of State and the members of his council in certain proportions. Sons of those in the service of the Indian Government had claims to at least one-tenth of the military cadetships. All other appointments and admissions to service were to be vested in the Crown.

The property of the Company was vested in the Crown for the purpose of the Government of India, and all powers of sale and purchase, etc., were transferred to the Secretary of State in Council, the property always remaining vested in the Crown when acquired or not transferred. The expenditure of Indian revenue was to be under the control of the Secretary of State in Council, and it was charged with the dividends on the stock of the Company and existing and future debts, liabilities, and expenses, for which detailed arrangements were set forth.

When an order to commence hostilities was sent to India the fact had to be communicated to Parliament within a certain time. Except for preventing or repelling invasion of the Indian possessions of the Crown, or under other sudden and urgent necessity, the revenues of India were not without the consent of both Houses of Parliament to be applicable to defray the expenses of any military operation carried on beyond the natural frontiers of such possessions by the forces of the Crown charged upon such

revenues.

The military and naval forces of the East India Company were to be deemed to be the Indian and naval forces of the Crown, and were to be under the same obligations of service as they would have been under to serve the Company. The Board of Control was abolished.

The records, etc., of the Company were to be handed over to the Secretary of State in Council.

The Act was to be duly notified in India, and accordingly the Viceroy, as he now became, Lord Canning, issued the following proclamation at Allahabad on November 1, 1858:

"

'Her Majesty the Queen having declared that it is her gracious pleasure to take upon herself the government of the British territories in India, the Viceroy and Governor-General hereby notifies that from this day all Acts of the Government of India will be done in the name of the Queen alone.

From this day all men of every race and class who, under the administration of the Honourable East India Company, have joined to uphold the honour and power of England, will be the servants of the Queen alone. The Governor-General summons them, one and all, each in his degree, and according to his opportunity, and with his whole heart and strength, to aid in fulfilling the gracious will and pleasure of the Queen, as set forth in her royal proclamation. From the many millions of Her Majesty's native subjects in India, the Governor-General will now, and at all times, exact a loyal obedience to the call which, in words full of benevolence and mercy, their Sovereign has made upon their allegiance and faithfulness."

The proclamation of Queen Victoria, to which allusion is made by Lord Canning, and which also bore the date of November 1, 1858, forms a landmark in the history of India. It was as follows:

Victoria by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the Colonies and Dependencies thereof in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australasia, Queen, Defender of the Faith.

Whereas, for divers weighty reasons, we have resolved, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in Parliament assembled, to take upon ourselves the government of the territories in India, heretofore administered in trust for us by the Honourable East India Company.

Now, therefore, we do by these presents notify and declare that, by the advice and consent aforesaid, we have taken upon ourselves the said Government; and we hereby call upon all our subjects within the said territories to be faithful, and to bear true allegiance to us, our heirs and successors, and to submit themselves to the authority of those whom we may hereafter, from time to time, see fit to appoint to administer the government of our said territories, in our name and on our behalf.

And we, reposing especial trust and confidence in the loyalty, ability, and judgement of our right trusty and well beloved cousin Charles John, Viscount Canning, do hereby constitute and appoint him, the said Viscount Canning, to be our first Viceroy and Governor-General in and over our said territories, and to administer the government thereof in our name, and generally to act in our name and on our behalf, subject to such orders and regulations as he shall, from time to time, receive through one of our Principal Secretaries of State.

And we do hereby confirm in their several offices, civil and military, all persons now employed in the service of the Honourable East India Company, subject to our future pleasure, and to such laws and regulations as may hereafter be enacted.

We hereby announce to the native princes of India, that all treaties and engagements made with them by or under the authority of the East India Company are by us accepted, and will

be scrupulously maintained, and we look for the like observance on their part.

We desire no extension of our present territorial possessions; and, while we will permit no aggression upon our dominions or our rights to be attempted with impunity, we shall sanction no encroachment on those of others.

We shall respect the rights, dignity, and honour of native princes as our own; and we desire that they, as well as our own subjects, should enjoy that prosperity and that social advancement which can only be secured by internal peace and good government.

We hold ourselves bound to the natives of our Indian territories by the same obligations of duty which bind us to all our other subjects, and those obligations, by the blessing of Almighty God, we shall faithfully and conscientiously fill.

