Governor-General in Council for Bengal and ordered that the regulations passed by Government should be formed into a code, printed with a translation, and the grounds of such regulations prefixed. The provincial courts of justice were to regulate their decisions by the rules and ordinances which such regulations contained. The same kind of powers were granted to the Governor and Council of Madras in 1800, and in 1807 another Act (see below) gave the same powers to the Governors in Council of both Madras and Bombay, but the regulations had to be registered in the respective Supreme Courts. The Governor-General, though he had authority over the Governors of Madras and Bombay in political and revenue matters, does not seem to have exercised control over them in regard to legislation.

In 1799, the statute 39 Geo. III. c. 109 revised the rules as to the recruiting of the forces of the Company. The cost of the recruiting until the transfer was made to the service of the Company was to be borne by the Company, but the actual management was to be in the hands of the Crown. Suitable regulations as to discipline and limitations as to numbers were provided. This Act was amended slightly in 1810. The Act of 1800 as to law courts (39 & 40 Geo. III. c. 79) will be noticed in its appropriate place; and an Act of 1802 (42 Geo. III. c. 85) for extending the facilities for prosecuting officials out of Great Britain for offences committed in the execution of or under colour of office testifies to the attention excited by the possibility of such occurrences. In 1807 (47 Geo. III. session 2, c. 68) the Governments in the East Indies were authorized to establish banks of which the Company's servants could, with the exception of judges, become managers or directors.

We now come to the eventful years when the whole question of the administration of the Company came under inquiry and when its Charter was once more renewed. The result of the inquiry, which lasted from 1808 to 1812, was published in the well-known Fifth Report, and it led to the Charter Act of 1813, quoted as 53 Geo. III. c. 155. There was obviously a great improvement in the East India Company's management,

though its financial position was not a strong one. But its monopoly and the control it exercised over those who might wish for more freedom from various motivesnotably missionary zeal-were the two points upon which most attention was directed; the two are intimately connected together. The views of the Government were expressed in the thirteen resolutions which after much debate were substantially represented by the Act of 1813. The following is a brief analysis of that Act:

The preamble states that it is desirable that the territorial possessions of the Company should, "without prejudice to the undoubted sovereignty of the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in and over the same, or to any claim of the said United Company to any rights, franchises, or immunities, remain in the possession and under the government of the said United Company for a further term. . . and it is expedient that from and after the 10th day of April 1814, the right of trading trafficing, and adventuring in, to, and from, all ports and places within the limits of the said United Company's present Charter, save and except the dominions of the Emperor of China, should be open to all His Majesty's subjects, in common with the said United Company, subject to certain regulations and provisions; but that the existing restraints respecting the commercial intercourse with China should be continued, and the exclusive trade in tea preserved to the said Company, during the further term hereby limited."

The early Sections therefore provide that the territories of the Company shall be under the government of the Company for a further period of twenty years, but it is laid down that excepting in regard to the Chinese trade the old monopoly is to cease. It is true that the Indian trade is only to be open under careful restrictions, but the step has been taken. The question of missions was one as has been said about which there had been much dispute. We seem to hear echoes of various views upon the subject in Section 33 which begins: "And whereas it is the duty of this country to promote the interest and happiness of the native inhabitants of the British dominions in India; and such measures ought to be adopted as may tend to the introduction among them of useful knowledge, and of religious and moral improvement and in furtherance of the above objects, sufficient facilities ought to be afforded by law to persons desirous of going to and remaining in India, for the purpose of accomplishing those benevolent designs, so as the authority of the local governments respecting the intercourse of Europeans with the interior of the country be preserved, and the principles of the British Government, on which the natives of India have hitherto relied for the free exercise of their religion be inviolably maintained." The Act goes on to provide that. licences must be obtained for going to India from the Directors (with an appeal to the Board of Control), and that when there such

persons will be subject to the regulations of the local governments, and that they must reside within certain limits. The Board of Control is to have authority over colleges and seminaries which the Company may establish in India and a lakh of rupees a year at least, if available, is to be applied to the "revival and improvement of literature and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories in India "; the Governor-General in Council making suitable regulations subject to the approbation of the Board of Control. The Act recognizes the importance of and deals with the question of the training of the Company's officers, both civil and military. Full provision is also made for the establishment of a Bishop and three Archdeacons with handsome salaries to be paid by the Company. Copies of Regulations made by the Governments of India under the authority of various Acts of Parliament are to be laid before Parliament by the Directors. Various provisions follow as to the way in which business is to be transacted by the Company and as to the way in which information is to be given to the Board of Control. The Directors are, subject to His Majesty's approbation, to appoint when a vacancy occurs in the office of Governor-General, Governor, or Commander-in-Chief. Various other regulations as to appointments follow. The Company unless they ask for more men are not to be required to pay for a greater number of British troops than twenty thousand officers and men. The Act also regulates various payments and pensions.

