18th Cen- and pensioned the Nabob and his descendants with 160,000l. a-year. tury. In 1772 (April), a Select Committee of thirty-one Members was appointed to inquire into and report upon the State of India. In 1773, this Committee was re-appointed; and another, called a Secret Committee, of thirteen Members, was likewise constituted; and in the same year, by statute 13 George III. cap. 63, the Imperial Parliament first made provision for the Government of British India. That statute enacted that the election of the twenty-four Directors of the East India Company (theretofore annual) should be thenceforward for certain terms prescribed in the Act. A Governor-General and four Councillors were also appointed for five years (their seat of government to be at Fort William, in Bengal), to administer the whole civil and military government of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and the revenues thereof, and to have a general control over the subordinate Presidencies and Councils of Madras and Bombay. The Act empowered the Governor-General to frame ordinances and regulations, which must, in order to give them force, be registered in a "Supreme Court" constituted by the Act, and holding its sessions at Calcutta. In the same year (1773), another Act (13 George III. cap. 64) was passed, which, after reciting the financial difficulties of the East India Company, relieves them from their annual payment, and authorises the issue of 1,400,000l. in Exchequer Bills, to be applied in their relief. By the same Act, the Company were tury. bound to export annually merchandise to the amount 18th Cenof 380,8371. (exclusive of naval and military stores), for two years. tration of Under the Act of 1773 (called the Regulating Adminis Act), Warren Hastings became Governor-General. Under his Administration, oppression gave rise to Hastings. resistance-resistance to war-war to expenses-expenses to new oppressions. In 1781, by statute 21 Geo. III. cap. 65, the privileges of the Company were continued for ten years, determinable thereafter on three years' notice. It was also enacted that the Company should pay 400,000l. in full satisfaction of all claims on them; that their dividends should be limited to eight per cent., and that after payment thereof, three-fourths of their surplus receipts should be paid into the Exchequer. In 1782, a Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed on Indian Affairs and Government. In 1783, Mr. Fox introduced into Parliament (Nov. 18) two Bills *—1. For vesting the affairs of the East India Company in the hands of seven Directors, to be aided by nine Proprietors named in the Bill, in which body all powers (subject to the authority of the Crown) were vested; 2. For the better government of the territorial possessions in India, the regulation of land tenures, and the abolition of monopolies. The Board to be created by the first Bill was to have in its gift all the Both Bills are printed at length in Appendix A. с tury. 18th Cen- patronage of the Company. Neither of these Bills was passed. The first was rejected in the House of Lords, Dec. 17. Adminis- lis. In 1784, by statute 24 Geo. III. cap. 25 (commonly called Pitt's Act), His Majesty was empowered to appoint six Privy Councillors as Commissioners for the affairs of India; three to form a quorum, and either the Chancellor of the Exchequer, or one of the Secretaries of State, to be President. By the same Act, appointments to vacancies in the office of GovernorGeneral, and in the subordinate Governments at Fort St. George and Bombay, and of the Councillors, and all other functionaries at each Presidency; also the right to recall the Governor-General, and to declare war, were vested in the Court of Directors, from which body a Secret Committee was selected, invested with functions hereafter to be noticed. The Supreme Council at Calcutta constituted by the Act, consisted of the Governor-General and three Councillors, the Commander-in-Chief being second in authority. In 1788, by statute 28 Geo. III. cap. 8, the Commissioners appointed by the last-cited Act, called the "Board of Control," were empowered to direct that the expense of raising, transporting, and maintaining such troops as might be required for the security of the British territories in the East Indies should be defrayed out of the territorial revenues. Lord Cornwallis became Governor-General. The chief act of his government was the permanent settlement of the Bengal land-revenue, by proclamation, dated March 22, 1793. tury. tration of Teign In 1793, by statute 33 Geo. III. cap. 52, the ter- 18th Cenritorial possessions and revenues of India were further confirmed to the Company for twenty years, Administogether with their commercial privileges. The Lord powers of the Board of Control were also renewed and extended. The Governor-General of India was also invested with absolute powers in certain cases, and further provisions were made for the local government of the three Presidencies. mouth. tration of lesley. In the meantime, the Mysore and Mahratta Wars Adminishad brought vast accessions to the British domi- Lord Welnions. Before the close of the eighteenth century, the power of Tippoo Saib had been annihilated by Lords Cornwallis and Wellesley, and his territory entirely subdued. The East India Company had taken in full sovereignty the Coast of Canara, the district of Coimbatoor, the passes of the Ghauts, and Seringapatam. A portion of Mysore had been placed indirectly, and Tanjore immediately, under British government. In 1801, the Carnatic was ceded by the Viceroy, and in the same year the Governor of Oude ceded half his territory, Allahabad, Rohilcund, and a portion of the Doab, while Great Britain assumed the protection of the whole. In 1802, war began again with the Mahrattas, who consisted of a cluster of Principalities, nominally feudatories of the Peishwah at Poonah, but really independent. Holkar at Indore, Scindia at Gwalior, the Rajah of Berar, and the Guickwar of Guzerat, were the chief of these, and they were aided by some predatory Northern Chieftains called Pindarrees. By force, or 19th Cen- fraud, they were all subdued, and brought into relations of dependence on British power. tury. Adminis Lord In 1803, the Doab, or valley between the Jumna and the Ganges, Delhi, Agra, part of Bundelcund, and Cuttack, were added to our Empire; and by the battle of Assaye* (Sept. 23), the Mahratta power was broken, and the Great Mogul became a British pensioner. In 1813, by statute 53 Geo. III. cap. 155, the tration of Company were confirmed in the possession of all Hastings. their past and lately-acquired territories for a further period of twenty years, together with their privileges of exclusive trade in tea with China; the cost of their establishments and payment of forces to be defrayed from their territorial revenues. By the 49th section, the first ecclesiastical provision was made for British India. A bishop and three archdeacons were to be appointed by the Crown, their salaries to be paid by the Company.† In 1815 the Rajah of Nepaul, with whom war had arisen, signed a treaty accepting British mediation in certain events. In 1817, the Peishwah of Poonah was deposed, and the greater part of his territory was attached to the Presidency of Bombay. In 1818, a district round Ajmere, which had *Three years after the battle of Assaye, the first recorded mutiny of native Indian troops took place at Vellore, in Madras. Three dioceses have been since erected-at Calcutta in 1814; Madras, 1835; and Bombay, 1837. |