INTRODUCTION.
The earlier history of the British power in Bengal does not fall within the scope of this work. But some account may be briefly given of the system of Government which obtained in Bengal previous to the creation of the Lieutenant-Governorship in 1853. The Governor-General of Bengal had, by the Statute 3 and 4 W. c. 85 (the Government of India Act, 1833), become Governor-General of India, and Governor of Bengal. By section 56 of that Statute the executive Government of Bengal was vested in a Governor-in-Council of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal and three Councillors, (but under section 57 no Councillors were appointed in Bengal), and by section 69 the Governor-General-in-Council was authorised, as often as the exigencies of the public service might appear to him to require, to appoint one of the ordinary Members of the Council of India, as he might think fit, to be Deputy Governor, but with no additional salary. Since the passing of this Statute the following had been appointed Deputy Governors as occasion required:—
Alexander Ross, Esq., Senior, October 20, 1837
Colonel William Morison, c. b., ^Madras Artillery. October 15, 1838
Thomas Campbell Robertson, Esq., June 17, 1839
Sir Thomas Herbert Maddock, Kt. c. b. (September 20, 1845. j October 11, 1848.
Major-General Sir J. H. Litder, g. c. b. March 12, 1849^
Honble J. A. Dorin December 9, 1853.
In the Warrant* [1] of Precedence, the Deputy Governor of Bengal came next after the Governor-General, and before the Governors of Madras and Bombay.
An Act of 1835 authorised the appointment of a Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces, and one was appointed in 1836. This necessarily reduced the area under the Government of Bengal, i. e. of Lower Bengal, to which this work refers.
- ↑ Lord Dalhousie's Minute of 28th September 1854.
