of his transfer to the government of the presidency of Madras. The Governor-General's arguments, however, bore some fruit, for attention was called to the necessity of tours of the Governors of the presidencies, and the change of practice has since been maintained with the best results.

The administration of Lord Dalhousie was signalised by other changes of far-reaching consequence in the constitution and regulations of the public service. Some of these were introduced by the new Act and under the pressure of public opinion at home. Others owed their origin to the Governor-General. Of the first class the most important was the admission of candidates into Haileybury and into the public service by public competition. Regulations for giving effect to the new system were to be made by the Board, and a Committee appointed for the purpose under the guidance of Macaulay submitted its report in November, 1854. It was at once perceived that the East India College, instituted at Hertford in 1806, and transferred in 1809 to Haileybury, had run its course, and must soon be closed. Accordingly Lord Dalhousie carried out a corresponding change in India, which he had long contemplated, by abolishing Fort William College in Calcutta. Nothing but the prestige of its distinguished founder, Lord Wellesley, had saved the institution from an earlier death. In 1800 there was some justification for its existence. Then the young civilians had arrived in India at the age of sixteen, acquainted with "the rule of three, practice, and merchants' accomplishments," but profoundly ignorant of the elements of a liberal education. The establishment of Haileybury had somewhat altered the position, but the College was kept up in order that the Hailey

bury men might learn the languages and put a final touch to their other acquirements. The temptations of Calcutta proved too strong for them. "The splendid festivities," described by Tennant, "by which the evenings of the Europeans were exhilarated after the lassitude, fatigue, and debility of the day," counteracted any possible good that the young men might have gained in the lecture-rooms. Their extravagance became a byword, and they left the College with debts which frequently amounted to £10,000. It was once seriously proposed to apply a surplus in the accounts of India to the liquidation of these debts, which left the administrators of Bengal "at the mercy of moneylenders." Matters had improved before 1848, but Lord Dalhousie found the inmates of the College "idling and loitering." He at once put his finger on the mischief. A period of twenty-two months had hitherto been allowed for passing the examinations in two languages. This he cut down to six months, turning the unsuccessful out of Calcutta into up-country stations to learn law and the languages at a safe distance from "the festivities of the Presidency town." With the advent of the competitive system he finally closed the College as being "a mere fiction and shadow, no longer adapted to the purposes it was intended to serve." In place of it he established a system of departmental examinations for promotion under the control of a central Board, which, with the modifications required by time, is still in force in all parts of India.

This was not the only legacy bequeathed by him to the public service. It was in his time that all officers of Government were forbidden to take part in the management of banks or trading concerns; and one of his latest circulars, issued on the 12th of

January, 1856, still regulates the duty of heads of offices in dealing with subordinates who resort to the insolvent court, and warns such offenders of their liability to dismissal. No Governor-General ever enforced by higher example the standard of public duty required from the servants of the State. At the same time he did not forget the privileges due to them in leave and pension rules, and it was owing to his advocacy that the Act of 1853 extended leave and furlough to the Company's servants residing "outside the limits of the Charter."

The changes introduced by the Act into the constitution of the Court of Directors were important. Upon them, and not upon the Government of India, fell the brunt of the attack in Parliament. As Wood wrote:

They have ceased making their senseless attacks upon the Indian Government, and confined their censures to the Directors. It was curious to see the large majority for the "double Government," as it is called, in spite of the union of Disraeli with the Indian reformers, and the anxiety to strip the Directors of any power or patronage.

It is true that at the instance of the British exporters of salt, a clause as to the tax on that commodity was added to the Bill, but even this was thrown out in the Upper House. And the reduction in the number of the members of the Court, the regulations as to their appointment, and the qualification as to the amount of stock which made them eligible, fell upon them with crushing weight. On receiving a copy of the Bill, Lord Dalhousie wrote to Wood on the 19th of September, 1853, in these terms:

I regard it as the sentence of the Court of Directors. You have not ordered them for immediate execution; but the sentence

is nevertheless a capital sentence in my opinion, and death must follow sooner or later.

He was consulted by the President as to the new Directors to be nominated by the Crown, and suggested the names of Millett, Currie, and Willoughby. The first he commended as, though a poor speaker, man of excellent judgment and temper, and the most indefatigable worker that ever toiled." Currie was

less laborious, but "of undoubted ability, reputation, experience, good temper, and independent means. 'Willoughby is one of the ablest men I have met in India." Thus, although Lord Dalhousie had no voice in the alterations made in the constitution of the Court, he assisted in the exercise of the patronage conferred upon the Crown by the new Act.

This account of the provisions of the Statute of 1853 would be incomplete without reference to two clauses affecting the military concerns of the Company. By one of them the Commander-in-Chief of Her Majesty's forces in India or in any presidency was made, by virtue of such appointment, Commander-in-Chief of the Company's forces in India or in the presidency as the case might be. But the most important change was that which increased the number of the European troops of the Company from a maximum of 12,200 men, fixed by the Act of 1781, to 20,000, including officers, and permitted the Company to train and discipline at home 4000 of that number. This was an increase of the military resources of the Company for which Lord Dalhousie had strongly pleaded; but it will be convenient to reserve for the next chapter an account of his policy and his measures affecting this department of the administration.

CHAPTER VIII

MILITARY AFFAIRS

Lord Dalhousie's interest in military reform-Obstacles at home in the way of increasing the European troops-Obstacles in India to military reform-Outline of his reforms-Incompetence of the Military Board-Full trial given to it-It is relieved of commissariat, stud, and ordnance duties, then finally abolished-The army clothing department created-The Medical department organisedStrength of official optimism at home-Lord Dalhousie's views regarding the necessity of increasing the European forces-His first minute regarding European cavalry-His second minute regarding European infantry in the Queen's service-His third minute on European infantry in the Company's service-His fourth minute on European invalid companies-His fifth minute on Bengal artillery-His sixth minute on Native infantry-His seventh minute on the Bengal cavalry-His eighth minute on the presidency armies— His ninth minute on augmentation of European officers-Suppression of the minutes by the East India House-Lord Dalhousie's proposals for forming volunteer corps-His views upon the system of seniority-Controversy regarding the Peshawar command-Rules observed by him in the exercise of patronage-The location of magazines-Reforms introduced into invalid establishments-His maintenance of discipline-His views on pensions, medals, and prize money-His advocacy of the rights of the Company's officersHis solicitude for the welfare of the soldier-His views on the education of the children of Christian soldiers attached to Native regiments.

THE military organisation of India underwent such radical changes after the mutiny that one is apt to regard the year 1858 as the commencement of an

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