Nand Kumar. (Macaulay 611-13, 621-25.) b, TheMahratta war. (Reich 33.) c, Hyder Ali. (Reich 33.) allow his predecessor's property to remain in the hands of the widow and mother of the dead man-the Begums as they were called. When an infamous Brahman named Nand Kumar brought charges of taking bribes against Hastings, Francis eagerly adopted them. To support these charges Nand Kamur produced certain documents. He was suddenly accused of forgery, tried before Sir Elijah Impey, condemned and hanged. Francis and his friends accused Hastings of collusion with Impey and called him a murderer. Though the sentence was severe for a crime common at that time amongst natives, and the condemnation opportune for the Governor-General, there is little reason to think it was done with Hastings' knowledge. Soon after Monson died and Francis came home, to work on the Directors and the English public against the Governor-General. Hastings had further difficulties. Madras and Bombay were jealous of the supremacy of Bengal. They tried to over-ride the wishes of Hastings, and to obtain the same mastery over their provinces as Calcutta had done over Bengal. The Bombay Government tried to gain power by helping the Mahrattas who proved dangerous friends, for they allied with the French and for a time things looked serious. Madras was similarly endangered by the revolt of Hyder Ali who championed the cause of the French who had lately been ejected from Pondicherry (1778) and other stations in the Carnatic. It was Hastings who extricated both Governments from their difficulties. The ambition of the Bombay Government was to acquire Bassein and Sabsette which formerly belonged to the Portuguese, but now were in the hands of the Mahrattas. Hastings at first disapproved of a policy carried on without his knowledge. Later he supported it as it gave him an opportunity of suppressing French activity which had revived after Saratoga. The Bombay Government hopelessly failed in an expedition to Poonah, but two decisive military events, directed by Hastings a march from Calcutta to Guzerat (1780) and the capture of Gwalior-restored British prestige. By the Treaty of Salbai, Sabsette was obtained by Bombay, and all foreigners except British and Portuguese were excluded from Mahratta territory. Madras also called for his intervention. It had provoked Hyder Ali who was an unscrupulous and able Mohammedan ruler. In attacking the French the Bengalese Government had occupied Mahé, the port by which Hyder Ali communicated with Europe, and had invaded Mysore. The disasters to Great Britain in America, and the trouble with the Mahrattas, seemed to supply the necessary occasion for reprisals. Forming an alliance with the French, the Mahrattas, and the Nizam of Hyderabad, he invaded the Carnatic and won two decisive victories over Munro and Baillie. A storm of universal fire blasted every field, consumed every house, destroyed every temple." Hastings was appealed to and at once set to work. He bribed the Nizam to desert, the Mahrattas were forced to withdraw, and Sir Eyre Coote was sent from Madras to confront Hyder Ali. By his victories of Porto Novo and Polilore (1781) he saved Madras. The next year saw peace with France and the death of Hyder Ali. His son Tippoo made peace with England. All this had caused expense, and Hastings raised money by questionable, if Eastern methods, which even the strongest necessity can hardly condone. From Cheyte Sing, the Rajah a, Cheyte Sing. of Benares, he demanded a large subsidy for the war on the ground that he was a dependent of the Company. On Cheyte Sing's refusal, he fined him £500,000, and went in person to collect it. His force was beaten back, but, on reinforcements arriving, he stormed the town, deposed the Rajah, and took the money by force. Oudh. The Nawab of Oudh was then applied to for assistance. His e, The Begums of wealth had been given to the Begums. Hastings lent him troops to take the money from them by force. A large part went to Hastings in payment of a debt to the Company. Such a state of things as existed in India could not be permanent. A great and growing Empire could not permanently be managed by a trading Company. But the past services of the East India Company and its own power, as 1783. well as the rivalries of political parties, made complete reform (2) Fox's India Bill, difficult. There were various attempts at reform. In 1781 a Political Enquiry was held, but the Company refused to recall Hastings. In 1783 Fox introduced his India Bill, which was drafted by Burke. It sought to revise North's Regulating Act, and put the Government on a firmer basis. Its provisions were as follows: (a) To transfer the political management from the Company to seven commissioners to be appointed by Parliament. (b) To place the commercial management under eight direc- (Lecky v, 231.) (4) Pitt's India Act, 1784. (Lecky v. 352.) (4) Impeachment of Hastings. a, The Trial. b, Its value In 1784 Pitt's India Bill was carried, and remained in force till 1858. Its provisions were as follows: (a) A Board of Control was appointed, consisting of six members of the Privy Council chosen by the Crown. It was directly responsible to the Parliament and the Crown and had supreme military and civil authority. (b) The Company retained the business and commercial appointments, subject to the veto of the Crown. This was a wise compromise. (1) The political affairs of India were placed under the Board of Control, but (2) there was no sudden disturbance of patronage, which was divided between the Crown and the Company; and (3) there was no interference with chartered rights. In 1785 Hastings returned to face the growing hostility engendered by party politics, personal spite, and general misunderstanding. In 1787 the Commons resolved to impeach him. The Impeachment was moved by Burke, and supported by Fox for party reasons. The trial began in 1788 and dragged on till 1795. Actually it occupied only 148 days, and in the end he was acquitted. Long before this all interest in the trial which had begun with so much display, in which every great orator was a prosecutor, and at which the noblest and best of England's rank had gathered, was at an end. The definite charges against Hastings were as follows: 1. He had hired English troops to the Nawab of Oudh. This was at any rate condoned by his subsequent appointment as Governor General, and the charge failed. 