegraph system.
When Lord Dalhousie stepped into the land of India in the year 1848 the British Empire was at its peak. However, in the year 1849 the Sikh War took place as a result of which Punjab became a part of the British kingdom. In this very Sikh War, Lord Dalhousie played a winning role. Then the second Burmese war took place in which Lord Dalhousie had a commendable contribution. This war led to the annexation of Rangoon and Burma to the British kingdom.
Lapse and annexation was the famous policy developed by Lord Dalhousie. Due to this policy itself Lord Dalhousie became a prime figure of the British Empire. Places like Jhansi, Satara and Nagpur became divisions of the empire via the lapse and annexation policy.
From the beginning, he was determined to extend direct British rule over as large an area as possible. He had declared that "the extinction of all native states of India is just a question of time". The underlying motive of this policy was the expansion of British exports to India. Dalhousie, in common with other aggressive imperialists, believed that British exports to the native states of India were suffering because of the maladministration of these states by their Indian rulers. Moreover, they thought that their 'Indian allies' had already served the purpose of facilitating British conquest of India and could now be got rid of profitably.
The chief instrument through which Lord Dalhousie implemented his policy of annexation was the 'Doctrine of Lapse'. Under this Doctrine, when the ruler of a protected state died without a natural heir, his state was not to pass to an adopted heir as sanctioned by the age-old tradition of the country. Instead, it was to be annexed to British India, unless the adoption bad been clearly approved earlier by the British authorities. Many states, including Satara in 1848 and Nagpur and Jhansi in 1854, were annexed by applying this doctrine.
Dalhousie also refused to recognise the titles of many ex-rulers or to pay their pensions. Thus, the titles of the Nawabs of Carnatic and of Surat, and the Raja of Tanjore were extinguished. Similarly, after the death of the ex-Peshwa Baji Rao II, who had been made the Raja of Bithur, Dalhousie refused to extend his payor pension to his adopted son, Nana Saheb.
Lord Dalhousie was keen on annexing the kingdom of Awadh. But the task presented certain difficulties. For one, the Nawabs of Awadh had been British allies since the Battle of Buxar. Moreover, they had been most obedient to the British over the years. The Nawab of Awadh had many heirs and could not therefore be covered by the Doctrine of Lapse. Some other pretext had to be found for depriving him of his dominions. Finally, Lord Dalhousie hit upon the idea of alleviating the plight of the people of Awadh. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was accused of having misgoverned his state and of refusing to introduce reforms. His state was therefore annexed in 1856.
Undoubtedly, the degeneration of the administration of Awadh was a painful reality for its people. The Nawabs of Awadh, like other princes of the day, were selfish rulers absorbed in self-indulgence who cared little for good administration or for the welfare of the people. But the responsibility for this state of affairs was in part that of the British who had, at least since 1801, controlled and indirectly governed Awadh.
In reality, it was the immense potential of Awadh as a market for Manchester goods which excited Dalhousie's greed and aroused his 'philanthropic' feelings. And for similar reasons, to satisfy Britain's growing demand for raw cotton, Dalhousie took away the cotton-producing province of Berar from the Nizam in 1853.
It needs to be clearly understood that the question of the maintenance or annexation of native states was of no great relevance at this time. In fact, there were no Indian states in existence at that time. The protected native states were as much a part of the British Empire as the territores ruled directly by the Company. If the form of British control over some of these states was changed, it was to suit British convenience. The interests of their people had little to do with the change.
Apart from the political affairs, Lord Dalhousie was also known to be a successful administrator. The telegraph, postal services, railways and roadways had been developed considerably under the apt guidance of Lord Dalhousie in India. There are many places in India that have been named after Lord Dalhousie to mark his excellent achievements. Dalhousie Club is one such place which claims admiration from one and all.
It is said by many historians that Lord Dalhousie was responsible for the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 taking place.
8.0 LIST OF GOVERNOR GENERALS OF INDIA
COMMENTS