Volume 1

The East-India gazetteer; containing particular descriptions of the empires, kingdoms, principalities, provinces, cities, towns, districts, fortresses, harbours, rivers, lakes, &c. of Hindostan, and the adjacent countries, India beyond the Ganges, and the eastern archipelago; together with sketches of the manners, customs, institutions, agriculture, commerce, manufactures, revenues, population, castes, religion, history, &c. of their various inhabitants / By Walter Hamilton.

  • Hamilton, Walter, M.R.A.S.
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The East-India gazetteer; containing particular descriptions of the empires, kingdoms, principalities, provinces, cities, towns, districts, fortresses, harbours, rivers, lakes, &c. of Hindostan, and the adjacent countries, India beyond the Ganges, and the eastern archipelago; together with sketches of the manners, customs, institutions, agriculture, commerce, manufactures, revenues, population, castes, religion, history, &c. of their various inhabitants / By Walter Hamilton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    237/712 (page 215)
    S15 Moorshedabacl, the old. seat of go¬ vernment, and of the public exche¬ quer. These native ministers, with the officers they employed in the pro¬ vinces, were now laid aside, and the Company, by the aid of their own Eu¬ ropean servants, undertook the col¬ lection of the revenue. Along with their former controlling power, the governor and council joined the ac¬ tual cognizance and executive ma¬ nagement, which until then had re¬ mained vested in the native ministers. The ostensible seat of government and of the exchequer was removed to Calcutta, the province subdivided into collectorships, and a European civil servant stationed in each district as a revenue collector. This alteration transferred to the English the civil administration of justice, and every interposing me¬ dium between them and their Indian subjects being displaced, they came to transact business immediately with each other. The direct authority of the British now pervaded the inte¬ rior, and the native or country go¬ vernment was abrogated, both in form and fact, with the exception of the nabob’s remaining function, that of chief criminal magistrate. The pub¬ lic functionaries then (1772) com¬ menced their operations, and ap¬ parently with a very strong desire to alleviate the sufferings of the people : but, owing to the novelty of the task, committed many errors, both in finance and the administration of justice, which rather tended to aggra¬ vate them. On this occasion suffi¬ cient attention was not paid to the essential distinction between the land¬ holder, having an interest in the soil, and the revenue servant, whose ob¬ ject was of course, not the permanent welfare of the district under his ma¬ nagement, but the temporary realiza¬ tion of the greatest possible revenue. Mr. Hastings continued in the go¬ vernment until 1785, when he re¬ turned to Europe, and was succeeded by Sir John Macpherson. From the period of the revolution in 1757> the British in Bengal entered into no external offensive alliances, pursuing the system recommended by Lord Clive, which was, to avoid schemes of conquest and political intrigue, to improve the domestic condition of the provinces, and to procure respect by moderation and good faith. A deviation from this principle, how¬ ever, began in 1774, having for ob¬ ject the pecuniary advantage of the Company; and in 1778 a much wider deviation took place, by the carrying on of offensive war, with a view to the acquisition of territory in the west of India. By these measures an enormous debt was incurred, and the public resources greatly exhaust-, ed; to which evils succeeded the at¬ tack of Hyder Ali on the Carnatic, and a defensive war against him and his allies, the French, the support of which fell wholly on Bengal. On this emergency the legislature again inter¬ fered, and regulations were enacted to correct the evils then prevalent, and also to invigorate the authority of the home administration of Indian affairs. Lord Cornwallis reached Bengal in September 1786, and during his go¬ vernment the last period took place of the British territorial administration of Bengal, the land revenue having been permanently fixed, and the same en¬ joyment of rights secured to all the inferior occupants of the soil. Very essential reforms were also made in the administration of justice. Up to this date the high station of supreme criminal judge remained vested in the nabob, represented by some Maho- medan delegate, who filled the infe¬ rior courts by sale with his own mean retainers, who, to reimburse them¬ selves, exercised every extortion and oppression. Under this destructive system the country groaned, and with its exist¬ ence the British government was just¬ ly reproached. But, reluctant to touch the last remaining prerogative of the nabob, it long temporized, until the evil became insupportable, when an arrangement took place, by the con¬ ditions of which the nabob appoint¬ ed the Governor-general in council his delegate in the office of supreme