2. The fine he had imposed on Cheyte Singh. This was carried in Parliament, with Pitt's support. 3. The robbery of the Begums. This charge was also carried, with Pitt's support. The failure of the Impeachment may be attributed to (a) the general sense of the great services he had rendered in India, and (b) a feeling of sympathy with a man who was accused by such powerful and talented men as Burke, Sheridan, and Philip Francis. The Constitutional importance of the trial was that it decided that an Impeachment was not ended by a Dissolution of Parliament. Warren Hastings was justly acquitted. But it was evident he had done many things which, though common enough to Eastern methods of rule, were contrary to English standards of justice and morality. Much permanent improvement in Indian affairs resulted from the light which his Impeachment threw on the many abuses which prevailed in the distant Empire. He acted as he did not for personal gain but with the object c, Hastings' work. of strengthening and extending British rule. He carried out a vast and complicated reform of the administration, the general effect of which was to transfer the responsible posts from native to British officials, and to ensure that these should be uncorrupt and efficient. It was Warren Hastings, more than any other, who placed the power of England in India on a firm basis. The next phase of Indian history was opened by Napoleon's attempt to convert it into a French dependency. 1786-93 Cornwallis, who became Governor General in 1786, instituted iii. Cornwallis. many reforms. He put an end to the system of perquisites and gave the officials proper salaries, and he improved the systems of landowning and of justice. Napoleon. 1799 When Napoleon began his attempt to capture India for iv. Tippoo Sahib and France he encouraged Tippoo, Sultan of Mysore, the son of Hyder Ali, to rise. Richard Wellesley, Governor General from 1798 to 1805, attacked him. Seringapatam was captured and his territory of Mysore brought under English rule. The English were thus brought once again in contact with the Mahrattas, and Wellesley introduced the "Subsidiary System," by which the Provinces were governed by an English resident, and English officers were placed over the native armies. In spite of efforts to avoid extension of territory, repeated attacks by native tribes made it constantly necessary, and gradually all India and even Burma (1823—8) came under British rule, with many improvements in the Government. Meanwhile the East India Company, in consequence of Pitt's Act of 1784, became practically a department of the British Government. Its charter was revised in 1833, and in 1858 it lapsed to the Crown. 4. HOME POLITICS 1772-1788. I Lord North's Domestic Policy i. Slavery Sommersett's case ii. Prison Reform-John Howard iii. Religious Toleration-The Gordon Riots, 1780 2 Party Confusion, 1782-84 i. Rockingham's 2nd Ministry and Reform ii. Shelburne's Ministry-end of American war 3 William Pitt the younger 1783-1801 a Pitt's character b His earlier work i. India ii. Finance iii. Parliamentary Reform iv. Ireland v. The Regency Question The closing years of the XVIII. Century were distinguished by the awakening of a desire to improve the condition of the people. This goes far to relieve the Century from its general dullness. Public Opinion on the subject of Slavery was beginning to change. For many years England with the Dutch had been the leaders in this detestable trade which had received a new impetus from the Assiento Treaty 1713. The slaves were treated as mere property, without any of the rights or claims of human beings. Even Pitt, the elder, upheld the system, and Lord Dartmouth, the Secretary of State and one of the leaders of religious thought in England, declared that We cannot allow the colonies to check or discourage in any degree a traffic so beneficial to the nation." But in the Northern Colonies of America there was a rising spirit of dislike to it, and in England itself opinion was changing. Ever since villanage died out, and had been declared illegal, the status of a colonial slave had been questionable. In the colonies slavery was legal. But a slave, named Sommersett, who had been brought to England, sued for his Habeas Corpus and Chief Justice Mansfield in 1772 declared slavery to be illegal in England. Later Wilberforce and Clarkson by stirring speeches and unflagging zeal did much in preparing for its general abolition in the British Empire. Both Pitt and Fox were in favour of it, but the French Revolution tempered the former's enthusiasm in this as in other causes. It was finally abolished in the British Empire in 1807. The state of criminals in English prisons was terrible. Transportation was far more preferable. The prisoners were not even fed by the authorities but subsisted on alms. Sanitation was almost unknown. The prisons were so overcrowded that jail-fever carried off hundreds of victims, and released prisoners spread the contagion far and wide. Sexes and classes were herded together indiscriminately, so that few had the chance of regaining respectability. The jailers, too, practically owned the prisons and retained the unfortunate prisoners, as debtors, long after the proper date for their release. The philanthropist, John Howard, first drew attention to the state of things. He visited jails in England and abroad, often at the risk of his own life, and laid the matter before Parliament. In consequence measures of prison reform began in 1774. The necessity for paying the King's debts brought about attempts at economy. The Civil List was established for the support of the royal household, the personal expenses of the Sovereign, and the payment of civil officers and pensioners. It was this latter item which enabled Burke and others of the Opposition to press for Reform. Royal influence was often exercised through the granting of Pensions in return for |