Firmly relying ourselves on the truth of Christianity, and acknowledging with gratitude the solace of religion, we disclaim alike the right and the desire to impose our convictions on any of our subjects. We declare it to be our royal will and pleasure that none be in any wise favoured, none molested or disquieted, by reason of their religious faith or observances, but that all shall alike enjoy the equal and impartial protection of the law; and we do strictly charge and enjoin all those who may be in authority under us that they abstain from all interference with the religious belief or worship of any of our subjects on pain of our highest displeasure.

And it is our further will that, so far as may be, our subjects, of whatever race or creed, be freely and impartially admitted to office in our service, the duties of which they may be qualified by their education, ability, and integrity duly to discharge.

We know, and respect, the feelings of attachment with which the natives of India regard the lands inherited by them from their ancestors, and we desire to protect them in all rights connected therewith, subject to the equitable demands of the State; and we will that generally, in framing and administering the law, due regard be paid to the ancient rights, usages and customs of India.

We deeply lament the evils and misery which have been brought upon India by the acts of ambitious men, who have deceived their countrymen by false reports, and led them into open rebellion. Our power has been shown by the suppression of that rebellion in the field; we desire to shew our mercy by pardoning the offences of those who have been misled, but who desire to return to the path of duty.

Already, in one province, with a desire to stop the further effusion of blood, and to hasten the pacification of our Indian dominions, our Viceroy and Governor-General has held out the expectation of pardon, on certain terms, to the great majority of those who, in the late unhappy disturbances, have been guilty of offences against our Government, and has declared the punishment which will be inflicted on those whose crimes place them beyond the reach of forgiveness. We approve and confirm the said act of our Viceroy and Governor-General, and do further announce and proclaim as follows:

Our clemency will be extended to all offenders, save and except those who have been, or shall be, convicted of having directly taken part in the murder of British subjects. With regard to such the demands of justice forbid the exercise of mercy.

To those who have willingly given asylum to murderers, knowing them to be such, or who may have acted as leaders or instigators of revolt, their lives alone can be guaranteed; but in apportioning the penalty due to such persons, full consideration will be given to the circumstances under which they have been induced to throw off their allegiance; and large indulgence will be shown to those whose crimes may appear to have originated in too credulous acceptance of the false reports circulated by designing men.

To all others in arms against the Government we hereby promise unconditional pardon, amnesty and oblivion of all offences against ourselves, our crown and dignity, on their return to their homes and peaceful pursuits.

It is our royal pleasure that these terms of grace and amnesty should be extended to all those who comply with these conditions before the 1st day of January next.

When, by the blessing of Providence, internal tranquillity shall be restored, it is our earnest desire to stimulate the peaceful industry of India, to promote works of public utility and improvement, and to administer the government for the benefit of all our subjects resident therein. In their prosperity will be our strength, in their contentment our security, and in their gratitude our best reward. And may the God of all power grant to us, and to those in authority under us, strength to carry out these our wishes for the good of our people."

In this dignified and imposing fashion passed the greatest corporation the world had ever seen. It continued to possess a shadowy existence for the purpose of winding up its affairs till 1874.

CHAPTER VII

THE LAW COURTS

MR. COWELL has pointed out that in the Act of 1781, as in the more famous one of 1773:

there is no plain statement of the relation in which the Indian territories stood to the British Crown, nor whether any Indian natives were to be comprehended under the term 'subjects,' nor whether the provincial courts were to have a concurrent jurisdiction with the supreme court or an exclusive one; nor, if the latter, what were to be the limits of it. The phrase 'British subjects' is used in both Acts in such a way as necessarily to exclude from its meaning the Hindu and Mohammedan inhabitants; but it is so used that, with respect at least to subjects not being natives of Great Britain or India, subsequent glosses made it impossible to affix any definite understanding to it."

He goes on to show that the result of these Acts was the continuance of the distinction between the presidency towns and the Mofussil which has been so curious and so marked a feature of Indian legal history.

When Lord Cornwallis arrived in India in 1786 as the exponent of a new policy, the directors pointed out that "they had been actuated by the necessity of accommodating their views and interests to the subsisting manners and usages of the people, rather than by any abstract theories drawn from other countries or applicable to a different state of things."

We have now to trace the efforts made to improve a naturally complicated and difficult state of affairs, and in so doing we must deal in the first place with the Supreme Court and then with Sudder and Mofussil Courts, civil and criminal.

There continued to be for some time but one Supreme Court in India, that of Fort William, the number of whose