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Home Great Britain and India, 1763-1823 1763-1823; Part 2 |
1763-1823; Part 2Such a position in Bengal was bound to lead to difficulties", and it very quickly did. The Nabob who had succeeded Meer Jaffier quarrelled with the Company, massacred some Europeans at Patna, and fled to his neighbour, the Nabob of Oudh. Both Nabobs, however, were defeated at the decisive battle of Buxar (1764). It was necessary then to regulate our position. Fortunately Clive became Governor of Bengal six months after the battle, and in the short space of twenty-two months made great changes (1765-7). In the first place, he obtained from the Mogul Emperor the financial administration of Bengal and Behar; and thus the East India Company became practically the governors of a country three quarters the size of France. Secondly, he made an alliance with the Nabob of Oudh, his idea being that the Nabob's territory might be a useful buffer against aggressions from the west, either on the part of the Mahrattas or the Afghans. Thirdly, and above all, he supplemented the inadequate salaries of the officials, and forbade them to take part in private trading - thus initiating the series of reforms which was eventually to make the British rule in India, so far as British officials at all events were concerned, perhaps the purest in the world. It is sad to think that Clive should have come home to be attacked in Parliament for corruption (It was in the course of his examination before a parliamentary committee that Clive, describing the temptations to which he was subjected, exclaimed, "By God, Mr. Chairman, at this moment I stand astonished at my own moderation!"), and soon afterwards, under stress of disease and anxiety, to commit suicide (1774).Trade and not conquest had in the past been the object of the East India Company, good dividends rather than warlike distinctions. Consequently the British Government had not interfered with the Company, beyond renewing its charter from time to time. But now that the Company had become the owner of a vast territory, the British Government was bound to assume some portion of the responsibility, more especially as after Clive's departure matters fell into great confusion. Consequently, in 1773, a Regulating Act was passed. A governor-general and council of four members were appointed, with control over all the Company's possessions in India. Hence some unity of control was secured. But the Act was in other respects unsatisfactory. The governor-general was liable to be much hampered by the council, and both were exposed to some interference from the judges who were appointed under the same Act. |
Chronology |
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