286 BRITISH INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 



anxiety was therefore felt to select one whose principle, 

 mi'.rht he a pledge for the due fulfilment of the -objects now 

 aimed at by the government and company. *or this pur- 

 pose Lord Cornwall, a statesman of high reputation and 

 lona experience, was considered, beyond any other indi- 

 vidual in England, eminently qualified tor the task. ■ 



His lordship arrived in India in September, 1786, and 

 availing himself of the information aftorded by Mr. Shore 

 (now Lord Teignmouth), who afterward succeeded mm, 

 immediately applied with the utmost diligence to the ar- 

 raZemen/of affairs. Animated by the purest patriotism 

 and° integrity, and endowed with a sound judgment, he 

 perhaps did not possess those comprehensive views which 

 form the complete statesman. He was desirous, in con- 

 formity with his instructions, to abstain from aggression 

 and conquest in every form ; yet we J»™ "^.*"*" 

 somewhat slender grounds allowing himsel to be .d»WB 

 into hostilities with Tippoo, winch aid the foundation for 

 other contests on a still greater scale. In undertaking to 

 place on an improved basis the financial and judical sys- 

 tems of British India, he was guided by motives decidedly 

 benevolent. But his arrangements in some ™ 8es P rocee *f J 

 on a very imperfect knowledge of the actual state of the 

 country. He applied principles founded upon abs rac 

 Tory and English practice to a people in whom oca 

 prejudices had taken deep root. The sanguine expectations 

 formed from his administration were thus in a great 

 nie sure disappointed ; but the details .will be more conve- 

 niently considered before the close of this chapter in taking 

 a general view of the management ot these departments in 



Bn Smce I the a "time of Lord Comwallis no material change 

 has taken place in the constitution of the company , or in 

 the mode of governing their possessions. But it may De 

 nte res in. to point out the means by which their numerous 

 l"ss-u states have been brought, and are still retained under 

 their control. The first and most efficient o f ther r expe- 

 dients was to quarter in the territories of an My, W*h few 

 consent real or apparent, troops winch he either took into 

 pay or maintained, contributing an adequate sum. 1 hey 

 were understood to be placed there solely to .secure him 

 against foreign aggression, or the efforts of a domestic 



