that "all such acts, matters, and things shall be as valid and effectual, and A D. 1835. shall be, and be deemed to be, of as much force, validity, and effect as if they had been expressly authorized by the said recited act.”

dency of

Agra left in

abeyance.

In regard to the new presidency of Agra, which had been provided for by New presi the act, it may here be mentioned that, though on the very day of the return of the governor-general to Calcutta from the Neilgherry Hills, it was formally notified that Sir Charles Metcalfe "had taken the prescribed oaths and assumed charge of the government of Agra," the plan of this fourth government, which the directors had always objected to as involving a large unnecessary expenditure, was never fully carried out. After its duties had been so restricted and frittered away that it had become a mere misnomer to call it a "government," an act was passed, on the 31st of August, 1835, making it lawful for the court of directors, under the control of the board of commissioners, "to suspend the execution of the provisions" of the Act 3 and 4 Wm. IV. c. 85 so far as relates to the division of the presidency of Fort William in Bengal, into two distinct presidencies, one of which was to be styled the presidency of Agra, and enacting that so long as the execution of these provisions shall remain suspended, the governor-general in council may "appoint, from time to time, any servant of the East India Company, who shall have been ten years in their service in India, to the office of lieutenant-governor of the North-western provinces, now under the presidency of Fort William in Bengal, and from time to time to declare and limit the extent of the territories so placed under such lieutenantgovernor, and the extent of the authority to be exercised by such lieutenantgovernor, as to the said governor-general in council may seem fit." This permission to suspend was so completely in accordance with the views of the directors, that they immediately availed themselves of it, and all idea of erecting a separate presidency of Agra was abandoned.

ture.

Lord

Bentinck's

After the return of Lord William Bentinck to Calcutta, no event of any Merits of importance occurred till his administration closed. He had intimated his William resignation, and only waited the return of the sailing season to take his depar- administra On the 20th of March, 1835, he ceased to be governor-general, and set tion. sail for Europe. His government had been eminently peaceful, and its merits consequently are founded not on new acquisitions of territory, or brilliant military achievements, but on the more solid ground of internal improvement-on reductions of expenditure, the correction of abuses, the extension of the means of education, the more adequate administration of justice by the liberal employment of native agency; and above all, the bold and successful inroad made on superstition by the suppression of one of its most abominable practices. In all these respects Lord William Bentinck proved himself an able, liberal, and conscientious administrator. The great defect of his policy was, as we have seen, the absurd extent to which he attempted to carry the system of non-interference. By standing aloof when disorder commenced, he too often allowed it to increase

VOL. III.

228

Merits
of Lord
William

Bentinck's

tion.

A D. 1835. till it became too alarming to be any longer tolerated, and thus laid himself open to the charge of dealing harshly with native states, by making the rulers responsible for disturbances which an earlier interference on his part might easily have prevented. Still, it must be admitted that non-interference, when administra- steadily carried out as part of a general system, possessed several advantages, and in more than one instance, by throwing native rulers upon their own resources, compelled them to conciliate the good-will of their subjects, and to govern with a wisdom and moderation which they had never displayed before. Lord William Bentinck had longed for the appointment of governor-general, in order that he might remove the stigma of incapacity which he conceived to have been fixed upon him by his summary removal from the government of Madras. This object he certainly accomplished, since even those disposed to censure particular parts of his administration, freely admit that, taken as a whole, it entitles him to no mean place among Indian statesmen.

BOOK VIII.

FROM THE EXTINCTION OF THE TRADE OF THE COMPANY TO
THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE GREAT SEPOY MUTINY.

CHAPTER I.

Sir Charles Metcalfe provisional governor-general-He removes the restrictions on the Indian pressOpposite views of the Court of Directors and the Board of Control in regard to the appointment of a successor to Lord William Bentinck-Lord Heytesbury's appointment revoked by the crownLord Auckland becomes governor-general A new succession in Oude - Intrigues and deposition of the Rajah of Sattarah.

Metcalfe

governor

FTER the departure of Lord William Bentinck, Sir Charles A.D. 1835. Metcalfe became governor-general, in virtue of a provisional appointment. By this appointment, the full powers of the Sir Charles office were undoubtedly conferred upon him; but as his provisional tenure was precarious and temporary, it seems to have general. been expected, not unreasonably, that he would continue to carry on the government according to its ordinary routine, and not innovate, without absolute necessity, on the policy which had been previously pursued. He himself judged differently, and in April, within a month after his installation, had prepared the draft of an act by which all the restrictions to which the Indian press was previously subject, were to be repealed. The act itself, however, was not passed and promulgated till the following September. It does not appear whether there was any difference of opinion in the council on the subject, but if there was, there can be no doubt that Mr. Macaulay was one of the majority. In substance, the act simply repealed the press regulations of 1823 in the Bengal, and of 1825 and 1827 in the Bombay presidency, and ordained that every person having a printing press on his premises was to make declaration thereof; that every book or paper was thenceforth to bear the name of the printer and publisher; and that, within the Company's territories, the printer and publisher of all periodical works containing public news, or comments on public news, should appear, and declare when it was to be printed or published. The soundness of the repeal, in so far as regarded the European press, could hardly be questioned; but as it seemed impossible to give freedom to the European, without extending it to the native press, some of the ablest servants of the Company entertained grave doubts as to the right course of procedure.

the Indian

lished.

