19 lo] British Rule in India. 85 



mosphere was reeking with the blood and butchery of human beings. 

 Houses were set on fire and numbers perished in the flames. Husbands 

 killed their wives and then murdered themselves, women threw them- 

 selves into wells, children were slaughtered without mercy and infants 

 were cut to pieces at their mother's breasts. Such then, was the 

 system of Government worked out by the Mohammedans and it is 

 little better up to the present day in Persia. 



At this turning point in the downward career of the once great Mogul 

 another star appeared on the horizon; the Mogul empire was shattered 

 never to be restored. The foundations of a new empire were being laid by 

 English traders in Calcutta and Madras which was destined to extend its 

 paramount power over the whole of India from sea to sea, and form the 

 sandy deserts of the west to the Himalayan barrier on the north. The 

 Hindu nationalities of India after centuries of oppression were to be 

 educated by British administrators into a knowledge of that civilization 

 which has regenerated the western world and established the reign of 

 law and order. In this manner the peoples of India are being trained 

 and disciplined by British rule for a new career of national life which 

 can only be revealed in the unknown world of the future. 



The British during the first half of the i8th century were simply 

 traders under the East India Co. They purchased small tracts of land 

 at Madras, Calcutta and Bombay for which they paid their yearly 

 rental and they had no influence on the government of the country nor 

 did they take any interest in it. They were there for commercial pur- 

 poses and so conducted their affairs from a business standpoint only. 

 This policy of isolation, however, was not destined to outlive the first 

 half of the century. On the succession of Suraj-ud Daula as Nawab or 

 Viceroy of Bengal in 1756, one of his enemies took refuge in Calcutta and 

 he demanded his surrender but was refused. The Nawab next demanded 

 the dismantling of new fortifications but was told that no new forti- 

 fications had been built except to repair some lines of guns to prevent 

 the place from being captured by the French. This made the Nawab 

 furious and he marched a large army against the place. The English 

 were taken completely by surprise and the sequel is familiar to 

 all, in what is known as the black hole of Calcutta. From that time 

 it was impossible for Britain to remain outside the pale of In- 

 dian politics. Circumstances compelled her to interfere more and more 

 in the internal affairs of the country although the home directors and 

 Government did their best to keep out, until by the end of the i8th 

 century she had become the paramount power in India. 



In 1798 the Marquis of Wellesley landed in Calcutta, as Governor- 

 General. He was appointed by the British Government and came out 