As we now reach a portion of the Act which deals with functions associated with regality we have an assertion of the rights of the Crown. It is stated in Section 95 that: "Nothing in this Act contained shall extend or be construed to extend, to prejudice or affect the undoubted sovereignty of the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in and over the said territorial acquisitions, nor to preclude the said United Company, after the determination of the term hereby granted, from the enjoyment of, or claim to, any rights, franchises, or immunities which they now have, or to which they may hereafter be entitled." The Governments in India are then empowered to make "laws and regulations and articles of war" for the native troops and to hold courts-martial. And, subject to the sanction of the Directors and the approbation of the Board of Control the Governments in India may levy taxes within their jurisdictions. The conclusion is occupied with rules as to the Courts.

It will be observed that though certain privileges were relinquished, much was retained. And yet this Act showed perhaps more than any that preceded it the hold which the British Government was gradually securing over the country. The Company might retain its patronage, but it was clear that it was only a matter of time before the interference in its affairs would be even more extensive

than that of the past. The ideas which had found expression in the democratic movement could not long be withstood.

We may briefly enumerate the legislative enactments which were passed between this Act and the next great statute, that of 1833.

In 1814 we have 54 Geo. III. c. 115 confirming the power of the Indian Governments to levy customs duties and other taxes "as well upon British subjects as foreigners and other persons whomsoever." The same year the Letters Patent dealing with the bishopric of Calcutta were issued.

In 1815 the statute 55 Geo. III. c. 84 gave the GovernorGeneral and Governors in Council power to extend the limits of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay from time to time. It also made certain improvements as to judicial matters and gave power to the various Indian Governments to remove persons not being British subjects or natives of the British territories in India if they so wished.

Another elaborate Act passed in 1818, 58 Geo. III. c. 83, reduced into one statute the various laws relating to the manner in which the East India Company were required to hire ships. In the same year, 58 Geo. III. c. 84 gave validity to marriages performed in India by ministers of the Church of Scotland, about which there seems to have been some doubt, and which, as Sir Courtenay Ilbert points out, have since formed the subject of Indian legislation (1872). Marriages contracted abroad were recognized again by a statute of 1823, 4 Geo. IV. c. 91. Amongst other statutes of small importance belonging to this time may be mentioned 59 Geo. III. c. 60, which allowed the English Archbishops and the Bishops of London to admit persons to orders specially for service in His Majesty's foreign possessions, such persons not being entitled without further permission to hold ecclesiastical positions in England. It may be doubted whether such an Act was quite in conformity with the teaching of the Church of England; it produced occasional difficulties in practice; but it showed the power of Parliament over the Church on the one hand,

and it allowed men to be ordained though they had not a distinct curacy, or title, in view, as was the case in ordinary English ordinations.

59 Geo. III. c. 69, a foreign enlistment Act of 1819, gave Englishmen permission to enter into the military service of any "state or potentate in Asia, with leave or licence, signified in the usual manner, from the GovernorGeneral in Council, or Vice-President in Council, of Fort William in Bengal, or in conformity with any orders or regulations issued or sanctioned by such Governor-General or Vice-President in Council. In 1820 was passed the statute I Geo. IV. c. 99, which empowered the Company to raise and maintain a corps of volunteer infantry not exceeding 800 rank and file from among the persons in their employ.

The Act of 1823, 4 Geo. IV. c. 71, settled that the Company, out of the revenues from the territorial acquisitions, should pay the sums of sixty thousand pounds a year to His Majesty's exchequer, for the pensions of His Majesty's forces serving in India. The same statute settled the pensions of Indian bishops and archdeacons, the chaplains being left to the Company's regulations. It also gave power, which seems to have been doubtful previously, to the Bishop of Calcutta, to admit persons to holy orders, for the diocese of Calcutta only; and it states that unless the person be a British subject belonging to the United Kingdom, he need not take and make the oaths and subscriptions which persons ordained in England are required to take and make. The rest of the Act relates to the establishment of a high court at Bombay, which will be noticed in another place. Another Act of 1823, 4 Geo. IV. c. 80, regulated the proportion of British seamen to be employed on British ships, and gave full rights of trade from port to port to British ships in all places within the Company's sphere with the exception of China.

Statute 4 Geo. IV. c. 81 consolidated and amended the laws for punishing mutiny and desertion of officers and soldiers in the service of the East India Company. It was repealed by 3 & 4 Vic. c. 37.