A.D. 1835. The Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone, when consulted on the subject in 1832, had written as follows:-"If all be free, we shall be in a predicament Freedom of such as no state has yet experienced. In other countries the use of the press press estab- has gradually extended along with the improvement of the government and the intelligence of the people; but we shall have to contend at once with the most refined theories of Europe, and with the prejudices and fanaticism of Asia, both rendered doubly formidable by the imperfect education of those to whom every appeal will be addressed." Sir Charles Metcalfe attached little weight to this peculiarity, and in an elaborate reply to an address presented to him, declared the repeal justifiable on general principles. At the same time he thought that it had become "almost unavoidable" from circumstances. "The (Indian) press," he said, "had been practically free for many years, including the whole period of the administration of the late governor-general, Lord William Bentinck;

Merits of this measure

Sund

and although laws of restriction existed in Bengal which gave awful power to the government, they had ceased to operate for any practical purpose. They were extremely odious. They gave to the government arbitrary power, which British subjects in any part of the world detest. No government could now have carried them into effect, without setting universal opinion at defiance. After the liberty given by Lord William Bentinck's forbearance, no government could have ventured to enforce those laws, unless it had been gifted with a most hardy insensibility to ridicule and obloquy. Even supposing them to be good, they were utterly useless, and as they brought unnecessary odium on the government, it would have been absurd longer to retain them."

So long as he argued on general principles, Sir Charles Metcalfe was certainly discussed. right, but his logic fails him when he seeks a justification in circumstances. The press regulations, he says, were practically obsolete. They were not and they could not be enforced. If so, where was the necessity for hastening to repeal them? They were virtually dead, and there could be no use to slay the slain. If, as he argues, "even supposing them to be good, they were utterly useless, because they could not be enforced," is it not obvious that for the very same reason they must have ceased to be mischievous, and that therefore a governor-general only provisionally appointed, and of course daily expected to be superseded, had no particular call to interfere. If the repeal would have been approved by his successor, why step in before him and thus snatch from him the

tion of the

popularity which was to be acquired by adopting it? and if, on the contrary, the A.D. 1835. repeal would have been condemned by his successor, why place him in a false position, and embarrass him with an innovation that might be at variance with Emancipathe general tenor of his policy? On these and similar grounds, the propriety press. of the conduct of Sir Charles Metcalfe in hastening to repeal the existing restrictions on the press may be questioned, and it is thus easy to understand how the measure was received in different quarters with very different feelings. Those whom it freed from all fear of restraint naturally hailed it with acclamation, while the public generally regarded it with favour, and testified their approbation, not merely by laudatory addresses, but by the erection of a handsome public building devoted to literary purposes, and designated the Metcalfe Hall, in order at once to celebrate the liberation of the press and perpetuate the name of the liberator. When the measure was first announced to the home authorities, it was as strongly condemned as it had been elsewhere applauded, and called forth a censure, which though not accompanied by an immediate withdrawal of confidence, laid the foundation of a serious misunderstanding. The directors, become as lukewarm as they had formerly been zealous in Lord Metcalfe's supporting Sir Charles Metcalfe, overlooked the prior claim which he had abilities a3 a undoubtedly established to the first vacant governorship in their gift, and when he applied for explanation, returned through their secretary an answer so dry and laconic, that on the very day when he received it, he despatched a letter intimating his determination to retire from the service of the Company. He accordingly sailed for England on the 15th of February, 1838. The extent of the loss which India sustained by his departure was not fully known till after. As he had always been opposed to the policy which led to the disastrous war in Afghanistan, there is reason to presume that had he remained, as his influence would doubtless have been employed, so also it might have sufficed to prevent it. His services however were not lost to his country. As governor successively of Jamaica and of Canada in the most critical periods of their history, he gave new proofs of consummate statesmanship. Public gratitude was not wanting, but the peerage conferred upon him came too late to be anything more than a barren title. An excruciating disease was preying upon him, and he returned home only to die.

statesman.

to Lord

Bentinck's successor.

In narrating the emancipation of the Indian press, and tracing some of its Question as consequences in the subsequent career of Lord Metcalfe, we were obliged to pass william onward without referring to a series of transactions which took place about the same time in England, and which, while not properly belonging to the history of India, are too important to be omitted. When the court of directors received intimation of Lord William Bentinck's intended resignation, it was proposed to put either the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone or Sir Charles Metcalfe in nomination for the office of governor-general. Mr. Elphinstone, on the plea of indifferent health, declined, and the court, on the 28th of September, 1834, by a