A.D. without an invasion of the rights of some prince in Hindostan or the Deccan. It was in this state of things that the 1792 Company appeared on the scene, and took up arms for the defence of their factories, and by the superior discipline and valour of their troops became a first-rate military power, and consequently an object of jealousy and dread to the belligerent princes of India. It was the restlessness and encroachment of the native princes, and not the ambition of English rulers, that gave rise to nearly all the wars in which they were engaged. The slightest symptom of weakness, and too frequently the appearance of moderation, became the signal for hostility; and when the aggression was subdued it appeared the dictate of prudence to prevent the repetition of it by reducing the resources of the aggressor, and depriving him of some portion of his territory. And thus has the British empire in India been gradually extended by a mysterious and inexorable necessity, which has overpowered not only the opposition of the India House and the ministry, and the denunciations of English patriots, but the omnipotence of Parliament. The House of Commons ratified all the proceedings of Lord Cornwallis, not excepting even the acquisition of territory. and the king conferred on him the dignity of a marquis. The precedent has been scrupulously followed ever since, and every Governor-General who has enlarged the British dominions in India has received the thanks of Parliament and been decorated with honours by the Crown. SECTION II. LORD CORNWALLIS'S ADMINISTRATION -REVENUE AND JUDICIAY. THE brilliant success of the Mysore war reflected great but the money-lenders. The Court of Directors felt the necessity of adopting some decisive policy to arrest the progress of ruin, and accordingly framed their memorable letter A.D. of the 12th April, the salient points of which were, that the 1786 settlement should be made with the old zemindars, and not with farmers or with temporary renters,-on the ground of fiscal expediency, and not as a matter of right,—and for a period of ten years, and eventually, if it was found to work well, in perpetuity. Lord Cornwallis employed three years in endeavouring to acquire information on the subject to serve as the basis of a settlement. The fee simple of the land had always been considered as belonging to the sovereign, but the Court of Directors, acting on a generous and enlightened policy, determined to confer it on the zemindars, and thus give them a permanent interest in the soil. The land thus became real property, and a large and opulent class of landholders was thereby created. The relationship between the zemindar and the ryot was an important question, and involved in great perplexity, which has not yet been removed. The zemindar had always squeezed out of the ryot every farthing that could be realised, leaving him little beyond a rag and a hovel. Mr. Shore, who superintended the settlement, the ablest revenue officer in India, was of opinion that some decisive provision should be made to ensure an equitable adjustment of the demands of the zemindar, but, unfortunately, the regulations passed to protect the ryot from extortion were indefinite and inadequate. He was, indeed, permitted to resort to law, but to expect that a poor cultivator could appeal to the courts against a rich and powerful landlord was an absurdity. This defect was unquestionably a blot in the settlement, which, in other respects, was benevolent, if not beneficent. 1792 The perma After the settlement had been completed, the important question arose whether it should be decennial or permanent. Lord Cornwallis maintained that a fixed and unnent settle- alterable settlement was the only panacea for the ment. evils which afflicted the country, and the only protection from the still greater ruin which threatened it, and that the grant of this boon would give the zemindars an irresistible inducement to promote the cultivation of the land and the welfare of the ryots. On the other hand, Mr. Shore, who was far better acquainted with the subject than the Governor-General, opposed with equal tenacity the proposal to make the settlement irrevocable. He argued that the Government had only the roughest estimate of the capabilities of the land and of the collections, that the land revenue formed the bone and muscle of the public resources, and that it was preposterous to fix the revenue for ever without any definition of the boundaries of estates, and when a third of Bengal was a jungle. As to the public spirit of the zemindars which a permanent settlement was expected to foster, he justly remarked that the whole zemindary system was a mere conflict of extortion on the one part and resistance on the other, and that it was vain to hope for any improvement. The question was referred to Leadenhall Street, and some of the Directors, influenced partly by their own local experience in India and partly by Mr. Shore's opinion, proposed to make it decennial. It was then placed before the Board of Control, and Mr. Pitt, who had studied Indian subjects as no prime minister has ever studied them since, closely investigated it for a week in conjunction with Mr. Dundas and Mr. Charles Grant, and came to the determination to make the settlement permanent, and it was promulgated at Calcutta A.D. on the 22nd March, 1793. It was the boldest and most impor- 1793 tant administrative measure the Company had ever ventured upon. Under its operation cultivation has been extended, and the opulence of the provinces has been augmented; the zemindars, and those who have acquired interests in the land under them, have grown wealthy, and the comfort of the cultivators has, perhaps, been promoted. But it is now universally felt that the permanent character given to it was an egregious blunder, and that a term of fifty years, if not of a shorter period, would