After the Battle of Buxer, Warren Hastings was made the British resident commissioner at the court of the Nawab of Bengal. He had participated valiantly in Battle of Plassey and other skirmishes. He was favoured by Clive who was the Governor of Bengal before him. Clive had come to Bengal in May 1765 and left in Feb 1767. However, Warren Hastings became the Governor-General of Bengal, responsible for supervision and control over all the three presidencies viz-Bombay, Madras and Bengal.

WARREN HASTINGS (1772-1785)

• The passing of Regulating Act of 1773
• The passing of Pills India Act, 1784
• The Rohilla War of 1774
• First Maratha war (1775-1782) and the Treaty of Salbai in 1782
• Second Mysore war in 1780-1784
• Foundation of Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 by Sir William Jones

REGULATING ACT OF 1773

This was passed by the British Parliament to reform the administration of East India Company which had become unruly and chaotic. The system of dual administration in Bengal was not favoured to continue anymore.

1.  The Act limited Company dividends to 6% until it repaid a £ 1.5M loan. It restricted the Court of Directors to only four-year terms.
2.  It prohibited the servants of Company from engaging in any private trade or accepting presents or bribes from the natives.
3.  The Act elevated Governor of Bengal, Warren Hasting to Governor General of Bengal and Subsumed the presidencies of Madras and Bombay under Bengal’s control.
4.  The Act named four additional men to serve with the Governor General on the Calcutta Council. These councilors were commonly known as the “Council of Four”.
5.  A Supreme Court was established at Fort William at Calcutta. British judges were to be sent to India to administer the British legal system that was used there.

PITT’S INDIA ACT OF 1784

This Act was intended to address the shortcomings of Regulating Act of 1773 by making the East India Company accountable to the British Parliament. As per the Act:

1.  A governing Board was constituted with six members, two of whom were members of the British Cabinet and the remaining from the Privy Council. The Board also had a president, who soon effectively became the minister for the affairs of the East India Company. The Act stated that the Board would henceforth “superintent, direct and control” the government of the Company’s possessions in effect controlling the acts and operation relating to the civil and military and the revenues of the Company.

2.  The governing Council of the Company was reduced to three members, and the Governor General a Crown appointee, was authorized to veto majority decisions. The Governor of Bombay and Madras were also deprived of their independence. The Governor General was given greater powers in matters of war, revenue and diplomacy.

3.  By a supplementary Act passed in 1786 Lord Cornwallis was appointed as the second Governor-General of Bengal, and he then became the effective ruler of British India under the authority of the Board of Control and the Court of Directors. The constitution set up by Pitt’s India Act did not undergo any major changes until the end of the company’s rule in India in 1858.

ROHILLA WAR OF 1774

The First Rohilla War of 1773-1774 was a punitive campaign by Shuja-ud-Daula, Nawab of Awadh, against the Rohillas, Afghan highlander settled in Rohikkhand northern India. The Nawab was supported by troops of the British East India Company, in a successful campaign brought about by the Rohillas reneging on a debt to the Nawab.

ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL 1784

The Asiatic Society was founded by Sir William Jones in January 1784 to enhance and  further the cause of Oriental research. A circular letter was sent by Jones to a selected number of British residents of Calcutta with a view to establish a society for the Asiatic studies. The Memorandum of Articles of the Asiatic Society, prepared by Jones said -"The bounds of investigations will be the geographical limits of Asia, and within these limits its enquiries will be extended to whatever is performed by man or produced by nature". Notable early members were Charles Wilkins and Alexander Hamilton (the cousin of the American statesman Alexander Hamilton). From 1784 to 1828, only Europeans were elected members of the Society. In 1829 a number of Indians were elected members one of which was Dwarakanath Tangore.

The Society also contributed immensely with translations into English of -

• Bhagvadgita (1785), Hitopadesa (1787) by Charles Wilkins;
• Kalidasa’s Abhijñānaśākuntalam (1789), Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda (1789), Manusamhita (1794) and editing of Ritusamhara (1792) by William Jones.
• Digest of Hindu Law on Contracts and Successions (1798), Sanskrit lexicon, Amarakosha (1808) by Colebrooke.
• Kalidasa’s Meghaduta (1813), translation of eighteen principal Puranas into English, Kalhana’s Rajatarangini (1825), and Select specimen of the Theatre of the Hindus (1827) by Wilson (also translated into French and German)
• Yoga Vasistha by John Shore
• Alexander Csoma de Koros’s Grammar of Tibetan Language (1834), etc

LORD CORNWALLIS (1786 – 1793)

1.  The Third Anglo-Mysore war (1790 – 1792) and the treaty of Seringapatam in 1792.
2.  The Permanent Settlement of Bengal in 1793.
3.  The adoption of Cornwallis code in 1793.
Introduction of Civil Services
Several Judicial reforms and Europeanisation of administration.

THIRD ANGLO- MYSORE WAR

The growing power of Tipu Sultan had alarmed the Marathas and the Nizam who engaged in alliance against Mysore. However, both the state were defeated. This defeat led them help of the British leading to Third Anglo-Mysore war in 1790. The war ended with treaty of Seringapatam in 1792. It led to a loss for Tipu who had to surrender nearly half of his territories to the British and their allies.

PERMANENT SETTLEMENT OF BENGAL 1793

Cornwallis’s greatest achievement in India was the reorganization of the land taxation, known as the Permanent Settlement of 1793. Agricultural land in Bengal was cultivated by a large number of small farmars, who paid rent to a group of zamindars (landowners). Under the Mughals, the government had collected taxes from the zamindars. The East India Company, however, had tried to set aside the zamindars, and collect land taxes either directly through company officials, or through revenue-farmers, who collected the rent from peasants and paid  a lump sum to the government.

CORNWALLIS CODE 1793

1.  Separation of revenue and justice administration
2.  European subjects were brought under jurisdiction.
3.  Government servants were made accountable to civil courts for action done in their official capacity.
4.  The principle of rule of law was emphasized and imposed.

Cornwallis was the first Governor General to bring an organized Civil service into existence. He tried to check corruption through these measures:
He raised salaries of Company’s servants.
He strictly enforced rules against any private trade.
He prohibited the civil servants from taking presents and gifts.
He enforced the criteria of seniority to promote the employees of the Company.

SIR JOHN SHORE (1793-1798)

1.  The Charter Act of 1793
2.  The battle of Kharda between Nizam and the Marathas in 1795

THE CHARTER ACT OF 1793

This Act made the payment of Home government members to be mandatorily made out from the Indian revenues. It was a subject of severe criticism by later nationalists who accused the British of draining the wealth of India to pay pensions and salaries to British officers who lived in England.

LORD WELLESLEY (1798-1805)

1.  Adoption of Subsidiary Alliance system (1798) and concluding the first subsidiary alliance with Nizam of Hyderabad.
2.  The Fourth Mysore war in 1799 resulting in the British conquering Mysore.
3.  The conclusion of treaty of Bassein in 1802.
4.  The Second Maratha war (1803-1805).
5.  The taking over of administration of Tanjore in 1799, Surat in 1800 and Carnatic in 1801.