CHAPTER XI

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE COMPANY

1858

WITH the close of Dalhousie's Governor-generalship the theme of this book, strictly speaking, comes to an end. For that theme has been the growth of the territorial power, and of the system of government, of the East India Company. The Company expired in the flames of the Mutiny which broke out very soon after Dalhousie left India. The story of the Mutiny itself is no part of our subject; it did not add to the territorial power of the Company, or alter its system of government; and in any case its confused and complicated causes, and its tragic and terrible course, could not be usefully illustrated in the space at our command. It remains only to wind up the history of the Company by means of the documents which formally put an end to its existence, and transferred to the British Crown the vast territories and responsibilities which had resulted from a hundred years' work.

The transfer of the Indian Empire to the Crown involved far less change than might at first sight appear; for the Crown had been steadily increasing its control over the Company's affairs almost since the beginning of its territorial sovereignty. In 1858 the main rules under which India was governed were already rules laid down by the British Parliament; and although the British administrators in India, from the Governor-General downwards, were nominally servants of the Company's Board of Directors, they all knew that the authorities

to whom they really had to answer were the British Cabinet with its Indian Minister called the President of the Board of Control, and (behind the Cabinet) the British Parliament. Beginning with the Regulating Act of 1773, a long series of statutes, more especially those of 1784, 1793, 1813, 1823, 1833, and 1853, had reduced the effective powers of the Board of Directors within narrower and narrower limits, until it had become little more than nominal. The Company had first lost its trading monopoly, and then been prohibited from trading at all. Its governmental functions theoretically continued, and all important despatches were addressed to its Board of Directors; but they were immediately passed on to the Government, and no action could be taken upon them without the Government's consent. The Directors nominally appointed and paid their officers in India. But the chief of those officers were in reality the nominees of Government; while the rank and file could only enter by the strait door of Haileybury College, admissions to which were largely controlled by Government. The duties of the various officers, and the salaries to be paid to them, were strictly determined, and were in fact under the supervision of Parliament. Before Parliament were laid regular reports on Indian affairs, and the voluminous papers relating to diplomatic and military transactions. The Empire which had grown up under the Company's auspices had in fact long since passed from its control. The continued existence of the Company had long been an anomaly, only justifiable on sentimental grounds: it played no real effective part in the machinery of government, but was only a super fluous fifth wheel; and when the time-honoured forms were at last thrust aside, and the British Government stood frankly forth as responsible for the welfare of India, it was as if a ventriloquist were to throw aside his absurd doll and speak in his natural voice.

The two documents which occupy this chapter need no commentary. The first (No. 141) is the Proclamation of the Queen to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India announcing the transfer of power. Its main features are the promises of

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complete religious toleration and the maintenance of the ancient rights, usages and customs of India." These were no new doctrines: they represented the consistent policy of the Company during at least the preceding generation. But it seemed necessary to reiterate them, because a fear that the religious customs of India were going to be attacked had been the principal cause of the Mutiny. The second document is the Act of the British Parliament transferring all the powers and properties of the Company to the Crown, and setting up a Secretary of State with an India Council of fifteen members to take the place of the President of the Board of Control on the one hand, and of the Board of Directors on the other. This is, in effect, the only change which the Act made. It introduced no changes in the actual administrative system in India; but on the contrary (§ 64) laid it down that "all acts and provisions now in force under charter or otherwise concerning India shall continue in force." In short, it is a change of form rather than of substance. Nevertheless it ends an epoch, the epoch of the making of the Indian Empire; and opens a new one, the epoch of the modern development of that Empire, and of its entry into that great comradeship of nations which is called the British Empire. The new epoch is not less important or interesting than the old; but it is different, and deserves to be separately treated.

141. PROCLAMATION BY THE QUEEN IN COUNCIL TO THE PRINCES, CHIEFS, AND PEOPLE OF INDIA

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 Australia, 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 special trust and confidence in the loyalty, ability, and judgment of our right trusty and well-beloved cousin and counsellor, 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 from us 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 Honourable 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 fulfil.

Firmly relying ourselves on the truth of Christianity, and acknowledging with gratitude the solace of religion, we disclaim alike the right and desire to impose our convictions on any of our subjects. We declare it to be our royal will and

pleasure that none be in anywise 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 offices 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 show our mercy by pardoning the offences of those who have been thus misled, but who desire to return to the path of duty.

Already, in one province, with a view 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 GovernorGeneral, and do further announce and proclaim as follows:

Our clemency will be extended to all offenders, save and except these 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