The Development of an Indian Policy (1818-1858) (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Development of an Indian Policy (1818-1858)

Never was there any period when Europe and India made more real progress within the lifetime of one generation than during the twenty years which succeeded the Napoleonic wars and the last Mahratta wars.

Castlereagh1 destroyed himself in 1822. He was succeeded as leader in the House of Commons by the noble-minded Canning, a great statesman, a gifted orator, a true Liberal at heart. His appointment as 'leader of the House of Commons, under Lord Liverpool, who was still Prime Minister, marks a turning - point in English history, and is the first official recognition of that Liberalism which was growing in England. Reforms which had been delayed so long came trooping in. The barbarous criminal laws of England, which inflicted the punishment of death on slight offences, were being slowly modified. The equally barbarous laws which' kept the working classes bound as serfs to the British soil, and in convenient subordination to their employers, were repealed, and combinations of workmen to obtain better wages were no longer forbidden. Last, though not least, was the subject of the emancipation of the Catholics, who were still debarred from Sitting in the House of Commons or holding important offices under the Crown. 'canning fought nobly for the complete emancipation of Catholics from all disabilities.

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