have equally promoted the object in view. No margin was allowed to meet the inevitable increase of expenditure which would be required for the defence of the country, or for the improvement of it by the institutions of civilisation. The Government has, however, continued for a period of eighty years to maintain the settlement to the very letter with scrupulous fidelity under every emergency, and has thus exhibited an example of good faith heretofore unknown in India. The administration of Lord Cornwallis was likewise distinguished by a radical change in the fiscal and judicial branches. The control of the revenue was con- Civil and centrated in a board in Calcutta. A civil court criminal was established in each district and in the principal cities, presided over by a covenanted servant of the Company. Four courts of appeal were erected at Calcatta, courts. A.D. Dacca, Moorshedabad, and Patna, from whose decisions an 1793 appeal lay to the sudder or chief court at the Presidency, composed of the Governor-General and the members of Council. The judges of the four courts of appeal were to proceed on circuit twice a year to administer criminal justice and to hold jail deliveries. The district judges were likewise invested with magisterial powers, and authorised to pass sentence in trivial matters, and to commit delinquents for trial before the judges of circuit. Within circles of about twenty miles a native officer, called a daroga, was appointed to arrest offenders on written charges, and to take security, not only for his appearance, but also for that of the witnesses, before the magistrate. For more than ten years the simple rules for the adminisThe code. tration of justice drawn up by Sir Elijah Impey had been the manual of the courts. Lord Cornwallis determined that all the regulations affecting the rights, the property, and the persons of the subjects of Government should be embodied in a code, and translated into Bengalee and Persian. Mr. George Barlow, a civilian of mark, but without any legal education, was entrusted with the charge of drawing up the new code, and he expanded the ordinances of Sir Elijah into a bulky folio of regulations, but without improving them. This volume of laws, however valuable as a monument of British philanthropy, was little suited to the habits or wants of a people accustomed to prompt and simple justice. The course of procedure was loaded with formalities, and, combined with the multiplication of technical rules, tended to defeat the object in view. Every suit became a game of chess; "justice," as the natives observed, "was made sour by delay," and equity was smothered by legal processes. To crown the grievance, the business of the courts was transacted in a language the Persian-equally foreign to the judges, the suitors, and the witnesses. The wisdom and judgment manifested in Lord Cornwallis's various institutions have always been freely ac1793 knowledged, but they were deformed by one great and Exclusion of radical blemish. From the days of Akbar all natives. civil and military offices, even those of the highest grade, had, with occasional exceptions, been open to all the natives of the country; and, in the early days of Hastings, some of the most important offices in the state had been enjoyed by natives of merit or influence. Lord Cornwallis pronounced the natives unworthy of trust, and considered that the administration in every department ought to be conducted by the Company's covenanted servants, some three hundred in number, to the entire exclusion of native agency, with the exception of the daroga on twentyfive rupees a month, and a moonsiff to try petty civil suits, to be paid by a commission on them; in other words, by the encouragement of litigation. Every prospect of honourable ambition was thus closed at once against the natives of the country, and the fatal effects of this ostracism were speedily visible in the inefficiency of the whole system of govern ment. Capture of The only other event of any note in the year 1793 was the capture of Pondicherry on the declaration of war between France and England at the outbreak of the Revolution. Lord Cornwallis embarked for PondiEngland in October, after a memorable reign of cherry. seven years, during which period he had contributed to the purity and vigour of the power created by the daring of Clive, and consolidated by the genius of Hastings. The dignity of his character, and his firmness and integrity, combined with his calmness and moderation, conciliated and swayed the native princes, and commanded the cheerful obedience of the European servants. Progress of A.D. 1793 The treaty of Salbye, which Sindia had concluded with Hastings in 1782 on the part of the Peshwa, gave him an elevated position in the Mahratta commonwealth. He was no longer the mere feudatory of Poona, Sindia. but an independent chief, and an ally of the British Government, and he determined to push his schemes of ambition in Hindostan, for which circumstances were peculiarly favourable. The imbecile emperor was a mere puppet in the hands of his minister, Afrasiab Khan, who invited Sindia, in his master's name, to assist in demolishing the power of his rival, Mahomed Beg, and he accord- 1784 ingly advanced with a large army to Agra, where he had an interview with the emperor. Soon after Afrasiab was assassinated, and Sindia became master of the situation, and was appointed the executive minister of the empire, with the command of the imperial troops. The districts of Agra and Delhi were assigned for their support, and he was thus put in possession of the Doab, the province lying between the Jumna and the Ganges, and its great resources. Intoxicated with this success, he preferred a demand for the chout of Bengal, which was indignantly rejected by Mr. Macpherson, the officiating Governor- 1785 General. He then proceeded to demand the arrears of |